Excerpt from "On the Seven Spiritual Weapons"

Excerpt from "On the Seven Spiritual Weapons"

 Sometimes the devil inspires souls with an inordinate zeal for a
certain virtue or some special pious exercise, so that they will be
motivated by their passion to practice it more and more. This
temptation is more to pride rather than virtue....Sometimes, on the
other hand, the devil coaches souls to do less than they can really
do. This temptation is more to false humility...In both cases, the
devil's goal is to make the soul discouraged when the virtue is found
to be unattainable; and to be wearied and disgusted if his efforts are
below his abilities. The soul ends up neglecting everything. It is as
necessary to overcome the one snare as the other.
-- Saint Catherine of Bologna, from “On the Seven Spiritual Weapons “

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 10 May – Saint Catald of Taranto

(Died c 685)
Bishop, Monk, miracle-worker. Born in the 7th century Munster, Ireland
and died in c. 85 in Taranto, Italy of natural causes. Also known as –
Catald of Tarentum, Catald of Rachau, Cataldus, Cathal, Cattaldo,
Cathaluds, Cathaldus, Cataldo. Patronages – against blindness, against
drought, against epilepsy, against hernias, against paralysis, against
plague, against storms, blind people, drought relief, epileptics,
paralyzed people, Massa Lubrense, Italy, Taranto, Italy.

Born in Munster, Ireland, Catald was a pupil, then the headmaster of
the monastic school of Lismore in Waterford, after the death of its
founder, St Carthage.

Upon his return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he was shipwrecked
at Taranto in southern Italy and ,chosen by the people as their Bishop
and then Archbishop of the Diocese.

Some of the miracles claimed in Catald’s name include protecting the
City against the plague and floods that, apparently, had occurred in
neighbouring areas.

He is the titular of Taranto’s Cathedral and the principal Patron of
the Diocese. This epitaph is given under an image of Saint Catald in
Rome:

Me tulit Hiberne, Solyme traxere,
Tarentum Nunc tenet: huic ritus,
dogmata, jura dedi.

This has been loosely translated as:
Hibernia gave me birth,
thence wafted over,
I sought the sacred Solymean shore.
To thee Tarentum, holy rites I gave, Precepts divine
and thou to me a grave. (Hibernia is the classical Latin name for Ireland).

It is odd that an Irishman, should be so honoured throughout Italy,
Malta,and France but have almost no recognition in his homeland. His
Irish origins were discovered only two or three centuries after his
death, when his relics were recovered during the renovation of the
Cathedral of Taranto. When his coffin was open at that time, a
pastoral staff of Irish workmanship was found with the inscription
Cathaldus Rachau. Further investigations identified him with Cathal,
the teacher of Lismore.

Veneration to Catald spread, especially in southern Italy, after the
10 May 1017, translation of his relics when the Cathedral was being
rebuilt, following its destruction at the hands of Saracens in 927.
Four remarkable cures occurred as the relics were moved to the new
Cathedral. There is a Town of San Cataldo in Sicily and another on the
southeast coast of Italy .


Saint Catald is depicted in art as an early Christian Bishop with a
mitre and pallium in a 12th century mosaic at Palermo (Roeder). He is
the subject of a painting on the 8th pillar of the nave ,on the left
in the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem There are also
12th-century mosaics in Palermo and Monreale depicting the Saint.

https://anastpaul.com/2021/05/10/


Saint Quote:
“The Holy Spirit leads us along,
as a mother leads her two year old child by the hand,
as a sighted person leads a blind one.
We should say each morning:
“Oh my God, send me Your Holy Spirit
who will make me understand
what I am and what you are …”
A soul who possesses the Holy Spirit
enjoys an exquisite taste in prayer,
it never loses the holy presence of God.”
--St Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney (1786-1859)

Bible Quote
But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of
perfection: [15] And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts,
wherein also you are called in one body: and be ye thankful.
[Colossians 3:14-15] DRV


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Canticle Apocalypse 15

A hymn of adoration

Great and wonderful are your works, Lord God Almighty;
just and true are your ways, King of all nations!

Who, Lord, will not revere and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship in your presence,
or your judgments have been seen by all.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
 as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
 world without end.
Amen.