Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?October_19th_=2D_Bl=2E_Thomas_H=C3=A9lye_of_Biville?= To : All From : rich Date : Sun Oct 18 2020 09:44:13 From: rich October 19th - Bl. Thomas H=C3=A9lye of Biville =E2=80 1257 Around the district of Biville in Normandy, where he was born about the year 1187, Thomas H=C3=A9lye is known as =E2=80=9Cthe Wonder-worker=E2= =80=9D and enjoys a widespread cultus that was confirmed in 1859. His parents seem to have been people of some local importance particularly to please his mother, Thomas was sent to school. When he was a young man he decided to put the fruits of this privilege at the disposal of other children, and he became a sort of village schoolmaster and catechist in his native place. The good results of his teaching reached the ears of the citizens of Cherbourg, the nearest town, and he was invited to go and instruct the children there, which he did until sickness drove him home again. When he was recovered he continued to live in his father=E2=80= =99s house, in a manner more like that of a monk than of a layman, and he soon became known to the bishop of Coutances, who ordained him deacon. Thomas then undertook pilgrimages to Rome and to Compostela, before going to Paris to complete his studies; after four years he was made priest. He increased his austerities, spending part of the night in prayer that he might have the more time in the day for pastoral care and preaching, for which he had a great gift. Thomas was presented to the parochial benefice of Saint-Maurice, but he was by nature a missionary and, appointing a vicar for his cure, he took up his former work of preaching, catechizing, visiting the sick and sinners, encouraging the poor and oppressed, exhorting the lukewarm and indifferent, wherever it seemed that God was calling him, not only in Coutances but in the neighbouring dioceses of Avranches, Bayeux and Lisieux as well. In the midst of these missionary journeys Bl. Thomas was taken ill at the castle of Vauville in La Manche, and died there on October 19, 1257 the first miracle after his death was the healing of the withered hand of his hostess. =C2 Relics of Bl. Thomas H=C3=A9lye have an interesting history. His body= was buried in the cemetery of Biville, and later translated to the church itself. At the Revolution the church was profaned and the tomb of Thomas, left in situ, used as a desk, when M. Lemari=C3=A9, vicar general of Coutances, determined to save the relics before it was too late. At 10.15 in the evening of July 13, 1794, he, with the parish priest and several of the faithful, secretly opened the shrine. The skeleton of the saint was found with nearly all the bones in place. It was quickly wrapped in linen and transferred to a wooden coffin, together with an affidavit of the proceedings, sealed up, and conveyed to the church at Virandeville, where it was hidden. The revolutionary authorities of Biville were unable to fix the responsibility for the =E2=80=9Ccrime=E2=80= =9D and visited their annoyance on the =E2=80=9Cconstitutional=E2=80=9D cur=C3=A9, = who was imprisoned for neglect of duty and for concealing the names of the delinquents, which he did not know. The relics were returned to their proper shrine in 1803. There, 700 years after the death of Bl. Thomas, they still rest. There is a valuable medieval life by a certain Clement, a contemporary, who was an actual witness of much that he records. Four years after the death of Bl. Thomas an investigation was held at which Clement assisted, and he quotes in his biography from the depositions made regarding the holy missionary's virtues and miracles. The text has been edited both in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii, and by L. Delisle in the M=C3=A9moirs de la Soc. Acad. de Cherbourg, 1861, pp. 203-238. See also lives by L. Couppey (1903) and P. Pinel (1927). There seems, however, as Fr Van Ortroy has pointed out, no adequate evidence for the statement that Bl. Thomas was ever appointed chaplain to St. Louis IX cf the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxii (1903), p. 505. Saint Quote: When one has succeeded in placing his heart wholly upon God, he loses his affection for all other things, and no longer finds consolation in anything, nor clings to anything except God, forgetting his own honor and every interest of his own. --St. Teresa Bible Quote: =C2 "In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms and itself last for ever.."=C2 Daniel=C2 2:44 <><><><> Prayers in honor of St. Joseph for the agonized: Eternal Father, by Thy love for St. Joseph, whom Thou didst select from all men to represent Thee upon earth, have mercy on us and on the dying. Our Father...Hail Mary...Glory be... Eternal Divine Son, by Thy love for St. Joseph, who was Thy faithful guardian upon earth, have mercy on us and on the dying. Our Father...Hail Mary...Glory be ... Eternal Divine Spirit, by Thy love for St. Joseph, who so carefully watched over Mary, Thy beloved spouse, have mercy on us and on the dying. Our Father...Hail Mary...Glory be... --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .