From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Bearing with the Faults of Others  (4)   
      
   If all were perfect, what should we have to suffer from others for   
   God’s sake? But God has so ordained, that we may learn to bear with   
   one another’s burdens, for there is no man without fault, no man   
   without burden, no man sufficient to himself nor wise enough. Hence we   
   must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel,   
   and advise, for the measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in   
   time of adversity--adversity that does not weaken a man but rather   
   shows what he is.   
   --Thomas à Kempis, From the Imitation of Christ  Bk 1  Chapter 16   
      
   ===============   
   March 5th - St. Kieran of Saigher   
   (Sixth Century)   
      
   This St. Kieran is commemorated in all dioceses of Ireland, for he is   
   reputed to have been the “firstborn” of Irish saints.   
      
   Kieran’s biography is full of obscurities. It is commonly said,   
   however, that he left Ireland before the arrival of St. Patrick.   
   Already a Christian, and of royal Ulster blood, he had determined to   
   study for the Church; hence, he secured an education at Tours and   
   Rome. On his return from France, he built himself a little cell in the   
   woods of Upper Ossory.   
      
   There he spent the next few years as a hermit. Inevitably, however,   
   other devout men joined him to form a monastery called “Saigher” (that   
   is, “Sier-Ciaran,” – “Kieran’s Seat”). Later, he built nearby a   
   monastery for women, the care of which he entrusted to his mother   
   Liadan. Thus Kieran, rather than Brigid, seems to have been the   
   pioneer founder of Irish women’s convents. Around these foundations   
   arose a village called Saigher, after the monastery.   
      
   When St. Patrick arrived in Ireland to carry the Faith throughout   
   Erin, Abbot Kieran gave him his glad assistance. Some writers say that   
   Kieran was then already a bishop, having been ordained while on the   
   continent. It seems more likely, however, that he was one of the   
   twelve men that Patrick, on his arrival, consecrated as helpers. It   
   was customary in the early days for abbots to be ordained as bishops   
   but to remain heads of their monasteries. The Diocese of Ossory   
   considers Abbot Kieran as its first bishop. (He may also be the St.   
   “Piran” venerated in Cornwall, Wales and Brittany.)   
      
   Many legends inevitably arose, too charming to leave untold, about   
   this ancient hermit and bishop.   
      
   One story involves the Christmas communion of St. Cuach, Abbess of a   
   monastery far away from Saigher. She had been Kieran’s nurse when he   
   was a child, and as a priest he always celebrated Mass for her   
   community on Christmas night, after having presided at the midnight   
   Mass of his own abbey. But nobody could figure out how he got to the   
   convent of Ross-Bennchuir, so many miles distant, and returned that   
   same night. The chronicler of the story suggests that it was by a   
   miracle like that in which God once lifted up the prophet Habakkuk by   
   the hair of his head and sped him from Palestine to Chaldea.   
      
   A second tale was that of Chrichidh, the boy from Clonmacnois whom St.   
   Kieran had admitted to his monastery as a servant. One Easter the   
   young servant mischievously extinguished the Easter Fire. (This was   
   lighted at the monastery annually on Holy Saturday, and then kept   
   burning all year as the only source of warmth or light in the monastic   
   household.) Kieran predicted that for this thoughtless act, the lad   
   would meet an untimely death. The very next day, as Chrichidh   
   sauntered through the woods, he was killed and eaten by a wolf.   
      
   Soon afterward, St. Kieran the Younger (of Clonmacnois) arrived at   
   Saigher, and was invited to dine by its monks. But he said he would   
   not eat with them until his young friend Chrichidh from Clonmacnois   
   had been restored to life. Out of hospitality in their chilly abbey,   
   the older Kieran prayed for a little heat, and a ball of fire landed   
   in his lap, which sufficed to warm up monks and visitor. Bishop Kieran   
   then told his namesake that he should not hesitate to sit at table   
   with them, for the boy was about to enter. Thereupon Chrichidh, raised   
   from the dead, came in, sat down, and began to eat with his usual   
   gusto.   
      
   The last story also concerns a miraculous resuscitation. King Aengus   
   of Munster had seven minstrels whose songs about dead heroes pleased   
   him. These minstrels, wandering through the land, were one day   
   murdered by the king’s enemies. They threw the bodies into the waters   
   of a bog and hung their harps on a tree. Aengus mourned the loss. But   
   St. Kieran informed him that the identity of the murderers and the   
   place of the killing had been revealed to him. The king accompanied   
   the saint to the spot. After Kieran had fasted a day on bread and   
   water, the bog went dry, and he and Aengus saw the seven bodies of the   
   songsters lying in the mud. Kieran then prayed that they might come   
   back to life. Although a month dead, all seven promptly arose, their   
   lives fully restored. Taking their harps, they thanked their   
   benefactors with a recital of their sweetest songs.   
      
   The chronicler concluded, “That bog has remained dry ever since.”   
      
   Whatever the truth of this legend, one central fact remains certain:   
   that God will heed the prayers of a worthy person. “Ask,” said our   
   Lord, “and you shall receive.”   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is very good and holy to consider the passion of our Lord, and to   
   meditate on it, for by this sacred path we reach union with God. In   
   this most holy school we learn true wisdom, for it was there that all   
   the saints learned it.   
   -- Saint Paul of the Cross   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,   
       which shines brighter and brighter until full day.   
   19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer to Defeat the Work of Satan   
      
   O Divine Eternal Father, in union with your Divine Son   
   and the Holy Spirit, and through the Immaculate Heart of   
   Mary, I beg You to destroy the Power of your greatest   
   enemy--the evil spirits.   
      
   Cast them into the deepest recesses of hell and chain   
   them there forever! Take possession of your Kingdom   
   which You have created and which is rightfully yours.   
      
   Heavenly Father, give us the reign of the Sacred Heart   
   of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.   
      
   I repeat this prayer out of pure love for You with every   
   beat of my heart and with every breath I take. Amen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)