February 3 — Saint Blase, Bishop and Martyr

Now that the Church has closed the joyous period of her forty days of Christmas, and is putting us through a course of meditations on subjects which are to excite a spirit of penance within us, each of the saints' feasts must produce an impression, which shall be in accordance with that spirit. From this day till Easter, we will study the saints, as they come to us, in this special light : how much they laboured and suffered during their pilgrimage of life, and what was the plan they took for conquering the world and the flesh. 'They went/ says the psalmist, 'and wept, casting their seeds: but coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves/ 1 It shall be the same with us ; and at the end of our lenten labours, our risen Jesus will hail us as His living, regenerated children.

The calendar of this portion of the year abounds with martyrs ; and, at the very outset, we meet with one of the most celebrated of these glorious champions of Christ. The scene of his pastoral virtues and of his martyrdom was Sebaste, a city of Armenia, the same that will give us forty martyred soldiers on a single day. The devotion to St. Blase is, even to this day, most fervently kept up in the east, especially in Armenia. The western Churches soon began to love and honour his memory, and so universally, that we might call him one of the most popular of our saints. His feast, however, with us 1 Ps. cxxv. 6, 7.

SEPTUAGESIMA is only a simple, and the Church of Rome has given only one lesson on his life.

Blasius, Sebaste in Armenia cum virtutum laude floreret, ejusdem civitatis episcopu eligitur. Qui quo tempore Diocletianus insatiabilem crudelitatem in Christianos exercebat, se in speluncam abdidit montis Argsei, ubi tamdiu latuit, dum ab Agricolai pnesidis militibus venantibus deprehensus, et ad prsesidem ductus, ejus jussu conjectus est in vincula. Quo in loco multos segrotos sanavit, qui ad Blasium, ejus fama sanctitatis adducti, deferebantur. In illis puer fuit, qui, desperata a medicis salute, transversa spina faucibus inhserente, animam agebat. Productus autem ad prsesidem Blasius semel et iterum, cum nec blanditiis, nec minis adduci posset ut diis sacrificaret, primum virgis caesus, deinde in equuleo ferreis pectinibus dilaniatus est : postremo, dempto capite, illustre fidei testimonium Christo Domino dedit, tertio Nonas Februarii.

Blase, whose signal virtues made him dear to the people of Sebaste in Armenia, was chosen bishop of that city. When the emperor Diocletian waged his cruel persecution against the Christians, the saint hid himself in a cave on Mount Argeus, and there he remained some time concealed, but was at length discovered by some soldiers of the governor Agricolaus, while they were hunting. They led him to the governor, who gave orders that he should be put into prison. During his imprisonment, many sick people, attracted by the reputation of his sanctity, came to him, and he healed them. Among these was a boy, whose life was despaired of by the physicians, on account of his having swallowed a bone, which could not be extracted from his throat. The saint was twice brought before the governor, but neither fair promises nor threats could induce him to offer sacrifice to the gods. Whereupon, he was first beaten with rods, and then his flesh was torn with iron hooks while he lay stretched on the rack. At length he was beheaded, and nobly gave testimony to the faith of Christ our Lord, on the third of the Nones of February (February 3).

Accept, 0 glorious martyr, the praise which we, too, offer thee in union with that given thee by the whole Church. In return for this homage of our

FEBRUARY 3. ST. BLASE veneration, look down upon the Christian people, who are now preparing to enter on the season of penance, and to be converted to the Lord their God by holy compunction and tears. We ask it of thee by thine own combat : assist us in the one for which we are preparing. When duty required thee to undergo tortures and death, it found thee ready and brave ; our duty is expiation by penance, and thy prayers must get us courage. Our enemies are not more cruel than thine, but they are more treacherous, and if we spare them we are lost. Obtain for us that heavenly assistance, which enabled thee to conquer. We are children of the martyrs; God forbid we should be degenerate ! Pray, too, 0 holy pontiff, for the country thou didst water with thy blood. Armenia lost the faith for which thou didst lay down thy life. Intercede for her, that she may be restored to the Church, and let her conversion bring consolation to the few that have remained orthodox and faithful.

February 4

SAINT ANDEEW COESINI, BISHOP AND CONFESSOK

The saintly bishop, whose feast we keep to-day, pressingly invites us, by his austere life and his burning zeal for the salvation of souls, to procure, at all costs, our own reconciliation with the divine justice. We are indebted for this feast to a member of the illustrious family of the Corsini, Pope Clement XII., who, however, was but the instrument used by divine Providence. The holy bishop of the little town of Fiesole ever sought to be unknown during his life, and God, who willed that he should be glorified by the whole Church, inspired the

SEPTUAGESIMA sovereign Pontiff to inscribe his name among the saints of the universal calendar. Andrew the saint was once a sinner ; his example will encourage us in the work of our conversion.

Let us read the account of his virtues as given us by the Church.

Andream Florentise ex nobili Corsinorum familia natum parentes precibus a Deo impetrarunt, et beat© Virgini spoponderunt. Qualis autem futurus esset, divino praesagio, antequam nasceretur, ostensum est ; nam mater gravida sibi visa est per quietem lupum edidisse, qui, ad Carmelitarum sedem pergens, in ipso templi vestibulo statim in agnum conversus est. Adolescens pie et ingenue educatus, cum sensim ad vitia declinaret, saepe a matre increpatus fuit. Ubi autem cognovit, se parentum voto Deiparse Virgini dicatum fuisse, Dei amore succensus, deque visu matris admonitus, Carmelitarum institutum amplexus est, in quo variis tentationibus a dsemone vexatus, numquam tamen potuit a religionis proposito dimoveri. Mox Lutetiam missus, emenso studiorum curriculo, et laurea donatus in patriam revocatur, suique Ordinis regimini in Etruria prsencAtur.

Andrew was born at Florence, of the noble Corsini family. He was the fruit of t his parents' prayers, and was consecrated by them to the blessed Virgin. . His future was thus shown by God to the mother. She dreamt that she had given birth to a wolf, which went to the church of the Carmelites, and, as it crossed the threshold, was suddenly changed into a lamb. Though his early education was calculated to form him to piety, and to everything that suited his high birth, he, by degrees, fell into a vicious manner of life, notwithstanding the frequent reproaches made him by his mother. But as soon as he was told that he had been consecrated by his parents to the Virgin Mother of God, and heard of his mother's vision, he entered the Order of Carmelites. The devil ceased not to molest him, even then, with manifold temptations ; but nothing could make him change his resolution of entering the religious life. Shortly after his profession, he was sent to Paris for a course of study ; having completed it, and taken his degrees, he returned to Italy, and was made superior of his Order in the province of Tuscany.