Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 16, 26 April 1923, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK’S CALENDAR. April 29, Sunday. Fourth Sunday after Easter. „ 30, Monday.— St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin. May 1, Tuesday. — SS. Philip and James, Apostles. ~ 2, Wednesday. —St. Athanasius, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. ~ 3, —Finding of the Holy Cross. „ 4, Friday. Monica, Widow. „ 5, Saturday.—St. Pius V., Pope and Confessor. St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin. Siena, in Italy, has the honor of having been the birthplace of this great saint. From her earliest years St. Catherine cultivated the spirit of perfect union with God, and even when engaged in the most distracting occupations succeeded in keeping herself no less sensible of His presence than if she Had no exterior employment. She was indefatigable in her efforts to bring souls to God, and her words and example, and even the very sight of her emaciated but saintly countenance, were the cause of many conversions. She seemed to have a. special grace for effecting the reconciliation of enemies. Her powerful influence in this direction was exercised, not only in the case of private individuals, but also in reconciling States that were at variance, and in obtaining the submission and pardon of rebellious cities which had incurred the censures of the Holy See. But the most important service she rendered to the Church was the restoration of the Sovereign Pontiff to his episcopal city after a residence of nearly 70 years at Avignon, in France, an end being thus put to the innumerable evils resulting to the Church from the prolonged absence of the Vicar of Christ from Rome. St. Catherine died in 1380, at the age of 47, and was buried in Rome, in the Church of the Minerva, where her remains are still preserved. SS, Philip and James, Apostles. St. Philip was a native of Bethsaida in Galilee, and was called to the Apostolate on the day after the vocation of St. Peter. From several facts mentioned in the Gosepls, he appears to have been specially dear to his Divine Master. After the descent of the Holy Ghost, he preached in Scythia and Phrygia. He lived to an advanced age, and finally received the crown of martyrdom at Hierapolis, in Phrygia. St. James, surnamed the Less, on account of his stature or youth, was a brother of the Apostle St. Jude, and a relation of the Blessed Virgin, being a son of her sister or cousin. He was called to the Apostolate in the second year of our Lord’s public ministry. After Pentecost, St. James became the first Bishop of Jerusalem, and took a prominent part in the Council of the Apostles held in that city in 51. He was stoned to death by the Jews, A.D. 62. The Finding of the Holy Cross. This festival has been celebrated in the Latin Church since the fifth or sixth century. It commemorates the discovery by St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, A.D. 326, of the Cross on which Our Blessed Saviour suffered. In the words of St. Jerome: “If the ark was held in such high veneration by the Jews, how much more ought Christians respect the wood of the Cross whereon Our Saviour offered Himself a bleeding victim for our sins? Christ selected the Cross to bo the glorious instrument of His victory, and the Cross is the standard under which all His followers must fight His battles.”

Grains of Gold MY LIFE. My life is but a weaving Between my God and me I may not choose the colors He worketh steadily. Full oft He weaveth sorrow And I, in foolish pride, Forget He sees the upper And I the under side. —Father Tabs.