From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Making daily progress towards God   
      
   "As Christians, our task is to make daily progress toward God. Our   
   pilgrimage on earth is a school in which God is the only teacher, and   
   it demands good students, not ones who play truant. In this school we   
   learn something every day. We learn something from the commandments,   
   something from examples, and something from Sacraments. These things   
   are remedies for our wounds and materials for our studies."   
   --St. Augustine--(excerpt from Sermon 16A,1)   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   March 12th – St. Paul Aurelian, Bishop of Saint-Pol-de-Léon   
   (Welsh: Pawl; Latin: Paulinus; English: Paul)   
      
    (Born c. AD 480)   
      
   Paul Aurelian was son of Perphir, a lord in Penychen. He had 8   
   brothers, amongst them Nautel,  Pautel and Bana, and 3 sisters, Aude,   
   Sadfyl and Weluela. He may have lived with the family when they moved   
   to Eastern Dumnonia (Dorset and Devon) for he seems to have founded   
   St. Paul's Church in Caer Uisc (Exeter). Against his father's wishes,   
   Paul decided to actually enter the Church. He joined St. Illtud at   
   Llantwit Fawr and then, on Ynys Byr (Caldy Island), in the company of   
   St. Dewi, St. Samson and St. Gildas. Since the lands of Llantwit Abbey   
   were very restricted, the four lads suggested that St. Illtud pray for   
   the sea to recede and thus enlarge the monastic holdings. Illtud   
   prayed all night and bade his disciples do the same. The next day. at   
   low tide when the sea withdrew by some eight miles, Illtud took his   
   pupils to the waters edge and drew a line with his staff in the sand.   
   Ever since, it has never crossed that line and the abbey was able to   
   reclaim a vast swathe of rich and fertile land. Paul spent much of his   
   time scaring seagulls to stop them eating the monastic crops. However,   
   he paid little attention to his duties and the crops were ruined.   
   Frightened of his punishment, he prayed for divine intervention. The   
   next day, he and his 3 fellows were able to herd all the seagulls   
   together, like sheep, and lock them in a barn!   
      
   At the age of 16, Paul sought the seclusion of the wilderness instead.   
   He built himself a little hermitage at Llanddeusant in Ystrad Tywi and   
   was ordained a priest there, probably by St. Dyfrig. Stories of Paul's   
   sanctity and good works reached the ears of King Marc of Cerniw   
   (Cornwall). Marc invited Paul to come to his palace at Caer Banned and   
   more firmly establish the Christian faith in his kingdom. Paul   
   accepted and spent some years instructing the Cornish. Marc was keen   
   for him to take up the position of Bishop of Cerniw, but Paul declined   
   and their relations soured. Eventually, things came to a head when   
   Paul asked King Marc if he might have one of the fine Celtic bells   
   which he used to call his guests to dinner. When the monarch refused,   
   the saint left his court in a huff.   
      
   Paul went to visit his sister, on the Cornish coast, founding the   
   church at Paul, near Penzance, on the way. His biographer states that   
   the lady was Sadfyl, but she was the only sister whose name he knew.   
   In reality, this seems to have been St. Weluela, a reclusive nun who   
   lived at Gulval. She complained to her brother of the encroachment of   
   the Sea. So he asked her to mark out the tide line with some pebbles   
   and then prayed for their miraculous transformation into huge rocks,   
   forming a natural sea-wall. Paul then acquired a boat and set sail for   
   Llydaw (Brittany). However, a story (perhaps of no great antiquity)   
   says that a storm threw him along the British coast and he sailed up   
   the River Dart to Staverton, on the edge of Dartmoor. He decided to   
   build a church there, but found that his work disappeared each night.   
   Since the Lord seemed to disapprove of his choice of site, he moved to   
   the location of the present parish church and construction proceeded   
   unhindered.  Paul must have carried on for only a short while, for he   
   soon set sail again and landed across the English Channel, on the   
   island of Ushant (Ile d'Ouessant). At Lampol there, he made himself a   
   new home and was joined by 12 presbyters with their master and deacon.   
      
   Eventually, Paul moved on to Telmedou (Ploudalmezeau) in the region of   
   Ach, in western Domnonée, establishing a monastery where his disciple,   
   Vivian, had tried to build a hermitage until troubled by a roving   
   buffalo. The local lord was Paul's cousin, a man named Withur who had   
   his capital at Ocismor (Saint-Pol-de-Leon). The two met on Ynys   
   Battham (Isle of Batz) where Withur sometimes went to spend time   
   alone. During dinner, Paul told his cousin of his troubles at the   
   court of King Marc before they lucked into a fine salmon; and, when it   
   was cut, the bell Marc had refused to give to Paul was miraculously   
   found inside! Withur gave both the island and his capital city to his   
   cousin. Paul kept a small retreat on the former, whilst setting up a   
   monastery at Ocismor (Saint-Pol-de-Leon) to administer to its people.   
   Just like Marc, Withur wanted Paul to become his people's bishop.   
   Having heard of his objections, however, the lord did not ask him   
   directly but instead sent him to King Childebert I of Paris with a   
   sealed letter asking the Frankish king to have Paul made a bishop,   
   whether he agreed or not. Thus the saint was at last given an   
   episcopacy, centered on Ocismor (Saint-Pol-de-Leon).   
      
   In old age, Paul tried to retire from office, by ordaining his   
   disciples, Joevin and then Tigernomagle as bishop in his place.   
   However, both died after about a year and Paul was forced to resume   
   control himself. Eventually, he managed to appoint Cetomerin to the   
   bishopric and, on the day of his consecration, King Judwal of Domnonée   
   visited the cathedral. Having just re-established himself on the   
   Breton throne, he granted Paul the site of his victory over the evil   
   King Conomor of Poher. The saint founded the Abbey of Gerber (Le   
   Relecq) there under his repentant brother, Tangwy (alias Bana) and   
   retired to the Isle of Batz. Old and frail, he lived there for some   
   years before dying, it is said at the age of a 104 on 12 March, some   
   time at the end of the 6th century.   
      
   see   
   http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/paul_aurelian.html   
      
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   They who want to win the world for Christ must have the courage to   
   come into conflict with it.   
   --Blessed Titus Brandsma   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   And may the God of peace himself sanctify you in all things: that your   
   whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless in the   
   coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  [1 Thes. 5:23] DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A short prayer for Lent   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)