ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 16th of September
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. VICTOR III., POPE
Blessed Victor III was born in 1026 or 1027 of a non-regnant branch of the Lombard dukes of Benevento; he died in Rome, September 16, 1087.
HIS DESIRE TO EMBRACE THE MONASTIC STATE WAS STRENUOUSLY OPPOSED BY HIS PARENTS
Being an only son his desire to embrace the monastic state was strenuously opposed by both his parents. After his father’s death in battle with the Normans, 1047, he fled from the marriage which had been arranged for him and though brought back by force, eventually after a second flight to Cava obtained permission to enter the monastery of S. Sophia at Benevento where he received the name of Desiderius.
THE LIFE AT S. SOPHIA WAS NOT STRICT ENOUGH FOR HIM
The life at S. Sophia was not strict enough for the young monk who betook himself first to the island monastery of Tremite in the Adriatic and in 1053 to some hermits at Majella in the Abruzzi.
About this time he was brought to the notice of St Leo IX and it is probable that the pope employed him at Benevento to negotiate peace with the Normans after the fatal battle of Civitate.
HE WAS BROUGHT TO THE NOTICE OF ST LEO IX
Somewhat later Desiderius attached himself to the Court of Victor II at Florence and there met two monks of Monte Cassino, with whom he returned to their monastery in 1055. He joined the community, and was shortly afterwards appointed superior of the dependent house at Capua. In 1057 Stephen IX (X) who had retained the abbacy of Monte Cassino came thither and at Christmas, believing himself to be dying, ordered the monks to elect a new abbot. Their choice fell on Desiderius. The pope recovered, and, desiring to retain the abbacy during his lifetime, appointed the abbot-designate his legate for Constantinople.
"IMPERISHABLE FAME"
Desiderius was the greatest of all the abbots of Monte Cassino with the exception of the founder, and as such won for himself “imperishable fame” (Gregorovius). He rebuilt the church and conventual buildings, established schools of art and re-established monastic discipline so that there were 200 monks in the monastery in his day.
HE HAD BEEN APPOINTED PAPAL VICAR
Desiderius had been appointed papal vicar for Campania, Apulia, Calabria, and the Principality of Beneventum with special powers for the reform of monasteries.
Within two years of the consecration of the Cassinese Basilica, Pope Alexander died and was succeeded by Hildebrand. Undoubtedly the chief importance of Desiderius in papal history lies in his influence with the Normans, an influence which he was able repeatedly to exert in favour of the Holy See. A strong partisan of the Hildebrandine reform the gentler Desiderius belonged to the moderate party and could not always see eye to eye with Gregory in his most intransigent proceedings.
Yet when the latter lay dying at Salerno (May 25, 1085) the Abbot of Monte Cassino was one of those whom he named as fittest to succeed him. Desiderius was by no means willing to assume the mantle of Gregory VII, experience had taught him that his power and utility lay in being a middleman, yet at a time when the Church was surrounded by powerful enemies his influence with the Normans made him the most obvious candidate.
HE WAS THE MOST OBVIOUS CANDIDATE
To avoid having the papal dignity forced upon him he fled to Monte Cassino, where he busied himself in exhorting the Normans and Lombards to rally to the support of the Holy See.
At about Easter the bishops and cardinals assembled at Rome summoned Desiderius and the cardinals who were with him at Monte Cassino to come to Rome to treat concerning the election, which had been postponed until now.
A GREAT MEETING WAS HELD
On May 23 a great meeting was held in the deaconry of Saint Lucy, and Desiderius was again importuned to accept the papacy but persisted in his refusal, threatening to return to his monastery in case of violence. Next day, the feast of Pentecost, very early in the morning the same scene was repeated. The consul Cencius now suggested the election of Odo, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia (afterwards Urban II), but this was rejected by some of the cardinals on the grounds that the translation of a bishop was contrary to the canons.
The assembly now lost all patience; Desiderius was seized and dragged to the Church of Saint Lucy where he was forcibly vested in the red cope and given the name of Victor (May 24, 1086). The church had been without a head for twelve months all but a day. Victor finally yielded and "by the assumption of the cross and purple confirmed the past election".
He was consecrated and enthroned on May 9, 1087. He only remained eight days in Rome and then returned to Monte Cassino.
HE RETURNED TO MONTE CASSINO
In August, at the council of Benevento, Victor became seriously ill and retired to Monte Cassino to die. He had himself carried into the chapter-house, issued various decrees for the benefit of the abbey, appointed with the consent of the monks the prior, Cardinal Oderisius, to succeed him in the Abbacy, and proposed Odo of Ostia to the assembled cardinals and bishops as the next pope.
He died September 16, 1087, and was buried in the tomb he had prepared for himself in the chapter-house.
In the sixteenth century his body was removed to the church, and again translated in 1890. The cultus of Blessed Victor seems to have begun not later than the pontificate of Anastasius IV, about 60 years after his death.
FAILING HEALTH HAD MADE HIM RELUCTANT TO ACCEPT THE POSITION
Pope Victor III is a far less impressive figure in history than Desiderius the great Abbot of Monte Cassino, but there is abundant evidence that it was largely his failing health that made him so reluctant to accept the great position which was thrust upon him, indeed Ordericus tells us that he was taken ill when saying the first Mass after his consecration, so that during his papacy "he hardly got through a single Mass".
The only literary work of Victor which we possess is his "Dialogues" on the miracles wrought by Saint Benedict and other saints at Monte Cassino.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)
BLESSED VICTOR'S ENTRY IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
On Mount Cassino, blessed Victor III, who succeeded Gregory VII in the papal chair and threw new lustre round the Holy See by the signal triumph he gained over the Saracens through the divine assistance. The veneration paid to him from time immemorial Pope Leo XIII approved and confirmed.
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