Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 7, 14 February 1907, Page 3

Friends at Court

OLEANINQS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR

February 17, , Sunday .-First Sunday-of Lent. „ .18, Monday,— St. Raymond, Confessor. „ 19, Tuesday. —St. Titus, Bishop arid Confessor-. -„ 20, /Wednesday.— St. Cyril 'of Alexandria, Bi- ' shop, Confessor, and Doctor" -Ember Day. . . - „ 21, Thursday.— St. Paul, the .First Hermit, Confessor. „ 22, Friday.— The Lance and Nails. Ember Day. „, 23, Saturday.— St. Peter Damian, Bishop, Con-, fessor, and Doctor. Ember Day. St. Titus, Bishop and Confessor. St. Titus was a Greek by oirth, and the son of a Gentile father and a Jewish mother. He accompanied St. Paul to Jerusalem to the Council, and on his various extensive journleys, and .was finaldy established by him Bishop of Crete, about the year 62. He died abouV 105, at the advanced age of 94 years. St. Paul wrote an Epistle to him, which contains instructions for his disciple. St. -Paul, the First Hermit. - St. Paul, the first hermit and surnamed the ' Father of Hermits/ was born at Thebes, in Upper Egypt, in 228. During the Decian persecution he fled'itfto the desert of the Thebaid, and lived there in a cave to the great age of 113 years, practising austere penance and occupied in prayer and contemplation. St. Peter Damian, Bishop, Confessor, and .Doctor. St. Peter was born at Ravenna, in the north of Italy, about 988. After a youth of hardship, he entered a Benedictine monastery at the foot of- the Appenines, where for many years he led a life of austerity, prayer, and study. His great piety and learning having brought him under the notice of his ecclesiastical superiors, he was employed by more than one Pope in important affairs, and displayed great zeal and prudence. -In 1057 he was created Cardinal and Bishop of Ostia, but five years later he succeeded in obtaining permission to resign his bishopric and return to his monastery. His death occurred in 1072.