Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 26, 25 June 1903, Page 31

Friends at Court

QLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR.

June 28, Sunday. — Fourth Sunday after Pentecost. St. Leo 11., I'ope and Confessor. „ 29, Monday. — SS. Peter and Paul, Apostles. „ 3°, Tuesday — Commemoration of St. Paul. July 1, Wednesday.— Octave of the Feast of St. John the Baptist. „ 2, Thursday. — Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. o, Friday.— St. Paul 1., Pope and Confessor. „ 4, Saturday. — St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr.

St. Leo 11., Pope and Confessor. St. Leo 11. was a Sicilian by birth. During a short Pontificate of nineteen months he enacted many wise and useful laws for the reform of discipline and the regulation di" Divine worship. St. Leo passed to a better life, A D. 683. SS. Peter and Paul, Apostles. St. Peter was known originally as Simon Barjona. that is, Simon, son of John. The name Peter, which means lock, was given to him by our Divine Lord to signify that he was to be the solid foundation of Christ's future Church. ': I say to thee,' said Christ, 'that thon art Peter (that is rock), and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,' etc. This solemn promise of Christ was fulfilled after His Resurrection, when He said to St. Peter, ' Feed My lambs feed My sheep.' words which, in the iiguratno language of the East, signify the exercise of supreme power over the Church. The principal e\ent.s in the life of St. Peter — his imprisonment, his go\ ci ninent of the Chinch lroru Antioch, and finally from Rome — are commemorated by special feasts. Today we consider more particularly the glorious death by which he atoned for his former denial of his Divine Master St Peter was cruciiied at Rome, under the Emperor Nero, about the year 67. St. Paul is associated with St. Peter in this day's solemnity because, after ha\ing having labored with him for the conversion ol Rome, he received the crown of martyrdom on the same d.i.v Commemoration of St. Paul, Apostle. The miraculous con\ersion of St. Paul is commemorated on January 25. After his baptism he spent throe years preparing himself in solitude and prayer for the wor_k ol the apostolate. At the end of that time he proceeded to Jeiusalem to confer with St. Peter. During his stay m the Hol> City he preached in the synagogues with such success that the fanatical Jews endeavored to take iiniu his life The missionary career on which he thus euteied terminated only with his death. The histoiy of his labors, jouip(\s, and sufferings occupies the uroatei part of the Book ot Acts of the Apostles. In the midst ol his- labois h<> lound time to write to diffeient churches the lour teen Epistles which form portion of the New Testament, <\nd which manifest so clearly his lively faith, his yotxl for souls, and especially his at dent lo\e ol his ciucided Lord Sf Paul was beheaded outside liome, near t he place whcie the magnificent basilica w huh beais Jus name now stands. The Variation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. r llns iesti\al was instituted in commemoration of the IMesscd \iimn\s \isit to her cousin, St. Elizabeth. It was established ly St Bonaventure, in 1263, for the Order of st Fiancis, and was extended to the Universal Church by Urban VI. in 1.379 St lienaeus, Bishop and Martyr. St. lienaeu.s was born between 130 — 140 at Smyrna, in Asia i\"inor, and had the happiness, from his earl.c^t ,\oi,tli, ol being instituted by St. Polycarp and other apostolic men llis deep attachment to the Christian doc-tune did not pio\ent linn tronr studying the deck poets and philo'-ophei s, especially Homer and Plato With a \ lew to missionary woik, he journeyed to Caul, win re lie was ordained priest by Phontinus, Bishop of L\nns, who sufleiod maitvidom in the persecution ol Alaicus Aureliiis (178) lienaeus was nominated to succeed him as bishop by Pope Eleutherius, to whom he had been sent on an ecclesiastic.il mission In this ollue he showed untiring /eal and energy for the good of the Churches in Gaul Moreover, by means of his writings, m defence of the unity and purity of the faith, which was endangered by the Gnostics, lie made his iniluence felt far be\ ond the limits of Gaul. Finally he efiocted a happy compromise between the East and the West in the dispute concerning Easter, which had gone m> far as to cause an open rupture between the two sections of the Chinch Tn the groat persecution under Septimus Sevei us, the shepherd suffered martyrdom with inaiiv ol his flock, (June 28, 202) Of his writings only fiagment.s remain, with the exception of the work ' 'Vg.nnst Heresies.' in fi\e hooks which he wrote principally to refute Iho Gnostic heresies The existing Latin ■version is \ cry ancient and accurate and was used even In Teitullian In Ihis work the author- drscusses nearly all the Catholic dogmas- among others, Tradition, the Primacy of the Roman See, the Incarnation, the Holy Eiuh.uist, the Sacrifice ol the Mass, and the ResurrecI ion