Low Sunday.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 14, 7 April 1904, Page 31

Low Sunday.

The first Sunday after Easter is called Low Sunday, because it emphasises the contrast between the great Easter solemnity and the Sunday which ends the octave. The name given to it in the missal' is ' Dominica in Albis,' because then the newly-baptised wore their wihite robes for the last time. St. Leo the Great. St. Leo I. was Pope from 440 to 461. On account of his eminent learning, sanctity, and great achievements is called the 'Great.' It was this great Pontiff who, by his confidence in God and n,oble and courageous conduct, in 452 saved Rome from being pillaged by the Huns under Attila, ' the Scourge of God,' and again, in 455, he saved t/he city from destruction by the awe which he inspired in the fierce Genseric, King of the Vandals. Rejecting the false Council of Ep'hes.us, Leo, in 451, s-ummo'netl t\he General Council of Ghalcedon, over which he presided by his legates and in which his dogmatic Epistle w>ajs accepted as the expression' of true Catholic faith. He strongly maintained Papal supremacy agains-t arrogant and aspiring bishops, and was zealolus ejvery where for the interests of the faith and Church discipline. St. Julius 1., Pope and Confessor. Julius I. was Pope from 337 to 352, being the successor of Marcus. During the violent struggle with A.riamsm, Julius was the strenuous champion of the Nicon^ .faith and the constant defender of St. Athanasi'us and other orthodox bishops oppressed by the heretics. The bishops, whom the Busebians had unjustly deposdd, were reinstated by Julius, by virtue of the prerogative of the Roman See. With the concurrence of the two emperors, Constantine and Constantius, he, in 313, summoned the great Council of Sardica. St. Justin, Martyr. St Justin was born of Greek parents in Palestine. After haung devoted himself to an exhaustive study of pagjan plhilo.sophy, he embraced Christianity, when he was in his thirtieth year. His fame for learning rests piuicipally on two Apologies, or defences of the Chnstian religion addressed, the one to the Emperor \ntomus Pius, the other to Marous Aurelius. His vigorous and successful championship of Catholicity earned for l.im tihe martyr's crown, A.D. 167. St. Benedict Joseph Labre, Confessor. Benedict Joseph Labie was a native of Amettcs, in the diocese- of Boulogne, and was the son of respectable people whio brought up their family virtuously and religiously The early piety of B^edict induced his father to pl'a.ce him at the age of 12 under the care of his rnclc, who was then parish priest of Erin. After studying for al<out four years with gTcat industry and success, Benedict began to realise that he had no vocation to the priesthood, while on the other hand he felt a strong alt t ax t ion to the solitude and austerities of the doister To Wury himself in the monastery of La Tra,pp<\ where tihe severe rule of the Cistercian Order is observed, became the object of his secret ambition. Mefun while his uncle was carried ofT by a dangerous epidemic which he contracted in ministering to the wants of his sick parishioners Soon afterwards Benedict, who with great devotion had sha/red his charitable lihors, omitted the village of Erin and returned to his home Benedict at last received the reluctant permission of his parents to enter the monastery of La Tr,i,p,:>e Upon his arrival there he found that his youth md em on at ed appearance presented an ins'iirrruountable hamor to bis reception. lie accordingly retraced his to his native village. An application to the CarIhusia,ns met with better success, Hut after six weeks he was dismissed by the Prior asj unfitted to the Order, owing to the state of spiritual desolation with which it pleased Ciiod at that time to visit him A similar result followed his admission to the Cistercian monastery, where he remained for six months in a state of bodily vr-Pik'n'e^s and spiritual languor. He calmly expired on Wednesday in Holy Week, April 16, A.D 1783, at the age of 35.