Saint Vincent Strambi

Passionist Priest, Bishop of Macerata and Tolentino (1745-1824)

Feast – September 25

In tough times, times of war and persecution, God gives his children holy people, prophets in the Old Testament days and saints in our modern times, using them to restore faith, give hope and grant victories to those who put their trust in Him. One of these saints is St. Vincent Strambi.

In 1689, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the Visitation Order nun and mystic, received a private request from Jesus to urge the King of France, Louis XIV, to consecrate the nation to the Sacred Heart, so that He may be “triumphant over all the enemies of Holy Church.” Louis XIV, along with his successors, refused to consecrate the nation.

In May 1789, 100 years after St. Alcoque’s vision, King Louis XVI wanted to raise taxes to fill the hole in his budget, so he called the convocation of the Estates General-the general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. With the idea of Taxing the Rich, Louis XVI acceded to popular demand that the Commons be allocated twice as many delegates as each of the other two Estates. In the elections of early spring 1789, the First Estate was allocated 303 delegates, the Second Estate 282, and the Third Estate 578. A majority of the Third Estate were ambitious local leaders, community organizers and lawyers seeking a quick elevation in ranks. On June third the Estate formed the National Assembly and invited the other two estates to join, many of which opposed the monarchy and high taxes. This shifted the balance in the assembly.

Continuing unrest, political conflict and economic distress culminated in the Storming of the Bastille on the 14th of July, which led to a series of radical measures by the Assembly, including the abolition of feudalism and imposition of state control over the Catholic Church in France. The next three years were dominated by the fight for political control between the Girondists, a loosely knit political faction of classical liberals mostly active in the Legislative Assembly campaigning for the end of the monarchy, and the Montagnards, a group of the most radical members of the highest benches in the National Convention.

On the 27th of August, 1791, Frederick William II of Prussia and the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II declared joint support for King Louis XVI of France. Eight months later, following a vote of the revolutionary-led Legislative Assembly, France declared war on Austria. Prussia, having allied with Austria in February, declared war on France in June 1792 and in July an army of Prussians joined the Austrian side and invaded France. The capture of Verdun by Prussians on 2 September 1792 triggered the September massacres in Paris. On the same day, around 1:00 pm, Georges Danton (French Minister of Justice) delivered a speech in the assembly, stating: “We ask that anyone refusing to give personal service or to furnish arms shall be punished with death”. Within the first 20 hours more than 1,000 prisoners (enemies of the revolution) were killed, among them women, children and over 170 Catholic priests. On the 20th of September, France counterattacked with victory at Valmy and two days later the Legislative Assembly proclaimed the French Republic. In January 1793 king Louis XVI was executed.

In May Jean-Paul Marat, one of the leading figures in the September massacres, with the support of the Paris commune (government of Paris) demanded that the Girondin representatives in the National Convention, who in January had voted against the execution of the king, must be brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal. A mob of thousands of armed citizens surrounded the Convention and forced the deputies to deliver the 29 representatives and two Ministers denounced by the Commune. The Montagnards took control over Convention and created the Committee of Public Safety, headed by Maximilien Robespierre. The Reign of Terror to eradicate alleged “counter-revolutionaries” started.  By the time it ended in July 1794, at least 300,000 suspects were arrested, and over 16,600 had been executed throughout France of which 2,639 were in Paris alone.  An additional 40,000 may have been summarily executed or died awaiting trial. As the Terror accelerated, members of Convention felt more and more threatened. In his speech on the 26th of July, 1794, Robespierre spoke of the existence of internal enemies, conspirators, and calumniators within the Convention and the governing Committees. The next day Robespierre (useful idiot) was arrested with 90 of his closest comrades and executed by guillotine on the 28th of July, 1794. The reign of the Committee of Public Safety was ended, but the exceptional revolutionary measures continued. The period of the less intensive “White Terror” followed. In July 1794, the Convention established a committee to draft the Constitution, which was presented to the Convention and formally adopted on 22 August, 1795.

The new Constitution was officially proclaimed on the 23rd of September, 1795, but the new Councils had not yet been elected, and the Directors had not yet been chosen. The leaders of the royalists and constitutional monarchists chose this moment to try to seize power.

The members of the Convention were aware that the planning was underway and created a group of five deputies, led by Paul Barras, as an unofficial directory to deal with rebellion.

On the 5th of October, 1795, the armed royalist insurgents march in two columns along both the right bank and left bank of the Seine toward the Tuileries. They were confronted by the artillery of sous-lieutenant Joachim Murat at the Sablons and by Napoleon Bonaparte’s soldiers and artillery in front of the church of Saint-Roch. Over the next two hours, Bonaparte’s cannons and the gunfire of his soldiers brutally killed some four hundred insurgents and ended the rebellion. Bonaparte was promoted to General of Division and General in Chief of the Army of the Interior. Shortly after, in November 1795 the French Directory was created and took power. After six years of revolutionary government ruling, France faced a shortage of food and necessities. Strict distribution, price control and inflation lead to a situation when the fixed prices could not cover the cost of production, and supplies dropped even more. In this situation, conquering neighboring regions that had not been ruined by revolution and robbing them was a quick fix. A series of military victories, many won by Napoleon Bonaparte who demanded gold or silver from each city he conquered, threatening to destroy the cities if they did not pay, made him a national hero. In November 1799, the Directory was replaced by the Consulate with Bonaparte as First Consul and in 1804 Napoleon I was declared the Emperor of the French. In 1808 Napoleon Bonaparte used the French alliance with Spain to force King Ferdinand VII to abdicate, giving the throne to Bonaparte’s brother Joseph. This started large-scale guerrilla style war that lasted six years. The result was that France lost an ally and control over the Iberian Peninsula.

In the summer of 1812 Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia. The Russians unable to stop the advancing 600,000 men, including foreign recruits, of Bonaparte’s Grande Armée employed a scorched-earth military strategy that aimed to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. the Grande Armée reached Moscow on the 14th of September, 1812, but was ultimately forced to march back westward. Due to constant harassment by Russian partisans, the frigid cold, starvation, and diseases, the army of 600,000 dwindled to only 120,000 who survived to leave Russia. After defeating Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the army of the Sixth Coalition against France invaded France and captured Paris in late March 1814. Under the Treaty of Paris, signed on the 30th of May, 1814, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba. However, on the 26th of February, 1815, Napoleon escaped from Elba in the French brig the Inconstant and two days later, landed at Golfe-Juan with 607 Grenadiers of the Old Guard, 118 Polish Lancers, 300 Corsicans, 50 Elite Gendarmes, and 80 civilians, he reached Paris on the 20th of March. By June, his armed forces numbered 200,000. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition. A number of battles were fought leading to Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo.

Upon Napoleons’ return to France his brother-in-law, Joachim-Napoleon Murat, King of Naples quickly raised a 50,000-man army and declared war on Austria on March 15th.

Advancing north, he won a series of victories over the Austrians but, once defeated on April 8th or 9th at Occhiobello was forced to fall back. Retreating, he ended the siege of Ferrara and reconcentrated his forces at Ancona. Pursued by Austrian forces, Murat set up his headquarters at Macerata, near Tolentino, planning to use that location for battle.

The people, out of fear for their lives and the certain devastation facing Macerata, turned to their Bishop for guidance. His response was to gather priests and seminarians in his private chapel to beg for God’s intercession and after one and a half hours he rose and declared that Macerata would be saved through the intercession of the Mother of God. He met with the King of Naples and begged him not to enter the town, to which Murat agreed. Then he secured the assurances of the Austrian generals that Murat’s soldiers would not be slaughtered.

The Battle started on 2 May 1815 near Tolentino. After two days of fight, the Austrian army had 11,938 men 1,452 horses and 28 artillery pieces after losing 700 killed 100 wounded, but had successfully routed Murat’s forces, which numbered, 25,588 men, 4,790 horses 58 artillery pieces and had suffered 1,120 killed, 600 wounded and 2,400 captured.

The Holy Bishop who saved Macerata and Tolentino and lives of many soldiers and civilians is St. Vincent Strambi.

St. Vincent Strambi was born in 1745 in Civitavecchia, Italy, as the last of four children to a pharmacist, Giuseppe Strambi, known for his charitable works, and Eleonora Gori, noted for her piety. His three elder siblings all died in childhood. He was a troublesome child who liked to play practical jokes on his friends, but at the same time his good nature inspired him to give away his own overcoat or shoes to any homeless child he encountered. The Friars Minor oversaw his education. In his teenage years he started to teach his younger fellow students the catechism. It was at this time that he became quite attracted to the notion of the religious life. His parents seeing his religious fervor encouraged him to become diocesan priest. At age 15 he entered the seminary at nearby Montefiascone and in 1762 received clerical “tonsure.” Noted for his oratorical gifts, he was sent to Rome for studies in Sacred Eloquence and then continued his theological studies with the Dominicans at Viterbo. After his ordination as a deacon in 1767, he made a retreat amid the Passionists of Monte Fogliano, led by St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the order. In the Passionist house he found his vocation and decided to enter that religious community instead. He asked the founder to be admitted into the order, but he was refused. Ordained to the priesthood on the 19th of December, 1767, he returned to Rome to further his theological studies. The life of contemplation, essential for any fruitful works, was his desire.

He still felt called to the Passionists and made several trips to see St. Paul of the Cross. In September 1768 the founder relented, and St. Vincent began his novitiate. He made his profession on the 24th of September, 1769. St. Vincent had just six years to absorb the spirit of the congregation from St. Paul of the Cross. He was sent to Vetralla for two further years of studies with a particular emphasis on the Church Fathers, on Sacred Scripture and sermon writing.

His studies of religion continued throughout his lifetime; he knew by heart Sacred Scripture and all the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas. As he studied, he seemed to see around his desk the faces of his spiritual children, waiting for the bread of life he was destined to break for them. This method of thinking about and praying for your future spiritual children before they study has been preserved among his followers in the Order. His preaching was so simple that all could easily understand. He never used notes but lectured according to the needs of his listeners. When he preached missions – a focal point of the Passionist charism – he drew large crowds. On several occasions he preached before Bishops and Cardinals.

In 1773 he was made a professor of theological studies in charge of the training of young students who were selected for future missionary preaching at the newly acquired order’s house in Rome, at Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Here he would eventually write a manual on Sacred Eloquence, and it was here that in October 1775 he was present at the death of St. Paul of the Cross. The founder said to St. Vincent on his deathbed: “You will do great things! You will do great good! I recommend to you this poor Congregation!”

In 1780 he became rector of the Community of Saints John and Paul. In 1781 he was elected provincial, serving as provincial and general consultor at the same time, preaching missions as often as possible. St. Vincent published a biography on St. Paul of the Cross, and the testimonies of eyewitnesses used in the biography were also used during the canonization process. It is said that he wrote the life of St Paul of the Cross on his knees, out of reverence for the founder.

On the 29th of August, 1799, Pope Pius VI died. In 1801 the new Pope Pius VII appointed St. Vincent as the Bishop of Macerata-Tolentino, becoming the first bishop to come from the Passionists. He rushed to Rome in an effort to get the appointment cancelled before it become official. He took his case to the pope who listened and told St. Vincent that the decision to name him bishop was “a divine inspiration” and is final. His friend Cardinal Antonelli presided over his episcopal consecration at Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

Loyal to the pope and Holy See as bishop of Macerata and Tolentino he was a true pastor of souls, full of zeal and discipline. St. Vincent Strambi in heart was always Passionist, in private he would wear the Passionist habit. As a man of prayer he regretted being unable to dedicate more than five hours to prayer each day, and as a community observance he took great care in the education and ongoing formation of diocesan priests, paying close attention to the teaching standards in the diocesan seminaries. He visited every religious house of his diocese, then the Canons and the parish priests. He preached for his clergy a beautiful mission, then organized specialized services for the various professions of the laity. He reduced his diocesan expenditures to a minimum, to be able to give more to the poor. He was especially attentive to the people in his care during a typhoid epidemic and when a famine struck the city. He called in the poor and gave them alms; he visited the hospitals and the prisoners, blessed, embraced and helped them, established orphanages and homes for the aged. Occasionally he was seen begging on poor’s behalf.

The Napoleonic invasion of the Papal States and the anti-religious decrees forced St. Vincent to flee Rome in 1798, but he managed to return to Rome shortly thereafter. In March 1808, the puppet of France, the Kingdom of Italy invaded the papal provinces Ancona, Macerata, Fermo, and Urbino and by Napoleonic decree the annexed provinces became part of the French empire. The French ordered that this decree be read in all churches, but St. Vincent refused to do so. He also refused to provide the French with a list of all the men in his diocese who would be suitable for service in the armed forces. The French arrested him in September 1808 for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the French invaders and was then exiled and cut off from his diocese. He was first sent to Novara, then in October 1809 to Milan. From there he continued to guide his people through correspondence. He returned to his see in 1814 with vast crowds lining the route of his return.

Six years of French occupation had a negative influence on the infrastructure, and morality of the residents. St. Vincent instituted strict reforms to end corruption, which were met with resistance to the point that he received death threats, but after St. Vincent single-handedly saved Macerata and Tolentino from devastation a year later, the opposition vanished. Pope Pius VII on 10 March 1823 made him Cardinal.

He wished to resign as bishop at the age of seventy-eight, and Pope Leo XII ceded to his wish, but asked him to come to Rome as his counselor. That his life was soon to end was revealed to him, and when the Holy Father was about to die that same year, he offered his life to save that of the Vicar of Christ. He did not say so directly, but told everyone not to be anxious, because the Pope would live. Someone he knew had offered his life for him, he added. The prayer was answered on the very day he said this, December 24th; the Pope rose, suddenly cured. Three days later St. Vincent was struck by apoplexy and died on January 1st, 1824.

Pope Pius XI beatified him in 1925 and St. Vincent Strambi was canonized on 11 June 1950 by Pope Pius XII.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Napoleon,” Wikipedia. Sep. 05, 2022. Accessed: Sep. 05, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Napoleon&oldid=1108706226

[2]          “French Revolution,” Wikipedia. Aug. 26, 2022. Accessed: Sep. 05, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_Revolution&oldid=1106806819

[3]          “Battle of Tolentino,” Wikipedia. Aug. 08, 2022. Accessed: Sep. 05, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Tolentino&oldid=1103041691

[4]          “Saint Vincent Strambi, Passionist Priest, Bishop of Macerata and Tolentino.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_vincent_strambi.html (accessed Sep. 05, 2022).

[5]          “St Vincent Strambi | Passionists Ireland and Scotland.” https://passionists.ie/st-vincent-strambi/ (accessed Sep. 05, 2022).

[6]          “Vincent Strambi,” Wikipedia. Mar. 07, 2022. Accessed: Sep. 05, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vincent_Strambi&oldid=1075762366

Saint Philip Benizi

Servite Priest (1233-1285)

Feast- August 23

Henry IV was born in 1050, the son of Holy Roman Emperor Henry III and grandson of St. Henry II of the Salian dynasty. By the will of his father, at the age of two the boy became Duke of Bavaria, then in 1054 King of Germany, and subsequently in 1056 King of Italy and Burgundy. After his father’s death on the 5th of October, 1056, Henry was placed under his mother’s, Agnes of Poitou, guardianship. Unlike her late husband, she could not control the election of popes. This created an opportunity to restore the liberty of the Church during her rule. In 1062, in a conspiracy to remove Agnes from the throne, young Henry IV was abducted by a group of men, including Archbishop Anno II of Cologne (chaplain to Henry’s father) and Otto of Nordheim (Duke of Bavaria). Archbishop Anno II administered Germany until Henry came of age in 1065. As king, Henry, in his attempt to recover the royal estates that had been lost during his minority and expand his power surrounded himself with low-ranking but loyal officials to carry out his new policies. He insisted on his royal prerogative to appoint individuals to the highest church offices, which enabled him to demand benefices from the wealthy, bishops, and abbots. When Henry appointed a Milanese nobleman, Gotofredo, to the Archbishopric of Milan in 1070, Pope Alexander II excommunicated the new archbishop. In 1070 the local clerics appealed to the Holy See to prevent the installation of Henry’s candidate, Charles of Magdeburg, to the episcopal see of Constance. Henry denied Charles had bribed him, but he publicly admitted that his advisors may have received money from Charles. Pope Alexander II decided to investigate and summoned all German bishops who had been accused of simony or corruption to Rome, but he died in two months. On the death of Alexander II on 21 April 1073, as the obsequies were being performed in the Lateran Basilica, there arose a loud outcry from the clergy and people: “Blessed Peter has chosen Hildebrand the Archdeacon! Let Hildebrand be pope!”

In 1049 Pope Leo IX had named Hildebrand as deacon and papal administrator. Ten years later under Pope Nicholas II he was made archdeacon of the Roman church and become the most important figure in the papal administration. Out of admiration for Pope St. Gregory the Great, upon being elected by acclamation Hildebrand chose the name Gregory VII. As the new Pope he was well aware, and up to date with the challenges facing the Catholic Church. At the time the strength of the German monarchy had been seriously weakened; King Henry IV had to contend with great internal difficulties. This state of affairs was of material assistance to the Pope’s effort to restore the moral integrity and independence of the clergy and eradicate corruption in the Church. In a series of reforms initiated by St. Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, a ban on lay investiture was a key element. To liberate the Church from secular rulers it declared that the Pope alone could appoint or depose bishops and abbots or move them from one see to another. Reforms were finally confirmed by council held in the Lateran Palace on 28 February 1075.

In the meantime, Henry was forced by the Saxon Rebellion to come to amicable terms with the Pope at any cost. Consequently, in May 1074 he did penance at Nuremberg—in the presence of the papal legates—to atone for his continued friendship with excommunicated members of his council. He pledged obedience to the Pope and promised his support in the work of reforming the Church. This attitude was abandoned as soon as he defeated the Saxons at the First Battle of Langensalza on the 9th of June, 1075. Henry then tried to reassert his rights as the sovereign of northern Italy without delay. He nominated the cleric Tedald to the archbishopric of Milan. On December 8, 1075, Pope Gregory VII replied with a letter in which he accused Henry of breaching his word with his continued support of excommunicated councilors. At the same time the Pope suggested that the enormous crimes which would be laid to his account rendered him liable, not only to being barred from the Church, but to the deprivation of his crown.

Infuriated, Henry and his court convened national council in Worms, Germany, which met on the 24th of January 1076. The higher ranks of the German clergy and a Roman cardinal, Hugo Candidus, voted against Pope Gregory VII, calling him unfit for the Papacy. Henry IV wrote a letter to Gregory and told him that he was fired. Pope wrote back and declared the excommunication of Henry IV and informed all of his subjects that they no longer owed him any loyalty and could elect someone else as their new ruler.

Many German aristocrats called for the Pope to hold an assembly in Germany to hear Henry’s case. To prevent the Pope from sitting in judgement on him, Henry went to Italy as far as Canossa to meet with him in January 1077. His penitential “Walk to Canossa” was a success and Gregory VII had no choice but to absolve him. After squashing rivals and consolidating his position, Henry continued to appoint high-ranking clerics, for which the Pope again excommunicated him on 7 March 1080. In response the German and northern Italian bishops loyal to Henry elected the antipope, Clement III.

This started a war between the papacy and its supporters, the “church party” named the Guelphs, and the emperor with his “imperial party” known as the Ghibellines. The conflict officially ended when Pope Callixtus II and Emperor Henry V agreed on the Concordat of Worms in 1122, but the division amongst the people lasted much longer. In 1279, one hundred fifty-seven years later St. Philip Beniz was sent to Forli, Italy. He was heckled by Ghibellines and then physically attacked while preaching. His non-violent way of turning the other cheek caused a conversion in St. Peregrine Laziosi, the only son of the Peregrine’s family, the key supporters of the anti-papal faction. This conversion finally ended the conflict.

St. Philip was born of the renowned Benizi and Frescobaldi families in Florence on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1233—the same day upon which the Blessed Virgin appeared to the seven noblemen of Florence, Saints Bonfilius, Alexis Falconieri, John Bonagiunta, Benedict dell’Antella, Bartholomew Amidei, Gerard Sostegni, and Ricoverus Uguccione, the founders of the Servite Order (Ordo Fratrum Servorum Sanctae Mariae /Order of Friar Servants of St. Mary).

From his very cradle St. Philip gave signs of his future sanctity. When he was scarcely five months old, he received the power of speech by a miracle. On beholding St. Alexis and St. Buonagiunta, two of the Seven Holy Founders, approaching in quest of alms, he exclaimed: “Mother, here come our Lady’s Servants; give them alms for the love of God.”

Amid all the temptations of his youth, he longed to become a Servant of Mary, but obedient to his father’s wish began to study medicine. A brilliant student, he studied at Paris, France, and Padua, Italy, receiving his doctorates in medicine and philosophy by age 19. The love of God was very strong in him, so that by self-discipline, praying, and particularly by reciting each day the office of the Holy Virgin he fulfilled the divine law to perfection. He practiced medicine for about a year, bringing help to the poor of Christ. In 1254 following a vision of the Virgin Mary, his doubts were solved. He quit everything and saying nothing of his studies and state he joined the Servites at Monte Scenario as a lay brother. In this humble state he led an austere and penitential life, sweetened by meditation on the sufferings of Our Lord. He couldn’t hide his great talents, wisdom, and knowledge, persuaded by superiors to use his gifts and background to further the Servite mission. He was ordained priest at Siena, Italy in 1258. Four years later in 1262 he become novice master at Siena and then superior of several Servite friaries. On the 5th of June 1267, in the Order’s General Chapter of Florence, St. Philip much against his protests was elected prior general of the order, an office he held for eighteen years, almost to the time of his death.

He watched over the Order of Our Lady with great care, in both its doctrine and its holiness. Like a father he would visit all the communities making long and arduous journeys. Once when ravaged by war and a subsequent famine in the province of Arezzo, the local friars, at the prayers of St. Philip to the Virgin Mary, by a miracle were provided with food. Under his leadership the number of communities and provinces in the Order increased significantly. As a follower of the Apostles, he was tireless in proclaiming the word of God. He sent some of his brethren to preach the Gospel in Scythia while he himself journeyed from city to city, travelling to Italy, the Netherlands and Germany, repressing civil dissensions and returning many to the obedience of the Roman Pontiff. His unremitting zeal for the salvation of souls won many, including the most unrepentant sinners. He was often seen rapt in ecstasy. Some of the saint’s miracles became well known. One day he met a half-naked leper, when this poor leper begged alms of him at Camigliano, a village of Siena, St. Philip having no money gave him his tunic. When the leper put it on, he was instantly cured.

The fame of this miracle spread far and wide and many of the Cardinals who were assembled at Viterbo for the election of a successor to Pope Clement IV considered him a candidate for the papacy.

When he heard the rumor, he went into hiding on Mount Tuniato until Pope St. Gregory X was chosen.

In the wake of the Second Council of Lyons of 1274 which put restrictions on mendicant orders he codified the Servite rules and applied his great gifts of wisdom in the Roman Curia along with Blessed Lotharingus and succeeded in preparing the way for definitive approval of the Order in the Church. For this reason, St. Philip is often called a holy Father of the Order.

He worked with Blessed Andrew Dotti, helped Saint Juliana of Cornillon found the Servite third order, and dispatched the first Servite missionaries to the East in 1284.

St. Philip lived his last few months in retirement in a Servite house in Todi, Italy.

Free from every stain of mortal sin, he was never weary of beseeching God’s mercy. From the time he was ten years old he daily prayed the Penitential Psalms. On his deathbed he recited verses of the Miserere, his cheeks streaming with tears; during his agony he went through a terrible contest to overcome the fear of damnation. A few minutes before he died, all his doubts disappeared and were succeeded by a holy trust. He uttered the responses to the final prayers in a low but audible voice; and when at last the Mother of God appeared before him, he lifted up his arms with joy and breathed a gentle sigh, as if placing his soul in Her hands. He died on the Octave of the Assumption, 1285.

The blind and lame were healed at his tomb, and the dead were brought back to life. His name having become illustrious by these and many other miracles, Pope Clement X in 1671, enrolled him among the saints.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor,” Wikipedia. Jun. 08, 2022. Accessed: Aug. 05, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_IV,_Holy_Roman_Emperor&oldid=1092152379

[2]          “Pope Gregory VII,” Wikipedia. Jul. 16, 2022. Accessed: Aug. 05, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pope_Gregory_VII&oldid=1098614260

[3]          ossm1236, “About St. Philip Benizi, OSM,” secularservites, Aug. 30, 2018. https://secularservites.org/about-st-philip-benizi-osm (accessed Aug. 05, 2022).

[4]          “Saint Philip Benizi, Servite Priest.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_philip_benizi.html (accessed Aug. 05, 2022).

[5]          “CatholicSaints.Info » Blog Archive » Saint Philip Benizi.” https://catholicsaints.info/saint-philip-benizi/ (accessed Aug. 05, 2022).

[6]          “St. Philip Benizi.” https://www.salvemariaregina.info/SalveMariaRegina/SMR-169/Benizi.htm (accessed Aug. 05, 2022).

Saint Eugenius

Bishop of Carthage († 505)

Feast – July 13

Carthage, which was located on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia, was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classical world. After being conquered, it became a major city of the Roman Empire in the province of Africa and the final destination of St. Epenetus, one of the Seventy-two disciples and the first Bishop of Carthage.

The bishops of Carthage exercised an informal primacy in the Early African Church, in the region which used to be the Carthaginian empire, and to some extent over the Church in Numidia (modern-day Algeria expanding across Tunisia, Libya, and some parts of Morocco) and Mauretania (from central Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains). The provincial primacy associated with the senior bishop in the province was of little importance in comparison to the authority of the bishop of Carthage, who could be appealed to directly by the clergy of any province. Not much is known about the bishops of Carthage and difficulties they had faced. The first certain historically documented bishop is Agrippinus around the 230s. During his episcopacy the question arose in the African Church as to what should be done with regard to converts from schism or heresy. If they had previously been Catholics, ecclesiastical discipline held them subject to penance, but if it were a question of receiving those who had been baptized outside the Church, was their baptism to be regarded as valid? Agrippinus convoked the bishops of Numidia and Africa for the First Council of Africa c. 215-217 which resolved the question negatively. He consequently decided that such persons should be baptized, not conditionally but absolutely.

In 250 the Roman Emperor Decius in his pursue for absolute power had issued an edict ordering everyone in the Empire to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods and the well-being of the emperor. The sacrifices had to be performed in the presence of a Roman magistrate and be confirmed by a signed and witnessed certificate from the magistrate. As bishop, St. Cyprian faced opposition within his own diocese over the question of the proper treatment of the lapsi who had fallen away from the Christian faith under persecution, a division in the church that came to be known as the Donatist controversy. He held a council sometime after Easter 251 AD, in which lapsi were classified into five categories; Sacrificati (Those who had actually offered a sacrifice to the idols), Thurificati (Those who had burnt incense on the altar before the statues of the gods), Libellatici (Those who had drawn up attestation, or had, by bribing the authorities, caused such certificates to be drawn up for them, representing them as having offered sacrifice, without, however, having actually done so), Acta facientes (Those that made false statements or other acts to save their lives) and Traditores (Those who gave up sacred scriptures, artifacts and/or revealed names of fellow Christians), with assign penance appropriate to each.

The Donatists stressed the holiness of the church and refused to accept the authority to administer the sacraments of those clergy who had surrendered the sacred scriptures when they were forbidden under the emperor Diocletian. The most articulate critic of the Donatist heresy was St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, who pointed that the unworthiness of a minister did not affect the validity of the sacraments because their true minister was Christ. Although the dispute was resolved by a decision of an imperial commission in the Council of Carthage 411, Donatist communities continued to exist as late as the 6th century.

In 257 Emperor Valerian started his persecution of Christians. First, he commanded the clergy to perform sacrifices to the Roman gods or face banishment. This was followed by the execution of Christian leaders, then confiscation of property and lastly reducing to slavery members of imperial households who would not worship the Roman gods and to send them to work on the imperial estates. Persecution, sacrifice of Christians and internal struggle inside the episcopal see of Carthage brought “surprising” effects, by the end of the 4th century, the settled areas had become Christianized, and local tribes had converted in masse.

In August 431, the Vandals (Germanic immigrants who settled in the Iberian Peninsula) under their leader Genseric crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into Africa and captured Hippo Regius, which they made the capital of their kingdom. In October 439 they made a surprise attack against Carthage and after capturing the city made it the new capital. The Vandals, who were Arians, had the practice of persecuting the Catholics, especially bishops. They plundered and destroyed Carthage’s churches, monasteries and burned two bishops alive. They banished to the desert to die Bishop St. Quodvultdeus, along with other Prelates and clergy as well as 5,000 lay people.

King Genseric protected his Catholic subjects since his relations with Rome or Constantinople required that, but left the see of Carthage empty for 14 years. In 454, at the request of the Roman Emperor Valentinian III, St. Deogratias was appointed bishop of Carthage. He remained on the seat until his death three years later. After St. Deogratias’ reign ended, the Vandals would not allow Carthage to have a Catholic bishop for another twenty-three years. King Genseric died on the 25th of January 477, at the age of around 88 years. According to the law of succession his oldest son Huneric became the new king.

In 481 at the request of the Eastern Roman emperor Zeno and Placidia, daughter of Valentinian III, wife of western Roman Empire Olybrius and sister of Huneric’s wife Eudocia, allowed the vacant seat to be filled, and St. Eugenius, famous for his learning, zeal, piety and prudence, was unanimously elected by the citizens of Carthage and consecrated Bishop.

St. Eugenius as a bishop refused himself the slightest convenience, in order to be able to give all he had to the poor and distressed. His austere lifestyle, charity, courage and clarity of his teaching won him the admiration and conversion of many Arians. King Huneric, seeing the growing popularity of the Catholic bishop while his own influence and power decline among his people, sent St. Eugenius an order to never sit on the episcopal throne, preach to the people, or admit into his chapel any Vandals, even if Catholic.

The Saint courageously replied that the laws of God commanded him not to shut the door of His church to any who desired to serve Him there. His popularity grew further after Felix, a blind man of Carthage, had a dream that Bishop Eugenius would pray for him, and he would be healed. Twice the man ignored the dream, but he had it again. On the third time he roused himself and sought out the bishop. The legend continues that Felix went to the bishop and told his story. The bishop protested his ability to heal but eventually acquiesced with the words “I have already told you I am a sinful man; but may he who has deigned to visit you act in accordance with your faith and open your eyes.” While he was praying Felix’s sight was restored. When news of the miracle reached the Vandal king, Huneric unsuccessfully tried to kill Felix, then after St. Eugenius had admitted a number of Vandals into the Catholic Church, and successfully engaged in argument against Arian theologians, enraged the Vandal king who persecuted Catholics in various ways. On February 24, 484 he forcibly removed the Catholic bishops from their offices and exiled a great number of bishops, priests, deacons, and eminent Catholic laymen to Corsica and to the African deserts, which are filled with scorpions and venomous serpents. Many nuns were so cruelly tortured that they died on the rack, many were put to death. The people followed their bishops and priests to execution with lighted tapers in their hands. Mothers carried their little infants in their arms and laid them at the feet of the confessors, crying out with tears, “On your way to receiving your crowns, to whom do you leave us? Who will baptize our children? Who will impart to us the benefit of penance, and free us from the bonds of sin by the grace of reconciliation and pardon? Who will bury us with solemn prayers at our death? By whom will the divine Sacrifice be offered?”

Through divine intervention, St. Eugenius was liberated on the very scaffold, but exiled to an uninhabited desert in the province of Tripoli and committed to the guard of Anthony, an Arian bishop who treated him with the utmost barbarity, shutting him up in a narrow cell and allowing no one to visit him. Before entering that prison, however, he had found a way to write to his diocesans a splendid letter, in which he said: “If I return to Carthage, I will see you in this life; if I do not return, I will see you in the other. Pray for us and fast, because fasting and almsgiving have always obtained the mercy of God; but remember above all, that it is written we must not fear those who can kill only the body.”

When in 484, Huneric was succeeded by his nephew Gunthamund, a new king recalled Saint Eugenius to Carthage, opened the Catholic churches, and allowed all the exiled clergy to return. After reigning for twelve years, in 496 Gontamund died, and his brother Thrasamund succeeded to the throne. He arrested St. Eugenius and condemned him to death, but converted the sentence into exile in France.

St. Eugenius, about whom we know very little, was the bishop over many martyrs and, as such, became the symbol of all of them. He died July 13, 505, in a monastery which he had built and governed at Albi, near Toulouse.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Capture of Carthage (439),” Wikipedia. Apr. 09, 2022. Accessed: Jun. 25, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Capture_of_Carthage_(439)&oldid=1081811305

[2]          “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Agrippinus.” https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01232a.htm (accessed Jun. 25, 2022).

[3]          “Decian persecution,” Wikipedia. Nov. 30, 2021. Accessed: Jun. 25, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Decian_persecution&oldid=1057884115

[4]          “Epenetus of Carthage,” Wikipedia. Apr. 27, 2022. Accessed: Jun. 25, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Epenetus_of_Carthage&oldid=1084908255

[5]          “Saint Eugenius, Bishop of Carthage.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_eugenius.html (accessed Jun. 25, 2022).

[6]          “July 13—ST. EUGENIUS, Bishop,” Garden Of Mary. https://gardenofmary.com/july-13-st-eugenius-bishop/ (accessed Jun. 25, 2022).

[7]          “St. Eugenius of Carthage, saint of July 13.” https://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j081sdEugenius_7-13.htm (accessed Jun. 25, 2022).

[8]          “Eugenius of Carthage,” Wikipedia. Sep. 28, 2021. Accessed: Jun. 25, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eugenius_of_Carthage&oldid=1047002121

Saint Prosper of Aquitaine

Doctor of the Church c. 390 – c. 455

Feast – June 25

 “Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings.” (1 Peter 5, 8-9)

The devil is an intelligent creature, he will use every opportunity to distort people. In good times an easy-going attitude, jealousy and pride are among his tools, in bad times anger is probably his favorite. For his manipulation to work it must address some kind difficulties people are facing. Sometimes they are false challenges, like climate change, where the solution is a totalitarian government run by elites (children of the devil). Other times they are real, like difficulties with comprehending the doctrine of the Trinity which led to the heresy of Arianism which was an easy explanation.

Around 380 the British monk and theologian Pelagius moved to Rome. In Rome he found that few in society shared his commitment to an ascetic lifestyle. Enjoying the reputation of austerity, St. Augustine called him a “saintly man,” he became a highly regarded spiritual director for both clergy and laity and soon gained a considerable following in Rome, his closest collaborator was a lawyer named Celestius. Pelagius increased his enthusiasm for moralism and formed his theology around it. He began to teach a very strict, rigid moralism, regarded the moral strength of man’s will, when steeled by asceticism, as sufficient in itself to desire and to attain the loftiest ideal of virtue and emphasizing a natural human ability to attain salvation. To prove his point, he denied the vast consequences of original sin, limiting it to a bad example which Adam set for next generations. By doing so he denied reality. When God created the world, He established a certain order. God created the first male and female, Adam and Eve, and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the livinarhg things that crawl on the earth. (Genesis 1: 27-28)

Adam and Eve having kids is the model family. In spiritual warfare the father is the first protector of the family, the second line of defense is the mother. When the father and mother commit a deadly sin and fall under the power of devil, (which happened with Adam and Eve) the children have no spiritual protection, their original nature turns into something which is popularly called “human nature.” This way the sin of Adam has been passed upon all. The chain, the avalanche of sinful activities follows through next generations until order is restored, which is impossible without God’s intervention. By proclaiming that man has the ability to attain salvation without the aid of divine grace Pelagius proudly told God, I don’t need Your help, ignoring the truth that God created everything, and everything depends on Him.

Then he attacked St. Augustine of Hippo who humbly praised and fully credited God for guiding him step by step from the swamps of sin into the safe lands of holiness in his autobiographical work Confessions.

Pelagius attacked the theology of divine grace on the grounds that it imperiled the entire moral law. In his opinion the value of Christ’s redemption was limited mainly to instruction and example, which the Savior threw into the balance as a counterweight against Adam’s wicked example.

After the fall of Rome to the Visigoths in 410, Pelagius and Celestius went to Africa then two years later left for Palestine. In 415 he was accused of heresy at the synod of Jerusalem but succeeded in avoiding censure. Then he wrote De libero arbitrio (“On Free Will”), which resulted in the condemnation of his teaching by two African councils and in 417 Pope Innocent I excommunicated Pelagius and Celestius. Pope Innocent’s successor St. Zosimus, after renewed investigation at the council of Carthage in 418 confirmed the council’s nine canons condemning Pelagius’s teachings.

Canon 1 “If any man says that Adam, the first man, was created mortal, so that whether he sinned or not he would have died, not as the wages of sin, but through the necessity of nature, let him be anathema.”

Canon 2 “If any man says that new-born children need not be baptized, or that they should indeed be baptized for the remission of sins, but that they have in them no original sin inherited from Adam which must be washed away in the bath of regeneration, so that in their ease the formula of baptism ‘for the remission of sins’ must not be taken literally, but figuratively, let him be anathema.”

Canon 3 “If any man says that in the kingdom of heaven or elsewhere there is a certain middle place, where children who die unbaptized live in bliss (beate vivant), whereas without baptism they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven, that is, into eternal life, let him be anathema.”

Canon 4 “If any man says that the grace of God, by which man is justified through Jesus Christ, is only effectual for the forgiveness of sins already committed but is of no avail for avoiding sin in the future, let him be anathema.”

Canon 5 “If any man says that this grace only helps not to sin, in so far that by it we obtain a better insight into the Divine commands, and learn what we should desire and avoid, but does not also give the power gladly to do and to fulfill what we have seen to be good, let him be anathema.”

Canon 6 “If any man says that the grace of justification was given us in order that we might the more easily fulfill that which we are bound to do by the power of free will, so that we could, even without grace, only not so easily, fulfill the Divine commands, let him be anathema.”

Canon 7 “If any man understands the words of the Apostle: ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,’ to mean that we must acknowledge ourselves to be sinners only out of humility, not because we are really such, let him be anathema.”

Canon 8 “If any man says that the saints pronounce the words of the Lord’s Prayer, ‘forgive us our trespasses,’ not for themselves, because for them this petition is unnecessary, but for others, and that therefore it is, ‘forgive us,’ not ‘me,’ let him be anathema.”

Canon 9 “If any man says that the saints only pronounce these words, ‘forgive us our trespasses,’ out of humility, not in their literal meaning, let him be anathema.”

Shortly after the council of Carthage, Pelagius died and his heresy appeared to vanish with him. However, a few years later a softer version reappeared in southern France (Gaul).

The monks who resided at Marseilles and on the neighboring island of Lerinum, called  Massilians,  well known throughout the Christian world as holy and virtuous men, conspicuous for their learning and asceticism, heartily acquiesced in the condemnation of Pelagianism by the Synod of Carthage (418) and the “Tractoria” of Pope Zosimus, and also in the doctrines of original sin and grace. However, they also concluded that St. Augustine in his teaching concerning the necessity and gratuity especially of prevenient grace far overshot the mark. John Cassian, abbot of the monastery of St. Victor at Marseilles had endeavored in his thirteenth conference to demonstrate from Biblical examples that while grace often preceded the will, on the other hand the will frequently preceded grace. This started the theological movement which was in reality something between Augustine’s teachings on grace and those of the heretical monk Pelagius called “relics of the Pelagians” and today is known as Semi-Pelagianism. Semi-Pelagianism was less extreme, but it still denied important points of the faith. Its basic claims were: (1) the beginning of faith (though not faith itself or its increase) could be accomplished by the human will alone, unaided by grace; (2) in a loose sense, the sanctifying grace man receives from God can be merited by natural human effort, unaided by actual grace; (3) once a man has been justified, he does not need additional grace from God in order to persevere until the end of life.

In 417 in the aftermath of the Gothic invasions of Gaul, a layman, a refugee from Aquitaine born in Lemovices c. 390, educated at Bordeaux, named Prosper settled with the monks at Marseilles. He showed himself as man of high morals, purity and sanctity of manners, eloquence, and zeal. Being in the center of growing opposition to the teachings of St. Augustine regarding divine grace, in search of truth and clarity he reached out to the bishop of Hippo, who responded with letters that are now known as “On the Predestination of the Saints” and “On the Gift of Perseverance.” Thus the battle of his life began, the battle which extended over a hundred years and ended with condemnation of Semi-Pelagianism as heresy at the Ecumenical Council of Orange in 529. His arguments, which were based on the writings of St. Augustine, lead to his sainthood and title as a Doctor of the Church. The condemnation of Semi-Pelagianism was reaffirmed in 1546 by the Council of Trent.

During his fight, St. Prosper threw himself with passion into the religious controversies by defending St. Augustine and propagating orthodoxy. In 430 he wrote a 1000-line polemical poem against Pelagianism, Adversus ingratos, (facing ingratitude). A year later and accompanied by his friend Hilary, St. Prosper traveled to Rome to gain the support of Pope St. Celestine I against Semi-Pelagianism and to ask him to proclaim the truth of St. Augustine’s teachings. He also convinced the Pope to publish an open letter to the bishops of Gaul, against some members of the Gaulish Church. In 432 St. Prosper created his chief work De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio (God’s grace and free will).

Between 435 and 442 he wrote Capitulla, a simple list of ten doctrinal points asserting the efficacy and necessity of God’s Grace, each separately supported by papal statements. It was a strong defense of an essential Augustinian doctrine, but straightforward to make it easy to understand and accept.

When in September 440 St. Leo the Great became Pope, he called St. Prosper to Rome and made him his secretary employing him in the most important affairs of the Church. He assisted the Pope with correspondence dealing with Nestorian heresy.

Being of great virtue and possessing extraordinary talents and learning, St. Prosper dealt with delicate questions with remarkable insight.

St. Prosper was primarily responsible for crushing the Pelagian heresy. Its complete overthrow is said to be due to his zeal, learning, and unwearied endeavors. The date of his death remains uncertain, but he was still alive in 455, the date at which his Chronicle concludes.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          A. Augustin, “A TREATISE ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS,” p. 28.

[2]          “Pelagius,” Wikipedia. May 08, 2022. Accessed: Jun. 02, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pelagius&oldid=1086775098

[3]          “Pelagius | Biography, Beliefs, & Facts | Britannica.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pelagius-Christian-theologian (accessed Jun. 02, 2022).

[4]          “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pelagius and Pelagianism.” https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11604a.htm (accessed Jun. 02, 2022).

[5]          “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Semipelagianism.” https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13703a.htm (accessed Jun. 02, 2022).

[6]          “Semi-Pelagianism – New World Encyclopedia.” https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Semi-Pelagianism (accessed Jun. 02, 2022).

[7]          “What is semi-Pelagianism? | EWTN,” EWTN Global Catholic Television Network. https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/what-is-semipelagianism-978 (accessed Jun. 02, 2022).

[8]          “Prosper of Aquitaine,” Wikipedia. Feb. 07, 2022. Accessed: Jun. 02, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prosper_of_Aquitaine&oldid=1070510459

[9]          C. Online, “St. Prosper of Aquitaine – Saints & Angels,” Catholic Online. https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=884 (accessed Jun. 02, 2022).

[10]        “Saint Prosper of Aquitaine, Doctor of the Church.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_prosper_of_aquitaine.html (accessed Jun. 02, 2022).

[11]        “St. Prosper of Aquitaine ca. 390-455 — Classical Christianity.” https://classicalchristianity.com/category/bysaint/st-prosper-of-aquitaine-ca-390-455/ (accessed Jun. 02, 2022).

Saint Gregory Nazianzen

Archbishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church (329-390)

Feast – May 9

The Edict of Milan in 313 started a new era, officially ending the persecution of Christianity. Christianity became the leading religion of the Roman Empire, but the war on the faith didn’t stop.

Arius (256–336) was a Cyrenaic presbyter, ascetic, and priest, and also a pupil of St. Lucian of Antioch at Lucian’s private academy. He adopted a modified form of the teachings of Paul of Samosata (200-275), Bishop of Antioch and originator of the Paulianist heresy, a nontrinitarian theological doctrine, which was a form of Monarchianism. His teachings, known as Arianism, became a major theological movement in the Christian Roman Empire during the fourth and fifth centuries. The conflict between Arianism and the standard Trinitarian beliefs was the first major doctrinal battle in the Christian church after the legalization of Christianity. It involved emperors, bishops, priests, and lay believers throughout the Roman empire. Bitter disputes among church leaders led to mob violence and political turmoil. Arianism was the first form of Christianity to make major inroads with the Germanic tribes, many of the “barbarians” who conquered Rome and deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire Romulus Augustulus in 476 were actually Arian Christians. As a result of Arianism being successfully taught to the Germanic tribes it lingered for several more centuries in western Europe after the fall of the western Roman Empire.

Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God the Father with the difference that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten within time by God the Father, therefore Jesus was not co-eternal, and not one substance, not of the same or similar but dissimilar nature with God the Father.

The creed taught to converts by Germanic Arian missionary Ulfilas may help explain why it was so successful in diverting many Christians.

“I believe that there is only one God the Father, alone unbegotten and invisible, and in His only begotten Son, our Lord and God, creator and maker of all things, not having any like unto Him… And I believe in one Holy Spirit, an enlightening and sanctifying power… [who is] neither God nor Lord, but the faithful minister of Christ; not equal, but subject and obedient in all things to the Son. And I believe the Son to be subject and obedient in all things to God the Father.”

To eradicate the growing interior conflict, Emperor Constantine convened the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325, which settled the Christological issue of the divine nature of God the Son and his relationship to God the Father, reflected this settlement in the Nicene Creed, and rejected the tenets of Arianism. Constantine exiled those who refused to accept the creed—including Arius himself and several others. He also exiled the bishops who signed the creed but refused to condemn Arius—notably Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis of Nicea. He also ordered all copies of the Thalia, the book in which Arius had expressed his teachings, to be burned. Arianism was appeared to be gone, and the theological debate concluded. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Constantine, under the influence of his sister, Flavia Julia Constantia, a convert to Christianity and supporter of the Arians, allowed Theognis of Nicea and Eusebius of Nicomedia to return from exile. Together with other friends of Arius, they began to work for Arius’ rehabilitation. In May 337, when Constantine realized that he was about to die he received baptism from Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia. His son and successor Flavius Julius Constantius, known as Constantius II, Roman emperor from 337 to 361, was an Arian too. In 339 Eusebius of Nicomedia had been made bishop of Constantinople and became an adviser to the Empire. Constantius II encouraged the anti-Nicene groups and set out to revise the official creed itself through numerous Church councils. He proceeded to exile bishops adhering to the old creed, including St.  Athanasius and Pope Liberius.

In this environment the son of St. Gregory of Nazianzus the Elder and St. Nonna of Nazianzus was raised. The son who would become the Archbishop of Constantinople, a Doctor of the Church and one of the Cappadocian Fathers. In the Eastern Catholic Churches he is revered as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, along with Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. In both Eastern and Western Christianity he is considered one of the Great Fathers, the “Trinitarian Theologian” whose work continues to influence modern theologians. This son is St. Gregory of Nazianzus.

St. Gregory was born in 329 to Greek, wealthy, landowner parents, in the family estate of Karbala outside the village of Arianzus, near Nazianzus, in southwest Cappadocia. The infant was immediately consecrated to God. In 325 AD his mother, Nonna converted his father to Christianity. In 329 his father became a bishop of Nazianzus. St. Gregory and his brother, Caesarius, first studied at home with their uncle Amphylokhios. When he learned to read, his mother presented him with the Holy Scripture. After learning all that he could in his native land, he journeyed to Caesarea in Palestine to study at the famous school founded by Origen of Alexandria, an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian. Then he went to Alexandria in Egypt to rejoin his brother there and then to the metropolis of the sciences and the humanities, Athens. On the way to Athens, a storm of twenty days’ duration nearly caused the loss of the ship and all passengers; their safe arrival was attributed to Saint Gregory’s prayers, and all aboard adopted Christianity.

While at Athens, he studied under the famous rhetoricians Himerius and Proaeresius. There he developed a close friendship with his fellow student St. Basil of Caesarea. Together they turned away from the most attractive worldly prospects, lived in seclusion, self-discipline, and studious labor, knowing only two roads, the one to church and the other to school. After about ten years of studies and good works in Athens, they left the city and separated.

In 361 St. Gregory returned to Nazianzus, where his parents were now advanced in age, and was ordained a presbyter by his father’s wish, who wanted him to assist with caring for local Christians. St. Gregory had firmly resolved to devote his life and talents to God. He yearned for the monastic or ascetic life with the Scripture studies, and disliked his father’s decision. He consulted his beloved friend St. Basil who retired near St. Gregory’s own hometown. St. Basil urged him to assist his father. His first sermon, after a ten-weeks’ retreat was on the dangers and responsibilities of the priesthood. However, when the elder Gregory wished to make him a bishop, he fled to join his friend St. Basil in Pontus who was organizing a monastery in Pontus and invited him to come. He remained with Saint Basil for several years. When his brother Caesarius died, he returned home to help his father administer his diocese. Arriving at Nazianzus, St. Gregory found the local Christian community split by theological differences and his father accused of heresy by local monks signing an unclear interpretation of the dogmas of the faith. He convinced his father of the pernicious nature of Arianism and strengthened him in Orthodoxy, then he helped to heal the division through a combination of personal diplomacy and oratory. By this time Emperor Julian had publicly declared himself in opposition to Christianity. In response St. Gregory composed his Invectives Against Julian which affirms that Christianity will overcome imperfect rulers such as Julian through love and patience, and the process of deification which leads to a spiritual elevation and mystical union with God. In late 362, Emperor Julian resolved, to vigorously persecute St. Gregory and other Christian critics; however, Julian perished the following year during a campaign against the Persians and was replaced by emperor Jovian who was an avowed Christian. In 365 St. Basil was ordain priest. For the next few years together with St. Gregory, on behalf of Archbishop Eusebius of Caesarea, they effectively combated the Arian heresy.

In 370, Eusebius died, and St. Basil was chosen to succeed him.

In 371 Tyana became the capital of Cappadocian Secundus and as the bishop of Tyana, Anthimus asserted that the change in his city’s political status should be matched with a change in its religious status. With the support of Arians who did not wish to be under St. Basil’s authority he declared himself in authority over several Cappadocian towns in his new province which had previously been under St. Basil’s oversight.

In 372, in order to strengthen his position in dispute with Anthimus, St. Basil created the see of Sasima and ordained St. Gregory Bishop. By late 372 St. Gregory returned to Nazianzus to assist his dying father with the administration of his diocese. He continued to administer the Diocese of Nazianzus but refused to be named bishop. Donating most of his inheritance to the needy, he lived an austere existence. At the end of 375 he withdrew to a monastery at Seleukia, living there for three years. Near the end of this period his friend Basil died. Although Gregory’s health did not permit him to attend the funeral, he wrote a heartfelt letter of condolence to Basil’s brother, Gregory of Nyssa, and composed twelve memorial poems dedicated to the memory of his departed friend.

Upon the death of Arian supporter Emperor Valens in 378, Theodosius, a steadfast supporter of Nicene orthodoxy, become Emperor. The exiled Nicene party gradually returned to the city, which was distracted and in shambles due to the rule of the Arians and other heretics. In 379 St. Gregory, who was well known for rare gifts of conciliatory disposition, was asked by the council of bishops and the archbishop Meletios to lead a theological campaign to win over the city. After much hesitation, Gregory agreed and became Patriarch of Constantinople. His cousin Theodosia offered him a villa for his residence; Gregory immediately transformed much of it into a church, naming it Anastasia, “a scene for the resurrection of the faith.” From this little chapel he delivered five powerful discourses on Nicene doctrine, explaining the nature of the Trinity and the unity of the Godhead and refuting the denial of the Holy Spirit’s divinity. His homilies were well received and attracted ever-growing crowds to Anastasia.

Fearing Gregory’s popularity, his opponents decided to strike. On the vigil of Easter in 379, when Saint Gregory was baptizing catechumens, an Arian mob burst into his church casting stones killing one bishop and wounding St. Gregory. Escaping the mob, Gregory next found himself betrayed by his erstwhile friend, the philosopher Maximus the Cynic. Maximus attempted to seize St. Gregory’s position and have himself ordained bishop of Constantinople. Struck by the ingratitude of Maximus, Gregory attempted to resign from the cathedral, but his faithful flock forced him to stay and threw the usurper out of the city.

On November 24, 380 the holy emperor Theodosius arrived in the capital, enforced his decree against the heretics, returning the main church to the faith and enabling St. Gregory to make a solemn entrance. The Arians were so irritated at the decay of their heresy they resolved to take St. Gregory’s life. For this purpose, they chose an intrepid youth who was willing to undertake the sacrilegious commission, but God did not allow him to carry it out; he was touched with remorse and cast himself at the Saint’s feet, avowing his sinful intent. St. Gregory forgave him at once, treated him with all kindness and received him among his friends, to the wonder and edification of the whole city and to the confusion of the heretics, whose crime had served only as a mirror to the virtue of the Saint. His fame spread across the East and West. The saint lived in the capital as though he still lived in the wilderness: “his food was food of the wilderness; his clothing was whatever necessary. He made visitations without pretense, and though in proximity of the court, he sought nothing from the court.”

At the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, after the death of Patriarch Meletius of Antioch he was chosen to preside at the Council. The Egyptian and Macedonian bishops who had supported Maximus’ ordination arrived late for the Council. Once there, they refused to recognize Gregory’s position as head of the church of Constantinople, arguing that his transfer from the See of Sasima was canonically illegitimate.

Saint Gregory decided to resign his office for the sake of peace in the Church: “Let me be as the Prophet Jonah! I was responsible for the storm, but I would sacrifice myself for the salvation of the ship. Seize me and throw me… I was not happy when I ascended the throne, and gladly would I descend it.”

After telling the emperor of his desire to quit the capital, Saint Gregory appeared again at the Council to deliver a farewell address asking to be allowed to depart in peace.

Returning to his homeland of Cappadocia, Gregory once again resumed his position as bishop of Nazianzus. He spent the next year combating the local Apollinarian heretics. By the end of 383 he found his health too feeble to cope with episcopal duties. He established the pious Eulalius there as bishop, and then withdrew into the solitude of Arianzos. After enjoying six peaceful years in retirement at his family estate, he died on 25 January in 390.

In 391 St. Gregory’s cousin, Eulalios, published several of his more noteworthy works.  By 400, Rufinius began translating his orations into Latin. As his works circulated throughout the empire, they influenced theological thought. His orations were cited as authoritative by the First Council of Ephesus in 431. By 451 he was designated Theologian by the Council of Chalcedon:  – a title held by no others save John the Apostle.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Arianism – New World Encyclopedia.” https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Arianism (accessed May 16, 2022).

[2]          “Saint Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople.” https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/01/25/100298-saint-gregory-the-theologian-archbishop-of-constantinople (accessed May 16, 2022).

[3]          “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Gregory of Nazianzus.” https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07010b.htm (accessed May 16, 2022).

[4]          “Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Archbishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_gregory_nazianzen.html (accessed May 16, 2022).

[5]          “Saint/s of the Day – 2 January – St Basil the Great (329-379) and St Gregory of Nazianzen (330-390) Fathers and Doctors of the Church – AnaStpaul.” https://anastpaul.com/2018/01/02/saint-s-of-the-day-st-basil-the-great-329-379-and-st-gregory-of-nazianzen-330-390-fathers-and-doctors-of-the-church/ (accessed May 16, 2022).

[6]          “Gregory of Nazianzus,” Wikipedia. May 14, 2022. Accessed: May 16, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gregory_of_Nazianzus&oldid=1087782924

 

 

Saint Anselm

Archbishop of Canterbury (1034-1109)

Feast – April 21

Pope Sergius III, an unscrupulous character lead the Church during a period in the history of the Papacy called the Saeculum Obscurum (the Dark Age). It was a time of violence and disorder in central Italy (also known as the Rule of the Harlots), beginning in 904 and lasting for sixty years until the death of Pope John XII in 964.

During this period, the popes were influenced by powerful and corrupt aristocratic families; relatives and allies would use the resources of the papacy at their behest. The era is seen as one of the lowest points in the history of the Papal office, but the trouble didn’t end in 964. In October 1032 the nephew of Pope John XIX, a son of Count Alberic III of Tusculum, became the youngest pope in history, Pope Benedict IX. This is the only individual to have been Pope on more than one occasion and the only one ever to have sold the papacy. Benedict’s father obtained his election through bribery. Pope Benedict IX’s reputed dissolute activities provoked a revolt on the part of the Romans. Benedict was driven out of Rome and Sylvester III was elected to succeed him. Some months later, Benedict and his supporters managed to expel Sylvester. Benedict then decided to resign in favor of his godfather, Gregory VI, provided he was reimbursed for his expenses. Benedict subsequently had second thoughts, returned and attempted to depose Gregory VI. A number of prominent clergymen appealed to King Henry III, the Pious, of Germany (the Holy Roman Emperor between 1046 and 1056) to restore order. Pope Clement II became the ruler of the Papal States on the 25th of December, 1046 until his death on the 9th of October, 1047.  He was the first of the reform-minded popes of 11th century. Then Benedict IX was back for 252 days until he was deposed and excommunicated, followed by the 23 day reign of Pope Damasus II. On the 12th of February, 1049, Bruno von Egisheim-Dagsburg became Pope Leo IX. His term ended in 1054, shortly after the mutual excommunications of Leo IX and Patriarch of Constantinople Michael I Cerularius which led to the East–West Schism (revoked by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in 1965). Then followed the 2 year, 106 day papacy of Pope Victor II followed by 239 days of Pope Stephen IX, 295 days of Pope Benedict X’s in opposition to Nicholas II, and then the 10 year, 185 day papacy of Pope Honorius II in opposition to Pope Alexander II.

After one hundred sixty-nine years, on the 22nd of April, 1073, St. Gregory VII – the great reformer, become Pope. To prevent the Church from slipping back into the abuses that had occurred in Rome, during the Rule of the Harlots and to reassert its importance and authority to its followers he formed a group in the papal curia, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy, which initiated a sequence of reforms, named the Gregorian Reforms in veneration of Pope Gregory I. The reforms were a return to the old ways, rigorously enforcing the Western Church’s ancient policy of celibacy for the clergy and forbidding the practice of simony.

Over time, before the Gregorian Reforms, the Church had become a heavily decentralized institution, in which the Pope held little power outside of his position as Bishop of Rome and held almost no authority over other bishops, who were invested with land by lay rulers. Reforms established that the Pope is elected by the College of Cardinals and affirmed the primacy of the Pope’s authority over the Church. St. Gregory VII’s ban on lay investiture was a key element of the reforms contributing to the centralized papacy of the later Middle Ages. This struggle between Church and civil authority over the right to install bishops and abbots of monasteries was named “Investiture Contest” or “Investiture Controversy.”

William II, the third son of King William the Conqueror, King of England, with powers over Normandy and influence in Scotland from the 26th of September, 1087, until his death in 1100 was one of the opponents of Gregorian Reforms. Less than two years after becoming king, his father’s adviser and confidant, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc of Pavia died. After Lanfranc’s death in 1089, Rufus began his repression and almost a systematic looting of the English Church. He left abbacies and bishoprics vacant and collected their revenues for the royal treasury, leaving the monks barely enough to live on. Indeed, he even dispersed some of the monks from the abbeys lacking abbots. Most grievous of all was his exploitation of Canterbury during its vacancy, and Rufus’s refusal to appoint a new archbishop for four years. It was only in the midst of a serious illness, when he thought he was on his deathbed, that the king appointed St. Anselm of Bec to the archbishopric of Canterbury.

St. Anselm, the greatest theologian of his generation and a Doctor of the Church was born in, or around Aosta in Upper Burgundy (modern Italy), in 1034. His father Gundulf was a Lombard noble, mother Ermenberga was almost certainly the granddaughter of Conrad the Peaceful, the King of Burgundy and was related to the Anselmid bishops of Aosta. His father is sometimes described as having a harsh and violent temper while at the same time being overgenerous and careless with his wealth. His patient and devoutly religious mother, made up for her husband’s fault with her own prudent management of the family estates.

At the age of fifteen, St. Anselm desired to enter a monastery but, failing to obtain his father’s consent was refused by the abbot. After the death of his mother his father repented his earlier lifestyle and had entered a convent. At age 23, St. Anselm left home and for three years studied in various schools in France.

At length his vocation revived. Attracted by the fame of his fellow countryman Lanfranc of Pavia, prior of the Benedictine abbey of Bec in Normandy, at the age of 27 he became a monk and began studying under the renowned Abbot. When in 1066 Lanfranc was called to be the Abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Étienne at Caen in Normandy, a monastery dedicated to Saint Stephen founded in 1063 by William the Conqueror, the monks of Bec elected St. Anselm prior. In 1078 following the death of Bec’s founder, Herluin, he was unanimously elected as abbot and consecrated by the bishop of Évreux on 22 February 1079. Under St. Anselm’s direction, Bec became the foremost seat of learning in Europe, attracting students from France, Italy, and elsewhere. During this time, he wrote the Monologion and Proslogion and composed a series of dialogues on the nature of truth, free will, and the fall of Satan. For his dialogues and treatises with a rational and philosophical approach, he is credited as the founder of Scholasticism. The fame of his sanctity in this cloister led King William Rufus of England, when dangerously ill, to summon St. Anselm to hear his confession and administer last rites. He published a proclamation releasing his captives, discharging his debts, and promising to henceforth govern according to the law. On the 6th of March, 1093, he further nominated Anselm to fill the vacancy at Canterbury.

King William was a figure of complex temperament, addicted to every kind of vice, particularly lust and possibly sodomy (he did not marry nor have children), was capable of both bellicosity and flamboyance, and when restored to health lapsed into his former sins, continuing to plunder the Church lands. He tried to extort a simoniacal payment from St. Anselm. St. Anselm not only refused, but he further pressed the king to fill England’s other vacant positions and permit bishops to meet freely in councils. Then he attempted to bribe Pope Urban II to hand Anselm’s pallium over to the king for conferral on the archbishop. The strife between St. Anselm, a strong supporter of the Gregorian reforms, and the king began. When he was consecrated Archbishop, he received the pallium in December 1093 not from the king’s hand but from the papal legate.

As archbishop, St. Anselm maintained his monastic ideals, including stewardship, prudence, proper instruction, prayer, and contemplation. His vision was of a Catholic Church with its own internal authority, which clashed with the king’s desire for royal control over both church and State. He continued to agitate for reform and the interests of Canterbury.

For St. Anselm’s defense of the Pope’s supremacy in a Council at Rockingham, called in March of 1095, the worldly prelates did not scruple to call him a traitor. The Saint rose, and with calm dignity exclaimed; If any man pretends that I violate my faith to my king because I will not reject the authority of the Holy See of Rome, let him stand, and in the name of God I will answer him as I ought. No one took up the challenge; and to the disappointment of the king, the barons sided with the Saint, for they respected his courage and saw that his cause was their own.

Aggrieved at William’s rule St. Anselm fled into exile and sought the help and advice of Pope Urban II in 1097. The Pope negotiated and the issue was supposedly resolved with William, but St. Anselm remained in exile. In his absence, William seized the revenues of the Archbishop of Canterbury vacant and claimed these funds until the end of his reign in 1100. While in exile, St Anselm helped guide the Greek bishops of southern Italy to adopt Roman rites at the Council of Bari, which also condemned William II of England, who had forced St. Anselm, the reforming archbishop of Canterbury, into exile.

After the accidental dead of William, his younger brother Henry I, also known as Henry Beauclerc, seized the English throne, promising at his coronation to correct many of William’s less popular policies. St. Anselm complying with the Pope’s wishes returned to England from exile in 1100. Henry was in a difficult position, on one hand, the symbolism and homage were important to him; on the other hand, he needed Anselm’s support in his struggle with his brother Duke Robert. In the beginning his ability to govern was intimately bound up with the Church. St. Anselm stuck firmly to the letter of the papal decree, despite Henry’s attempts to persuade him to give way in return for a vague assurance of a future royal compromise. Despite this argument, the pair worked closely together, combining to deal with Duke Robert’s invasion of 1101. In 1102, St. Anselm was finally able to convene a general church council at London, establishing the Gregorian Reform within England, but over time their relationship changed considerably. Emboldened by a successful invasion of Normandy, Henry supported St. Anselm’s reforms and his authority over the English Church, but continued to assert his own authority over St. Anselm. Matters escalated when Pope Paschal II excommunicated the bishops who had accepted investment from the king. St. Anselm received a letter forbidding his return and withdrew to Lyon to await the Pope’s response. On the 26th of March, 1105, Paschal again excommunicated prelates who had accepted investment from Henry and the advisors responsible, this time including Robert de Beaumont, Henry’s chief advisor and then finally threatened Henry with the same.

On St. Anselm’s behalf a meeting was arranged and a compromise concluded at L’Aigle on 22 July 1105. A distinction was drawn between the secular and ecclesiastical powers of the prelates, under which Henry would forsake lay investiture if Anselm obtained the Pope’s permission for clerics to do homage for their lands; Henry’s bishops’ and counselors’ excommunications were to be lifted provided they advise him to obey the papacy; the revenues of Canterbury would be returned to the archbishop; and priests would no longer be permitted to marry. On the 23rd of March, 1106, Pope Paschal wrote St. Anselm accepting the terms established at L’Aigle. Even after this, St. Anselm refused to return to England. Henry travelled to Bec and met with him on 15 August 1106. Henry was forced to make further concessions. He restored to Canterbury all the churches that had been seized by William or during Anselm’s exile, promising that nothing more would be taken from them and even providing Anselm with a security payment. These compromises on Henry’s part strengthened the rights of the church against the king and St. Anselm returned to England before the new year.

By the end of his life, he had proven successful, having freed Canterbury from submission to the English king, received papal recognition of the subservience of the wayward York and the Welsh bishops, and gained strong authority over the Irish bishops. He was the first to establish the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the West.

Under his influence King Henry became a proponent of religious reform, gave extensively to reformist groups within the Church, donated money to the abbey at Cluny, and gave generously to the Reading Abbey, endowing it with rich lands and extensive privileges, making it a symbol of his dynastic lines; “for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors and successors.” He also focused effort on promoting the conversion of communities of clerks into Augustinian canons, the foundation of leper hospitals, expanding the provision of nunneries, and the charismatic orders of the Savigniacs and Tironensians.

St. Anselm died on Holy Wednesday, the 21st of April, 1109. He is recognized as the most luminous and penetrating intellect between St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas and his works are considered philosophical as well as theological since they endeavor to render Christian tenets of faith, traditionally taken as a revealed truth, as a rational system.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Pope Sergius III,” Wikipedia. Apr. 06, 2022. Accessed: Apr. 14, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pope_Sergius_III&oldid=1081283097

[2]          “Saeculum obscurum,” Wikipedia. Feb. 22, 2022. Accessed: Apr. 14, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saeculum_obscurum&oldid=1073380139

[3]          “Pope Benedict IX,” Wikipedia. Apr. 06, 2022. Accessed: Apr. 14, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pope_Benedict_IX&oldid=1081353856

[4]          “Gregorian Reform,” Wikipedia. Mar. 23, 2022. Accessed: Apr. 14, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gregorian_Reform&oldid=1078751600

[5]          “William II of England,” Wikipedia. Feb. 19, 2022. Accessed: Apr. 14, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_II_of_England&oldid=1072850874

[6]          “Henry I of England,” Wikipedia. Mar. 27, 2022. Accessed: Apr. 14, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_I_of_England&oldid=1079495485

[7]          “Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_anselm.html (accessed Apr. 14, 2022).

[8]          “Anselm of Canterbury,” Wikipedia. Apr. 13, 2022. Accessed: Apr. 14, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anselm_of_Canterbury&oldid=1082410140

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Doctor of the Church (1225-1274)

Feast-March 7

By the time of Muhammad’s death in June 632, most of the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam and merged into a single Arab Muslim religious polity. Abu Bakr succeeded the leadership of the Muslim community as the first Rashidun Caliph, being elected at Saqifah. During his reign, he overcame several uprisings, collectively known as the Ridda wars. As a result, after two years of his reign he had consolidated and expanded dictatorial rule of the Islamic state over the entire Arabian Peninsula and commanded the initial incursions into the neighboring Sassanian and Byzantine empires. In the years following his death, this would eventually result in the Muslim conquests of Persia and the Levant. His successors continued conquering land for the Muslim empire. By 750 this empire stretched from Central Asia and South Asia, across the Middle East, all the way to  North Africa, the Caucasus, and parts of Southwest Europe (Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula to the Pyrenees).

On 27 September 813 Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid, better known by his regnal name Al-Ma’mun, became the seventh Abbasid caliph (The Abbasid Caliphate was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad, founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad’s uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib). Much of his domestic reign was consumed in pacification campaigns against rebellions and the rise of local strongmen. Well educated and with a considerable interest in scholarship he sawa  need for intellectual growth among his people to meet the European standards of the times. Since the prosperity of the empire was based on annexing new territories, taking over land and properties, turning churches to the mosque and Christians to slave labor, the simple solution to the lack of education was the same. Al-Ma’mun ordered the Translation Movement, the flowering of learning and the sciences, The House of Wisdom in Baghdad, an institution where Greek works were translated into Arabic. He placed Hunayn ibn Ishaq in charge of the project, an Arab Nestorian Christian living in a community known for their high-literacy and multilingualism. The caliph also gave Hunayn the opportunity to travel to Byzantium in search of additional manuscripts of prominent authors. Many foreign works, among them the entire corpus of Aristotelian works, was translated into Arabic. Al-Kindi (801–873) the Muslim philosopher incorporated Aristotelian and Neoplatonist thought into an Islamic philosophical framework and Muslim intellectual world. This started the Islamic Golden Age, the age when Muslims benefited from others work, this time intellectually.

During the reign of Al-Hakam II (961 to 976) in the Caliph of Córdoba (southern Spain), a massive translation effort was undertaken at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea and many books were translated into Arabic.

Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd, a twelve century chief judge and a court physician for the Almohad Caliphate, also known as Averroes, wrote some 38 commentaries on the works of Aristotle. Although his writings had an only marginal impact in Islamic countries, latin translations of Averroes’ work became widely available at the universities of 13th century Western Europe, being well received by scholasticists such as Boetius of Dacia, a leading philosopher at the Faculty of Arts in the University of Paris, and fellow profesor Siger of Brabant. This had a huge impact in the Latin West and lead to the rise of “Averroism” or “radical Aristotelianism” in universities which, with their materialistic approach, were undermining the teachings of the Catholic Church. We see a similar situation in the present day. God’s response was the Doctor Angelicus, St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. Thomas Aquinas was the youngest of nine children, son of Landulph, count of Aquino, and Theodora, Countess of Teano. He was born circa 1225 in Roccasecca, Italy, near Aquino, Terra di Lavoro, in the Kingdom of Sicily. Before St. Thomas was born, a holy hermit shared a prediction with his mother, foretelling that her son would enter the Order of Friars Preachers, become a great learner and achieve unequaled sanctity. His father was a knight in the service of Emperor Frederick II, so his brothers pursued military careers. At just 5 years old, following the tradition of the period, St Thomas was sent to the Abbey of Monte Cassino where his uncle was abbot to train among Benedictine monks. They described him as “a witty child” who “had received a good soul.” Diligent in study, he was thus early noted as being meditative and devoted to prayer, and his preceptor was surprised at hearing the child ask frequently: “What is God?” In his childhood he was the provider for the poor of the neighborhood during a famine; his father, meeting him in a corridor with the food he had succeeded in taking from the kitchen, asked him what he had under his cloak; he opened it and fresh roses fell on the ground. The nobleman embraced his son and amid his tears, gave him permission to follow thereafter all inspirations of his charity.

At the age of 14 he was enrolled at the studium generale (university) recently established in Naples. At the University he led a retired life of study and prayer, and continued his charities, giving all his superfluous possessions. There he studded arithmetic, geometry and astronomy under Petrus de Ibernia. He was recognized already by his professors as a genius. In Naples St. Thomas came under the influence of John of St. Julian, a Dominican preacher who was part of the active effort by the Dominican order to recruit devout followers. In 1243, he secretly joined an order of Dominican monks, receiving the habit in 1244.

This did not please his mother, Theodora, and rest of the family. In an attempt to prevent their interference, the Dominicans arranged to move St. Thomas to Rome, and then to Paris. However, while on his journey to Paris his brothers seized him as he was drinking from a spring and took him back to his parents at the castle of Monte San Giovanni Campano, where he was held prisoner for a year. Neither the caresses of his mother and sisters, nor the threats and stratagems of his brothers, could shake him in his vocation. He passed this time of trial tutoring his sisters leading one of them, Marotta, to renounce a brilliant marriage and instead embrace religious life, eventually becoming the abbess at the Monastery of Santa Maria in Capua.

Various family members became desperate to dissuade Thomas, who remained determined to join the Dominicans. His brothers endeavored to entrap him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph of his purity. Two of his brothers resorted to the measure of hiring a prostitute to seduce him. As included in the official records for his canonization, Thomas drove her away wielding a burning log – with which he inscribed a cross onto the wall. He then fell into a mystical ecstasy, two angels appeared to him as he slept and said, “Behold, we gird thee by the command of God with the girdle of chastity, which henceforth will never be imperiled. What human strength cannot obtain, is now bestowed upon thee as a celestial gift.” The pain caused by the girdle was so sharp that Saint Thomas uttered a piercing cry, which brought his guards into the room. He never related this grace to anyone save Father Raynald, his confessor, and he wore the girdle till the end of his life. The girdle was given to the ancient monastery of Vercelli in Piedmont, and is now at Chieri, a town and commune in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont (Italy).

By 1244, seeing that all her attempts to dissuade St. Thomas had failed, Theodora sought to save the family’s dignity, arranging for him to escape at night through window. In her mind, a secret escape from detention was less damaging than an open surrender to the Dominicans.

After escaping, he went to Rome to meet Johannes von Wildeshausen, the Master General of the Dominican Order. In 1245 he was sent to study at the Faculty of the Arts at the University of Paris, where he most likely met Dominican scholar Bl. Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great), then the holder of the Chair of Theology at the College of St. James in Paris. In 1248 Bl. Albertus was sent by his superiors to teach at the new studium generale at Cologne. Bl. Albertus then appointed the reluctant St. Thomas as an apprentice professor. In Cologne he was instructing students on the books of the Old Testament and at the same time writing a literal commentary on Isaiah, on Jeremiah and on the Lamentations. St. Thomas was quiet and didn’t speak much, leading some of his fellow students to think that he was slow, but Bl. Albertus prophetically exclaimed: “You call him the dumb ox, but in his teaching he will one day produce such a bellowing that it will be heard throughout the world.”

In 1252 he returned to Paris to study for the master’s degree in theology and lectured on the Bible as a novice professor.

In 1256 St. Thomas was appointed regent master in theology at Paris. One of his first works upon assuming this office was Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem (Against Those Who Assail the Worship of God and Religion), defending the mendicant orders (orders that adopted a lifestyle of poverty like the Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Carmelites, traveling, and living in urban areas for the purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry, especially to the poor) which had come under attack by William of Saint-Amour, a thirteenth-century academic, chiefly notable for his withering attacks on the friars. During his tenure from 1256 to 1259, St. Thomas wrote numerous works, including: Questiones disputatae de veritate (Disputed Questions on Truth) Expositio super librum Boethii De trinitate (Commentary on Boethius’s on the Trinity) – Boethius was a 6th-century Roman philosopher – and by the end of his regency, he was working on one of his most famous works, Liber de veritate catholicae fidei contra errores infidelium (Summa contra Gentiles). In 1259 St. Thomas completed his regency and left Paris. He returned to Naples where he was appointed as general preacher by the provincial chapter. In September 1261 he was called to Orvieto as conventual lector responsible for the pastoral formation of the friars unable to attend a studium generale.

In four years at Orvieto, St. Thomas was able to complete his Summa contra Gentiles, wrote the Catena aurea (The Golden Chain), the Contra errores graecorum (Against the Errors of the Greeks), and produced liturgy for the newly created feast of Corpus Christi and some of the hymns, such as the Pange lingua for Pope Urban IV.

In February 1265 the newly elected Pope Clement IV summoned St. Thomas to Rome to serve as papal theologian. The same year he was ordered by the Dominican Chapter of Agnani to teach at the studium conventuale at the Roman convent of Santa Sabina where he taught the full range of philosophical subjects, both moral and natural. While at the Santa Sabina he began work on the Summa theologiae, which he conceived specifically suited to beginning students.

St. Thomas remained at the studium at Santa Sabina from 1265 until he was called back to Paris in 1268 for a second teaching regency, a position he held until the spring of 1272. The reason for this sudden reassignment appears to have arisen from the rise of “Averroism” or “radical Aristotelianism” in the universities.  A year before he re-assumed the regency at the 1266–67 Paris disputations, he argued that God is the source of both the light of natural reason and the light of faith. The first Franciscan master William of Baglione accused St. Thomas of encouraging Averroists. Deeply disturbed by the spread of Averroism and false accusations, he wrote On the Unity of Intellect, against the Averroists, (De unitate intellectus, contra Averroistas) in which he reprimands Averroism as incompatible with Christian doctrine, and On the Eternity of the World (De virtutibus and De aeternitate mundi) in which he dealt with controversial Averroist and Aristotelian beginning-lessness of the world. In effect Averroism came to be synonymous with atheism in late medieval usage. On the 10^th of December 1270, the Bishop of Paris, Étienne Tempier, issued an edict condemning thirteen Aristotelian and Averroistic propositions as heretical and excommunicating anyone who continued to support them.

In 1272 the Dominicans from his home province called upon him to establish a studium generale wherever he liked and staff it as he pleased, so he took leave from the University of Paris and establish the institution in Naples and moved there as regent master. In his spare time he worked on the third part of the Summa, meanwhile giving lectures on various religious topics and preached to the people of Naples every day of Lent in 1273.

Looking to find a way to reunite the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church which were divided by the Great Schism of 1054, Pope Gregory X convened the Second Council of Lyon to be held on the 1^st of May, 1274, and summoned St. Thomas to attend. On his way to the council, riding on a donkey along the Appian Way, he struck his head on the branch of a fallen tree, after resting for a while, he set out again but after falling ill he stopped at the Cistercian Fossanova Abbey. The monks nursed him for several days, and as he received his last rites he died on 7 March 1274.

By a strange coincidence, three years to the very day after his death, some of his teachings were condemned as heresies. Stephen Tempier, Archbishop of Paris, influenced by Siger of Brabant and the Averrhoists, fostered by the adherents to the older Plato-Augustinian Scholasticism as well as by those who had personal motives of antagonism towards St. Thomas, issued a condemnation of 219 teachings of philosophy then current in Paris. Among these were some fundamental theses of St. Thomas. Archbishop Tempier denounced these as “manifest errors, or rather, as vain and false insanities” and the penalty of excommunication was imposed on anyone defending, teaching, or even listening to these teachings. Eleven days later, the Dominican Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Kilwardby, caused the Masters of Oxford to condemn these and other Thomistic doctrines, not as heretical, but as dangerous. St. Thomas could not defend himself, but his teacher St. Albert could. He could be silent and bow to the decision of the authorities in Paris with a pretense of humility, but he did not. He made a long journey through the winter’s cold in order to present the cause of his beloved student. Some say that he was unsuccessful at Paris, but the weight of his words helped suppress any anti-Thomistic movement within the Order of Preachers. If it were not for this defense, Thomism as we know it today might well have perished.

The Church has venerated his numerous writings as a treasure of sacred doctrine; in naming him the Angelic Doctor she has indicated that his science is more divine than human and regards him as the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood, combining gifts of intellect with the most tender piety.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Saint Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_thomas_aquinas.html (accessed Mar. 07, 2022).

[2]          “Thomas Aquinas,” Wikipedia. Feb. 23, 2022. Accessed: Mar. 07, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Aquinas&oldid=1073654883

[3]          R. Comeau, “THE CONDEMNATION OF ST. THOMAS,” p. 5, [Online]. Available: https://www.dominicanajournal.org/wp-content/files/old-journal-archive/vol27/no2/dominicanav27n2condemnationstthomas.pdf

Saint Benedict of Anian

Abbot (750-821)

Feast – February 12

In 751 Pepin the Short, the younger son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel, became King. Educated by the monks from the Abbey of Saint Denis, he reigned over Francia jointly with his elder brother Carloman. The brothers were active in suppressing revolts led by the Bavarians, Aquitanians, Saxons and the Alemanni in the early years of their reign. In 768 following Pepin’s death, his eldest son Charles the Great (Charlemagne) became king of the Franks as co-ruler with his brother Carloman I, until the latter’s death in 771. As sole ruler, he continued his father’s policy towards the papacy and became its protector by removing the Lombards (Germanic people, mostly Arian heretics, or pagans who in the 6^th century took control of most of the Italian Peninsula.) from power in northern Italy and lead an incursion into Muslim Spain. He also campaigned against the Saxons to the east and Christianized them. Charlemagne united the majority of western and central Europe and is the first recognized emperor to rule western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire around three centuries earlier.

In times like these, times of peace and prosperity, easygoing lukewarmness is the greatest danger people face. It is especially devastating to society if it spreads among the clergy and religious groups which are supposed to be setting an example of piety. The Holy Mass slowly loses its sacrificial character, being transformed into a social gathering. Over time fewer and fewer attendees remember to offer their prayers, sacrifices, pains, works and appreciation on the altar in union with the sacrifice of Jesus to Almighty God.

During the days of King Charles the Great, a monk and monastic reformer known as St. Benedict of Anian, was the one setting a good example. His conduct exhibited the path to piety for religious and nonreligious, leading some to call him the Second Benedict.

Born about 750 to Aigulf, the Count and Governor of Languedoc, St. Benedict was educated at the Frankish court of King Pepin, entered the royal service as a page, and continued serving Pepin’s son King Charles. Serving under two great kings he enjoyed great honors and possessions, at the same time he saw greed, pride, jealousy, selfishness, and the manipulations normally surrounding kings. At the age of twenty he decided to seek the kingdom of God. Without relinquishing his place at court, he lived there a very mortified life for three years. In 773 he took part in Charlemagne’s campaign against the Lombards where he almost drowned in the Ticino River near Pavia. This narrow escape from drowning made him vow to renounce the world and live the monastic life. Returning to Languedoc, he was confirmed in his resolution by the pious advice of a hermit of great merit and virtue, called Widmar. He went to the Abbey of St. Seine, seventeen miles from Dijon, sent back all his attendants and became a monk there. He spent two years and a half in wonderful abstinence, treating his body as a furious wild beast, to which he would show no other mercy. He took no other sustenance on any account but bread and water; and when overcome with weariness, he allowed himself nothing softer than the bare ground whereon to take a short rest, thus making even his repose a continuation of penance.

In reward for St. Benedict’s heroic austerities in the monastic state, God bestowed upon him the gift of tears, and inspired him with a knowledge of spiritual things. At Saint-Seine, he was made cellarer, responsible for the provisioning of food and drink, he was very solicitous to provide for others whatever St. Benedict’s rule allowed and had a particular care of the poor and of the guests. He was elected abbot, but realizing that the monks would never conform to his strict practices he left and returned to his father’s estates in Languedoc, where he built himself a little hermitage at Aniane where he lived in great solitude and poverty practicing all the severest observances prescribed by the rules of St. Pachomius and St. Basil. Some solitaries, and with them the holy man Widmar, put themselves under his direction. They earned their livelihood through labour and lived on bread and water, except on Sunday and solemn festivals, on which they added a little wine and milk when it was given in alms. The holy superior did not exempt himself from working with the rest in the fields, either carrying wood or ploughing; and sometimes he copied good books.

Fame of his sanctity drew many souls to him. In 780 he founded a monastic community based on Eastern asceticism. This community did not develop as he had intended, so in 782 he founded another monastery based on Benedictine Rule at the same location. Within a short time three hundred monks gathered around him.  His success there gave him considerable influence, which he used to found and reform a number of other monasteries. Louis the Pious who became King of Aquitaine in 781 asked St. Benedict to reform the monasteries in his territory and later as Emperor, he entrusted him with the coordination of practices and communication among the monasteries within his domains. First, St. Benedict drew up with immense labor a code of the rules following the instructions of the first Saint Benedict, his patron, which he collated with those of the chief monastic founders, showing uniformity of the exercises in each. Secondly, he minutely regulated all matters regarding food, clothing, and every detail of life. Thirdly, by prescribing the same regimen for all, he precluded jealousies and ensured perfect charity. When Felix, bishop of Urgel, had advanced that Christ was not the natural, but only the adoptive son of the eternal Father. St. Benedict most learnedly opposed this heresy, and in 794 assisted at the council assembled against it at Frankfort. He employed his pen to confute the heresy in four treatises. In a Provincial Council at which he was present, held in 813 under Charlemagne, it was declared that all monks of the West should adopt the rule of St. Benedict of Anian.

He was the head of a council of abbots which in 817 at Aachen created a code of regulations, or “Codex regularum,” which would be binding on all their houses.

This great restorer of the monastic order in the West, worn out at length with mortification and fatigues, suffered much from continual sickness the latter years of his life. He died with extraordinary tranquility and cheerfulness, on the 11th of February, 821, being then about seventy-one years of age, and was buried in the Kornelimünster Abbey also known as Abbey of the Abbot Saint Benedict of Aniane and Pope Cornelius, the monastery Emperor Louis  had built for him to serve as the base for Benedict’s supervisory work, located in Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Saint Benedict of Anian, Abbot.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_benedict_of_anian.html (accessed Jan. 31, 2022).

[2]          “St. Benedict of Anian, Abbot | EWTN,” EWTN Global Catholic Television Network. https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/st-benedict-of-anian-abbot-5278 (accessed Jan. 31, 2022).

[3]          “Benedict of Aniane,” Wikipedia. Jan. 02, 2022. Accessed: Jan. 31, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Benedict_of_Aniane&oldid=1063342515