From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
August 13th - St. Radegund
(Also known as Radigunde, Radegundes)
(518-587)
Radegund of the =E2=80=9CWagnerian=E2=80=9D name was the daughter of a king=
of
Thuringia in those tumultuous days when other Germanic peoples, having
swept across the boundaries of the crumbling Roman Empire, were
establishing themselves in the old Roman territories.
Clovis, head of the Franks, had taken over Gaul and accepted
Christianity. His son, Clotaire I, was also a Christian, but still
much of a barbarian. In 531 he invaded Thuringia and brought home
spoils and prisoners. Among the prisoners were Radegund, then aged 12,
and her brother. The king saw to it that she was properly raised in
France. She grew up into a beautiful and devout young woman. Clotaire
married her when she was 18.
But King Clotaire was a flagrant womanizer. He married five times, and
it is likely that some of his spouses were still living when he wedded Radegund. The young queen tried, nevertheless, to fulfill her duties
as a King's wife, but at the same time she cultivated a serious
prayer-life and spent much time taking care of the poor and sick. For
example, she founded a hospital for lepers, tended them with her own
hands, and on occasion even kissed them. A friend who saw this warned
her that henceforth nobody would dare kiss her. =E2=80=9CIf you don=E2=80=
=99t want to
kiss me,=E2=80=9D she replied tartly, =E2=80=9CI really do not mind at all!= =E2=80=9D
The king sensibly refrained from interfering with his wife's
charities, and for six years she patiently bore his infidelities. But
when Clotaire killed her brother, that was the limit. She asked his
permission to leave the court, and she persuaded the bishop of Noyon
to confer on her the religious veil. He also blessed her as a
deaconess, an office of service for women, not clearly sacramental,
that would be abolished in western Europe in the later Middle Ages.
After six months of penitential life, Radegund renewed her program of charities.
Ultimately she moved to Poitiers, and there founded a =E2=80=9Cdouble monastery=E2=80=9D (a section for nuns and a section for priests), choosing=
a
qualified nun as its abbess. Not long afterward, the king demanded
that his separated wife return to court. Fortunately, Bishop Germanus
of Paris was able to persuade Clotaire to leave her alone. It is said
that the Frankish monarch died repentant of his sins. At least he did
bring himself to contribute to the upkeep of his wife's monastic
foundation.
In her Poitiers abbey, the erstwhile queen set high religious
standards. Well-educated herself, she insisted that the sisters learn
to read, spend two hours a day in study, and learn by heart the 150
psalms to be chanted in the divine office. Because of Radegund's
interest in learning, her monastery was a rendezvous for scholars. It
likewise became a center and agency for peace. Whenever the saint
heard rumors of war (and these were battlesome days), she would
communicate with the belligerents and urge a peaceful settlement. Her
royal position gave added authority to these pleas.
The queen loved to enrich her abbey church with relics of the saints.
They were a constant reminder of the union between the Church Militant
and the Church Triumphant. When in response to her special request,
Emperor Justin I sent her from Constantinople, cased in rich
reliquary, a portion of his relic of the True Cross, Radegund received
it with devout solemnity. It was for this reception that St. Venantius Fortunatus, one of the queen's learned associates, composed his
stirring hymn, still used on Good Friday, the Vexilla Regis. (=E2=80=9CThe Royal Banners forward go; The Cross shines forth in mystic glow; Where
He in flesh, our flesh who made; Our sentence bore, our ransom paid.=E2=80= =9D)
St. Gregory of Tours, who attended the wake of the dead queen, in 587,
said her face shone bright. Miracles, too, were soon attributed to her intercession. But St. Radegund is best known as the majestic and
long-suffering queen who was one of the leading women intellectuals of
the early =E2=80=9CDark Ages.=E2=80=9D
Saint Quote:
"The Church is bathed in the light of the Lord, and pours her rays
over the whole world; but it is one light that is spread everywhere,
and the unity of her structure is undivided."
--St. Cyprian [251AD], The Unity of the Catholic Church
Bible Quote:
that God's knowledge of human destiny is an unfathomable mystery: "How
rich and deep are the wisdom and knowledge of God! We cannot reach to
the root of his decisions or his ways. Who has ever known the mind of
the Lord?" [Romans 11:33-34a]
<><><><>
From The Friends Of the Cross
by Saint Louis de Montfort
Therefore, if anyone wants to come after Me, annihilated and
crucified, he must glory as I did only in the poverty, humiliation and suffering of My Cross: "let him deny himself" (Matt. 16, 24).
Far be from the Company of the Friends of the Cross those who
pride themselves in suffering, the worldly-wise, elated geniuses and self-conceited individuals who are stubborn and puffed-up with their
lights and talents. Far be they from us, those endless talkers who
make plenty of noise but bring forth no other fruit than vain glory.
Far from us those high-browed devotees everywhere displaying the self-sufficient pride of Lucifer: "I am not like the rest!" (Luke 18,
11). Far be from us those who must always justify themselves when
blamed resist when attacked and exalt themselves when humbled.
Be careful not to admit into your fellowship those frail,
sensitive persons who are afraid of the slightest pin-prick, who sob
and sigh when faced with the lightest suffering, who have never
experienced a hair-shirt, a discipline or any other penitential
instrument, and who with their fashionable devotions, mingle the most
artful delicacy and the most refined lack of mortification.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
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