Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 4, 24 January 1907, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

January 27,- Sunday.— Septuagesima Sunday. „ 28,. Monday.— St. "John.Chrysostom, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. „,. -29, Tuesday.— Commemoration .of the Prayer of ■*' _'" - Our Blessed Lorvcl in the Garden "of Cicthscmane. '„ 30, Wednesday.— Si. Felix IV., Pope and Confessor. r ■ - ~~~^ "

„ 31, -Thursday;— St. Peter Nolasco^Confessor. February 1, Friday.— St. Brigid; Patroness of Ireland. „ 2, Saturday. —Purification of the -Blessed Virgin Mary.

St. Peter Nolasco, -Confessor.

This saint was a native of France. He founded the - Order of Our Lady of Mercy, for the ransom of Christians enslaved by the Moors, and to this project he devoted the considerable properly which he had inherited from his father. He died on" Christmas Day, 1256, in the 67th year of his' -age. _ , St. Brigid, Virgin. -St. Brig|id, whose name is ..frequently," .though incorrectly, spelled Bridget, is the patron saint of Ireland. She was born in 4.53, "and according to an ancient Irish account of her life, was born at Fochart (now Faug-" her).. Her father's name was "Dubb.tach.~ She was foundress and abbess of. several convents, the most celebrated of which was that of Kildare .(' The Church of the Oak'), which was erected in the year- 490. She tfted,. in 523. .. "

The Purification.

This is a festival observed in the Catholic Church in commemoration of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, according to the Jewish, ceremonial, forty days after the birth of Christ. It is also called 'Candlemas' (that is ' Candle Mass ') on account of the blessing of wax tapers, which are carried burning by those" *who form the procession which takes 'place afterwards. The symbolical meaning attributed to this ceremony is that the faithful should, with the holy Simeon, recognise in • the Infant Jesus the salvation which- the Lord had prepared before the face of the people—' A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the. glory of the' people of -Israel ' • (Luke ii. 31-32) and be admonished by the burning ta- * pers which they aie carrying in their hands, that their ■ faith must be fed and augmented by the exercise of*'good works, through which' they are to become a light to shine before men (Matt. v. 14-IG).'