From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Love of Solitude and Silence: (III)   
      
   Those who stand highest in the esteem of men are most exposed to   
   grievous peril, since they often have too great a confidence in   
   themselves. It is therefore, more profitable to many that they should   
   not altogether escape temptations, but be often assailed lest they   
   become too secure and exalted in their pride, or turn too readily to   
   worldly consolations. How good a conscience would he keep if a man   
   never sought after passing pleasures nor became preoccupied with   
   worldly affairs! If only a man could cast aside all useless anxiety   
   and think only on divine and salutary things, how great would be his   
   peace and tranquility!   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 1, Ch 20   
      
      
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   April 13th - Pope Saint Martin I   
   (died 655)   
      
    Pope Saint Martin I was the last pope to be considered a martyr for   
   the faith. Little is recorded about Saint Martin’s early life, other   
   than he was born in Umbria, Italy, and served as a high diplomatic   
   representative to Constantinople. Saint Martin was, in fact, the last   
   pope who was elected from a position as a diplomat, securing the   
   separation of the Church from ties to governments and leaders.   
      
   Saint Martin assumed the papacy in 649. He had a reputation for both   
   intelligence and virtue, although was frail and somewhat ill of   
   constitution. At the time Saint Martin was elected, Constantinople,   
   under the leadership of Emperor Constans II, was the most powerful and   
   influential government--influencing both politics and the doctrine of   
   the Church. Prior to Martin’s assumption of the papacy, Constans II   
   had issued an edict in support of the theory of Monothelism--the   
   belief that Christ had no human will, only divine will. The Church   
   considered this a heretical belief, but had been silenced by the power   
   of Constantinople, and forbidden to even discuss the will of Jesus   
   Christ.   
      
   Upon election, the first thing that Martin I did was convene a council   
   at Lateran, during which he condemned the emperor and made clear the   
   heretical nature of the Monothelistic doctrine of faith. Saint Martin   
   asserted the Church’s belief that just as Christ had two natures--that   
   he was simultaneously human and divine-- that he also had two wills--   
   both human and divine. In the written statement, Saint Martin wrote,   
   "The Lord commanded us to shun evil and do good, but not to reject the   
   good with the evil."   
      
   Of course, Constans II was infuriated by this affront to his   
   authority. He sent soldiers to Rome to “escort” Saint Martin to   
   Constantinople. Saint Martin, already quite ill at that time, was   
   arrested without resistance, and placed on a ship. By the time the   
   ship landed, he was much sicker--too weak to stand unsupported--but   
   rather than being allowed an audience with the Emperor, or even given   
   a trial, he was summarily thrown into prison, where he remained for   
   three months. During this time, Saint Martin contracted dysentery from   
   both the poor sanitation and rancid food he was provided. From his   
   cell, he wrote many letters, including the one excerpted below:   
      
   “At all times in our letters we have desired to encourage you in your   
   charity and to alleviate any anxiety you may have for us, as we have   
   for all the saints and all our brothers who share this concern for us   
   in the Lord. But now I am writing to you of things which do oppress   
   us, and I speak the truth in the name of Christ our God.   
      
   I have not been allowed to wash, even in cold water, for 47 days. I am   
   wasted away and frozen through, and have had no respite from   
   dysentery. The food that is given me makes me feel sick. I hope that   
   God, who knows all things, will bring my persecutors to repentance   
   after He will take me out of this world. As to this wretched body, God   
   will have care of it. He is at hand. Why should I trouble myself? I   
   hope in His mercy that He will not prolong my course. I have been   
   amazed and continue to be amazed at the lack of perception and the   
   callousness of those who were once connected with me, both my friends   
   and my relatives. They have all completely forgotten about my unhappy   
   state, and do not care to know where I am, whether I am alive or dead.   
      
   But God wishes all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the   
   truth through the prayers of Peter. Hence I pray that God will   
   strengthen their hearts in the orthodox faith, help them to stand firm   
   against every heretic and enemy of the Church, and guard them   
   unshaken.”   
      
   True to his writings, there was little support from his former friends   
   or from the Church as a whole, subsequent to his imprisonment. The   
   emperor, following a brief trial during which the saint requested that   
   the “witnesses” against him be excused so as not to be forced into   
   bearing false witness, was sentenced to death. Following 3 more months   
   of imprisonment, he was led to the town square to be hanged, but the   
   residents of Constantinople came to his defense, and the Emperor   
   commuted the sentence. Rather than death, Saint Martin was exiled to   
   Crimea, where he lived the remainder of his days in poverty and   
   ostracism.   
      
   While the six years of his life during which he served as pope were   
   difficult, multiple miracles have been reported at his tomb in death.   
   Pope Martin I is regarded as a courageous and gallant saint, who   
   altered the course of history by confronting heresy and worldly power,   
   despite his failing health. Saint Martin never distanced himself from   
   the true faith, proclaiming the beliefs of the Church at a time when   
   it was dangerous to do so, and living the virtuous life of a solder of   
   the Lord. At a time in our history where the Church is the recipient   
   of much public negative sentiment, can we say the same about   
   ourselves?   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   You are My Mother, the Mother of Mercy, and the consolation of the   
   souls in Purgatory.   
   --Saint Bridget to our Lady   
      
   Bible Quote:   
    When the wood faileth, the fire shall go out: and when the talebearer   
   is taken away, contentions shall cease. As coals are to burning coals,   
   and wood to fire, so an angry man stirreth up strife. [Pro 26:20-21]   
   DRB   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)