FEAST OF THE HOLY RELICS; SAINTS ELIZABETH AND ZACHARIAH, PARENTS OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST AND SAINT BERTILLE, RELIGIOUS – FEAST DAY ~ NOVEMBER 5TH: Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Relics; Saints Elizabeth and Zachariah, parents of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Bertille, Religious. We pray for their intercessions.
FEAST OF THE HOLY RELICS: By relics of the Saints we mean all that remains of them after their death — their bones, their ashes, their clothing and other objects used by them. From the very beginnings of Christianity the faithful have venerated the mortal remains of those who had led a holy life or suffered martyrdom. They were buried with great honor, and Mass was said over their tombs. This practice is easily understood when it is remembered that their bodies were temples of the Holy Ghost, and that they will rise to a glorious and eternal life at the last day. Enemies of the Church have condemned the cult of the relics of the Saints as being borrowed from pagan customs and without apostolic origin. The decision of the Council of Trent suffices to show the falsehood and bad faith of their reasoning. That Council, in effect, decreed quite otherwise, that the bodies of the martyrs and other Saints, who were the living members of Jesus Christ and the temples of the Holy Spirit, must be honored by the faithful, and that through them God grants great and many benefits to the living. Its decision was based on the usage already established in the first century and which has remained constant in the Church, as well as on the teaching of the Fathers and Councils.
The cult of holy relics is therefore not only permitted, but commanded; it is not only a right, but a duty. Let us note well that the cult of holy relics diverges from pagan practices in that it is supernatural. We do not honor what remains of the Saints for any motive derived from nature, but from motives based on the Faith. If one honors the memory and remains of great men worthy of that appellation, it is regarded as justice; but when one honors the memory and remains of the Saints, it is more than justice, it is the virtue of religion. The final object of the cult of the holy relics is God who sanctifies the Saints; it is Jesus Christ, whose members the Saints are. This cult is so legitimate that God Himself sometimes glorifies the relics of His Saints by heavenly perfumes, by other marvelous privileges, by countless miracles. Let us add that the cult of holy relics also has its foundation in the glorious resurrection which is awaiting the bodies of the Saints. God Himself will reassemble these remains at the end of the world and will give them all the brilliance and beauty of which they are capable. Let us then venerate, with respect, devotion and confidence, these precious relics which once were animated by such great souls, were the instruments of beautiful and holy works and of astonishing virtues, and which will some day be honored by a brilliant and immortal glory. Let us value pilgrimages made to the tombs of the Saints, and celebrate religiously the feast of the holy relics, which appropriately follows closely upon All Saints Day, the feast day of the splendid holy souls who are in heaven.
PRAYER: O Lord, who through the relics of thy Saints, workest signs and wonders: increase in us our faith in the resurrection of the body and make us sharers in that immortal glory the pledge of which we venerate in their ashes. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ….Amen🙏
SAINTS ELIZABETH AND ZACHARIAH, PARENTS OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST: [Feast Day: September 23 (new), November 5 (trad)]. The memorial of Saints Zachariah and Elizabeth (Zacarias and Isabel), the parents of Saint John the Baptist, the last and the most impressive and greatest of the prophets and the precursor of Our Lord. The name Elizabeth in Hebrew means “worshipper of God.” St. Elizabeth was the wife of Zachariah (Zachary), the mother of John the Baptist, and the cousin and close companion of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was to her that the Blessed Virgin Mary went in haste after she had conceived Jesus, and after she learned that Elizabeth had conceived St. John the Baptist. The Gospel of Luke states that though Elizabeth had committed no evil in the eyes of God, she was barren for most of her life. She was advanced in age when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her husband Zachariah in the temple to promise them a son. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me” (Luke 1:42 – 43)? When Elizabeth spoke these words, she was given the gift of prophecy (the gift of speaking God’s word at the appropriate moment), and it is through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, she uttered these words that confirmed that Mary is the Mother of God. Mary greeted Elizabeth, and as soon as she did this, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy. Prompted by this, Elizabeth bestowed on Mary extraordinary praises that revealed Mary to be the mother of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the mother of God.
Saint Zachariah (Zachary), a temple priest and husband of Saint Elizabeth, was of the tribe of Abia and a member of the priestly class. The name Zachary in Hebrew means “Jehovah has remembered.” Everything we know about Sts. Elizabeth and Zachary is found in the first chapter of Luke’s gospel. Having reached middle age without the blessing of a child, Zachary was offering incense at the altar one day when the angel Gabriel appeared to him. The angel told him that their prayer for a child would be answered. A son was to be born to them and his name was to be John. Zachary was skeptical, for both he and Elizabeth were advanced in years. He asked the angel for some sign. Because he doubted, Gabriel proclaimed that Zachary would be stricken dumb and would regain the power of speech only when the prophecy was fulfilled.
Saint Elizabeth conceived and gave birth to a son. When the child was about to be circumcised, Elizabeth told the people that he was to be named John. Zachary, unable to speak, asked for a tablet and on it he wrote the words, “John is his name.” At this moment Zachary’s tongue was loosed and he began to praise the Lord. Saint Zachary was martyred in the Temple of Jerusalem by the Jews. With Elizabeth’s as the central greeting, the Angel Gabriel’s as the first and that of the Council of Ephesus as the last, this is the full Hail Mary: “Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”🙏
Saints Zachariah and Elizabeth, the parents of Saint John the Baptist ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT BERTILLE, RELIGIOUS: St. Bertille or Bertilla was born of one of the most illustrious families in the territory of Soissons (France), in the reign of Dagobert I. As she grew up she learned perfectly to despise the world, and earnestly desired to renounce it. Not daring to tell this to her parents, she first consulted St. Ouen, by whom she was encouraged in her resolution. The Saint’s parents were then made acquainted with her desire, which God inclined them not to oppose. They conducted her to Jouarre, a great monastery in Brie, four leagues from Meaux, where she was received with great joy and trained up in the strictest practice of monastic perfection. She embraced the religious state in 630. In this abode of virtue her prudence appeared so perfect that thought she was still young, the care of entertaining strangers, and the charge of the sick and of the children that were educated in the monastery, were successively committed to her. She gave such satisfaction in these various offices that she was chosen Prioress, to assist the Abbes in her administration.
The Saint’s example had the most salutary influence upon the entire community. St. Bathildis, wife of Clovis II, having had originally established, desired the Abbess of Jouarre to send over a small colony to lead the novices in the practice of monastic perfection. St. Bertille was chosen to lead the colony, and she became the first Abbess of Chelles, about the year 646.
St. Bertille was known for her devotion to self-denial. She “was ambitious of martyrdom, but as no persecutors were forthcoming, she martyred herself with austerities.” St. Bertille’s reputation for sanctity and the discipline of her monastery drew to it several princesses, among whom was Hereswith, Queen of the East Angeles, who had been the wife of the good King Annas. Queen Bathildis herself took the monastic habit in this house in 665, so that St. Bertille became the superior of two Queens. Yet, the Abbess seemed the most humble of all her Sisters. She governed her monastery for forty-six years, with equal vigor and discretion, increasing daily in virtue, and in her old age redoubling rather that diminishing her fervor, until she closed her penitential life in 692 at Chelles Abbey, France.
PRAYER: God, You showered heavenly gifts on St. Bertille. Help us to imitate her virtues during our earthly life and enjoy eternal happiness with her in heaven. Amen 🙏