Saints celebrated on the 29th of July
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. BEATRIX OF NAZARETH, VIRGIN
Blessed Beatrix was a Cistercian nun [born A.D. 1200]; she was the first prioress of the convent called Nazareth near Lier in Brabant; she died [July 29] 1269. She came of a wealthy family, but wishing to consecrate herself to God, at the age of seven she went to live with the Beguines. She afterwards joined the Cistercian nuns at Valle Florida whence she was sent to commence the new foundation at Nazareth.
SHE COMMENCED THE NEW FOUNDATION
She practised very severe austerities, wearing a girdle of thorns and compressing her body with cords. Our Lord is said to have appeared to her and to have pierced her heart with a fiery dart. After Nazareth was abandoned in a time of disturbance, the body of Blessed Beatrix is believed to have been translated by angels to Lier. Her day is July 29, and a short life of her is included by Henriquez in his "Lilia". (1)
THE FIRST PROSE WRITER USING AN EARLY DUTCH LANGUAGE
This Blessed, in Dutch Beatrijs van Nazareth, was the first prose writer using an early Dutch language, a mystic, and the author of the notable Dutch prose dissertation known as the Seven Ways of Holy Love. She was also the first prioress of the Abbey of Our Lady of Nazareth in Nazareth near Lier in Brabant.
Evidence for her life comes from both her biography, published as Lilia Cistercii, the origins, lives and deeds of the holy virgins of Citeaux, ed Chrysostomus Henriquez, (Douai 1633), and from her own work The Seven Ways of Holy Love (Seven Manieren van Heilige Minnen).
THE SEVEN STAGES OF LOVE
The latter is a work of early mystic literature that describes seven stages of love, as it is purified and transformed, before it can return to God. It has a simple and balanced prose style, and is associated with the emergence of the 'bridal mysticism' movement. (2)
(Information from 1. Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913; 2. Wikipedia -
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_of_Nazareth)
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