Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 33, 17 August 1905, Page 31

Friends at Court

OLEANINOS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

August 20, Sunday.—Tenth Sunday after Pentecost. St. Joachim, Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. „ 21, Monday .-—St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Widow. „ 22, Tuesday.—Octave of the Assumption. 23, Wednesday.—St. Philip Beniti, Confessor. „ 24, Thursday.—St. Alphonsus, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor. „ 25, Friday.—St. Bartholomew, Apostle. • „ 2«, Saturday.—St. Zephyrinus, Pope and Martyr. St. Joachim, Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Fathers of the Church unite In extolling the sanctity of St. Joachim and St. Anne, whose privilege it was to be the parents of the Most Pure Mother of God. St. Jane Frances de Ch'ahtal, Widow. This saint was foorn at Dijon in 1573. She was married at the age of twenty to the Baron de Chantal, but digjht years later she had the misfortune to lose her husband through an accid*nt. Having completed the education of her children, she founded under the direction of St. Francis de Sales, and with the cooperation of some other ladies of rank, the religious Order of the Visitation. She died in 1641. St. Philip Beniti, Confessor. St. Philip Beniti, a priest of >the Servite Order, was born at Florence about the beginning of the thirteenth century. He was remarkable for his extreme h!umility, which caused him to refuse all offices of dictinction, and for aJ'b-urnan'g zeal which brought about the conversion of innumerable sinners in the different parls of Italy which he visited. He died in 1285. St. Alphonsus, Bialhop, Confessor, and Doctor. St. Alphonsus L'iguori was born at' Naples in 169 G. At the age of 30 he abandoned the legal profession, in which he had already made a name for himself, and, in si ite of the opposition of his father, he became a priest. Applying himself zealously to the duties of his sacred calling, he touched by his fervent discourses the hearts of the most inveterate sinners. Still more abundant was the fruit which he gathered in the tribunal of penance, where he joined a singular prudence and firmness to the most tender sentiments of paternal affection. He founded and for a lotog time go\erned the ' Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.' For eight years he was Bishop of St. Agatha, but at length obtained leave to resign this responsible office, which he had accepted only very reluctantly. In the midst of his labors he found time to compose a number of doctrinal and devotional works, which have earned for him the title of ' Doctor of the Church.' St. Alp'hon-sus died in 1787, at the ace of 90. B St. Bartholomew, Apostle. St. Bartholomew was one of the twelve Apostles, and is generally supposed to be identical with Nathaniel, lie carried the Gosipel to India, i.e., Arabiia, Felix, or Yemen. A century later traces of Christianity were found in these countries by Pantaentis of Alexandria, who also disco\ered a copy of St. .Matthew's Gospel in Hebrew, which had been left there by St. Bartholomew. Armenian writers inform us that he afterwards traversed Persia, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor. Thence he passed Into Greater Armenia, and there, after making numerous conversions, suffered a cruel martyrdom at Albanopolis. By order of King Astyapes, whose predecessor and brother, .Polymius, had lieen converted by him, the Apostle was flayed alive and beheaded.

St. Zephyrinus, Pope and Martyr

St. Zephyrimis became Pope in 202, the year in which Ihe Emperor Septimus Severus bpgan a general persecution of the Church throughout the Roman Empire. His pontificate! was troubled by many heresies, which the holy Pontiff resolutely combated. Whether his death was that of a martyr, or this title was given to him on account of his previous sufferings for the faith, cannot be accurately determined.