Saint of the day and Feast days-Part 2

  • Thread starter Thread starter odhiambo
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Saint Thomas more is said to be one of the greatest interlectuals of his age. He was also a prolific writer.
His works include:
1: Utopia, his most renown book. It is a criticism of his English society.
2: Treatise On The Blessed Sacrament. This was written in defense of King Henry’s Treatise ‘Assertio Septem Sacramentorum’, which had been written in defense of the Sacraments against Martin Luther.
3: The Four Last Things.
4; Dialogue Concerning Heresies and Confutation of Tindale’s Answer. This was directed against the writing of Protestant reformer Matthew Tyndale.
5: Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, said to be the best of his spiritual works as mentioned earlier.
6: The unfinished treatise on the Passion which was composed during his imprisonment.
And more.

Many portraits exist of Thomas, the most famous is that of Holbein, posted here, the original of which is housed in the Frick Meuseum in New York City.
 
June 22

Saint John Fisher.
Also known as
John of Rochester
John Fisher of Rochester
John was born in 1469 at Beverley, Yorkshire in England. His father died in 1477 when he was just about 8 years old. About the year 1482, John was admitted to Cambridge University where he distinguished himself as a scholar. He was ordained in 1491. Special permission was obtained for this since he was only 22 years old.
After studying theology for ten years, he became vice -chancellor at the University. Some years later, he was elected chancellor of the University of Cambridge. The same year, John was also appointed bishop of Rochester by King Henry VIII. He became famous for his writings, including his efforts to resist the spread of Protestantism.
Among his notable works was a defense of the Real Presence in the Eucharist. He is also reputed to be the actual author of Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (Defense of the Seven Sacraments) written in 1521 and attributed to Henry VIII.
In 1529, John was named counselor to Queen Catherine of Aragon, leading the opposition against the King’s expressed desire to divorce Catherine. This opposition and his rejection of Henry’s claim to be head of the Church in England, earned him royal retribution. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1534 for his opposition; he spent 14 months in prison without trial. While in prison he was appointed cardinal in 1535 by Pope Paul III largely as a gesture of papal support. This, however, so infuriated the king that he hurried forward the proceedings against the new cardinal.
The following excerpt from Catholic Information Network best describes how our saint of today met his martyrdom.

**"**The Supremacy Act and a new Statute of Treason were passed while John Fisher and Sir Thomas More were in the Tower. Treason was now made to cover anything said against the king’s titles, so that to refuse to recognize him as Supreme Head of the church of England became treason. Neither of the prisoners would give him that recognition, for to do so was to deny the authority of the pope. Each, however, was careful not to put that refusal in words that could be used against them; they begged to be excused. Many attempts were made to get them to say the fateful words. At length Richard Rich, the solicitor-general, visited John Fisher in the Tower and told him that the king ‘for the satisfaction of his own conscience’ wished to know the bishop’s opinion on the Supremacy; Rich assured the prisoner that whatever he said would not be used against him but would remain private to the king. Thereupon John Fisher declared ‘that the King was not, nor could be, by the law of God, Supreme Head of the church of England.’ As a priest he could not refuse to answer a question of conscience, but he had fallen into a trap, and the words he had spoken were used against him at his trial on June 17th, 1535. In spite of his protest at this breach of trust, he was condemned as a traitor.

He was beheaded on Tower Hill on June 22nd, 1535. His naked corpse was left on the scaffold all day until it was hastily buried without ceremony in the nearby churchyard of All Hallows. His head was displayed on London Bridge until July 6th when it was thrown into the Thames to give place to the head of his fellow martyr. Sir Thomas More was buried within the church of St. Peter ad Vincula within the Tower; at the same time, the remains of John Fisher were removed to the same resting place.
John Fisher and Thomas More were beatified in 1886 and canonized in 1935. Their feast is kept jointly."

Ref.1:Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson
2:Catholic Information Network

Catholic Information Network

Saint John Fisher,
Pray for us!
 
June 23
Today is the Feast day of
Saint Etheldreda
Among many other saints.
 
Saint Ethreldreda.
Abess of Ely
also known as Audrey, or Ediltrudis.

Saint Etheldreda was born around the year 636, in Northumbria, the daughter of King Anna of the East Anglia. She was brought up in a God-fearing household, a house full of saints. She was sister to Saints Ethelburga, Erkenwald, Sexburga, and Withburga.( “The burgas” :)) Her mother too is said to be a saint. From an early age, Etheldreda had just one goal in mind, and that was to consecrate herself entirely to the Lord by joining a religious order.
Her father, however, had other plans for her. He had Etheldreda married at a very young age and for his own political advancement, to a prince of a local tribe of Saxons named Tonbert. From this marriage, Ethreldreda gained a track of land on the Isle of Ely. For three years the couple lived together, and due to her young age and commitment to sanctity, Tonbert refrained from intimacy with her. Etheldreda was thus able to maintain her purity. Fortunataly or unfortunataly, depending how you look at it, Tonbert died unexpectedly. The Saint relocated to the Isle of Ely, where she intended to devote herself to God as she had all along desired.
It was not to be. The father again interfered in his daughter’s life. He arranged a second marriage for her, again for his own political opportunism. This time it was to Egfrith, the young son of a powerful king of Northumbria. Again, Etheldreda obeyed her father but on condition that her status in the palace would be more of a sister to the young boy, rather than that of a wife. This condition was quickly agreed to as Egfrith , at the time, was still a child.
At the age of twenty-four, Egfrith ascended to the throne of Northumbria, becoming king.
As Queen, Etheldreda took care to invite and attract to her, those most distinguished for learning and piety. Among these was St. Cuthbert, the young Prior of Lindisfarne, and Saint Wilfrid, her confessor.
Etheldreda became friends with Saint Wilfrid. When the King now demanded his conjugal rights, Etheldreda refused, saying she had dedicated herself to God. The case was referred to Saint Wilfrid who upheld her claim and convinced the king to allow her to retire to the Convent at Coldingham Abbey. There, she became a nun, receiving the veil from Saint Wilfrid himself.
In 672 she returned to Ely, and founded there a double monastery, one for nuns and the other for monks. Saint Wilfrid appointed her abbess, of the nunnery and she governed the abbey for many years. She died in 679.
Her body remained incorrupt after death and her head is preserved in Ely.
Saint Ethreldreda,
Pray for us
 
Saints Wilfrid, Cuthbert, Etheldreda, Ethelburga, Erkenwald, Sexburga, Withburga, and family pray for us!

I love families of saints! What a family to be raised in. . . what priests and confessors to have… It brings tears to my eyes to think of it. . living like that. . .

And yet with that entire family of saints they had a father who troubled them. It reminds me of a story I heard once of a nun in a convent talking to another nun who was bothered by, yet another nun… The nun that bothered her did things that troubled folks, and yet the one that was bothered was told by her sister, “If we did not have one like this we would have to search, search, search and find one!” reminding me of St. Camillus de Lellis and the poor, and dig, dig, digging to find them! Because people of such stripes prove and help, what is the word for hardening metal? Temper? their sanctity.
 
Shin said:
reminding me of St. Camillus de Lellis and the poor, and dig, dig, digging to find them! Because people of such stripes prove and help, what is the word for hardening metal? Temper? their sanctity.
Click to expand...
You have lost me Shin :confused:
“St. Camillus de Lellis and the poor, and dig, dig, digging to find them!”?
I know he founded an order to serve the poor and the sick. I do not follow the dig, dig, digging to find them .
About the family of saints, I am with you there. I love such families. We have seen a few on this thread, haven’t we?
 
June 24

**Today we commemorate the
The Birth of Saint John the Baptist.
**
The birth of Saint John was foretold by the Archangel Gabriel to his father, Zachary, who was offering incense in the Temple in Jerusalem. Zachary could not believe what he heard. All his married life he and his wife Elizabeth had wanted children but as time passed and it did not happen, they accepted the fact that Elizabeth was baren; that it was the Will of God. Now, when they are both very old and well past the age of child bearing, he is being told he was to have a son and that he was to name him John which means “God is gracious” The Angel of the Lord went on to tell Zachary that his son would be a great man in the sight of the Lord. He was not to drink any wine or strong drink and most importantly, from his very birth, the child would be filled with the Holy Spirit. His role would be to prepare the way for the Messiah. Wow! Who would not be overwhelmed?
All this came to pass. Elizabeth did conceive and in the sixth month of her pregnancy, Mary, her young cousin, who had been told of the pregnancy by the same Angel, left her home immediataly to go and help Elizabeth who surely needed help at this time. The Child was duly born and named as had been instructed by Archangel Gabriel. He was born at Ain-Karim, southwest of Jerusalem, six months before Jesus was born.
Saint John the Baptist is unique in that he is the only saint whose birth day is observed in addition to that of his death, 29 August.( Except of course for The Lord Himself and Our Lady )
In the words of Jesus, “ Of all the children born to women, there is no one greater than John” Lk 7:28.
Saint John the Baptist,
Pray for us!
 
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty saviour,
born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.
 
The_Reginator said:
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty saviour,
born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.

He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.
Click to expand...
Truly inspired. Similar to that of Mary, the Magnificat. Thanks for posting it Reg.👍
 
June 25

Today is the Feast day of
Saint William of Vercelli
Among many other saints
 
Saint William of Vercelli
Abbot and
Founder of the Congregation of Monte Vergine
Also known as William of Monte Vergine

William was born in 1085 at Vercelli, Italy. His parents, who were members of the nobility, both died in his infancy. He was subsequently raised by a relative. At the age of 14, William gave away all his inheritance, and set out on a long and austere pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin, founded by Saint James at Saragossa, Spain.
On his return to Italy, God revealed to William, His Plan for his life. He was being called to live as a hermit. He chose for this life, an uninhabited mountain in southern Italy. Here, he lived in perpetual contemplation and the exercises of rigorous, penitential austerities.

More and more monks, attracted by his sanctity and miracles, joined him, placing themselves under his direction. He built a monastery for them and in 1119, he founded the Congregation of Monte Vergine, or the Hermits of Monte Vergine or Williamites. Theirs was a life of great austerity in accordance with the Benedictine rules.
After a while, some of the monks complained that their austerities were too severe and that William gave away too much of their sustenance to the poor. William simply left them. He moved to Monte Cognato. King Roger I of Naples, built for him a hermitage at Salermo, near his palace. It was said that the King wanted to keep Saint William nearby so as to benefit from his wise counsel.

Following is an excerpt from SQPN on the legend about today’s saint:

“Legend says that William began mining the stone and digging the foundations for the church on Montevergine when his only companion and helper was a single donkey. One evening, a wolf charged from the forest, killed and ate the donkey. William ordered the wolf to take the donkey’s place. The wolf, understanding that he had interrupted God‘s work, bowed his head, and began hauling the loads of stone. Tradition says that the same wolf still prowls the mountain, ready to help those who are in danger and who call upon the name of the Virgin Mary”
Willian died on 25 June 1142 at Guglietto, Italy of natural causes.
In liturgical art, he is sometimes represented as an abbot near a wolf wearing a saddle or saddling a wolf that killed his donkey.

Saint William of Vercelli,
Pray for us!
 
Today is the Feast of
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
“The Food and Drink of Eternal Life.
God kept His people alive in the desert by giving them food and drink from heaven.
The food and drink He gives us in this sacrament is the Body and Blood of His Son, given for the life of the world”
From our Parish Newsletter.

Following is an appropriate Hymn for today

1 O Lord, I am not worthy
That Thou should’st come to me,
But speak the words of comfort,
My spirit healed shall be.
  1. Oh, come, all you who labor
    In sorrow and in pain,
    Come, eat This Bread from heaven;
    Thy peace and strength regain.
  2. O Jesus, we adore Thee,
    Our Victim and our Priest,
    Whose precious Blood and Body
    Become our sacred Feast.
  3. **O Sacrament most holy,
    O Sacrament divine!
    All praise and all thanksgiving
    Be ev’ry moment Thine. **
 
June 26

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Josemaria Escriva
Among many other Saints
 
Saint Josemaria Escriva
Priest and Founder of
Opus Dei.
Also known as
Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer

Josemaria was born in Barbastro, Spain on 9 January 1902. He was the second of six children. His parents,
José and Dolores Escriva, brought up their children with a devout Catholic faith. Of the six children they were blessed with, three died in infancy. Josemaria’s father was a small scale businessman. In 1915, his business failed. Jose moved his family to
Logroño, Spain. It was here in Logrono that he felt called to the priesthood. It is recorded that he saw
some bare footprints in the snow. The foot prints were those of a monk who had walked that way a short while earlier. Looking at those prints, he felt that God wanted something of him, and the best way he saw of finding out God’s plan for him, was to become a priest. Accordingly he entered the seminary at Logrono and completed his training for the priesthood at the Pontifical University of Saragossa. His father died in 1924, and Josemaria had to support his family as well as study. He was ordained in Zaragossa on 28 March 1925.
Following his ordination, he was assigned for a while to a rural parish, but was later brought back in Zaragossa. He moved to Madrid, in 1927 to study law. At the end of his studies, Josemaria started working for the poor and the sick. On October 2, 1921, Josemaria received an inspiration to start the Society of Opus Dei which is Latin for “Work of God” The reason for the founding of the society was to promote holiness worldwide, membership being open to both men and women.
When the Spanish civil war broke out in 1936, Josemaría was in Madrid. He risked his life during the religious persecution that followed. He was forced to hide from the authorities, eventually escaping to Andorra.
On February 14, 1943, the Saint also founded the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross. in 1946, he took up residence in Rome. Josemaria had a motto, and it was this:
" to hide and disappear so that only Jesus may shine"
Opus Dei spread across the world. and Josemaria became a consultor to the Holy See under Pope Pius XII.
In time, Opus Dei owned publishing houses, and radio stations dedicated to the use of modern media techniques in serving the Church.

On June 26 , 1975 Josemaria died of a heart attack in his office at Opus Dei headquarters in Rome.
His remains were enshrined in the Prelatic Church of Our Lady of Peace in Rome.
At the time of his death, Josemaria left more than sixty thousand members of Opus Dei in eighty countries and a thousand priests dedicated to the Opus Dei apostolate.

He was beatified on 17 May 1992 by Pope John Paul II and canonized on 6 October 2002 by Pope John Paul II.
Saint Josemaria,
Pray for us!

Ref:
Our Sunday Visitor Encyclopedia Of Saints.
By Matthew Bunson, Stephen Bunson, Margaret Bunson:
 
odhiambo said:
Saint Josemaria Escriva
Priest and Founder of
Opus Dei.
Also known as
Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer

Josemaria was born in Barbastro, Spain on 9 January 1902. He was the second of six children. His parents,
José and Dolores Escriva, brought up their children with a devout Catholic faith. Of the six children they were blessed with, three died in infancy. Josemaria’s father was a small scale businessman. In 1915, his business failed. Jose moved his family to
Logroño, Spain. It was here in Logrono that he felt called to the priesthood. It is recorded that he saw
some bare footprints in the snow. The foot prints were those of a monk who had walked that way a short while earlier. Looking at those prints, he felt that God wanted something of him, and the best way he saw of finding out God’s plan for him, was to become a priest. Accordingly he entered the seminary at Logrono and completed his training for the priesthood at the Pontifical University of Saragossa. His father died in 1924, and Josemaria had to support his family as well as study. He was ordained in Zaragossa on 28 March 1925.
Following his ordination, he was assigned for a while to a rural parish, but was later brought back in Zaragossa. He moved to Madrid, in 1927 to study law. At the end of his studies, Josemaria started working for the poor and the sick. On October 2, 1921, Josemaria received an inspiration to start the Society of Opus Dei which is Latin for “Work of God” The reason for the founding of the society was to promote holiness worldwide, membership being open to both men and women.
When the Spanish civil war broke out in 1936, Josemaría was in Madrid. He risked his life during the religious persecution that followed. He was forced to hide from the authorities, eventually escaping to Andorra.
On February 14, 1943, the Saint also founded the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross. in 1946, he took up residence in Rome. Josemaria had a motto, and it was this:
" to hide and disappear so that only Jesus may shine"
Opus Dei spread across the world. and Josemaria became a consultor to the Holy See under Pope Pius XII.
In time, Opus Dei owned publishing houses, and radio stations dedicated to the use of modern media techniques in serving the Church.

On June 26 , 1975 Josemaria died of a heart attack in his office at Opus Dei headquarters in Rome.
His remains were enshrined in the Prelatic Church of Our Lady of Peace in Rome.
At the time of his death, Josemaria left more than sixty thousand members of Opus Dei in eighty countries and a thousand priests dedicated to the Opus Dei apostolate.

He was beatified on 17 May 1992 by Pope John Paul II and canonized on 6 October 2002 by Pope John Paul II.
Saint Josemaria,
Pray for us!

Ref:
Our Sunday Visitor Encyclopedia Of Saints.
By Matthew Bunson, Stephen Bunson, Margaret Bunson:
Click to expand...
Great Saint! His works are often referenced in the Navarre Bible & Commentary such as The Way, Friends of God and Christ Is Passing By. I hope to get and read all these books in the years to come.

Some of his quotes on purity:

“Holy Purity is granted by God when it is asked for with humility.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“‘Purity?’ they ask. And they smile. They are the ones who go on to marriage with worn-out bodies and disillusioned souls.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“There is need for a crusade of manliness and purity to counteract and nullify the savage work of those who think man is a beast. And that crusade is your work.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“Many live like angels in the middle of the world. You, … why not you?”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“When you decide firmly to lead a clean life, chastity will not be a burden on you: it will be a crown of triumph.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“Don’t be such as coward as to be ‘brave.’ Flee!”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“When you have sought the company of a sensual satisfaction, what loneliness afterward!”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, Saint Benedict threw himself into a thornbush, Saint Bernard plunged into an icy pond . . . You . . . what have you done?”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“Don’t say, ‘That’s the way I am-its my character.’ It’s your lack of character. Esto vir!-Be a man!”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“As soon as you willfully allow a dialogue with temptation to begin, the soul is robbed of peace, just as consent to impurity destroys grace.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“Temptation is necessary to make us realize that we are nothing in ourselves.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“Never talk of impure things or events, not even to deplore them. Look, it’s a subject that sticks more than tar. Change the conversation, or if that’s not possible, continue, but speaking of the need and beauty of holy purity–a virtue of the men who know what their souls are worth.”
-St. Josemaria Escriva

“That conversation . . . was as dirty as a sewer! It is not enough for you to take no part in it. You must show your repugnance to it strongly!”
-St. Josemaria Escriva

“I have never talked about impurity. . . . But I have spoken many times, as I have to do, about chastity, purity, and the joyful affirmation of love.”
-St. Josemaria Escriva

Ref: Chastity.com
 
kelvinf said:
Great Saint! His works are often referenced in the Navarre Bible & Commentary such as The Way, Friends of God and Christ Is Passing By. I hope to get and read all these books in the years to come.

Some of his quotes on purity:

“Holy Purity is granted by God when it is asked for with humility.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“‘Purity?’ they ask. And they smile. They are the ones who go on to marriage with worn-out bodies and disillusioned souls.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“There is need for a crusade of manliness and purity to counteract and nullify the savage work of those who think man is a beast. And that crusade is your work.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“Many live like angels in the middle of the world. You, … why not you?”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“When you decide firmly to lead a clean life, chastity will not be a burden on you: it will be a crown of triumph.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“Don’t be such as coward as to be ‘brave.’ Flee!”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“When you have sought the company of a sensual satisfaction, what loneliness afterward!”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“To defend his purity, Saint Francis of Assisi rolled in the snow, Saint Benedict threw himself into a thornbush, Saint Bernard plunged into an icy pond . . . You . . . what have you done?”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“Don’t say, ‘That’s the way I am-its my character.’ It’s your lack of character. Esto vir!-Be a man!”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“As soon as you willfully allow a dialogue with temptation to begin, the soul is robbed of peace, just as consent to impurity destroys grace.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“Temptation is necessary to make us realize that we are nothing in ourselves.”
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
“Never talk of impure things or events, not even to deplore them. Look, it’s a subject that sticks more than tar. Change the conversation, or if that’s not possible, continue, but speaking of the need and beauty of holy purity–a virtue of the men who know what their souls are worth.”
-St. Josemaria Escriva

“That conversation . . . was as dirty as a sewer! It is not enough for you to take no part in it. You must show your repugnance to it strongly!”
-St. Josemaria Escriva

“I have never talked about impurity. . . . But I have spoken many times, as I have to do, about chastity, purity, and the joyful affirmation of love.”
-St. Josemaria Escriva

Ref: Chastity.com
Click to expand...
I can assure you of one thing Kelvin, no one can quarrel with your choice of reading material.
I too would love to lay my hands on one of them at least; this one “Don’t be such as coward as to be ‘brave.’ Flee!”😃
 
27 June
Today is the Feast day of
Saint Cyril of Alexandria
Among many other Saints.
 
Saint Cyril of Alexandria
Doctor of the Church.
Cyril was born in the year 376 at Alexandria in Egypt. He was the nephew of Theophilus the Patriarch or Bishop of Alexandria. He received his education at Alexandria, and was sent by his uncle, to the monks in the Egyptian desert to be trained in ascetical life. His uncle, the Bishop of Alexandria, ordained him a priest.
In July, 403, Cyril accompanied The Bishop to Constantinople to attend the Synod of the Oak at which Saint John Chrystostom was condemned and deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople.
Nine years later, in 412, His uncle died and Cyril, then 36 years old, was named to succeed him.
Cyril began his reign by undertaking two drastic measures.
1: He closed all churches belonging to the heretical sect, the Novatianists. This heresy as you will recall, originated with the Roman priest, Novatian who became an antipope. The Novatianists adopted a moral high ground maintaining that the Church had no power to absolve those Christians who had lapsed into idolatry during the preceding years of persecution and they were to be permanently excluded from the Church. Absolution was also refused to those guilty of the sins of murder and adultery.
2: Cyril also drove away all the Jews from Alexandria. At the time of the founding of the city by Alexander the Great, the Jews had been established in the city in order to encourage trade. They were, however reported to hate Christians, causing repeated riots and massacres.
In 430 Cyril took up the battle with Nestorian heretics, condemning Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, who was preaching that Mary was not the Mother of God since Christ was Divine and not human, and consequently she should not have the word theotokos (God-bearer) applied to her.
He persuaded Pope Celestine I to convoke a synod at Rome, which condemned Nestorius, and then did the same at his own synod in Alexandria. Celestine directed Cyril to depose Nestorius, and in 431, Cyril presided over the third General Council at Ephesus, attended by some two hundred bishops, which condemned all the tenets of Nestorius and his followers. The table soon turned on him however, when he found himself deposed by Archbishop John of Antioch and forty-two followers who believed Nestorius was innocent.
Emperor Theodosius II arrested both Cyril and Nestorius but released Cyril on the intervention of the Pope. Nestorius was later condemned by all sides.

Cyril of Alexandria is known for his writings on the Incarnation and the Trinity.
He wrote commentaries on Saint John, Saint Luke and other Scriptures to mention but a few of his works.
He died of natural causes in 444 at Alexandria. His relics are in Alexandria
His canonization was pre-Congregation.
He is the patron of Alexandria, Egypt
He was declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria,
Pray for us!
 
June 28
Today is the Feast Day of
Saint Irenaenus
Among many other Saints.
 
Saint Irenaenus
Bishop of Lyons.
Doctor of the Church,
Martyr.

Saint Irenaeus, " Father of Catholic Theology", as he has been called, was born in a Christian family between the years 120 and 140, in Smyrna.
While he was still young, his parents placed him under the care of Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna and disciple of Saint John the Apostle. Saint Irenaeus is reported to have said the following to a friend once:
**“I listened to St. Polycarp’s instructions very carefully. I wrote down his actions and his words, not on paper, but on my heart.” **
He was ordained in 177 and soon after that, he was sent to Lyons to assist Bishop Saint Pothimus. On his arrival in Lyons, Bishop Pothimus sent him to Rome with a message to Pope Saint Eleutherius to brief him on the spread of the Montanist heresy. In his absence during that same year, a violent, very cruel persecution against the Church broke out in Lyons. It claimed the lives of Pothimus, priests and many other Christians.
The following year, Irenaeus returned to Lyons, luckily, by then, the persecution was over. He was elected Bishop of Lyons. Although the persecution was over, there was another danger to the Church, a heresy called Gnosticism. Saint Irenaeus
studied all its teachings and then he wrote a number of books that showed how wrong they were.
One such work was " Adversus Omnes Haereses" or " Against Heresies", written in his own Greek tongue and which was a sharp criticism of Gnosticism.
Another is “Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching” or, “Proof of the Apostolic Preaching" which was also written in Greek.
In 190, Irenaeus, whose name means " lover of peace, helped in bringing peace between Pope Victor I and the Eastern Churches in relation to the Eastern Church refusal to conform to the Roman practice concerning the Easter date.
Saint Irenaeus was Bishop of Lyons for 24 years and in that time, he was successful in gaining many new converts to the Church and in rebuilding the Church in Gaul.
He is, however, chiefly known for his writings some of which have been mentioned above.
Irenaeus was martyred in 202, under Septimius Severus, in Lyons, France. His tomb and relics were destroyed by Calvinists in 1562.
His head is in Saint John’s church, Lyons, France
His canonization was Pre-Congregation.

Saint Irenaeus,
Pray for us!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top