Subj : December 17th - St. Wivina, Virgin To : All From : rich Date : Mon Dec 16 2019 07:38:04 From: rich December 17th - St. Wivina, Virgin Also known as Vivina d. 1170 Little is related of the life of St. Wivina that is not common to many other holy nuns of the middle ages. She was a Fleming, well brought up, and by the time she was fifteen had made up her mind to =E2=80=9Cleave = the world=E2=80=9D and her father's house. She was, however, sought in = marriage by a number of suitors=E2=80=94foremost among whom was a young nobleman named Richard, who had the approval of her parents. This young man was very much in love with her, and when she made it clear to him that she would accept no earthly husband he took it so hardly that he became ill and his life even was in danger. Feeling herself responsible for his unhappy state, Wivina prayed and fasted for him until he was restored to health, as it were miraculously. When she was 23 she left her father's house secretly, taking only a psalter with her, and with one companion made a hermitage of branches in a wood near Brussels, at a place called Grand-Bigard. Here her solitude was much disturbed by people who came from the city to see her out of curiosity. Count Godfrey of Brabant offered her the land and an endowment wherewith to build a monastery on it, which she gladly accepted. She put herself and her community under the direction of the abbot of Afflighem, a monastery near Alost (it is still in being) which at that time, according to the testimony of St. Bernard, was peopled by angels rather than men. Under such auspices the nunnery of Grand-Bigard prospered, though not without grave difficulties for the abbess; some of her subjects found her lacking in discretion, especially in the matter of austerities, and did not keep their opinions to themselves. St. Wivina pointed out to them that they were being led away by Satan, but it required a miracle to persuade them that their abbess was in the right. After her death the abbey became a place of pilgrimage, and many miracles of healing took place at her tomb. The relics of St. Wivina are now in Notre-Dame-du-Sablon at Brussels. There is a legendary account of her which has been printed by the Bollandists in the volume Anecdota .J. Gielemans (1895), pp. 57-79. Her psalter, written in the early twelfth century, is still preserved at Orbais in Brabant. See also Van Ballaer, Officium cum Missa (1903). Saint Quote: =C2 Reason can but ascertain the profound difficulties of our condition, it cannot remove them. --Blessed John Cardinal Newman Bible Quote: Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, =E2=80=9CToday, when you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.=C2 (Heb. 3:7-9)=C2 RSVCE <><><><> Be ready to meet the Lord today Jesus also warns us of the temptation to slacken off--to become spiritually idle, lazy, indifferent, or inattentive to God's presence and his word and guidance for our lives. We can fall asleep spiritually if we allow other things to distract us from the reality of God and his kingdom. It is very easy to get caught up in the things of the present moment or to be weighed down with anxious cares and concerns. The Lord wants us to be ready at all times to meet him--whether it be in our rising, eating, working, or taking our rest. He comes to draw us to himself--are you alert and attentive to his voice? --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .