APRIL 6 – ST. CELESTINE, POPE.

CELESTINE was a native of Rome, and upon the demise of Pope Boniface, he was chosen to succeed him, in September, 422, by the wonderful consent of the whole city. His first official act was to confirm the condemnation of an African Bishop, who had been convicted of grave crimes. He wrote also to the Bishops of the provinces of Vienne and Narbonne in Gaul, to correct several abuses, and ordered, among other things, that absolution or reconciliation should never be refused to any dying sinner, who sincerely asked it; for repentance depends not so much on time as on the heart. He assembled a synod at Rome, in 430, in which the writings of Nestorius were examined, and his blasphemies in maintaining in Christ a divine and a human person were condemned. The Pope pronounced sentence of excommunication against Nestorius, and deposed him. Being informed that Agricola, the son of a British Bishop called Severianus, who had been married before he was raised to the priesthood, had spread the seeds of the Pelagian heresy in Britain, St. Celestine sent thither St. Germanus of Auxerre, whose zeal and conduct happily prevented the threatening danger. He also sent St. Palladius, a Roman, to preach the faith to the Scots, both in North Britain and in Ireland, and many authors of the life of St. Patrick say that Apostle likewise received his commission to preach to the Irish from St. Celestine, in 431. This holy Pope died on the ist of August, in 432, having reigned almost ten years.

REFLECTION: Vigilance is truly needful to those to whom the care of souls has been confided. “Blessed are the servants whom the Lord at His coming shall find watching.”

WORD OF THE DAY

RIGHT. Either opposite to wrong (adjective) or that which is just (noun). In the first sense, right means that which squares with the norm of morality, and so is morally good. In the second sense, right means that which is correlative to duty. As a noun, therefore, right is opposed to might, although both are means to achieve an end. Might is physical power, either as one’s own bodily strength or as the physical (and psychological) instruments under a person’s command. Physical power accomplishes its purpose by sheer force, which is indifferent to the claims of justice and can be used to help or hinder the observance of the moral law. Might becomes good or evil according to the will that directs it.

Right is moral power and works by appeal to another’s will through that person’s intellect. It is the moral power to do, hold or exact something. To do here is to be understood both affirmatively and negatively; it means either to perform or omit an action, as a person may have the right to keep silent as well as to speak. To hold means to own, keep, or use something, and includes metaphorical meanings, such as to hold an office or job. To exact means to demand that someone else perform or omit some action, such as the state requires payment of taxes or a teacher exacts attention from his or her pupils. Right is consequently a subjective moral power that resides in the subject or person possessing it. By a figure of speech, the word right may also be applied to the thing over which one has a moral power. Thus we may say that one has been deprived of certain rights, meaning some object that rightfully belongs to him or her. (Etym. Anglo-Saxon riht, right; Latin rectus, right: straight, upright, conformed to some measure, just, true.)

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