Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 29, 27 July 1922, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR.

July 30, Sunday. Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. ~ " 31, Monday.—St. Ignatius, Confessor.

August 1, Tuesday.—St. Peter's Chains!

~ 2, Wednesday.—St. Alphonsus, Bishop, Confessor,

and Doctor.

~ 3, Thursday.—Finding of the Relics of St. Stephen,

Proto-Martyr.

~ 4, Friday.—St. Dominic, Confessor.

„ 5, Saturday.—Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary

of the Snows.

st. peter's chains.

This feast commemorates the {miraculous deliverance of St. Peter from the prison into which he had been cast by order of King Herod Agrippa. The circumstances of this miracle are narrated by St. Luke in the twelfth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. ST. ALPHONSUS, BISHOP, CONFESSOR, AND. DOCTOR. St. Alphonsus Liguori was born at Naples in 1696. At the age of 30 he abandoned the legal profession, in which he had already made a name for himself, and, in spite of the opposition of his father, he became a priest. Applying himself zealously to the duties of his sacred calling, he touched by his fervent discourses the hearts of the most inveterate sinners. Still more abundant was the' fruit which he gathered in the tribunal of penance, where he joined a singular prudence, and firmness to the most tender sentiments of paternal affection. He founded and for along time governed the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. For eight years he was Bishop of St. Agatha, but at length obtained leave to resign this responsible office, which he had accepted only very reluctantly. In the midst of his labors he found time to compose a number of doctrinal and devotional works, which have earned for him the title of Doctor of the Church. St. Alphonsus died in 1787, at the age of 90.

ST. DOMINIC, CONFESSOR.

St. Dominic, a. Spaniard of noble birth, was remarkable from childhood for a tender love of the poor, and a filial devotion to the Blessed Virgin. After his ordination to the priesthood, these two characteristics became still more marked. To his veneration for the Blessed Vi- > is attributed the institution of the Holy Rosary, wihch was such a powerful factor in the conversion of the Albigensian heretics, and which has ever since remained a favorite devotion of Catholics. St. Dominic died in 1221, having some years previously founded the well-known Order of monks called after him, Dominicans.

REFLECTIONS.

If we labor under the hatred of the world, Christ first endured the hatred of the world.—St. Cyprian. ' There was never saint so highly rapt and illuminated, who first or last was not tempted.—Thomas a-Kempis. Be thou no longer curious how the ungodly shall be punished; but inquire'. how the righteous shall be saved, they, whose the world is, and for whom the world was created. —St. Uriel.

Grains of Gold

IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA.

With' iron strength which only those may know, Who loving things created find at last, Through pain and travail Love itself unmasked. And kneeling there within that piercing glow, Casting abroad its dauntless rays to show To eyes and heart, clean-swept, those loves that blast And leave the soul, 'mid ruins, Love's outcast, Betrayed and dying by such overthrow; You, to tlie world your life-long service gave, Fired with the love of God's sheer rhapsody, Forever seeking, striving e'er to save To win again for Love immortally. Souls snatched from Death that ends not with the grave, And write their names on Heaven's Masonry! —Charles J. Quirk, S.J.