• September 28th - Saint Wenceslas, Martyr

    From rich@1:396/4 to All on Thu Sep 27 06:55:25 2018
    From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

    September 28th - Saint Wenceslas, Martyr
    (d. 938)

    Wenceslas, born towards the end of the ninth century, was the son of a Christian Duke of Bohemia, but his mother was a harsh and cruel pagan.
    His holy grandmother, Ludmilla, seeing the danger to the future king,
    asked to bring him up. Wenceslas was educated by her good offices in
    the true faith, and under her tutelage acquired an exceptional
    devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. At the death of his father,
    however, he was still a minor, and his mother assumed the government
    and passed a series of persecuting laws. In the interests of the
    Faith, Wenceslas, encouraged by his grandmother, claimed and obtained
    through the support of the people, a large portion of the country as
    his own kingdom. Soon afterwards his grandmother was martyred, out of
    hatred of her faith and services to her country, while making her
    thanksgiving after Holy Communion.

    His mother secured the apostasy and alliance of her second son,
    Boleslas, who became henceforth her ally against the Christians.
    Wenceslas in the meantime ruled as the brave and pious king of
    Bohemia. When his kingdom was attacked, the prince of the invading
    army, which had been called in by certain seditious individuals, was approaching with a lance to slay him. This prince, named Radislas, saw
    two celestial spirits beside him; he had already seen him make the
    sign of the cross and then heard a voice saying not to strike him.
    These marvels so astonished him that he descended from his horse,
    knelt at the feet of Wenceslas and asked his pardon. Peace was then reestablished in the land.

    In the service of God Saint Wenceslas was constant, planting with his
    own hands the wheat and pressing the grapes for Holy Mass, at which he
    never failed to assist each day. He provided for the poor and himself
    took what they needed to them at night, to spare them the shame they
    might incur if their poverty became public knowledge. He desired to
    introduce the Benedictine Order into his kingdom, but was struck down
    by a violent death before he could do so and himself enter a
    monastery, as he wished to do.

    His piety provided the occasion for his death. After a banquet at his
    brother's palace, to which he had been treacherously invited and wh=
    ere
    he manifested great gentleness towards his brother and mother, he went
    to pray at night before the tabernacle, as he was accustomed to do.
    There, at midnight on the feast of the Angels in the year 938, he
    received the crown of martyrdom by the sword, at the hand of his own
    brother.

    Reflection: Saint Wenceslas teaches us that the safest retreat amid
    the trials of life, or to prepare for the stroke of death, is the
    sanctuary of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

    Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
    Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources, by John Gilmary She=
    a
    (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des
    Saints, by Msgr. Paul Gu=C3=A9rin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 11.


    Saint Quote:
    By the other virtues, we offer God what we possess; but by obedience,
    we offer ourselves to Him. They who obey are conquerors, because by
    submitting themselves to obedience they triumph over the Angels, who
    fell through disobedience.
    --St. Gregory

    Bible Quote:
    What have you that you have not received? And if you have received it,
    why do you boast as if you had not received it?=C2 (I Cor. 4:7)


    <><><><>
    O Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray to thy Divine Son for me, a poor sinner;
    beg Him to make me humble. Oh, how humble art thou, the purest of
    Virgins; thou, my powerful mediatrix; thou, O most holy among the
    children of Adam, who art the exalted Mother of God! Thou didst
    declare thyself the handmaid of Him Whose Mother thou art.

    Behold, my dear heavenly Mother, how gladly I would dedicate myself to
    thy Divine Son, that His Will may also be mine. But my pride, my
    self-esteem, my vanity, are always against me. I struggle against
    them, and yet I allow them to surprise and deceive me so often. Oh,
    how this afflicts me! Mary, Refuge of Sinners, if I were only sincere
    when I beg of thee to obtain humiliation for me. But alas, whilst
    praying for such helps to humility, I fear the granting of my prayer.
    I clearly see better things; I even desire their possession and yet I
    shrink from what alone can give me true humility.

    Behold my trials, my combats in this valley of tears! O my dearest
    Mother, if to be freed from this body would give glory to God, how
    gladly would I not lay down my life.
    Amen.

    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)