A Community of Love, Unity and Service

St. Etheldreda

Born the daughter of a king in about 630 in Northumbria, Saint Etheldreda, sometimes calledAudrey, was brought up in the fear of God. Her mother and three sisters are also numberedamong the Saints. Etheldreda had but one aim in life, to devote herself to His service in thereligious state. Her parents, however, had other views for her, and, in spite of her tears andprayers, she was compelled to become the wife of a certain prince named Tonbert. She lived withhim as a virgin for three years, and at his death retired to the isle of Ely which she had inherited,that she might apply herself wholly to heavenly things. This happiness was but short-lived; for thepowerful King of Northumbria pressed his suit with such insistence that she was forced into asecond marriage. Her life at his court was that of an ascetic rather than a queen; she lived withhim not as a wife, but as a sister, and devoted her time to works of mercy and love, whileobserving a scrupulous regularity of discipline.

After twelve years, she retired with her husband’s consent to Coldingham Abbey, then under the rule of Saint Ebba, and received the veil from the hands of Saint Wilfrid, who had been for manyyears her spiritual guide and protector. As soon as Etheldreda had left the court of her spouse, herepented of having consented to her departure, and followed her, meaning to bring her back byforce. She took refuge on a headland on the southern coast near Coldingham; and here a miracletook place, for the waters forced a passage and hemmed in the hill with morasses, barring thefurther advance of the king. The Saint remained in this island refuge for seven days, until herroyal spouse, recognizing the divine will, agreed to leave her in peace.

In 672 she returned to Ely and founded there a double monastery. She governed the conventherself, and by her example was a living rule of perfection to her Sisters. Some time after herdeath in 679, her body was found incorrupt, and Saint Bede records many miracles wrought byher relics.

St. Mary of Oignies

Mary of Oignies was born in the diocese of Liege in Belgium in 1167, of very wealthy parents. But while still very young, she rejected everything childish or vain — games, beautiful clothing,ornaments. At the age of fourteen, despite her desire to be a nun, she was obliged to marry avirtuous young lord. Her holy life caused admiration in her spouse and decided him to follow herexamples; and together they resolved to practice continence for life, to distribute their wealth tothe poor and consecrate themselves to works of piety. The demon tried every artifice to makethem relent in their holy resolution, but failed. They drew down on themselves the most abundantblessings, as well as sarcasms and insults from the worldly.

Mary had the gift of tears, and could not look at a crucifix without breaking into a torrent of tears or being ravished in ecstasy. When a priest told her to cease these exhibitions, she asked God tomake him understand that it is not possible for a creature to arrest tears which the Holy Spiritobliges to well up. And the priest, that same day while saying his Mass, began to shed so manytears that the altar cloths and his vestments were wet with them.

She had a great devotion to Saint John the Evangelist and conversed with him as well as with her Guardian Angel. By vision and revelation she often knew the temptations and secrets of thehearts of the persons who consulted her. She converted many, obtained graces by her prayers forthe living and especially for the dead, for whom she offered prayers and sacrifices, and sufferedvarious illnesses with invincible patience. Her many visitors made her life of contemplationdifficult, and she decided to change her residence; her husband permitted her to go to Oignies,where she lived in retreat amidst her heavenly favors and conversations.

She saw the place destined for her in heaven, and gave up her holy soul surrounded by angelicsongs of bliss. The faithful who have addressed her were so impressed with the value of her intercession that her relics became the object of great respect. Buried at Oignies, her remains in 1609were placed in a silver reliquary in its parish church of Our Lady; in 1817 they were transferred to the Church of Saint Nicolas at Nivelle, near her birthplace.

St. John the Baptist, Nativity of

The birth of Saint John was foretold by Saint Gabriel, Archangel of the Lord, to his father,Zachary, who was offering incense in the Temple. The son of Zachary was to be the prophesiedMessenger, Zachary was told, whose mission would prepare the way for Christ. Before he wasborn into the world John had already begun to live for the Incarnate God; even in the womb herecognized the presence of Jesus and of Mary, and leaped with joy at the glad coming of the Sonof man. Before Christ’s public life began, a divine impulse sent Saint John into the desert; there,with locusts for his food and wearing haircloth, in silence and in prayer, he chastened his soul. Inhis youth he remained hidden, because He for whom he waited was also hidden.

Then, as crowds broke in upon his solitude, he warned them to flee from the wrath to come, and gave them the baptism of penance, while they confessed their sins. At last there stood in thecrowd One whom Saint John did not know, until a voice within told him that it was his Lord. Heaffirmed: “I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He upon whom thou wilt see the Spirit descending and abiding, He it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ” With the baptism of Saint John, Christ began His voluntary abasement for the sins of His people; and Saint John indeed saw the Holy Ghost descend, under the visible form of a dove, indicating in the humble Jesus of Nazareth the divine Perfection of the peaceable Eternal King andHigh Priest. Then the Saint’s work was done. He had but to point his own disciples to the Lamb,he had only to decrease as Christ increased. He saw all men leave him and go after Christ. “I toldyou,” he said, “that I am not the Christ. The friend of the Bridegroom rejoices hearing theBridegroom’s voice. This, my joy, is fulfilled.”

Saint John was cast into the fortress of Herod on the east coast of the Dead Sea by the tyrant whose crimes he had rebuked; he would remain there until beheaded at the will of a girl and hercruel mother. During this time of imprisonment, some of his disciples visited him. Saint John didnot speak to them of himself, but sent them to Christ, that they might witness His miracles andhear His doctrine, proofs of His mission. After Saint John’s death, the Eternal Truth pronouncedthe panegyric of the Saint who had lived and breathed for Him alone: “Verily I say unto you,among those born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist.”

St. Prosper of Aquitaine

Saint Prosper was born in the Roman province of Aquitaine in the year 403. He is known chiefly through his writings, which reveal that in his youth he had applied himself to all branches both ofsacred and secular learning. Because of the purity and sanctity of his manners, the writers of histime testify that he was a holy and venerable man. By his labors in France against the semi-Pelagian heretics, he was a strong collaborator of Saint Augustine in Africa. He was incorrespondence with the African doctor, who wrote two of his works to refute and give light tothe semi-Pelagians: On the predestination of the Saints and On the gift of perseverance. Theenemies of Saint Augustine turned against Saint Prosper also, publishing “fifteen errors” whichthey attributed to the latter, then sixteen propositions supposedly clarifying Augustine’s truesentiments, and spread them widely. The Saint with gentleness answered all these writingswithout acrid reprisals.

Saint Prosper, insofar as is known, was not an ecclesiastic; but being of great virtue andpossessing extraordinary talents and learning, he dealt with delicate questions with remarkableinsight. Saint Leo the Great, when chosen Pope in 440, invited him to Rome, made him hissecretary, and employed him in the most important affairs of the Church. It was primarily SaintProsper who finally crushed the Pelagian heresy definitively, when it was raising its head in the seeof Peter. Its complete overthrow is said to be due to his zeal, learning, and unwearied endeavors. The date of his death remains uncertain, but he was still living in 455, the date at which hisChronicle concludes.

St. William of Vercelli

Saint William of Monte Vergine, born in Vercelli, a city of Lombardy, lost his father and mother in his infancy and was brought up by a relative in great sentiments of piety. At fifteen years ofage, having an earnest desire to lead a penitential life, he left his native region and made a longand austere pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin founded by Saint James at Saragossa. Hewould have made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but God made known to him that he was callinghim to a solitary life, and he retired into the kingdom of Naples. There he chose for his abode anuninhabited mountain, and lived in perpetual contemplation and the exercises of rigorouspenitential austerities.

After a miracle of healing wrought by his prayers, he was discovered and his contemplationinterrupted, so he decided to move to another mountain, where he built a very beautiful church inhonor of Our Lady. With several former secular priests who joined him there, in 1119 he beganthe establishment of the Congregation of Monte Vergine, or Mount of the Virgin. This site isbetween Nola and Benevento in the same kingdom of Naples. These sons of Our Lady lived ingreat austerity. Seeing the progress in holiness of the good religious being formed there, the devilsowed division and criticism; but God drew good from the evil when Saint William wentelsewhere and founded several more monasteries, both for men and women, in various places inthe kingdom of Naples. He assisted the king of Naples, who greatly venerated him, to practice allthe Christian virtues of a worthy sovereign, and the king in gratitude had a house of the Orderbuilt at Salerno opposite his palace, to have him near him more often.

When Saint William died on the 25^th of June, 1142, he had not yet written a Rule for his religious; his second successor, Robert, fearing the dissolution of a community without constitutions, placed them under that of Saint Benedict, and is regarded as the first abbot of the BenedictineCongregation of Monte-Vergine. A portrait of the Virgin venerated there has been an unfailingsource of holy compunction; pilgrims continue to visit it.

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