From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   April 13th - St. Martin I, Pope   
    (d. 655)   
      
   Born in Todi in Umbria, Italy; died in the Crimea, September 16, 655; feast   
   day   
   was previously November 12 (November 10 in York); the Eastern Church   
   celebrates   
   his feast on September 20.   
      
   Martin became a deacon in Rome. He displayed a great intellect and charity,   
   was   
   sent by Pope Theodore I as nuncio (apocrisiarius) to Constantinople, and was   
   elected pope in 649 to succeed Theodore I. At once, he convened the council   
   at   
   the Lateran that condemned Monothelitism (the denial that Christ had a human   
   will), the Typos-the edict of the reigning Emperor Constans II, which   
   favored   
   it, and Heraclius's Ekethesis. Although he was supported by the bishops of   
   Africa, England, and Spain, the imperial wrath fell upon the pontiff who was   
   arrested by Constans and taken to Constantinople in 653.   
      
   He had taken refuge in the Lateran, but the officers broke in to capture   
   him.   
   His own letters give an account of how his health broke down under the long   
   voyage and a three-month imprisonment on the island of Naxos en route. He   
   writes:   
      
   "For forty-seven days, I have not been given water to wash in. I am frozen   
   through and wasting away with dysentery. The food I get makes me vomit. But   
   God   
   sees all things and I trust in Him."   
   He was so ill when he arrived in Constantinople that he had to be carried to   
   jail on a stretcher. He was tried for treason, although he was clearly being   
   incarcerated for not accepting the Typos. He was condemned to death during   
   his   
   trial without being able to speak in his own defense. He was insulted   
   publicly,   
   flogged, and imprisoned. The intercession of the dying Patriarch Paul of   
   Constantinople saved his life, but he was exiled to Kherson in the Crimea.   
      
   From exile he wrote of the bad treatment he received and berated the Romans   
   for   
   forgetting him while he had prayed steadily for their faith to remain in   
   tact.   
   It is likely that he died of starvation. He was the last pope to die a   
   martyr.   
   He is portrayed in art vested as a pope, holding money (alms); or with geese   
   around him (possibly a confusion with Saint Martin of Tours); or seen   
   through   
   prison bars (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer,   
   White).   
      
      
   Quote: The breviary of the Orthodox Church pays tribute to Martin: "Glorious   
   definer of the Orthodox faith...sacred chief of divine dogmas, unstained by   
   error...true reprover of heresy...foundation of bishops, pillar of the   
   Orthodox   
   faith, teacher of religion...Thou didst adorn the divine see of Peter, and   
   since   
   from this divine Rock, thou didst immovably defend the Church, so now thou   
   art   
   glorified with him."   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "He who does not weep as a pilgrim shall not rejoice as a citizen."   
   -St. Augustine (Doctor, 354-430) - "Instructions On Christian Morality"   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned into   
   mourning,   
   and your joy into sorrow"  (James 4:9 )   
      
   "Blessed are ye that weep now: for you shall laugh. ... Woe to you that now   
   laugh: for you shall mourn and weep"  (Luke 6:21,25)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   ACT OF LOVE TO THE SACRED HEART   
      
   How great, O my Jesus, is the extent of Thine excessive   
   charity! Thou hast prepared  for me, of Thy most precious   
   Body and Blood, a divine banquet, where Thou  givest me   
   Thyself without reserve. What hath urged Thee to this excess   
   of love?  Nothing but Thine own most loving Heart.   
      
   O adorable Heart of my Jesus, furnace of Divine Love,   
   receive my soul into the wound  of Thy most Sacred Passion,   
   that in this school of charity I may learn to make  a return of   
   love to that God Who hast given me such wonderful proofs of   
   His love.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   An Act of Consecration for your family, to the Holy Family:   
      
   O Jesus, our most loving Redeemer, who having come to enlighten the world   
   with Thy teaching and example, didst will to pass the greater part of Thy   
   life in humility and subjection to Mary and Joseph in the poor home of   
   Nazareth, thus sanctifying the Family that was to be an example for all   
   Christian families, graciously receive our family as it dedicates and   
   consecrates itself to Thee this day. Do Thou defend us, guard us and   
   establish amongst us Thy holy fear, true peace and concord in Christian   
   love: in order that by conforming ourselves to the divine pattern of Thy   
   family we may be able, all of us without exception, to attain to eternal   
   happiness.   
      
   Mary, dear Mother of Jesus and Mother of us, by thy kindly intercession   
   make this our humble offering acceptable in the sight of Jesus, and obtain   
   for us His graces and blessings.   
      
   O Saint Joseph, most holy Guardian of Jesus and Mary, assist us by thy   
   prayers in all our spiritual and temporal necessities; that so we may be   
   enabled to praise our divine Saviour Jesus, together with Mary and thee,   
   for all eternity.   
      
   Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be. (thrice)   
      
    Imprimatur: Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York, May 30,   
   1951.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)