From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   March 20th - Saint Wulfran, Archbishop of Sens   
   (647-720)   
      
   Saint Wulfran's father was an officer in the armies of Dagobert, a powerful   
   King   
   of the Francs. The Saint spent some years in the court of King Clotaire III   
   and   
   his mother, Saint Bathildes; but he occupied his heart only with God,   
   despising   
   worldly greatness as empty and dangerous, and daily advancing in virtue. He   
   renounced the world and received sacred orders; his estate he bestowed on   
   the   
   Abbey of Fontenelle, or Saint Wandrille, in Normandy. He was nonetheless   
   called   
   to the court, where he served until his father died. Then, because the   
   archbishop of Sens also had recently died, he was chosen in 682 to replace   
   him,   
   by the common consent of the clergy and people of that city.   
      
   He governed that diocese for two and a half years, with great zeal and   
   sanctity.   
   It was a tender compassion for the blindness of the idolaters of Friesland,   
   and   
   the example of the zealous English preachers in those parts, which moved him   
   then to resign his bishopric, with proper advice, and after a retreat at   
   Fontenelle to enter Friesland as a poor missionary priest.   
      
   On the voyage by water, the deacon who served him at the altar, accidentally   
   dropped the paten into the sea. Saint Wulfran told him to place his hand   
   where   
   it had fallen on the waves, and it came up to him by a miracle. For long   
   years   
   that paten was conserved in the monastery of Saint Wandrille. On this   
   mission he   
   baptized great multitudes, among them a son of their King, Radbod, and drew   
   the   
   people away from the barbarous custom of sacrificing human beings to idols.   
      
   On a certain occasion, one such unfortunate, a young boy, had been selected   
   by   
   lot as the victim of a sacrifice to the gods, or demons of the land. Saint   
   Wulfran earnestly begged his life of King Radbod, but the people ran   
   tumultuously to the palace, and would not suffer what they called a   
   sacrilege.   
   After many words they consented, but on condition that Wulfran's God Himself   
   save the victim's life. The Saint prayed God to resurrect him, and the   
   child,   
   after hanging on the gibbet two hours and being left for dead, fell to the   
   ground by the breaking of the cord. The servant of God went to him and told   
   him   
   to stand, which he did, and he was given to the missionary. He later became   
   a   
   monk and priest at Fontenelle.   
      
   Saint Wulfran, after praying, also miraculously rescued a poor widow's two   
   children, seven and five years old, from being drowned in honor of the   
   idols; he   
   walked out across the water in the sight of all the people, to take their   
   hands   
   and bring them back to land. The religion of Christ began to take root in   
   this   
   pagan land, and many were converted by these prodigies. He retired to   
   Fontenelle   
   that he might prepare himself for death, and expired in peace there on the   
   20th   
   of March, 720.   
      
   Reflection. In every age the Catholic Church is a missionary church. She has   
   received the world for her inheritance, and in our own days many   
   missionaries   
   have watered with their blood the lands where they labored. Help the   
   propagation   
   of the faith by both alms and by prayers. You will strengthen your own faith   
   and   
   participate in the merits of the glorious apostolate.   
      
   Source: 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).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Temptations, discouragement and unrest are the wares offered by the enemy.   
   Remember this:  if the devil makes noise, it is a sign that he is still   
   outside   
   and not yet within.  That which must terrify us is his peace and concord   
   with   
   the human soul.   
   That which comes from Satan begins with calmness and ends in storm,   
   indifference   
   and apathy.   
   --St. Padre Pio   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   I sought the LORD, and he heard me,   
   and delivered me from all my fears.   
      
   They looked unto him, and were lightened:   
   and their faces were not ashamed.   
      
   This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him,   
   and saved him out of all his troubles.   
      
   The angel of the LORD encampeth round   
   about them that fear him, and delivereth them.   
   (Psalm 34:4-7)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Walking in Faith and Courage   
      
   Saint Dominic observed walking as a mode of prayer while traveling from one   
   country to another, especially when he passed through some deserted region.   
   He then delighted in giving himself completely to meditation, disposing for   
   contemplation, and he would say to his companion on the journey: It is   
   written in Hosea "I will lead my spouse into the wilderness and I will speak   
   to her ear" (Hos 2: 14). Parting from his companion, he would go on ahead   
   or, more frequently, follow at some distance. Thus withdrawn, he would walk   
   and pray; in his meditation he was inflamed and the fire of charity was   
   enkindled. While he prayed it appeared as if he were brushing dust or   
   bothersome flies from his face when he repeatedly fortified himself with the   
   Sign of the Cross.   
      
   The brethren thought that it was while praying in this way that the saint   
   obtained his extensive penetration of Sacred Scripture and profound   
   understanding of the divine words, the power to preach so fervently and   
   courageously, and that intimate acquaintance with the Holy Spirit by which   
   he came to know the hidden things of God.   
      
   SAINT DOMINIC'S NINE WAYS OF PRAYER   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)