From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   September 22nd - Saint Thomas of Villanova, Bishop of Valencia   
      
   (1488-1555)   
      
   Saint Thomas, the glory of the Spanish Church in the sixteenth century, was   
   born   
   in the diocese of Toledo in 1488. His mother was a Christian of   
   extraordinary   
   tenderness for the poor. God worked a miracle for her one day, when her   
   servants   
   had given away absolutely all the flour in their storeroom. When another   
   beggar   
   came to the door, she told them to go back once more and look again, and   
   they   
   found the storeroom filled with flour. Her little son followed his mother's   
   example, and one day gave away, to six poor persons in succession, the six   
   young   
   chicks which had been following the hen around in the yard. When his mother   
   asked where they were, he said, "You didn't leave any bread in the house,   
   Mama,   
   so I gave them the chicks! I would have given the hen if another beggar had   
   come."   
      
   At the age of fifteen years he began his studies and succeeded so well he   
   was   
   judged fit to teach philosophy and theology in a college of Alcala, and then   
   at   
   Salamanca. When his father died he returned to Villanova to dispose of his   
   patrimony. He made his house into a hospital, keeping only what was needed   
   for   
   his mother, and gave the rest to the poor. At the age of twenty-eight he   
   entered   
   the Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine at Salamanca, becoming professed   
   in   
   1517.   
      
   When ordained a priest three years later, he continued his teaching of   
   theology,   
   but also began to preach so remarkably well that he was compared with Saint   
   Paul   
   and the prophet Elias. The city was reformed, and after the Emperor Charles   
   V   
   heard him once, he returned and often mingled with the crowd to listen,   
   finally   
   making Saint Thomas his official preacher.   
      
   He became Prior of his Order in three cities, then three times a Provincial   
   Superior. His sanctity continued to increase, and he was nominated   
   archbishop of   
   Valencia in 1544; he had refused a similar offer sixteen years earlier, but   
   this   
   time was obliged to accept. After a long drought, rain fell on the day he   
   assumed his new office. He arrived as a pilgrim accompanied by one fellow   
   monk,   
   and was not recognized in the convent of his Order when the two travelers   
   came   
   asking for shelter during the rain. He was obliged to reveal his identity   
   when   
   the Prior, who wondered where the awaited archbishop might be, asked him if   
   perchance it was he.   
      
   The new Archbishop was so poor that he was given money for furnishings, but   
   he   
   took it to the hospital for the indigent. On being led to his throne in   
   church,   
   he pushed the silken cushions aside, and with tears kissed the ground. His   
   first   
   visit was to the prison. Two-thirds of his episcopal revenues were annually   
   spent in alms. He daily fed five hundred needy persons, made himself   
   responsible   
   for the bringing up of the city's orphans, and sheltered neglected   
   foundlings   
   with a mother's care. During his eleven years' episcopate, not one poor   
   maiden   
   was married without an alms from the archbishop. Spurred by his example, the   
   rich and the selfish became liberal and generous. And when, on the Nativity   
   of   
   Our Lady, 1555, after one week of illness, Saint Thomas was about to breathe   
   his   
   last, he gave his bed to a poor man and asked to be placed on the floor. It   
   has   
   been said that at his death he was probably the only poor man in his see.   
      
   Reflection: When a refractory priest had not heeded his bishop's   
   remonstrances,   
   Saint Thomas took him into a room apart, uncovered his shoulders and knelt   
   before his crucifix, saying: "My brother, my sins are the reason you have   
   not   
   changed your life and listened to my warnings. It is just for me to bear the   
   penalty of my fault." And he scourged himself cruelly. This frequent   
   practice   
   brought many to tears and reform of their lives. In this way a perfect   
   Pastor   
   inspired his entire flock with truly Christian sentiments.   
      
   Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et   
   Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 11.   
      
      
   Quote:   
   We declare that the greater part of those who are damned have brought the   
   calamity on themselves by ignorance of the mysteries of the Faith, which   
   they   
   should have known and believed, in order to be united with the elect.   
   -Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758)   
      
   Bible Quote   
   25. But Jesus called them to him, and said: You know that the princes of the   
   Gentiles lord it over them; and they that are the greater, exercise power   
   upon   
   them.  26. It shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be the greater   
   among   
   you, let him be your minister: 27. And he that will be first among you,   
   shall be   
   your servant. 28. Even as the Son of man is not come to be ministered unto,   
   but   
   to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many.  (Matthew 20:25-28)   
      
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary   
      
   Prostrate at thy sacred feet, O august Queen of heaven, I   
   venerate thee with the most profound respect, and I believe   
   that thou art the daughter of the eternal Father, the Mother of   
   his divine Son, and the Spouse of the Holy Ghost. Full of   
   grace and virtues and heavenly gifts, thou art the purest   
   temple of the most holy Trinity, thou art the treasury and   
   dispenser of divine mercy. Thy Immaculate Heart, full of   
   charity, sweetness and tenderness, has given thee the name   
   of Mother of divine clemency. Therefore, in my affliction and   
   agony I present myself with confidence before thee, our most   
   loving Mother, and I pray thee to make me experience the   
   love which thou bearest us; Grant me (specify the favor) if it   
   be the will of God and for the good of my soul. Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)