Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 36, 7 September 1905, Page 31

Friends at Court

September 10, Sunday.— Thirteenth Sunday after .Pentecost. The Holy Name of Mary. „ 11, Monday.— St. Nicholas of Tolentino, Confessor. „ 12, Tuesday.— St. Rose of Lima, Virgin. „ 13, Wednesday.— St. Sergius 1., Pope and Confessor. „ 14, Thursday.— The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. „ 15, Fridajy.^-Octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. „ 16, Saturday.— SS. Cornelius and Cyprian, Miartyins.

The Holy Name of Mary. The najme of Mary, according to St. Bernard, means ' Star of the Sea,' an emblem of hope in the midst of diangpr. St. Peter Chrysologus considers the meaning of Mary to be ' Queen,' and this would accord with her royal dignity, as Mother of Him Who was truly King. St. Rose of Lima, Virgin. St. ißotse, who wias a religious of the Third Order of St. Dominic, was born at Lima, Peru, South America. She is the patron saint , of her native city, and was the first saint of South America. St. Sergius 1., Pope and Confessor. St. Sergius was Pope from 687 to 701. He refused to sanct/ion the Trullan Synod, which assembled in 692, at the summons of the Emperor Justinian 11. Irritated by this refusal, the haughty Emperor sent orders for the apprehension and transportation of the Pope to Constantinople. But the Romans, and even the Imperial soldiery, rushed to the defence of the Pope, and only for the Pope's intervention they would have torn Zacharias, the Imperial officer, to pieces. Exaltation of the Holy Cross. St. Helena, having gone to Jerusalem, ordered "the destruction of tihe temple of Venus, built over the tomlji of Ctiri'st. Then upon excavating to a great depth the holy Sepulchre, and near it the three crosses, also the nails which had pierced our Saviour's Wody, and the title which had been affixed to His cross,* were found. The true Cross wias recognised by the miracles which it wrought. St. Helena sent a part of the Cross to Constantinople and left the other part at Jerusalem, where it was encased in a silver box aad presenod in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which had ?jfen erected on the spot of the discovery. The (tfourch has consecrated this e\ent by the institution of the feast of the ' Finding of the Holy Cross,' which is celebrated on May 3 Chosraes 11., King of Persia, having tal.en Jerusalem, carried off the relic, which waa recaptured fourteen years later, under Siroes, his son and successor, by the Emperor Heraclius. Both the Ureek a'ndi Latin Churches still celebrate this victory, on September I^, by tihe feast of the ' Exaltation of the Cross.' Saints Cornelius and Cyprian, Bishops and Martyrs. Those two saints were coai temporaries and friends. Coirnelius was elected to succeed Pope F'atyian in 251. During his Pontificate -the Church had to contend not only with the persecution of the Emperor Decius, but also with thje iti'Uerrval disturbances excLtcd by the heretic N'ov atji an . In 252 St. Cornelius was banished to Cnita Vecdhia. Brought black to Rome in the same year, he thpro gained the crown of martyrdom. St. Cypoan, Bishop of Carthage, was born in the beginning ol tho third century, of a wealthy senatorial family, and had been an esteemed and successful rhetorician at Oairth'age, "his native city. He was converted to Christian I]ty1 ] ty about the year 24G, and soon after was raised to the pries tihwd, and, o« the death of Bishop Donatuis in 248, he was chosen to succeed that prelate. Cyprian, ended his noble episcopate by martyrdom under Valerian in 258.

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR