March 13th - St. Ansovinus, Bishop of Camerino, healer

[Weedy]

March 13th - St. Ansovinus, Bishop of Camerino, healer

St. Ansovinus was born at Camerino in Umbria, but no details of his
early life have been preserved. After his ordination to the priesthood
he retired into a solitary spot at Castel-Raimondo, near Torcello,
where he soon acquired a reputation for sanctity and miracles. It was
even believed that when he came to church he crossed the river on his
cloak which he cast into the water, and that, when the rays of the sun
dazzled him as he was offering the holy sacrifice, he hung the linen
purificator in the air and it shaded his eyes. The Emperor Louis the
Pious when in Italy chose him as his confessor, and ratified his
election to the see of Camerino. The saint, however, had no wish to
accept the dignity, and when he did consent it was with the proviso
that he should not be expected to provide soldiers for the imperial
army. Although such military service was usual in feudal and
semi-feudal states, he considered it unsuitable and contrary to the
law of the Church.

Ansovinus proved himself a wise and prudent pastor. Not only was he
liberal to the poor, but in seasons of dearth he husbanded all the
resources at his command with such sagacity that he was able to
relieve the sufferings of the needy. Indeed, it was said that when he
had entirely emptied a granary, it was supernaturally refilled. The
saint had the gift of healing and was instrumental in curing many sick
persons. He was in Rome when he was seized with a form of fever which
he and those about him recognized as likely to prove fatal. In spite
of the protests of his friends he insisted upon returning home to die
amongst his own people. They carried the sick man out to his horse,
and when the animal saw him that strange instinct which dumb creatures
often possess impelled him to kneel down to enable his master to
mount. Ansovinus reached Camerino and was able to give a last blessing
and to receive the viaticum before he quietly expired.

A singular miracle with which he is credited is worth relating, if
only to account for the attribute commonly connected with St.
Ansovinus. He was on his way to Rome to be consecrated when he and his
friends arrived at Narni, where they stayed for refreshment. They
called for wine, and the innkeeper brought some. Ansovinus, detecting
that it had been watered, remonstrated with the man, who answered
rudely that they could take it or leave it--it was all they would get.
The saint then asked for cups, but the innkeeper said that he only
provided wine and that visitors were expected to bring their own
drinking-cups. So St. Ansovinus took off his cape and told the host to
pour the wine into the hood. He did so, under protest, and the hood
retained the wine, whilst the water with which it had been mixed ran
away.

The life printed in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii, which purports
to have been written by a certain Eginus not less than a century after
the death of the saint, is a wordy and unconvincing document
consisting mainly of miracles. But the cultus of St. Ansovinus is
recognized, and his name is entered in the Roman Martyrology. See also
M. Santoni, Culto di Sant’ Ansovino (1883).


Saint Quote:
Our most important affair is that of our eternal salvation; upon it
depends our happiness or misery for ever. This affair will come to an
end in eternity, and will decide whether we shall be saved or lost for
ever; whether we shall have acquired an eternity of delights, or an
eternity of torments; whether we shall live for ever happy, or for
ever miserable. O God, what will my lot be? Shall I be saved, or shall
I be lost? I may be either. And if I may be lost, why do I not embrace
such a life, as may secure for me life eternal? O Jesus, thou didst
die to save me; yet have I been lost, as often as I have lost thee my
sovereign good: suffer me not to lose thee any more.
--St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Bible Quote:
 Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to send forth an evil odor;
so doth a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor.  [Ecc 10:1 ]


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I Came to You Late

I came to You late, O Beauty so ancient and new. I came to love You
late. You were within me and I was outside where I rushed about wildly
searching for You like some monster loose in Your beautiful world. You
were with me but I was not with You. You called me, You shouted to me,
You wrapped me in Your Splendour, You broke past my deafness, You
bathed me in Your Light, You sent my blindness reeling. You gave out
such a delightful fragrance and I drew it in and came breathing hard
after You. I tasted, and it made me hunger and thirst; You touched me,
and I burned to know Your Peace.
--St. Augustine of Hippo