From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   April 1st - St. Hugh, Bishop of Grenoble   
      
   (1053-1132)   
      
   It was the good fortune of Saint Hugh to receive, from his cradle, strong   
   impressions of piety through the example and solicitude of his illustrious   
   and holy parents. He was born at Chateauneuf in Dauphiné, France, in 1053.   
   His father, Odilo, who served his country in an honorable post in the army,   
   labored by all means in his power to make his soldiers faithful servants of   
   their Creator, and by severe punishments, to restrain vice. By the advice of   
   his son, Saint Hugh, in his later years he became a Carthusian monk, and   
   died at the age of one hundred, having received Extreme Unction and Viaticum   
   from the hands of his son. Under his direction, his mother had served God in   
   her own house for many years by prayer, fasting, and abundant almsgiving;   
   and Saint Hugh also assisted her in her last hours.   
      
   Hugh, from the cradle, appeared to be a child of benediction; in his youth   
   he was recognized as such through his exceptional success in his studies.   
   Having chosen to serve God in the ecclesiastical state, he accepted a   
   canonry in the cathedral of Valence. His great sanctity and learning   
   rendered him an ornament of that church, and at the age of twenty-seven he   
   was chosen Bishop of Grenoble. Pope Gregory VII consecrated him in Rome, and   
   inspired in him an ardent zeal for the Church's liberty and the   
   sanctification of the clergy. He at once undertook to reprove vice and   
   reform abuses, at that time rampant in his diocese, but found his efforts   
   without fruit. He resolved therefore, after two years, to resign his charge,   
   and retired to the austere abbey of Casa Dei, or Chaise-Dieu, in Auvergne.   
      
   There Saint Hugh lived for a year, a perfect model of all virtues in a   
   monastery filled with saints, until Pope Gregory commanded him, in the name   
   of holy obedience, to resume his pastoral charge, saying: "Go to your flock;   
   they need you." This time his sanctity effected great good in souls. His   
   forceful preaching moved crowds and touched hearts; in the confessional he   
   wept with his penitents, and aroused in them a deeper contrition. After a   
   few years the face of his diocese had changed. His charity for the poor led   
   him to sell even his episcopal ring and his chalice to assist them. During   
   his episcopate the young Saint Bruno came to him for counsel, and it was   
   Saint Hugh who assisted him in the foundation of the Carthusian Monastery in   
   the mountains of the diocese of Grenoble, whose renown after a thousand   
   years has not diminished.   
      
   Always filled with a profound sense of his own unworthiness, he earnestly   
   solicited three Popes for leave to resign his bishopric, that he might die   
   in solitude, but was never able to obtain his request. God was pleased to   
   purify his soul by a lingering illness before He called him to Himself. He   
   closed his penitential course on the 1st of April in 1132, two months before   
   completing his eightieth year. Miracles attested the sanctity of his death,   
   and he was canonized only two years afterwards, by Pope Innocent II.   
      
   Reflection. Let us learn from the example of the Saints to shun the tumult   
   of the world as much as our circumstances will allow, and apply ourselves to   
   the exercises of holy solitude, prayer, and pious reading.   
      
   Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on   
   Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea   
   (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de   
   l'année, by Abbé L. Jaud (Mame: Tours, 1950); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies   
   des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 4.   
      
   Spiritual Bouquet: I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but   
   the Will of Him who sent Me. St. John 6:38   
      
      
   Note: Due to a conflict with the Easter season the Feast of St. Joseph   
   is also held today.   
      
   <><><><>   
   Litany of Saint Joseph   
      
   Lord, have mercy on us.   
   Christ, have mercy on us.   
   Lord, have mercy on us.   
   Christ, hear us   
   Christ, graciously hear us   
   GOD, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us   
   GOD, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us   
   GOD, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us   
   HOLY TRINITY, One GOD, have mercy on us.   
   Holy Mary                 *pray for us   
   Saint Joseph*   
   Illustrious Son of David,*   
   Light of the Patriarchs*   
   Spouse of the Mother of GOD*   
   Chaste Guardian of the Virgin*   
   Foster-Father of the Son of GOD*   
   Watchful Defender of Christ*   
   Head of the Holy Family*   
   Joseph most just*   
   Joseph most chaste*   
   Joseph most prudent*   
   Joseph most valiant*   
   Joseph most obedient*   
   Joseph most faithful*   
   Mirror of patience*   
   Lover of poverty*   
   Model of workmen*   
   Glory of domestic life*   
   Guardian of virgins*   
   Pillar of families*   
   Solace of the afflicted*   
   Hope of the sick*   
   Patron of the dying*   
   Terror of demons*   
   Protector of Holy Church*   
   Lamb of GOD, Who takes away the sins of the world,   
   Spare us O Lord   
   Lamb of GOD, Who takes away the sins of the world,   
   Graciously hear us O Lord   
   Lamb of GOD, Who takes away the sins of the world,   
   Have mercy on us.   
      
   - He made him the Lord of His house   
   - and the ruler of all his possessions.   
      
   Let us pray   
   O GOD, Who in Your unspeakable providence did choose Blessed Joseph   
   To be the spouse of Your most Holy Mother, grant that as we venerate him   
   as   
   Our protector on earth, we may deserve to have him as our intercessor in   
   heaven,   
   Who live and reign forever and ever.  Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)