TODAY'S SAINT (Valentine)

VALENTINE

(d. ca. 269 - 270)

Name Meaning: Valor

Also known as: Valentine Of Terni, Valentine of Rome

Valentine was a priest in Rome during the 3rd century, at a time when the Emperor Claudius II forbade the practice of Christianity and executed any who disobeyed him. But Valentine ignored the law, and he comforted persecuted martyrs and may even have married Christian couples. Arrested, he was brought before Claudius, who demanded Valentine renounce his faith and accipt the pagan gods of Rome. Valentine refused to comply. It is said that claudius had him imprisoned by a magistrate, whose daughter happened to be blind. Valentine cured her, converting the magistrate and his entire family to Christianity. Enraged, Claudius had Valentine beaten, stoned and beheaded. Legend tells us that he sent the girl a farewell note, signing it "from your Valentine."

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Valentine Traditions

Another story explaining the tradition of exchanging cards and presents on Valentine's Day tells of the Roman Feast of Lupercalia. It was a pagan love festival that took place in the middle of February: bouys drew the names of girls in honor of the Fertility goddess Februata Juno, and couples were supposedly paired off for the year. The Church was anxious to discourage any pagan activities, so they wstablished February 14th as St. Valentine's Day. Yet another story evolved from the medieval belief that birds begin to9 jmate on February 14th, making it an ideal deay for lovers.

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A Ture Patron of Love

Today, St. Valentine is honorede as a true patron of love, not because of an ancient belief or festival, but because he made the ultimate sacrifice---he gave his life for the love of his God and his people.

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Prayer

Dear Saint and glorious Martyr,

who are so popular with lovers,

be kind to those whom we love

and to us. Teach us to love

unselfishly and to find great joy

in giving. Enable all true lovers

to bring out the best in each other.

Let thefm love eachn other in God

and God in each other.

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In

Their

Footsteps

St. Valentine might bef surprised and more than a little disappointed if hef saw how we honor his feast today--

dime-store cards, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, bottles of expensive perfume and other extravagant gifts. Even though these are all fun to receive, the commercial emphasis placed on buy ing cards and presents obscures the realmeaning of the day.

Love can come in many form: a mother comfortinhg her sick child, one friend helping another, a man embracing his wife, a child playing with a new puppy. Why should we celebrate love only once a year? Shouldn't every day be St. Valentine's Day?

• Starting today, try to do something nice for someone every day. It can simply be a kind word.
• Never let a day go by without telling your spouse or your childen that you love them.
• Before you go to bed every night, thank God for all He has done for you, and ask Him to show you the true meaning of love.

TODAY'S SAINT (Julian the Hospitaller)

JULIAN THE HOSPITALLER

(ca. 13th century)

Legendary saint popular in the Middle Ages

Also known as: the Poor Man

The story of Julian the Hospitaller is told in William Caxton's version of The Golden Legend; a French manuscript dated circa dated circa 1286 is the only surviving version in verse. The story was spread by troubadours.

Julian was the only child of Geoffery, duke of Angers, France, and duchess Emma. As a youth he loved to hunt. One day at age 16, he went off into the woods with a band of men and became separated from them and lost. He came upon a beast lying in rest and fatally shot it with an arrow. Before it died, the beast spoke to him, and foretold a terrible and unavoidable fate, that one day he would slay his mother and father with a single blow.

Julian vowed to run away to avoid the fate. He rode his horse into Brittany, where he sold it and his belongings. He set off wandering, praying intensely for God to deliver him from the cruel fate predicted by the beast. Eventually he found himself in Rome, where he had an audience with the pope. The pope ordered him to spend two years across the sea.

Julian obeyed, going to Syria. He joined the Order of the Knights Hospitallers and fought in the Crusades against the Turks. He distinguished himself in battle and was made a knight. One day he heard from pilgrims that his father was dead. Thinking himself free of the curse, he resolved to return home to his mother. He crossed the sea, but could not find his way home. He wandered again and eventually found himself in Spain.

There he found lodging in a castle that was fortified against attack by the Turks, but the king of the Turks was intent on capturing the countess there. The Turks attacked and Julian fought bravely, succeeding in taking the king hostage. He was made a count, and he and the countess married. For two years they lived in great happiness.

Meanwhile, Duke Geoffrey was still very much alive, and he and Emma had spent four years searching in vain for their son. At last they heard news about him and his whereabouts, and they journeyed to the castle disguised as pilgrims. They arrived on a day when Julian was out hunting. The countess welcomed them and bade them bathe and rest in the bed she shared with Julian. They did so, and everyone went to sleep, including the countess in another room.

Julian returned and thought it strange that his wife did not come to meet him as was her custom. The hall was empty. Going to their chamber, he perceived two sleeping forms in the bed in the dark. He immediately concluded that his wife was having an affair. Enraged, he cut them both in two, and the bed in half, with a single blow.

The countess awakened from the noise and rushed into the Chamber. The horror of his crime--the unavoidable destiny--was too much for Julian. He attempted to kill himself with his own sword, but was stopped by his wife. He vowed to do penance in exile, and the countess pledged to join him.

After the burial of his parents, Julian and hes wife dressed in the clothing of beggars and left the castle. They wandered and begged for food. They suffered hardships and insults. They went to Rome and confessed to the pope, and professed their desire to live in poverty. The pope's penance was that they should find themselves in a place of perilous passage and there establish a hostel for sheltering travelers and thew poor.

After more wandering and many hardships and trials, they at last came to a place by a stream where many had died trying to cross the water. The area was full of thieves. There they constructed a humble hostel with beds made from grass, and devoted themselves to serving those who came for shelter. Julian was able to barter for a boat, and ferried people safely across the stream. For a long time they lived this way.

One night they were awakened by a man's voice from the opposite bank asking to be ferried over and Julian and his wife showed him every courtesy. When the stranger asked Julian protested but his wife did not, and agreed to comply. But when she went to the leper's bed, he had vanished. From outside came his voice, telling them that they had been tested, and were now expiated of their sins.

For seven more years, Julian and his wife lived at the hostel, serving others. One night thieves came and killed them the same way in which Julian had slain his parents. Afterward, miracles without end occurred there. The bodies of Julian and his wife were placed in a gold and silver reliquary.

Feast: February 12

Patronage: boatmen; circus people; ferrymen; hotel employees; innkeepers; travelers

FURTHER READING

The Life of Saint Julian Hospitaller. Tr. Tony Devaney Morinell.

URL: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/julian.html

Downloaded: July 21, 2000

TODAY'S SAINT (Paschal I)

PASCHAL I

(d. 824)

Pope

The date of Paschal's birth is not known. His father was a Roman named Bonosus. He entered the priesthood while still a youth and studied at the Lateran Palace. Pope St. Leo III (r. 795 - 816) appointed him abbot of St. Stephen's monastery, where he oversaw pilgrims to Rome.

When Pope stephen V (r. 816 - 817) died on Januaruy 24 or 25, 817, Paschal was elected to succeed him. He was consecrated and enthroned the following day, an apparent attempt to bypass cofirmation by thfew Frankish emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. Paschal justified this action to Louis I the Pious by saying that he had not sought the office but accepted it as an unwanted task. In return, Louis declared papal elections to be free of the requirement of imperial approval and in general recognized papal sovereignty.

When lothair I, Louis's son, married, Paschal sent a special delegation bearing rich gifts. In the spring of 823, Lothair went to Rome, and on April 5 Paschal crowned him emperor. Lothair did not share his father's position on papal sovere ignty, however, nor did all in the Roman church agree with Paschal. After Lothair left Rome, two papal officers opposed to Paschal were found blinded and beheaded. Paschal was accused of ordering the murders, which had been carried out by two members of his household. Although he denied any complicity, he refused to surrender the murderers, declaring that the dead men were traitors to the Church a nd that secular authorities had no jurisdiction in the matter. The upshot was the Constitution of Lothair, which instituted severe restrictions on papal jurisdiction and powers.

During Paschal's pontificate, Iconoclasm--the Islamic-inspired movement that forbade thfe worship of images---raged in the Byzantine Empiere to the east. Paschal did what he could to uphald the position of the Roman Church. He sent his aides to try to secure the relefase of Abbot Theodore of Studites, who had been impisoned for defending sacred icons. He received several Greek monks fleeing the persecutions and found places for them in newly erected monasteries such as those of St. Praxedis, St. Cecilia, and SS. Sergius and Bacchus, near the Lateran Palace. He also erected new churches and chapels and had the relics of martyrs translated from the ancient catacombs to these places.

Paschal was not a popular pope. He was so unpolpular, indeed, that when he died in 824, throngs prevented his funeral proccession from entering St. Peter's. His relecs were interred instead in thfe church of St. Praxedis.

Feast: February 11 (formerly May 14)

TODAY'S SAINT (Scholastica)

SCHOLASTICA

(ca. 408 - 543)

Benedictine sister, abbess and twin sister of St. Benedict

of Nursia, considered to be thew first Benedictine nun

Very little is known about Scholastica, save for a few comments by Pope St. Gregory I (Gregory the Great, r. 590 - 604) in Dialogues, in which he records events of St. Benedict life. In early youth, she consecrated he life to God. After Benedict established his monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy, she moved to nearby Plombariola, where she founded and governed a monastery of nuns. Benedict directed his sister and her nuns.

Scholastica visited her brother once a year, and stayed in a house separate from the monastery, which she was not allowed to enter. Benedict and several of his brothers would met her there and spend the day discussing spiritual matters.

The best-known story about Scholastica took place in 543 on one of these visits. Toward evening, Benedict prepared for his return to the monastery. Scholastica begged him to stay the night, but Benedict replied, "By no means can I stay out of my monastery." Scholastica bowed her head and prayed. When she raised her head, there was a sudden and dramatic shift in the weather. The sky had been clear and serene; now lightning flashed and thunder boomed. A heavy rainfall commenced.

Benedict was not pleased, and said, "God Almighty forgive you, Sister. What is this you have done?"

Scholastica said, "I prayed you to stay and you would not hear me. I prayed to Almighty God and he heard me. Now, therefore, if you can, go forth to the monastery and leave me.

Benedict and his brothers were forced to spend the night. They continued their discussions.

Benedict and his party left in the morning, never to see Scholastica again. She died three days later. Benedict beheld her soul in a vision as it ascended into heaven. He had her body brought to his monastery and laid it in the tomb he had prepared for himself. He died within the year and, as requested, was laid to rest with his sister.

Feast: February 10

Patronage: convulsive children: against storms

TODAY'S SAINT (John of Capistrano)

JOHN OF CAPISTRANO

Priest

 

 

John was born at Capistano, Italy in 1385, the son of a former German Knight of that city. He studied law at the University of Perugia and practiced as a lawyer in the courts of Naples. King Ladislas of Naples appointed him governor of Perugia.

     During a war with a neighboring town he was betrayed and imprisoned. Upon his release he entered the Franciscan community at Perugia in 1416. He and St. James of the March were fellow students under St. Bernardine of Siena, who inspired him to institute the devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus and His Mother. John began his brilliant preaching apostolate while a deacon out Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Russia preaching penance and establishing numerous communities of Franciscan renewal.

     When Mohammed II was threatening Vienna and Rome, St. John , at the age of seventy, was commissioned by Pope Callistus II to preach and lead a crusade against the invading Turks. Marching at the head of 70,000 Christians, he gained victory in the great battle of Belgrade against the Turks in 1456. Three months later he died at Illok, Hungary.

 

PRAYER

Lord, You raised up St. John to console Your people

in their distress. Grant that we may always be safe

under Your protection and preserve Your Church in

unending peace. Amen.

 

     Feast: October 22

     Patron  of Jurists

TODAY'S SAINT (Bernard of Clairvaux)

BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX

(1090 - 1153)

Cistercian abbot and Doctor of the Church

Also known as: Doctor Mellifluus, "The Honey-mouthed Doctor," for the spiritual sweetness of his teachings

 

 

Bernard of Clairvaux was born in Fontaines, near Dijon, in France, to a leading family of the nobility. He excelled in his early studies, especially in literature, while at the same time giving evidence of great piety.

     Bernard's lifelong devotion to Mary began in childhood in 1098. He dreamed he saw a young woman praying in a stable, who suddenly held a radiant baby in her arms. He recognized the baby as Jesus. Mary smiled and allowed Bernard to caress him. He prayed often to Mary and felt a close bond to her. Bernard found himself equally attracted to the reformed Benedictine community at Citeaux, and to a career as a writer and scholar as his family wished. In 1111, he prayed to God for direction. He had a vision of his own departed mother, whom he understood to be sent by Mary. He knew instantly that he was to become a monk.

     At about age 23 he entered the monastery at Citeaux along with 30 companions; he was eventually followed by his father and five brothers. In 1115, the abbot, St. Stephen Harding, sent Bernard to found a new daughter house that was to become famous as the Cistercian abbey of Clairvaux.

Though Bernard sought quiet and solitude to contemplate, the needs of the Church, the orders of his superiors and the urgent pleas of rulers caused him to spend much time in travels and controversies. Early in his career, when denounced to Rome for "meddling" in high ecclesiastical affairs, he won over his accusers by explaining that he would like nothing better than to retire to his monastery, but had been ordered to assist at the Synod of Troyes. He likewise found himself called upon to judge the rival claims of Innocent II and Anacetes II to the papacy, and traveled widely to bring others over to the side of Innocent. His other activities included assisting at the Second Lateran Council (1139) and of Gilbert, bishop of Poitiers (1147 - 48). Bernard was a key figure in the condemnation of Abelard by the Council of Sens.

     Bernard's health suffered throughout his life. He ate very little and endured acute abdominal pains. Once when he was quite ill, he prayed at the altars of Mary and SS. Lawrence and Benedict. Mary and the two saints appeared to him, placed their hands on his abdomen and instantly healed his pain.

     Worn out  by his labors, and distressed by the failure of the Crusade, he died at Clairvaux on August 20, 1153. According to lore, Mary appeared to him to welcome his soul to heaven.

     Despite his many activities, the real center of Bernard's life was prayer and contemplation: From them he drew strength for his labors and journeys and inspiration for his writings. Bernard, like all Christians, believed that vision of God and union with Him was the end for which man was created. This can be fully attained only in the afterlife, but Bernard and many others throughout the ages have claimed an experience, even in this life, of that vision and union. This mystical experience, like the Beatific Vision of which it is a foretaste, is, in the Christian view, a free gift of God; the most that man can do is desire it and strive to remove obstacles to it. The methods of removing obstacles are the subject of ascetic and mystical theology. Many Christians before Bernard had described this mystical experience, but he was one of the first to address himself to the theological understanding of it, though not in any systematic way. His work shows a profound and precise knowledge of doctrinal subtleties.

     Ascetic theology deals with groundwork of the spiritual life: the eradication of vices, the cultivation of virtue, the attainment of detachment, by which one learns to give up one's own will and accept God's will for one. Bernard's works in this field include De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio (Of grace and free will) and De Gradilbus Humilitatus et Superbiae (Of the steps of humility and pride). Bernard's teaching is typical of the paradoxical Christian view of man, simultaneously affirming his dignity as made in the image and likeness of God (which image, for Bernard, consisted primarily in man's free will) and his need for humility as a creature--a fallen creature, in whom the likeness to God is obscured by sin.

     But for Bernard, as for the author of the Johannine book (Fourth Gospel) of the New Testament, the beginning, end and driving force of the whole mystery of creation and redemption is love: God's love for man enabling man to love God in return. In De Dilgendo Deo (Of loving God), Bernard presents motives for loving God, both those that all men may acknowledge (the gifts of creation)  and those that compel Christians, who believe that God became incarnate and died to save them (the goods of redemption). Here, as elsewhere in his writings, the humanity of Christ has the central role.

     Love is nurtured by conversation, and so in the four books De Consideratione (Of meditation), written for his pupil who had become pope as Eugene III, Bernard discusses meditation, or mental prayer, by which one converses with God and may, perhaps, attain a vision of God and union with Him even in this life. It is in the 86 Sermons super Cantica Canticorum (Sermons on the song of songs) that Bernard eloquently expounds on this vision and union, and the desire for it. As many would do after him, he sees these ancient Hebrew poems as describing the union of God and the soul as a mystical marriage. Bernard stressed that the mystical experience is, precisely, an experience, and thus strictly incommunicable, to be known only by one who has experienced it.

     In addition to these works, Bernard composed more than 300 sermons and 500 letters, which demonstrate his deep devotion to Mary and the infant Jesus. A story is told that one letter to his cousin, Robert, was dictated in a field during a heavy downpour. The paper never became wet. The episode was looked upon as miraculous, and an oratory was built on the spot. 

     Of other miracles and unusual events ascribed to the saint, an interesting one concerns the "flies of foigny." Bernard attended the dedication of a church in Foigny, and the service was disturbed by a great multitude of buzzing flies were found dead. Bernard cried, "Excommunicabo eas!" (I shall excommunicate them!). The next day the excommunicated flies were found dead. There were so many they blackened the pavement and had to be shoveled out of the church.

     Bernard's symbol is a white dog. In art hef is often depicted in Cistercian habit with a vision of Our Lady.

 

PRAYER    

God, You blessed Your Church with St. Bernard, a man

full of zeal for Your house, radiating brightness and

ardent love. Through his intercession, grant that we may

be animated by the same spirit and always walk as

children of light. Amen.

 

     Canonized: 1174 by Pope Alexander III

     Declared Doctor of the Church: 1830 by Pope Pius VIII

     Feast: August 20

     Patronage: bees; cancer victims; chandlers; cistercians;

          climbers; Burgundy; Gibraltar; Liguria, Italy; Speyer

          Cathedral, Germany

 

FURTHER READING

Bredero, Adrian H. Bernard of Clairvaux: Between Cult and

     History. Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans, 1996.

Brown, Raphael. Saints Who Saw Mary. Rockford, Ill.: TAN

     Books, 1955.

Gilson, Etienne. The Mystical Theology of Saint Bernard,

     tr. A.H.C. Downes. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1940.

Liddy, Ailbe J., O. Cist. Life and Teaching of Saint Bernard.

     Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1950.

St. Bernard's Sermon on the Canticle of Canticles, tr. by a

     priest of Mount Mellary:P Duglin: Browne and Nolan,

     1920.

Williams, Watkin. The Mysticism of Saint Bernard of Clair-

     vaux. London: Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1931.

 

 

 

    

TODAY'S SAINT (Sixtus II)

SIXTUS II

(d. 258)

Pope and martyr

Also known as: Xystus II

 

 

Sixtus II may have been a Greek philosopher, though more probably this impression arose from a confusion of names. He served as a deacon in the Church of Rome and succeeded St. Stephen I as bishop on August 30, 257.

     Sixtus repaired the rift between the sees of Rome and Carthage that had developed under Stephen over the issues of baptism and rebaptism. Like Stephen, Sixtus believed that a single baptism was sufficient to bring persons into the Church but,  unlike him, was tolerant of those who disagreed.

     He is probably best remembered, however, for  the way in which he meet his death.  Early in his reign, Emperor Valerian had shown comppassion toward Christians, but later he issued an edict  requiring Christians to participate in the national cult of the pagan gods and forbade them to assemble in the cemeteries (or catacombs), at  the penalty of death. He followed this up at the  beginning of August 258, with an order that all bishops, priests and deacons were to be killed.

     Flaunting death, Sixtus assembled his followers in the Catabomb of Praetextatus  (on the Appian way across from the Catacomb of St. Callistus) on August 6. He was seated in his chair addressing his flock when a band of soldieres appeared and cut off his head. (He may have been taken before a tribunal, which pronounced  sentence on him, then returned to the cemetery and decapitated.) Several other church officers with him suffered the same fate. Followers carred his relics to the papal crypt in the St. Callistus catacomb, placing the blood-stained chair on which he died behind his tomb. Later an oratory (the Oratorium  Xysti) was erected over the St. Praetextatus catacomb, becoming a pilgrimage site in the seventh and eighth centuries.

      There is a legend that on the way to his execution Sixtus met his deacon St. Lawrence, who was to be Martyred three days later.

     Sixtus was one of the most highly esteemed martyrs of the early Church. His name is mentioned in the canon of the Roman Mass.

     In art, he is shown with Lawrence and St. John the Baptist, holding a money-bag. He may also be shown ordaining Lawrence, giving him a bag of money to distribute to the poor, or with  Lawrence on the way to his death. 

 

      Feast: August 7 (formerly August 6)