From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   December 24th - St. Delphinus, Bishop of Bordeaux   
   (d. 403)   
      
   Little is known of the origins of Saint Delphinus; it is after his elevation   
   to   
   the episcopate that he became famous among the bishops of his time as a   
   vigilant   
   protector of the truth. We have written evidence, however, that his piety   
   and   
   learning made him so celebrated that the saintliest bishops of the Church   
   were   
   honored to be his friends and to correspond with him.   
      
   He was present at the Council of Saragossa in 380, at which the Priscillian   
   heretics were condemned. Later he assembled a Council in Bordeaux, his   
   episcopal   
   city, which the heretics had entered and where they were working havoc; this   
   assembly condemned once again the same propagators of error. The bishop's   
   force   
   and preaching so reduced their influence that they abandoned the region   
   entirely   
   and fled to Italy.   
      
   Delphinus, who became bishop of Bordeaux, was to Aquitaine what Saint Martin   
   of   
   Tours was to Gaul in the opinion of Saint Paulinus of Nola, whom he   
   baptized. He   
   was an unremitting opponent of the Priscillianists   
      
   Saint Delphinus baptized Saint Paulinus, later Bishop of Nola, in 388, and   
   inspired in him the desire to live a life of perfection. He, in several   
   letters,   
   speaks of Saint Delphinus as his father and his master. Saint Delphinus died   
   on   
   the 24th of December, at the beginning of the fifth century.   
      
   Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et   
   Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 14.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Today is the Vigil of the Feast of the Nativity.  During the season of   
   Advent we longed for the coming of Christ.  In Christmastide we experience   
   the joy of His coming into the world.  The Church is full of the Mystery of   
   the Incarnation of Christ.  Jesus as God, begotten of the substance of the   
   Father before all the ages and born of the substance of His Mother in the   
   world, is given to us.  "And His Name shall be called the Angel of Great   
   Council."   
      
   By the union of our souls with Jesus born to human life, we are born to the   
   divine life.  "As many as received Him to them He gave power to become Sons   
   of God."   
      
   In the birth of Jesus we learn to know God as His Father: "My Father has   
   entrusted everything into My hands; none knows the Son truly except the   
   Father, and none knows the Father truly except the Son, and those to whom   
   it is the Son's good pleasure to reveal Him."   
      
   Mother of the Word Incarnate, pray for us.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Sometimes, when the soul least thinks of it, and when it least desires it,   
   God   
   touches it divinely causing certain recollections of Himself.   
   -John of the Cross   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Is any one of you sad? Let him pray. Is any one in good spirits? Let him   
   sing a   
   hymn. (James 5:13)   
      
      
   <<>><<>>   
   A prayer of thanksgiving:   
      
   Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes; laudate eum, omnes populi; quoniam   
   confirmata est super nos misericordia eius et veritas Domini manet in   
   aeternum.   
      
   V.  Confiteantur tibi populi, Deus.   
   R.  Confiteantur tibi populi omnes.   
      
   Oremus:   
      
   Protector noster, aspice, Deus, et respice in faciem Christi tui:  qui   
   dedit redemptionem semetipsum pro omnibus, et fac ut ab ortu solis usque ad   
   occasum magnificetur nomen tuum in gentibus, ac in omni loco sacrificetur   
   et offeratur nomini tuo oblatio munda.  Per eumdem Christum Dominum   
   nostrum.  Amen.   
      
   <<>>   
   O praise the Lord, all ye nations:  praise Him, all ye peoples; for His   
   mercy is confirmed upon us: and the truth of the Lord remaineth forever.   
      
   V.  Let the people praise Thee, O God.   
   R.  Let all the people praise Thee.   
      
   Let us pray:  O God, our Protector, behold and look upon the face of Thy   
   Christ, who gave Himself a redemption for all, and grant that from the   
   rising of the sun even to the going down, Thy Name may be great among the   
   Gentiles, and in every place sacrifice and a clean oblation may be offered   
   unto Thy Name.  Through the same Christ our Lord.  Amen.   
      
   Traditional indulgence of 3 years; plenary on usual conditions for those   
   who say these prayers daily for one month. (11-9-1920 & 6-5-1936)   
      
   Imprimatur:  Francis Cardinal Spellman [30 May, 1951]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)