Sunday, November 30, 2014

SAINT DECOROSUS

St. Decorosus

Decorosus of Capua
Feast day: February 15

Death: 695


Decorosus was bishop of Capua, Italy,in the reign of Pope St. Agatho  for 30 years. He was one of the prelates who assisted at the council of Rome in 680 under Pope Saint Agatho. 

SAINTS SATURNINUS,CASTULUS,MAGNUS AND LUCIUS

Sts. Saturninus, Castulus, Magnus & Lucius

Feast day: February 15

Death: 273



A martyr with Castulus, Magnus, and Lucius. They were disciples of St. Valentine at Terni, Italy.

 They were buried at Passae (Rocca San Zenone) .

Thursday, November 27, 2014

SAINT BERACH

St. Berach
Saint Berach of Kilbarry

Also known as Berach of Termonbarry
Barachias of Termonbarry
Barry of Termonbarry
Berachius of Termonbarry

Feast day: February 15

Martyred in 595



Irish abbot and nephew of St. Freoch. He was raised by his uncle and became a disciple of St. Kevin. Berach, who is sometimes called Barachias or Berachius, founded an abbey at Clusin-Coirpte, in Connaught, Ireland. He is the patron saint of Kilbarry, County Dublin.



Brother of Saint Midabaria. Raised by his uncle, Saint Freoch. Spiritual student of Saint Kevin of Glendalough. Built a church and monastery at Cluain Coirpthe, also known as Termonbarry or Kilbarry, Ireland. Believed to be a martyr. His crosier is in the Dublin Museum.

SAINTS FAUSTINUS AND JOVITA

St. Faustinus and Jovita


Feast day: February 15
Died in Brescia, Lombardy, Italy, c. 121.

Faustinus and Jovita were brothers, nobly born and natives of Brescia. All the incidents in their reputed "Acts" are of doubtful authority, and we can only be sure of their names and martyrdom. According to the tradition of Brescia, they preached Christianity fearlessly while their bishop lay in hiding. Their zeal excited the fury of the heathens against them, then they were arrested by a heathen lord called Julian. They were tortured and dragged to Milan, Rome and Naples, and then brought back to Brescia. As neither threats nor torments could shake their constancy, the Emperor Hadrian, who happened to be passing through Brescia, commended them to be beheaded. The city of Brescia honors them as its chief patrons and claims to possess their relics.  On April 18 the Roman Martyrology names the martyr St. Calocerus, who figures largely in the legendary history of St. Faustinus and Jovita, whose heroic confession he is said to have witnessed when, as a court official, he accompanied Hadrian to his native city Brescia and was present in the amphitheatre. The constancy of the two confessors and the refusal of the wild beasts to touch them brought about his conversion, and he was baptized by Bishop Apollonius with twelve thousand other citizens. He was tortured and imprisoned in several Italian towns notably in Asti, where he instructed St. Secundus who visited him in gaol. Eventually, we are told, he was taken to Albanga in Liguria and beheaded on the seashore.


   Two brothers belonging to the nobility of Lombardy, and zealous preachers of Christianity--in contrast with the bishop of Brescia, who hid during the persecution of Emperor Hadrian. Not much else can be stated authoritatively about them, except that they were beheaded. Their legend relates that Julian, a heathen lord, apprehended them; and the emperor himself passing through Brescia, commanded their execution when neither threats nor torments could shake their constancy. They are the chief patrons of Brescia, where their relics are enshrined and a very ancient church bears their names


 Saints Faustinus and Jovita are depicted as two knightly brothers holding the palms of martyrs. At times: (1) Faustinus may be alone, richly dressed and on horseback; (2) an angel may be shown saving them from drowning; (3) they are pictured together with Bishop . 

BLESSED JORDAN OF SAXONY

Blessed Jordan of Saxony,
 Born in Germany, 1190
Died 1237

Feast day: February 15



Blessed Jordan of Saxony died in 1237. A Saxon named Gordanus or Giordanus, he received his bachelor of divinity degree at Paris. He met St. Dominic there and in 1220, became a Dominican. He was elected prior provincial of Lombardy the next year, and in 1222, on the death of Dominic, was elected second master general of the Dominicans. He expanded the Order, establishing many new foundations in Germany and Switzerland. He sent missionaries to Denmark, and frequently preached at universities to young students. He was a powerful preacher, and St. Albert the Great became a Dominican after hearing one of his sermons. He was on his way to the Holy Land in 1237 when his ship was wrecked on the coast of Syria and all aboard perished. He is the author of a life of St. Dominic that is one of the main sources of information about the founder of the Dominicans. Jordan's cult was approved in 1825.


 Men prayed for strength to resist Jordan's burning eloquence, and mothers hid their sons when Master Jordan came to town. Students and masters warned each other of the fatal magnetism of his
sermons. The sweetness of his character and the holiness of his life shone through his most casual words in a flame that drew youth irresistibly to the ideal to which he had dedicated his own life.
In his 16 years of preaching, Jordan is said to have drawn more than a thousand novices to the Dominican Order, among whom were two future popes, two canonized saints (e.g., Albert the Great), numerous beati, and countless intellectual lights of his dazzling century. Of Jordan's childhood, nothing is known, except that he was born of a noble family. He was drawn to the order in 1220 by the preaching of Blessed Reginald, the beloved son of Dominic, brought  back from death by Dominic's and Our Lady's prayers. Jordan was at  that time about 30, a student at the University of Paris, and his reputation for sanctity had preceded him into the order. He had worn the habit for only two months when he was sent to Bologna as a delegate to the first general chapter of the order.
The following year he was elected provincial of Lombardy, Italy, and on the death of Saint Dominic, succeeded him as master general. The Order of Preachers was only six years old when Jordan became master general. He carried out the yet untried plans of Dominic, who had hurried off to heaven when many of his dreams were just beginning to open out into realization, and still more vistas
beckoned beyond. Under him the new order advanced apace, spreading throughout Germany and into Denmark. Jordan will always be remembered for his work in increasing the manpower of the order,
but his contribution to its quality should never be forgotten. He added four new provinces to the eight already in existence; he twice obtained for the order a chair at the University of Paris and
helped found the University of Toulouse; and he established the first general house of studies of the order. He was a spiritual guide to many, including Blessed Diana d'Andalo; and somewhere in
his busy lifetime he found time to write a number of books, including a life of Saint Dominic. 

        Jordan was regarded as a menace by the professors of universities where he recruited novices. He emptied classrooms of their most talented students, stole their most noted professors. Young men by the hundreds besieged the order for admittance. Some were mere children, some famous lawyers and teachers, and some were the wealthy young bearers of the most famous names in Christendom. One and all, they were drawn to a life of perfection by this man who preached so well, and who practiced what he preached with such evident relish. All the old writers speak of the kindness and personal charm of Jordan. He had the ability to console the troubled and to inspire the despondent with new hope. At one time, a discouraged student was busily saying the Office of the Dead when Master Jordan sat down beside him and began alternating verses with him. When he came to the end of Psalm 26, Jordan said the verse with emphasis: "Oh, wait for the Lord!" Wherewith the sorrows of the young man departed. Another student was rid of troubled thoughts by the mere imposition of Jordan's hands. To bring peace to the brothers who were being annoyed by the devil, Jordan established the beautiful custom of singing the Salve Regina after Compline each night.

 Jordan was shipwrecked and drowned when returning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land .

SAINT PAULIEN

St. Paulien
Feast day: February 14
 Died 660.
St. Paulien French, bishop .First bishop of Frankish birth . 

SAINTS VITALIS,FELICULA AND ZENO

Vitalis, Felicula & Zeno

 Date unknown.
Feast day: February 14

These martyrs are listed in the Roman Martyrology as suffering at Rome but nothing else is known about them, except that the connection of Zeno with Vitalis and Felicula seems slight. Saint Zeno is the patron of an ancient basilica on the Appian Way mentioned by William of Malmesbury.


The earliest information about St Vitalis comes from an inscription [CIL XI 2 4966] that was originally in the church of San Lorenzo, Terzo della Pieve.  It recorded a poem by Bishop Spes (ca. 380-410), in which he commemorated the fact that he had discovered the relics of St Vitalis and dedicated an altar to him.

Bishop Paolo Sanvitale (who probably had a particular veneration for "San Vitale") translated the relics and the inscription to the Duomo in 1597.  The inscription was broken, probably during its translation but it is known from a transcription contained in a letter written by Paolo Sanvitale and from a fragment that is now in the Museo Diocesano and illustrated above:



SPES EPISCOPUS DEI SERVUS SANCTO VITALI MARTYRI

A SE PRIMUM INVENTO ALTARIS HONOREM FECIT

     A                                                                                         W

MARTYRIS HIC LOCVS EST VITALIS NOMINE VERO

QVEM SERVATA FIDES ET CHRISTI PASSIO VOTAT.

SOLVS HIC E NOSTRIS VICTRICIA DONA REPORTANS

AETERNAM CAELO MERVIT PERFERRE CORONAM

HVNC PRECOR VT LVCIS PROMISSAE GAVDIA CARPAM

ET QVAE VIRGO PRECANS POSCIT CALVENTIA PRAESTET

CORPORIS INTACTO PVRI DECORATA PVDORE

PLVSQUE DATVRA FIDE DECORIS QVAM QVOD PIA PATRI

EXHIBET OFFICIA ET PVRO VENERATUR AMORE

VTQVE PROBANTE DEO MANEAT PER SAECLA FIDELIS

PRAEMIA LAETA SIBI CONCESSO MVNERE SVMME[NS]



SANCTIS LAETVS EGO SPES HAEC MVNVSCVLA (DO



SANCTI VITALIS MARTYRIS PASSIONIS NATALIS DIE XVI

The line “ SOLVS HIC E NOSTRIS VICTRICIA DONA REPORTANS” (the only martyr among us) has been taken to mean that no other martyrs were venerated at Spoleto at the time of Bishop Spes.  However, some scholars believe that the reference was to the specific location now known as terzo della Pieve, which might have been the personal property of Bishop Spes.

In the second part of the poem , Bishop Spes commended his daughter Calventia, a virgin consecrated to God.

The last line of the inscription gives the first part of the feast day as “XVI”.  This has been assumed to be the surviving fragment of “XVI KAL MARTIAS” (14th February).  Two saints named Vitalis are recorded in the martyrologies under this date:

   The Hieronymian Martyrology records that St Vitalis was martyred with 84 soldiers at “ Tuscia Spoliti”, near Spoleto .  This probably post-dates the invention of the relics at Terzo la Pieve: it might derive from it, although that hypothesis does not explain the inclusion of the 84 soldiers.


A relic of the tibia of St Vitalis in a reliquary (1597) commissioned by Paolo Sanvitale is now in the Cappella delle Reliquie in the Duomo.