From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   January 26th - St. Eystein Erlandsson B (RM)   
      
   Born in Norway; died at Nidaros (Trondheim), Norway, on January 26, 1188.   
   Saint   
   Eystein, born of a noble family, was educated at Saint-Victor, Paris. When   
   he   
   returned to Norway, he served as chaplain to King Inge of Norway and, in   
   1157,   
   was appointed second archbishop of Nidaros (Trondheim). At that time the   
   metropolitan see had been in existence for only five years. In 1152, the   
   Norwegian Church had been reorganized into 10 sees (including Iceland,   
   Greenland, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands) under the archbishopric of   
   Nidaros by   
   an English legate of the Holy See, Cardinal Nicholas Breakspeare, who later   
   became Pope Adrian IV. Eystein's appointment violated the regulations for   
   canonical appointments established by Breakspeare, but he proved to be the   
   man   
   chosen by God for the work.   
      
   Upon his appointment as bishop, Eystein went on a pilgrimage to Rome to be   
   consecrated by Pope Alexander III, who gave him the pallium and made him a   
   papal   
   legate a latere. He returned from Rome late in 1161. Eystein labored to   
   strengthen the ties between the Norwegian Church and Rome, implement the   
   Gregorian Reform, and to free the Church in Norway from interference by the   
   nobles. He brought to the Norwegian Church the practices and customs of the   
   churches of Europe at that time, though celibacy for the clergy was largely   
   unobserved in his country. Perhaps this is the reason he established   
   communities   
   of Augustinian canons regular to set an example for the parochial clergy.   
      
   He crowned the eight-year-old child Magnus as king of Norway at Bergen in   
   1164,   
   and was closely associated with the boy's father, Jarl Erling Skakke, who   
   approved Eystein's code of laws. Most of Eystein's activities as they have   
   come   
   down to us are matters of the general history of Norway and were directed   
   towards the free action of the spiritual power among a unified people. This   
   set   
   him on a collision course with Magnus's rival for the throne, Sverre.   
   Eystein   
   was forced to flee to England in 1181 when Sverre claimed the throne on the   
   grounds that he was the illegitimate son of King Sigurd and the rightful   
   heir;   
   from England Eystein excommunicated Sverre.   
      
   In England he stayed at the abbey of Saint Edmundsbury (a.k.a., Bury St.   
   Edmunds), and it was probably there that he wrote his account of St. Olaf,   
   The   
   passion and miracles of the Blessed Olaf, of which a manuscript was   
   discovered   
   in England. He helped them to obtain from Henry II the free election of   
   Abbot   
   Samson. It is probable, too, that he visited the shrine of St. Thomas of   
   Canterbury, to whose memory he was very devoted, which later became common   
   in   
   the Norwegian Church. (Eystein may have met Saint Thomas during the   
   Englishman's   
   exile and saw in him another who struggled to free the Church from secular   
   control.)   
      
   Eystein returned to Norway in 1183 and was aboard a ship in Bergen Harbor   
   when   
   Sverre's fleet defeated Magnus, causing the king to flee to Denmark. The   
   following year Magnus was killed in battle, Sverre became king, and Eystein   
   made   
   peace with him. Eystein enlarged Christ Church cathedral, where Saint Olaf   
   was   
   buried; some of his improvements remain to this day.   
      
   After his death, his body was enshrined in Nidaros cathedral. Immediately   
   after   
   his death Eystein was considered a saint, but various papal inquiries were   
   unfinished. Eystein was proclaimed a saint by a Norwegian synod in 1229.   
   Many   
   miracles occurred at his tomb (Attwater, Attwater2, Coulson, Delaney,   
   Farmer,   
   Walsh).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living   
   things, our little brothers to whom Thou hast given this earth as   
   their home in common with us. May we realize that they live not for us   
   alone, but for themselves and for Thee, and that they love the   
   sweetness of life even as we, and serve Thee better in their place   
   than we in ours."   
   -St. Basil the Great, 370 A.D.   
      
   Bible Quote   
   But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom   
   tarrying, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry   
   made:   
   Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him.  (Matt 25:4-6)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   I am going to reveal to you the secret of sanctity and happiness. Every day   
   for   
   five minutes control your imagination and close your eyes to the things of   
   sense   
   and your ears to all the noises of the world, in order to enter into   
   yourself.   
      
    Then in the sanctity of your Baptized soul, [which is the Temple of the   
   Holy   
   Spirit] speak to that Divine Spirit, saying to Him:   
      
   Oh, Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul. I adore Thee.   
   Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me.   
   Tell me what I should do . . . give me Thy orders.   
   I promise to submit myself to all that Thou desireth of me   
   and to accept all that Thou doth permit to happen to me.   
   Let me only know Thy will.   
      
   If you do this, your life will flow along happily, serenely and full of   
   consolation, even in the midst of trials. Grace will be proportioned to the   
   trial, giving you the strength to carry it and you will arrive at the gates   
   of   
   Paradise, laden with merit.   
      
   CARDINAL MERCIER   
   This submission to the Holy Spirit is the secret of sanctity.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)