NOVEMBER 5TH, FERIA OF THE XXI. WEEK AFTER PENTECOST

Month in honor of the Poor Souls in Purgatory.

Although today is a feria or "dies non" on which no particular Saint is assigned to be celebrated, as the first liturgically free day, in many places this day was used (since we are in the Octave of All Saints) to honor all the relics in the Diocese. Also remembered today by the Roman Church in her Martyrology are —

Saints Zachary and Elizabeth, parents of Saint John the Baptist. And Saint Bertille, Abbess. One thing that grabs my attention about Saint Bertille is the times in which she lived (7th century). These were the times of the converted Germanic people's (hers were the Franks, but have also the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, the Frites, the Goths, the Visigoths, and many others). I get lost meditating on all the Catholics (and Saints) that have gone before us. What would it be like to spend a year in their shoes, and then see one of them spend a year with us?!

ST. BERTILLE, Abbess.

ST. BERTILLE was born of one of the most illustrious families in the territory of Soissons, in the reign of Dagobert I. As she grew up she learned perfectly to despise the world, and earnestly desired to renounce it. Not daring to tell this to her parents, she first consulted St. Ouen, by whom she was encouraged in her resolution. The Saint’s parents were then made acquainted with her desire, which God inclined them not to oppose. They conducted her to Jouarre, a great monastery in Brie, four leagues from Meaux, where she was received with great joy and trained up in the strictest practice of monastic perfection. By her perfect submission to all her sisters she seemed every one’s servant, and acquitted herself with such great charity and edification that she was chosen prioress to assist the abbess in her administration. About the year 646 she was appointed first abbess of the abbey of Chelles, which she governed for forty-six years with equal vigor and discretion, until she closed her penitential life in 692.

Reflection.-- It is written that the Saints raise them selves heavenward, going from virtue to virtue, as by steps.

- Fr. D.B. Thompson