Saint for the month of October 2003

Francis of Assisi

October 4th

The great founder of the Franciscans was born 1181 and served as a  soldier. His father was a wealthy cloth merchant living at Assisi in Umbria

A vision of Christ calling him to poverty inspired the saint to make a  pilgrimage in rags to Rome. In Rome he met a leper, gave him money, and went  so far as to kiss the man's diseased hand, an unthinkable act at that time.

In a ruined chapel near the gates of Assisi, Francis seemed to hear a voice  from the crucifix before which he was praying, " Francis, go and repair my  house, which you see is close to ruin."  Francis ran to his father's  warehouse, took as much cloth as a horse could carry, sold the cloth and the  horse and gave the money to the priest in charge of the chapel.

When his father angrily summoned Francis before the bishop, the saint  solemnly took off all his clothes and gave them to his father. The bishop  gave him a cloak. Francis said he now had only one father, his Father in  heaven.

Now he took absolutely the rule in Saint Matthews Gospel' that Christ's  apostles should have nothing of their own. He gathered many followers and  made a simple rule of life for them. Poverty was, he said, his 'lady' and  any illness 'sister'. He looked on his body as 'brother donkey'. He loved  every created thing, 'brother sun', 'sister moon, and even 'sister death' as  God's gift.

His order spread throughout Italy as many more followers were attracted to  this holy man. He was beginning a forty day fast in 1224 and had a vision of a suffering  crucified figure that was so intense as to leave permantely imprinted on the  saint the marks of the nails and sword that had pierced Jesus at his  passion. For the remaining two years of his life, the saint kept these  stigmata a secret. A Franciscan brother announced them after Francis's  death. Another wrote, 'it was as if Francis had just been taken down from a  cross'.

Francis was declared the patron saint of ecologists. (a study of  plants, animals and people in relation to the environment)

Richard F. Sibley

October 2003

Saint for the Month of September 2003

Gregory the Great,
September 3rd

Gregory the Great was pope for fourteen years from 590 until his death in 604.For the first two decades of his working life he was a distinguished administrator, rising to become prefect of Rome when the Lombards were threatening the city.

In the year 574 he transformed his own home into a monastery and became a monk. He lived apart from the bustle of civic life for several years, until Pope Pelagius11 ordained him and appointed him as one of his seven papal deacons..

Between 579 and 585 he was the  pope's agent at Constantinople. The experience stood him in good stead later, for Gregory decided that the Byzantine court had little interest in protecting the Italians and even the Patriarch of Constantinople looked mostly after his own interests.

On his return he became abbot of his monastery, and conceived a desire to convert the English. he had seen some Saxon slaves for sale in Rome, learning they were Angles thought they ought to become 'angels'. on his way to Britain, he was recalled to Rome, to help counteract the plague, which killed the pope. Gregory was elected in his stead, and therefore entrusted the conversion of the English to St Augustine of Canterbury and forty other monks from his own monastery.

Gregory was a tireless energetic and charitable pope. He abolished fees for burials and looked after those suffering from famine, he would not allow injustice to Jews, he wrote hymns. he reformed the church's worship and introduced what today is known as the Gregorian chant. Disregarding the rights of the Byzantine emperor he made his own peace with the marauding Lombards and ransomed their prisoners.

He wrote prodigiously--over 800 of his letters survive, as well as rules for the life of a bishop, a commentary on the Book of Job, and the lives of many Italian saints. It was he who described the office of a pope to be 'the servant of the servants of God'

Quote:

'The Holy Bible is like a mirror before our mind's eye. In it we see our inner face. From the Scriptures we can learn our spiritual deformities and beauties. And there too we discover the progress we are making and how far we are from perfection.'

Gregory the Great (September 3)
                                               

Richard. F. Sibley. September 2003

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