Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 33, 14 August 1902, Page 7

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

August 17, Sunday .—Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. St. ,o vr j Joachim, Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. „ 18, Monday.— St. Hyacinth, Confessor " ll' iL Ue JBdaJ Bday J-J -— St Urban U ' P °P e an( * Confessor. „ 20, Wednesday.— St. Bernard, Confessor and Dootor. „ 21, Ihursday.— St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Widow. „ 22, Friday.— Octave of the Assumption. „ 23, Saturday.— St. Philip Bemti, Confessor. ST. JOACHIM. St. Joachim who was the husband of St. Anne and father of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was of the tribe of Juda and the family of J" ld> « J hey^ lU Bhow hlB tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre of Notre Dame. * ST. HYACINTH, CONFESSOR. St. Hyacinth, a Polish Dominican, and apostle of Northern Europe, was born m the Castle of Sasai (Siberia), and died at Cra2° WAW A H . e . recei l ved »* Rome the religious habit from the hand of bt. Dominic, who appointed him Superior of the mission established m Poland, founded a monastery of Dominicans at Cracow (1217) and several others in the principal cities of Poland. He made numerous conversions all over northern Europe, and preached the Gospel to the Tartars. ST. BERNARD, CONFESSOR AND DOCTOR. St. Bernard, surnamed the ' Last Father of the Church ' was born in the Castle Fontaines, near Dijon, France, in 1091, of an old patrician family. He entered, in his 22nd year, with some 30 of his kinsmen and friends, the Order of Citeaux, of which he is sometimes regarded as the eecond founder. After two years, the abbot, St. Stephen Harding, an Englishman, sent Bernard to found a new abbey at Clairvaux, which soon rose to great celebrity He was consecrated abbot by William of Champeaux, the great dialectician and teacher of Abelard. The fame and influence of Bernard spread rapidly. He united in himself,' as the learned Hurter well observes, the qualities of the most perfect contemplative monk with those of the most profound politician.' Bernard died in 1 153 The works which St. Bernard has left behind him are as various as they are numerous, and consist of sermons, epistlee, and moral treatises His letters, which number no less than 404, record many historical facts, interspersed with sage reflections and salutary advice Of his sermons he delivered 86 on the Book of Canticles to his monks. Hia most famous work is his treatise Be Consideratione addressed to Eugemus 111 , who had been his pupil, in which he states, without disguise, what are the duties of the chief pastor and urges the necessity of reforms. He acquired the appellation of the Mellifluous Doctor,' and, on account of the value of hia writings, he was numbered among the Doctors of the Church by Pius VIII. * ST. JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL. In AD. 1604 St. Francis of Sales was preaching the Lent at Dijon, when he remarked among the audience the figure of a lady who had been shown to him in a vision as destined to be associated with him in the foundation of a new religious Order. On leaving the pulpit, he found by inquiry that the person in question was Jane Frances, Baroness of Chantal, who both by birth and marriage was connected with the leading nobility of the kingdom of Burgundy, of which Dijon was the capital. The saintly woman was then a widow, her husband having met with an untimely death leaving behind him a son and three daughters. When the year of her mourning was over, she returned to her father's house, where she continued the same manner of life, but shortly afterwards for family reasons, removed with her children to the residence of 'her father-in-law During this time she gave herself up to works of piety, and had the happiness to become acquainted with St. Francis de Sales, who undertook the direction of her conscience. Under the prudent guidance of her saintly confessor, the holy widow made rapid progress in the path of perfection, and was formed to all the virtues of the religious life for which Divine Providence destined her. The time being at length ripe for the execution of his design St. Francis exposed to his penitent his intention of founding a Congregation of women for the service of the sick under the title of the 'Visitation of the Blessed Virgin' assuring her that it was the will of God that Bhe should be the principal co-operator in this work. The Baroness received his proposal with extreme joy, made a settlement of of her worldly affairs, and proceeded to take leave of the members of her family. The scene at parting was truly heartrending. Our saint, whose heart was torn with anguish, did not falter in her purpose, but set out for Annecy, where she laid the foundation of the new institute, AD. 1610 During the remaining28 y«ars of her life Mother de Chantal devoted herself principally to the training of her spiritual daughters and the extension of her Order by numerous foundations.

After a sharp illness caused by an attack of fever, this valiant but tender-hearted woman expired happily at Moulins on December 31, A.D. 1641, with the holy name of Jesus on her lips.