Subj : June 26th - St. Maxentius, Abbot
To   : All
From : rich
Date : Fri Jun 25 2021 10:24:45

From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

June 26th - St. Maxentius, Abbot

THE French town of Saint-Maixent, in the department of Deux S=C3=A8vres,
covers the place once occupied by the cell of St. Maxentius and the
adjacent monastery, which he ruled. The saint was born at Agde, on the
Gulf of Lyons, about the year 445, and received in baptism the name of
Adjutor. Under the watchful care of the abbot St. Severus, to whom his
parents entrusted him as a child, he grew up a model of Christian
virtue--extolled by most of his fellow religious, but regarded with
jealousy by a few. Praise was even more distasteful to him than
detraction, and to escape the prominence into which he was being
thrust, he quietly slipped away from Agde and remained in hiding for
two years. But when at the end of that time he came back to his home
he found himself in a position of far greater publicity. For his
return happened to coincide with a break in the weather after a
prolonged drought, and he was acclaimed as a saviour and a
wonder-worker. Obviously, he must sever all ties with the past if he
was to lead a life of obscurity. A second time he disappeared and this
time he abandoned his native Narbonnaise for good. He made his way as
far as Poitou, where he entered a community in the valley of Vauclair
presided over by Abbot Agapitus. More completely to efface the past,
he changed his name to that of Maxentius.

If he could thus conceal his identity, he could not long conceal his
sanctity. His austerity was such that he took no food but barley bread
and water, he prayed so constantly that his back became bent.
Moreover, he was credited with the gift of miracles. By the unanimous
vote of his brethren he was elected superior about the year 500.
During the war that raged a few years later between Clovis, King of
the Franks, and Alaric the Visigoth, the inhabitants of Poitou
suffered much from the violence of soldiers and marauders. One day a
band of armed men advanced threateningly upon the monastery of
Vauclair and struck terror into the hearts of the monks, who implored
St. Maxentius to save them. He reassured them and calmly sallied out
to meet the hostile party. One of the soldiers upraised his arm to
strike the abbot down with his sword. He found himself unable to lower
his arm; it remained as though paralysed until St. Maxentius restored
it through the application of blessed oil.

Following the example of his predecessor Agapitus, St. Maxentius laid
down his office at the approach of old age and shut himself up in a
cell at a little distance from the monastery and there he died at the
age of seventy, about the year 515.

Two texts or recensions of a medieval life of St. Maxentius are
preserved. The shorter was printed by Mabillon, in his Acta Sanctorum
O.S.B. the longer by the Bollandists in vol. vii for June. Neither
seems very reliable as an historical document. Some time ago, the
story of St. Maxentius was the subject of animated discussion in the
Revue des Questions Historiques see the years 1883 and 1888. There
have been several lives in French.

Saint Quote:
Bear the cross and do not make the cross bear you.
-- Saint Philip Neri


<><><><>
The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Although known most widely in its abbreviated form above,
the entire prayer reads as follows:

Full Original Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)

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