From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   December 16th - St. Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli   
      
   Saint Eusebius was born of a noble family on the island of Sardinia, where   
   his father is said to have died in prison for the Faith. He was brought up   
   in Rome in the practice of piety, and studied in Vercelli, a city of   
   Piedmont. Eusebius was ordained a priest there, and served the Church of   
   Vercelli with such zeal that when the episcopal chair became vacant he was   
   unanimously chosen, by both clergy and people, to fill it.   
      
   The holy bishop saw that the best and principal means to labor effectually   
   for the edification and sanctification of his people was to have a zealous   
   clergy. Saint Ambrose assures us that he was the first bishop who in the   
   West united the monastic life with the clerical, living and having his   
   clergy live almost like the monks of the East in the deserts. They shared a   
   common life of prayer and penance, in a single residence, that of the   
   bishop, as did the clergy of Saint Augustine in his African see. Saint   
   Eusebius was very careful to instruct his flock in the maxims of the Gospel.   
   The force of the truth which he preached, together with his example, brought   
   many sinners to a change of life.   
      
   When a Council was held in Italy, under the influence of the Emperor   
   Constans and the Arian heretics, with the intention of condemning Saint   
   Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, Saint Eusebius courageously resisted the   
   heretics. He attempted to have all present sign the Nicene Creed, but the   
   paper was torn out of his hands and his pen was broken. With Saint Dionysus   
   of Milan, he refused to sign the condemnation of the bishop of Alexandria.   
   The Emperor therefore had him banished to Scythopolis in Palestine with   
   Saint Dionysus of Milan, then to Cappadocia, where Saint Dionysus died; and   
   finally he was taken to the Upper Thebaid in Egypt, where he suffered   
   grievously. The Arians of these places loaded him with outrages and treated   
   him cruelly, and Saint Eusebius confounded them wherever they were.   
      
   At the death of Constans in 361, he was permitted to return to his diocese,   
   where he continued to combat Arianism, concertedly with Saint Hilarion of   
   Poitiers. He has been called a martyr in two panegyrics appended to the   
   works of Saint Ambrose. Two of his letters, written from his dungeons, are   
   still extant, the only ones of his writings which have survived. One is   
   addressed to his church, the other to the bishop of Elvira to encourage him   
   to oppose a fallen heretic and not fear the power of princes. He died in   
   about the year 370. His relics are in a shrine in the Cathedral of Vercelli.   
      
   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); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des   
   Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14.   
      
      
   Saint Quote :   
   Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of   
   the gospel. This is what Saint Paul says to the Corinthians, 'Clearly you   
   are a letter of Christ which I have delivered, a letter written not with   
   ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on   
   tablets of flesh in the heart' (2 Corinthians 3:3). Our heart is the   
   parchment; through my ministry the Holy Spirit is the writer because 'my   
   tongue is nimble as the pen of a skillful scribe'(Psalms 45:2).   
   -from a sermon by Saint Joseph of Leonissa   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in the   
   time of His visitation. ( I Pet 5:6)   
      
      
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     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.   
      
   THIRTEENTH DAY   
      
       St. Ambrose tells us: "All that we give through charity to the Souls in   
   Purgatory is changed into grace for us, and after our death we will find the   
   merit of it increased a hundredfold."   
      
   Pray: One Our Father, Three Hail Mary's, one Gloria and De Profundis (Psalm   
   129)   
      
   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, grant to the souls of the faithful departed, the   
   full remission of their sins. Be mindful, most merciful Savior, of that Soul   
   in Purgatory who was most devoted to Thee in the Holy Eucharist. Shorten the   
   moment of his deliverance, that he may glorify Thee, and aid me in my   
   journey toward Eternity.   
      
   See entire prayer at:   
   http://halfthekingdom.com/daily%20thoughts%20and%20prayers.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)