From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   March 6th - St. Fridolin of Säckingen, OSB, Abbot (AC)   
      
   Died c. 650.   
      
    Saint Fridolin, the Irish Wanderer, gained his nickname in the 7th century   
   by   
   his endless journeyings-through Gaul, Germany, and Switzerland. He began his   
   missionary work in Poitiers, France. An assiduous founder of monasteries,   
   Fridolin also found the body of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, which had been   
   lost   
   when the Vandals destroyed the monastery in that city, and restored the   
   church   
   itself. He became devoted to St. Hilary and established other monasteries   
   under   
   his patronage, including the abbey of Säckingen. Started as a school for   
   young   
   boys on an island in the Rhine, Säckingen was no somber place. Here Fridolin   
   happily encouraged the boys to play many different sports. He also   
   established   
   an Irish-influenced abbey at Chur, Switzerland, where stones sculpted in the   
   Irish fashion can still be seen. His vita was recorded by a monk of   
   Säckingen   
   five centuries after his death; however, he claimed to have based it on a   
   much   
   earlier biography. He is venerated as the apostle of the Upper Rhine and on   
   his   
   feast, the houses of Säckingen are decorated with the flags of Germany,   
   Switzerland, and Ireland (Benedictines, Bentley, Montague).   
      
   Saint Fridolin is depicted in art as an abbot leading a skeleton by the   
   hand, a   
   pilgrim with a staff and book (Roeder). He is patron of Alsace, Glarus,   
   Sachingen, and Strasbourg and is invoked for fine weather (Roeder).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my   
   sickness may serve Him; If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him....He   
   does   
   nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He   
   is   
   about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me to strangers, He may   
   make me   
   feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me; still He knows   
   what He is about.   
   -- Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman   
      
   Bible Quote:   
       Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and   
   make   
   music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for   
   everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  ( Ephesians 5:19-20)   
      
      
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   THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS   
   FROM THE PURGATORIAN MANUAL   
    (Imprimatur 1946)   
      
   24th Day   
      
   VALUE OF GOOD WORKS OFFERED FOR THE SUFFERING SOULS   
      
        St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, affirms that the succor and   
   suffrage given to the departed are more acceptable to God than that which is   
   bestowed upon the living, because the former are more in need and unable to   
   obtain help for themselves as the living can. The revered Louis Blosius, a   
   great   
   master of the spiritual life, says: "Our good and merciful Lord loves the   
   souls   
   of His elect, who must be purified after death, and desires their release so   
   ardently, that whenever in Christian charity we set free, by our suffrages,   
   any   
   soul from Purgatory, we do a thing as acceptable to God as if we had   
   delivered   
   the Lord Himself from a hard captivity. He promises to give us as full a   
   recompense as such a work of mercy practiced towards Himself would deserve;   
   for   
   He Himself has said: "Amen, I say to you: as long as you did it to one of   
   these,   
   My least brethren, you did it to Me." (Matth. xxv. 40.)   
      
        The same is affirmed by St. Ambrose : "Whatever we do for the suffering   
   souls, with a pious intention, will revert to our own merit, and will be   
   returned a hundred fold, at the hour of death."   
      
   Prayer: O God of love and mercy ! animated with charity and compassion for   
   our   
   departed brothers and sisters, we offer Thee our prayers and good works, and   
   supplicate Thee to accept them as a propitiatory sacrifice in their behalf.   
   Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.   
      
   Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of those who were negligent in   
   offering   
   good works for the suffering souls.   
      
   Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon   
   them;   
   may they rest in peace. Amen.    (Three times)   
      
   Practice: Bear your sufferings with patience, and offer them for the holy   
   souls.   
      
   Invocation:   My Jesus, mercy!   
      
   See entire 31day prayer at:   
   http://www.faithfuldeparted.net/prayers.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)