From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On the Few Lovers of the Cross of Jesus [V]   
      
   Let him not regard as great what others might esteem great, but let   
   him truthfully confess himself an unprofitable servant. For these are   
   the words of the Truth Himself: `When you shall have done all those   
   things that are commanded you, say, "We are unprofitable servants"   
   (Luke 17:10). Then he may indeed be called poor and naked in spirit,   
   and say with the Prophet, `I am alone and poor' (Ps. 25:16). Yet there   
   is no man richer, more powerful or freer than he who can forsake   
   himself and all else, and set himself in the lowest place.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 2, Ch 11   
      
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   September 29th - Bl. Charles of Blois   
      
   d.1364   
   THIS royal saint has a particular interest for English people as he   
   had the misfortune to spend nine years in England--as a prisoner in   
   the Tower of London. He was born in 1320, son of Guy de Chatillon,   
   Count of BLOIS, and Margaret, the sister of the king of France, Philip   
   VI. As a young man showed himself both virtuous and brave and   
   unusually worthy of his high rank. In 1337 he married Joan of   
   Brittany, and by this marriage himself claimed the dukedom of   
   Brittany. His claim was disputed by John de Montfort, and he was   
   immediately involved in warfare that continued to the end of his life.   
   Charles did all in his power to allay the stress of war for his   
   subjects, and is said to have offered to settle the succession by   
   single combat in his own person. The first thing he did after the   
   capture of Nantes was to provide for the poor and suffering, and he   
   showed the same solicitude at Rennes, Guingamp and elsewhere. To pray   
   for his cause and the souls of those who were slain he founded   
   religious houses, and in general behaved so that the less devout of   
   his followers complained that he was more fit to be a monk than a   
   soldier. He went on pilgrimage barefooted to the shrine of St Ivo at   
   Tréguier, and when he held up the siege of Hennebont that his troops   
   might assist at Mass one of his officers was moved to protest. “My   
   lord”, retorted Charles, “we can always have towns and castles. If   
   they are taken away from us, God will help us to get them back again.   
   But we cannot afford to miss Mass.” Charles was, in fact, as good a   
   soldier as he was a Christian, but the weight of arms against him was   
   too heavy. He had the support of the French king, but his rival John   
   was helped by Edward III of England, who for his own reasons had   
   announced his intention of winning back his “lawful inheritance of   
   France”. For four years Charles was able to keep his enemies at bay,   
   but 1346 was a year of piled-up misfortune. France was beaten by   
   England at Crecy, Poitiers was sacked, and Poitou overrun; then   
   Charles in a great battle at La Roche-Derrien, not far from Tréguier,   
   was defeated, captured and shipped across to England.   
      
   He was housed in the Tower and a huge sum of money was asked for his   
   ransom, so that it was nine years before Charles regained his liberty.   
   Like many prisoners in the Tower before and since his time, he   
   sanctified his confinement by patience and prayer and earned the   
   ungrudging admiration of his gaolers. He pursued his struggle for the   
   defence of his duchy another nine years, with varying fortunes but   
   with ever growing respect and admiration from his people. At one time   
   it was even thought that the pilgrimage of Bonne Nouvelle at Rennes   
   commemorated one of the battles, but this has been shown not to be so.   
   The last engagement took place at Auray on September 29, 1364, a   
   battle in which the English forces were commanded by Sir John Chandos,   
   and Bertrand du Guesclin was taken prisoner. Charles, the man who   
   would always rather have been a Franciscan friar than a prince, was   
   killed on the field. Numerous and remarkable miracles were reported at   
   his tomb at Guingamp, and there was a strong movement for his   
   canonization in spite of the opposition of John IV de Montfort, whose   
   cause in Brittany might suffer were his late rival to be canonized.   
   Pope Gregory XI seems in fact to have decreed it, but in the turmoil   
   of his departure from Avignon in 1376 the bull was never drawn up. The   
   people nevertheless continued to venerate Bl. Charles, his feast was   
   celebrated in some places, and finally in 1904 this ancient cultus was   
   confirmed by St. Pius X.   
      
   The Bollandists mention Charles of Blois among the praetermissi of   
   September 29 the Acta Sanctorum, and refer to Pope Benedict XIV’s   
   De...beatificatione, bk ii, ch. 8. See A. de Sérent, Monuments du   
   procès de canonisation du bx Charles de Blois (1921), which include a   
   Dom Plaine’s account of Charles of 1872 G. Lobineau, Histoire de   
   Bretagne (1744), vol. ii, pp. 540-570 and N. Maurice-Denis-Boulet, La   
   canonisation de Charles de Blois” In the Revue d’histoire de l‘Eglise   
   de France, t. xxviii (1942), pp. 216-224.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Let us run with confidence and joy to enter into the cloud like Moses   
   and Elijah, or like James and John. Let us be caught up like Peter to   
   behold the divine vision and to be transfigured by that glorious   
   transfiguration. Let us retire from the world, stand aloof from the   
   earth, rise above the body, detach ourselves from creatures and turn   
   to the creator, to whom Peter in ecstasy exclaimed: Lord, it is good   
   for us to be here.   
   --Saint Anastasius of Sinai   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "Light is sown for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in   
   heart. Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous, And give thanks at the   
   remembrance of His holy name." (Psalms 97:11-12)   
      
      
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   O Sacred Blood, that flowed so copiously seven times for my salvation,   
   I love Thee, I praise Thee, I adore Thee with the deepest feeling of   
   gratitude! The purest fountain from which Thou didst flow makes Thy memory   
   so sweet. O Precious Blood, with trumpet tones Thou speakest to me of the   
   love of my God and Redeemer. How I deplore my coldness and indifference   
   towards Thee! Now, at last, I wish to return love for love, blood for   
   blood, if necessary. As often as my pulse beats, it shall greet Thee,   
   Thou sweet Guest of my soul, and shall return to the arteries warmed and   
   purified by Thy love. As long as the blood courses through my veins,   
   it shall flow only for love of Thee; it shall circulate only for Thy interests   
   and it shall turn cold and stand still only because I am about to love Thee   
   in eternity. Oh, let this stream of Thy love flow through every heart and   
   inebriate it with holy joy!   
      
   My dearest Mother Mary, I beseech Thee with confidence, obtain for me,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)