Aug. 7th, Saint Donatus, Bishop and Martyr

Aug. 7^th, Saint Donatus, Bishop and Martyr

This Donatus hath been revered from most ancient times, for he became celebrated as the Bishop of Arezzo in Tuscany in the fourth century, and the holy Doctor Gregory considered him one of the great Fathers of the church. He was born at Nicomedia of parents who had both been slain for Chris’s sake. With the holy monk Hilarinus he fled to Arezzo in Tuscany, of which city he afterwards became Bishop. There the Prefect Quadratian, during the persecution under Julian, about 362, commanded both Hilarinus and Donatus to worship idols, and when they both refused, they were slain. Hilarinus was beaten to death with clubs. Donatus was in divers ways savagely tortured, and then put to the sword. The Christians buried their bodies honorably hard by the city.

Collect:

O God, who art the glory of thy priests, we humbly pray thee, that we, who keep the feast of thy blessed martyr and Bishop Donatus, may feel the effectual succour of his advocacy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Aug 5th, Saint Oswald, King and Martyr

Saint Oswald, King and Martyr

Oswald was the son of Ethelfrid the Ravager, King of the Northumbrians. After his father had been slain in battle by Redwald, King of the East Angles, he was carried into exile in Scotland, where he was taught the Faith of Christ and baptized. When he returned to his own country he found Cadwalla, King of the Britons, pitifully wasting everything. This Cadwalla had already slain three kings of the English, and was seeking to destroy all of that nation. Oswald gathered together a small army and, placing his trust in God, bravely attacked the countless hosts of the enemy. Before he joined battle he set up he standard of the Cross of the Lord with his own hands, knelt down, and prayed God to help a righteous war for the saving of the fatherland. He exhorted all his soldiers to do likewise, and so they did ; and all promised that if God granted them the victory they would believe in him who had been crucified. Thereupon they obtained an easy victory, and crushed the tyrant with all his legions. And the place where the Sign of the Cross was set up was afterwards called in the English language Heaven's Field ; and pieces of wood of this cross which Oswald erected were believed to have been the occasion of many miracles in later times.

Oswald being thus placed in possession of his kingdom was fain that all nations should receive the grace of Christian belief. Hence he sent forthwith into Scotland, praying them to send him a bishop, by whose teaching and ministry the English people might receive the Faith and Sacraments of Christ. Whereupon there was sent unto him blessed Aidan, unto whom the King granted at his own prayer the Island of Lindisfarne to be the See of his Bishoprick. After Aidan came many other Gospel-preachers, especially from the Island of Iona. By their preaching and the support given to them from the godliness and zeal of the King, Christ's own kingdom was wonderfully spread abroad in all the country between the Humber and the Forth ; churches were built in divers places, schools set up for the teaching of children, and monasteries founded by the King's bounty, so that the English might learn not only the greater studies but also the institutes of regular discipline. The King himself listened to the preaching of Aidan, and humbly and cheerfully granted all his wishes, and by his own illustrious example did much to set forward the cause of the Church throughout all his dominions. Now Aidan could not speak English well, and when he was preaching the Gospel there could often be seen the lovely spectacle of the King himself interpreting the heavenly Word to his own officers and servants.

Thus did this most devout King Oswald shew himself a loyal and ready subject of the eternal King of kings, and by this he was glorified as regards his temporal dominion more than all that had been before him, so that nearly all the provinces of all Britain came under his sway ; and nevertheless he was never tainted with pride, but was always lowly, kindly, and open-handed to Christ's poor and to strangers. When he had happily reigned for eight years he was encompassed in battle by heathen rebels ; and when he saw that he was bound to perish, he called for the divine mercy for himself and for the souls of them that were about to slay him ; namely, in the year of Christ 642, and of his own age the thirty-eighth, upon the 5th day of August, upon the which day mention is made of his memory in the Martyrology. How precious was his death in the sight of the Lord became afterwards manifest by countless miracles obtained through his intercession.

　

Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast hallowed this day to be a day of gladness and rejoicing by the Martyrdom of thy blessed Saint King Oswald : we pray thee, pour into our hearts such an increase of thy charity, that like as we do honour his glorious battle for thy Faith, so we may imitate him in constancy even unto death. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who livest and reignest with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Aug 5th, Our Lady of the Snows

Our Lady of the Snows

This feast is in commemoration of the first church to be dedicated in Rome under the invocation of our Lady, and the third of those Christian temples in the City known as Patriarchal Basilicas. The origin of this building, according to an old story, popular in ancient times, was as followeth. In the middle of the fourth century, during the pontificate of Pope Liberius, there lived at Rome a certain nobleman named John, and a noble lady his wife, who had no children to whom to leave their substance, and who vowed that they would make the holy Virgin Mother of God their heiress. And earnestly they besought her in some way to make known to them upon what godly work she would have their money spent. And thereupon (so saith the story) the blessed Virgin graciously listened to the heart-felt earnestness of their prayers, and by a wondrous sign assured them of her will.


On the fifth day of August, which is the time when the heat of summer waxeth greatest in Rome, a part of the Esquiline Hill was covered at night with snow. And some scholars think that such a strange and unseasonable fall of snow did take place, and so gave rise to the old tale, which goeth on to say on this same night the Mother of God appeared in a dream to John and his wife separately, and told them that on that spot, which in the morning they could see clad in snow, they should build a church, to be dedicated under the name of the Virgin Mary, for that this was the way in which she chose that they should make her their heiress. Then John went and told it to Pope Liberius, who declared that he also had been visited by a like dream.

Therefore Pope Liberius went in a solemn procession of clergy and people to the snow-clad hill, and traced upon that spot the plan of the church, which same was afterwards built with the money of John and his wife. And later it was rebuilt by Saint Pope Sixtus III. At the beginning it was called by divers names, sometimes the Liberian Basilica, sometimes the Church of Saint Mary-at-the-Manger (because of the presence there of a relick revered as the Manger in which our infant Lord lay), and so on. Howbeit, since there are in Rome many churches called after the holy Virgin Mary, and this church, both in age and dignity, doth excel them all, it is commonly called St. Mary Major. And the memory of the dedication there of is kept every year by this feast-day that taketh name from the strange fall of snow which is said to have taken place on this day.


Collect
O Lord God Almighty, we beseech thee to keep us thy servants both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls : that by the glorious intercession of blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, we may be defended from our present heaviness and attain in the end to everlasting gladness. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who livest and reignest with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

August 2nd, Saint Stephen, Pope and Martyr

August 2^nd, Saint Stephen, Pope and Martyr
This Stephen was a Roman, who became Pope in 254, and fulfilled his office during the reign of the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. His short Popedom was made notable by the controversy over the re-baptism of those christened by hereticks. Such re-baptism he forbade, and wrote to Saint Cyprian in these words : Let us have no innovations, but only what hath been handed down unto us. No sure or certain records of his martyrdom exist. But tradition saith that as persecution was waxing dreader and more dread, Stephen gathered together the clergy, and exhorted them to be brave in lifting up their testimony, and himself celebrated Masses and Councils in the Catacombs ; and that finally, whilst he was one day finishing the Mass, the soldiers of the Emperor brake in upon the Christians and cut off Stephen’s head as he sat in his chair; and that the relicks of the Martyr along with the chair stained with his blood, were buried by the clergy in the cemetery of Saint Callistus, upon the second day of August in the year 257. According to the Pontifical Book, he lived as Pope three years, three months and twenty-two days, and held two December ordinations, and in them ordained six priests, five deacons and three bishops.

Collect:

Be merciful to the people of thy flock, O Lord, eternal Shepherd and Bishop of the souls of men : and keep us in thy continual protection ; at the intercession of thy blessed Martyr, the Holy Father Stephen, whom thou didst raise up in thy Church to be thine under-shepherd, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen.

July 30th, Saints Abdon and Sennen, Martyrs

July 30^th, Saints Abdon and Sennen, Martyrs

Abdon and Sennen, as we know from ancient records, were Persians who suffered for Christ at Rome, probably under Diocletian, early in the fourth century. For their feast was already kept in the City in the year 354. It is believed that they had been brought to Rome either as hostages, or as prisoners of the Emperor, after his campaign in their country. In later days it was said that they were apprehended in Rome on the charge that they had interred, on their own farm, the bodies of Christians, which had been thrown out unburied. Whereat they were ordered to sacrifice to the gods, which they refused to do, and so were put into strict confinement. And afterwards when the Emperor returned to Rome, he had them led in chains in his triumph. And being thus dragged into the City and up to the idols, they spat upon them, for which they were cast to bears and lions. And because the beasts were afraid to touch them, they were butchered with the sword. And their corpses, with their feet bound together, were dragged before the image of the sun. Thereafter their remains were stolen away, and Deacon Quirinus buried them in his own house.

Collect:

O God, who on thy servants Abdon and Sennen didst bestow abundant grace to attain unto the crown of glory : grant unto thy servants the remission of all their sins ; that, by the intercession of the merits of thy Saints, they may be found worthy to be defended against all adversities, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

July 29th, Saint Martha, Virgin and Martyr

July 29^th, Saint Martha, Virgin and Martyr


Martha, (whose feast is kept on the Octave of St. Mary Magdalene,) lived with her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus, in their home in Bethany. Which same was a place of such noble hospitality that they are believed to have been of gentle birth and ample means. But chiefly Martha is remembered as the loving hostess of our Lord ; for whose sake, and for Mary’s he raised to life again his friend Lazarus, after he had been three days dead, and over whose grave, as the Evangelist saith : Jesus wept. For the Gospel prayeth them this great tribute : Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. According to the ancient fathers. Mary is to be considered a type of the contemplative vocation, but Martha that of the active : that is to say, of a life devoted to God in good works for one’s neighbour. * In the Middle Ages in France a strange story came into belief concerning these three Saints, as followeth. After the Ascension, they and their household were baptized by Maximin, who was one of the seventy-two disciples of the Lord Christ. They all, with many other Christians, were taken by the Jews, and turned adrift upon the open sea in a ship without sail or oars, to meet with certain wreck ; but by the governance of God, the shop came to land at Marseilles with all safe. Through this miracle and the preaching of the Saints, the people round about came to believe in Christ, and Lazarus was made Bishop of Aix. * Mary continued, as it were, to sit at Jesus’ feet, for she ever was altogether given to prayer and the contemplation of heavenly blessedness ; and in order that the good part which she had chosen might not be taken away from her, she withdrew herself to a cave in an exceeding high mountain, where she lived for thirty years, utterly cut off from all conversation with mankind, but having the holy Angels as her familiars. And Martha drew upon herself, by the wondrous holiness and charity of her life, the love of all the inhabitants of Marseilles, until she withdrew in company with some other honorable women, into an out-of-the-way place, to prepare for her going to him who loved her, and whence she passed away to be ever with him.

Collect:

Graciously hear us, O God of our salvation : that, like as we do rejoice in the festival of blessed Martha thy holy Virgin ; so we may learn to follow her in all godly and devout affections, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saints Nazarius & Celsus, Martyrs. Victor I, Pope & Martyr & Innocent I, Pope & Confessor

Saints Nazarius & Celsus, Martyrs. Victor I, Pope & Martyr & Innocent I, Pope & Confessor

Nazarius and Celsus were early venerated at Milan as Martyrs, and there blessed Ambrose searched for their remains and believed that he had found them. Nazarius was baptized by Saint Pope Linus, and afterwards went to Gaul. Where he met with the boy Celsus, whom he instructed in the Faith, and baptized. Therefore these twain went to Treves, and in Nero’s persecution were both thrown into the sea, whence they had a marvellous escape, and fled to Milan, where they spread the Faith, for which they were apprehended and beheaded, and buried outside the Roman Gate. There their bodies lay unknown and unhonoured till blessed Ambrose found them, and laid them in an honorable sepulchre in Milan. * Pope Victor I was by birth an African, and governed the Church under the Emperor Severus. To his efforts it is chiefly due that the Western Church came to agreement in the celebration of the paschal feast by our present method of reckoning. But Saint Irenaeus interceded with him, that he would not provoke into schism certain of the Church whose custom in this matter was different. He is reputed also to have decreed that , if need be, Baptism can be administered with any water, so long as it be natural. He cast out of the Church Theodotus the Tanner, who came from Constantinople, and taught that Christ was nothing but a man. He wrote upon the subject of the Passover, and composed some other small works. According to the Pontifical Book, he held two December ordinations, wherein he made four priests, seven deacons, and twelve bishops for divers places, and sat in the Chair of Peter nine years, on month and twenty-eight days. He is believed to have received the crown of his testimony, and his burial on Vatican Hill, on July 28^th, about the year 197, and by tradition is revered as a Martyr. * Pope Innocent I flourished in the days of Saints Jerome and Augustine, when the times were troublous, and Alaric sacked the Eternal City; on behalf of which he had gone to get the help of the Emperor Honorius at Ravenna, whereby the man of God escaped the grief of seeing the destruction of the Roman people, even as righteous Lot, by God’s providence, escaped the burning of Sodom. This holy Pope was a vigorous administrator of the duties of his office, whereby he left his mark on Christianity for all time. He it was who condemned Pelagius and Caelestius, and made a decree against their heresy, ordering that little children even those whose mothers were Christians, must be born again in Baptism, that their original sin might be done away. Numerous other notable things were done by him. For he befriended and protected holy John Chrysostom. He wrote letters containing prudent decisions which are now observed as laws. To the Bishop of Tolouse he wrote that absolution and holy Communion is never to be denied to dying penitents. To the Bishop of Gubbio he wrote that bishops only (because they alone have the fulness of the priesthood) are administer Confirmation. According to the Pontifical Book, he sat in the throne of Peter fifteen years, one month, and ten days, and held four December ordinations, wherein he made thirty priests, fifteen deacons, and forty-four bishops for divers places. He went to God on March 12^th, 417, and was buried in the cemetery known as the Place of the Bear-and-the-Cap, but is honored on the reputed date of his translation.

Collect:

We pray thee, O Lord : that the glorious confession of thy blessed Saints, Nazarius, Celsus, Victor, and Innocent, may strengthen us against all temptations, and obtain for the frailty of our mortal nature the succour of thy bounteous goodness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.