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Saint Francis of Assisi October 4

Saint Francis 

of Assisi

Memorial October 4

Saint Francis was born at Assisi in 1182.  After a carefree youth, he renounced his paternal wealth and committed himself to God.  He led a life of evangelical poverty and preached the love of God to all.  He established a rule which a number of his companions followed and which gained the approval of the Holy See.  Subsequently, he founded an order of nuns and a society of laypersons who practice penance while living in the world.  He died in 1226 at age 44.

We must be simple, 

humble and pure

From a letter written to all the faithful by Saint Francis of Assisi

It was through His archangel, Gabriel, that the Father above made known to the holy and glorious Virgin Mary that the worthy, holy and glorious Word of the Father would come from heaven and take from her womb the real flesh of our human frailty.  Though He was wealthy beyond reckoning, He still willingly chose to be poor with His Blessed Mother.  And shortly before His passion He celebrated he Passover with His disciples.  Then He prayed to the Father, if it is possible, let this cup be taken from Me.

Nevertheless, He reposed His will in the will of the Father.  The Father willed that His blessed and glorious Son, Whom He gave to us and who was born for us,  should through His own blood offer Himself as a sacrificial victim on the altar of the cross.  This was to be done not for Himself through Whom all things are made, but for our sins.  It was intended to leave us an example of how to follow in His footsteps.  

And He desires all of us to be saved 

through Him, and to receive Him 

with pure heart and chaste body.

O how happy and blessed are those who love the Lord and do as the Lord Himself said in the gospel: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul, and your neighbor as yourself.  Therefore, let us love God and adore Him with pure heart and mind.  This is His particular desire when He says: True worshipers adore the Father in spirit and in truth.  For all who adore Him must do so in the spirit of truth.  Let us also direct to Him our praises and prayers saying: Our Father, who art in heaven,  since we must always pray and never grow slack.

Furthermore, let us produce worthy fruits of penance.  Let us also love our neighbors as ourselves.  Let us have charity and humility.  Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains of sin.  

Men lose all the material things they leave behind in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give.  For those they will receive from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve.  

We must not be wise and prudent 

according to the flesh.  

Rather we must be simple, humble and pure.  

We should never desire to be over others.  Instead, we ought to be servants who are submissive to every human being for God’s sake.  The Spirit of the Lord will rest on all who live in this way and persevere in it to the end.  He will permanently dwell in them.  They will be the Father’s children who do his work.  They are the spouses, brothers and mothers of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Taken from Liturgy of the Hours, Ordinary Time Weeks 18-34.  Francis of Assisi Memorial

St. Therese of the Child Jesus October 1

St. Therese of the Child Jesus

St. Therese of the 

Child Jesus, Virgin

Memorial October 1

Saint Therese was born at Alencon in France in 1873.  While still a young girl, she entered the Carmelite monastery at Lisieux.  There she lived a life of humility, evangelical simplicity and trust in God.  By word and example she taught those virtues to the novices of the community.  Offering her life for the salvation of souls and the growth of the Church.  She died September 30, 1897.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus

In the Heart of the Church 

I will be Love

From the autobiography of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, virgin

Since my longing for martyrdom was powerful and unsettling, I trusted in the epistles of Saint Paul in the hope of finally finding an answer.  By chance the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of the first epistle to the Corinthians caught my attention, and in the first section I read that not everyone can be an apostle, prophet or teacher, that the Church is composed of a variety of members, and that the eye cannot be the hand.  Even with such an answer revealed to me, I was not satisfied and did not find peace.

St. Therese of Lisieux

I persevered in the reading and did let not my mind wander until I found this encouraging theme: Set your desires on the greater gifts.  And I will now show you the way which surpasses all others.  For the Apostle insists that the greater gifts are nothing as all without love and that this same love is surely the best path leading directly to God.  At length I had found peace of mind.

When I looked upon the Mystical body of the Church, I recognized myself in none of the members which Saint Paul described, and what is more, I desired to distinguish myself more favorably within the whole body.  Love appeared to me to be the hinge for my vocation.  Indeed I knew that the Church had a body composed of various members, but in this body the necessary and noble member was not lacking; I knew that the Church had a heart and that such a heart appeared to be aflame with love.  I knew that the one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no longer, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more.  I saw and realized that love sets off the bounds of all vocation, that love is everyting, that this same love embraces every time and every place.  In one word, that love is everlasting.

Then, nearly ecstatic with supreme joy in my soul, I proclaimed:

 O Jesus, my love! 

at last I have found my calling: 

my call is love!

Certainly I have found my proper place in the Church, and you gave me the very place, my God.  In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its direction.

Prayer: 

God our Father, you have promised your kingdom to those who are willing to become like little children.  Help us to follow the way of Saint Therese with confidence so that by her prayers we may come to know your eternal glory.   Grant this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Taken from Liturgy of the Hours, Ordinary Time 18-34  October 1 Therese of the Child Jesus

Suffering, Tribulation From the writings of St. Rose of Lima

St. Rose of Lima, Virgin

From the writings of St. Rose of Lima

Let us know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge

Our Lord and Saviour lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: “Let all men know what grace comes after tribulation.  Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace.  Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase.  Let men take care not to stray and be deceived.  This is the only true stairway to paradise, without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.

When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me and seemed to place me in the middle of a street, so that I might say in a loud voice to people of every age, sex and status: “Hear, O people; hear, O nations.  I am warning you about the commandment of Christ by using words that came from his own lips: 

We cannot obtain grace unless we suffer afflictions.  

We must heap trouble upon trouble to attain 

a deep participation in the divine nature, 

the glory of the sons of God and perfect happiness of soul.”

That same force urged me to proclaim the beauty of divine grace.  It pressed me so that my breath came slow and forced me to sweat and pant.  I felt as if my soul could no longer be kept in the prison of the body, but that it had burst its chains and was free and alone and was going very swiftly through the whole world saying: 

“If only mortals would learn how great 

it is to possess divine grace, 

how beautiful, how noble, how precious.  

How many riches it hides within itself, 

how many joys and delights!  

Without doubt they would devote all their care and concern to winning for themselves pains and afflictions.  All men throughout the world would seek trouble, infirmities and torments, instead of good fortune, in order to attain the unfathomable treasure of grace.  This is the reward and the final gain of patience.  No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that may happen to him, if he would come to know the scales on which they are weighed when they are distributed to men.”

Beheading of John the Baptist, Martyr August 29

St. John the Baptist

Precursor of Christ 

in Birth and Death

From a homily by Saint Bede the Venerable, priest

As forerunner of our Lord's birth, preaching and death, the blessed John showed in his struggle a goodness worthy of the sight of heaven.  In the words of scripture: Though in the sight of men he suffered torments, his hope is full of immortality.  We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendor of his own blood.  We do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord.

There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for Him.  His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should be kept silent about the truth.  Nevertheless, he died for Christ.  Does Christ not say: I am the truth?  Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ.

Through his birth, preaching and baptizing, he bore witness to the coming birth, preaching and baptism of Christ, and his own suffering he showed that Christ also would suffer.

St. John he Baptist Imprisonment

Such was the quality and strength of the man who accepted the end of this present life by shedding his blood after the long imprisonment.  He preached the freedom of heavenly peace, yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men; he was locked away in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light itself, which is Christ.  John was baptized in his own blood, though he had been privileged to baptize the Redeemer of the world, to hear the voice of the Father above him, and to see the grace of the Holy Spirit descending upon Him.  But to endure temporal agonies for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men as John; rather it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy would be his reward.

Beheading of St. John the Baptist

Since death was ever near at hand through the inescapable necessity of nature, such men considered it a blessing to embrace it and thus gain the reward of eternal life by acknowledging Christ’s name.  Hence the apostle Paul rightly says: You have been granted the privilege not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake.  He tells us why it is Christ’s gift that his chosen ones should suffer for him: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

Stairway to Heaven

Easter homily - St. Melito of Sardis, bishop

The Lamb Who was slain for us

The Lamb that was slain 

has delivered us from death 

and given us life

From an Easter homily by Saint Melito of Sardis, bishop

Saint Melito of Sardis, bishop died c180

There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover: that mystery  is Christ, and to him be glory for every and ever. Amen.

For the sake of suffering humanity he came down from heaven to earth, clothed himself in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man.  Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man’s destroyer, death, a fatal blow.

He was led forth like a lamb; he was slaughtered like a sheep.  He ransomed us from our servitude to the world, as he had ransomed Israel from the land of Egypt, he freed us from our slavery to the devil, as he had freed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh.  He sealed our souls with his own Spirit, and the members of our body with his own blood.

Pharaoh and his dead son - The Last Plague

He is the One who covered death with shame and cast the devil into mourning, as Moses cast Pharaoh into mourning.  

He is the One who smote sin and robbed iniquity of offspring, as Moses robbed the Egyptians of their offspring.  He is the One who brought us out of slavery into freedom, out of darkness into light, out of death into life, out of tyranny into an eternal kingdom, who made us a new priesthood, a people chosen to be his own for ever.  He is the Passover that is our salvation.

It is He who endured every kind of suffering 

in all those who foreshadowed him.  

In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, 

in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, 

in Moses exposed to die.  

He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, 

persecuted in David, 

dishonored in the prophets.

It is he who was made man of the Virgin, he who was hung on the tree; it is he who was buried in the earth, raised from the dead, and taken up to the heights of heaven.  He is the mute lamb, the slain lamb, the lamb born of Mary, the fair ewe.  He was seized from the flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the evening, and buried at night.  

On the tree no bone of his was broken; 

in the earth his body knew no decay.  

He is the One who rose from the dead, 

and who raised man from the depths of the tomb.

CHRIST IS RISEN!!!!

Tell the World the GOOD NEWS

The Crucifixion of Christ

From the Moral Reflections on Job 

by Saint Gregory the Great, pope

The mystery of our new life in Christ

Holy Job is a type of the Church.  At one time he speaks for the body, at another for the head.  As he speaks of its members he is suddenly caught up to speak in the name of their head.  So it is here, where he says: I have suffered this without sin on my hands, for my prayer to God was pure.

Christ suffered without sin on His hands, for He committed no sin and deceit was not found on His lips.  Yet He suffered the pain of the cross for our redemption.  His prayer to God was pure, His alone out of all mankind, for in the midst of His suffering He prayed for His persecutors: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

Is it possible to offer, or even to imagine, a purer kind of prayer than that which shows mercy to one’s torturers by making intercession for them?  It was thanks to this kind of prayer that the frenzied persecutors who shed the blood of the Redeemer drank it afterward in faith and proclaimed Him to be the Son of God.

The text goes on fittingly to speak of Christ’s blood: Earth, do not cover over my blood, do not let my cry find a hiding place in you.  When man sinned, God had said: Earth you are, and to earth you will return.  Earth does not cover over the blood of the Redeemer, for every sinner, as he drinks the Blood that is the price of his redemption, offers praise and thanksgiving, and to the best of his power makes that Blood known to all around him.

Earth has not hidden away His blood, for holy Church has preached in every corner of the world the mystery of its redemption.

Blood of Christ

Notice what follows: Do not let my cry find a hiding place in you.  The Blood that is drunk, the Blood of redemption, is itself the cry of our Redeemer.  Paul speaks of the sprinkled blood that calls out more eloquently than Abel’s.  Of Abel’s blood Scripture had written: The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth.  

The Blood of Jesus 

calls out more eloquently than Abel’s, 

for the blood of Abel asked 

for the death of Cain the fratricide, 

while the Blood of the Lord 

has asked for, and obtained, 

life for His persecutors.

If the sacrament of the Lord’s Passion is to work its effect in us, we must imitate what we receive and proclaim to mankind what we revere.  The cry of the Lord finds a hiding place in us if our lips fail to speak of this, though our hearts believe in it.  So that His cry may not lie concealed in us it remains for us all, each in his own measure, to make known to those around us the mystery of our new life in Christ.

Through Deeds - Not Words

From an Easter letter by Saint Anthanasius, bishop

We keep the coming feast of the Lord through deeds, 

not words

The Word who became all things for us is close to us, our Lord Jesus Christ who promises to remain with always.  He cries out, saying, “See, I am with you all the days of this age.  He is Himself the shepherd, the high priest, the way and the door, and has become all things at once for us.  In the same way, He has come among us as our feast and holy days as well.  The blessed Apostle says of Him who was awaited: Christ has been sacrificed as our Passover.  It was Christ who shed His light on the psalmist as he prayed: You are my joy, deliver me from those surrounding me. 

True joy, genuine festival, 

means the casting out of wickedness.  

To achieve this one must live a life 

of perfect goodness and, 

in the serenity of the fear of God, 

practice contemplation in one’s heart.

This was the way of the saints, who in their lifetime and at every stage of life rejoiced as at a feast.  Blessed David, for example, not once but seven times rose at night to win God’s favor through prayer.  The great Moses was full of joy as he sang God’s praises in hymns of victory for the defeat of Pharaoh and the oppressors of the Hebrew people.  Others had hearts filled always with gladness as they performed their sacred duty of worship, like the great Samuel and the blessed Elijah.  Because of their holy lives they gained freedom, and now keep festival in heaven.  They rejoice after their pilgrimage in shadows, and now distinguish the reality from the promise.

When we celebrate the feast in our own day, what path are we to take?  As we draw near to this feast, who is to be our guide?  Beloved, it must be none other than Jesus Christ.  He says: I am the way.  As blessed John tells us: it is Christ who takes away the sin of the world. It is He who purifies our souls, as the prophet Jeremiah says: Stand upon the ways; look and see which is the good path, and you will find in it the way of amendment for your souls.

In former times the blood of goats and the ashes of a calf were sprinkled on those who were unclean, but they were able to purify only the body.  Now through the grace of God’s Word everyone is made abundantly clean.  

If we follow Christ closely, we shall be allowed, even on this earth, to stand as it were on the threshold of the heavenly Jerusalem, and enjoy the contemplation of that everlasting feast, like the blessed apostles, who in following the Savior as their leader, showed, and still show, the way to obtain the same gift from God.  

They said: See, we have left all things and followed You. We too follow the Lord, and we keep His feast by deeds rather than by words.

Prayer, Fasting, Mercy sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus

St. Peter Chrysologus

Prayer knocks, fasting obtains, mercy receives

From a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop

There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures.  They are prayer, fasting and mercy.  Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives.  Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting.  Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated.  If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing.  So if you prayer, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others.   If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others.  If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry.  If you hope for mercy, show mercy.  If you look for kindness, show kindness.  If you want to receive, give.  If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

Saint Peter Chrysologus, Quote

Let this be the pattern for all men when they practice mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.

Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting the one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defense, a threefold united prayer in our favor.

Let us use fasting to make up for what we have lost by despising others.  Let us offer our souls in sacrifice by means of fasting.  There is nothing more pleasing that we can offer to God, as the psalmist said in prophecy: A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God does not despise a bruised and humbled heart.

Offer your soul to God, make him an oblation of your fasting, so that your soul may be a pure offering, a holy sacrifice, a living victim, remaining your own and at the same time made over to God.  Whoever fails to give this to God will not be excused, for if you are to give him yourself you are never without the means of giving.

To make these acceptable, mercy must be added.  Fasting bears no fruit unless it is watered by mercy.  Fasting dries up when mercy dries up.  Mercy is to fasting as rain is to the earth.  However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, sow virtues, if you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit.

When you fast, if your mercy is thin your harvest will be thin; when you fast, what you pour out in mercy overflows into your barn.  Therefore, do not lose by saving, but gather in by scattering.  Give to the poor, and your give to yourself.  You will not be allowed to keep what you have refused to give to others.

St. Joseph, A sermon by St. Bernadine of Siena

St. Joseph and the Infant Jesus

The Faithful Foster-Father and Guardian

From a sermon by Saint Bernadine of Siena, priest

There is a general rule concerning all special graces granted to any human being.  Whenever the divine favor chooses someone to receive a special grace, or to accept a lofty vocation God adorns the person chosen with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at hand.

This general rule is especially verified in the case of Saint Joseph, the foster-father of Our Lord and the husband of the Queen of our world, enthroned above the angels.  He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of His greatest treasures, namely, His divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife.  He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying: Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.

What then is Joseph’s position in the whole Church of Christ?  Is he not a man chosen and set apart?  Through him and, yes, under him, Christ was fittingly and honorably introduced into the world.  Holy Church in its entirety is indebted to the Virgin Mother because through her it was judged worthy to receive Christ.  But after her we undoubtedly owe special gratitude and reverence to Saint Joseph.

In him the Old Testament finds its fitting close.  

He brought the noble line of patriarchs and prophets 

to its promised fulfillment.  

What the divine goodness had offered 

as a promise to them, he held in his arms.

St. Joseph and Child Jesus

Obviously, Christ does not now deny to Joseph that intimacy, reverence and very high honor which He gave him on earth, as a son to his father.  Rather we must say that in heaven Christ completes and perfects all that he gave at Nazareth.

Now we and see how the last summoning words of the Lord appropriately apply to Saint Joseph: Enter into the joy of your Lord.  In fact, although the joy of eternal happiness enters into the soul of a man, the Lord preferred to say to Joseph: Enter into joy.  His intention was that the words should have a hidden spiritual meaning for us.  They convey not only that this holy man possesses an inward joy, but also that it surrounds him and engulfs him like an infinite abyss.

Remember us, Saint Joseph, and plead for us to your foster-child.  Ask your most holy bride, the Virgin Mary, to look kindly upon us, since she is the mother of Him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns eternally.  Amen.

St. Patrick a great man of faith

Saint Patrick, Great Evangelizer

St. Patrick

Lived 385 - 461

From the Confessions of Saint Patrick

Through me 

many peoples 

have been reborn 

in God

I give  unceasing  thanks to God, who kept me faithful in the day of my testing.  Today I can offer Him sacrifice and confidence, giving myself as a living victim to Christ, my Lord, who kept me safe through all my trails.   

St. Patrick proclaiming Christ to Ireland

I can say now: Who am I, Lord, and what is my calling, that you worked through me with such divine power?  You did all this so that today among the Gentiles I might constantly rejoice and glorify Your Name wherever I may be, both in prosperity and in adversity.  

You did it so that, whatever happened to me, I might accept good and evil equally, always giving thanks to God.  God showed me how to have faith in Him forever, as one who is never to be doubted.  He answered my prayer in such a way that in the last days, ignorant though I am I might be bold enough to take up so holy and so wonderful a task, and imitate in some degree those who the Lord has so long ago foretold as heralds of His Gospel, bearing witness to all nations.

How did I get this wisdom, that was not mine before?  I did not know the number of my days, or have knowledge of God.

How did so great and salutary a gift come to me, the gift of knowing and loving God, though at the cost of homeland and family?  

I came to the Irish peoples to preach the Gospel and endure the taunts of unbelievers, putting up with reproaches about my earthly pilgrimage, suffering many persecutions, even bondage, and losing my birthright of freedom for the benefit of others.

St. Patrick Apostle and Patron of Ireland

If I am worthy, I am ready  also to give up my life,  

without hesitation and most willingly, for His name.  

I want to spend myself in that country, 

even in death, 

if the Lord should grant me this favor.  

I am deeply in His debt, for He gave me this favor.  

I am deeply in His debt, for He gave me that great grace that through me many peoples should be reborn in God, and then made perfect by confirmation and everywhere among them clergy ordained for a people so recently coming to believe, one people gathered by the Lord from the ends of the earth.  

As God had prophesied of old through the prophets.  The nations shall come to you from the ends of the earth, and say: “How false are the idols made by our fathers: they are useless.”  In another prophesy he said, I have set you as a light among the nations, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

It is among that people 

that I want to wait for the promise 

made by Him, 

who assuredly never tells a lie.  

He makes this promise in the Gospel: They shall come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  This is our faith: believers are to come from the world.

The Confessions of St. Patrick … I Patrick …. http://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#01

St. Clement Pope

St/ Clement of Rome

ST CLEMENT, POPE, MARTYR (A.D. 100)

Feast: November 23

St Clement, the son of Faustinus, a Roman by birth, was of Jewish extraction; for he tells us himself that he was of the race of Jacob. He was converted to the faith by St. Peter or St. Paul, and was so constant in his attendance on these apostles, and so active in assisting them in their ministry, that St. Jerome and other fathers call him an apostolic man; St. Clement of Alexandria styles him an apostle; and Rufinus, almost an apostle. Some authors attribute his conversion to St. Peter, whom he met at Cesarea with St. Barnabas; but he attended St. Paul at Philippi in 62, and shared in his sufferings there. We are assured by St. Chrysostom that he was a companion of the latter, with SS. Luke and Timothy, in many of his apostolic journeys, labours, and dangers. St. Paul (Phil. iv, 3) calls him his fellow-labourer, and ranks him among those whose names are written in the book of life; a privilege and matter of joy far beyond the power of commanding devils. (Luke x. 17) St. Clement followed St. Paul to Rome, where he also heard St. Peter preach, and was instructed in his school, as St. Irenaeus and Pope Zosimus testify. Tertullian tells us that St. Peter ordained him bishop, by which some understand that he made him a bishop of nations, to preach the gospel in many countries; others, with Epiphanius, that he made him his vicar at Rome, with an episcopal character to govern that church during his absence in his frequent missions. Others suppose he might at first be made bishop of the Jewish church in that city. After the martyrdom of SS. Peter and Paul, St. Linus was appointed Bishop of Rome, and after eleven years, succeeded by St. Cletus. Upon his demise in 89, or rather in 91, St. Clement was placed in the apostolic chair. According to the Liberian Calendar he sat nine years, eleven months, and twenty days.

At Corinth, an impious and detestable division, as our saint called it, happened amongst the faithful, like that which St. Paul had appeased in the same church; and a party rebelled against holy and irreproachable priests and presumed to depose them. It seems to have been soon after the death of Domitian in 96, that St. Clement, in the name of the church of Rome, wrote to them his excellent epistle, a piece highly extolled and esteemed in the primitive church as an admirable work, as Eusebius calls it. It was placed in rank next to the canonical books of the holy scriptures, and with them read in the churches. Whence it was found in the very ancient Alexandrian manuscript copy of the Bible, which Cyril Lucaris sent to our King James I, from which Patrick Young, the learned keeper of that king's library, published it at Oxford in 1633. St. Clement begins his letter by conciliating the benevolence of those who were at variance, tenderly putting them in mind how edifying their behaviour was when they were all humble-minded, not boasting of anything, desiring rather to be subject than to govern, to give than to receive, content with the portion God had dispensed to them, listening diligently to his word, having an insatiable desire of doing good, and a plentiful effusion of the Holy Ghost upon all of them. At that time they were sincere, without offence, not mindful of injuries, and all sedition and schism was an abomination to them. The saint laments that they had then forsaken the fear of the Lord, and were fallen into pride, envy, strife, and sedition; and pathetically exhorts them to lay aside all pride and anger, for Christ is theirs who are humble and not theirs who exalt themselves. The sceptre of the majesty of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, came not in the show of pride, though he could have done so; but with humility. He bids them look up to the Creator of the world, and think how gentle and patient he is towards his whole creation; also with what peace it all obeys his will, and the heavens, earth, impassable ocean, and worlds beyond it, are governed by the commends of this great master. Considering how near God is to us, and that none of our thoughts are hid from him, how ought we never to do anything contrary to his will, and honour them who are set over us! showing with a sincere affection of meekness, and manifesting the government of our tongues by a love of silence. "Let your children," says the saint, "be bred up in the instruction of the Lord, and learn how great a power humility has with God, how much a pure and holy charity avails with him, and how excellent and great his fear is."

11th-century fresco in the Basilica of San Clemente, Rome: 

Saints Cyril and Methodius bring Saint Clement's relics to Rome

It appears by what follows, that some at Corinth boggled at the belief of a resurrection of the flesh, which the saint beautifully shows to be easy to the Almighty power, and illustrates by the vine which sheds its leaves, then buds, spreads its leaves, flowers, and afterwards produces first sour grapes, then ripe fruit; by the morning rising from night; and corn brought forth from seed. The saint adds a strong exhortation to shake off all sluggishness and laziness, for it is only the good workman who receives the bread of his labour. "We must hasten," says he, "with all earnestness and readiness of mind, to perfect every good work, labouring with cheerfulness; for even the Creator and Lord of all things rejoices in his own works." The latter part of this epistle is a pathetic recommendation of humility, peace, and charity. "Let every one," says the saint, "be subject to another, according to the order in which he is placed by the gift of God. Let not the strong man neglect the care of the weak; let the weak see that he reverence the strong. Let the rich man distribute to the necessity of the poor, and let the poor bless God who give :h him one to supply his want. Let the wise man show forth his wisdom, not in words, but in good works. Let him that is humble, never speak of himself, or make show of his actions. Let him that is pure in the flesh, not grow proud of it, knowing that it was another who gave him the gift of continence. They who are great cannot yet subsist without those that are little; nor the little without the great. In our body, the head without the feet is nothing; neither the feet without the head. And the smallest members of our body are yet both necessary and useful to the whole." Thus the saint teaches that the lowest in the church may be the greatest before God, if they are most faithful in the discharge of their respective duties. St. Clement puts pastors and superiors in mind that, with trembling and humility, they should have nothing but the fear of God in view, and take no pleasure in their own power and authority. "Let us," says he, "pray for all such as fall into any trouble or distress; that being endued with humility and moderation, they may submit, not to us, but to the will of God." Fortunatus, who is mentioned by St. Paul, was come from the church of Corinth to Rome, to inform that holy see of their unhappy schism. St. Clement says, he had dispatched four messengers to Corinth with him, and adds, "Send them back to us again with all speed in peace and joy, that they may the sooner acquaint us with your peace and concord, so much prayed for and desired by us; and that we may rejoice in your good order."

We have a large fragment of a second epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians, found in the same Alexandrian manuscript of the Bible; from which circumstance it appears to have been also read like the former in many churches, which St. Dionysius of Corinth expressly testifies of that church, though it was not so celebrated among the ancients as the other. In it our saint exhorts the faithful to despise this world and its false enjoyments, and to have those which are promised us always before our eyes; to pursue virtue with all our strength, and its peace will follow us with the inexpressible delights of the promise of what is to come. The necessity of perfectly subduing both the irascible and concupiscible passions of our souls, he lays down as the foundation of a Christian life, in words which St. Clement of Alexandria enforces and illustrates. Besides these letters of St. Clement to the Corinthians, two others have been lately discovered, which are addressed to spiritual eunuchs or virgins. Of these St. Jerome speaks, when he says of certain epistles of St. Clement, "In the epistles which Clement, the successor of the Apostle Peter, wrote to them, that is, to such eunuchs, almost his whole discourse turns upon the excellence of virginity." These two letters were found in a manuscript copy of a Syriac New Testament, by John James Westein, in 1752, and printed by him with a Latin translation at Amsterdam in 1752, and again in 1757. A French translation of them has been published, with short critical notes. These letters are not unworthy this great disciple of St. Peter; and in them the counsels of St. Paul concerning celibacy and virginity are explained, that state is pathetically recommended, without prejudice to the honour due to the holy state of marriage; and the necessity of shunning all familiarity with persons of a different sex, and the like occasions of incontinence is set in a true light.

 

St. Clement celebrating Mass , century unknown

St. Clement with patience and prudence got through the persecution of Domitian. Nerva's peaceable reign being very short, the tempest increased under Trajan, who, even from the beginning of his reign, never allowed the Christian assemblies. It was in the year 100 that the third general persecution was raised by him, which was the more afflicting, as this reign was in other respects generally famed for justice and moderation. Rufin, Pope Zosimus, and the council of Bazas in 452, expressly styles St. Clement a martyr. In the ancient canon of the Roman mass, he is ranked among the martyrs. Eusebius tells us, that St. Clement departed this life in the third year of Trajan, of Christ 100. From this expression some will have it that he died a natural death; but St. Clement says of St. Paul, who certainly died a martyr, that "he departed out of the world."[1] It is also objected, that St. Irenaeus gives the title of martyr only to St. Telesphorus among the popes before St. Eleutherius. But it is certain that some others were martyrs, whatever was the cause of his omission. St. Irenaeus mentions the epistle of St. Clement yet omits those of St. Ignatius, though in some places he quotes him. Shall we hence argue, that St. Ignatius wrote none? When the Emperor Lewis Debonnair founded the great abbey of Cava, in Abruzzo, four miles from Slaerno, in 872, he enriched it with the relics of St. Clement, pope and martyr, which Pope Adrian sent him, as is related at length in the chronicle of that abbey, with a history of many miracles. These relics remain there to this day. The ancient Church of St. Clement in Rome, in which St. Gregory the Great preached several of his homilies, still retains part of his relics. It was repaired by Clement XI, but still shows entire the old structure of Christian churches, divided into three parts: the narthex, the ambo, and the sanctuary.

St. Clement inculcates,[2] that the spirit of Christianity is a spirit of perfect disengagement from the things of this world. "We must," says he, "look upon all the things of this world, as none of ours, and not desire them. This world and that to come are two enemies. We cannot, therefore, be friends to both; but we must resolve which we would forsake, and which we would enjoy. And we think, that it is better to hate the present things, as little, short-lived, and corruptible; and to love those which are to come, which are truly good and incorruptible. Let us contend with all earnestness, knowing that we are now called to the combat. Let us run in the straight road, the race that is incorruptible. This is what Christ saith: keep your bodies pure and your souls without spot, that ye may receive eternal life."

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