Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 28, 11 July 1901, Page 7

Friends at Court

QLEANINQS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR.

July 14, Sunday.— Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. St. Bonaventure, Bishop, Confessor, and Dootor. „ I*>, Monday — St Henry 11.. Emperor. „ 16, Tuesday. — Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmei. „ 17, Wednesday. — Xt T,po IV., Pope and Confessor, „ 18, Thursday. — St. Camillus, Confessor. „ 19, Friday. — St. Symachus, Pope and Confessor, „ 20, Saturday.— St. Jerome Emilian, Confessor.

ST. BONAVRNTURE, BISHOP, CONFESSOR, AND DOCTOR.

St. Bonaventure, rurnamed ' Doctor Seraphicus,' was a Franciscan, and distinguished for hiß piety and learning:. He was born in 1221, at Bagnarea, in Tuscany, and was educated at the University of Paris, where, as early as 1253, he obtained a professorship of theology, and at the age of 35 years he became the general of hia order, the internal disorders and contentions of which he brought under due regulation. Pope Clement IV. wished to make him Archbishop of York, but desisted at the request of Bonaventure ; on the other hand, Gregory X., in 1273, compelled him to aooept the bishopric of Albano. In the year following Bonaventure attended the Ecumenical Council of Lyons, and died while it was in session, July 15th, 1274. Bonayenture acquired great fame by his mystical writings. But both his philosophical and Boholastico-theologioal works, of which the the principal ones are the Breviloquium, and the Certiloquium are highly esteemed, although their author does not on these subjects reach the level of St. Thomas, ST. CAMILLAS, CONFESSOR. St. Camillus of Lellis, a priest of the diocese of Theate, waa the founder of the Order of Camillians, or Fathers of a Good Death, which waa approved by the Holy See on March 8, 1585. These religious take care of the sick and wounded in hospitals and on the battlefield. St. Camillus died July 14, 1614, at the age of 65 years, and was canonised by Benedict XIV. ST. SYMACHOB, POPE AND CONFESSOR. St. Symachus, who was born in Sardinia, was Pope from 498 to 514, and successor of Athanasius 11. He had for rival the Arohdeacon Lawrence, who was upheld by King Theodoric. He zealously combated the heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches. The introduction into the Mass of the ' Gloria in Excelsis ' is attributed to him. ST. JEROME EMILIAN, CONFESSOR. St. Jerome Emilian belonged to a noble Venetian family, distinguished for its many services to the State. Upon the death of his father, when he was about 15 years of age, he entered the army, to the great affliction of his mother, who soon beheld him fall into a dissolute way of life through the bad example of his companions. Having received a commission from the Venetian Senate to relieve the garrison of Castelnuvo, which was invested by a German army, Jerome succeeded in effecting an entrance to the citadel, and in repelling for some time the assaults of the enemy. Upon the fall of the castle he was seized, loaded with chains, and cast into a dark dungeon. In these straits he began to reflect with anguish on the state of his soul, and with sighs and tears acknowledged the justice of God in thus treating him according to his merits. Suddenly a ray of hope penetrated his heart when he thought of the tender mercy of our Blessed Lady, and he made a vow on the spot, ia case of his deliverance, to visit barefoot her celebrated shrine at Treviso, and there publish aloud her bounty in his regard. No sooner had he pronounced the words of his vow than Mary appeared to him in the midst of heavenly light, and giving him the keys of his fetters and of the prison door, conducted him through the midst of the enemy to the very gates of Treviso. As soon as he completed the terms of his vow he returned to Venice, and renouncing the honors and offices of the State, devoted himself henceforth to the service of God and the relief of the afflicted poor. Jerome determined to establish a congregation of men who were willing to devote their lives to the relief of the needy and afflicted. The foundation of the new congregation was laid in the village of Somascha, not far from Milan, and there Jerome trained his first disciples. A frightful pestilence having broken out in Bexmago Jerome hastened thither to minister to the wants of the victims of the plague. While employed in this charitable office he was himself attacked by the disease, and died happily at Somascha on February 8, AD. 1537, at the age of 56.