From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   January 18th - St. Volusian   
      
   Volusian was bishop of Tours, in France, the see made famous by St. Martin   
   two centuries earlier. He lived at a time before clerical celibacy had been   
   enforced in the West and was married to a woman famous for her violent   
   temper, which was a great trial to the bishop. He also lived in a time when   
   the barbarian invasions had begun and the fear of the Goths was everywhere.   
   In writing to a friend of his, a certain Bishop Ruricius, of nearby Limoges,   
   St. Volusian expressed his fear of the Goths who were beginning to terrorize   
   his diocese. Ruricius humorously replied that someone who lived with terror   
   inside his house, meaning his wife, should have no fear of terrors from the   
   outside.   
      
   Volusian was of senatorial rank, very wealthy, a relative of the bishop who   
   preceded him, St. Perpetuus, and he lived in the days when Clovis was king   
   of the Franks, the avowed enemy of the Goths.   
      
   As the Goths began to overrun Volusian's diocese, they suspected him of   
   sympathies with Clovis and of wanting to subject them to the Franks, so   
   Volusian was driven from his see and sent into exile.   
      
   He held the office of bishop in a very difficult time, when the whole of   
   Western Europe was in turmoil, in the wake of the barbarian invasions from   
   the East. Cities were sacked, government disrupted, and bishops were the   
   only agents of stability as civil government collapsed. Gregory of Tours,   
   who succeeded Volusian as bishop of Tours a century later, describes the   
   turmoil of the times, and it is from his writings that we get our knowledge   
   of Volusian.   
      
   We have no further information about Volusian's wife or his family, and we   
   are not sure whether he died in southern France or in Spain. It is simply   
   known that he was driven from his see, went into exile, and died after   
   ruling as bishop for seven years.   
      
   Thought for the Day: Most of us live in very stable times, and it is   
   difficult to imagine what it would be like if our country were invaded and   
   national and state government ceased to exist. Our dependence on Divine   
   Providence would be more obvious then, and our faith would have to give us   
   strength in very different ways. The saints kept faith in the most difficult   
   of times and leaned on God in every crisis.   
      
   From 'The Catholic One Year Bible'   
      
   Taken from "The One Year Book of Saints" by Rev. Clifford Stevens published   
   by Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.,   
   Huntington, IN 46750.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Let the mouth also fast from disgraceful speeches and railings. For what   
   does it profit if we abstain from fish and fowl and yet bite and devour our   
   brothers and sisters? The evil speaker eats the flesh of his brother and   
   bites the body of his neighbor.   
   --Saint John Chrysostom   
      
   Bible Quote   
   But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave   
   thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the   
   pillar and ground of the truth.  (1 Tim 3:15)   
      
   Also Today:   
      
   January 18th - Saint Peter's Chair At Rome   
   (43 A.D.)   
      
   Saint Peter having triumphed over the devil in the East, the latter pursued   
   him to Rome. But he who had formerly trembled at the voice of a poor servant   
   girl now feared not the very throne of idolatry and superstition. The   
   capital of the empire of the world and the center of impiety called for the   
   zeal of the Prince of the Apostles. God had established the Roman Empire and   
   extended its dominion beyond that of any former monarchy, to facilitate the   
   propagation of His Gospel; and its metropolis was of the greatest importance   
   for this enterprise. Saint Peter took that province upon himself and,   
   repairing to Rome, there preached the faith and established his   
   ecclesiastical chair.   
      
   That Saint Peter preached in Rome, founded the Church there, and died there   
   by martyrdom under Nero, are incontestable facts, by the testimony of all   
   writers of different countries who lived around that time - persons of   
   unquestionable veracity, who could not but be informed of the truth in a   
   matter so important, and of its own nature so public and notorious. This   
   fact is verified by monuments of every kind, attesting the prerogatives,   
   rights and privileges which that church enjoyed from these early times, in   
   consequence of its title as seat of the Vicar of Christ.   
      
   It was an ancient custom observed by churches to keep an annual festival   
   commemorating the consecration of their bishops, and the feast of the Chair   
   of Saint Peter is found in ancient martyrologies. Christians justly   
   celebrate the founding of this mother-church, the center of Catholic   
   communion, in thanksgiving to God for His mercies to His Church, and to   
   implore His future blessings for it.   
      
   Reflection. As one of God's greatest mercies to His Church, let us earnestly   
   beg Him to raise up in it zealous pastors, directed by His Spirit, with   
   which He animated His Apostles.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A PRAYER TO JESUS AND MARY   
      
   O Most loving Jesus, I humbly beseech Thee that Thou   
   wouldst Thyself to offer Thine eternal Father, on behalf of the   
   Holy Souls in Purgatory, Thy Most Precious Blood, which   
   poured forth from the Sacred Wounds of Thy adorable Body,   
   together with Thine agony and death. And do thou likewise, O   
   sorrowful Virgin Mary, present unto the Heavenly Father,   
   together with the dolorous passion of thy dear Son, thine own   
   sighs and tears, and all the sorrows thou didst suffer in His   
   suffering, in order that, through the merits of the same,   
   refreshment may be granted to the souls now suffering in the   
   fiery torments of Purgatory, so that, being delivered from that   
   painful prison, they may be clothed with glory in Heaven,   
   there to sing the mercies of God for ever and ever. Amen   
      
   Absolve, O Lord, the souls of all the faithful departed from   
   every bond of sin, that by thy gracious assistance, they may   
   deserve to escape the judgement of vengeance and enjoy the   
   blessedness of everlasting light. Amen   
      
   V. Eternal rests grant unto them, O Lord   
   R. And let perpetual light shine upon them   
   V. From the gates of Hell   
   R. Deliver their souls, O Lord   
   V. May they rest in peace   
   R. Amen   
   V. O Lord, hear my prayer   
   R. And let my cry come unto Thee.   
      
   Let us Pray   
   O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant unto the souls of   
   Thy servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins, that through our   
   devout supplications they may obtain the pardon they have always desired,   
   Though Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.   
      
   Eternal rest, ect.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)