From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

June 28th - St. Paul I, Pope
(A.D. 767)

THE immediate successor of Pope Stephen III in the chair of St. Peter
was his younger brother Paul. They had been educated together at the
Lateran school, they had been made deacons together by Pope St.
Zachary, and Paul remained closely associated with his brother, whom
he tenderly nursed in his last illness and whose policy he continued
to pursue. A contemporary, writing in the Liber Pontificalis, pays an
eloquent tribute to Paul's personal character, emphasizing his
kindness, his clemency and his magnanimity. He was always ready to
help those in distress and never did he return evil for evil. Often,
under cover of the night, he would visit the sick poor in their homes
or in hospitals. Sometimes he would enter the prisons and redeem poor
debtors: occasionally he would release prisoners under sentence of
death. If he erred, it was always on the side of leniency.

Paul's pontificate of ten years was relatively peaceful abroad, owing
to his good relations with King Pepin, and peaceful at home owing to
his own firm government: "firm" is hardly a strong enough word-the
severity of Paul's administration is in marked contrast with the
kindness of character attributed to him by the Liber Pontificalis. At
the same time the record of his pontificate is chiefly one long tale
of political diplomacy; in the words of Monsignor Mann: "By unceasing diplomatic effort Paul prevented the Lombards on the one hand and the
Greeks on the other from effecting anything of moment against the
newly acquired temporal power of the supreme pontiff; he caused great
events never to get beyond the eve of happening." He kept on the best
of terms with Pepin, sending him exceedingly polite letters, presents (including an organ) and relics of the martyrs. In Rome itself the
pope's activities took a more concrete form. From catacombs, reduced
to ruin by the ravages of time or of the barbarians, he transferred
the relics of many saints to churches in the City. Amongst others the
remains of St. Petronilla, the supposed daughter of St. Peter, were
brought to a restored mausoleum which became known as the Chapel of
the Kings of France. He built or rebuilt a church of SS. Peter and
Paul; he also erected in St. Peter's an oratory in honour of our Lady.
In his paternal mansion, which he converted into a monastery under the dedication of the popes St. Stephen I and St. Silvester, he placed
Greek monks, refugees from the iconoclast persecution. The adjoining
church, entirely rebuilt by him for them, received the name of San
Silvestro in Capite, from the head, reputed to be that of St. John
Baptist, which the monks had brought from the East. 1100 years later
that same church (but long since again rebuilt) was given by Pope Leo
XIII to the Catholics of England.

Pope Paul was staying at St. Paul's outside the Walls, whither he had
gone to escape the summer heat in Rome, when he was seized with a
fever which proved fatal. He died on June 28, 767.

The Liber Pontificalis, in Duchesne's edition (vol. i, pp. 463-467),
is the most reliable source for an estimate of the pope's personal
character. The letters of Paul I may be studied in MGH., Epistolae,
vol. iii, in the edition of Gundlach. For English readers, the
painstaking account given in Mgr Mann's Lives of the Popes (vol. i,
part II, pp. 331-360) is the most satisfactory, and easily accessible.
See also the Acta Sanctorum, June; vol. vii; Duchesne, Les premiers
temps de l'=C3=89tat Pontifical (1904), pp. 79-94; M. Baumont in M= =C3=A9langes
d'arch=C3=A9ologie et d'histoire, 1930, pp. 7-24; F. H. Seppelt, Da=
s
Papsttum im Fr=C3=BCh-Mittelalter (1934), pp. 137-146; Fliche and Martin, Histoire de l'=C3=89glise, t. vi (1937), pp. 17-31.


Bible Quote:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are,
yet without sin. Heb 4:15 RSVCE

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MARY, GUARDIAN OF THE FLOWERS

In a garden of souls stands a Lady so fair,
She caresses each petal growing weak from despair,
Breathes the strength down upon them,
Brings the waters of life,
Feeds the plants that have weakened
From the earth's constant strife.
The flowers spread out in colors profuse,
Each a bud a fair promise of heavenly use.
Tender hands take the bent stalk
Grown weak from the flight,
From the darkness of soil that has shut out the light.
Turned the blossoming petal with soft tender hands,
To face up to the Light that shines down from His land
Sprinkles stardust to cover the flowers with grace
As they grow on the path
That leads straight to the place.
Where the fairest of Flowers sits next to Her Son,
As She welcomes you all
From a mission well done!
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)