Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 9 September 1920, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR. September 12, Sunday.—Sixteenth Sunday after Pencost. v „ 13, Monday.Of the Peria. ~ 14, Tuesday.—Exaltation of the Holy Cross. ~ 15, Wednesday. Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Ember Day. Fast. ~ 16, Thursday.—SS. Cornelius and Cyprian, Martyrs. „ 17, Friday.—Stigmata of St. Francis. Ember Day. Fast. ~ 18, Saturday.—St. Joseph Cupertino, Confessor. Ember Day. Fast, no abstinence. Exaltation of the Holy Cross. On this day we commemorate the recovery of the True Cross, which was left at Jerusalem by St. Helena, and which, having been carried off by the invading Persians, was regained by the Emperor Heraclius in 628. Stigmata of St. Francis. God, not content with enriching His saints interiorly with every grace, has also vouchsafed to bestow on certain of them external signs of their conformity to their Crucified Lord, by miraculously imprinting on their bodies the marks of His five Sacred Wounds. One of those who were favored with this extraordinary grace was the seraphic St. Francis of Assisi. Saints Cornelius and Cyprian, Martyrs. These two saints were contemporaries and friends. St. Cornelius was elected to succeed Pope Fabian in 251. During his Pontificate, the Church had to contend not only with the persecution of the Emperor Decius, but also with the internal disturbances excited by the heretic Novatian. In 252, St. Cornelius was banished to Civita Vecchia. Brought back to Rome in the same year, he there gained the crown of martyrdom. St. Cyprian was verging on old age when converted from paganism. He was consecrated Bishop of Carthage in 248. During 10 years he labored unceasingly to promote the spiritual interests of his flock. He was the author of several treatises on doctrinal and devotional subjects. Pie was martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.

GRAINS OF GOLD EVENING HOURS. The low last candle burns Away before the holy shrine j The last sad roseleaf falls, ancT no heart turns Whose prayer is thine. They came as some wild sky Is fanned to windy purple rains And wind-like fled: of all that pageantry No strain remains. Deserted now and dim, No paeans from the organ roll. No buds of flame, no bursts of’flooding hymn • Lost echoes toll. s J ’ Thus in the softer hours _ Secluded still the holy door Onlj n Jore Dumb gh ° sts ° f budded flowers Michael Mclntyre.