Memorial of Saints (February 4)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Andrew Corsini, bishop and confessor
• Theophilus the Penitent
• Phileas, bishop and martyr
• Isidore of Pelusium, abbot
• Modan, abbot
• Nicholas Studites, abbot
• Rembert, bishop
• Joan of Valois, matron
• Joseph of Leonessa
• John de Britto, martyr
• Rabanus Maurus, abbot and bishop

St. Rabanus Maurus or Raban Maur (780-856 A.D.) is credited with composing the hymn "Veni, Creator Spiritus" (Latin for Come, Creator Spirit), and laying the foundation for another hymn, "King of Kings and Lord of Lords", both of which are still sung today.

Said to be born at Mainz, Germany, (or Ireland or probably Scotland), he was educated at the monastery at Fulda under Abbot Bangulf and at Tours under Alcuin. Under Alcuin, Rabanus became a part of the Carolingian renewal of biblical studies and liturgy.

Rabanus returned to Fulda and became master of its school in about 799 A.D. He was ordained in 815 A.D. and became abbot in 822 A.D. He resigned from this position to retire in 842 A.D. but then five years later, in 847 A.D., at the age of 71, he was elected archbishop of Mainz. He imposed strict discipline on his clergy which almost led to a conspiracy against him. But he is more known as the one who helped alleviate a famine by feeding the poor at his episcopal residence. Aside from the Veni Creator Spiritus, he also composed and wrote a martyrology, poetry, and about 64 extant homilies. He died at Winkel, near Mainz.

Veni, Creator Spiritus
by Rabanus Maurus

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator come,
From thy bright heavenly throne!
Come, take possession of our souls,
And make them all thine own!

Thou who art called the Paraclete,
Best gift of God above,
The living spring, the living fire,
Sweet unction, and true love!

Thou who are sevenfold in thy grace,
Finger of God's right hand,
His promise, teaching little ones
To speak and understand!

O guide our minds with thy blest light,
With love our hearts inflame,
And with thy strength which ne'er decays
Confirm our mortal frame.

Far from us drive our hellish foe,
True peace unto us bring,
And through all perils guide us safe
Beneath thy sacred wing.

Through thee may we the Father know,
Through thee the eternal Son,
And thee the Spirit of them both
Thrice-blessed three in one.

All glory to the Father be,
And to the risen Son;
The same to thee, O Paraclete,
While endless ages run. Amen.

Veni, Creator Spiritus, in Gregorian chant, YouTube.com (2:50 minutes)

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 4]

• Isidore of Pelusium
• St. Jador, Martyr

Memorial of Saints (February 3)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Blase, bishop and martyr
• Ansgar, bishop
• Laurence of Spoleto, bishop
• Ia, virgin
• Laurence of Canterbury, bishop
• Werburga, virgin
• Margaret of England, virgin
• Aelred of Rievaulx, abbot

St. Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167 A.D.) was born in Hexham, England. He became master of the household in the court of King David of Scotland where he was loved for his piety, gentleness and spirituality.

Desiring a more austere life, he left Scotland at 24 years of age to become a Cistercian monk at Rievaulx, Yorkshire, England. He became abbot, first at a new Cistercian monastery in Revesby in 1142 A.D., and then at Rievaulx five years later in 1147 A.D. Considered a saint in his own lifetime, he wrote on the spiritual life in "On Spiritual Friendship".

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 3]

• St. Simeon the Venerable-Senex and Theofer

Memorial of Saints (February 2)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Presentation of the Lord
• Adalbald of Ostrevant, martyr
• Joan of Lestonnac, widow
• Cornelius

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is commemorated every February 2 on these calendars:

• General Roman Calendar
• Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches
• the Church of England
• the Episcopal Church in the USA
• the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

St. Joan of Lestonnac or Jeanne de Lestonnac (1556-1640 A.D.) was married and had children. When her husband died and her children were all grown-up, she entered the Cistercian monastery at Toulouse. However, she became very ill and had to leave the monastery. She returned to her birthplace at Bordeaux and lived a devout life. When a plague broke out at Bordeaux, she helped care for the sick and the victims of the plague.

Joan of Lestonnac's brother was a Jesuit in the college of Bordeaux. Together with two other Jesuit confreres, they encouraged Joan to establish a new community to teach formal education to girls. Thus was formed the Congregation of the Religious of Notre Dame of Bordeaux. In 1608 A.D., Joan and her companions received the religious habit from the Archbishop of Bordeaux. Joan was elected superior in 1610 A.D., and when she died many miracles occurred at her tomb. She was canonized in 1949 A.D. by Pope Pius XII. St. Joan of Lestonnac is the patron saint of abuse victims, people rejected by religious orders, and widows.

• Prayer to St. Joan of Lestonnac, patron saint of abuse victims, YouTube.com
• Jeanne de Lestonnac, Wikipedia.org
• St. Joan de Lestonnac, Catholic.org

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 2]

• Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple (Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary or Candlemas Day)

This day, February 2, in the history of Christianity

February 2, 1945 A.D. was the day Fr. Alfred Delp, a Jesuit priest, was hanged by the Nazis for his opposition to Adolph Hitler. In Fr. Delp's final message to his friends, he wrote:

"If through one man's life there is a little more love and kindness, a little more light and truth in the whole world, then he will not have lived in vain."

Beatification process
Fr. Alfred Delp's final parish in Munich sent documentation supporting the start of his official beatification process to the Archbishop of Berlin, Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky, in January 1990 A.D. Learn more at Wikipedia.org