Daily Gospel for Tuesday, 11 March 2014
"Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to
whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life." John 6:68
Tuesday of the First week of Lent
Saint(s) of the day:
SAINT EULOGIUS
Martyr
(+ 859)
St. Eulogius was of a senatorian family
of Cordova, at that time the capital of the Moors in Spain. Our Saint was
educated among the clergy of the Church of St. Zoilus, a martyr who suffered
with nineteen others under Diocletian. Here he distinguished himself, by his
virtue and learning, and, being made priest, was placed at the head of the
chief ecclesiastical school at Cordova. He joined assiduous watching, fasting,
and prayer to his studies, and his humility, mildness, and charity gained him
the affection and respect of every one.
During the persecution raised against the
Christians in the year 850, St. Eulogius was thrown into prison and there wrote
his Exhortation to Martyrdom, addressed to the virgins Flora and Mary, who were
beheaded the 24th of November, 851. Six days after their death Eulogius was set
at liberty. In the year 852 several others suffered the like martyrdom. St.
Eulogius encouraged all these martyrs to their triumphs, and was the support of
that distressed flock.
The Archbishop of Toledo dying in 858.
St. Eulogius was elected to succeed him; but there was some obstacle that
hindered him from being consecrated, though he did not outlive his election two
months.
A virgin, by name Leocritia, of a noble
family among the Moors, had been instructed from her infancy in the Christian
religion by one of her relatives, and privately baptized. Her father and mother
used her very ill, and scourged her day and night to compel her to renounce the
Faith. Having made her condition known to St. Eulogius and his sister Anulona,
intimating that she desired to go where she might freely exercise her religion,
they secretly procured her the means of getting away, and concealed her for
some time among faithful friends.
But the matter was at length discovered,
and they were all brought before the cadi, who threatened to have Eulogius
scourged to death. The Saint told him that his torments would be of no avail,
for he would never change his religion. Whereupon the cadi gave orders that he
should be carried to the palace and be presented before the king's council.
Eulogius began boldly to propose the truths of the Gospel to them. But, to
prevent their hearing him, the council condemned him immediately to lose his
head. As they were leading him to execution, one of the guards gave him a blow
on the face, for having spoken against Mahomet; he turned the other cheek, and
patiently received a second.
He received the stroke of death with
great cheerfulness, on the 11th of March, 859. St. Leocritia was beheaded four
days after him, and her body thrown into the river Guadalquivir, but taken out
by the Christians.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler,
Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Saint Oengus
Feastday: March 11
Died: 824
Called Dengus and "the Culdee,"
a hermit and author of the Festlology of the Saints of Ireland, The Felire. The
term Culdee refers to Aengus' love of solitude: Ceile De was a name given to
the hermits of the time. Aengus, born in Clonengh, Ireland, became a solitary
monk on the banks of the river Nore, where he communed with angels. In time he
sought a more remote site near Maryborough, erecting a small hermitage there.
Visitors drawn by his reputation for holiness drove Aengus to the monastery of
Tallaght, near Dublin, then under the control of St. Maelruain. He tried to enter
as a simple lay brother, not telling anyone who he was. Aengus, along with
Maelruain (who had discovered the Culdee's real identity), wrote the
Martyrology of Tallaght together in 790. Aengus completed his Felire in 805 in
his Maryborough hermitage, having returned there when Maelruain died. Aengus
passed away on March 11, 824, and was buried in Clonenagh.
Óengus the Culdee, Hermit
March 11 is the Feast of Saint Óengus of
Tallaght or Óengus the Culdee
oengus 1
“Óengus mac Óengobann, better known as
Saint Óengus of Tallaght or Óengus the Culdee, was an Irish bishop, reformer
and writer, who flourished in the first quarter of the 9th century and is held
to be the author of the Félire Óengusso (“The Martyrology of Óengus”) and
possibly the Martyrology of Tallaght.
Little of Óengus’s life and career is
reliably attested. The most important sources include internal evidence from
the Félire, a later Middle Irish preface to that work, a biographic poem
beginning Aíbind suide sund amne (“Delightful to sit here thus”) and the entry
for his feast-day inserted into the Martyrology of Tallaght…
It is sufficiently clear that Óengus
became a cleric, since he describes himself as such in the Félire using the
more humble appellation of “pauper” (pauperán and deidblén in Old Irish). He
was an important member of the community founded by St. Máel Ruain at Tallaght
(now in South Dublin), in the borderlands of Leinster. Máel Ruain is described
as his mentor (aite, also “fosterfather”). There are reasons for believing that
Óengus was ordained to the office of bishop, a denomination which is first
assigned to him in a list of saints inserted into the Martyrology of Tallaght.
If so, his influence may well have extended to the reformed communities which
were associated with Tallaght, many of which were founded in Óengus’s lifetime.
In fact, two such monasteries in Co. Limerick and Co. Laois, both of them known
as Dísert Óengusa (“Óengus’s Hermitage”), bear his memory in name..
According to the Martyrology of Tallaght,
Óengus’s feast-day, and hence the date of his death, is 11 March. The poem
beginning Aíbind suide sund amne claims that he died on a Friday in Dísert
Bethech (“The Birchen Hermitage”). Together, these have produced a range of
possible dates such as 819, 824 and 830, but pending the dates of the
martyrologies, no conclusive answer can be offered. His metrical Life tells
that he was buried in his birthplace Clonenagh..
Becoming a hermit, he lived for a time at
Disert-beagh, where, on the banks of the Nore, he is said to have communed with
the angels. From his love of prayer and solitude he was named the “Culdee”; in
other words, the Ceile Dé, or “Servant of God.” Not satisfied with his
hermitage, which was only a mile from Clonenagh, and, therefore, liable to be
disturbed by students or wayfarers, Óengus removed to a more solitary abode
eight miles distant. This sequestered place, two miles southeast of the present
town of Maryborough, was called after him “the Desert of Óengus”, or
“Dysert-Enos”. Here he erected a little oratory on a gentle eminence among the
Dysert Hills, now represented by a ruined and deserted Protestant church.
His earliest biographer in the ninth
century relates the wonderful austerities practised by St. Óengus in his
“desert”, and though he sought to be far from the haunts of men, his fame
attracted a stream of visitors. The result was that the good saint abandoned
his oratory at Dysert-Enos, and, after some wanderings, came to the monastery
of Tallaght, near Dublin, then governed by St. Maelruain. He entered as a lay
brother, concealing his identity, but St. Maelruain soon discovered him and
collaborated with him on the Martyrology of Tallaght.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aengus_the_Culdee
Aengus was born of the royal house of
Ulster and was sent to the monastery of Clonenagh by his father Oengoba to
study under the saintly abbot Maelaithgen. He made great advances in
scholarship and sanctity but eventually felt he had to leave and become a hermit
to escape the adulation of his peers. He chose a spot some seven miles away for
his hermitage which is still called Dysert.
He lived a life of rigid discipline,
genuflecting three hundred times a day and reciting the whole of the Psalter
daily, part of it immersed in cold water, tied by the neck to a stake. At his
dysert he found he got too many visitors and went to the famous monastery of
Tallaght near Dublin, without revealing his identity, and was given the most
menial of tasks. After seven years a boy sought refuge in the stable where
Aengus
as working because he was unable to learn
his lessons. Aengus lulled him to sleep and when he awoke he had learnt his
lesson perfectly.
When the abbot of St. Maelruain heard of
this monk’s great teaching gifts he recognised in him the missing scholar from
Clonenagh and the two became great friends. It was at Tallaght that Aengus
began his great work on the calendar of the Irish saints known as the Felire
Aengus Ceile De. As for himself he thought that he was the most contemptible of
men and is said to have allowed his hair to grow long and his clothing to
become unkempt so that he should be despised. Besides the Felire one of his
prayers asking for forgiveness survives, pleading for mercy because of Christ’s
work and His grace in the saints.
Like all the holy people of God, Aengus
was industrious and had a supreme confidence in His power to heal and save. On
one occasion when he was lopping trees in a wood he inadvertently cut off his
left hand. The legend says that the sky filled with birds crying out at his
injury, but St. Aengus calmly picked up the severed hand and replaced it.
Instantly it adhered to his body and functioned normally.
When St. Maelruain died in 792, St.
Aengus left Tallaght and returned to Clonenagh succeeding his old teacher
Maelaithgen as abbot and being consecrated bishop. As he felt death approaching
he retired again to his hermitage at Dysertbeagh, dying there about 824. There
is but scant evidence of the religious foundations at Clonenagh or Dysert but
he will always be remembered for his Feliere, the first martyrology of Ireland.
http://www.oodegr.com/english/biographies/arxaioi/Angus%20of%20Culdee.htm
Angus_of_Keld
“..during his servitude at Tallaght, and
amidst such surroundings as these, the saint composed his famous metrical
Festology of the Saints.
The poem is divided into three principal
parts, with subdivisions, consisting altogether of 690 quatrains. The
Invocation is written in what modem Gaelic scholars call English chain verse;
that is, an arrangement of metre by which the first words of every succeeding
quatrain are identical with the last words of the preceding one. The following
literal translation gives the dry bones, as it were, of the Invocation, while
leaving out all the colour and harmony of the verses which ask grace and
sanctification from Christ on the poet’s work:
Sanctify, O Christ ! my words:
O Lord of the seven heavens !
Grant me the gift of wisdom,
O Sovereign of the bright sun !
O bright son who dost illuminate
The heavens with all their holiness !
O King who governest the angels !
O Lord of all the people !
Lord of the people,
King all-righteous and good !
May I receive the full benefit
Of praising Thy royal hosts.
Thy royal hosts I praise
Because Thou art my Sovereign ;
I have disposed my mind,
To be constantly beseeching Thee.
I beseech a favour from Thee,
That I be purified from my sins,
Through the peaceful bright-shining
flock.
The royal host whom I celebrate.”
http://omniumsanctorumhiberniae.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/saint-oengus-martyrologist-march-11.html
oengus martyrdom
Excerpt from the Martyrology of Oengus,
presenting the entries for 1 and 2 January in the form of quatrains of four
six-syllabic lines for each day. In this 16th-century copy (MS G10 at the
National Library of Ireland) we find pairs of two six-syllabic lines combined
into bold lines, amended by glosses and notes that were added by later authors.
See also
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01173a.htm
http://li211-107.members.linode.com/index.php?title=Aengus_the_Culdee,_Saint
For the The Martyrology of Oengus the
Culdee (1905) on-line see,
https://archive.org/details/martyrologyofoen29oenguoft and
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G200001/
Tuesday of the First week of Lent
Isaiah 55: 10 For
as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky,
and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth,
and makes it grow and bud,
and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
11 so is my word that goes out of my
mouth:
it will not return to me void,
but it will accomplish that which I please,
and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
Psalm 34: 4 I
sought Yahweh, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked to him, and were radiant.
Their faces shall never be covered with shame.
6 This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard
him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who
fear him,
and delivers them.
16 Yahweh’s face is against those who do
evil,
to cut off their memory from the earth.
17 The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 Yahweh is near to those who have a
broken heart,
and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the
righteous,
but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint
Matthew 6: 7 In praying, don’t use vain repetitions,
as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much
speaking. 8 Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you
need, before you ask him. 9 Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your
name be kept holy. 10 Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in
heaven, so on earth. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts,
as we also forgive our debtors. 13 Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us
from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.
Amen.[a] ’
14 “For if you forgive men their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you don’t
forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 6:13 NU omits “For yours is
the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.”
Tuesday of the First week of Lent
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Cyprian (c.200-258), Bishop of
Carthage and martyr
The Lord's Prayer, 11-12 (trans. ©The
Fathers of the Church)
"Hallowed be your name"
Most beloved brethren, we ought to
remember and to know that, when we speak of God, we ought to act as children of
God... Let us live as if temples of God (1Cor 3,16), that it may be clear that
the Lord dwells in us. Let not our acts depart from the Spirit... The blessed
Apostle Paul also, in his Epistle, has laid down: “You are not your own, for
you have been bought at a great price. Glorify God and bear him in your body”
(1Cor 6,19).
We say: “Hallowed be thy name” not
because we wish for God to be hallowed by our prayers, but because we seek from
the Lord that his name be hallowed in us. Moreover, by whom is God hallowed who
himself hallows? He himself said: “Be holy, for I am holy,” (Lv 20,26)
therefore we petition and ask for this, that we who have been sanctified in
baptism may persevere in what we have begun. And for this we pray daily.
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