St. Paul
The First Hermit
Paul the first
hermit, and model of all others, was a native of the lower Thebaid in Egypt. At
the age of fifteen years he lost both his parents. In order to escape
from the persecution of Decius and Valerian, and to serve God in quietness, he
betook himself to a cave in the desert. Here there was a palm-tree, on the
fruit of which he lived, and of whose leaves he made his raiment until he
attained the age of 113 years. At that time Anthony, being now himself aged 90 years,
received a command from God to go and see him. They met without knowing one
another’s names, and saluted one another, after which they fell straightway
into a long discourse concerning the kingdom of God. Now it so happened that a
raven had of a long time brought Paul every day half a loaf, but on this day
while they spake together he brought a whole one.
When the raven had flown away Well, quoth
Paul, “the Lord hath sent us our dinner. Truly He is gracious; truly He is
merciful. It is now sixty years that I have had half a loaf of bread every day,
but now that thou art come, Christ giveth His soldiers double rations.” Then they
asked a blessing, and ate together, sitting by a spring. When they were
refreshed, they returned thanks, as is the custom, and afterwards spent the
whole night praising God. At break of day Paul felt the approach of death, and
desired Anthony to bring the cloak which Athanasius had given him, to use for his
winding-sheet. While Anthony was on his way back from this journey, he saw in a
vision the soul of Paul ascending to heaven, surrounded by choirs of angels,
and accompanied by the Prophets and Apostles.
When Anthony reached the cell of Paul, he
found the dead body of the Saint
in a kneeling posture, with the head thrown up and the hands stretched out
towards heaven. He immediately began to chant the psalms and hymns ordained by Christian
tradition, while he wrapped the body in the cloak of Athanasius. He had no spade
to dig a grave, but two lions came racing from the desert, as though to attend
the burying, and scratched a hole big enough to hold a man’s body, with their
paws, showing meanwhile such signs of grief as their nature alloweth. When they
were gone away, Anthony put the holy body in this hole, covered it with earth,
and arranged it like a Christian’s grave. He took away for himself Paul’s
tunic, which he had woven out of the palm-leaves somewhat after the manner of
basket-work, and this tunic Anthony was in the habit of wearing on the great
days of the Passover and Pentecost as long as he lived.
St. Benedict
orders St. Maurus to the rescue of St. Placid
St. Maurus, Abbot
St. Maurus one of
the greatest masters of the Cenobitical Life, and the most illustrious of the
Disciples of St. Benedict, the Patriarch of the Monks of the West shares with
the First Hermit the honours of this fifteenth day of January. Faithful, like
the holy Hermit, to the lessons taught at Bethlehem, Maurus has a claim to have
his Feast kept during the forty days, which are sacred to the sweet Babe Jesus.
He comes to us each January to bear witness to the power of that Babe's
humility. Who, forsooth, will dare to doubt of the triumphant power of the
Poverty, and the obedience shown in the Crib of our Emmanuel, when he is told
of the grand things done by those virtues in the Cloisters of Fair France?
It was to Maurus that France was indebted
for the introduction into her territory of that admirable Rule, which produced
the great Saints, and the great Men, to whom she owes the best part of her
glory. The children of St. Benedict, by St. Maurus, struggled against the
barbarism of the Franks, under the first race of her kings; under the second,
they instructed, in sacred and profane literature, the people, in whose
civilization they had so powerfully co-operated; under the third and even in
modern times, when the Benedictine Order, enslaved by the system of
Commendatory-Abbots, and decimated by political tyranny or violence, was dying
out amidst every kind of humiliation they were the fathers of the poor by the
charitable use of their large possessions, and the ornaments of literature and
science by their immense contributions to ecclesiastical science and
archaeology, as also to the history of their own country.
Maurus was born of
a noble Roman family, and while he was yet a child was offered to God by his
father Eutychius, in the order and under the personal teaching of St Benedict.* In a short while he made such progress in the life of grace that he became a
wonder to his master, who often held him up to his other disciples as a pattern
of regular observance and all virtues. While he was yet very young, Pope St
Gregory telleth a wonderful instance of his obedience. Placid the monk having
fallen into a lake where he was being swept away by the current, the holy
Patriarch called Maurus and bade him run to the rescue, which he
did, walking on the water till he reached Placid, whom he took by the hair of
the head and dragged to the shore. He was sent by St Benedict into France,
where he founded the celebrated monastery [of Glanfeuil, now called St Maur-sur
-Loire,] which he governed for forty years. He was a zealous and successful
propagator of monastic discipline. He passed to heaven, famous for holiness and
miracles, when he was more than seventy years of age, in the year of Salvation
565.
* This custom of offering little
children was permitted by St Benedict, but is now forbidden. St. Maurus was
dedicated at twelve years of age, in the year 522.
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
Commemoration
St. Paul, First Hermit and
St. Maurus, Abbot
Semi-double – Green vestments
INTROIT - Psalm 65: 4
Omnis terra adóret
te, Deus, et psallat tibi: psalmum dicat nómini tuo, Altíssime, Ps. 65. 1-2. Jubiláte Deo, omnis terra, psalmum dícite
nómini ejus: date glóriam laudi ejus. V. Glória
Patri.
Let all the earth
adore Thee O God, and sing to Thee: let it sing a psalm to Thy name, O Most
High. Ps. Shout with joy to God, all the earth,
sing ye a psalm to His name: give glory to His praise V.
Glory be to the Father.
COLLECT
Almighty and
everlasting God who dost govern all things in heaven and earth, mercifully hear
the prayers of Thy people, and grant us Thy peace all the days of our life.
Through our Lord.
ST. PAUL, HERMIT
O God, who dost
gladden us by the annual feast of blessed Paul, Thy Confessor: mercifully
grant, that we may follow the example of his life, whose heavenly birthday we
celebrate. Through our Lord.
ST. MAURUS, ABBOT
May the
intercession of blessed Maurus, the Abbot, commend us unto Thee, we beseech
Thee, O Lord: so that what we may not have by any merits of ours, we may obtain
by his patronage. Through our Lord.
EPISTLE - Romans 12: 6-16
Brethren: Having
different gifts, according to the grace that is given us: either prophecy, to
be used according to the rule of faith; or ministry, in ministering; or he that
teacheth, in doctrine; he that exhorteth, in exhorting; he that giveth, with
simplicity; he that ruleth, with carefulness; he that showeth mercy, with
cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Hating that which is evil,
cleaving to that which is good: loving one another with the charity of
brotherhood, with honour preventing one another: in carefulness not slothful:
in spirit fervent: serving the Lord: rejoicing in hope: patient in tribulation:
instant in prayer: communicating to the necessities of the saints: pursuing
hospitality. Bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them
that rejoice, weep with them that weep: being of one mind one towards another;
not minding high things, but consenting to the humble.
GRADUAL - Psalm 106: 20-21
The Lord sent His
word, and healed them: and delivered them from their destruction. V. Let the
mercies of the Lord give glory to Him: and His wonderful works to the children
of men.
ALLELUIA - Psalm 148: 2
Alleluia,
alleluia. V. Praise ye the Lord, all His Angels:
praise ye Him, all His hosts. Alleluia.
GOSPEL John 2: 1-11
At that time there
was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus
also was invited, and His disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the
mother of Jesus saith to Him: They have no wine. And Jesus saith to her: Woman,
what is that to Me and to thee? My hour is not yet come. His mother saith to
the waiters: Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye. Now there were set there
six water-pots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews,
containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to them: Fill the
waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus said to
them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they
carried it. And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew
not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water: the chief
steward calleth the bridegroom, and saith to him: Every man at first setteth
forth good wine: and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but
thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in
Cana of Galilee; and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
Homily by St
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.
(9th Tract on John.)
Even setting aside
any mystical interpretation, the fact that the Lord was pleased to be asked,
and to go to a marriage, showeth plainly enough that He is the Author and
Blesser of marriage. There were yet to be those of whom the Apostle hath warned
us as forbidding to marry; who say that marriage is a bad thing in itself, and
a work of the devil. Yet we read in the Gospel that when the Lord was asked, Is
it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? He answered that it
was not lawful, except it were for fornication. In which answer ye will
remember that He used these words: What God hath joined together, let not man
put asunder.
They who are well
instructed in the Catholic religion know that God is the Author and Blesser of
marriage; and that, whereas joining together in marriage is of God, divorce is
of the devil. But it is lawful for a man to put away his wife in case of
fornication, For by not keeping a wife's faith to her husband she herself hath
first willed not to be wife. They also who have made a vow of their virginity
to God and have thereby attained to an higher degree of honour and holiness in
the Church, are not unmarried, for they are a special part of the marriage of
the whole Church, which is the Bride of Christ.
Lord, being asked, went to the marriage,
to strengthen the marriage tie, and to shed light on the hidden meaning of
matrimony. In that marriage feast the Bridegroom to whom it was said,
"Thou hast kept the good wine until now," was a figure of the Lord Christ,
Who hath kept until now the good wine, namely the Gospel.
OFFERTORY - Psalm 65: 1-2, 16
Shout with joy to
God, all the earth: sing ye a psalm to His name: come and hear, all ye that
fear God, and I will tell you what great things the Lord hath done for my soul.
Alleluia.
SECRET
Sanctify, O Lord,
the gifts which we offer, and cleanse us from the stains of our sins. Through
our Lord.
COMMEMORATION OF ST. PAUL, HERMIT
In memory of Thy
Saints, O Lord, we offer Thee the sacrifice of praise, by which we trust to be
freed from both present and future evils. Through our Lord.
St. Maurus
rescues St. Placid
ST. MAURUS, ABBOT
May the holy Abbot
Maurus, we beseech Thee, O Lord, obtain for us by his prayers, that the
Sacrifice laid on Thy holy altar may profit us unto salvation. Through our
Lord.
PREFACE OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY
It is truly meet
and just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all
places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God:
Who, together with Thine only-begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost, are one God,
one Lord: not in the oneness of a single Person, but in the Trinity of one
substance. For what we believe by Thy revelation of Thy glory, the same do we
believe of Thy Son, the same of the Holy Ghost, without difference or
separation. So that in confessing the true and everlasting Godhead, distinction
in persons, unity in essence, and equality in majesty may be adored. Which the
Angels and Archangels, the Cherubim also and Seraphim do praise: who cease not
daily to cry out with one voice saying:
SANCTUS
Sanctus, Sanctus,
Sanctus. Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra gloria tua.
Hosanna in
excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.
COMMUNION – John 2: 7, 8, 9, 10-11
The Lord saith:
Fill the waterpots with water, and carry to the chief steward. When the chief
steward had tasted the water made wine, he saith to the bridegroom: Thou hast
kept the good wine until now. This first miracle did Jesus in the presence of
His disciples.
POSTCOMMUNION
May the operation
of Thy power be increased within us; we beseech Thee, O Lord, that being
quickened by Thy divine sacraments, we may by Thy bounty, be prepared to
receive that which they promise. Through our Lord.
ST. PAUL, HERMIT
We who are
refreshed by heavenly meat and drink, humbly entreat Thee, O our God, that we
may be defended by the prayers of him in whose memory we have received them.
Through our Lord.
ST. MAURUS, ABBOT
May the pleading
of blessed Maurus, the Abbot, for us, as well as the reception of Thy
Sacrament, protect us, O Lord, that we may both share in the glory of his
works, and receive the help of his intercession. Through our Lord.
