From: trudie.Miller@cox.net   
      
   November 23rd - Pope St. Clement   
      
   Around the year 100, a faction of Corinthian Christians revolted against the   
   rulers of their church. Third in succession to St Peter, Clement wrote a letter   
   in the name of the church of Rome to the church of Corinth exhorting, indeed   
   commanding, a return to obedience. He takes for granted the primacy of the   
   Roman   
   church and her right to intervene with authority in the affairs of other   
   churches. He insists upon the necessity of discipline and order as witnessed   
   everywhere, from the divine government of the world to the Roman army. The   
   letter breathes the spirit of imperial Rome baptized as the ethos of the Church   
   of Rome: authority, but also peace and charity. We are surely entitled to   
   identify Clement with the Clement mentioned in the Shepherd of Hermas 'whose   
   duty it is to write to cities abroad.' He may also be, as the Roman missal   
   supposes, the Clement mentioned by St Paul in his epistle to the Philippians.   
   But we cannot be certain. He was not Domitian's cousin, Flavius Clemens,   
   probably a Christian martyr, but he may have been his freedman. Nor was he   
   himself a martyr; nothing is heard of his alleged martyrdom till the closing   
   decades of the fourth century. And Irenaeus, when in his list of the early   
   popes   
   he mentions that Telesphorus was a martyr, implies that the others were not. We   
   do not know the exact date of Clement's death.   
      
   Clement was later made the hero of utterly unhistorical romances composed in   
   Syria, the Clementine Homilies, Recognitions and Epitome.   
      
   About the middle of the third century a house in the valley between the Caelian   
   and Esquiline hills was adapted to serve as a Christian church with the title   
   of   
   Clement. This Clement, the donor, and legal owner of the property, cannot have   
   been the first century saint; but by the time of Pope Siricius (384-399) he had   
   been identified with him. For the title of Clement had become attached to the   
   church where Pope Clement was venerated and, moreover, as a martyr. The church,   
   which has been excavated, was enlarged and richly decorated. Above it is the   
   present basilica of San Clemente built about 1100.   
      
   Towards the close of the fifth century a Roman writer composed the 'Passion' of   
   St. Clement enshrined in the Roman breviary. St. Clement banished by Nerva and   
   Trajan to the quarries of the Chersonese, not yet in fact imperial territory,   
   miraculously produced a spring of water for the benefit of his fellow convicts   
   and converted multitudes of pagans. At the command of Trajan's representative   
   'Duke' Aufidianus, an anchor was tied to his neck and he was drowned. The sea   
   receded three miles and showed his body buried by angels in a marble mausoleum.   
   The story is obvious fiction, but the spring and the anchor occur in a mosaic   
   substantially reproduced in the present San Clemente. St. Clement is mentioned   
   in the canon of the Roman Mass.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Do not desire crosses, unless you have borne well those laid on you; it is an   
   abuse to long after martyrdom while unable to bear an insult patiently.   
   - François de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   19 And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven,   
   and sitteth on the right hand of God. 20 But they going forth preached every   
   where: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that   
   followed.  (Mark 16:14-20)   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   Three prayers of St. Basil the Great; one before Holy Communion, one for   
   guidance, and one for penance:   
      
   O Lord, I know that I am unworthy to receive Thy Holy Body and   
   Precious Blood; I know that I am guilty, and that I eat and drink   
   condemnation to myself, not discerning the Body and Blood of Christ my   
   God. But trusting in Thy loving-kindness I come unto Thee who hast said:   
   He that eateth my Body and drinketh my Blood shall dwell in me and I in   
   him. Therefore, O Lord, have compassion on me and make not an example of   
   me, Thy sinful servant. But do unto me according thy great mercy, and   
   grant that these Holy Gifts may be for me unto the healing, purification,   
   enlightenment, protection, salvation and sanctification of my soul and   
   body, and to the expulsion of every evil imagination, sinful deed or work   
   of the Devil. May they move me to reliance on Thee and to love Thee   
   always, to amend and keep firm my life; and be ever in me to the increase   
   of virtue, to the keeping of the Holy Ghost, and as a good defence before   
   Thy dread Judgement Seat, and for Life Eternal. Amen.   
      
   Steer the ship of my life, good Lord, to Thy quiet harbour, where I can be   
   safe from the storms of sin and conflict. Sheweth me the course I should   
   take. Reneweth in me the gift of discernment, so that I can always see the   
   right direction in which I should go. And give unto me the strength and   
   the courage to choose the right course, even when the sea is rough and the   
   waves are high, knowing that through enduring hardship and danger in Thy   
   name I shalt find comfort and peace. Amen.   
      
   O Lord and Master, I am unworthy both of heaven and of earth, because I   
   have surrendered myself to sin, and become the slave of worldly   
   pleasures. Yet, since Thou hast created me, and since Thou canst shape me   
   as Thou want, I do not despair of Salvation; but made bold by Thy   
   compassionate love, I come before Thee. Receive me, dear Lord, as Thou   
   didst receive the harlot, the thief, the tax collector and even the   
   prodigal son. Thou lovest all people, so pour out Thy love upon me. Lift   
   from me the heavy burden of sin, cleanse every stain of unrighteousness   
   from me, and washeth me white with the waters of holiness. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)