Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?July_4th_'_Bl=2E_William_of_Hirschau=2C_Abbot?= To : All From : rich Date : Fri Jul 03 2020 09:53:13 From: rich July 4th ' Bl. William of Hirschau, Abbot IN the year 1065 Bl. Frederick, a monk of Einsiedeln, was sent with 12 companions to re-people the abbey of Hirschau in W=C3=BCrtemberg, which for 60 years had been in the hands of the counts of Calw and was falling into decay. Pope St. Leo IX, who belonged to the family of Calw, had ordered Count Adalbert to restore the abbey to the Benedictines, which he did very slowly and with a bad grace, and obtained such an influence over part of the new community that after four years they deposed Frederick. In his place was elected William, a monk of the abbey of St. Emmeram at Ratisbon, who protested against the deposition of Bl. Frederick and refused to regard himself as other than his vicar until after his death. =C2 After dealing with Count Adalbert, Abbot William turned his attention to the reform of his monks and the building up of a stable and observant community. Bernard, abbot of Saint Victor at Marseilles who had been sent into Germany as papal legate, advised him to adopt the usages and observance of Cluny, which William accordingly did. His own personal reputation attracted numbers of suitable subjects and he was able to re-establish the school for which Hirschau had formerly been famous; and, knowing that idleness is a chief enemy of monks and that good books cannot be too often multiplied, he staffed a large scriptorium. He himself drew up the "Constitutions of Hirschau ", which for long remained the norm of observance in that monastery and in many others, and set an example of such careful observance of them that he completely reformed his own community and attracted so many aspirants that other monasteries had to be founded for them. One of the outstanding characteristics of William's life and one by no means shared by all the great abbots of the middle ages, was his concern for the spiritual and material well-being of the serfs both of the monastery and of neighbouring manors; and by aggregating its servants to the monastic community he had a significant part in the development of the institution of fratres conversi (lay-brothers). Bl. William strongly appreciated the value of learning, and had seen how often bad morals go with lack of instruction and of intelligence; hence on the one hand his interest in the schooling of the common people and on the other his urgency for a learned episcopate: when asked to recommend men suitable for a bishopric he always, other things being equal, named a scholar. His own accomplishments, after that science of the saints, knowledge of God and holy living, in which he excelled, were of a variousness more common in his time than in ours: astronomy, music, mathematics, poetry; he invented an ingenious clock, revised and rewrote several of the office hymns, and among other works wrote a treatise De musica et tonis. But his great public work was the establishment of his "school the Lord's service", whose charter he wrote down in the constitutions which continued to be in force at Hirschau until the beginning of the 15th century. There is a biography by a contemporary, said to be Haymo, Prior of Hirschau. As printed in the Acta Sanctorum (July, vol. ii) it seems to be overlaid with legendary matter. The more historical portions have been re-edited in MGH., Seriptores, vol. xii. See also B. Albers in Festschrift zum Jubil=C3=A4um des deutschen Campo Santo, pp. 115-129, and the articles in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. xv, p. 629, and vol. vii, p. 363. There are modern lives by Kerker (1863) and Helmsdorfer (1874) and a valuable study of Bl. William's musical theories by Hans Muller (1883). Saint Quote: Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing. -- Saint John of the Cross Bible Quote: 11 let him turn away from evil and do right; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those that do evil.=E2=80=9D=C2 1 Pe= ter 3:11-12 <><><><> Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Most holy Heart of Jesus, hear me! Let the fire of thy heart animate me! Let the thorny crown of thy heart render me patient! Let the wounds of thy heart pierce me! Let the blood of thy heart make atonement for me! Let the light of thy heart enlighten me! Let the homage of thy heart sanctify me! Let the mercy of thy heart encircle me! Let the love of thy heart bless me! My heart I unite to thine in love! O Heart of Jesus! invite me to thee, that with all the angels and saints, I may praise thee, here for a time, but there for eternity. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .