ST BERTHOLD OF MOUNT CARMEL - 29 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 29th of March

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 BERTHOLD OF MOUNT CARMEL

Saint Berthold [of Calabria, St Berthold of Mount Carmel] is commemorated on March 29. His name is from the old German words Bert, Bercht, Brecht, meaning brilliant; according to Schwenck his name means brilliant and mild. 

THE FIRST PRIOR GENERAL OF THE CARMELITES

St Berthold was first prior general of the Carmelites. He was born in Limoges and was either the brother of Bishop Adamatus in Puy or of the patriarch Heimericus of Antioch, who appointed him prior of the Carmelites in 1121 (according to others 1141 or even 1181). 

HIS HAPPY DEATH

He died in 1188, and his name is inserted in the general Roman Martyrology, and in that for the Discalced Carmelites.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)

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Berthold went to the Holy Land as part of the Crusades and was in Antioch when it was besieged by the Saracens. During this time he had a vision of Christ denouncing the soldiers' evil ways. At the time, hermits from the West were scattered throughout Palestine. He came to Mount Carmel, built a small chapel there and gathered a community of hermits who would live at his side in imitation of the prophet Elijah. This community may have given rise to the Order of the Carmelites. Berthold lived out his days on Mount Carmel, ruling the community he had founded for forty-five years until his death in 1195.

(From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthold_of_Calabria)

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of the blessed Berthold may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.