Friends at Court

New Zealand Tablet, 16 August 1917, Page 3

Friends at Court

GLEANINGS FOR NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR August 19, Sunday.-—Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost. „ 20, Monday.—St. Bernard, Abbot, Confesssor, and Doctor. ~ 21, Tuesday.—St. Jane Prances de Chantal, Widow. ~ 22, Wednesday.—Octave of the Assumption. 23, Thursday.—St. Philip Beniti, Confessor. ~ 24, Friday.—St. Bartholomew, Apostle. ~ 25, Saturday.—St. Louis, King and Confessor. St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Widow. This saint was born at Dijon in 1573. She was married at the age of twenty to the Baron de Chantal, but eight years later she had the misfortune to lose her husband through an accident. Having completed the education of her children, she founded, under the direction of St. Francis de Sales, and with the cooperation of some other ladies of rank, the religious Order of the Visitation. She died in 1641. St. Philip Beniti, Confessor. St. Philip Beniti, a priest of the Servite Order, "was born at Florence about, the beginning of the thirteenth century. He was remarkable for his extreme humility, which caused him to refuse all offices of distinction, and for a burning zeal, which brought about the conversion of innumerable sinners in the different parts of Italy which he visited. lie died in 1285. St. Bartholomew, Apostle. After the Ascension of our Blessed Lord, St. Bartholomew carried the Gospel to the most remote and barbarous countries of the East. He afterwards preached in Asia Minor, and crowned his labors by a glorious martyrdom in Armenia. The manner of his death is not absolutely certain, but the common tradition is that he was flayed alive. GRAINS OF GOLD. AT THE CATHEDRAL. O Holy Spirit wings, so white and pure, T seem to see you tenderly outspread Above these worshippers, as if to shed A softening influence their woes to cure, Each soul has its own trials to endure. Its cross to bear—from yonder priest in red Of martyr fires to the small lad who said Aniens responsive with a face demure. Hover above all these, O silver wings ! Console them. Dove of Grace, with the sweet souse Of Thy Divine ! As life's sea-surging swings Come lower, nearer still, with love intense : Reveal Thine opening heaven ! Bid warfare cease. And drop the blessed olive-leaves of Peace. —Caroline D. Swan in the London Tahlrt. REFLECTIONS. How sweet it is to die after having had a constant devotion to the Sacred Heart of Him Who is to judge —Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque. The one who is truly wise, and who uses the forces and powers with which he is endowed, to him the great universe always opens her treasure house.— R. W. Trine. Do not judge the conduct of others: be indulgent. Do not think it enough to be good ; you must also be amiable in that kind and energetic manner which we learn from the mighty and meek Heart of Jesus. There is one principle which ought to be mentioned as a leading peculiarity of human nature. This is the desire of action. A person accustomed to a life of activity longs for ease and refinement, and when he has accomplished his purpose finds himself wretched.