Ten lepers

Vol 8 Issue 34 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
August 22, 2015 ~Immaculate Heart of Mary

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (30)
2. Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
3. St Philip Benizi
4 .Christ in the Home (5)
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

Can one look at the state of the world and be happy? Can one look at one’s own family and be happy? Can one look at oneself and be happy? Do I really think I can sin and there will be no consequences? I tell my children to sin and I expect no consequences both from their being scandalized and in doing what I say? The world turns its back on God and expects no consequences (though the world is experiencing more natural disasters then ever). The Church has always had days of penance to ask God not to chastise the world for its sins, imitating Moses to spare the Israelites. There is still the Major and Minor Litanies (Rogation days) to remind the Catholic—though some may rather look at the First Fridays and Reparation to the Sacred Heart. Today one considers the Immaculate Heart of Mary—a devotion to draw not only the sentiments toward a Mother’s heart to those who have not been touched by the sufferings of her Son. Yes, charity has grown cold (cf. Matt. 24:12), frigid in fact. The murder of infants, the murder of the aged and sick, the plight of so many left to be slaughtered by anti-Christian forces no longer touches the heart which is distracted and consumed by thoughts of sensual pleasure, hatred, revenge, greed and power. These, with the perennial pride of knowledge, are the gods the world serves. Yet none of these can answer the problems man has because they are the problem. None of these can avert the catastrophes of that man suffers because man was made for God and separated from God He cannot help man.

I can point the finger at the world—but I am part of the world as long as I refuse to completely serve God rather than the world. I do this by not just saying Lord, Lord (cf. Matt. 7:21), but living that faith I believe in that tells me how I must live. I owe it to God in gratitude for all He has done for me. Think of the cured lepers read at the Gospel on Sunday.

As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit.—The Editor

____________________

 

Baptism

Means of Salvation

Preparation for Grace

Introduction (c)

Justification, Righteousness and Sanctifying Grace (3)

 

With God’s prevenient grace—the call to hear His voice, the seed planted, the light illuminating the darkness of the mind, the invitation to the wedding feast—accepted or received into a willing heart (cf. Pohle, Grace,  32), God does not abandon the individual, but continues to give his actual grace, or assisting grace, that strengthens and sustains the will in turning to God.

 

But all things that are reproved, are made manifest by the light; for all that is made manifest is light. Wherefore he saith: Rise thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead: and Christ shall enlighten thee. (Eph. 5:14)

 

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings. (Rom. 8:26)

 

Wherefore, my dearly beloved, . . . with fear and trembling work out your salvation. For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will. And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations; That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world. (Phil. 2:12-15)

Saint Augustine provides this example of Peter:

This love [great love of God] the Apostle Peter did not yet possess, when he for fear thrice denied the Lord. (Matthew 26:69-75) There is no fear in love, says the Evangelist John in his first Epistle, but perfect love casts out fear. (1 John 4:18) But yet, however small and imperfect his love was, it was not wholly wanting when he said to the Lord, I will lay down my life for Your sake; (John 13:37) for he supposed himself able to effect what he felt himself willing to do. And who was it that had begun to give him his love, however small, but He who prepares the will, and perfects by His co-operation what He initiates by His operation? Forasmuch as in beginning He works in us that we may have the will, and in perfecting works with us when we have the will. On which account the apostle says, I am confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6) He operates, therefore, without us, in order that we may will; but when we will, and so will that we may act, He co-operates with us. We can, however, ourselves do nothing to effect good works of piety without Him either working that we may will, or co-working when we will. Now, concerning His working that we may will, it is said: It is God which works in you, even to will. (Philippians 2:13) While of His co-working with us, when we will and act by willing, the apostle says, We know that in all things there is co-working for good to them that love God. What does this phrase, all things, mean, but the terrible and cruel sufferings which affect our condition? That burden, indeed, of Christ, which is heavy for our infirmity, becomes light to love. For to such did the Lord say that His burden was light, (Matthew 11:30) as Peter was when he suffered for Christ, not as he was when he denied Him. (Grace and Freewill, xvii, 33)

Pohle (cf. Grace, 296-97) has the steps to justification in the following procedure after one has received faith: First, one recognizes sin for what it is and has fear of divine justice. Second, one turns to the mercy of God and moves from fear to hope. Third, with hope in God’s mercy one desires God’s goodness and begins to love (i.e., give oneself to God). Fourth, knowing that sin stands between, one repents of one’s sins and asks for forgiveness (contrition and firm purpose of amendment). If contrition is based on love of God, that is, perfect contrition, and the desire to be pleasing to and to please God, justification takes place at that moment. If the contrition is based only on fear of God’s justice or another supernatural motive (attrition)—for there must be contrition, that is, sorrow for sin because it offends God and separates one from Him (loss of heaven, condemnation to hell) and demands a plea to be forgiven—the sacramental reception of baptism would bestow justification (just as the Sacrament of Penance renews sanctification if one has attrition).

If contrition is dictated and transfused by perfect love, and the sinner has an explicit or at least implicit desire for the Sacrament, justification takes place at once. If, on the other hand, the sinner’s sorrow is imperfect (attritio), he attains justification only by actual reception of the Sacrament (Baptism or Penance). (Pohle, 297)

This is based upon the Council of Trent, which at the Sixth Session (chapter 4) decreed: 

After the promulgation of the Gospel this passing cannot take place without the water of regeneration (can. 5; D861) or the desire for it, as it is written: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John iii. 5; D796).

It is this same Council that marvelous formulated the process of justification when it decreed:

Now they are disposed to that justice [can. 7 and 9] when, aroused and assisted by divine grace, receiving faith “by hearing” [Rom. 10:17], they are freely moved toward God, believing that to be true which has been divinely revealed and promised [can. 12 and 14], and this especially, that the sinner is justified by God through his grace, “through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” [Rom. 3:24], and when knowing that they are sinners, turning themselves away from the fear of divine justice, by which they are profitably aroused [can. 8], to a consideration of the mercy of God, they are raised to hope, trusting that God will be merciful to them for the sake of Christ, and they begin to love him as the source of all justice and are therefore moved against sins by a certain hatred and detestation [can. 9], that is, by that repentance, which must be performed before baptism [Acts 2:38]; and finally when they resolve to receive baptism, to begin a new life and to keep the commandments of God. Concerning this disposition it is written: “He that cometh to God must believe, that he is and is a rewarder to them that seek him” [Heb. 11:6], and, “Be of good faith, son, thy sins are forgiven thee” [Matt. 9:2; Mark 2:5], and, “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin” [Sirach. 1:27], and, “Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Spirit” [Acts 2:38], and, “Going therefore teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” [Matt. 28:19], and finally, “Prepare your hearts unto the Lord” [1 Samuel 7:3]. (Sess. VI, cap. 6; D 798.)

This is in accordance with Scripture, in which one reads:

But God will not leave off his mercy, and he will not destroy, nor abolish his own works, neither will he out up by the roots the offspring of his elect: and he will not utterly take away the seed of him that loveth the Lord. (Eccles. 47:24)

And Romans 10:9: For if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. That is, the same faith as Abraham, who believed everything God said, even that Sara, whose womb was “dead” would give “life” and fulfilled all God commanded. (Cf. John Chrysostom, Hom. in Rom., 17)

Finally, St Paul gives this basis of Faith, which also is interpreted as necessary for an adult to arrive at justification: Without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him. (Heb. 11:6)

Before commenting of Justification and Sanctifying Grace, to answer some questions, the following presentation on explicit faith and implicit faith should be inserted. Faith is necessary for justification, but what is necessary to believe? Theologians have various opinions since there has been no Church definitions on most issues. Here there is discussed that which is taken up by Joseph Pohle (cf. Grace, 279-284)

In analyzing the notions of fides and necessitas theologians distinguish between fides explicita and fides implicita, and between necessitas medii and necessitas praecepti. 

Fides explicita is an express and fully developed belief in the truths of revelation; fides implicita, a virtual belief in whatever may be contained in a dogma explicitly professed. I make an act of implicit faith when I say, for instance: “I believe whatever the Church teaches,” or: “I heartily accept whatever God has revealed.”

The necessitas medii is based on the objective relation of means to an end, and consequently binds all men, even the ignorant and those who are in error without their own fault. Such, for example, is the necessity of the eye for seeing, of wings for flying, of grace for performing salutary acts, of the lumen gloriae for the beatific vision. The necessitas praecepti, on the other hand, is founded entirely on the will of God, who positively commands or forbids under pain of grievous sin, but is willing to condone non-compliance with his precepts when it is owing to guiltless ignorance. This applies to all positive divine precepts, e. g. the law of fasting and abstinence. It is to be noted that the necessitas medii always involves the necessitas praecepti, because God must needs will and impose upon us by positive precept whatever is objectively necessary as a means of salvation. (ibid., 279-80)

Having provided what the terms mean, Pohle goes on to state the questions. The first is: 

Are sinners preparing for justification, and the faithful in general, obliged by necessity of precept to believe explicitly all revealed truths? The answer is, No; because this is practically impossible, and God does not demand the impossible. (ibid., 280)

And he explains in the following words:

Generally speaking, it is sufficient to have an explicit knowledge of, and give one’s firm assent to, the more important dogmas and moral precepts—the twelve articles of the Apostles’ Creed, the Commandments of God and the Church, the Sacraments (as needed), and the Our Father. All other revealed truths need be held only fide implicita. More is of course demanded of educated persons and those who are in duty bound to instruct others, such as priests and teachers. (Ibid., 281)

Saint Thomas provides the following in his Summa Theologica (IIa IIae, q. 2, art 7) that addresses this:

Augustine says (De Corr. et Gratia vii; Ep. cxc): “Our faith is sound if we believe that no man, old or young is delivered from the contagion of death and the bonds of sin, except by the one Mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ.”

. . . As stated above (5; 1, 8), the object of faith includes, properly and directly, that thing through which man obtains beatitude. Now the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation and Passion is the way by which men obtain beatitude; for it is written (Acts 4:12): “There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.” Therefore belief of some kind in the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation was necessary at all times and for all persons, but this belief differed according to differences of times and persons. The reason of this is that before the state of sin, man believed, explicitly in Christ’s Incarnation, in so far as it was intended for the consummation of glory, but not as it was intended to deliver man from sin by the Passion and Resurrection, since man had no foreknowledge of his future sin. He does, however, seem to have had foreknowledge of the Incarnation of Christ, from the fact that he said (Genesis 2:24): “Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife,” of which the Apostle says (Ephesians 5:32) that “this is a great sacrament . . . in Christ and the Church,” and it is incredible that the first man was ignorant about this sacrament.

But after sin, man believed explicitly in Christ, not only as to the Incarnation, but also as to the Passion and Resurrection, whereby the human race is delivered from sin and death: for they would not, else, have foreshadowed Christ’s Passion by certain sacrifices both before and after the Law, the meaning of which sacrifices was known by the learned explicitly, while the simple folk, under the veil of those sacrifices, believed them to be ordained by God in reference to Christ’s coming, and thus their knowledge was covered with a veil, so to speak. And, as stated above (Question 1, Article 7), the nearer they were to Christ, the more distinct was their knowledge of Christ’s mysteries.

After grace had been revealed, both learned and simple folk are bound to explicit faith in the mysteries of Christ, chiefly as regards those which are observed throughout the Church, and publicly proclaimed, such as the articles which refer to the Incarnation, of which we have spoken above (Question 1, Article 8). As to other minute points in reference to the articles of the Incarnation, men have been bound to believe them more or less explicitly according to each one’s state and office.

Therefore, if one has been exposed to the truths of faith, one is obliged to believe the truths. If one is obliged to learn those truths of the faith, he must learn them and believe them. This brings us to the second question.

A more important and more difficult question is this: Are there any dogmas, and if so how many, which must be believed by all men fide explicita and necessitate medii? St. Paul says (Heb. 11:6): “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek Him.” (Grace, 281)

And Pohle continues, recognizing that Paul is speaking of Faith, and therefore what must be believed, states:

With but few exceptions, Catholic theologians maintain that the Apostle in this passage means theological faith, based upon supernatural motives. This interpretation is borne out by the context, by such parallel texts as John III, 11 sqq., 32 sqq., 2 Tim. I, 12, I John V, 9 sq., and by the decisions of several councils. [Cf. Conc. Trid., Sess. VI, cap. 6; Conc. Vatican., Sess. III, cap. 3.]There can be no reasonable doubt that all men, to be justified and saved, must have an explicit belief in at least two dogmas, viz.: the existence of God and eternal retribution. Pope Innocent XI [Holy Office, March 4, 1679; D1172]condemned the Jansenist proposition that explicit belief in divine retribution is not necessary for salvation. (Ibid.)

Finally, having set the extreme (those who have not been exposed to the Gospel message or Divine Revelation), Pohle asks the question for even these:

Are there any other dogmas which must be explicitly believed necessitate medii? The only dogmas which might come in question are: the Trinity, the Incarnation, the immortality of the soul, and the necessity of grace. The last-mentioned two may be omitted from the list, because St. Paul does not mention them, and for the additional reason that belief in immortality is included in the dogma of eternal retribution, while the necessity of grace is inseparably bound up with the dogma of Divine Providence, which in its turn is but a particular aspect of eternal retribution. Hence the only two dogmas in regard to which the question at the beginning of this paragraph can reasonably be asked, are the Blessed Trinity and the Incarnation.

Theologians are divided in the matter. Some maintain that no human being can or could ever be saved without explicit belief in both the Trinity and the Incarnation. Others hold that this necessitas medii did not exist under the Old Covenant.[ Gregory of Valentia, Becanus, Thomas Sanchez, and many Thomists.] A third school avers that no such necessity can be proved either for the Old or the New Dispensation. [Suarez, De Lugo, and a large number of other theologians.] (Ibid., 282)

(To be continued)

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Week of Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Benedict Baur, O.S.B. 

“Gratias agamus Domino Deo Nostro”

1. Christ had cleansed ten lepers; only one, however, returned to Him to thank Him for having been healed (Gospel). This one who returned is a type of the Church, which, having been cleansed in the blood of the Lord and the waters of baptism, returns to the Lord to thank Him. “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.”
2. “It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father Almighty and everlasting God, through Christ our Lord” (Preface of the Mass). The praise of God is the first object of the prayers of the Church; she adores, praises, and thanks Him. Every morning at sunrise she remembers that blessed moment when her children were born to light through the reception of the sacrament of baptism, when they rose out of the darkness of sin to a new life. In gratitude for these graces the Church sends her praises heavenward, especially in the Canticle of Lauds and the Benedictus, thanking the heavenly Father for having wrought in her children the miracle of spiritual resurrection from death to life. When the sun has risen, the priests of the Church go to the altar to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is a sacrifice of thanksgiving for the benefits of creation and of God’s providence in governing the world, and for the grace of the Incarnation, the redemption, and the descent of the Holy Ghost. It is the sacrifice of thanksgiving for the grace of divine sonship, for God’s dwelling within our souls, for our union with Christ, the head, and for membership in His mystical body. The Church feels urged to give thanks to God for having preserved and governed her throughout the centuries, for having multiplied her children throughout the earth, and for having unceasingly poured forth His assisting grace upon her children, illuminating and admonishing them, stimulating and aiding them with His divine wisdom.

At the beginning of dusk, at Vespers, the Church gratefully looks back at the past, recalling all the graces she and her children have received, especially the greatest of all, the approach of God Himself to His children in Holy Communion. She jubilantly expresses her gratitude through the Magnificat of Mary, the Virgin Mother of God: “My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior. . . . Because He that is mighty hath done great things to me; and holy is His name. And His mercy is from generation unto generation, to them that fear Him” (Luke 1:46 ff.). At Compline she expresses her gratitude in the words of the aged Simeon: “Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace; because my eyes have seen Thy salvation” (Luke 2:29 f.).

The Church is aware that her debt of gratitude to God is so great that she never will be able to pay it by herself. Even if all the choirs of the angels and the blessed concurred, they would not be able to make a worthy return of gratitude for all the graces and gifts which God has bestowed upon the children of His Church. She therefore thanks Him “through Christ our Lord.” Making the cause of the Church His own, Christ, the mediator between God and men, unites the thanksgiving of His spouse and all her children with the infinitely meritorious acts of thanksgiving which unceasingly arise from His most Sacred Heart to the Father. He permeates the thanksgivings given to God by the Church with the fragrance and power of His human-divine thanksgiving. Through Him the Church is enabled to give to God thanks that are worthy of His love and graces. In return God gives to the Church and her children new graces and blessings.

3. The spirit of the Church is a spirit of gratitude. The more we unite ourselves in prayer with the liturgy of the Church, the more we become like the good leper who returned to Christ and gave glory to God.

“Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine?” (Gospel.) With deep sorrow the liturgy recognizes in these nine that were cleansed but did not return to the Lord, a great number of her children who have been cleansed in baptism and have experienced the love of the Lord in their first Holy Communion, but who have forgotten His love, the gift which, without any merits of theirs, they received from the Lord’s boundless charity, and do not return to praise God and thank Him. If we listen to the Gospel, we witness a sad scene: Ten lepers have been cleansed, but only one of them returns to the Lord to give thanks for having been healed, and this one is a Samaritan, a foreigner who does not even belong to the Lord’s chosen people. The children of predilection have been showered with graces and benefits by God and have been cared for day after day by the Lord’s providence; and yet they are ungrateful. They pay no attention to the privilege of having been chosen. They live under one roof with the Lord; the tabernacle is near at hand; they have the Sacrifice of the Mass, the blessings of the sacraments, and many other graces. And yet they do not appreciate these blessings and do not make any use of the graces offered; they are ungrateful “Where are the nine?” Only one out of ten gives thanks to the Lord. Do I belong to the ungrateful nine?

PRAYER

Almighty and everlasting God, grant unto us an increase of faith, hope, and charity; and that we may obtain what Thou dost promise, make us love that which Thou dost command. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 “Faith in Christ Jesus”

1. The liturgy of the Church works for Christ with zeal and consistency. It proves that He is the Lord; it urges the faithful to remember that Christ must be the center of their life and that the good they find within themselves they must ascribe to Him and the work of His grace. “Of His fullness we all have received” (John 1:16).
2. “Man is justified. . . by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16). We are not justified by the observance of the law of Moses nor by our own poor human struggles and endeavors. “For all have sinned and do need the glory of God. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood, to the showing of His justice. . . . Where is then the boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the law” (Rom. 3:23 ff.). “You are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female. For you all are one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ’s, then you are the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26 ff.). Here we have the essence of God’s plan of redemption: We receive the graces He intends to give us, the sonship of God, by faith in Jesus Christ. “You are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26). And St. John assures us that it is by faith that we receive the incarnate Word of God (John 1:12). By faith we become one with Christ; by faith we devote ourselves to Him, and He leads us to the Father, making us with Him possessors of divine life. The more perfect, solid, and deep our faith in Jesus, the Son of God, the more we shall be entitled to be sons of God and to be participants in the divine life. The Council of Trent justly says: “Without faith it is impossible to please God and to attain to the fellowship of His Son” (Sess. VI, chap. 8). We have this faith through the teaching mission of the Church.

“Arise, go thy way; for thy faith hath made thee whole” (Gospel). The Samaritan who was cleansed by Jesus of his leprosy and came back to Jesus, “fell on his face before His feet, giving thanks.” But the Lord says to him: “Arise, go thy way; for thy faith hath made thee whole.” The Lord repeatedly asks us to think of Jesus, the Son of God. “According to your faith be it done unto you,” He tells the two blind men who wanted to be healed by Him. “And their eyes were opened” (Matt. 9:29 f.). “Fear not; believe only,” He says to the ruler of the synagogue, whose daughter had already died. “Believe only, and she shall be safe” (Luke 8:50). Faith is the first condition He asks for; it is the indispensable presupposition of His miracles. To faith, on the other hand, He cannot deny anything; because of her faith he forgives the sinful woman her sins (Luke 7:50); for the same reason He opens to the good thief the gates of eternal life: “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

The faith God demands is faith in His Son, Jesus, who became man for our redemption. We must have faith in the testimony that came down from heaven and was heard three times above Jesus: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him” (Matt. 3: 17; 17:5; John 12:28). “The Father Himself who hath sent Me, hath given testimony of Me” (John 5:37). “Everyone who seeth the Son and believeth in Him, may have life everlasting” (John 6:40). “God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. . . . He that believeth in Him is not judged. But he that does not believe, is already judged; because he believeth not in the name of the only-begotten Son of God” (John 3: 16, 18). Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the first condition for eternal life. Faith in His divinity embraces, all other revealed truths. The Samaritan, the representative of the Church of the Gentiles, believes and hears the words: “Arise, go thy way; for thy faith hath made thee whole.”

3. The Church believes in Jesus, the Son of God. During the course of the centuries many heretics denied the divinity of Christ; the Church, however, stands steadfastly by her faith in Christ, the Son of God. We join the Church in her faith. “Every one who seeth the Son and believeth in Him, may have life everlasting” (John 6:40).

“This is my beloved Son.” This testimony of the Father contains all revealed truths; the acceptance of this truth embraces our entire faith. When professing our faith in Jesus, the Son of God, we also believe in all the revelation of the Old Testament, which is fulfilled in Christ. This faith contains also our belief in the revelations of the New Testament, in the doctrines of the apostles and the Church, for the teaching of the apostles and the Church is nothing but the exposition of the revelation announced by Christ.

The firm conviction that Christ is the Son of God is essential for supernatural life and holiness. On this foundation our Holy Mother the Church builds her doctrine. To her, therefore, “is given the promise” because she believes.

PRAYER

Almighty and everlasting God, grant unto us an increase of faith, hope, and charity; and that we may obtain what Thou dost promise, make us love that which Thou dost command. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

____________________________________________

23: ST PHILIP BENIZI (A.D. 1285)

THIS principal ornament and propagator of the religious order of the Servites in Italy was of the noble families of Benizi and Frescobaldi in Florence, and a native of that city. He was born on August 15, in the year 1233, which is said by some to be the very feast of the Assumption on which the seven Founders of the Servites had their first vision of our Lady. His parents had been long married but childless, and Philip was a child of prayer. At the age of thirteen he was sent to Paris to apply himself to the study of medicine, and Galen, though a heathen, was a strong spur to him in raising his heart from the contemplation of nature to the worship and praise of its Author. From Paris he removed to Padua, where he took the degree of doctor in medicine and philosophy at the age of nineteen. After his return to Florence he took some time to deliberate with himself what course to steer. For a year he practised his profession, spending his leisure time in the study of sacred Scripture and the fathers and in prayer for guidance, especially before a certain crucifix in the abbey-church at Fiesole and before a picture of the Annunciation in the Servite chapel at Carfaggio, just outside the walls of Florence.

At this time the Servites, or Order of the Servants of Mary, had been established fourteen years, having been founded by seven gentlemen of Florence as described under their feast on February 12. At their principal house on Monte Senario, six miles from Florence, they lived in little cells, something like the hermits of Camaldoli, possessing nothing but in common, and professing obedience to St Buonfiglio Monaldi. The austerities which they practised were great, and they lived mostly on alms. On the Thursday in Easter Week 1254, Philip was in prayer at Fiesole when the figure on the crucifix seemed to say to him, “Go to the high hill where the servants of my mother are living, and you will be doing the will of my Father”. Pondering these words deeply Philip went to the chapel at Carfaggio to assist at Mass, and was strongly affected with the words of the Holy Ghost to the deacon Philip, which were read in the epistle of that day, “Go near and join thyself to this chariot”. His name being Philip he applied to himself these words as an invitation to put himself under the care of the Blessed Virgin in that order, and he seemed to himself, in a dream or vision, to be in a vast wilderness (representing the world) full /385/ of precipices, snares and serpents, so that he did not see how it was possible to escape so many dangers. Whilst he was thus in dread he thought he beheld our Lady approaching him in a chariot. Persuaded that God called him to this order as to a place of refuge, Philip went to Monte Senario and was admitted by St Buonfiglio to the habit as a lay-brother: “I wish”, he said, ” to be the servant of the Servants of Mary.” In consideration of the circumstances in which he had joined the order he retained his baptismal name in religion. He was made gardener and questor for alms, and put to work at every kind of hard country labour; the saint cheerfully applied himself to it in a spirit of penance and accompanied his work with constant recollection and prayer, living in a little cave behind the church. Philip was sent in 1258 to the Servite house at Siena and on the way there he undesignedly displayed his abilities in a discourse on certain controverted points, in the presence of two Dominicans and others, to the astonishment of those that heard him, and especially of his companion, Brother Victor. The matter was reported to the prior general, who examined St Philip closely and then had him promoted to holy orders, though nothing but an absolute command could extort his consent.

All Philip’s hopes of living out his life in quiet and obscurity, serving God and his brethren as a lay-brother, were now at an end. In 1262 he went to the Siena monastery as novice-master and to be one of the four vicars to assist the prior general; soon after he became himself colleague of the prior general. In 1267 a chapter of the whole order was held at Carfaggio; at this chapter St Manettus resigned the generalship and, in spite of his protests, St Philip Benizi was unanimously elected in his stead. During his first year of office he made a general visitation of the provinces of northern Italy, which at the time were torn and distracted by the strife of Guelf and Ghibelline. It was on this tour that his first miracle was reported of him, very similar to one attributed to St Dominic and other saints: owing to the troubles the Servites of Arezzo were unable to get food and were on the verge of starvation; when they assembled for supper there was nothing to eat until, when St Philip had exhorted them to have faith and had prayed before our Lady’s image, a knock was heard at the monastery door and two large baskets of good bread were found on the steps. He codified the rules and constitutions of the Servite order and this work was confirmed by the general chapter held at Pistoia in 1268; he would on the same occasion have asked leave to give up his office. But he was so warmly dissuaded by his colleague, Brother Lottaringo, that he resigned himself to holding it so long as his brethren should wish, which proved to be for the rest of his life.

Upon the death of Pope Clement IV it was rumoured that Cardinal Ottobuoni, protector of the Servites, had proposed St Philip to succeed him, and that the suggestion was well received. When word of this came to Philip’s ears he ran away and hid himself in a cave among the mountains near Radicofani, where he was looked after for three months by Brother Victor until he deemed the danger past. During this retreat St Philip rejoiced in an opportunity of giving himself up to contemplation; he lived on vegetables and drank at a spring, since esteemed miraculous and called St Philip’s Bath. He returned from the desert glowing with zeal to kindle in the hearts of Christians the fire of divine love, and soon set out on a visitation of his order in France and Germany. In 1274 he was summoned by Bd Gregory X to be present at the second general council of Lyons. At it he made a profound impression and the gift of tongues was attributed to him, but his /386/ reputation did not serve to obtain for the Servites that formal papal approbation for which St Philip worked continually.

The saint announced the word of God wherever he came and had an extraordinary talent in converting sinners and in reconciling those that were at variance. Italy was still horribly divided by discords and hereditary factions. Holy men often sought to apply remedies to these quarrels, which had a happy effect upon some; but in many these discords, like a wound ill-cured, broke out again with worse symptoms than ever. Papal Guelfs and imperial Ghibellines were the worst offenders, and in 1279 Pope Nicholas III gave special faculties to Cardinal Latino to deal with them. He invoked the help of St Philip Benizi, who wonderfully pacified the factions when they were ready to tear each other to pieces at Pistoia and other places. He succeeded at length also at Forli, where the seditious insulted and beat him; but his patience at length disarmed their fury. Peregrine Laziosi, who was their ringleader and had himself struck the saint, was so moved by his meekness that he threw himself at his feet and begged his pardon. Being become a model penitent Peregrine was received by Philip into the order of Servites at Siena in 1283, and was canonized by Benedict XIII in 1726. St Philip attracted a number of notably good men to himself. Among them were this St Peregrine and Bd John of Frankfort; Bd Joachim Piccolomini, who met Philip at Siena; Bd Andrew Dotti, a soldier, and Bd Jerome, both of Borgo San Sepolcro; Bd Bonaventure of Pistoia, converted by a sermon of the saint from a life of violence and crime; Bd Ubald, whose quarrelling had turned Florence upside down; and Bd Francis Patrizi. In 1284 St Alexis Falconieri put his niece St Juliana under the direction of St Philip, and from his advice to her sprang the third order regular of the Servants of Mary. He was also responsible for sending the first Servite missionaries to the East, where some penetrated to Tartary and there gave their blood for Christ. Throughout his eighteen years of generalship of his order Philip had as his official colleague Lottaringo Stufa, whom he had known and loved from boyhood. They remained the closest friends and the utmost confidence subsisted between them; their long association was an ideal partnership.

Judging at length by the decay of his health that the end of his life drew near, St Philip set out in 1285 to visit the newly-elected Pope Honorius IV at Perugia, and at Florence convened a general chapter at which he announced his approaching departure and handed over the government to Father Lottaringo. ” Love one another! Love one another! Love one another!” he adjured the friars, and so left them. He went to the smallest and poorest house of the order, at Todi, where he was enthusiastically received by the citizens, and when he could escape from them he went straight to the altar of our Lady, and falling prostrate on the ground prayed with great fervour, “This is the place of my rest for ever”. He made a moving sermon on the glory of the blessed on the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God, but at three o’clock in the afternoon of that day was taken seriously ill. He sent for the community, and again spoke of brotherly love: “Love one another, reverence one another, and bear with one another.” Seven days later the end came; he called for his ” book”, by which word he meant his crucifix, and devoutly contemplating it, calmly died at the hour of the evening Angelus. St Philip Benizi was canonized in 1671, and his feast was extended to the whole Western church in 1694.

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