From: hildegard8@excite.com   
      
   October 3rd - Saint Gerard, Abbot in Belgium   
   (d. 959)   
      
   Saint Gerard was born of a noble family towards the end of the ninth   
   century, in   
   the county of Namur in Belgium. An engaging sweetness of temper, added to a   
   strong inclination to piety and devotion, gained for him from the cradle,   
   the   
   affection and esteem of all. He at first followed the career of arms, but   
   never   
   lost his piety amid the distractions and temptations of camp life. When sent   
   on   
   an important mission to the court of France by the Count of Namur, he was   
   greatly edified by the fervor of the Benedictine monks of Saint Denis in   
   Paris,   
   and earnestly desired to consecrate himself to God with them. Returning home   
   he   
   settled his temporal affairs, and went back with great joy to the monastery   
   of   
   Saint Denis.   
      
   He lived for eleven years with great fervor in this monastery, and then was   
   ordained a priest. In 931 he was sent by his French abbot to found an abbey   
   upon   
   his own estate at Brogne, three leagues from Namur. He established this new   
   abbey, then built himself a little cell near the church, where he lived as a   
   recluse until called to introduce strict monastic discipline in eighteen   
   other   
   abbeys, which he did successfully, assuming the duties of a Benedictine   
   Abbot   
   General. When he had spent almost twenty years in these zealous labors, he   
   again   
   retired to his cell at the Abbey of Brogne, which is now named for him, to   
   prepare his soul for the final journey. To this he was called on October 3,   
   959.   
      
   Reflection: Though we are in the world, let us strive to separate ourselves   
   from   
   it and consecrate ourselves to God, remembering that "the world passes away,   
   but   
   he who does the Will of God abides forever." (I John 2:17)   
      
   Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on   
   Butler's   
   Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger   
   Brothers:   
   New York, 1894); The Catholic Encyclopedia, edited by C. G. Herbermann with   
   numerous collaborators (Appleton Company: New York, 1908).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   As without faith it is impossible to please God, so without mildness it is   
   impossible to please men and to govern them well.   
   -St. Bernard   
      
   Bible Quote   
   29 His disciples say to him: Behold, now thou speakest plainly, and speakest   
   no   
   proverb. 30 Now we know that thou knowest all things, and thou needest not   
   that   
   any man should ask thee. By this we believe that thou camest forth from God.   
   (John 16:29-30)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer for a Happy Death   
   By St. Charles Borromeo   
      
      
   IN THE NAME of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I, a poor,   
   unhappy sinner, make this solemn declaration before thee, O beloved Angel,   
   who   
   has been given me as a protector by the Divine Majesty:   
      
   1. I desire to die in the Faith which the Holy, Roman and Apostolic Church   
   adheres to and defends, in which all the Saints of the New Testament have   
   died.   
   I pray thee, provide that I may not depart out of this life before the Holy   
   Sacraments of that Church have been administered to me.   
      
   2. I pray that I may depart from this life under thy holy protection and   
   guidance, and I beseech thee, therefore, to assist me at the hour of my   
   death   
   and to propitiate the Eternal judge, whose Sacred Heart was inflamed with   
   most   
   ardent love for sinners upon the Cross.   
      
   3. With my whole heart I long to be made a partaker of the merits of Jesus   
   Christ and His holy Mother Mary, thine exalted Queen, and I pray thee,   
   through   
   the sufferings of Jesus on the Cross, to mitigate the agonies of my death   
   and to   
   move the Queen of Heaven to cast her loving glance upon me, a poor sinner,   
   in   
   that dreadful hour, for my sweetest consolation.   
      
   O my dearest Guardian Angel! Let my soul be placed in thy charge, and when   
   it   
   has gone forth from the prison of this body, do thou deliver it into the   
   hands   
   of its Creator and Redeemer, that with thee and all the Saints, it may gaze   
   upon   
   Him in the bliss of Heaven, love Him perfectly and find its blessedness in   
   Him   
   throughout eternity. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)