• Our Lady of Czestochowa. Poland. (Historical)
• St. Zephyrinus (217). Martyr, Pope. (Traditional)

ST. ZEPHYRINUS, a native of Rome, succeeded Victor in the pontificate, in the year 202, in which Severus raised the fifth most bloody persecution against the Church, which continued not for two years only, but until the death of that emperor in 211. Under this furious storm this holy pastor was the support and comfort of the distressed flock of Christ, and he suffered by charity and compassion what every confessor underwent. The triumphs of the martyrs were indeed his joy, but his heart received many deep wounds from the fall of apostates and heretics. Neither did this latter affliction cease when peace was restored to the Church. Our Saint had also the affliction to sec the fall of Tertullian, which seems to have been owing partly to his pride. Eusebius tells us that this holy Pope exerted his zeal so strenuously against the blasphemies of the heretics that they treated him in the most contumelious manner; but it was his glory that they called him the principal defender of Christ’s divinity. St. Zephyrinus filled the pontifical chair seventeen years, dying in 219. He was buried in his own cemetery, on the 26th of August. He is, in some Martyrologies, styled a martyr, which title he might deserve by what he suffered in the persecution, though he perhaps did not die by the executioner.

REFLECTION: God has always raised up holy pastors zealous to maintain the faith of His Church inviolable, and to watch over the purity of its morals and the sanctity of its discipline. We enjoy the greatest advantages of the divine grace through their labors, and we owe to God a tribute of perpetual thanksgiving and immortal praise for all those mercies which He has afforded His Church on earth.

WORD OF THE DAY

PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH. Certain commandments of a moral and ecclesiastical nature prescribed for observance by all Catholics. Their formulation goes back to the Middle Ages, and their number has varied from four to six or more, depending on the times. A recent list of such duties "expected of Catholic Christians today" was formulated by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States, as follows:

1. To keep holy the day of the Lord’s Resurrection: to worship God by participating in Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation: to avoid those activities that would hinder renewal of soul and body, e.g., needless work and business activities, unnecessary shopping, etc.
   
   
2. To lead a sacramental life: to receive Holy Communion frequently and the Sacrament of Penance regularly.
   
   
   • minimally, to receive the Sacrament of Penance at least once a year (annual confession is obligatory only if serious sin is involved).
     
     
   • minimally, to receive Holy Communion at least once a year, between the First Sunday of Lent and Trinity Sunday.
   
   
   
3. To study Catholic teaching in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation, to be confirmed, then to continue to study and advance the cause of Christ.
   
   
4. To observe the marriage laws of the Church: to give religious training (by example and word) to one’s children; to use parish schools and religious education programs.
   
   
5. To strengthen and support the Church: one’s own parish community and parish priests; the worldwide Church and the Holy Father.
   
   
6. To do penance, including abstaining from meat and fasting from food on the appointed days.
   
   
7. To join in the missionary spirit and apostolate of the Church.
   
   

Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)