Subj : April 19th - Blessed Bernard of Sithiu To : All From : rich Date : Thu Apr 18 2019 09:23:31 From: rich April 19th - Blessed Bernard of Sithiu (Also known as Bernard of Maguellone, Bernard the Penitent) NOTHING is known of the early years of this Bernard except that he was born in the diocese of Maguelone in Provence, and even his contemporary biographer could never ascertain of what crimes he had been guilty beyond his participation in a rising which had resulted in the death of an unpopular governor. We have, however, the exact wording of the certificate which he obtained from his bishop before entering upon his penitential life. John, by the grace of God Bishop of Maguelone, to all the pastors and faithful of the Catholic Church, eternal salvation in the Lord. Be it known to you all that in expiation of the horrible crimes committed by him, we have imposed upon Bernard, the bearer of this present letter, the following penance. He is to go barefoot for seven years: he is not to wear a shirt for the rest of his life:=C2 he is to observe the forty days before the Birthday of our Saviour like a Lenten fast: he is to abstain from meat and fat on Wednesdays and from everything but bread and a little wine on Fridays. On the Fridays of Lent and Embertide he shall drink nothing but water, and on all Saturdays which are not great festivals he shall take no meat or fat unless illness requires it. Therefore we ask you of your charity in Jesus Christ, for the redemption of your souls and in a spirit of compassion, to give to this very poor penitent the necessary food and clothing and to shorten his penance so far as reason may allow. Given at Maguelone in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 1170 in the month of October. In force for seven years only. In the garb of a penitent and loaded with heavy iron fetters, Bernard undertook a number of pilgrimages, during which he endured and even courted hardships of all sorts. Three times, it is said, he visited Jerusalem, and once went as far as India to implore the intercession of St. Thomas. At last one day when he arrived at Saint-Omer, it was revealed to him that his travels were now to cease. A generous citizen gave him a little house abutting on the monastery of Saint-Bertin, and the monks allowed him access at all hours to their church. He was always the first at the night offices and he would stand bare-legged and barefooted on the stone flags even in the depth of winter when his flesh was cracked and frozen with the cold. He loved to make himself useful by nursing the poor or by cleaning the churches. Bernard came to be a familiar and popular figure as he passed through the streets on his errands of mercy, replying to all greetings with the words, =E2=80=9CGod grant us all a good end=E2=80=9D. The time came when he ventur= ed to ask the monks to give him the habit, and they welcomed him, for they regarded him as a saint. Towards the end of his life he was endowed with the gift of prophecy and many miracles were attributed to him; and after his death the church was thronged by such crowds that the monks had the utmost difficulty in proceeding with the funeral: everyone was begging for some fragment of his garments or for something he had used. Bl. Bernard's biographer testifies that he h= ad been an eye-witness of many of the wonderful cures which he relates. This life printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, purports to have been written by one John, a monk of the abbey of Saint-Bertin. Saint Quote: If we try to escape sadness by seeking our consolation in sleep, we will fail to find what we are seeking, for we will lose in sleep the consolation we might have received from God if we had stayed awake and prayed. --St. Thomas More Bible Quote: And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried. But we, we thought of him as someone punished, struck by God, and brought low. Yet he was pierced through for our faults, crushed for our sins. On him lies a punishment that brings us peace, and through his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5 ) <><><><> O my Jesus ! how do I behold Thee weighed down with sorrow and sadness ! Ah, too much reason hast Thou to think that while Thou dost suffer even to die of anguish upon this wood, there are yet so few souls that have the heart to love Thee! O my God! how many hearts are there at the present moment, even among those that are consecrated to Thee, who either love Thee not, or love Thee not enough! O beautiful flame of love, thou that didst consume the life of a God upon the cross, oh, consume me too; consume all the disorderly affections which live in my heart, and make me live burning and sighing only for that loving Lord of mine, who, for love of me, was willing to end his life, consumed by torments, upon a gibbet of ignominy! O my beloved Jesus! I wish ever to love Thee, and Thee alone, alone ; my only wish is to love my love, my God, my all. --From The Passion And Death Of Jesus Christ, by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori= : --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .