Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 25, 18 June 1903, Page 31

Friends at Court

« QLEANINOS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR.

Juno 21, Sunday.— Third Sunday after Pentecost, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Confessor. „ 22, Monday.— Blessed Innocent V., Pope and Confessor. 23, Tuesday.— St. Ferdinand, King and Confessor. 24, Wednesday.— St. John the Baptist. 25, Thursday.— St. Gallicanus, Martyr. 26, Friday. — Saints John and Paul, Martyrs. 27, Saturday.— St. William, Abbot. St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Confessor. St. Aloysius Gonzaga was born at Castiglione, Lombardy, in 1568, and died at Rome in 1591. He was the son of Ferdinand of Gonzaga, Marquis of Castiglione, prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and was page at the Court of Philip 11. He entered the novitiate of tho .Jesuits (1587), at Rome ; died of a slow fever contracted in taking care of those afflicted with the disease, lie was canonised by Benedict XIII., in 1726. He is the patron saint of youth. In 1858 Pope PiusJlX. made a present to the Society of Jesus of a writing of St. Alo>sius ; it is a treatise on scholastic theology. Blessed Innocent V., Pope and Confessor. Blessed Innocent V. was a native of France, and was for a time Archbishop of Lyons. During his episcopate his virtues not only won for him the esteem of his own flock, but also excited the admiration of the faithful in distant countries. As a consequence his election to tho Papacy in 1276 raised the hopes of all who desired the advancement of religion, but these hopes were destined to be blighted by his death five months after his election. St. Ferdinand, Confessor. St Ferdinand, King of Castile and Leon, was, during his reign of 35 years, engaged in a continuous warfare against the Moorish invaders of Spain. He at all times showed himself a just king and a Christian soldier, displaying a high degree of sanctity. His death took place in 1252 St. John the Baptist. St John the Baptist, the precuisor of the Messiah, was born six months before Jesus Christ, and was the son ol Zacharnis and Elizabeth. Thirty years had elapsed from the birth of our Lord, when he appeared on tho banks of the Jordon, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of sins. He was the last repreK>ntati\o of the Prophets of the Old Covenant ; his work was to announce the way for, and to prepare the advent of the promised Messiah. Such was the fame and authority of John, whom the Lord Himself declared the ' greatest of those born of women,' that it led men to suspect that he himself might bo the Messiah. But John openly confessed that he was not the Christ, and announced the appioach of ' one mightier than himself. who would baptise with the Holy Ghost and with fire, and tho l.itchet of whose shose he was not worthy to loose ' (Luke in 1(5) It was by the testimony of John that the Diwne mission of Jesus was authenticated as at tho baptism of Jesus, the holy precursor iecei\ed the nnraculcfus token that Jesus was, indeed, the anointed of God ' John was at length put to death by the order of Herod, at the instigation of Herodias, whon 1 licentiousness he had the boldness to i epi o\e. St Gallicanus, Martyr. St Gallicanus, a Roman oflicer of high rank, resigned h's position in order to devote himself to the service of the sick poor He received the crown of martyrdom at Alexandria, in Egvnt, dm ing the reign of Julian the Apostate, about 362. Saints John and Paul, Martyrs. Saints John and Paul were two Roman officers who were martyred during the reign of Julian the Apostate. Their names ha\e alwa\s been famous in the Church, but only scanty records ha\e been preserved of their li\i'K and suflenngs. St. William, Abbot. St William, a native of Northern Italy, inspired with the desne ol leading a penitential life," retired to a lonely spot named Monte "Vergine, near Benevento. Il.iwng been followed by many person* desirous to place their souls under his guidance, he established a religious congiegation which was afterwards united to the Benedictine Order St. William died in 1142