JULY 6 – ST. GOAR, PRIEST & ST. PALLADIUS, BISHOP, APOSTLE OF THE SCOTS.

ST. GOAR was born of an illustrious family, at Aquitaine. From his youth he was noted for his earnest piety, and, having been raised to sacred orders, he converted many sinners by the fervor of his preaching and the force of his example. Wishing to serve God entirely unknown to the world, he went over into Germany, and, settling in the neighborhood of Trier, he shut himself up in his cell, and arrived at such an eminent degree of sanctity as to be esteemed the oracle and miracle of the whole country. Sigebert, King of Austrasia, learning of the sanctity of Goar, wished to have him made Bishop of Metz, and for that purpose summoned him to court. The Saint, fearing the responsibilities of the office, prayed that he might be excused. He was seized with a fever, and died in 575.

ST. PALLADIUS, BISHOP, APOSTLE OF THE SCOTS.

THE name of Palladius shows this Saint to have been a Roman, and most authors agree that he was deacon of the Church of Rome. At least St. Prosper, in his chronicle, informs us that when Agricola, a noted Pelagian, had corrupted the churches of Britain by introducing that pestilential heresy, Pope Celestine, at the instance of Palladius the deacon, in 429, sent thither St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, in quality of his legate, who, having ejected the heretics, brought back the Britons to the Catholic faith. In 431 Pope Celestine sent Palladius, the first bishop, to the Scots then believing in Christ. The Irish writers of the lives of St. Patrick say that St. Palladius had preached in Ireland a little before St. Patrick, but that he was soon banished by the King of Leinster, and returned to North Britain, where he had first opened his mission. There seems to be no doubt that he was sent to the whole nation of the Scots, several colonies of whom had passed from Ireland into North Britain, and possessed themselves of part of the country, since called Scotland. After St. Palladius had left Ireland, he arrived among the Scots in North Britain, according to St. Prosper, in the consulate of Bassus and Antiochus, in the year of Christ 431. He preached there with great zeal, and formed a considerable Church. The Scottish historians tell us that the faith was planted in North Britain about the year 200, in the time of King Donald, when Victor was Pope of Rome. But they all acknowledge that Palladius was the first bishop in that country, and style him their first apostle. The Saint died at Fordun, fifteen miles from Aberdeen, about the year 450.

REFLECTION: St. Palladius surmounted every obstacle which a fierce nation had opposed to the establishment of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Ought not our hearts to be impressed with the most lively sentiments of love and gratitude to our merciful God for having raised up such great and zealous men, by whose ministry the light of true faith has been conveyed to us?

WORD OF THE DAY

CLOSED TIMES. Seasons of the ecclesiastical year during which there are restrictions concerning the celebration of marriage. Formerly a marriage at Mass was not allowed from the beginning of Advent until after the Epiphany, and during Lent and the octave of Easter. The present legislation does not forbid a Mass at the marriage during these times but does prohibit the distinctive Missa pro Sponsis (Mass for the Spouses) on the Sundays of Advent, Lent, and Easter, on the last three days of Holy Week, on solemn feasts, and during the octave of Easter. Moreover, “if matrimony is celebrated during Advent, or Lent, or other days that have a penitential character, the pastor should admonish the spouses to take into account the distinctive nature of these liturgical seasons” (Rituale Romanum, Ordo Celebrandi Matrimonium, Praenotanda).

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!)

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