- St. John of the Cross (1591). Doctor of the Church, Priest. (Current)
- St. Venantius Fortunatus (605). Bishop. (Historical)
- Sts. Nicasius (Bishop) and Eutropia (449). (Historical)
IN the fifth century an army of barbarians from Germany ravaging part of Gaul, plundered the city of Rheims. Nicasius, the holy bishop, had foretold this calamity to his flock. When he saw the enemy at the gates and in the streets, forgetting himself, and solicitous only for his spiritual children, he went from door to door encouraging all to patience and constancy, and awaking in every breast the most heroic sentiments of piety and religion. In endeavoring to save the lives of his flock, he exposed himself to the swords of the infidels, who, after a thousand insults and indignities, cut off his head. Florens, his deacon, and Jocond, his lector, were massacred by his side. His sister Eutropia, a virtuous virgin, fearing she might be reserved for a fate worse than death, boldly cried out to the infidels, that it was her unalterable resolution rather to sacrifice her life than her faith or her integrity and virtue. Upon which they despatched her with their cutlasses.
REFLECTION: Bear patiently and sweetly bodily sufferings, and prepare for the day of trial by the courageous endurance of the daily crosses incident to your state.
WORD OF THE DAY
CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE. The sacrament that bestows on a baptized man and woman who have made the required contract the graces that will enable them to fulfill their marital obligations.
The marital contract is an agreement, that is freely made but that, once made, imposes a serious obligation to share the rights and duties of the married state. The agreement or consent must be internal (sincere), simultaneous with the making of the contract, externally manifested and perfectly voluntary.
Moreover, the contract must be made lawfully. Both the man and woman must be baptized, and they must be free from invalidating impediments and also from illicit impediments.
Husband and wife receive actual graces to fulfill their matrimonial obligations. These duties arise from the very nature of matrimony and cannot be altered by any subjective ideas of the contracting parties. They are the procreation of children and the fostering of mutual love between husband and wife to meet their respective material and spiritual needs.
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!)
Advent & The Great Truths
Advent: Short Meditations and The Great Truths Day 18 (Dec. 14) The Uncertainty of His Coming & Venial Sin (Advent Meditation)
ST. ANDREW NOVENA
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, o my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.
(It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew (Nov. 30th) until Christmas, will obtain what is asked). This formula of the prayer bears an Imprimatur from † Michael Augustine, Archbishop of New York. New York, February 6, 1897.
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