• St. Albinus (549). Bishop. (Historical)
• St. David (601). Patron or Patroness. Male Wales and newborns. (Historical) King of Wales

ST. ALBINUS was of an ancient and noble family in Brittany, and from his childhood was fervent in every exercise of piety. He ardently sighed after the happiness which a devout soul finds in being perfectly disengaged from all earthly things. Having embraced the monastic state at Tintillant, near Angers, he shone a perfect model of virtue, living as if in all things he had been without any will of his own and his soul seemed so perfectly governed by the spirit of Christ as to live only for Him. At the age of thirty-five years he was chosen abbot, in 504, and twenty. five years afterward, bishop of Angers. He everywhere restored discipline, being inflamed with a holy zeal for the honor of God. His dignity seemed to make no alteration either in his mortifications or in the constant recollection of his soul. Honored by all the world, even by kings, he was never affected with vanity. Powerful in works and miracles, he looked upon himself as the most unworthy and most unprofitable among the servants of God, and had no other ambition than to appear such in the eyes of others as he was in those of his own humility. In the third council of Orleans, in 538, he procured the thirtieth canon of the council of Epaone to be revived, by which those are declared excommunicated who presume to contract incestuous marriages in the first or second degree of consanguinity or affinity. He died on the 1st of March, in 549.

REFLECTION: With whatever virtues a man may be endowed, he will discover, if he considers himself attentively, a sufficient depth of misery to afford cause for deep humility; but Jesus Christ says, “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

WORD OF THE DAY

SERVILE FEAR. Selfish fear based on the dread of pain to oneself that would follow if another were offended. It is the fear of punishment for wrongdoing, without being motivated by honor or a sense of duty, and least of all by love. Theologically, however, servile fear may co-exist with filial fear. There is nothing incompatible in both loving and fearing God. The object of loving him is the divine goodness, of fearing him the divine justice. However, purely servile fear, with no love of God but only self-love that fears the divine punishments, is, at least in theory, inconsistent with the true love of God. See also FILIAL FEAR.

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!)

LENT MEDITATION DAY 12

Enjoy daily meditations this lent from Fr. Richard Clarke, SJ. Short and powerful, written in 1880 for busy lay people to reap rewards through lent. (includes audio): Lent Day 12: The Second Sunday in Lent— The Help for the Saints in the Sacred Agony.

March is the Month of St. Joseph

Daily devotional meditations on Saint Joseph: March 1st — The Foreshadowing of St. Joseph.