Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 25 January 1912, Page 3

Friends at Court

: «.v \ - ■■■—• • ’ GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR January 28, Sunday.—Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. St. John Chrysostom, . • Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. ~ 29, Monday. —St. Francis of Sales, Bishop, . Confessor, and Doctor. ~ 30, Tuesday. —St. Felix IV., Pope and Confessor. ~ 31, Wednesday.—St. Peter Nolasco, Confessor. February 1, Thursday.-St. Brigid, Virgin. ~ 2, Friday. Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. ~ 3, Saturday.-St., Denis, Pope and Confessor. St. John Chrysostom, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. St. John, surnamed Chrysostom, or the golden mouthed, on account of his eloquence, was born in Syria, A.D. 344. At first a-lawyer, he afterwards became a priest, and was subsequently elected Archbishop of' Constantinople. Undeterred by human respect, he boldly denounced the vices of the Imperial Court, thus making for himself many powerful enemies, at whose instance he was banished to a remote district situated to the east of the Black Sea. The saint never reached his destination. Worn out by the exhausting journey, he died in Armenia, A.D. 407. St.. Francis of Sales, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. - This saint was born in Savoy in 1547. Naturally of a passionate disposition, he succeeded in obtaining such perfect control over himself that his name is a synonym for. meekness and patience. Ordained priest, the sanctity of his life, united to a gentle, winning manner, enabled him to bring back to the Church numbers of his countrymen, who had been imbued from childhood with the heretical tents of Calvin. In 1602 he became Bishop of Geneva. ; He died in 1622, after having shown himself the model of a Bishop, as he had been that of a layman and priest. - St. Brigid, Virgin and Patroness of Ireland. St. Brigid; known as the Mary of Ireland/ lived in the beginning of the sixth century. Having in her youth received the religious veil from St. Mel, the nephew of St. Patrick, she’ founded a convent at Kildare, which attracted to itself numbers of maidens anxious to consecrate themselves to God. From Kildare other houses were founded, all of which recognised St. Brigid as their head. Her remains were laid beside those of St. Patrick and St. Columba in the Cathedral of Downpatrick, in a magnificent monument which was destroyed in the reign of Henry VIII. GRAINS OF GOLD THE TIDAL CALL. The fountains of a thousand hills . ... , , Come singing to the sea; And so, O Lord, our voices pour In tribute unto Thee, From out the tangled wilderness Of folly and of sin, , The waters of our spirits rush. •T Thy ocean vast to win. !. ’ ’ : ' ' ' • ' - • ’ •i r O, when we reach the boundless deep, j The ocean of the all, - Be Thine the onward-bearing wind, ; . Be Thine the tidal call!' ' . • Catholic World. * . - 1 ,What is worth doing is worth doing well. Don’t . . do things by half; the half is never equal to the whole. If you can, turn out the best work. '•> . .