Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?February_24th_=E2=80=93_Bl=2E_Robert_of_Arbrissel?= To : All From : rich Date : Fri Feb 23 2018 09:07:18 From: rich February 24th =E2=80=93 Bl. Robert of Arbrissel, Abbot (1045-1117) Blessed Robert, one of the principal historical figures of his time and one of the most astonishing Saints of the Church, was born at Arbrissel, now Arbressec, a short distance from Rennes, in about 1045. He studied in Paris, sustained in his poverty by the assistance of charitable benefactors, and became there a celebrated doctor in the sacred sciences. His remarkable gifts were everywhere appreciated. It is supposed that he was ordained a priest in Paris, before the bishop of his native diocese of Rennes recalled him in 1085 to assist him in reforming his flock. There in Brittany, as archpriest, Robert devoted himself to the healing of feuds, the suppression of simony, lay investiture, clerical concubinage and irregular marriages. He was compelled, by the hostility his reforming zeal had caused, to leave the diocese when his bishop died in 1093. After teaching theology for a time in Angers, in 1095 he became a hermit near Laval with several others, two of whom later founded monasteries, as he himself did in 1096, at the site where they were then dwelling in the forest of Craon near Roe. The reputation of the solitaries had attracted many to visit them, and the piety, kindness, eloquence and strong personality of Robert in particular drew many followers; it is said that the forest of Craon became the dwelling-place of a multitude of anchorites, as once the deserts of Egypt were. Blessed Robert was summoned by Pope Urban II to go to Angers to preach for the dedication of a church; the Pope sent him out from there as apostolic missionary, on a preaching tour of the various provinces. He left his abbacy in the region of Roe and taught abandonment of the world and evangelical poverty all over western France. His gifts of grace and nature attracted crowds and effected countless conversions. His disciples were of all ages and conditions, including lepers; even whole families followed him everywhere. Thus was founded his famous monastery of Fontevrault, not far from Cannes, to lodge these flocks of determined followers of the Gospel. The men dwelt in a separate region from the women; each group had its chapel, and the lepers their quarters apart. Charity, silence, modesty and meekness characterized these establishments, which were sustained by the products of the earth and the alms offered by the neighboring populations. Until the death of the holy patriarch in 1117, he continued to preach everywhere in western France. The enemy of souls could not remain indifferent to all of this Christian sanctity. Persecuted by certain heretics and others during his life, Blessed Robert was accused of exaggeration and calumniated after his death, but the accusatory writings were eventually declared to be forgeries. A calumniatory letter, attributed falsely to an abbot of western France, who had in other situations shown a vindictive spirit, was definitely proved not to be from his hand, but written by the heretic Roscelin and containing pure fabrications. Blessed Robert is remembered for his ideal of perfect poverty, both exterior and interior, according to the words of Our Lord, His first beatitude: =E2=80=9CBlessed are the poor in spirit.=E2=80=9D He was buried = at Fontevrault, as he had desired to be, but his remains were later transferred to a house of the Order, restored in 1806 after the revolution, at Chemill=C3=A9 in the diocese of Angers. The first biography of Blessed Robert was written by Baudri, Archbishop of Dol in Brittany, his intimate friend, at the request of Venerable Petronilla of Chemill=C3=A9, widow, and first Abbess of this immense and celebrated monastery, who was named by Blessed Robert to replace him at his death as Superior General of the Order of Fontevrault. The feast of Venerable Petronilla (d. 1149) was celebrated by the Order of Fontevrault on April 24th. The Bollandists remark: =E2=80=9CHer existence was marked by many contradictions, but she h= ad the courage to pass beyond the judgment of human beings and to walk without deviating on the path to heaven.=E2=80=9D Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Gu=C3=A9rin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 3 Saint Quote: We must not content ourselves with liberty and consolation and gust in prayer. We must come out from prayer the most rapturous and sweet, only to do harder and ever harder works for God and our neighbors. Otherwise the prayer is not good, and the gusts are not from God. --Saint Teresa of Avila Bible Quote: And he said to them: You are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is high to men, is an abomination before God. (Luke 16:15) <><><><> The Wound in the Shoulder: It is related in the annals of Clairvaux that St. Bernard asked Our Lord which was His greatest unrecorded suffering and that Our Lord answered, =E2=80=9CI had on my shoulder while I bore My cross on the Way of Sorrows a grievous wound which was more painful than the others which is not recorded by men. Honor this wound with devotion, and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through its virtue and merit, and in return to all who venerate this wound I will remit to them all their venial sins and will no longer remember their mortal sins.=E2=80=9D O most loving Jesus, meek lamb of God, I a miserable sinner, salute and worship the most sacred wound of Thy shoulder. Alone thou didst bear Thy heavy cross which so tore Thy flesh and laid bare Thy bones as to inflict on Thee an anguish greater than any other wound on Thy Blessed Body. I adore Thee, O Jesus, Most Sorrowful, I praise and glorify Thee and give Thee thanks for this most secret painful wound, beseeching Thee by the merit and pain of Thy heavy cross to be merciful to me a sinner and to forgive me my mortal and venial sins and to lead me on towards heaven along the Way of the Cross. Amen. Pray:Three Our Father's and three Hail Marys --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .