From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   November 6th - Saint Leonard, Hermit, Patron of prisoners   
      
   (d.  Second half of the Sixth Century)   
      
   Saint Leonard was born towards the end of the fifth century of illustrious   
   parents, residing in the part of the province of Gaul which was then   
   beginning to be called France. Several historians believe that with his   
   brother Saint Lifard, his origins can be traced to the castle of Vendome in   
   the region of Orleans. He belonged to the nation of the Franks, and at the   
   court of Clovis his relatives were dignitaries, baptized at the same time as   
   the king by Saint Remi. That monarch himself stood as sponsor in Baptism for   
   this child of predilection.   
      
   As Leonard grew he was so moved by the holy examples of the bishop of Rheims   
   that he renounced the world in order to lead a more perfect life. When Saint   
   Remi had trained Leonard in virtue and conferred on him the tonsure, he   
   began to exercise his charity on behalf of prisoners. Clovis, in response to   
   a prayer of Saint Remi, had already issued an edict that prisoners in Rheims   
   might be freed whenever his royal highness would pass through that city.   
   Leonard asked the kind monarch to grant him personally the right to liberate   
   prisoners whom he would find worthy of it, any time at all.   
      
   The reputation of Saint Leonard's goodness and sanctity soon spread, and the   
   sick came to him for healing and alms. He did not fail to teach them also   
   the value of Christian patience and to console them by the divine doctrine.   
   The king desired to attach him permanently to his court, but Saint Leonard,   
   in a discourse brilliant by its humility, replied that he preferred to live   
   in the obscurity Christ had chosen for Himself for so many years, and he   
   retired to a monastery. Saint Maximin, its abbot, saw to it that he was   
   ordained a deacon, which office he accepted out of obedience, but he did not   
   aspire to any additional ecclesiastical dignities. He recognized that his   
   role was not to remain always in the monastery, and departed to preach to   
   the pagans of the province of Limoges. He found on a nearby mountain a   
   forested solitude where he decided to remain, and there he built a cell of   
   branches and considered himself rich in the possession of God, joyous in his   
   freedom to devote himself to meditation, prayer and mortification.   
      
   He continued to obtain miracles when solicited by the suffering members of   
   Jesus Christ. The spouse of a king living nearby had a successful delivery   
   of a child by his prayers, when her very life was despaired of; and the king   
   in gratitude gave him a part of the forest to dispose of as he wished. He   
   then built an oratory to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Two disciples joined him   
   in this sanctuary, continuing to pray without interruption when their master   
   went on pilgrimage to the tombs of the Saints.   
      
   Soon the sick came to Saint Leonard here also, and prisoners who invoked him   
   from their cells saw their chains break before their eyes. Many came to him   
   afterwards, bringing their heavy chains and irons to offer them in homage. A   
   considerable number wished to remain with him, and he often gave them part   
   of his vast forest to clear and make ready for the labors of the fields,   
   that they might have the means to live an honest life. He continued to be   
   their guardian and father and preached the religion of our Saviour to them;   
   and those who had once been malefactors were transformed by prayer and   
   labor.   
      
   Seven families of persons who were his relatives in the north heard of his   
   reputation and decided to come to him and remain with him. He was surprised   
   but encouraged their good resolutions, saying: "A fare of dry bread, eaten   
   in the joy of a pure conscience, is of more worth than a house abundantly   
   furnished, where quarrels and divisions prevail." After increasing in   
   holiness until his last days, he died on the 6th of November in the oratory   
   he had dedicated to Our Lady, after having himself transported there,   
   sometime during the second half of the sixth century. Miracles on behalf of   
   prisoners and the sick followed, as they had preceded, his death. The cult   
   of Saint Leonard has remained extremely popular in France ever since; and   
   throughout all of Europe churches and monasteries have been placed under his   
   invocation.   
      
   Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 13.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   If the Lord should give you power to raise the dead, He would give much less   
   than He does when he bestows suffering. By miracles you would make yourself   
   debtor to Him, while by suffering He may become debtor to you. And even if   
   sufferings had no other reward than being able to bear something for that   
   God who loves you, is not this a great reward and a sufficient remuneration?   
   Whoever loves, understands what I say.   
   -Saint John Chrysostom   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Above all things have charity, which is the bond of perfection. (Col. 3:14)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Short Visit to the Blessed Sacrament By Ven. John Henry Newman   
      
       I place myself in the presence of Him, in whose Incarnate Presence I am   
   before I place myself there.   
      
       I adore You, O my Savior, present here as God and man, in soul and body,   
   in true flesh and blood.   
      
       I acknowledge and confess that I kneel before the Sacred Humanity, which   
   was conceived in Mary's womb, and lay in Mary's bosom; which grew up to   
   man's   
   estate, and by the Sea of Galilee called the Twelve, wrought miracles, and   
   spoke words of wisdom and peace; which in due season hung on the cross, lay   
   in the tomb, rose from the dead, and now reigns in heaven.   
      
       I praise and bless, and give myself wholly to Him, Who is the true Bread   
   of my soul, and my everlasting joy.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   November Plaints   
      
   Rest Eternal Grant Them, Lord!   
   Take we up the touching burden of November plaints,   
   Pleading for the Holy Souls, God's yet uncrowned Saints.   
   Still unpaid to our departed is the debt we owe;   
   Still unransomed, some are pining, sore oppressed with woe.   
   Friends we loved and vowed to cherish call us in their need:   
   Prove we now our love was real, true in word and deed.   
   "Rest eternal grant them, Lord!" full often let us pray-   
   "Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine!"   
      
   Requiem Aeternam   
   Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.   
   Requiescant in pace.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)