Saint Sabas

Patriarchal Abbot in Palestine (439-531)
Feast – December 5

Saint Sabas, one of the most renowned patriarchs of the monks of Palestine; founder of several convents, most notably the one known as Mar Saba; and considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism. The saint’s name is derived from Aramaic: סַבָּא‎ Sabbāʾ meaning “old man.” Son of John, a military commander, and Sophia, born at Mutalaska near Caesarea of Cappadocia in the year 439. The name of the village has no known meaning in Greek, but the Aramaic “Mata la zkha” translates as “Village of Victory”.

Journeying to Alexandria on military matters, his parents left their five-year-old son in the care of an uncle. Mistreated by his uncle’s wife, St. Sabas ran away to another uncle. When the two uncles became involved in a lawsuit over his estate, he again ran away, this time to the nearby monastery of Bishop Flavian of Antioch. The gifted child quickly learned to read and became an expert on the Holy Scriptures. By the time the uncles were reconciled, the young boy felt drawn to monastic life. He resisted his parents’ pressure to return to the world and get married, he stated: “Do you want me to be a deserter, leaving God after placing myself in His service? If those who abandon the militia of earthly kings are severely punished, what chastisement would I not deserve if I abandoned that of the King of heaven?” He remained in the monastery.

Although the youngest monk in the house, he excelled in virtue. In 456, he went to Jerusalem seeking to learn more about living in solitude. Soon he asked to be accepted as a disciple of a well-known local solitary, though he was regarded as too young to live completely as a hermit he entered a monastery under St. Theoctistus. St. Sabas lived in a monastery, where he worked during the day and spent much of the night in prayer. When he was thirty years old, desiring greater solitude under the guidance of St. Euthymius, Abbot of a nearby monastery. He began to live an angelic life so far above nature that he seemed no longer to have a body. The young sage, as he was called by St. Euthymius, dwelt in a cavern on a mountain near Jerusalem, where he prayed, sang Psalms and wove baskets of palm branches. St. Euthymius attentively directed the life of the young monk, and seeing his spiritual maturity, he began to take him to the wilderness with him. They set out each January 14 and remained there until Palm Sunday. St. Euthymius called St. Sabas a child-elder and encouraged him to grow in the monastic virtues. When Euthymius died (c. 473), St. Sabas withdrew from the Lavra (a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center) and moved to a cave near the monastery of St Gerasimus of Jordan. After the death of the Elder Theoctistus, his successor blessed Sabas to seclude himself in a cave near the brook Cedron. On Saturdays, however, he left his hermitage and came to the monastery, where he participated in divine services and ate with the brethren. After a certain time Sabas received permission not to leave his hermitage at all, and he lived in isolation in the cave for five years. A rope was his means of access. Wild herbs among the rocks were his food. Occasionally men brought him other food and items, while he had to go a distance for his water. Despite his desire for solitude, he attracted disciples. He was forty-five years old when he began to direct those who came to live as hermits, as he did, and he gave each of them a place to build a cell, living in individual huts. The traditional dating of the founding of this Lavra in the Kidron Valley, south of Jerusalem, is 484. Soon this was the largest monastery of Palestine. When his one hundred fifty monks asked for a priest and despite his opposition to monks being ordained, he was obliged to accept ordination by Patriarch Sallust of Jerusalem in 491, so that he could better serve his monastic community in leadership. He built several hospitals and another monastery near Jericho and was appointed archimandrite of all hermits in Palestine. While functioning as abbot among a large community of monks, he felt ever called to live the life of a hermit. Throughout each year—consistently in Lent—he left his monks for long periods of time, often to their distress. A group of 60 men left, settling at Thecuna, a nearby ruined monastery. When St. Sabas learned of the difficulties they were facing, he generously gave them supplies and assisted in the repair of their church.

As the years passed, he was in charge of seven monasteries; but his influence was not limited to Palestine. The heresies afflicting religion were being sustained by the emperor of Constantinople, Anastasios I who had exiled the Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem Elias.

St. Sabas a strenuous opponent of the Monophysites and the Origenists, tried to influence the emperors against them by calling personally on Emperor. He converted the one who had replaced Elias and wrote to the emperor that he should cease to persecute the Church of Jerusalem, and to impose taxes on the cities of Palestine which they were unable to pay. The emperor died soon afterwards, and the pious Justin replaced him. Justin restored the true faith by an edict and recalled the exiles, re-establishing the exiled prelates in their sees.

Over the years St. Sabas founded several more monasteries. Strong supporter of theological orthodoxy and a vigorous opponent of Origenism and monophysitism, traveled throughout Palestine, preaching the true faith and successfully bringing back many to the Church.

It is claimed that many miracles took place through the prayers of St. Sabas: at a Lavra a spring of water welled up, during a time of drought they received abundant rain, and there were also healings of the sick and the possessed. He composed the first monastic rule of church services, the so-called Jerusalem Typikon, for guidance of all the Byzantine monasteries.
At the age of 91, in response to a plea from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sabas undertook a long journey to Constantinople to ask Justinian (successor to Justin), not to act with severity against the province of Palestine, where a revolt had occurred by the non-submission of a group of Samaritans. The emperor honored him highly and wished to endow his monasteries with wealth, but the holy Patriarch asked him to use the riches he was offering to build a hospice for pilgrims in Jerusalem, to decorate the unfinished Church of the Blessed Virgin, to build a fortress where the monks could take refuge when barbarians invaded the land, and finally, to re-establish preaching of the true Faith, by edicts proscribing the various errors being propagated.

He fell ill soon after his return to his Lavra from this trip and died on December 5th, 531 after naming his successor.

The Lavra he founded in the desolate, wild country between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, named Mar Saba after him, often called the Great Laura for its preeminence produced many great saints, among them St John of Damascus. It is still inhabited by monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church and is one of the three or four oldest monasteries in the world.

St. Sabas’s relics were taken by Crusaders in the 12th century and remained in Italy in The Church of Saint Anthony in Venice, until Pope Paul VI returned them to the monastery in 1965 as a gesture of good will towards the Orthodox.

References and Excerpts
[1] F. Media, “Saint Sabas,” Franciscan Media, 05-Dec-2015. .
[2] C. Online, “St. Sabas – Saints & Angels,” Catholic Online. [Online]. Available: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=758. [Accessed: 29-Nov-2018].
[3] “Saint Sabas, Patriarchal Abbot in Palestine.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_sabas.html. [Accessed: 29-Nov-2018].
[4] “Sabbas the Sanctified,” Wikipedia. 09-Nov-2018.

Saint Malachy d’Armagh

Primate of Ireland (1094- 1148)
Feast – November 2

Saint Malachy d’Armagh, whose family name was O’Morgair and whose brother was St. Christian O’Morgair of Clogher, was born in the archiepiscopal city of Armagh, Ireland, in 1094. St. Bernard describes him as of noble birth. He was baptized Máel Máedóc, which was rendered Malachus in Latin (and subsequently as Malachy in English). Raised in the fear and love of God, he seemed to have the virtues of maturity hidden under the appearances of childhood. Praises did not inflate him, and reproaches did not sadden him. He had a horror of idleness, and a command from his preceptors was always like a law for him. He would often separate from his companions to converse in prayer with God. When he was still a young man, he made himself the disciple of a holy hermit who had established a little cell near the cathedral church of Armagh. Malachy was also trained under Imhar O’Hagan, the future Abbot of Armagh. Imhar was in sympathy with the aims of those who sought to reform the Irish church, and it was probably through this influence that St. Malachy became imbued with their principles.
St. Cellach (Celsus) the archbishop of Armagh made him a deacon of his church. After a long course of studies, St. Malachy, in 1119 at the age of twenty-five, was ordained a priest. Shortly afterwards St. Cellach made the young priest his vicar. For the next year or two it was St. Malachy’s duty to administer the diocese of Armagh.
Commanded by St. Cellach to preach the Gospel and catechize his people. He uprooted vices and corrected abuses. He established in all the churches the apostolic sanctions, the decrees of the holy fathers and the customs and practices the Holy Roman Church. He introduced the Roman method of chanting the services of the canonical hours and instituted a new Confession, Confirmation and Marriage contract, since those over whom he was placed were either ignorant or negligent and the archdiocese derived great profit from his ministry.
With the consent of St. Cellach, in order to perfect himself in sacred liturgy and theology, he proceeded to Lismore, where he spent nearly two years under Bishop St. Maichius of Lismore. Since he ended his days at Lismore, it may be assumed that he was a friend of St. Maichius, and of the movement with which he was identified.
In 1123 the abbot of Bangor Abbey died. Bangor was the principal religious site in the north-east of Ireland. His successor, who was St. Malachy’s uncle, expressed his willingness to surrender his office and the site of the monastery to his nephew. In 1124 St. Malachy journeyed to Bangor and was installed as abbot.
He manifested great devotion and zeal in the reconstruction and re-establishment of a monastery whose nine hundred religious had been massacred by pirates. This lead to St. Malachy being consecrated by St. Cellach to become the Bishop of Connor, a small see whose inhabitants were Christian in name but pagan in practice. The venerable pastor taught the people with patience and warned them with gentleness. He endured many insults and outrages, but finally the hardened hearts were softened and began to listen to his voice and instructions.
In 1127, St. Malachy paid a second visit to Lismore and acted for a time as confessor to Cormac MacCarthy, Prince of Desmond. While Bishop of Down and Connor, St. Malachy continued to resided at Bangor, and when some of the native princes sacked the two dioceses of Down and Connor, Malachy brought the Bangor monks to Iveragh, County Kerry, where they were welcomed by now King Cormac.
At that time, the Archbishop of Armagh, St. Celsus, was nearing death and named St. Malachy to succeed him in this metropolitan see. In 1132 St. Malachy was promoted to the primacy of Armagh, which he accepted with great reluctance. Owing to intrigues, he was unable to take possession of his See for two years. The see of Armagh had been held somewhat like a throne by one single family, and it required on the part of the Saint no little tact and firmness to calm the dissensions caused by his election. The good bishop who had named St. Malachy had labored to correct the abuses, and hoped his virtuous successor might better succeed in the same post. Nonetheless, two years passed before St. Malachy could even enter into the city as its archbishop; troops were levied against his entry by the pretender to the same title. St. Malachy had accepted the office on the condition that he assume the charge only after the death or flight of the false bishop, for he did not want to cause a war and the death of those whose salvation he desired to procure. The pretender and his cousin, with several others of the same lineage, were struck down soon afterwards by the hand of God, and their exemplary chastisements gave great credit to the Saint and enabled him to make ordinances to countermand the disorders. During three years at Armagh, as St. Bernard of Clairvaux writes, St. Malachy restored the discipline of the Church, which had grown lax during the intruded rule of a series of lay-abbots, and had the Roman Liturgy adopted.
St Malachy’s influence in Irish ecclesiastical affairs has been compared with that of St. Boniface in Germany.
Having extirpated barbarism and re-established Christian morals, and seeing all things tranquil, St. Malachy began to think of his own peace. He therefore resigned Armagh, in 1138, and returned to Connor, dividing the see into Down and Connor and retained his title as Bishop of Down.
He founded a priory of Austin Canons at Downpatrick, and was unceasing in his episcopal labors. Early in 1139 he journeyed to Rome, travelling through Scotland, England and France, visiting St. Bernard at Clairvaux, Champagne. He petitioned Pope Innocent II for pallia for the Sees of Armagh and Cashel, and was appointed legate for Ireland. On his return visit to Clairvaux he obtained five monks for a foundation in Ireland, under Christian, an Irishman, as superior: thus arose the great Abbey of Mellifont in 1142.
St. Malachy set out on a second journey to Rome in 1148, but he was taken ill in France at the monastery of Clairvaux, where his great friend and biographer, St. Bernard, was Abbot. St. Malachy died in the arms of St. Bernard, on the 2nd of November 1148 at the age of fifty-four.
In the book Life of St. Malachy, his biographer St. Bernard of Clairvaux says Malachy was distinguished by his meekness, humility, obedience, modesty, and true diligence in his studies.
St. Charles Borromeo praised St. Malachy for attending to the needy, bringing the holy sacraments to all alike and renewing the fervor of the people in receiving them.
St. Malachy, a miracle worker and healer, he sometimes cured people instantly by laying his hands upon them, including healing the son of King David I of Scotland. St. Bernard, in his Life of St. Malachy, narrates many of his miracles, one of which he himself brought about, when he touched the paralyzed arm of a young boy to that of the mortal remains of the bishop, while he was laid out in his coffin at Clairvaux. It was instantly cured.
An episode from the life of St. Malachy teaches us several truths concerning purgatory. He had a sister who was very worldly, and whom he found indifferent to his efforts to lead her to reflect on the reason for her existence and her last ends. He learned one day that she had died after having manifested regret for her sins, and he offered a Mass for her soul; but he did not think of continuing this practice. After thirty days he heard in a dream that she was standing outside the church and had not eaten for one month. He began again to pray for her, and then in a dream beheld her clothed in a black robe, near the door of the church but unable to enter. He continued his suffrages, and on a third occasion saw her in a robe which was more or less white, having entered the church but unable to approach the altar. The last time he saw her she was within the church, clothed in white and near the altar, in the company of the just. We learn from this how serious our indifference and lack of love for God are; that our prayers are efficacious in relieving our dear ones; and that it is ordinarily a little at a time that souls are delivered from the bonds of their sins and negligence.
We must not neglect to mention the famous prophecy of St. Malachy, in which he assigns to every Pope of the future a motto describing each pontificate, from his own day until the last Pope he mentions, whom he calls Petrus Romanus — Peter the Roman. After the motto attributed to the present Vicar of Jesus Christ (in the year 2000), De Labore Solis, only one, De Gloria Olivae — From the glory of the Olive Tree — separates us from Peter II. The prophecy, which begins with Celestine II (1143-1144), was discovered in 1590 and includes one hundred and eleven mottos. Many a motto has been shown to have a striking exactitude in the description of its subject and his pontificate. Many interpreters have labored to prove the prophecy’s accuracy.
The Visio Tnugdali written c.1149 refers to St. Malachy as follows- When St. Ruadan had fallen silent, Tundale looked happily about him and saw St. Patrick of Ireland, dressed in shining robes alongside many bishops decked out in their finest regalia. They were all joyful and there was no sound of any sighing! Among that blessed company Tundale could see four bishops whom he recognised. They were all good men; one of them was St. Cellach, a former archbishop of Armagh, who did much good for the sake of Our Lord. Another was St. Malachias O’Moore, who had become archbishop of Armagh after him and gave everything that he had to the poor. He founded a large number of churches and colleges, as many as forty-four in all, endowed them with land and rents and so allowed many men of religion to serve God devotedly, although he hardly retained enough for himself to live on.
St. Bernard declared him a saint, an action confirmed in 1190 by Pope Clement III.

References and Excerpts
[1] “Saint Malachy d’Armagh, Primate of Ireland.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_malachy_d_armagh.html. [Accessed: 06-Nov-2018].
[2] “Saint Malachy – Wikipedia.” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Malachy. [Accessed: 06-Nov-2018].
[3] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Malachy.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09565a.htm. [Accessed: 06-Nov-2018].
[4] “St. Malachy – Saints & Angels – Catholic Online.” [Online]. Available: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4431. [Accessed: 06-Nov-2018].
[5] “CatholicSaints.Info » Blog Archive » Saint Malachy O’More.” [Online]. Available: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-malachy-omore/. [Accessed: 06-Nov-2018].
[6] “ICONOGRAPHIE CHRÉTIENNE: Saint MALACHIE O’MORE, d’ARMAGH, archevêque et confesseur.” [Online]. Available: http://har22201.blogspot.com/2015/11/saint-malachie-omore-archeveque-et.html. [Accessed: 06-Nov-2018].