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ST AICARD, ABBOT AND CONFESSOR - 15 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 15th 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.

ST AICARD, ABBOT AND CONFESSOR 

In the monastery of St Hilary in the suburbs of the city of Poitiers Saint Aicard [Achart] had his education till he was sixteen years of age, when his father,  an eminent officer of King Clotaire II, called him home in order to introduce him to court, and teach him to aspire to the highest military honours. His devout mother no other view than that he should become a saint. 

HIS SON CHOSE GOD ALONE FOR HIS PORTION

To terminate the debate between the parents, the youth was called upon to declare his inclinations. These he expressed to his father with so much earnestness, and in so dutiful and respectful a manner, as drew tears from the aged parent’s eyes, and extorted his consent upon the spot, that seeing his son chose God alone for his portion, he should be at liberty to consecrate himself to the divine service in whatever manner he desired to consummate his sacrifice.

Aicard, without further delay, repaired to the abbey of St Jouin in Poitou, near the borders of that province, a house then renowned for the severity of its discipline, and sanctity of its monks. 

THE PURSUIT OF VIRTUE

From the first day that he entered this monastery, to the end of his life, he never suffered anything to abate his ardour, or to deaden the strong desires of his soul in the pursuit of virtue. 

The saint’s parents, after his retreat, founded the abbey of Saint Benedict at Quinzay, about three miles from Poitiers, and committed the same to the direction of St Philibert, who resigned his abbacy at Jumieges, Normandy, to St Aicard. 

HIS COMMUNITY HAD NINE HUNDRED MONKS

This community had nine hundred monks, among whom St Aicard exceedingly promoted all the exercises of monastic perfection, and sacred studies among those whom he judged best qualified for them. He at first exhorted his religious brethren only by his example; and this manner of exhorting, dumb as it was, proved most effectual.

THE DISENGAGEMENT OF THE HEART FROM THE WORLD 

His assiduity in prayer, his modesty, his meekness, the austerity of his penance, and his scrupulous observance of every part of the rule, made every one extremely desirous to hear him speak whom they saw do so well. He soon satisfied their impatience, by giving them admirable lessons on all the duties of Christian perfection, especially on self-denial and the entire disengagement of the heart from the world and all.

TO SINCERELY LOVE ONE ANOTHER

St Aicard, in his last moments, being laid on ashes and covered with sackcloth, said to the monks: "My dear children, in vain have you borne the yoke of penance, and are grown old in the exercise of religious duties, if you do not sincerely love one another. Without this, martyrdom itself cannot render you acceptable to God. Fraternal charity is the soul of a religious house." Having spoken these words, lifting up his hands and eyes towards heaven, he happily surrendered his soul into the hands of his Creator on the September 15, about the year of our Lord 687, in the sixty-third year of his age. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

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