From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   God is good   
      
    God is good. You can often tell whether or not a thing is of God. If   
   it is of God, it must be good. Honesty, purity, unselfishness, and   
   love are all good, unselfish helpfulness is good, and these things all   
   lead to the abundant life. Leave in God's hands the present and the   
   future, knowing only that He is good. The hand that veils the future   
   is the hand of God. He can bring order out of chaos, good out of evil,   
   and peace out of turmoil. We can believe that everything really good   
   comes from God and that He shares His goodness with us. I pray that I   
   may reach out for the good. I pray that I may try to choose the best   
   in life.   
   --From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   17 December – St John of Matha O.SS.T   
      
   Memorial   
       • 17 December   
       • 8 February on some calendars   
      
    Priest, Founder of The Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the   
   Captives, also known as the Order of the Most Holy Trinity or the   
   Trinitarians, Confessor, – born on 23 June 1160 at Faucon, Provence,   
   France and died on 12 December 1223 at Rome, Italy of natural causes.   
   Patronage – The Trinitarians.   
      
   Between the 8th and the 15th centuries, medieval Europe was in a state   
   of intermittent warfare between the Christian kingdoms of southern   
   Europe and the Muslim polities of North Africa, Southern France,   
   Sicily and portions of Spain. The threat of capture, whether by   
   pirates or coastal raiders, or during one of the region’s intermittent   
   wars, was not a new but rather a continuing threat to the residents of   
   Catalonia, Languedoc and the other coastal provinces of medieval   
   Christian Europe.   
      
   The redemption of captives is listed among the corporal works of   
   mercy. The period of the Crusades, when so many Christians were in   
   danger of falling into the hands of Muslims, witnessed the rise of   
   religious orders vowed exclusively to this pious work.   
      
   St John of Matha was born to noble parents on the borders of Provence   
   on 23 June 1169. He was baptised John, in honour of St John the   
   Baptist. His father Euphemius sent him to Aix, where he learned   
   grammar, fencing, riding, and other exercises fit for a young   
   nobleman. It is said that while there he gave the poor a considerable   
   part of the money his parents sent him and he visited the hospital   
   every Friday, assisting the sick poor.   
   He studied theology at the University of Paris and was ordained a   
   priest at the age of 32 in December 1192.   
      
   According to Trintarian tradition, on 28 January 1193, John celebrated   
   his first Mass. During that Mass, he was struck with a vision of   
   Christ holding by the hand two chained captives, one a Moor, the other   
   a Christian (the Crusades were in full force at the time). The   
   Christian captive carried a staff with a red and blue cross. After the   
   Mass, John decided to devote himself to the task of ransoming   
   Christian captives from the Moors. Before entering upon this work, he   
   thought it needful to spend some time in retirement, prayer and   
   mortification and having heard of a holy hermit, St Felix of Valois   
   (1127–1212), living in a great wood near Gandelu, in the diocese of   
   Meaux, he repaired to him and requested him to instruct him in the   
   practice of perfection.   
      
   One day while walking with Felix, John had another vision–a white stag   
   appeared at a stream with a red and blue cross between its antlers.   
   John disclosed to Felix the design he had conceived on the day on   
   which he said his first mass, to succour captive Christians under   
   slavery and Felix offered his help in carrying it out. They set out   
   for Rome in the midst of a severe winter, towards the end of the year   
   1197, to obtain the pope’s benediction.   
      
   On 17 December 1198, he obtained the preliminary approval of Pope   
   Innocent III for a new order dedicated in honour of the Blessed   
   Trinity for the redemption of Christian captives. This order was fully   
   approved in 1209. The Order of the Most Holy Trinity’s first monastery   
   was established at Cerfroid (just north of Paris) and the second at   
   Rome at the church of San Tommaso in Formis. Christian slaves were   
   first rescued by the Order in 1201. In 1202 and 1210 John travelled to   
   Tunisia himself and brought back countless Christian slaves.   
      
   St John founded the Trinitarians to go to the slave markets, buy the   
   Christian slaves and set them free. To carry out this plan, the   
   Trinitarians needed large amounts of money. So, they placed their   
   fund-raising efforts under the patronage of Mary. In gratitude for her   
   assistance, St John of Matha honoured Mary with the title of “Our Lady   
   of Good Remedy.” Devotion to Mary under this ancient title is widely   
   known in Europe and Latin America and the Church celebrates her feast   
   day on 8 October. Our Lady of Good Remedy is often depicted as the   
   Virgin Mary handing a bag of money to St John of Matha.   
      
   Before his death, Trinitarian tradition says he met St Francis of   
   Assisi and introduced Francis to the Frangipani family, one of the   
   benefactors of the Franciscan order. St John of Matha died on 17   
   December 1213, in Rome in the house of St Thomas In Formis on the   
   Caelian Hill.   
      
   In 1655, his relics were transferred from Rome to Madrid. He was   
   Canonised on 21 October 1666 by Pope Alexander VII (cultus confirmed).   
      
   Today the Trinitarian family is composed of priests, brothers, women   
   (enclosed nuns and active sisters) as well as committed laity. Members   
   of the Trinitarian family include the Trinitarian religious, the   
   Trinitarian contemplative nun,; the Trinitarian Sisters of Valence,   
   the Trinitarian Sisters of Rome, Valencia, Madrid, Mallorca and   
   Seville, the Oblates of the Most Holy Trinity, the Third Order Secular   
   (tertiaries) and other Trinitarian laity. All are distinguished by the   
   cross of red and blue which dates from the origins of the Order.   
   Trinitarians are found throughout Europe and in the Americas as well   
   as in Africa, India, Korea and the Philippines.   
      
   In 2000 the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life   
   and Societies of Apostolic Life approved “The Trinitarian Way” rule of   
   life which would guide all the lay groups associated with the   
   Trinitarians including the Third Order Secular, the Trinitarian   
   Movement, Confraternities, etc. Like the Jesuits, Trinitarians also    
   pledge not to seek promotion within the Church hierarchy.    
   If promotion is offered, however, it is accepted.   
   The Order of the Most Holy Trinity is active on five continents and in   
   many countries.   
      
   see   
   https://anastpaul.com/2018/12/   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)