On Gratitude for God's Grace (V)

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On Gratitude for God's Grace (V)

Be thankful for the smallest blessing, and you will deserve to receive
greater. Value the least gifts no less than the greatest and simple
graces as especial favors. If you remember the dignity of the Giver,
no gift will seem small or mean, for nothing can be valueless that is
given by the most high God. Even if He awards punishment and pain,
accept them gladly, for whatever He allows to befall us is always for
our salvation. Let whoever desires to retain the grace of God be
thankful for the grace given him, and be patient when it is withdrawn.
Let him pray for its return, and let him be prudent and humble lest he
lose it once more.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 2 Ch 10

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• October 25th - Bl. Thaddeus, Bishop of Cork and Cloyne
d. 1497

OF the early life of this bishop, the only Irishman beatified between
the canonization of Lorcan O’Toole in 1228 and the beatification of
Oliver Plunket in 1920, very little is known. He belonged to the royal
MacCarthys in the part of Munster later known as the Desmond country,
his father being lord of Muskerry and his mother a daughter of
FitzMaurice, lord of Kerry; Thaddeus (Tadhg) was a baptismal name in
this house for seven hundred years. He is said to have begun his
studies with the Friars Minor of Kilcrea and to have then gone abroad,
and he seems to have been in Rome when, in 1482 at the age of
twenty-seven, he was appointed bishop of Ross by Pope Sixtus IV. Three
years later when Henry Tudor became ruler of the three kingdoms, the
Yorkist Geraldines made a determined effort to have their own
representative in the see of Ross. Ever since the appointment of
Thaddeus MacCarthy there had been a rival claimant in the person of
Hugh O’Driscoll, his predecessor’s auxiliary, and it was now alleged
that Thaddeus had intruded himself under false pretences, with other
charges added. The earl of Desmond seized the temporalities of the
see, and its bishop took refuge at the Cistercian abbey near Parma,
which was given him in commendam by the bishop of Clogher. By the
machinations of the FitzGeralds Thaddeus was in 1488 declared
suspended by the Holy See, and he set off to Rome to plead his cause
in person. After two years of investigation and delay Pope Innocent
VIII confirmed the bishopric of Ross to Hugh, but nominated Thaddeus
to the united dioceses of Cork and Cloyne, then vacant.

When Bl. Thaddeus arrived, he found his cathedral closed against him
and the see’s endowments in the hands of the FitzGeralds, Barrys and
others. In vain he endeavoured to assert his canonical rights and to
obtain peaceful control of his charge: there was nothing for it but to
go again to Rome and appeal to the Holy See. The pope condemned the
tyrants and provided Thaddeus with letters to the earl of Kildare,
then lord deputy of Ireland, to the heads of the bishop’s own clan,
and to others, exhorting them to protect and aid his just cause. With
these Bl. Thaddeus set out for home as a pilgrim on foot, and in the
evening of October 24, 1497, reached Ivrea, at the foot of the Alps,
where he stayed at the hospice of the canons regular of St. Bernard of
Montjoux. The next morning he was found dead in his bed.

When an examination of his luggage showed who the dead pilgrim was,
the matter was reported to the bishop of Ivrea, who ordered that he
should be buried with the utmost solemnity. The story of the episcopal
pilgrim travelling incognito and on foot soon got around, and the
cathedral was crowded with people from the neighbourhood who came to
the funeral. They continued to visit the tomb, and the popular cultus
of Bl. Thaddeus, encouraged by many miracles, was thus begun. Bishops
Richelmy of Ivrea and Cailaghan of Cork having co-operated in the
forwarding of his cause, the cultus was confirmed in 1895. His feast
is kept in the dioceses of Ivrea, Ross, Cork and Cloyne.

Not very much seems to be known concerning this beatus. In the Irish
Ecclesiastical Record for 1896 the lessons sanctioned for the office
of his festival are printed, pp. 859-861. The decree confirming the
cultus may be read in the Analecta Ecclesiastica, vol. iii (1895), p.
456. It gives very little biographical detail, but dwells principally
on the miracles worked at the shrine at Ivrea. Cf. V. Berardi, Italy
and Ireland in the Middle Ages (1950).


Saint Quote:
A hundred private prayers have not as much efficacy as a single
petition offered in the Divine Office.
--St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church (1696-1787)

Bible Quote:
Not for the world do I pray, but for those whom Thou, Father, hast
given Me, because they are Thine. (John 17:9)


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Hail, Sweet Jesus!
Prayer to Christ
in His Passion and Death
By St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Hail, sweet Jesus!
Praise, honour and glory be to Thee, O Christ,
Who, of Thou own accord, embraced death,
and recommending Thyself to Thy heavenly Father,
bowing down Thy venerable Head,
did yield up Thy Spirit.
Truly thus giving up Thy life for Thy sheep,
Thou hast shown Thyself, to be the Good Shepherd.
Thou died, O Only-begotten Son of God.
Thou died, O my beloved Saviour,
that I might live forever.
O how great hope,
how great confidence have
I reposed in Thy Death and Thy Blood!
I glorify and praise Thy Holy Name,
acknowledging my infinite obligations to Thee.
O good Jesus,
by Thy bitter Death and Passion,
give me grace and pardon.
Give unto the faithful departed,
rest and life everlasting.
Amen.