February 24th - St. Matthias, Apostle, and Blessed Robert of Arbrissel

[Elizabeth]

Saint Matthias

Apostle

(† 63)

After our Blessed Lord's Ascension His disciples came together, with Mary His mother and the eleven Apostles, in an upper room at Jerusalem. The little company numbered no more than one hundred and twenty souls. They were waiting for the promised coming of the Holy Ghost, and they persevered in prayer. Meanwhile there was a solemn act to be performed on the part of the Church, which could not be postponed. The place of the fallen Judas had to be filled, that the number of the Apostles might be complete. Saint Peter, therefore, as Vicar of Christ, arose to announce the divine decree. What the Holy Ghost had spoken by the mouth of David concerning Judas, he said, must be fulfilled. Of him it had been written, His bishopric let another take. A choice, therefore, was needed of one among those who had been their companions from the beginning, who could bear witness to the Resurrection of Jesus.

Two were named of equal merit, Joseph called Barsabas, and Matthias. After praying to God, who knows the hearts of all men, to show which of these He had chosen, they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, who was thereby numbered with the Apostles. It is recorded of the Saint, wonderfully elected to so high a vocation, that he was remarkable for his mortification of the flesh. It was thus that he made his election sure.

He preached in Judea where he was persecuted by both Jews and Gentiles, and died by stoning, a victim of their pursuits, in the year 63. His body was taken to Rome by Saint Helena, mother of Constantine, some 250 years later. A church there bears his name.

Blessed Robert of Arbrissel
Abbot
(1045-1117)

Blessed Robert, one of the principal historical figures of his time and one of the most astonishing Saints of the Church, was born at Arbrissel, now Arbressec, a short distance from Rennes, in about 1045. He studied in Paris, sustained in his poverty by the assistance of charitable benefactors, and became there a celebrated doctor in the sacred sciences. His remarkable gifts were everywhere appreciated. It is supposed that he was ordained a priest in Paris, before the bishop of his native diocese of Rennes recalled him in 1085 to assist him in reforming his flock.

There in Brittany, as archpriest, Robert devoted himself to the healing of feuds, the suppression of simony, lay investiture, clerical concubinage and irregular marriages. He was compelled, by the hostility his reforming zeal had caused, to leave the diocese when his bishop died in 1093.

After teaching theology for a time in Angers, in 1095 he became a hermit near Laval with several others, two of whom later founded monasteries, as he himself did in 1096, at the site where they were then dwelling in the forest of Craon near Roe. The reputation of the solitaries had attracted many to visit them, and the piety, kindness, eloquence and strong personality of Robert in particular drew many followers; it is said that the forest of Craon became the dwelling-place of a multitude of anchorites, as once the deserts of Egypt were.

Blessed Robert was summoned by Pope Urban II to go to Angers to preach for the dedication of a church; the Pope sent him out from there as apostolic missionary, on a preaching tour of the various provinces. He left his abbacy in the region of Roe and taught abandonment of the world and evangelical poverty all over western France.

His gifts of grace and nature attracted crowds and effected countless conversions. His disciples were of all ages and conditions, including lepers; even whole families followed him everywhere. Thus was founded his famous monastery of Fontevrault, not far from Cannes, to lodge these flocks of determined followers of the Gospel. The men dwelt in a separate region from the women; each group had its chapel, and the lepers their quarters apart. Charity, silence, modesty and meekness characterized these establishments, which were sustained by the products of the earth and the alms offered by the neighboring populations.

Until the death of the holy patriarch in 1117, he continued to preach everywhere in western France. The enemy of souls could not remain indifferent to all of this Christian sanctity. Persecuted by certain heretics and others during his life, Blessed Robert was accused of exaggeration and calumniated after his death, but the accusatory writings were eventually declared to be forgeries. A calumniatory letter, attributed falsely to an abbot of western France, who had in other situations shown a vindictive spirit, was definitely proved not to be from his hand, but written by the heretic Roscelin and containing pure fabrications.

Blessed Robert is remembered for his ideal of perfect poverty, both exterior and interior, according to the words of Our Lord, His first beatitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit. He was buried at Fontevrault, as he had desired to be, but his remains were later transferred to a house of the Order, restored in 1806 after the revolution, at Chemillé in the diocese of Angers.

The first biography of Blessed Robert was written by Baudri, Archbishop of Dol in Brittany, his intimate friend, at the request of Venerable Petronilla of Chemillé, widow, and first Abbess of this immense and celebrated monastery, who was named by Blessed Robert to replace him at his death as Superior General of the Order of Fontevrault. The feast of Venerable Petronilla (†1149) was celebrated by the Order of Fontevrault on April 24th. The Bollandists remark: Her existence was marked by many contradictions, but she had the courage to pass beyond the judgment of human beings and to walk without deviating on the path to heaven.

[Stone]

February 24 – St. Matthias, Apostle

Taken from The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger (1841-1875)

In Leap-Year, the Feast of St. Matthias is kept on the 25th of February.

An Apostle of Jesus Christ, St. Matthias is one of the Blessed choir which the Church would have us honor during the Season of Lent. Matthias was one of the first to follow our Savior, and he was an eyewitness of all his divine actions up to the very day of the Ascension. He was one of the seventy-two Disciples; but our Lord had not conferred upon him the dignity of an Apostle. And yet, he was to have this great glory, for it was of him that David spoke when he prophesied that another should take the Bishopric left vacant by the apostasy of Judas the Traitor. In the interval between Jesus’ Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the Apostolic College had to complete the mystic number fixed by our Lord himself, so that there might be “The Twelve” on that solemn day when the Church, filled with the Holy Ghost, was to manifest herself to the Synagogue. The lot fell on Matthias; he shared with his Brother-Apostles in the Jerusalem persecution and, when the time came for the Ambassadors of Christ to separate, he set out for the countries allotted to him. Tradition tells us that these were Capadocia and the provinces bordering on the Caspian Sea.

The virtues, labors and sufferings of St. Matthias have not been handed down to us: this explains there being no proper Lessons on his Life, as there are for the Feasts of the rest of the Apostles. Clement of Alexandria records, in his Writings, several sayings of our holy Apostle. One of these is so very appropriate to the spirit of the present Season that we consider it a duty to quote it. “It behooves us to combat the flesh and make use of it without pampering it by unlawful gratifications. As to the soul, we must develop her power by Faith and Knowledge.” How profound is the teaching contained in these few words! Sin has deranged the order which the Creator had established. It gave the outward man such a tendency to grovel in things which degrade him that the only means left us for the restoration of the Likeness and Image of God unto which we were created is the forcibly subjecting the Body to the Spirit. But the Spirit itself, that is, the Soul, was also impaired by Original Sin, and her inclinations were made prone to evil—what is to be her protection? Faith and Knowledge. Faith humbles her, and then exalts and rewards her; and the reward is Knowledge. Here we have a summary of what the Church teaches us during the two Seasons of Septuagesima and Lent. Let us thank the holy Apostle, in this his Feast, for leaving us such a lesson of spiritual wisdom and fortitude. The same traditions which give us some slight information regarding the holy life of St. Matthias tell us that his Apostolic labors were crowned with the palm of martyrdom.

 Let us celebrate his triumph by the following Stanzas, which are taken from the Menæa of the Greeks.

Hymn

(Die IX. Augusti.)

Matthia beate, Eden spiritualis, fontibus divinis ut fluvius inundans scaturisti, et mysticis terram irrigasti rivulis, et illam fructiferam reddidisti; ideo deprecare Dominum ut animabus nostric pacem concedat et magnam misericordiam. 
O Blessed Matthias! thou, o spiritual Eden, didst flow like a full river, from the divine fountain; thou didst water the earth with thy mystic rivulets, and make it fruitful. Do thou, therefore, beseech the Lord that he grant peace and much mercy to our souls.


Matthia Apostole, divinum replevisti collegium ex quo Judas ceciderat, et divinis sapientum sermonum tuorum fulgoribus tenebras fugasti idolatriæ, virtute Spiritus Sancti; et nunc deprecare Dominum, ut mentibus nostris concedat pacem et magnam misericordiam. 
O Apostle Matthias! thou didst complete the sacred college, from which Judas had fallen; and, by the power of the Holy Ghost, thou didst put to flight the darkness of idolatry by the admirable lightnings of thy wise words. Do thou now beseech the Lord that he grant peace and much mercy to our souls.


Ut multifrugiferum palmitem te Vitis vera direxit, colentem avam quæ salutis vinum profundit; illus bibentes qui detinebantur ignorantia, erroris temulentiam rejecerunt. 
He that is the True Vine sent thee, a fruitful branch, bearing the grapes that give out the wine of salvation. When they drank it that before were slaves to ignorance, they turned from the drunkenness of error.


Erroris axes, iniquitatis currus, Verbi Dei ipse currus factus, gloriose, in perpetuum contrivisti; et idolatras, et columnas et templa radicitus divina virtute destruxisti, Trinitatis vero templa ædificasti clamentia: Populi, superexaltate Christum in sæcula. 
Being made, O glorious Matthias, the chariot of God’s Word, thou didst break forever the wheels of error, and the chariots of iniquity. By the divine power, thou didst defeat the idolaters, and destroy the pillars and the temples; but thou didst build up to the Trinity other temples, which echoed with these words: All ye people, praise Christ above all forever!


Ut spirituale Cœlum apparuisti, enarrans gloriam unigeniti Filii Dei ineffabilem, Matthia venerabilis; fulgur Spiritus Sancti, piscator errantium, lumen divinæ claritatis, mysteriorum doctor; ipsum in lætitia unanimi voce celebremus. 
O venerable Matthias! thou, like a spiritual firmament, didst proclaim the glory of the Only-Begotten Son of God. Let us with one glad voice celebrate the praise of this Apostle, who was effulgent with the Holy Ghost; he was the fisher of them that had gone astray, the light that reflected the divine brightness, the teacher of the mysteries.

Amicum te dixit Salvator, suis obtemperantem mandatis, beate Apostole, et ipsius regni hæredem, et cum ipso sedentem in throno in futura terribili die, sapientissime Matthia, collegii duodenarii Apostolorum complementum. 
O blessed Apostle! the Savior called thee his Friend, because thou didst keep his commandments. Thou art heir to his kingdom, and thou art to sit with him, on a throne, at the last terrible day, O most wise Matthias, who didst complete the twelve of the Apostolic college.


Crucis velamine instructus, vitæ sæviens mare trajecisti, beate,et ad requiei portum pervenisti; et nunc lætus cum Apostolorum choro judicum altissimo adstare digneris, Dominum pro nobis exorans misericordem. 
Guided by the sail of the Cross, thou, O blessed one, didst pass over the troubled sea of life, and didst reach the haven of rest. Do thou now vouchsafe to join the glad choir of the Apostles, and beseech the infinite Judge, the he would show himself a merciful Lord unto us.


Lampas aureo nitore fulgens, Spiritus Sancti ellychnio ardens, lingua tua apparuit, extranea comburens dogmata, extraneum extinguens ignem, o sapiens Matthia, lucem fulgurans sedentibus in tenebris ignorantiæ. 
Thy tongue was a bright lamp of glittering gold, burning with the flame of the Holy Ghost. Thou didst consume all strange doctrines, thou didst quench all fire that was profane, and to them that sat in the darkness of ignorance, thou, O wise Matthias, didst show a brilliant light.