GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 38, 18 September 1902, Page 7

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

September 21 Sunday.— Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost. St. Matthew, Apostle. „ 22, Monday.— St. Thomas of Villanova, Bishop and Confcßßor. „ 23, Tuesday.— St. Linus, Pope and Martyr „ 24, Wednesday.— Our Lady of Mercy. „ 25, Thursday.— Saint Eustace and Companions, Martyrs. „ 20, Friday.— St. Eueebius, Pope and Martyr. „ 27, Saturday.— Saints Cosmas and DamiaD, Martyrs.

ST. MATTHEW, APOSTLE, St. Matthew is the same as Levi, mentioned in the Gospel of St. Luke (v. 27;. He was the son of Alpheue, and was born near Capharnaum. He was a collector of the taxes which the Jews had to pay to the Romans. Tradition relates that he labored for some time in Palestine, after the Ascension of Christ, and then preached the Gospel in Syria, Persia, Parthia, and Ethiopia. In the lastnamed country he is said to have ended his course by martyrdom. Matthew was the first of the Evangelists, who wrote a Gospel' which appeared between the years 64 and 67, or, according to others, in the year 42, about the time of the dispersion of the Apostlee. He wrote in Hebrew or Syro-Chaldaic, the language spoken in Palestine at that time, The original is no longer extant, but the Greek version, even in the time of the Apostles, was of equal authority. ST. THOMAS OF VILLANOVA. St. Thomas was born at Fuenlana (Leon), Spain, in 1488, and died at Valencia, of which he was Archbishop in 1555. He was distinguished for his humility and charity, and merited the glorious surname of the ' Father of the Poor.' ST. LINUS, POPE AND MAKTYB. St. Linus, the immediate successor of St. Peter, received the martyr's crown after a Pontificate of 12 years. FEAST OF OUR LADY OF MERCY, In the thirteenth century, when the Mediterranean was swept by Moorish pirates, a religious Order was instituted, under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for the purpose of collecting alms for the relief and ransom of Christian captives, of visiting them in their captivity, and restoring them when possible to their friends and families. Among the first members of this noble order was a zealom Englishman named Serapion, who was received into religion by the founder, St. Peter Nolasco. His singular prudence and sanctity caused him to be selected for the important office of Ransomer, and he was sent by his superiors on two occasions to treat with the infidels for the ransom of the captives. His first journey was to the Moorish kingdom of Murcia in the South of Spain, where he succeeded in restoring to liberty 9S Christiana Being afterwards despatched to Algiers, he purchased the freedom of 87 others, but being unable to pay the price hi full, he remained in the hands of the Moors, according to the common practice of the Order, as a hostage frr the discbarge of the debt. DuriDg the interval he employed himself in consoling aari encouraging the Christian slaves and prisoners, and preaching the Gospel boldly to the Mahometans, many of whom he converted to the Faith. The Moorish Governor, enraged at his bcldness, ordered him to be cruelly beaten and cast into a dismal dungeon. He afterwards condemned him to be stripped naked and fastened in a barbarous manner to two posts, his body being elevated in the air and hid legs crcsstd. In this painful position he was exposed to all the insults and outrages of the mo>\ and was finally backed to pieces with knives and hachets, during which time be never ceased to preach the Name of Jeaus and exhort the Christians to constancy and perseverance. ST. EUSTACE AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS. St Eustace, a Reman general, suffered martyrdom together with his wife and two sons, shortly after the beginning of the H econd century. ST. ETJSEBIUS, POrE AND MARTYR. St. Euf-ebius, who succeeded St. Marcellus on the Papal throne, was baniebed by Maxentius to Sicily, where he died of the hard* ships inflicted on him. SAINTS COSMAS AND DAMIAN, MABTYUS. Saints Cosrras and Daniian, brothers, were born in Arabia, They labored r.s Christian physicians, and exercised their art gratuitously. Denounced as Cbri<-tians, they suffered martyrdom at Eges. in Cicilia, under DiocleLian, about the year 286. Their remains were brought to Rome, where a splendid church was dedicated to their memory, and where they are still venerated.