Subj : April 1st - Saint Gilbert de Moray
To   : All
From : rich
Date : Sat Mar 31 2018 10:11:07

From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

April 1st - Saint Gilbert de Moray
(Also known as Gilbert of Caithness)

d. 1245 of natural causes

For his alleged defence of the liberty of the Scottish church, when
threatened with subordination to England, St. Gilbert was formerly
held in honour by his fellow-countrymen as a great patriot. Born in
Moray, he received holy orders and became archdeacon of Moray. Legend
declared that while still a young man he was summoned with the heads
of the Scottish church to a council at Northampton in 1176. As
spokesman for the Scottish bishops he opposed with fervour and
eloquence a proposal that the northern prelates should be suffragans
to the archbishop of York. From the time that Scotland had received
the Christian faith it had been free, he maintained, and was subject
to no outside authority except that of the pope. It would be
iniquitous to place it under an English metropolitan--especially since
the English and the Scots were constantly at war. He seems to have
carried his point. There was, no doubt, an ecclesiastic named Gilbert
who made such a speech, but it is barely conceivable that he can be
the man who was made bishop of Caithness in 1223.

According to the Aberdeen Breviary, St. Gilbert was high steward to
several monarchs, and a legend relates that enemies maliciously burnt
the books in which he kept his accounts, hoping thereby to discredit
him, but that the books were restored intact in answer to his prayers.
After, the death of Bishop Adam, who was murdered, King Alexander
nominated Gilbert bishop of Caithness, and he ruled that northern
diocese wisely and well for 20 years. He built several hospices for
the poor as well as the cathedral of Dornoch, and both by preaching
and example did much to civilize his flock.

As he lay dying, he said to those who stood by him: =E2=80=9CThree maxims
which I have always tried to observe I now commend to you: first,
never to hurt anyone and, if injured, never to seek revenge; secondly,
to bear patiently whatever suffering God may inflict, remembering that
He chastises every son whom He receives; and finally to obey those in
authority so as not to be a stumbling-block to others.=E2=80=9D

See Forbes, KSS., pp. 355-356, the Aberdeen Breviary (1854), and the
DNB. (vol. xxi, p. 317), with the references there indicated.


Saint Quote:
Every virtue in your soul is a precious ornament which makes you dear
to God and to man. But holy purity, the queen of virtues, the angelic
virtue, is a jewel so precious that those who possess it become like
the angels of God in Heaven, even though clothed in mortal flesh.
--St. John Bosco

Bible Quote:
Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is written: The Lord thy God
thou shalt adore, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil left
him; and behold angels came and ministered to him.  (Matt. 4:10-11)
DRB


<><><><><>
We must become like Jesus and Mary

   Jesus took care of his mother, spoke to her, gave her for a son the
disciple he loved, and said to that disciple, Behold your mother. As
Saint John here represented all peoples, our Savior commanded us all
in his person to honor and serve the Blessed Virgin as our Mother. It
was, nevertheless, a great consolation to that afflicted Mother to
hear the voice of her only Son. She knew that by adopting a second son
she ceased not to be the mother of the first, whom she regarded as her
Creator and her God. The holy virgin accepted Saint John as her son in
the same way as she accepted, at the same time, all the human race as
her children. Mary accepted this trust because she clearly saw that it
was the will of Christ, and that people, after having treated him so
badly, would never presume to return to him if he did not give them
his own mother to act as a mediatrix.
   She entered fully into her Son's intentions, assumed the heart of a
mother for all sinners, and looked upon them as the children of sorrow
whom she had brought forth at the foot of the cross. Thus that sea of
sufferings into which Jesus and Mary were plunged has become for
sinners a river of peace and a fountain of blessings.
--Thomas of Jesus, O.S.A.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)

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