January 2nd - Saint Gregory Nazianzen
Archbishop of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church
(312-390)
Saint Gregory was born in 312 near Caesarea of Cappadocia, of parents who
are both honored as Saints, and the infant was immediately consecrated to
God. After learning all that he could in his native land, he journeyed to
Caesarea in Palestine to study at the famous school founded by Origen,
then
went to Alexandria in Egypt to rejoin his brother there. After some time
he
embarked for Athens, the metropolis of the sciences and the humanities.
During the voyage, a storm of twenty days' duration nearly caused the loss
of the ****p and all passengers; their safe arrival in Athens was
attributed
to Saint Gregory's prayers, and all aboard adopted Christianity.
In Athens he met and became the close friend of Saint Basil, and these
noble
souls turned away together from the most attractive worldly prospects. For
some years they lived in seclusion, self-discipline, and studious labor,
knowing only two roads, Gregory wrote, "one to church, the other to
school."
Only after thirty years of studies and good works in Athens did they leave
that city and separate. They would meet again in the year 358, to live in
solitude for a time in the Province of Pont.
Saint Gregory was raised to the priesthood almost by force, preaching his
first sermon, after a ten-weeks' retreat, on the dangers and
responsibilities of the priesthood. In 372, when he was sixty years old,
he
was consecrated a bishop by his dear friend Saint Basil, who had become
Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. All their lives they would
correspond;
many of Saint Gregory's noble and eloquent letters to Saint Basil can
still
be read among the 212 pieces of his correspondence which are still
conserved.
Saint Gregory's rare gifts and conciliatory disposition had become well
known. In the year 379, when he was sixty-seven years old, he was chosen
to
be Patriarch of Constantinople. That city was distracted and laid waste in
those times by Arian and other heretics. After a reception which was at
best
lukewarm, the new Patriarch labored there successfully, from his base in a
small church named the Anastasia (Resurrection), where he gave
instructions
and saw the number of his listeners increase daily.
The Arians were so irritated at the decay of their heresy that they
pursued
the Saint with outrage, calumny and violence, and at length resolved to
take
his life. For this purpose they chose an intrepid youth who was willing to
undertake the sacrilegious commission. But God did not allow him to carry
it
out; he was touched with remorse and cast himself at the Saint's feet,
avowing his sinful intent. Saint Gregory forgave him at once, treated him
with all kindness and received him among his friends, to the wonder and
edification of the whole city and to the confusion of the heretics, whose
crime had served only as a mirror to the virtue of the Saint.
Saint Jerome states that he himself learned at the feet of this master,
who
was his catechist in Holy Scripture. But Saint Gregory's humility, his
austerities, the humble appearance of his aging and worn person, and above
all his very success in Constantinople, did not cease to draw down upon
him
the hatred of every enemy of the Faith. He was persecuted by the
magistrates, stoned by the rabble, and thwarted and deserted even by his
brother bishops. During the second General Council, hoping to restore
peace
to his tormented city, the eloquent bishop, whom the Church calls Saint
Gregory the Theologian, resigned his see and retired to his native town,
where he died in the year 390.
Reflection. "We must overcome our enemies," said Saint Gregory, "by
gentleness, and win them over by forbearance. Let them be punished by
their
own conscience, not by our wrath. Let us not at once fell the fig tree,
from
which a more skillful gardener may yet entice fruit."
Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea
(Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des
Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 5.
Saint Quote:
With the exception of heaven, this is the only place I wish to be. Here we
are all the same: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Russians. I am the only priest.
When I celebrate the liturgy, they pray for all, each one in his own
language. Doesn't God understand all languages?
-Father Emilian writing to his children from the concentration camp
Bible Quote:
But Peter and the apostles answering, said: We ought to obey God, rather
than men. The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to
death, hanging him upon a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand,
to
be Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of
sins.
(Acts 5:29-31)
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Prayer to Our Lady Immaculate
Most holy Virgin, who wast pleasing to the Lord and became His Mother,
immaculate in body and spirit, in faith and in love, look kindly on the
wretched who implore thy powerful patronage. The wicked serpent, against
whom was hurled the first curse, continues fiercely to attack and ensnare
the unhappy children of Eve. Do thou, then, O Blessed Mother, our queen
and
advocate, who from the first instant of thy conception didst crush the
head
of the enemy, receive the prayers which, united with thee in our single
heart, we implore thee to present at the throne of God, that we may never
fall into the snares which are laid out for us, and may all arrive at the
****t of salvation; and, in so many dangers, may the Church and Christian
society sing once again the hymn of deliverance and of victory and of
peace.
Amen.
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