A Community of Love, Unity and Service

St. Timothy

Saint Timothy was a convert of Saint Paul, born at Lystra in Asia Minor. His mother was adaughter of Israel, but his father was a pagan, and though Timothy had read the Scriptures fromhis childhood, he had never been circumcised. On the arrival of Saint Paul at Lystra the youthfulTimothy, with his mother and grandmother, eagerly embraced the faith. Seven years later, whenthe Apostle again visited the country, the boy had grown into manhood. His good heart, hisausterities and zeal had won the esteem of all around him, and holy men were prophesying greatthings of the fervent youth. Saint Paul at once saw his fitness for the work of an evangelist, andTimothy was ordained a priest. From that time on he was the constant and much-belovedfellow-worker of the Apostle.

In company with Saint Paul he visited the cities of Asia Minor and Greece, once hastening onahead as a trusted messenger, at another time lingering behind to confirm in the faith a recentlyfounded church. Eventually he was made the first Bishop of Ephesus; and there he received thetwo epistles of his master which bear his name, the first written from Macedonia and the secondfrom Rome, where Saint Paul from his prison expresses his longing desire to see his “dearlybeloved son,” once more, if possible, before his death. It is not certain whether Saint Timothyarrived in Rome in time, but devotion to Saint Timothy has always been strong in Rome, whichseems to argue for his presence at the martyrdom of his spiritual father.

Saint Timothy was of a tender and affectionate disposition, and certainly found his role in theidolatrous city of Ephesus difficult to sustain. Saint Paul, when he writes to Timothy, then a testedservant of God and a bishop advancing in years, addresses him as he would his own child, andseems most anxious about his forcefulness in his demanding role. His disciple’s health was fragile,and Saint Paul counsels him to “take a little wine for his digestion.” Saint Timothy is the “Angelof the Church of Ephesus” of the Apocalypse, its bishop whom Our Lord, too, exhorted toremember his original faith and piety.

Not many years after the death of Saint Paul, Timothy, who had surely profited from thesecounsels, won a martyr’s crown at Ephesus, when on a feast day of the goddess Diana, whosetemple stood in that city, he entered into the ungovernable crowd to calm it, exhorting thesesouls, deprived of the light of truth, to renounce vain worship and embrace Christianity. Wild withidolatrous passion, a pagan struck down the bishop of the Christians, thus freeing him to join hisbeloved spiritual father in the realm of the Blessed.

St. Paul, The Conversion of

The great Apostle Paul, named Saul at his circumcision, was born in Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia,and was by that privilege a Roman citizen, to which quality a great distinction and severalexemptions were granted by the laws of the Empire. He was early instructed in the strictobservance of the Mosaic law, and lived up to it in the most scrupulous manner. In his zeal for theJewish law, which he believed to be the divine Cause of God, he became a violent persecutor ofthe Christians. He was one of those who combined to murder Saint Stephen, and then he presidedin the violent persecution of the faithful which followed the holy deacon’s martyrdom. By virtueof the power he had received from the high priest, he dragged the Christians out of their houses,loaded them with chains, and thrust them into prison. In the fury of his zeal he applied for acommission to seize in Damascus all Jews who confessed Jesus Christ, and to bring them in bondsto Jerusalem, that they might serve as examples for the others.

But God was pleased to manifest in him His patience and mercy. While Saul was journeying toDamascus, he and his party were surrounded by a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, andsuddenly the chief was struck to the ground. And then a voice was heard saying, “Saul, Saul, whydo you persecute Me?” And Saul answered, “Who art Thou, Lord?” and the voice replied, “I amJesus, whom you persecute.” This mild admonition of Our Redeemer, accompanied with apowerful interior grace, cured Saul’s pride, assuaged his rage, and wrought at once a total changein him. Therefore, trembling and astonished, he cried out, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me do?”Our Lord ordered him to proceed on his way to the city of Damascus, where he would beinformed of what was expected of him. Saul, arising from the ground, found that although hiseyes were open, he saw nothing.

He was led into the city, where he was lodged in the house of a Christian named Judas. To thishouse came by divine appointment a holy man named Ananias, who, laying his hands on Saul,said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your journey, has sent me that youmay receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” Immediately something like scales fellfrom Saul’s eyes, and he recovered his sight; then he arose and was baptized. He stayed a fewdays with the disciples at Damascus, and began immediately to preach in the synagogues thatJesus was the Son of God. Thus a blasphemer and a persecutor was made an Apostle, and chosenas one of God’s principal instruments in the conversion of the world.

St. Polycarp

Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, was a disciple of Saint John. He wrote to the Philippians,exhorting them to mutual love and to hatred of heresy. When the apostate Marcion met SaintPolycarp at Rome, he asked the aged Saint if he knew him. “Yes,” Saint Polycarp answered, “Iknow you for the first-born of Satan.” These were the words of a Saint, most loving and mostcharitable, and specially noted for his compassion to sinners. He abhorred heresy, because heloved God and man so well.

In 167 persecution broke out in Smyrna. When Polycarp heard that his pursuers were at the door,he said, “The Will of God be done;” and meeting them, he begged to be left alone for a little time,which he spent in prayer for the Catholic Church throughout the world. He was brought toSmyrna early on Holy Saturday; and as he entered, a voice was heard from heaven, “Polycarp, bestrong.” When the proconsul urged him to curse Christ and go free, Polycarp answered,“Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never did me wrong; how can I blaspheme my Kingand Saviour?” When he threatened him with fire, Polycarp told him this fire of his lasted but ashort time, while the fire prepared for the wicked lasted forever.

At the stake he thanked God aloud for letting him drink of Christ’s chalice. The fire was lighted,but it did him no harm; therefore he was stabbed to the heart, and his dead body was burnt.“Then,” say the writers of his acts, “we took up the bones, more precious than the richest jewelsor gold, and deposited them in a fitting place, at which may God grant us to assemble with joy, tocelebrate the birthday of the martyr to his life in heaven!”

St. John Chrysostom

Saint John Chrysostom, born in Antioch in 344, was endowed with a superior genius strengthenedby a brilliant education. In order to break with a world which admired and courted him, in 374 heretired for six years to a neighboring mountain, having found Christ through his friendship withSaint Basil. After acquiring the art of Christian silence, he returned to Antioch and there laboredas a priest under the direction of its bishop. His eloquence was such that the entire city, up to ahundred thousand listeners, came to hear him, a young man not yet thirty years old. He fled thispopularity and adopted the monastic life for fourteen years, until he was taken forcibly toConstantinople, to be consecrated Patriarch of the imperial city in 398.

The effect of his sermons was everywhere marvelous. He converted a large number of pagans andheretics by his eloquence, then in its most brilliant luster, and constantly exhorted his Catholicpeople to frequent the Holy Sacrifice. In order to remove all excuse for absence he abbreviatedthe long liturgy then in use. Saint Nilus relates that Saint John Chrysostom, when the priest beganthe Holy Sacrifice, very often saw “many of the Blessed coming down from heaven in shininggarments, eyes intent, and bowed heads, in utter stillness and silence, assisting at theconsummation of the tremendous mystery.”

Beloved as he was in Constantinople, his denunciations of vice made him numerous enemies. In403 these procured his banishment; and although he was almost immediately recalled, it was notmore than a reprieve. In 404 he was banished to Cucusus in the deserts of the Taurus mountains.His reply to the hostile empress was: “Chrysostom fears only one thing — not exile, prison,poverty or death — but sin.”

In 407, at sixty-three years old his strength was waning, but his enemies were impatient andtransported him to Pytius on the Euxine, a rough journey of nearly 400 miles. He was assiduouslyexposed to every hardship — cold, wet clothing, and semi-starvation, but nothing could overcomehis cheerfulness and his consideration for others. On the journey his sickness increased, and hewas warned that his end was near. Thereupon, exchanging his travel-stained clothes for whitegarments, he received Viaticum, and with his customary words, “Glory be to God for all things.Amen,” passed to Christ. He does not have the title of martyrdom, but possesses all its merit andall its glory. He is the author of the famous words characterizing Saint Paul, object of hisadmiration and love: “The heart of Paul was the Heart of Christ.”

St. Peter Nolasco

In the early thirteenth century the Moors still held much of Spain, and in sudden raids from the seathey carried off thousands of Christians, holding them as slaves in Granada and in their citadelsalong the African coast. A hero of these unfortunates was Saint Peter Nolasco, born about theyear 1189 near Carcassonne in France. When he went to Barcelona to escape the heresy thenrampant in southern France, he consecrated the fortune he had inherited to the redemption of thecaptives taken on the seas by the Saracens. He was obsessed with the thought of their suffering,and desired to sell his own person to deliver his brethren and take their chains upon himself. Godmade it known to him how agreeable that desire was to Him.

Because of these large sums of money he expended, Peter became penniless. He was withoutresources and powerless, when the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and said to him: “Find for Meother men like yourself, an army of brave, generous, unselfish men, and send them into the landswhere the children of the Faith are suffering.” Peter went at once to Saint Raymond of Pennafort,his confessor, who had had a similar revelation and used his influence with King James I ofAragon and with Berengarius, Archbishop of Barcelona, to obtain approbation and support forthe new community. On August 10, 1218, Peter and two companions were received as the firstmembers of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom, dedicated to the recovery of Christian captives.To the three traditional vows of religion, its members joined a fourth, that of delivering their ownpersons to the overlords, if necessary, to ransom Christians.

The Order spread rapidly. Peter and his comrades traveled throughout Christian Spain, recruitingnew members and collecting funds to purchase the captives. Then they began negotiations withthe slave-owners. They penetrated Andalusia, crossed the sea to Tunis and Morocco, and broughthome cargo after cargo of Christians. Although Peter, as General of the Order, was occupied withits organization and administration, he made two trips to Africa where, besides liberating captives,he converted many Moors. He died after a long illness on Christmas night of 1256; he wascanonized by Pope Urban VIII in 1628. His Order continues its religious services, now devoted topreaching and hospital service.

Daily Mass