From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   February 16th - St. Juliana of Nicomedia VM (RM)   
      
   Died at Cumae or Naples, 305. Juliana's struggle with the devil was one of   
   the favorite stories of the medieval Church. What still fascinates is its   
   deep psychological meaning: for the devil is said to have appeared to the   
   saint as an angel of light. His aim was to persuade her that what she had   
   renounced in this world was in fact good. On the face of it, the devil was   
   right, for Juliana had turned against both her father and her suitor, a   
   Roman prefect named Evilasius.   
      
   Her father, Africanus, an ambitious functionary in the Roman legions,   
   despised her simply because she had become a Christian. When her suitor   
   realized that she would not become his wife, he decided that she should be   
   no one's bride. Her calling left her without a family of her own. Both men,   
   failing to get their own way with this determined saint, treated her   
   brutally: Juliana's father scourged and tortured her. Evilasius flung her   
   into jail where she was seen to be fighting with the disguised devil,   
   finally binding him and throwing him to the ground.   
      
   Juliana died a martyr's death. First she was partially burned in flames;   
   then she was plunged into a boiling cauldron of oil; finally the   
   long-suffering saint was freed from the torments of this world by the   
   mercifully instantaneous act of beheading.   
      
   The Roman Martyrology describes Juliana's suffering at Nicomedia in Asia   
   Minor, but it is more probable that she died in Naples, perhaps Cumae, where   
   her relics are said to be enshrined. Some of them are now in Brussels,   
   Belgium, in the church of Our Lady of Sablon. Though her story was the   
   source of many romantic tales, Juliana is clearly an historical figure as   
   attested by Saint Gregory the Great, who requested relics of her from Bishop   
   Fortunatus of Naples for an oratory that a lady had built on her estate in   
   Juliana's honor, and others. Her cultus in England dates back to Bede's   
   martyrology, and her feast was on the Sarum Calendar (Benedictines, Bentley,   
   Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).   
      
   In art, Saint Juliana is hung up naked by her hair. Sometimes she may be   
   shown in a cauldron, leading the devil in chains, or crowned wearing a cross   
   on her breast. She is invoked against infectious diseases (Roeder). In the   
   paintings and stained glass of the Middle Ages, Saint Juliana is frequently   
   shown battling with a winged devil; usually she carries a chain in order to   
   bind him (Bentley). She may also be seen with a dragon at her feet (as in   
   stained glass at Martham and on screens at Hampstead and North Elmham,   
   Norfolk) (Farmer).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Why do we talk and gossip so continually, seeing that we so rarely resume   
   our silence without some hurt done to our conscience? ... Devout   
   conversation on spiritual things helpeth not a little to spiritual progress,   
   most of all where those of kindred mind and spirit find their ground of   
   fellowship in God.   
   -Thomas à Kempis, Of the Imitation of Christ   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Take heed not to do your good before men, in order to be seen by them. St.   
   Matthew 6:1   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus   
      
   I. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, ask and you will receive,   
   seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you." Behold I knock,   
   I seek and ask for the grace of...... (here name your request)   
      
   Our Father....Hail Mary....Glory Be to the Father....Sacred Heart of Jesus,   
   I place all my trust in you.   
      
   II. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, if you ask anything of   
   the Father in my name, he will give it to you." Behold, in your name, I ask   
   the Father for the grace of.......(here name your request)   
      
   Our Father...Hail Mary....Glory Be To the Father....Sacred Heart of Jesus, I   
   place all my trust in you.   
      
   III. O my Jesus, you have said: "Truly I say to you, heaven and earth will   
   pass away but my words will not pass away." Encouraged by your infallible   
   words I now ask for the grace of.....(here name your request)   
      
   Our Father....Hail Mary....Glory Be to the Father...Sacred Heart of Jesus, I   
   place all my trust in you.   
      
   O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on   
   the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace   
   which we ask of you, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary,   
   your tender Mother and ours.   
      
   Say the Hail, Holy Queen and add: St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray   
   for us.   
   -Margaret Mary Alacoque   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)