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Meditation for troubled times:
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Weedy
Jun 6, 2012, 1:11:26 PM6/6/12
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Meditation for troubled times:
You cannot believe in God and keep your selfish ways. The old self shrivels up and dies, and upon the re-born soul God's image becomes stamped. The gradual elimination of selfishness in the growth of love for God and your fellow human beings is the goal of life. At first, you have only a faint likeness to the Divine, but the picture grows and takes on more and more of the likeness of God until those who see you can see in you some of the power of God's grace at work in a human life. I pray that I may develop that faint likeness I have to the Divine. I pray that others may see in me some of the power of God's grace at work.
—From Twenty-Four Hours a Day
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June 6th – St. Gudwal
(Also known as Gurval)
6th Century
ST. GUDWAL, whom the most recent historical research identifies with St. Gurval, was probably one of the earliest of the missionaries who evangelized Brittany. His name figures prominently in the ancient Armorican litanies, notably in that of the Missal of St.-Vougay where he comes third in the list of the seven pioneer saints of Brittany, St. Samson being first and St. Malo second. That he was, as tradition states, a native of Britain is likely but not certain. On the inland sea of Etel he founded the monastery of "Plecit" near the island called after him, Locoal, which still remains the centre of his cultus. He made other settlements on the mainland in the vicinity and a more distant one at Guer, which annually celebrates his feast with a procession to St. Gurval's holy well. Moreover, the chapel of St. Stephen in the parish of Guer, which is described as the oldest religious monument in the department of Morbihan, is regarded by at least one modern archaeologist as having been St. Gurval's hermitage.
We have, unfortunately, no trustworthy account of the saint's activities. He appears to have died in one of his monasteries which stood in a wood, but his body was taken back to Locoal after his death. When the Northmen invaded Brittany in the tenth century the relics of St. Gudwal were removed for safety, first to Picardy and then to Ghent, in the abbey of St. Peter. Long years afterwards a monk compiled a Latin life of the saint, ultimately based on such scanty oral or written tradition as had survived, but so much amplified by fictitious details as to be quite unreliable. Even less worthy of credence is a late tradition from Saint-Malo which claims St. Gurval or Gudwal as one of its bishops. He may have been a regionary bishop, but he was never bishop of Saint-Malo. As Canon Doble points out, the cultus of St. Gudwal was probably introduced into that region from Guer which, though in the south of Brittany and geographically belonging to the diocese of Vannes, actually was in the middle ages under the jurisdiction of the bishops of Saint-Malo.
The parish of Gulval, near Penzance, takes its name from St. Gulval, Gwelvel, or Welvela, but it is not known what connection, if any, there was between the Breton saint and the Celtic founder of that remote parish.
By far the most thorough investigation of the problems presented by the history of St. Gudwal is that of Canon Doble in his collection of "Cornish Saints" (1933). With the exception of a brief reference in the Abbé Duine's Memento (p. 147), the account given by most earlier writers such as Baring-Gould and Fisher, LBS., vol. iii, pp. 150 and 161, needs revision. The subject finds a place in several collections such as DNB. and Stanton's Menology.
More information
St. Gudwall, Gunwall, or Gunvell, was born in Wales about A.D. 500. Being entirely devoted to religion, he collected eighty-eight monks in a little island called Plecit, being no more than a rock surrounded by water. For some reason however, he abandoned this establishment, and passed by sea into Cornwall; and from thence he went into Devonshire, where he betook himself to the most holy, perfect, and useful state of a solitary anchorite; at length however again emerging, he sailed into Brittany, and there succeeded St. Malo, as bishop of that see, although he is said even then to have dwelt in a solitary cell, and to have died there at a very advanced age. His relics have been widely distributed, and various places in France have been called by his name.
St. Gudwal is known to have been a prominent figure in the Breton Church during the sixth century, from whence his relics were removed during a period of Viking activity. They were translated with due ceremony in 959 to the abbey of Mont Blandin, Ghent, where subsequently his feast was kept on 6 June. His relics are venerated in Ghent, Belgium.
Saint Quote:
The Church teaches us that mercy belongs to God. Let us implore Him to bestow on us the spirit of mercy and compassion, so that we are filled with it and may never lose it. Only consider how much we ourselves are in need of mercy.
--Saint Vincent de Paul
Bible Quote:
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Apoc. xxi. 2 )
<><><><>
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY GHOST
(Anyone who has consecrated himself to Mary according to the formula of the Blessed Grignion de Montfort, and then also to the Sacred Heart, will find great treasures in a repeated consecration to the Holy Spirit. The whole influence of Mary leads us to intimacy with Christ, and the humanity of Jesus leads us to the Holy Spirit, who introduces us into the mystery of the adorable Trinity. )
O Holy Ghost, divine Spirit of light and love, I consecrate to Thee my intellect, my heart, my will and my whole being for time and for eternity.
May my intellect be ever docile to Thy heavenly inspirations and to the teaching of the Holy Catholic Church of which Thou art the infallible Guide. May my heart be ever inflamed with the love of God and my neighbour; may my will be ever in conformity with the divine will, and may my whole life be a faithful imitation of the life and virtues of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and thee, Holy Spirit, be honour and glory for ever. Amen.
This consecration may be renewed by repeating only the first paragraph of the prayer
You cannot believe in God and keep your selfish ways. The old self shrivels up and dies, and upon the re-born soul God's image becomes stamped. The gradual elimination of selfishness in the growth of love for God and your fellow human beings is the goal of life. At first, you have only a faint likeness to the Divine, but the picture grows and takes on more and more of the likeness of God until those who see you can see in you some of the power of God's grace at work in a human life. I pray that I may develop that faint likeness I have to the Divine. I pray that others may see in me some of the power of God's grace at work.
—From Twenty-Four Hours a Day
<<>><<>><<>>
June 6th – St. Gudwal
(Also known as Gurval)
6th Century
ST. GUDWAL, whom the most recent historical research identifies with St. Gurval, was probably one of the earliest of the missionaries who evangelized Brittany. His name figures prominently in the ancient Armorican litanies, notably in that of the Missal of St.-Vougay where he comes third in the list of the seven pioneer saints of Brittany, St. Samson being first and St. Malo second. That he was, as tradition states, a native of Britain is likely but not certain. On the inland sea of Etel he founded the monastery of "Plecit" near the island called after him, Locoal, which still remains the centre of his cultus. He made other settlements on the mainland in the vicinity and a more distant one at Guer, which annually celebrates his feast with a procession to St. Gurval's holy well. Moreover, the chapel of St. Stephen in the parish of Guer, which is described as the oldest religious monument in the department of Morbihan, is regarded by at least one modern archaeologist as having been St. Gurval's hermitage.
We have, unfortunately, no trustworthy account of the saint's activities. He appears to have died in one of his monasteries which stood in a wood, but his body was taken back to Locoal after his death. When the Northmen invaded Brittany in the tenth century the relics of St. Gudwal were removed for safety, first to Picardy and then to Ghent, in the abbey of St. Peter. Long years afterwards a monk compiled a Latin life of the saint, ultimately based on such scanty oral or written tradition as had survived, but so much amplified by fictitious details as to be quite unreliable. Even less worthy of credence is a late tradition from Saint-Malo which claims St. Gurval or Gudwal as one of its bishops. He may have been a regionary bishop, but he was never bishop of Saint-Malo. As Canon Doble points out, the cultus of St. Gudwal was probably introduced into that region from Guer which, though in the south of Brittany and geographically belonging to the diocese of Vannes, actually was in the middle ages under the jurisdiction of the bishops of Saint-Malo.
The parish of Gulval, near Penzance, takes its name from St. Gulval, Gwelvel, or Welvela, but it is not known what connection, if any, there was between the Breton saint and the Celtic founder of that remote parish.
By far the most thorough investigation of the problems presented by the history of St. Gudwal is that of Canon Doble in his collection of "Cornish Saints" (1933). With the exception of a brief reference in the Abbé Duine's Memento (p. 147), the account given by most earlier writers such as Baring-Gould and Fisher, LBS., vol. iii, pp. 150 and 161, needs revision. The subject finds a place in several collections such as DNB. and Stanton's Menology.
More information
St. Gudwall, Gunwall, or Gunvell, was born in Wales about A.D. 500. Being entirely devoted to religion, he collected eighty-eight monks in a little island called Plecit, being no more than a rock surrounded by water. For some reason however, he abandoned this establishment, and passed by sea into Cornwall; and from thence he went into Devonshire, where he betook himself to the most holy, perfect, and useful state of a solitary anchorite; at length however again emerging, he sailed into Brittany, and there succeeded St. Malo, as bishop of that see, although he is said even then to have dwelt in a solitary cell, and to have died there at a very advanced age. His relics have been widely distributed, and various places in France have been called by his name.
St. Gudwal is known to have been a prominent figure in the Breton Church during the sixth century, from whence his relics were removed during a period of Viking activity. They were translated with due ceremony in 959 to the abbey of Mont Blandin, Ghent, where subsequently his feast was kept on 6 June. His relics are venerated in Ghent, Belgium.
Saint Quote:
The Church teaches us that mercy belongs to God. Let us implore Him to bestow on us the spirit of mercy and compassion, so that we are filled with it and may never lose it. Only consider how much we ourselves are in need of mercy.
--Saint Vincent de Paul
Bible Quote:
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Apoc. xxi. 2 )
<><><><>
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY GHOST
(Anyone who has consecrated himself to Mary according to the formula of the Blessed Grignion de Montfort, and then also to the Sacred Heart, will find great treasures in a repeated consecration to the Holy Spirit. The whole influence of Mary leads us to intimacy with Christ, and the humanity of Jesus leads us to the Holy Spirit, who introduces us into the mystery of the adorable Trinity. )
O Holy Ghost, divine Spirit of light and love, I consecrate to Thee my intellect, my heart, my will and my whole being for time and for eternity.
May my intellect be ever docile to Thy heavenly inspirations and to the teaching of the Holy Catholic Church of which Thou art the infallible Guide. May my heart be ever inflamed with the love of God and my neighbour; may my will be ever in conformity with the divine will, and may my whole life be a faithful imitation of the life and virtues of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and thee, Holy Spirit, be honour and glory for ever. Amen.
This consecration may be renewed by repeating only the first paragraph of the prayer
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