• May 7th - Sts. Serenicus and Serenus of Spoleto

    From rich@1:396/4 to All on Wed May 6 10:14:33 2020
    From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

    May 7th - Sts. Serenicus and Serenus of Spoleto

    Young patricians from Spoleto who abandoned their family and their
    possessions at the bidding, it is said, of an angel, and betook
    themselves to Rome. The tombs of the Apostles were at that time under
    the care of the Benedictines, with whom the two strangers were brought
    into contact and from whom they received the habit. For some time they
    lived the community life in Rome, edifying their brethren by their
    youthful piety, but before long they withdrew, still under angelic
    guidance, to seek a new home beyond the Alps in France.

    On the site of the present town of Ch=C3=A2teau Gontier, in the diocese of Angers, and subsequently in the forest of Charnie, near the village of
    Saulges in Maine, they led a life of extreme self-abnegation as
    solitaries. But, desirous though they were of remaining lost to the
    world, the fame of their sanctity began to attract visitors, who
    disturbed their solitude. So strongly did Serenicus feel the call to
    greater seclusion that he bade farewell to his brother, from whom he
    had never previously been parted, and struck out into the unknown
    region of Hyesmes, accompanied by a child whom he had baptized and who
    would not leave him. On a spot surrounded by boulders, situated over
    the river Sarthe and approached only by a narrow path, he determined
    to make his abode.

    He was soon to discover that solitude was not for him. Disciples
    gathered round, and he became the head of a large community of monks,
    whom he taught to recite the full psalmody, consisting of the complete
    Roman use in addition to all the Benedictine offices. He continued to
    rule over the monastery he had founded until his death which occurred
    when he was very old, about the year 669.

    In the meantime his brother Serenus had remained in his hermitage at
    Saulges, his fasts and austerities winning for him many graces,
    including visions, ecstasies and miracles. When the countryside was
    stricken by pestilence, famine and drought, following on the horrors
    of the civil war, St. Berarius, bishop of Le Mans, besought the
    intercession of the recluse. The cleansing rain which cleared away the infection and refreshed the earth was attributed by the grateful
    people to the prayers of St. Serenus, whose reputation as a
    wonder-worker was greatly enhanced. Like St Serenicus, he lived to old
    age, and as he lay dying, sounds of celestial music are said to have
    been plainly heard by those who were near him at the time.

    They were members of a noble family in Spoleto who entered the
    Benedictines and became hermits in France, in the Charnie Forest.
    Serenus remained a hermit until his death and was known for his
    miracles, including ending a plague and a drought. Serenicus
    eventually served as head of the community of followers who had
    gathered under his spiritual guidance near the Sarthe River, following
    the Benedictine rule.

    This somewhat fantastic=C2 narrative, compiled seemingly in the eighth century, which is here summarized, has been printed by the Bollandists
    and in Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum O.S.B., vol. ii, pp. 572-578.


    Bible Quote
    Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and
    humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.=C2 (Matthew
    11:29)


    <><><><>
    The festival of victory

    =C2 =C2 The festival we celebrate is one of victory -- the victory of =
    the
    Son of God, king of the whole universe. On this day the devil is
    defeated by the crucified one; our race is filled with joy by the
    risen one. In honor of my resurrection in Christ this day cries out:
    "In my journey I beheld a new wonder--an open tomb, a man risen from
    the dead, bones exulting, souls rejoicing, men and women refashioned,
    the heavens opened, and powers crying out: Lift up your gates, you
    princes; be lifted up, you everlasting doors, that the king of glory
    may come in. On this day I saw the king of heaven, robed in light,
    ascend above the lightning and the rays of the sun, above the sun and
    the sources of water, above the dwelling place of the angelic powers
    and the city of eternal life."
    =C2 =C2 Hidden first in a womb of flesh, he sanctified human birth by =
    his
    own birth; hidden afterward in the womb of the earth, he gave life to
    the dead by his resurrection. Suffering, pain, and sighs have now fled
    away. For who has known the mind of God, or who has been his counselor
    if not the Word made flesh, who was nailed to the cross, who rose from
    the dead, and who was taken up into heaven?
    =C2 --Hesychius of Jerusalem
    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)