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)
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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)