FIRST SATURDAY
- Commemoration of All Holy Popes. (Traditional)
- Our Lady of Refuge. (Traditional)
- St. Theodore (310). Bishop, Martyr. (Historical)
BERTHA was the daughter of Count Rigobert and Ursana, related to one of the kings of Kent in England. In the twentieth year of her age, she was married to Sigefroi, by whom she had five daughters, two of whom, Gertrude and Deotila, were Saints. After her husband’s death, she put on the veil in the nunnery which she had built at Blangy in Artois, a little distance from Hesdin. Her daughters, Gertrude and Deotila, followed her example. She was persecuted by Roger, or Rotgar, who endeavored to asperse her with King Thierri III, to revenge his being refuse Gertrude in marriage. But this prince, convinced of the innocence of Bertha, then abbess over her nunnery, gave her a kind reception and took her under his protection. On her return to Blangy, Bertha finished her nunnery and caused three churches to be built, one in honor of St. Omer, another she called after St. Vaast, and the third in honor of St. Martin of Tours. And then, after establishing a regular observance in her community, she left St. Deotila abbess in her stead, and shut herself in a cell, to pass the remainder of her days in prayer. She died about the year 725. A great part of her relics are kept at Blangy.
WORD OF THE DAY
DECADE. The popular name given to each of the five divisions into which each chaplet of the Rosary is subdivided. It is called a decade because each contains ten Hail Marys, together with an Our Father and, normally, a Glory be to the Father. Since each decade is a unit by itself, having its own mystery to commemorate, it may be said individually, even when the whole chaplet is not recited. In order to gain the Rosary indulgence, however, all five decades must be recited in sequence.
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!)
July, Month of the Precious Blood
The Precious BIood of Jesus – Short Meditations for July. July 4th — Types of the Precious Blood: (i) The Blood of Abel.
