ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH
Saints celebrated on the 2nd of March
Prayer to the Angels and the Saints
Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.
In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.
Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.
Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.
BL. CHARLES THE GOOD
Blessed Charles was a son of Canute IV of Denmark and Adela of Flanders. When he was only five years old, his father was murdered in the St Alban church in Odense.
HIS FATHER WAS MURDERED
Blessed Charles accompanied his grandfather on a crusade to free the Holy Land and also fought against the English. After Robert's death in 1111, the new Count Baldwin, Robert's son, relied heavily on Charles for advice.
WISE AND BENEVOLENT WAYS
The people valued Charles' wise and benevolent ways as well as his personal holiness. Baldwin arranged for Charles to marry the daughter of the Earl of Clermont, and when Baldwin was wounded in battle, he made Charles his successor before he died in 1119. Charles, now Count of Flanders, ruled his people with wisdom, diligence and compassion.
HE FOUGHT AGAINST UNETHICAL MARKETING PRACTICES
He made sure that armistice times were respected and fought against unethical marketing practices. One such example is his crackdown on greedy and influential families who planned to hoard grain so that it could be sold at excessive prices. His just nature encouraged the anger of his opposition.
HE WAS MARTYRED
One day in 1127, when Charles was praying at St Donatian's Church, Bruges, his enemies sat on him and killed him. His murder and aftermath were described in Latin by Galbert of Bruges. Blessed Charles the Good, pray for us.
Comments
Post a Comment