From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   April 14th - St. Peter Gonzalez   
      
   Peter Gonzalez was born in 1190 in the city of Astorga, Spain, of an   
   illustrious   
   family. After studies in which he excelled, he was named canon of the   
   Cathedral.   
   His uncle, the Bishop of Astorga, obtained for him from Rome the position of   
   dean of the chapter of canons.   
      
   It was planned for Peter to take possession of the dignity at Christmas. A   
   vain   
   youth filled with the spirit of the world, Peter desired that the ceremony   
   should take place with great pomp before the whole city. Astride a   
   magnificent   
   horse in full harness, he rode through the streets of the city. When he   
   reached   
   a place crowded with onlookers, he spurred his horse to make it prance more   
   elegantly and raise the applause of the people. But the horse tripped and   
   threw   
   the rider into a puddle of mud. The applause immediately changed into   
   derision   
   and laughter.   
      
   The misfortune, however, proved beneficial for him. Raising himself up, he   
   exclaimed, "How can this be? This same world that applauds me one moment,   
   laughs   
   at me the next? Well, I will laugh at it in my turn. From this day onward, I   
   will turn my back to it and seek out a better life."   
      
   In fact, he abandoned the world and entered the austere Order of St.   
   Dominic. He   
   became an excellent religious and no less excellent preacher. His fame   
   spread   
   and reached the court of King St. Ferdinand of Castile, who asked his advice   
   regarding the war against the Saracens. In fact, the saint accompanied the   
   King   
   in his expeditions against the Moors, particularly in the siege and taking   
   of   
   Cordova in 1236, which, from the year 718, had been the chief seat of the   
   Moorish dominions in Spain.   
      
   Later he became apostle and preacher to the poor, and especially to sailors.   
   He   
   received the gift of miracles. He preached without stop until his last days   
   and   
   foretold his own death, which took place on April 15, 1246. The sailors of   
   Spain   
   and Portugal still invoke him in every storm under the name of St. Elmo (Elm   
   or   
   Telm).   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   The life of this saint is truly picturesque, beginning with his worldly   
   nomination to the canonry of Astorga. You see that the man was a nephew of   
   the   
   Bishop and was named canon, and afterward dean of the chapter, which is the   
   principal post among the canons.   
      
   It was a custom of the time that when a person was invested with a new   
   important   
   post, he would parade in a cortege through the city wearing the insignias of   
   his   
   new dignity acclaimed by the people. For example, if a man was named a new   
   professor in the university, he would also pass through the city and the   
   people   
   would celebrate his appointment with applause and fireworks; his alumni   
   would   
   play music and sing. Even when a simple youth graduated from a college, he   
   would   
   have the right to wear a special mantle. He would don it when he returned to   
   his   
   city or home village so that everyone would know that he had completed his   
   studies and merited new respect. It was a way to acknowledge the   
   accomplishments   
   of an educated man and permit him to enter higher social and intellectual   
   milieus.   
      
   Some of these customs still remained in small cities of Brazil in the 1920s.   
   A   
   young man who finished his course and graduated in the capital would return   
   to   
   his village and be received by the people at the rail station with fanfare.   
   A   
   minor civil authority would be on hand to greet him. Then the family would   
   have   
   a party for him at their home with food and drink for all. In this way, the   
   new   
   graduate was enthroned in the small society of his village. It was a very   
   reasonable, healthy, and picturesque tradition.   
      
   So, in Astorga we have our young canon Peter Gonzalez riding a magnificent   
   horse   
   and wearing the rich garments of dean of the canons. There were probably   
   other   
   canons riding alongside him and various parish associations following the   
   cortege. It was an epoch when anti-clericalism was nonexistent and an   
   ecclesiastical post was highly esteemed and appreciated by the world. Our   
   canon   
   entered the main street of the city and spurred his horse to make a more   
   elegant   
   picture. Suddenly he was thrown into a puddle of mud.   
      
   Once Napoleon was riding a horse in Paris at either the Bois de Boulogne or   
   Champs Elysées - I forgot the place - with the ambassador of Denmark riding   
   at   
   his side. The people recognized Napoleon and applauded. The ambassador said   
   to   
   him: "Oh, Your Majesty, what a secure throne you have!" Napoleon replied:   
   "You   
   are mistaken, Monsieur Ambassador, the people take their revenge for the   
   applause they give." It is true. The onlooker is often just as ready to   
   scorn   
   the very one he applauds. This applies to the case of St. Peter Gonzalez.   
   The   
   crowd was applauding him, and when he fell, the people immediately began to   
   deride and laugh at him.   
      
   But it was an opportunity for the grace of God to act. This reaction touched   
   the   
   heart of St. Peter Gonzalez, showing him the futility of worldly applause   
   and   
   moving him to challenge the world. With this, he broke with the world. Often   
   this is the way grace works with Spaniards. It inspires a man to break with   
   the   
   world, and immediately afterward to challenge it and counter-attack it. It   
   is   
   like a bullfight. Our saint responded in this way. He converted, entered the   
   Dominican Order, became a famous preacher, and even counseled King St.   
   Ferdinand   
   on the crusade against the Moors and accompanied him in his battles.   
      
   It is a beautiful scene: a King-saint who calls upon a preacher-saint to   
   discuss   
   what to do in the fight against the infidel. How different from our times!   
   Where   
   is the saintly King? Where is the saintly preacher? Where is the fight   
   against   
   the infidel? All of those magnificent things have disappeared. We should   
   have   
   nostalgia for those values that so deeply move our souls.   
      
   Dante said that no sadness is greater than to remember one's past happiness   
   in   
   days of misery. In a certain way, we suffer this kind of sadness. We are in   
   days   
   of misery, and we recall the fortunate days of a bygone Christendom. We have   
   sadness, but at least we know that such an epoch existed, that society   
   became   
   what it is today by the action of the Revolution, and that in future days it   
   will be restored to even more than it was in the past. I think it is   
   legitimate   
   to recall these things with nostalgia.   
      
   Afterward, St. Peter Gonzalez took on other roles. One of them was to preach   
   to   
   the sailors. At that time, sailors were one of the lowest levels of society,   
   rough men without faith, morals, or law - a riffraff of adventurers. St.   
   Peter   
   Gonzalez chose to make his apostolate in that milieu, where he moved and   
   converted those souls. He did not need to become a worker-priest. God showed   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)