Quote of the Day – 1 March – The Second Sunday in Lent – Thessalonians 5:14-23, Matthew 17:1-9 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“You will begin to taste, even in this life, a foretaste of eternal life, for the principal beatitude of the soul in Heaven, is to be confirmed forever in the Will of the Father. Thus, it tastes the Divine sweetness. But it will never taste it in Heaven, if it is not clothed with it on earth, where we are pilgrims and travellers. When it is clothed with it, it tastes God by grace in its troubles; its memory will be full of the Blood of the Lamb without blemish; its mind will be opened and contemplate the ineffable Love that God has made known in the Wisdom of His Son and the love it finds, in the Holy Spirit’s goodness, casts out self-love and love for created things, to love only God. So do not be afraid … but suffer with joy, so as to conform yourself to the Will of God.””
The beloved Foster-Father and Guardian of Jesus and Protector of the Holy Family, is celebrated for this whole month and his Feast Day falls on 19 March .
“Quamquam Pluries” On the Devotion to St Joseph Pope Leo XIII
“On 10 March, we begin the Novena to St Joseph, entrusting so many of our woes and cares to his holy and fatherly care and intercession. His Patronages are numerous, as we know, one of them will fit our needs perfectly and if not, then we should all ask him to intercede on our behalf for our families and for a Happy and Holy Death.”
Indulgenced Prayer to St Joseph O St Joseph! Pray for Us Daily O Joseph! virgin father of Jesus, pure Spouse of the Virgin Mother, pray for us daily to the Son of God, that, armed with the weapons of His grace, we may fight as we ought in life and be crowned by Him in death. Amen (Indulgence of 100 days, twice a day St Pius X 26 November 1906)
Patronages in Alphabetical Order:
of Accountants • Bursars • Cabinetmakers • Carpenters • Catholic Church • Cemetery Workers • Children • Civil Engineers • against Communism • Confectioners • Craftsmen • against Doubt and Hesitation • the Dying • Emigrants • Exiles • Expectant Mothers • Families • Fathers • Furniture Makers • Grave diggers • Happy Death • Holy Death • House Hunters • House Sellers • Immigrants • Joiners • Labourers • all the Legal Profession • Married Couples • Oblates of Saint Joseph • Orphans • Pioneers • Social Justice • Teachers • Travellers • the Unborn • Wheelwrights • Workers • Americas • Austria • Belgium • Bohemia • Canada • China • Croatian people • Korea • Mexico • New France • New World • Peru • Philippines • Vatican City • VietNam • Canadian Armed Forces • Papal States • 46 Diocese • 26 Cities,States and Regions.
The Second Sunday of Lent – 1 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
The Second Sunday God the Father Delivered Christ to His Passion
“God spared not even His own Son but delivered Him up for us all.” Rom viii. 32.
Christ suffered willingly, moved by obedience to His Father. Wherefore, God the Father delivered Christ to His Passion and this, in three ways:
Because the Father, of His Eternal Will, preordained the Passion of Christ as the means whereby to free the human race. So it is said in Isaias, “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa liii. 6) and again, “The Lord was pleased to bruise Him in infirmity” (ibid liii. 10).
Because He inspired Our Lord with the willingness to suffer for us, pouring into His Soul the Love which produced the will to suffer. Whence the Prophet goes on to say, “He was offered because it was His Own Will” (Isa liii. 7).
Because He did not protect Our Lord from the Passion but exposed Him to His persecutors. Whence we read in St Matthew’s Gospel: as He hung on the cross Christ said, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me” (Matt xxvii. 46). For God the Father, that is to say, had left Him at the mercy of His torturers.
To hand over an innocent man to suffering and to death, against his will, compelling him to die as it were, would indeed be cruel and wicked. But it was not in this way God the Father delivered Christ. He delivered Christ by inspiring Him with the Will to suffer for us. By so doing, the severity of God is made clear – no sin is forgiven without punishment! which St Paul again teaches when he says, God spared not His Own Son.
At the same time God’s kindness and goodness is exhibited in the fact that whereas man could not, no matter what his punishment, sufficiently make satisfaction, God has given man someone Who is able to make that satisfaction for him. Which is what St Paul means by, He delivered Him up for us all and again when he says, God hath proposed Christ to be an appeasement through faith in His Blood (Rom iii. 25). The same activity in a good man and in a bad man is differently judged, inasmuch as the root from which it proceeds is different. The Father, for example, delivered Christ and Christ delivered Himself and this from love and, therefore, They are praised.
Judas delivered Him from love of gain, the Jews from hatred, Pilate from the worldly fear with which he feared Caesar and these are rightly regarded with horror. Christ, therefore, did not owe to death the debt of necessity but of Charity – the Charity to men by which He willed their Salvation and the Charity to God, by which He willed to fulfil God’s Will, as it says in the Gospel, “Not as I Will but as Thou Wilt (Matt xx vi. 39).
ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274) Priest, Theologian, Dominican Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor) Doctor Communis (Common Doctor) Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568
Our Morning Offering – 1 March– “The Month of the St Joseph” – The Second Sunday of Lent
Glory, Honour and Praise, To Our Lord Jesus Christ! A devout Prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ, to be said both Morning and Evening By St Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) Doctor of the Church (From His “A Brief Christian Doctrine”)
GLory, Honour and Praise Be, May all the world adore Thee, blessed be Thy Holy Name, Who for us sinners, vouchsafest to be born of a humble Virgin and blessed be Thine Infinite Goodness, Who died upon the Cross for our Redemption. O Jesu, Son of God and Saviour of mankind, have mercy upon us and so dispose our lives here, by Thy Grace that we may, hereafter, rejoice with Thee forever in Thy Heavenly Kingdom, Amen.
Saint of the Day – 1 March – St Siviard (Died 687) Priest and the 5th Abbot of the Moinastery of Saint-Calais in Maine, France, Author, a man of great humility and leadership skills. Also known as – Siard, Siviardus, Siviardo.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Le Mans, St Siviard, Abbot.”
Siviard’s biographer, Jean-Barthélemy Hauréau, was one of his contemporaries, a 7th-century Monk.
According to the narrator, he had known the holy Abbot ,not only in the Monastery, where he had had him as his father but during his childhood and, therefore, in his native village.
Siviard’s father was Sigiram, a Frankish noble and his mother was Adda. Since Bertrand du Mans, the Bishop of Le Mans, had donated lands to his beloved nephew Sigiram in the Diablintic region. It is assumed that Sigiram was himself a Cleric and Abbot.
In Siviard’s life, he tells us only of his childhood passion for study, his vocation to religious life, where he wished to be buried among the most obscure Monks, the choice of his superiors who elevated him to the Priesthood, the virtues he practiced, worthy of all the praise that Scripture bestows on the holy ministers of the Lord and his eventual election to the Abbatial chair after his father’s death.
King Thierry III, who named Siviard, confirmed his possession of the Monastery’s property in 676. Siviard built the house of God magnificently, both in material structure and spiritual discipline. Siviard received the places of Villiers and Lantion from Bishop Aigilbert and built a villa and probably a small Monastery on the grounds of Saint-Georges-de-la-Coué.
St Siviard died without sadness, without regret, on the first day of March 687. One of the Monks was warned of this death, by a vision in which the Abbot was shown to him in celestial light accompanied by Saints Peter and Paul and recommended that he carry to his sister the Eulogies he had prepared.
A diploma of Charlemagne from 774 expressly states that Siviard’s body rests in the villa of Savonnières in Saint-Georges-db-la-Coué, the last foundation of the holy Abbot. It was here that his bones were removed and then transported to Sens during the Norman invasions. The Church of Laval has occupied a significant part of the site since 1883.
At the behest of several Bishops, Siviard wrote the life of Saint Calais, founder of the Abbey he had governed.
St David of Wales (c542-c601) Bishop, Prince, Monk, Confessor, Missionary, Founder of Monasteries. Uncle of King Arthur. David studied under Saint Paul Aurelian. Worked with Saint Columbanus, Saint Gildas the Wise and Saint Finnigan. He was officially Canonised in 1120 by Pope Callistus II. Beloved St David: https://anastpaul.com/2017/03/01/saint-of-the-day-1-march-st-david-of-wales/
St Abdalong of Marseilles St Adrian of Numidia St Agapios of Vatopedi St Agnes Cao Guiying
St Albinus of Vercelli St Amandus of Boixe St Antonina of Bithynia Bl Aurelia of Wirberg Bl Bonavita of Lugo St Bono of Cagliari Bl Christopher of Milan Bl Claudius Gabriel Faber St Domnina of Syria St Domnina of Syria St Donatus of Carthage St Eudocia of Heliopolis Bl George Biandrate Bl Giovanna Maria Bonomo Bl Gonzalo de Ubeda St Hermes of Numidia St Jared the Patriarch St Leo of Rouen
St Leolucas OBas (c815-c915) Abbot of the Basilian Order, Mystic, Ascetic, Miracle-worker. He lived as a Monk for more than 80 years. The Roman Martyrology reads: “In the Monastery of Avena between the slopes of Mount Mercurio in Calabria, St Leone Luca, Abbot of Monte Mula, who shone in the hermitic life, as in the cenobitic life, following the rules of the oriental Monks.” His Life of Grace: https://anastpaul.com/2023/03/01/saint-of-the-day-1-march-saint-leolucas-of-corleone-obas-c815-c915-abbot/
St Lupercus St Marnock St Monan Bl Pietro Ernandez Bl Roger Lefort St Rudesind St Simplicius of Bourges St Siviard (Died 687) Abbot
Martyrs of Africa – A group of 13 Christians executed together for their faith in Africa. The only details about them to survive are ten names – Abundantius, Adrastus, Agapius, Charisius, Donatilla, Donatus, Fortunus, Leo, Nicephorus and Polocronius. c290
Martyrs of Antwerp – A group of 14 Christians Martyred together, buried together and whose Relics were transferred and enshrined together. We know nothing else but their names – Benignus, Donatus, Felician, Fidelis, Filemon, Herculanus, Julius, Justus, Maximus, Pelagius, Pius, Primus, Procopius and Silvius. Died in the 2nd Century in Rome. They are buried in the St Callixtus Catacombs and their Relics were enshrined in the Jesuit Church in Antwerp on 28 February 1600.
Martyrs of the Salarian Way – A group of 260 Christians who, for their faith, were condemned to road work on the Salarian Way in Rome, Italy during the persecutions of Claudius II. When they were no longer needed for work, they were publicly murdered in the amphitheatre. Martyrs. c269 in Rome.
Martyrs Under Alexander – A large but unspecified number of Christians Martyred in the persecutions of Emperor Alexander Severus and the praefect Ulpian who saw any non-state religion to be a dangerous treason. c 19.
Saturday of the First Week of Lent – 28 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
Saturday of the First Week The Love of God Exhibited in the Passion of Christ
“God commendeth His charity towards us because when, as yet we were sinners, according to the time, Christ died for us.” Rom v 8, 9
“Christ died for the ungodly” (ibid 6 This is a great thing if we consider Who it is Who died, a great thing too if we consider on whose behalf He died. For scarcely for a just man, will one die (ibid 6), that is to say that you will not find anyone who will die even to set free a man who is innocent, nay even, it is said, “The just perisheth and no man layeth it to heart” (Isaias l vii).
Rightly, therefore, does St.Paul say scarcely will one die. There might perhaps be found one, someone rare person, who out of sa uperabundance of courage, would be so bold as to die for a good man. But this is rare, for the simple reason that so to act is the greatest of all things. “Greater love than this, no man hath, says Our Lord Himself, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John xv. 13).
But the like of that which Christ Himself did, to die for evildoers and the wicked, has never been seen. Wherefore rightly do we ask in wonderment, why Christ did this.
If in fact it be asked, why Christ died for the wicked, the answer is that God, in this way, commendeth His Charity towards us. He exhibits to us in this way that He Loves us with a Love which knows no limits, for while we were as yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The very death of Christ for us, depicts the Love of God, for it was His Son Whom He gave to die that satisfaction might be made for us. God so Loved the world, as to give His Only Begotten Son (John iii. 16). And thus, as the Love of God the Father for us is proved in His giving us His Holy Spirit, so also is it proved in this way, by His Gift of His Only Son.
The Apostle says, God commendeth, signifying thereby that the Love of God cannot be measured. This is exhibited by the very fact of the matter, namely the fact that He gave His Son to die for us and it is proved too by reason of the kind of people we are, for whom He died. “Christ was not stirred up to die for us by any merits of ours, when as yet we were sinners. God (who is rich in mercy) for His exceeding Charity wherewith He Loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ ” (Eph ii. 4).
All this is almost too much to be believed. “A work is done in your days which no man will believe when it shall be told” (Habac i. 5). This Truth that Christ died for us is so difficult a Truth that scarcely can our intellect grasp it. Nay it is a Truth which our intellect can, in no way understand. And St Paul preaching, makes echo to Habacuc, I work a work in your days, a work which you will not believe, if any man shall tell it to you (Acts xiii 14).
So great is God’s Love for us and His Grace towards us that He does more for us than we can believe or understand.
ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274) Priest, Theologian, Dominican Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor) Doctor Communis (Common Doctor) Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568
“If you wish to reach high, then begin at the lowest level. If you are trying to construct some mighty edifice in height, you will begin with the lowest foundation. This is humility. However great the mass of the building you may wish to design or erect, the taller the building is to be, the deeper you will dig the foundation. The building in the course of its erection, rises up high but he who digs its foundation, must first go down very low. So then, you see even a building is low before it is high and the tower is raised, only after humiliation.”
Our Morning Offering – 28 February – “The Month of the Most Holy and Blessed Trinity” – Saturday of the First Week of Lent
The Golden Arrow
This prayer was revealed by Jesus Himself to a Carmelite Nun of Tours in 1843 as a Reparation for Blasphemy. “This Golden Arrow will wound My Heart delightfully” He said “and heal the wounds, inflicted by blasphemy.”
May the Most Holy, Most Sacred, Most Adorable, Most Mysterious and Unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified in Heaven. on earth and under the earth, by all the creatures of God and by the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen
Saint/s of the Day – 28 February – St Cyra AND St Marana (Circa Mid 5th Century) Virgins and Hermits of Beroea in Syria. Two female Syrian Hermits of noble lineage who led an austere life of fasting, prayer, and silence for 42o years. They also made pilgrimages to holy places in Jerusalem and Isauria.
St Theodoret (c393-c457) devotes a Chapter (the 29th) of his Religiosa Historia to Marana and Cyra, who were still alive when he wrote his work in around 440.
In his word: “Their country is Beroea (modern Aleppo), where they descended from an illustrious race and were educated according to their condition and birth. But despising all the advantages granted them by nature, they shut themselves up in a small site near the City, having the gate walled up.
Wishing to imitate them in this way of life, some of their female servants built them a small house, adjacent to the hermitage, in which they ordered them to live; observing their actions through a small window, they often made them do prayer exercises and inflamed them with the love of God…
Instead of the door, they had a small window through which they received what was necessary for their life and spoke with the women who came to visit them only during the time of the ‘cinquantin’ (= Easter time), spending the rest of the year in constant silence, I mean with regard to Marana, the only one who speaks to these women. As for Cyra, in fact, no one has ever heard her utter the slightest word.
Cyra, who is of a more delicate constitution than the other, is always bent to the ground, unable to stand up. They wear dresses so long that they cover their feet and in front they have a kind of veil that comes down to the waist and completely covers the face, hands and stomach.”
When Teodoreto wrote these lines, Marana and Cyra had already been leading this life of Hermits for 42 years, making it even more painful by wearing heavy chains and sometimes prolonging the fast up to forty days.
“Driven by the desire to see the holy places whichJesus Christ honoured with His sufferings, they went fasting to Jerusalem, eating only after worshiping God. On their return, they resumed fasting, even though it would have taken them no less than 20 days to make such a long journey.”
Another time, they similarly travelled to Isauria to visit the Church of Saint Thecla, the first Martyr of that region. As time passed, Marana and Cyra did not slow domn in this way of life; on the contrary, they continued with ever-renewed ardour toward the crown which Christ would place upon their heads after their victory.
We do not know the date of Marana and Cyra’s death, since Theodoret is our only source.
Martyrs of Alexandria – A number of clerics and layman who died as Martyrs of charity for ministering to the sick during a plague that ravaged Alexandria, Egypt in 261.
Martyrs of Antwerp – 14 Christians who were Martyred together. We know nothing about them but the names Alexander, Anicetus, Cyriacus, Eulalia, Faustus, Genesius, Hirena, Macarius, Mauritius, Modestus, Placidus, Rochus, Symforian and Victorinus. Died in Rome, Italy, date unknown. Their Relics were transferred and enshrined in Antwerp, Belgium.
Martyrs of Corinth – A group of Christians Martyred together in Corinth, Greece. The only information we have about them are the names Basilia, Betha, Caius, Claudius, Diodorus, Donatus, Enuclus, Felix, Hermes, Januaria, Januarius, Maccaris, Maninlia, Mansuetus, Nicophorus, Papias, Quinquianus, Rufunia, Serapion, Servilia, Silvana, Stercola, Tella, Veneria, Victor and Victorinus.
Friday of the First Week of Lent – 27 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
Friday After First Sunday The Feast of the Holy Lance Lance and the Nails of Our Lord
“One of the soldiers opened His side with a spear and immediately there came forth Blood and Water.” John xix. 34.
The Gospel deliberately says opened and not wounded because, through Our Lord’s Side, there was opened to us the Gate of Eternal Life. “ After these things I looked and behold, a gate was opened in heaven,” (Apoc iv. i). This is the door opened in the ark, through which enter the animals who will not perish in the flood.
But this door is the cause of our salvation. Immediately there came forth Blood and Water a thing truly miraculous that, from a dead body, in which the blood congeals, Blood should come forth!
This was done to show that by the Passion of Christ we receive a full absolution, an absolution from every sin and every stain. We receive this absolution from sin through that Blood which is the price of our redemption. You were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, from your vain conversation with the tradition of your fathers but with the Precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled (i Pet i. 18).
We were absolved from every stain by the Water which is the laver of our redemption. In the Prophet Ezechiel, it is said, “I will pour upon you clean water and you shall be cleaned from all your filthiness” (Ezech xxxvi. 28) and in Zacharias, “There shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for the washing of the sinner and the unclean woman” (Zach xiii. i).
And so, these two things may be thought of in relation to two of the Sacraments, the Water to Baptism and the Blood to the Holy Eucharist. Or both may be referred to the Holy Eucharist since, in the Mass, water is mixed with the wine. Although the water is not of the substance of the Sacrament.
Again, as from the side of Christ asleep in death on the Cross there flowed that Blood and Water in which the Church is consecrated, so from the side of the sleeping Adam was formed the first woman, who herself foreshadowed the Church.
ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274) Priest, Theologian, Dominican Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor) Doctor Communis (Common Doctor) Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568
Quote/s of the Day – 27 February – St Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin/Gabriel Possenti CP (1838-1862) Confessor
“The Infinite Mercy of God has been able to arrange all things sweetly and today, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, our Protectress and our Mother, I have put on, with unutterable joy, this holy religious Habit and taken the name of Confrater Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.”
(Letter to his Father, From Morrovalle on 21 September 1856)
“What caution, in fact, does it not require, to live as a good Christian in the world!”
(Letter to his Father, From Morrovalle on 21 September 1856)
“Oh, be assured, he whom God calls to the religious life receives a very great favour, a favour which is impossible to estimate at its real value.”
Our Morning Offering – 27 February – Friday of the First week of Lent, the Memorial of St Gabriel Francis Possenti of Our Lady of Sorrows (1838-1862) and a Marian Saturday
O Mother of Sorrows, Stand by Me in My Last Agony By St Gabriel Francis Possenti of Our Lady of Sorrows (1838-1862)
O Mother of Sorrows, by the anguish and love with which thou didst stand at the Cross of Jesus, stand by me in my last agony. To thy maternal heart I commend the last three hours of my life. Offer these hours to the Eternal Father in union with the agony of our dearest Lord, in atonement for my sins. Offer to the Eternal Father the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, mingled with thine tears on Calvary, that I may obtain the grace of receiving Holy Communion with the most perfect love and contrition, before my death and that I may breathe forth my soul in the adorable Presence of Jesus. Dearest Mother, when the moment of my death has at last come, present me as your child to Jesus. Ask Him to forgive me for having offended Him, for I knew not what I did! Beg Him to receive me into His Kingdom of Glory to be united with Him forever. Amen
Saint/s of the Day – 27 February – St Basil (8th Century) Monk of Constantinople AND St Procopius (8th Century) Monk of Decapolis defenders of Sacred images. Both struggled against and were tortured and imprisoned in their fight against those who denied the veneration of Sared images. Some sources declare them as Martyrs but the Martyrology quoted below does not. Basil did probably die of his sufferings, having survived only a short time after their cessation but Procopius survived to carry on his work as a servant of Christ.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Constantinople, in the time of the Emperor Leo, the holy Confessors Basil and Procoppius, who fought courageously for the worship of holy images.”
Saints Basil and Procopius were Monks, who lived in Constantinople in the 8th Century, during the reign of Emperor Leo III the Isaurian.
Basil was from a noble family, while Procopius was a Soldier who, after leaving the army, had retired to monastic life.
The two Monks were united by a deep devotion to Christ and the belief that the veneration of Sacred images was a fundamental tool and element in the growth of the Christian Faith.
In 726, Emperor Leo III issued an Edict prohibiting the veneration of Sacred images. This decision was strongly contested by the Church, which considered Sacred images a way to honour God and the Saints.
Basil and Procopius joined the fight against the Imperial Edict. They were arrested and subjected to harsh torture but never renounced their Faith. They were eventually imprisoned, where they spent several years.
Upon the death of Leo III in 741, Basil Procopius were freed. Basil died shortly thereafter, while Procopius continued to live and preach the Gospel of Christ.
In the 8th Century, the veneration of Sacred images was the subject of a controversy that divided the Church. Emperor Leo III and his supporters considered Sacred images a form of idolatry, while the Church maintained that they were a legitimate way to honour God and the Saints.
The controversy ended with the Second Council of Nicaea, which in 787 established that the veneration of Sacred images was devotional and in accordance with theteachings of Holy Church.
The Feast of the Sacred Lance and Nails – Friday after the 1st Sunday in Lent: The Supreme Pontiff, Innocent VI, in his Decree establishing the Feast and Office of the Lance and Nails which pierced the Body of our Crucified Lord Jesus Christ, exhorts all the faithful to have a special veneration for and devotion to, all the Sacred Instruments of our Saviour’s Passion. The following are the Holy Father’s words: “We should honour the most holy Passion of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, in such manner that, meditating on all the mysteries and merits of the same Passion, we venerate also each Sacred Instrument thereof.” Then this holy and zealous Pontiff, coming more directly to the honour due to the Lance and Nails, says: “Although the Lance and Nails and the other Sacred Instruments of the Passion, should be enerated everywhere, by the faithful of Christ and although every year the Church celebrates the Solemn Offices of the same Passion, yet, we deem it proper and fitting, that a special Solemn Feast should be instituted and celebrated in honour of those particular Instruments of the Passion, more especially, in those places wherein these salutary Instruments are preserved. Hence, we wish to encourage this devotion by a special Office and privileges.” (Innocent VI in Decret. de Fest. Lane, et Clav. Domini).
The Lance, also known as “The Spear of Longinus” is kept in the Vatican Basilica, given to Innocent VIII in 1492. The Nails were kept with the Crown of Thorns, along with a small piece of the Lance of Longinus at Saint Chapelle, France and were subsequently lost during the French Revolution. The Crown of Thorns was the only Relic saved and is now kept at Notre Dame Cathedral.
St Basil (8th Century) Monk of Constantinople AND St Procopius (8th Century) Monk of Decapolis St Comgan Bl Emmanuel of Cremona Bishop St Fortunatus of Rome St Herefrith of Lindsey St Honorina
Blessed William Richardson (1572–1603) English Priest, Martyr. He was Beatified on 15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI. Born in Yorkshire and died by being hanged, drawn and quartered on 27 February 1603 at Tyburn, London, aged just 31. William owns the dubious honour of being the last Martyr under Elizabeth I’s barbaric policy of murdering Catholics and especially Priests, in this manner. His Life and Death: https://anastpaul.com/2023/02/27/saint-of-the-day-27-february-blessed-william-richardson-1572-1603-english-priest-martyr/
Thursday of the First Week of Lent – 26 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
Thursday of the First Week of Lent It was fitting that Christ should be Crucified with the Thieves
Christ was Crucified between the thieves because such was the will of the Jews and also because, this was part of God’s Design. But the reasons why this was appointed, were not the same in each of these cases.
As far as the Jews were concerned, Our Lord was Crucified with the thieves on either side to encourage the suspicion that He too was a criminal. But it transpired otherwise! The thieves themselves have left not a trace in the remembrance of man, while His Cross is everywhere held in honour. Kings lying their crowns aside, have embroidered the Cross on their Royal robes. They have placed it on their crowns; on their armiur. It has its place on the very Altars. Everywhere, throughout the world, we behold the splendour of the Cross.
In God’s Plan, Christ was Crucified with the thieves in order, for our sakes, He became accursed of the Cross, so, for our salvation, He is Cucified like an evil Man amongst evil men.
The Pope, St Leo the Great, says that the thieves were crucified, one on either side of Our Lord, so that, in the very appearance of the scene of His Suffering, there might be set forth that distinction which should be made in the judgement of each one of us. St Augustine has the same thought. “The Cross itself,” he says, “was a tribunal. In the centre was the Judge. To the one side a man who believed and was set free, to the other side, a scoffer and he was condemned.” Already there was made clear the final fate of the living and the dead, the one class placed at His Right, the other on His Left.
According to St Hilary, the two thieves, placed to right and to left, typify that the whole of mankind is called to the mystery of Our Lord’s Passion. And, since division of things, according to right and left is made with reference to believers and those who will not believe, one of the two, placed on the right, is saved by justifying faith.
As St Bede says, the thieves who were crucified with Our Lord, represent those who, for the faith and to confess Christ, undergo the agony of martyrdom or the severe discipline of a more perfect life. Those who do this for the sake of eternal glory are typified by the thief on the Right Hand. Those whose motive is the admiration of whoever beholds them, imitate the spirit and the act of the thief on the Left Hand.
As Christ owed no debt in payment for which a man must die but submitted to death of His Own Will, in order to overcome death, so also, He had not done anything on account of which He deserved to be put with the thieves. But of His Own Will, He chose to be reckoned among the wicked that by His Power, He might destroy wickedness itself. Which is why St John Chrysostom says, to convert the thief on the cross and to turn him to Paradise, was as great a miracle as the earthquake!
ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274) Priest, Theologian, Dominican Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor) Doctor Communis (Common Doctor) Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568
Our Morning Offering – 26 February – Thursday of the First Week of Lent – Ferial Day
To Thee, O Master Morning Offering By St Macarius the Wonder-Worker (Died 850)
To Thee, O Master, Who loves all mankind I hasten Mn rising from sleep. By Thy Mercy, I go out to do Thy Work and I make my prayer to Thee. Help me at all times and in all things. Deliver me from every evil thing of this world and from pursuit by the devil. Save me and bring me to Thy eternal Kingdom, For Thou art my Creator, Thou inspire all good thoughts in me. In Thee is all my hope and to Thee I give glory, now and forever. Amen
Saint of the Day – 26 February – St Andrew (9th Century) Bishop and Confessor of Florence. Also known as – Andrea.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Florence, St Andrew, Bishop and Confessor.”
Andrea da Firenze, Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Fresco, 1365-1367.
Information regarding St Andrew’s life is scarce and fragmentary. According to tradition, he lived in the 9th Century and was the Bishop of Florence.
The first documented record dates to 18 December 871, when he is mentioned as an Imperial Envoy attended at Court with Margrave Adalbert. In 874, he obtained from Emperor Louis II the German, the privilege of immunity for the Bishop’s property. On 1 March 893, his Envoys are reported to have handed his niece to Bertha, Abbess of the Abbey of Sant’Andrea, to be educated and trained to succeed the Abbess.
This scant information does not allow us to reconstruct Saint Andrew’s life. However, it is possible to hypothesise that he was a man of great faith and profound culture. His presence in Florence is attested by several documents and by his Liturgical Feast celebrated today.
Saint Andrew is considered the protector of the City of Florence. His figure has been depicted in several works of art, including a 15th Century Altarpiece preserved in the Church of Sant’Andrea in Florence.
A Church dedicated to him existed as early as the 13th Century, located in the Square of the same name in the historic center of the City. This Church was replaced and today, the memory of Saint Andrew is preserved in the Cathedral of Florence. A Chapel is also dedicated to him in the Church of San Lorenzo, where the Relics of his predecessor, Saint Zenobius, are preserved.
St Alexander of Alexandria (Died c326) Bishop of Alexandria, Confessor, Defender of the True Faith against heresies, in particular the Arians. The Roman Martyrology states of him today: “At Alexandria, the Bishop St Alexander, an aged man held in great honour who was a successor of the blessed Peter as Bishop of the City. He expelled from the Church, Arius, one of his Priests, tainted with heretical impiety and convicted by Divine Truth and, subsequently, was one of the three hundred and eighteen Fathers, who condemned him at the Council of Nicea.” Holy Father St Alexander: https://anastpaul.com/2022/02/26/saint-of-the-day-26-february-st-alexander-of-alexandria-died-c-326/
St Andrew (9th Century) Bishop and Confessor of Florence St Dionysius of Augsburg
Wednesday of the First Week of Lent – 25 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
Wednesday of the First Week of Lent How Great was the Sorrow of Our Lord in His Passion?
“Attend and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow.” Lam i. 12.
Our Lord as He suffered felt in reality and in His Senses, that pain which is caused by some harmful bodily injuries. He also felt that interior pain which is caused by the fear of something harmful and, which we call sadness. In both these respects, the pain suffered by Our Lord was the greatest pain possible in this present life. There are four reasons why this was so.
The causes of the pain. The cause of the pain in the senses was the catastrophic injuries to the body, a pain whose bitterness derived partly from the fact that the sufferings attacked every part of His Body and partly, from the fact that, of all species of torture , death by Crucifixion is undoubtedly the most bitter. The nails are driven through the most sensitive of all places, the hands and the feet, the weight of the body itself increases the pain every moment. Add to this the long extentuated agony, for the Crucified do not die immediately as do those who are beheaded. The cause of the internal pain was: (i) All the sins of all mankind for which, by suffering, He was making satisfaction, so that, in a sense, He took them to Himself as though they were His own. The words of my sins, it says in the Psalms (Ps xxi. 2).
(ii) The special case of the Jews and the others who had had a share in the sin of His death and especially, the case of His disciples for whom His death had been a thing to be ashamed of.
(iii) The loss of His Bodily Life which, by the nature of things, is something from which human nature turns away in horror.
We may consider the greatness of the pain according to the capacity, bodily and spiritual, for suffering of Him Who suffered. In His Body He was most admirably formed, for it was formed by the miraculous operation of the Holy Ghost and, therefore, Iits Sense of Touch, the sense through which we experience pain, was of the keenest. His Soul likewise, from Its interior powers, had a knowledge as from experience of all the causes of sorrow.
The greatness of Our Lord’s Suffering can be considered in regard to this that the pain and sadness were without any alleviation. For, in the case of no matter what other sufferer, the sadness of mind and even the bodily pain, is lessened through a certain kind of reasoning, by means of which there is brought about a distraction of the sorrow from the higher powers to the lower. But when Our Lord suffered this did not happen, for He allowed each of His Powers to act and suffer to the fullness of its special capacity.
We may consider the greatness of the suffering of Christ in the Passion, in relationship to this fact, that the Passion and the pain it brought with it, were deliberately undertaken by Christ with the object of freeing man from sin. And, therefore, He undertook to suffer an amount of pain proportionately equal to the extent of the fruit which was to follow from the Passion.
From all these causes, if we consider them together, it will be evident that the pain suffered by Christ was the greatest pain ever suffered.
ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274) Priest, Theologian, Dominican Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor) Doctor Communis (Common Doctor) Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568
Quote/s of the Day – 25 February –– Ember Wednesday – 3 Kings 19:3-8; Matthew 12:38-50 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“The sign of Jonah”
Matthew 12:39
“It was, too, to lead the Ninevites to firm repentance and to convert them to Him, Who would deliver them from death, amazed as they were by the sign accomplished in Jonah … In the same way, God permitted man to be swallowed by that great monster, the author of disobedience, not so that he should altogether vanish away and die but because God, had prepared beforehand, the salvation fulfilled by His Word by means of the “sign of Jonah.”
St Irenaeus (130-208) Bishop of Lyons, Martyr and Father
“To do penance is to bewail the evil we have done and to do no evil to bewail.”
“But He still follows behind us and counsels us, although we have despised Him, He still does not cease to call us. We turn our backs on His face, so to speak, when we reject His Words, when we trample His Commandments underfoot but He, Who sees that we reject Him, still calls out to us by His Commandments and waits for us by His patience, stands behind us and calls us back when we have turned away.”
St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) Father & Doctor of the Church
“What are we doing? If we really love the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we should offer penance and sacrifices in order to make reparation for our sins and the sins of others and, to propitiate this adorable Heart, Which ardently desires to bestow new favours upon us.”
Saint of the Day – 25 February – Saint Pope Felix III (Died 492) Papacy from 13 March 483 to his death on 1 March 492. He was the great-grandfather of St Pope Gregory the Great.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Rome, the birthday of Pope St Felix III, great-grandfather of St Pope Gregory the Great, who relates of him that he appeared to St Tharsilla, his niece and called her to the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Felix III Descendant of aristocrats and the son of a Priest, was ahimself a widower with 2 children when he was elected to the papacy in 483.
He was the first Pope to announce his election to the Emperor in Constantinople. The following year, he excommunicated Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople, who was a monothelite.
The Catholics appealed to Felix, who convened a Synod in 487 and sent a letter to the Bishops of Africa, expounding the conditions under which the unwilling apostates were to be allowed to return to the Church. Felix addressed the issue of readmitting to the Church of those who through fear, the Arians had forcibly re-baptised i.e. members of the flock were allowed to return to the fold of the Church after penance and Clergy were allowed to return only on their deathbed.
Felix died in 492 and was buried in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
St Caesarius of Nazianzen (c329-369) Celibate Layman, a prominent Physician and Politician, Son of Saint Gregory of Nazianzen the Elder and Saint Nonna, Brother of Saint Gorgonia and Saint Gregory of Nazianzen. Patronages – of Physicians and bachelors. His Holy Life: https://anastpaul.com/2024/02/25/131658/
St Donatus the Martyr St Felix III, Pope (Died 492) St Gerland the Bishop St Gothard the Hermit St Herena the Martyr St Justus the Martyr
St Tharasius (c730-806) Bishop of Constantinople from 25 December 784 until his death on 25 February 806, Defender of Sacred images and of the sanctity of marriage against the imperial powers. The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Constantinople, St Tharasius, the Bishop, a man of great erudition and piety, to whom is addressed an epistle of Pope Adrian I, in defence of holy images.” His Fervent Life: https://anastpaul.com/2025/02/25/saint-of-the-day-25-february-saint-tharasius-c730-806-bishop/
St Victor of Saint Gall
Martyrs of Egypt – A group oSeven f Christian men who were exiled to Egypt for their faith and were eventually Martyred for their faith in the persecutions of Numerian. We know little more than their names: Claudianus, Dioscurus, Nicephorus, Papias, Serapion, Victor, Victorinus.
Tuesday of the First Week of Lent – 24 February – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Doctor of the Church
Tuesday of the First Week : Christ underwent every kind of suffering
“Every kind of suffering.” The things men suffer may be understood in two ways. By “kind” we may mean a particular, individual suffering and in this sense, there was no reason why Christ should suffer every kind of suffering, for many kinds of sufferings are contrary, one to the other, as for example, to be burnt and to be drowned. We are of course, speaking of Our Lord as suffering from causes outside Himself, for to suffer the suffering effected by internal causes, such as bodily illness, would not have become Him. But, if by “kind” we mean, the class, then Our Lord did suffer by every kind of suffering, as we can show in three ways:
By considering the men through whom He suffered. For He suffered something at the hands of Gentiles and of Jews, of men and even of women as the story of the servant girl who accused St.Peter goes to show. He suffered, again, at the hands of Rulers, of their Ministers, and of the people, as was prophesied, Why have the Gentiles raged and the people devised vain things? The Kings of the earth stood up and the Princes met together against the Lord and against His Christ (Ps ii. i, 2). He suffered, too, from His friends, the men He knew best, for Peter denied Him and Judas betrayed Him.
If we consider the things through which suffering is possible. Christ suffered in the friends who deserted Him and in His good name through the blasphemies uttered against Him. He suffered in the respect, in the glory, due to Him through the derision and contempt bestowed upon Him. He suffered in all things, for He was stripped even of His clothing; in His soul, through sadness, through weariness and through fear; in His body through wounds and the scourging.
If we consider what He underwent in His various members. His head suffered through the Crown of piercing Thorns, His hands and feet, through the nails driven through them, His face from the blows and the defiling spittle and His whole body through the scourging.
He suffered in every sense of His body. Touch was afflicted by the scourging and the nailing, taste by the vinegar and gall, smell by the stench of corpses as He hung on the Cross in that place of the dead which is called Calvary. His hearing was torn with the voices of mockers and blasphemers and He saw the tears of His Mother and of the disciple whom He loved. If we only consider the amount of suffering required, it is true that one suffering alone, the least indeed of all, would have sufficed to redeem the human race from all its sins. But if we look at the fitness of the matter, it had to be that Christ should suffer in all the kinds of sufferings.
ST THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274) Priest, Theologian, Dominican Doctor Angelicus (Angelic Doctor) Doctor Communis (Common Doctor) Added by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568
Quote/s of the Day – 24 February – Feast of St Matthias, Apostle – Acts 1:15-26, Matthew 11:25-30 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“And praying, they said: Thou, Lord, Who knows the hearts of all men, show which of these two Thou hast chosen, to take the place of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas hath, by transgression, fallen …”
Acts 1:24-25
“You did not choose Me but I chose you…”
John 15:16
“That is amazing grace! For what were we before Christ had chosen us besides being wicked and lost? What then has He chosen in those who are not good? You cannot say, I am chosen because I believed. For if you believed in Him, you had already chosen Him. Nor can you say, before I believed I did good works and, therefore, was chosen. For what good work is there before faith when the Apostle says, “Whatever is not of faith is sin?” What is there for us to say, then but that we were wicked and were chosen, that by the grace of having been chosen, we might become good?”
St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace
“Day by day follow God’s path, keeping Him closely attached to you by His promise. In fact, He Himself said, through the mediation of His Apostles, to all those who seek His will and His testimonies that He would be with them until the end of the world (Mt 28:20) where paths and footsteps will be unknown (cf Ps 76:20), as the divine David said in his songs. Yet, in an invisible way, He is present to the eyes of the mind, making Himself seen by those who have a pure heart and conversing with them. So pursue your path …. ”
St Theodore the Studite (759-826) Abbot, Confessor, Father of the Church
Our Morning Offering – 24 February – Feast of St Matthias, Apostle and Martyr
Exsultet Orbis! Let the World Rejoice! Unknown Author
Now let the earth with joy resound, And Heaven the chant re-echo round; Nor Heaven nor earth too high can raise The great Apostles’ glorious praise.
O ye who, throned in glory dread, Shall judge the living and the dead, Lights of the world forever more! To you the suppliant prayer we pour.
Ye close the Sacred Gates on high. At your command apart they fly. O loose for us the guilty chain We strive to break and strive in vain.
Sickness and health your voice obey, At your command they go or stay. From sin’s disease our souls restore; In good confirm us more and more.
So when the world is at its end. And Christ to Judgment shall descend, May we be called, those joys to see Prepared from all eternity.
Praise to the Father, with the Son, And Holy Spirit, Three in One; As ever was in ages past And so shall be while ages last. Amen
(Roman Breviary for the Common of Apostles) An Office Hymn traditionally prescribed for Vespers and Lauds on the Feasts of Apostles and Evangelists outside Easter time. The Hymn is found as early as the 10th Century in a Hymnal of Moissac Abbey.
Saint of the Day – 24 February – St Praetextatus (Died 586) Bishop and Martyr of Rouen who spent a large part of his long 35 year Espicopate in exile, was murdered by the orders of the Queen of the time whilst he celebrated Holy Mass. Also known as – Pretextat, Pretextatus.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Rouen, the Passion of St Praetextatus, Bishop and Martyr.”
The 35 years during which he occupied the position of Bishop, were riddled with troubles involving the Frankish Monarchy, a result of which was a time of exile for the Saint.
Among the players of this political drama. was Fredegund, mistress of King Chilperic, a murderous woman responsible for several deaths in the Royal family.
Fredegund despised Praetextatus and opposed his return from exile but a Council in Rouen overruled her interference and reinstated the holy Bishop to his sSe.
“The time is coming when you shall revisit the place of your exile.” She threatened the Saint shortly before his death.
“I was a Bishop always, whether in exile or out of exile and a Bishop I shall remain but as for you, you shall not always enjoy your crown!” he said, as he urged the Queen to convert.
The wicked Queen refused to reform her life,and in 586 as Praetextatus was offering Holy Mass, Fredegund had an assassin stab him under the arm.
The mortally wounded Bishop managed to drag himself to the Altar and receive Holy Communion before he died.
AnaStpaul 
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