SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 29TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT GILDAS THE WISE, ABBOT AND SAINT AQUILINUS OF MILAN, PRIEST AND MARTYR – FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 29TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Gildas the Wise, Abbot and Saint Aquilinus of Milan, Priest and Martyr.

SAINT GILDAS THE WISE, ABBOT: St. Gildas (517-570) also known as Gildas Sapiens or Badonicus was a 6th-century British monk and author. St. Gildas was born in Scotland on the banks of the River Clyde. His father’s name was Cau (or Nau) and he came from a noble lineage. He lived in a time when the glory of Rome was faded from Britain. The permanent legions had been withdrawn by Maximus, who used them to sack Rome itself and make himself Emperor. St. Gildas was a celebrated teacher and the first British historian. He’s noted for his piety and was well educated. He was not afraid of publicly rebuking contemporary monarchs, at a time when libel was answered by a sword, rather than a Court order. According to legend, he was forced to flee to Wales, where he was married in his young but was later widowed. After his wife’s death, St. Gildas became a close disciple of St. Illtyd in South Wales in his famous Llanilltud Fawr Monastery in the Vale of Glamorgan, and it was there that St. Gildas was tonsured a monk. Such great saints as Sts. Samson and Paul Aurelian may have studied in Llanilltud together with him. After spending some time in Ireland, he made a pilgrimage to Rome about 520 and founded a religious house at Ruys in Brittany on his way back, reaching Wales in 527. He lived for many years as an ascetic hermit on Flatholm Island in the Bristol Channel. Here he established his reputation for that peculiar Celtic sort of holiness that consists of extreme self-denial and isolation. At around this time, according to the Welsh, he also preached to Nemata, the mother of St David, while she was pregnant with the Saint.

St. Gildas is noted not only as a prominent ascetic, preacher, founder of monasteries and teacher of monks, but also as a spiritual author. He was an outstanding historian and chronicler of the Britons, and his main work, which he was famous for writing is De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae (“On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain”), was written in c.540. This is a Latin work describing moral decline in Britain. In this he writes a brief tale of the island from pre-Roman times and criticizes the rulers of for their lax morals and blames their sins (and those that follow them) for the destruction of civilization in Britain. The book was avowedly written as a moral tale. He also wrote a longer work, the Epistle. This is a series of sermons on the moral laxity of rulers and of the clergy. In these St. Gildas shows that he has a wide reading of the Bible and of some other classical works. Gildas was an influential preacher, visiting Ireland and doing missionary work. He was responsible for the conversion of much of the island and may be the one who introduced anchorite customs to the monks of that land. He retired from Llancarfan to Rhuys, in Brittany, where he founded a monastery. Of his work on the running of a monastery (one of the earliest known in the Christian Church), only the so-called Penitential, a guide for Abbots in setting punishment, survives. Later he visited Ruys and Ireland again and died at Ruys on January 29, 570, surrounded by his disciples at the monastery that he had founded. The monastery became the center of his cult. St. Gildas is regarded as being one of the most influential figures of the early English Church. The influence of his writing was felt until well into the Middle Ages, particularly in the Celtic Church. He’s Patron Saint of Welsh historians and bell founders.

PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection that You have given us in St. Gildas. Amen🙏
 
SAINT AQUILINUS OF MILAN, PRIEST AND MARTYR: St. Aquilinus (d. 1015 A.D.), also known as St. Aquilinus of Cologne, was born to a noble family in Bavaria, Germany. He received his education in Cologne, Germany and was ordained to the priesthood. He was offered the bishopric of Cologne, but turned it down in order to be a missionary priest and itinerant preacher. He traveled through various European cities fighting against the dangerous and spreading heresies of the Cathars, Manichaeans, and Arians. He was also known to work miracles by healing people from disease, especially during a cholera epidemic. He traveled to Paris, where he miraculously cured some people of the cholera. As a result, he was offered the bishopric of Paris, but this he also refused. He traveled to Pavia, where he preached against Cathars, Manichaeans, and Arians there.

Early in the eleventh century, he eventually settled in Milan, Italy, and was so effective in his preaching against the Arian heretics that they stabbed him to death and threw his body in the city sewer. He was martyred along with his companion Constantius (Costanzo). His body was recovered by a group of porters who took him to the nearby oratory of the basilica of San Lorenzo and buried in the Chapel of the Queens in Milan. The chapel was later re-named to bear his name. The Cappella di Sant’Aquilino is dedicated to him and is decorated with 24 scenes from his life and his relics enshrined in an urn. He seems to have enjoyed a continuous cult, and he is honored by the churches of Cologne, Würzburg, and Milan and by the canons of the Lateran. Ancient Breviary lessons, the martyrologies, and the Bollandist critique of the sources all indicate that he was martyred in conflict with arianism and lived probably during the sixth century. He’s Patron Saint of hotel porters (facchini) in Milan.

PRAYER: Loving Father, Saint Aquilinus of Milan became a traveling preacher instead of accepting a high church office.  Serving God’s people was more important to him than status and power.  I accept the position in life to which You have called me.  Help me to be content with doing Your work in my home, my current job, my volunteer work at church and in the community, and take from me every restless desire for wanting recognition and control.  Help me to go only where You direct me.  If it is Your will that I work in a high position, teach me to grow in humility, each and every day.  Saint Aquilinus of Milan intercede for us before the Holy Spirit as we pray for protection against the Coronavirus disease and other diseases plaguing the world. Amen🙏