Blessed Charles of Blois

Blessed Charles of Blois – September 29th

Charles was a French prince who would have liked to be a Franciscan friar, but spent most of his life on the battlefield. He was a nephew of King Philip VI of France, and when he was seventeen, he married Joan of Brittany. But there was another man who claimed he should be Duke of Brittany, instead of Charles. That is how all the fighting began, and it lasted his whole life.

Blessed Charles hated wars, for he saw how much suffering they bring. Once he offered to settle the whole matter by fighting alone against his rival, but the wars went on. The holy prince did all he could to help the wounded after every battle and to take care of the poor people in the towns he conquered. Barefoot he made pilgrimages and he built religious houses where monks and nuns would pray for him and for the soldiers who were killed in battle. Once, he held up a big battle in order to go to Mass first. One of his officers was angry at that, but Blessed Charles answered, “We can always get towns and castles. If we lose them, God will help us get them back again. But we cannot afford to miss Mass.”

Even while in prison for nine years in London, Charles won the admiration of his jailers because of his calm patience and his spirit of prayer. When he was set free, he went back to fight for his land again, and was finally killed on the battlefield. So many miracles took place at his tomb that the people of Brittany began calling him a saint right away.

Do I easily find excuses to miss Mass? How do I assist at Mass? Let us often remember the example of this Saint, who even held up a big battle in order to go to Mass first.

Dedication of St. Michael

Dedication of St. Michael – September 29th

There are more than ten Roman churches dedicated to St. Michael. To-day’s feast celebrates the consecration in 530 by Boniface II of the venerable sanctuary seven miles from the city on the Salarian way. The Mass now used for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost was composed for the occasion, which accounts for its many references to the consecration of a church. To-day’s Mass has much in common with that of the Guardian Angels, the two feasts having long been celebrated together.

The Name Michael means, in Hebrew, “who is like to God?” and recalls the battle in heaven between “the prince of the heavenly host”* and the devil, a battle which began with Lucifer’s rebellion and continues down the ages. In this tremendous struggle Michael and his angels together with the Church and her saints are Christ’s allies against Satan and his devils with all their henchmen. We are all involved in this fight, and St. Michael and the angels help us so that we may not perish in the day of God’s judgment (All.). When a Christian dies, the Church prays that God’s standard-bearer may lead him into heaven**, and so he is often represented bearing the scales of divine justice in which souls are weighed. St. Michael also presides over our worship of God, for he is the angel whom St. John saw in heaven near God’s altar, a golden censer in his hand, offering the fragrant incense of the prayers of the saints. (1st Ant. At Vespers; Off.; cf. the blessing of incense at the Offertory in the ordinary of the Mass). St. Michael’s name is mentioned in the Confiteor after that of Mary, the Queen of the angels. He is the angel protector of the Church as he formerly was of the Jewish people. The liturgy identifies him with the angel who gave God’s revelation to St. John in the Apocalypse (Ep.).

* Prayers for the agonizing and prayers after low Mass.

** Offertory of the Requiem Mass.