From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Upright of Heart   
      
      "Do you know who the upright of heart are? They are those who wish   
   what God wishes. Therefore, do not try to twist God's will to you own   
   but correct your will to that of God. The will of God is a rule of   
   conduct. By it you have the means of being converted and of correcting   
   your evil ways."   
   --St. Augustine--(excerpt from Commentary on Psalm 93,18)   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   April 11th - St. Stanislaus Bishop of Cracow, Martyr   
    (1030-1079)   
      
   Saint Stanislaus was born in answer to prayer, when his parents were   
   advanced in age. Out of gratitude they educated him for the Church.   
   When his parents died, he sold their vast properties and gave the   
   price to the poor. He was ordained, and being a holy priest, soon   
   afterwards became a Canon of the Cracow cathedral.   
      
   It was necessary to have recourse to the Pope to have him accept the   
   see of Cracow when it became vacant. But the bishop of Cracow’s   
   virtues increased with his dignity and obligations; Saint Stanislaus   
   donned a hair shirt, which he wore until he died. He had a list drawn   
   up of every poor person of the city, and gave orders to his servants   
   never to refuse anything to anyone.   
      
   Boleslaus II was at that time King of Poland; he was a prince of good   
   disposition, but spoilt by a long series of victories and successes.   
   After many acts of lust and cruelty, he outraged the whole kingdom by   
   carrying off the wife of one of his nobles. Against this public   
   scandal the chaste and gentle bishop alone raised his voice. Having   
   commended the matter to God, he went to the palace and openly rebuked   
   the king for his crime against God and his subjects, and threatened to   
   excommunicate him if he persisted in his sin. Boleslaus, with the   
   intention of irrevocably ruining the bishop’s good reputation,   
   suborned the nephews of a man named Paul who had recently died, to   
   swear that their uncle had never been paid for land which the bishop   
   had bought for the Church. Saint Stanislaus stood fearlessly before   
   the king’s tribunal, though all his frightened witnesses forsook him,   
   and guaranteed to bring the dead man to witness in his favor within   
   three days.   
      
   On the third day, after many prayers and tears, he raised the dead man   
   to life and led him in his grave-clothes before the king, where Paul   
   testified that the bishop had reimbursed him fully for the terrain he   
   had sold. He was then taken back to the grave, where he lay down and   
   again relapsed into his former state, before a large number of   
   witnesses.   
      
   Boleslaus for a while made a show of a better life. Soon, however, he   
   returned to the most scandalous excesses, and the bishop, finding all   
   remonstrance useless, pronounced the sentence of excommunication. In   
   defiance of the censure, on May 8, 1079, the king went to a chapel   
   where Saint Stanislaus was saying Mass and commanded three groups of   
   soldiers in succession to slay him at the altar. Each in turn came   
   out, saying he had been alarmed by a light from heaven. At this the   
   king himself rushed in and slew with his own hand the Saint at the   
   altar during the Holy Sacrifice.   
      
   The Pope placed the kingdom of Poland under interdict, excommunicated   
   the king and declared his royalty null and void. Boleslaus repented,   
   took refuge in another country for a time, then set out dressed as a   
   pilgrim for Rome. On the way he knocked on a monastery door to ask for   
   an alms, then decided to enter there anonymously, and was received. He   
   spent seven years there as a Benedictine lay brother, rendering every   
   humble service to the monks, patiently bearing rude treatment. Only on   
   his deathbed did he identify himself, taking out his royal ring which   
   he had concealed until then. He had spent hours praying before a   
   statue of Our Lady in the chapel, by which we may conclude that the   
   Mother of God had obtained for him the grace of conversion and a happy   
   death. His body remains in the church of the same monastery of   
   Ossiach.   
      
   Saint Stanislaus was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253.   
      
      
   Reflection. The safest correction of vice is the Christian’s blameless   
   life. Yet there are times when silence would make us answerable for   
   the sins of others. At such times let us, in the name of God, rebuke   
   the offender without fear.   
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Stand fast, therefore, in this conduct and follow the example of the   
   Lord, 'firm and unchangeable in faith, lovers of the brotherhood,   
   loving each other, united in truth,' helping each other with the   
   mildness of the Lord, despising no man.   
   --Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, Letter to the Philippians   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Let the people shew forth their wisdom, and the church declare their   
   praise.  (Ecclesiasticus 44:15)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   O Saviour of the World   
   By St Ignatius of Antioch (c 35-c 108)   
      
   Father of the Church   
   Lord Jesus Christ,   
   on the human side   
   You are sprung from David’s line,   
   Son of God according to God’s will and power,   
   born of the Virgin Mary,   
   baptised by John   
   and actually Crucified for us in the flesh,   
   under Pontius Pilate and Herod the Tetrarch.   
   On the third day, You raised a standard   
   to rally Your saints and faithful forever   
   in the one body of Your Church.   
   By the grace and power of these mysteries,   
   fit us out with unshakeable faith,   
   nail us body and soul to Your Cross   
   and root us in love by Your Blood, shed for us,   
   O Saviour of the world,   
   living and reigning, now and forever,   
   amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)