SAINT HILARY
SAINT HIPPOLYTUS
SAINT HUGH OF GRENOBLE
SAINT HYACINTH OF POLAND

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SAINT HILARY-
Bishop and Defender of the Faith/315-367/Feast:Jan,13-#22

fr:Dear Saint,you were of a noble pagan family in Gaul,
but you had an inquiring mind and a desire for truth.Thus,
you passed smoothly from paganism to Christianity,
from the study of philosophy to meditation on the inspired Scriptures.
*You have left us a treasury of admirable writings regarding the 
Holy Trinity and other religious subjects.
Even in our day,your works shed much light on Church teaching.

St:I must say that the Holy Spirit gave me wonderful help to enter deeply 
into revealed truths.Through Baptism of water and the Holy Spirit 
(after I was already a grown and married man),
a supernatural world was opened to my mind.
*You might consider it strange that I was a married man when 
I was called to become a Bishop.Remember,however,that the 
Divine Lord called Peter,a married man,to become Supreme Pontiff.
And in my day the law of priestly celibacy had not yet become 
mandatory.

fr:You went on to become a great defender of the Faith,and in particular 
of Christ's Divinity,in opposition to the error of Arianism.
But you were always kind to those who were in error,and could repeat 
the words of the Master:"Learn from Me because I am gentle."
*This did not prevent you from using strong language--as was also done 
by our Lord--when that was found to be necessary.
As Christ used harsh language against the hypocritical Pharisees,
so did you use harsh language against the Emperor in his blind hostility 
to Christianity.

St:Yes,our Lord used strong language even toward Saint Peter,
but we must not forget that Christ is the Divine Lord.He knows perfectly 
what is in any person's mind and will.*We,on the other hand,
are very fallible creatures who do not know what is in others.
We judge by externals and this always presents the danger of being 
wrong.
We should strive to condemn attitudes,not people.

pr:0 Lord,deliver us from the futile battles of words,and assist us in 
Professing the truth.
Keep us steadfast in faith,a genuine and unadulterated faith.
Enable us to remain faithful to what we promised when we were baptized 
in the name of the Father,the Son,and the Holy Spirit.Let us have 
You as our Father,and continue ever to live in Your Son and in the 
fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

fr:Teach us,dear Saint,to accept and teach what is proclaimed by the 
Magisterium which Christ has established in His Church.Help us to 
follow our consciences,but make sure to form them rightly in accord 
with the guidelines of the Church.
*Let us follow your example to go from natural truths to the truths 
revealed by the Son of God.
And by meditating on them,let us grow day by day in the 
"Science of the Saints."

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SAINT HIPPOLYTUS-
Priest and Martyr/c.170-235/Feast:Aug.13-#17

fr:Dear Saint,sometimes people are inclined to ask why we read the life 
of a Pope,or Martyr,when we do not belong to such categories.
Yet no matter what our office or calling may be,we can learn from the 
Saints to be more faithful followers of Christ--for this is what they strove 
to be.
*Though our knowledge of your life is sketchy,it is evident that as a 
priest in the early Roman Church you were zealous for orthodoxy and 
penitential discipline.

St:Indeed I was.Unfortunately,my concern in this direction made me 
"more orthodox than the Pope," who is really the Voice of Christ.
As a result,I came into conflict with successive Popes on these points:
Zephyrinus (198-217) and especially Callistus (217-222).
*Those who believed as I did went so far as to elect me Pope in 
opposition to Callistus whom I had accused of laxity and heresy.
I know now,of course,that although I was in good faith,
I was an antipope and the head of a schism against the Church during 
the reigns of the next two Popes (Urban 222-230) and Pontian (230-235).

fr:The important thing is that this was the only mark against you,
and you atoned for it by resigning your "pontificate" and giving your 
life for the true Faith in union with Pope Pontian who also resigned.
This happened under the Emperor Maximus in 235.
*The Church rightly honors you for the good things you did as well as 
for your martyrdom.You composed the earliest known commentary on 
Scripture,that of the Book of Daniel,and you zealously defended the Faith.
*You also wrote the Apostolical Constitutions which contains the earliest 
known ritual of ordinations and is the equivalent of a Roman Ritual.
It has proved to be invaluable to the Church and has gained enduring 
renown for you over the years.

St:As far as I am concerned,the best thing I did was to return to the fold 
of the Vicar of Christ and to offer my martyrdom for my schismatic 
years--even though the schism was the result of a good conscience.

pr:Christ is risen,and death has been destroyed.
*Christ is risen,and the demons have been put to rout.
*Christ is risen,and the angels rejoice.
*Christ is risen,and no dead Person remains in the tomb.
*Christ,risen from the dead,is the Head of those who sleep.
To Him be glory and power forever and ever.

fr:Dear Saint,teach us how to live in troubled times.Show us that the 
only true beacon is Christ's Church and His Vicar.
*Make us adhere to that Church and cling to its teachings.For it is in 
doing so that we will be united with the Risen Christ and rise with Him 
to eternal life in glory.

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SAINT HUGH OF GRENOBLE-
Exemplar of Obedience to God's Will/1052-1132/
Feast:Apr.1-#36

fr:Dear Saint,we often recall the words of the Angel to Mary at the 
Annunciation:"Full of grace," which some express by "greatly favored 
one." Of course,Mary is the most favored of all merely human creatures.
*But you too from early childhood appeared much favored by God.
And it would have been most natural for you to consecrate yourself to 
God wholly in the strictest of Religious Orders.

St:One great Religious Founder has said:"Be before the Holy Spirit 
(the Divine Inspirer)like a light feather before the slightest breath of wind.
" This is the attitude I adopted and tried to maintain throughout my life.
*Let us remember that Mary expressed a similar attitude by adding:"
Be it done to me according to your word." She,of course,became the 
Spouse of the Holy Spirit and the Mother of God.

fr:You were ordained and came under the wing of Bishop Hugh,
who entrusted you with most important affairs.
Though drawn to the Religious Life,you were told at the local Council 
of Avignon to accept becoming the Bishop of Grenoble,which was in 
sad straits.
*You accepted out of obedience and were faced with an herculean task.
However,as a prayerful man you knew that you could do everything 
God wanted you to do--through His help.
And the fact is that you literally transformed the diocese in a short time.

St:After two years,I resigned my Bishopric to enter the novitiate of the 
Benedictines of Cluny,but the Pope did not concur and told me to return 
to my diocese.Of course,I returned.Rome had spoken; 
the case was closed.

fr:Like a "feather," you offered no resistance.
We recall that it was to you that Saint Bruno and his six companions 
came in their desire to forsake the world.
You directed them to the desert of Chartreuse,and it was there that they 
founded the famous Carthusian Order.
*In spite of your own love for that kind of life,you obediently followed 
the desire of the Holy Father,which you knew expressed 
God's will for you.

pr:Vanity and inordinate affectionu alone are enough to cause the loss 
of salvation.only through Cod's mercy can we hope to be saved,
and we should never cease to implore it!

fr:Dear Saint,how greatly we need to obey legitimate religious authority,
as you have done!*Instead of constantly desiring to change things,
may we strive to reform ourselves spiritually and work prayerfully 
for a true reform of family life and the life of religious.

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SAINT HYACINTH OF POLAND-
Zealous Missionary and Apostle of the North/
1185-1257/Fease:Aug.17-#38

fr:Dear Saint,you must have rejoiced greatly when in 1978 a Bishop of 
Cracow in Poland became the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church,
the Vicar of Christ on earth.For you were born in Silesia which in your 
day was a part of Poland.
*After studying at Cracow,Prague,and Bologna,you earned the degrees 
of doctor of laws and doctor of theology and became a Canon at the 
Cathedral of Cracow.

St:The Bishop of Cracow in my time was most kind to me.He made me 
assistant in the administration of that diocese.
My uncle Yvo became the next Bishop and took me and another nephew,
Ceslas,to Rome.
*Who could have thought at that time(1218) that 760 years later Bishop 
Wojtyla of Cracow would also go to Rome to assist at a Conclave and 
would then be chosen as Head of the Universal Church.

fr:You had the good fortune of meeting the wonderful 
Saint Dominic in Rome,and inspired by him you became a Dominican 
and received the religious habit from that holy Founder.
The religious authorities must have been impressed by your holiness,
for you were permitted to make your vows after only six months 
spent in the novitiate.

St:Attribute any spiritual goodness found in me to God's merciful 
kindness toward me.
Together with a few others and as their superior,I was then sent to our 
mission.On our way to Poland we preached the Gospel in many places 
and received many who became members of the Dominican Order.
*After a very lengthy journey we arrived in Poland and were received 
with great manifestation of joy by the people of Poland.

fr:Here again,we cannot refrain from pointing out history repeating itself.
For we remember the spectacular reception given in 1979 to 
Bishop Karol Wojtyla 
of Cracow after he had been proclaimed Pope John Paul II.
*As we recall your missionary life we are reminded of Saint Paul's 
missionary journeys.
You went about preaching the Gospel in the Northern Countries,Prussia,
Pomerania,Denmark,Sweden,and Norway.You labored in Russia,
and you even went to China and Tibet.

pr:Dear Lord,my brother is no longer an imperfect man.His soul has 
reached the measure of perfection which you assigned for him from all 
eternity.

fr:Dear Saint,how strange that so many today labor very hard to spread 
a false religion and even godlessness,while we who have the truth stand 
idly by.
*Inspire many to become like you in sanctifying and sacrificing 
themselves to spread the true Faith.Intercede for us that the 
Holy Spirit may animate us as He animated you.

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