These are extracts for the saints of feasts of this week from the Lives of Saints and the 1934 Missal.
Sunday, July 28.
STS. NAZARIUS and CELSUS, Martyrs
Sts. Nazarius and Celsus were Milanese martyrs of the 1st century.
Reflection. The martyrs died as the outcasts of the world, but are crowned by God with immortal honor. The glory of the world is false and transitory, and an empty bubble or shadow, but that of virtue is true, solid, and permanent, even in the eyes of men.
ST. VICTOR, Martyr & Pope
St. Victor was an African who was Pope from 189 - 199. He is noted for the Quartodeciman controversy and was martyred under Septimus Severus.
ST. INNOCENT, Confessor & Pope
St. Innocent I was Pope from 401 - 417. He is notable for his defense of St. John Chrysostom and his condemnation of Pelagianism.
Monday, July 29
ST. MARTHA, Virgin
Martha of Bethany was the sister of Mary Magdalene and Lazarus. She gave hospitality to our Lord and is the type of those who labor in the service of God and their neighbor.
Reflection. When Martha received Jesus into her house, she was naturally busy in preparations for such a Guest. Mary sat at His feet, intent alone on listening to His gracious words. Her sister thought that the time required other service than this, and asked our Lord to bid Mary help in serving. Once again Jesus spoke in defence of Mary. "Martha, Martha," He said, "thou art lovingly anxious about many things; be not over-eager; do thy chosen work with recollectedness. Judge not Mary. Hers is the good part, the one only thing really necessary. Thine will be taken away, that something better be given thee." The life of action ceases when the body is laid down; but the life of contemplation endures and is perfected in heaven.
Tuesday, July 30
ST. GERMANUS, Bishop
…the Pelagian heresy was laying waste England, and Germanus was chosen by the reigning Pontiff to rescue the Britons from the snare of Satan. With St. Lupus he preached in the fields and highways throughout the land. At last, near Verulam, he met the heretics face to face, and overcame them utterly with the Catholic and Roman faith… he died in 448.
Reflection. "Hold the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me in faith, and in the love which is in Christ Jesus" (II. Tim. i. 13).
Wednesday, July 31
ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA
Born in Spain in 1481, Ignatius is the founder of the Jesuits. Spiritual reading turned him from a military life to the spiritual warfare. His order has done immense service for education, spirituality, defense of the faith and conversion. He died at Rome in 1556 and is the patron of Spiritual Retreats.
Reflection. Ask St. Ignatius to obtain for you the grace to desire ardently the greater glory of God, even though it may cost you much suffering and humiliation.
Thursday, August 1
ST. PETER'S CHAINS
St. Peter was imprisoned in Jerusalem by Herod Agrippa in 42, and in Rome by Nero, about 64. His fetters, still preserved in Rome, are honored today. This feast in honor of the first Bishop of Rome replaced an old pagan festival at the beginning of August in memory of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. This day was formerly known as Lammas Day or Loaf Mass from the custom of offering the loaves made from the first grains of the year.
Reflection. This miracle affords a confirmation of the divine promise, "If two of you shall consent upon earth concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by My Father Who is in heaven."
Collect. O God, who didst loose the blessed Apostle Peter from his chains and dist make him go foth unharmed, loose, we pray, the chains of our sins, and in thy mercy ward offf from us every evil. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Friday, August 2
ST. STEPHEN, Pope and Martyr
St. Stephen was Pope from 254 - 257. He is known for ruling against re-baptism.
The persecutions becoming violent, he assembled the faithful together in the underground tombs of the martyrs, to celebrate Mass and to exhort them to remain true to Christ. On the 2d of August, 257, while seated in his pontifical chair, he was beheaded by the satellites of the emperor; and the chair is still shown, stained with his blood.
St. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI.
St. Alphonsus is the founder of the Redeptorists. He was born near Naples in 1696 and died in 1787. At first a famous legal advocate, he became Bishop of S. Agata dei Gota in 1762. He is known for making a vow never to lose time and became the author of many great works on asceticism and theology. He was devoted to the Blessed Virgin and to prayer.
Reflection. Let us do with all our heart the duty of each day, leaving the result to God, as well as the care of the future.
Collect. O God, who didst enkindle in blessed Alphonsus Mary, thy Confessor and Bishop, a burning zeal for souls, and thorugh him didst beget a new offpsring to thy Church, we pray, that we may be enlightene by his wholesome teaching and strenghtened by his example, and so may be alb eo to come happily unto thee. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, thy son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Saturday, August 3
THE FINDING OF ST. STEPHEN'S RELICS
The body of St. Stephen was discovered by a priest at Kaphargamala near Jerusalem, in 415.
Reflection. St. Austin, speaking of the miracles of St. Stephen, addresses himself to his flock as follows: "Let us so desire to obtain temporal blessings by his intercession that we may merit, in imitating him, those which are eternal."
Collect. GIve unto us, O Lord, we pray, so to imitate what we honor, that we may learn to love even our enemies; for we celebrate the finding of his body, who knew how to pray even for his persecutors to thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.
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