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CATHOLIC MOVIES - WATCH LILIES OF THE FIELD - PART 4 AUSTRALIA : SISTER HONORED WITH ORDER OF AUSTRALIA AFRICA : ZAMBIA : HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS ESCALATING EUROPE : BISHOPS FULL TEXT BRIEFING ON MARRIAGE TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : TUES. JAN. 29, 2013 TODAY'S SAINT : ST. GILDAS THE WISE LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS TO BE PRESIDED BY POPE: FEBRUARY–MARCH Vatican City, 29 January 2013 (VIS) – The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has published the calendar of celebrations that are due to be presided by the Holy Father in February and March. FEBRUARY Saturday 2: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the World Day of Consecrated Life. At 5:30pm in the Vatican Basilica: Mass with members of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life. Monday 11: At 11:00am in the Consistory Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace: Ordinary public consistory for several causes for canonisation. Wednesday 13: Ash Wednesday. At 4:30pm in the Basilica of Sant'Anselmo: "statio" and penitential procession. At 5:00pm in the Basilica of Santa Sabina: blessing and imposition of ashes. Sunday 17: First Sunday of Lent. At 6:00pm in the "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel of the Vatican Apostolic Palace: beginning of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia. Saturday 23: At 9:00am in the "Redemptoris Mater" Chapel: conclusion of the spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia. MARCH Sunday 24: Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord. At 9:30am in St. Peter's Square: blessing of palms, procession, and Mass. Thursday 28: Holy Thursday. At 5:30pm in the Basilica of St. John Lateran: beginning of the Easter Triduum with the Mass of the Last Supper. Friday 29: Good Friday. At 5:00pm in the Vatican Basilica: celebration of the Lord's Passion. At 9:15pm at the Colosseum: Way of the Cross. Saturday 30: Holy Saturday. At 8:30pm in the Vatican Basilica: Easter vigil. Sunday 31: Easter Sunday. At 10:15am in St. Peter's Square: Mass. At midday, from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica: "Urbi et Orbi" blessing. |
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| PRESENTATION OF PAPAL
MESSAGE FOR WORLD DAY OF THE SICK Vatican City, 29 January 2013 (VIS) – This morning, in the John Paul II Hall of the Holy See Press Office, a press conference was held to present the Holy Father's message for the 21st World Day of the Sick (7–11 February) and the celebrations for the Day that will take place in Altotting, Bavaria, Germany. Participating in the press conference were: Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers along with Msgr. Jean-Marie Mate Musivi Mupendawatu and Fr. Augusto Chendi, M.I., respectively secretary and under-secretary of that same dicastery; Msgr. Ludwig Limbrunner, rector of the shrine to Our Lady of Altotting, Bavaria, Germany; and Rev. Janusz Surzykiewicz, professor of pastoral theology at the Catholic University of Eichstatt in Bavaria, Germany. The Message is entitled:"Go and Do Likewise". This Day, Archbishop Zimowski explained, is "a unique moment of reflection, of renewed attention and commitment, on behalf of everyone, to all to the problems inherent to caring for life, health, and suffering. In particular, the Holy Father … emphasizes that its celebration should be strongly characterized by prayer, sharing, and offering up suffering for the good of the Church, as well as serving as a call so that everyone might recognize, in the face of their sick brother or sister, the face of Christ who, suffering, dying, and rising, saved humanity." The Pope's text challenges us "to let the figure of the Good Samaritan call to us". It is a Gospel narrative that constitutes a "parable that is paradigmatic and ever-topical for all of the Church's action, especially her outreach in the area of health, disease, and suffering." In the story "Jesus, with his actions and words, reveals God's deep love for every human being, above all those suffering illness or pain." The Pope, however, "puts the emphasis on the end of the parable when Jesus ... concludes with an urgent mandate: 'Go and do likewise'." "This is," the archbishop continued, "an incisive mandate because with these words Jesus shows us what, even today, the attitude and behaviour of His disciples with others, especially those in need of care, must be. Looking to how Christ acted, therefore, we can understand God's infinite love, can feel ourselves to be part of this love, and sent to show it with our care and our closeness to all those in need of help because of being wounded in body and in spirit. But this capacity to love cannot come solely from our efforts, but rather is born of our being in constant relationship with Christ through a life of faith. From this stems the call and the duty of each Christian to be a 'Good Samaritan', who ... is everyone who stops at the suffering of another, everyone who is sensitive to the suffering of others, everyone who is moved by the misfortunes of others, everyone who wants to try and be 'God's hands'." "Before concluding his message, the Holy Father pointed out the Year of Faith as 'a propitious occasion for rediscovering the Good Samaritan and of living in imitation of him': in imitation of his knowing how 'to see with compassion' and love someone who needed care and assistance; in his knowing how to bend down and pick up the needs of others'. ...This is why it is useful to 'turn our gaze' to the many witnesses to the faith and their charitable self-giving. It can be said that the entire history of the Church … is marked by countless witnesses. The Pope indicates some of those who are closest to us in time: St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face; the venerable Luigi Novarese; Raoul Follereau; Blessed Teresa of Calcutta; and St. Anna Schaffer of Mindelstetten." "Blessed John Paul II, in the section of his Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris referencing the Good Samaritan, wrote: 'At one and the same time Christ has taught man to do good by His suffering and to do good to those who suffer. In this double aspect He has completely revealed the meaning of suffering.' In naming five Good Samaritans who are close to us in history, Benedict XVI takes into consideration both dimensions: St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face and St. Anna Schaffer do good out of their own suffering while the other three witnesses do good for those who are suffering." |
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| VIA CRUCIS: MEDITATIONS TO
RECALL MIDDLE EAST Vatican City, 29 January 2013 (VIS) – Recalling his trip to Lebanon and inviting the whole Church to remember the problems of and the Christian communities in the Middle East in their prayers, the Holy Father has invited?through his cardinal secretary of state?His Beatitude Bechara Boutros Rai, O.M.M., Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, to prepare the texts for the Via Crucis on Good Friday at the Colosseum. Under the guidance of the Patriarch, the texts will be prepared by two young Lebanese and will follow the traditional pattern of the fourteen stations. |
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| OTHER PONTIFICAL
ACTS Vatican City, 29 January 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father appointed Bishop Alexander King Sample as archbishop of the archdiocese of Portland (area 76,937, population 3,296,705, Catholics 412,725, priests 300, permanent deacons 72, religious 653), Oregon, USA. Bishop Sample, previously bishop of Marquette, Michigan, USA, was born in Kalispell, Montana, USA, in 1960, was ordained to the priesthood in 1990, and received episcopal ordination in 2006. In the national bishops' conference he currently serves on the Subcommittees on Native American Catholics and on the Catechism. He is also vice-postulator for the cause for canonisation of Venerable Frederic Baraga, first bishop of the Diocese of Marquette. He succeeds Archbishop John George Vlazny, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit. |
CATHOLIC MOVIES - WATCH LILIES OF THE FIELD - PART 4
IN HONOUR OF THE YEAR OF FAITH JCE NEWS WILL BE SHOWING SOME OF THE BEST CATHOLIC FILMS OF ALL TIME - LILIES OF THE FIELD
ASIA : VIETNAM : HUMAN RIGHTS MASS WITH OVER 2000
ASIA NEWS
REPORT
by Thanh Thuy
This year, Redemptorists will hold a special Mass on the last Sunday of each month. More than 2,000 people attended the first of such services yesterday in Ho Chi Minh City. During the function, the Buddhist mother of a detained young Catholic woman spoke at the event. The Vietnam Commission on Human Rights slams the internment in a mental hospital of a blogger.
Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - Thousands of Vietnamese, Catholics and non-Catholics, attended a Mass celebrated by Redemptorist priests in Saigon. Totalling some 2,000 people, they prayed together for peace and freedom of religion in their country. The latter was recently violated with the demolition of a Carmelite monastery in Hanoi and the imprisonment of a number of bloggers and activists. The mother of a young woman arrested for criticising "Chinese expansionism" spoke at the service. Meanwhile, the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights complained about the internment of another blogger and activist in a mental institution in the capital.
In an official press statement, the Redemptorists in Ho Chi Minh City (ex Saigon) said that they would continue "to work for peace and justice in Vietnam." With this purpose in mind, they plan to celebrate a special Mass on the last Sunday of each month, as well as undertake other initiatives, which they "will present in coming days," the press release said.
In explaining the reasons for yesterday's ceremony, Fr Joseph Dinh Huu Thoai called on all the faithful "to pray for the victims of social injustice" and "serious violations" by local authorities, in particular in relation to Church properties and assets.
The Redemptorists made a earnest appeal for the release of activists, jailed for expressing their views online or in the streets, against Beijing's "imperialist policies".
During the function, Fr Joseph introduced Nguyen Thi Nhung to the congregation. A Buddhist, she is the mother of Nguyen Phuong Uyen, a Catholic student from Long An province who was arrested for expressing anti-China views online.
Speaking about her case, Fr Vincent Pham Trung Thanh, provincial superior of the Redemptorists, said: "If prison doors opened today, Phuong Uyen would be free to the joy of her parents, friends and all of us," he said. "As Catholics, we cannot but pray for the freedom of all human beings, as Jesus did," he added.
At the end of the service, both priests and faithful lighted candles to Our Lady of Mutual Help, and prayed for peace and justice in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights complained about the internment of Le Anh Hung, a blogger and activist, in a mental hospital in Hanoi.
On Thursday, security agents went to his place of work and took him away on a pretext, pushing him into a car.
Some friends tried to see him, but the hospital turned down their request, saying that his mother had asked for his internment, a claim she denies.
by Thanh Thuy
This year, Redemptorists will hold a special Mass on the last Sunday of each month. More than 2,000 people attended the first of such services yesterday in Ho Chi Minh City. During the function, the Buddhist mother of a detained young Catholic woman spoke at the event. The Vietnam Commission on Human Rights slams the internment in a mental hospital of a blogger.
Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - Thousands of Vietnamese, Catholics and non-Catholics, attended a Mass celebrated by Redemptorist priests in Saigon. Totalling some 2,000 people, they prayed together for peace and freedom of religion in their country. The latter was recently violated with the demolition of a Carmelite monastery in Hanoi and the imprisonment of a number of bloggers and activists. The mother of a young woman arrested for criticising "Chinese expansionism" spoke at the service. Meanwhile, the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights complained about the internment of another blogger and activist in a mental institution in the capital.
In an official press statement, the Redemptorists in Ho Chi Minh City (ex Saigon) said that they would continue "to work for peace and justice in Vietnam." With this purpose in mind, they plan to celebrate a special Mass on the last Sunday of each month, as well as undertake other initiatives, which they "will present in coming days," the press release said.
In explaining the reasons for yesterday's ceremony, Fr Joseph Dinh Huu Thoai called on all the faithful "to pray for the victims of social injustice" and "serious violations" by local authorities, in particular in relation to Church properties and assets.
The Redemptorists made a earnest appeal for the release of activists, jailed for expressing their views online or in the streets, against Beijing's "imperialist policies".
During the function, Fr Joseph introduced Nguyen Thi Nhung to the congregation. A Buddhist, she is the mother of Nguyen Phuong Uyen, a Catholic student from Long An province who was arrested for expressing anti-China views online.
Speaking about her case, Fr Vincent Pham Trung Thanh, provincial superior of the Redemptorists, said: "If prison doors opened today, Phuong Uyen would be free to the joy of her parents, friends and all of us," he said. "As Catholics, we cannot but pray for the freedom of all human beings, as Jesus did," he added.
At the end of the service, both priests and faithful lighted candles to Our Lady of Mutual Help, and prayed for peace and justice in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights complained about the internment of Le Anh Hung, a blogger and activist, in a mental hospital in Hanoi.
On Thursday, security agents went to his place of work and took him away on a pretext, pushing him into a car.
Some friends tried to see him, but the hospital turned down their request, saying that his mother had asked for his internment, a claim she denies.
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS IT
AUSTRALIA : SISTER HONORED WITH ORDER OF AUSTRALIA
Catholic Communications,
Sydney Archdiocese,
29 Jan 2013
29 Jan 2013
Sister Marianne Dacy
Recognised in this year's Australia Day's Honours
A sister of the
Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, Sydney-based Dr Marianne Dacy has been made a
Member of the Order of Australia for her significant contribution to interfaith
dialogue.
The prolific author,
founder and senior archivist of the Australian Judaica Archives at the
University of Sydney's Fisher Library, Dr Dacy is one of the many leading Catholics to be recognised in this year's Australia Day Honours which were
announced on Saturday, 26 January.
SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/G/stgildasthewise.asp#ixzz1ks5mtM00
"So many people work so
hard and don't get acknowledged so to receive this recognition was a complete
surprise and is very exciting," she says.
Dr Dacy heard the news in
Melbourne where she is currently staying for a few days at the Lady of Sion
House in Kew.
"To be honoured with an AM is very affirming of the wonderful work with Jewish Christian relations and also the work carried out at the Australian Judiaic Archives at the University of Sydney," she says.
"To be honoured with an AM is very affirming of the wonderful work with Jewish Christian relations and also the work carried out at the Australian Judiaic Archives at the University of Sydney," she says.
News of Dr Dacy and her
award triggered immediate congratulations from Sister Giovanni Farquer, Director
of the Archdiocese of Sydney's Commission for Ecumenism and Inter-religious
Relations and from William Szekely, Chair of the Australian Council of
Christians and Jews (ACCJ).
Sr Marianne Dacy's books
have made important contribution
"Sr Marianne Dacy and I
have been colleagues in Interfaith Relations for 10 years during which time I've
had firsthand experience of her rich and unique contribution, particularly in
the field of Christian and Jewish mutual appreciation, understanding and
collaboration," Sr Giovanni said this morning. "The complexities of Sr
Marianne's character and personality have revealed themselves and manifested in
this simple unassuming woman is a remarkable breadth and depth of knowledge
across many fields including theology, history, languages and the Arts which are
not always readily perceived by the casual observer. The sharpness of her
intellect and academic excellence are revealed in the painstaking precision and
order of her research and writings."
William Szekely is equally
admiring and says that given Dr Dacy's longstanding stewardship of the Judaica
Archives it might well be appropriate for the Jewish community to wish her "Bis
hundert und tzwantig" which is a typical Jewish expression and toast wishing
"that you should live to 120 years".
"It is so heartwarming to
see her selfless efforts in interfaith and also her own order the Congregation
of the Sisters of Sion given public recognition through our national honors
system," he says and praises her work and tireless dedication over the past 25
years describing her as a "quiet achiever for our work" and on behalf of the
ACCJ, expresses his deep gratitude and congratulations.
Other members of Sydney's
Catholic community to receive honors this year include Paul Dyer, Artistic
Director of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra who received the highest honor,
an AO (Officer of the Order of Australia) for his distinguished service to the
performing arts and through the promotion of educational programs and support
for emerging artists.
The following is a list of
NSW recipients of Australia Day Honors:
Paul Dyer, Director of The Australian Brandenburg
Orchestra received an AO in the Australia Day Honours
Member (AM) of
the Order of Australia
John Aquilina, Blacktown
for service to the NSW Parliament and to the community; Grant De Fries, Picnic
Point for service to youth through administrative and leadership roles with the
Scouting movement in NSW; Eric Goodwin, Fairlight for service to the community
through educational organisations, and to business including his role as
chairman of the Conservation Project for St Mary's Cathedral since 2006, Sandra
McPhee, Point Piper for service to business and to the community through
leadership and advisory roles including her many years as Chairman and
Non-Executive Director of the St Vincent's and Mater Health Advisory
Council.
Medal (OAM) of the Order of
Australia
Eftihia Bland, Turramurra
for service to the community and in particular her volunteer work at the
Turramurra St Vincent de Paul Op Shop for the past 15 years; Fr Tyson Doneley,
Sacred Heart Monastery, Kensington NSW for service to Catholic education
organisations which included appointments with the Missionaries of the Sacred
Heart, Kerala, India, 1998-2002 prior to many years as a teach at the
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Minor Seminary; Alan Harper, Eastwood, for
services to education including his years as Studies Coordinator and Chair of
College Studies Council, St Patrick's Marist College; Anthony KHOURI,
Parramatta, for service to the community through multicultural organisations and
in particular as a member of the Diocesan Development Council, Maronite Catholic
Community, Central Western Sydney as well as his active contributions to major
events and activities including World Youth Day, 2008; Patrick MacMillan,
Wahroonga for service to the community through Alzheimer's Australia New South
Wales; Antonio Mustaca, Chatswood for his service to the community through a
range of organisations including hsi work as Chairman of the Mercy College
School Council, Chatswood from 1999-2003 and previously as vice chairman of the
College Council.
A Posthumous OAM was
awarded to John Sidgreaves, late of Blakehurst for services to pharmacy and to
the community as founder of Blooms the Chemist Group. Mr Sidgreaves who died in
December 2011 was recognised for his generosity including his support for the
Pacific Mission Group with a Cross pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in
2010.
AFRICA : ZAMBIA : HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS ESCALATING
Agenzia Fides REPORT- "The
respect and protection of human rights in our Country is deteriorating at an
alarming rate," say the Bishops of Zambia in their last Pastoral Letter, sent to
Fides Agency. The document makes explicit reference to an "arbitrary use of
power by government officials; intimidation and threats of arrest against
leaders and individuals who speak against Government; deportations, and even
threats to Catholic priests for sermons seen as critical of Government. "
The Pastoral Letter entitled "To act justly and to walk humbly with your God", provides an overview of the situation of the Country in which, while recognizing the democratic change that began in 1991 with the adoption of the multiparty system, several signs of authoritarian involution and "political intolerance, both between parties and within them" are highlighted. Intolerance that sometimes leads to violence and ends with an impact "on the well-being of ordinary citizens." This climate also influences the action of the police, to whom the Bishops express their gratitude for the efforts against crime, but also noted that "over the years, each ruling party seems to have unlimited freedom to carry out any public activity, on any day and at any time, while the opposition political parties and some civil society organizations are literally discriminated against every time they try to carry out public activities " on behalf of the police.
The Bishops also recall the situation in Barotseland in Western Province. "We are aware of a climate of intimidation and serious violations of human rights in Western Province: kidnappings of citizens, arbitrary arrests of people to be subjected to long periods of interrogation, even torture. These acts are totally unacceptable. They must cease immediately. This Country is not in a state of emergency. " (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 29/01/2013)
The Pastoral Letter entitled "To act justly and to walk humbly with your God", provides an overview of the situation of the Country in which, while recognizing the democratic change that began in 1991 with the adoption of the multiparty system, several signs of authoritarian involution and "political intolerance, both between parties and within them" are highlighted. Intolerance that sometimes leads to violence and ends with an impact "on the well-being of ordinary citizens." This climate also influences the action of the police, to whom the Bishops express their gratitude for the efforts against crime, but also noted that "over the years, each ruling party seems to have unlimited freedom to carry out any public activity, on any day and at any time, while the opposition political parties and some civil society organizations are literally discriminated against every time they try to carry out public activities " on behalf of the police.
The Bishops also recall the situation in Barotseland in Western Province. "We are aware of a climate of intimidation and serious violations of human rights in Western Province: kidnappings of citizens, arbitrary arrests of people to be subjected to long periods of interrogation, even torture. These acts are totally unacceptable. They must cease immediately. This Country is not in a state of emergency. " (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 29/01/2013)
Link correlati
EUROPE : BISHOPS FULL TEXT BRIEFING ON MARRIAGE
CATHOLIC HERALD
REPORT
By STAFF
REPORTER on Tuesday, 29 January 2013
MPs will debate the Bill at
its second reading next Tuesday (Photo: PA)
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : TUES. JAN. 29, 2013
| Mark 3: 31
- 35
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| 31 | And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. |
| 32 | And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you." |
| 33 | And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" |
| 34 | And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! |
| 35 | Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother." |
TODAY'S SAINT : ST. GILDAS THE WISE
St. Gildas the Wise
Abbott
Feast: January 29
 Information:
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He was son to a British lord, who to procure him a virtuous
education, placed him in his infancy in the monastery of St. Iltutus in
Glamorganshire. The surname of Badonicus was given him, because, as we learn
from his writings, he was born in the year in which the Britons under Aurelius
Ambrosius, or, according to others, under king Arthur, gained the famous victory
over the Saxons at Mount Badon, now Bannesdown, near Bath, in Somersetshire.
This Bede places in the forty-fourth year after the first coming of the Saxons
into Britain, which was in 451. Our saint, therefore, seems to have been born in
494; he was consequently younger than St. Paul, St. Samson, and his other
illustrious school-fellows in Wales: but by his prudence and seriousness in his
youth he seemed to have attained to the maturity of judgment and gravity of an
advanced age. The author of the life of St. Paul of Leon, calls him the
brightest genius of the school of St. Iltut. His application to sacred studies
was uninterrupted, and if he arrived not at greater perfection in polite
literature, this was owing to the want of masters of that branch in the
confusion of those times. As to improve himself in the knowledge of God and
himself was the end of all his studies, and all his reading was reduced to the
study of the science of the saints, the greater progress he made in learning,
the more perfect he became in all virtues. Studies which are to many a source of
dissipation, made him more and more recollected, because in all books he found
and relished only God, whom alone he sought. Hence sprang that love for holy
solitude, which, to his death, was the constant ruling inclination of his heart.
Some time after his monastic profession, with the consent, and perhaps by the
order of his abbot, St. Iltut, he passed over into Ireland, there to receive the
lessons of the admirable masters of a religious life, who had been instructed in
the most sublime maxims of an interior life, and formed to the practice of
perfect virtue, by the great St. Patrick. The author of his Acts compares this
excursion, which he made in the spring of his life, to that of the bees in the
season of flowers, to gather the juices which they convert into honey. In like
manner St. Gildas learned, from the instructions and examples of the most
eminent servants of God, to copy in his own life whatever seemed most perfect.
So severe were his continual fasts, that the motto of St. John Baptist might in
some degree be applied to him, that he scarce seemed to eat or drink at all. A
rough hair-cloth, concealed under a coarse cloak, was his garment, and the bare
floor his bed, with a stone for his bolster.
By the constant mortification of his natural appetites, and crucifixion of his flesh, his life was a prolongation of his martyrdom, or a perpetual sacrifice which he made of himself to God in union with that which he daily offered to him on his altars. If it be true that he preached in Ireland in the reign of king Ammeric, he must have made a visit to that island from Armorica, that prince only beginning to reign in 560: this cannot be ascribed to St. Gildas the Albanian, who died before that time. It was about the year 527, in the thirty-fourth of his age, that St. Gildas sailed to Armorica, or Brittany, in France: for he wrote his invective ten years after his arrival there, and in the forty-fourth year of his age, as is gathered from his life and writings. Here he chose for the place of his retirement the little isle of Houac, or Houat, between the coast of Rhuis and the island of Bellisle, four leagues from the latter. Houat exceeds not a league in length; the isle of Hoedre is still smaller, not far distant: both are so barren as to yield nothing but a small quantity of corn. Such a solitude, which appeared hideous to others, offered the greatest charms to the saint, who desired to fly, as much as this mortal state would permit, whatever could interrupt his commerce with God. Here he often wanted the common necessaries and conveniences of life; but the greater the privation of earthly comforts was in which he lived, the more abundant were those of the Holy Ghost which he enjoyed, in proportion as the purity of his affections and his love of heavenly things were more perfect. The saint promised himself that he should live here always unknown to men: but it was in vain for him to endeavor to hide the light of divine grace under a bushel, which shone forth to the world, notwithstanding all the precautions which his humility took to conceal it. Certain fishermen who discovered him were harmed with his heavenly deportment and conversation, and made known on the continent the treasure they had found. The inhabitants flocked from the coast to hear the lessons of divine wisdom which the holy anchoret gave with a heavenly unction which penetrated their hearts. To satisfy their importunities, St. Gildas at length consented to live among them on the continent, and built a monastery at Rhuis, in a peninsula of that name, which Guerech, the first lord of the Britons about Vannes, is said to have bestowed upon him. This monastery was soon filled with excellent disciples and holy monks. St. Gildas settled them in good order; then, sighing after closer solitude, he withdrew, and passing beyond the gulf of Vannes, and the promontory of Quiberon, chose for his habitation a grot in a rock, upon the bank of the river Blavet, where he found a cavern formed by nature extended from the east to the west, which on that account he converted into a chapel. However, he often visited this abbey of Rhuis, and by his counsels directed many in the paths of true virtue. Among these was St. Trifina, daughter of Guerech, first British count of Vannes. She was married to count Conomor, lieutenant of king Childebert, a brutish and impious man, who afterwards murdered her, and the young son which he had by her, who at his baptism received the name of Gildas, and was godson to our saint: but he is usually known by the surname of Treuchmour, or Tremeur, in Latin 'Trichmorus. SS. Trifina and Treuchmeur are invoked in the English Litany of the seventh century, in Mabillon. The great collegiate church of Carhaix bears the name of St. Treuchmour: the church of Quim per keeps his feast on the 8th of November, on which day he is commemorated in several churches in Brittany, and at St. Magloire's at Paris. A church situated between Corlai and the abbey of Coetmaloon in Brittany, is dedicated to God under the invocation of St. Trifina.
St. Gildas wrote eight canons of discipline, and a severe
invective against the crimes of the Britons, called De Excidio Britanniae, that
he might confound those whom he was not able to convert, and whom God in
punishment delivered first to the plunders of the Picts and Scots, and
afterwards to the perfidious Saxons, the fiercest of all nations. He reproaches
their kings, Constantine, (king of the Danmonians, in Devonshire and Cornwall,)
Vortipor, (of the Dimetians, in South Wales,) Conon, Cuneglas, and Maglocune,
princes in other parts of Britain, with horrible crimes: but Constantine was
soon after sincerely converted, as Gale informs us from an ancient Welsh
chronicle. According to John Fordun he resigned his crown, became a monk,
preached the faith to the Scots and Picts, and died a martyr in Kintyre: but the
apostle of the Scots seems to have been a little more ancient than the former.
Our saint also wrote an invective against the British clergy, whom he accuses of
sloth of seldom sacrificing at the altar &c. In his retirement he ceased not
with tears to recommend to God his own cause, or that of his honor and glory,
and the souls of blind sinners, and died in his beloved solitude in the island
of Horac, (in Latin Horata,) according to Usher, in 570, but according to Ralph
of Disse, in 581.[6] St. Gildas is patron of the city of Vannes. The abbey which
bears his name in the peninsula of Rhuis, between three and four leagues from
Vannes, is of the reformed congregation of St. Maur since the year 1649. The
relics of St. Gildas were carried thence for fear of the Normans into Berry,
about the year 919, and an abbey was erected there on the banks of the river
Indre, which was secularized and united to the collegiate church of Chateauroux
in 1623. St. Gildas is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the 29th of
January. A second commemoration of him is made in some places on the 11th of
May, on account of the translation of his relics. His life, compiled from the
ancient archives of Rhuis by a monk of that house, in the eleventh century, is
the best account we have of him, though the author confounds him sometimes with
St. Gildas the Albanian. It is published in the library of Fleury, in Bollandus,
p. 954, and most correctly in Mabillon, Act. SS. Ord. Saint Bened. t. 1, p. 138.
See also Dom Lobineau, Vies des Saints de Bretagne, (for. an. 1725,) p. 72, and
Hist. de la Bretagne, (2 vol. fol. an. 1707) and the most accurate Dom Morice,
Memoires sur l'Histoire de Bretagne, 3 vol. fol. in 1745, and Hist. de la
Bretagne, 2 vol. fol. an.
1750.
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SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/G/stgildasthewise.asp#ixzz1ks5mtM00
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