2017 Patron Saint for the Year Devotion

UPDATE (1/1/2017): The results are now in and posted below.  FYI - If you didn't put in your name, there is still time.  I will continue the drawing each Sunday throughout January.

UPDATE (1/3/2017): I have updated this list and performed another drawing after Mass this morning.

UPDATE (1/9/2017): I have updated this list for today's drawing

UPDATE (1/15/2017): I have updated this list for today's drawing

I am very pleased to again be a facilitator for the Patron Saint of the Year Devotion.  I have been part of this annual tradition since 2006 and have helped coordinate devotions for hundreds of families.  It is my pleasure to now be part of the 2017 Patron Saint of the Year Devotion.

SPONSOR: This Devotion is being sponsored this year by CatechismClass.com.  Whether you are looking for godparent preparation courses, Sacramental preparation for your children, or just to better learn the Faith as an adult, CatechismClass.com has courses for all ages and walks of life.  Check out CatechismClass.com's affordable programs and make it a resolution in 2017 to learn and live the Faith better than ever before.

You can read about the past devotions at the following posts:

• 2006 Saint for the Year Devotion
• 2007 Saint for the Year Devotion
• 2008 Saint for the Year Devotion
• 2010 Saint for the Year Devotion 
• 2011 Saint for the Year Devotion 
• 2012 Saint for the Year Devotion
• 2013 Saint for the Year Devotion
• 2014 Saint for the Year Devotion
• 2015 Saint for the Year Devotion
• 2016 Saint for the Year Devotion

Again, I would like to take a few minutes to explain the devotion.

When will the saints be drawn?  This year I will start the drawing of saints on the Octave Day of Christmas after the 10 AM Solemn High Mass and after the recitation of both the Veni Creator Spiritus and the Litany of Saints.  Drawings will occur as the Litany of Saints are again recited.

Saints will be emailed starting that afternoon and thereafter for the next few days. They will be posted here as well.

What is the Saint for the Year Devotion? Here is my post on this from years past to clarify the matter. This is from the person that draws all of the saints. I don't draw the saints. I will merely pass on your name or screenname to her so that she will draw a saint for you. Also, I will pass on the name of any of your family or friends that would like to participate. This isn't superstition. St. Faustina did the same thing!

Last year hundreds of people received saints to be their special patron, and there were miraculous connections. It was truly amazing. We pray that this year the Holy Ghost will again work so that all participants receive a saint that they will be able to pray to for aid throughout the entire year:

Saint for the Year

I want to tell you about the practice of picking a saint at random to be your “holy protector” for the year. Actually, the saint is the one who chooses us though. The tradition of letting a saint “pick you,” is not a new one. St. Faustina wrote about it in her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul. The excerpt is below.

“There is a custom among us of drawing by lot, on New Year's Day, special Patrons for ourselves for the whole year. In the morning during meditation, there arose within me a secret desire that the Eucharistic Jesus be my special Patron for this year also, as in the past. But, hiding this desire from my Beloved, I spoke to Him about everything else but that. When we came to refectory for breakfast, we blessed ourselves and began drawing our patrons. When I approached the holy cards on which the names of the patrons were written, without hesitation I took one, but I didn't read the name immediately as I wanted to mortify myself for a few minutes. Suddenly, I heard a voice in my soul: ‘I am your patron. Read.’ I looked at once at the inscription and read, ‘Patron for the Year 1935 - the Most Blessed Eucharist.’ My heart leapt with joy, and I slipped quietly away from the sisters and went for a short visit before the Blessed Sacrament, where I poured out my heart. But Jesus sweetly admonished me that I should be at that moment together with the sisters. I went immediately in obedience to the rule.”Excerpt from Divine Mercy in My Soul, the Diary of St. Faustina"

I have a container full of names ... I will be glad to pick out the name for you and send you the name if you prefer. I am so excited by my saint(s) ... I already picked mine. Well, I should say that they picked me ... I have Saints Marcus and Marcellianus ... they are twin brothers who were sent to prison before their death. St. Sebastian visited them continually in prison and helped keep their faith alive. They are buried near St. Felix and are specifically honored in Spain.

OK now ... here are a couple of immediate ironies in regard to these saints ... I have a SPECIAL place in my heart for twins! As a child, I LOVED reading the story about St. Sebastian. I had a children's book of saints and I think I wore out the pages on St. Sebastian! Felix is my grandfather's name! Silvia, our exchange student, is from Spain! I am so excited to have these two saints to walk through 2006 with me! I'm looking forward as to where and how they will intercede for me.

Please pass this message on through your blogs and/or email distribution lists, letting all of the Catholic blogsphere have the chance to participate. I only ask that you give me your email address so that I may contact you when your saint is drawn. Usually within one to two days I can email you about your saint.

So, please leave it below in the comment box when you ask to participate. If you wish to remain anonymous, please leave your initials instead of your name.  Do not add the same request more than once.  If you comment is posted below, it will count.

Note: If you emailed me directly your request, DO NOT leave it here in the comments box.  Do not duplicate entries.

So, comment below and pass this message on throughout the entire Catholic Blogsphere!

Support

I handle the planning, marketing, and drawing for this devotion each year without any cost. Please take a minute and if you are a supporter of this devotion, please consider leaving us a free will donation. Your support is greatly appreciated and helps me continue working on this devotion and spreading it further and it helps keep A Catholic Life online. It is especially helpful as I am currently between full time jobs.

Results

Name	Saint
Theresa (Terry)	St. William Pinchon
John	St. Isaac Jogues
Joe	Blessed Julia Rodzinska
Katie	St. Thomas the Apostle
Tim W	Blessed Sibyllina
Nathan B	St. Ormond
Elijah C	St. Alexander (the martyred saint)
Griffin C	St. Paternus of Auch
Mason C	St. Gundenis of Carthage
Max D	St. Bernadette Soubirous
Andrew D	St. John the Apostle
Jeffrey D	Blessed Andrew of Peschiera
Michael D	Our Lady of Divine Grace
Francis D	St. Marie Therese Vauzou
Nicholas D	St. William of Gellone
Dominic D	Blessed Alfred of Hildesheim
Jimmy D	St. Ubaldus
Dominic B.	St. John of Parma
Dorothy C.	St. Albert of Montecorvino
Lucy Drury	St. Cloud
Gemma Drury	St. Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Anne Drury	St. Francis of Assisi
Catherine T.	Blessed Chiara Badano
Nikolas T.	St. William of Ebelholt
Caitlind T.	St. Martha
Chris A.	St. William of Breteuil
Sandy	St. Maruontus
Brandon	Blessed Osanna of Kotor
Rachel	Blessed Jordan of Saxony
Elaine	St. William Pinchon
Fred	St. James the Lesser
Jennifer	St. Dominic Savio
Jonathan	St. Joseph of Leonissa
Leslie	St. Illadan of Rathlihen
Debbie	St. Januarius
Jeremy	The Seven Holy Brothers
Ryan	St. Elizabeth of Hungary
D.A.	St. Martin de Porres
Alan A.	Blessed James of Bevagna
Lisa W	St. Rosius of Campania
Bill W	Blessed Herman the Cripple
EW	St. Gregory the Illuminator
MW	Blessed James of Bevagna
MK	Blessed Terence
PM	Blessed Andre Duliou
DJ	St. Philomena
FH	St. Claudine Thevenet
Janine D	St. Simeon, bishop and martyr
Kyle	Blessed Osanna of Kotor
Rohlena Family	St. Evasius of Asti
Ruth	Blessed Guala
Sarah	S. Maruonitus
John	St. Severinus
Mr. Michael Brown, OP	Pope St. Sixtus II
Matthew	Our Lady of Carmel of the Maipu
Max D	St. John Chrysostom
Kevin	St. Judoc
Jennifer	Blessed John of Salerno
Joyce	St. Emily de Vialar
Bruce	St. Edward the King
Emily Milne	St. Emilie de Villeneuve
Sioban Milne	Blessed Andre Duliou
Katie Milne	St. Andeolus of Smyrna
Ian Milne	St. Madeleine Sophie Barat
Mary Ann Andersen	St. Acius of Amiens
Liese Engel	St. Aderald
Kathy Rossi	Blessed Karl of Austria
Lucy E.	St. Casimir of Poland
Mike V.	Blessed Alphonsus and Companions
ABG	St. Anthony of Egypt
VB	St. Teresa of Avila
AMBG	Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
JJL	St. Crescentianus
JSL JR	St. Hyginus, the Pope
JNB JR	St. Rhipsime
DLB	Pope St. Silverius
FMB	St. John the Apostle
JEG	Pope St. Sixtus II
Susan Maly	St. Gaugericus
Kathy Green	Our Lady of Divine Grace
M.N.W.	Our Lady of Lourdes
A.S.	St. Paulinus of Trier
J.S.	St. Henry II
Jo Razzle	St. Severinus
V. Slaman	St. Agathangelus
J. Slaman	St. Maurice
N. Slaman	St. Evasius of Asti
JL.Slaman	St. Rafael Guizar Valencia
Ben Ewing	St. Andeolus of Smyrna
Jeannie Ewing	St. Quintian of Rodez
Felicity Ewing	St. Ceollach
Sarah Ewing	St. Gregory of Nyssa
Carolyn Clark	St. Theophilus of Corte
jmr1979	St. Madeleine Sophie Barat
Julie	St. Anselm of Canterbury
Marianna	Blessed Thomas Guengoro
John Paul	St. Wistremundus of Cordoba
Thomas	Blessed Filip Gervluk
Araceli	St. Theophilus of Corte
Tracy I	St. Martina
Teshia I	St. Dominic Savio
Christian I	St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Jagear I	St. Denis
Gloria ITheisen	Blessed Margaret of Castello
Joseph (df_seals)	Blessed Aimo
Andy M	St. Leo the Great
Robert J	St. Frances of Rome
Laura L	St. Hyacintha of Mariscotti
Charmaine D	St. Guarinus of Sitten
Isaac O.	Blessed Karl of Austria
Joan O.	Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Liu Mew	St. Poemus of Membressa
Julie T.	St. Martina
Bill T.	St. Cladian of Perga
Scott T.	St. William of Ebelholt
Blake T.	St. Margaret Queen of Scotland
Ruth S.	Blessed Josefa Naval Girbes
Christine MacL.	St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Fran T.	Blessed John Liccio
Joe Sales	St. Stanislaus Kostka
Cathleen W.	St. Scholastica
Seppy P.	Blessed Josefa Naval Girbes
Alma R.	St. Isidore of Seville
John R.	St. Guarinus of Sitten
Tina Z	St. Cornelia the Martyr
Joe (Fiance)	St. Alena
Michelle R.	St. Rigobert of Rheims
M.A.	St. Joseph of Leonissa
Jessa	St. Peter Fourier
Jessa's future husband	St. Isidore of Seville
Jessa's dad	St. Juliana Falconieri
Jessa's Mom	Pope St. Telesphorus
Lorraine	St. Edward the Confessor
Mira	St. Elzear of Sabran
Debbie	St. Emilie de Rodat
Joe	St. Juliana Falconieri
Thomas	Blessed Cecilia (the Dominican)
David	Blessed Benvenuta
Stephanie	St. Colman
Christian B	Blessed Sadoc and Companions
Cheryl G	St. Pretextatus
Jacob C	Blessed Jane of Orvieto
Mark	St. Tironensian Order
Merryn	St. Louise de Marillac
Cindy	St. Stephen the First Martyr
Dustin	St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Lila	St. Dominic Savio
Hailey	St. Andrew Fournet
Joey V	St. Petroc
Madalena	Blessed Pier Giorgio
Lisa B	Pope St. Alexander I
Ramona D	St. Rhipsime
Holly B-D	St. Anthony of Egypt
DiNardo Family	St. Maurice
Lara P	St. Catherine Laboure
Sean	Blessed Bertrand of Garrigue
Brendan	St. Peter Faber
Barry M.	St. Peter of Juilly
Susan M.	St. John of the Grating
Erin M.	St. Peter Fourier
Alex M.	Blessed Bezela of Goda
Elly M.	St. Auspicius of Trier
Anna M.	St. Gertrude the Great
Evelyn M.	Blessed Raymond of Capua
Anthony M.	Blessed James Salomonio
Marie M.	Blessed Innocent V
Sentina M.	St. Dogmael of Wales
Theodore M.	St. Hyacintha of Mariscotti
Jim Bond	St. Isidore of Alexandria
Evangeline Ang	Blessed Anthony of Pavonio
Maryann	Blessed Raymond of Capua
Heidi M.	St. Hitto of Saint-Gall
Harry	St. Martin of Tours
Isabella	St. Theobald of Dorat
Irene K.	Blessed Stephen Bellesini
Denise G	St. Willibald
Sara C	St. Theodore Guerin
Sandra Salazar	St. Boniface (the one whose feast is June 5th)
Valerie V	St. Cosmas
Olindo V	Blessed Hyacinthe Cormier
Katie V	Pope St. Evaristus
D.E.W	The Martyrs of Hayle
C.P.W	St. Cadroe
M.T.W	St. Berno of Cluny
M.K.W	St. Isidore of Seville
M.J.W	St. Domnin
Ray & Rosalina Lopez family	St. Elizabeth of Hungary
James Bobo	St. Padre Pio
BN	St. Pierre Dumoulin-Borie
JD	St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier
James B	St. Scholastica
Michelle B	St. Robert Bellarmine
Craig J	St. Francis Caraccilolo
Andrew J	St. Cajetan
Christopher J	St. Teresa of Avila
GS	Blessed Benvenuta
JS	St. Bartholomew
AS	Blessed Sibyllina
PSR	St. Meneve
ASR	Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores-Alonso
LS	St. Elizabeth of Hungary
FW	St. Linus, Pope
John	St. John of the Grating
PW	St. Bertrand of Comminges
SW	St. Cyril of Alexandria
MW	St. Anthony of Padua
JoAnne	St. Cecilia
Ken	St. Cadroe
Lauren	St. Flavian of Autun
Mark	St. Berno of Cluny
Sean	St. Rhipsime
Jenn D.	Blessed Ann of the Angels
Stacy Daumeyer	Blessed Andrew Franchi
Mike Daumeyer	St. Anthony the Hermit
Noelle Daumeyer	St. Maturus the Novice
Paul Daumeyer	St. Meneve
Caroline (Casey) Daumeyer	St. Hippolytus
Marge J	St. Louis Gabriel Taurin Dufresse
Judy C	St. Cadroe
Thomas W	Blessed Andrew Franchi
Mary DW	St. John Baptist de la Salle
Paul DW	St. Peter Fourier
David DW	St. Rufino
Rachel DW	St. Juan Diego
Mark W	St. Joan of Valois
Teresa M	St. Leontius
Debbie G.	Blessed Andrew of Peschiera
Kevin G.	St. Basil the Great
Nick G.	St. Joan Antidea Thouret
colleen G.	St. Theodulus the Lector
Aaron s.	St. Rosius of Campania
Caitlin G.	St. Crispina
Dan D	St. Ulbaldus
Julie D	St. Leudwinus
S. Family	St. John Chrysostom
Deb W	St. Agatha
Kevin H	St. Noel Chabanel
Francy H	St. John of San Facundo
Emily U	St. Meneve
AJ U	St. Ascelina
Eileen S	St. Maurice
Brian S	St. Severinus
Elise H	St. Kiaran
Owen H	Blessed Dalmatius
Tom	St. Stephen the First Martyr
Anne	St. Baldwin of Rieti
Maggie	St. Nonno of Porto Romano
Celia	St. Crispina
Eli	St. Crispin
Vivian	Blessed Lucy of Narni
GG	St. Antoninus of Pamiers
LG	St. Leonie Aviat
GGS	St. Berno of Cluny
Lauren	St. Bertrand of Comminges
Guyjr	St. Ignatius of Loyola
Guysr	Blessed Marcolino
Lara	Blessed Alvarez of Cordova
S.	St. Joseph Marchand
M.	St. Rusticus of Narbonne
Erica D.	St. Charles Lwanga
Stephen P.	St. Alexis Falconieri
Jennifer P.	St. Francois-Isidore Gagelin
Michael	Pope St. Silverius
Tracy	St. William of Gellone
Ainsley	St. Patrick
Kaley	St. Cloud
Clare R	St. Jeanne de Lestonnac
Helen G	St. Aymard of Cluny
Laura Villanueva	Pope St. Anicetus
Jeff	Blessed John of Fiesole
Ashton	St. Illadan of Rathlihen
Kaylee	Blessed Dalmatius
Greg	St. Jane Frances de Chantal
Mary	St. Antoninus of Pamiers
Ashley	St. William of Breteuil
Jason	St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi
Quinn	St. Frumentius
Celia	St. Julian the Hospitaller
Susan G	St. Maurice

If you are not familiar your saint, I encourage you to research online and even pick up a copy of Father Hugo Hoever's "Live of the Saints," from which I read daily. While the book does not include saints canonized in recent years, it is something that I am highly recommending. You can also view the list of many saints on this blog by clicking here.  And if your saint isn't there, you can simply Google their name.

Here is a prayer to honor any saint: http://acatholiclife.blogspot.com/2006/01/prayer-to-venerate-any-saint.html

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Hodie Nobis Caelorum Rex

Merry Christmas! 

Hodie nobis coelorum rex de virgine nasci dignatus est, ut hominem perditum ad coelestia regna revocaret. Gaudet exercitus angelorum: Quia salus aeterna humano generi apparuit. Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis: quia salus aeterna humano generi apparuit. 

Today the king of heaven has deigned to be born of a virgin in order that fallen man can be recalled to the heavenly kingdom. The army of angels rejoice because eternal salvation has appeared to the human race.  Noel, Noel!

Pope Saint Leo the Great
Sermon I On the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ 

I. Our Saviour, dearly Beloved, is born this day, let us rejoice. It is not fitting that sadness be where there is the birth of Life, Life which abolishes the fear of death and fills us with gladness of promised immortality. No one is excluded from sharing in this gaiety, there is one common reason of joy for all : Our Lord, the Destroyer of sin and death, just as He found no one free from guilt, so came to free all.

Let him who is sanctified exult, for he draws nigh to the palm of victory. Let the sinner rejoice, for he is invited to receive pardon. Let the Gentile be revived, for he is called to life. For the Son of God, in the fullness of time, decreed by the inscrutable depths of the divine counsel, has assumed the nature of the human race to reconcile it to its author, so that the devil, the inventor of death, might be vanquished by that very nature he had vanquished.

In this combat that He entered into for us, the contest was fought with a great and wonderful fairness : the omnipotent God took on this most cruel enemy, not in His majesty, but in our lowliness, presenting to him the same form and the same nature as ours, sharing in our mortality but free from all sin.

Far removed indeed from this nativity is what we read with regard to all men : “No one is free from sin, not even the infant whose life upon the earth is but a day” (Job 14 : 4). Nothing, therefore, of the concupiscence of the flesh passed into this unique nativity, nothing of the law of sin flowed into it.

A royal virgin of the house of David is chosen as the bearer of the Sacred Fruit, who had conceived her divine and human Offspring in her soul, before she conceived Him in her body. And lest, ignoring the divine plan, she be fearful at such unheard of tidings, she learns from an angelic colloquy what was to be wrought in her by the Holy Ghost. Nor did she, who was about to become the Mother of God, believe that this betokened the loss of her virginity. Why should she doubt this new manner of nativity, she to whom the power of the Most High is promised ? The faith of she who believed is confirmed by the witness of a preceding miracle, and to Elizabeth is given surprising fruitfulness; that it might not be doubted, that He Who had given to the barren to conceive, would do likewise to a virgin.

II. The Word of God, therefore, God, the Son of God, Who in the beginning was with God, by Whom all things were made, and without Whom was made nothing that was made, became man, that He might free man from eternal death : so inclining Himself to take on our lowliness without lessening His majesty, that remaining what He was, and taking upon Himself what He was not, He might join the true form of a servant to that form in which He is equal to God the Father; and by such a bond so link both natures, that neither glorification consume the lower, nor assumption lessen the higher.

What is proper to each substance being preserved, then, and coming together in One Person, lowliness is assumed by majesty; infirmity, by power; mortality, by immortality : and to pay the debt of our present state, an inviolable nature is united to our suffering one; and true God and true man are combined into the unity of One Lord, so that, as was needed for our healing, one and the same Mediator of God and men, might, by the one, suffer death, and by the other, rise again from the dead. Rightly then, did the birth of our salvation bring no taint of corruption to the Virginal integrity; for the birth of Truth, was the guardian of virginity.

Such a Birth, dearly Beloved, befitted Christ, the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God; whereby He would be both similar to us by His humanity and far above us by His divinity. For unless He were true God, He could bring us no remedy; and were He not true man, He could offer us no example. The exulting angels, therefore, sing at the birth of the Lord : “Glory to God in the Highest” and “peace on earth” is proclaimed “to men of good will”. For they see the heavenly Jerusalem being constructed from all the peoples of the earth. With what joy must not lowly mankind be glad in this unspeakable work of the divine compassion, when the sublimity of the angels rejoices so much ?

III. Let us, therefore, give thanks, dearly Beloved, to God the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Ghost; Who, because of the exceeding great love wherein He has loved us, has had compassion on us : and “even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ” [Eph. 2:5], that in Him we might be a new creature, and a new work. Let us put off therefore the old man with his deeds; for being made partakers of the birth of Christ, let us renounce the deeds of the flesh [Col. 3:9].

Acknowledge, O Christian, the dignity that is yours, and having been made a partaker of the divine nature, do not by a degenerate manner of living fall back into your former vileness. Remember of Whose Head, and of Whose Body, you are a member. Remind yourself that having been rescued from the powers of darkness, you have now been transferred into the light and the kingdom of God.

By the sacrament of baptism you have become the temple of the Holy Ghost : do not, by evil deeds, drive out from you such a great Guest and submit yourself again to the slavery of the devil; for your price was the Blood of Christ; because in truth He shall judge you, He Who in mercy has redeemed you, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost, livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.

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Munio of Zamora: 7th Dominican Master

Continuing my articles on the Masters of the Dominican Order, we arrive at the 7th Dominican Master: Munio of Zamora.  Munio of Zamora governed the order after Blessed John of Vercelli.  Munio governed the Order of Preachers from 1285 - 1291 AD. 

For a quick recap on the previous Masters of the Order, please click here.

Born in 1237 in Zamora, Spain, few details are known of Munio's early years.  Remarkably along the Masters of the Order of Preachers who preceded him, Munio had no academic formation at one of the great universities in either Italy or France.  His talent was in Administration, as he had developed a reputation as an exceptional administrator for his role as Prior Provincial in his own country in 1281.

Despite some opposition to him among the Chapter of the Order in Bologna in 1285 due to his lack of studies, he was ultimately elected as the Master of the Order.  In fact, it would seem that it was surely Divine Providence who brought forth a great administrator for the benefit of the Order.  The Order had grown remarkably quickly and there was minimal training among the members.  Discipline was becoming a concern for the Order as men began to join the Order and insist they already had the ability to preach and would not permit themselves to be restricted by the Order from doing so their own way.

Munio strongly advocated poverty among those in the Order, as he issued the following statement shortly after his election: "May the zeal of the Order revive in you all! For I tell you with a heart filled with bitterness that, among many of you, this zeal has lost its first vigor."

Fellow 3rd Order Dominican Teritaries owe great respect to Munio as it was he who offered an opportunity to lay people and secular clergy, who had been independent until then, to adopt a rule of life and to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Dominican Order. Shortly after his election as Master, Munio promulgated the Rule of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance of the Blessed Dominic (Regula Fratrum et Sororum Ordinis de Paenitentiae Beati Dominici) for this very purpose. 

After the election of Pope Nicholas IV to the papacy, rumors and stories about Nicholas' past started to circulate in Rome. Among them were the charges that he had been elected thanks, in large part, to the manipulations and bribery of his patron, King Sancho IV of Castile, and Munio was alleged to have been part of the conspiracy.

Pope Nicholas IV asked Munio to resign yet in the General Chapter of 1290, Munio was re-elected and praised by the Order for his reputation for abstinence.  Thereafter, Pope Nicholas offered Munio the role as Archbishop of Compostella if he resigned.  Munio responded by saying he would do so if it was the will of the Holy Father.  But Pope stepped aside from making a decision until a year later when he issued a papal bull on April 12, 1261, removing Munio from office. 

Exhausted after a life of service to the Order and after these trials, Munio was made Bishop of Palencia and served in the office just two years before retiring to the Monastery of Santa Sabina in Rome.  He spent the remainder of his life there and died on February 19, 1300.  His body is today in the Basilica of Santa Sabina.

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Communion in The Hand Undermining the Faith

Guest Post by David Martin

With the crisis of faith ever intensifying, it somehow has evaded the Catholic hierarchy that the crux of the problem has been our casual and disparaging regard for the Holy Eucharist, reflected most especially by today’s errant practice of receiving Communion in the hand.

This is a Protestant practice that was introduced in the late-sixties by renegade bishops to detract from Christ’s divinity and to foment a false empowerment among the laity.

However, the faithful are not empowered to touch the Body of Christ as if they were priests. And whereas this is allowed today as common law, no pope to date has formally approved Communion in the hand. Lay people simply are not consecrated to handle the Blessed Sacrament, so that should they do so, a sacrilege is committed.

This in turn brings on spiritual repercussions and draws the plague of the devil upon the church, so that what is nurtured is an adulterated mindset (evidenced by all the profanation and display of indecency in church), as well as heretical notions about the Sacrament and the Holy Sacrifice (i.e. the Eucharist is holy bread, the Mass is a meal, the Mass is a community gathering, etc.) If Catholics today no longer believe that the Eucharist is the Creator Himself in person, it is because of this diabolical practice that has cheapened their religion and nurtured this apostate mentality.

It was for reason that Pope Paul VI in his instruction Memoriale Domini (May 29, 1969), warned that Communion in the hand “carries certain dangers with it… the danger of a loss of reverence for the August Sacrament of the altar, of profanation, of adulterating the true doctrine."

The late Fr. John Hardon, speaking at the Call to Holiness Conference in Detroit, Michigan, on November 1, 1997, told his audience: “Behind Communion in the hand—I wish to repeat and make as plain as I can—is a weakening, a conscious, deliberate weakening of faith in the Real Presence…. Whatever you can do to stop Communion in the hand will be blessed by God.”

Communion in the hand indeed caters to human pride and warps our conception of Jesus Christ. It serves no other purpose than to nourish contempt for Christ in the Eucharist. It promotes personal uncleanness and fosters the general mentality of transgressing into forbidden realms (touching that which we ought not), which calls to mind the transgression of Eve when she rose up in her pride and partook of the forbidden fruit.

However, the author of both is the devil, who is given great strength to work among us in the Church through this practice. His objective is to destroy the monarchical concept of the Church where Christ is no longer seen as the King of kings in His palace. The ancient serpent seeks to cast mockery on Christ’s divinity where he is reduced to a mere man, “symbolized” by bread and wine, and Communion in the hand has been an effective tool in hand to advance this heresy.

Hence, Pope Paul in his 1969 pastoral letter reaffirmed the Church’s teaching on the reception of Communion, stating, “This method [on the tongue] must be retained.” This was in response to the Dutch bishops who were clamoring for Communion in the hand against his wishes and in defiance of the centuries-old prohibition against it.

The prohibitions against Communion in the hand go back to the early Church. Pope St. Sixtus I (115-125) issued the following decree: "It is prohibited for the faithful to even touch the sacred vessels, or receive in the hand.”

Communion in the hand has in fact received several ecclesiastical condemnations. The Council of Saragossa (380 AD) excommunicated anyone who dared continue receiving Communion in the hand. This was confirmed by the Synod of Toledo (589), known for its staunch defense of Christ’s divinity.

The Sixth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (680-81) likewise forbade the faithful from taking the Host in their hand, even threatening transgressors with excommunication.

The Synod of Rouen (650) condemned Communion in the hand to halt widespread abuses that occurred through this practice, and as a safeguard against sacrilege. The Council decreed:

“Do not put the Eucharist in the hands of any layman or laywoman, but only in their mouths.”

The foregoing prohibitions have never been legally overturned. Communion in the hand is simply carried on today as “common law,” and has served no other purpose than to nurture contempt for Christ in the Eucharist. It is no wonder that St. Basil the Great regarded Communion in the hand as “a grave fault.” (Letter 93)

Communion in the hand indeed reflects a lamentable blindness of spirit in not acknowledging the physical and supernatural presence of the Son of God under the species of bread and wine. The light of holy dogma is urgently needed today to dispel this ignorance which is alienating the faithful from their Eucharistic King.

During the Consecration of Holy Mass, the Sacrifice of Christ is reenacted on the altar through the commemorative formula commanded by Christ to his Apostles—This is My Body, This is My Blood—so that upon pronouncing these words during the elevation of the bread and chalice, the substance of bread and wine is changed into the very substance of Jesus Christ, whereby the substance of bread and wine ceases to exist. It is now the substance of Jesus Christ, only and entirely, without any other substance mingling with it.

The acknowledgment of this supernatural Mystery is the first and foremost requirement placed on us by the Church to receive Holy Communion, without which one may not receive. To this end, the Church has always taught that communicants not touch the Host, since it is the very substance of the Creator Himself which only the consecrated hands of a priest may touch.

Hence by allowing lay persons to handle the Host, it tends to erase this dogmatic fact from mind and suggests mightily that Holy Communion is just a formality, i.e. a holy meal, a community gathering, where people can come up in cafeteria fashion to have their “blessed bread.” Yea, it promotes all manner of disrespect, i.e. women coming up in promiscuous attire with holes in their jeans.

Gallop surveys indicate that a mere 30 percent of America’s Catholics believe in the True Presence. And whereas Pope Francis may see the tenacious adherence to dogma as “idolatry,” he needs to understand that his failure to teach dogma is causing his church to fall into the idolatry of human worship where the people at Mass turn to each other instead of to their God in the Eucharist. It’s now become a “peace be with you” church, instead of a place of adoration.

The faithful would do well to consider the conduct of Moses when he approached the burning bush in the mount. The Lord ordered him to put off his sandals because he was on holy ground. And "Moses hid his face: for he durst not look at God." (Exodus 3:6) And to think that this was only a manifestation of God's presence, not an actual physical presence.

With how much greater reverence must we approach the altar where the Creator Himself dwells day and night in full Body and Spirit? Shall we mock Him and do a little dance (guitar Mass), and then stick our dirty hands out and try to make the Lord of Hosts our pet wafer? God forbid!

Thanks to Communion in the hand, members of satanic cults are given easy access to enter     the Church and take the Host, so that they bring it back to their covens where it is abused and brutalized in the ritualistic Black Mass to Satan. They defecate on the Host and crush it under their shoes as a mockery to the living God, and we do nothing to stop this? Among themselves satanists declare that Communion in the hand is the greatest thing that ever happened to them, and we assist them with our casual practice?

Mike Warnke, a former satanic high priest who converted to Christianity, warned the U.S. bishops that allowing Communion in the hand was a mistake, pointing out how this allows satanists easy access in procuring the host, which they desecrate in their satanic rituals.

This is confirmed by Fr. Andrew Trapp of South Carolina, who posted a web-story about a former satanist in his prayer group [Nicholas] who revealed to him how they steal consecrated Hosts from Catholic Churches for the purpose of desecrating them in the satanic Black Mass.

It was for reason that Benedict XVI attempted to reverse this practice during his pontificate.
Cardinal Llovera, the former Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, stated in 2009, “It is the mission of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Sacraments to work to promote Pope Benedict’s emphasis on the traditional practices of liturgy, such as reception of Communion on the tongue while kneeling.”

The pope was clear that he did not want Catholics receiving Communion in the hand, nor did he want them standing to receive, for which reason the faithful at his Masses were required to kneel and receive on the tongue. Benedict’s objective was to foster renewed love for the Eucharist and to offset the various trends of our time (guitar liturgy, altar girls, lay ministers, Communion in the hand) that have worked together to destroy our regard for the Sacred Mysteries.

The centuries-old ordinance allowing only the consecrated hands of a priest to handle the Body of Christ rules out lay “Eucharistic Ministers” as well. The Council of Trent puts to shame today’s burlesque practice of allowing lay people to distribute Communion.

“To priests alone has been given power to consecrate and administer to the faithful, the Holy Eucharist.” (The Council of Trent)

Pope John Paul II, lenient as he was in enforcing the rule, made it clear that the Sacred Host is not something that lay persons can touch. “To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained.” (Dominicae Cenae, Feb. 1980)

This stems from the fact that lay people’s hands are not anointed to touch the Eucharist, unlike the hands of a priest. St. Thomas Aquinas beautifully articulates this point in his Summa Theologica.

“Because out of reverence towards this Sacrament, nothing touches it, but what is consecrated; hence the corporal and the chalice are consecrated, and likewise the priest’s hands, for touching this Sacrament.”

It suffices to say that Communion in the hand is illicit, despite the flippant approbation of today’s wayward bishops. Father John Hardon explains: “Communion in the hand began with the publication of the Dutch Catechism with nobody's permission except the bishops—in effect, in principle separated themselves from the Holy See.  One country after another began then to ask for permission, which the Dutch bishops never asked for.” (Speaking at the Call to Holiness Conference, Nov. 1, 1997)

Communion in the hand, more specifically, is tied to the late Cardinal Suenens of Belgium, a known heretic and initiated Freemason (initiated 6-15-67, code-name “LESU”) who introduced this practice to the Dutch bishops in the mid-sixties. Suenens, who oversaw the implementation of the worldwide charismatic “renewal” in the Catholic Church and who advocated married priests, was all about defaming the Eucharist and the priesthood.

However, Communion in the hand goes back to the heretical Arians of the third century who introduced this practice as a means of expressing their belief that Christ was not divine. Unfortunately, it has served to express the same in our time and has been at the very heart of the present heresy and desecration that is rampant throughout the universal Church. If we have “abuse” problems today, it is because we're abusing the sacrament—it’s backfiring on us!

Hence Pope Benedict did his part to try to purge the Church of this abuse, seeing how it has contributed mightily to the loss of the awareness of the supernatural presence of Christ in his tabernacle. We might say that a form of Eucharistic atheism has set in. Poor liturgical discipline has given way to apostasy, so the remedy is to return to our knees and receive the Eucharist on the tongue. Without this basic humility before the Eucharist, our efforts at restoring the Church are vain.

Those who approach the Eucharist in a casual, nonchalant manner would do well to consider this warning from St. Paul in Holy Scripture:

“Whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and of the Blood of the Lord... For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 11:27, 28) 

Comment by A Catholic Life - For more information, please see my prior post entitled Mission: Restore Eucharistic Reverence

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Collegium Sanctorum Angelorum: Announcing a New College for Traditional Catholics

ANNOUNCEMENT

 

Collegium sanctorum angelorum announces the establishment of a new college to serve traditional Catholics and the establishment of the college’s supporting subsidiary, Heavenly Roast Coffee.

Have you wondered “what ever happened to Catholic colleges?”  With a very small handful of exceptions, two things have happened to Catholic colleges.  The first is that they have built themselves on a financial model that is unsustainable.  The model requires ever-increasing tuition, ever-increasing enrollment, and ever-increasing fund raising campaigns.  Even then, it seems that enough is never enough.  The second thing that has happened to Catholic colleges is that, in order to keep their enrollment numbers increasing in a society that has been overwhelmed by secularism, they have “lightened” their emphasis on their Catholic identity and mission.  Indeed, many have jettisoned it altogether.

If you are a homeschooling family, it is likely that you have seen a similar decline in the Catholic identity and mission of Catholic elementary and secondary schools as well.   And if you are a traditionalist, it only gets worse.  At best you are tolerated, begrudgingly, but more often than not you are viewed as a “deplorable.”   So, you have “circled the wagons” spiritually and morally.  You educate your children, you drive long distances to attend Mass, and you select a small circle of friends who will reinforce your efforts to inculcate the faith in your children.   Now as your children are growing, perhaps you are wondering what to do for college?   Where can you send them and have a reasonable hope that your eighteen years of toil won’t be undone in the first semester of classes?  Let me give you a place to consider.

Collegium Sanctorum Angelorum (College of the Holy Angels) will be a faithful, affordable, liberal arts college serving traditional Catholics.  (http://www.collegiumsanctorumangelorum.org)

The Collegium will be a residential college opening in Ocala, FL in the fall of 2019.  It will provide a liberal arts education (A.A. and B.A.) that is faithful to the intellectual, moral, spiritual, and liturgical traditions of the Roman Catholic Church, and a formation in Catholic living, called ore et labore, both at affordable rates (under $13,500) for tuition, room and board.  In short, the Collegium will be faithful, affordable, and traditional.

The Curriculum of the Collegium will include a liberal arts core of 90 credits (of a total of 120).  The final 30 credits will offer students a limited selection of electives and curricular emphases.  (See more details at http://www.collegiumsanctorumangelorum.org/the-collegium)

The Collegium will also provide a formation in Catholic living through regular prayer (including Mass and parts of the Divine Office), opportunities for every student to work in support of the mission of the college, co-curricular activities that will support intellectual inquiry, spiritual formation, and moral discernment, and a faculty/staff that is committed to providing exemplary models of Catholic living.

The college is as concerned about formation as it is about information.  Thus, the residential aspect of the college is critical, and it will constitute a program of prayer, centered on the traditional Latin Mass and parts of the Divine Office, work, and study.  The formation will be essentially contemplative in nature, to which the traditional forms of prayer are more naturally aligned.  (This will also serve the needs of traditional Catholics, for whom there is currently no four-year college devoted to such a traditionally oriented formation.)

The college will keep its costs affordable by limiting the size and scope of the program, by supporting the program with auxiliary income-producing enterprises – one of which is HEAVENLY ROAST COFFEE – and by using technology to achieve efficiencies wherever possible.  (Look at Heavenly Roast Coffee here: http://www.heavenlyroastcoffee.com)

While the Collegium will not be an official agency or organization of the Catholic Church, nor have a legal relationship with the Catholic Church, the Collegium will provide an education that is faithful to the magisterium of the Church.  Every member of the faculty and staff at the college will be a practicing Catholic in full communion with the Holy Catholic Church, will be fully supportive of the purposes of the Collegium, and will sign the Collegium’s pledge of fidelity to the magisterium of the Catholic Church and its oath rejecting the philosophy of Modernism.

YOU CAN HELP IN 5 WAYS:
1.    Visit the Collegium’s website: www.collegiumsanctorumangelorum.org, sign up for our newsletters and announcements, and follow our blog.
2.    Join and like the Collegium’s Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1000345869993413/.
3.    Visit www.heavenlyroastcoffee.com, and sign up for our announcements and sales offerings, and buy your coffee from Heavenly Roast Coffee.
4.    Visit https://www.facebook.com/heavenlyroastcoffee/, and like the page, and share it.
5.    Pray this prayer every day:

Prayer to the Holy Angels
Bless the Lord, All you His Angels, You who are mighty in strength and do His will.   Intercede for me at the throne of God, and by your unceasing watchfulness protect me in every danger of soul and body.   Obtain for me the grace of final perseverance, so that after this life I may be admitted to your glorious company and may sing with you the praises of God for all eternity.

O all you holy Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones; Dominions, Virtues and Powers; Principalities, Archangels and Angels; and especially you, my dear Guardian Angel, intercede for me and obtain for me the special favor of the success of the College of the Holy Angels.

(Our Father … 10x – one for each of the orders of angels and one for your guardian angel, that as they intercede for the Collegium, all things will be done according to the will of Our Father in heaven.)

Contact For More Information: edwardschaefer@collegiumsanctorumangelorum.org

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Pope St. Zephyrinus

Next in the continuing series of posts on the History of the Sovereign Pontiffs, we pick up after Pope St. Victor I and come to the 15th Sovereign Pontiff: Pope St. Zephyrinus.

A native of Rome, St. Zephyrinus reigned as Pope from 199 to 217 AD. During part of his rule, the Church endured the bloody persecution of Emperor Septimus Severus. Pope Zephyrinus rejoiced in the triumphs of the martyrs, but he had much to suffer from current heresies and apostasies. It was his glory that the heretics called this holy Pope the principle defender of Christ's divinity.

St. Zephyrinus is remembered especially for his combat against the adoptionist heresies of the followers of Theodotus the Byzantium who were ruled by Theodotus, the Money Changer and Asclepiodotus.  Although not physically martyred, St. Zephyrinus is called a martyr for the suffering he endured.

Thus we see in the first 15 Popes of the Catholic Church covered so far in this series the presence of great afflictions imposed by the enemy, yet these men remained steadfast in serving Christ and furthering the Faith against heresies, schisms, and paganism.  May they continue to pray for the Church Suffering and the Church Militant today.

The following is taken Lives of the Saints by Alban Butler

ZEPHYRINUS, a native of Rome, succeeded Victor in the pontificate, in the year 202, in which Severus raised the fifth most bloody persecution against the Church, which continued not for two years only, but until the death of that emperor in 211. Under this furious storm this holy pastor was the support and comfort of the distressed flock of Christ, and he suffered by charity and compassion what every confessor underwent. 

The triumphs of the martyrs were indeed his joy, but his heart received many deep wounds from the fall of apostates and heretics. Neither did this latter affliction cease when peace was restored to the Church. Our Saint had also the affliction to see the fall of Tertullian, which seems to have been owing partly to his pride. Eusebius tells us that this holy Pope exerted his zeal so strenuously against the blasphemies of the heretics that they treated him in the most contumelious manner; but it was his glory that they called him the principal defender of Christ's divinity. 

St. Zephyrinus filled the pontifical chair seventeen years, dying in 219. He was buried in his own cemetery, on the 26th of August. He is, in some Martyrologies, styled a martyr, which title he might deserve by what he suffered in the persecution, though he perhaps did not die by the executioner.

Reflection: God has always raised up holy pastors zealous to maintain inviolable the faith of His Church, and to watch over the purity of its morals and the sanctity of its discipline. We enjoy the greatest advantages of divine grace through their labors, and owe to God a tribute of perpetual thanksgiving and immortal praise for all the mercies He has accorded His Church.

Collect from his feastday on August 26th:

O Eternal Shepherd, who appointed blessed Zephyrinus 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 . . .

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Maxim of St. Philip Neri for Conquering Lust

Read A Maxim of St. Philip Neri for Each Day of the Year

• Devotion to the Blessed Virgin is actually necessary, because there is no better means of obtaining God’s graces than through His most holy Mother.

• In order to preserve their purity, young men should frequent the Sacraments, especially confession, go to sermons, and be often reading the Lives of Saints.

• He who conceals a grave sin in confession, is completely in the devil’s hands.

• There is nothing more to the purpose for exciting a spirit of prayer, than the reading of spiritual books.

• We ought to fear and fly temptations of the flesh, even in sickness, and in old age itself, aye, and so long as we can open and shut our eyelids, for the spirit of incontinence gives no truce either to place, time, or person.

• The stench of impurity before God and the angels is so great, that no stench in the world can equal it.

• Humility is the true guardian of chastity.

• We must never trust ourselves, for it is the devil’s way first to get us to feel secure, and then to make us fall.

• If young men would preserve their purity, let them avoid bad company.

• Without mortification nothing can be done.

• Let them also avoid nourishing their bodies delicately.

• Young men should be very careful to avoid idleness.

• If young men wish to protect themselves from all danger of impurity, let them never retire to their own rooms immediately after dinner, either to read or write, or do anything else; but let them remain in conversation, because at that time the devil is wont to assault us with more than usual vehemence, and this is that demon which is called in Scripture the noonday demon, and from which holy David prayed to be delivered.

• When a man is in an occasion of sin, let him look what he is doing, get out of the occasion, and avoid the sin.

• An excellent method of preserving ourselves from relapsing into serious faults, is to say every evening, “To-morrow I may be dead.”

• Let a man always think that he has God before his eyes.

• Men should often renew their good resolutions, and not lose heart because they are tempted against them.

• One of the most efficacious means of keeping ourselves chaste, is to have compassion for those who fall through their frailty, and never to boast in the least of being free, but with all humility to acknowledge that whatever we have is from the mercy of God.

• To be without pity for other men’s falls, is an evident sign that we shall fall ourselves shortly.

• In the matter of purity there is no greater danger than the not fearing the danger: when a man does not distrust himself, and is without fear, it is all over with him.

• As soon as a man feels that he is tempted, he should fly to God, and devoutly utter that prayer which the fathers of the desert so much esteemed: “O God come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help me” or that verse, “create a clean heart in me, O God.”

• When sensual thoughts come into the mind, we ought immediately to make use of our minds, and fix them instantaneously upon something or other, no matter what.

• In temptations of the flesh, a Christian ought to have immediate recourse to God, make the sign of the cross over his heart three times, and say, “Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

• In the warfare of the flesh, only cowards gain the victory; that is to say, those who fly.

• We should be less alarmed for one who is tempted in the flesh, and who resists by avoiding the occasions, than for one who is not tempted and is not careful to avoid the occasions.

• When a person puts himself in an occasion of sin, saying, “I shall not fall, I shall not commit it,” it is an almost infallible sign that he will fall, and with all the greater damage to his soul.

• Let us always go to confession with sincerity, and take this as our rule - Never out of human respect to conceal anything from our confessor, however inconsiderable it may be.

• In trying to get rid of bad habits, it is of the greatest importance not to put off going to confession after a fall, and also to keep to the same confessor.

• When we go to confession, we should accuse ourselves of our worst sins first, and of those things which we are most ashamed of, because by this means we put the devil to greater confusion, and reap more fruit from our confession.

• At Communion we ought to ask for the remedy of the vice to which we feel ourselves most inclined.

• In order to begin well, and to finish better, it is quite necessary to hear mass every day, unless there be some lawful hindrance in the way.

• We must not trust in ourselves, but take the advice of our spiritual father, and recommend ourselves to everybody’s prayers.

• Let us strive after purity of heart, for the Holy Ghost dwells in candid and simple minds.

• The Lord grants in a moment what we may have been unable to obtain in dozens of years.

• We must pray incessantly for the gift of perseverance.

• Human language cannot express the beauty of a soul which dies in a state of grace.

• To obtain the protection of our Blessed Lady in our most urgent wants, it is very useful to say sixty-three times, after the fashion of a Rosary, “Virgin Mary, Mother of God, pray to Jesus for me.”

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Gabriel Garcia Moreno's Rule of Life

Gabriel Garcia Moreno's Rule of Life

1. Every morning when saying my prayers I will ask specially for the virtue of humility.

2. Every day I will hear Mass, say the Rosary, and read, besides a chapter of the Imitation, this rule and the annexed instructions.

3. I will take care to keep myself as much as possible in the presence of God, especially in conversation, so as not to speak useless words. I will constantly offer my heart to God, and principally before beginning any action.

4. I will say to myself continually: I am worse than a demon and deserve that Hell should be my dwelling place. When I am tempted, I will add: What shall I think of this in the hour of my last agony?

5. In my room, never to pray sitting when I can do so on my knees or standing. Practice daily little acts of humility, like kissing the ground, for example. Desire all kinds of humiliations, while taking care at the same time not to deserve them. To rejoice when my actions or my person are abused and censured.

6. Never to speak of myself, unless it be to own my defects or faults.

7. To make every effort, by the thought of Jesus and Mary, to restrain my impatience and contradict my natural inclinations. To be patient and amiable even with people who bore me; never to speak evil of my enemies.

8. Every morning, before beginning my work, I will write down what I have to do, being very careful to distribute my time well, to give myself only to useful and necessary business and to continue it with zeal and perseverance. I will scrupulously observe the laws of justice and truth, and have no intention in all my actions save the greater glory of God.

9. I will make a particular examination twice a day on my exercise of different virtues, and a general examination every evening. I will go to confession every week.

10. I will avoid all familiarities, even the most innocent, as prudence requires. I will never pass more than an hour in any amusement, and in general, never before eight o'clock in the evening.

Click here for a printable version in PDF

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4 SSPX Priests Ordained; Total Reaches 613

At Holy Cross Seminary in Goulburn, Australia, Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais ordained three priests on Thursday, December 15, 2016: two Americans and one Australian. 

At Our Lady Co-Redemptrix Seminary in La Reja, Argentina, Bishop Bernard Fellay will ordain a Brazilian priest on Saturday, December 17, 2016. 

In total, 2016 has seen 23 new priests ordained for the SSPX, bringing the total up to 613 who are aided by 117 brothers and 79 oblate sisters. In its six seminaries across the world, 215 young men, as well as 40 pre-seminarians, were registered at the beginning of the academic year.

Source

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St. Eusebius of Vercelli

 The Virgin Mary in Glory with Archangel Gabriel, and Saints Eusebius of Vercelli (seated), Saint Sebastian, and Saint Roch by Sebastiano Ricci.

Semidouble (1954 Calendar): December 16

Today is the Feast of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, who was born in 283 and died in 371.  Despite the many years that have passed since St. Eusebius walked on this earth, there is much we can learn from his holy life.

St Eusebius was the bishop of Vercelli in northern Italy in the middle of the fourth century. St. Ambrose says he was the first in the West to introduce community life among the secular clergy.

No stranger to sufferings at the hands of heretics, St. Eusebius was exiled to Palestine and Cappadocia by Emperor Constantius for his defense of St. Athanasius and his opposition to the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ.

Though greatly mistreated in exile, [he won the title of martyr for his grievous sufferings] the courageous bishop survived the ordeal and, on the death of the Emperor, took up the fight for the Church once more. He won over enemies, however, by urging clemency toward repentant Arian bishops, the very ones who had been a cause of his exile.

St. Eusebius died in peace at Vercelli on August 1, 371.

Traditional Matins Reading

Eusebius, by birth a Sardinian, was a lector in the Church at Rome, and afterwards Bishop of Vercelli. It may well be said that it was God himself who chose him to be the pastor of this Church; for the electors, who had never before seen him, no sooner set their eyes upon him, than they preferred him before all their fellow citizens; and this instantly, and as soon as they first saw him. Eusebius was the first of the bishops in the western Church, who established monks in his Church to exercise the functions of the clergy; he did it in order that he might thus unite, in the same persons, the detachment from riches and the dignity of levites. It was during this time that the impious doctrines of the Arians were devastating the whole of the west; and so vigorously did Eusebius attack them, that Pope Liberius’ greatest consolation was the unflinching faith of this holy man. It was on this account, that the same Pope, knowing that the Spirit of God burned in Eusebius’ soul, commissioned him to go, accompanied by his legates, to the emperor, and plead the cause of the true faith. Eusebius and the legates being come before Constantius, the saint pleaded so powerfully, that the emperor granted what he asked, namely, that a council of the bishops should be convened.

That Council was held the following year, at Milan; Eusebius was invited by Constantius to be present at it, which was what the legates of Liberius had desired and begged. So far was he from being duped by the synagogue of the malicious Arians to side with them against St. Athanasius, that he openly declared from the first that several of those present were known to him to be heretics, and he therefore proposed that they should subscribe to the Nicene Creed before proceeding any further. This the Arians, infuriated with anger, refused to do; whereupon, he not only refused to subscribe to what was drawn up against Athanasius, but he also, by a most ingenious device, succeeded in having the name of St. Denis the martyr blotted out from the decree, which the craft of the Arians had induced him to sign. Wherefore, they being exceedingly angry against Eusebius, loaded him with injuries, and had him sent into banishment. The holy man, on his side, shaking off the dust from his feet, caring little either for the threats of the emperor, or the sword which was held over him, submitted to banishment as to something which belonged to his episcopal office. Being sent to Scythopolis, he there endured hunger, thirst, blows, and sundry other punishments; he generously despised his life for the true faith, feared not death, and gave up his body to the executioners.

How much he had to put up with from the cruelty and insolence of the Arians, we learn from the admirable letters, full of energy, piety, and religion, which he addressed, from Scythopolis, to the clergy and people of Vercelli, and to other persons of the neighbouring country. It is evident from these letters that the heretics were unable, either by their threats or by their inhuman treatment, to shake his constancy, or to induce him by the craft of their flattery or arguments to join their party. Thence he was taken into Cappadocia, and lastly into Thebais of Upper Egypt, in punishment of his refusing to yield. Thus did he suffer the hardships of exile until the death of Constantius: after which he was allowed to return to his flock; but this he would not do, until he had assisted at the Council which was being held at Alexandria for the purpose of repairing the injuries done by heresy. This done, he travelled through the provinces of the east, endeavouring, like a clever physician, to restore to perfect health such as were weak in the faith, by instructing them in the doctrine of the Church. Animated by the like zeal for the salvation of souls, he passed over into Illyricum; and having at length returned to Italy, that country put off its mourning. He there published the commentaries of Origen and Eusebius of Cæsarea on the Psalms, which two works he translated from the Greek into Latin, with such corrections as were needed. At length, having rendered himself celebrated by a life spent in such actions as these, he died at Vercelli, in the reign of Valentinian and Valens, and went to receive the immortal crown of glory which his so many and great sufferings had merited for him.

Collect:

O God, who gladdens us each year by the feast of Your blessed martyr bishop Eusebius, mercifully grant that we who celebrate his birthday may also enjoy his protection. Through Our Lord . . .

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