From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   May 28th - Gizur of Iceland B (AC)   
      
   Died 1117. Both Gizur's father and grandfather had been bishop of Iceland.   
   Often such dynasties degenerate to the point of offering a successor   
   unworthy of the position; however, Gizur was a man suited to be king, Viking   
   leader, or bishop. Bishop Gizur divided the nation into two dioceses:   
   Skaholt in the southwest and Holar in the north. He also recorded Iceland's   
   laws, which had previously only been handed on orally. He may have been   
   connected with Iceland's development of sagas, poetry, and history, as well   
   as the people's exploration of Greenland and Newfoundland. Gizur introduced   
   tithes and provided for the poor, carrying out a taxation census to make   
   this policy possible.   
      
   Gizur's family had been pivotal in the country accepting Christianity. In   
   1000, the Icelandic Althing (assembly), composed of a pagan majority and a   
   Christian minority who had been converted through English, Norwegian, and   
   German settlers, had been deeply divided about the future of the nation. The   
   Althing decided that the country needed to have only one religion to be   
   determined by a single wise man chosen by the assembly and accepted by all.   
   The wise man decided that Iceland must have Christianity for its religion   
   and the Icelandic law. The only concessions to paganism to be permitted were   
   the exposure of unwanted children to the elements, and the private practice   
   of sacrifice to the traditional gods. After a few years these concessions   
   were abolished.   
      
   Foreign priests were soon replaced by native ones after Gizur the White, who   
   had been one of the first to accept baptism, was consecrated bishop. He may   
   or may not have been a widower at the time of his episcopal ordination-an   
   unimportant matter except to those who do not believe that an exception   
   proves the rule. His son and grandson followed in his footsteps. Reformers   
   in the Church disapproved of hereditary succession to episcopal offices, but   
   it was the custom in much of Scandinavia until the time of Saint Eystein of   
   Trondheim.   
      
   Saint Gizur's cultus was approved for Reykjavik and Iceland (Farmer).   
      
      
   Of The Coming of Christ's Faith To Iceland.   
   Online Medieval and Classical Library Release #33   
      
   Next it befell that Gizur the White and Hiallti his son-in-law came out to   
   preach Christ's law; (1) and all men in Iceland were christened, and the   
   Christian faith was made law at the Althing. And Snorri the Priest brought   
   it chiefly about with the Westfirthers that Christ's faith was taken of   
   them; and as soon as the Thing was over, Snorri let build a church at   
   Holyfell, and Stir, his father-in-law, another at Under-the-Lava. Now this   
   whetted men much to the building of churches, (2) that it was promised them   
   by the teachers, that a man should have welcome place for so many men in the   
   kingdom of Heaven as might stand in any church that he let build. Thorod   
   Scat-catcher withal let make a church at his homestead of Frodis-water, but   
   priests could not be got for the serving at the churches, though they were   
   built, for in those days but few mass-priests there were in Iceland.   
      
      
   Saint Quote   
   Beware of becoming vexed or impatient at the faults of others; for it would   
   be folly when you see a man falling into a ditch, to throw yourself into   
   another to no purpose.   
   -St. Bonaventure   
      
   Bible Quote   
   23 And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your God:   
   because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early   
   and the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning. 24 And the   
   floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine   
   and oil. (Joel 2:23-24)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   That day of wrath, that dreadful day, shall heaven and earth   
   in ashes lay, as David and the Sybil say. What horror must   
   invade the mind when the approaching Judge shall find and   
   sift the deeds of all mankind! The mighty trumpet's wondrous   
   tone shall rend each tomb's sepulchral stone and summon all   
   before the Throne. Now death and nature with surprise   
   behold the trembling sinners rise to meet the Judge's   
   searching eyes. Then shall with universal dread the Book of   
   Consciences be read to judge the lives of all the dead.   
   For now before the Judge severe all hidden things must plain   
   appear; no crime can pass unpunished here. O what shall I,   
   so guilty plead? and who for me will intercede? when even   
   Saints shall comfort need? O King of dreadful majesty! grace   
   and mercy You grant free; as Fount of Kindness, save me!   
   Recall, dear Jesus, for my sake you did our suffering nature   
   take then do not now my soul forsake! In weariness You   
   sought for me, and suffering upon the tree! let not in vain   
   such labor be. O Judge of justice, hear, I pray, for pity take   
   my sins away before the dreadful reckoning day. You   
   gracious face, O Lord, I seek; deep shame and grief are on   
   my cheek; in sighs and tears my sorrows speak. You Who did   
   Mary's guilt unbind, and mercy for the robber find, have filled   
   with hope my anxious mind. How worthless are my prayers I   
   know, yet, Lord forbid that I should go into the fires of endless   
   woe. Divorced from the accursed band, O make me with Your   
   sheep to stand, as child of grace, at Your right Hand. When   
   the doomed can no more flee from the fires of misery with the   
   chosen call me. Before You, humbled, Lord, I lie, my heart   
   like ashes, crushed and dry, assist me when I die. Full of   
   tears and full of dread is that day that wakes the dead, calling   
   all, with solemn blast to be judged for all their past.   
   Amen.   
      
   Lord, have mercy, Jesus blest,   
   grant them all Your Light and Rest.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)