MEMORIAL OF SAINT HENRY II, EMPEROR; SAINT ANACLETUS, POPE AND MARTYR; SAINT MILDRED, RELIGIOUS; SAINT CLELIA BARBIERI, RELIGIOUS AND SAINT EUGENIUS, BISHOP ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 13TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Henry II, Emperor; Saint Anacletus, Pope and Martyr; Saint Mildred; Saint Clelia Barbieri and Saint Eugenius, Bishop. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for those seeking for the fruit of the womb, may God bless them with the gift of children, we pray for those going through difficulties during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINT HENRY II, KING OF GERMANY AND EMPEROR; St. Henry II (972-1024 A.D.) was a German king who led and defended Europe’s Holy Roman Empire at the beginning of the first millennium. He became successively Duke of Bavaria, King of Germany and Emperor, devoted himself to the spread of religion by rebuilding churches and founding monasteries. St. Henry II was born in 972 to Duke Henry of Bavaria and Princess Gisela of Burgundy. During his youth, St. Henry received both an education and spiritual guidance from a bishop who was himself canonized, St. Wolfgang of Regensberg. St. Henry was an intelligent and devout student, and for a period of time he was considered for the priesthood. St. Wolfgang’s lessons in piety and charity left a lasting mark on St. Henry’s soul. But it was ultimately in the political realm, not the Church, that he would seek to exercise these virtues. He took on his father’s position as Duke of Bavaria in 995, one year after St. Wolfgang’s death and took a holy woman as his wife. Upon the sudden death of his cousin he also became the King of Germany. The Church supported his accession to the throne as King of Germany in 1002. As king, St. Henry encouraged the German bishops to reform the practices of the Church in accordance with canon law. During the same period he is said to have brought a peaceful end to a revolt in his territory, which ended with the king mercifully pardoning the rebels. St. Henry also acted decisively, but not harshly, against an Italian nobleman who set himself up as a rival king.
In 1014, the German king journeyed to Rome where Pope Benedict VIII formally crowned him as head of the Holy Roman Empire. The emperor demonstrated his loyalty to the Pope by confirming Benedict VIII’s authority over the city of Rome. St. Henry made his journey from Rome back to Germany into a pilgrimage of sorts, stopping at various monasteries along the way. St. Henry was determined to rule the empire with justice for the greater glory of God. He was known for his virtue and great faith; when entering any town, he would first pray in a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He also invoked the saints to help him in battle against pagan armies. St. Henry became a great patron of churches and monasteries, donating so much of his wealth to them that his relatives complained that he was behaving irresponsibly. But St. Henry was far from irresponsible, as his leadership of the Western Empire in both war and peace demonstrated. The emperor was also a great patron of the poor, making enormous contributions for their relief. The emperor’s extraordinary generosity was made possible in part by his lack of an heir. He was married to a woman who was later canonized in her own right, St. Cunigunde of Luxembourg, but the two had no children. Some accounts say that the couple took vows of virginity and never consummated their marriage, though this explanation of their childlessness is not universally accepted.
Both St. Henry and his wife, St. Cunegundes, lived in perpetual chastity, to which they had bound themselves by vow during their marriage and therefore remained childless. The Saint made numerous pious foundations, gave liberally to pious institutions and built the Cathedral of Bamberg. For the last several years of his life, St. Henry had to deal with serious illness, and an additional ailment that crippled his left leg, along with his imperial responsibilities. He found support in prayer during these trials, and seriously considered resigning his imperial leadership in order to become a monk. St. Henry tried to enter a monastery after the death of his wife, however, his application was refused because it was thought he would continue to do much good if he remained in the world. After several years of illness he died in July of 1024 at the castle of Grone, near Halberstad, and was buried in the cathedral there; his holy wife was laid by his side fifteen years later. The public mourned sincerely for the monarch who had managed to lead his earthly kingdom so responsibly without losing sight of the Kingdom of God. He was canonized in 1146 by Pope Eugene III. He’s Patron Saint of the disadvantaged, childless people; infertility; of Dukes; of the handicapped and those rejected by Religious Order; Basel, Switzerland; Benedictine Oblates; physically challenged people; sterility.
PRAYER: God, You filled St. Henry with the abundance of Your grace to govern his earthly empire worthily, and called him to share Your glory in heaven. Through his intercession help us to shun the allurements of the world and come to You with pure minds. Amen 🙏
SAINT ANACLETUS, POPE AND MARTYR: Saint Anacletus, also known as Cletus, was the third bishop of Rome, following Sts. Peter and Linus. St. Anacletus served as pope between c. 79 and his death, c. 92. Cletus was a Roman who, during his tenure as pope, ordained a number of priests and is traditionally credited with setting up about twenty-five parishes in Rome. Saint Anacletus was a successor to Saint Peter, by whom he was converted to the faith. He was also ordained a deacon and consecrated priest by Christ’s own first Vicar, as Saint Ignatius of Antioch affirms. He was Greek by origin, born in Athens; in the year 83 he was chosen to succeed Saint Linus, who had been martyred. The emperor Domitian had begun a violent persecution which increased in fury as time passed; but the faith of the Christians did not diminish, only receiving new force from the blood of the martyrs. This holy Pontiff omitted no solicitude which could animate the faithful to expose their lives generously for the glory of Jesus Christ. During his nine years of reign, he consecrated six bishops. The last of these bishops was Saint Evaristus, who would succeed him; Saint Anacletus consecrated him the year before his death, foreseeing he could not long escape the fate of all the first Vicars of Christ.
One of his enduring ordinances was the law that for the consecration of a bishop, three bishops must participate; that practice had been established by Saint Paul. He also required that all ordinations be accomplished in public. He built a church in honor of Saint Peter, to whom he owed his conversion, at the site of Saint Peter’s burial; the original structure was conserved by Providence amid many tempests. He reserved burial sites for future martyrs in the Christian cemeteries, because multitudes were being condemned under Domitian. He also designated and adorned sites for the interment of future Pontiffs in the Vatican. Saint Anacletus was highly praised by Saint Ignatius of Antioch in a well-known letter. He died on July 13th in the year 96, and was buried in the Vatican. Certain authors would confound Saint Cletus and Anacletus and make of them one person. Their father’s names are known, however, as well as their place of birth — the one in Italy, the other in Greece; moreover, Saint Cletus was consecrated bishop by Saint Peter, saint Anacletus was ordained a priest by him.
Saint Anacletus, Pope and Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT MILDRED, RELIGIOUS: St. Mildred was the first abbess of the English monastery of Minster-in-Thanet founded by her mother, Saint Ermenburga. As a nun who mortified herself with frequent fasts, St. Mildred was characterized by an exceptional humility, gentleness, and serenity of spirit. She was remembered for her compassion to widows, orphans, the poor, and the troubled. St. Mildred was the daughter of King Merewald of Magonset and his wife, St. Ermenburga, and sister of Sts. Milburga and Milgith. At an early age, her mother sent her to be educated by an abbess at Chelles in France, where many English ladies were trained to a saintly life. A young nobleman, related to the Abbess of Chelles, asked the abbess for her hand in marriage. Despite a favorable recommendation from the abbess, St. Mildred told her that she had been sent there to be taught, not to be married. All the abbess’s advice, threats and blows failed to persuade Mildred from entering into marriage. Finally, the abbess threw Mildred into a large hot oven. After three hours, the abbess opened the oven door expecting to find ashes, but instead, Mildred came out unscathed and radiant. Hearing of the miracle, the faithful venerated St. Mildred as a saint; but the abbess threw her on the ground, beat, kicked and scratched her and tore out a handful of her hair. St. Mildred was able to send her mother a letter, enclosing some of the hair that had been torn from her head; and Queen Ermenburga immediately sent ships to fetch her daughter. The abbess, fearing that her evil deeds should come to light, would not permit Mildred to leave. However, St. Mildred escaped during the night; but, having forgotten some ecclesiastical vestments and a nail of the cross of Christ, she managed to return for them and brought them home safely. Upon her arrival back in England, she landed at Ebbsfleet where she found a great square stone, miraculously prepared for her to step on from the ship. The stone received, and retained, the mark of her foot and was afterwards moved to the Abbey of Minster-in-Thanet and kept there in memory of her. Many diseases are said to have been cured for centuries afterwards by water containing a little dust from this stone. With her mother’s consent, St. Mildred joined her at her monastery at Minster-in-Thanet. She was given the veil by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, at the same time as seventy other nuns. Upon St. Ermenburga’s death, St. Mildred succeeded her as Abbess of the community and set a holy example of patience, love and kindness.
An old story is recorded that one night, while St. Mildred was praying in the church of her monastery, the devil blew out her candle, but an angel drove him away and re-lighted it for her. In 732, St. Mildred died at Minster from a lingering and painful illness. She was succeeded by St. Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet. During St. Edburga’s rule, the bell-ringer fell asleep before the altar. The departed St. Mildred awoke him by hitting him on the ear, exclaiming, “This is the oratory, not the dormitory!” St. Mildred continued to be an extremely popular saint, eclipsing the fame of St. Augustine in the immediate neighborhood of her monastery where the place that used to be proudly pointed out as that of his landing came to be better known as “St Mildred’s Rock.” In 1033, St. Mildred’s relics were transferred to St. Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury and minor relics also were taken to Deventer in Holland where she was also honored. Following the translation of Mildred’s body to Canterbury in 1033, her relics became highly revered by the city’s pilgrims. There was, however, another set of relics which were said to have been hidden at Lyming, with those of her sister, Milgitha, during the Viking devastation. These were given to the Religious Hospital of St. Gregory in Canterbury, by Archbishop Lanfranc in 1085. Through constant prayer and frequent fasting, by ceaseless hymnody and great humility, the glorious St. Mildred forsook the allurements of her royal rank, trampling underfoot all worldly pride and presumption. Wherefore, let us imitate her virtues, that, free from all earthly attachments, we may join her at the wedding feast of Christ our Saviour.
Saint Mildred, Religious ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT CLELIA BARBIERI, RELIGIOUS: St. Clelia Barbieri (1847 – 1870) was an Italian Roman Catholic and the founder of the Little Sisters of the Mother of Sorrows. She is regarded as the youngest founder of a religious congregation in the history of the Catholic church, as she was just twenty-three when she died. St. Barbieri declined the married life in her adolescence – even when pressured – in favor of leading a life dedicated to the needs of others; she served as an educator for a while and joined a religious movement which made her a notable figure in her village. St. Clelia Barbieri was born in Bologna on February 13, 1847 to the poor workers Giuseppe Barbieri and Giacinta Nannetti. Her little sister was Ernestina (b. 1850). St. Barbieri was baptized straight after her birth as “Clelia Rachele Maria”. Her father died in 1855 due to a cholera epidemic, St. Barbieri was just eight years old, so she started to work alongside her mother spinning hemp to support her siblings. During this time her mother and Ernestina moved into a house near the local parish church due to her doctor uncle’s personal intervention. The girl started to spend her time in deep contemplation during her childhood and despite her poverty, she was raised in a pious household in which religious education was imparted to her and she made her First Communion on June 17, 1858. St. Barbieri later joined “The Workers of Christian Catechism” as an assistant teacher in 1861 and became such an inspirational leader that the parish priest – Father Gaetano Guido – entrusted her with the teaching and guidance of girls in doctrine. Up until 1864, she rejected marriage offers put forth to her and opted instead to lead a pious life of service to others. St. Barbieri soon founded a separate group known as the “Suore Minime dell’Addolorata” (01-05-1868) aged 21. The group began to minister to the poor and sick in the local community, teaching the faith to the children of the town.
Two years after founding the congregation, Clelia Barbieri died of tuberculosis on July 13, 1870. Her religious order operates in places such as Italy, Brazil, Tanzania and India and in 2008 there were 296 religious houses in 36 different communities. St. Barbieri’s death soon resulted in an unusual and unexplained occurrence that has often been reported in the various parishes that she visited and in the houses in which her order is located. Her voice is often heard during scriptural readings and songs and this voice never speaks alone but is heard as part of a group. People from various backgrounds have reported hearing the voice which is described to be unlike any they have ever heard. The first reported occurrence happened in 1871 when the sisters of her congregation were in their usual evening meditation. The informative and apostolic processes for the beatification all occurred in Bologna before the theologians collated and inspected her spiritual writings while confirming on 2 April 1935 that such writings did not contravene official doctrine; the formal introduction to the cause came under Pope Pius XI on March 15, 1930 and Barbieri was titled as a Servant of God as a result. The confirmation of her life of heroic virtue on February 22, 1955 allowed for Pope Pius XII to name her as Venerable while the confirmation of two miracles attributed to her intercession allowed for Pope Paul VI to celebrate her beatification in Saint Peter’s Basilica on October 27, 1968. The third miracle – definitive for her eventual canonization – was investigated in its place of origin and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints validated this diocesan process after it was held on 18 April 18, 1986 while medical experts approved this miracle on March 23, 1988 as did theologians on June 17, 1988; the C.C.S. met and also assented to it on 6 December 1988 while Pope John Paul II issued definitive approval to it on 11 February 11, 1989. St. Pope John Paul II canonized Barbieri as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church on April 9, 1989 in Saint Peter’s Square. She’s Patron Saint of Little Sisters of the Mother of Sorrows; Catechists and People ridiculed for their piety.
SAINT EUGENIUS, BISHOP: St. Eugenius (died 505) was unanimously elected Bishop of Carthage in 480 to succeed St. Deogratias of Carthage (died 456). He was caught up in the disputes of his day between Arianism and mainstream Christianity. In the year 480, the episcopal see of Carthage had been vacant for twenty-four years, when Huneric, barbarian King of the African Vandals, decided to allow the Catholics to fill it, provided certain conditions be met. The people, impatient to enjoy the consolation which a pastor would bring to the church, chose Eugenius, a citizen of Carthage, eminent for his learning, zeal, piety and prudence. His charities to the distressed had already been very abundant, and in his new office he refused himself the slightest convenience, in order to be able to give all he had to the poor. His virtue gained him the respect and esteem even of the Arians; but at length envy and blind zeal overcame their better sentiments, and Huneric sent Saint Eugenius an order never to sit on the episcopal throne, preach to the people, or admit into his chapel any Vandals, even if Catholic. The Saint courageously replied that the laws of God commanded him not to shut the door of His church to any who desired to serve Him there. The Vandal king, enraged at this answer, persecuted the Catholics in various ways. Many nuns were so cruelly tortured that they died on the rack. Great numbers of bishops, priests, deacons, and eminent Catholic laymen were banished to a desert filled with scorpions and venomous serpents. Many also were put to death. During this persecution the people followed their bishops and priests to execution with lighted tapers in their hands. Mothers carried their little infants in their arms and laid them at the feet of the confessors, crying out with tears, On your way to receiving your crowns, to whom do you leave us? Who will baptize our children? Who will impart to us the benefit of penance, and free us from the bonds of sin by the grace of reconciliation and pardon? Who will bury us with solemn prayers at our death? By whom will the divine Sacrifice be offered?
By the intervention of Providence, Saint Eugenius was liberated on the very scaffold, but exiled to an uninhabited desert in the province of Tripoli and committed to the guard of Anthony, an inhuman Arian bishop. The latter treated him with the utmost barbarity, shutting him up in a narrow cell and allowing no one to visit him. Before entering that prison, however, he had found a way to write to his diocesans a splendid letter, in which he said: If I return to Carthage, I will see you in this life; if I do not return, I will see you in the other. Pray for us and fast, because fasting and almsgiving have always obtained the mercy of God; but remember above all, that it is written we must not fear those who can kill only the body. When a new king named Gontamund succeeded to Huneric, he recalled Saint Eugenius to Carthage, opened the Catholic churches, and allowed all the exiled clergy to return. After reigning twelve years, Gontamund died, and his brother Thrasimund was called to the crown. Under that prince Saint Eugenius was again banished. He died in exile in France on July 13, 505, in a monastery which he had built and governed, at Albi, near Toulouse. Saint Gregory of Tours assures that many miracles occurred at his sepulchre.
Saint Eugenius, Bishop of Carthage
~ Pray for us 🙏
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