From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   An evil thought defiles the soul   
      
   An evil thought defiles the soul   
   when it is deliberate and consented to.   
   Our Lord placed evil thoughts at the head of all crimes,   
   because they are their principle and source.   
   --St. John Baptist de la Salle   
      
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   August 19th - St. Louis of Toulouse   
      
    (d. 1297)   
      
   The son of Charles II of Naples and Sicily, Louis was born in 1274 and   
   named after his uncle, the holy king of France. It was the great   
   concern of his mother, the niece of St. Elizabeth, to rear her many   
   children as true servants of the King of Kings.   
      
   The devout queen observed in her son Louis particularly blessed   
   results of his maternal solicitude. He loved prayer, was reserved and   
   gentle, and his whole conduct radiated angelic purity. Even as a child   
   he practiced mortification. On a certain occasion, after he had   
   retired, his mother found him sleeping on a rug on the floor of his   
   room instead of in his comfortable bed.   
      
   Sweets and delicious foods he carried to the poor and sick with his   
   mother's permission. It is related that once he was leaving the dining   
   room with a roasted pullet under his mantle and so met his father. The   
   king wished to see what he was carrying. Timidly the boy laid back his   
   mantle, and lo, it was a beautiful bouquet of flowers!   
      
   When he was 14 Louis was taken to Barcelona with two of his brothers,   
   as a hostage for the release of his father, who had been taken a   
   prisoner of war. Gladly did Louis accept this misfortune to obtain his   
   father's freedom; but at the same time, the disposition with which he   
   accepted it was astonishing in a boy of his age. "Misfortune," he   
   said, "is more useful to the friends of God than good fortune, for on   
   such occasions they can prove their loyalty to their Lord."   
      
   Under the guidance of several excellent Franciscan friars who were   
   appointed teachers to the young princes, Louis made remarkable   
   progress in virtue as well as in secular knowledge. In public debates   
   he manifested his mastery of the various branches of knowledge, both   
   sacred and profane. Theology was his favorite subject. So devoid was   
   he of ambition that he planned to renounce his claims to the throne in   
   order to devote himself entirely to the service of God.   
      
   About this time he became seriously ill. He made a vow that if he   
   recovered, he would join the Order of Friars Minor. The sickness   
   immediately took a turn for the better, but the superiors of the order   
   hesitated to receive the young prince without the consent of the king,   
   his father. Louis was thus obliged to defer his pious design.   
      
   At the end of six years his captivity ended. On returning home, after   
   much pleading he finally obtained the permission of his father to   
   settle his claims on his brother Robert, and to become a priest. Not   
   very long after his ordination, and although he was only 21 years old,   
   he was selected by Pope Boniface VIII for the bishopric of Toulouse.   
   "Whatever is lacking to the young priest in age and experience, " said   
   the pope, "his extraordinary knowledge, his maturity of mind, and his   
   holiness of life will amply supply."   
      
   Louis had to yield to the pope's wishes, but he requested that he   
   might first be admitted into the Order of Friars Minor. That request   
   was granted. The royal prince was overjoyed to be permitted, for a   
   time at least, to perform the humblest exercises in the garb of a son   
   of St. Francis; in Rome he went from door to door gathering alms.   
      
   The pope himself officiated at the ceremony of episcopal consecration,   
   and shortly afterwards Louis left to assume the government of his   
   diocese. His noble birth and above all the fame of his sanctity caused   
   him to be received at Toulouse like a messenger from heaven. The   
   entire city went out to meet him, and everybody was enchanted with his   
   modesty, sweetness, and angelic virtue which radiated from his face   
   and bearing. A sinner who for many years had lived a wicked life,   
   cried out at the sight of him: "Truly, this man is a saint!" and then   
   turned away from his sinful habits and led a better life. A woman who   
   doubted the sanctity of the young man went to church one morning to   
   attend the Mass which the bishop was celebrating. Then she, too, cried   
   out: "Ah, yes, our bishop is a saint!"   
      
   Bishop Louis led the poor and rigorous life of a Friar Minor and   
   devoted himself with all solicitude to the welfare of his diocese. The   
   poor were his best friends, and he fed 25 of them daily at his own   
   table. His ministry, however, was destined to be short-lived. He died   
   in the 24th year of his life, having been bishop no longer than a year   
   and a half.   
      
   He received the last sacraments on the feast of the Assumption of Our   
   Lady; and on the 19th of August, 1297, while pronouncing the holy name   
   of Mary, he yielded his soul to God. Because of the many miracles that   
   were wrought at his tomb, he was canonized as early as 1317, during   
   the lifetime of his mother.   
      
   http://www.paxetbonum.net/saints/august.html#21   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   A virtuous life is to the soul what food is to the body. For as our   
   body cannot live without food, so Faith cannot subsist without good   
   works.   
   -- St. Chrysostom   
      
      
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   “Faith is a beam,   
   radiating, from the face of God.”   
      
   “Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation   
   must be to form Jesus in ourselves,   
   to make His spirit, His devotion, His affections,   
   His desires and His disposition, live and reign there.   
   All our religious exercises should be directed to this end.   
   It is the work which God has given us to do unceasingly. “   
   by St John Eudes (1601-1680)   
      
      
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   PRAYER OF THE CHURCH   
   O God, who did teach Thy holy confessor and bishop Louis to prefer the   
   heavenly kingdom to one of earth, and didst marvelously clothe him   
   with stainless purity and extraordinary love for the poor, grant that   
   by imitating his virtues here on earth we may deserve to be crowned by   
   Thee in heaven. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)