From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   April 1st -  St. Hugh of Bonnevaux, Abbot   
      
   St. Hugh could read men's thoughts and was quick to detect any evil spirit   
   that   
   had access to the minds of his brethren.   
      
   In one of his letters St. Bernard of Clairvaux mentions with great praise a   
   novice called Hugh, who had renounced considerable riches and entered the   
   abbey   
   of Mézières at a very early age against the wishes of his relations. He was   
   nephew to St. Hugh of Grenoble. Once, when greatly troubled by temptations   
   and   
   longings to return to the world, he entered a church to pray for light and   
   help.   
   As he raised his eyes to the altar, he beheld above it a figure, which he   
   recognized to be that of our Lady, and then, beside her, appeared the form   
   of   
   her divine Son. The Mother of Mercy, with a look of great kindness,   
   addressed   
   him, saying, "Bear yourself like a man and let your heart be comforted in   
   the   
   Lord; rest assured that you will be troubled no more by these temptations."   
   Hugh   
   afterwards gave himself up to such severe penances that his health broke   
   down   
   and he seemed to be losing his memory. He owed his recovery to the wise   
   common-sense of St. Bernard, who ordered him off to the infirmary with   
   instructions that he should be properly tended and allowed to speak to   
   anyone he   
   liked.   
      
   Not long afterwards he was made abbot of Bonnevaux, and in Hugh's care the   
   abbey   
   became very flourishing. It was noted that the abbot could read men's   
   thoughts   
   and was quick to detect any evil spirit that had access to the minds of his   
   brethren. The stories that have come down to us testify to his powers of   
   divination and exorcism. Like so many of the great monastic luminaries, both   
   men   
   and women, Hugh did not confine his interests to his own house or even to   
   his   
   order. Moved by what he felt to be divine inspiration he went to Venice in   
   1177,   
   there to act as mediator between Pope Alexander III and the Emperor   
   Frederick   
   Barbarossa. To him is due the credit of negotiating between them a peace,   
   which   
   has become historic. St. Hugh died in 1194, and his ancient cultus was   
   approved   
   in 1907.   
      
   In the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i, certain meagre details have been   
   collected   
   from the chroniclers Helinandus, Vincent of Beauvais, etc. On the other hand   
   in   
   vol. xi of the Cistercienser-Chronik (1899) G. Muller has compiled an   
   adequate   
   account, distributed through several numbers, drawing upon the cartularies   
   of   
   Bonnevaux and Léoncel, which have been published by Canon Ulysse Chevalier.   
   And   
   see the unpublished vita in Collectanea O.C.R., vol. vi (1939), pp. 214-218,   
   edited by A. Dimier, and that writer's St. Hugues de Bonnevaux (1941).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "Oh what remorse we shall feel at the end of our lives, when we look back   
   upon   
   the great number of instructions and examples afforded by God and the Saints   
   for   
   our perfection, and so carelessly received by us! If this end were to come   
   to   
   you today, how would you be pleased with the life you have led this year?"   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote   
   And Abraham answered, and said: Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my   
   Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes.  (Genesis 18:27)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   And what kind of affronts did not the Redeemer suffer in His Passion? He saw   
   Himself affronted by His own disciples. One of them betrays Him and sells   
   Him   
   for thirty pieces. Another denies Him many times, protesting publicly that   
   he   
   knows Him not; and thus attesting that he was ashamed to have known Him in   
   the   
   past. The other disciples, when they see Him taken and bound, all fly and   
   abandon Him: Then his disciples leaving him, all fled away. (Mark xiv. 50).   
      
   O my Jesus, thus abandoned, who will ever undertake Thy defence, if, when   
   Thou   
   art first taken, those most dear to Thee depart from and forsake Thee? But,   
   my   
   God, to think that this dishonour did not end with Thy Passion! How many   
   souls,   
   after having offered themselves to follow Thee, and after having been   
   favoured   
   by Thee with many graces and special signs of love, being then driven by   
   some   
   passion of vile interest, or human respect, or sordid pleasure, have   
   ungratefully forsaken Thee! Which of these ungrateful ones is found to turn   
   and   
   lament, saying, Ah, my dear Jesus, pardon me; for I will not leave Thee   
   again. I   
   will rather lose my life a thousand times than lose Thy grace, O my God, my   
   Love, my All.   
      
   --From The Passion And Death Of Jesus Christ, by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori:   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)