Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 16, 23 April 1908, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

April 26, Sunday .—Low' Sunday. „ 27, Monday-— St. Anastasius, Pope and Confessor. „ 28, Tuesday.— St. Paul of the Cross, Confessor. „ 29, Wednesday.— St. Peter, Martyr. „ 30, Thursday.— St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin. ~> — May 1, Friday.— SS. Philip and James, Apostles. „ 2, Saturday.— St. Athanasius, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. St. Anastasius, Pope and Confessor. St. Anastasius, a Roman by birth, held the Pontifical Office from 398 to 401. St. Jerome refers to him in terms of high commendation," "and declares him to j have been ' a man of holy life, endowed with an apostolic solicitude and zeal.' St. Paul of the Cross, Confessor. St. Paul was born, near Genoa, in Italy. 'From childhood he showed a special devotion to the Passion of Christ. -He founded the Congregation of c the-Pas-sion, the nrembers of which, besides the usual three' vows, make a fourth, that they will do 'their utmost to keep alive in the hearts of the faithful the,, memory of our Lord's Passion. St. Paul died in Rome in, 1775. St. Athanasius, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. Of St. Athanasius, St. Gregory Nazianzen writes : ' When I praise Atii&nasius virtue itself is my theme, for I name every virtue as often as I mention, him, who was possessed of all virtues. He was a true** pillar of the Church. His life and conduct were the rule of MshioPs, and his doc/trine the rule" of the orthodox faith.' In the calamitous times that followed the Council of Nice, Athanasius, the saintly Bishop of Alexandria, was the chief bulwark and most intrepid cham- -- pion of the Church' 1 . During an episcopate of forty-six years, he was five times driven, into exile, but no hardships could shake his constancy. In his trials he met with; firm support from Popes Julius, Liberius, and _ Damascus. When the Arians pronounced sentence of deposition against St. Athanasius, Pope Julius annulled their action. 'Do you not know,' he wrote to then?!, ' that it is customary to write to Us first, and that it is from the See of Rome the decision must' come which' is just and equitaible ?' St. Athanasius died ' at an advanced age in 373. •