{"ok":true,"date":"2027-12-04","dateKey":"12-04","liturgicalDay":"St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor","rank":"Double","color":"white","quoteOfTheDay":{"text":"Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.","author":"Our Lord Jesus Christ","source":"Mark 16:15, Douay-Rheims"},"season":"Advent","novenas":[{"title":"Novena for the Immaculate Conception","feast":"Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary","day":6,"totalDays":9,"startIsoDate":"2027-11-29","feastIsoDate":"2027-12-08","intention":"Ask for purity of doctrine, purity of heart, and hatred of the sin and error that wound souls.","prayer":null,"practice":"Practice purity throughout thought, speech, dress, reading, and entertainment.","sources":[]}],"octaveContexts":[],"subject":"City of God in Exile: St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor - 2027-12-04","previewText":"St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. Doctrine Develops Without Becoming Another Doctrine. Resist the modernist notion that dogma may change its meaning according to the religious needs of an age.","plainText":"CITY OF GOD IN EXILE\nSt. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor\n2027-12-04 - Advent - Double - white\nPLAIN-LANGUAGE GUIDE FOR TODAY\nCommemoration: a shorter liturgical remembrance of another saint or observance occurring on the same day.\nMartyr: a Christian who was killed rather than deny Christ or abandon the Faith.\nConfessor: in the traditional calendar, a male saint who openly professed the Faith by a holy life but was not killed as a martyr.\nThe full Breviary lessons preserve an older English translation. Read the modern explanation first; it identifies the people, event, and doctrine before the historical wording appears.\nTODAY IN THE ROMAN YEAR\nSt. Peter Chrysologus used the gift of preaching to make Catholic doctrine clear, memorable, and fruitful in conduct. Words become holy when they serve the eternal Word; they become dangerous when vanity, novelty, or anger makes the speaker himself the object. Before speaking today, ask whether the words are true, necessary, charitable, and ordered toward God. With the saints, approach the depth of Mary's humility and ask to enter her school. Acknowledge your complete dependence upon grace and ask through Mary for the help needed in today's actual duties.\n\n\"…and finally, that the depth of her humility, and of all her virtues and graces, is an abyss which never can be sounded.\"\nSt. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 7\n\nThe saints do not grow weary of contemplating Our Lady because every virtue in her leads them more deeply into the work of God. Yet St. Louis de Montfort places humility at the depth. Mary is not full of grace because she made herself great; she is wholly receptive to God, empty of resistance, and therefore capable of being filled beyond every other creature.\n\nDo not attempt to imitate an abyss by multiplying resolutions. Begin at the edge: consent to be a creature, dependent upon grace, unable to sanctify yourself, and yet truly called by God. Ask Mary to make this dependence peaceful rather than anxious, and let it move you to prayer before effort and thanksgiving after it.\n\nPRACTICE\nWithhold needless remarks and use the silence to make aspirations for the persons you would have discussed.\n\nQUOTE OF THE DAY\n\"Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.\"\nOur Lord Jesus Christ, Mark 16:15, Douay-Rheims\n\nNOVENA IN PROGRESS\nNovena for the Immaculate Conception - Day 6 of 9\nPreparing for Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 2027-12-08.\nAsk for purity of doctrine, purity of heart, and hatred of the sin and error that wound souls.\n\nPractice purity throughout thought, speech, dress, reading, and entertainment.\n\nROMAN MARTYROLOGY - December 4\n. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, bishop, confessor, and doctor of the church, who is mentioned on the 2d of this month. — At Nicomedia, the passion of St. Barbara, virgin and martyr, in the persecution of Maximinus. After a series of sufferings, a long imprisonment, burning with torches and the cutting off of her breasts, she terminated her martyrdom by the sword. — At Constantinople, the saints Theophanes and his companions. — In Pontus, blessed Meletius, bishop and confessor, who joined to an eminent gift of knowledge the more distinguished glory of fortitude and integrity of life. — At Bologna, St. Felix, bishop, who previously had been deacon of the church of Milan, under St. Ambrose. — In England, St. Osmund, bishop and confessor. — At Cologne, St. Annan, bishop. — In Mesopotamia, St. Maruthas, bishop, who restored the churches of God that had been ruined in Persia by the persecution of king Isdegerdes. Being renowned for many miracles, he merited to be honored even by his enemies. — At Parma, St. Bernard, cardinal and bishop of that city. He belonged to the Congregation of Vallumbrosa, of the Order of St. Benedict.\n\nHIGHLIGHTED SAINT\nSt. Peter Chrysologus\nBishop, Confessor, and Doctor of concise Catholic preaching.\nSt. Peter Chrysologus is honored as a bishop and Doctor whose preaching joined brevity, doctrinal clarity, and pastoral force.\nHis witness teaches that sacred speech should lead souls to conversion, mercy, fasting, prayer, and obedience, not to curiosity or display.\nLet St. Peter Chrysologus teach economy of speech. The best sacred words do not display the speaker; they move souls toward God.\nFROM MATINS\nGolden speech governed by the law of God.\nMatins - Second Nocturn - St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor\nRoman Breviary\n\"He that jesteth with the devil will never rejoice with Christ.\"\n- The Breviary remembers St. Peter Chrysologus as a reluctant bishop chosen for Ravenna and received as one charged with the salvation of souls.\n- His preaching opposed public vice, defended the faith against Eutyches, and moved hearers not toward admiration of eloquence but toward tears, prayer, and conversion.\n- Golden speech is therefore not decorative religion. It is doctrinally exact, morally serious, and accountable to the law of God.\nAsk St. Peter Chrysologus for words that serve conversion. Speak clearly, briefly, and seriously enough that doctrine reaches conduct.\nFULL BREVIARY LESSONS\nFourth Lesson - Chosen for Ravenna by Providence\nPeter, called in Greek \"Chrysologos,\" or, \"of the golden words,\" on account of his wonderful eloquence, was born of respectable parents at Imola, near Ravenna. He displayed a very early leaning to godliness, and became a disciple of Cornelius of Rome, Bishop of Imola. This Prelate, having experience of his learning and holiness of life, soon ordained him Deacon. On the death of the Archbishop of Ravenna, the people of that place elected a successor, and sent him, according to custom, to Rome, to be confirmed in his appointment by Pope Sixtus III. The Archbishop elect accordingly set forth, along with the ambassadors of the people of Ravenna and Cornelius, Bishop of Imola, attended by Peter the Deacon. While they were yet on the way, the holy Apostle Peter and Apollinaris the Martyr appeared to the Supreme Pontiff in a dream, leading a young man between them, whom they commanded him to make Archbishop. As soon as the embassy arrived at Rome the Pope knew in Peter the young man of his dream, chosen of God to the Archbishopric. Wherefore he set aside him that the people of Ravenna had presented, and preferred Peter to that Metropolitan Church, in the year of our Lord, 433. The ambassadors of the people of Ravenna took it ill, till they heard the vision: then they gave themselves up to the will of God, and received the new Archbishop with great reverence.\nFifth Lesson - A Shepherd against Vice and Heresy\nPeter being against his will consecrated Archbishop, arrived at Ravenna, where he was received with great joy by the Emperor Valentinian, the Empress-Mother Galla Placidia, and all the people. And this one thing he asked of them, that, as he, for the saving of their souls, had not refused to bear the heavy weight of the Archbishopric, so they would strive to follow his warnings, and live in submission to the law of God. He took the bodies of the two Saints, namely, Barbatian the Priest, and German, Bishop of Auxerre, and caused them to be embalmed with rich ointments and honourably buried, and he kept the cowl and haircloth shirt of German for a legacy for himself. At Classis, three miles from Ravenna, he built a Baptistery of extraordinary size, and several splendid churches, in honour of the blessed Apostle Andrew and other Saints. He preached a most severe sermon against the acting and dancing of guisards about New Year time, in which discourse he said among other things, \"He that jesteth with the devil will never rejoice with Christ.\" By command of Pope Leo I. he addressed an Epistle to the Council of Chalcedon against the heretic Eutyches. He also confuted Eutyches himself in another letter, which is likewise published in the new editions of the Acts of the Council, and is matter of Church History.\nSixth Lesson - Preaching that Brought Souls to Tears\nWhen he preached in public his vehemence was such that he sometimes became speechless from excitement. This happened to him once when he was preaching on the subject of the woman who had an issue of blood. The congregation on this occasion were so wrought up, that they filled the whole place with tears, cries, and prayers, and Peter afterwards thanked God, Who had turned his failure to the profit of their souls. When he had ruled the Church of Ravenna in holiness for about eighteen years, God gave him knowledge that the end of his labours was at hand, and he returned to his home at Imola, to die. When he arrived at Imola, he entered the church of St Cassian, and offered upon the High Altar a great circlet of gold, set with stones of great price, a golden chalice and a silver paten. Water poured out of these vessels hath often healed hydrophobia and fevers. Some of the people of Ravenna had followed the Archbishop, but he now dismissed them, with a charge to use great prudence in their choice of his successor. Then he fell to prayer, that God would mercifully receive his spirit, asking the same likewise for the sake of his patron St Cassian, and so he passed in peace to a better life, on a 2nd of December, about the year of our Lord 450. His holy body was buried, amid the sorrow and veneration of the whole city, hard by the remains of St Cassian, where it lieth even to this day, guarded with great reverence. One arm was cut off and sent to Ravenna, where it is preserved in the Ursian Church, in a reliquary of gold and precious stones.\nTHE PILGRIM'S SPIRITUAL CONFERENCE\nDoctrine Develops Without Becoming Another Doctrine\nThe Church places this truth before you today: True growth in Catholic doctrine preserves the same meaning and the same judgment; it unfolds what was received, without changing the faith into a novelty. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. Unity of faith is protected when later expression remains identical in substance with what the Church has always taught.\nThe grace to be practiced is Clear sacred speech ordered to conversion, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Humility tells the truth about weakness without discouragement because it also tells the truth about God's help.\nThere is also an enemy to recognize: Resist the modernist notion that dogma may change its meaning according to the religious needs of an age. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing clear sacred speech ordered to conversion when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.\nDo the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Let a limitation remind you to pray rather than tempt you either to despair or pretense. Before the most difficult duty, pause long enough to ask for grace; after it, give thanks instead of taking possession of success.\nThe Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of one; the witness placed beside it is St. Vincent of Lerins.\nYour resolution before God: Withhold needless remarks and use the silence to make aspirations for the persons you would have discussed.\nCarry this word: Christian speech should reveal Christ more clearly than it displays the speaker.\nTHE PILGRIM'S MIRROR\n\"Ask not who said this, but take heed what is said.\"\nThomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, chapter 5, p. 14\nTruth does not become true through fashion, applause, or a celebrated name. Test what you hear by revelation and the perennial teaching of the Church.\n\nYet à Kempis also rebukes the curiosity that collects authorities without receiving their doctrine. Listen for the truth God is giving through a trustworthy witness, and then permit that truth to correct you. The name of a saint should not become decoration around an unchanged life.\nToday's Practice: Reject claims based on novelty or popularity and ask what the Church has always taught.\nDAILY EXAMEN\nReturn every success and failure to God through Mary, keeping neither as material for pride or discouragement.\n- For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?\n- What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?\n- What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?\nPRAYER\nO Lord, through St. Peter Chrysologus, govern my tongue and make every word serve truth, charity, and the salvation of souls.\nDAILY RULE FOR THE PILGRIM\nA brief rule to keep every day:\nBegin with morning prayer\nAdore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.\nKeep the Angelus\nPause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.\nSeek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament\nAttend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.\nReturn to Jesus and Mary\nUse frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.\nPray the Rosary\nKeep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.\nEnd with night prayer and examen\nGive thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.\nCONTINUE STUDY\nSt. Vincent of Lerins and Catholic Continuity: https://cityofgodinexile.com/champions-of-orthodoxy/st-vincent-of-lerins-and-the-rule-of-catholic-continuity?entered=1\nOpen this day in the Sacred Calendar: https://cityofgodinexile.com/sacred-calendar?date=2027-12-04&entered=1\nOpen this day's Daily Pilgrimage: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch?date=2027-12-04&entered=1\nBrowse the Formation Index: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch/formation?entered=1","html":"\n\n \n \n \n City of God in Exile: St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor - 2027-12-04\n \n \n
\n St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor. Doctrine Develops Without Becoming Another Doctrine. Resist the modernist notion that dogma may change its meaning according to the religious needs of an age.\n
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City of God in Exile

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St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor

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2027-12-04 - Advent - Double - white

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“Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not.”
John 12:35
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Plain-Language Guide for Today

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Commemoration
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a shorter liturgical remembrance of another saint or observance occurring on the same day.
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Martyr
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a Christian who was killed rather than deny Christ or abandon the Faith.
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Confessor
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in the traditional calendar, a male saint who openly professed the Faith by a holy life but was not killed as a martyr.

The full Breviary lessons preserve an older English translation. Read the modern explanation first; it identifies the people, event, and doctrine before the historical wording appears.

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Today in the Roman Year

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St. Peter Chrysologus used the gift of preaching to make Catholic doctrine clear, memorable, and fruitful in conduct. Words become holy when they serve the eternal Word; they become dangerous when vanity, novelty, or anger makes the speaker himself the object. Before speaking today, ask whether the words are true, necessary, charitable, and ordered toward God.

With the saints, approach the depth of Mary's humility and ask to enter her school.

Acknowledge your complete dependence upon grace and ask through Mary for the help needed in today's actual duties.

“…and finally, that the depth of her humility, and of all her virtues and graces, is an abyss which never can be sounded.”

St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 7

The saints do not grow weary of contemplating Our Lady because every virtue in her leads them more deeply into the work of God. Yet St. Louis de Montfort places humility at the depth. Mary is not full of grace because she made herself great; she is wholly receptive to God, empty of resistance, and therefore capable of being filled beyond every other creature.

Do not attempt to imitate an abyss by multiplying resolutions. Begin at the edge: consent to be a creature, dependent upon grace, unable to sanctify yourself, and yet truly called by God. Ask Mary to make this dependence peaceful rather than anxious, and let it move you to prayer before effort and thanksgiving after it.

Withhold needless remarks and use the silence to make aspirations for the persons you would have discussed.

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Quote of the Day

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“Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
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Our Lord Jesus Christ, Mark 16:15, Douay-Rheims

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Novena in Progress

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Novena for the Immaculate Conception - Day 6 of 9

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Preparing for Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 2027-12-08.

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Ask for purity of doctrine, purity of heart, and hatred of the sin and error that wound souls.

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Practice purity throughout thought, speech, dress, reading, and entertainment.

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Roman Martyrology - December 4

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. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, bishop, confessor, and doctor of the church, who is mentioned on the 2d of this month. — At Nicomedia, the passion of St. Barbara, virgin and martyr, in the persecution of Maximinus. After a series of sufferings, a long imprisonment, burning with torches and the cutting off of her breasts, she terminated her martyrdom by the sword. — At Constantinople, the saints Theophanes and his companions. — In Pontus, blessed Meletius, bishop and confessor, who joined to an eminent gift of knowledge the more distinguished glory of fortitude and integrity of life. — At Bologna, St. Felix, bishop, who previously had been deacon of the church of Milan, under St. Ambrose. — In England, St. Osmund, bishop and confessor. — At Cologne, St. Annan, bishop. — In Mesopotamia, St. Maruthas, bishop, who restored the churches of God that had been ruined in Persia by the persecution of king Isdegerdes. Being renowned for many miracles, he merited to be honored even by his enemies. — At Parma, St. Bernard, cardinal and bishop of that city. He belonged to the Congregation of Vallumbrosa, of the Order of St. Benedict.

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Highlighted Saint

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St. Peter Chrysologus

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Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of concise Catholic preaching.

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St. Peter Chrysologus is honored as a bishop and Doctor whose preaching joined brevity, doctrinal clarity, and pastoral force.

His witness teaches that sacred speech should lead souls to conversion, mercy, fasting, prayer, and obedience, not to curiosity or display.

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Let St. Peter Chrysologus teach economy of speech. The best sacred words do not display the speaker; they move souls toward God.

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From Matins

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Golden speech governed by the law of God.

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Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor

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Roman Breviary, Proper lessons for St. Peter Chrysologus

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“He that jesteth with the devil will never rejoice with Christ.”
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  • The Breviary remembers St. Peter Chrysologus as a reluctant bishop chosen for Ravenna and received as one charged with the salvation of souls.
  • His preaching opposed public vice, defended the faith against Eutyches, and moved hearers not toward admiration of eloquence but toward tears, prayer, and conversion.
  • Golden speech is therefore not decorative religion. It is doctrinally exact, morally serious, and accountable to the law of God.
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Ask St. Peter Chrysologus for words that serve conversion. Speak clearly, briefly, and seriously enough that doctrine reaches conduct.

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Full Breviary Lessons

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Fourth Lesson - Chosen for Ravenna by Providence

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Peter, called in Greek "Chrysologos," or, "of the golden words," on account of his wonderful eloquence, was born of respectable parents at Imola, near Ravenna. He displayed a very early leaning to godliness, and became a disciple of Cornelius of Rome, Bishop of Imola. This Prelate, having experience of his learning and holiness of life, soon ordained him Deacon. On the death of the Archbishop of Ravenna, the people of that place elected a successor, and sent him, according to custom, to Rome, to be confirmed in his appointment by Pope Sixtus III. The Archbishop elect accordingly set forth, along with the ambassadors of the people of Ravenna and Cornelius, Bishop of Imola, attended by Peter the Deacon. While they were yet on the way, the holy Apostle Peter and Apollinaris the Martyr appeared to the Supreme Pontiff in a dream, leading a young man between them, whom they commanded him to make Archbishop. As soon as the embassy arrived at Rome the Pope knew in Peter the young man of his dream, chosen of God to the Archbishopric. Wherefore he set aside him that the people of Ravenna had presented, and preferred Peter to that Metropolitan Church, in the year of our Lord, 433. The ambassadors of the people of Ravenna took it ill, till they heard the vision: then they gave themselves up to the will of God, and received the new Archbishop with great reverence.

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Fifth Lesson - A Shepherd against Vice and Heresy

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Peter being against his will consecrated Archbishop, arrived at Ravenna, where he was received with great joy by the Emperor Valentinian, the Empress-Mother Galla Placidia, and all the people. And this one thing he asked of them, that, as he, for the saving of their souls, had not refused to bear the heavy weight of the Archbishopric, so they would strive to follow his warnings, and live in submission to the law of God. He took the bodies of the two Saints, namely, Barbatian the Priest, and German, Bishop of Auxerre, and caused them to be embalmed with rich ointments and honourably buried, and he kept the cowl and haircloth shirt of German for a legacy for himself. At Classis, three miles from Ravenna, he built a Baptistery of extraordinary size, and several splendid churches, in honour of the blessed Apostle Andrew and other Saints. He preached a most severe sermon against the acting and dancing of guisards about New Year time, in which discourse he said among other things, "He that jesteth with the devil will never rejoice with Christ." By command of Pope Leo I. he addressed an Epistle to the Council of Chalcedon against the heretic Eutyches. He also confuted Eutyches himself in another letter, which is likewise published in the new editions of the Acts of the Council, and is matter of Church History.

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Sixth Lesson - Preaching that Brought Souls to Tears

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When he preached in public his vehemence was such that he sometimes became speechless from excitement. This happened to him once when he was preaching on the subject of the woman who had an issue of blood. The congregation on this occasion were so wrought up, that they filled the whole place with tears, cries, and prayers, and Peter afterwards thanked God, Who had turned his failure to the profit of their souls. When he had ruled the Church of Ravenna in holiness for about eighteen years, God gave him knowledge that the end of his labours was at hand, and he returned to his home at Imola, to die. When he arrived at Imola, he entered the church of St Cassian, and offered upon the High Altar a great circlet of gold, set with stones of great price, a golden chalice and a silver paten. Water poured out of these vessels hath often healed hydrophobia and fevers. Some of the people of Ravenna had followed the Archbishop, but he now dismissed them, with a charge to use great prudence in their choice of his successor. Then he fell to prayer, that God would mercifully receive his spirit, asking the same likewise for the sake of his patron St Cassian, and so he passed in peace to a better life, on a 2nd of December, about the year of our Lord 450. His holy body was buried, amid the sorrow and veneration of the whole city, hard by the remains of St Cassian, where it lieth even to this day, guarded with great reverence. One arm was cut off and sent to Ravenna, where it is preserved in the Ursian Church, in a reliquary of gold and precious stones.

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The Pilgrim's Spiritual Conference

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Doctrine Develops Without Becoming Another Doctrine

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The Church places this truth before you today: True growth in Catholic doctrine preserves the same meaning and the same judgment; it unfolds what was received, without changing the faith into a novelty. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. Unity of faith is protected when later expression remains identical in substance with what the Church has always taught.

The grace to be practiced is Clear sacred speech ordered to conversion, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Humility tells the truth about weakness without discouragement because it also tells the truth about God's help.

There is also an enemy to recognize: Resist the modernist notion that dogma may change its meaning according to the religious needs of an age. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing clear sacred speech ordered to conversion when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.

Do the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Let a limitation remind you to pray rather than tempt you either to despair or pretense. Before the most difficult duty, pause long enough to ask for grace; after it, give thanks instead of taking possession of success.

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The Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of one; the witness placed beside it is St. Vincent of Lerins.

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Your Resolution Before God

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Withhold needless remarks and use the silence to make aspirations for the persons you would have discussed.

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Christian speech should reveal Christ more clearly than it displays the speaker.
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The Pilgrim's Mirror

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How shall I imitate Christ today?

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“Ask not who said this, but take heed what is said.”
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Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, chapter 5, p. 14

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Truth does not become true through fashion, applause, or a celebrated name. Test what you hear by revelation and the perennial teaching of the Church.

Yet à Kempis also rebukes the curiosity that collects authorities without receiving their doctrine. Listen for the truth God is giving through a trustworthy witness, and then permit that truth to correct you. The name of a saint should not become decoration around an unchanged life.

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Today's Practice

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Reject claims based on novelty or popularity and ask what the Church has always taught.

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Daily Examen

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Three questions before night prayer

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Return every success and failure to God through Mary, keeping neither as material for pride or discouragement.

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  • For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?
  • What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?
  • What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?
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Prayer

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O Lord, through St. Peter Chrysologus, govern my tongue and make every word serve truth, charity, and the salvation of souls.

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Daily Rule for the Pilgrim

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A brief rule to keep every day:

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Begin with morning prayer

Adore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.

Keep the Angelus

Pause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.

Seek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament

Attend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Return to Jesus and Mary

Use frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.

Pray the Rosary

Keep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.

End with night prayer and examen

Give thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.

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Continue Study

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Carry today's lesson into a focused chapter from the library.

\n St. Vincent of Lerins and Catholic Continuity\n
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Persevere, pilgrim.

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The gates remain open to the faithful.

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