From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Purpose of Temptation:   
      
    The purpose of temptation is to test humans to determine their   
   worthiness to receive life eternal: "Blessed is the man who endures   
   temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown   
   of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." [James   
   1:12] "We must through many tribulations (trials) enter the kingdom of   
   God." [Acts 14:22] God tests all things because he desires a perfect   
   and everlasting world--eternity; if such a world is to be, nothing   
   evil (destructive) can be permitted to enter therein: "Blessed are   
   they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb: that they may   
   have a right to the tree of life and may enter in by the gates into   
   the city. Without are dogs and sorcerers and unchaste and murderers   
   and servers of idols and every one that loveth and maketh a lie. "   
   [Revelation 22:14-15]   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   15 July – Blessed Bernard of Baden TOSF   
   Also known as – Bernard of Marchio, Bernard II, Margrave of   
   Baden-Baden, Bernhard of Baden, Bernardo, Bernardus, Bernhard.   
      
   (1428-1458)   
    Margrave of Baden (Margrave was originally the medieval title for the   
   military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the   
   border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire.) Tertiary of the Order of   
   St Francis, apostle of the poor and the needy. Born in c 1428 in   
   Hohenbaden Castle, Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and died on   
   15 July 1458 in Moncalieri, Italy of natural causes.  Patronages –   
   Baden, Germany, Baden-Baden, Germany, together with Saint Konrad of   
   Constance, he is the Patron Saint of the Archdiocese of Freiburg,   
   Germany, Moncalieri, Italy.   
      
   Blessed Bernard was born in late 1428 or early 1429 (his exact   
   birthday is not known) at Hohenbaden Castle near Baden-Baden in the   
   present state of Baden- Baden. Württemberg in Germany. This Castle was   
   the then tribal seat of the Margraves of Baden and Bernhard was the   
   second son of Margrave James I and his wife Catherine of Lorraine, who   
   was the daughter of Blessed Margaret of the Palatinate and Duke   
   Charles II of Lorraine (1364-1431).   
      
   Bernard grew up in a deeply religious family. His father, had founded   
   Fremersberg Abbey and expanded the Collegiate Church in Baden-Baden.   
   The Margrave’s house was characterised by a deep devotion and   
   religious practices and a great sense of responsibility towards the   
   family members and subjects.   
      
   Bernard received a careful education, which would prepare him for his   
   later role as a sovereign. The intent was that he would be Margrave of   
   Pforzheim, Eberstein, Besigheim and several districts in the northern   
   part of the Margraviate.   
      
   He was related to the Habsburg dynasty via his older brother Karl I,   
   who had married Catherine of Austria, a sister of Emperor Frederick   
   III. This relationship should give Bernard access to the imperial   
   Court. But first, he assisted his uncle René of Anjou in an armed   
   conflict in northern Italy. According to contemporary sources, he   
   fought bravely. After his father’s death in 1453, he returned to   
   Baden, where he agreed with his brother to give up his claim to part   
   of the margraviate. Instead, he became Frederick III’s personal envoy,   
   despite his young age.   
      
   Bernard saw a number of disgraceful situations and tried to alleviate   
   hardship and poverty wherever he could. He spent most of his income   
   assisting the poor and those in need. Even during his lifetime, he   
   impressed his contemporaries with his unusual and deep piety.   
      
   Under pressure, after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453,   
   the imperial Habsburg family began preparing a Crusade against the   
   expanding Ottoman Empire. In March 1453, the Turks captured   
   Constantinople, the capital of the Greek Empire, after a terrible   
   battle and the City was lost to Christianity. This was the main reason   
   that Frederick III, in particular, saw the need to attempt to rout the   
   Turks. Thus, Bernard left soldier life and embarked on a diplomatic   
   career, which was more in line with his peaceful nature. Emperor   
   Frederick III sent him to various Courts in Germany, France and Italy   
   to arouse interest and raise money for a new Crusade. He was so   
   attracted to this mission to save Christianity, that he soon after   
   handed over the office of Margrave of Baden with all rights to his   
   brother Karl for a period of ten years.   
      
   Bernard had, since childhood, lived a very religious life and wanted   
   to support his brother-in-law the Emperor by all means. At the   
   imperial Court he also became an ardent intercessor for the needy,   
   following the teachings of Christ and His Church and seeing the Face   
   of Christ in the poor. Bernard rightly believed, that Godliness should   
   lead to mercy for those in most need. He himself lived as he taught   
   and divided his guaranteed annual income into three: one-third was to   
   be used for the poor, one-third was to benefit the Church, and   
   one-third was for himself. In addition, he led a strictly religious   
   life and gave up all worldly pleasures, which earned him deep respect   
   even during his young lifetime.   
      
   Emperor Frederick III held two parliaments in 1455, where he appointed   
   delegations of German Princes to recruit rulers outside Germany to   
   take part in a crusade against the Turks. Bernard’s intention was to   
   work on behalf of Emperor Frederick III for the good of Christianity   
   in the areas that the Turks had occupied.  His last voyage as an   
   imperial envoy began in late May 1458 and led him and his companions   
   to the Duchy of Orléans and on to Genoa.   
      
   He was on his way to Rome, to meet Pope Callistus III (1455-1458), who   
   himself tried to encourage support for a Crusade with great enthusiasm   
   but little success.  But shortly after Bernard left Turin in northern   
   Italy, he and his companions were infected by an epidemic, probably   
   the plague. He tried to get home to Baden but even before reaching the   
   village of Moncalieri on the Po River south of Turin in Piedmont, two   
   of his companions were dead. In a hostel next to the Franciscan   
   Monastery in Moncalieri, Bernard died on 15 July 1458, not yet thirty   
   years old.   
      
   Due to his position as Prince and Emperor’s envoy, Margrave Bernard   
   was buried in front of the High Altar in the dormitory Church of Santa   
   Maria della Scala in Moncalieri.  He was not a citizen of Moncalieri   
   but was, nevertheless, solemnly carried to the grave in the presence   
   of numerous clergy and local citizens, which was probably due more to   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)