St. Hegesippus, April 7
Kathy Rabenstein
+ Hegesippus (RM)
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Died c. 180. St. Hegesippus was a Jewish convert to Christianity in
Jerusalem. He spent 20 years in Rome, returned to Jerusalem in 177
after visiting most of the important Christian churches, and probably died
at Jerusalem. He is considered the father of Church history for his five
books on the history of the Church from the death of Christ up to the
pontificate of St. Eleutherius (c. 174-c. 189; f.d. May 26). He was the
first to trace the succession of pope from St. Peter. St. Jerome (f.d.
September 30) warmly commended the work and Eusebius drew on it
heavily for his _Ecclesiastical History_. Unfortunately, only a few
chapters of Hegesippus's work are extant (Benedictines, Delaney,
Encyclopedia).
Other Saints Honored April 7
=================================
+ = celebrated liturgically
Blessed Alexander Rawlins M (AC)
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Born in Gloucestershire; died April 7, 1595; beatified in 1929. Blessed
Alexander was a secular priest who was educated at Rheims and
ordained in 1590. He was captured while laboring in the York mission
and martyred with St. Henry Walpole (today) for his priesthood
(Benedictines).
+ Aphraates of Antioch, Hermit (RM)
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Born in Syria; died c. 345. St. Aphraates was born into a pagan family
on Syria's border with Persia (Iran). After his conversion to Christianity,
Aphraates became a hermit at Edessa in Mesopotamia and lived in
severe austerity. He then moved to a hermitage next to a monastery in
Antioch, Syria, and attracted numerous visitors with his reputation for
holiness and a miracle-worker.
He publicly and valiantly opposed Arians, who attempted to exile him, but
Emperor Valens refused to allow it because he thought the death of his
attendants who had threatened to murder Aphraates was retribution for
his threat.
Some scholars considered Aphraates identical with the bishop of the
monastery of Mar Mattai near Mosul, Mesopotamia, and the author of
_Demonstrations_, 23 treatises written between 336 and 345 (the oldest
document of the Church in Syria), which give a survey of the Christian
faith. This Aphraates may have suffered persecution at the hands of
King Shapur the Great and was known as 'the Persian sage'
(Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
In art, St. Aphraates is a hermit striking a rock from which water gushes
out, or refusing a rich robe (Roeder).
+ Aybert (Aibert) of Crepin, OSB (AC)
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Born in the diocese of Tournai, France; died 1140. A penitent recluse
almost from childhood, St. Aybert entered the Benedictine monastery of
Crepin in the diocese of Cambrai, where he was provost and cellarer for
25 years. Then he spent another 22 years as a recluse under the
obedience of the abbey. His devotional practice of reciting the Ave Maria
50 times in succession is connected with the origin of the rosary
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Brynach (Bernach, Bernacus) (AC)
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5th century. Brynach was an Irishman who settled in Wales, where he
built a hermitage and a church at a place called Carn-Englyi (Mountain of
Angels) overlooking the Nevern (Pembrokeshire). Some authors identify
him with St. Brannock of Braunton (f.d. January 7) (Benedictines).
Calliopus (Calliope) M (RM)
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Died c. 303. Calliopus was martyred at Pompeiopolis, Cilicia, by being
crucified upside down under Maximian (Diocletian) because of his fidelity
to the Cross (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
+ Celsus (Ceallach, Cellach) B (RM)
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Born in 1079; died at Ardpatrick, Munster, Ireland, April 1, 1129; feast
day formerly celebrated on April 1. While still a layman (though perhaps
a Benedictine monk of Glastonbury), Ceallach mac Aedha succeeded to
the hereditary see of Armagh, Ireland, in 1105 at age 26. He was
consecrated bishop, effected many reforms to restore ecclesiastical
discipline, and ruled well and effectively. Celsus mediated between
warring Irish factions, was a friend of St. Malachy (f.d. November 3),
and ended the hereditary succession to his see by naming Malachy,
bishop of Connor, as his successor on his deathbed causing much pain
in the see (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
Blessed Christian of Douai (PC)
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Date unknown. A priest of Douai, whose relics are in the church of St.
Albinus (Benedictines).
Blessed Eberhard (Evrard) of Schaeffhausen, OSB Monk (PC)
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Born 1018; died 1078. Pious prince Eberhard III, count of Nellenburg,
was the husband of the pious Itta and a relative of both Pope St. Leo IX
(f.d. April 19) and the emperor St. Henry II (f.d. July 13). Eberhard and
Itta protected and built convents into which each was to retire later,
including the Benedictine abbey of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, in 1050,
where Eberhard retired (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Blessed Edward Oldcorne and Ralph Ashley, SJ MM (AC)
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Died 1606; beatified in 1929. Edward Oldcorne was born in York,
ordained for the priesthood in Rome, and received into the Society of
Jesus in 1587. He worked in the Midlands from 1588 until his arrest. He
was condemned to death at Worcester for alleged complicity in the
Gunpowder Plot. Ralph Ashley was a Jesuit lay-brother who was
martyred with Fr. Oldcorne, whom he was attending (Benedictines).
Epiphanius, Donatus, Rufinus, & Comp. MM (RM)
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Date unknown. Epiphanius was an African bishop with whom thirteen
members of his flock were martyred (Benedictines).
Finan (Finnian) of Kinnitty, Abbot (AC)
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Born in Munster in the 6th century. St. Finan was a disciple of St.
Brendan (f.d. May 16), at whose wish he founded and governed a
monastery at Kinnitty in Offaly of which he is the patron (Benedictines).
+ George the Younger B (AC)
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Died c. 816. Bishop George of Mitylene, Lesbos Island, is called 'the
Younger' because two of his predecessors in that see and century, also
named George, are venerated as saints (Benedictines).
Gibardus (Gibert) of Luxeuil, OSB Abbot (AC)
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Died c. 888. Abbot Gibardus of Luxeuil was murdered during the
invasion of the Huns. He and his monks fled the abbey into the Vosges
mountains but the barbarians found and killed them. Gibardus is
venerated at Martinville in the Vosges (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Goran (Woranus) (AC)
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6th century. Several Cornish churches are dedicated to his honor. He
was a friend of St. Patrick (f.d. March 17) (Benedictines).
+ Henry Walpole, SJ M (RM)
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Born in Docking, Norfolk, England, in 1558; died April 7, 1595; beatified in
1929; canonized as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales in
1970 by Pope Paul VI.
St. Henry studied at Norwich, Cambridge (Peterhouse), and law at
Gray's Inn. He was reconciled to the Church when he witnessed the
execution of St. Edmund Campion (f.d. December 1). He immediately quit
studying law in order to study theology at Rheims. Henry entered the
Society of Jesus in Rome, 1584, and was ordained there four years later
after completing his studies at the English College.
He was sent on the missions to Lorraine, and in 1589, while acting as
chaplain to the Spanish troops in the Netherlands, he was imprisoned by
the Calvinists at Flushing for a year. When released he taught at Seville
and Valladolid, Spain. Thereafter, Henry engaged in missionary activities
in Flanders and, in 1593, was sent to the English mission.
Arrested almost on landing, he was imprisoned for a year in York and
then in the Tower of London, subjected to numerous tortures, and then
convicted of treason for his priesthood at York, where he was hanged,
drawn, and quartered with Blessed Alexander Rawlins (f.d. today)
(Benedictines, Delaney).
Llewellwyn (LLywelyn) and Gwrnerth (AC)
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6th century. Welsh monks at Welshpool and afterwards at Bardsey
(Benedictines).
Nilus (Nil Maikov) of Sora ()
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Born c. 1433; died 1508; canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in
1903.
Nilus, of peasant origin, was a monk of Belozersk near Lake Beloe in
Russia. From there he went to Greece and lived for a long time of Mount
Athos, where he made a deep study of monastic discipline and
mysticism. Returning to Belozersk, in 1480, he established a small colony
of semi-hermits near by on the River Sora; they devoted themselves
particularly to the study, translation, and diffusion of Greek ascetical
writings.
Nilus was essentially a man of freedom and moderation, who opposed
religious formalism, exaggeration, and intolerance; but on the subject of
monastic property his ideas were severe and uncompromising. Five
years before his death he took the lead against St. Joseph of
Volokolamsk (f.d. September 9) and the 'possessors'; monks ought not to
own landed estates, said Nilus, but should work for what they need;
even their churches should be plain and bare, lest worshippers be
distracted from the beauty of God.
He had many supporters, but these 'non-possessors' were destined to
lose the day after he was dead. During the 19th century there was a
renewal of interest in St. Nilus and his writings. A short instruction to his
monks and a 'monastic rule,' which is really a treatise on religious life,
have been translated into English (Attwater).
Pelagius of Alexandria M (AC)
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Date unknown. A priest martyred at Alexandria, Egypt, who is
mentioned in the Martyrology of St. Jerome (Benedictines).
Peleusius of Alexandria M (RM)
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Date unknown. The Roman Martyrology says that Peleusius was a
priest of Alexandria (Benedictines).
Saturninus of Verona B (RM)
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Died c. 356. Bishop of Verona of whom nothing else is known
(Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Sources are listed at the end of the posting on John-Baptiste de la Salle.
Kathy R.
krab...@ana.org