A Community of Love, Unity and Service

St. Guy of Anderlecht

Saint Guy was born at Anderlecht, a village near Brussels, in the tenth century. As a child he had two loves, the Church and the poor, and he wished to be himself among that special little flock of Christ, the poor. While still very young he visited and cared for the sick, and he was regarded by the villagers as a young Saint.

As he grew older, love of prayer increased in him in a prodigious manner. One day when he was praying in the church of Our Lady at Laeken, a short distance from Brussels, he manifested such devotion before Our Lady’s shrine that the priest, drawing him into conversation, prayed him to stay and serve the Church. Thenceforth his great joy was to be constantly in the church, sweeping the floor, polishing the altars, and cleansing the sacred vessels. He spent entire nights in the church in prayer. By day he still found time and means to befriend the poor, so that his almsgiving became famous throughout the entire region.

A merchant of Brussels, hearing of the generosity of this humble sacristan, was prompted by a demon to go to Laeken and offer him a share of his business, telling him he would have the means thereby to give more to the poor. Guy had no desire to leave the church, but the offer seemed providential and he accepted it. The first ship bearing a cargo in which Guy had an interest, however, was lost, and he realized he had made a mistake. When he returned to Laeken, he found his place at the church filled. The rest of his life was one long penance for his inconstancy. For seven years he made pilgrimages of penance, visiting Rome and the Holy Land and other famous shrines. About the year 1012 he returned to Anderlecht in his native land. When he died in that same year, a light shone round him, and a voice was heard proclaiming his eternal reward. He was buried in the cemetery of the canons of Anderlecht.

Holy Name of Mary

This feast was established by Pope Innocent XI in 1683, that the faithful may in a particular manner recommend to God on this day, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, the necessities of His Church, and return Him thanks for His gracious protection and numberless mercies.

What gave occasion to the institution of this feast was the desire of all Christendom for a solemn thanksgiving which would commemorate the deliverance of Vienna, obtained through the intercession of Our Lady, when the city was besieged by the Turks in 1683. An army of 550,000 invaders had reached the city walls and was threatening all of Europe. John Sobieski, King of Poland, came with a much smaller army to assist the besieged city during the octave of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, and made ready for a great battle. This religious prince began by having a Mass celebrated, which he himself desired to serve, his arms in a cross. After receiving Communion with fervor, he rose at the close of the sacrifice and cried out: “Let us march with confidence under the protection of Heaven and with the aid of the Most Holy Virgin!” His hope was not disappointed; the Turks were struck with a sudden panic and fled in disorder. From that time the feast day has been celebrated during the octave of the Nativity of Our Lady.

St. Eulogius of Alexandria

Saint Eulogius was born in the sixth century in Syria, and embraced the monastic state in that country. The Eutychian heresy had thrown the Churches of both Syria and Egypt into much confusion, and many of the monks of Syria had fallen at that time into loose morals and serious error. Eulogius learned by observing the decline of others to stand more watchfully and firmly upon guard over himself. He was not less distinguished by the innocence and sanctity of his habits than by the purity of his doctrine.

While young he had attained to a great variety of useful knowledge in the various humanistic studies; he undertook as a monk to study the sources of sacred science, which are the Holy Scriptures, the Church’s Tradition as exposed in its councils, and the approved writings of its Saints and eminent shepherds. Amid the great dangers and necessities of the Church he was drawn out of his solitude and ordained a priest in Antioch by its patriarch Saint Anastasius.

When the Patriarch of Alexandria died, Saint Eulogius was raised to that patriarchal dignity toward the close of the year 583. About two years later he was obliged to make a journey to Constantinople, in order to consult concerning certain affairs of his Church. At the court he met Saint Gregory the Great and contracted with him a holy friendship, so that from that time they seemed to have but one heart and one soul. It was said by the scholarly Cardinal Baronius, that Saint Gregory hoped he might succeed him in Rome. Among the letters of Saint Gregory still exist several which he wrote to the Egyptian Patriarch. Saint Eulogius composed many excellent works against the heresies, which have unfortunately been lost, but which Saint Gregory praised in his writings. Among them was a defense of Pope Leo the Great and the Council of Chalcedon. Of his works only one sermon and a few fragments of the other documents remain. He died in the year 606, after renewing the church of Alexandria, it has been said, in the life and youthful vigor characteristic only of churches which remain closely united to their visible Head on earth, the Vicar of Christ.

St. Maurilius

Saint Maurilius, closely associated with the early history of the church of France, was born near Milan, of an illustrious Christian family, in the year 336. He was later drawn to Tours by the virtues of Saint Martin, who had built a monastery in Milan, where he had undertaken to form young men to virtue and sacred studies. Maurilius was among them; but when the Arians drove Saint Martin, a stranger in Italy, from the city, he lost his beloved master. He remained for a time as cantor for Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan, but after the death of his father renounced his patrimony and went to Tours to rejoin Saint Martin; there the Apostle of Gaul ordained him a priest.

He devoted himself to the salvation of souls; his zeal led him to a site near Angers where, by his prayers, he brought down fire from heaven on a pagan temple, and afterwards built a church of Jesus Christ at the same site. Alongside it he had a monastery constructed, and soon many souls came to dwell in the shadow of the cross, thus forming the city of Chalonne. When the bishop of Angers died, Maurilius was chosen by Saint Martin to succeed him. On the day of his consecration, a dove entered the church and came to rest on his head.

A few years later, a strange episode occurred. During the consecration of a Mass celebrated by the bishop, a dying child was brought in great haste to the church, to receive Confirmation. The Saint waited for the end of the Holy Sacrifice, but during this time the child died. Maurilius was so grieved by this that he fled without advising anyone and embarked for England, where in great humility he took employment as the gardener of a nobleman. His diocesans at Angers were inconsolable, and sought him out so well that they discovered his retreat. He refused, however, to return as bishop, stating that he could not do so because during his voyage he had lost at sea the keys to the cathedral, and had vowed not to return until he found them. “But see,” said the messengers, “what we have here; during our crossing a fish was cast up by a wave onto the deck of the ship, and in its stomach we found these keys!” Maurilius obeyed the Will of Heaven. When he returned he asked to be taken to the tomb of the child, and with tears streaming from his eyes asked God to restore him to life. The resurrected child was given the name of René for this reason, which in French means reborn, and he became the successor to Maurilius as bishop of Angers.

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

In the year 627, during the reign of the emperor Heraclius I of Constantinople, the Persians conquered the city of Jerusalem and removed from its venerable Sanctuary the major part of the true Cross of Our Lord, which Saint Helen, mother of the emperor Constantine, had left there after discovering it on Calvary. The emperor resolved to win back by combat this precious object, the new Ark of the Covenant for the new people of God. Before he left Constantinople with his army, Heraclius went to the church wearing black in the spirit of penance; he prostrated himself before the altar and begged God to sustain his courage. And on leaving he took with him a miraculous image of the Saviour, determined to combat with it even unto death.

Heaven visibly assisted the valiant emperor, for his army won victory after victory. One of the conditions of the peace treaty was the return of the Cross of Our Lord, in the same condition as when it was removed. Heraclius on his return was received in Constantinople by the acclamations of the people; with olive branches and torches, they went out to meet him. And the true Cross was honored, on this occasion, in a magnificent triumph.

The emperor wished to give thanks to God by going in person to Jerusalem to return this sacred wood, which had been in the power of the pagans for fourteen years. When he reached the Holy City, he placed the precious relic on his shoulders, but when he came to the gate leading out to Calvary, it became impossible for him to go forward. He was greatly astonished, and those in attendance were stupefied. “Take care, O Emperor!” said the Patriarch Zachary to him. “Certainly the imperial clothing you are wearing does not sufficiently resemble the poor and humiliated condition of Jesus carrying His cross.” Heraclius was touched on hearing this; he removed his shoes and his imperial robes, adorned with gold and jewels. Wearing a poor man’s tunic, he was able to go up to Calvary and depose there his glorious burden. To give greater brilliance to this triumphant march, God permitted several miracles to occur by the power of the Cross of Christ. A dead man returned to life, four paralytics were cured; ten lepers recovered their health and fifteen blind persons their sight; many possessed persons were delivered from the evil spirit, and a large number of sick persons were completely cured.

In those days the greatest power of the Catholic world was the Empire of the East, and that bulwark against the eastern pagans was verging toward its ruin, before God put forth His hand to save it in this way. The re-establishment of the Cross at Jerusalem, by means of the emperor’s Christian valor, was a sure pledge of its protection. It was after these events that the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was instituted, to perpetuatetheir memory in the Church.

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