Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?April_17th_=E2=80=93_St=2E_Anicetus=2C_Pope_M_=28RM=29?= To : All From : rich Date : Thu Apr 16 2020 09:16:27 From: rich April 17th =E2=80=93 St. Anicetus, Pope M (RM) Born in Emesa, Syria; died c. 160-166. Towards the end of the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius, Anicetus was elected pope (about 152). For about eight years he labored to defend the faith against those who said, first that the physical life of Jesus was really illusory (Gnostics), and secondly, that the Jewish background to Christianity was dangerous and needed to be shed completely (Marcionists). Marcion, after having embraced a state of continence (perhaps as a priest), fell into a crime with a young virgin, for which he was excommunicated by his father, the bishop of Pontus. He ran to Rome in the hope of being restored to communion, but was rejected until he had made penitential satisfaction to his own bishop. Tertullian and Saint Epiphanius related that rejecting this notion he began his career as a heretic. First he professed himself a Stoic philosopher. Then during the time of Pope Saint Hyginus, he joined the heresiarch Cerdo, who had come out of Syria to Rome. According to Marcion, there are two gods: one good, the other evil. The first is the author of the New Testament and opposed to that of the Old Testament and Jewish law. He won many followers to his error in Rome, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Persia, and Cyprus. Tertullian relates that Marcion eventually repented of this idea and was promised that he would be received again into the Church once he had corrected the error in all those he had perverted. He died while in the process of satisfying this penance. Saint Anicetus established the tonsure for the clergy as a practice of ecclesiastical discipline; a letter to this purpose, which he wrote to the bishops of the churches of Gaul, is still extant. During the reign of Anicetus a further anxiety arose because Christians had begun to quarrel about determining the correct date for Easter. Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, a disciple of Saint John the Divine, visited Rome to settle this very question, but the conference was unsuccessful. Anicetus agreed to allow the Asiatics to continue to celebrate Easter on the 14th day after the first moon of the vernal equinox. Unsettled, the controversy was to accelerate and grow more heated in the course of the following centuries. The Roman Breviary tells us that he received the palm of martyrdom for the Christian faith, one month after the death of the Emperor Antoninus the Pious. Of the first 54 bishops of Rome, as they are seen portrayed in the Basilica of Saint Paul in Rome, 53 are honored among the Saints; and of 248 popes, from Saint Peter to Clement XII (d. 1740), 78 are named in the Roman martyrology. In the primitive ages the spirit of fervor and perfect sanctity was conspicuous in most of the faithful, and especially in their pastors. The whole tenor of their lives breathed it, in such wise as to render them living miracles, angels on earth, breathing copies of their Divine Redeemer, the odor of whose virtues and holy law and religion they spread on every side. Reflection. We find an example of true friendship in the fashion Saint Anicetus honored Saint Polycarp, in the absence of a complete understanding. Let us judge by this rule whether our love and our friendship for God is sovereign. Does inconstancy, manifested in our words or acts, never betray the insincerity of our heart? If, after making protestations of inviolable friendship and affection for a fellow-creature, we ceased to honor him when our reason and his did not perfectly concur, would not the whole world justly call our pretended friendship a mockery? Saint Quote: You, O eternal Trinity, are a deep sea, into which the more I enter the more I find, and the more I find the more I seek. The soul cannot be satiated in your abyss, for she continually hungers after you, the eternal Trinity, desiring to see you with the light of your light. As the hart desires the springs of living water, so my soul desires to leave the prison of this dark body and see you in truth. --Catherine of Siena Bible Quote: For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world: and this is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.=C2 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?=C2 (1 John 5:4-5) <><><><> Daily Thoughts and Prayers for Our Beloved Dead "Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me" Job. 19-21. TWENTY-FIRST DAY To find ourselves forgotten on earth by those whom we love, and who have loved us is a cruel trial - but to find ourselves in Purgatory -- forgotten by all whom we loved and helped on earth, must be a most painful sorrow. Prayers:=C2 Our Father, Three Hail Marys, Gloria, De Profundis. De Profundis =C2 =C2 Out of the depths, I have cried to Thee, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice. =C2 =C2 Let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. =C2 =C2 If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark my iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand it? =C2 =C2 For with Thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of Thy law I have waited for Thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on His word; my soul hath hoped in the Lord. =C2 =C2 From the morning watch even until night; let Israel hope in the Lord. Because with the Lord there is mercy; And with Him plenteous redemption. =C2 =C2 And He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities. =C2 =C2 Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, And let perpetual light shine upon them: =C2 =C2 May they rest in peace. Amen. O my God, infinitely just, hear our payers in reparation for the souls suffering in Purgatory for want of charity. Release them from their pains that they may evermore praise Thee and intercede at Thy Judgement Seat for us at the hour of our death. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .