From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   All things are possible with God:   
      
   Cling to the belief that all things are possible with God. If this   
   belief is truly accepted, it is the ladder upon which a human soul can   
   climb from the lowest pit of despair to the sublimest heights of peace   
   of mind. It is possible for God to change your way of living. When you   
   see the change in another person through the grace of God, you cannot   
   doubt that all things are possible in the lives of people through the   
   strength that comes from faith in Him who rules us all.   
   -- From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   September 23rd - Saint Linus, Pope and Martyr   
      
    (c 10 – c 76)   
      
   Successor to St Peter – born c 10 in Volterra, Tuscany, Italy, Roman   
   Empire and died c 76 in Rome, Italy, Roman Empire – his papacy lasted   
   from c 67 to his death. Among those to have held the position of pope,   
   Peter, Linus and Clement are specifically mentioned in the New   
   Testament. Linus is mentioned in the closing greeting of the Second   
   Epistle to Timothy as being with Paul in Rome near the end of Paul’s   
   life.   
      
   The earliest witness to Linus’s status as bishop was Irenaeus (c   
   130-202), who in about the year 180 wrote, “The blessed apostles,   
   then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands   
   of Linus the office of the episcopate.” Linus is presented by St   
   Jerome (343-420) as “the first after Peter to be in charge of the   
   Roman Church” and by Eusebius as “the first to receive the episcopate   
   of the church at Rome, after the martyrdom of Paul and Peter”. St John   
   Chrysostom wrote, “This Linus, was second Bishop of the Church of Rome   
   after Peter”, while the Liberian Catalogue presents Peter as the first   
   Bishop of Rome and Linus as his successor in the same office.   
      
   The Liber Pontificalis (Latin for ‘pontifical book’ or Book of the   
   Popes is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the   
   15th century), also presents a list that makes Linus the second in the   
   line of bishops of Rome, after Peter, while also stating that Peter   
   consecrated two bishops, Linus and Anacletus, for the priestly service   
   of the community, devoting himself instead to prayer and preaching and   
   that it was to Clement that he entrusted the Church as a whole,   
   appointing him as his successor. Tertullian too wrote of Clement as   
   the successor of Peter. Jerome classified Clement as “the fourth   
   bishop of Rome after Peter” (i.e., fourth in a series that included   
   Peter), adding that, “most of the Latins think that Clement was second   
   after the apostle.”   
      
   The Apostolic Constitutions denote that Linus, who was consecrated by   
   Paul, was the first bishop of Rome and was succeeded by Clement, who   
   was ordained and consecrated by Peter. Cletus is considered Linus’s   
   successor by Irenaeus and the others cited above, who present Linus   
   either as the first bishop of Rome after Peter.   
      
   According to Liber Pontificalis, Linus issued a decree that women   
   should cover their heads in church, created the first fifteen bishops   
   and that he died a martyr and was buried on the Vatican Hill next to   
   Peter. It gives the date of his death as 23 September, the date on   
   which his feast is still celebrated. His name is included in the Roman   
   Canon of the Mass.   
      
   With respect to Linus’s supposed decree requiring women to cover their   
   heads, J.P. Kirsch commented in the Catholic Encyclopedia: “Without   
   doubt this decree is apocryphal and copied by the author of the Liber   
   Pontificalis from the first Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians   
   (11:5) and arbitrarily attributed to the first successor of the   
   Apostle in Rome. The statement made in the same source, that Linus   
   suffered martyrdom, cannot be proved and is improbable. For between   
   Nero and Domitian there is no mention of any persecution of the Roman   
   Church and Irenaeus (1. c., III, iv, 3) from among the early Roman   
   bishops designates only “   
      
   The Roman Martyrology does not list Linus as a martyr. The entry about   
   him is as follows: “At Rome, commemoration of Saint Linus, Pope, who,   
   according to Irenaeus, was the person to whom the blessed Apostles   
   entrusted the episcopal care of the Church founded in the City and   
   whom blessed Paul the Apostle mentions as associated with him.”   
      
      
   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:   
   May the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind   
   toward one another. (Rom. 15:5)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer to St. Dymphna - Justice   
      
   Admirable St. Dymphna, how just you were to all whom you   
   encountered, and how careful you were to give every person   
   his due, and more than he might desire or expect. By your   
   power with God please come to assist us to be just to all we   
   meet, and even to be generous in giving everyone more than   
   strict justice requires. Amen.    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)