Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 22, 2 June 1904, Page 31

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOU NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR June 5, Sunday. — Second Sunday after Pentecost. St. Boniface, Bisbop and Martyr. „ (>, Monday — St Norbert, Bishop and Confessor. „ 7, Tuesday —St Augustine, Bishop and Confessor. S, Wednesday —St Angela de Mericia, Virgin. „ '*_ Thursday — Octave ot Corpus Ohnsli. in Friday — Feast of the Sacred Heart. „ 11, Saturday.— St Barnabas, Apostle. St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr. St Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, was born in (180, m Wessex At an early age he slhowed a strong predilection tor a monastic life, and at the age of 30 was ordained priest, being then noted for his ability and le.unin<; Being imbued with the desire of spreading the Christian faiuh among the German people, he left London, accompanied by three other missionaries, for the coast of Fnesland m 716. The disturbed state of the country compelled him to return to England, and two years later he went to Rome, and there obtained from Pope Gregory II an apostolic mission to Northern German} He began his apostolic career in Thuringia, in 7]<i, where he labored reforming the clergy and instructing the people From Thuringia he went to Ilesse, where he mam* many converts In 723 he was summoned to Rome, wheie he was consecrated regionary bishop by Pcie Gregory II Returning to Germany, he continued his labor \ and in 732 was made Vicar-Apostolic Six years later he made another visit to Rome, and, returning v ith increased powers, he proceeded to settle the ecclesiastical divisions of Germany, and held several synods In 717 he was appointed Archbishop of Ment/., and Primate of Germany After lahoiing for thirty years io' the saUpiion of the German people, he resigned his an hit piscopal See in order to undeitake the conversion oi' the Frisians He had already converted several thousands ol 11ns nation Avhen he was attacked and slain by a band of pagans m 755 The remains of the illustrious martyr were deposited in the monastery of Ful da , ?U St Norbert, Bishop and Confessor St Norbert was the founder in 1110 of the PremonMiaterrMans a religious Order of Canons-Regular. He go-\e to Ins follow cis the white habit and the rule of St Benedict, with certain constitutions framed by hrmseli, and enjoined on them study, the office of preaching, and the care ot souls The Order which was approved by Pope Hononus II , in 1126, extended itself throughout Europe, and its labors were especially blessed in Germany and the northern kingdoms There were at one time a thousand Premonstratonsian abbeys. St Nor belt died archbishop ot Magdeburg, in 1134. St Augustine, Bishop and Confessor. St Augustine, a Benedictine monk, was sent by Pope Gicgoiy I m 5%, wiUi tihn t.y-nine of his brethlen, to under take the ( onvers-ion of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain The efiect of their pleaching was accompanied with most wonderful success, on the following Christmas, ten thousand, following the example of King Ethclbert of Kent, were bapti/ed On learning of the wonderful and prosperous mission of Augustine, Pope Gregoiy appointed him the first bishop, and, in 601, metropolitan of the Anglo-Saxons with the authority to lound tweHe suffragan Sees, and, when Northern England should have embraced the faith, also to consecrate a bishop for York, which should, likewise, be a metropolitan with twelve suftragan sees Augustine chose Dtneiiuim, now Canterbury, for his metropolitan see St Augustine chod, after having cho&en Lawrence, one of Ins faithful fellow-laborers, to succeed him in the See of Canterbury. Feart of the Sacred Heart Altei many devout souls had \cnerated the Sacred Hear! of Jesus, with sincere devotion, in the solitude of quiet lite, our divine Saviour willed that His heart's infinite love should be recognised by all men, and be enkindled in cold hearts by a new fiie of 'love. For this end He made use of a feeble, obscure instrument, that all the world might know, that the devotion of His loving heart, previously almost entirely unknown was His own work This instrument, disregarded by the world, was one who shone before God in all the radiance of the most sublime virtues, the nun Margaret Alacoque, of the Ordei of the Visitation of Mary, at Paray, in Burgundy.