ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 23rd December
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.
ST IVO OF CHARTRES, BISHOP
[In some calendars: May 23] Saint Ivo (Yves) was born of a noble family about 1040; he died in 1116.
From the neighbourhood of Beauvais, his native country, he went for his studies first to Paris and thence to the Abbey of Bee in Normandy, at the same time as Anselm of Canterbury, to attend the lectures given by Lanfranc.
About 1080 he became, at the desire of his bishop, prior of the canons of St-Quentin at Beauvais.
HE WAS ONE OF THE BEST TEACHERS IN FRANCE
He was then one of the best teachers in France, and so prepared himself to infuse a new life into the celebrated schools of Chartres, of which city he was appointed bishop in 1090, his predecessor, Geoffroy, having been deposed for simony.
His episcopal government, at first opposed by the tenants of Geoffroy, ranged over a period of twenty-five years.
IVO'S LETTERS AND SERMONS
No man, perhaps, is better portrayed in his writing than is Ivo in his letters and sermons; in both he appears as a man always faithful to his duties, high-minded, full of zeal and piety, sound in his judgements, a keen jurist, straight-forward, mindful of others' rights, devoted to the papacy and to his country, at the same time openly disapproving of what he considered wrong.
This explains why he has been sometimes quoted as a patron of Gallican Liberties and looked upon by Flaccus Illyricus as one of the "witnesses to the truth" in his "Catalogus".
Very often Ivo was consulted on theological, liturgical, political, and especially canonical matters.
HIS OPPOSITION GAINED HIM A PRISON CELL
Of his life little more is known than may be gathered from his letters. As bishop he strongly opposed Philip the First, who wished to desert Bertha, his legitimate wife, and marry Bertrade of Anjou (1092); his opposition gained him a prison cell.
In the Investiture struggle then raging in France, and especially in Germany, Ivo represented the moderate party.
AN AGREEMENT
Though he died too early to witness the final triumph of his ideas with the Concordat of Worms (1122), his endeavours and his doctrines may be said to have paved the way for an agreement satisfactory to both sides. His views on the subject are fully expressed in several of his letters, especially those of the years 1099, 1106, and 1111; these letters are still of interest as to the question of the relationship between Church and State, the efficacy of sacraments administered by heretics, the sin of simony, etc.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)
Comments
Post a Comment