Feast of St Martin of Tours

St Martin of Tours (c.316 - 397) was born in the Roman province of Pannonia (approximating to the western half of modern Hungary) in about 316 and was educated at Pavia in Italy. He was baptized, left the army and after spending some time as a hermit on an island off the Ligurian coast, founded a monastery at Ligugé in western France, where he lived a monastic life guided by St Hilary. Later he was ordained priest and became bishop of Tours. In his actions he gave an example of what a good shepherd should be. He founded other monasteries, educated the clergy, and preached the Gospel to the poor. He died in 397.

The famous story about St Martin is that while a soldier in Amiens he gave half of his military cloak to a beggar and later had a dream in which the beggar revealed himself as Christ.

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We Are All One In Christ [St Leo the Great]

Although the universal Church of God is constituted of distinct orders of members, still, in spite of the many parts of its holy body, the Church subsists as an integral whole, just as the Apostle says: We are all one in Christ. No difference in office is so great that anyone can be separated, through lowliness, from the head. In the unity of faith and baptism, therefore, our community is undivided. There is a common dignity, as the apostle Peter says in these words: And you are built up as living stones into spiritual houses, a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And again: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart.

The Franciscan Ideal & The New Monasticism

Profoundly saddened by the misfortunes that the Church was then passing through in his time (13th Century), St. Francis of Assisi conceived the incredible design of renewing everything conformably to the principles of Christian law––the Gospel.

After having founded a double religious family, one of Brothers, the other of Sisters, who pledged themselves by solemn vows (poverty, celibacy, and obedience) to imitate the humility of the Cross, Francis, in the impossibility of opening the cloister (monastery, hermitage) to all whom the desire of being formed in his school drew to him, resolved to provide, even for souls living in the whirlpool of the world, the means to tend to Christian perfection.

He founded then an Order properly called Tertiaries,  differing from the two other Orders in that it would not bear the bond of the religious vows, but would be characterized by the same simplicity of life and the same spirit of penance. The Third Order of St. Francis was born to satisfy this thirst for heroism among those who though having to remain in the world did not wish to be of the world.  Thus was born the project which no founder of a regular Order had yet imagined, to cause the religious life to be practiced by all. Francis first conceived the idea and the grace of God gave him to realize it with the greatest success.

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Everyone Of Us Is A Temple of God [St Caesarius]

My fellow Christians, today is the birthday of this church, an occasion for celebration and rejoicing. We, however, ought to be the true and living temple of God. Nevertheless, Christians rightly commemorate this feast of the church, their mother, for they know that through her they were reborn in the spirit. At our first birth, we were vessels of God’s wrath; reborn, we became vessels of his mercy. Our first birth brought death to us, but our second restored us to life.

On The Blessing of Death [St Ambrose]

St Paul says, "The world is crucified to me, and I to the world." Then he tells us that he means death in this life, and a good death: "We carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of our Lord Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body."

On The Creed [St Cyril]

In learning and professing the faith, you must accept and retain only the Church’s present tradition, confirmed as it is by the Scriptures. Although not everyone is able to read the Scriptures, some because they have never learned to read, others because their daily activities keep them from such study, still so that their souls will not be lost through ignorance, we have gathered together the whole of the faith in a few concise articles.

Practice What You Preach [St Charles Borromeo]

I admit that we are all weak, but if we want help, the Lord God has given us the means to find it easily. One priest may wish to lead a good, holy life, as he knows he should. He may wish to be chaste and to reflect heavenly virtues in the way he lives. Yet he does not resolve to use suitable means, such as penance, prayer, the avoidance of evil discussions and harmful and dangerous friendships. Another priest complains that as soon as he comes into church to pray the office or to celebrate Mass, a thousand thoughts fill his mind and distract him from God. But what was he doing in the sacristy before he came out for the office or for Mass? How did he prepare? What means did he use to collect his thoughts and to remain recollected?