 Section 1 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmary Shea. April 1st, St. Hugh, Bishop. It was the happiness of this saint to receive from his cradle the strongest impressions of piety by the example and care of his illustrious and holy parents. He was born at Chateau Neuf in the territory of Valence in Delfine in 1053. His father, Odilo, who served his country in an honorable post in the army, labored by all the means in his power to make his soldiers faithful servants of their creator, and by severe punishments to restrain vice. By the advice of his son, St. Hugh, he afterwards became a Carthusian monk and died at the age of a hundred, having received extreme unction and viaticum from the hands of his son. Our saint likewise assisted in her last moments his mother, who had for many years under his direction, served God in her own house by prayer, fasting, and plenteous alms deeds. Hugh, from the cradle, appeared to be a child of benediction. He went through his studies with great applause, and having chosen to serve God in an ecclesiastical state, he accepted a cannery in the Cathedral of Valence. His great sanctity and learning rendered him an ornament of that church, and he was finally made Bishop of Grenoble. He set himself at once to reprove vice and to reform abuses, and so plentiful was the benediction of heaven upon his labors that he had the comfort to see the face of his diocese in a short time exceedingly changed. After two years he privately resigned his bishopric, presuming on the tacit consent of the Holy See, and, putting on the habit of St. Bennett, he entered upon a novitiate in the austere Abbey of Casa de in Avern. There he lived a year, a perfect model of all the virtues to that house of saints, till Pope Gregory VII commanded him, in virtue of holy obedience, to resume his pastoral charge. He earnestly solicited Pope Innocent II for leave to resign his bishopric that he might die in solitude, but was never able to obtain his request. God was pleased to purify his soul by a lingering illness before he called him to himself. Some time before his death he lost his memory for everything but his prayers. He closed his penitential course on the first of April, in 1132, wanting only two months of being eighty years old, of which he had been fifty-two years bishop. Miracles attested the sanctity of his happy death, and he was canonized by Innocent II in 1134. Reflection. Let us learn from the example of the saints to shun the tumult of the world as much as our circumstances will allow, and give ourselves up to the exercises of holy solitude, prayer, and pious reading. End of Section 1 April 2 St. Francis of Paola At the age of fifteen Francis left his poor home at Paola in Calabria, to live as a hermit in a cave by the sea coast. In time disciples gathered round him, and with them in 1436 he founded the Minims, so called to show that they were the least of monastic orders. They observed a perpetual lent, and never touched meat, fish, eggs, or milk. Francis himself made the rock his bed. His best garment was a hair shirt, and boiled herbs his only fair. As his body withered his faith grew powerful, and he did all things in him who strengthened him. He cured the sick, raised the dead, averted plagues, expelled evil spirits, and brought sinners to penance. A famous preacher instigated by a few misguided monks set to work to preach against St. Francis and his miracles. The saint took no notice of it, and the preacher, finding that he made no way with his hearers, determined to see this poor hermit and confound him in person. The saint received him kindly, gave him a seat by the fire, and listened to a long exposition of his own frauds. He then quietly took some glowing embers from the fire, and, closing his hands upon them unhurt, said, Come, Father Anthony, warm yourself, for you are shivering, for want of a little charity. Father Anthony, falling at the saint's feet, asked for pardon, and then, having received his embrace, quitted him to become his penitgerist, and attain himself to great perfection. When the avaricious king Ferdinand of Naples offered him money for his convent, Francis told him to give it back to his oppressed subjects, and softened his heart by causing blood to flow from the ill-gotten coin. Louis XI of France, trembling at the approach of death, sent for the poor hermit to ward off the foe whose advance neither his fortresses nor his guards could check. Francis went by the pope's command, and prepared the king for a holy death. The successors of Louis showered favours on the saint, his order spread throughout Europe, and his name was reverenced through the Christian world. He died at the age of 91 on Good Friday, 1507, with the crucifix in his hand and the last words of Jesus on his lips, Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. Reflection Rely in all difficulties upon God, that which enabled St. Francis to work miracles, will in proportion do wonders for yourself, by giving you strength and consolation. End of Section 2 Section 3 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Steve Mayer Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmary Shea April 3, St. Richard of Chichester Richard was born AD 1197 in the little town of Weish, 8 miles from Worcester, England. He and his elder brother were left orphans when young, and Richard gave up the studies which he loved to farm his brother's impoverished estate. His brother, in gratitude for Richard's successful care, proposed to make over to him all his lands. But he refused both the estates and the offer of a brilliant marriage to study for the priesthood at Oxford. In 1235 he was appointed for his learning in piety Chancellor of that university, and afterwards by St. Edmund of Canterbury Chancellor of his diocese. He stood by that saint in his long contest with the king and accompanied him into exile. After St. Edmund's death Richard returned to England to toil as a simple curate, but was soon elected Bishop of Chichester in preference to the worthless nominee of Henry III. The king, in revenge, refused to recognize the election and seized the revenues of the sea. Thus Richard found himself fighting the same battle in which St. Edmund had died. He went to Lyon, was there consecrated by Innocent IV in 1245, and returning to England in spite of his poverty and the king's hostility exercised fully his episcopal rights and thoroughly reformed his sea. After two years his revenues were restored. Young and old loved St. Richard. He gave all he had. He worked miracles to feed the poor and heal the sick. But when the rights or purity of the church were concerned he was inexorable. A priest of noble blood polluted his office by sin. Richard deprived him of his benefits and refused the king's petition in his favor. On the other hand, when a knight violently put a priest in prison, Richard compelled the knight to walk round the priest's church with the same log of wood on his neck to which he had chained the priest. And when the burgesses of Luz tore a criminal from the church and hanged him, Richard made them dig up the body from its unconsecrated grave and bear it back to the sanctuary they had violated. Richard died AD 1253 while preaching at the pope's command a crusade against the Saracens. Reflection. As a brother, as chancellor, and as bishop, St. Richard faithfully performed each duty of his state without a thought of his own interests. Neglective duty is the first sign of that self-love which ends with the loss of grace. End of Section 3. Section 4 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints. Volume 2, April to June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints. Volume 2, April to June. By John Gilmary Shea. April 4, St. Isidore Archbishop. Isidore was born of a Ducal family at Carthagena in Spain. His two brothers, Leander, Archbishop of Seville, Fulgencius, Bishop of Egia, and his sister Florentina, are Saints. As a boy, he despaired at his ill success in study and ran away from school. Resting in his flight at a roadside spring, he observed a stone which was hollowed out by the dripping water. This decided him to return, and by hard application he succeeded where he had failed. He went back to his master, and with the help of God became, even as a youth, one of the most learned men of the time. He assisted in converting Prince Recarred, the leader of the Aryan Party, and with his aid, though at the constant peril of his own life, he expelled that heresy from Spain. Then, following a call from God, he turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of his friends and embraced a hermit's life. Prince Recarred and many of the nobles in clergy of Seville went to persuade him to come forth and represented the needs of the times and the good he could do and had already done among the people. He refused, and as far as we can judge, that refusal gave him the necessary opportunity of acquiring the virtue and the power which afterwards made him an illustrious bishop and doctor of the church. On the death of his brother, Leander, he was called to fill the vacant sea. As a teacher, ruler, founder, and reformer, he labored not only in his own diocese but throughout Spain and even in foreign countries. He died in Seville on April 4th, 636, and within sixteen years of his death was declared a doctor of the Catholic Church. Reflection The strength of temptation usually lies in the fact that its object is something flattering to our pride, soothing to our sloth, or in some way attractive to the meaner passions. Saint Isidore teaches us to listen neither to the promptings of nature nor the plausible advice of friends when they contradict the voice of God. End of Section 4, Saint Isidore Section 5 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April through June This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April through June by John Gilmary Shea April 5th, Saint Vincent Ferrer This wonderful apostle, the Angel of the Judgment, was born at Valencia in Spain in 1350 and at the age of 18 professed in the Order of Saint Dominic. After a brilliant course of study he became master of sacred theology. For three years he read only the Scriptures and knew the whole Bible by heart. He converted the Jews of Valencia and their synagogue became a church. Grief at the great schism then afflicting the church reduced him to the point of death. But our Lord Himself in glory bade him go forth to convert sinners. For my judgment is nigh. This miraculous apostolate lasted 21 years. He preached throughout Europe in the towns and villages of Spain, Switzerland, France, Italy, England, Ireland, Scotland. Everywhere tens of thousands of sinners were reformed. Jews, infidels, and heretics were converted. Stupendous miracles enforced his words. Twice each day the miracle-bell summoned the sick, the blind, the lame to be cured. Sinners the most obdurate became saints. Speaking only his native Spanish he was understood in all tongues. Precessions of ten thousand penitents followed him in perfect order. Convents, orphanages, hospitals arose in his path. Amidst all his humility remained profound, his prayer constant. He always prepared for preaching by prayer. Once, however, when a person of high rank was to be present at his sermon, he neglected prayer for study. The nobleman was not particularly struck by the discourse which had been thus carefully worked up. But coming again to hear the saint, unknown to the latter, the second sermon made a deep impression on his soul. When Saint Vincent heard of the difference, he remarked that in the first sermon it was Vincent who had preached, but in the second, Jesus Christ. He fell ill at Vons in Brittany and received the crown of everlasting glory in 1419. Reflection. Whatever you do, says Saint Vincent, think not of yourself but of God. In the spirit he preached and God spoke by him. In this spirit, if we listen, we shall hear the voice of God. End of Section 5. Section 6 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints. Volume 2, April through June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints. Volume 2, April through June. By John Gilmary Shea. April 6, Saint Celestine, Pope. Saint Celestine was a native of Rome and upon the demise of Pope Boniface, he was chosen to secede him in September 422 by the wonderful consent of the whole city. His first official act was to confirm the condemnation of an African bishop who had been convicted of grave crimes. He wrote also to the bishops of the provinces of Vien and Narbonne in Gaul to correct several abuses and ordered, among other things, that absolution or reconciliation should never be refused any dying sinner who sincerely asked him. For repentance depends not so much on time as on the heart. He assembled a synod in Rome in 430 in which the writings of an historias were examined and his blasphemies in maintaining Christ a divine and a human person were condemned. The Pope pronounced sentence of excommunication against an historias and deposed him. Being formed that agricula, the son of a British bishop called Severianus, who had been married before he was raised to the priesthood and had spread the seeds of the Pelasian heresy in Britain, Saint Celestine Saint Bither, Saint Germanus of Auxerre, whose zeal and conduct happily prevented the threatening danger. He also sent Saint Pallatius, a Roman, to preach the faith to the Scots, both in North Britain and in Ireland, and many authors of the life of Saint Patrick, say that apostle likewise received his commission to preach to the Irish from Saint Celestine in 431. This holy Pope died on the 1st of August in 432, having reigned almost ten years. Reflection. Vigilance is truly needful to those to whom the care of souls has been confided. Blessed are the servants whom the Lord at his coming shall find watching. End of Section 6 Section 7 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April through June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Laurie Arsenault Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April through June. By John Gilmary Shea. April 7. Saint Haggisipus, a primitive father, and blessed Hermon Joseph of Steinfeld. He was by birth a Jew and belonged to the Church of Jerusalem. While traveling to Rome he lived there nearly twenty years from the pontificate of Anacetus to that of Eleutherius in 177 when he returned into the east where he died at an advanced age, probably at Jerusalem in the year of Christ 180 according to the Chronicle of Alexandria. He wrote in the year 133 a history of the Church in five books from the Passion of Christ down to his own time, the loss of which work is extremely regretted. In it he gave illustrious proofs of his faith and showed the apostolic tradition and that though certain men had disturbed the Church by broaching heresies, down to his time no Episcopal sea or particular Church had fallen into error. This testimony he gave after having personally visited all the principal churches both of the east and the west. Blessed Hermon Joseph of Steinfeld. Hermon from his earliest years was a devoted client of the mother of God. As a little child he used to spend all his playtime in the Church at Cologne before an image of Mary where he received many favors. One bitter winter day as little Hermon was coming barefooted into church his heavenly mother appeared to him, asked him lovingly why his feet were bare in such cold weather. A last dear lady he said, it is because my parents are so poor. She pointed to a stone telling him to look beneath it. There he found four silver pieces wherewith to buy shoes. He did not forget to return and thank her. She enjoined him to go to the same spot in all his wants and disappeared. He never did the supply fail him but his comrades moved by a different spirit could find nothing. Once our lady stretched out her hand and took an apple which the boy offered her in pledge of his love. Another time he saw her high up in the Tribune with the Holy Child and Saint John. He longed to join them but saw no way of doing so. Suddenly he found himself placed by their side and holding sweet converse with the infant Jesus. At the age of twelve he entered the premonstratensian house at Stenfeld and there led an angelic life of purity and prayer. His fellow novices seeing what graces he received from Mary called him Joseph and he shrank from so high an honor our lady in a vision took him as her spouse and bade him bear the name. Jealousy she reproved the smallest faults in her betrothed and once appeared to him as an old woman to up braid him for some slight want of devotion. As her dowry she conferred on him the most cruel sufferings of mind and body which were especially severe on the great feasts of the church. But with the cross Mary brought him the grace to bear it bravely and thus his heart was weaned from earthly things and he was made ready for his earthly and saintly death which took place about the year 1230. Reflection Do not approach our blessed mother with said prayers only. Be intimate with her. Confide in her. Commend to her every want and every project small as well as great. It is a childlike reliance and a trustful appeal which she delights to reward. End of Section 7 Recording by Laurie Arsenault Section 8 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April-June This is the LibriVox recording. Or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Paul Bryan Stewart Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April-June by John Gilmary Shea April 8 St. Perpetuous Bishop St. Perpetuous was the 8th Bishop of Tours from St. Gation and governed that sea above 30 years from 461 to 491 when he died on the 8th of April. During all that time he laboured by zealous sermons, many synods and wholesome regulations to lead souls to virtue. St. Perpetuous had a great veneration for the Saints and respect for their relics adorned their shrines and enriched their churches. As there was a continual succession of miracles at the tomb of St. Martin Perpetuous finding the church built by St. Bricus too small for the concourse of people that resorted hither directed its enlargement. When the building was finished the good bishop solemnised the dedication of this new church and performed the translation of the body of St. Martin on the 4th of July in 473. Our saint made and signed his last will which is still extant on the 1st of March 475 15 years before his death. By it he remits all debts that were owing to him and having bequeathed to his church his library and several farms and settled a fund for the maintenance of lamps and the purchase of sacred vessels as occasion might require. He declares to pour his ears. He adds most pathetic exhortations to concord and piety and bequeaths to his sister, Ferdia Julia Perpetua, a little gold cross with relics. He leaves legacies to several other friends and priests begging of etcher and emberance of him in their prayers. His ancient epitaph equals him to the great St. Martin. Reflection The smart of poverty, says a spiritual writer, is allayed even more by one word of true sympathy than by the arms we give. Arms coldly and harshly given irritate rather than soothe. Even when we cannot give, words of kindness are as a precious balm and when we can give, they are the salt and seasoning of our arms. End of Section 8 Section 9 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April to June This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April to June by John Gilmari Shea April 9 St. Mary of Egypt and St. John the Almoner At the tender age of 12 Mary left her father's house that she might sin without restraint and for 17 years she lived in shame at Alexandria. Then she accompanied a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and entangled many in grievous sin. She was in that city of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and went with the crowd to the church which contained the precious wood. The rest entered and adored but Mary was invisibly held back. In that instant her misery and pollution burst upon her. Turning to the Immaculate Mother, faced her in the porch, she vowed thence force to do penance if she might enter and stand like Magdalene beside the cross. Then she entered in as she knelt before our Lady on leaving the church a voice came to her which said Pass over Jordan and thou shalt find rest. She went into the wilderness and there in 420, 47 years after, the Abbot Zossimus met her. She told him that for 17 years the old songs and scenes had haunted her ever since she had had perfect peace. At her request he brought her on Holy Thursday, a sacred body of Christ. She bade him return again after a year and this time he found her corpse upon the sand with an inscription saying Bury here the body of Mary the sinner. Reflection. Blessed John Columbini was converted to God by reading St. Mary's life. Let us too learn from her not to be content with confessing and lamenting our sins but to fly from what leads us to commit them. St. John the Almoner. St. John was married but when his wife and two children died he considered it a call from God to lead a perfect life. He began to give away all he possessed in alms and became known throughout the east as the Almoner. He was appointed Patriarch of Alexandria but before he would take possession of his sea he told his servants to go over the town and bring him a list of his lords, meaning the poor. They brought word that there were 75 hundred of them and these he undertook to feed every day. On Wednesday and Friday in every week he sat on a bench before the church to hear the complaints of the needy and aggrieved. Nor would he permit his servants to taste food until their wrongs were redressed. The fear of death was ever before him and he never spoke an idle word. He turned those out of the church whom he saw talking and forbade all detractors to enter his house. He left 70 churches in Alexandria where he had found but seven. A merchant received from St. John five pounds weight of gold to buy merchandise. Having suffered shipwreck and lost all he had again recourse to John who said some of your merchandise was ill-gotten and gave him ten pounds more but the next voyage he lost the ship as well as his goods. John then said the ship was wrongfully acquired. Take 15 pounds of gold buy corn with it and put it in one of my ships. This time the merchant was carried by the winds without his own knowledge to England where there was a famine and he sold the corn for its weight and tin and on his return he found the tin changed to finest silver. St. John died in Cyprus, his native place about the year 619. End of Section 9 Section 10 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April to June This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Steve Mayer Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April to June by John Gilmary Shea April 10 St. Bonimus, Martyr Bonimus was a rich and noble citizen of Bathlapeta in Persia who founded a monastery near that city which he governed with great sanctity. He conducted his religious in the paths of perfection with sweetness, prudence and charity. To crown his virtue God permitted him with seven of his monks to be apprehended by the followers of King Sapor in the 36th year of his persecution. He lay four months in a dungeon loaded with chains during which lingering martyrdom he every day received a number of stripes. But he triumphed over his torments by the patience and joy with which he suffered them for Christ. At the same time a Christian lord named Nersan, Prince of Aria, was cast into prison because he refused to adore the son. At first he showed some resolution but at the sight of tortures his constancy failed him and he promised to conform. The king, to try if his change was sincere ordered Bonimus to be introduced into the prison of Nersan which was a chamber in the royal palace and sent word to Nersan that if he would dispatch Bonimus he should be restored to his liberty and former dignities. The wretch accepted the condition. A sword was put into his hand and he advanced to plunge it into the breast of the abbot. But being seized with a sudden terror he stopped short and remained some time without being able to lift up his arm to strike. He had neither courage to repent nor heart to accomplish his crime. He strove however to harden himself and continued with a trembling hand to aim at the sides of the martyr. Fear, shame, remorse and respect for the martyr made his strokes force-less and unsteady and so great was the number of the martyr's wounds that the bystanders were in admiration at his invincible patience. After four strokes the martyr's head was severed from the trunk. Nersan, a short time after, falling into public disgrace, perished by the sword. The body of St. Bonimus was reproachfully cast out of the city by the infidels but was secretly carried away and interred by the Christians. His disciples were released from their chains four years afterward upon the death of King Sapor. St. Bonimus suffered on the 10th of April in the year 376. Reflection. Oh, what ravishing delights does the soul taste which is accustomed by a familiar habit to converse in the heaven of its own interior with the three persons of the adorable Trinity. Worldlings wonder how holy solitaries can pass their whole time buried in the most profound solitude and silence. But those who have had any experience of this happiness are surprised with far greater reason how it is possible that any souls which are created to converse eternally with God should here live in constant dissipation seldom entertaining a devout thought of him whose charms and sweet conversation eternally ravish all the blessed. End of section 10. By John Gilmoury Shea April the 11th St. Leo the Great Leo was born at Rome. He embraced the sacred ministry, was made Archdeacon of the Roman Church by St. Celestine, and under him and Sixtus the Third had a large share in governing the church. On the death of Sixtus Leo was chosen Pope and consecrated on St. Michael's Day 440 amid great joy. It was a time of terrible trial. Vandals and Huns were wasting the provinces of the Empire and Nestorians, Pelagians, and other heretics wrought more grievous havoc among souls. Whilst Leo Zeal made head against these perils there arose the new heresy of Utikis who confounded the two natures of Christ. At once the vigilant pastor proclaimed the true doctrine of the incarnation in his famous tome, but fostered by the Byzantine court the heresy gained a strong hold among the eastern monks and bishops. After three years of unceasing toil Leo brought about its solemn condemnation by the Council of Calcedon, the Fathers all signing his tome and exclaiming, Peter hath spoken by Leo. Soon after Attila with his Huns broke into Italy and marched through its burning cities upon Rome Leo went out boldly to meet him and prevailed on him to turn back. Astonished to see the terrible Attila, the scourge of God fresh from the sack of Aquileia, Milan, Pavia the rich prize of Rome within his grasp turned his great host back to the Danube at the saint's word his chiefs asked him why he had acted so strangely. He answered that he saw two venerable personages supposed to be saints Peter and Paul standing behind Leo and impressed by this vision he withdrew. If the perils of the church are as great now as in Saint Leo's day, Saint Peter's solicitude is not less. Two years later the city fell a prey to the vandals but even then Leo saved it from destruction. He died at AD 461 having ruled the church twenty years. Reflection Leo loved to ascribe all the fruits of his unsparing labors to the glorious chief of the apostles who he often declared lives and governs in his successors. End of Section 11, Recording by Todd Marchand Section 12 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Steve Mayer Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmary Shea April 12th, St. Julius, Pope St. Julius was a Roman and chosen Pope on the 6th of February in 337. The Arian bishops in the east sent to him three deputies to accuse St. Athanasius the zealous patriarch of Alexandria. These accusations, as the order of justice required, Julius imparted to Athanasius, who thereupon sent his deputies to Rome. When upon an impartial hearing the advocates of the heretics were confounded and silenced upon every article of their accusation. The Arians then demanded a council and the Pope assembled one in Rome 341. The Arians instead of appearing held a pretended council at Antioch in 341, in which they presumed to appoint one Gregory and impious Arian, Bishop of Alexandria, to taint the Pope's legates beyond the time mentioned for their appearance and then wrote to his holiness alleging a pretended impossibility of their appearing on account of the Persian War and other impediments. The Pope easily saw through these pretenses and in a council at Rome examined the cause of St. Athanasius, declared him innocent of the things laid to his charge by the Arians and confirmed him in his sea. He also acquitted Marcellus of Ancria upon his orthodox profession of faith. He drew up and sent by Count Gabion to the oriental Eusebian bishops who had first demanded a council and then refused to appear in it, an excellent letter which is looked upon as one of the finest monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity. Finding the Eusebians still obstinate, he moved Constans, Emperor of the West, to demand the concurrence of his brother Constantius in the assembling of a general council at Sardisia in Ilykrium. This was opened in May 347 and declared St. Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancria orthodox and innocent, deposed certain Arian bishops and framed 21 canons of discipline. St. Julius reigned 15 years, two months and six days, dying on the 12th of April 352. End of Section 12 April the 13th St. Hermann Guild, Martyr Leova Guild, King of the Visigoths, had two sons, Hermann Guild and Rekhard, who reigned conjointly with him. All three were Arians, but Hermann Guild married Ezealous Catholic, the daughter of Sigbet, King of France, and by her holy example was converted to the faith. His father, on hearing the news, denounced him as a traitor and marched to seize his person. Hermann Guild tried to rally the Catholics of Spain in his defence, but they were too weak to make any stand and, after two years' fruitless struggle, he surrendered on the assurance of a free pardon. When safely in the world camp, the king had him loaded with fetters and cast into a foul dungeon at Seville. Tortures and bribes were in turn employed to shake his faith. But Hermann Guild wrote his father that he held the crown as nothing and preferred to lose scepter and life rather than betray the truth of God. At length, on Easter night, an Arian bishop entered his cell and promised him his father's pardon if he would but receive communion at his hands. Hermann Guild indignantly rejected the offer and knelt with joy for his death-stroke. The same night, a light streaming from his cell told the Christians who were watching near that the martyr had won his crown and was keeping his Easter with the saints in glory. The over-guild on his deathbed, though still an Arian, bade records seek out Saint Leander, whom he had himself cruelly persecuted and, following Hermann Guild's example, be received by him into the church. Rekhard did so, and on his father's death laboured so earnestly for the extirpation of Arianism that he brought over the whole nation of the Visigoths to the church. Nor is it to be wondered, says Saint Gregory, that he came thus to be a preacher of the true faith, seeing that he was brother of a martyr, whose merits did help him to bring so many into the lap of God's church. Reflection Saint Hermann Guild teaches us that constancy and sacrifice are the best arguments for the faith and the surest way to win souls to God. End of Section 13, Recording by Florence Section 14 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June This is a Libyvox recording All Libyvox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libyvox.org Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmoury Shea April the 14th Saint Benizet or Little Bennett Saint Benizet kept his mother's sheep in the country and as a mere child was devoted to practices of piety. As many persons were drowned in crossing the Rhône, Benizet was inspired by God to build a bridge over that rapid river at Avignon. He obtained the approbation of the bishop, proved his mission by miracles, and began the work in 1177, which he directed during seven years. He died when the difficulty of the undertaking was over, in 1184. This is attested by public monuments drawn up at that time and still preserved at Avignon, where the story is in everybody's mouth. His body was buried upon the bridge itself, which was not completely finished till four years after his decease. The structure whereof was attended with miracles from the first laying of the foundations till it was completed in 1188. Other miracles wrought after this at his tomb induced the city to build a chapel upon the bridge in which his body lay nearly five hundred years. But in 1669, a greater part of the bridge falling down through the impetuosity of the waters, the coffin was taken up and being opened in 1670 in presence of the Grand Vicar during the vacancy of the Archipiscopal Sea, the body was found entire, without the least sign of corruption. Even the bowels were perfectly sound and the colour of the eyes lively and sprightly, though through the dampness of the situation the iron bars about the coffin were much damaged with rust. The body was found in the same condition by the Archbishop of Avignon in 1674 when, accompanied by the Bishop of Orange and a great concourse of nobility, he performed the translation of it with great pomp into the Church of the Celestines, this order having obtained of Louis XIV the honour of being entrusted with the custody of his relics till such time as the bridge and chapel should be rebuilt. Reflection Let us pray for perseverance in good works. Saint Augustine says when the saints pray in the words which Christ taught they ask for little else than the gift of perseverance. End of Section 14 Recording by Florence Section 15 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmoury Shea April 15 Saint Paternas, Bishop Saint Paternas was born at Poitiers about the year 482. His father, Paternas with the consent of his wife went into Ireland where he ended his days in holy solitude. Paternas, fired by his example embraced a monastic life in the Abbey of Marne. After some time burning with the desire of attaining to the perfection of Christian virtue he passed over to Wales and in Cardiganshire founded a monastery called Lan Paterne Va or the Church of the Great Paternas. He made a visit to his father in Ireland but being called back to his monastery of Marne he soon after retired with Saint Scabillion, a monk of that house and embraced an austere and caretical life in the forests of Sissy in the diocese of Coutance near the sea having first obtained leave of the bishop and of the lord of the place. This desert which was then of great extent but which has been since gradually gained upon by the sea was anciently in great request among the Druids. Saint Paternas converted to the faith the ardorators of that and many neighbouring parts as far as Bayeaux and prevailed upon them to demolish a pagan temple in this desert which was held in great veneration by the ancient Gauls. In his old age he was consecrated bishop of Avrange by Germanus, bishop of Ruan. Saint Paul's brethren having created a division of opinion among the bishops of the province with respect to Saint Paternas he preferred retiring rather than to afford any grant for dissension and after governing his diocese for thirteen years he withdrew to a solitude in France and there ended his days about the year 550. Reflection The greatest sacrifices imposed by the love of peace will appear as nought if we call to mind the example of our saviour and remember his words Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. End of Section 15 Reading by Florence Section 16 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmary Shea April 16, 18 Martyrs of Saragossa and Saint Encrotis or Engrotia, Virgin Martyr Saint Apatius and 17 other holy men received the crown of martyrdom on the same day at Saragossa under the cruel governor Decian in the persecution of Diocletian in 304 two others, Caeus and Crementius died of their torments after a second conflict. The church also celebrates on this day the triumph of Saint Encrotis or Engrotia, Virgin. She was a native of Portugal. Her father had promised her in marriage to a man of quality in Roussillon but fearing the dangers and despising the vanities of the world and resolving to preserve her virginity in order to appear more agreeable to her heavenly spouse and serve him without hindrance she stole from her father's house and fled privately to Saragossa where the persecution was hottest under the eyes of Decian. She even reproached him with his barbarities upon which he ordered her to be long tormented in the most inhuman manner. Her sides were torn with iron hooks and one of her breasts was cut off so that the inner parts of her chest were exposed to view and part of her liver was pulled out. In this condition she was sent back to prison being still alive and died by the mortifying of her wounds in 304. The relics of all these martyrs were found at Saragossa in 1389. Reflection Men do not pursue temporal goods at haphazard or by fits and starts. Let us be as punctual and orderly in the service of God not casting about for new paths but perfecting our ordinary devotions. If we persevere in these Paradise is ours. End of Section 16 Section 17 of Little Pictora Laws of the Saints Volume 2 April through June This is a LibriVox recording. While LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictora Laws of the Saints Volume 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea April 17 St. Anacetus Pope Martyr St. Anacetus seceded St. Pius and sat about 8 years from 165 to 173. If he did not shed his blood for the faith he at least purchased the title of martyr by great sufferings and dangers. He received a visit from St. Polycarp and tolerated the custom of the Asiatics and celebrating Easter on the 14th day of the first moon after the thermal equinox with the Jews. His vigilance protected his flock from the wiles of the heretics Valentine and Vossium who sought to corrupt the faith in the capital of the world. St. Rome down to Liberius and this one accepted all the popes to Symochus the 52nd in 498 are honored among the saints and out of 248 popes from St. Peter to Clement the 13th 78 are named in the Roman Martiology. In the permit of ages the spirit of fervor and perfect sanctity which is nowadays so rarely to be found is conspicuous in most of the faithful and especially in their pastors. The whole tenor of their lives breathed it in such a manner as to render them the miracles of the world, angels on earth living copies of their divine redeemer the odor of whose virtues and holy law and religion they spread on every side. Reflection if after making the most solemn protestations of inviolable friendship and affection for a fellow creature we should the next moment revile and condemn him without having received any provocation or affront in this habitually would not the whole world justly call our protestations hypocrisy and our pretended friendship a mockery let us by this rule judge if our love of God be sovereign so large our inconstancy betrays the insincerity of our hearts. End of Section 17 Section 18 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea April 18th Saint Apollomius martyr Marcus Aurelius had persecuted the Christians but his son Commodus who in 180 seceded him showed himself favorable to them out of regard to his Empress Marcia who was an admirer of the faith. During this column the number of the faithful was exceedingly increased and many persons of the first rank among them Apollonius a Roman senator enlisted themselves under the banner of the Cross. He was a person very well versed both in philosophy and the Holy Scripture. In the midst of the peace which the Church enjoyed he was publicly accused of Christianity by one of his own slaves. The slave was immediately condemned to have his legs broken and to be put to death. In consequence of an edict of Marcus Aurelius who without repealing the former laws against convicted Christians ordered by it that their accusers should be put to death. The slave being executed the same judge sent an order to Saint Apollonius to renounce his religion as he valued his life and fortune. The saint courageously rejected such ignominious terms of safety wherefore Parenis referred him to the judgment of the Roman Senate to give an account of his faith to that body. Persisting in his refusal to comply with the condition it was condemned by a decree of the Senate and beheaded about the year 186. Reflection. It is the prerogative of the Christian religion to inspire men with such resolution inform them to such heroism that they rejoice to sacrifice their life to truth. This is not the bare force and exertion of nature but the undoubted power of the Almighty whose strength is thus made perfect in weakness. The Christian ought by his manner to bear witness to the sanctity of his faith. Such would be the force of universal good example that no libertine or infidel could withstand it. End of section 18. Section 19 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea April 19th Saint Elephage Archbishop Saint Elephage was born in the year 954 of the noble Saxon family. He first became a monk in the monastery of Deerhurst near Tuxbury, England and afterwards lived as a hermit near Bath where he founded a community under the rule of Saint Benedict. He became its first avid. At 30 years of age he was chosen Bishop of Winchester and 22 years later he became Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1011 when the Danes landed in Kent and took the city of Canterbury, putting all to fire and sword Saint Elephage was captured and carried off in the expectation of a large ransom. He was unwilling that his ruined church people should be put to such expense. He was kept in the loathsome prison at Greenwich for seven months. While so confined some friends came and urged him to lay attacks upon his tenants to raise the sum demanded for his ransom. What reward can I hope for, said he by spend upon myself what belongs to the poor. Better give up to the poor what is ours than take from them the little which is their own. As he still refused to give ransom the enraged Danes fell upon him in a fury beat him with the blunt sides of their weapons and bruised him with stones until one whom the saint had baptized shortly before put an end to his sufferings by the blow of an axe. He died on Easter Saturday, April 19, 1012 his last words being a prayer for his murderers. His body was first buried in St. Paul's London but was afterwards translated Canterbury by King Canute. A church dedicated to St. Elphage still stands upon the place of his martyrdom at Greenwich. Reflection, those who were in high positions should consider themselves as stewards rather than masters of the wealth or power entrusted to them for the benefit of the poor and weak. St. Elphage died rather than extort his ransom from the poor tenants of the church lands. End of section 19 Section 20 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, volume 2 April through June. This is a LibriVox recording. While LibriVox recordings are in the public demand for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea April 20th St. Marcellinus Bishop St. Marcellinus was born in Africa of a noble family accompanied by Vincent and Dom Ninos. He went over into Gaul and there preached the gospel with great success in the neighborhood of the Alps. He afterwards settled at Imbrun where he built a chapel in which he passed his nights in prayer after laboring all the day in the exercise of his sacred calling. By his pious example as well as by his earnest words he converted many of the heathens among whom he lived. He was afterwards made bishop of the people whom he had won over to Christ but the date of his consecration is not positively known. Burning with zeal for the glory of God he sent Vincent and Dom Ninos to preach the faith in those parts which he could not visit in person. He died at Imbrun about the year 374 and was there interred. Saint Gregory of Tours who speaks of Marcellinus in terms of highest praise mentions many miracles as happening at his tomb. Reflection though you may not be called upon to preach at least endeavor to set a good example, remembering that deeds often speak louder than words. End of section 20 Section 21 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April to June This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April to June by John Gilmarie Shee April 21st Saint Anselm Archbishop Anselm was a native of Piedmont when a boy of 15, being forbidden to enter religion, he for a while lost his fervor, led his home and went to various schools in France. At length his vocation revived and he became a monk at back in Normandy. The fame of his sanctity in this cluster led William Rufus, when dangerously ill, to take him for his confessor and to name him to the vacant sea of Canterbury. Now began the strife of Anselm's life. With new health the king relapsed into his former sins, plundered the church lands, scorned the archbishop's rebukes and forbade him to go to Rome for the pallium. Anselm bent and returned only to enter into a more bitter strife with William's successor Henry I. This sovereign claimed the right of investing prelates with the king and cross year, symbols of the spiritual jurisdiction which belongs to the church alone. The worldly prelates did not scruple to call St. Anselm a traitor for his defense of the pope's supremacy on which the saint rose and with calm dignity exclaimed If any man pretends that I violate my face to my king because I will not reject the authority of the holy sea of Rome let him stand forth and in the name of God I will answer him with a ought. No one took up the challenge and to the disappointment of the king the barons sided with the saint for they respected his courage and saw that his cause was their own. Sooner than yield the archbishop went again into exile till at last the king was obliged to submit to the feeble but inflexible old man. In the midst of his harassing cares St. Anselm found time for writings which have made him celebrated as the father of scholastic theology while in metaphysics and in science he had few equals he is yet more famous for his devotion to our blessed lady whose feast of the immaculate conception he was the first to establish in the west. He died AD 1109 In the next section whoever likes St. Anselm contains for the church's rites is fighting on the side of God against the tyranny of Satan End of section 21 section 22 of Little Pictorial lives of the saints, volume 2 April to June this is the Librivox recording all Librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June, by John Gilmary Shee, April 22, St. Sotir, Pope, Martyr, and St. Leonid's Martyr. St. Sotir was raised to the papacy upon the death of St. Aniketus in 173, while the sweetness of his discourses, he comforted all persons, was the tenderness of a father, and assisted the indigent with liberal alms, especially those who suffered for the faith. He liberally extended his charities according to the custom of his predecessors to remote churches, particularly to that of Corinth, to which he addressed an excellent letter as St. Dionysius of Corinth testifies in his letter of thanks, who adds that his letter was found worthy to be read for their edification on Sundays at their assemblies to celebrate the divine mysteries together with the letter of St. Clement Pope. St. Sotir vigorously opposed the heresy of Montanus and governed the church to the year 177. St. Leonid's Martyr. The emperor Severus in the year 202, which was the tense of his reign, raised a bloody persecution which filled the whole empire with martyrs, but especially Egypt. The most illustrious of those who by their triumphs ennobled and edified the city of Alexandria was Leonid's father of the great Oregon. He was a Christian philosopher and excellently versed, both in the profane and sacred sciences. He had seven sons, the eldest of whom was Oregon, whom he brought up with abundance of care, returning God thanks for having blessed him with a son of such an excellent disposition for learning, and a very great zeal for peaty. These qualifications endeared him greatly to his father, who, after his son was baptized, would come to his bedside while he was asleep, and opening his bosom, kissed it respectfully, as being the temple of the Holy Ghost. When the persecution raged at Alexandria under Leotus, governor of Egypt, in the tense year of Severus, Leonid's was cast into prison. Oregon, who was then only 17 years of age, burned with an incredible desire of martyrdom and sought every opportunity of meeting with it. Both his mother conjured him not to forsake her, and his ardor being redoubled at the sight of his father's chains, she was forced to lock up all his clothes to oblige him to stay at home. So, not being able to do any more, he wrote a letter to his father in very moving terms, strongly exhorting him to look on the crown that was offered him with courage and joy, adding this clause, Take heed, sir, that for our sakes you do not change your mind. Leonid's was accordingly beheaded for the faith in 202. His estates and goods being all confiscated and seized for the emperor's use, his widow was left with seven children to maintain in the poorest condition imaginable, but divine providence was both her comfort and support. Section 23 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June, by John Gilmary Shea. April 23, St. George, March 2. St. George was born in Cappadocia at the close of the 3rd century of Christian parents. In early use, he chose a soldier's life and soon obtained the favor of Diocletian, who advanced him to the grade of Tribune. When, however, the emperor began to persecute the Christians, George rebuked him at once sternly and openly for his cruelty and threw up his commission. He was inconsequence subjected to a lengthened series of torments and finally beheaded. There was something so inspiring in the defiant cheerfulness of the young soldier that every Christian felt a personal share in this triumph of Christian fortitude. And as years rolled on, St. George became a type of successful combat against evil, the slayer of the dragon, the darling theme of campsong and story, until, so thick a shade his very glory round him made, that his real liniments became hard to trace. Even beyond the circle of Christendom, he was held in honor, and invading Saracens taught themselves to accept from desecration the image of him they hailed as the White Horst Knight. The devotion to St. George is one of the most ancient and widely spread in the church. In the east, a church of St. George is ascribed to Constantine, and his name is invoked in the most ancient liturgies, whilst in the west Malta, Barcelona, Valencia, Aragon, Genoa and England have chosen him as their patron. Reflection What shall I say of fortitude without which neither wisdom nor justice is of any worth? Fortitude is not of the body, but is a constancy of soul. Wherewith we are conquerors in righteousness, patiently bear all adversities, and in prosperity are not puffed up. This fortitude he lacks, who is overcome by pride, anger, greed, drunkenness and the like. Neither have they fortitude, who, when in adversity, make shift to escape their soul's expense. Wherefore the Lord says, Fear not those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. In like manner, those who are puffed up in prosperity and abandon themselves to excessive joviality cannot be called strong. For how can they be called strong, who cannot hide and repress the heart's emotion? Fortitude is never conquered, or, if conquered, is not fortitude, St. Bruno. End of section 23. Section 24 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June, by John Gilmary Shee. April 24, St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen Fidelis was born at Sigmaringen in 1577 of noble parents. In his youth, he frequently approached the sacraments, visited the sick and the poor, and spent more over many hours before the altar. For a time, he followed the legal profession, and was remarkable for his advocacy of the poor and his respectful language towards his opponents. Being it difficult to become both a rich lawyer and a good Christian, Fidelis entered the Capuchin Order and embraced a life of austerity and prayer. Hair shirts, iron-pointed girdles, and disciplines were penances too light for his fervour. And being filled with the desire of martyrdom, he rejoiced at being sent to Switzerland by the newly founded Congregation of Propaganda, and braved every peril to rescue souls from the diabolical heresy of Calvin. When preaching at service, he was fired at by a Calvinist, but the fear of death could not deter him from proclaiming divine truth. After his sermon, he was waylaid by a body of Protestants, headed by a minister, who attacked him and tried to force him to embrace their so-called reform. But he said, I came to refute your errors, not to embrace them. I will never renounce Catholic doctrine, which is the truth of all ages, and I fear not death. On this they fell upon him with their poignards, and the first martyr of Propaganda went to receive his poem. Reflection We delight in decorating the altars of God with flowers, lights, and jewels, and it is right to do so. But if we wish to offer to God gifts of higher value, let us, in imitation of Saint Fidelis, save the souls, who but for us would be lost, for so we shalt after him, as it were. The Jewels of Paradise. End of Section 24. Section 25 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmary Sheik, April 25th, Saint Mark, Evangelist. Saint Mark was converted to the faith by the Prince of the Apostles, whom he afterwards accompanied to Rome, acting there as his secretary or interpreter. When Saint Peter was writing his first epistle to the churches of Asia, he affectionately joins with his own salutation that of his faithful companion whom he calls my son Mark. The Roman people entreated Saint Mark to put in writing for them the substance of Saint Peter's frequent discourses on our Lord's life. This, the Evangelist did enter the eye and was the express sanction of the Apostle, and every page of his brief, but graphic gospel so bore the impress of Saint Peter's character that the Fathers used to name it Peter's Gospel. Saint Mark was now sent to Egypt to found the Church of Alexandria, here his disciples became the Wanderer of the World for their beauty and asceticism, so that Saint Jerome speaks of Saint Mark as the Father of the Anchorites, who at a later time thronged the Egyptian deserts. Here too, he set up the first Christian school, the fruitful mother of many illustrious doctors and bishops. After governing his sea for many years, Saint Mark was one day seized by the heathen, dragged by ropes over stones and thrown into prison. On the moral the torture was repeated, and having been consoled by a vision of angels and the voice of Jesus, Saint Mark went to his reward. It is to Saint Mark that we owe the many slight touches which often give such vivid coloring to the gospel scenes and help us to picture to ourselves the very gestures and looks of our blessed Lord. It is he alone who notes that in the temptation Jesus was with the beasts, that he slept in the boat on a pillow, that he embraced the little children. He alone preserves for us the commanding boards, peace be still, by which the storm was quelled, or even the very sounds of his voice, the ebuch pheta and talithakumi, by which the down were made to speak and the dead to rise. So too the looking round about with anger and the sighing deeply, long treasured in the memory of the penitent apostle, who was himself converted by his saviour's look, are here recorded by his faithful interpreter. Reflection Learn from Saint Mark to keep the image of the Son of Man ever before your mind, and to ponder every syllable which fell from his lips. End of Section 25. Section 26 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmary Shee. April 26, Saints Kletus and Marcelinus, Popes and Martyrs. Saint Kletus was the third bishop of Rome and succeeded Saint Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of Saint Peter in the West. He sat twelve years from 76 to 89. The canon of the Roman Mass, Bede and other martyrologists style him as martyr. He was buried near Saint Linus in the Vatican, and his relics still remain in that church. Saint Marcelinus succeeded Saint Gaius in the bishopric of Rome in 296, about the time that Diocletian set himself up for a deity and impiously claimed divine honors. In those stormy times of persecution, Marcelinus acquired great glory. He sat in Saint Peter's chair eight years, three months and 25 days, dying in 304, a year after the cruel persecution broke out, in which he gained much honor. He has been styled a martyr, though his blood was not shed in the cause of religion. Reflection It is a fundamental maxim of the Christian morality and a truth which Christ has established in the clearest terms and in innumerable passages of the Gospel, that the cross or sufferings and mortification are the road to internal bliss. They therefore, who lead not here a crucified and mortified life, are unworthy ever to possess the unspeakable choice of his kingdom. Our Lord himself, our model on our head, walked in this path, and his great Apostle puts us in mind that he entered into bliss only by his blood and by the cross. John Gilmary Shea April 27, Saint Zeta, Virgin Zeta lived for 48 years in the service of Fateneli, a citizen of Lucca. During this time she rose each morning while the household was asleep to her mass, and then toiled incessantly till night came, doing the work of others as well as her own. Once Zeta absorbed in prayer, remained in church past the usual hour of her breadmaking. She hastened home, reproaching herself with neglective duty, and found the bread made and ready for the oven. She never doubted that her mistress or one of her servants had needed it, and going to them thanked them, but they were astonished. No human being had made the bread. A delicious perfume rose from it, for angels had made it during her prayer. For years her master and mistress treated her as a mere grudge, while her fellow servants, resenting her diligence as they were approached to themselves, insulted and struck her. Zeta united the sufferings with those who have crazed her lord, never changing the sweet tone of her voice, nor forgetting her gentle and quiet ways. At length Fateneli seemed the success which attended her undertakings, gave her charge of his children and of the household. She dreaded this dignity more than the worst humiliation, but scrupulously fulfilled her trust. By her holy economy her master's goods were multiplied, while the poor were fed at his door. Gradually her unfailing patience conquered the jealousy of her fellow servants, and she became their advocate with their hot tempered master, who dared not give way to his anger before Zeta. In the end her prayer and toil sanctified the whole house, and drew down upon it the benediction of heaven. She died A.D. 1272, and in the moment of her death the bright star appearing above her attic showed that she had gained eternal rest. Reflection. What must I do to be saved? said a certain one in fear of damnation. Work and pray, pray and work a voice replied, and thou shalt be saved. The whole life of St. Zeta teaches us this truth. CHAPTER XXVIII APRIL 28. Saint Paul of the Cross and Saint Vitalis Martyr Saint Paul of the Cross. The eighty-one years of this saint's life were mottled on the passion of Jesus Christ. In his childhood when praying in church a heavy bench fell on his foot, but the boy took no notice of the bleeding wound and spoke of it as a rose sent from God. A few years later a vision of a scourge with love written on its lashes assured him that his thirst for repentance would be satisfied. In the hope of dying for the faith he enlisted in a crusade against the Turks, but a voice from the tabernacle warned him that he was to serve Christ alone and that he should find a congregation in his honor. At the command of his bishop he began while a layman to preach the passion, and a series of crosses tried the reality of his vocation. While his first companion, save his brother, deserted him. The sovereign Pontiff refused him an audience, and it was only after a delay of seventeen years that the papal approbation was obtained, and the first house of the Passionus was opened on Monte Argentario. The spot which our Lady had pointed out. Saint Paul chose as the badge of his order a heart with three nails in memory of the sufferings of Jesus, but for himself he invented a more secret and durable sign. Moved by the same holy impulse as Blessed Henry Suso, Saint Jane, Francis and other saints, he branded on his side the holy name, and its characters were found there after death. His heart beat with a supernatural palpitation which was a special vehement on Fridays, and the heat at times was so intense as to scorch his shirt in the region of his heart. Through fifty years of incessant bodily pain and amidst all his trials Paul read the love of Jesus everywhere, and would cry out to the flowers and grass, O be quiet, be quiet, as if they were reproaching him with ingratitude. He died whilst the Passion was being read to him, and so passed with Jesus from the cross to glory. Saint Vitalis, Martyr Saint Vitalis was a citizen of Milan, and is said to have been the father of saints Gervasius and Protasius. The divine providence conducted him to Ravenna, where he saw a Christian named Orsi Sinus, who was condemned to lose his head for his faith, standing aghast at the sight of death, and seeming ready to yield. Vitalis was extremely moved at this spectacle. He knew his double obligation of preferring the glory of God and the eternal salvation of his neighbor to his own corporal life. He therefore boldly and successfully encouraged Orsi Sinus to triumph over death, and after his martyrdom carried off his body and respectfully interred him. The judge whose name was Paulinus, being informed of this, caused Vitalis to be apprehended, stretched on the rack, and after other torments to be buried alive in a place called the Palm Tree in Ravenna. His wife Valeria, returning from Ravenna to Milan, was beaten to death by peasants, because she refused to join them in an idolatrous festival in Raya. Reflection We are not all called to the sacrifice of martyrdom, but we are all bound to make our lives a continued sacrifice of ourselves to God, and to perform every action in this perfect spirit of sacrifice. Thus we shall both live and die to God, perfectly resigned to his holy will and all his appointments. Section 29 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmary Shea. April 29. St. Peter, Martyr and St. Hugh, Abbot of Clooney. St. Peter, Martyr. In 1205 the glorious martyr Peter was born at Verona of heretical parents. He went to a Catholic school, and his Manichean uncle asked what he learned. The creed, answered Peter, I believe in God, creator of heaven and earth. No persuasion could shake his faith, and at 15 he received the habit from St. Dominic himself at Bologna. After ordination he preached to the heretics of Lombardy and converted multitudes. St. Peter was constantly obliged to dispute with heretics, and although he was able to confound them, still the devil took occasion thence to tempt him once against faith. Instantly he had recourse to prayer before an image of our lady, and heard a voice saying to him the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospel, I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith may not fail, and thou shalt confirm thy brethren in it. Once when exhorting a vast crowd under the burning sun the heretics defied him to procure shade. He prayed, and a cloud overshadowed the audience. In spite of his sanctity he was fowlly slandered and even punished for immorality. He submitted humbly, but complained in prayer to Jesus crucified. The crucifix spoke, and I, Peter, what did I do? Every day, as he elevated at mass the precious blood, he prayed, Grant Lord, that I may die for thee, who for me didst die. His prayer was answered. The heretics confounded by him sought his life. Two of them attacked him as he was returning to Milan and struck his head with an axe. Saint Peter fell, commended himself to God, dipped his finger in his own blood, and wrote on the ground, I believe in God, creator of heaven and earth. They then stabbed him in the side, and he received his crown. Reflection. From a boy, Saint Peter boldly professed his faith among heretics. He spent his life in preaching the faith to heretics, and received the glorious and long-desired crown of martyrdom from heretics. We are surrounded by heretics. Are we courageous, firm, zealous, full of prayer for their conversion, unflinching in our profession of faith? Saint Hugh Abbot of Clooney. Saint Hugh was a prince related to the sovereign house of the Dukes of Burgundy, and had his education under the tuition of his pious mother, and under the care of Hugh, Bishop of Auxaire, his great uncle. From his infancy he was exceedingly given to prayer and meditation, and his life was remarkably innocent and holy. One day, hearing an account of the wonderful sanctity of the monks of Clooney under Saint Odillo, he was so moved that he set out that moment, and going thither, humbly begged the monastic habit. After a rigid novitiate, he made his profession in 1039 being sixteen years old. His extraordinary virtue, especially his admirable humility, obedience, charity, sweetness, prudence, and zeal, gained him the respect of the whole community. And upon the death of Saint Odillo in 1049, though only twenty-five years old, he succeeded to the government of that great abbey, which he held sixty-two years. He received to the religious profession Hugh Dukes of Burgundy, and died on the twenty-ninth of April in 1109, aged eighty-five. He was canonized twelve years after his death by Pope Calyxtus II. Section 30 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June, by John Gilmary Shea. Section 30 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June, by John Gilmary Shea. The daughter of a humble tradesman was raised up to be the guide and guardian of the church, in one of the darkest periods of its history, the fourteenth century. As a child prayer was her delight. She would say the Hail Mary on each step as she mounted the stairs, and was granted in reward a vision of Christ in glory. Even but seven years old she made a vow of virginity, and afterwards endured bitter persecution for refusing to marry. Our Lord gave her his heart, in exchange for her own, communicated her with his own hands, and stamped on her body the print of his wounds. At the age of fifteen she entered the Third Order of Saint Dominic, but continued to reside in her father's shop, where she united a life of active charity with the prayer of a contemplative saint. From this obscure home the Seraphic Virgin was summoned to defend the church's cause. Armed with papal authority, and accompanied by three confessors, she travelled throughout Italy, reducing rebellious cities to the obedience of the Holy See, and winning hardened souls to God. In the face well-nigh of the whole world she sought out Gregory XI at Avignon, brought him back to Rome, and by her letters to the kings and queens of Europe, made good the papal cause. She was the counsellor of Urban VI, and sternly rebuked the disloyal cardinals who had part in electing an antipope. Long had the Holy Virgin foretold the terrible schism which began ere she died. Day and night she wept and prayed for unity and peace, for the devil excited the Roman people against the Pope, so that some sought the life of Christ Vicar. With intense earnestness did St. Catherine beg our Lord to prevent this enormous crime. In spirit she saw the whole city full of demons, tempting the people to resist, and even slay the Pope. The seditious temper was seduced by Catherine's prayers. But the devils vented their malice by scourging the saint herself, who gladly endured all for God and his church. She died at Rome at the age of 33 AD 1380. Reflection The horrific St. Catherine willingly sacrificed the delights of contemplation to labour for the church at the Apollostic Sea. How deeply did the troubles of the church and the consequent loss of souls afflict us? How often do we pray for the church and the Pope? End of Section 30, reading by Florence. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April through June by John Gilmarie Shea. May the 1st, Saints Philip and James Apostles. Philip was one of the first chosen disciples of Christ. On the way from Judea to Galilee, our Lord found Philip and said, Follow me. Philip straightway obeyed. And then in his zeal and charity sought to win Nathaniel also, saying, We have found him of whom Moses and the prophets did right, Jesus of Nazareth. And when Nathaniel in wonder asked, Can any good come out of Nazareth? Philip simply answered, Come and see, and brought him to Jesus. Another characteristic saying of this apostle is preserved for us by St. John. Christ in his last discourse had spoken of his Father, and Philip exclaimed in the fervor of his thirst for God, Lord show us the Father, and it is enough. St. James the Less, the author of an Inspired Epistle, was also one of the Twelve. St. Paul tells us that he was favored by a special apparition of Christ after the resurrection. From the dispersion of the apostles among the nations, St. James was left as Bishop of Jerusalem, and even the Jews held in such high veneration his purity, mortification, and prayer that they named him the Just. The earliest of church historians has handed down many traditions of St. James's sanctity. He was always a virgin, says Hegesippus, and consecrated to God. He drank no wine, wore no sandals on his feet, and but a single garment on his body. He prostrated himself so much in prayer that the skin of his knees was hardened like a camel's hoof. The Jews, it is said, used out of respect to touch the hem of his garment. He was indeed a living proof of his own words. The wisdom that is from above first indeed is chaste, then peaceable, modest, full of mercy and good fruits. He sat beside St. Peter and St. Paul at the Council of Jerusalem, and when St. Paul at a later time escaped the fury of the Jews by appealing to Caesar, the people took vengeance on James and, crying, the Just One hath aired, stoned him to death. Reflection The church commemorates on the same day Saints Philip and James, whose bodies lie side by side at Rome. They represent to us two aspects of Christian holiness. The first preaches faith, the second works. The one holy aspirations, the other purity of heart. Section 32 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April through June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April through June by John Gilmary Shea. 2. St. Athanasius, Bishop Athanasius was born in Egypt towards the end of the 3rd century, and was from his youth pious, learned, and deeply versed in the sacred writings, as befitted one whom God had chosen to be the champion and defender of his church against the Aryan heresy. Though only a deacon he was chosen by his Bishop to go with him to the Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325, and attracted the attention of all by the learning and ability with which he defended the faith. A few months later he became patriarch of Alexandria, and for forty-six years he bore often well nigh alone the whole brunt of the Aryan assault. On the refusal of the saint to restore Arius to Catholic Communion the emperor ordered the patriarch of Constantinople to do so. The wretched Herciearch took an oath that he had always believed as the church believes, and the patriarch, after vainly using every effort to move the emperor, had recourse to fasting in prayer that God would avert from the church the frightful sacrilege. The day came for the solemn entrance of Arius into the great church of Sanctisofia. The Herciearch and his party set out gladden and triumph, but before he reached the church death smote him swiftly and awfully, and the dreaded sacrilege was averted. Saint Athanasius stood unmoved against four Roman emperors, was banished five times, was the butt of every insult, calamity, and wrong the Aryans could devise, and lived in constant peril of death. Though firm and adamant in defense of the faith, he was meek and humble, pleasant in winning and converse, beloved by his flock, unwirred in labours and prayer and mortifications, and in zeal for souls. In the year 373 his stormy life closed in peace, rather that his people would have it so than that his enemies were weary of persecuting him. He left to the church the whole in ancient faith, defended and explained in writings rich in thought and learning, clear, keen, and stately in expression. He is honored as one of the greatest of the doctors at the church. Reflection The Catholic faith says Saint Athanasius is more precious far than all the riches and treasures of earth, more glorious and greater than all his honors, all his possessions. This it is which saves sinners, gives light to the blind, restores penitence, perfects the just, and is the crown of martyrs. Section 33 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea May 3 the discovery of the Holy Cross God having restored peace to his church, by exalting Constantine the great to the imperial throne, that pious prince, who had triumphed over his enemies by the miraculous power of the cross, was very desirous of expressing his veneration for the holy places which had been honored and sanctified by the presence and suffering of our blessed Redeemer on earth, and accordingly resolved to build a magnificent church in the city of Jerusalem. Saint Helen, the emperor's mother, desiring to visit the holy places there, undertook a journey into Palestine in 326, though at that time near eighty years of age, and on her arrival at Jerusalem, was inspired with a great desire to find the identical cross on which Christ had suffered for our sins. But there was no mark or tradition, even amongst the Christians, to show where it lay. The heathens, out of an aversion to Christianity, had done what they could to conceal the place where our Savior was buried, by heaping on it a great quantity of stones and rubbish, and building on it a temple to Venus. They had, moreover, erected a statue of Jupiter in the place where our Savior rose from, the dead. Helen, to carry out her pious design, consulted everyone at Jerusalem and near it, whom she thought likely to assist her in finding out the cross, and was credibly informed that if she could find out the sepulchre, she would likewise find the instruments of the punishment, it being the custom among the Jews to make a hole near the place where the body of a criminal was buried, and to throw into it whatever belonged to his execution. The pious empress, therefore, ordered the profane buildings to be pulled down, the statues to be broken in pieces, and the rubbish to be removed, and upon digging to a great depth the holy sepulchre, and near it three crosses, also the nails which had pierced our Savior's body, and the title which had been fixed to his cross, were found. By this discovery they knew that one of the three crosses was that which they were inquest of, and that the others belonged to the two malefactors between whom our Savior had been crucified. But as the title was found separate from the cross, it was difficult to distinguish which of the three crosses was that on which our divine redeemer consummated his sacrifice for the salvation of the world. In this perplexity the holy bishop Macarius, knowing that one of the principal ladies of the city lay extremely ill, suggested to the empress to cause the three crosses to be carried to the sick person, not doubting but God would discover which the cross they sought for. This being done, St. Macarius prayed that God would have regard to their faith, and after his prayer, applied the crosses singly to the patient, who was immediately and perfectly recovered by the touch of one of the three crosses, the other two having been tried without effect. St. Helen, full of joy at having found the treasure which she had so earnestly sought and so highly esteemed, built a church on the spot and lodged the cross there with great veneration, having provided an extraordinary rich case for it. She afterwards carried part of it to the emperor Constantine, then at Constantinople, who received it with great veneration. Another part she sent or rather carried to Rome to be placed in the church which she had built there, called of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem, where remains to this day. The title was sent by St. Helen to the same church and placed on the top of an arch where it was found in a case of lead in 1492. The inscription in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin is in red letters and the wood was whitened, thus it was in 1492, but these colors are since faded. Also the words Jesus and Judeorum are eaten away. The board is nine, but must have been 12 inches long. The main part of the cross St. Helen enclosed in a silver shrine and committed it to the care of St. Macarius that it might be delivered down to posterity as an object of veneration. It was accordingly kept with singular care and respect in the magnificent church which she and her son built in Jerusalem. St. Paulinus relates that though chips were almost daily cut off from it and given to devout persons, yet the sacred wood suffered thereby no diminution. It is affirmed by St. Cyril of Jerusalem, 25 years after the discovery that pieces of the cross were spread all over the earth. He compares this wonder to the miraculous feeding of 5,000 men as recorded in the Gospel. The discovery of the cross must have happened about the month of May or early in the spring, for St. Helen went the same year to Constantinople and from thence to Rome, where she died in the arms of her son on the 18th of August 326. Reflection In every pious undertaking the beginning merely does not suffice. Whoso shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved. End of Section 33. Section 34 of Little Pictorial Eyes of the Saints, Volume 2, April through June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Eyes of the Saints, Volume 2, April through June by John Gilmary Shea. May 4, St. Monica. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, was born in 332. After a girlhood of singular innocence and piety, she was given in marriage to Patritius, a pagan. She at once devoted herself to his conversion, praying for him always and winning his reference and love by the holiness of her life and her affectionate forbearance. She was rewarded by seeing him baptized a year before his death. When her son Augustine went astray in faith and manners, her prayers and tears were incessant. She was once very urgent with a learned bishop that he would talk to her son in order to bring him to a better mind, but he declined, despairing of success with one at once so able and so headstrong. However, on witnessing her prayers and tears he bade her be of good courage, for it might not be that the child of those tears should perish. By going to Italy Augustine could for a time free himself from his mother's importunities, but he could not escape from her prayers, which encompassed him like the providence of God. She followed him to Italy and thereby his marvelous conversion, her sorrow was turned into joy. At Ostia on their homeward journey, as Augustine and his mother sat at a window conversing of the life of the Blessed, she turned to him and said, Son, there is nothing now I care for in this life. What I shall now do or why I am here I know not. The one reason I had for wishing to linger in this life a little longer was that I might see you a Catholic Christian before I died. This has God granted me, super abundantly, in seeing you reject earthly happiness to become a servant. What do I hear? A few days afterwards she had an attack of fever, and died in the year 387. Reflection. It is impossible to set any bounds to what persevering prayer may do. It gives man a share in the divine unimpedance. St. Augustine's soul lay bound in the chains of heresy and impurity, both of which had by long habit grown in veteran. They were broken by his mother's prayers. End of Section 34. Section 35 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June, by John Gilmary Shea. May 5, St. Pius V. A Dominican friar from his fifteenth year, Michael Ghislieri, as a simple religious, as inquisitor, as bishop, and as cardinal, was famous for his intrepid defense of the church's faith and discipline, and for the spotless purity of his own life. His first care as pope was to reform the Roman court and capital by the strict example of his household and the severe punishment of all offenders. He next endeavored to obtain from the Catholic powers the recognition of the Tridentine Decrees, two of which he urgently enforced, the residence of bishops and the establishment of diocesan seminaries. He revised the Missal and Breviary, and reformed the ecclesiastical music. Nor was he less active in protecting the church without. We see him at the same time supporting the Catholic King of France against the Hugennot rebels, encouraging Mary, Queen of Scots, in the bitterness of her captivity, and excommunicating her rival, the usurper Elizabeth, when the best blood of England had flowed upon the scaffold, and the measure of her crimes was full. But it was at Lepanto that the saint's power was most manifest. There, in October 1571, by the Holy League which he had formed, but still more by his prayers to the great Mother of God, the aged Pontiff crushed the Ottoman forces and saved Christendom from the Turk. Six months later Saint Pius died having reigned but six years. Saint Pius was accustomed to kiss the feet of his crucifix on leaving or entering his room. One day the feet moved away from his lips. Sorrow filled his heart and he made acts of contrition, fearing that he must have committed some secret offence, but still he could not kiss the feet. It was afterwards found that they had been poisoned by an enemy. Reflection. Quote, Thy cross, O Lord, is the source of all blessings, the cause of all graces. By it the faithful find strength in weariness, glory in shame, life in death. End of section 35 Section 36 of Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April through June. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April through June by John Gilmoury Shea. May the 6th, Saint John before the Latin Gate. In the year 95 Saint John, who was the only surviving apostle and governed all the churches of Asia, was apprehended at Ephesus and sent prisoner to Rome. The emperor Domitian did not relent at the sight of the venerable old man, but condemned him to be cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. The martyr doubtless heard with great joy this barbarous sentence, the most cruel torments seemed to him light and most agreeable. Because they would, he hoped, unite him forever to his divine master and savior. But God accepted his will and crowned his desire. He conferred on him the honor and merit of martyrdom, but suspended the operation of the fire as he had formerly preserved the three children from hurt in the Babylonian furnace. The seething oil was changed in his regard into an invigorating bath, and the saint came out more refreshed than when he had entered the cauldron. Domitian saw this miracle without drawing from it the least advantage, but remained hardened in his iniquity. However, he contented himself after this, with banishing the holy apostle into the little island of Patmos. Saint John returned to Ephesus in the reign of Nerva, who by mildness during his short reign of one year and four months labored to restore the faded luster of the Roman Empire. This glorious triumph of Saint John happened without the gate of Rome called Latina, a church which since has always borne this title, was consecrated in the same place in memory of this miracle under the first Christian emperors. Reflection Saint John suffered above the other saints a martyrdom of love, being a martyr and more than a martyr at the foot of the cross of his divine master. All his sufferings were by love and compassion imprinted in his soul, and thus shared by him. Oh singular happiness, to have stood under the cross of Christ. Oh extraordinary privilege, to have suffered martyrdom in the person of Jesus, and been eyewitness of all he did or endured. If nature revolt within us against suffering, let us call to mind those words of the divine master. Thou knowest not now wherefore, but thou shalt know hereafter.