One Goal
We know we are traveling together. If our pace is slow, go on ahead of us.
We
won't envy you but rather will seek to catch up with you. However, if you
consider us
capable of a quicker pace, run along with us.
There is only one goal, and we are all anxious to reach it-some at a slow
pace
and others
at a fast pace.
- Sermon on a New Canticle 4, 4
Prayer. Let everyone's sighs be uttered in longing for Christ. He should
be
the
object of our
desire since he, he all-beautiful One, loves repulsive people so that he
might
make them
beautiful. Let us run to him and cry out for him.
Augustine- Sermon on John 10, 13
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March 2nd - St. Chad
(also known as Ceadda)
Born in Northumbria, England; died at Lichfield in 673.
The Venerable Bede writes that:
King Oswy sent to Kent a holy man of modest character, well versed in the
Scriptures, and practicing with diligence what he had learned from them,
to
be
ordained bishop of the church of York . . .. But when they reached Kent,
they
found that Archbishop Deusdedit had departed this life and that as yet no
other
had been appointed in his place.
Thereupon they turned aside to the province of the West Saxons, where Wine
was
bishop, and by him the above mentioned Chad was consecrated bishop, two
bishops
of the British nation, who kept Easter in contravention of the canonical
custom
from the 14th to the 20th of the moon, being associated with him, for at
that
time there was no other bishop in all Britain canonically ordained besides
Wine.
[St. Theodore of Canterbury had not yet arrived.]
As soon as Chad had been consecrated bishop, he began most strenuously to
devote
himself to ecclesiastical truth and purity of doctrine and to give
attention
to
the practice of humility, self-denial and study: to travel about, not on
horseback, but on foot, after the manner of the apostles, preaching the
Gospel
in the towns and the open country, in cottages, villages and castles, for
he
was
one of Aidan's disciples and tried to instruct his hearers by acting and
behaving after the example of his master and of his brother Cedd.
During the tenure of Saint Aidan as abbot, when the abbey of Lindisfarne
in
northern Britain was a hive of Christian activity and the center of a
brave
and
eager company of evangelists, among them was St. Chad, an Angle by birth,
one of
four brothers all of whom became priests, including Saint Cedd and Saint
Cynibild. As a young monk Chad had spent some years as a missionary monk
in
Ireland with Saint Egbert at Rathmelsigi, but was recalled to England to
replace
his brother Cedd as abbot of Lastingham Monastery, when Cedd was appointed
bishop of London. Lastingham was a small community under the Rule of St.
Columba
in a remote, beautiful village on the very edge of the north York Moors
near
Whitby.
As described by Bede, within a year of his abbatial appointment Chad was
named
bishop of York by King Oswy. Meanwhile, King Oswy's son King Alcfrid had
appointed Wilfrid, bishop of the same see. But Wilfrid, considering the
northern
bishops who had refused to accept the decrees of Whitby as schismatic,
went
to
France to be ordained (consecrated?). Delayed until 666 in his return,
Wilfrid
found that St. Chad had been appointed. Rather than contest the election
of
Chad, Wilfrid returned to his monastery at Ripon.
When Saint Theodore became archbishop of Canterbury in 669, he removed
Chad
from
the see of York on the grounds that he was improperly consecrated by Wine,
and
restored St. Wilfrid. Chad's humility in accepting this change was
evidenced
in
his reply to Theodore: "If you consider that I have not been properly
consecrated, I willingly resign this charge of which I never thought
myself
worthy. I undertook it, though unworthy, under obedience."
With that, the astonished Theodore supplied what he thought was wanting in
Chad's consecration, and soon after made him bishop of the Mercians with
his
see
at Lichfield. This was Chad's greatest achievement: The creation of the
see
of
Lichfield, which covered 17 counties and stretched from the Severn to the
North
Sea. At Lichfield, or the Field of the Dead, where once a thousand
Christians
had been martyred, Chad founded his cathedral. Here, too, he built himself
a
simple oratory not far from the church, where he lived and prayed when not
traveling on foot throughout his wide diocese, and here also he gathered
around
him a missionary band of eight of his brethren from Lastingham.
A typical story is of how on one occasion when two of the king's sons were
out
hunting, they were led by their quarry to the oratory of St. Chad, where
they
found him praying, and were so impressed by the sight of the frail old man
upon
his knees, his face glowing with rapture, that they knelt and asked his
blessing, and were later baptized and confirmed. All who encountered him
were
similarly impressed, and many made pilgrimage to Lichfield and to his holy
well
outside the city, which still remains.
He had great qualities of mind and spirit, but greatest of all was his
sense
of
the presence of God and the influence it had upon others, for it is said
that
all who met him were aware of God's glory. It was this experience, no
doubt,
which underlies the story that Wulfhere was so angry when his sons were
converted that he slew them and, breathing fury, sought out St. Chad, but
as
he
approached the bishop's cell a great light shone through its single
window,
and
the king was almost blinded by its brightness.
In his early days in Northumbria, St. Chad had trudged on foot on his long
missionary journeys until Archbishop Theodore with his own hands lifted
him
on
horseback, insisting that he conserve his strength. This was typical of
St.
Chad, and he brought to his work at Lichfield the same grace and
simplicity.
In Lichfield Chad founded monasteries including possibly Barrow (Barton)
upon
Humber, improved the discipline of the cloisters, preached everywhere, and
reformed the churches of the diocese.
Many legends gathered round his name, and the familiar one which relates
to
his
death reflects at least the inner beauty of his life. After two and one
half
years of steady, unremitting labor, when Chad came to die, his oratory was
filled with the sound of music. First a laborer heard it, outside in the
fields,
and drew near in wonder, then ran and told others. St. Chad's followers
gathered
outside, and when they asked what it was, he told them that it meant that
his
hour had come and it was the angels calling him home. Then he gave each of
them
a blessing, begged them to keep together, to live in peace, and faithfully
fulfill their calling. St. Chad's body simply wore out.
Some of his relics are preserved in the cathedral of Birmingham, which is
named
for him (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill).
In art, St. Chad is a bishop holding Lichfield Cathedral and a branch
(usually a
vine). He may also be found (1) holding the cathedral in the midst of a
battlefield with the dead surrounding him, (2) with a hart leading hunters
to
him by a pool, or (3) at the time of the conversion of the hunters (SS.
Wulfhald
and Ruffinus) (Roeder).
This Version taken from:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0302.shtml
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A prayer and ejaculation to the Holy Family:
Grant unto us, Lord Jesus, ever to follow the example of Thy
Holy Family, that in the hour of our death Thy glorious Virgin
Mother together with blessed Joseph may come to meet us
and we may be worthily received by Thee into everlasting
dwellings: who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.
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Communion Visit to Our Lady
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! O blessed Mother, the
salutation of the angel is abundantly verified in thee, for the Lord is
with
thee; the newborn Savior lay upon thy knees and smiled at thee with His
tender smile.
O Mother, full of grace, the Lord is with me; the Lord of Heaven and earth
is now within my heart; I, too, enjoy the great happiness, the exalted
blessing which the Incarnation brings to mankind, for I have received the
Lord's Body.
O blessed Mother of God, help me to implore the favor of worthily
receiving
the Bread of Heaven, the Bread of the strong, that I may not faint on the
passage from time to eternity. Sup****t me with thy help when in my last
hour
I stretch out my hands to thee; show to me in that supreme moment the
blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, Whom I have received today, and let me
hear to my solace the comforting words of the priest:
"Behold the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world."
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