Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 30 November 1911, Page 2395

Friends at Court

©LEANINGS FOB NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR December 3, Sunday. First Sunday in Advent. ~ 4, Monday.—St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. ~ 5, Tuesday. —St. Martin, Pope and Martyr. ~ 6, Wednesday. —St. Nicholas, Bishop and Confessor. ~ 7, Thursday.—St. Ambrose, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. ~ 8, Friday.lmmaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. ~ 9, Saturday. —St. Eutychian, Pope and Martyr. St. Martin, Pope and Martyr. St. Martin, a native of Tuscany, succeeded Pope Theodore in 649. Owing to his uncompromising hostility to the Monothelite heresy, he was seized by order of the Emperor Constans, and conveyed to Constantinople, whence, after being treated with the utmost indignity and barbarity, he was banished to the Crimea. He died in 655, having suffered with heroic constancy the rigors of imprisonment and exile. St. Ambrose, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. St. Ambrose, son of a Roman magistrate, was born in France about the year 340. In 374 he was consecrated Archbishop of Milan. His administration of this important archdiocese extended over twenty-three years, and was one continuous victory over paganism and heresy. Completely forgetful of his worldly interests 'and personal comfort, St. Ambrose was always at the command of anyone who sought his assistance and advice. Though full of tenderness and compassion towards all, he knew how to be firm and unyielding when the interests of religion were at stake. His theological writings and sermons have gained him a place in the foremost rank of the Doctors of the Church. St. Ambrose died in 397. The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. , Her Immaculate Conception was the first of the privileges by which the Blessed Virgin was prepared for the dignity of Mother of God. This privilege signifies that Mary never contracted the stain of original sin; and her soul, in the first moment of its union with her body, as pure and spotless. She was thus excepted from the universal doom, in virtue of which every member of the human race enters the world stained by Adam’s sin. This doctrine, so admirably in keeping with what the holiness of Mary’s Son required, though expressed more or less explicitly in every age of the Church’s history, was not formally defined until the year 1854. GRAINS OF GOLD A BEACON. Led by a wondrous Star, The Magi, from afar, Came unto Him. 0 Mother, let thy light Stream out—a beacon bright That ne’er grows dim. Humble work is often the most valuable, and its reward is the surest. Men fret at being tied to a clerk’s desk. Surely, they say, anyone could direct these envelopes, copy these letters, cast up these interminable columns and yet, in their contempt for their life-work, they fail to see it is giving them a better opportunity of cultivating punctuality, patience, fidelity, and similar passive virtues, than they would have if they played a more conspicuous part in the world’s life, or in spheres where certain other conditions nerve to supreme efforts, which in their case can only be called forth by lofty principle. At the end of life’s brief day we shall be rewarded according to the faithfulness with which we have endeavoured to do our duty, in whatever sphere.