From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    Long suffering   
      
   [Long suffering is] Perseverance in adversity, endurance of evils, to   
   abide to the end of temptation, not to let one's anger out by chance,   
   not to speak a word in folly, not to suspect or to think anything that   
   does not become a God-fearing man, as Scripture says 'A long-suffering   
   man shall bear for a time, and afterwards joy shall be restored to   
   him. He will hide his words for a time, and the lips of many shall   
   declare his understanding.'   
   --St. Maximus the Confessor.   
      
   ==================   
   October 2nd – St. Leodegarius (Leger), OSB (RM)   
      
   Born c. 616; died near Arras in 678. Leodegarius was raised at the   
   court of King Clotaire II and educated by his uncle, Bishop Didon of   
   Poitiers. He was made archdeacon by Didon, was ordained, and about   
   651-653 became abbot of Maxentius (Maixent) Abbey, where he introduced   
   the Rule of St. Benedict. During this time it appears that Saint   
   Leodegarius acquired a humble spirit and became a true priest.   
      
   It is unknown whether Leodegarius was summoned or went to the court of   
   his own accord. Nevertheless, he counseled Queen Saint Bathildis   
   during the minority of her son Clotaire III after the death of her   
   husband, Clovis II, in 656. Leodegarius was appointed bishop of Autun   
   in 663, though he continued to advise the queen. Autun was in a state   
   of complete disorder. There had been no bishop for two years and   
   before that there were two claimants for the episcopal throne. One of   
   them had been murdered and the other exiled because of his abuses of   
   power. Leodegarius began by physically restoring the town: its walls   
   and the cathedral.   
      
   It is said, "Those who were not led to peace and concord by preaching,   
   were forced there by justice and terror." Although Leodegarius had a   
   reputation as a very strict bishop, he managed to reconcile the   
   factions that had torn apart the see, introduced reforms, imposed the   
   Benedictine Rule in all monasteries, and was known for his concern for   
   the poor.   
      
   After Bathildis had retired and on the death of Clotaire III, he   
   supported young Childeric II for king against his brother Thierry, who   
   had been backed by Ebroin, mayor of the palace. Ebroin was exiled to   
   Luxeuil, where he became a tonsured monk and a bitter enemy of   
   Leodegarius, who became Childeric's adviser. Leodegarius's exalted   
   position didn't last for long for he alienated many with his severity.   
   When Leodegarius denounced the marriage of Childeric to his uncle's   
   daughter, he also incurred the enmity of Childeric.   
      
   One Easter Childeric refused Leodegarius's invitation to attend the   
   Easter Mass at the cathedral of Saint-Nazaire in Autun. Later   
   Childeric interrupted the Mass. He was drunk and shouted insults, but   
   as he was king, no one said anything. Because no one said anything,   
   the king believed that there was nobody there, and left. But the next   
   day his fury against Leodegarius had not abated. The saint decided to   
   flee, but he was soon caught, returned to court, judged and banished   
   to Luxeuil in 675. There he met and was reconciled to his enemy   
   Ebroin. In Luxeuil they prayed side-by-side and pledged eternal   
   friendship.   
      
   When Childeric was murdered in 675, his successor, Theodoric III,   
   restored Leodegarius to his see. Ebroin was also restored as mayor of   
   the palace after he had the incumbent Leudesius murdered and persuaded   
   the duke of Champagne and the bishops of Chalons and Valence to attack   
   Autun. To save the town, Leodegarius surrendered himself. Ebroin had   
   him blinded, his lips cut off, and his tongue pulled out. Leodegarius   
   accepted his fate. His death did not come at once, and he suffered in   
   silence and prayer. Ebroin sent him to a forest and ordered that the   
   blind man should be left there to die of hunger. But Leodegarius's   
   guard took pity on him and after a few days went to find him. He took   
   him into his home and cared for him.   
      
   Not satisfied, several years later, Ebroin convinced the king that   
   Childeric had been murdered by Leodegarius and his brother Saint   
   Gerinus. Gerinus was stoned to death, and Leodegarius was tortured and   
   imprisoned at Fécamp monastery in Normandy, a cripple. A letter   
   written by Leodegarius to his mother about the death of his brother   
   still exists.   
      
   Two years later Leodegarius was summoned to a court at Marly by   
   Ebroin. A court of bishops declared him deposed from his see. Finally,   
   his enemies executed him.   
      
   His feast is kept in Lucern, Switzerland. Leodegarius is the patron of   
   millers and is invoked against blindness (Roeder).   
      
      
   Your guardian angel is really present   
      
   Be ever more convinced that your guardian angel is really present,   
   that he is ever at your side. St. Frances of Rome always saw him   
   standing before her, his arms clasped at his breast, his eyes uplifted   
   to Heaven; but at the slightest failing, he would cover his face as if   
   in shame, and at times, turn his back to her.   
   --Saint John Bosco   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   October is the Feast of Christ the King, the Kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ.   
      
   Our Lord is King of all His Creation by birth and by conquest.   
      
   First is His Kingship as God the Son through the hypostatic union   
   whereby Divinity is united in humanity in the person of Christ.   
      
   The second is His rescue of mankind by the Incarnation, as He came to   
   the world to save those fallen in the act of Adam and Eve and ravaged   
   by the temptation of Satan.  He is King by our sanctification through   
   His passion, death, and resurrection thereby conquering sin and death.   
      
   And as King his Body and Blood wash away our iniquities and cleanse us   
   of our sins present in the Passion and present in the Holy Sacrifice   
   of the Mass.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)