Subj : February 6th - St. Amand of Maastricht To : All From : rich Date : Tue Feb 05 2019 08:11:14 From: rich February 6th - St. Amand of Maastricht, OSB Abbot (also known as Amandus) Born at Nantes, Lower Poitou, France, c. 584; died at Elnon in Belgium, c. 679; feast day formerly February 1. Amand's pious parents are said to have been lords of the region where he was born. By vocation, Amand became a monk about 604 at a monastery on the island of Yeu (Oye). He had been there less than one year, when his father found him out, and desperately tried to persuade him to quit that state of life. To his threats of disinheritance, the saint cheerfully answered: "Christ is my only inheritance." Amand moved to Tours where he was ordained, and then was a hermit near the cathedral at Bourges, France, for 15 years under the direction of Bishop Saint Austregisilius before setting out to convert unbelievers. At Bourges he lived an austere life. His clothing was a single sackcloth, and his sustenance barley-bread and water. On his return from a pilgrimage to Rome at about age 45, he was consecrated a missionary bishop in 629, with no see. Amand was a tireless preacher, a wandering saint who worked as far afield as Flanders, among the Slavs of Carinthia along the River Danube, among the Basques in Navarre, and possibly in Gascony. Although the saint was exiled for censuring King Dagobert I, Amand continued his work elsewhere. He was soon recalled by Dagobert, who threw himself at Amand's feet to beg his pardon and had him baptize his new-born son, Saint Sigebert III, afterwards king. Despite initial difficulties, Amand was highly successful in evangelizing the area around Ghent. The idolatrous people about Ghent were so savage, that no preacher wanted to venture among them. This moved the saint to choose that mission. While he had the support of the Frankish kings, he often met with so much opposition from the peoples he tried to convert that Dagobert strongly suggested that Amand use force. During the course of his evangelizing Amand was often beaten, and sometimes thrown into the river. Undaunted, he continued preaching, though for a long time he saw no fruit, and supported himself by his labor. The miracle of his raising a dead man to life, at last opened the eyes of the barbarians, and the country came in crowds to receive baptism, destroying the temples of their idols with their own hands. He founded numerous monasteries in Belgium, including Mont-Blandin (and perhaps Mount Bavon) at Ghent and the Abbey of Elnon (later called Saint-Amand), as well as a convent at Nivelles. Some incorrectly say that he was chosen bishop of Maastricht, and that after three years he resigned to return to missionary work, although Pope Saint Martin had encouraged him to persevere. He spent the last four years of his life as abbot of Elnon Monastery near Tournai and died there, aged almost 90, after dictating his testament which has survived. His relics are kept at the monastery where he died. Amand's cultus was widespread in Flanders and Picardy, and reached England through visits of churchmen such as Saint Dunstan to his monasteries in Ghent or Elnon. His name occurs in several medieval English calendars, and a chapel is dedicated to him at East Hendred. The Sarum Breviary honored Saint Amandus and Saint Vedast with an office of nine lessons (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Duckett, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth). In art he is represented as carrying a church in his hand (Benedictines). Saint Quote: 'Lean on the Cross of Jesus as the Virgin did and you will not be deprived of comfort. Mary was as if paralyzed before her crucified Son, but one cannot say that she was abandoned by Him. Rather, how much more did she love Him when she suffered and could not even weep?' --St. Padre Pio Bible Quote: But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.=C2 (Matthew 5:28) DRB <><><><> Humility so greatly pleases God that, in coming upon earth, He made it His own special virtue.=C2 In order to understand it, let us rise above the highest heavens to that sublime solitude where the infinite excellence of His Being places Him--at an incommensurable distance from all created beings.=C2 This will be the starting-point which will enable us to measure the humility of the Incarnate Word.=C2 He descends first to the dazzling order of the seraphim, which, for God, is already an immense descent; it is to traverse the infinite.=C2 He still descends, and descends until He arrives at our nature.=C2 It is in our clay He wills His majesty to be.=C2 But in this clay there are different degrees.=C2 There is the clay which shines beneath the splendor of gold and of purple.=C2 It is doubtless a false splendor, but yet it shines; the Word of God will have none of it.=C2 He, therefore, descends yet lower.=C2 First, He finds a stable, then the dwelling of an artisan.=C2= He finds a poor woman, who gains her bread by labor.=C2 He descends even lower than this, and He hides Himself in her womb; He chooses this obscure person to be His first dwelling upon earth.=C2 O abyss of humility!=C2 Who, after this, would desire esteem and glory? Who would wish to appear in public, to attract notice, to make himself applauded?=C2 Who would not love a hidden life? =C2 --Rev. M. Hamon, Meditations for All the Days of the Year, 19th centu= ry --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .