- Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 -
I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so men are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.
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January 10th - St. Agatho, Pope (RM)
Born in Sicily (Palermo?); died January 10, 681. Saint Agatho had been
married for 20 years and become financially successful when he decided to
enter Saint Hermes Monastery in Palermo. (He may be the Agatho referred to
in the letter from Saint Gregory the Great authorizing the abbot to accept
him if his wife entered a convent. If this were so, he would have been a
very old man when he ascended to the Chair of Peter.)
Agatho, an amiable man, succeeded Donus as pope on June 27, 678. It
appears
that he was also efficient in business matters because he maintained the
accounting records in his own hand, contrary to custom.
In the dispute discussed in yesterday's notice on Saint Berhtwald, in 679,
Agatho heard the grievance of Bishop Saint Wilfrid of York against Bishop
Saint Theodore of Canterbury. This is the first known appeal of an English
bishop to Rome occasioned by Theodore's action as metropolitan to divide
the
see of York into four and depose Wilfrid. Seeking a compromise, Agatho
decided that the see would remain divided but that Wilfrid should appoint
the bishops to the three new sees. It seems that this was not the final
decision in the matter.
The most im****tant event of Agatho's pontificate was the Council of
Constantinople (November 680 to September 681), to which Agatho sent
legates
with a letter that condemned the Monothelite heresy (Christ had only one
will) and expounded traditional Catholic belief of two wills in Christ-one
divine, one human. Most bishops at the council, led by Patriarch George of
Constantinople, accepted, saying, "Peter has spoken by Agatho." The
Monothelite heresy was condemned and Constantinople was reunited to Rome.
By
the time the decrees of the sixth general council had reached Rome, Agatho
had died (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
In art Pope Saint Agatho wears a tiara and holds a long cross. He is
venerated at York, England, and Palermo, Italy (Roeder).
Saint Quote:
"Oh what remorse we shall feel at the end of our lives, when we look back
upon the great number of instructions and examples afforded by God and the
Saints for our perfection, and so carelessly received by us! If this end
were to come to you today, how would you be pleased with the life you have
led this year?"
-St. Francis de Sales
Bible Quote
27 And Abraham answered, and said: Seeing I have once begun, I will speak
to
my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes. (Genesis 18:27)
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Dies Irę, dies illa
That Day Of Wrath, that dreadful day
Day of wrath! O day of mourning!
See fulfilled the prophets' warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!
Oh what fear man's bosom rendeth,
when from heaven the Judge descendeth,
on whose sentence all dependeth.
Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth;
through earth's sepulchers it ringeth;
all before the throne it bringeth.
Death is struck, and nature quaking,
all creation is awaking,
to its Judge an answer making.
Lo! the book, exactly worded,
wherein all hath been recorded:
thence shall judgment be awarded.
When the Judge his seat attaineth,
and each hidden deed arraigneth,
nothing unavenged remaineth.
What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
when the just are mercy needing?
King of Majesty tremendous,
who dost free salvation send us,
Fount of pity, then befriend us!
Think, good Jesus, my salvation
cost thy wondrous Incarnation;
leave me not to reprobation!
Faint and weary, thou hast sought me,
on the cross of suffering bought me.
shall such grace be vainly brought me?
Righteous Judge! for sin's pollution
grant thy gift of absolution,
ere the day of retribution.
Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
all my shame with anguish owning;
spare, O God, thy suppliant groaning!
Thou the sinful woman savedst;
thou the dying thief forgavest;
and to me a hope vouchsafest.
Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
rescue me from fires undying!
With thy favored sheep O place me;
nor among the goats abase me;
but to thy right hand upraise me.
While the wicked are confounded,
doomed to flames of woe unbounded
call me with thy saints surrounded.
Low I kneel, with heart submission,
see, like ashes, my contrition;
help me in my last condition.
Ah! that day of tears and mourning!
From the dust of earth returning
man for judgment must prepare him;
Spare, O God, in mercy spare him!
Lord, all pitying, Jesus blest,
grant them thine eternal rest. Amen.
Words: Thomas of Celano, 13th cent.;
trans. William J. Irons, 1849
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