722 lines
121 KiB
JSON
722 lines
121 KiB
JSON
{
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"06010000": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest Basil, Martyr Vera († 1940)",
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"short": "New Hieromartyr"
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}
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},
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"06010100": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "St Metrius, the worker of land († 912)",
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"short": "St Metrius"
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}
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},
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"06010200": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "Venerable Martyrs Shio the New, David, Gabriel, and Paul of the St David Gareji Monastery, Georgia († 1696)",
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"short": "Venerable Martyrs"
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}
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},
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"06020100": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "New Martyr Demetrius of Philadelphia († 1657)",
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"short": "New Martyr"
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}
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},
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"06020200": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "New Martyr Constantine the Hagarian († 1819)",
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"short": "New Martyr"
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}
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},
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"060205": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "Hieromartyr Pothinus, bishop of Lyon and with him martyr Blandin and others († 177)",
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"short": "Hieromartyr Pothinus"
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},
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"life": {
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"id": "",
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"copyright": "Butler, Alban. The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints, Volume 6. (J. Murphy, 1815) pg 20-34",
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"text": "<p>From the letter of the churches of Vienne and Lyons to their brethren in Asia and Phrygia, extant, though imperfect, in Eusebius”s Hist. b. 5. cb. 1, 2, 3, one of the most precious and most moving monuments of the primitive ages, as Jos. Scaliger observes, in his notes on the Chronicle of Eusebius. After the miraculous victory obtained by the prayers of the Christians under Marcus Aurelius, in 174, the church enjoyed a kind of peace, though it was often disturbed in particular places by popular commotions, or by the superstitious fury of certain governors. This appears from the violent persecution which was raised three years after the aforesaid victory, at Vienne and Lyons in Gaul, in 177; whilst St. Pothinus was bishop of Lyons, and St. Irenæus, who had been sent thither by St. Polycarp out of Asia, was a priest of that city. Many of the principal persons of this church were Greeks, and came from Asia; being doubtless led by a zealous desire to propagate the kingdom of Christ, and invited by the great intercourse of traffic between the ports of Asia and Marseilles. The progress which the gospel had made, and the eminent sanctity of those who professed it in that country, enraged the devil, and stirred up the malice of the idolaters, who, in a transport of sudden fury, resolved to extirpate their very name; not knowing that the church of Christ, planted by his cross, grew more fruitful by the sufferings of its children, as a vine flourishes by being pruned. The conflicts of the glorious martyrs, who on this occasion had the honour to seal their faith with their blood, were recorded by those who were eye-witnesses, and the companions of their sufferings, in a letter written by them on purpose to their old friends and brethren, the Christians of Asia and Phrygia. The piety, eloquence, and animated style of this epistle, seems to leave no doubt, but that Saint Irenæus, was the principal author. According to the remark of a modern historian, the combats of the martyrs are here painted in so lively colours, that their spirit appears as it were living in the dead letter, and their blood spilt for Jesus Christ seems to shine throughout the relation. It is impossible, say the authors of this letter, for us to give an exact account, nor will it be easy to conceive the extent of our present calamities, the rage of the Pagans against the saints, and the sufferings of the holy martyrs among us. For the adversary directs his whole force against us, and lets us see already what we are to expect when he is let loose, and allowed to attack the church in the end of the world. He makes his assaults boldly, and stirs up his agents against the servants of God. Their animosity runs so high, that we are not only driven from private houses, from the baths and public places, but even forbid to shew ourselves at all. But the grace of God, which is an overmatch for all the powers of hell, hath rescued the weak from the danger, and from the temptation of the fiery trial, and exposed such only to the combat as are able by an invincible patience to stand their ground, like so many unshaken pillars of the faith, and dare even invite sufferings, and defy all the malice and strength of the enemy. These champions have fought the powers of darkness with success, bore all manner of infamy, and the most inhuman torments, looked on all their sufferings as nothing, but rushed through them with an intrepidity that spoke them throughly persuaded that all the miseries of this life are not fit to be allowed any consideration,”when weighed against the glory of the world to come. At first, the people attacked them in a tumultuous manner, struck them, dragged them about the streets, threw stones at them, plundered, confined them, fell 011 them with all the exorbitances of an incensed mob, when allowed to take their own revenge of their enemies; all which the Christians bore with an inexpressible patience. After this first discharge of their rage, they proceeded more regularly. The tribune and the magistrates of the town ordered them to appear in the public place, where they were examined before the populace, made a glorious confession of their faith, and then were sent to prison, where they were to wait the arrival of the governor. When that judge came to town, they were carried before him, and used with so much cruelty, that Vettius Epagathus, one of our number, fired with a holy resentment at our treatment, desired to be heard on that subject. He was full of the love of God and his neighbour; a man so exactly virtuous, that, though young, the character of old Zacharias might justly be applied to him; for he walked in all the commandments blameless. His heart was inflamed with an ardent zeal for the glory of God; and he was active and indefatigable whenever his neighbour wanted his assistance. This excellent person undertook the defence of the injured brethren; and promised to make it appear, that the Christians were guilty of no impious practices. But the whole crowd, who were too well acquainted with his merit, opposed the motion in a noisy and tumultuous manner; and the governor, determined not to grant him that reasonable request, which impeached him and his associates for injustice, interrupted him, by asking whether he was a Christian. Upon his declaring his faith boldly, he was ranked among the martyrs, with the additional title of The Advocate of the Christians; which indeed was justly his due. And now it was easy to distinguish between such as came thither well provided for the trial, and resolved to suffer all extremities, and such as were not prepared for the battle. The former finished their glorious course with the utmost alacrity; while the latter started back at the near view of what was prepared for them upon persevering in the faith, and quitted the field; which was the case of ten persons. Their cowardice and apostacy not only proved an inexpressible affliction to us, but also cooled the zeal of several, who were not yet apprehended, and had employed their liberty in a constant attendance on the martyrs, in spite of all the dangers to which their charity might expose them. We were all now in the utmost consternation, which did not arise from the fear of torments, but the apprehension of losing more of our number in the way. But our late loss was abundantly repaired by fresh supplies of generous martrys, who were seized every day, till our two churches were deprived of all their eminent men, whom we had been used to look on as the main support of religion among us. As the governor”s orders for letting none of us escape were very strict, several Pagans in the service of Christians were taken with their masters. These slaves, fearing they should be put to the same torments, which they saw the saints endure, at the instigation of the devil and the soldiers, accused us of feeding on human flesh, like Thyestes, engaging in incestuous marriages, like Oedipus, and several other impious extravagancies, which the principles of our religion forbid us to mention, or even think of, and which we can hardly persuade ourselves were ever committed by men. These calumnies being divulged, the people were so outrageously incensed against us, that they who till then had retained some sparks of friendship for us, were transported against us with hatred, and foamed with rage. It is impossible to express the severity of what the ministers of Satan inflicted on the holy martyrs on this occasion, to force some blasphemous expression from their mouths. The fury of the governor, the soldiers, and the people, fell most heavy upon Sanctus, a native of Vienne, and a deacon: also on Maturus, who, though but lately baptized, was yet bold and strong enough for the combat; on Attalus, a native of Pergamus, but who had ever been the pillar and support of our church: and on Blantlina, a slave, in whom Christ has shewn us that those whom men look on with contempt, and whose condition places them below the regard of the world, are often raised to the highest honours by Almighty God for their ardent love of him, manifested more by works than words of- empty shew. She was of so weak a constitution, that w-e” were -all alarmed for her, and her mistress, one of th”e .martyrs, was full of apprehensions that she would not have:tbte courage and resolution to make a free and open confession of her faith. But Blandiiia was so powerfully assisted and strengthened, that she bore all the torments her executioners who relieved each other could ply her with from break of day till night; they owned themselves conquered; protested they had no more torments in reserve, and wondered how she could live, after what she had endured from their hands; declaring that they were of opinion that any One of the townents inflicted on her would have been Sufficient to dispatch her, according to the common course of nature, instead of the many violent ones she had undergone. But that blessed person, like a valiant combatant, received fresh strength and vigour from the confession of her faith. The frequent repetition of these words: \" I \" am a Christian, no wickedness is transacted among us;\" took off the edge of her pains, and made her appear insensible to all she suffered. The deacon Sanctus too endured most exquisite torments, with more than human patience. The heathens indeed hoped these severities would at last force some unbecoming expressions from him; but he bore up against their attacks, with such resolution and strength of mind, that he would not so much as tell them his name, his country, or station in the world; and to every question they put to him he answered in Latin: \" I am a Christian :\" nor could they get any other answer from him. The governor, and the persons employed in tormenting the martyr, were highly incensed at this; and, having already tried all other arts of cruelty, they applied hot plates of brass to the tenderest parts of his body: but supported by the powerful grace of God, he still persisted in the profession of his faith. His body was so covered with wounds and bruises, that the very figure of it was lost. Christ, who suffered in him, made him a glorious instrument for conquering the adversary, and a standing proof to others, that there is no grounds for fear, where the love of the Father dwells; nor is there any thing that deserves the name of pain, where the glory of Christ is concerned. Some days after, the martyr was brought oft “the stage again; for the Pagans imagined, that his whole body being so sore and inflamed, 1that he could -toot bear to be touched, it would now be an easy matter to overcome him by a repetition of the same cruelties ; or, at least, that he must expire under their hands, and thus strike a horror into tfe”e other Christians. But fhey succeeded in •neither of these views; for, to the amazement of all, his body tmder the latter torments recovered its former strength and shape, and the exact use of all his limbs was restored: -so that by this miracle of the grace of Jesus Christ, what- was designed as an additional pain, proved an absolute and effectual cure. The devil thought himself secure of Biblis, one of the unhappy persons who had renounced the faith; and desirous to enhance her guilt and punishment by a false impeachment, caused her to be arraigned, believing it would be no hard matter to bring one so weak and timorous to accuse us of impieties. But the force of the torments had a very different effect upon her; they awakened her, as it were, out of a profound sleep; and those transitory pains turned her thoughts upon the everlasting torments of hell. So that, contrary to what was expected of her, she” broke out into the following expostulation : \" How can it be imagined that \" they should feed upon children, whose religion forbids \" them even to taste the blood of beasts ?”*(c) From that moment she publicly confessed herself a Christian, and was ranked amongst the martyrs. The most violent torments being thus rendered ineffectual by the patience of the martyrs, and the power of Jesus Christ, the devil had recourse to other devices. They were thrown into a dark and loathsome dungeon, had their feet cramped in wooden stocks, and extended to the fifth, or last hole; and all those severeties exercised upon them, which are commonly practised by the enraged ministers of darkness upon their prisoners; so great, that numbers of them died of the hardships they endured there. Others, after having been so inhumanly tortured, that one would have thought all the care imaginable could not have recovered them, lay there destitute of all human succour; but so strongly supported from above, both in mind and body, that they comforted and encouraged the rest: whilst others but lately apprehended, and who had as yet undergone no torments, soon died, unable to bear the loathsomeness of the prison. Among the persons that suffered for their faith on this occasion was the blessed Pothinus, bishop of Lyons. He was then above ninety years old; and so weak and infirm, that he could hardly breathe. But his ardent desire of laying down his life for Jesus Christ, gave him fresh strength and vigour. He was dragged before the tribunal; for, though his body was worn out with age and infirmity, his fife was preserved till that time, that Jesus Christ might triumph in him. He was brought thither by the soldiers and magistrates of the city, the whole multitude hollooing after, and reviling him with as much eagerness and rage as if he had been Christ himself. Being asked by the governor, who was the God of the Christians: Pothinus told him, to prevent his blasplieming, he should know, when he was worthy of that satisfaction. Upon which he was dragged about unmercifully, and inhumanly abused. Those who were near him. kicked and struck him without any regard to his venerable age ; and those who were at some distance, pelted him with what first came to hand; imagining the least tenderness or regard for him would have been an enormous crime, when the honour of their gods was so nearly concerned, which they endeavoured to assert by insulting the martyr. He was scarce alive when he was carried oft”, and thrown into prison, where he expired after two days confinement. Those who had denied their faith when first taken, were imprisoned too, and shared the same sufferings with the martyrs, for their apostacy at that time did them no service. But then there was this difference between their condition, that those who had generously owned their religion, were confined only as Christians, and no other crime alleged against them ; but the perfidious wretches were imprisoned like murderers and criminals, and thus suffered much more than the martyrs, who were comforted with the joyful prospect of laying down their lives in that glorious cause, and supported by the divine promises, the love of Jesus Christ, and the spirit of their heavenly Father ; while the apostates were tortured with the remorse of conscience. They were distinguished from the others by their very looks: when the martyrs appeared, it was easy to discover a lovely mixture of cheerfulness and majesty in their faces : their very chains appeared graceful, and seemed more like the ornaments of a bride than the marks of malefactors ; and their bodies sent forth such an agreeable and pleasant savour, as gave occasion to think that they used perfumes. But those who had basely deserted the cause of Christ, appeared melancholy, dejected, and completely disagreeable. The very Pagans reproached them with faint-heartedness and effeminacy, for renouncing their principle, (the honourable, glorious, and salutary name of Christian,) their former profession whereof had ranked them with murderers, an imputation they, by their^ipostacy, had justly incurred. This sight had a happy influence on several, strengthened them in their profession, and defeated all the attempts the devil could make on their constancy and courage. After this, great variety of torments was allotted to the martyrs ; and thus they offered to the eternal Father a sort of chaplet, or crown, composed of every kind of flowers of different colours; for it was fit that these courageous champions, who gained such glorious victories in so great variety of engagements, should receive the crown of immortality. A day was set when the public was to be entertained at the expense of their lives, and Maturus, Sanctus, Blandina, and Attalus were brought out in order to be thrown to the beasts for the barbarous diversion of the heathens. Maturus and Sanctus being conducted into the amphitheatre, were made to pass through the same torments, as if they had not before felt the force of them, and looked like champions, who had worsted the adversary several times, and were just entering on the last trial of their skill and courage. Again they felt the scourges, and were dragged about by the beasts as before; and in a word, they suffered every torment the incensed multitude were pleased to call for; who all joined at last in requiring they should be put into the red-hot iron chair, which was granted; nor did the noisome smell of their roasted flesh, offensive as it was, any way abate, but seemed rather to enhance their rage. They -could extort nothing more from Sanctus than his former confession : and he and Maturus, after a long struggle, had their throats cut; and this their victory was the only entertainment that day. Blandina was fastened to a post to be devoured by beasts : as her arms were stretched out in the ardour of her prayer, that very posture put the faithful in mind of the sufferings of him who was crucified for their salvation, gave them fresh courage, and assured them that whœver suffers for Jesus Christ, shall partake of the glory of the living God. After she had remained thus exposed for some time, and none of the beasts could be provoked to touch her, she was untied, carried back to prison, and reserved for another combat; in which she was to gain a complete victory over her malicious adversary the devil, (whom she had already foiled and discomfited on several occasions,) and to animate the brethren to the battle by her example. Accordingly, though she was a poor, weak, inconsiderable slave, yet, by putting on Christ, she became an overmatch for all the art and malice of her enemy, and, by a glorious conflict, attained to the crown of immortality. Attalus was called for next, as a noted person, and the people were very loud in their demands to see him suffer : who, being one that had always bore a glorious character among us for his excellent life and courage in asserting the truth, boldly entered the field of battle. He was led round the amphitheatre, and this inscription in Latin carried before him: \" This is Attains, the Christian.\" The whole company was ready to discharge their rage on the martyr, when the governor, understanding he was a Roman citizen, remanded him to prison, and wrote to the emperor to know his pleasure concerning him and the rest of the prisoners. During their reprieve, they gave extraordinary proofs of charity and humility. Notwithstanding such a variety of sufferings for the faith, they would by no means allow us to call them martyrs; and severely reprimanded any of us, who, in writing or speaking, gave them that tide; which, according to their humble way of reasoning, was due only to Jesus Christ, the faithful and true martyr, or witness,—the first-born of the dead, and the guide to eternal life; or, at most, could only he .extended to such as were freed from the prison of the body. These indeed, said they, may be termed martyrs, because Christ has sealed them by a glorious death ; but we are yet no more than confessors of a mean rank. They then besought the brethren, with tears, to offer up assiduous prayers for their persevering to the end. But, though they refused the title of martyr, yet every action of theirs was expressive of the power of martyrdom; particularly their meekness, their patience, and the intrepid freedom with which, they spoke to the heathens, and which shewed them to be void of fear, and in a readiness to suffer any thing it was in the power of their enemies to inflict. They humbled themselves at the same time under the powerful hand of God, who hath since raised them to the highest glory; excusing every body, accusing none; and, like that great protomartyr, St. Stephen, praying for their persecutors.—But their chief concern, on the motive of sincere charity, was how to rescue those unhappy persons from the jaws of the devil, whom that infernal serpent reckoned, he had as good as swallowed up. Far from insulting over the lapsed, or valuing themselves upon the comparison, they freely administered to their spiritual wants, out of their abundance, the rich graces with which God had favoured and distinguished them; expressing the tenderness of a mother for them, and shedding floods of tears before their heavenly Father for their salvation. Thus they asked for life, and it was granted them, so that their brethren partook of it. For their endeavours were so successful, and their discourse and behaviour so persuasive, that the church had the pleasure of seeing several of her children recover new life, ready to make a generous confession of the sacred name they had renounced, and even offer themselves to the trial. Among the martyrs, there was one Alcibiades, who had long been used to a very austere life, and to live entirely on bread and water. He seemed resolved to continue this practice during his confinement; but Attalus, after his first combat in the amphitheatre, understood, by a revelation, that Alcibiades gave occasion of offence to others, by seeming to favour the new sect of the Montanists, who endeavoured to recommend themselves by their extraordinary austerities. Alcibiades listened to the admonition, and from that time he eat of every thing with thanksgiving to God, who did not fail to visit his servants with his grace, and the Holy Ghost was their guide and counsellor. In the mean time the emperor”s answer arrived, directing the execution of all who persisted in their confession, and discharging those who had recanted. The governor took the opportunity of a public festival among the Pagans, which drew vast crowds from all parts; and ordered the martyrs to be brought before him with a design of entertaining the people with the sight of their sufferings. After a re-examination of them, finding them resolute, he sentenced such of them as were Roman citizens to lose their heads, and ordered the rest to be thrown to wild beasts. And now the glory of Jesus Christ was magnified in the unexpected confession of such as had before denied their faith. Those weak persons were examined apart, with a view of giving them their liberty ; but, upon their declaring themselves Christians, they were sentenced to suffer with the other martyrs. Some indeed still continued in their apostacy; but then they were only such as never had the least trace of true faith, nor any regard for the wedding garment; strangers to the fear of God; who, by their way of living, had cast a scandal on the religion they professed, and who may justly be styled sons of perdition. Alexander, a Phrygian by birth, and physician by profession,-was present, when the apostates were brought this second time before the governor. He had lived many years in Gaul, and was universally remarkable for his love of God, and his freedom in publishing the gospel; for he was full pf an apostolical spirit. This man being near the tribunal at that critical moment, he made several signs with his eyes and head, to exhort them to confess Jesus Christ, with as much agitation as a woman in labour; so that it was impossible he should pass unobserved. The heathens exasperated to see those confess who had recanted, clamoured against Alexander as the author of this change.. Upon which the governor turning himself towards him, asked him who and what he was. Alexander answered, he was a Christian; which so enraged the governor, that, without any farther inquiry, he condemned him to be thrown to the wild beasts. Accordingly, the next day, he was conducted into the Arena with Attalus, whom the governor, to oblige the people, had delivered up a second time to the same punishment. Having undergone all the various torments usually inflicted in the amphitheatre, they were dispatched with the sword. Alexander was not heard to sigh or make the least complaint, conversing only with God in his heart. When Attalus was placed in the iron chair, and the broiling of his body exhaled an offensive smell, he turned to the people, and said to them, in Latin : \" This may, with some justice, be called devouring \" men, and thus you are guilty of that inhuman act; but \" we are neither guilty of this, nor any other abominable \" practice we are accused of.\" Being asked what was the name of his God, he replied : \" God had not a name like \" us mortals.\" On the last day of the combats of the gladiators, Blandina and Ponticus, a lad not above fifteen years old, were brought into the amphitheatre. They had been obliged to attend the execution of the martyrs every day, and were now urged to swear by the idols. Upon their absolutely refusing to comply with the demand, and expressing a thorough contempt of their pretended gods, the people gave a free loose to their rage ; and, without any regard either to Ponticus”s youth, or the sex of Blandina, employed all the different sorts of torments upon them, pressing them from time to time, bnt in vain, to swear by the idols. Ponticus, encouraged by his companion, went through all the stages of his martyrdom with great alacrity, and died gloriously. Blandina was the last that suffered. She had acted like a mother, animated the other martyrs like so many favourite children, sent them victorious to the heavenly King; and then, passing through the same trials, hastened after them with joy. Sh6 was scourged, torn by beasts, put into the burning chair; afterward wrapt in a net, and exposed to a wild bull, that tossed and gored her a long time. But her close conversation with Christ in prayer, and the lively hopes she had of the good things of the other life, made her insensible to all these attacks on her body: and she too had her throat cut. The heathens themselves could not but wonder at her patience and courage, and own, that, among them, no woman had ever been known to have gone through such a course of sufferings. Not content with the death of the martyrs, that savage and barbarous people, spurred on by the infernal beast, raised a new persecution against their dead bodies. Those who died in prison were thrown to the dogs, and a strict guard kept, day and night, to prevent our carrying them off. The remains of the other martyrs, such as the beasts or fire had spared, their scattered half-burnt limbs, the heads and trunks, were carefully laid together, and watched by the soldiers several days. Some foamed and gnashed their teeth at the sight of these relicks, expressing an eager desire of inflicting more exquisite torments upon them; while others laughed and scoffed at the martyrs, extolling their own idols, ascribing to them the punishment of their enemies. Even those who had behaved themselves with the most moderation, and felt some compassion for their sufferings, could not forbear reproaching them now, by asking, Where is their God? What hath this religion availed them, which they have preferred to life itself? These were the dispositions of the heathens on this occasion, while we were most sensibly afflicted that we could not bury our brethren. The soldiers were always on the guard, not to be gained by entreaty or money, and took as much care to keep the bodies unburied, as if, by so doing, they were to have gained some mighty advantage. The martyrs” bodies lay thus exposed six days, and then were burnt to ashes and thrown into the Rhone, that no part of them might remain above ground. This they did, as if they had been superior to God, and could thereby have prevented the resurrection, the hopes of which, as they observed, had put them upon introducing a new and strange religion, making a mock of the severest torments, and meeting death with pleasure. Let us now see, said the heathens, if they will ever return again to life, and whether their God can save them, and deliver them out of our hands? Thus far the incomparable letter of the Christians of Lyons and Vienne, which was inserted entire in Eusebius”s account of the martyrs, as he himself assures us. But that piece is lost, and we have no more of this letter than what that author has given us in his church history. He adds, that the churches of Vienne and Lyons subjoined, in the close of this epistle, a religious testimony conformable to holy faith, concerning the Montanists. These martyrs suffered in the beginning of the pontificate of Eleutherius, in the seventeenth year of Marcus Aurelius, as Eusebius testifies, and of Christ 177, not 167, as Dodwell pretends. They are called the martyrs of Lyons, because that city was the theatre of their sufferings, though some of them were citizens of Vienne. St. Gregory of Tours says, they were forty-eight in number, and that part of their ashes was miraculously recovered. These relicks were deposited under the altar of the church which anciently bore the name of the Apostles of Lyons. The fidelity, fervour, and courage, of so many saints, of every age and condition, condemn aloud our tepidity and indifference. We profess the same religion, and fight for the same cause with the primitive martyrs. Whence comes this monstrous disagreement in our conduct and sentiments? If we do not prefer God, and his service, to every other consideration,—that is, if we are not martyrs in the disposition of our souls,—we cannot hope to be ranked by Christ among his disciples, or to inherit his promises. What should we do under greater trials, who are unfaithful on the most trifling occasions? What so many followers of our Lord attained to, that may we. Their passions and infirmities were the same with ours: our trials and temptations are far less than theirs: we serve the same God, are guided by the same truths, supported by the same power, elevated by the same hopes; we have the same peace bequeathed us, the same spirit; the same heaven promised us, and we march under the conduct of the same Captain. </p>"
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}
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},
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"06030000": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "Venerable New Martyr Cyprian († 1934)",
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"short": "Venerable New"
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}
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},
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"06030100": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest Michael († 1938)",
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"short": "New Hieromartyr"
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}
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},
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"06030200": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "Venerable Athanasius the Wonderworker",
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"short": "Venerable Athanasius"
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}
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},
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"06030300": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "St. Achilla, Patriarch of Alexandria († 312)",
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"short": "St. Achilla"
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}
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},
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"060309": {
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"name": {
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"nominative": "St. Clotildis (Clotilda), Queen of France († 545)",
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"short": "St. Clotildis"
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},
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"life": {
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"id": "",
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"copyright": "Butler, Alban. The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints, Volume 6. (J. Murphy, 1815) pg 47-51",
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"text": "<p>Was daughter of Chilperic, younger brother to Gondebald, the tyrannical king of Burgundy, who put him, his wife, and the rest of his brothers, except one, to death, in order to usurp their dominions. In this massacre he spared Chilperic”s two fair daughters, then in their infancy. One of them became afterwards a nun; the other, named Clotildis, was brought up in her uncle”s court, and by a singular providence, was instructed in the Catholic religion, though she was educated in the midst of Arians. It was her happiness in the true faith, to be inspired from the cradle with a contempt and disgust of a treacherous world, which sentiments she cherished and improved by the most fervent exercises of religion. Though she saw herself surrounded with all the charms of the world, and was from her infancy its idol, yet her heart was proof against its seductions. She was adorned with the assemblage of all virtues; and the reputation of her wit, beauty, meekness, modesty, and piety, made her the adoration of all the neighboring kingdoms, when Clovis I., surnamed the great, the victorious king of the Franks, demanded and obtained her of her uncle in marriage granting her all the conditions she could desire for the free and secure exercise of her religion. The marriage was solemnized at Soissons, in 493. Clotildis made herself a little oratory in the royal palace, in which she spent much time in fervent prayer and secret mortifications. Her devotion was tempered with discretion, so that she attended all her business at court, was watchful over her maids, and did every thing with a dignity, order, and piety, which edified and charmed the king and his whole court. Her charity to the poor seemed a sea which could never be drained. She honored her royal husband, studied to sweeten his warlike temper by Christian meekness, conformed herself to his humor in things that were indifferent; and, the better to gain his affections, made those things the subject of her discourse and praises in which she saw him to take the greatest delight. When she saw herself mistress of his heart, she did not defer the great work of endeavoring to win him to God, and often spoke to him on the vanity of his idols, and on the excellency of the true religion. The king always heard her with pleasure; but the moment of his conversion was not yet come. It was first to cost her many tears, severe trials, and earnest perseverance. After the baptism of their second son, Clodomir, and the infant”s recovery from a dangerous indisposition, she pressed the king more boldly to renounce his idols. One day especially, when he had given her great assurances of his affection, and augmented her dowry by a gift of several manors, she said she begged only one favor of his majesty, which was the liberty to discourse with him on the sanctity of her religion, and to put him in mind of his promise of forsaking the worship of idols. But the fear of giving offence to his people made him delay the execution. His miraculous victory over the Alemanni, and his entire conversion in 496, were at length the fruit of our saint”s prayers. Clotildis, having gained to God this great monarch, never ceased to excite him to glorious actions for the divine honor: among other religious foundations he built in Paris, at her request, about the year 511, the great church of SS. Peter and Paul, now called St. Genevieve”s. This great prince had a singular devotion to St. Martin, and went sometimes to Tours, to prostrate himself in prayer at his tomb. He sent his royal diadem, which is called, to this day, The Realm, a present to pope Hormisdas, as a token that he dedicated his kingdom to God. His barbarous education and martial temper made it, in certain sallies of his passions, difficult for Clotildis to bridle his inclination to ambition and cruelty, so that he scarce left any princes of his own relations living, except his sons. He died on the 27<sup>th</sup> of November, in the year 511, of his age the forty-fifth, having reigned thirty years. He was buried in the church of the apostles, SS. Peter and Paul, now called St. Genevieve”s, where his tomb still remains. An ancient long epitaph, which was inscribed on it, is preserved by Aimoinus, and copied by Rivet. His eldest son Theodoric, whom he had by a concubine before his marriage, reigned at Rheims over Austrasia, or the eastern parts of France, which comprised the present Champagne, Lorraine, Auvergne, and several provinces of Germany. Metz was afterwards the capital of this country. As to the three sons of Clotildis, Clodomir reigned at Orleans, Childebert at Paris, and Clotaire I., at Soissons. This division produced wars and mutual jealousies, till, in 560, the whole monarchy was reunited under Clotaire, the youngest of these brothers. St. Clotildis lived to see Clodomir defeat and put to death Sigismund, king of Burgundy; but soon after, in 524, himself vanquished and slain by Gondemar, successor to Sigismund; Gondemar overcome and killed by Childebert and Clotaire, and the kingdom of Burgundy united to France. The most sensible affliction of this pious queen was the murder of the two eldest sons of Clodomir, committed in 526, by their uncles Childebert and Clotaire, who seized on the kingdom of Orleans. This tragical disaster contributed more perfectly to wean her heart from the world. She spent the remaining part of her life at Tours, near the tomb of St. Martin, in exercises of prayer, almsdeeds, watching, fasting, and penance, seeming totally to forget that she had been queen, or that her sons sat on the throne. Eternity filled her heart, and employed all her thoughts. She foretold her death thirty days before it happened; having been admonished of it by God at the tomb of St. Martin, the usual place of her tears. In her last illness, she sent for her sons Childebert, king of Paris, and Clotaire, king of Soissons, and exhorted them, in the most pathetic manner, to honor God and keep his commandments; to protect the poor, reign as fathers to their people, live in union together, and love and study always to maintain tranquillity and peace. She scarce ever ceased repeating the psalms with the most tender devotion, and ordered all she had left to be distributed among she poor; though this was very little; for she had always been careful to send her riches before her by their hands. On the thirtieth day of her illness she received the sacraments, made a public confession of her faith, and departed to the Lord on the 3d of June, in 545. She was buried, by her own order, in the church of St. Genevieve, at the feet of that holy shepherdess, and is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the 3d of June. See St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc., and Fortunatus; and among the moderns, Abbé Du Bos and Gilb. le Gendre, Antiquités de la Nation et Monarchie Françoise, &c.</p>"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06031300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Hieria of Mesopotamia",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Hieria"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06040000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest Peter († 1918)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06040100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Joannicius, Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral († 1945)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06040200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Sts Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus (1<sup>st</sup> C)",
|
||
"short": "Sts Martha"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06040300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Alonius of Egypt (5<sup>th</sup> C)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Alonius"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06040500": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Sophia of Thrace (10<sup>th</sup>-11th C)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Sophia"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06040600": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Eleazar and Nazarius, Wonderworkers of Olonets (15<sup>th</sup> C)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Eleazar"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06040699": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyrs Andronicus, Archbishop of Perm, Basil, Archbishop of Chernigov, and those with them († 1918)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyrs"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"060412": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Optatus, bishop of Milevum († 376)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Optatus"
|
||
},
|
||
"life": {
|
||
"id": "",
|
||
"copyright": "Butler, Alban. The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints, Volume 6. (J. Murphy, 1815) pg 59-70",
|
||
"text": "<p>From his own writings. See Tillemont, Hist. des Donatistes, t. 6, p. 142. Ceillier, t. 6, p. 625. D. Collina, Dissert. sur l’Hérés. des Donat. Bolog. 1758; also Hist. Donat. Ballerini. App. in Op. Card. Noris. Veronæ, 1732. This father was an African, and an illustrious champion of the church of Christ in the fourth age. He was educated an idolater, and St. Austin names him with St. Cyprian and St. Hilary, among those who had passed from the dark shades of paganism, to the light of faith, and carried into the church the spoils of Egypt, that is, human science and eloquence. In another place he styles him a prelate of venerable memory, who was by his virtue an ornament to the Catholic church. St. Fulgentius honours him with the title of saint, and places him in the same rank with St. Austin and St. Ambrose. He was bishop of Milevum in Numidia, and the first Catholic prelate who undertook by writing to stem the tide of the Donatist schism in Africa. Parmenian, the third bishop of that sect at Carthage, wrote five books in defence of his party, in which he declaimed in general against the Traditors, and proved what recoiled upon himself, that there can be but one church and one baptism. The Donatists boasted of the advantage they pretended this performance gave them over the Catholics: indeed their champion was a man of learning and abilities, well versed in the art of sophistry, and capable of covering the worst cause with specious glosses. Against this Goliath, St. Optatus stepped forth, stripped him of the armour in which he trusted, and turned all his artillery against himself. This he performed by six books against Parmenian, to which he several years after, in the time of Pope Siricius, about the year 385, added a seventh. 1 In this work we admire the elegance and loftiness of the style, every where animated, and beautifully ornamented with bold and noble figures: and remarkable for a sententious energy and conciseness, which distinguishes the best African writers from all others. It is however observable, that the Augustan polish, and the purity of the Latin tongue had been long before upon the declension. But the chief usefulness and value of this father’s writings are derived from the strength and perspicuity with which he sets off the privileges and marks of the Catholic church, and from the important maxims which he lays down to distinguish the true spouse of Christ from adultresses, by which sound rules, he has overturned all heresies to the end of the world. St. Optatus wrote his six first books about the year 370. To set the state of this controversy in a clear light, it is necessary to take a short view of the Donatist schism, which took its rise from a circumstance that happened in the persecution of Dioclesian. The Traditors or Christians, who for fear of torments and death, delivered the holy scriptures into the hands of the persecutors, that they might be burnt, were guilty of a crime which bordered upon apostacy. Upon their repentance, according to the severity of the ecclesiastical discipline, they were to be enjoined a public austere course of penance, and if in holy orders, to be deposed. But in this the bishops had power to dispense, or to grant a relaxation or indulgence. Mensurius, primate of Carthage, and many other Catholic bishops, admitted penitent priests and bishops to their functions without insisting on this condition, alleging a necessity for such an indulgence, and the danger of a schism if they separated themselves from the communion of all that had fallen into that crime. Certain false Numidian zealots, blinded by jealousy or pique, took offence at this mildness, and by their hypocrisy and pretended zeal and severity drew many into schism. Donatus, bishop of Casæ-Nigræ, began this breach, and refused to communicate with Mensurius, and his deacon Cecilian, because they held communion with penitent Traditors. By his clamours he engaged many others in his party, and by a notorious slander accused Mensurius himself of having given up the scriptures into the hands of the heathens. This point was discussed in a famous council held at Cirta, the capital of Numidia, in 305. Mensurius dying in 311, Cecilian was chosen bishop of Carthage; upon which, certain factious spirits who attempted to oppose his election, broke out into a greater flame than ever. Among these no one was more active than a certain rich and powerful lady of Carthage, named Lucilla, who bore Cecilian a grudge because she had formerly received from him a rebuke; and wanted humility and discretion, without which, the show of piety is only a shadow, and pharisaical hypocrisy, and easily degenerates into error and superstition. She was accustomed every morning before she received the body and blood of our Lord, to kiss the bone of an unknown dead man, whom she pretended to have been a martyr, but who was not, or at least had not been acknowledged such by the pastors of the church: for, to prevent abuses and superstition, it was always a necessary law in the church, that without the bishop’s approbation, no private persons should be allowed to pay to relics the honour due to those of martyrs. And it is on this circumstance that St. Optatus and St. Austin lay the stress of this affair. Cecilian, in quality of archdeacon, thought it his duty to put her in mind of her fault: but through the mist of her passions she was not able to discern the charity of this just and necessary correction. Her resentment for this pretended affront seemed to have no bounds when she saw him raised to the archiepiscopal chair of Carthage, and she protected and abetted the faction which was formed against him with the whole weight of her interest and power. This party found no other pretence to set aside his election but upon the foolish plea that he admitted the penitent Traditors to his communion, and thereby defiled the sanctity of the Catholic church. Upon no better grounds, Donatus, bishop of Casæ-Nigræ, first erected altar against altar; and refusing to hold communion with Cecilian, celebrated the divine mysteries at Carthage in domestic chapels; in which he was imitated by other factious persons. The schismatics having gained the keepers of the treasury of the church of Carthage, got possession of the gold and silver chalices and other vessels and rich ornaments that belonged to that church. Thus St. Optatus observes, that anger was the mother of the schism, ambition the nurse, and covetousness the champion to defend it. And St. Austin on this occasion, makes the following remark, that, All who disturb the peace of the church, do this either blinded by pride, distracted with envy, or seduced by worldly covetousness, or by soft passions and lust. The faction being by these arts propagated, soon became numerous. Lucilla, by her money and interest, instigated the heads of the party to carry matters to the last extremity, in which she was seconded by two priests of Carthage, who having been competitors with Cecilian, were discontented at his preferment. Seventy bishops, chiefly Numidians, espoused this party and met at Cirta, having at their head Secundus the primate of Numidia, Donatus of Mascula, Victor Marinus, Purpurius, and the first author of the schism, Donatus of Casæ-Nigæ. Among these, Donatus of Mascula, Victor, and several others, were notoriously guilty of having delivered up the holy scriptures to the persecutors. But the crime was passed over in them: and by how much the more guilty of such practices the schismatics were themselves, so much the more vehemently did they accuse others; that their pretended zeal against those sins falsely imputed to others, might serve as a cloak to cover their own real guilt, as St. Austin and St. Optatus observe. Some of them, however, confessed their crime in this synod, and were absolved. Next, the schismatical council presumed to pronounce sentence of deposition against Cecilian, alleging that he was a Traditor, or at least that he communicated with Traditors. Therefore they chose and ordained the domestic chaplain of Lucilla, by name Majorinus, the schismatical bishop of Carthage. The bishops of Italy and Gaul, and in particular Pope Miltiades in a council at Rome, acquitted Cecilian and condemned the schismatics, who thereupon forged many slanders against the pope. Schism frequently leads men into heresy; and this was the present case. The Donatists, pretending that Cecilian was no minister of Christ, nor those who adhered to him members of the true church, maintained they had no true sacraments; and, by admitting to their communion lapsed persons, and profane Traditors, were themselves denied, and ceased to be of the true church. Hence they usually called the Catholics Pagans, Idolators, and Traditors, and rebaptized all who came over to them, pretending that baptism and holy orders cannot be validly conferred out of the Catholic church. To condemn this their capital error, the great council of Arles was assembled out of all the western provinces of the empire in 314. But the schismatics were no less deaf to authority than blind to the evidence of the Catholic truth. They were so far from being daunted by all these sentences, that by obstinacy, their spirit and faction seemed to grow greater, and they appealed to the emperor. Matters of fact being part of the charge, Constantine gave the plaintiffs a full hearing, in hopes by this condescension to bring them over to their duty. But seeing them invincibly obstinate, he, in 316, enacted severe laws against such Donatists as refused to acquiesce in the decision of the church. In the same year, upon the death of Majorinus, they placed in the schismatical chair at Carthage, one Donatus, a man of an austere life, eloquent and learned, but one of the most ambitious, vain, and proud of mortals, betraying in his carriage an unbecoming levity, and passionate to a degree of phrensy. He became the idol of the party, which, according to several good authors, took its name from him, not from the other Donatists of Casæ-Nigæ, the first author of the schism. St. Optatus and St. Austin charge the Donatists with heresy also in another point, inasmuch as they affirmed the Catholic church, which can never fail, and which is the church of all nations, had perished throughout the rest of the world, and was confined to one corner of the earth in Africa. In a great assembly of two hundred and seventy bishops held at Carthage, and in others in several other places, they had the insolence to unchurch the whole Christian world besides themselves, and commanded all who had been baptized by Catholics to be again baptized: to prevent which sacrilege, Constantine by law, made it capital for any one to rebaptize another. They boasted of great purity and sanctity, like the Novatians, but their severity resembled that of the Pharisees; for, blinded by their passions, they did not see the inward uncleanness of their own hearts, defiled by pride, disobedience, and the whole train of other vices which attend those master-springs of spiritual disorders. About the year 347, a sect of fanatics called Circumcellions sprang up among the Donatists, whose communion they enjoyed, but were their scandal and reproach. These were chiefly wild and ignorant country peasants who, pretending to devote themselves to martyrdom, wandered about for some months or years, pampering themselves as victims fed for sacrifice, and at length cast themselves from rocks or into rivers, or any other way laid violent hands upon themselves, which death they called martyrdom. Many of them compelled strangers whom they met on the high roads to murder them. Some Catholics who met them in this mad phrensy, to save their own lives, and not imbrue their hands in the blood of these fanatics, insisted first upon binding them before they could proceed to do them the desired good turn in sacrificing them: but when they were tied, beat them till they came to their senses, and were contented to live, as Theodoret relates. Such are the extravagancies into which men are led when they have once lost the anchor of truth, and their minds are set afloat on the tide of passions and error. Of this we have the most sensible proof, not only in the follies and impiety of paganism, and in various heresies in past ages, but also in the deism, fanaticism, and numberless wild chimeras and mad dreams in which our own times have been so fruitful among those who wander in the endless mazes of error. The Donatists were very numerous in Africa for above one hundred years, till the zeal of St. Austin, seconded by many others, almost extinguished that sect. St. Optatus had before given this hydra a mortal blow by his books against Parmenian, who had succeeded Donatus in the schismatical see of Carthage. In this work our saint applauds the principle laid down by Parmenian, that the church is but one: for Christ is only one, and he is the spouse of one church, which is called his only dove, the garden shut up, and the sealed fountain. He joins issue with his adversary, that heretics are prostitutes, and have no right to the jurisdiction or keys of the church, which Peter received; and which were not given to them. He adds, that heretics and schismatics are branches lopt off from the vine, and reserved for the fire. He exaggerates the guilt of schism as a crime more enormous than parricide, and which deserves a punishment like that of Core, Dathan, and Abiron. In these principles both Catholics and Donatists were agreed. St. Optatus then proceeds to show that the latter cannot be the true church, “because,” says he, “in them where is the propriety of the Catholic name;—cooped up as they are in one little part of Africa, in one corner of a single country?—Whereas the church is Catholic or universal, and is spread everywhere. He shows by several texts of the prophets this universality to be one of the essential characteristics of the church. He adds as other marks, its unity, sanctity, and the chair of Peter, “which,” says he, “is ours; and by this it is plain we possess its other prerogatives.” He adds: “Peter sat first in this chair, and was succeeded by Linus.” He names the bishops of Rome from him down to Siricius, “at this day,” says he, “united in our fraternity, in which the whole world agrees with us joined in one communion. To Peter, Christ said, ‘To thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ Whence therefore do you claim the keys, who with a sacrilegious presumption and insolence fight against the chair of Peter?” He says again: “You cannot deny that you know the episcopal chair was first given to Peter in the city of Rome, in which first sat the head of the apostles, Peter, which chair was one, that all others might preserve unity by the union they had with it, and lest the other apostles might erect and defend chairs to themselves: so that now he is a schismatic and an offender who sets up another against the only chair.” He gives the history of the origin and follies of the Donatist sect. “As to your party,” says he, “which would willingly be thought to be the church, inquire after the original of your chair.” He says the Donatists answered, they had also a bishop of Rome, named Macrobius, who succeeded to Eucolpius, Eucolpius to Boniface of Balli, and Boniface to one Victor Garbiensis, whom the Donatists had sent from Africa to Rome to preside in their little schismatical church in that city. To this our holy doctor replies: “Can Macrobius say that he sits in the chair of St. Peter, which perhaps he never saw? for certainly he never went to the sepulchre of the apostles;” (that is, to officiate in the cathedral, or be regarded by the Catholic church as seated in the apostolic chair.) “He is disobedient to the command of the apostle, who would have us communicate in the memory of the saints. We see the relics of the two apostles SS. Peter and Paul are in the church of Rome: Tell me, I pray, if he could ever offer in the place where these relics are certainly kept. Macrobius your brother must then confess that he was seated in the chair of Eucolpius, Boniface of Balli, and Victor Garbiensis. This Victor is a son without a father, a disciple without a master, a successor without a predecessor.” Among the other marks of the church, St. Optatus enlarges and insists particularly upon its extent or universality. “Wherefore,” says he, “would you unchurch the infinite number of Christians that are in the east and the West? You are but a small number of rebels who have opposed all the churches of the world,” &c. He confutes the errors of the Donatists, who pretended that the sacraments are null if given out of the true church, and mentions the exorcisms used in baptism to expel the unclean spirit, (in which sacrament they are still used); as do also St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Austin, Tertullian, &c. St. Optatus speaks often of the holy oil and chrism, and relates that “certain Donatists also caused a bottle full of holy oil to be thrown out of a window on purpose to break it; but though it was cast down from a very high place, yet being supported by angels it fell upon the stones without breaking. He says, “that the furious Donatist mob broke down the altars, which the Catholics had made use of;” on which he writes as follows: “What hath Jesus Christ done to you,” says he to the Donatists, “that you should destroy the altars on which he rests at certain times? Why do ye break the sacred tables where Jesus Christ makes his abode? Ye have imitated the crime of the Jews; for as they put Jesus Christ to death upon the cross, so ye have beaten him upon these altars.” He then humourously objects their ridiculous inconsistency: “All the faithful know,” says he, “that linen cloths are laid upon the altars for the celebration of the holy mysteries. The eucharist does not touch the wood of the altars, but only the linen cloths. Why then do you break, why do you scrape, why do you burn the wood of the altar? If the impurity can pass through the linen, why cannot it penetrate the wood, nay and the ground also? If therefore ye scrape off something from the altars because they are impure, I advise you to dig into the ground, and there to make a great ditch, that ye may offer in a most pure place. But take care you do not dig down into hell, where you will find your masters Core, Dathan, and Abiron.” From this raillery he passes to other accusations still more grievous, and says: “You have also redoubled your sacrileges in breaking the chalices which carried the blood of Jesus Christ; you have melted them down to make ingots of gold and silver, which you have sold in the markets indifferently to every one who offered to buy them. O enormous crime! O unheard of impiety!” The holy eucharist itself they threw to beasts, “than which,” says he, “what could be more impious? Your bishops commanded the eucharist to be thrown to the dogs: but presently visible tokens of the divine anger appeared; for the same dogs, being enraged, turned upon their masters, and with their avenging teeth, bit and tore those who were guilty of profaning the holy body?” From these, and many other instances, it is clear that the holy eucharist was then kept in churches after the sacrifice, no less than at present. The saint mentions that the altars were then usually of wood, and for greater respect, covered with a linen cloth. He reproaches the schismatics with having washed the palls and sacred linen cloths, and pretended by washing, to purify the walls of the churches which the Catholics had used. Also with having compelled their sacred virgins to lay aside the veils which they wore, and the little mitres which they put upon their heads as signs or marks of their profession, and to wear mitres of another colour, and another sort of linen. Du Pin writes of this father: “He teaches that we are all born in sin, and that baptism is necessary to obtain the remission of it. He mentions exorcism as a necessary ceremony at baptism. He speaks of chrism as a holy thing, and of the unction that was used at baptism. He expresses himself in so plain terms about the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist, and about the adoration that is due to this holy sacrament, that nothing can be desired more express. He observes many ceremonies at the celebration of the eucharist, to which he gives the name of sacrifice.” The Donatists used and reverenced the holy oblation or mass and all the sacraments; but pretended those administered by persons who were not of their own sect to be void and null; and that they were only holy among themselves who were pure. St. Optatus writes, “that the church has judges,” says Du Pin, “that she punishes crimes, that she exacts penance of those who confess their sins or are convicted of them. He observes, that a vow of virginity was solemnly made by those who dedicated themselves to God, and that they carried a small covering upon their heads, which was the sign of the vow they had made. He testifies the respect that in his time was paid to the relics of the saints, when he speaks of the sepulchre of SS. Peter and Paul; and speaking of Lucilla, he blames those who honoured the relics of false martyrs not owned by the church.” St. Optatus survived the year 384; but the time of his death is not known. His name occurs in the Roman Martyrology on the 4<sup>th</sup> of June. St. Optatus makes schism a more grievous crime than murder. St. Austin asks: What will a sound faith profit a man, when the soundness of his charity is destroyed by the fatal wound of schism? He often repeats with St. Cyprian, that even martyrdom is not available to the salvation of a wilful heretic or schismatic. St. Vincent of Lerins makes no scruple to affirm, that Donatus and his followers, who did not expiate their crime by repentance, have their portion with the apostate angels. Hence, the ancient fathers charge us not to make shipwreck of our faith, as we value our everlasting happiness, and they took so much pains to point to the rocks upon which so many have split, and to show the highway which Christ himself has chalked out; which is his true church. </p>"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06050000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest Michael († 1931)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06050100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest Nicholas († 1943)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06050200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St Constantine, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia († 1159)",
|
||
"short": "St Constantine"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06050300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Peter the Serb († 1275)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Peter"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06050400": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Martyr Mark of Smyrna († 1801)",
|
||
"short": "New Martyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"060516": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Hieromartyr Boniface, Archbishop of Mentz, Apostle of Germany († 755)",
|
||
"short": "Hieromartyr Boniface"
|
||
},
|
||
"life": {
|
||
"id": "",
|
||
"copyright": "Butler, Alban. The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints, Volume 6. (J. Murphy, 1815) pg 74-89",
|
||
"text": "<p> From his life, carefully written by St. Willibald his disciple, and first bishop of Achstat; and again in two books, by Othlo, a monk of the twelfth age; also from his epistles. See Mabillon, t. 3. Annal. p. 447. Fleury, t. 9. Ceillier, t. 18, p. 74. Schannat, Historia Fuldensis, anno 1729, and Serarius, Rerum Mogunticarum cum Annotat. et Supplemento a Georgio Christiano Joannis, Francofurti ad Mænum, 1722, l. 3, a p. 251, ad 370. ST. BONIFACE was born at Crediton or Kirton in Devonshire about the year 680, and at his baptism named Winfrid. When he was but five years old, his chief delight was to hear holy men converse about God and heavenly things. The edifying deportment and holy instructions of certain pious monks, who, being employed in preaching in that country, happened to come to his father’s house, gave him a strong desire to devote himself to God in a religious state; and though he was then only a child, the deep impressions which their words left upon his heart were never after effaced. His father exerted his whole authority to divert him from his inclination to a monastic life; till being visited by a dangerous sickness, he acknowledged in it the hand of God, chastising him for opposing his son’s vocation, which he from that time gave him free leave to pursue. Winfrid was educated from thirteen years of age in the monastery of Escancester or Exeter, under the holy abbot Wolphard. With the study of grammar he joined assiduous devout meditation, and the most rigorous observance of monastic discipline, even before he had professed that state; which he embraced before he left the aforesaid monastery. After he had spent there some years, the reputation of the schools and discipline of the monastery of Nutcell, in the diocess of Winchester, under the learned abbot Winbert, drew him to that house. He made an extraordinary progress in pœsy, rhetoric, history, and in the knowledge of the scriptures; and was afterwards appointed by his abbot to teach the same sciences: of which duty he acquitted himself with great fruit to others, at the same time improving himself in the sciences with that redoubled advantage which maturity of years and judgment, and a diligent review of a well-digested course of former studies give to masters of an elevated genius. At thirty years of age he was promoted to the order of priesthood; and from that time was chiefly employed in preaching the word of God to the people, and in the care of souls. Such was his reputation that he was intrusted by his superiors with an important commission to Brithwald, archbishop of Canterbury; by which means that prelate and the religious king Ina became acquainted with his extraordinary merit: and the bishops of the province from that time invited him to their synods, that they might be assisted by his learning and advice in their deliberations. The servant of God, burning with zeal for the divine honour and the salvation of souls, never ceased to bewail, night and day, the misfortune of those nations which lay benighted in the shades of idolatry. In these holy dispositions, after having long implored the light and blessing of heaven, he, with the leave of his abbot, passed over into Friseland to preach the gospel to the infidels in 716. But for the trial of his virtue, a war breaking out between Charles Martel, mayor of the French palace, and Radbod, king of Friseland, threw insuperable difficulties in his way. However, he advanced as far as Utrecht, then the capital city of that country, and addressed himself to king Radbod, but without success: and he was obliged to return to his monastery in England. Winbert dying soon after, Winfrid was unanimously chosen abbot. He did all that in his power lay to decline this promotion, alleging that he was called to the conversion of infidels. Though he was not able then to prevail, he shortly after urged the same motive with such success, as to engage Daniel, the learned and pious bishop of Winchester, to procure that his demission should be accepted, and another nominated abbot in his place. After having staid two years in England, he set out for Rome in 719, and presented himself to Pope Gregory II. begging his apostolic blessing, and authority that he might preach the faith to infidels. The pope, fixing his eyes upon him, asked him if he brought with him commendatory letters from his diocesan. Hereupon Winfrid delivered into his hands letters from the aforesaid bishop Daniel, by which he was strongly recommended to his holiness. Gregory having read them, and conversed some time with the saint, began to treat him with extraordinary marks of kindness and esteem, and gave him an ample commission to preach the faith to all the infidel nations of Germany. He bestowed on him many holy relics, and dismissed him with his blessing, and letters of recommendation to all Christian princes in his way. The holy missionary lost no time, but taking the road of Germany, crossed the Lower Alps, and travelling through Bavaria into Thuringia, there began his apostolical functions. He not only baptized great numbers of infidels, but also brought the Christians he found already established in Bavaria, and in the provinces adjoining to France, (especially the priests and bishops,) to reform many irregularities, and to live in a manner agreeable to the precepts of the gospel, and to the holy canons of the Church; for the commerce of the heathens had almost extinguished in them the sense of the pure maxims of their faith. Winfrid hearing soon after, that by the death of Radbod, Charles Martel was become master of Friseland, and that a door was there opened for the preaching of the gospel, he hastened thither, and during three years joined his labours with St. Willebrord to the great increase of the faith; till, understanding that St. Willebrord intended to make him his successor in the episcopal charge, he was alarmed, and left that mission. For his excuse he alleged that the pope had enjoined him a commission to preach the gospel to the heathens in Germany. From Friseland he went into Hesse and part of Saxony; and wherever he came, baptized many thousands of idolaters, destroyed temples, and built churches. He acquainted Pope Gregory with this wonderful success, by a letter which he sent by one of his fellow-labourers, and, at the same time, consulted his holiness upon several difficulties that occurred in his ministry. The pope gave glory to God, and congratulated him by a letter, in which he commanded him to repair to Rome. Winfrid immediately obeyed the order, and arrived there in 723. Gregory required of him a confession of his faith, as is usual with regard to bishops elect before their consecration. He likewise put to him several questions concerning his missions and converted countries, and after a few days ordained him bishop. Willibald says, that on this occasion the pope changed his rugged northern name of Winfrid into that of Boniface: but he could only confirm that change; for we find by the saint’s letters, that he then bore the name of Boniface: joining with it that of Winfrid. The saint took an oath to maintain the purity of faith, and the unity of the Church; a copy of which, written with his own hand, he laid upon the tomb of St. Peter. Pope Gregory gave him a book of select canons of the Church, to serve him for a rule in his conduct, and by letters, recommended him to Charles Martel, and to all bishops and princes wherever he should have occasion to travel. The saint returning to his mission in Hesse, continued his spiritual conquests, and cut down a tall oak consecrated to Jupiter, the timber of which he employed in building a chapel in honour of the prince of the apostles. He founded many churches, and a monastery at Orfordt. The harvest growing daily upon his hands, he procured a new supply of labourers from England, whom he stationed in Hesse and Thuringia. In 732, Gregory III. succeeding in the pontificate, St. Boniface sent messengers to Rome, to consult him upon several difficulties. Gregory showed these deputies great respect, and sent by them a pall for St. Boniface, to be used by him only when he celebrated the divine mysteries, or consecrated bishops. He at the time constituted him archbishop and primate of all Germany, with power to erect new bishoprics where he should see it expedient. The saint went himself to Rome for the third time in 738 to visit the tombs of the apostles, and to confer with his holiness about the churches he had founded. The pope received him as a living saint, and appointed him legate of the apostolic see in Germany. Boniface on his return to that country was called into Bavaria by the Duke Odilo, to reform several abuses. Finding only one bishopric in that country, namely, Passaw, he established three others, Saltzburg, Freisinghein, and Ratisbon, which division the pope confirmed in 739. The holy primate soon after established three new bishoprics, at Erford for Thuringia, at Baraburg for Hesse, since translated to Paderborn, and at Wurtzbourg for Franconia: he added a fourth at Achstat in the palatinate of Bavaria. Gregory III. dying in November 741, his successor Zachary, upon application made to him by St. Boniface, again confirmed all he had done in settling the church of Germany. At that time happened a memorable revolution in France, in which that crown was transferred into a new family, fruitful in great princes and valiant herœs. Charles Martel, mayor of the palace, having governed France twenty-six years with great valour and prudence, having conquered Burgundy and Aquitain, humbled the Saxons, and often defeated the Saracens who made formidable invasions from their late settlements in Spain, died in 741, being fifty or fifty-five years old. Since the dignity of mayor of the palace was become hereditary, the title of duke and prince of France had been added to it. By the death of Charles, his eldest son Carloman became mayor and prince of Austrasia, or Lorrain, and that part of Germany which was then subject to France. He subdued Odilo and Thierry, the former duke of Bavaria, and the latter of Saxony, and made them tributary; but it was his chief aim to consult by peace the happiness of his people, to protect religion, and to cultivate the useful arts. He bent his whole authority to second the zeal of our saint in all his undertakings. Two impostors were stirred up by the devil to disturb the infant church of Germany. The one, Adalbert, a Frenchman, pretended to know the secrets of hearts, gave his own hair and the parings of his nails as relics, and wrote his own life, filled with absurd pretended miracles, enthusiasm, and pride. The other, called Clement, a Scotsman, rejecting the canons or the ecclesiastical laws, taught that Christ in his descent into hell delivered all the souls of the damned: he also held heterodox opinions concerning predestination. St. Boniface, in a council in Germany, condemned them both in 742; Carloman caused them to be confined in close prison, and the sentence of our saint and his council was afterward confirmed by the pope in a synod at Rome in 745. St. Boniface held another council in 743 at Leptines, now Lessines, a palace of the kings of Austrasia, near Ath, in the diocess of Cambray. Prince Carloman finding him a man full of the science of the saints, and of the spirit of God, listened to his advice in all things relating to the salvation of his soul. By the saint’s pious discourses, his heart was daily more and more inflamed with divine love, till despising the world in the height of its glory, he recommended his estates and his son Drogo to Pepin the Short, his younger brother, and disengaged himself from all the ties of the world. He then went to Rome with a splendid retinue, and having visited the tombs of the apostles and other holy places of that city, and dismissed his attendants, he received from the hands of Pope Zachary the monastic habit, and retiring to mount Soracte, built there a monastery called St. Sylvester’s. The neighbourhood of Rome drew thither so many visitants, especially among the French lords who lived in that city, that to avoid this distraction, by the advice of the pope, he withdrew to mount Cassino, where he lived several years with great fervour and humility, as the author of the Chronicle of Mount Cassino, Eginhard in his Annals, and other historians of that age testify. He chose and discharged with great cheerfulness the meanest offices, often served in the kitchen, kept the sheep of the monastery, and worked like a day-labourer in the garden. In this he had before his eyes the example of many English-Saxon kings who had done the same. Ceolwulph, king of the Northumbers, to whom Bede dedicated his History, was the eighth among them who had then exchanged his regal crown for the cowl of a monk, taking the habit at Lindisfarne in 737, as Hoveden, Simeon of Durham, and Matthew of Westminster relate. In the same year Frisisgithe, queen of the West-Saxons, going to Rome, there took the religious veil. Carloman was doubtless encouraged by these heroic examples. Being sent into France for certain affairs of his Order, he died holily at Vienne in 755. His brother, Pepin the Short, became mayor of the palace for the whole kingdom, till, in 752, he was chosen king by the unanimous consent of the whole nation, when the removal of Childeric III. put an end to the Merovingian line of kings. St. Boniface, as appears by his letters and various consultations, was timorous in decisions, nor did he appear as an actor in this delicate affair. Pope Zachary, as Eginhard, Otto, and others relate, upon the application of the states of the realm, answered, that it was better he should be king, in whom the whole supreme power and authority were lodged, and in this decision all parties peaceably acquiesced; judging that the State could not have two kings at the same time. All writers conspire in giving the highest commendations to the princely virtues of Pepin, whose zeal for religion, and love of the Church and of holy men, could only be rivalled by his consummate experience, wisdom, and valour, by which he laid the foundation of that high pitch of power and glory to which his son carried the French empire. The new king, desiring to be crowned by the most holy prelate in his dominions, insisted upon the ceremony being performed by St. Boniface. This was done at Soissons, where our saint presided in a synod of bishops, and all the states of the French kingdom assisted at the coronation. St. Boniface in his first council in Germany, is styled legate of St. Peter. From the councils of Lessines and Soissons, he appears to have been legate of the apostolic see in France no less than in Germany. In 746, he entreated Pope Zachary to send a bishop legate into France, that he might be eased of that burthen. The pope refused to grant this request; but allowed him by a singular privilege, to choose whom he thought best qualified to be his successor in Germany after his death. The saint had been some years archbishop of Germany before he fixed his metropolitan see in any particular city. Cologne was at first judged the most proper, it being then the metropolis; but Gervilio, the bishop of Mentz, having been deposed in a council, that city was pitched upon in 745. Pope Zachary subjected to this new metropolitan church the bishoprics of Tongres, Cologne, Worms, Spire, Utrecht; also all those which St. Boniface had erected, and those which before were subject to the see of Worms, namely, Strasburg, Ausburgh, Constance, and Coire. Thus was Mentz made the metropolitan church of all Germany; for Triers was then comprised in France. Shortly after Cologne, and in process of time many other churches were raised to the dignity of archbishoprics, though in honour of St. Boniface, Mentz has always retained the primacy. To assist him in planting the spirit of meekness and Christian piety in a fierce and uncivilized nation, St. Boniface invited over from England many holy men and religious women. Among these were St. Wigbert, St. Burchard, bishop of Wurtzbourg, St. Willibald, bishop of Eichstad, and St. Lullus: and among the holy virgins, were St. Lioba, our saint’s cousin, St. Thecla, St. Walburge, Bertigita, and Contruda, to whom he committed the direction of several nunneries which he erected in Thuringia, Bavaria, and other places. In 746 he laid the foundation of the great abbey of Fuld or Fulden, which continued long the most renowned seminary of piety and learning in all that part of the world. The abbot is now a prince of the empire, lord of a very extensive territory, and is styled primate of all the abbots in Germany, and chancellor to the empress. St. Boniface had several years before founded a monastery at Fridislar in honour of St. Peter; another at Hamenburgh in honour of St. Michael; and one at Ordorfe in honour of the same archangel, in all which the monks gained their livelihood by the labour of their hands. The pastoral care of so many churches did not hinder this holy man from extending his zeal to remote countries, especially to that which gave him birth. Ethelbald, king of Mercia, was a lover of justice, and liberal to the poor; but sullied these virtues by abominable lusts, abstaining from matrimony that he might wallow in filthy incontinency; and his scandalous example was imitated by many of his courtiers. St. Boniface, touched to the quick at the news of such scandals, in 745, wrote to this prince a strong remonstrance and exhortation to penance, putting him in mind how base it was for him to be the slave of lust to the injury of God, by whose benefit he ruled so great a nation; and how heinous a crime it was to set such an example to his subjects. He tells him that chastity is so highly prized among the Pagan inhabitants of old Saxony, that if a married woman was convicted of adultery, or a virgin of fornication, she was strangled, and her body burnt; and he who had dishonoured her was hanged over her grave; or she was scourged on her back by women, and stabbed with knives, first in one village, then in the next, and so round the country, till she expired under her torments. “If Gentiles, who know not God,” says the saint, “have so great a zeal for chastity, what ought to be your sentiments who are a Christian and a king!” He puts him in mind of the unhappy end of his predecessor, Cœlred, and of Osred, king of the Northumbrians, both addicted to this shameful vice, and both snatched away by sudden death in the midst of their evil courses. From the gift of Croiland, mentioned by Ingulphus, and from the laws of this king in favour of the church, and of the abbey of Ripendune, Natalis Alexander, and some others, think he became a sincere penitent. He was slain soon after, in 755, by Beornred, a rebel, who usurped his throne. St. Boniface wrote a circular letter to all the bishops, priests, deacons, canons, monks, nuns, and all the people of England, conjuring them earnestly to join in holy prayer, to beg of God, who desires that all may be saved, that he would vouchsafe, in his infinite mercy, to shower down his blessing upon the labours of all those who are employed in endeavouring to bring souls to his saving knowledge and holy love. He often desired books to be sent him from England, especially the works of Bede, whom he calls a lamp of the church. 8 He entreated the abbess Edburge 9 to send him the epistles of St. Peter written in letters of gold, to inspire carnal men with the greater respect, and to satisfy his devotion to that apostle, whom he calls the patron of his mission. Writing to the abbot Aldherius, 10 he begs that he would cause the sacrifice of the mass to be offered for the souls of those missionaries who were lately deceased. In several other epistles he mentions the mutual contract of charity between the missionaries abroad and the priests and monks in England, that they should reciprocally pray for their deceased brethren. In a letter to a nun, 11 he mentions how much he had to suffer in his mission from the Pagans, from false Christians, and even from ecclesiastics of debauched morals. Yet the ardour of his charity made him continually to thirst after greater sufferings, and especially after the honour of laying down his life for the love of him who died for us. In a letter to Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury, 12 treating of the duties of pastors, he says, “Let us fight for the Lord in these days of bitterness and affliction. If this be the will of God, let us die for the holy laws of our fathers, that we may arrive with them at the eternal inheritance. Let us not be dumb dogs, sleeping sentinels, hirelings that fly at the sight of the wolf: but watchful and diligent pastors; preaching to the great and small, to the rich and poor, to every age and condition, being instant in season and out of season.” St. Boniface, in his homilies, most frequently inculcates the obligation and sanctity of the baptismal vows. This apostle of so many nations thought he had yet done nothing, so long as he had not spilt his blood for Christ, and earnestly desired to attain to that happiness. Making use of the privilege which Pope Zachary had granted him of choosing his successor, he consecrated St. Lullus, an Englishman, formerly monk of Malmesbury, archbishop of Mentz, in 754, leaving him to finish the churches which he had begun in Thuringia, and that of Fuld, and conjuring him to apply himself strenuously to the conversion of the remaining idolaters. He wrote a letter to Fulrad, 13 abbot of St. Denys, begging him to make this choice of St. Lullus agreeable to King Pepin, and as his infirmities admonished him that he had not long to remain in this world, he conjured that prince to take into his favour and protection his disciples, who were almost all strangers, either priests dispersed in many places for the service of the church, or monks assembled in his little monastery, where they were employed in instructing children. He says that the priests lived on the frontiers of the Pagans, very poor and destitute, and that they were able to get their bread, but not clothing unless they were assisted. Pepin granted his request, and Pope Stephen II. confirmed his nomination of Lullus, and his resignation of the see of Mentz, in order that he might go and preach the gospel to those nations which still remained unconverted. The saint, looking upon himself as devoted to labour in the conversion of infidels, and being at liberty to follow the call of heaven, would not allow himself any repose, so long as he saw souls perishing in the shades of darkness, and his extreme desire of martyrdom seemed to give him a foresight of his approaching death. Having therefore settled his church and put all things in the best order possible, he set out with certain zealous companions to preach to the savage infidel inhabitants of the northern parts of East Friesland. Having converted and baptized some thousands among them, he appointed the eve of Whit-Sunday to administer to the neophytes the sacrament of confirmation in the open fields in the plains of Dockum, near the banks of the little rivulet Bordne. He pitched there a tent, and was waiting in prayer the arrival of the new converts, when, behold, instead of friends, a band of enraged infidels appeared on the plain all in arms, and coming up, rushed into his tent. The servants that were with the holy martyr were for defending his life by fighting; but he would not suffer it, declaring that the day he had long waited for was come, which was to bring him to the eternal joys of the Lord. He encouraged the rest to meet, with cheerfulness and constancy, a death which was to them the gate of everlasting life. While he was thus employed, the Pagans attacked them sword in hand, and put them all to death. St. Boniface suffered in the seventy-fifth year of his age, on the 5<sup>th</sup> of June, in the year of Christ 755. With him were martyred fifty-two companions, of whom the principal persons were Eoban, bishop; Wintrung, Walter, and Adelhere, priests; Hamund, Strichald, and Bosa, deacons; Waccar, Gunderhar, Williker, and Hadulph, monks; the rest were laymen. The barbarians expected to have a great booty of gold and silver in the baggage of the holy martyrs; but found nothing in their trunks but relics and books, which they scattered about the fields, or hid in ditches and marshes. Some of these things were afterwards found, and of them three books are still preserved in the monastery of Fuld, or Fulden: namely, a book of the gospels written in St. Boniface’s own hand; a copy of a Harmony, or canons of the New Testament; and a third book, which is stained with the martyr’s blood, and contains the letter of St. Leo to Theodorus, bishop of Frejus, and the discourse of St. Ambrose on the Holy Ghost, with his treatise, De bono Mortis; or, On the advantage of Death. The body of St. Boniface was first carried to Utrecht, thence to Mentz, and lastly to Fuld, where it was deposited by St. Lullus, as the saint himself had desired. 14 It is to this day regarded as the greatest treasure of that monastery. The continuators of Bollandus have given us, under the title of Analecta Bonifaciana, a long history of an incredible number of miracles down to this present time, which have been wrought by God at the relics, and through the intercession of St. Boniface. He who sincerely loves God, rejoices with this martyr to sacrifice to his honour his life, and whatever he has received of his bounty. With his whole strength he consecrates all his faculties eternally to the glorious and holy functions of divine love. He prays and labours without intermission that God alone may reign in his own soul, and ardently desires that all tongues may never cease to sound forth his praises, and that all creatures may have but one heart, always to be employed with the angels and blessed spirits, in doing his will, in loving him, and in glorifying his adorable name. There is no danger to which such a one would not with joy expose himself; nothing so difficult that he would not undertake, that one soul might be converted to God. He would rejoice to lay down his life a thousand times, were it possible, to hinder one offence against the divine majesty. Baronius 15 pathetically exhorts the Germans to consider what men their apostles were, and what were the maxims of the gospel they received from them; for with these their holy pastors and teachers, who will sit with the supreme Judge at the last day, they will be confronted and judged by them. </p>"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06060000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Saint Justus, Patriarch of Alexandria",
|
||
"short": "Saint Justus"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06060200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Icon of the Mother of God of Pimen (1387)",
|
||
"short": "Icon of"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06070000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyrs Priests Nicholas and Peter († 1919)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyrs"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06070100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Synaxis of All Saints of Ivanovo",
|
||
"short": "Synaxis of"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06070200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Daniel of Skete († 420)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Daniel"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06070399": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Martyr Potamiena",
|
||
"short": "Martyr Potamiena"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"060708": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St. Colman, Bishop of Dromore († c .610)",
|
||
"short": "St. Colman"
|
||
},
|
||
"life": {
|
||
"id": "",
|
||
"copyright": "Butler, Alban. The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints, Volume 6. (J. Murphy, 1815) pg 117-118",
|
||
"text": "<p> DROMORE, in the province of Ulster, sixty-three miles from Dublin to the north, derives the succession of its bishops from St. Colman, who was descended from the sept of the Arads, and born in 516, according to bishop Usher. He was the first abbot of Muckmore, in the county of Antrim, and afterwards chosen first bishop of Dromore, a small see under Armagh, and not far distant from it. Jocelin, in his life of St. Patrick, tells us that his eminent virtue was foretold by St. Patrick; and his legend ascribes many miracles to him, and the wonderful conversion of a great number of souls to God. The ancient scholiast on the Ængussian Martyrology observes, that he was also called Mocholmoc. He died about the year 610, on the 7<sup>th</sup> of June, on which his principal festival was kept, or, according to some, on the 27<sup>th</sup> of October, on which he was also commemorated. See Usher, Primord. p. 1126. Colgan in MSS. ad 7 Jun. Ware, p. 257, and Baërt the Bollandist, t. 2, Junij, p. 24. </p>"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06080000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St Theodore the Bishop of Rostov and Suzdal († 1023)",
|
||
"short": "St Theodore"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06080100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Athra",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Athra"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06080300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Naucratius († 848)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Naucratius († 848)"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06080400": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Martyr Theophanes († 1559)",
|
||
"short": "New Martyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06080500": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Melania",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Melania"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"060807": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St Médard, Bishop of Noyon (6<sup>th</sup> C)",
|
||
"short": "St Médard"
|
||
},
|
||
"life": {
|
||
"id": "",
|
||
"copyright": "Butler, Alban. The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints, Volume 6. (J. Murphy, 1815) pg 121-126",
|
||
"text": "<p> From his life, written by Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers, one in verse, another in prose, and from St. Gregory of Tours, L. de Glor. Conf. c. 95, and Hist. Franc. See also a life of St. Médard, though of less authority, compiled by a monk of St. Médard’s at Soissons, about the year 892, published by D’Achery, Spicil. t. 8, and the Bollandists. Henschenius and Papebroke, t. 2, Junij. p. 78, and another written by Radbod II. bishop of Noyon and Tournay, who died in 1082, ib. p. 87. Cointe, Annal. Franc. Gall. Christ. Nov. t. 9, p. 979. Sixth Age. ST. Médard, one of the most illustrious prelates of the church of France in the sixth century, was born at Salency, in Picardy, about the year 457. His father Nectard was a noble Frenchman, who made a figure in the king’s court; and his mother, Protogia, was descended of an ancient Roman family which was settled in Gaul. She brought to her husband several great estates, and among others that of Salency, situated about a league from Noyon. She was a lady of extraordinary piety, and the saintly education and early virtue of her son were the fruit of her attention and example, which was seconded by the authority and influence of her husband, whom she had gained to Christ from idolatry. She instilled into Médard from his infancy, the most tender compassion for the poor. At Salency he one day gave his coat to a blind beggar that was almost naked, and when he was asked what he had done with it, he answered that the sight of the distress and nakedness of a poor blind man, who was a fellow-member in Christ, had so strongly affected him that it was not in his power not to give him part of his own clothes. When he was employed in looking after the cattle in his father’s grounds, according to the custom of that age in France, even in good families, as among the ancient Hebrews, he often deprived himself of his dinner to divide it among the necessitous. Fasting was his delight in an age in which children seldom know what it is to curb their appetites. These virtues were supported by an uncommon spirit of prayer and retirement, and a great purity and innocence of manners. When he was old enough, he was sent abroad to be initiated in the higher studies: he went first to Augusta Verumanduorum, the capital of the province, and afterwards to Tournay, where King Childeric I. is said to have kept his court. Pomp and splendour, which so much dazzle the eyes of worldly men, had no charms for the saint, whose soul loathed everything in which he did not find his God. His parents, delighted with his happy dispositions for virtue, called him back to the city of Vermand, and entreated the bishop to instruct him in the sacred science of the holy scriptures. The scholar astonished the master both by his rapid progress in learning, and still more by the fervour of his piety, his assiduity in prayer, his tears, with which he continually watered his cheeks at his devotions; the readiness of his obedience; his extraordinary humility, and the austerity of his mortifications: in concealing which he was most ingenious. Yet all his exercises appeared to him no better than sloth and imperfection; and it was his constant complaint that he was not allowed to do penance. Being promoted to the priesthood in the thirty-third year of his age, he became a bright ornament of that sacred Order. He preached the word of God to the people with an unction which touched the hearts of the most hardened; but the influence of his example, by which he enforced the precepts which he delivered from the pulpit, seemed irresistible. He employed in holy contemplation and prayer all the time which his exterior functions did not claim. His fasts were continual and severe; but the perfect mortification of his will and passions by meekness and humility, seemed that virtue by which he was rendered most admirable. No man seems ever to have been more perfectly master of himself, or to have possessed a more constant evenness of temper. He never appeared elated with joy, or dejected and sunk by sadness upon any vicissitude in human affairs; was always patient and silent in adversity; sweet, courteous, and humble in prosperity, affable and beneficent to all, especially to the poor. In 530, Alomer, the thirteenth bishop of that country, dying, St. Médard was unanimously chosen to fill the see, and was consecrated by St. Remigius, who had baptized King Clovis in 496, and was then exceedingly old. Our saint’s new dignity did not make him abate anything of his austerities, but added to them the solicitude of his pastoral charge; and though at that time seventy-two years old, he thought himself obliged to redouble his labours. Though his diocess was very wide, it seemed not to suffice for his zeal, which could not be confined wherever he saw an opportunity of advancing the honour of God, and of abolishing the remains of idolatry. He rejoiced in calumnies and persecutions, and always triumphed over them by silence and patience. He had the affliction to see his diocess cruelly ravaged by the Huns and Vandals; but this calamity was to him a great spiritual harvest, by the opportunities it afforded him of exerting his charity and courage. He was, under that deluge of miseries, the refuge, support, and comfort of all the distressed. The ancient city of Augusta Verumanduorum being, by the fury of wars and other misfortunes, brought to a ruinous condition, and lying open to the incursions of barbarians, St. Médard transferred his see to Noyon, a strong walled town. From that time the old capital, which had been so flourishing in the times of the Gauls, fell entirely to decay; and at present nothing of it remains except a borough with a Premonstratensian abbey, which still retains the name of Vermand. The neighbouring town of St. Quintin is now become the capital of that part of Picardy. Other provinces envied the happiness of the Vermandois in possessing so great a pastor, and earnestly desired to share in the same. The clergy and people of Tournay, being supported by King Clotaire I., the son of Clovis the Great, after the death of St. Eleutherius in 532, would have no other person for their bishop. In compliance with their desire, St. Remigius, their metropolitan, thinking this necessary for the propagation of the gospel, with the approbation of the pope, commanded St. Médard to govern both those great diocesses, which from that time remained united under the same bishop for the space of five hundred years. Till then, some parts of the diocess of Tournay lay benighted under the shades of idolatry. St. Médard visited them all, and though he was often threatened, and sometimes seized by the Pagans with a view of taking away his life, he overcame all obstacles, and by his zealous labours and miracles, the rays of the gospel dispelled the mists of idolatry throughout the whole extent of his diocesses. What rendered this task more difficult and perilous, was the savage and fierce disposition of the ancient inhabitants of Flanders, who were the most barbarous of all the nations of the Gauls and Franks, as the original historians frequently take notice. The Greeks and Romans civilized the western part of the world, by teaching the barbarous nations to cultivate their minds with the useful and polite arts. But the most elegant ages of those empires themselves may, in many respects, be esteemed barbarous if compared with Christianity. The divine spirit of mildness, patience, humility, and charity which it inspires, and the purity, and sanctity of its morals, have refined the minds of men, corrected the ignorance, stupidity, and barbarism of the fiercest nations, and diffused a rational, virtuous, and holy temper throughout the countries where the gospel has been planted. St. Médard, with incredible pains, brought over the most rude and wild people from their barbarous manners, inspired them with the meek spirit of the gospel, and rendered them a civilized and Christian nation, abounding with examples of eminent virtue, as Miræus observes. Our saint having completed this great work in Flanders, returned to Noyon, where Radegondes, queen of France in 544, received the religious veil from his hands, with the consent of her husband, Clotaire, and was made a deaconess. Shortly after, the saint fell sick. Upon the first news of his illness, King Clotaire, who always honoured him as a living saint, came to Noyon to pay him a visit, and to receive his blessing. Soon after his departure, the saint rested from his labours in a very advanced age, in the sixth century, according to Le Cointe in 545, according to Pagi in 561. The whole kingdom lamented his death as the loss of their common father and protector. His body was buried in his own cathedral; but King Clotaire was so moved by many miracles wrought at his tomb, that he desired to translate his precious remains to Soissons, where he then chiefly resided. Clotaire was an able, valiant, and generous prince, but had tarnished his glory by actions of cruelty and ambition in his youth. He reigned first king of Soissons. By the death of his brother Clodomir in 524, he obtained a share in the kingdom of Orleans: by the death of Thierry in 544, he added Austrasia or Metz to his dominions; and by that of Childebert in 558 he became also king of Paris, and of all France. He endeavoured to expiate the crimes of his youth by works of penance, and listened to the advice of St. Médard. Having begun to build a stately church and abbey at Soissons, after the death of that holy man, he caused his relics to be translated, thither from Noyon in a shrine covered with most precious stuffs, seeded with diamonds, and adorned with plates of gold; the king himself, the princes, his children, and all the chief lords of the court attending the procession: the king thought himself honoured by sometimes putting his royal shoulders under the burden. The body was laid at Crouy or Croiac, a village eastward of Soissons, near the gates, and a small church or oratory of wood was raised over it, till the church in Soissons could be finished. Clotaire dying in 561 at Compiegne, the structure of this abbey was completed by King Sigebert, one of his younger sons. It has been sometimes styled by popes the chief of all the Benedictin abbeys in France. Fortunatus and St. Gregory of Tours, who lived before the close of the same century, testify, that in their time the festival of St. Médard was celebrated in France with great solemnity. A small portion of his relics was procured for the parish church which bears his name in Paris. All holy pastors were eminently men of prayer. Besides the constant homage of public prayer, they retired frequently into their closets or into wildernesses to give themselves up entirely to this heavenly exercise. This Jesus teaches them by so often withdrawing into deserts and mountains to pray, and to spend whole nights in prayer. The most retired places, and the calmest and most silent seasons ought to be chosen, that our souls may most perfectly soar above all earthly things, and sequestering our minds and hearts from them, converse in heaven, and recommend to God both our own and others’ necessities. The sanctification both of the pastor and his flock requires this. To retire sometimes to speak to God for them is not to abandon them, but to serve them in the best manner by endeavouring to draw down the most abundant showers of divine grace upon them, and by purifying his own soul, and replenishing himself with God and his truths, learning the art of imparting them with their interior spirit. Without this, the salvation both of the pastor and his people is equally in danger. The apostles joined prayer with their ministry, as equally dividing their care and their time. Acts vi. 4.</p>"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"060906": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St. Columba, or Columkille, Abbot in Ireland († 597)",
|
||
"short": "St. Columba"
|
||
},
|
||
"life": {
|
||
"id": "",
|
||
"copyright": "Butler, Alban. The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints, Volume 6. (J. Murphy, 1815) pg 135-140",
|
||
"text": "<p> From Bede, Hist. l. 3, c. 4, and his life, written by Cummeneus, surnamed Albus, abbot of Hy, (who, according to the Four Masters, died in 668, extant in Mabillon, sæc. Ben. 1, p. 361, and the same enlarged into three books by Adamnon, abbot of Hy in 700, 1 published by Canisius, Lect. Antiq. t. 5, and by Surius. Both these lives abound with relations of wonderful miracles. William, bishop of Derry, in his Irish Historical Library, p. 85, mentions a pœm of good authority, called the Amrha, or Vision of St. Columkille, which was written soon after his death, and which records his principal actions conformable to these authors. See also Bishop Tanner de Scriptor. Brit. p. 192. Sir James Ware, l. 1, Scriptor. Hibern. p. 14. Item in Monasteriologiâ, Hibernicâ, p. 186. Colgan in MSS. ad 9 Jun. The works ascribed to him in an Irish MS. in the Bodleian library, Oxford; and Leabhar Lecan, i. e. Book of Lecane, a very old and precious Irish MS. of Antiquities of that island in the Irish college at Paris, p. 58. A.D. 597. ST. COLUMBA, commonly pronounced COLME, was one of the greatest patriarchs of the monastic Order in Ireland, and the apostle of the Picts. To distinguish him from other saints of the same name, he was surnamed Columkille, from the great number of monastic cells, called by the Irish Killes, of which he was the founder. He was of most noble extraction from Neil, and was born at Gartan, in the county of Tyrconnel, in 521. He learned from his childhood that there is nothing great, nothing worth our esteem or pursuit, which does not advance the divine love in our souls, to which he totally devoted himself with an entire disengagement of his heart from the world, and in perfect purity of mind and body. He learned the divine scriptures and the lessons of an ascetic life under the holy bishop St. Finian, in his great school of Cluain-iraird. Being advanced to the Order of priesthood in 546, he began to give admirable lessons of piety and sacred learning, and in a short time formed many disciples. He founded, about the year 550, the great monastery of Dair-Magh, now called Durrogh, 2 which original name signifies Field of Oaks, and besides many smaller, those of Doire or Derry in Ulster, and of Sord or Swords, about six miles from Dublin. St. Columba composed a rule which, as Usher, Tanner, and Sir James Ware inform us, is still extant in the old Irish. This rule he settled in the hundred monasteries which he founded in Ireland and Scotland. It was chiefly borrowed from the ancient oriental monastic institutes, as the inquisitive Sir Roger Twisden observes, of all the old British and Irish monastic Orders. King Dermot or Dermitius, being offended at the zeal of St. Columba in reproving public vices, the holy abbot left his native country, and passed into North-Britain, now called Scotland. He took along with him twelve disciples, and arrived there, according to Bede, in the year of Christ 565, the ninth of the reign of Bridius, the son of Meilochon, the most powerful king of the Picts; which nation the saint converted from idolatry to the faith of Christ by his preaching, virtues, and miracles. But this we are to understand only of the northern Picts and the Highlanders, separated from the others by Mount Grampus, the highest part of which is called Drum-Albin; for Bede tells us, in the same place that the southern Picts had received the faith long before by the preaching of St. Ninyas, the first bishop of Whitherne in Galloway; whose life see September 16<sup>th</sup>. The Picts having embraced the faith, gave St. Columba the little island of Hy or Iona, called from him Y-colm-kille, twelve miles from the land, in which he built the great monastery which was for several ages the chief seminary of North-Britain, and continued long the burying place of the kings of Scotland, with the bodies of innumerable saints, which rested in that place. Out of this nursery St. Columba founded several other monasteries in Scotland. In the same school were educated the holy bishops Aidan, Finian, and Colman, who converted to the faith the English Northumbers. This great monastery several ages afterwards embraced the rule of St. Bennet. St. Columba’s manner of living was always most austere. He lay on the bare floor with a stone for his pillow, and never interrupted his fast. Yet his devotion was neither morose nor severe. His countenance always appeared wonderfully cheerful, and bespoke to all that beheld him the constant interior serenity of his holy soul, and the unspeakable joy with which it overflowed from the presence of the Holy Ghost. Such was his fervour, that in whatever he did, he seemed to exceed the strength of man; and as much as in him lay he strove to suffer no moment of his precious time to pass without employing it for the honour of God, principally either in praying, reading, writing, or preaching. His incomparable mildness and charity towards all men, and on all occasions, won the hearts of all who conversed with him; and his virtues, miracles, and extraordinary gift of prophecy, commanded the veneration of all ranks of men. He was of such authority, that neither king nor people did anything without his consent. When King Aedhan or Aidanus succeeded to his cousin Conall in the throne of British Scotland in 574, he received the royal insignia from St. Columba. Four years before he died, St. Columba was favoured with a vision of angels which left him in many tears, because he learned from those heavenly messengers that God, moved by the prayers of the British and Scottish churches, would prolong his exile on earth yet four years. Having continued his labours in Scotland thirty-four years, he clearly and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday the 9<sup>th</sup> of June said to his disciple Diermit: “This day is called the Sabbath, that is, the day of rest, and such will it truly be to me; for it will put an end to my labours.” He was the first in the church at Matins at midnight; but knelt before the altar, received the viaticum, and having given his blessing to his spiritual children, sweetly slept in the Lord in the year 597, the seventy-seventh of his age. His body was buried in this island, but some ages after removed to Down in Ulster, and laid in one vault with the remains of St. Patrick and St. Brigit. The great monastery of Durrogh, in King’s County, afterwards embraced the rule of the Canons Regular, as did also the houses founded by St. Brendan, St. Comgal, &c. He was honoured both in Ireland and Scotland, among the principal patrons of those countries, and is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the 9<sup>th</sup> of June, but in some calendars on the 7<sup>th</sup>, which seems to have been the day of his death. How many saints hid themselves in solitudes, that they might devote themselves wholly to the service of God! But many, even after a Christian education, pass their whole lives in dissipation and vanity, without being able to find leisure for a daily serious meditation or the reading of a good book, as if they made it their study to unlearn the only thing which it concerns them to know, and to lose the only thing for which they exist—religion, or the worship of God.</p>"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06098599": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Holy Hierarch and Confessor Athanasius, bishop of Kovrov († 1962)",
|
||
"short": "Holy Hierarch"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06100000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Synaxis of All Saints of Ryazan",
|
||
"short": "Synaxis of"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06100100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Synaxis of All Saints of Siberia",
|
||
"short": "Synaxis of"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06100200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyrs Priests Nicholas, Basil and Martyr Paul († 1918)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyrs"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06100300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest Timothy († 1940)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06110000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "222 Holy New Martyrs of China, slain during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900",
|
||
"short": "222 Holy"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06110100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Translation of the relics of Venerable Arcadius of Vyaz”ma († 1077)",
|
||
"short": "Translation of"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06120000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Onuphrius and Auxentius of Vologda (15<sup>th</sup>-16<sup>th</sup> C)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Onuphrius"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06120100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Desert Fathers: John, Andrew, Hiraclemon, and Theophilus of Egypt (4<sup>th</sup> C)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Desert"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06120200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Timothy, the hermit of Egypt (4<sup>th</sup> C)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Timothy"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06130000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Alexandra of Diveevsky Convent († 1789)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Alexandra"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06130100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest Alexander († 1918)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06130200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest Demetrius († 1940)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06130300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Martyr Pelagia († 1944)",
|
||
"short": "New Martyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06130400": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Antipater, bishop of Bostra in Arabia († 458)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Antipater"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06140000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St. Mstislav the Brave (in baptism George), Prince of Novgorod († 1180)",
|
||
"short": "St. Mstislav"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06140100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Saints Julitta and Julia of Taven",
|
||
"short": "Saints Julitta"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06140200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Niphont of Mt Athos (14<sup>th</sup> C)",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Niphont"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06140300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St John, Metropolitan of Euchaitus",
|
||
"short": "St John"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06140400": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest Joseph († 1918);",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06150000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St Cerdon, Patriarch of Alexandria",
|
||
"short": "St Cerdon"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06150099": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Orsisius of Taunesiot, disciple of Venerable Pachomius the Great",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Orsisius"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06150199": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Gregory and Cassian of Avnezh",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Gregory"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06150299": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Martyr Leonida",
|
||
"short": "Martyr Leonida"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06150499": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Martyr Hesychius the soldier",
|
||
"short": "Martyr Hesychius"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06150600": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Apostles Stephen and Fotunatus of the 70 (1<sup>st</sup> C)",
|
||
"short": "Apostles Stephen"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06150699": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St Glycerius, Metropolitan of Slatioara",
|
||
"short": "St Glycerius"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06160100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St. Qiakhosro of Georgia",
|
||
"short": "St. Qiakhosro"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06170000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "MP: New Hieromartyr Priest Averky and Martyr Nikandr († 1918)",
|
||
"short": "MP: New"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06170099": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Righteous Solomon, the King of Israel",
|
||
"short": "Righteous Solomon"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06170100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Martyr Pelagia († 1943);",
|
||
"short": "New Martyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06170200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Hieromartyr Philonidus, bishop of Curea",
|
||
"short": "Hieromartyr Philonidus"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06170400": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Martyr Nectan of Hartland in England",
|
||
"short": "Martyr Nectan"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06170497": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Joseph and Pior, disciples of Venerable Anthony the Great",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Joseph"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06170500": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St. Shalva of Akhaltsikhe in Georgia",
|
||
"short": "St. Shalva"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06170600": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Righteous brothers Alfanov: Nikita, Cyrill, Nikiphor, Clement, and Isaac",
|
||
"short": "Righteous brothers"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06170700": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Anania of Novgorod",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Anania"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06180000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Martyr Etherius",
|
||
"short": "Martyr Etherius"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06180100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Saint Leontius the Clairvoyant of Mt. Athos († 1605)",
|
||
"short": "Saint Leontius"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06180200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "“Bogolubskaya” Icon of the Mother of God (1155)",
|
||
"short": "“Bogolubskaya” Icon"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06190000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Holy Myrrh-bearer Mary of James",
|
||
"short": "Holy Myrrh-bearer"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06190100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Vnerable Xeno of Egypt",
|
||
"short": "Vnerable Xeno"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06200000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Naum, disciple of Sts Cyrill and Methodius",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Naum"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06200199": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Callistos and 2 other desert-dwellers",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Callistos"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06201100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Callistos, Patriarch of Constantinople;",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Callistos"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06210000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest John († 1918)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06210100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyrs Priests Paul and Nicholas († 1938);",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyrs"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06210299": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Anastasia of Serbia",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Anastasia"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06210300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Martyr Nikita",
|
||
"short": "New Martyr Nikita"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06210500": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Holy Martyr Luarsab II, King of Georgia († 1622)",
|
||
"short": "Holy Martyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06220000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest Gennadiy († 1918);",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06220100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "St. Alban the Protomartyr of Britain",
|
||
"short": "St. Alban"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06221100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Basil, Abbot of Patelaria",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Basil"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06230000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyrs Mitrophan, Archbishop of Astrakhan, Leonty, Bishop of Yenotayevsk, and those with them († 1919)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyrs"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06230200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Joseph, Anthony, and Joanicius of Vologda",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Joseph"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06240100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Holy Hierarch Nikita, Bishop of Remesiana",
|
||
"short": "Holy Hierarch"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06240200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable John of Yarenga, Solovki",
|
||
"short": "Venerable John"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06240300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Holy Great Prince Michael of Tver",
|
||
"short": "Holy Great"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06241200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Martyr Panagiotos of Cæsarea;",
|
||
"short": "New Martyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06250000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Martyrs Priests Nicholas and Basil († 1918)",
|
||
"short": "New Martyrs"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06250100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Simeon of Mt Sinai",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Simeon"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06250200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Dionysius and Dometius of Athens",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Dionysius"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06250300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Venerable Martyr Procopius of Smyrna",
|
||
"short": "New Venerable"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06251200": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Martyrs Leonida, Libya, and Eutropia",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Martyrs"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06260000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Priest George († 1918)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06270099": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr George of Nikol”sk († 1918)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06270199": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Commemoration of the Victory at Poltava (1709)",
|
||
"short": "Commemoration"
|
||
},
|
||
"rank": 1
|
||
},
|
||
"06280000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Hieromartyr Deacon Vasily († 1918)",
|
||
"short": "New Hieromartyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06280100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Paul the Physician of Corinth",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Paul"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06280300": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Sergius of Crete",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Sergius"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06280400": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Moses of Syria",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Moses"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06290100": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Venerable Nikander of Pskov",
|
||
"short": "Venerable Nikander"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06300000": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "New Martyr Michael of Athens",
|
||
"short": "New Martyr"
|
||
}
|
||
},
|
||
"06300199": {
|
||
"name": {
|
||
"nominative": "Murder of the Right-believing Prince Andrew of Bogoliubovo",
|
||
"short": "Murder of"
|
||
}
|
||
}
|
||
} |