• Feat of the Holy Relics Preserved in the Churches of the Diocese. (Traditional)
• St. Bertilla (692). Abbot or Abbess, Religious, Virgin. (Historical)
• Sts. Zachary and Elizabeth (1). (Historical) parents of John the Baptist

ST. BERTILLE was born of one of the most illustrious families in the territory of Soissons, in the reign of Dagobert I, As she grew up, she learned perfectly to despise the world, and earnestly desired to renounce it. Not daring to tell this to her parents, she first consulted St. Ouen, by whom she was encouraged in her resolution. The Saint’s parents were then made acquainted with her desire, which God inclined them not to oppose. They conducted her to Jouarre, a great monastery in Brie, four leagues from Meaux, where she was received with great joy and trained up in the strictest practice of monastic perfection. By her perfect submission to all her sisters she seemed every one’s servant, and acquitted herself with such great charity and edification that she was chosen prioress to assist the abbess in her administration. About the year 646 she was appointed first abbess of the abbey of Chelles, which she governed for forty-six years with equal vigor and discretion, until she closed her penitential life in 692.

REFLECTION: It is written that the Saints raise themselves heavenward, going from virtue to virtue, as by steps.

WORD OF THE DAY

PERFECT HAPPINESS. The complete possession of the perfect good. That which fully satisfies all human desires. Imperfect happiness falls short of the perfect in some way by not satisfying all human desires or, if all of them, not all of them fully. Natural happiness, when perfect, is called natural beatitude. It satisfies those cravings which spring from human nature alone. It is the kind of happiness that human beings would have been destined to, had they been left on a purely natural plane. Mere reason cannot pass beyond this point. Christian revelation adds to this the prospect of supernatural happiness. When perfect, in the life to come, it consists of the Beatific Vision, which supposes a free gift of God lifting humanity above its natural capacity and enabling it to share in the very happiness of God.

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!)