Expectation of the Nativity.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 50, 14 December 1905, Page 31

Expectation of the Nativity.

This feast has been instituted by the Church to commemorate the longing desires and fervent aspirations with which the Immaculate Virgin greeted the near approach of that happy day when she was to bring into the world the long-expected Messiah, Whose coming to redeem mankind had been the continual object of her sighs and prayers. St. Urban V., Pope and Confessor. Urban V. was Pope from 1362 to 137*). Being a pattern of every virtue, he strove to make the Papal Court a model of Christian life. He was a great patron of learned men and most generous to the poor. One of his first 'cares was lo carry on the expedition for the) recovery of the Holy Land, begun by his predecessor, Innocent VI. Convinced that the residence of the Popes at Avignon was injurious to the interests of the Church, he returned to Rome in 1367, and was received amid great rejoicings. The factious and turbulent spirit of the Italians induced him to transfer the Papal residence to Avignon in 1370. St. Thomas, Apostle. St. Thomas, also called Didymus, was one of the twelve Apostles. He was a fisherman on the Lake of Galilee when Our Lord called him to be His Apostle. There are only three incidents related of him in the Gospels, but these are enough to make his character more familiar to us than that of any other, except SS. Peter and Paul. St. Columbanus, Abbot. The famous Irish monk, St. Columbanus, was born in the year 545 in the province of Leinster. He died in (ill). Well educated in literary pursuits, he wished to fly the temptations of the world and retired into the great monastery of Bangor, then famous through the zeal of its monks. An inner voice moved him to leave his country. Accompanied by twelve companions, he went to Gaul, preaching on his route the" Christian virtues. In Bourgogne King Gontran induced him to settle in his country. He gave him the old Roman castle of Annegray, and here Columbanus passed some years in the practice of austere penance. The number of his disciples increased continually. Gontran offered to him the ancient castle of Luxeuil, at the foot of the Vosges, which became the centre of his Order. Afterwards he established a third community at Fontaines. Labor alternated with prayer in these pious asylums which the strong hand of Columbanus directed. Twenty years he spe*nt thus with his religious. His reputation and influence became very great. However, ho had disagreements with the Gaulish episcopate, especially in regard to the feast of Easter, 'which he always wished to celebrate according to the Irish custom — the fourteenth day of the moon — even when the feast came on Sunday, instead of the custom of the Latin Church, which celebrnted it the Sunday after the fourteenth day. After the death of Gontran, he was banished from the country. He was led to Nantes and put on board a boat bound for Ireland. But landing on the shores of the Rhine, he preached" the Gospel to the Alemanni in the neighborhood of the, Lake of Zurich, and together with his companion Gall, converted many idolaters. Gall remained in Helvetia to continue his apostolate, while Columbanus went to Lombardy, where he founded the famous monastery of Bobbio.