ST. EUGENIUS III., POPE AND CONFESSOR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 36, 4 September 1902, Page 7

ST. EUGENIUS 111., POPE AND CONFESSOR.

St. Eugenius 111. was Pope from 1145 to 1153. Owing to the disturbed state of Rome, Eugenius 111. was consecrated in the monastery of Farfa, and took up his temporary abode at Viterbo. He excommunioated the patrician Jordanes, and finally succeeded in re-establishing his authority at Rome. This Pope commissioned 8t Bernard to preach the Second Crusade. It was to Pope Eugenius 111. that St. Bernard addressed his De Considerations, in which he stated without disguise what were the duties of chief pastor, and urged the necessities of reform. NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MART. The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on September 8. This festival was appointed by Pope Innocent XI., that the faithful may be called upon in a particular manner to recommend to God, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, the necessities of His Church, and to return to Him thanks for His gracious protection and numberless mercies. What gave occasion to the institution of this feast was a solemn thanksgiving for the relief of Vienna when it was besieged by the Turks in 1683. ST. HILARY, POPE AND CONFESSOR. St. Hilary, the successor of St Leo, was born in Sardinia, and was Pope from 461 to 467. He was the defender of Bishop Flavian against the Eutychians in the Second Council of Ephesus in 449. ST. ROSE OF LIMA, VIRGIN. St. Rose, who was a religious of Third Order of St. Dominic, was born at Lima, Peru, South America. She is the patron saint of her native city, and was the first saint of South America. ST. SERGIUS 1., POPE AND CONFESSOR. St. Sergiuß was Pope from 687 to 701. He refused to sanotion the Trullan Synod, which assembled in 692 at the summons of the Emperor Justinian 11. Irritated by this refusal, the haughty Emperor sent orders for the apprehension and transportation of the Pope to Constantinople. But the Romans, and even the Imperial soldiery, rushed to the defence of the Pope, and only for the intervention of St. Sergius they would have torn Zacharias, the Imperial officer, to pieces.