From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   January 28th - St Peter Thomas   
   TITULAR PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE (A.D. 1366)   
      
   The career of St Peter Thomas presents us with a curious combination of a   
   religious vocation and a life spent in diplomacy. Born in 1305, of humble   
   parentage, at the hamlet of Salles in the south-west of France, he at an   
   early age came into contact with the Carmelites, and his abilities led them   
   gladly to admit him into their noviceship at Condom; in 1342 he was made   
   procurator general of the order. This appointment led to his taking up his   
   abode in Avignon, then the residence of the popes, and also indicated that   
   in spite of high spiritual ideals he was known to be pre-eminently a man of   
   affairs. His remarkable eloquence became known, and he was asked to deliver   
   the funeral oration of Clement VI. It may be said that from that time forth,   
   although he always retained the simplicity of a friar, his life was entirely   
   spent in difficult negotiations as the representative of the Holy See. To   
   describe the political complications in which he was called upon to   
   intervene would take much space. It must suffice to say that he was sent as   
   papal legate to negotiate with Genoa, Milan and Venice; in 1354 he was   
   consecrated bishop and represented the pope at Milan when the Emperor   
   Charles IV was crowned king of Italy. Thence he proceeded to Serbia, and   
   afterwards was charged with a mission to smooth the difficulties between   
   Venice and Hungary; going on to Constantinople he was instructed to make   
   another effort to reconcile the Byzantine church with the West.   
      
   What is most surprising in our days is that Innocent VI and Urban V seem to   
   have placed Peter Thomas virtually in command of expeditions which were   
   distinctly military in character. He was sent to Constantinople in 1359 with   
   a large contingent of troops and contributions in money, himself holding the   
   title of   
      
   "Universal Legate to the Eastern Church" ; and when in 1365 an expeditionary   
   force was sent to make an attack on infidel Alexandria, again the legate had   
   virtual direction of the enterprise. The expedition ended disastrously. In   
   the assault the legate was more than once wounded with arrows, and when he   
   died a holy death at Cyprus three months later (January 6, 1366) it was   
   stated that these wounds had caused, or at least accelerated, the end, and   
   he was hailed as a martyr.   
      
   It is probable that among the reasons which led to the many diplomatic   
   missions of St Peter Thomas we must reckon the economy thus effected for the   
   papal exchequer at a time when it was very much depleted, for he dispensed   
   with all unnecessary pomp and state. So far as he was himself concerned he   
   travelled in the poorest way, and he was willing to face the great hardships   
   which such expeditions then entailed even upon the most illustrious. We must   
   also not forget that though his biographers write in a tone of rather   
   indiscriminating panegyric, they are nevertheless agreed in proclaiming his   
   own desire to evangelize the poor, his spirit of prayer, and the confidence   
   which his holiness inspired in others. There are not many human touches to   
   be found in our principal source, the biography of Mézic(res, but it is a   
   tribute to the impression which the bishop made on his contemporaries that   
   Philip de Mézic(res, who was himself a devoted Christian and a statesman of   
   eminence, should speak of his friend in terms of such unstinted praise. A   
   decree issued by the Holy See in 1608 authorized the celebration of St   
   Peter's feast among the Carmelites as that of a bishop and martyr, but he   
   has never been formally canonized.   
      
   See the Acta Sanctorum for January 29; Fr Daniel, Vita S. Petri Thomae   
   (1666); Parraud, Vie de St Pierre Thomas (1895); B. J. Smet, Life... by P.   
   de Mizic(res (1954).   
      
   (Butler's Lives of the Saints, Christian Classics, 1995)   
      
      
   Saint Quotes:   
   "The true lover everywhere loves his Beloved, and continually remembers Him"   
      
   "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole   
   soul, and with thy whole strength. And these words which I command thee this   
   day, shall be in thy heart: ... and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in   
   thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising.   
   -St. Teresa of Avila (Foundress, 1515-82) - "Book of the Foundations   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "And all the days [every possible moment] of thy life have God in thy mind"   
   (Tobias  4:6)   
      
   "And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall   
   move between thy eyes. And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the   
   doors of thy house."  (Deut 6:5-9)   
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer after Mass:   
      
   Lord, Father all-powerful,   
   and ever-living God, I thank you,   
   for even though I am a sinner,   
   your unprofitable servant,   
   not because of my worth,   
   but in the kindness of your mercy,   
   you have fed me with the precious body   
   and blood of your Son,   
   our Lord Jesus Christ.   
      
   I pray that this holy communion   
   may not bring me condemnation and   
   punishment but forgiveness and salvation.   
   May it be a helmet of faith and   
   a shield of good will.   
      
   May it purify me from evil ways   
   and put an end to my evil passions.   
   May it bring me charity and patience,   
   humility and obedience,   
   and growth in the power to do good.   
      
   May it be my strong defense   
   against all my enemies,   
   visible and invisible,   
   and the perfect calming   
   of all my evil impulses,   
   bodily and spiritual.   
      
   May it unite me more closely to you,   
   the one true God,   
   and lead me safely through death   
   to everlasting happiness with you.   
      
   And I pray that you will lead me, a sinner,   
   to the banquet where you,   
   with your Son and Holy Spirit,   
   are true and perfect light,   
   total fulfillment, everlasting joy,   
   gladness without end,   
   and perfect happiness to your saints.   
   Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)