Saint Basil the Great

Feast June 14th

Bishop, Doctor of the Church (329-379)

Basil was born into the wealthy family of Basil the Elder, a famous rhetor, and Emmelia of Caesarea, in Pontus, around 330. His parents were renowned for their piety. His maternal grandfather was a Christian martyr, executed in the years prior to Constantine I’s conversion. His pious widow, Macrina, herself a follower of Gregory Thaumaturgus (who had founded the nearby church of Neocaesarea), raised Basil and his four siblings Macrina the Younger, Naucratius, Peter of Sebaste and Gregory of Nyssa. Peter and Gregory became bishops, and with his mother and his sister, are honored as Saints.

Basil received more formal education in Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia (modern-day Kayseri, Turkey) around 350-51.

He studied with great success in Athens, where he formed a tender and perpetual friendship with Saint Gregory Nazianzen. At the time he taught oratory. The study of philosophy had already raised him above all worldly ambition, causing him to dread the honors of the world. At the end of his sojourn at Athens, Basil was well equipped to be a teacher. He refused the splendid offers of the citizens of Neo-Caesarea, who wished him to undertake the education of the youth of their city. Basil’s life changed radically after he encountered Eustathius of Sebaste, a charismatic bishop and ascetic. Abandoning his legal and teaching career, Basil devoted his life to God. A letter described his spiritual awakening: “I had wasted much time on follies and spent nearly all of my youth in vain labors, and devotion to the teachings of a wisdom that God had made foolish. Suddenly, I awoke as out of a deep sleep. I beheld the wonderful light of the Gospel truth, and I recognized the nothingness of the wisdom of the princes of this world.”

He gave up all things to become the father of monastic life in the East. His older sister, Saint Macrina, encouraged him when he abandoned the greater part of his inheritance.

He retired into Pontus, where his sister was the Superior of a convent, into which his mother also had entered; there he founded a monastery on the opposite side of the river from the convent, and governed it from 358 to 362. He founded several other religious houses in the same region, both for men and for women. It was for them that he composed his ascetic works, including his famous “Rule,” still followed by the monks of the Orient.

He then resigned, leaving his office to his brother, Saint Peter of Sebastus, to retire in prayer. Saint Gregory came to join his friend for a time, in response to his invitation. Ever afterwards, Basil would recall with regret the peace and happiness they had enjoyed, singing Psalms, studying Scripture, keeping vigil in prayer, and disciplining their flesh by manual work. It was only in 363 that this holy hermit was ordained a priest by Eusebius of Caesarea in Cappadocia.

The Arian heretics, supported by the court, were then persecuting the Church, and Basil was summoned from his retirement by his bishop to give aid against them. His energy and zeal soon mitigated the disorders of the Church, and his solid and eloquent words silenced the heretics.

In 370, Eusebius died, and Basil was chosen to succeed him, and was consecrated bishop on June 14, 370. His new post as bishop of Caesarea also gave him the powers of exarch of Pontus and metropolitan of five suffragan bishops, many of whom had opposed him in the election for Eusebius’s successor. It was then that his great powers were called into action. Hot-blooded and somewhat imperious, Basil was also generous and sympathetic. He personally organized a soup kitchen and distributed food to the poor during a famine following a drought. He gave away his personal family inheritance to benefit the poor of his diocese.

His letters show that he actively worked to reform thieves and prostitutes. They also show him encouraging his clergy not to be tempted by wealth or the comparatively easy life of a priest, and that he personally took care in selecting worthy candidates for holy orders. He also had the courage to criticize public officials who failed in their duty of administering justice. At the same time, he preached every morning and evening in his own church to large congregations. In addition to all the above, he built a large complex just outside Caesarea, called the Basiliad, which included a poorhouse, hospice, and hospital, and was compared by Gregory of Nazianzus to the wonders of the world

When Saint Basil was summoned by the emperor Valentius to admit the Arians to Communion, the prefect in charge, finding that soft words had no effect, said to him, “Are you mad, that you resist the will before which the whole world bows? Do you not dread the wrath of the emperor, nor exile, nor death?” “No,” said Basil calmly; “he who has nothing to lose need not dread loss of goods; you cannot exile me, for the whole earth is my home; as for death, it would be the greatest kindness you could bestow upon me; torments cannot harm me; one blow would end both my frail life and my sufferings.” The prefect answered, “Never has anyone dared to address me thus.” “Perhaps,” suggested Basil, “you never before measured your strength with a Christian bishop.” The emperor desisted from his commands.

Saint Basil’s entire life was one of suffering, both physical and moral; he lived amidst jealousies, misunderstandings and seeming disappointments. However, he sowed the seed which bore good fruit in future generations. He was God’s instrument to resist the Arians and other heretics in the East, and to restore the spirit of discipline and fervor in the Church. He died peacefully in 379 at the age of fifty-one, and is venerated as a Doctor of the Church.

 

References and Excerpts

[1] “St. Basil the Great,” New Advent, 2012. [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02330b.htm. [Accessed 1 June 2016].

[2] “Basil of Caesarea,” Wikipedia, [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_of_Caesarea. [Accessed 1 June 2016].

[3] “Saint Basil the Great,” Magnificat, 24 February 2016. [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_basil_the_great.html. [Accessed 1 June 2016].

Saint Stanislaus

Feast May 7th

Bishop of Kraków, Martyr (1030-1079)

Saint Stanislaus was born at Szczepanów, a village in Lesser Poland, in answer to the prayer of his noble and pious parents, Wielisław and Bogna, who were advanced in age. Out of gratitude they prepared him for the priesthood at a cathedral school in Gniezno (then the capital of Poland) and later, according to some sources, in Paris or Liège. When his parents died, he sold their vast properties and gave the money to the poor. On his return to Poland, Stanisław was ordained a priest by Lambert II Suła, Bishop of Kraków, and being a holy priest, soon afterwards became a Canon of the Kraków cathedral.

After the Bishop’s death (1072), Stanisław was elected his successor but accepted the office only at the explicit command of Pope Alexander II. Stanisław was one of the earliest native Polish bishops. Saint Stanislaus donned a hair shirt, which he wore until he died. He had a list drawn up of every poor person of the city, and gave orders to his servants never to refuse anything to anyone.

Boleslaus II was at that time King of Poland; he was a prince of good disposition, but spoilt by a long series of victories and successes. After many acts of lust and cruelty, he outraged the whole kingdom by carrying off the wife of one of his nobles. Against this public scandal the chaste and gentle bishop alone raised his voice. Having commended the matter to God, he went to the palace and openly rebuked the king for his crime against God and his subjects, and threatened to excommunicate him if he persisted in his sin. Boleslaus, with the intention of irrevocably ruining the bishop’s good reputation, suborned the nephews of a man named Paul who had recently died, to swear that their uncle had never been paid for land which the bishop had bought for the Church. Saint Stanislaus stood fearlessly before the king’s tribunal, though all his frightened witnesses forsook him, and guaranteed to bring the dead man to witness in his favor within three days.

On the third day, after many prayers and tears, he raised the dead man to life and led him in his grave-clothes before the king, where Paul testified that the bishop had reimbursed him fully for the terrain he had sold. He was then taken back to the grave, where he lay down and again relapsed into his former state, before a large number of witnesses.

Boleslaus for a while made a show of a better life. Soon, however, he returned to the most scandalous excesses, and the bishop, finding all remonstrance useless, pronounced the sentence of excommunication. In defiance of the censure, on May 8, 1079, the king went to a chapel where Saint Stanislaus was saying Mass and commanded three groups of soldiers in succession to slay him at the altar. Each in turn came out, saying he had been alarmed by a light from heaven. At this the king himself rushed in and slew with his own hand the Saint at the altar during the Holy Sacrifice. The guards then cut the Bishop’s body into pieces and scattered them to be devoured by wild beasts. According to the legend, his members miraculously reintegrated while being guarded by four eagles.

The Pope placed the kingdom of Poland under interdict, excommunicated the king and declared his royalty null and void. Boleslaus repented, took refuge in another country for a time, then set out dressed as a pilgrim for Rome. On the way he knocked on a monastery door to ask for an alms, then decided to enter there anonymously, and was received. He spent seven years there as a Benedictine lay brother, rendering every humble service to the monks, patiently bearing rude treatment. Only on his deathbed did he identify himself, taking out his royal ring which he had concealed until then. He had spent hours praying before a statue of Our Lady in the chapel, by which we may conclude that the Mother of God had obtained for him the grace of conversion and a happy death. His body remains in the church of the same monastery of Ossiach.

Saint Stanislaus was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253.

 

References and Excerpts

[1] “Lives of the Saints, Saint Stanislaus,” 24 February 2016. [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_stanislaus.html. [Accessed 30 April 2016].

[2] M. P. Guerin, Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, Paris: Bloud et Barral, 1882.

[3] J. G. Shea, Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, New York: Benziger Brothers, 1894.

[4] “Stanislaus of Szczepanów,” Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislaus_of_Szczepanów. [Accessed 30 April 2016].

Saint Richard of Chichester

Feast April 3

Archbishop of Canterbury (1197-1253)

Saint Richard of Chichester was born in 1197 in a little town a few miles from Worcester, England. He and his elder brother were left orphans while still young, and his brother was imprisoned as a result of their property’s unpaid debts. Richard gave up the studies which he loved, to farm his brother’s impoverished estate. His brother, in gratitude for Richard’s successful labors, proposed to turn over to him all his lands; but he refused both the estates and the offer of a brilliant marriage, to study for the priesthood at Oxford.

In 1235 Saint Richard was appointed, for his learning and piety, chancellor of that University and afterwards chancellor of his diocese by Saint Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. The new Chancellor stood by the Saint in his long contest with the king, and then accompanied him into exile in France, in the Abbey of Pontigny. After Saint Edmund’s death there, he studied theology in Orleans before returning to England to toil as a simple parish priest. He was, however, soon elected by the Canons of Chichester, when their see became vacant, for their Bishop. This election greatly displeased the king, who had nominated another candidate whom the Canons judged unworthy.

The king in revenge refused to recognize the election, and seized the revenues of the see. Thus Saint Richard found himself fighting the same battle in which Saint Edmund had died. He went to Lyons, where he was consecrated bishop by Innocent IV in 1245, and returning to England he exercised fully his episcopal rights despite his poverty and the king’s hostility, and thoroughly reformed his see. Young and old loved Saint Richard, and after threatening the king with excommunication his revenues were restored.

Richard was merciless to usurers, corrupt clergy and priests who mumbled the Mass. At the same time, he was an ascetic who wore a hair-shirt and refused to eat off silver. To feed the poor and heal the sick, he gave all he had and worked miracles; and when the rights or the sanctity of the Church were concerned, he was inexorable.

A priest of noble blood polluted his office by sin; Richard deprived him of his benefice, and refused the king’s petition in his favor. On the other hand, when a knight violently imprisoned a priest, Richard compelled the knight to walk around the priest’s church with the same log of wood on his neck to which he had chained him. And when the burgesses of Lewes tore a criminal from the church and hanged him, Richard made them dig up the body from its unconsecrated grave, and bear it back to the sanctuary they had violated. Richard died in 1253 while preaching, at the Pope’s command, a crusade against the Saracens.

 

References and Excerpts

[1] “Lives of the Saints, St. Richard of Chichester,” Magnificat, 13 July 2013. [Online]. Available: https://magnificat.ca/cal/en/saints/sai … ester.html. [Accessed 2 April 2016].

St. John Capistrano

Feast March 28th

(1385-1456)

Born at Capistrano, in the Diocese of Sulmona, Italy, 1385; died 23 October, 1456. His father had come to Naples in the train of Louis of Anjou, hence is supposed to have been of French blood, though some say he was of German origin. His father dying early, John owed his education to his mother. She had him at first instructed at home and then sent him to study law at Perugia, where he achieved great success under the eminent legist, Pietro de Ubaldis. In 1412 he was appointed governor of Perugia by Ladislaus, King of Naples, who then held that city of the Holy See. As governor he set himself against civic corruption and bribery. War broke out in 1416 between Perugia and the Malatesta. John was sent as ambassador to propose peace to the Malatesta, who however cast him into prison. He resolved while still in prison to serve in the future no other interests but those of God. His property was sold at his command, his ransom paid, and from his prison he entered a monastery near Peruse where the Rule of Saint Francis was observed in its purity. The superiors, fearing this vocation to be a passing fancy, tested him severely, even sending him away twice; but he remained day and night at the door, suffering joyfully all trials. His heroic perseverance disarmed their fears and severity, and he was admitted to religious profession.

For seven years he practiced great austerities, cared for the sick in the hospitals, and preached on all sides the word of God. In this, say his biographers, he succeeded so admirably that few preachers in the course of all the centuries can be compared with him. He became a disciple of Saint Bernardine of Siena, assisting him in public conferences and discussions. Like many great servants of God he was calumniated, as though he had taught errors; he went to Rome to justify his teachings in the presence of the Pope and a group of cardinals, which he did admirably well, and they recognized the obvious innocence of the accused Saint.

Afterwards he preached all over Italy, and everywhere brought about the reform of lives. Five Popes in succession gave commissions to this remarkable Franciscan to represent them in important affairs, and he traveled to France, Austria, Poland and Germany. Everywhere his negotiations were crowned with success. But none of the Popes succeeded in raising him to the episcopal dignity; their efforts met an absolute resistance in his humility.

His extraordinary qualities proved to be of great assistance to the Holy See in another circumstance. When Mohammed II was threatening Vienna and Rome, Saint John Capistran, at the bidding of Pope Callixtus III, enrolled for a crusade 70,000 Christians. In a vision he was assured of victory in the Name of Jesus and by the Cross he bore. Marching at the head of the crusaders, he entered Belgrade at the head of the army. This General of the Friars Minor won a remarkable victory in that year of 1455.

When 40,000 of the enemies of the Christians perished, but virtually none among the latter. He himself died the following year at the age of 71. He is regarded as a martyr, for enemies of the faith twice succeeded in giving him poison, which was ineffectual; he died only from the immense fatigue he had suffered in the defense of the city of Belgrade. An infinity of miracles followed his death. He was canonized in 1690.

 

References and Excerpts

[1] “Lives of the Saints, St. John Capistran,” Magnificat, 7 July 2013. [Online]. Available: https://magnificat.ca/cal/en/saints/sai … stran.html. [Accessed 2 March 2016].

[2] “St. John Capistran,” New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, 1 October 1910. [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08452a.htm. [Accessed 2 March 2016].

Saint Ignatius

Feast February 1st

Bishop of Antioch and Martyr (??-107 AD)

Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, was the disciple of Saint John the Evangelist. A tradition arose that he was one of the children whom Jesus took in his arms and blessed. Believing that the Church on earth should resemble that of the heavenly Jerusalem of which Saint John wrote in his Apocalypse, he established singing in choirs in his church at Antioch, after a vision of the celestial choirs who sang in that manner. When the emperor Domitian persecuted the Church, Saint Ignatius obtained peace for his own flock by fasting and prayer, although for his own part he desired to suffer with Christ, and to prove himself a perfect disciple.

The Roman emperors often visited Antioch, one of the cities of first importance of the empire. In 107, the eighth year of the reign of the emperor Trajan, he came to Antioch and forced the Christians to choose between apostasy and death. Saint Ignatius, who had already governed that church for forty years, continued to fortify it against apostasy, and did not flee. Arrested and brought before the emperor, the latter addressed him: Who are you, poor devil, to set our commands at naught? Call not poor devil, Ignatius answered, one who bears God within him. And when the emperor asked him what he meant by that, Ignatius explained that he bore in his heart Christ, crucified for his sake. Change your ideas, and I will make you a priest of the great Jupiter, and you will be called father’ by the Senate. What could such honors matter to me, a priest of Christ, who offer Him every day a sacrifice of praise, and am ready to offer myself to Him also? To whom? To that Jesus who was crucified by Pontius Pilate? Yes, and with whom sin was crucified, and the devil, its author, vanquished.

The questions and the courageous replies continued for a time that day and also on the following one. Saint Ignatius said, I will not sacrifice; I fear neither torments nor death, because I desire to go quickly to God. Thereupon the emperor condemned him to be torn to pieces by wild beasts in Rome. Saint Ignatius blessed God, who had so honored him, binding him in the same chains as Paul, His apostle. When his people wept, he told them to place their hope in the sovereign Pastor, who never abandons His flock. On passing through the city of Smyrna, he exhorted the faithful, who were grieved at his fate, to remain true to Christ until death, and he gave some of them who were going to Rome a letter for the Christians of the capital of the Christian world. This letter is still extant. He writes: I fear your charity, I fear you have an affection too human for me. You might prevent me from dying, but by so doing, you would oppose my happiness. Suffer me to be immolated while the altar is ready; give thanks to God… If when I arrive among you I should have the weakness to seem to have other sentiments, do not believe me; believe only what I am writing to you now. This letter of Saint Ignatius has encouraged all generations of Christians in their combats.

He journeyed to Rome, guarded by soldiers, and with no fear but of losing the martyr’s crown. Three of his disciples, who accompanied him and were eyewitnesses of the spectacle, wrote the acts of his martyrdom: His face shining with joy, he reassured them as the lions were released, saying: I am the wheat of Christ, I will be ground by the teeth of the beasts and made into flour to be a good bread for my Lord Jesus Christ! He was devoured by lions in the Roman amphitheater. The wild beasts left nothing of his body except a few bones, which were reverently treasured at Antioch until their removal in the year 637 to the Church of Saint Clement in Rome. After the martyr’s death, several Christians saw him in vision, in prayer to Christ, and interceding for them.

 

References and Excerpts

[1] Magnificat, “Lives of the Saints, Saint Ignatius of Antioch,” 13 July 2013. [Online]. Available: https://magnificat.ca/cal/en/saints/sai … tioch.html. [Accessed 5 February 2016].

Saint John Chrysostom

Feast January 27th

Bishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church (344-407 AD)

Saint John Chrysostom, born in Antioch in 344, was endowed with a superior genius strengthened by a brilliant education. In order to break with a world which admired and courted him, in 374 he retired for six years to a neighboring mountain, having found Christ through his friendship with Saint Basil. After acquiring the art of Christian silence, he returned to Antioch and there labored for four years as a priest under the direction of its bishop. His eloquence was such that the entire city, up to a hundred thousand listeners, came to hear him, a man not yet forty years old. He fled this popularity for fourteen years, adopting the monastic life until he was forcibly consecrated Patriarch of Constantinople in 398.

The effect of his sermons was everywhere marvelous. He converted a large number of pagans and heretics by his eloquence and constantly exhorted his Catholic people to frequent the Holy Sacrifice. In order to remove all excuse for absence he abbreviated the long liturgy then in use. Saint Nilus relates that Saint John Chrysostom, when the priest began the Holy Sacrifice, very often saw many of the Blessed coming down from heaven in shining garments, eyes intent, and bowed heads, in utter stillness and silence, assisting at the consummation of the tremendous mystery. [1]

Beloved as he was in Constantinople, his denunciations of vice made him numerous enemies; Theophilus, archbishop of Alexandria, feared the growth in importance of the Bishop of Constantinople and falsely charged John with fostering heresy. Theophilus and other angered bishops were supported by Eudoxia, the empress, who resented John’s sermons contrasting gospel values with the excesses of imperial court life. Whether intended or not, sermons mentioning the lurid Jezebel (1 Kings 9:1—21:23) and impious Herodias (Mark 6:17-29) were associated with the empress, who finally managed to have John exiled in 403. [2]

Although he was almost immediately recalled, it was not more than a reprieve. In 404 he was banished to Cucusus in the deserts of the Taurus mountains. His reply to the hostile empress was: Chrysostom fears only one thing — not exile, prison, poverty or death — but sin.

In 407, at sixty-three years old his strength was waning, but his enemies were impatient and transported him to Pytius on the Euxine, a rough journey of nearly 400 miles. He was assiduously exposed to every hardship — cold, wet clothing, and semi-starvation, but nothing could overcome his cheerfulness and his consideration for others. On the journey his sickness increased, and he was warned that his end was near. Thereupon, exchanging his travel-stained clothes for white garments, he received Viaticum, and with his customary words, Glory be to God for all things. Amen, passed to Christ. He does not have the title of martyrdom, but possesses all its merit and all its glory. He is the author of the famous words characterizing Saint Paul, object of his admiration and love: The heart of Paul was the Heart of Christ. [1]

His zeal led him to decisive action. Bishops who bribed their way into office were deposed. Many of his sermons called for concrete steps to share wealth with the poor. The rich did not appreciate hearing from John that private property existed because of Adam’s fall from grace any more than married men liked to hear that they were bound to marital fidelity just as much as their wives were. When it came to justice and charity, John acknowledged no double standards. [2]

 

References and Excerpts

[1] “Lives of the Saints, St John Chrysostom,” Magnificat, 13 July 2013. [Online]. Available: https://magnificat.ca/cal/en/saints/sai … ostom.html. [Accessed 8 January 2016].

[2] “Saint of the Day, St. John Chrysostom,” American Catholic, [Online]. Available: http://www.americancatholic.org/Feature … px?id=1137. [Accessed 8 January 2016].

[3] “St. John Chrysostom,” Catholic Online, [Online]. Available: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=64. [Accessed 8 January 2016].