From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   November 12th - St. Renatus of Angers B (AC)   
    (also known as René d'Anjou)   
      
   Died c. 422.   
      
   "O everlasting fire that never fails, O eternal love that never fades, give   
   me   
   your warmth," wrote Saint René d'Anjou, prisoner in chains at Dijon, captive   
   and   
   yet Duke of Anjou, Bar, and Lorraine, Count of Provence, King of Sicily and   
   Naples; whose shield was black with silver tears as a sign of mortification   
   for   
   vain pleasures; who also said, "Better to be happy than to be a king;" the   
   shepherd prince who handled both pen and palette; whose heart was always "in   
   love with love."   
      
   But the René whom we celebrate today is not the one who watched Van Eyck at   
   work, nor that other René, one of the fairest flowers of the garden of   
   France,   
   René Cadou, the celt whose eyes were as blue as forget-me-nots. Instead we   
   must   
   go to La Possonniere, a small village under a slate-colored sky.   
      
   There in the early days of Christianity, a son was born to the sterile   
   Bononia,   
   thanks to the fervent prayers of Saint Maurille. But when the child was born   
   its   
   breath was as weak as the flame of a dying candle.   
      
   Weeping, Bononia begged Maurille to give strength and life to her little   
   child   
   and accord him the grace of baptism. But Maurille was celebrating the divine   
   Mass and could not leave until the sacred tragedy had been brought to an   
   end.   
      
   When he came to the bedside of the mother, her fair-haired child was cold   
   with   
   death. Stricken with grief for having deprived the Lord of a soul, Maurille   
   beat   
   his breast and went to hide in the depths of the forest where he lived as an   
   anchorite expiating his sin with fasting and prayer.   
      
   Seven years later, having come to the end of the term fixed by Providence,   
   Maurille heard a voice telling him to return to his bishopric. Deaf to the   
   acclamations of the crowds, advancing like a sleepwalker, he went to press   
   his   
   forehead on the tombstone which covered the virginal body.   
      
   When tender, ardent prayers he begged the Mother of God, who has pity on   
   grief,   
   and the Son to give life and color to the lily-like face of the dead child.   
   Soon, a miracle! The child rose up out of the infinite silence, his body   
   formed   
   in the shape of Adam, suffused with faith, charity, and hope.   
      
   Maurille sprinkled the baptismal waters upon his innocent forehead and gave   
   him   
   the name of Renatus (born again), signifying his double birth.   
      
   Thereafter René wrote upon the Book of Hours of his soul the suffering face   
   of   
   Christ on the Cross. He was a most zealous priest, his heart as white as   
   snow, a   
   friend to those afflicted with running sores, to beggars, and to cripples.   
      
   Full of virtue and loaded with honors, he succeeded Saint Maurille. But one   
   day,   
   laying on the altar his amethyst ring that glittered like a cluster of   
   stars, he   
   covered himself with the hermit's sackcloth and retired to a cave near   
   Sorrento,   
   where the blue waves lap murmurously; and there, in that distant century,   
   the   
   fifth of our Christian era, he heard the first measures of the eternal   
   symphony   
   which the elect reveal to the children on earth who are most humbly devoted   
   to   
   God.   
      
   It is likely that there has been a confusion between two different saints:   
   one   
   of whom was bishop of Angers, France, and the second of Sorrento, Italy   
   (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).   
      
      
   Saint Quote   
   Without Prayer nothing good is done. God's works are done with our hands   
   joined,   
   and on our knees. Even when we run, we must remain spiritually kneeling   
   before   
   Him.   
   --Blessed Luigi Orione   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   At that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying: Who thinkest thou is the   
   greater in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus calling unto him a little child,   
   set   
   him in the midst of them, And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be   
   converted,   
   and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of   
   heaven.   
   Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the   
   greater   
   in the kingdom of heaven. And he that shall receive one such little child in   
   my   
   name, receiveth me.  (Matthew 18:1-5)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer to continue to fight for God   
      
   Lord, if your people still have need of my services, I will not avoid the   
   toil.   
   Your will be done. I have fought the good fight long enough. Yet if you bid   
   me   
   continue to hold the battle line in defense of your camp, I will never beg   
   to be   
   excused from failing strength. I will do the work you entrust to me. While   
   you   
   command, I will fight beneath your banner. Amen   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer for the Intercession of Saint James the Confessor.   
      
     O God, through the Intercession of your Immaculate Mother, The   
   Blessed Virgin Mary, and through the Intercession of Saint Joseph,   
   your Beloved Joseph, and through the Intercession of all of Church   
   Triumphant, grant me now my prayer to your Dear James, your Saint   
   James the Confessor.   
      
     Through the Intercession of Saint James the Confessor convert me now   
   from all my sins of pride, from all my sins of lust, from all my sins   
   of envy, from all my sins of anger, from all my sins of greed, from   
   all my sins of gluttony, from all my sins of sloth.   
      
     Through the Intercession of your Dear James, your Saint James the   
   Confessor, convert me from all my sins and give me a new heart.   
   Through the Intercession of your Dear James, your Saint James the   
   Confessor, convert from sin your human creatures in your World on   
   Earth and give them new hearts.   
      
     Through the Intercession of The Mediatrix of Grace and Co-Redemptrix   
   and through the Intercession of your Beloved Joseph, Saint Joseph.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)