Saints celebrated on the 8th of June
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 CLODULPHUS, BISHOP OF METZ, CONFESSOR
Saint Clodulphus (St Clou) was son of St Arnold, who having been prime minister to King Clotaire II, surnamed the Great, renounced the world, and was afterwards made bishop of Metz. He had two sons, Clou and Ansegisus, whose inclinations to virtue he cultivated by an excellent education. Clou showed from the cradle that he inherited all his father’s virtues in an eminent degree.
HIS EDUCATION
Under the best masters he made such a progress in the divine and human sciences, as astonished those who taught him, and excited to emulation all who learned with him. He afterwards lived in the court of the kings of Austrasia, and passed through the greatest employments under Dagobert I and Sigebert II always with credit to himself, and to the honour and advantage of the state.
HE RENOUNCED THE WORLD
After some time he left his brother Ansegisus to push his fortune in the courts of earthly kings, choosing for himself a state which removes a man further from the flattering objects of the passions, and from that hurry of distractions, under which the most virtuous often find it difficult not to lose sight of God in their actions.
His father, St Arnold, had quitted the bishopric of Metz, that he might wear out the remainder of his days in tranquillity, and be ready to meet his heavenly bridegroom. Two other pastors had succeeded him in that see, and it was become a third time vacant, when the clergy and people of Metz unanimously demanded St Clou for their bishop.
A CHOICE MADE BY HEAVEN ITSELF
The holy man did all that lay in his power to make the election fall on some other person; but the whole country became the more importunate, and the king obliged him at length to acquiesce in a choice made by heaven itself.
HE CHEERFULLY SET HIMSELF TO FULFIL EVERY DUTY OF THAT IMPORTANT CHARGE
Having therefore received the episcopal consecration, he cheerfully set himself to fulfil every duty of that important charge. He began by a visitation of his diocese, everywhere correcting abuses, and establishing regularity. Such was his compassion for the poor, that for their sake he lived himself destitute of the most common conveniences of life.
By assiduous meditation at the foot of the cross, he was careful to nourish his own soul with the bread of life; and in the same school he acquired that heavenly eloquence with which he delivered, in the most affecting manner, the sentiments and lights which he received by this channel from the God of all science. Full of zeal for the glory of God, and of love and tenderness for his people, he was attentive to all their wants, and indefatigable in labouring for their sanctification, especially in instructing, comforting, and relieving the poor.
HIS HOLY DEATH
He governed the church of Metz forty years and fifteen days, and died in 696, being fourscore and ten years old. He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on this day. His body was translated to the Benedictine priory of Lay, not far from Nancy, in 959, on December 11; but a portion remains in the church which bears his name at Metz. He is named in the Roman and other Martyrologies.
NOTE:
Pepin of Landen and St Arnold had shared together the government under Clotaire II and Dagobert I with the titles of dukes of Austrasia, and mayors of the palace. Clovis II succeeded his father Dagobert at Paris, and Sigebert II in Austrasia; but Grimoald, the son and successor of Pepin of Landen, upon the death of Sigebert II about the year 655, shaved his infant son Dagobert a monk, and banished him into Ireland, with a view to open a way to the throne for his own son: however Clovis II made himself master of both their persons, and confined them at Paris for the rest of their days, or, according to others, put them to death: which punishment was due to their treason. Ansegisus married Begga, the virtuous daughter of Pepin of Landen, by whom he had Pepin of Herstal, or the Fat, the valiant and prosperous mayor of the French palace, and father of Charles Martel.
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)
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