SAINT (S) OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 10TH:

MEMORIAL OF SAINT WILLIAM OF BOURGES, BISHOP – FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 10TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint William of Bourges, Bishop.

SAINT WILLIAM OF BOURGES, BISHOP: St. William (1155–1209), an abbot in 12th century France, was a descendant of the family of the ancient Counts of Nevers. He was educated under the care of Peter, Archdeacon of Soissons, his maternal uncle. Though his father planned for him to become a soldier and a career in the military, St. William followed his longing for a religious life dedicated to God. At an early age he learned to despite the vanities of the World and to give himself with ardor to exercises of piety and to the acquisition of knowledge. On entering the ecclesiastical state he became Canon of Soissons and of Paris. Later he resolved to abandon the world and enter the Order of Grammont. St. William lived in this Order for some time and practiced great austerities. Dissensions arose between the fathers and lay brothers, which caused him to pass over to the austere Order of Citeaux that had recently been founded.

St. William took the habit at Pontigny, and after some time became Abbot, first of Fontaine Jean, and later of Chaalis near Senlis. St. William had a special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and loved to spend much of his time at the foot of the altar. In the year 1200 the clergy of the Church of Bourges elected him to succeed Henry de Sully, their Archbishop; but the news overwhelmed him with grief, he was very reluctant to leave his solitude and life of prayer as a monk. It took two orders of obedience, one from his religious superior, the Abbot of Citeaux and another from Pope Innocent III himself, to convince him to accept the dignity. In his new office, St. William led his people by example, he redoubled his austerities, he was known for the disciplines he used to sharpen his will, including fasting from flesh meat and constantly wearing a hairshirt and he gave personal care to the poor, sick, and imprisoned. He lived during a time when a certain heresy was popular, and converted many people away from that distortion of the faith.

St. William was preparing for a mission among the Albigenses when he died kneeling at prayer in 1209. Witnesses counted 18 miracles when he was alive and another 18 after his death on January 10, 1209. As he had requested, he was buried in ashes wearing a hairshirt and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. He was canonized in 1217 by Pope Honorius III. St. William of Bourges is Patron Saint of the University of Paris.

PRAYER: Almighty and ever-living God, You willed to make Bishop William rule over Your people. Grant by his interceding merits that we may receive the grace of Your mercy. Amen🙏