Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Saint William.
Abbot.
Feast Day 25 June.
Double.
White Vestments.
Saint William of Vercelli.
Statue at Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican.
Date: 1878.
Source: http://www.stpetersbasilica.org/
Author: Giuseppe Prinzi.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint William was born, in 1085, of noble parents, at Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy. Having left his family and renounced his riches (Gospel), he built a Monastery on Monte Vergine.
Like Moses, to whom God gave His Law on the mountain (Epistle), under the guidance of Heaven, he gave to the Congregation of Hermits, whose father he became (Communion), a Rule, inspired, in a great measure, by that of Saint Benedict.
His holy life was entirely spent in the meditation of Divine things (Introit), and became renowned by his numerous Miracles.
After having foretold the moment of his death, he fell asleep in The Lord in 1142, and in Heaven his brow was encircled with "the Crown of Precious Stones" (Gradual, Offertory), the symbol of his virtues.
Let us walk in the footsteps of Saint William, with the help of his Prayers (Collect).
Mass: Os justi.
Commemoration: The Octave of Saint John the Baptist.
English: The Abbey of San Guglielmo al Goleto, in what is now Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, Italy, was Founded by Saint William of Vercelli in 1114. It was started as a female Cloister, with a small attached Monastery for the spiritual guidance and economic assistance of the Nuns.
The period 1135-1515 was known as The "Age of the Nuns." The Cloister became wealthy from 1135 to 1348 until The Black Death struck and the Cloister began to decline. On 24 January 1506, Pope Julius II declared that, upon the death of the last Abbess, the Cloister would be closed, which occurred in 1515.
The “Age of The Nuns” was followed by the “Epoch of The Monks” from 1515 to 1807. When the Cloister closed in 1515, the Monastery merged with that on Montevergine and began to grow. Pope Sixtus V, who was also Superior of The Franciscan Convent of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, accelerated this growth. The Monastery reached its peak between the 17th- and 18th-Centuries.
In 1807, The King of Naples, Joseph Bonaparte, ordered the Abbey closed. Saint William's body was moved to Montevergine and the furnishings of the Abbey were looted. The Abbey remained abandoned until 1973, when a Monk of Montevergine, Lucio M. De Marino, obtained permission to relocate to Goleto, re-occupying the Abbey and beginning its restoration. In 1989, the Abbey was entrusted to The Little Brothers of Jesus
Español: Abadia de Goleto, Campania, Italia.
Photo: 23 October 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Bocachete
(Wikimedia Commons)
Saint William. Abbot.
Available on YouTube at
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.
Saint William of Montevergine, or, Saint William of Vercelli, (Italian Guglielmo) (Latin Gulielmus) (1085 – 25 June 1142) was a Catholic Hermit and the Founder of The Congregation of Monte Vergine, or, "Williamites".
He was born into a noble family of Vercelli, in North-West Italy, and brought up by a relation after the death of his parents. He undertook a Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Catholic Tradition states that, on his Pilgrimage to Compostela, William encircled his body with iron bands to increase his suffering.
He then lived as a Hermit on the summit of Monte Vergine (then known as Monte Vergiliana), between Nola [Editor: See Saint Paulinus of Nola - Feast Day two days ago, 22 June] and Benevento. Here, he attracted a number of followers and founded the Monastery of Montevergine.
While at Montevergine, William of Vercelli is stated as having performed Miracles. King Roger I of Sicily served as a Patron to William, who Founded many Monasteries for men and women in Sicily. The Catholic Encyclopedia states that King Roger I built a Monastery opposite his Palace at Salerno, Italy, in order to have William always near him.
Saint William died at Goleto, a Daughter House of Montevergine, near Nusco, Province of Avellino. Catholic Tradition states that William foresaw his own imminent death “by special revelation”.
The following Text is from
INSTITUTE OF CHRIST THE KING SOVEREIGN PRIEST
The Feast Day of Saint William was inserted into the Church's Calendar by Pope Leo XIII.
Outstanding summary of S. William of Vercelli— as usual, Zephyrinus.
ReplyDeleteIt is always very telling to trace the lengthy history of these great monasteries, abbeys, cathedrals, and foundations —as in this case, from its founding in 1114 AD, through the travails of the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Neo-Classical—until in almost every case, watch for it, here it comes— sometime in the early 1800’s—1807 for Goleto, in this case, under Joseph Bonaparte, expect the worst—they are ordered closed and then looted. Such high and noble secularist enlightenment ideals!
Looking back, one sees the destructive cumulative effect of the “Enlightenment” thinkers on leadership: the atheists, the rationalists, the secularists; Hume, Diderot, Spinoza, Hobbes, Descartes, Rosseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu— and both then and now, the readiness of newly “enlightened” leadership to demolish Faith—which next inevitably leads to a godless revolutionary state and in fact the death of those very leaders, such as the imperial Bonapartes.
When one looks back on history, like this example of the Abbey of Goleto, the present age of godlessness has a long ancestry: And the same hypocritical professed ideals of liberty, fraternity and especially “equality.”
It gives one perspective: by any reasonable measure, the Catholic Faith should have been stamped out long ago. But despite all, the light of Faith flickers on.
And this is the consummate proof of God’s existence and the eventual Triumph of the Sacred Heart.
Another exquisite Commentary from Dante Peregrinus. Thank You.
DeleteIndeed, the very wonderful, clever, enlightened, know-it-all, Secularist Fools (there are plenty around today, as well), always assume (in fact, they KNOW), that they are right.
The evidence of their destruction and evil attempts to wipe out Catholicism, in particular, are manifest examples of The Work of The Dark One.
But, whatever you do, do not tell them that they are wrong !!! They cannot handle that.
Instead, they continue to insist on their brightly-coloured flags being flown from every building possible. In addition to bowing and scraping to the latest fad or cause célèbre.
Pity the young (Students, etc) who follow along like lost sheep; blinkered and ignorant.
But, whatever you do, don't tell them that they are wrong. They cannot handle that !!!
Absolutely correct, Zephyrinus: the know-it-all’s, the “enlightened ones,” the clever secularist fools, are certain of how right they are: and there is no doubt that the Catholic Church is a premiere target.
ReplyDeleteYou may have heard of Victor Davis Hansen, the scholar of history (in fact, an expert on the Peloponnesian Wars): he has made the observation that the world elites presently deciding so many catastrophic decisions—like the disastrous world lockdown of the past year-and-a-half—the Neil Fergusons, the Peter Daszaks, the Dr. Anthony Fauci’s, the Zuckerbergs, the Prince Charles’s, the Jeffrey Sachs’s— are the equivalents of Plato’s “Guardians” in ‘The Republic,’ because of their superior knowledge and elite knowledge of what’s best for society, so they can lie to the common man, because it is “really for their own good.” It is just too difficult for the common man to know and understand their lofty thoughts and planning.
Hansen recently gave a great lecture in an interview with Jan Jekielek on “The Assault on Meritocracy, the Politicization of the Virus, and ‘The Platonic Noble Lie.” We are living in “a post-truth world,” so our medical experts can lie to us because they want us to “be safe.” In fact they can lie to us about just about anything, because their motivation is ‘noble and good.’ And yet they have no liability for the tragically terrible decisions they have wrought.
It really makes one take to heart once again the Psalmist: “Put no trust in princes, in mortal men who cannot save: When their spirit departs they return to the ground.” -Ps. 146: 3-7 (Ps. 145, Vulgate)