From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   July 8th - St. Withburga   
    (Also known as Withburge, Witburh)   
      
   Died March 17, c. 743; other feasts are celebrated on April 18 at Cambridge and   
   on March 17; today's feast commemorates her translation. She was the youngest   
   daughter of King Anna of the East Angles. Like her holy sisters, she devoted   
   herself to the divine service, and led an austere life in solitude for several   
   years at Holkham, near the seacoast in Norfolk, where a church dedicated to her   
   was afterwards built. After the death of her father she changed her abode to   
   East Dereham, now a market town in Norfolk, but then an obscure place of   
   retirement.   
      
   Withburga assembled there some devout maidens, and laid the foundation of a   
   church and convent, but did not live to finish the buildings. Her body was   
   interred in the churchyard at East Dereham and 50 years later was found   
   incorrupt and translated into the church. In 974, with soldiers and under the   
   cover of night but with the blessing of King Edgar and Saint Ethelwold, Abbot   
   Brithnoth of Ely removed it to Ely. They moved the body by wagon, drove 20   
   miles to Brandun River, and continued their journey by boat-much to the dismay   
   of the men of Dereham who had pursued them by land and could only watch   
   helplessly as their treasure drifted away. At Ely Brithnoth deposited   
   Withburga's relics near the bodies of her two sisters.   
      
   In 1102, Withburga's relics were moved into a new part of the church. In 1106,   
   the remains of four saints were translated into the new church and laid near   
   the   
   high altar. The bodies of Saints Sexburga and Ermenilda were reduced to dust,   
   except the bones. That of Saint Etheldreda was entire, and that of Saint   
   Withburga was not only sound but also fresh, and the limbs flexible. This is   
   related by Thomas, monk of Ely, in his history of Ely, which he wrote the   
   following year.   
      
   He also tells us that in the place where Saint Withburga was first buried, in   
   the churchyard at Dereham, a spring of clear water gushed forth when her body   
   was first exhumed: it is to this day called Saint Withburga's well. The church   
   at Holkham is dedicated to her honor (Benedictines, Farmer, Walsh).   
      
   In art, Saint Withburga is portrayed as an abbess with two hinds at her feet   
   because William of Malmesbury described her as being provided milk in her   
   solitude by a doe. She may be holding a church inscribed Ecclia de Estderham.   
   She is venerated at Barham, Burlingham, and Dereham in Norfolk (Roeder).   
      
      
   Saint Quote   
   I am gently going to my grave. It is the will of God, and I thank Him very much   
   for letting me die of the same disease and in the same way as my lepers. I am   
   very satisfied and very happy.   
   -Blessed Father Damien de Veuster   
      
   Bible Quote   
   But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather than   
   men. The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to death,   
   hanging   
   him upon a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be Prince and   
   Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.  (Acts 5:29-31)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit   
      
   Holy Spirit, divine Consoler, I adore You as my true God, with God the   
   Father and God the Son.  I adore You and unite myself to the adoration You   
   receive from the angels and saints.   
   I give You my heart and I offer my ardent thanksgiving for all the grace   
   which You never cease to bestow on me.   
      
   O Giver of all supernatural gifts, who filled the soul of the Blessed Virgin   
   Mary, Mother of God, with such immense favors, I beg You to visit me with   
   Your grace and Your love and to grant me the gift of holy fear, so that it   
   may act on me as a check to prevent me from falling back into my past sins,   
   for which I beg pardon.   
      
   Grant me the gift of piety, so that I may serve You for the future with   
   increased fervor, follow with more promptness Your holy inspirations, and   
   observe your divine precepts with greater fidelity.   
      
   Grant me the gift of knowledge, so that I may know the things of God and,   
   enlightened by Your holy teaching, may walk, without deviation, in the path   
   of eternal salvation.   
      
   Grant me the gift of fortitude, so that I may overcome courageously all the   
   assaults of the devil, and all the dangers of this world which threaten the   
   salvation of my soul.   
      
   Grant me the gift of counsel, so that I may choose what is more conducive to   
   my spiritual advancement and may discover the wiles and snares of the   
   tempter.   
      
   Grant me the gift of understanding, so that I may apprehend the divine   
   mysteries and by contemplation of heavenly things detach my thoughts and   
   affections from the vain things of this miserable world.   
      
   Grant me the gift of wisdom, so that I may rightly direct all my actions,   
   referring them to God as my last end; so that, having loved Him and served   
   Him in this life, I may have the happiness of possessing Him eternally in   
   the next.Amen.   
   -St. Alphonsus Liguori   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)