From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   December 13th - St. Jodoc (Josse) Confessor   
      
   Those Britons who, flying from the swords of the English-Saxons, settled in   
   Armorica in Gaul, upon the ruins of the Roman Empire. Here they formed   
   themselves into a little state on that coast till they were obliged to   
   receive the laws of the French. Judicaël, customarily called Giguel, eldest   
   son of Juthaël, became king of Brittany about the year 630. This prince soon   
   after renounced this perishable crown to labor more securely for the   
   acquisition of an incorruptible one, and retired into the monastery of St.   
   Meen, in the diocese of St. Malo, where he lived in so great sanctity as to   
   be honored after his death with the title of the Blessed Judicaël. When he   
   resigned the crown he offered it to his younger brother Jodoc, called by the   
   French Josse. But Jodoc had the same inclinations as his elder brother.   
   However, to consult the divine will, he shut himself up for eight days in   
   the monastery of Lammamiont, in which he had been brought up, and prayed   
   night and day with many tears that God would direct him to undertake what   
   was most agreeable to him, and most conducive to his divine honor and his   
   own sanctification. He put an end to his deliberation by receiving the   
   clerical tonsure at the hands of the bishop of Avranches, and joined a   
   company of eleven pilgrims who proposed to go to Rome.   
      
   They went first to Paris, and thence into Picardy in 636. Here Jodoc was   
   prevailed upon by Haymo, duke of Ponchieu, to settle on an estate of his,   
   which was at a sufficient distance from his own country, and secure from the   
   honors which there waited for him. Being promoted to priest's orders, he   
   served the duke's chapel seven years, then retired with only one disciple   
   named Vurmare, into a woody solitude at Ray, where he found a small spot of   
   ground suitable for tillage, watered by the river Authie. The duke built   
   them a chapel and cells, in which the hermits lived, gaining by the tillage   
   of this land their meager subsistence and a surplus for the poor. Their   
   exercises were austere penance, prayer, and contemplation. After eight years   
   thus spent here they moved to Runiac, now called Villers-Saint-Josse, near   
   the mouth of the river Canche, where they built a chapel of wood in honor of   
   St. Martin. In this place they continued the same manner of life for   
   thirteen years. When Jodoc was bit by an adder, they again changed their   
   quarters. The good duke continued as their constant protector, building them   
   a hermitage, with two chapels of wood, in honor of Saints Peter and Paul.   
   The servants of God remained here except that out of devotion to the princes   
   of the apostles, and to the holy martyrs, they made a penitential pilgrimage   
   to Rome in 665. At their return to Runinc they found their hermitage   
   enlarged and adorned, and a beautiful church of stone, which the good duke   
   had erected in memory of St. Martin, and on which he settled a appreciable   
   estate. The duke met them in person on the road, and conducted them to their   
   habitation. Jodoc finished here his penitential course in 669, and was   
   honored by miracles both before and after his death.   
      
   Winoc and Arnoc, two nephews of the saint, inherited his hermitage, which   
   became a famous monastery, and was one of those which Charlemagne first   
   bestowed on Alcuin in 792. It stands near the sea, in the diocese of Amiens,   
   follows the order of St. Benedict, and the abbots enjoyed the privileges of   
   a count. It is called St. Josse-sur-mer. St. Jodoc is mentioned on this day   
   in the Roman Martyrology.   
      
   See the life of this saint written in the eighth century; Cave thinks about   
   the year 710. It is published with learned notes by Mabillon, Act Ben. t. 2,   
   p. 566 Gall. Chr. Nov. t. 10, pp. 1289, 1290.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The Lord has called us from different nations, but we must be united with   
   one heart and one soul. In the divine Heart of Jesus we will always meet one   
   another and there we seek our strength to face the difficulties of life. May   
   we be strengthened to practice the beautiful virtues of charity, humility   
   and patience. Then our religious life will be the antechamber to Heaven.   
   --Blessed Maria Elizabetta Hesselblad   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   As the One who called you is holy, be you also holy in all your behavior.   
   (I Pet. 1:15)   
      
      
    <><><><>   
   Daily Thoughts and Prayers for Our Beloved Dead   
      
   "Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand   
   of the Lord hath touched me" Job. 19-21.   
      
   TWELFTH DAY   
      
   They are not strangers who implore our help - they are our own; our parents,   
   brothers and friends. They are the devoted hearts who loved us so tenderly   
   and for us so earnestly toiled and suffered. Now that they are gone from our   
   midst, does not our heart reproach us for not having sufficiently shown our   
   affection in the past?   
      
   Prayers:  Our Father, Three Hail Marys, Gloria, De Profundis.   
      
   De Profundis   
      
      Out of the depths, I have cried to Thee,   
   O Lord, Lord, hear my voice.   
      Let Thine ears be attentive to the   
   voice of my supplication.   
      If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark my iniquities,   
   O Lord, who shall stand it?   
      For with Thee there is merciful   
   forgiveness: and by reason of Thy   
   law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.   
   My soul hath relied on His word;   
   my soul hath hoped in the Lord.   
      From the morning watch even until   
   night; let Israel hope in the Lord.   
   Because with the Lord there is mercy;   
   And with Him plenteous redemption.   
      And He shall redeem Israel from   
   all its iniquities.   
      Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,   
   And let perpetual light shine upon them:   
      May they rest in peace. Amen.   
      
   O Lord Jesus Christ, have compassion on Thy Church suffering.  Temper Thy   
   justice with pity and open the gates of Heaven for the Souls in Purgatory,   
   that they may praise and glorify Thee forever. Amen.   
      
   See whole prayer at::   
   http://www.dailycatholic.org/deprofun.htm   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)