Glory to God

2 of 2 September 13 — ST. AMATUS, Abbot But the weak Thierry III, influenced by corrupt and evil advisers, became the enemy of the holy Amatus, condemned him without appeal, and exiled him from his diocese. The meek bishop patiently bore this unjust treatment, and withdrew to a monastery, where he died a holy death in 690. Thierry, converted, no doubt, by the prayers of his gentle victim, discovered too late the wrong he had done the saintly man, and sought to repair the past by deeds of mercy. —— ✿ —— . . . Innocence shall make False accusation blush, and tyranny Tremble at patience. ~ SHAKESPEARE —— ✿ —— Favorite Practice Patiently endure wrongs, and it may be that you will convert the sinner who inflicts them upon you. ~ Short Lives of the Saints (1884) St. Amatus, ora ora nobis.

September 13 — ST. AMATUS, Abbot ST. AMATUS was a recluse who led an austere life in a cell belonging to the ancient monastery of Agaune. He was called from his retirement to be elevated to the bishopric of Sion in the Valais. Here he labored faithfully in the functions of his high office, and by his sanctity gave universal edification. (continued)

2 of 2 SEPTEMBER 13 — ST. EULOGIUS, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA Having, by an enlarged pursuit of learning, attained to a great variety of useful knowledge in the different branches of literature, he set himself to the study of divinity in the sacred sources of that science, which are the Holy Scriptures, the tradition of the Church as explained in its councils, and the approved writings of its eminent pastors. In the great dangers and necessities of the Church he was drawn out of his solitude, and made priest of Antioch by the patriarch St. Anastasius. Upon the death of John, the Patriarch of Alexandria, St.Eulogius was raised to that patriarchal dignity toward the close of the year 583. About two years after his promotion, our Saint was obliged to make a journey to Constantinople, in order to concert measures concerning certain affairs of his Church. He met at court St. Gregory the Great, and contracted with him a holy friendship, so that, from that time, they seemed to be one heart and one soul. Among the letters of St. Gregory, we have several extant which he wrote to our Saint. St. Eulogius composed many excellent works against different heresies, and died in the year 606. REFLECTION. — We admire the great actions and the glorious triumph of the Saints; yet it is not so much in these that their sanctity consisted, as in the constant habitual heroic disposition of their souls. There is no one who does not sometimes do good actions; but he can never be called virtuous who does well only by humor, or by fits and starts, not by steady habits. ~ Pictorial Lives of the Saints (1878) St. Eulogius, pray for us.

SEPTEMBER 13 — ST. EULOGIUS, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA St. EULOGIUS was a Syrian by birth, and while young embraced the monastic state in that country. The Eutychian heresy had thrown the Churches of Syria and Egypt into much confusion, and a great part of the monks of Syria were at that time become remarkable for their loose morals and errors against faith. Eulogius learned from the fall of others to stand more watchfully and firmly upon his guard, and was not less distinguished by his innocence and sanctity of his manners than by the purity of his doctrine. (continued)

2 of 2 September 12 — ST. SACERDOS, Bishop Childebert, the pious king of Paris, held him in peculiar esteem; and he was so beloved and venerated by his own people that, having died at Paris in or about the year 550, envoys were sent by the faithful of Lyons to bring back the remains of St. Sacerdos to his own see, so that they might preserve even in death the holy body of their departed pastor and bishop. Thus the honors which that sainted prelate had shunned during life, pursued and crowned him in the tomb. —— ✿ —— . . . Dying to leave a memory like the breath Of summers full of sunshine and of showers, A grief and gladness in the atmosphere. ~ HENRY W. LONGFELLOW —— ✿ —— Favorite Practice To act in all things for the love of God, and He will make you, in your turn, beloved. ~ Short Lives of the Saints (1884) St. Sacerdos, ora ora nobis.

September 12 — ST. SACERDOS, Bishop IN the sixth century, the see of Lyons being vacant, St. Sacerdos, against his will and almost by virtue of royal authority, was appointed to succeed St. Leo. The new prelate answered the general expectation formed respecting him by his personal virtues, by his great zeal for the sanctification of his flock and for the destruction of heresy. (continued)

2 of 2 SEPTEMBER 12 — ST. GUY OF ANDERLECHT Guy could not bear to leave the church; but the offer seemed providential, and he at last closed with it. Their ship, however, was lost on the first voyage, and on returning to Laeken, Guy found his place filled. The rest of his life was one long penance for his inconstancy. About the year 1033, finding his end at hand, he returned to Anderlecht, in his own country. As he died, a light shone round him, and a voice was heard proclaiming his eternal reward. REFLECTION. — Jesus was only nine months in the womb of Mary, three hours on the Cross, three days in the sepulchre, but He is always in the tabernacle. Does our reverence before Him bear witness to this most blessed truth? ~ Pictorial Lives of the Saints (1878) St. Guy of Anderlecht, pray for us.

September 12 — ST. SACERDOS, Bishop IN the sixth century, the see of Lyons being vacant, St. Sacerdos, against his will and almost by virtue of royal authority, was appointed to succeed St. Leo. The new prelate answered the general expectation formed respecting him by his personal virtues, by his great zeal for the sanctification of his flock and for the destruction of heresy. (continued)

SEPTEMBER 12 — ST. GUY OF ANDERLECHT As a child Guy had two loves, the Church and the poor. The love of prayer growing more and more, he left his poor home at Brussels to seek greater poverty and closer union with God. He arrived at Laeken, near Brussels, and there showed such devotion before Our Lady's shrine that the priest besought him to stay and serve the Church. Thenceforth, his great joy was to be always in the church, sweeping the floor and ceiling, polishing the altars, and cleansing the sacred vessels. By day he still found time and means to befriend the poor, so that his almsgiving became famous in all those parts. A merchant of Brussels, hearing of the generosity of this poor sacristan, came to Laeken, and offered him a share in his business. (continued)

2 of 2 September 12 — ST. SACERDOS, Bishop Childebert, the pious king of Paris, held him in peculiar esteem; and he was so beloved and venerated by his own people that, having died at Paris in or about the year 550, envoys were sent by the faithful of Lyons to bring back the remains of St. Sacerdos to his own see, so that they might preserve even in death the holy body of their departed pastor and bishop. Thus the honors which that sainted prelate had shunned during life, pursued and crowned him in the tomb. —— ✿ —— . . . Dying to leave a memory like the breath Of summers full of sunshine and of showers, A grief and gladness in the atmosphere. ~ HENRY W. LONGFELLOW —— ✿ —— Favorite Practice To act in all things for the love of God, and He will make you, in your turn, beloved. ~ Short Lives of the Saints (1884) St. Sacerdos, ora ora nobis.

2 of 2 SEPTEMBER 12 — ST. GUY OF ANDERLECHT Guy could not bear to leave the church; but the offer seemed providential, and he at last closed with it. Their ship, however, was lost on the first voyage, and on returning to Laeken, Guy found his place filled. The rest of his life was one long penance for his inconstancy. About the year 1033, finding his end at hand, he returned to Anderlecht, in his own country. As he died, a light shone round him, and a voice was heard proclaiming his eternal reward. REFLECTION. — Jesus was only nine months in the womb of Mary, three hours on the Cross, three days in the sepulchre, but He is always in the tabernacle. Does our reverence before Him bear witness to this most blessed truth? ~ Pictorial Lives of the Saints (1878) St. Guy of Anderlecht, pray for us.

2 of 2 September 11 — ST. PAPHNUCIUS, Bishop When Constantine the Great restored peace to the Church, Paphnucius reappeared in his diocese; and the glory of his recent sufferings for the faith, as well as his personal sanctity, attracted to him not only the homage of his flock, but that of the Fathers of the Council at Nicea. The emperor delighted in conversing with the holy bishop, and never parted from him without kissing respectfully the scars of those wounds which Paphnucius had endured for Christ. At the Council of Tyre, when a difference had arisen between St. Athanasius and Maximus, patriarch of Jerusalem, Paphnucius was so fortunate as to effect a reconciliation between those who had been calumniated by the enemies of the faith. —— ✿ —— Thus he conducts, by holy paths and pleasant, Innocent souls, and sinful souls forgiven, Towards the bright palace where our God is present, Throned in high heaven. ~ CARDINAL NEWMAN —— ✿ —— Favorite Practice To keep your soul in such holy peace that you may be able to communicate peace to others. ~ Short Lives of the Saints (1884) St. Paphnucius, ora ora nobis.

September 11 — ST. PAPHNUCIUS, Bishop ST. PAPHNUCIUS was the disciple of St. Anthony and one of the holiest bishops of Upper Egypt. During the persecution of Maximinus, because he confessed the faith, he was grievously wounded in the hand and ankle; his right eye was torn out; and he was condemned to labor in the mines. (continued)

2 of 2 SEPTEMBER 11 — ST. PAPHNUTIUS, BISHOP Constantine the Great, during the celebration of that synod, sometimes conferred privately with him in his palace, and never dismissed him without kissing respectfully the place which had once held the eye he had lost for the faith. St. Paphnutius remained always in a close union with St. Athanasius, and accompanied him to the Council of Tyre, in 335, where they found much the greater part of that assembly to be professed Arians. Seeing Maximus, Bishop of Jerusalem, among them, Paphnutius took him by the hand, led him out, and told him he could not see that any who bore the same marks as he in defence of the faith should be seduced and imposed upon by persons who were resolved to oppress the most strenuous assertor of its fundamental article. We have no particular account of the death of St. Paphnutius; but his name stands in the Roman Martyrology on the 11th of September. REFLECTION. — If to fight for our country be glorious, "it is likewise great glory to follow the Lord," saith the Wise Man. ~ Pictorial Lives of the Saints (1878) St. Paphnutius, pray for us.

SEPTEMBER 11 — ST. PAPHNUTIUS, BISHOP The holy confessor Paphnutius was an Egyptian, and after having spent several years in the desert, under the direction of the great St. Antony, was made bishop in Upper Thebais. He was one of those confessors who, under the tyrant Maximin Daia, lost their right eye, and were afterward sent to work in the mines. Peace being restored to the Church, Paphnutius returned to his flock. The Arian heresy being broached in Egypt, he was one of the most zealous in defending the Catholic faith, and for his eminent sanctity and the glorious title of confessor (or one who had confessed the faith before the persecutors and under torments) was highly considered in the great Council of Nice. (continued)

2 of 2 September 10 — ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINE, Confessor His eminent sanctity would seem to have been foretold by a star of wonderful splendor which at his nativity is said to have shot through the heavens from St. Angelo, pausing over the city of Tolentino, where he afterwards fixed his residence. In his religious career St. Nicholas was distinguished by his fervent devotion and extraordinary austerities, so that it was remarked of him that ‘‘he did not live, but languished through life.” He was also an eloquent preacher. After being favored with innumerable miracles, visions, and revelations, St. Nicholas died in 1309, and was canonized in 1446. —— ✿ —— . . . His flutt’ring pulses slowly cease To time the deeds that went his days to fill; And calmly, sweetly fades his life away, As fades the twilight of a cloudiess day. ~ BROTHER AZARIAS —— ✿ —— Favorite Practice To hide one’s little daily austerities under a sweet, affable exterior. ~ Short Lives of the Saints (1884) St. Nicholas of Tolentino, ora ora nobis.

September 10 — ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINE, Confessor ONE of the greatest saints of the Augustinian Order is St. Nicholas of Tolentino. This servant of God was born about the year 1239 in the little town of St. Angelo, near Fermo. His parents, having besought and obtained a son through the intercession of St. Nicholas of Myra, bestowed on him the name of that beneficent bishop. He was dedicated to God in infancy, and in very early youth assumed the habit of an Augustinian friar. (continued)

2 of 2 SEPTEMBER 10 — ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO He conceived an ardent charity for the Holy Souls, so near and yet so far from their Saviour; and often after his Mass, it was revealed to him that the souls for whom he had offered the Holy Sacrifice had been admitted to the presence of God. Amidst his loving labors for God and man, he was haunted by fear of his own sinfulness. "The heavens," said he, "are not pure in the sight of Him whom I serve; how then shall I, a sinful man, stand before Him?" As he pondered on these things, Mary, the Queen of all Saints, appeared before him. "Fear not, Nicholas," she said, "all is well with you: my Son bears you in His Heart, and I am your protection." Then his soul was at rest; and he heard, we are told, the songs which the angels sing in the presence of their Lord. He died September 10th, 1310. REFLECTION. — Would you die the death of the just? there is only one way to secure the fulfilment of your wish. Live the life of the just. For it is impossible that one who has been faithful to God in life should make a bad or an unhappy end. ~ Pictorial Lives of the Saints (1878) St. Nicholas of Tolentino, pray for us.

SEPTEMBER 10 — ST. NICHOLAS OF TOLENTINO BORN in answer to the prayer of a holy mother, and vowed before his birth to the service of God, Nicholas never lost his baptismal innocence. His austerities were conspicuous even in the austere Order — the Hermits of St. Augustine— to which he belonged, and to the remonstrances which were made by his superiors, he only replied, " How can I be said to fast, while every morning at the altar I receive my God?" (continued)

2 of 2 SEPTEMBER 9 — ST. OMER, BISHOP The greater part of those living in his diocese were still pagans, and even the few Christians were, through a scarcity of priests, fallen into a sad corruption of manners. The great and difficult work of their conversion was reserved for St. Omer. The holy Bishop applied himself to his task with such zeal that in a short time his diocese became one of the most flourishing in France. In his old age, St. Omer became blind, but that affliction did not lessen his pastoral concern for his flock. He died in the odor of sanctity, while on a pastoral visit to Wavre, in 670. SAINT PETER CLAVER PETER CLAVER was a Spanish Jesuit. In Majorca he fell in with the holy lay-brother Alphonsus Rodriguez, who, having already learned by revelation the saintly career of Peter, became his spiritual guide, foretold to him the labors he would undergo in the Indies, and the throne he would gain in heaven. Ordained priest in New Granada, Peter was sent to Cartagena, the great slave-mart of the West Indies, and there he consecrated himself by vow to the salvation of those ignorant and miserable creatures. For more than forty years he labored in this work. He called himself " the slave of the slaves." He was their apostle, father, physician, and friend. He fed them, nursed them with the utmost tenderness, in their loathsome diseases, often applying his own lips to their hideous sores. His cloak, which was the constant covering of the naked, though soiled with their filthy ulcers, sent forth a miraculous perfume. His rest after his great labors was in nights of penance and prayer. However tired he might be, when news arrived of a fresh slave-ship, Blessed Peter immediately revived, his eyes brightened, and he was at once on board amongst his dear slaves, bringing them comfort for body and soul. A false charge of reiterating baptism for a while stopped his work. He submitted without a murmur till the calumny was refuted, and then God so blessed his toil that 40,000 negroes were baptized before he went to his reward, in 1654. REFLECTION. — When you see any one standing in need of your assistance, either for body or soul, do not ask yourself why some one else did not help him, but think to yourself that you have found a treasure. ~ Pictorial Lives of the Saints (1878) St. Omer, pray for us. St. Peter Claver, pray for us.