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.

August 30--St. Fiacre, Priest and Abbot

St. Fiacre, Stained glass window, Notre-Dame, Bar-le-Duc, France

The Catholic Church recognizes patron saints from Academics–St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Albert the Great to Zoology–St. Albert the Great again! Today’s saint is the patron saint of Gardeners. St. Fiacre was born in Ireland about A.D. 600 and died in A.D. 670 in France. He grew up in a monastery, was ordained a priest, and eventually became an abbot. As people came to him because of his reputation for holiness and healing he went to France to become a hermit. He built a hermitage for himself and a hospice for travelers about 50 miles northeast of Paris. There he planted a vegetable and herb garden and an oratory in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He lived a life of self-denial, prayer, fasting, vigils and healing by laying on of hands. Veneration towards him seems to be based on his healing abilities as well as his holiness. His patronage of gardeners is based on his gardening abilities.

Every good act we do can be an act of love for God and others. Gardening may bring joy through the beauty of flowers and health through the nourishment of fruits, and vegetables. Tilling the soil may allow us to focus our minds and hearts on prayer to God in praise and on behalf of others. Tending the yard may bring peace. Scripture envisioned earthly paradise as a garden: “The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it” (Gn. 2:15). Furthermore: “You make the grass grow for the cattle and plants for people’s work to bring forth food from the earth, wine to gladden their hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread to sustain the human heart” (Ps. 104:14-15). St. Fiacre, pray for us.

March 16–St. Abbán, Abbot

 

Andreas F. Borchert, New Ross Church of St. Mary and St. Michael Nave West End Relief of Saint Abban 2012 09 04, CC 4.0.

When we think of March saints we usually think of St. Patrick, whose feast day is March 17. Nonetheless, the Martyrology of Donegal lists 1000 saints of Ireland. Today’s saint was also an Irish saint who founded a monastery in Ireland. Three versions of the Life of St. Abbán show a lot of variation and confusion about him. However, according to the Martyrology, St. Abbán had great devotion to God as a child and he worked saintly miracles, such as when his maternal uncle, a bishop, took him to Rome, he was said to have power over “men, monsters, and supernatural phenomena” and “special authority over rivers and seas.” He died about A.D 520.

This sounds like a lot of Irish exaggeration, except that scholars have studied and documented his life and impact throughout Ireland. So what makes a person a saint? As stated in this column before, men, women, and children are saints because of their holiness. They dedicate themselves to knowing, loving, and serving God so they may give greater glory to God and bring others closer to him. St. Abbán was thus such a man.

St. Abbán was one of the many abbots, abbesses, and monks that helped Christianize Ireland. Irish Christianity was primarily monastic with the spread of “networks of monastic ‘city-states’ throughout Ireland that served as centers of learning for religious men and women.” Irish monasticism was influential in re-Christianizing northern Europe after the fall of the Roman empire in the West.

The impact of Irish Catholicism is worthwhile. Many of us can remember the Irish priests who taught us as children and established parishes in our dioceses. We are grateful for the Irish Catholics like St. Abbán, who, by their holiness, spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. St. Abbán, pray for us.

March 30--St. John Climacus, Abbot

 

Novogrod school - scan from "Muzeum Rosyjskie w Leningradzie", Arkady, Warszawa 1986, ISBN 83-213-3348-6

Today's saint is so named because of his book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, which in Greek is
Climacus. Using the symbol of Jacob's ladder, he writes of how to grow in holiness by asceticism, or physical self-denial. He has thirty rungs, or steps, in his ladder on helping monks grow in holiness with such titles as "On that clamorous mistress, the stomach," and "On detachment," and "On holy and blessed prayer, the mother of virtues, and on the attitude of mind and body in prayer." It became popular and is read by Eastern Catholics, especially during Great Lent.

St. John Climacus was born in the 6th century and died in March of 649 at Mt. Sinai. He was from Palestine and became a monk, living a life of solitude and prayer. At age seventy he was elected abbot of the monastery at Mt. Sinai and died about four years later. According to him, the goal of life as a monk was to reach a state of "passive disinterestedness in earthly life so as to anticipate the wonders of heaven."

He writes in "On Detachment": "The man who really loves the Lord, who has made a real effort to find the coming Kingdom, who has really begun to be troubled by his sins, who is really mindful of eternal torment and judgment, who really lives in fear of his own departure, will not love, care or worry about money, or possessions, or parents, or worldly glory, or friends, or brothers, or anything at all on earth. But having shaken off all ties with earthly things ... he will follow Christ without anxiety or hesitation, always looking heavenward and expecting help from there...." With St. John's prayers and God's grace we can also ascend to God as we prepare for Easter!

June 19--St. Romuald, Abbot

How do we deal with the sins of our family? Do we condemn our family member, or do we condemn the sin? Do we pray for their repentance and conversion? Do we offer reparation for their sins? St. Romuald was 20 when his father killed a relative in a duel over property. St. Romuald was so upset that he fled to a nearby monastery in Ravenna, Italy and prayed and did penance for his father. He joined the monastery, but found that his rigor was more than what they wanted. He left and lived under the direction of a hermit. After about five years with him, he spent 30 years traveling around Italy founding and reforming monasteries. 

He eventually founded the Camaldolese order, which combined elements of being a hermit with elements of being a monk. The Camoldolese monks lived in individual cells, but also observed a common life with daily worship and community meals. They emphasized a life of contemplative prayer. The Camoldolese have established communities in Brazil, Africa, India, and the United States in Big Sur, California.

So how does that impact our lives? Do we admire St. Romuald and think, “Better him than me” or “That’s nice”? We need holy men and women to challenge us. Sometimes we get complacent, even in our faith lives and our prayer. Do we pray for the reparations of the sins of others? We have much to pray for regarding the sins in our families, our communities, and in our society. Do we set aside time for God? Do we pray in adoration? Do we sit and “be” in the presence of God? God’s friendship means that we need to share time with him. St. Romuald died in 1027, but his example is worth following.

August 20—St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

St. Bernard of Clairvaux was the most famous man of the 12th century. When he was about 23 he joined the monastery at Citeaux with thirty other young noblemen. However, three years later he was sent out to establish a new monastery, at Clairvaux, whereupon he was chosen abbot. He became known as a persuasive writer and speaker even to the point that he was asked by the bishops of France to judge between two rival claimants to the papacy. St. Bernard decided that Innocent II was the legitimate pope and succeeded in helping Innocent be recognized as such. He even counseled the successor to Innocent, Eugenius III on how to be a good pope. Pope Eugenius had previously been a follower of St. Bernard. He also asked St. Bernard to preach the Second Crusade. After its failure, many blamed St. Bernard, but he attributed the failure to the sins of the crusaders. St. Bernard is called the last of the Church Fathers, a group of men who taught theology based on Scripture from the time of the early Church. He was also named Doctor Mellifluous, or “Honey-voiced” Doctor due to his eloquence in speaking and writing truths of the faith.

We have much to be thankful for regarding St. Bernard. He had a great devotion to Our Lady and composed the Memorare. He wrote many volumes on Scripture, especially about the Song of Songs, in which he saw the main characters as allegories, or symbols, of Jesus and the Church. The love shared between the two is the same as the love of Christ for his Church. St. Bernard was no stranger to controversy, pointing out error where he saw it. He also founded 163 monasteries which, by the time of his death, had expanded to number 343. We can look to St. Bernard as a saint who was deeply in love with God and deeply involved in the affairs of man for the sake of God. We need to be as deeply in love with God as he was and as willing to be involved in making our society holier.

July 11--St. Benedict, Abbot

Pope Benedict XVI named himself for St. Benedict, the man who wrote a Rule for monks to live together in community.  That Rule is the basis for the Order of St. Benedict, the religious group of monks who Christianized Europe.  St. Benedict was a young man of sixth century Italy who left his studies in Rome to become a hermit.  Some other hermits were drawn to his holiness and asked him to lead them.  He did, but they came to despise him and tried to poison him.  He left that group and later founded a monastery at Monte Cassino, where he died not long after his twin sister, St. Scholastica.

The Rule of St. Benedict is the most common Rule used by monasteries and monks for over 1,400 years.  Its first word is obsculta, a Latin word meaning both “listen” and “obey”.  The Benedictine monk is to listen to and obey the words of the Rule so that he may grow in holiness.  The Rule is also exemplary for its tone of moderation.  Nothing too hard was exacted from the monk.  Everything was to be done in moderation, both work and prayer, which are hallmarks of the Benedictine order.

Benedictine monasticism became the norm in Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in 476 A.D.  Charlemagne mandated that Benedictine monasteries be founded wherever his empire extended.  By the 14^th century there were 37,000 Benedictine monasteries in Europe.  There had been 24 Benedictine popes and over 1,500 canonized Benedictine saints.  So one can understand why Pope Benedict XVI said that “with his life and work St Benedict exercised a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture.” 

We owe much to St. Benedict and to the Benedictines.