Subj : November 11th - St. Bartholomew of Grottaferrata, Abbot To : All From : rich Date : Wed Nov 11 2020 09:05:45 From: rich November 11th - St. Bartholomew of Grottaferrata, Abbot THE founder of the Greek abbey of Grottaferrata in the Tuscan plain, St. Nilus, died in the year 1004, and was succeeded as abbot in quick succession by Paul, Cyril and Bartholomew.=C2 They were all personal disciples of Nilus, the last named being venerated as the lesser founder of the monastery for St. Nilus and his first two successors were able only to clear the land and begin building, while St. Bartholomew carried the work to its conclusion and firmly established his monks, who had been driven from southern Italy and Sicily by Saracen invasions. He made his monastery a centre for learned studies and the copying of manuscripts, himself being skilled in the art of calligraphy, and he composed a number of liturgical hymns. =C2 A canon in the liturgical office of St. Bartholomew contains these words: "When, 0 father, thou didst see the Roman Pontiff rejected, thou didst persuade him by wise words to give up his throne and to end his days in the happy life of a monk." This refers to the Grottaferrata tradition--perhaps a true one--concerning the last years of Pope Benedict IX, whose grandfather, Count Gregory of Tusculum, had given the land on which the abbey is built.=C2 When Benedict, after a stormy and scandalous reign of twelve years, having first resigned the papacy for a money payment and then tried to regain it, was finally driven from Rome in 1048, he came to Grottaferrata in a state of remorse.=C2 Abbot Bartholomew was quite definite as to what was Benedict's duty: by his disorders he had made himself unfit to be a priest, much less a pope.=C2 He must definitely resign all claim to that dignity and fulfil the rest of his life in penance (he was still only about 36 years old). The influence of the abbot gradually changed Benedict's remorse into true penitence;=C2 he remained at Grottaferrata as a simple monk and died there.=C2 This account of the saint's part in the career of Benedict IX is first found in the Life of St. Bartholomew, perhaps written by his third successor, Abbot Luke I, and is supported by monuments at the abbey; but it appears that in 1055, the year of his death, Benedict was still calling himself pope.=C2 The vigorous government of St. Bartholomew was responsible for raising his monastery to that position of importance from which it played a part in the history of the medieval papal states, a position which ultimately led to its decline as a religious house until its restoration in the 19th century. =C2 Two Greek texts giving some account of St. Bartholomew will be found printed in Migne, PG., vol. CXXVII, CC. 476-516. Some of the manuscripts copied by his band are believed still to survive in the library of Grottaferrata and an ancient mosaic representing SS. Nilus and Bartholomew is still visible in the sanctuary of the abbey church. The resignation of Pope Benedict IX is discussed in Mgr Mann's Lives of the Popes, vol. v, p. 292.=C2 See also S. C. Mercati in Enciclopedia italiana, Vol. vi, p. 254; L. Brehier in DHG., vol. vs, CC. 1006-1007; and F. Flalkin in Analecta Bolandiana, vol. lxi (1943), pp. 202-210, who points out that, of the two Greek texts just referred to, one, the Encomium, refers to another St. Bartholomew. <><><><> This is the first and greatest commandment: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, but the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.--Matt. 22:38 7. It should be observed that perfect love of God consists not in those delights, tears, and sentiments of devotion that we generally seek, but in a strong determination and keen desire to please God in all things, and to take care, as far as possible, not to offend Him, and to promote His glory. --St. Teresa St. Jane Frances de Chantal showed how well she understood this great truth, by a letter she sent to the Superior of a Religious who was looked upon as a soul filled with the love of God, because she enjoyed extraordinary consolations. "This good girl:' she wrote, "greatly needs to be undeceived. She believes herself highly elevated in the love of God, yet she is not much advanced in virtue. I believe that these fervors and exaltations which she feels are the work of nature and self-love. Therefore, she should be shown that the real strength of love consists not in enjoying the Divine sweetness, but rather in exact observance of the Rules, and the faithful practice of solid virtue--that is, in humility, the love of contempt, patient endurance of insults and adversities, self-forgetfulness, and a love that seeks not to be known except by God. This alone is true love, and these are its unerring tokens. May God preserve us from that sensible love which allows us to live in ourselves, while the true leads us to die to ourselves." Such was the love of St. Thomas Aquinas, of whom it is recorded that he kept his soul always as pure and true as that of a child five years old. (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".=C2 November: Charity) <><><><> Strong Heart of Jesus, my God and my Friend, In life and in death, on Thee I depend. [Rev. James O'Brien, S. J.] --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .