Saints

Saint Maurus and Saint Placidus

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On the calendar of saints, this is the memorial of Saint Maurus and of Saint Placidus, followers of Saint Benedict, and monks in his monastery. There is a wonderful story about them, told over at VultusChristi. Here are stained glass windows of the two saints, from Saint Benedict in Richmond, Virginia. They are not large windows. Saint Maurus is in the narthex, and Saint Placidus is by the stairs going to the choir loft. I love the peace the artist shows on their faces. Saints Maurus and Placidus, pray for us!

Saint Maurus

Saint Maurus

Saint Placidus

Saint Placidus

Happy Feast Day of St. Benedict

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An especially happy day for me, as this is the titular feast day for my parish.

Here is a beautiful prayer by the Saint from saints.sqpn.com:

 

Prayer for the Gifts to Seek God and Live in Him

Father, in your goodness grant me the intellect to comprehend you, the perception to discern you, and the reason to appreciate you. In your kindness endow me with the diligence to look for you, the wisdom to discover you, and the spirit to apprehend you. In your graciousness bestow on me a heart to contemplate you, ears to hear you, eyes to see you, and a tongue to speak of you. In your mercy confer on me a conversation pleasing to you, the patience to wait for you, and the perseverance to long for you. Grant me a perfect end – your holy presence. Amen.

Feast Day of Saint Anne Line

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Today is the feast day of Saint Anne Line, whom I wrote about here, but here’s the information again:

Saint Anne Line
http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-anne-line/ – hanged, at Tyburn 1601. From the book, They Died at Tyburn, she said “I am sentenced to death for harbouring a priest, and so far am I from repenting for having so done, that I wish with all my soul that where I have entertained one I could have entertained a thousand.”

Another, page, with a painting:
http://www.ems.hartlepool.sch.uk/ems2/index.php/pastoral/st-anne-line/164-history-of-st-anne-line

Interesting speculation on a Shakespeare connection, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phoenix_and_the_Turtle

Saint Anne Line, pray for us.

Three of Forty

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Today we celebrate the memory of three sweet little Catholic girls. NOT. These were three courageous Catholic women, who died for their faith, not in the arena in Rome ‘way back when, but in England in the 16th century. Pope Paul VI on this date in 1970 canonized forty martyrs of England and Wales. Many of those were priests and religious, but there were four laymen and three laywomen. They were:

Margaret Clitherow, a.k.a. “The Pearl of York”
http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-margaret-clitherow/ – pressed to death, which is what is sounds like, in York, 1586. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Clitherow

Saint Anne Line
http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-anne-line/ – hanged, at Tyburn 1601. From the book, They Died at Tyburn, she said “I am sentenced to death for harbouring a priest, and so far am I from repenting for having so done, that I wish with all my soul that where I have entertained one I could have entertained a thousand.”

Saint Margaret Ward
http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-margaret-ward/ – hanged, drawn, & quartered, Tyburn 1588. From the same book, “When brought to trial, she said that never in her life had she done anything of which she repented less; that death for such a cause would be very welcome to her, and that she was willing to lay down not one life only but many if she had them.”

There is a convent near Tyburn today, and in a traffic island there is a little marker for those who were martyred there.

Here is an EWTN reprint of a 1970 L’Osservatore Romano article on the canonization. The last few paragraphs there are moving and meaningful for today.