THE SAINTS THIS WEEK
12th September
Bl Mary of Jesus, virgin [Carmelite]
Born in 1560 at Tartanedo (Spain) she took the Discalced Carmelite habit at Toledo in 1577 and made her profession the following year. Blessed Mary of Jesus, during the second part of her novitiate, encountered many difficulties. She spent long hours in prayer and doing added penances, which affected her health. She experienced prolonged temptations to withdraw from Carmel. Her fears were that she might not be faithful to the rule and she felt abandoned by God.
Readings
Psalm 112(113):1-7
Luke 6:43-49
13th September
St John Chysostom, bishop and doctor of the Church
Born at Antioch about 349, where he was ordained and exercised his pastoral ministry for many years. His preaching bore great fruit, and his writings revealed the brilliance of his intellect and his strength of faith. He lived an austere life, striving to reform the morals of clergy and people. In 397 he became Bishop of Constantinople; he was exiled by the Emperor, who took exception to his work, and died in 404 in Turkey.
Readings
Psalm 114(115):1-9
James 2:14-18
Mark 8:27-35
14th September
The Triumph of the Cross
Early in the fourth century St Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ's life. She razed the Temple of Aphrodite, which tradition held was built over the Saviour's tomb, and her son built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre over the tomb. During the excavation, workers found three crosses. Legend has it that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch healed a dying woman.
Readings
The cross immediately became an object of veneration. At a Good Friday celebration in Jerusalem toward the end of the fourth century, according to an eyewitness, the wood was taken out of its silver container and placed on a table together with the inscription Pilate ordered placed above Jesus' head: Then "all the people pass through one by one; all of them bow down, touching the cross and the inscription, first with their foreheads, then with their eyes; and, after kissing the cross, they move on."
To this day the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox alike, celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the September anniversary of the basilica's dedication. The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians, who had carried it off in 614, fifteen years earlier. According to the story, the emperor intended to carry the cross back into Jerusalem himself, but was unable to move forward until he took off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim.
Psalm 77(78):1-2, 34-38
John 3:13-17
15th September
Our Lady of Sorrows
We can trace devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows back to apostolic times. St. John the Evangelist, whom we can consider as one of the first devotees of the Mother of Sorrows, witnessed first-hand and then recorded in his Gospel that Mary stood by the Cross of her Son (Jn 19:25). There on Calvary the Blessed Mother suffered—overwhelmed with grief at seeing her Son, who is also her God, die an agonizing death by crucifixion.
Our Lady of Sorrows is traditionally depicted in art dressed in black with seven swords piercing her heart. These seven swords symbolise the chief seven sorrows of Our Lady's life. Devotion to the Sorrows of Mary gave rise to the figure in Christian art of the Pieta, the sorrowing Mother holding the dead Body of her Son who has been taken down from the Cross.
Different sorrows of Mary have been honoured in the Church's history, but since the 14th century these seven have come to be regarded as the seven dolors (sorrows) of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Readings
16th September
St Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, bishop, martyrs
Cyprian was born in Carthage in 210, and became its Bishop in 249. At a time of fierce persecution, he encouraged his people, and by word and example led them to understand and witness to the faith. He was martyred in 258. Cornelius became Bishop of Rome in 251, was exiled by Emperor Gallus, and died in exile in 253.
Readings
Psalm 110(111):1-6
Luke 7:31-35
17th September
St Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor of the Church
Born at Montepulciano, Italy, 4 October, 1542, St Robert Bellarmine was the third of ten children. His mother, Cinzia Cervini, a niece of Pope Marcellus II, was dedicated to almsgiving, prayer, meditation, fasting, and mortification of the body.
Robert entered the newly formed Society of Jesus in 1560 and after his ordination went on to teach at Louvain (1570-1576) where he became famous for his Latin sermons. In 1576, he was appointed to the chair of controversial theology at the Roman College, becoming Rector in 1592; he went on to become Provincial of Naples in 1594 and Cardinal in 1598.
This outstanding scholar and devoted servant of God defended the Apostolic See against the anti-clericals in Venice and against the political tenets of King James I of England. He composed an exhaustive apologetic work against the prevailing heretics of his day. In the field of church-state relations, he took a position based on principles now regarded as fundamentally democratic - authority originates with God, but is vested in the people, who entrust it to fit rulers.
Collectors of old pottery will have heard of the Bellarmine jug. It is the neck of a Bellarmine jug, also known as a 'greybeard', a large Flemish gotch - i.e. a corpulent beer jug of some strong ware - originally made in Flanders in ridicule of Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, the great preacher against Protestantism. These jugs had at the neck a rude likeness of the cardinal with his large, square, ecclesiastical beard.
This saint was the spiritual father of St Aloysius Gonzaga, helped St Francis de Sales obtain formal approval of the Visitation Order, and in his prudence opposed severe action in the case of Galileo. He has left us a host of important writings, including works of devotion and instruction, as well as controversy. He died in 1621. He is the patron saint of Canon Lawyers.
also 17th September
St Albert of Jerusalem, bishop and Lawgiver of Carmel
Albert Avogadro was born about the middle of the twelfth century in Castel Gualteri in Italy. He became a Canon Regular of the Holy Cross at Mortara and was elected their prior in 1180. Named Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, and of Vercelli in 1185, he was made Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1205. There, in word and example, he was the model of a good pastor and peace-maker. While he was Patriarch (1206-1214) he united the hermits of Mount Carmel into one community and wrote a Rule for them. He was murdered at Acre on September 14th, 1214.
Readings
Psalm 110(111):7-10
Luke 7:36-50
18th September
St Hygbald, abbot
A holy Abbot in Lincolnshire to whom several churches are dedicated. Mention of him occurs in the Lives of his more celebrated friends, St Egbert and St Chad.
Readings
Psalm 48(49):6-10, 17-20
Luke 8:1-3
19th September
St Januaris, bishop and martyr
Bishop of Benevento, martyred in 305, with six other Christians, during the persecution of Diocletian, at Naples.
also 19th September
St Theodore of Tarsus, bishop
Archbishop of Canterbury, England, and a memorable figure in the English Church. A native of Tarsus, Turkey, he was a Greek by descent. After studying in Tarsus and Athens, Greece, he went to Rome, where he became so respected that Pope St. Vitalian (r. 657-672) appointed him to succeed to the see of Canterbury in 667. After receiving consecration on 26 March, 668, he set out for England in the company of SS Dominic Biscop and Hadrian the African, both of whom were to provide assistance and helped guarantee that Theodore's administration remained entirely orthodox.
Readings
They arrived at Canterbury in May 669 and Theodore moved immediately to consolidate his position as primate of England and the metropolitan status of the see of Canterbury. To promote further unity, he convened two synods, at Hereford in 673 and at Hatfield in 680. Such was the success of his programmes that the Venerable Bede wrote that Theodore was "the first archbishop obeyed by all the English Church."
Psalm 99(100)
Luke 8:4-15
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