Pope St. Alexander I & Ss. Eventius, Theodulus, and Juvenal

Pope St. Alexander I was the sixth Pope of the Catholic Church from c. 108 - c. 119 AD. Most of the information on Pope St. Alexander I is not guaranteed completely accurate. What we do know about him is that he inserted words of institution for the Eucharist in the Canon of the Mass. These words are the ones like such: "The day that He suffered, He took bread into His sacred and venerable hands and lifting the bread to You, His Almighty Father, He gave thanks, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples and said 'Take this, this is my Body..."

He is also attributed to have introduced the use of water mixed with salt to bless homes. He is said to have been martyred by decapitation on the Via Nomentana in Rome. His remains initially rested in the catacombs on the Via Nomentana but were eventually brought to the basilica of Santa Sabina by Pope Pascal I (817-824).

Under Emperor Hadrian, in A.D. 117, Pope Alexander I suffered martyrdom, together with the priests Eventius and Theodulus. Juvenal, bishop of Narni, was executed on May 3, A.D. 377. His Feastday is May 3rd where he and his companions are commemorated in the Mass.

Traditional Matins Reading:

Alexander, who was born at Rome, governed the Church during the reign of the emperor Adrian, and converted a great portion of the Roman nobles to Christ. He decreed that only bread and wine should be offered in the Mass, but that water should be mingled with the wine, in memory of the Blood and Water which flowed from the Side of Christ Jesus. He added to the Canon of the Mass these words: Qui pridie quam pateretur. He also decreed that Holy Water, with salt in it, should always be kept in the church, and that it should be used in the dwellings of the faithful for the purpose of driving away evil spirits. He governed the Church ten years, five months, and twenty days. He was illustrious for the holiness of his life and for the useful laws which he made. He was crowned with martyrdom together with the priests Eventius and Theodulus, and was buried on the Nomen tan Way, three miles out of Rome, on the very spot where he had been beheaded. He ordained, in the December of various years, six priests, two deacons, and five for divers places The bodies of these Saints were afterwards translated to the Church of Saint Sabina in Rome. On this same day occurred the death of blessed Juvenal, bishop of Narni, who, after having, by his learning and virtue, converted many persons of that city to Christ, and being celebrated for the miracles he wrought, slept in peace, and was honourably buried in the same city.

Collect:

O Almighty God, today we are celebrating the birthday of Your saints Alexander, Eventius, Theodulus, and Juvenal. Hear their prayers and rescue us from all the dangers that threaten us. Through Our Lord . . .

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"On Gluttony" by St. John Vianney

Gluttony is an inordinate love of eating and drinking.

We are gluttonous, my children, when we take food in excess, more than is required for the support of our poor body; when we drink beyond what is necessary, so as even to lose our senses and our reason. . . . Oh, how shameful is this vice! How it degrades us! See, it puts us below the brutes: the animals never drink more than to satisfy their thirst: they content themselves with eating enough; and we, when we have satisfied our appetite, when our body can bear no more, we still have recourse to all sorts of little delicacies; we take wine and liquors to repletion! Is it not pitiful? We can no longer keep upon our legs; we fall, we roll into the ditch and into the mud, we become the laughing stock of everyone, even the sport of little children. . . .

If death were to surprise us in this state, my children, we should not have time to recollect ourselves; we should fall in that state into the hands of the good God. What a misfortune, my children! How would our soul be surprised! How would it be astonished! We should shudder with horror at seeing the lost who are in Hell. . . . Do not let us be led by our appetite; we shall ruin our health, we shall lose our soul. . . . See, my children, intemperance and debauchery are the support of doctors; that lets them live, and gives them a great deal of practice. . . . We hear every day, such a one was drunk, and falling down he broke his leg; another, passing a river on a plank, fell into the water and was drowned. . . . Intemperance and drunkenness are the companions of the wicked rich man. . . . A moment of pleasure in this world will cost us very dear in the other. There they will be tormented by a raging hunger and a devouring thirst; they will not even have a drop of water to refresh themselves; their tongue and their body will be consumed by the flames for a whole eternity. . . .

O my children! we do not think about it; and yet that will not fail to happen to some amongst us, perhaps even before the end of the year! Saint Paul said that those who give themselves to excess in eating and drinking shall not possess the kingdom of God. Let us reflect on these words! Look at the saints: they pass their life in penance, and we would pass ours in the midst of enjoyments and pleasures. Saint Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal, fasted all Advent, and also from Saint John Baptist's day to the Assumption. Soon after, she began another Lent, which lasted till the feast of Saint Michael. She lived upon bread and water only on Fridays and Saturdays, and on the vigils of the feasts of the Blessed Virgin and of the Apostles. They say that Saint Bernard drank oil for wine. Saint Isidore never ate without shedding tears! If we were good Christians, we should do as the saints have done.

We should gain a great deal for Heaven at our meals; we should deprive ourselves of many little things which, without being hurtful to our body, would be very pleasing to the good God; but we choose rather to satisfy our taste than to please God; we drown, we stifle our soul in wine and food. My children, God will not say to us at the Day of Judgment, "Give Me an account of thy body"; but, "Give Me an account of thy soul; what hast thou done with it?" . . . What shall we answer Him? Do we take as much care of our soul as of our body? O my children! let us no longer live for the pleasure of eating; let us live as the saints have done; let us mortify ourselves as they were mortified. The saints never indulged themselves in the pleasures of good cheer. Their pleasure was to feed on Jesus Christ! Let us follow their footsteps on this earth, and we shall gain the crown which they have in Heaven.

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Pope Benedict XVI Visits the Virgin Mary of Tufo Sanctuary

In Rocca di Papa, which is near Rome, Pope Benedict XVI visited the Virgin Mary of Tufo sanctuary church, on Tuesday, August 8, 2006.


Photo Source: AP Photo/L' Osservatore Romano

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Feast of St. Lawrence

Feast (1969 Calendar): August 10
Double of the II Class (1955 Calendar): August 10

Just a few days ago we recalled the life of Pope St. Sixtus II, who lost his life for Christ. Just three days later, as Pope St. Sixtus II foretold, St. Lawrence suffered martyrdom for the faith. 

St. Lawrence was born in Huesca, Spain in the third century. He was an archdeacon of Rome whose job was to care for the goods of the Church and distribute alms. On August 6, 258, Pope St. Sixtus II and six deacons were martyred. This left St. Lawrence as the ranking Church official in Rome. Just before then, Pope St. Sixtus II foretold St. Lawrence that he would join him in martyrdom for the faith in four days because St. Lawrence wished to die with the Pope.

St. Lawrence said: "Father, where are you going without your son? Where are you hastening, O priest, without your deacon? Never before did you offer the holy Sacrifice without assistants. In what way have I displeased you? In what way have you found me unfaithful in my office? Oh, try me again and prove to yourself whether you have chosen an unworthy minister for the service of the Church. So far you have been trusting me with distributing the Blood of the Lord." To this Pope Sixtus II replied, "I am not forsaking you, my son; a severer trial is awaiting you for your faith in Christ. The Lord is considerate toward me because I am a weak old man. But for you, a most glorious triumph is in store. Cease to weep, for already after three days you will follow me"

St. Lawrence, under the command of the pope, began to give all of the Church’s goods to the poor. While he was doing this task, a blind man named Crescentius asked him to heal his blindness by laying hands on him. St. Lawrence made the Sign of the Cross over him and his vision was restored.

Lawrence was soon arrested and in prison still healed man blind men. The guard, named Hippolytus, was so impressed by the Faith that he accept it and also died as a martyr.

On August 10, 258, Lawrence was told to bring along the treasure entrusted by the pope to his execution. After being given two days' time to collect the goods, St. Lawrence arrived with a multitude of Rome’s crippled, blind, and sick. St. Lawrence announced to the judge: "Here are the treasures of the Church!" Before he was arrested, though, he had dispersed the material wealth of the Church including many documents, which saved years of early Church history.

He was tortured, scourged, and scorched with glowing plates. In the midst of it, he prayed: "Lord Jesus Christ, God from God, have mercy on Your servant!" A solider named Romanus exclaimed: "I see before you an incomparably beautiful youth. Hasten and baptize me." Romanus had observed during this torture how an angel dried the wounds of Lawrence with a linen cloth.

As he was taken back to the judge he said, "My God I honor and Him alone I serve. Therefore I do not fear your torments; this night shall become as brightest day and as light without any darkness."

St. Lawrence was grilled to death on August 10, 258. As he died, he prayed for the conversion of Rome so that from it the Faith of Christ would spread. Following his death, idolatry began to decline throughout Rome. He also said, "Now you may turn me over, my body is roasted enough on this side." Then he said, "At last I am finished; you may now take from me and eat." He turned to God and exclaimed: "I thank You, O Lord, that I am permitted to enter Your portals." His body was buried in the cemetery of Saint Cyriaca on the road to Tivoli. The gridiron that is believed to have been his deathbed is in San Lorenzo in Lucina.

Source for information: The Church's Year of Grace by Pius Parsch.

Feast of St. Lawrence as a Holy Day of Obligation

The Feast of St. Lawrence was of such importance it was a Holy Day of Obligation for a long time. It remained a holy day in the modern-day United States until 1777 and in Ireland until 1778. The Vigil preceding the Feast of St. Lawrence was as a day of fasting in times past as well.

With the robe of joyfulness, alleluia,

Our Lord hath this day clothed His soldier, Laurence.

May Thy faithful’s joyous assemblage clap their hands

More cheerfully than they have heretofore.

Today the noble martyr offered pleasing sacrifice to God,

Today he, being grievously tested,

Endured unto the end the torment of his fire;

And shrank not from offering his limbs to punishments most grievous.

Before the ruler he is summoned,

And settlement is made upon the Church’s hidden holdings.

But he by words enticing is unmoved, and is unshaken

By the torments of the ruler’s avarice.

Valerian is laughed to scorn,

And the Levite’s liberal hand,

When he is asked for payments,

Giveth to the gathered poor.

For he was their minister of charity,

Giving them abundance from his means.

Therefore the prefect is enraged,

And a glowing bed made ready.

The torment-bearing instrument,

The gridiron of his suffering,

Roasteth his very viscera,

But he laugheth it to scorn.

The martyr sweateth in his agony,

In hopes of crown and recompense

Which is allotted those with faith,

Who struggle for the sake of Christ.

The court of heaven rejoiceth

For his warfare-waging,

For he hath prevailed this day

Against the lackeys of wickedness.

That we, then, may attain the gift of life,

By this our patron, be glad, O our choir,

Singing in the church upon his feast-day

A joyful alleluia.

Hymn from the Mass of Saint Laurence, Old Sarum Rite Missal, 1998, Saint Hilarion Press

Prayer:

Quench in us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the flame of vice, even as Thou dist enable blessed Lawrence to overcome his fire of sufferings. Through our Lord.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

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Pope John Paul ll on the Good Shepherd

"While Jesus was say thing these words [John 10:11], the apostles did not realize that He was referring to Himself. Not even his beloved Apostle John knew it. He understood on Calvary, at the foot of the Cross, when He saw Jesus silently giving up His life for 'His sheep'. When the time came for John and the other apostles to assume the same mission they then remembered his words. They realized that they would be able to fulfill their mission only because He had assured them that He Himself would be working among them" (L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, October 22, 2003, p. 3)

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I re-read "Rise, Let Us be On Our Way"

Yesterday, I was in a car for most of the afternoon. I had nothing to do so I re-read "Rise, Let Us be On Our Way" by Pope John Paul ll and took a page of notes. I added more information to my review that I posted on it last summer. View my review on "Rise, Let Us be On Our Way".

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Pope St. Evaristus

Simple (1955 Calendar): October 26th

Pope St. Evaristus was the fifth Pope of the Holy Catholic Church. As stated in the "Lives of the Saints" by Rev Hoever:

St. Evaristus succeeded St. Anacletus in the See of Rome, during the reign of the Emperor Trajan, and governed the Church nine years.  He first divided Rome into several parishes, to each of which he assigned a priest.  For this reason some consider him the founder of the institution of cardinal-priests.  He also appointed several deacons to assist the Bishop.  He conferred Holy Orders three times in the month of December, when that holy function was usually performed.

In the Pontificals and in most martyrologies, St. Evaristus is honored with the title of Martyr.  Little is known of his life.  He died in 112 and was buried near St. Peter's tomb... St. Evaristus was the first to decree that altars thenceforward should be of stone and that they should be blessed.  

Traditional Matins Reading:

Evaristus was born in Greece, of a Jewish father, and was sovereign Pontiff during the reign of Trajan. He divided the titles of the churches of Rome among the priests, and ordained that seven deacons should attend the bishop when preaching. He also decreed that, according to the tradition of the apostles, matrimony should be celebrated publicly and blessed by a priest. He governed the Church nine years and three months. He held ordinations four times in the month of December, and ordained seventeen priests, two deacons, and fifteen bishops. He was crowned with martyrdom, and buried near the tomb of the prince of the apostles on the seventh of the Kalends of November.

Collect:

O Eternal Shepherd, who appointed blessed Evaristus shepherd of the whole Church, let the prayers of this martyr and supreme pontiff move You to look with favor upon Your flock and to keep it under Your continual protection. Through our Lord . . .

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

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Assumption Novena: Day Five

O merciful and loving Mother, may your glorious beauty fill our hearts with a distaste for earthly things and an ardent longing for the joys of Heaven. May your merciful eyes glance down upon our struggles and our weakness in this vale of tears. Hear then loving Mother, our request and plead to Jesus for us (mention your request). Crown us with the pure robe of innocence and grace here, and with immortality and glory in Heaven. Queen Assumed into Heaven, pray for us.

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"Catechism on Frequent Communion" by St. John Vianney

My children, all beings in creation require to be fed, that they may live; for this purpose God has made trees and plants grow; it is a well-served table, to which all animals come and take the food which suits each one. But the soul also must be fed. Where, then, is its food? My brethren, the food of the soul is God. Ah! what a beautiful thought! The soul can feed on nothing but God. Only God can suffice for it; only God can fill it; only God can satiate its hunger; it absolutely requires its God! There is in all houses a place where the provisions of the family are kept; it is the store-room. The church is the home of souls; it is the house belonging to us, who are Christians. Well, in this house there is a store-room. Do you see the tabernacle? If the souls of Christians were asked, "What is that?" your souls would answer, "It is the store-room."

There is nothing so great, my children, as the Eucharist! Put all the good works in the world against one good Communion; they will be like a grain of dust beside a mountain. Make a prayer when you have the good God in your heart; the good God will not be able to refuse you anything, if you offer Him His Son, and the merits of His holy death and Passion. My children, if we understood the value of Holy Communion, we should avoid the least faults, that we might have the happiness of making it oftener. We should keep our souls always pure in the eyes of God.

My children, I suppose that you have been to confession today, and you will watch over yourselves; you will be happy in the thought that tomorrow you will have the joy of receiving the good God into your heart. Neither can you offend the good God tomorrow; your soul will be all embalmed with the precious Blood of Our Lord. Oh, beautiful life!

O my children, how beautiful will a soul be in eternity that has worthily and often received the good God! The Body of Our Lord will shine through our body, His adorable Blood through our blood; our soul will be united to the Soul of Our Lord during all eternity. There it will enjoy pure and perfect happiness. My children, when the soul of a Christian who has received Our Lord enters paradise, it augments the joy of Heaven. The Angels and the Queen of Angels come to meet it, because they recognize the Son of God in that soul. Then will that soul be rewarded for the pains and sacrifices it will have endured in its life on earth. My children, we know when a soul has worthily received the Sacrament of the Eucharist, it is so drowned in love, so penetrated and changed, that it is no longer to be recognised in its words or its actions. . . . It is humble, it is gentle, it is mortified, charitable, and modest; it is at peace with everyone. It is a soul capable of the greatest sacrifices; in short, you would not know it again.

Go, then, to Communion, my children; go to Jesus with love and confidence; go and live upon Him, in order to live for Him! Do not say that you have too much to do. Has not the Divine Saviour said, "Come to Me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you"? Can you resist an invitation so full of love and tenderness? Do not say that you are not worthy of it. It is true, you are not worthy of it; but you are in need of it. If Our Lord had regarded our worthiness, He would never have instituted His beautiful Sacrament of love: for no one in the world is worthy of it, neither the saints, nor the angels, nor the archangels, nor the Blessed Virgin; but He had in view our needs, and we are all in need of it. Do not say that you are sinners, that you are too miserable, and for that reason you do not dare to approach it. I would as soon hear you say that you are very ill, and therefore you will not take any remedy, nor send for the physician.

All the prayers of the Mass are a preparation for Communion; and all the life of a Christian ought to be a preparation for that great action. We ought to labor to deserve to receive Our Lord every day. How humbled we ought to feel when we see others going to the holy table, and we remain motionless in our place! How happy is a guardian angel who leads a beautiful soul to the holy table! In the primitive Church they communicated every day. When Christians had grown cold, they substituted blessed bread for the Body of Our Lord; this is both a consolation and a humiliation. It is indeed blessed bread; but it is not the Body and Blood of Our Lord!

There are some who make a spiritual communion every day with blessed bread. If we are deprived of Sacramental Communion, let us replace it, as far as we can, by spiritual communion, which we can make every moment; for we ought to have always a burning desire to receive the good God. Communion is to the soul like blowing a fire that is beginning to go out, but that has still plenty of hot embers; we blow, and the fire burns again. After the reception of the Sacraments, when we feel ourselves slacken in the love of God, let us have recourse at once to spiritual communion. When we cannot come to church, let us turn towards the tabernacle: a wall cannot separate us from the good God; let us say five Patres and five Aves to make a spiritual communion. We can receive the good God only once a day; a soul on fire with love supplies for this by the desire to receive Him every moment. O man, how great thou art! fed with the Body and Blood of a God! Oh, how sweet a life is this life of union with the good God! It is Heaven upon earth; there are no more troubles, no more crosses! When you have the happiness of having received the good God, you feel a joy, a sweetness in your heart for some moments. Pure souls feel it always, and in this union consists their strength and their happiness.

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St. Anthony Cathedral in Beaumont

Pope Benedict XVI has just granted minor Basilica status to St. Anthony Cathedral in Beaumont, Texas as a recognition of the church's artistic and historical significance. It will become only the fourth basilica in Texas and only about the 60th in the United States.

Becoming a basilica allows the church to add sacred images, as well as the papal coat of arms, to its art work, said Bishop Curtis Guillory of the Beaumont Catholic Diocese. It also gives the cathedral the responsibility of celebrating with greater solemnity certain church feast days such as the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

Source: WOAI San Antonio News

In a minor Basilica you will find the Ombrellino and the Tintinnabulum. I have only visited one basilica so far, the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Missouri, and they also had those two symbols.

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