Subj : January 8th - St. Apollinaris To : All From : rich Date : Sun Jan 07 2018 09:02:54 From: rich January 8th - St. Apollinaris, Bishop of Hieropolis d. 179 CLAUDIUS APOLLINARIS, Bishop of Hieropolis in Phrygia, called =E2=80=9Cthe Apologist=E2=80=9D, was a famous Christian teacher in the second century. Notwithstanding the encomiums bestowed on him by Eusebius, St. Jerome, Theodoret and others, we know but little of his life, and his writings, which then were held in great esteem, seem now to be all lost. Photius, who had read them and who was a very good judge, commends them both for their style and matter. He wrote against the Encratites and other heretics, and pointed out, as St. Jerome testifies, from what philosophical sect each heresy derived its errors. His last work was directed against the Montanists and their pretended prophets, who began to appear in Phrygia about the year 171. But nothing rendered his name so illustrious as his apology for the Christian religion, which he addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius soon after the victory that prince had obtained over the Quadi by the prayers, it is alleged, of the Christians, of which the saint made mention. Marcus Aurelius having long attempted without success to subdue the Germans by his generals, resolved in A.D. 174 to take the field against them himself. He was beyond the Danube when the Quadi, a people inhabiting that territory later called Moravia, surrounded him in a very disadvantageous situation: so that there was no possibility that either he or his army could escape out of their hands or maintain themselves long where they were for want of water. The twelfth legion was chiefly composed of Christians. When the army was drawn up, exhausted with thirst, the Christians fell upon their knees, =E2=80=9Cas we are accustomed to do at prayer=E2=80=9D, says Eusebiu= s, and earnestly besought God's aid. Then on a sudden the sky was darkened with clouds, and a heavy rain poured down just as the barbarians began their attack. The Romans fought and drank at the same time, catching the rain as it fell in their helmets, and often swallowing it mingled with blood. Their assailants would still have been too strong for them, but that the storm being driven by a violent wind into their faces, and accompanied with flashes of lightning and loud thunder, the Germans, unable to see, were terrified to such a degree that they took to flight. Both heathen and Christian writers give this account of the victory. The heathens ascribed it, some to the power of magic, others to their gods, but the Christians accounted it a miracle obtained by the prayers of this legion. St. Apollinaris apparently referred to it in his apology to this very emperor, and added that as an acknowledgement the emperor gave it the name of the =E2=80=9CThunder=C2=ADing Legion=E2=80= =9D. From him it is so called by Eusebius, Tertullian, St. Jerome and St. Gregory of Nyssa. The Quadi surrendered the prisoners whom they had taken, and begged for peace on whatever conditions it should please the emperor to grant it them. Marcus Aurelius hereupon, out of gratitude to his Christian soldiers, published an edict, in which he confessed himself indebted for his delivery =E2=80=9Cto the shower obtained, perhaps, by the prayers o= f the Christians=E2=80=9D. In it he forbade, under pain of death, anyone to accuse a Christian on account of his religion; yet by a strange inconsistency, being overawed by the opposition of the senate, he had not the courage to abolish the laws already in force against Christians. Hence, even after this, in the same reign, many suffered martyrdom, though their accusers, it is asserted, were also put to death. The deliverance of the emperor is represented on the Columna Antoniniana in Rome by the figure of a Jupiter Pluvius, being that of an old man flying in the air with his arms extended, and a long beard which seems to waste away in rain. The soldiers are there represented as relieved by this sudden tempest, and in a posture partly drinking of the rainwater and partly fighting against the enemy, who, on the contrary, are represented as stretched out on the ground with their horses, and the dreadful part of the storm descending upon them only. The credibility of the story, which Eusebius apparently derived from the Apology of St. Apollinaris, still remains a matter of discussion. On the one hand, it is certain that the =E2=80=9CThundering Legion=E2=80=9D= (legio fulminata) did not obtain this title from Marcus Aurelius, for it belonged to them from the time of Augustus; on the other, there is nothing violently incredible in the facts themselves. Contemporary Christians might easily attribute such a surprising victory to the prayers of their fellow believers. There is no confirmation among pagan authorities for the text of the supposed edict of toleration. Those scholars who defend the general accuracy of the facts believe it to be at least interpolated. St. Apollinaris may have penned his apology to the emperor about the year 175 to remind him of the benefit he had received from God by the prayers of the Christians, and to implore his protection. We have no account of the time of this holy man's death, which probably happen= ed before that of Marcus Aurelius. For the =E2=80=9CThundering Legion=E2=80=9D see Tertullian, Apologeticum, c= ap. 5, and Ad Scapulam, cap. 4 Eusebius, Hist. eccl., bk v, cap. 5; J. B. Lightfoot, St. Ignatius, vol. i (1889), pp. 469 seq.; Mommsen in Hermes, 1895, pp. 90-106; Allard, Histoire des persecutions, vol. i (1903), pp. 394-396. For St. Apollinaris, see Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii, pp. 4-8. His name was added to the Roman Martyrology by Baronius, but there is no evidence of any early cultus in either the East or West. Saint Quote: You will accomplish more by kind words and a courteous manner than by anger or sharp rebuke, which should never be used except in necessity. --St. Angela Merici Bible Quote: My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, to accomplish His work. (John 4:34) <><><><> A Morning Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Christ Dear Lord, I adore Your Sacred Heart, which I desire to enter with acts of love, praise, adoration and thanksgiving. I offer You my own heart as I sigh to You from its very depths, asking that You will work through me in all that I do this day; thus may I draw You closer to me each day. I offer You all the crosses and sufferings of the world, in union with Your life on earth, in expiation for sins. Please join my every action and heartbeat to the pulsations of Your Heart. I unite all my works of this day to those labors You performed while You were on earth, bathing them in Your precious Blood, and I offer them to the Heavenly Father so that many souls may be saved. - Amen. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .