Saints celebrated on the 8th 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.
ST THEOBALD, ABBOT
Saint Theobald was by his virtue the great ornament of the illustrious family of Montmorency in France. He was born in the castle of Marli.
His father, Bouchard of Montmorency, gave him an education suitable to his birth, and trained him up to the profession of arms, in which so many heroes of that family have signalised themselves.
A STRONG INCLINATION TO A STATE OF HOLY RETIREMENT
But Theobald manifested from his infancy a strong inclination to a state of holy retirement, dreading the least shadow of danger which could threaten his innocence. He spent great part of his time in prayer, and resorted often to the church of the nunnery called Port-Royal, which had been founded in 1204 by Matthew of Montmorency, and on which his father Bouchard had bestowed so many estates that he was regarded as a second founder.
HE WAS CHOSEN ABBOT IN 1234
Theobald took the Cistercian habit at Vaux de Cernay in 1220, and was chosen abbot of that house in 1234.
He lived in the midst of his brethren as the servant of every one, and surpassed all others in his love of poverty, silence, and holy prayer. He was highly esteemed by St Lewis [Louis].
HIS FEAST DAY
His happy death happened in 1247. His shrine in his abbey is visited by a great concourse of people on the Whitsun-holidays. His solemn festival is there kept on the 8th, and in some places on July 9, probably the day on which the first translation of his relics was made. The Bollandists defer his life to December 8, the day of his death.
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints - 📷 St Theobald offering an eleven branched lily to St Louis and Marguerite of Provence, by Joseph-Marie Vien, 1776)
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