From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   July 28th – Sts. Nazarius and Celsus, Martyrs   
    (First century)   
      
   Saint Nazarius, born in Rome, was the son of a pagan military man who   
   held an important post in the Roman army. His mother, honored by the   
   Church as Saint Perpetua, was a zealous Christian, instructed by Saint   
   Peter or his disciples in the most perfect maxims of Christianity.   
   Nazarius at the age of nine embraced the Faith with so much ardor that   
   he copied in his own young life all the great virtues he saw in his   
   teachers. He was baptized by Saint Linus, who would later become Pope.   
   His pagan father was touched by his son’s virtue and seconded his   
   project to go elsewhere to preach the Gospel. Out of zeal for the   
   salvation of others, Nazarius therefore left Rome, his native city,   
   and preached the Faith in many places with a fervor and   
   disinterestedness fitting for a disciple of the Apostles.   
      
   Ten years later he is known to have been in Milan. He was driven from   
   the city by the prefect after being whipped, and he left Italy to go   
   to eastern Gaul or France. There a young boy by the name of Celsus was   
   brought to him; his mother asked him to teach and baptize her son, and   
   to take him for his disciple. The child was docile, and Nazarius did   
   so; and they were never separated. When conversions multiplied, the   
   local governor was alarmed and the apostle was again arrested, beaten   
   and tortured. The wife of this governor was a Christian, however, and   
   succeeded in obtaining liberty for the two young innocents. They were   
   freed on condition they would not preach at this place any longer.   
      
   The two fervent Christians went to the Alpine villages where only a   
   few solitary settlers braved the rigors of the climate and the   
   altitude. They were not rebuffed and went as far as Embrun. There they   
   built a chapel to the true God, and then continued on to Geneva, and   
   to Treves where Saint Nazarius was arrested and imprisoned. Celsus   
   followed him in tears, longing to share his captivity. When after a   
   few days the prefect ordered them brought before him, they were   
   treated cruelly but appeared before the magistrate, their faces   
   shining with glory. The prodigies which followed caused fear in the   
   pagans, and they were released and told to leave the region.   
      
   They returned to Milan, but were soon arrested there also. When they   
   would not sacrifice to the gods of the empire, after several tortures   
   in which God again preserved them, they were sentenced to be beheaded.   
   They embraced one another in transports of joy and praise to God for   
   this grace. It was during the reign of Nero, in about the year 56,   
   that these generous Martyrs added their blood to the treasure of the   
   Christians.   
      
   Their bodies were buried separately in a garden outside the city,   
   where they were discovered and taken up by Saint Ambrose in 395. In   
   the tomb of Saint Nazarius, whose decapitated body and head were   
   perfectly conserved, a vial of the Saint’s blood was found as fresh   
   and red as if it had been spilt that same day. Saint Ambrose conveyed   
   the bodies of the two martyrs into the new church of the Apostles   
   which he had just built. A woman was delivered of an evil spirit in   
   their presence. Saint Ambrose sent some of these relics to Saint   
   Paulinus of Nola, who received them with great respect as a most   
   valuable gift, as he himself testifies, and placed them in honor at   
   Nola.   
      
   Reflection: The martyrs died as the outcasts of the world, but are   
   crowned by God with immortal honor. The glory of the world is false   
   and transitory, an empty bubble or shadow, but that of virtue is true,   
   solid, and permanent, even in the eyes of men.   
      
   Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on   
   Butler’s Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   It is not enough to do good things, but we must do them well, in   
   imitation of Christ our Lord, of whom it was written: Bene omnia fecit   
   -- He did all things well.  We ought, then, to strive to do all things   
   in the spirit of Christ; that is, with the perfection, with   
   circumstances, and for the ends for which He performed His actions.   
   Otherwise, even the good works that we do will bring us punishment   
   rather than reward.   
   --St. Vincent de Paul   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the   
   world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place   
   I have ministered before him. 15 And so was I established in Sion, and   
   in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem.  16   
   And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God   
   his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.   
   (Ecclesiasticus 24:14-16)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Permit us, O Jesus,   
   to dedicate to you each member of our family.   
   Accept each one of us,   
   and may every beat of our hearts   
   be an act of love for you.   
   By the power of your Blood,   
   may we be strengthened   
   and sustained in our daily difficulties.   
   May we be a sign, to each other   
   and to all with whom we come in contact,   
   of your life in us.   
      
   Bless our home, dear Jesus.   
   Bless our joys and sufferings.   
   Bless every moment of our lives   
   and especially the moment of our death.   
   After living for the glory of your Blood one earth,   
   may we have the joy of praising you eternally in heaven.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)