From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   August 3rd  - St. Waltheof of Melrose, Abbot (AC)   
    (Also known as Waldef, Walden, Wallevus, Walène, Walthen)   
      
   Died August 3, c. 1160. Waltheof was the grandson of the Northumbrian   
   patriot   
   Saint Waldef, and the second son of Earl Simon of Huntingdon and Matilda   
   (Maud),   
   daughter of Judith, the niece of William the Conqueror. During their   
   childhood,   
   his elder brother Simon loved to build castles and play at soldiers, but   
   Waltheof's passion was to build churches and monasteries of wood and stones.   
   When grown up, Simon inherited his father's martial disposition as well as   
   his   
   title; but Waltheof had a strong inclination toward the religious life, and   
   was   
   mild and peace-loving. When their father died, King Henry I gave their   
   mother in   
   marriage to King Saint David of Scotland. Waltheof followed his mother to   
   the   
   Scottish court, where he became an intimate friend of Saint Aelred, who was   
   master of the royal household at that time.   
      
   Soon Waltheof decided to enter religious life. He left Scotland, and, about   
   1130, professed himself an Augustinian canon regular at Nostell, near   
   Pontefract   
   in Yorkshire. He was soon chosen prior of the recently founded Kirkham   
   (1134) in   
   the same country, and, realizing the obligations he now had to work for the   
   sanctification of others as well as himself, he redoubled his austerity and   
   regularity of observance.   
      
   In 1140, Waltheof was chosen by the canons of York to succeed Thurstan as   
   archbishop, but King Stephen quashed the election because of Waltheof's   
   known   
   Scottish sympathies.   
      
   Waltheof, impressed by the life and vigor of the Cistercian monks, became   
   anxious to join them. At first he tried to unite his community en bloc with   
   that   
   of Rievaulx, but met with opposition. Naturally he was encouraged by the   
   advice   
   of his friend Aelred, then abbot of Rievaulx, and accordingly he took the   
   habit   
   at Wardon (Waldron) in Bedfordshire.   
      
   Perhaps because one of his own traits was undaunted cheerfulness, Waltheof   
   found   
   Cistercian life excessively severe. The canons also put obstacles in his   
   way.   
   But he persevered as a Cistercian and moved to Rievaulx, where Aelred had   
   been   
   elected abbot in 1148. Only four years after profession, Waltheof was chosen   
   abbot of Melrose in 1149, recently founded on the banks of the Tweed by King   
   David. He had succeeded a man of ungovernable temper, so his sweetness must   
   have   
   been a shock for his brothers. He won their love and respect through   
   humility,   
   simplicity, and kindness. Like Saint Mayeul of Cluny, he preferred to be   
   damned   
   for excessive mercy rather than for excessive justice. With the help of King   
   David, he also founded monasteries at Cultram and Kinross.   
      
   Whenever he fell into the smallest failing by inadvertence, Waltheof   
   immediately   
   made his confession, a practice of perfection which the confessors found   
   rather   
   trying, as one of them admitted to Jordan, the saint's biographer. In 1154   
   (or   
   1159), Waltheof was chosen archbishop of Saint Andrew's; but he prevailed   
   upon   
   Aelred to oppose the election and not to oblige him to accept it.   
      
   Upon his death, this saint of unbounded generosity to the poor was buried in   
   the   
   chapter house at Melrose. In 1207, his body was found to be incorrupt and   
   was   
   translated. When it was again translated in 1240, it was corrupted. Waltheof   
   was   
   never formally canonized but a popular cultus continued until the time of   
   the   
   Reformation.   
      
   Many miracles were recorded of Saint Waltheof during his lifetime. He had   
   Eucharistic visions of Christ in the form appropriate to the feasts of   
   Christmas, Passiontide, and Easter, and visions of heaven and hell. He   
   multiplied food and had the gift of healing (Benedictines, Farmer, Walsh).   
      
   In art, Saint Waltheof is portrayed as a Cistercian kneeling by a block of   
   stone   
   at sunrise. Sometimes he may be shown restoring sight to a blind man   
   (Roeder).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   I am a Christian.  It seemed a while ago as if God rejected me as a stone   
   unfit   
   to enter His building, but He has the goodness to take me now to be placed   
   in   
   it; I am ready to suffer all things for His name, that I may have a part in   
   His   
   kingdom with His Saints.   
   --St Serenus   
      
   Bible Quote   
   This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. /13.   
   Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his   
   friends. /14. You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you.   
   (John 15:12-14)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart,   
   which no unworthy affection may drag   
   downwards; give us an unconquered heart,   
    which no tribulation can wear out;   
   give us an upright heart,   
   Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God,   
   understanding to know you,   
   diligence to seek you,   
    wisdom to find you and a faithfulness   
    that may finally embrace you;   
   through Jesus Christ our Lord.   
      
   St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)