menses duos; sepultusque est in Basilica Leocadia, circa annum Domini sexcentesimum sexagesimum septimum, Recesvintho in Hispania regnante. Cujus corpus in generali a Sarracenis Hispaniarum occupatione, in civitatem Zamorensem translatum est, et in Ecclesia beati Petri honorifice quiescens, magna illius populi religione colitur. Bishop nine years and two months; and was buried in the Basilica of Saint Leocadia, about the year of our Lord 667, Receswind being then King of Spain. During the general occupation of the kingdom by the Moors, his relics were translated to the city of Zamora, and placed in the Church of Saint Peter, where they are honoured with much devotion by the inhabitants. We salute thee with devout hearts, O holy Pontiff! who standest pre-eminent in thy love of the Mother of God, even in that glorious Spain, where her honour has had such brave defenders. Come, and take thy place near the Crib of Jesus, where this incomparable Mother is watching over this Babe, who, being both her God and her Son, consecrated her virginity, but did not impair it. Pray for us to her, and remind her that she is our Mother also. Ask her to receive the hymns we sing in her honour, and to bless the offering we make of our hearts to her divine Son. That our prayer may find a readier welcome from this august Queen, we will make use of thy own words, O holy Doctor of Mary's Virginity; and thus will we speak to her: "I come to thee, the sole Virgin-Mother of God; "I prostrate myself before thee, the sole co-operatrix "of the Incarnation of my God; I humble myself "before thee, that wast alone found worthy to be the "Mother of my Lord; I pray to thee, the Hand"maid, unlike all others, of thy Son, that thou obtain "for me the forgiveness of my sins, that thou procure "for me the being cleansed from my evil deeds, that "thou get me a love of thy grand glory, that thou 1 Non minuit, sed sacravit. Prayer of the Church, on the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, September 8th. "reveal unto me the exceeding sweetness of thy Jesus, that thou grant me to proclaim and defend the purity of our holy Faith. Grant, that I may cling to my God and to thee, and be faithful to thy Son and to thee-to him as my Creator, to "thee as Mother of my Creator; to him as the Lord of hosts, to thee as the Handmaid of the Lord of "all; to him as God, to thee as Mother of God; to "him as my Redeemer, to thee as the instrument of my redemption. "He became the price of my ransom, but he "became so by his becoming incarnate from thy flesh. He assumed a mortal Body, but he took it from “thine, and with this his sacred Body he blotted out my sins. My own human nature, which he took to "his kingdom, and set it, above the Angels, on the "right hand of his Father, he took from thy pure flesh and blood, when he humbled himself and was "made Man. "I, then, am thy servant, O Mary because thy "Son is my Lord. Thou art our Lady, because thou art the Handmaid of our Lord. I am the servant "of the Handmaid of my Lord, because thou, that "art our Lady, wast made Mother of my Lord. I pray thee, I fervently pray thee, O Holy Virgin! "that I may receive Jesus by that Holy Spirit, by "whom thou didst become Mother of Jesus. May I "be made to know Jesus by that Holy Spirit, by "whom thou didst know, and possess, and bring "forth Jesus. May I speak of Jesus in that same 'Holy Spirit, in whom thou didst confess thyself "the Handmaid of the Lord. May I love Jesus in "that same Holy Ghost, in whom thou adorest him "as thy God, and gazest upon him as thy Son. And may I obey this thy Jesus as faithfully, as he "himself, though God, was subject to thee and to "Joseph." St. Ildephonsus, On the perpetual Virginity of Mary, ch. xii, (2) 2 E JANUARY 24. SAINT TIMOTHY, BISHOP AND MARTYR. BEFORE giving thanks to God for the miraculous Conversion of the Apostle of the Gentiles, the Church assembles us together for the Feast of his favourite Disciple. Timothy--the indefatigable companion of St. Paul-the friend to whom the great Apostle, a few days before shedding his blood for Christ, wrote his last Epistle-comes now to await his master's arrival at the Crib of the Emmanuel. He there meets John the Beloved Disciple, together with whom he bore the anxieties attendant on the government of the Church of Ephesus; Stephen, too, and the other Martyrs, welcome him, for he, also, bears a Martyr's palm in his hand. He presents to the august Mother of the Divine Babe the respectful homage of the Church of Ephesus, which Mary had sanctified by her presence, and which shares with the Church of Jerusalem the honour of having had Her as one of its number, who was not only, like the Apostles, the witness, but moreover, in her quality of Mother of God, the ineffable instrument of the salvation of mankind. Let us now read, in the Office of the Church, the abridged account of the actions of this zealous disciple of the Apostles. Timotheus, Lystris in Timothy was born at LysLycaonia natus ex patre tra in Lycaonia. His father was a Gentile, and his mother a Jewess. When the Apostle Paul came into those parts, Timothy was a follower of the christian religion. The Apostle had heard much of his holy life, and was thereby induced to take him as the companion of his travels: but, on account of the Jews, who had become converts to the faith of Christ, and were aware that the father of Timothy was a Gentile, he administered to him the rite of circumcision. As soon as they arrived at Ephesus, the Apostle ordained him Bishop of that Church. The Apostle addressed two of his Epistles to him-one from Laodicea, the other from Rome-to instruct him how to discharge his pastoral office. He could not endure to see sacrifice, which is due to God alone, offered to the idols of devils; and finding that the people of Ephesus were offering victims to Diana, on her festival, he strove to make them desist from their impious rites. But they, turning upon him, stoned him. The Christians could not deliver him from their hands, till he was more dead than alive. They carried him to a mountain not far from the town, and there, on the ninth of the Calends of February (January 24), he slept in the Lord. Gentili et matre Judæa, christianam colebat religionem, cum in ea loca venit Paulus Apostolus. Qui fama commotus quæ de Timothei sanctitate percrebuerat, ipsum adhibuit socium suæ peregrinationis: sed propter Judæos, qui se ad Christum converterant, scientes Timothei patrem esse Gentilem, eum circumcidit. Cum igitur ambo Ephesum venissent, ibi ordinatus est Episcopus ab Apostolo, ut eam Ecclesiam gubernaret. Ad quem Apostolus duas Epistolas scripsit, alteram Laodicea, alteram Roma: quibus in pastoralis officii cura confirmatus, cum sacrificium, quod uni Deo debetur, fieri dæmonum simulacris ferre non posset, populum Ephesinum Dianæ in ejus celebritate immolantem, ab illa impietate removere conatus, lapidibus obrutus est; ac pene mortuus a christianis ereptus, et in montem oppido vicinum delatus, nono kalendas Februarii obdormivit in Domino. The Greek Church celebrates the memory of St. Timothy in her Menæa, from which we extract the following strophes. DIE XXII. JANUARII. Deisapiens Timothee, torrentem ingressus es deliciarum, et divinitus hausisti gnosim, ferventes imitatus amatores Christi, cujus nunc lætanter adiisti gloriam, contemplans Trinitatem splendidissimam et pacem placidissimam Deisapiens Timothee, frequentibus corporis debilitatibus et infirmitatibus corroboratus secundum mentem, erroris potentiam facile dissolvisti, Christi custoditus potestate, et prædicasti sublimiter divinissimum pacis nobis Evangelium. Mundi fines tua nunc decantant miracula, Thaumaturge immortalis; miraculis etenim te Christus remunerans adornavit, propter ipsum tormenta perpessum, et pro morte tolerata immortali gloria et beatitudine donavit. Effusa est, omnisancte, abundanter gratia e labiis tuis, et flumina dogmatum scaturire fecit Christi Ecclesiam irrigantia et centuplicem ferentia fructum, o Timothee, Christi præco, divine Apostole. Mortificans tuæ membra carnis Verbo subjecisti; dans pejoris, beate Timothee, regimen meliori, passionibus dominatus es, et O Timotheus! full of godly wisdom! thou didst enter into the torrent of delights, and drink in of the mysterious knowledge, imitating the fervent lovers of Christ, into whose glory thou hast now joyfully gone, contemplating the infinitely resplendent Trinity, and most tranquil peace. O Timotheus! full of godly wisdom! thy frequent weaknesses and ailments of body gave thee strength of spirit; thou didst readily reduce to nought the power of error, for thou wast guarded by the power of Christ, and sublimely didst thou preach to us the most divine Gospel of peace. The furthermost ends of the earth now sing thy miracles, Immortal Thaumaturgus! for Christ rewarding thee, adorned thee with the gift of miracles, because thou didst suffer torments for his sake; and he gave thee, for the death thou didst endure, glory and blessedness everlasting. Most holy Saint! grace flowed in plenty from thy lips, and made the streams of dogma water the Church of Christ, and yield fruit a hundred-fold, O Timotheus! thou herald of Christ! thou Apostle of God! Mortifying thy flesh, thou didst subject it to the Word: and making what is superior govern that which is inferior, Ŏ blessed Timotheus! thou |