Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 38, 17 September 1903, Page 31

Friends at Court

OLEAN NdS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENL>\« September 20, Sunday.— Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost. The Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 21, Monday.— St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. 22, Tuesday.— St. Thomas of Villanova, Bishop and Confessor. 23, Wednesday.— St. Linus, Pope and Martyr „ 24, Thursday.— Our Lady of Mercy. 25, Friday.— Saints Eustace and Companions, Martyrs. 26, Saturday.— St. Eusebius, Pope and Martyr. St. Matthew, Apostle. St. Matthew is the same as Levi, mentioned in the Gospel of St. Luke (v. 27). He was the son of Alphcus, and was born near Capharnaum He was a collector of taxes which the Jews had to pay to the Romans. Tradition relates that he labored for some time in Palestine, after the Ascension of Christ, and then preached the Gospel in Syria, Persia, Parthia, and ,Mopia. In the last-named country he is said to have ended his course by martyrdom. Matthew was the first of the Evangelists who wrote a Gospel, which appeared between the years 64 and 67, or, according to others, in the year 42, about the time of the dispersion of the Apostles. lie wrote in Hebrew or Syro-Chaldaic, the language spoken in Palestine at that time. The original is no longer extant, but the Greek version, even in the time of the Apostles, was of equal authority. St. Thomas of Villanova. St Thomas was born at Fuenlana (Leon), Spain, in 1488, and died at Valencia, of which he was Archbishop in 1555. He was distinguished for his humility and chanty, and merited the glorious surname of the l-alher of the Poor.' St. Linus, Pope and Martyr. St Linus, the immediate successor of St. Peter, recened the martyr's crown after a Pontificate of 12 years. Feast of Our Lady of Mercy. In the thirteenth century, when the Mediterranean '■wept by Moorish pirates, a religious Order was instituted, under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for the purpose of collecting alms for the relief and ransom of Christian captives, of visiting them in their captivity, and restoring them when possible to. *v friends and families. Among the first members of this noble order was a zealous Englishman named Serapion, who was received . '"> lehgion by the founder, St. Peter Nolasco. His singular prudence and sanctity caused him to be selected the important office of Ransomer, and he was sent by his superiors on two occasions to treat with the dels for the ransom of the captives. His first journey was to the Moorish kingdom of Murcia in the South of Spam, where he succeeded in restoring to liberty })8 "ustians. Being afterwards despatched to Algiers, he purchased the freedom of 87 others, but being unable to ray the price in full, he remained in the hands of the Moors, according to the common practice of the Order, as a hostage for the discharge of the debt. During the interval he employed himself in consoling and encouraging the Christian slaves and prisoners, and preaching the Gospel boldly to the Mahometans, many of whom he coiuerted to the Faith. The Moorish Governor, enraged at his boldness, ordered him to be cruelly beaten and cast into a dismal dungeon. He afterwards condemned him to be stripped naked and fastened in a barbarous manner to two posts, his body being elevated in the air and his legs crossed. In this painful position he was exposed to all the insults and outrages of the mob, and was fina'ly hacked to pieces with knives and hatchets, during which time he never ceased to preach the Name of Jesus and exhort the Christians to constancy and perseverance. St. Eustace and Companions, Martyrs. St Eustace, a Roman general, suffered martyrdom together with his wife and 'two sons, shortly after the beginning of the second century. St. Eusebius, Pope and Martyr. St. Eusebius, who succeeded St. Marcellus on the Papal throne, was banished by Maxentius to Sicily, where he died of the hardships inflicted on him.