~thread~ 1. After the death of her father, St Basil the Elder, St Macrina consecrated her virginity by vow to God, and, with her mother, founded two monasteries, one for men, the other for women near Ibora in Pontus. #StMacrina#July19
2. Macrina drew up the rules for the nunnery and established in it the love and spirit of the most universal poverty, and disengagement from the world, mortification, humility, assiduous prayer, and singing of psalms.
After the death of St Emmelia, her mother, Macrina lived
3. with the nuns on what she earned by the labour of her hands.
Her brother Basil died in the beginning of the year 379, and she fell ill shortly after. St Gregory of Nyssa found her sick of a raging fever, lying on two boards, one served for her bed, one for her pillow.
4. She calmly expired, after having armed herself with the sign of the cross.
Such was the poverty of the house that nothing was found to cover her corpse when it was carried to the grave, but her old hood and coarse veil; but St Gregory threw over it his episcopal cloak.
5. St Gregory led up the funeral procession, which consisted of the clergy, the monks, and nuns, in two separate choirs. The whole company walked singing psalms, with torches in their hands.
The holy remains were conveyed to the church of the Forty Martyrs,
St Macrina died in December, 379; but is commemorated by the Latins and Greeks on the 19th of July. This account is given us by St Gregory of Nyssa.
(Excerpts from Butler's "Lives of the Saints")
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🧵1. Jeanne Marie once heard a homily on the Holy Souls which made an indelible impression on her mind. The French...
#HolySouls
2. servant girl was deeply moved by the thought of the sufferings the souls endure and horrified to see how cruelly they are neglected and forgotten by their friends on Earth.
Among other things the preacher stressed was that many souls who are in reality near to their release –
3. one Mass might suffice to set them free – are oftentimes long detained, it may be for years, just because the last needful suffrage has been withheld, or forgotten, or neglected!
Jeanne Marie resolved, that, cost what it may cost, she would have a Mass said to them, every
🧵 1. A Polish Prince, who, for some political reason, had been exiled from his native country, bought a beautiful property in France.
Unfortunately he had lost the faith of his childhood and was at the time of the events
2. engaged in writing a book against God and the existence of a future life.
Strolling one evening in his garden he came across a poor woman weeping bitterly. He questioned her as to the cause of her grief.
“Ah! Prince,” she replied, “I am the wife of Jean Marie,
3. your former steward, who died two days ago. He was a good husband to me and a faithful servant to your Highness. His sickness was long and I spent all our savings on the doctors and now I have nothing left to get Masses said for his soul.”
-thread- 1. The beginning of true virtue is most ardently to desire it, and to ask it of God with the utmost assiduity and earnestness, and considering riches as nothing in comparison with this our only and inestimable treasure. Fervent prayer, #quotes
2. holy meditation, and reading pious books, are the principal means by which it is to be constantly improved, and the interior life of the soul to be strengthened. (From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)
3. PRECIOUS TIME
Is it possible that so many Christians, capable of finding in God their sovereign felicity, should amuse themselves with pleasures which flatter the senses, with reading profane books, and seeking an empty satisfaction in idle visits, #Christians#Twitter
2. that if Christianity were true, obviously the Roman Catholic Church, with her authority was right.
It was the testimony of a man who had no ax to grind. A Jewish dentist made the same remark in effect to me shortly afterwards. The man-in-the-street #Catholicism#Christianity
3. testifies the same with his: ‘If I were religious, I’d be a Roman Catholic.’
WHY SHOULD I STAKE MY IMMORTAL SOUL UPON HUMAN OPINION?
I entered upon an intensive study of the point. I read the history of the doctrine,
2. and to Mary, Mother of Mercy. Obtain for me through your intercession the grace to lead a holy life, to die a happy death and to attain the blessedness of eternity in Heaven.
Dear suffering souls, who long to be delivered in order to praise and glorify God in Heaven,
3. by your unfailing pity help me in the needs which distress me at this time, particularly (mention your request), so that I may obtain relief and assistance from God.
In gratitude for your intercession I offer to God on your behalf the satisfactory merits
-thread- 1.St Zaira is mentioned today's catalogue of feast days as being martyred in Spain, during the occupation of the Moors and as remembered on October 21.
Very little else is handed down to us about this saint, #StZaira
2. but making some reflections we can deduce some circumstances of her saintly life.
The name derives from the Arabic Zahirah and means "the rose" and often occurs in oriental literature, even in the form Zara.
In Spain, the occupation
3. of the Muslim Moors, provoked a strong religious persecution against the pre-existing Christians and their institutions, with the aim of imposing the islamic religion.
During this ordeal, there were many Christian martyrs, who resisted the injunctions,