From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   August 26th - Saint Zephyrinus, Pope and Martyr   
      
   (d. 217)   
      
   Saint Zephyrinus, a native of Rome, succeeded Victor I in the pontificate in   
   the   
   year 198. In 202 Septimus Severus, a military despot, raised the fifth and   
   most   
   bloody persecution against the Church, which continued for nine years until   
   the   
   death of the emperor in 211. Until this furious storm ended, the holy pastor   
   remained concealed for the sake of his flock, supporting and comforting the   
   distressed disciples of Christ. He suffered by charity and compassion what   
   every   
   confessor underwent. The triumphs of the martyrs were indeed his joy, but   
   his   
   heart received many deep wounds from the fall of apostates and heretics. Nor   
   did   
   this latter affliction cease when peace was restored to the Church. The holy   
   Pope had the affliction of witnessing the fall of Tertullian. He saw to his   
   joy,   
   however, the conversion of Natalis, who had become a heretical bishop when   
   he   
   lapsed into the Theodotian heresy. God, wishing to bring him back to the   
   Church,   
   sent him a solid correction which opened his eyes, and he came to kneel at   
   the   
   feet of the Vicar of Christ, wearing a hair shirt and humbly asking pardon   
   for   
   his revolt.   
      
   Eusebius tells us that this holy Pope exerted his zeal so strenuously   
   against   
   the blasphemies of the heretics, that they treated him with the utmost   
   contempt.   
   To his glory, however, they also called him the principal defender of   
   Christ's   
   divinity. Saint Zephyrinus governed the Church for nineteen years, dying in   
   217   
   as a martyr under Antoninus Caracalla. He was buried in his own cemetery on   
   the   
   26th of August.   
      
   Reflection: God has always raised up holy pastors zealous to maintain   
   inviolable   
   the faith of His Church, and to watch over the purity of its morals and the   
   sanctity of its discipline. We enjoy the greatest advantages of divine grace   
   through their labors, and owe to God a tribute of perpetual thanksgiving and   
   immortal praise for all the mercies He has accorded His Church.   
      
   Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud   
   et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 10; 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).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.   
   -St. Augustine   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   25. But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they   
   were   
   written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain   
   the   
   books that should be written.  (John 21:25)   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   Canticle 1 Timothy 3   
      
   The mystery and glory of Christ   
   Praise the Lord, all you nations!   
      
   He was manifested in flesh, justified in spirit - praise the Lord, all you   
   nations!   
      
   He was seen by the angels, he was preached to the nations - praise the Lord,   
   all   
   you nations!   
      
   The world believed in him, he was taken up in glory - praise the Lord, all   
   you   
   nations!   
      
   Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,   
    as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,   
    world without end.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)