From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Exhortation to Martyrdom   
      
   After this we must subjoin, that being redeemed and quickened by the   
   blood of Christ, we ought to prefer nothing to Christ, because He   
   preferred nothing to us, and on our account preferred evil things to   
   good, poverty to riches, servitude to rule, death to immortality; that   
   we, on the contrary, in our sufferings are preferring the riches and   
   delights of paradise to the poverty of the world, eternal dominion and   
   kingdom to the slavery of time, immortality to death, God and Christ   
   to the devil and Antichrist.   
   – Saint Cyprian of Carthage from his Exhortation to Martyrdom   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   September 23rd - Saint Adamnan of Iona   
      
   Adam, Adomnan or Eunan as he is also known, was born about the year   
   625 at Drumhome, County Donegal, Ireland. Nothing is told us of his   
   early life, except that he was related to another well known Irish   
   saint, Columba. He initially entered the monastery he had founded in   
   county Donegal, but was influenced by Columba to go the Abbey of Iona   
   in Scotland where in 679 he became its ninth abbot.   
      
   In 686 Adamnan was sent to the court of King Aldfrith of Northumbria   
   to negotiate the release of Irish captives. The king had met Adamnan   
   as a child when he had to flee from a usurper at the death of his   
   father King Oswy. Adamnan succeeded in his mission and while in   
   England he visited the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, meeting   
   St. Bede who was a thirteen year old boy at the time. Adamnan was   
   persuaded by St. Ceolfrith to accept the Roman date of observance for   
   Easter. He also came to accept the Roman practice of tonsure for   
   monks.   
      
   Upon his return to Iona, Adamnan was unsuccessful in persuading his   
   monks to give up their Celtic observances and subsequently was seen to   
   spend more of his time in Ireland where he had greater success. It was   
   also in Ireland that he was effective in persuading the Synod at Tara   
   in 697 to legislate against the use of women in warfare and   
   prohibiting the killing or taking of women or children as hostages.   
   This would come to be known as "Adamnan's Law."   
      
   Perhaps Adamnan is best known for his biography of St. Columba, one of   
   the most important hagiographical documents in existence and one of   
   the most complete biographies of the early Middle Ages. Another   
   important document attributed to him is the "De locis sanctis," which   
   is a documentation of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem by a Frankish bishop   
   by the name of Arculf. On his return journey, Arculf's ship was driven   
   off course and he landed off the western coast of Britain and found   
   himself at Iona. Adamnan later presented this book to King Ardfrith.   
      
   Adamnan died at Iona on September 23, 704.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   They are echoes and heartbeats of faithfulness and love. They are   
   shadows of the hopes and joys and sorrows Padre Pio laid down at the   
   foot of the cross on his own personal Golgotha.   
   --Padre Pio   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   10 For a day in thy courts is better   
       than a thousand elsewhere.   
   I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God   
       than dwell in the tents of wickedness.   
   11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;   
       he bestows favor and honor.   
   No good thing does the Lord withhold   
       from those who walk uprightly.   
   12 O Lord of hosts,   
       blessed is the man who trusts in thee!  Psalm 84:10-12 RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   We must always pray, and not faint.--Luke 18:1   
      
   5. A man of prayer is capable of everything; therefore, it is of great   
   importance that missionaries should give themselves to this exercise   
   with particular earnestness; and as without it they will gain little   
   or no fruit, so with its help they will become much more able to move   
   hearts and convert souls to their Creator, than by learning and   
   oratorical skill.   
   --St. Vincent de Paul   
      
   St. Francis Borgia was a man of much prayer, in which he would remain,   
   as if in ecstasy, sometimes for six hours in succession, which   
   appeared to him but a moment; and the mere sight of him in the pulpit   
   would rouse the people to compunction.   
      
   St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure and the Blessed Albertus Magnus confessed   
   that they gained their learning more by prayer than by study. We read   
   of St. Thomas, in particular, that not being able to understand a text   
   of Scripture, he had recourse to prayer, and while he was praying with   
   great fervor there appeared to him the holy Apostles Peter and Paul   
   and explained the difficulty in a voice so clear and distinct that it   
   was heard by his companion Brother Reginald.   
      
   ( "A Year with the Saints".   September: Prayer)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)