Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 4, 22 January 1903, Page 31

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

January 25, Sunday.— Third Sa-day after tho Epiphanr. Con version <jf St. Pan). „ 2f>, Monday.— St. t'olycarp, Bishop and Martyr. „ 27. Tuesday, — St. Vitalisnug, Pope and Oonfesfeor. „ *8, Wednesday.— St John Chryfecstom, Bishop, Confessor. and Dootor. „ 29, Thursday .—St. Francis of Sales, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. „ 30, Friday.— St. Felix IV., Pope and Confessor. „ 31, Patarday.— St. Peter Nolasco, Confessor.

Conversion of St. Paul. „, st - p p aul , was at fi rst a violent persecutor of tho Church. In fact, at the very moment when the grace of God touched his heart he was on his way to Damascus with the authority to seize any whom he might find professing the new faith, and send them in chains to Jerusalem. After his conversion he devoted all his energies to the propagation of the Christian religion, nnd spent his i life to i carrying the glad tidings of redemption to the nations that till then had sat ' in darkness* and a shadow of death.' St. Poly carp, Bishop cud Martyr. St Polycarp (70-166) was Bishop of Smyrna. He was the immediate contemporary and friend of St. Ignatius, but nothing certain is known as to his origin or the place of his birth, Iremie-is, M» disciple, tells us that he was instructed by the Apostle St. John, and appointed by him bishop of Smyrna. About the middle It the second century he journeyed to Rome to consult with I ope Anicetus tegarding the time of Easter. On this occasion he brought I-ucc to tho Ohm ft inafv whe had boon led away^by the Gnostic*, Valentine) (md Mairfcion It is recorded that on meeting Marcion in the strtets of Rome, when the latter asked whiter ho knew him, he replied that he knew ' the first-born of Satan.' He was close on a hundred years old when he died the death of a martyr by the sword— having "been miraculously preserved from death by fire— under Marcus Aurelius — about lbb, or, according to others, about 155 or 156. Of his letters, which St. Polycarp, according to the testimony of St Irenaeus, wrote to the neighboring Churches and to particular persons, we possess only that to the Philippiane, whose authenticity is vouched for by Irenojeus and Eusebius, and by the fact that it was Publicly read in the churches and that its subject is quite in harmony with the doctrine of the Apobtles and the circumstances of the time of the author. St. John Chrysostom, Bishon Confessor and Doctor. St. John Chry&ostom (347-407), the incomparable John of Constantinople, from his sanctity and eloquence called ' Chrvsostom ' or ' Golden-mouthed,' was born at Antioch After spending six years in monastic solitude where he devoted himself to nrayer and the study of the Sacred Scriptures, he was baptised in 369. In 386 >he became a priest, and in 397 he was advanced to the See of Constantinople. In his new post John displayed a wonderful zeal and energy. Greatly loved as he was by the people, his bold denunciation of vice made him numerous enemies, especially at court, who in 403 procured his bmibftmentf. Although almost instantly recalled he was. in the instigation of the licentious Empress Eudoxia, again exiled the following year to Cucusus in Armenia Three years afterwards a new decree banished John to I'ityus, in Colchis, the farthest limits of the empire, but before reaching that place he died at Conaana in Fontus. St. Francis of Sales, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. St. Francis of Sales was born in Savoy in 1547. Naturally of a passionate disposition, he succeeded in obtaining suchi perfect control o\er himself that his name is a synonym for meekness and patience. Ordained priest, the sanctity of his life, united to a gentle winning manner, enabled him to bring back to the Church numbers of his countrymen who had gi\en their adhesion to the heretical teaching of Calvin In 1602 he became Bishop of Geneva. He died in 1622, after having shown himself the model of a bishop as he had been of a layman and a priest. St. Peter Nolasco. St Peter Nolasco was the founder of the Order of Mercy for the redeeming of captives from slavery. The foundation af the Order was laid in 1218. It was instituted with the co-operation of the King of Aragon and of St. Raymond of Pennafort, and was approved by Gregory IX., in 1230. These religious, who adhered to the Rule of St. Augustine, nre often called 'Mathurins ' from their house at Paiis which was situated near the chapel of St. Maturin. Between the years 1492 and 1691 this Order alone rescued nearly 17,000 Christian captives

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