From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   February 3rd - St. Ansgar   
    (Also known as Anskar, Anschar, Anscharius, Scharies)   
      
   Born near Amiens, Picardy, France in 801; died in Bremen, Germany on   
   February 3,   
   865.  With the coming of the barbarian after the death of Charlemagne,   
   darkness   
   fell upon Europe. From the forests and fjords of the north, defying storm   
   and   
   danger, came a horde of pirate invaders, prowling round the undefended   
   coasts,   
   sweeping up the broad estuaries, and spreading havoc and fear. No town,   
   however   
   fair, no church, however sacred, and no community, however strong, was   
   immune   
   from their fury. Like a river of death the Vikings poured across Europe.   
      
   It's hard to believe that there would be an outbreak of missionary activity   
   at   
   such a time, but in Europe's darkest hour there were those who never   
   faltered,   
   and who set out to convert the pagan invader. Saint Ansgar was such a man.   
   As a   
   young boy of a noble family he was received at Corbie monastery in Picardy   
   and   
   educated under Saints Abelard and Paschasius Radbert. Once professed, he was   
   transferred to New Corbie at Westphalia. He once said to a friend, "One   
   miracle   
   I would, if worthy, ask the Lord to grant me; and that is, that by His   
   grace, he   
   would make me a good man."   
      
   In France a call was made for a priest to go as a missionary to the Danes,   
   and   
   Ansgar, a young monk, volunteered. His friends tried to dissuade him, so   
   dangerous was the mission. Nevertheless, when King Harold, who had become a   
   Christian during his exile, returned to Denmark, Ansgar and another monk   
   accompanied him. Equipped with tents and books, these two monks set out in   
   826   
   and founded a school in Denmark. Here Anskar's companion died, and he was   
   obliged to move on to Sweden alone when his success in missionary work led   
   King   
   Bjoern to invite him to Sweden.   
      
   On the way, his boat was attacked by pirates and he lost all his   
   possessions,   
   arriving destitute at a small Swedish village. After this unpromising start,   
   he   
   succeeded in forming the nucleus of a church-the first Christian church in   
   Sweden-and penetrated inland, confronting the heathen in their strongholds   
   and   
   converting the pagan chiefs.   
      
   Ansgar became the first archbishop of Hamburg, Germany, and abbot of New   
   Corbie   
   in Westphalia c. 831. The Pope Gregory IV appointed him legate to the   
   Scandinavian countries and confided the Scandinavian souls to his care. He   
   evangelized there for the next 14 years, building churches in Norway,   
   Denmark,   
   and northern Germany.   
      
   He saw his accomplishments obliterated when pagan Vikings invaded in 845,   
   overran Scandinavia, and destroyed Hamburg. Thereafter, the natives reverted   
   to   
   paganism. Ansgar was then appointed first archbishop of Bremen around 848,   
   but   
   he was unable to establish himself there for a time and Pope Nicholas I   
   united   
   that see with Hamburg. Nicholas also gave him jurisdiction over Denmark,   
   Norway,   
   and Sweden.   
      
   Ansgar returned to Denmark and Sweden in 854 to resume spreading the Gospel.   
   When he returned to Denmark he saw the church and school he had built there   
   destroyed before his eyes by an invading army.   
      
   His heart almost broke as he saw his work reduced to ashes. "The Lord gave,"   
   he   
   said, "and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord." With a   
   handful of followers he wandered through his ruined diocese, but it was a   
   grim   
   and weary time. "Be assured, my dear brother," said the primate of France,   
   who   
   had commissioned him to this task, "that what we have striven to accomplish   
   for   
   the glory of Christ will yet, by God's help, bring forth fruit."   
      
   Heartened by these words, and with unfailing courage, Anskar pursued his   
   Swedish   
   mission. Though he had but four churches left and could find no one willing   
   to   
   go in his place, he established new outposts and consolidated his work.   
      
   King Olaf had cast a die to decide whether to allow the entrance of   
   Christians,   
   an action that Ansgar mourned as callous and unbefitting. He was encouraged,   
   however, by a council of chiefs at which an aged man spoke in his defense.   
   "Those who bring to us this new faith," he said, "by their voyage here have   
   been   
   exposed to many dangers. We see our own deities failing us. Why reject a   
   religion thus brought to our very doors? Why not permit the servants of God   
   to   
   remain among us? Listen to my counsel and reject not what is plainly for our   
   advantage."   
      
   As a result, Ansgar was free to preach the Christian faith, and though he   
   met   
   with many setbacks, he continued his work until he died at he age of 64 and   
   was   
   buried at Bremen. He was a great missionary, an indefatigable, outstanding   
   preacher, renowned for his austerity, holiness of life, and charity to the   
   poor.   
   He built schools and was a great liberator of slaves captured by the   
   Vikings. He   
   converted King Erik of the Jutland and was called the 'Apostle of the   
   North.'   
   Yet Sweden reverted completely to paganism shortly after Ansgar's death.   
      
   Ansgar often wore a hairshirt, lived on bread and water when his health   
   permitted it, and added short personal prayers to each Psalm in his psalter,   
   thus contributing to a form of devotion that soon became widespread.   
      
   Miracles were said to have been worked by him. After Ansgar's death, the   
   work he   
   had begun came to a stop and the area reverted to paganism. Christianity did   
   not   
   begin to make headway in Scandinavia until two centuries later with the work   
   of   
   Saint Sigfrid and others. A Vita was written about Ansgar by his fellow   
   missionary in Scandinavia, Saint Rembert (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines,   
   Bentley, Coulson, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Robinson, White).   
      
   In art Ansgar shown with converted Danes near him (White), wearing a fur   
   pelisse   
   (Roeder). He may sometimes be shown otherwise in a boat with King Harold and   
   companions or in a cope and miter, holding Hamburg Cathedral (Roeder).   
      
   Saint Ansgar is the patron of Denmark, Germany, and Iceland (White). He is   
   venerated in Old Corbie (Picardy) and New Corbie (Saxony) as well as in   
   Scandinavia (Roeder).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart   
   will   
   never be made captive by any earthly thing.   
   -Saint John of the Cross   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   To him who asks of you, give; and from him who would borrow of you, do not   
   turn   
   away.  (Matthew 5:42)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A prayer to glorious St. Blaise:   
      
   O glorious Saint Blaise, who by thy martyrdom didst leave to the Church a   
   precious witness to the Faith, obtain for us the grace to preserve within   
   ourselves this divine gift, and to defend, without human respect, both by   
   word and example, the truth of that same faith, which is so wickedly   
   attacked and slandered in these our times.  Thou who didst miraculously   
   restore a little child when it was at the point of death by reason of an   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)