From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   And thank Thee for the angels   
      
   O Lord, permit us here to raise our voice;   
   And waft before Thy throne our feeble praise,   
   And thank Thee for those angels whom Thy choice   
   Hath lent our weakness to direct its ways,   
   And free us from the envious foes that lurk   
   To spoil the beauty of Thy cherished work.   
      
   Ant. O holy Angels, our guardians, defend us in the combat, that we perish   
   not in the dreadful judgement.   
      
   V. In sight of Thy angels I will sing to Thee, my God.   
   R. I will adore at Thy holy temple, and confess to Thy name.   
      
   Prayer:   
      
   O God, Who, with unspeakable providence, hast vouchsafed to appoint Thy   
   holy angels to be our guardians, grant to Thy humble suppliants to be   
   always defended by their protection, and to enjoy their everlasting   
   society, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth,   
   one God, for ever and ever. Amen.   
      
      
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   November 8th - Four Crowned Martyrs (RM)   
      
   Died c. 305. On the Caelian Hill in Rome stands the church of Santi   
   Quattro Incoronati. In it is a chapel specially dedicated to the guild   
   of marble-workers. A church has stood in this place since the 6th   
   century and probably before that, too.   
      
   Much has been written about who the four crowned martyrs might be, but   
   the stories break down into two irreconcilable groups with different   
   names and different places. Oddly enough, the Church commemorates not   
   four but five Christian martyrs in both versions. Since in both cases   
   their names were at first unknown, they are generally referred to by   
   the collective title.   
      
   The most convincing explanation is that they were five men who were   
   martyred in either in Pannonia (modern Hungary) or at Albano, Italy,   
   one of whom, Simplicius, was unaccountably omitted. Some time after   
   the relics of Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus, and Victorinus had   
   been brought to Rome and interred on the Via Labicana, a legend was   
   fabricated in which four Roman soldiers were represented as having   
   been martyred under Diocletian for refusing to sacrifice to an image   
   of Aesculapius, the Greek god of medicine, in the Baths of Trajan.   
   They were later named by Pope Miltiades.   
      
   The more popular Pannonian account relates that they came from Sirmium   
   (Mitrovica) in Pannonia, were average Christians, and were brilliant   
   stone-carvers, who worked together. Their names were Simpronian,   
   Claudius, Nicostratus, Castorius, and Simplicius.   
      
   Their work exhibited a perfect understanding of stone and space.   
   Emperor Diocletian himself had commissioned a number of works from   
   them and he was pleased with their work. Other less talented sculptors   
   were doubtless envious and persuaded Diocletian to order them to carve   
   a statue of Aesculapius. The commission would have brought additional   
   renown as well as pay. But the five stone- carvers were Christians and   
   politely refused to cooperate in the worship of idols.   
      
   The masons were then ordered to make a sacrifice to the Sun god. This   
   was even less acceptable than the notion of carving a statue of   
   Aesculapius. The emperor accepted their beliefs, but when they refused   
   to do their civic duty--sacrifice to the gods--they were imprisoned.   
   When Diocletian's officer Lampadius, who was trying to convince them   
   to sacrifice to the gods, suddenly died, his relatives accused them of   
   his death. To placate the relatives, Diocletian had them bound,   
   fastened in leaden boxes and drowned in the river.   
      
   The late 4th century account of them is of special interest for what   
   it tells about the imperial quarries and workshops in the mountains   
   near Sirmium; and also because it gives a more human picture of   
   Diocletian than that of the bloodthirsty tyrant commonly represented   
   in the passions of martyrs.   
      
   Whatever the true story, the bodies were buried on the Lavican way   
   about three miles from Rome. Pope Gregory the Great mentions an old   
   church of the four crowned martyrs in Rome. Pope Leo IV, in 841,   
   repaired the church and translated the relics from the cemetery on the   
   Lavican Way. When this church was destroyed by fire, Paschal II   
   rebuilt it. During the course of the reconstruction two rich urns--one   
   of porphyry, the other of serpentine marble--were discovered under the   
   altar. The urns were deposited in a stone vault under the new altar   
   where they were again found by Paul V.   
      
   Working masons of the Middle Ages held the Four Crowned Martyrs in   
   special honor, and this has been perpetuated in English Freemasonry;   
   there is a Quatuor Coronati lodge in London that has published its   
   annual report for 75 years under the title of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.   
   There was already a chapel of the Four Crowned Martyrs in Canterbury   
   in the year 619 (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia,   
   Husenbeth).   
      
   In art they are, of course, represented by four men with sculptor's   
   tools. At times the picture will include a chisel, column and   
   sculptor's tools; or Claudius planing a plank, Simplician (Simpronian)   
   with a pickaxe, and Castor as an old man.   
      
   They are the patrons of sculptors, stone-cutters, and marble- workers,   
   as well as protectors of cattle. Invoked against fever (Roeder).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "Take away justice, and what are kingdoms but mighty bands of robbers "   
   --St. Augustine (Doctor, 354-430) - "City of God"   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "And it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God, but   
   whereas they lived in a great war of ignorance, they call so many and   
   so great evils peace. ... they sacrifice their own children, ... they   
   neither keep life, nor marriage undefiled, but one killeth another   
   through envy, or grieveth him by adultery: And all things are mingled   
   together, blood, murder, theft and dissimulation, corruption and   
   unfaithfulness, tumults and perjury, disquieting of the good,   
   "Forgetfulness of God, defiling of souls, changing of nature, disorder   
   in marriage, and the irregularity of adultery and uncleanness" ... for   
   two things they shall be punished, because they have thought not well   
   of God ... and have sworn unjustly in guile despising justice  (Wisdom   
   14:22-26)   
      
   "the land is filled with blood, and the city is filled with   
   perverseness: for they have said: The Lord hath forsaken the earth,   
   and the Lord seeth not. Therefore neither shall my eye spare, nor will   
   I have pity: I will requite their way upon their head"   (Ezechiel   
   9:9-10)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Saint Anthony, Guide of Pilgrims   
      
   Dear St. Anthony, we are all pilgrims. We came from God and   
   we are going to Him. He who created us will welcome us at   
   journey's end. The Lord Jesus is preparing a place for all His   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)