‘Lives of the Saints for every day in a year’ by J.G. Shea; 1887; Saints of April 1-5; St. Hugh, St. Francis of Paola, St. Richard of Chichester, St. Isidore, St. Vincent Ferrer
April 1 ~ ST. HUGH, BISHOPIT was the happiness of this Saint to receive from his cradle the strongest impressions of piety by the example and care of his illustrious and holy parents. He was born at Chateau-neuf, in the territory of Valence in Dauphine, in 1053. His father, Odilo, who served his country in an honorable post in the army, labored, by all the means in his power, to make his soldiers faithful servants of their Creator, and by severe punishments to restrain vice. By the advice of his son, St. Hugh, he afterwards became a Carthusian monk, and died at the age of a hundred, having received extreme unction and the viaticum from the hands of his son. Our Saint likewise assisted, in Tier last moments, his mother, who had for many years, under his direction, served God in her own house, by prayer, fasting, and plenteous alms-deeds. Hugh, from the cradle, appeared to be a child of benediction. He went through his studies with great applause, and having chosen to serve God in an ecclesiastical state, he accepted a canonry in the cathedral of Valence. His great sanctity and learning rendered him an ornament of that Church, and he was finally made bishop of Grenoble. He set himself at once to reprove vice and to reform abuses, and so plentiful was the benediction of heaven upon his labors that he had the comfort to see the face of his diocese in a short time exceedingly changed. After two years, he privately resigned his bishopric, presuming on the tacit consent of the Holy See, and, putting on the habit of St. Bennet, he entered upon a novitiate in the austere abbey of Casa-Dei, in Auvergne. There he lived a year a perfect model of all virtues to that house of Saints, till Pope Gregory VII. commanded him in virtue of holy obedience to resume his pastoral charge.
He earnestly solicited Pope Innocent II. for leave to resign his bishopric, that he might die in solitude ; but was never able to obtain his request. God was pleased to purify his soul by a lingering illness before He called him to Himself. Some time before his death, he lost his memory for every thing but his prayers. He closed his penitential course on the 1st of April, in 1132, wanting only two months of being eighty years old, of which he had been fifty-two years bishop. Miracles attested the sanctity of his happy death, and he was canonized by Innocent II. in 1134.
REFLECTION.—Let us learn from the example of the Saints, to shun the tumult of the world as much as our circumstances will allow, and give ourselves up to the exercises of holy solitude, prayer, and pious reading.
April 2 ~ —ST. FRANCIS OF PAULA.
AT the age of fifteen, Francis left his poor home at Paula in Calabria to live as a hermit in a cave by the sea-coast. In time disciples gathered round him, and with them, in 1436, he founded the “ Minims,” so called to show that they were the least of monastic Orders. They observed a perpetual Lent, and never touched meat, fish, eggs, or milk. Francis himself made the rock his bed ; his best garment was a hair shirt, and boiled herbs his only fare. As his body withered, his faith grew powerful, and he “ did all things in Him who strengthened him.” He cured the sick, raised the dead, averted plagues, expelled evil spirits, and brought sinners to penance. A famous preacher, instigated by a few misguided monks, set to work to preach against St. Francis and his miracles. The Saint took no notice of it, and the preacher, finding that he made no way with his hearers, determined to see this poor hermit, and confound him in person. The Saint received him kindly, gave him a seat by the fire, and listened to a long exposition of his own frauds. He then quietly took some glowing embers from the fire, and closing his hands upon them unhurt, said, “ Come, Father Anthony, warm yourself, for you are shivering for want of a little charity.”
Father Anthony, falling at the Saint’s feet, asked for pardon, and then, having received his embrace, quitted him, to become his panegyrist and attain himself to great perfection. When the avaricious King Ferdinand of Naples offered him money for his convent, Francis told him to give it back to his oppressed subjects, and softened his heart by causing blood to flow from the ill-gotten coin. Louis XL of France, trembling at the approach of death, sent for the poor hermit to ward off the foe whose advance neither his fortresses nor his guards could check. Francis went by the Pope’s command, and prepared the king for a holy death. The successors of Louis showered favors on the Saint, his Order spread throughout Europe, and his name was reverenced through the Christian world. He died at the age of ninety-one. on Good Friday, 1507, with the crucifix in his hand, and the last words of Jesus on his lips, “ Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.”
REFLECTION.—Rely in all difficulties upon God. That which enabled St. Francis to work miracles will in proportion do wonders for yourself, by giving you strength and consolation.
April 3 ~ —ST. RICHARD OF CHICHESTER.
RICHARD was born A.D. 1197, in the little town of Wyche, eight miles from Worcester, England. He and his elder brother were left orphans when young, and Richard gave up the studies which he loved, to farm his brother’s impoverished estate. His brother, in gratitude for Richard’s successful care, proposed to make over to him all his lands; but he refused both the estates and the offer of a brilliant marriage, to study for the priesthood at Oxford. In 1135 he was appointed, for his learning and piety, chancellor of that University, and afterward by St. Edmund of Canterbury, chancellor of his diocese. He stood by that Saint in his long contest with the King, and accompanied him into exile. After St. Edmund’s death, Richard returned to England to toil as a simple curate, but was soon elected Bishop of Chichester in preference to the worthless nominee of Henry III. The King in revenge refused to recognize the election, and seized the revenues of the see. Thus Richard found himself lighting the same battle in which St. Edmund had died. He went to Lyons, was there consecrated by Innocent IV. in 1245, and returning to England, in spite of his poverty and the King’s hostility, exercised fully his episcopal rights, and thoroughly reformed his see. After two years, his revenues were restored. Young and old loved St. Richard. He gave all he had, and worked miracles, to feed the poor and heal the sick; but when the rights or purity of the Church were concerned, he was inexorable. A priest of noble blood polluted his office by sin; Richard deprived him of his benefice, and refused the King’s petition in his favor. On the other hand, when a knight violently put a priest in prison, Richard compelled the knight to walk round the priest’s church with the same log of wood on his neck to which he had chained the priest; and when the burgesses of Lewes tore a criminal from the church and hanged him, Richard made them dig up the body from its unconsecrated grave, and bear it back to the sanctuary they had violated. Richard died A.D. 1253, while preaching, at the Pope’s command, a crusade against the Saracens.
REFLECTION.—As a brother, as chancellor, and as bishop, St. Richard faithfully performed each duty of his state without a thought of his own interests. Neglect of duty is the first sign of that self-love which ends with the loss of grace.
April 4 ~ —ST. ISIDORE, ARCHBISHOP.
ISIDORE was born of a ducal family, at Carthagena in Spain. His two brothers, Leander, Archbishop of Seville, Fulgentius Bishop of Ecija, and his sister Fiorentina, are Saints. As a boy, he despaired at his ill success in study, and ran away from school. Resting in his flight at a roadside spring, he observed a stone, which was hollowed out by the dripping water. This decided him to return, and by hard application he succeeded where he had failed. He went back to his master, and with the help of God became, even as a youth, one of the most learned men of the time. He assisted in converting Prince Recared, the leader of the Arian party; and with his aid, though at the constant peril of his own life, he expelled that heresy from Spain. Then, following a call from God, he turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of his friends, and embraced a hermit’s life. Prince Recared and many of the nobles and clergy of Seville went to persuade him to come forth, and represented the needs of the times, and the good he could do, and had already done, among the people. He refused, and as far as we can judge, that refusal gave him the necessary opportunity of acquiring the virtue and the power which afterwards made him an illustrious Bishop and Doctor of the Church. Or the death of his brother Leander, he was called to fill the vacant see. As a teacher, ruler, founder, and reformer, he labored not only in his own diocese, but throughout Spain, and even in foreign countries.
He died in Seville on April 4th, 636, and within sixteen years of his death was declared a Doctor of the Catholic Church.
REFLECTION.—The strength of temptation usually lies in the fact that its object is something flattering to our pride, soothing to our sloth, or in some way attractive to the meaner passions. St. Isidore teaches us to listen neither to the promptings of nature nor the plausible advice of friends when they contradict the voice of God.
April 5 ~ —ST. VINCENT FERRER.
THIS wonderful apostle, the “Angel of the Judgment,”, was born at Valencia in Spain, in 1350, and at the age of eighteen professed in the Order of St. Dominic. After a brilliant course of study, he became master of sacred theology. For three years he read only the Scriptures, and knew the whole Bible by heart. He converted the Jews of Valencia, and their synagogue became a church. Grief at the great schism then affecting the Church reduced him to the point of death; but our Lord Himself in glory bade him go forth to convert sinners, “ for My judgment is nigh.” This miraculous apostolate lasted twenty-one years.
He preached throughout Europe, in the towns and villages of Spain, Switzerland, France, Italy, England, Ireland, Scotland. Everywhere tens of thousands of sinners were reformed; Jews, infidels, and heretics were converted. Stupendous miracles enforced his words. Twice each day the “ miracle bell ” summoned the sick, the blind, the lame to be cured. Sinners the most obdurate became Saints; speaking only his native Spanish, he was understood in all tongues. Processions of ten thousand penitents followed him in perfect order. Convents, orphanages, hospitals arose in his path. Amidst all, his humility remained profound, his prayer constant. He always prepared for preaching by prayer. Once, however, when a person of high rank was to be present at his sermon, he neglected prayer for study. The nobleman was not particularly struck by the discourse which had been thus carefully worked up; but coming again to hear the Saint, unknown to the latter, the second sermon made a deep impression on his soul. When St. Vincent heard of the difference, he remarked that in the first sermon it was Vincent who had preached, but in the second, Jesus Christ. He fell ill at Vannes in Brittany, and received the crown of everlasting glory in 1419.
REFLECTION.—“ Whatever you do,” said St. Vincent, “ think not of yourself, but of God.” In this spirit he preached, and God spoke by him; in this spirit, if we listen, we shall hear the voice of God.
Image: Francesco del Cossa - Saint Vincent Ferrer