Sunday, October 12. 19th after Pentecost. (Green.) Monday, October 13. St. Edward the Confessor. (White.)
Edward would have been happier in a monastery than on a throne. Uncongenial as may have been the cares of State, however, he ruled England in such a manner that under him the country had peace and good government. He died in 1066 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where his tomb is still a-place of pilgrimage.
Tuesday, October 14. St. Callistus I. (Red.)
Elected Bishop of Rome in 217, his pontificate was chiefly remarkable for his condemnation of the Sabellian heresy. Perhaps because his own youth had been irregular, he was noted for his clemency towards sinners and on this account incurred the hostility eif the rigorists. Martyred in 222.
Wednesday, October 15. St. Teresa of Avila. (White.)
To mystical gifts of the highest order, St. Teresa added womanly attractiveness, a sense of humour and intellectual powers on account of which she is popularly, though not officially, known as a Doctor of the Church. She showed fine courage in her work of establishing convents according to the primitive observance of the Carmelite Order. In conjunction with St. John of the Cross. she extended her reforms to the friars of this Order. She died in 1582.
Thursday, October 16. Hedwig, Bd.
(White.)
At the age of thirteen became Queen of Poland and, through her marriage, for political reasons, with a Duke of Lithuania hastened the conversion of the Lithuanians, up to that time heathens. She was born in 1371 and died in 1399.
Friday, October 17. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. (White.)
A nun of the Order of the Visitation. The visions of Our Lord granted her led to the initiation of devotion to the Sacred Heart. She died in 1690 at the age of forty-three.
Saturday, October 18. St. Luke, Evangelist. (Red.) A Greek by birth, he became the companion of St. Paul in his apostolic labours. To him we owe both the Gospel which bears his name and the Acts of the Apostles.