 Section 37 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 the 7th. St. Stanislaus, Bishop, Martyr. Stanislaus was born in answer to prayer when his parents were advanced in age. Out of gratitude, they educated him for the church. And from a holy priest, he became in time Bishop of Krakow. Bolaslaus II was then King of Poland. A prince of good disposition, but spoiled by a long course of victory and success. After many acts of lust and cruelty, he outraged the whole kingdom by carrying off the wife of one of his nobles. Against this public scandal, the chaste and gentle Bishop alone raised his voice. Having commended the matter to God, he went down to the palace and openly rebuked the king for his crime against God and his subjects, and threatened to excommunicate him if he persisted in his sin. To slander the saint's character, Bolaslaus suborned the nephews of one Paul, lately dead, to swear that their uncle had never been paid for land bought by the bishop for the church. The saint stood fearlessly before the king's tribunal, though all his witnesses forsook him, and guaranteed to bring the dead man to witness for him within three days. On the third day, after many prayers and tears, he raised Paul to life and led him in his grave-clothes before the king. Bolaslaus made a show for a while of a better life. Soon, however, he relapsed into the most scandalous excesses, and the bishop, finding all remonstrance useless, pronounced the sentence of excommunication. In defiance of the censure, on May 8, 1079, the king went down to a chapel where the bishop himself was saying a mass, and sent in three companies of soldiers to dispatch him at the altar. Each in turn came out, saying they had been scared by a light from heaven. Then the king rushed in and slew the saint at the altar with his own hand. Reflection The safest correction of vice is a blameless life, yet there are times when silence would make us unanswerable for the sins of others. At such times let us, in the name of God, rebuke the offender without fear. End of Section 37 Recording by Todd Marchand Section 38 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 8, The Apparition of St. Michael the Archangel It is manifest from the holy scriptures that God is pleased to make frequent use of the ministry of the heavenly spirits in the dispensations of his providence in this world and especially towards man. Hence the name of Angel, which is not properly a denomination of nature but office, has been appropriated to them. The angels are all pure spirits. They are, by a property of their nature, immortal as every spirit is. They have the power of moving or conveying themselves from place to place and such is their activity that it is not easy for us to conceive it. Among the holy archangels there are particularly distinguished in holy writ, Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. St. Michael, whom the church honors this day, was the prince of the faithful angels who opposed Lucifer and his associates in their revolt against God. As the devil is the sworn enemy of God's holy church, St. Michael is its special protector against his assaults and stratagems. This holy archangel has ever been honored in the Christian church as her guardian under God and as the protector of the faithful. For God is pleased to employ the zeal and charity of the good angels and their leader against the malice of the devil. To thank his adorable goodness for this benefit of his merciful providence is this festival instituted by the church in honor of the good angels, in which devotion she has been encouraged by several apparitions of this glorious archangel. Among others it is recorded that St. Michael, in a vision, admonished the Bishop of Cipanto to build a church in his honor on Mount Gargano near Manfredonia in the Kingdom of Naples. When the Emperor Otho III had, contrary to his word, put to death for rebellion Crescentius, a Roman senator, being touched with remorse he cast himself at the feet of St. Ramuald, who, in satisfaction for his crime, enjoined him to walk barefoot on a penitential pilgrimage to St. Michael's on Mount Gargano, which penance he performed in 1002. It is mentioned in particular of this special guardian and protector of the church that, in persecution of Antichrist, he will powerfully stand up in her defense. At that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people. Reflection St. Michael is not only the protector of the church, but of every faithful soul. He defeated the devil by humility. We are enlisted in the same warfare. His arms were humility and ardent love of God. The same must be our weapons. We ought to regard this archangel as our leader under God, and courageously resisting the devil in all his assaults, to cry out, who can be compared to God? End of Section 38 Recording by Todd Marchand Section 39 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 the 9th St. Gregory Naziansen Gregory was born of saintly parents and was the chosen friend of St. Basil. They studied together at Athens, turned at the same time from the fairest worldly prospects, and for some years lived together in seclusion, self-discipline, and toil. Gregory was raised almost by force to the priesthood, and was in time made Bishop of Naziansen by St. Basil, who had become Archbishop of Caesarea. When he was fifty years old he was chosen for his rare gifts and his conciliatory disposition to be patriarch of Constantinople, then distracted and laid waste by Arian and other heretics. In that city he labored with wonderful success. The Arians were so irritated at the decay of their heresy that they pursued the saint with outrage, calamity, and violence, and at length resolved to take away his life. For this purpose they chose a resolute young man who readily undertook the sacrilegious commission. But God did not allow him to carry it out. He was touched with remorse and cast himself at the saint's feet, avowing his sinful intent. St. Gregory at once forgave him, treated him with all kindness and received him amongst his friends to the wonder and edification of the whole city and to the confusion of the heretics, whose crime had served only as a foil to the virtue of the saint. St. Jerome boasts that he had sat at his feet and calls him his master and his catechist in Holy Scripture. But his lowliness, his austerities, the insignificance of his person, and above all his very success, drew down on him the hatred of the enemies of the faith. He was persecuted by the magistrates, stoned by the rabble, and thwarted and deserted even by his brother bishops. During the Second General Council he resigned his see, hoping thus to restore peace to the tormented city and retired to his native town where he died AD 390. He was a graceful poet, a preacher at once eloquent and solid, and as a champion of the faith so well equipped, so strenuous and so exact, that he is called St. Gregory the Theologian. Reflection. We must overcome our enemies, said St. Gregory, by gentleness. Win them over by forbearance. Let them be punished by their own conscience, not by our wrath. Let us not at once wither the fig tree, from which a more skilful gardener may yet entice fruit. End of Section 39. Recording by Todd Marchand. Section 40 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. May 10. St. Antoninus, Bishop. Antoninus, or Little Antony, as he was called from his small stature, was born in Florence in 1389. After a childhood of singular holiness, he begged to be admitted into the Dominican house at Fisole, at the Superior, to test his sincerity and perseverance, told him he must first learn by heart the Book of the Decretals, containing several hundred pages. This apparently impossible task was accomplished within twelve months, and Antoninus received the coveted habit in his sixteenth year. While still very young, he filled several important posts of his order, and was consulted on questions of difficulty by the most learned men of his day, being known for his wonderful prudence as the Counselor. He wrote several works on theology and history, and sat as papal theologian at the Council of Florence. In 1446 he was compelled to accept the archbishopric of that city, and in this dignity earned for himself the title of the Father of the Poor, for all he had was at their disposal. St. Antoninus never refused an alms which was asked in the name of God. When he had no money, he gave his clothes, shoes, or furniture. One day, being sent by the Florentines to the Pope, as he approached Rome, a beggar came up to him almost naked and asked him for an alms for Christ's sake. Outdoing St. Martin, Antoninus gave him his whole cloak, when he entered the city another was given him, by whom he knew not. His household consisted of only six persons, his palace contained no plate or costly furniture, and was often nearly destitute of the necessaries of life. His one mule was frequently sold for the relief of the poor when it would be brought back to him by some wealthy citizen. He died embracing the crucifix May 2, 1459, often repeating the words, to serve God is to reign. Reflection. Alms deeds says St. Augustine, quote, comprise every kind of service rendered to our neighbor who needs such assistance. He who supports a lame man bestows an alms on him with his feet. He who guides a blind man does him a charity with his eyes. He who carries an invalid or an old man upon his shoulders imparts to him an alms of his strength. Hence none are so poor, but they may bestow an alms on the wealthiest man in the world, end quote. End of Section 40. Section 41 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. May 11, St. Mamertis Archbishop. St. Mamertis Archbishop of Vienna in Delfine was a prelate renowned for his sanctity, learning, and miracles. He instituted in his diocese the fasts and supplications called the Rogations on the following occasions. Almighty God, to punish the sins of the people, visited them with wars and other public calamities, and awakened them from their spiritual lethargy by the terrors of earthquakes, fires, and ravenous wild beasts, which last were sometimes seen in the very marketplace of cities. These evils the empires ascribed to blind chants, but religious and prudent persons considered them as tokens of the Divine Anger, which threatened their entire destruction. Amidst these scourges St. Mamertis received a token of the Divine Mercy. A terrible fire happened in the city of Vienna which baffled the efforts of men, but by the prayers of the good bishop the fire on a sudden went out. This miracle strongly affected the minds of the people. The holy prelate took this opportunity to make them sensible of the necessity and efficacy of devout prayer, and formed a pious design of instituting an annual fast and supplication of three days, in which all the faithful should join with sincere compunction of heart to appease the divine indignation by fasting, prayer, tears, and the confession of sins. The Church of Auvern, of which St. Sidonius was bishop, adopted this pious institution before the year 475, and it became in a very short time a universal practice. St. Mamertis died about the year 477. Reflection No ye that the Lord will hear your prayers if you continue with perseverance in fastings and prayers in the sight of the Lord. Judith 4.11 End of Section 41 Section 42 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. May 12. St. Epiphanius Archbishop St. Epiphanius was born about the year 310 in Palestine. In his youth he began the study of the Holy Scriptures, embraced a monastic life, and went into Egypt to perfect himself in the exercises of that state in the deserts of that country. He returned to Palestine about the year 333 and built a monastery near the place of his birth. His labors in the exercise of virtue seemed to some to surpass his strength, but his apology always was, God gives not the kingdom of heaven but on condition that we labor, and all we can do bears no proportion to such a crown. To his corporal austerities he added an indefatigable application to prayer and study. Most books then in vogue passed through his hands, and he improved himself very much in learning by his travels into many parts. Although the skillful director of many others, St. Epiphanius took the great St. Hilarion as his master in a spiritual life, and enjoyed the happiness of his direction and intimate acquaintance from the year 333 to 356. The reputation of his virtue made St. Epiphanius known to distant countries, and about the year 367 he was chosen as Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus. But he still wore the monastic habit and continued to govern his monastery in Palestine, which he visited from time to time. He sometimes relaxed his austerities in favor of hospitality, preferring charity to abstinence. No one surpassed him in tenderness and charity to the poor. The veneration which all men had for his sanctity exempted him from the persecution of the Arian Emperor Valens. In 376 he undertook a journey to Antioch in the hopes of converting Vitalis, the Apollinarist Bishop, and in 382 he accompanied St. Paulinus from that city to Rome where they lodged at the house of St. Paola. Our saint in return entertained her afterward ten days in Cyprus in 385. The very name of an error in faith, or the shadow of danger of evil, affrighted him, and the saint fell into some mistakes on certain occasions which proceeded from zeal and simplicity. He was on his way back to Salamis after a short absence when he died in 403 having been bishop 36 years. Reflection, quote, in this is charity not as though we had loved God but because he hath first loved us, end of section 42. Section 43 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. May 13, St. John the Silent. John was born of a noble family at Nicopolis in Armenia in the year 454, but he derived from the virtue of his parents a much more illustrious nobility than that of their pedigree. After their death he built at Nicopolis a church in honor of the Blessed Virgin as also a monastery in which, with ten fervent companions, he shut himself up when only eighteen years of age with a view of making the salvation and most perfect sanctification of his soul his only and earnest pursuit. Not only to shun the danger of sin by the tongue but also out of sincere humility and contempt of himself and the love of interior recollection and prayer he very seldom spoke, and when obliged to it was always in a very few words and with great discretion. To his extreme affliction when he was only twenty-eight years old the Archbishop of Sabaste obliged him to quit his retreat and ordained him Bishop of Colonian in Armenia in 482. In this dignity John preserved always the same spirit and as much as was compatible with the duties of his charge continued his monastic austerities and exercises. Whilst he was watching one night in prayer he saw before him a bright cross formed in the air and heard a voice which said to him, If thou desirest to be saved follow this light. It seemed to move before him and at length point out to the monastery of St. Sabaste. Being satisfied what the sacrifice was which God required at his hands he found means to abdicate the Episcopal charge and retired to the neighboring monastery of St. Sabaste which at that time contained 150 fervent monks. St. John was then thirty-eight years old. After living there unknown for some years fetching water, carrying stones and doing other menial work St. Sabaste, judging him worthy to be promoted to the priesthood, presented him to the patriarch Elias. St. John took the patriarch aside and having obtained from him a promise of secrecy said, Father I have been ordained bishop but on account of the multitude of my sins have fled and am come into this desert to await the visit of the Lord. The patriarch was startled but God revealed to St. Sabaste the state of the affair whereupon calling for John he complained to him of his unkindness in concealing the matter from him. Finding himself discovered John wished to quit the monastery nor could St. Sabaste prevail on him to stay but on a promise never to divulge the secret. In the year 503 St. John withdrew into a neighboring wilderness but in 510 went back to the monastery and confined himself for forty years to his cell. St. John by his example and counsels conducted many fervent souls to God and continued to emulate, as much as this mortal state will allow, the glorious employment of the heavenly spirits in an uninterrupted exercise of love and praise till he passed to their blessed company soon after the year 558 having lived seventy-six years in the desert which had only been interrupted by the nine years of his Episcopal dignity. Reflection. A love of Christian silence is a proof that a soul makes it her chiefest delight to be occupied in God and finds no comfort like that of conversing with him. This is the paradise of all devout souls. End of Section 43. Section 44 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. May 14, St. Pecomius, Abbott. In the beginning of the fourth century great levies of troops were made throughout Egypt for the service of the Roman Emperor. Among the recruits was Pecomius, a young heathen, then in his twenty-first year. On his way down the Nile he passed a village whose inhabitants gave him food and money. Marvelling at this kindness, Pecomius was told they were Christians and hoped for a reward in the life to come. He then prayed God to show him the truth and promised to devote his life to his service. On being discharged he returned to a Christian village in Egypt where he was instructed and baptized. Instead of going home he sought palamon and aged solitary to learn from him a perfect life and with great joy embraced the most severe austerities. Their food was bread and water, once a day in summer and once in two days in winter. Sometimes they added herbs but mixed ashes with them. They only kept one hour each night and the short repose Pecomius took sitting upright without support. Three times God revealed to him that he was to found a religious order at Tabenah and an angel gave him a rule of life. Trusting in God he built a monastery, although he had no disciples, but vast multitudes soon flocked to him and he trained them in perfect detachment from creatures and from self. One day a monk, by dint of great exertions, contrived to make two mats instead of the one which was the usual daily task, and set them both out in front of his cell that Pecomius might see how diligent he had been. But the saint, perceiving the vain glory which had prompted the act, said, This brother has taken a great deal of pains from morning till night to give his work to the devil. Then to cure him of his delusion Pecomius imposed on him as a penance to keep his cell for five months and to taste no food but bread and water. His visions and miracles were innumerable and he read all hearts. His holy death occurred in 348. Reflection, to live in great simplicity, said Saint Pecomius, and in a wise ignorance is exceeding wise. End of Section 44 Section 45 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 Adam Bielka. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June by Jean Gilmarie Shea May 15th Saints Peter and Dionysia In the Deshen persecution, the blood of the Christians flowed at Lampascus, a city of Asia Minor. Saint Peter was the first who was led before the procouncil and condemned to die for the name of Christ. Young though he was, he went joyfully to his torments. He was bound to a wheel by iron chains and his bones were broken, but he raised his eyes to heaven with a smiling countenance and said, I give thee thanks, O Lord Jesus Christ, because thou hast given me patience and made me victorious over the tyrant. The procouncil saw how little suffering availed and ordered the martyr to be beheaded, but a little later, in the same city, the Virgin Dionysia showed a like eagerness to suffer. Saint Dionysia gained the crown which an apostate lost, and his history may teach us that those who lose Christ rather than suffer with him lose all. With the strength that was left, he cried out, I never was a Christian, I sacrificed to the gods. Therefore he was taken down and he offered sacrifice, but he was possessed by the devil whom he had chosen for his master. He fell to the earth in a fit, bit out his tongue and so expired. He escaped a little pain and instead he went to the endless torments of hell and forfeited eternal rest. O wretched man, Dionysia cried, why have you feared a little suffering and chosen eternal pain instead? She was seized and led away to horrible outrage. But her angel guardian appeared by her side and protected the spouse of Christ. Escaping from prison, she still burned with the desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. She threw herself upon the bodies of the martyrs saying, I would feign die with you on earth that I may live with you in heaven. And Christ, who is the crown of virgins and the strength of martyrs, gave her the desire of her heart. Reflection, the martyrs were even like us with natures which shrank from suffering. They were patient under it because they looked to the eternal recompense and endured as seeing him who is invisible. End of section 45 Section 46 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 16, St. John Nepomucin. St. John was born in answer to prayer, AD 1330, of poor parents at Nepomuc in Bohemia. In gratitude, they consecrated him to God, and his holy life as a priest led to his appointment as chaplain to the court of the Emperor Wenceslas, where he converted numbers by his preaching and example. Amongst those who sought his advice was the Empress, who suffered much from her husband's unfounded jealousy. St. John taught her to bear her cross with joy, but her piety only incensed the Emperor, and he tried to extort her confessions from the saint. He threw St. John into a dungeon, but gained nothing. Then inviting him to his palace, he promised him riches if he would yield and threatened death if he refused. The saint was silent. He was wracked and burnt with torches, but no words saved Jesus and Mary fell from his lips. At last set free, he spent his time in preaching and preparing for the death he knew to be at hand. On Ascension Eve May 16, Wynchelus, after a final and fruitless attempt to move his constancy, ordered him to be cast into the river, and that night the martyr's hands and feet were bound, and he was thrown from the bridge of Prague. As he died a heavenly light shining on the water discovered the body, which was buried with the honors due to a saint. A few years later Wynchelus Floss was deposed by his own subjects and died an impenitent and miserable death. In 1618 the Calvinist and Hussite soldiers of the Protestant elector Frederick tried repeatedly to demolish the shrine of St. John at Prague. Each attempt was miraculously frustrated, and once the persons engaged in the sacrilege, among whom was an Englishman, were killed on the spot. In 1620 the imperial troops recovered the town via victory, which was ascribed to the saint's intercession as he was seen on the eve of the battle, radiant with glory guarding the cathedral. When his shrine was opened 330 years after his decease the flesh had disappeared, and one member alone remained incorrupt, the tongue. Thus still in silence giving glory to God. Reflection. St. John, who by his invincible sacramental silence won his crown, teaches us to prefer torture and death to offending the Creator with our tongue. How many times each day do we forfeit grace and strength by sins of speech. End of Section 46 Section 47 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 Jean Viray. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmourichet. Section 47 May 17, St. Pascal by Lon. From a child Pascal seems to have been marked out for the service of God, and amidst his daily labors he found time to instruct and evangelize the rude herdsmen who kept their flocks on the hills of Aragon. At the age of 24 he entered the Franciscan order, in which however he remained from humility a simple lay brother and occupied himself by preference with the roughest and most servile tasks. He was distinguished by an ardent love and devotion to the blessed sacrament. He would spend hours on his knees before the tabernacle. Often he was raised from the ground in the fervour of his prayer, and there from the very and eternal truth he drew such stores of wisdom that, unlettered as he was, he was counted by all a master in theology and spiritual science. Shortly after his profession he was called to Paris on business connected with his order. The journey was full of peril owing to the hostility of the Huguenots who were numerous at the time in the south of France, and on four separate occasions Pascal was in imminent danger of death at the hands of the heretics. But it was not God's will that his servant should obtain the crown of martyrdom, which though judging himself all unworthy of it, he so earnestly desired, and he returned in safety to his convent where he died in the odour of sanctity May 15th, 1592. As Pascal was watching his sheep on the mountainside he heard the consecration bell ring out from a church in the valley below where the villagers were assembled for mass. The saint fell on his knees when suddenly there stood before him an angel of God bearing in his hands the sacred host and offering it for his adoration. Learn from this how pleasing to Jesus Christ are those who honour him in this great mystery of his love and how to them especially this promise is fulfilled. I will not leave you orphans, I will come unto you. John 14, 18. Reflection. Saint Pascal teaches us never to suffer a day to pass without visiting Jesus in the narrow chamber where he, whom the heaven itself cannot contain, abides day and night for our sake. End of section 47. Section 48 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 Jean Veraille. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints. Volume 2, April to June by John Gilmari Shea. Section 48. May 18, St. Financius, Martyr. St. Financius was born at Camarino in Italy and at the age of 15 was seized as a Christian and carried before a judge. As it was found impossible to shake his constancy either by threats or promises, he was condemned to be scourged but was miraculously saved by an angel. He was then burnt with torches and hung over a low fire that he might be suffocated by the smoke. The judge's secretary, admiring the steadfastness of the saint and seeing an angel robed in white who trampled out the fire and again set free the youthful martyr, proclaimed his faith in Christ, was baptized with his whole family and shortly after, won the martyr's crown himself. Financius was then carried before the governor who, unable to make him renounce his faith, cast him into prison with an apostate who vainly strove to tempt him. The governor then ordered his teeth and jaws to be broken and had him thrown into a furnace from which the angel once more delivered him. The saint was again led before the judge who at sight of him fell headlong from his seat and expired, crying, The God of Financius is the true God. Let us destroy our idols. This circumstance being told to the governor he ordered Financius to be thrown to the lions but these brutes, forgetting their natural ferocity, crouched at the feet of the saint. Then, by order of the tyrant, the young martyr was dragged through a heap of brambles and thorns but again God manifested the glory of his servants. The soldiers suffering from thirst, the saint knelt on a rock and signed it with a cross when immediately a jet of clear, cool water spurred it up from the spot. This miracle converted many of those who beheld it whereupon the governor had Financius and his converts beheaded together in the year 250. The bodies of these martyrs are kept in the church at Camarino which bears the saint's name. Reflection. Love of suffering marks the most perfect degree in the love of God. Our Lord himself was consumed with the desire to suffer because he burnt with the love of God. We must begin with patience and detachment. At last, we shall learn to love the sufferings which conform us to the passion of our Redeemer. End of Section 48. Section 49 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 Jean Virai. Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, Volume 2, April to June. By John Gilmari Shea. Section 49. May 19, St. Peter's Celestine. As a child, Peter had visions of our blessed lady and of the angels and saints. They encouraged him in his prayer and chided him when he fell into any fault. His mother, though only a poor widow, put him to school, feeling sure that he would one day be a saint. At the age of twenty, he left his home in Apulia to live in a mountain solitude. Here he passed three years, assaulted by the evil spirits and beset with temptations of the flesh, but consoled by angels' visits. After this, his seclusion was invaded by disciples who refused to be sent away, and the rule of life which he gave them formed the foundation of the Celestine order. Angels assisted in the church which Peter built. Unseen bells rang peals of surpassing sweetness, and heavenly music filled the sanctuary when he offered the holy sacrifice. Suddenly, he found himself torn from his loved solitude by his election to the papal throne. Resistance was of no avail. He took the name of Celestine to remind him of the heaven he was leaving, and for which he sighed and was consecrated at Aquila. After a reign of four months, Peter summoned the cardinals to his presence and solemnly resigned his trust. Saint Peter built himself a boarded cell in his palace, and there continued his hermit's life, and when, lest his simplicity might be taken advantage of to distract the peace of the church, he was put under guard. He said, I desired nothing but a cell, and a cell they have given me. There he enjoyed his former loving intimacy with the saints and angels, and sang the divine praises almost continually. At length on Whitsunday, he told his guards he would die within the week, and immediately fell ill. He received the last sacraments, and the following Saturday, as he finished the concluding verse of Lod's, let every spirit bless the Lord, he closed his eyes to this world, and opened them to the vision of God. Reflection. Whoso, says the imitation of Christ, withdraweth himself from acquaintances and friends, to him will God draw near with his holy angels. End of section 49. Section 50 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. Section 50. May 20th, St. Bernardine of Siena. In 1408, St. Vincent Vera once suddenly interrupted his sermon to declare that there was among his heroes a young Franciscan who would be one day a greater preacher than himself and would be set before him in honour by the church. This unknown friar was Bernardine. Of noble birth he had spent his youth in works of mercy and had then entered religion. Owing to a defective utterance his success as a preacher at first seemed doubtful but by the prayers of our Lady his obstacle was miraculously removed and Bernardine began an apostolate which lasted 38 years. By his burning words and by the power of the holy name of Jesus which he displayed on a tablet at the end of his sermons he obtained miraculous conversions and reforms the greater part of Italy but this success had to be exalted by the cross. The saint was denounced as a heretic and his devotion as adulterous. After many trials he lived to see his innocence proved and a lasting memorial of his work established in a church. The feast of the holy name commemorates at once his sufferings and his triumph. He died on Ascension Eve, 1444 while his brethren were chanting the antiphon Father I have manifested thy name to men. Saint Bernardine when a youth undertook the charge of a holy old woman a relation of his who had been left destitute she was blind and bedridden and during her long illness could only utter the holy name. The saint watched over her till she died and thus learned the devotion of his life. Reflection Let us learn from the life of Saint Bernardine the power of the holy name in life and death. End of section 50 Section 51 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 Section 51 Saint Hospitius, Recluse Saint Hospitius showed himself up in the ruins of an old tower near Villa Franca one lead from Nice in Provence. He girded himself with a heavy iron chain and lived on bread and dates only. During Lent he redoubled his austerities and in order to conform his life more closely to that of the anchorites of Egypt ate nothing but roots. For his great virtues Heaven honoured him with the gifts of prophecy and of miracles. He fought all the ravages which the Lombards would make him go. These barbarians, having come to the tower in which Hospitius lived and seeing the chain with which he was bound, mistook him for some criminal who was there imprisoned. On questioning the saint he acknowledged he was a great sinner and unworthy to live whereupon one of the soldiers lifted his sword to strike him but God did not desert his faithful servant. The soldier's arms stiffened and became numb and it was not until Hospitius made the sign of the cross over it that the man recovered the use of it. The soldier embraced Christianity, renounced the world and passed the rest of his days in serving God. When our saint felt that his last hour was nearing he took off his chain and knelt in prayer for a long time. Then, stretching himself on a full bank of earth he calmly gave up his soul to God on the 21st of May 681. Reflection. If we do not love penitence for its own sake let us love it on account of our sins for we should work out our salvation in fear and trembling. End of section 51. Section 52 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 Shea May 22 St. Evo Confessor St. Evo Halori descended from a noble and virtuous family near Tragueir in Brittany was born in 1253. At 14 years of age he went to Paris and afterwards to Orléans to pursue his studies. His mother was want frequently to say to him that he ought so to live as become a saint to which his answer always was that he hoped to become one. This resolution took deep root in his soul and was a continual spur to virtue and a check against the least shadow of his dangerous course. His time was chiefly divided between study and prayer. For his recreation he visited the hospitals where he attended the sick with great charity and comfort of them under the severe trials of their suffering condition. He made a private vow of perpetual chastity but this was not being known. Many honourable matches were modestly rejected as incompatible with his studious life. He long deliberated whether to embrace a religious or a clerical state but the desire of serving his neighbour determined him at length in favour of the latter. He wished out of humility to remain in the lesser orders but his bishop compelled him to receive the priesthood a step which cost him many tears though he had qualified himself for that sacred dignity by the most perfect purity of mind and body and by a long and fervent preparation. He was appointed ecclesiastical judge for the Diocese of Rennes. Saint-Yvon protected the orphans and widows defended the poor and administered justice to all with impartiality application and tenderness and the goodwill even of those who lost their causes. He was surname the advocate and lawyer of the poor. He built a house near his own for a hospital of the poor and sick. He washed their feet cleansed their ulcers served them at table and ate himself only the scraps which they had left. He distributed his corn or the price for which he sold it among the poor immediately after the harvest. When a certain person endeavored to persuade him to keep it some months that he might sell it at a better price he answered I know not whether I shall be then alive to give it. Another time the same person said to him I have gained a fifth by keeping my corn. But I replied the saint a hundredth fold by giving it immediately away. During the Lent of 1303 he felt his strength failing him yet far from abating anything in his austerities he thought himself obliged to redouble his fervor in proportion as he advanced nearer to eternity. On the eve of the ascension he preached to his people said mass held by two persons and gave advice to all who addressed themselves to him. After this he lay down on his bed which was a hurdle of twigs pleaded together and received the last sacraments. From that moment he entertained himself with God alone till his soul went to possess him in his glory. His death happened on the 19th of May 1303 the 50th year of his age. Reflection Saint Evo was a saint amidst the dangers of the world but he preserved his virtue untainted only by arming himself carefully against them by conversing assiduously with God in prayer and holy meditation and by most watchfully shunning the snares of bad company. Without this precaution all the instructions of parents and all other means of virtue are ineffectual and the soul is sure to be split against this rock which does not steer wide of it. End of section 52 Section 53 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 Breanna Childs Author Breanna Childs at Facebook.com Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June by John Gilmoury Shea May 23 St. Julia Virgin Martyr St. Julia was a noble virgin of Carthage who when the city was taken by Dinseric in 439 was sold for a slave to a pagan merchant of Syria named Eusebius under the most mortifying employments of her station by cheerfulness and patience she found happiness that the world could not have afforded all the time she was not employed in her master's business was devoted to prayer and reading books of piety her master who was charmed with her fidelity and other virtues thought proper to carry her with him on one of his voyages to Gaul having reached the northern part of Corsica he cast anchor and went on shore to join the pagans of the place to the Eusebius' fortress festival Julia was left at some distance because she would not be defiled by the superstitious ceremonies which she openly reviled Felix, the governor of the island who was a bigoted pagan asked who this woman was who dared to insult the gods Eusebius informed him that she was a Christian and that all his authority over her was too weak to prevail the governor renounced her religion but that he found her so diligent and faithful he could not part with her the governor offered him four of his best female slaves in exchange for her but the merchant replied no, all you are worth will not purchase her for I would freely lose the most valuable thing I have in the world rather than be deprived of her however the governor took upon him to compel her to sacrifice to his god the saint made answer that she was as free as she desired to be as long as she was allowed to serve Jesus Christ Felix, thinking himself derided by her undaunted, resolute air in a transport of rage caused her to be struck on the face and the hair of her head to be torn off and lastly ordered her to be hanged on a cross till she expired certain monks of the isle of Gorgon carried off her body but in 763 Deciderius king of Lombardy removed her relics to Brescia where her memory is celebrated with great devotion reflection Saint Julia whether free or slave whether in prosperity or in adversity was equally fervent and devout she adored all the sweet designs of providence and far from complaining she never ceased to praise and thank god under all his holy appointments making them always the means of her virtue and sanctification God by an admirable chain of events raised her by his fidelity to the honor of the saints and to the dignity of a virgin and martyr section 53 section 54 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 Lori Arsenault little pictorial lives of the saints volume 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea May 24 Saints Donation and Rogation martyrs there lived at Nantes an illustrious young nobleman named Donation who having received the holy sacrament of regeneration led a most edifying life and strove with much zeal to convert others to faith in Christ his elder brother Rogation was not able to resist the moving example of his piety and the force of his discourses and desired to be baptized but the bishop having withdrawn and concealed himself for fear of the persecution he was not able to receive that sacrament but was shortly after baptized in his blood for he declared himself a Christian at a time when to embrace that sacred profession was to become a candidate for martyrdom Donation was impeached for professing himself a Christian and for having withdrawn others particularly his brother from the worship of the gods Donation was therefore apprehended and having boldly confessed Christ before the governor was cast into prison and loaded with blood was cast into prison and loaded with irons Rogation was also brought before the prefect who endeavored first to gain him by flattering speeches but finding him inflexible sent him to prison with his brother Rogation grieved that he had not been able to receive the sacrament of baptism and prayed that the kiss of peace which his brother gave him Donation also prayed for him that his faith might procure for him the effect of baptism and the effusion of his blood that of the sacrament of confirmation they passed that night together in fervent prayer they were the next day called for again by the prefect to whom they declared that they were ready to suffer for the name of Christ and their heads were prepared for them by the order of the inhuman judge they were first stretched on the rack afterwards their heads were pierced with lances and lastly cut off about the year 287 reflection three things are pleasing unto God and man conquered among brethren the love of parents the union of man and wife end of section 54 recording by lori arsenalt section 55 of little pictorial lives of the saints volume 2 april to june this is a LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Paul Brian Stewart little pictorial lives of the saints volume 2 april june by John Gilmoury Shea May 25th St. Gregory the 7th Gregory the 7th by name Hildebrand was born in Tuscany about the year 1013 he was educated in Rome from thence he went to France and became a monk in Tuscany afterwards he returned to Rome and for many years filled high trust of the Holy See three great evils then afflicted the church Simony, concubinage and the custom of receiving a vestiture from lay hands against these three corruptions Gregory never ceased to contend as legato victor the 2nd he held a council at Leons where Simony was condemned he was elected Pope in 1073 and at once called upon the pastors of the Catholic world to lay down their lives rather than betray the laws of God to the will of princes Rome was in rebellion through the ambition of Sinsey Gregory excommunicated them they laid hands on him at Christmas during the midnight mass wounded him and cast him into prison the following day he was rescued by the people next arose his conflict with Henry IV Emperor of Germany this Monarch after openly relapsing into Simony pretended to depose the Pope Gregory excommunicated the Emperor his subjects turned against him and at last he sawed absolution of Gregory at Canossa but he did not persevere he set up an anti-Pope and besieged Gregory in the castle the aged Pontiff was obliged to flee and on May 25, 1085 about the 72nd year of his life and the 12th year of his Pontiff Gregory entered into his rest his last words were full of a divine wisdom and patience as he was dying he said I have loved justice and hated iniquity therefore I die in exile his faithful attendant answered Vicar of Christ Vicar of Christ an exile thou canst never be for to thee God has given the Gentiles for an inheritance and the utmost ends of the earth for thy possession reflection 800 years a past since Saint Gregory died and we see the same conflict renewed before our eyes let us learn from him to suffer any persecution from the world or the state rather than the way the rites of the Holy See End of Section 55 Section 56 of Little Pictorial Lives 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 Pictorial Lives of the Saints Volume 2, April through June by John Gilmary Shea May 26, St. Philip Navery Philip was one of the noble line of saints raised up by God in the 16th century to console and bless his church after a childhood of angelic beauty the Holy Spirit drew him away from Florence the place of his birth showed him the world that he might freely renounce it led him to Rome modeled him in mind and heart and will and then as by a Pentecost came down a visible form and filled his soul with light and peace and joy it would have gone to India but God reserved him for Rome there he went on simply from day to day drawing souls to Jesus exercising them in mortification and charity and binding them together by cheerful devotions thus unconsciously to himself under the hands of Mary as he said the oratory grew up and all Rome was pervaded and transformed by his spirit his life was a continuous miracle his habitual state in ecstasy he read the hearts of men foretold their future knew their eternal destiny his touch gave health of body his very look calmed souls in trouble and drove away temptations he was gay genial and irresistibly winning neither insult nor wrong could dim the brightness of his joy Philip lived in an atmosphere of sunshine and gladness which brightened all who came near him when I met him in the street says one he would pat my cheek and say well how is Don Pellegrino it made me so full of joy that I could not tell which way I was going others say that when he playfully pulled their hair or their ears their hearts would bound with joy Marcio Altieri felt such overflowing gladness in his presence that he said Philip's room was a paradise on earth Fabrizio de Massimi would go in sadness or perplexity and stand at Philip's door he said it was enough to see him to be near him and long after his death it was enough for many when trouble to go into his room to find their hearts lightened and gladdened inspired a boundless confidence in love it was the common refuge in consolar of all a gentle jest would convey his rebukes and veil his miracles the Highest Honors sought him out but he put them from him he died in his 80th year AD 1595 and bears the grand title of Apostle of Rome reflection Philip wished his children to serve God like the first Christians and gladness of heart he said this was the true one this expands the soul giving it liberty and perfection in action power over temptations and fuller aid to perseverance Saint Augustine Apostle of England Augustine was prior of the monastery of Saint Andrew on the Colian and was appointed by Saint Gregory the great chief of the missionaries whom he sent to England Saint Augustine and his companions were honored on their journeys many reports of the barbarism and ferocity of the pagan English were afraid and wished to turn back but Saint Gregory replied go on in God's name the greater your hardships the greater your crown may the grace of Almighty God protect you and give me to see the fruit of your labor in the heavenly country if I cannot share your toil I shall yet share the harvest not goodwill which is wanting the band of missionaries went off in obedience landing at Ebsfleet between Sandwich and Ramsgate they met King Ethelburg and his thanes under a great oak tree at Minster and announced to him the gospel of Jesus Christ instant and complete success attended their preaching on which Sunday 596 King Ethelbert was baptized and his example was followed by the greater number of his nobles and people by degrees the faith spread far and wide and Augustine as papal legate set out on a visitation of Britain he failed in his attempt to enlist the Britons of the west in the work of his apostolate through their obstinate jealousy and pride but his success was triumphant from south to north Saint Augustine died after eight years of evangelical labors in the middle of Saxon Church which he founded is still famous for its learning zeal and devotion to the Holy See while its calendar commemorates no less than 300 saints half of them were of royal birth reflection the work of an apostle is the work of the right hand of God he often chooses weak instruments for his mightiest purposes the most sure augury of lasting success and a very labor as obedience to superiors and diffidence in self End of Section 56 Section 57 of Little Victoria 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 Victoria Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea May 27 Saint Mary Magdalene of Pozzi Saint Mary Magdalene of Pozzi of an illustrious house in Florence was born in the year 1566 and baptized by the name of Catherine she received her first communion at ten years of age and made a vow of virginity at twelve she took great pleasure and carefully teaching the Christian doctrine her father not knowing her vow wished to give her a marriage but she persuaded him to allow her to become a religious was more difficult to obtain her mother's consent but at last she gained it and she was professed being then eighteen years of age in the Carmelite monastery of Saint Mary in Florence May 17, 1584 she changed her name Catherine Magdalene on becoming a nun and took as her motto to suffer or die in her life henceforth was a life of penance for sins not her own and of love of our Lord who tried her in ways fearful and strange she was obedient observant of the rule humble and mortified and had a great reverence for the religious life she loved poverty and suffering and hungered after communion the day of communion she called the day of love the charity that burned in her heart led her and her youth to choose the house of the Carmelites because the religious therein communicated every day she rejoiced to see others communicate even when she was not allowed to do so herself and her love for her sisters grew when she saw them receive our Lord God raised her to high states of prayer and gave her rare gifts enabling her to read the thoughts of her novices and filling her with wisdom and direct them right she was twice chosen mistress of novices and then made superior when God took her to himself May 25th 1607 her body was incorrupt reflection Saint Mary Magdalene of Pasi was so filled with the love of God that her sisters in the monastery observed in it her love of themselves and called her the mother of charity and the charity of the monastery venerable bead the illustrious ornament of the Anglo-Saxon church and the first English historian was consecrated to God at the age of seven and entrusted to the carousaint Benedict Biskog at Weermouth he became a monk in the sister house of Gerald and there trained no less than 600 scholars whom his piety learning and sweet disposition had gathered round him to the toils of teaching and the exact observance of his rule he added long hours of private prayer and the study of every branch of science and literature then known he was familiar with Latin, Greek and Hebrew and the treatise which he compiled for his scholars still extant he threw together all that the world had then stored in history, chronology physics, music, philosophy, poetry arithmetic and medicine and his ecclesiastical history he has left us beautiful lives of Anglo-Saxon saints and holy fathers while his commentaries on the holy scriptures are still in use by the church it was to the study of the divine word that he devoted the whole energy of his soul and at times his compunction was so overpowering that his voice would break with weeping while the tears of his scholars mingled with his own he had little aid from others and during his later years suffered from constant illness yet he worked and prayed up to his last hour the saint was employed in translating the gospel of Saint John from the Greek up to the hour of his death which took place on ascension day AD 735 he spent that day joyfully writes one of his scholars and in the evening the boy who attended him said dear master there is yet one sentence unwritten and he answered, write it quickly presently the youth said now it is written he replied, good the has said the truth consumatum est take my head into your hands for it is very pleasant to me to sit facing my old praying place and there to call upon my father and so on the floor of his cell he sang glory be to the father son and holy ghost and just as he said holy ghost he breathed his last and went to the realms above reflection the more says the imitation of Christ a man is united within himself and interiorly simple so much the more and deeper things taught the understand without labour for you receive it the light of understanding from on high AD 57 AD 58 of little pictorial lives of the saints AD 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 AD 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea May 28th Saint Germanus Bishop Saint Germanus the glory of the church of France in the 6th century was born in the territory of Atun about the year 469 in his youth he was conspicuous for his fervour the ordained priest he was made abbot of saint symphorians he was favoured at that time with the gifts of miracles and prophecy it was his custom to watch the great part of the night in the church in prayer whilst his monks slept one night in a dream he thought a venerable old man presented him with the keys of the city of Paris and said to him that God committed to his care the inhabitants of that city that he should save from perishing four years after this divine admonition in 554 happening to be at Paris when that sea became vacant on the demise of the bishop Eusebius he was exalted to the Episcopal chair though he endeavored by many tears to decline the charge his promotion made no alteration in his mode of life the same simplicity and frugality appeared in his dress table his house was perpetually crowded with the poor and the afflicted and he had always many beggars at his own table God gave to his sermons a wonderful influence over the minds of all ranks of people so that the face of the whole city was in a very short time quite changed King Childebert who till then had been an ambitious, worthy prince was entirely converted by the sweetness and the powerful discourses of the saint and found at many religious institutions and sent large sums of money to the good bishop to be distributed among the indigent in his old age Saint Germanus lost nothing of that zeal and activity with which he had filled the great duties of his station in the vigor of his life nor did the weakness to which his corporal austerities had reduced him made him abate anything in the mortifications of his penitential life in which he redoubled his fervor as he approached nearer to the end of his course by his zeal the remains of idolatry were extirpated in France the saint continued his labors for the conversion of sinners till he was called to receive the reward of them on the 28th of May 576 being eight years old reflection in the church's bless you God the Lord from thy temple king shall offer his presence to thee end of section 58 section 59 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 29 Saint Cyril martyr Saint Cyril suffered while still a boy at Caesarea in Cappadocia during the persecutions of the 3rd century he used to repeat the name of Christ at all times and confessed that the mere utterance of this name moved him strangely he was beaten and reviled by his heathen father but he bore all this with joy increasing in the strength of Christ who dwelt within him many of his own age to the imitation of his heavenly life when his father and his fury turned him out of doors he said he had lost little and would receive a great recompense instead soon after he was brought before the magistrate on account of his faith no threats could make him show a sign of fear and the judge pitting perhaps his tender years offered him his freedom assured him of his father's forgiveness and besought him to return to his home in inheritance but the blessed youth replied I left my home gladly for I have a greater and a better which is waiting for me he was filled with the same heavenly desires to the end he was taken to the fire as if for execution and was then brought back and reexamined but he only protested against the cruel delay let out to die he hurried on the executioners gazed unmoved at the flames which were kindled for him and expired hastening as he said to his home reflection ask our lord to make all earthly joy and sip him and to fill you with a constant desire of heaven this desire will make labor easy and suffering light will make you fervent and detached and bring you even hear a foretaste of that eternal joy and peace to which you are hastening End of section 59 Section 60 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 30 St. Felix the First Pope and martyr St. Felix was a Roman by birth and seceded Saint Dionysus in the government of the church in 269 Paul of Samosata, the proud Archbishop of Antioch To the guilt of many enormous crimes added that of heresy teaching that Christ was no more than a mere man in whom the divine word dwelt by its operation and as in its temple with many other gross errors concerning the capital mysteries and the incarnation Three councils were held at Antioch to examine his cause and in the third assembled in 269 being clearly convicted of heresy, pride, and many scandalous crimes he was excommunicated and deposed and Domnus was substituted in his place As Paul still kept possession of the Episcopal House Arsene had recourse to the Emperor Aurelian Noah Pagan gave an order that the house should belong to him to whom the bishops of Rome and Italy had judged him The persecution of Aurelian breaking out Saint Felix fearless of danger strengthened the weak, encouraged all baptized the catechumans and continued to exert himself in converting infidels to the faith He himself obtained the glory of martyrdom He governed the church five years in 274 Reflection The example of our Saviour and of all his saints ought to encourage us under all trials to suffer with patience and even joy We shall soon begin to feel that it is sweet to tread in the steps of a god-man and shall find that if we courageously take up our crosses he will make them light by sharing the burden with us Section 60 Section 61 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 31st Saint Petronella, Virgin Among the disciples of the Apostles in the primitive age of Saints this holy virgin shown as a bright star in the church She lived when Christians were more solicitous to live well than to write much They knew how to die for Christ but did not compile long books in which vanity has often a greater share than charity Hence no particular account of her actions has been handed down to us But how eminent her sanctity was from the luster by which it was distinguished among apostles, prophets, and martyrs She is said to have been a daughter of the Apostle Saint Peter that Saint Peter was married before his vocation to the Apostleship we learn from the Gospel Saint Clement of Alexandria assures us that his wife attained to the glory of martyrdom at which Peter himself encouraged her bidding her to remember our Lord But it seems not certain whether Saint Petronella was more than the spiritual daughter of that Apostle She flourished at Rome and was buried on the way to Ardea where in ancient times a cemetery and a church bore her name Reflection With the Saints the great end for which they lived was always present to their minds and they thought every moment lost in which they did not make some advances toward eternal bliss How will their example condemn at the last day the trifling salaries in the greatest part of the conversation and employments of the world which aim at nothing but present amusements and forget the only important affair, the business of eternity End of Section 61 Section 62 of Little Victoria 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 Victoria Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea June 1st Saint Justin Martyr Saint Justin was born of heathen parents at Neopolis in Samaria about the year 103 He was well educated and gave himself to the study of philosophy but always with one object that he might learn the knowledge of God He sought this knowledge among the contending schools of philosophy but always in vain till at last God himself appeased the thirst which he had created one day while Justin was walking by the seashore meditating on the thought of God an old man met him and questioned him on the subject of his doubts and when he had made Justin confess that the philosophers taught nothing certain about God he told them of the writings of the inspired prophets and of Jesus Christ whom they announced and made him seek light and understanding through prayer the scriptures and the constancy of the Christian martyrs led Justin from the darkness of human reason to the light of faith in his zeal for the faith he traveled to Greece Egypt and Italy gaining many to Christ at Rome he sealed his testimony with his blood surrounded by his disciples Do you think the prefix said to Justin that by dying you will enter heaven and be rewarded by God I do not think was the saints answer I know then as now there were many religious opinions but only one certainty the certainty of the Catholic faith the certainty should be the measure of our confidence and our zeal reflection we have received a gift of faith with little labor of our own let us learn how to value it from those who reached it after a long search and lived in the misery of a world which did not know God let us fear as Saint Justin did the account we shall have to render for the gift of God Saint Pontphilus martyr Saint Pontphilus was of a rich and honorable family and a native of Baraitis in which city at that time famous for its schools he and his youth ran through the whole circle of the sciences was afterward honored with the first employments of the Magistrate after he began to know Christ he could relish no other study but that of salvation he renounced everything else that he might apply himself holy to the exercises of virtue and the studies of the holy scriptures this accomplished master and profane sciences in this renowned Magistrate was not ashamed to become the humble scholar of Piraeus the successor of origin and the great catechetical school of Alexandria he afterward may say Zaria in Palestine his residence where at his private expense he collected a great library which he bestowed on the church of that city the saint established there also a public school of sacred literature and to his labors the church was indebted for a most correct addition of the holy bible which with infinite care he transcribed himself but nothing was more remarkable in the saint than his extraordinary humility his paternal estate he at length distributed among the poor towards his slaves and domestics his behavior was always that of a brother he led a most austere life sequestered from the world and its company it was indefatigable in labor such a virtue was his apprenticeship to the grace of martyrdom in the year 307 Urbanus the cruel governor of Palestine caused him to be apprehended and commanded him to be most inhumanly tormented but the iron hooks which tore the martyrs' sides served only to cover the judge with confusion after this the saint remained almost two years in prison Urbanus the governor was himself beheaded by an order of the emperor Maximinus but was seceded by a familiar a man not less barbarous than bigoted and superstitious after several butcheries he caused saint Panphilius to be brought before him and passed sentence of death upon him his flesh was torn off to the very bones and his bowels exposed to view and the torments were continued a long time without intermission but he never once opened his mouth so much as to groan he finished his martyrdom by a slow fire and died invoking Jesus the son of God Reflection a cloud of witnesses a noble army of martyrs teach us by their constancy to suffer wrong with patience and strenuously to resist evil the daily trials we meet with from others or from ourselves are always sent us by God who sometimes throws difficulties in our way on purpose to reward our conquest and sometimes like a wise physician restores us to our health by bitter potions End of Section 62 Section 63 of little pictorial lives of the saints Volume 2 April through June This is a LibriVox recording The 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 June 2 St. Pothinus Bishop Sanctus Attilus Blandina and other martyrs of Lyon After the miraculous victory obtained by the prayers of the Christians under Marcus Aurelius in 174 The church enjoyed a kind of peace though it was often disturbed in particular places by popular commotions or by the superstitious furia of certain governors This appears from the violent persecution which was raised three years after the aforesaid victory at Lyon and Lyon in 177 while St. Pothinus was bishop of Lyon and St. Arinas who had been sent thither by St. Polycarum out of Asia was a priest of that city Many of the principal Christians were brought before the Roman governor Among them was a slave, Blandina and her mistress, also a Christian feared that Blandina lacked strength to brave the torture She was tormented a whole day through but she bore it all with joy till the executioners gave up confessing themselves outdone Red hot plates were held to the sides of Sanctus a deacon of Lyon till his body became one great sore and he looked no longer like a man but in the midst of his tortures he was bedewed and strengthened by the stream of heavenly water which flows from the side of Christ Meanwhile many confessors were kept in prison and with them were some who had been terrified into apostasy Even the heathens marked the joy of martyrdom in the Christians who were decked for their eternal espousals and the misery of the apostates But the faithful confessors brought back those who had fallen and the church that virgin mother rejoiced when she saw her children live again in Christ Some died in prison the rest were martyred one by one St. Blandina last of all after seeing her younger brother put to a cruel death and encouraged him to victory Reflection In early times the Christians called the children of joy let us seek the joy of the Holy Spirit to sweeten suffering to temper earthly delight till we enter into the joy of our Lord And section 63 Section 64 of Little Victoria 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 visit LibriVox.org Little Victoria Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea June 3 St. Clotilda Queen St. Clotilda was daughter of Chilperic, younger brother to Gondobald, the tyrannical king of Burgundy who put him and his wife and his other brothers except one to death in order to usurp their dominions Clotilda was brought up in her uncle's court and by a singular providence was instructed in the Catholic religion though she was educated in the midst of Arians. Her wit, beauty, meekness, modesty and piety made her the adoration of all the neighbouring kingdoms and Clovis I, surname the great the victorious king of the Franks demanded and obtained her in marriage. She honored her royal husband, studied to sweeten her like temper by Christian meekness, conformed herself to his humor and things that were indifferent and the better to gain his affections made those things the subject of her discourse in praises in which she knew him to take the greatest delight. When she saw herself mistress of his heart she did not defer the great work of endeavouring to win him to God but the fear of giving offence to his people made him delay his conversion. The miraculous victory over the Almanhi and his entire conversion in 496 were at length the fruit of our saint's prayers. Lotilda having gained to God this great monarch never ceased to excite him to glorious actions for the divine honour. Among other religious foundations he built in Paris at her request about the year 511 the great church of saints Peter and Paul, now called St. Genovese. His great prince died on the 27th of November in the year 511 at the age of 45 having reigned 35 years. His eldest son Theodoric reigned at Reims over the eastern parts of France Clothamere reigned at Orléans and Childebert at Paris and Clotère I at Saussons. This division met wars and mutual jealousies till in 560 the monarchy was reunited under Clotère the youngest of these brothers. The dissension in her family contributed more perfectly to win Clotilda's heart from the world. She spent the remaining part of her life in exercises of prayer, alms deeds watching, fasting and penance seeming totally to forget she had been queen or that her son sat on throne. Eternity filled her heart and employed all her thoughts. Her death 30 days before it happened. On the 30th day of her illness she received the sacraments, made a public confession of her faith and departed to the Lord on the 3rd of June in 545. Reflection Saint Peter defines the mission of the Christian woman to win the heart of those who believe not the word. End of Section 64 Section 65 of Little Victoria 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 Victoria Lives of the Saints Volume 2 April through June by John Gilmary Shea June 4 Saint Francis Caracciolo Francis was born in the Kingdom of Naples of the princely family of Caracciolo. In childhood he shunned all the amusements, recited the rosary regularly and loved to visit the Blessed Sacrament and to distribute his food to the poor. An attack of leprosy taught him the vileness of the human body and the vanity of the world. Almost miraculously cured he renounced his home to study for the priesthood at Naples where he spent his leisure hours in the prisons or visiting non-frequented churches. God called him when only twenty-five to found an order of clerks regular whose rule was that each day one father fasted on bread and water another took the discipline the third wore a hair-shirt while they always watched by turns in perpetual adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. They took the usual vows adding a fourth, not to desire dignities. To establish his order Francis undertook many journeys through Italy and Spain on foot and without money content with a shelter and cross-given him in charity. Being elected general he redoubled his austerities and devoted seven hours daily to meditation on the passion besides passing most of the night praying before the Blessed Sacrament. Francis was commonly called the preacher of divine love but it was before the Blessed Sacrament that his ardent devotion was most clearly perceptible. In presence of his Divine Lord his face usually emitted brilliant rays of light and he often bathed the ground with his tears when he prayed according to his custom prostrate on his face before the Tabernacle and constantly repeating as one devoured by internal fire the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. The believer aged 44 on the eve of Corpus Christi 1608, saying let us go, let us go to heaven. When his body was opened after death his heart was found as if it were burnt up and these words imprinted around it zealus domus tui cometi me the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. Reflection it is for men and not for angels that the Lord resides upon the altar yet angels throng our churches to worship him while men desert him. Learn from Saint Francis to avoid such ingratitude and dispend as he did every possible moment before the most holy sacrament. End of section 65 section 66 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 June 5th Saint Boniface, Bishop Martyr Saint Boniface was born at Cretodon in Devonshire, England in the year 680 some missionaries staying at Devonshire, England spoke to him of heavenly things and inspired him with the wish to devote himself as they did to God he entered the monastery of Xmenster and was there trained for his apostolic work his first attempt to convert the pagans in Holland having failed he went to Rome to obtain the pope's blessing on his mission and return with the authority to preach to the German tribes it was a slow and dangerous constant peril while his flock was often reduced to abject poverty by the wandering robber bands yet his courage never flagged he began with Bavaria and Durringia next visit Friesland then passed on to Hesse and Saxony everywhere destroying the idol temples and raising churches on their site he endeavored as far as possible to make every object of idolatry contribute in some way to the glory of God on one occasion having cut down an immense oak which was consecrated to Jupiter he used the tree in building a church which he dedicated to the Prince of the Apostles it was now recalled to Rome consecrated bishop by the pope and returned to extend and organize the rising German church with diligent care he reformed abuses among the existing clergy and established religious houses for him at length feeling his infirmities increased and fearful of losing his martyr's crown Boniface appointed a successor to the monastery and set out to convert a fresh pagan tribe while St. Boniface was waiting to administer confirmation to some newly baptized Christians a troop of pagans around armed with swords and spears his attendants would have opposed him but the saint said to his followers children cease your resistance the long expected days come at last scripture forbids us to resist evil let us put our hope in God he will save our souls scarcely had he ceased speaking when the barbarians fell upon him and slew him with all his attendants to the number of 52 reflection St. Boniface teaches us how the love of Christ changes all things it was for Christ's sake it was for our souls preferring poverty to riches labor to rest suffering to pleasure death to life that by die he might live with Christ end of section 66 section 67 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 please visit LibriVox.org recording by Adam Bielka little pictorial lives of the saints volume 2 April to June by Jean Gilmarie Shea June 6 St. Norbert Bishop of noble rank and rare talents Norbert passed a most pious youth and entered the ecclesiastical state by a strange contradiction his conduct now was a scandal to his sacred calling and at the court of the emperor Henry IV he led like many clerics of that age a life of dissipation and luxury one day when he was 30 years of age he was thrown half dead from his horse and on recovering his senses resolved upon a new life after a severe and searching preparation he was ordained priest to expose the abuses of his order silenced at first by a local council he obtained the pope's sanction and preached penance to listening crowds in France and the Netherlands in the wild veil of Primonter he gave to some trained disciples the rule of St. Austen and a white habit to denote the angelic purity proper to the priesthood the canon's regular extra tensions as they were called were to unite the active work of the country clergy with the obligations of the monastic life their fervor renewed the spirit of the priesthood quickened the faith of the people and drove out heresy a vile heretic named Tanklin appeared at Antwerp in the time of St. Norbert and denied the reality of the priesthood and especially blasphemed the blessed Eucharist the saint was sent for to drive out the pest by his burning words he exposed the imposter and rekindled the faith in the blessed sacrament many of the apostates had proved their contempt for the blessed sacrament by burying it in filthy places St. Norbert bade them search for the sacred hosts they found them entire uninjured and the saint bore them back in triumph to the tabernacle hence he is generally painted with the monstrance in his hand in 1126 St. Norbert found himself appointed bishop of Magdeburg and there at the risk of his life he zealously carried on his work of reform and died worn out with toil at the age of 53 reflection reparation for the injuries offered to the blessed sacrament was the aim of St. Norbert's great work of reform in himself in the clergy and in the faithful how much does our present worship repair for our own past irreverences and for the outrages offered by others to the blessed Eucharist end of section 67 section 68 of little pictorial lives of the saints volume 2 able to dune 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, able to dune by John Gilmarish June 7th St. Robert of Newminster in 1132, Robert was a monk at Whitby, England when news arrived that 13 religious had been violently expelled from the Abbey of St. Mary in York for having proposed to restore the strict Benedictine rule he had once set out to join them and found them on the banks of the skelter near Riffen living in the midst of winter in a hut made of hurdles and roof with turf in the spring they affiliated themselves to St. Bernard's reform at Clairvoy and for two years struggled on in extreme poverty at length the fame of their sanctity brought another novice Hugh, Dean of York who endowed the community with all his wealth and thus laid the foundations of fountains at the Abbey in 1137 Raynorth, Baron of Morpeth was so edified by the example of the monks at fountains that he built them a monastery in Northumberland called Newminster of which St. Robert became Abbot the holiness of his life even more than his words guided his brethren to perfection and within the next ten years three new communities went forth from this one house to become sentences of holiness in other parts the abstinence of St. Robert in refectory alone suffice to maintain the mortified spirit of the community one Easter day his stomach weakened by the faster blend could take no food and he at last consented to try to eat some bread sweetened with honey before it was brought he felt this relaxation would be a dangerous example for his subjects and sent the food untouched to the poor at the gate the plate was received by a young man of shining countenance who straight away disappeared at the next meal the plate descended empty and by itself to the abbot's place in the refectory proving that what the saint sacrificed for his brethren had been accepted by Christ at the moment of Robert's death in 1139 St. Godric the hermit of Finchale saw his soul like a globe of fire born up by the angels in the pathway of light and as the gates of heaven opened before them a voice repeated twice and to now my friends reflection reason and authority prove that virtue ought to be practiced but facts alone prove that it is practiced and that is why examples have more power to move our souls and why our individual actions are of such fearful importance for others as well as for ourselves St. Claude Archbishop the province of Eastern Burgundy received great luster from this glorious saint he was born at Selene about the year 603 and was both the model and the oracle of the clergy at Besson Song when upon the death of Archbishop Gervais about the year 683 he was chosen to be his successor fearing the obligations of that charge he fled and hid himself but was discovered and compelled to take it upon him during seven years he acquitted himself of the pastoral functions with the zeal and vigilance of an apostle but finding then an opportunity of resigning his sea which at a humility and love of solitude he had always sought he retired to the great monastery of St. Oyenne and there took the monastic habit in 690 violence was used to oblige him soon after to accept the abacial dignity such was the sanctity of his life and his zeal in conducting his monks in the paths of evangelical perfection that he deserved to be compared to the antonymes and patchomiasis and his monastery to those of ancient Egypt manual labour, silence, prayer reading of pious books especially the holy bible fasting, watching, humility obedience, poverty, mortification and the close union of their hearts with God made up the whole occupation of these fervent servants of God and were the rich patrimony which St. Claude left to his disciples he died in 703 end of section 68 section 69 of little pictorial lives 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 pictorial lives of the saints volume 2, April through June by John Gilmary Shea June 8, St. Medard, Bishop St. Medard, one of the most illustrious prelates of the church of France in the 6th century was born of a pious and noble family at Salancy about the year 457 from his childhood he venced the most tender compassion for the poor on one occasion he gave his coat to a destitute blind man and when asked why he had done so yet the misery of a fellow member in Christ so affected him that he could not help giving him part of his own clothes being promoted to the priesthood in the 33rd year of his life it became a bright ornament of that sacred order he preached the word of God with an unction which touched the hearts of the most hardened and the influence of his example by which he enforced the precepts which he delivered from the pulpit seemed irresistible in 530 Alhamer the 13th bishop of that country dying, St. Medard was unanimously chosen to fill the sea and was consecrated by St. Remigius who would baptize King Clovis in 496 and was then exceeding old our saint's new dignity did not make him abate anything of his austerities and though at that time 72 years old he thought himself obliged to redouble his labors though his diocese was very wide it seemed not to suffice for a zeal which could not be confined wherever he saw the opportunity of advancing the honor of God and of abolishing the remains of idolatry he overcame all obstacles and by his zealous labors and miracles the rays of the gospel dispelled the myths of idolatry throughout the whole extent of his diocese what rendered this task more difficult and perilous was the savage and fierce disposition of the ancient inhabitants of Flanders who were the most barbarous of all the nations of the Gauls and Franks our saint having completed this great work in Flanders returned to Noion where he shortly after fell sick and soon rested from his labors at an advanced age in 545 the whole kingdom lamented his death as the loss of their common father and protector his body was buried in his own cathedral but the many miracles wrought at his tomb so moved King Clotaire that he translated the precious remains to sossons reflection the church takes delight in styling her founder the amiable Jesus and he likewise says of himself I am meek and humble of heart End of section 69