GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 19, 13 May 1909, Page 723

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

May 16, Sunday. — Fifth Sunday after Easter. St. Brendan, Abbot. „ 17, Monday. — St. John Nepomucene, Martyr. Rogation Day. „ 18, Tuesday. — St. Venantius, Martyr. Rogation Day. „ 19, Wednesday. — St. Peter Celestine, Pope and Confessor. Rogation Day. „ 20, Thursday. — Ascension of Our Lord. Holiday of Obligation. „ 21, Friday. — St. Felix of Cantalicio, Confessor. „ 22, Saturday. — St. Paschal Baylon, Confessor. St. Brendan, Abbot. St. Brendan was a native of Ireland, and a disciple of St. Finian. Passing into England, he established there two monasteries. On his return to Ireland he continued the same good work, and founded, among others, the famous abbey of Clonfert. He died in 578, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. According to a tradition accepted by* some historians, Sb. Brendan voyaged to America, and landed in, or near, the present State of Virginia. St. John Nepomucene, Martyr. In the Sacrament of Penance, so indispensable is the obligation of secrecy, and so far does it extend, that the priest may say with an ancient writer : ' What I know by Confession, I know less than what I do not know at all.' St. John, a native of Nepomuc, in Bohemia, and a priest of the City of Prague, was a martyr to his fidelity in observing this sacramental secrecy. As the inscription on his tomb states : ' Because he had faithfully kept the seal of Confession, he was cruelly tormented, and thrown from the bridge of Prague into the river Moldau, by the orders of Wenceslaus IV., Emperor, and King of. Bohemia, A.D. 1383. >