From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The shepherds are the first proclaimers of the Gospel   
      
   "The shepherds did not keep silent about the hidden mysteries that   
   they had come to know by divine influence. They told whomever they   
   could. Spiritual shepherds in the church are appointed especially for   
   this, that they may proclaim the mysteries of the Word of God and that   
   they may show to their listeners that the marvels which they have   
   learned in the Scriptures are to be marveled at."   
   by Bede the Venerable, 672-735 A.D. (excerpt from HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 1.7)   
      
      
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   December 29th - St. Evroul, Abbot, Confessor   
   (Also known as Ebruifus)   
   .D. 596   
      
   EVROUL, called in Latin Ebruifus, was born at Bayeux, in 517, and was   
   of the most illustrious family of that country. But he learned from   
   his cradle to esteem nothing great but what is so in the eyes of God.   
   The same sentiments he made the rule of his holy and disinterested   
   conduct in the court of king Childebert I, who, being charmed with his   
   accomplishments both of mind and body, raised him to several posts of   
   honor and authority, which he never sought--for all his ambition aimed   
   at goods infinitely surpassing those of the earth, for which he   
   testified a total indifference, even while they flowed in upon him   
   unasked. He showed by his example how possible it is for a Christian   
   to live in the world without being of it in spirit, and to possess   
   riches without being possessed by them. But then he made continual use   
   of the antidotes which heaven has afforded us to fence our hearts   
   against that contagious air, which are assiduous prayer, pious   
   reading, meditation, and the mortification of the senses. His friends   
   importuned him to marry, and he chose a virtuous wife, whose   
   inclinations were perfectly suitable to his own. By reading the lives   
   of the saints they mutually inflamed each other with a desire of   
   forsaking the world. In this view they agreed to a separation, and she   
   took the veil in a holy nunnery, while he distributed his whole   
   fortune among the poor.   
      
   It was, however, a considerable time before he was able to obtain the   
   leave of King Clothaire I. (who, after the death of his brother   
   Childebert, had become master of all France) to retire from court. At   
   length, he procured it by reiterated importunities, and without delay   
   took refuge in a monastery in the diocese of Bayeux. By his profound   
   humility, fervor, and all heroic virtues, he gained the esteem and   
   veneration of his fellow monks. But the respect which he met with was   
   to him a true affliction; he regarded it as a snare, and a temptation   
   to vanity. To shun it, he, with three others, privately withdrew, and   
   hid himself in the most remote part of the forest of Ouche, in the   
   diocese of Lisieux, which was only inhabited by wild beasts and   
   robbers. These new hermits had taken no measures for provisions. They   
   settled near a spring of clear water, made an enclosure with a hedge   
   of boughs, and built themselves little huts of branches and mud. A   
   country peasant discovered them in this place, to his great   
   astonishment, and made known to them that the woods were a retreat of   
   cruel thieves: "We are come hither," said Evroul, "to bewail our sins;   
   we place our confidence in the mercy of God, who by his providence   
   feeds the birds of the air, and we fear no one." The countryman   
   brought them the next morning three loaves and some honey, and was so   
   edified by their conversation, that he soon after joined them. One of   
   the thieves happening to light upon them, saw there was no booty to be   
   expected, and, out of humanity and compassion, endeavored to persuade   
   them that their lives would be in danger from others of his   
   profession. Evroul made known to him, that having God for their   
   protector, they stood in fear of no danger from men who could have no   
   inducement to murder those who sought to hurt no man, and had no other   
   occupation than to lead penitential lives, and to please God. He then   
   powerfully exhorted him to change his life.  The robber was converted   
   upon the spot, and going to his companions, brought many of them, in   
   the same dispositions with himself, to the saint, by whose advice they   
   betook themselves to till the land, and labor in the country for an   
   honest maintenance. Several of them chose to remain with these   
   anchorets, in the practice of penance. They cultivated the land, but   
   it was too barren to yield them sufficient nourishment even in their   
   most abstemious way of living. But the inhabitants of the country   
   brought them in a little provision. Evroul accepted their alms, but   
   whatever remained he gave immediately to other poor, reserving nothing   
   for the next day.   
      
   The advantages and sweets of holy solitude, in uninterrupted   
   contemplation, made him desire to live always an anchoret, without   
   being burdened with the care of others. But fraternal charity   
   overruled this inclination, for he could not remain indifferent to the   
   salvation of his neighbors. He therefore received those who desired to   
   live in penance under his direction, for whom he was obliged to build   
   a monastery at Ouche in Normandy, which to this day bears his name.   
   His community daily increasing, and many offering him lands, he built   
   fifteen other monasteries of men or women, of which his own always   
   remained the chief, and this he always governed himself. His   
   affability charmed every one; he seemed to know no pleasure equal to   
   that of serving his neighbor. He used to exhort all to labor, telling   
   them, that they would gain their bread by their work, and heaven by   
   serving God in it. His example sufficed to encourage others, by his   
   indefatigable constancy in labor, his patience in adversity, his   
   perfect resignation to the will of God in all things with equal joy,   
   and his cheerfulness in the most severe practices of perpetual   
   penance. He arrived at a great old age though always sighing after the   
   joys of eternity. His patience in his last sickness made him seem   
   never sensible to pain. He lived forty-seven days without being able   
   to take anything, except a little water, and the Sacred body of Jesus   
   Christ. He never ceased to exhort his disciples till he bid them adieu   
   with joy, shutting his eyes to this world on the 29th of December,   
   596. His body was buried in the church of St. Peter, which he had   
   built.   
      
   His name occurs in Usuard, and in the Roman Martyrology on this day.   
   See his exact life in Mabillon, saec. 1; Ben. p. 354; William of   
   Gemblours, &c., also Bulteau, 1. 2, c. 31.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)