October 4th - St. Ammon the Egyptian

October 4th - St. Ammon the Egyptian

Our Venerable Father Ammon the Egyptian (4th/17th) was one of the great
Desert
Fathers and a contemporary and fellow-ascetic of St Antony the Great. He was
orphaned when he was a small child and was brought up by an uncle. In his
youth,
he was required by his uncle to marry, but as soon as he and his bride
entered
the bridal chamber, they began to read the Scriptures. Coming upon St Paul's
words about marriage and virginity in the first Epistle to the Corinthians,
they
resolved that they would live together in virginity, married in the sight of
the
world but secretly living an ascetical life. After some time, they moved to
a
desert place so that they could more easily live the ascetic life, and they
settled in a hut on Mount Nitria. However, they found from experience, that
living together in this way was not expedient, and so they parted to live
separately.

Ammon lived a very strict ascetical life, never using wine or oil in his
diet,
and eating only dry bread every two or three days. Through his struggles he
was
deemed worthy to receive grace from the Lord, and disciples began to gather
around him. Each lived in a separate cell so as to maintain quiet or
stillness.
But when a new member joined the community, St Ammon would leave his own
cell
for the new brother, and build himself a new one, thus giving them an
example of
hospitality and of love-of-labour. The community grew so large that some of
the
brethren conceived the idea of living some distance from the Nitrian
community.

Once when St Antony visit Ammon, he asked the great Elder's advice on this
matter, and after the meal at the ninth hour (three in the afternoon) they
both
set out into the desert and walked until sunset. There they set up a Cross,
and
the two saints blessed those who wished to build their cells where the cross
was planted. Thus a second community was founded which became known as "the
Cells" (Kellia).

When St Ammon ended his earthly course, St Antony was far away in his
mountain
hermitage, but at that moment he broke off his conversation with some of the
monks, and beheld the soul of Ammon being escorted into the heavenly realms
by
choirs of Angels. Some of the words of St Ammon have been recorded and come
down
to us for our edification. One perhaps which in these days of great
irritation
we can all profit from is: "Bear with everyone as God bears with you."


Saint Quote:
Before he set out for Germany, Saint Peter Canisius underwent a profound
spiritual experience. He describes it:

"It was as if you opened to me the heart in your most sacred body. I seemed
to
see it directly before my eyes. You told me to drink from this fountain,
inviting me, that is, to draw the waters of my salvation from your
wellsprings,
my Savior. I was most eager that streams of faith, hope, and love should
flow
into me from that source. I was thirsting for poverty, chastity, obedience.
I
asked to be made wholly clean by you, to be clothed by you, to be made
resplendent by you.
So, after daring to approach your most loving heart, and to plunge my thirst
into it, I received a promise from you of a garment made of three parts:
these
were to cover my soul in its nakedness, and to belong especially to my
religious
profession. They were peace, love, and perseverance. Protected by this
garment
of salvation, I was confident that I would lack nothing but all would
succeed
and give you glory."
-- Saint Peter Canisius


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NOVENA TO SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Glorious Saint Francis,
who voluntarily renounced
all the comforts and riches of your home
to follow more perfectly the life of poverty
and abnegation of Jesus Christ:
obtain for us,
we pray,
a generous contempt of all things in this world,
that we may secure the true
and eternal things of heaven.

Say the Glory be....

O glorious Saint Francis,
who during the whole course of your life
continually wept over the passion of the Redeemer,
and labour most zealously for the salvation of souls:
obtain for us,
we pray,
the grace of weeping continually
over those sins
by which we have crucified
afresh Our Lord Jesus Christ,
that we may attain to be of the number
of those who shall eternally bless His supreme mercy.

Say the Glory be....

O glorious Saint Francis,
who, loving above all things suffering and the cross,
merited to bear in your body the miraculous stigmata,
by which you became a living image
of Jesus Christ crucified:
obtain for us,
we pray,
the grace to bear in our bodies
the mortifications of Christ,
that we may merit one day
to receive the consolations
which are infallibly promised
to all those who now weep.

"If we be dead with Christ Jesus,
we shall live also with Him," says the Apostle;
"if we suffer,
we shall also reign with Him." [2 Tim. 2:11-12]

Pray for us, Saint Francis,
that we may obtain the graces and favours
we ask for in this novena;
pray for us, especially,
that we may obtain the grace of perseverance;
of a holy death and a happy eternity.

Say 5 times the Our Father...,
the Hail Mary... and the
Glory be....



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