SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: MARCH 28TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT CONON OF NASO, ABBOT; SAINT STEPHEN HARDING, ABBOT AND SAINT GONTRAN, KING AND CONFESSOR: FEAST DAY: MARCH 28TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Conon of Naso, Abbot; Saint Stephen Harding, Abbot and Saint Gontran, King and Confessor. St. Gontran is a perfect example of God’s mercy and forgiveness and he is the patron saint of divorced people, guardians, and repentant murderers. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the conversion of sinners and for all Christians during this season of Lent. Amen🙏

SAINT CONON OF NASO, ABBOT: St. Conon of Naso (1139–1236) was born on June 3, 1139 at Naso, Sicily. He was a wealthy nobleman, the son of a Count, from Naso, Italy. He was a devout young man, and at the age of 15 become a monk. He lived as a hermit until being called to serve the local monastery as its abbot. Upon the death of his parents he distributed his inheritance to the poor. While on pilgrimage to Jerusalem he had a vision of a priest he knew being choked by a snake. St. Conon raced to the priest to warn him of the danger. The priest’s heart was convicted by the truth of the vision and confessed that he was hoarding money and neglecting the poor. Under St.  Conon’s direction the priest gave his excessive savings to the poor and recommitted his life to serving others. Another tale tells of how  St. Conon healed a Sicilian boy of his apoplexy.

St. Conon died on March 28, 1236 at Naso, Sicily, Italy. After his death, St. Conon was hailed as a miracle worker. In 1571, Naso  was in the midst of a dire famine. The people of the city prayed for the intercession of St. Conon, their Patron Saint. The city of Naso experienced a series of terrible storms which destroyed crops and disrupted the shipping trade, and the city ran out of grain and other food supplies. When the famine became severe, St. Conon appeared in a vision to a ship captain who was preparing to transport a load of grain. St. Conon told the captain to change course and take the grain to Naso. The captain obeyed the vision and arrived in Naso with food to relieve the famine, thus the people of Naso survived the famine.

Saint Conon of Naso, Abbot ~ Pray for us🙏

SAINT STEPHEN HARDING, ABBOT: St. Stephen Harding (1050-1134) was an English-born monk and abbot, who was one of the founders of the Cistercian Order. He was born at Dorset, England, in 1050, early in the second half of the 11th century and was educated at the Sherborne Abbey. As a young man he traveled abroad and grew into a person of great charm and first-rate scholar. Eventually, he became a monk at the Abbey of Molesme in Burgundy, where he came under the influence of the Abbot, St. Robert, and his zeal for reform. In 1098, together with St. Robert, St. Alberic, and some twenty other monks of Molesme, St. Stephen founded a new monastery at Citeaux. Here they lived a life that was simple and austere, in accord with the letter of the Rule of St. Benedict. Upon St. Alberic’s death in 1108, St. Stephen became the third Abbot of Citeaus and built up the community—undergoing many hardships because of his high ideals.

In 1112, St. Bernard arrived there with thirty of his followers, and the fortunes of the monastery took an upward turn. During the next eight years alone, a dozen Cistercian houses had to be erected to hold those who flocked to the ideals of the new community, and many more followed. In 1119, St. Stephen drew up the “Charta of Charity,” which defined the spirit of the Cistercian Abbeys and provided their unity, and has become a most important document in the history of Western monasticism. The Cistercian life is an accurate barometer of St. Stephen’s character; its high ideals, careful organization, austerity, and simplicity mirror the traits of this great Saint who ruled the community for twenty-five years. In 1133, he resigned his office because of near-blindness and advancing age, and on March 28, 1134, he passed on to his heavenly reward. He was canonized in 1623.

PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection which You have given us in St. Stephen the Abbot. Amen. Saint Stephen Harding, Abbot ~ Pray for us🙏

SAINT GONTRAN, KING AND CONFESSOR: St. Gontran (532-592) was born in 532 in Soissons, the son of King Clotaire and grandson of Clovis I and Saint Clotildis. When Clotaire died in 561, his domains were divided among his four sons. While Gontran’s brother Caribert reigned at Paris, Sigebert in Metz, and Chilperic in Soissons, he was crowned king of Orleans and Burgundy in 561. He reigned as king from 561 – 592.  He then made Chalons-sur-Saone his capital. When compelled to take up arms against his ambitious brothers and the Lombards, he made no other use of his victories, gained under the conduct of a brave general called Mommol, than to give peace to his dominions. The crimes in which the barbarous habits of his nation involved him, he effaced by tears of repentance. The prosperity of his reign, both in peace and war, condemns those who suppose that human policy cannot be determined by the maxims of the Gospel, whereas the truth is just the contrary: no others can render a government so efficacious and prosperous.

Saint Gontran always treated the pastors of the Church with respect and veneration. He was the protector of the oppressed, and the tender parent of his subjects. He gave the greatest attention to the care of the sick. He fasted, prayed, wept, and offered himself to God night and day as a victim ready to be sacrificed on the altar of His justice, to avert His indignation, which Saint Gontran believed he himself provoked and drew down upon his innocent people. He was a severe punisher of crimes in his officers and others, and by many wholesome regulations he restrained the barbarous licentiousness of his troops, but no man was ever more ready to forgive offenses against his own person. With royal magnificence, he built and endowed many churches and monasteries. This good king, St. Gontran died on March 28, 592 in Chalon-sur-Saône at the age of 60, having reigned thirty-one years. He’s the Patron Saint of  Divorced people, guardians, and repentant murderers.

Saint Gontran, King and Confessor ~ Pray for us🙏