From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The lowly of heart empty themselves of pride   
      
   Who is the greatest in God's kingdom? The one who is humble and lowly   
   of heart--who instead of asserting their rights willingly empty   
   themselves of pride and self-seeking glory by taking the lowly   
   position of a servant and child before God. The simple of heart know   
   that they belong to God--he is their father, teacher, and   
   provider--the one who shows them the way of peace, joy, and life   
   everlasting. They are content to recognize their total dependence on   
   God who is the source of all goodness and every good gift.   
      
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   January 27th - St. Vitalian, Pope   
   657 - 672 AD   
      
     Except that he was a native of Segni in the Campagna and that his   
   father's name was Anastasius, nothing is known of this saintly pope's   
   early life. Enthroned on July 30, 657, Vitalian at once held out olive   
   branches to the estranged East. He sent letters to the Emperor   
   Constans II and to Peter, patriarch of Constantinople. The Emperor   
   replied graciously and sent the Pope a copy of the Gospels with a gold   
   cover adorned with jewels. At this time Constans seems to have   
   abandoned his policy of persecution. The patriarch also replied in a   
   friendly manner. In answer to Vitalian's exhortation to return to   
   Catholic unity and orthodoxy, Peter replied that he believed like the   
   Pope. Vitalian's name was inserted in the Constantinople diptychs.   
   Vitalian has been accused of being too conciliatory towards heresy,   
   but the charge is, to say the least, not proven. Actually his name was   
   removed from the Constantinople diptychs later by a more actively   
   Monothelite patriarch.   
      
     In 662 Emperor Constans decided to go west and establish himself in   
   Italy. Not too popular at Constantinople, he sought new prestige in   
   the West. When he approached Rome he was met at the sixth milestone by   
   Pope Vitalian and the clergy. His stay in the Holy City was   
   harmonious, and peacefully he visited Rome's famous shrines. His   
   parting gesture, however, gave the city little cause to remember his   
   visit with pleasure. Constans seized all the bronze he could lay hands   
   on, taking even the bronze tiles from the famous Pantheon, now St.   
   Mary of the Martyrs. Unable to cope with the Lombards, Constans   
   withdrew to Sicily. Here in the midst of a reign of terror, the despot   
   was knifed in his bath. With the accession of his son Constantine IV,   
   better times dawned.   
      
     Pope Vitalian had trouble with Ravenna and Crete. The archbishop of   
   Ravenna wished to get more independence from Rome, and had   
   successfully appealed to Emperor Constans II. This trouble lasted   
   until the pontificate of Leo II. From Crete came an appeal from John,   
   bishop of Lappa. Bishop John had been deposed by a synod under the   
   direction of the metropolitan of Crete, John. The Pope held a synod at   
   Rome, decided that John had been unjustly condemned, and ordered the   
   metropolitan to reinstate him in his see.   
      
   Vitalian had the satisfaction of learning that in the great synod of   
   Whitby, England definitely adopted the Roman date of Easter. To   
   England he sent one of Canterbury's greatest archbishops, the learned   
   and pious monk, Theodore of Tarsus.   
      
     Vitalian was considered a firm ruler of the Church, one who   
   preserved discipline. He died January 27, 672. Venerated as a saint,   
   his feast is kept on that date.   
      
     This Version Taken From: http://www.cfpeople.org/Books/Pope/POPEp76.htm   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   You, what have you done by taking Christ out of the schools? You have   
   produced enemies of social order, subversives. On the contrary, what   
   have we gained by putting Christ into the schools of the children of   
   criminals? We have transformed these misfortunate ones into honest and   
   virtuous young people that you wanted to abandon to their sad fate or   
   toss into insane asylums!   
   --Blessed Bartholomew, writing to a group of criminologists about his schools.   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for   
   strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church."   3   
   John 1:5-6   
      
      
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   A morning offering:   
      
   O my God, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary   
   (here kiss your woolen Brown Scapular as a sign of your   
   consecration), I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus from   
   all the altars throughout the world, joining with It the offering   
   of my every thought, word and action of this day.   
      
   O my Jesus, I desire today to gain every indulgence and merit   
   I can, and I offer them, together with myself, to Mary   
   Immaculate--that she may best apply them to the interests of   
   Thy most Sacred Heart. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us!   
   Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!   
   Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)