St. Paschasius Radbertus, April 26
Kathy Rabenstein
+ Paschasius Radbertus, OSB Abbot (AC)
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Died c. 851. Radbertus was a monk who thought about the future, about
eternity, to be sure, and equally about the time that would follow his
death. He dictated a last will and testament that is considered precious.
He had no possessions to bequeath. Instead, he ordained only that no
one was to write the story of his life. He asked to be forgotten, which
makes him an original in a Church that forgets nothing. Radbertus simply
asks for prayers to God.
Radbertus, who allowed himself to be called Paschasius, was probably
born in Soissons, France, without a known father or mother. He was
found one day on the doorstep of a convent. He was a little baby who
was waiting for someone to take him in. Thus, he was raised by the
good sisters and received the Benedictine habit at an early age.
But he, thinking that the community was exaggerating the nature of the
world, left the monastery to live his own life. He tried an easy lifestyle
and was very uncomfortable with it, so, when he was about 22, he
returned to the monastery of Corbie and began to pray, read, and write.
The abbot of the monastery was named Adebard (Adalard; f.d. January
2); he was the brother of Theodrade, the abbess who had given a home
to the abandoned infant. Both of them were first cousins to
Charlemagne and belonged to the fashionable world.
Being educated--Radbertus knew Greek and Hebrew--he was involved
in the Carolingian Renaissance. He was sent to Saxony on his first
assignment, where Charlemagne spent 30 years trying to subdue the
people. Charlemagne had organized 18 expeditions and beheaded 4,500
hostages in order to baptize the rest by force and in order to issue
edicts, for example, mandating observance of fasts under pain of death.
During this period, Radbertus and Adebard founded monasteries in
Saxony.
After Charlemagne it was the turn of Louis the Pious to have recourse to
Radbertus: it wasn't easy to get along with a man like Louis. He was big,
strong, and trembled like a leaf; he was lost in pater nosters, and on the
lookout for cosmic events. Louis had hesitated to become a monk and to
the detriment of his country, he did not follow his vocation. It was a
difficult assignment to engage in missionary and political activities with a
man of this king, in perpetual conflict with his children who several times
amused themselves by degrading him in public. It required an uncommon
dose of common sense to attempt to calm down all these people.
Radbertus did not grow vain over his successes; although a simple
deacon, he became the abbot of Corbie. He considered himself as
dishwater, scrapings, or as the scum of monastic life: it is the translation
of the word "Peripsema" which he used, the same word used by Paul in
his splendid tirade addressed to the pride of the Corinthians.
When Radbertus was not busy pacifying the kings of France, he was
engaged in writing. He had finished a treatise on the real presence of
Christ in the Eucharist. He also left other works dealing with the body
and blood of Christ. His principal work is a commentary on St. Matthew's
Gospel, which was preached before it was read. He also composed a
treatise on the Virgin, a long exposition on Psalm 44, and another on the
Lamentations of Jeremiah, in order to practice crying over his own
miseries. In general it is a long, rather overly detailed and boring work,
but very well documented (Encyclopedia).
In art, angels bring a monstrance to Paschasius Radbertus. There will be
books on a table (Roeder).
Other Saints Honored April 26
=================================
+ = celebrated liturgically
Blessed Alda (Aldobrandesca, Aude, Blanca, Bruna), OSB Vall. (AC)
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Born in Siena, 1249; died 1309. Blessed Alda married a very pious man
and lived with him in conjugal continence. Upon his death, Alda joined
the third order of the Humiliati and devoted her life to almsdeeds and
mortification. She is greatly honored in Siena (Benedictines).
Basileus of Amasea BM (RM)
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Died 319. Basileus, a zealous bishop of Amasea in Pontus, was cast
into the sea under Licinius. The Roman Martyrology adds that one of his
disciples, Elpidiphorus, was directed to his body by an angel which he
recovered and gave Christian burial (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Clarentius of Vienna B (RM)
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Died c. 620. Clarentius succeeded St. Etherius (f.d. June 14) in the see
of Vienne (Benedictines).
Cletus (Anacletus), Pope M (RM)
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Died c. 91. The Roman Cletus, elected pope in the year 76, was the
second successor to St. Peter after St. Linus (f.d. September 23). Like
Peter, he was fated to be a martyr. He divided Rome into 25 parishes,
and was put to death under the Emperor Domitian around 91 AD. His
name is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass (Attwater, Benedictines,
Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
Exuerantia (Esperance, Exuperance) of Troyes V (RM)
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Died 380 (?). A virgin whose relics are venerated in Troyes, France.
Nothing else is known about her (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
+ Franca Visalta of Piacenza, OSB Cist. Abbess (AC)
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Born in Piacenza, Italy, in 1170; died 1218; cultus confirmed with the title
of saint by Gregory X. Franca was offered to God at the Benedictine
convent of St. Syrus when she was seven. At age 14, she was
professed and while still very young, she became abbess. Apparently,
she was overly severe, which led to her deposition. After some years
she was made abbess of the Cistercian convent at Pittoli, where she
exhibited a remarkable patience (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Blessed John of Valence, OSB Cist. B (AC)
--------------------------------------------------------
Born in Lyons, France; died 1146; cultus approved in 1901. John, a
canon of Lyons, entered Clairvaux under St. Bernard (f.d. August 20)
following a pilgrimage to Compostella. In 1117, he was sent to found
Bonneval (Bona Vallis) on the Loire, and proved to be an excellent abbot.
In 1141, he was elevated to bishop of Valence but had to be carried by
force to the altar for his consecration (Benedictines).
Lucidius of Verona B (RM)
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Date unknown. Bishop Lucidius was famous for his life of prayer and
study (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Marcellinus, Pope M (RM)
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Born in Rome; died there on October 25, 304, his second feast day.
Marcellinus was the son of Projectus. After his election to succeed
Pope St. Caius (f.d. April 22) on June 30, 296, he witnessed the
beginnings of Emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians. According
to an ancient legend that may have been Donatist-inspired and which
was included in the Roman Breviary until 1883 (since discredited),
Marcellinus seems to have apostatized and surrendered the sacred
books and offered incense to pagan gods but later repented. He may
have died a martyr's death by beheading, but this is still very uncertain
(Benedictines, Delaney).
+ Peter of Braga BM (RM)
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Date unknown. Allegedly, Peter was the first bishop and martyr of
Braga, Portugal. The local tradition connects him with the apostolate of
St. James the Great (Santiago; f.d. July 25) in Spain. However,
historians believe he lived in the 5th or 6th century (Benedictines).
+ Richarius (Riquier), Abbot (RM)
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Born in Centula (Celles) near Amiens, France; died c. 645. Richarius
became a priest and founded an abbey in Centula, afterwards called
Saint-Riquier. He was the first to devote himself to the work of
ransoming captives. After some years as abbot he resigned and spent
the rest of his life as a hermit (Benedictines).
+ Stephen of Perm B
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Died 1386. St. Stephen, one of the great Russian missionary bishops,
had been born in 1345 among the Zyrian people, who lived west of the
Ural mountains, and he longed to convert his own folk to Christianity.
After about 20 years in a monastery at Rostov preparing himself for a
missionary life, he set out on a preaching mission among them.
Soon St. Stephen of Perm realized that he needed to make a translation
of the Liturgy into their tongue. Since the Zyrians at that time did not
possess even an alphabet, Stephen invented one, using for letters parts
of the traditional elements of Zyrian carvings and embroidery. He set up
schools to teach this alphabet to his converts and in 1383 he became the
first bishop of Perm (Bentley).
Trudpert (Trudbert) of Munstethal, Abbot (AC)
--------------------------------------------------------
Died c. 644. Irish pilgrim who, upon his return from Rome, began a
solitary in Muenstethal. Here (or at Neumagen) some day-laborers, paid
by the local lord to clear an impossible terrain to establish a foundation
for Trudpert, became fed up with their hard job, killed him. Trudpert,
therefore, is venerated as a martyr, though his _vita_ is considered a
legend (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Sources:
========
Attwater, D. (1983). The penguin dictionary of saints, NY:
Penguin Books.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The
book of saints: A dictionary of servants of God canonized
by the Catholic Church extracted from the Roman and other
martyrologies. NY: Macmillan.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1966). The
book of saints: A dictionary of persons canonized or
beatified by the Catholic Church. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Bentley, J. (1986). A calendar of saints: The lives of the
principal saints of the Christian year, NY: Facts on File.
Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket dictionary of saints, NY:
Doubleday Image.
Encyclopedia of Catholic saints, April. (1966).
Philadelphia: Chilton Books.
Roeder, H. (1956). Saints and their attributes, Chicago: Henry
Regnery.
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Kathy R.
krab...@ana.org