From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On our own weakness and the trials of this life  [I]   
      
   THE DISCIPLE.   
    Lord, I confess my sinfulness, (Ps. 32:5) and acknowledge my   
   weakness. Often it is but a small matter that defeats and troubles me.   
   I resolve to act boldly, but when I am assailed even by a small   
   temptation, I am in sore straits. From a trifling thing sometimes   
   arises a strong temptation; and when I think I am secure, I am almost   
   overwhelmed by a mere breath.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ-- Bk 3, Ch 20   
      
   =============   
   October 26th – Saint Eata of Hexham   
      
   Died c. 686.   
    It is impossible to write about Eata, the 7th century English saint,   
   without going back to Saint Aidan, and from Saint Aidan to Saint   
   Paulinus of York, and from Saint Paulinus to Saint Augustine (Austin)   
   of Canterbury, and from Saint Augustine to Saint Gregory the Great who   
   began this chain reaction. Nor should we forget the Venerable Bede   
   without whose Ecclesiastical History we would never have heard of   
   Saint Eata, nor Saint Cuthbert, who was Eata's close friend.   
      
   In the 7th century, England was divided into the Heptarchy, 7   
   independent kingdoms in none of which was Christianity firmly   
   established. At the request of Saint Oswald, king of Northumbria,   
   Saint Aidan had gone from Iona to Lindisfarne--the Holy Island--and   
   from there had begun to evangelize the northern parts of England.   
   Aidan himself and many of his monks came originally from Ireland and   
   therefore followed the Celtic usages which differed in many ways from   
   those of Rome.   
      
   Pope Saint Gregory's plan was to send a properly organized group to   
   England, rather than rely on the isolated efforts of the northern   
   missionaries. The man he chose was the prior of a monastery that he   
   had founded in Rome, Saint Augustine of Canterbury. In 596, he landed   
   in Kent with a group of 40 monks.   
      
   They had to start from nothing, but fortunately, they quickly enlisted   
   the support of Bertha, the wife of King Saint Ethelbert--just as Saint   
   Paulinus won the support of Saint Ethelburga, sister of Eadbald, and   
   Saint Remigius won that of Saint Clotilde, wife of Clovis. Augustine   
   received the 'pallium' and became the first archbishop of England,   
   establishing his see at Canterbury.   
      
   At the time of Augustine's death, which took place shortly after that   
   of Gregory the Great, relations between the Roman and Celtic churches   
   were still strained. Apart from their differences over usage and   
   organization, the situation was complicated by the resentment felt by   
   some of the Celts towards the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes who only a   
   relatively short while before had driven them out of their own country   
   and persecuted their religion. So it was left to a number of saints,   
   among them Eata, to effect a union between the Celtic and Roman   
   Christians, their personal saintliness persuading the ones to abate   
   their racial pride and the others to make concessions.   
      
   The first saint who went to Northumbria was a Roman one, Saint   
   Paulinus, who had been sent by Gregory the Great to assist Saint   
   Augustine of Canterbury. The next one was the Celtic Saint Aidan, who   
   had established his monastery at Lindisfarne and who also founded a   
   monastery at Ripon. It was at Ripon that Eata, who had been born an   
   Anglo-Saxon and was one of the 12 English boys brought to Northumbria   
   by Saint Aidan, was educated in the Celtic observance. When Saint   
   Wilfrid arrived at Ripon, Eata left it to become abbot at Melrose,   
   which was attached to Lindisfarne.   
      
   As a result of the Synod of Whitby, which was held in 664, the Roman   
   usage was extended throughout England. Eata accepted the Roman   
   liturgical observances.   
      
   Saint Colman, who had succeeded Saint Aidan as abbot of Lindisfarne   
   refused to accept the decision and withdrew from his position.   
   Reportedly, he requested that Saint Eata take his place. At the same   
   time Saint Cuthbert became prior, and they both fully accepted the   
   Roman usage and liturgy.   
      
   In 678 Theodore, who had been consecrated in Rome as the new   
   archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Saint Vitalian, met Eata in York and   
   at once consecrated him as bishop of Bernicia. It was a wise choice,   
   for Eata quickly showed himself to be worthy of his office. He and   
   Saint Cuthbert were often together, traveling from Melrose to Ripon   
   and to Lindisfarne. Later Eata and Cuthbert exchanged sees, and Eata   
   became bishop of Hexham, where he remained until his death.   
      
   Eata seems to have been a kind and gentle man, more so even than   
   Cuthbert, and vastly more so than Colman or that other saint, Wilfrid,   
   who quarreled so violently with Theodore. He died in 686 and was   
   buried in the Benedictine Abbey of Hexham. There is a legend that   
   when, in 1113, plans were made to disinter his body and take it to   
   York, he appeared in a dream to the archbishop of York and told him to   
   leave his mortal remains in peace (Benedictines, Delaney,   
   Encyclopedia).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The measure of charity may be taken from the want of desires.  As   
   desires diminish in a soul, charity increases in it; and when it no   
   longer feels any desire, then it possesses perfect charity.   
   --St. Augustine   
      
   Bible Quote   
    I had many things to write unto thee: but I would not by ink and pen   
   write to thee. 14 But I hope speedily to see thee, and we will speak   
   mouth to mouth. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Salute the   
   friends by name.  (3 John 1:13-14) DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Short Prayers   
      
   O blessed Trinity, one God, in Thee I believe, in Thee I hope,   
   Thee I love, Thee I adore, have mercy on me now and at the   
   hour of my death, and save me.   
      
   Almighty, everlasting God, grant us an increase of faith, hope,   
   and charity; and that we may merit to attain what Thou dost   
   promise, grant us to love what Thou dost ordain.   
   Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.   
      
   Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory,   
   my understanding, and all my will, whatsoever I have and possess.   
   Thou hast given all these things to me;   
   to Thee, O Lord, I restore them; all are Thine,   
   dispose of them all according to Thy Will.   
   Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is enough for me.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)