April 19--Leo IX, Pope

 

Leo IX

The Church has always reformed itself, meeting the needs of each age, but still remaining in continuity with Jesus and the Apostles. Today’s saint, Leo IX, was one of the great papal reformers of the Church. The son of a count and cousin of an emperor, he was a soldier and officer in his cousin’s army. Then he was chosen to be bishop of Toul, France in 1027, where he remained for twenty years. Although he was proposed as pope by Emperor Henry III in 1049, he waited until he received the approval of the clergy and the people of Rome. As bishop and soldier he was disciplined, bringing that discipline to the papacy to reform the Church. Thus, we have the start of the great reforming popes of the eleventh century.

He enforced clerical celibacy, condemned simony (the buying and selling of Church positions) and personally deposed those bishops who were guilty, encouraged liturgical reform, and prohibited clergy from being involved in violence. He also foreshadowed Pope St. John Paul’s efforts at showing the unity of the Church by traveling throughout Europe and personally encouraging and enforcing reforms through councils and synods in Italy, France, and Germany. He sent a delegate to Constantinople to support the Latin rite there, but that eventually resulted in the Great Schism in 1054 after his death. He reaffirmed the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, foreshadowing the Church’s dogmatic declaration of that truth at the Council of Trent in 1551. Furthermore, to prevent imperial interference in the selection of the pope, he proposed the use of cardinals as electors of the pope. He also brought the future Pope St. Gregory VII with him to Rome who continued his reforms. The Church is always reforming! Pope St. Leo IX, pray for us!

March 1--St. David of Wales, Abbot and Bishop

 

Saint Non's Chapel - Fenster 5 St.David by Wolfgang Sauber, Licensed under CC BY 3.0 Unported.

"Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd." For those of you who don’t know Welsh, that means: “Do ye the little things in life,” the last words of today’s saint, St. David of Wales, who died around 589 A.D. Born in about 500 A.D., the grandson of a king in Wales, David became “renowned as a teacher and preacher, founding monastic settlements in Wales” and elsewhere. He attended a synod in Wales denouncing the Pelagian heresy, which stated that humans were not affected by Original Sin and we could earn our way to heaven, thus getting rid of our corporate sin and also the need of Jesus as Our Savior to die for us! Due to his speech he was elected primate of the monks in his region. He was later acclaimed archbishop. His last words were: “Lords, brothers and sisters, Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed, and do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. And as for me, I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us." "Do ye the little things in life."


St. Thérèse of Lisieux also taught a “Little Way” whereby doing the ordinary things of everyday life with love bring us closer to God. Both St. David and St. Thérèse point out that holiness is everyone’s calling in life, no matter our state, our abilities, or our difficulties. Every moment is an opportunity for grace or, as Saint Padre Pio said, “The present moment is the only moment of grace.” We are chosen, called, and sent forth to bring God’s love to the world. We are the children of God who praise the love of Our Father, through his beloved Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! St. David, pray for us!

January 11–St. Theodosius the Great, Abbot

St. Theodosius the Cenobiarch at Church of St. Thomas-Goudi, licensed under CC by-SA 4.0.

In many respects monks saved Western Christianity. St. Benedict of Nursia was the pivotal figure in the West, whereas St. Basil the Great was the pivotal figure in the East. But they were not alone in helping to spread the monastic lifestyle, Today’s saint, St. Theodosius the Great, lived from about A.D. 423-529, and developed the communal monastic way of life in the Judaean desert near Bethlehem.

There are many different kinds of monasticism, including hermits, who lived by themselves, anchorites, who lived by themselves, but physically connected to a church, and cenobites, what we think of today as being monks in community. This style was not as common in Theodosius’s day. He originally started out as a hermit, living in a cave on a mountain. But he eventually founded the Monastery of St. Theodosius near Bethlehem, which stressed the common life rather than the solitary life. It “grew rapidly, with monks of several cultures and languages, and became very well known for its work with the sick, elderly, and mentally impaired.”

What is notable about St. Theodosius was his desire to do God’s will wherever it led him. As a developer of the communal monastic movement he was able to help others find their way to God as well. We are all called by God to live according to our calling to holiness. For many it is the married life, living in the world, evangelizing and sharing faith with family, friends, and colleagues. For others it may be the priestly life, and for still others it may be the cloistered life in a monastery or the missionary life as a sister or brother of a religious order. We are all called to discern our place in God’s plan of salvation for the world. St. Theodosius, pray for us!

October 12--St. Wilfrid, Bishop

Aidan, Cuthbert and Wilfrid - St John Lee church, by Mike Quinn is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Can bishops be political? We often want our bishops to be above politics, arguing that their work is directed toward God and not toward the world. And yet, bishops are called to be ministers to all, teaching the faith and upholding the dignity of the human person as a child of God. To that end, they are necessarily political, helping form public policy to support the God-given, natural human rights of both the unborn (CCC 2270-2275) and the immigrant (CCC 2241)!

Today’s saint was deeply political! St. Wilfrid was born in 633 and raised in northern England becoming a monk, abbot, and eventually the Bishop of York. He worked with kings to bring about Christianity in various parts of England only a generation after the reintroduction of Christianity by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. He established new Catholic communities and monasteries and, at the time, built the largest church north of the Alps. He helped the English Church follow the Roman method of setting the date for Easter. He was also exiled three different times by different kings of the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England, each time appealing to Rome, and each time being upheld by the pope. He died in 709 at a monastery he founded in Mercia, England.

Our bishops need to be political! Jesus sent his Apostles out to the world with the instruction: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves” (Mt. 10:16).  When dealing with the leaders of the people our bishops can follow the example of St. Wilfrid. As our bishops are in union with Rome and the pope, they will strive to fulfill God’s will for God’s people. We are all called to do the same. St. Wilfrid, pray for us.

October 6--St. Bruno, Priest and Religious

 

St. Bruno Praying in the Desert by Nicolas Mignard is licensed under the public domain.

The end of the first millennium saw numerous reforms in the Church and religious life. The reforms of Pope St. Gregory VII allowed for the Church to be independent from control of the state. New religious orders, based upon the Rule of St. Benedict, were developing, especially in France. One of those orders was the Carthusian order of monks founded by today’s saint, St. Bruno. “They lived primarily as hermits and came together for the liturgy and for occasional common activities.” St. Bruno was born in Cologne, now in Germany around A.D. 1030 to a principal family of the city. He studied in Reims, France where he eventually became in charge of the school of the bishop for eighteen years. He became chancellor of the Archdiocese of Reims in 1075. He was offered the position of bishop, but instead decided to withdraw from the active ministry of diocesan work for the role of a hermit. In 1084 he and six companions went into the French Alps near Grenoble at Chartreuse and started a small community of hermits, which became the Carthusian order. St. Bruno’s student, Pope Urban II, called him to Rome to reengage in the daily activities of helping to run the universal Church as Pope Urban’s counsellor. St. Bruno died in 1101.

St. Bruno is a model for both the active and the contemplative life as symbolized by Martha and Mary, who were friends of Jesus. We need public servants of the Church to do the daily practical work of teaching, administrating, preaching, worshipping, healing, and more for the benefit of the People of God. But we also need the hidden servants who pray, meditate, sacrifice, and intercede on behalf of the People of God. St. Bruno was a master of both! St. Bruno, pray for us.

September 25--St. Cleopas, Holy Man

Caravaggio,Supper at Emmaus National Gallery, London.

There are a few people mentioned by name once or infrequently under singular circumstances in the Gospels, Simon of Cyrene, Jairus, Joanna, Mary of Clopas and today’s saint, St. Cleopas. St. Cleopas is mentioned in Luke’s Gospel as one of the two persons Jesus encountered on the road to Emmaus after the Resurrection, which may be the same occurrence stated in Mark 16:12-13 about the appearance to two disciples on their way to the country. Some think that this is the same person as Clopas, who is mentioned as the husband of Mary, one of the women present at the crucifixion of Jesus. Some traditions claim that he was the brother of St. Joseph and thus the uncle of Jesus. Others say that he was also the same person as Alphaeus, who was the father of James the Less, an Apostle of Jesus. It is difficult to know for sure, but we do know that he was a witness to the resurrected Jesus.

As a named witness to the Resurrection, St. Cleopas and his companion, perhaps his wife, were favored with a noteworthy appearance. They were on the road to Emmaus on the day of Jesus’ Resurrection when a stranger, Jesus, came up to them and walked with them. They shared their experience of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus and their lack of understanding of the whole situation. Jesus explained to them the meaning of the Old Testament regarding his passion and death and then moved as to leave them. They invited him to stay and he “broke bread” with them. At that they recognized him and he disappeared. Think about it; this is the structure of the Mass–reading of Scriptures and the homily along with the sharing of the Eucharist! WOW! St. Cleopas, pray for us.

 

September 16--St. Cyprian of Carthange, Bishop and Martyr

 

Mosaic of Saint Cyprian of Carthage from Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, CC 4.0.

Galerius Maximus: "Are you Thascius Cyprianus?"
Cyprian: "I am."
Galerius: "The most sacred Emperors have commanded you to conform to the Roman rites."
Cyprian: "I refuse."
Galerius: "Take heed for yourself."
Cyprian: "Do as you are bid; in so clear a case I may not take heed."
Galerius: "You have long lived an irreligious life, and have drawn together a number of men bound by an unlawful association, and professed yourself an open enemy to the gods and the religion of Rome; and the pious, most sacred and august Emperors ... have endeavoured in vain to bring you back to conformity with their religious observances; whereas therefore you have been apprehended as principal and ringleader in these infamous crimes, you shall be made an example to those whom you have wickedly associated with you; the authority of law shall be ratified in your blood. It is the sentence of this court that Thascius Cyprianus be executed with the sword." 

Cyprian: "Thanks be to God."

Thus, the trial and sentencing of St. Cyprian of Carthage in A.D. 258 under Emperor Valerian. He had survived the Decian persecution eight years earlier by going into hiding. However, many had criticized him for that. He explained that he needed to be pastor for his flock, whereas in the latter persecution he explained that he needed to be an example. In between, when the persecution had been relaxed, many who had lapsed from the faith in fear of martyrdom desired to return to the fold. St. Cyprian approved, but only after an appropriate public penance. He was opposed by those who wanted no penance and those who wanted no readmission! Pope St. Cornelius, whose feast day Cyprian shares, agreed with him. Reconciliation is a necessary sacrament for us as well! St. Cyprian, pray for us.