From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   February 6th - St. Amand of Maastricht, OSB Abbot B (RM)   
   (also known as Amandus)   
      
   Born at Nantes, Lower Poitou, France, c. 584; died at Elnon in Belgium, c.   
   679;   
   feast day formerly February 1.   
      
   Amand's pious parents are said to have been lords of the region where he was   
   born. By vocation, Amand became a monk about 604 at a monastery on the   
   island of   
   Yeu (Oye). He had been there less than one year, when his father found him   
   out,   
   and desperately tried to persuade him to quit that state of life. To his   
   threats   
   of disinheritance, the saint cheerfully answered: "Christ is my only   
   inheritance." Amand moved to Tours where he was ordained, and then was a   
   hermit   
   near the cathedral at Bourges, France, for 15 years under the direction of   
   Bishop Saint Austregisilius before setting out to convert unbelievers. At   
   Bourges he lived an austere life. His clothing was a single sackcloth, and   
   his   
   sustenance barley-bread and water.   
      
   On his return from a pilgrimage to Rome at about age 45, he was consecrated   
   a   
   missionary bishop in 629, with no see. Amand was a tireless preacher, a   
   wandering saint who worked as far afield as Flanders, among the Slavs of   
   Carinthia along the River Danube, among the Basques in Navarre, and possibly   
   in   
   Gascony. Although the saint was exiled for censuring King Dagobert I, Amand   
   continued his work elsewhere. He was soon recalled by Dagobert, who threw   
   himself at Amand's feet to beg his pardon and had him baptize his new-born   
   son,   
   Saint Sigebert III, afterwards king.   
      
   Despite initial difficulties, Amand was highly successful in evangelizing   
   the   
   area around Ghent. The idolatrous people about Ghent were so savage, that no   
   preacher wanted to venture among them. This moved the saint to choose that   
   mission. While he had the support of the Frankish kings, he often met with   
   so   
   much opposition from the peoples he tried to convert that Dagobert strongly   
   suggested that Amand use force. During the course of his evangelizing Amand   
   was   
   often beaten, and sometimes thrown into the river. Undaunted, he continued   
   preaching, though for a long time he saw no fruit, and supported himself by   
   his   
   labor. The miracle of his raising a dead man to life, at last opened the   
   eyes of   
   the barbarians, and the country came in crowds to receive baptism,   
   destroying   
   the temples of their idols with their own hands.   
      
   He founded numerous monasteries in Belgium, including Mont-Blandin (and   
   perhaps   
   Mount Bavon) at Ghent and the Abbey of Elnon (later called Saint-Amand), as   
   well   
   as a convent at Nivelles. Some incorrectly say that he was chosen bishop of   
   Maastricht, and that after three years he resigned to return to missionary   
   work,   
   although Pope Saint Martin had encouraged him to persevere. He spent the   
   last   
   four years of his life as abbot of Elnon Monastery near Tournai and died   
   there,   
   aged almost 90, after dictating his testament which has survived. His relics   
   are   
   kept at the monastery where he died.   
      
   Amand's cultus was widespread in Flanders and Picardy, and reached England   
   through visits of churchmen such as Saint Dunstan to his monasteries in   
   Ghent or   
   Elnon. His name occurs in several medieval English calendars, and a chapel   
   is   
   dedicated to him at East Hendred. The Sarum Breviary honored Saint Amandus   
   and   
   Saint Vedast with an office of nine lessons (Attwater, Benedictines,   
   Bentley,   
   Delaney, Duckett, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth). In art he is represented   
   as   
   carrying a church in his hand (Benedictines).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the   
   chosen   
   Ones, whose privilege it will be, to sacrifice themselves for the salvation   
   of   
   the souls of the poor Islanders.. I am not afraid of any disease, hence it   
   would   
   be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned 'lepers.'   
   --Blessed Mother Marianne Cope   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   If you love those that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the   
   publicans do that?  (Matt. 5:46)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   An Act of Reparation   
      
   Divine Heart of Jesus, to Whom all worship is due from Angels and men,   
   You did not shrink from coming today to my heart.   
      
   O Heart inseparably united to the Eternal Word, holy as God is holy,   
   sharing truly and fully in the Divine goodness charity and benignity.   
      
   O ineffable and incomprehensible Heart, deserving of all praise and   
   adoration source of virtue, abounding in all celestial gifts, inexhaustible   
   fount of every true good, worthy dwelling place of eternal and uncreated   
   charity; You alone are a fitting victim of Divine justice, You alone are   
   mighty and all-sufficient to appease the anger of God; on You alone the good   
   pleasure of the most Holy Trinity reposes; providing in Your wondrous   
   foresight for the needs of the Church at a season of general indifference   
   and tepidity, You enriched her with this glorious treasure, in order to   
   bestow the gifts of charity, hidden in You, on those who are devout to You.   
      
   I deem myself happy in that, unworthy though I am, I have this day been made   
   a participator in these gifts. I cast myself down before You, O adorable   
   Heart, to offer You my tribute of praise and thanksgiving. Help me to do so   
   and reckon me among Your faithful servants. I acknowledge Your infinite   
   majesty and dignity, I venerate You in all humility, and worship You to the   
   best of my power. But since I am only too conscious that I cannot honor You   
   as You should be honored with my poor, finite love, I offer to You, instead   
   of my feeble praise, all the glory and honor which the angels and saints   
   render to You in Heaven. I also venture to present to You something yet   
   greater and more worthy of You, that is, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, by   
   which above all You are most fittingly glorified. To that heart I unite my   
   heart; supported by and united to it. I offer myself as a holocaust to You,   
   consecrating myself with all I have and all I am to Your glory. - Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)