William of Vercelli, Abbot

Bishop Henares was born in Spain in 1765. He became bishop- coadjutor to Blessed Ignatius Delgado in 1803. In 1838, Bishop Henares, Bishop Ignatius Delgado, the apostolic-vicar of Tonkin, and Francis Chien were captured during a persecution stirred up by the mandarin. The prelates and a young priest had been hidden in the village of Kien-lao, and were accidentally betrayed by a little child who was cleverly questioned by a pagan teacher searching for the foreigners.

Alarmed at the sudden activities, the captors of Bishop Delgado put him into a small cage which was locked around him, and then put into jail with criminals. Delgado was tortured but refused to hint at the location of the others and was eventually killed. The young priest escaped.

Bishop Henares was captured at the same time. He had hidden himself in a boat, and the nervousness of the boatmen gave him away. Five hundred soldiers were detached to bring in the two dangerous criminals--the bishop and his catechist. They, too, were questioned endlessly. Two weeks after the death of Bishop Delgado, Henares was led out and beheaded in company with Chien.

The relics of all three martyrs were recovered in part, and were honorably buried by the next Dominicans to come on the scene-- Bishop Hermosilla and his companions, who would, as they knew, also be the next to die. Many of the records of these brave men were lost or deliberately destroyed, and many of them--we hope--may still be found in various neglected spots which war and trouble have caused to be overlooked (Benedictines, Dorcy).

In 843, a Norman named Lambert, who had wished for the countship of Nantes but had been driven out by the citizens, returned to Nantes on a ship. The monks of a local monastery carried their ecclesiastical treasure to the church of SS. Peter and Paul, where Bishop Gohard was celebrating a feast of Saint John the Baptist.

The church was filled with people who had gathered there in fear of the Normans. The Normans broke down the doors and windows and murdered Gohard and the priests and monks who were present. They burned the church, sacked the city, and kidnapped leading citizens, placing a ransom on their heads.

The body of Gohard was recovered, and his relics were taken to his native town of Angers. He is portrayed in art being beheaded on an altar (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, White).

In his two homilies on thanksgiving, he earnestly inculcates the duty of praising God daily, especially using the Psalms. He strongly insists that no one ought ever to neglect morning and evening prayer, or his thanksgiving before and after every meal. This saintly bishop exhorts us to make the sign of the cross before every action, saying, "that by the sign of Jesus Christ (devoutly used) a blessing is ensured to us in all things." The saint criticizes the abuses of New Year's Day, especially the then prevalent custom of giving presents to the rich without at the same time giving alms to the poor, and the hypocritical formalities of friendship in which the heart has no share. He also wrote "Against heretics who sell the pardon of sins," whose pretended priests exacted money for absolving penitents instead of bidding them do penance, and weep for their offenses.

Maximus participated in the council of Milan in 451, and at that of Rome under Pope Saint Hilary, in 465, in which latter he subscribed just after the pope. He had to endure much during his episcopacy because of the barbarian incursions into Italy (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth). In art, Saint Maximus is a bishop with a hind near him (Roeder).

Moluag actually arrived about a year before Columba in Scotland. He was accompanied by Saint Comgall, an Irish Pict, who presented him to King Brude to obtain his authority for the mission. Columba, incidentally, had Comgall perform the same service for him. It is possible that King Brude preferred Moluag to Columba, and that is what led Moluag to concentrate more on the Picts. It would be quite natural that the Pictish king might have some reservations about the Ulster prince Columba, who was a natural leader of the Gaelic people in Scotland. Whatever happened, the two missionaries gradually brought an end to the armed conflict between the two nations.

The blackthorn crozier (Bachuill Mor) of Saint Moluag is in the possession of the Campbells, dukes of Argyle, who traditionally carried it with them into battle. His shrine was at Mortlach. On the island of Lewis, the custom persisted, despite the Scottish reformers' attempts to stop it, until the 19th century of conducting a ritual service of intercession to Moluag at his titular church Teampall Mo Luigh. Although the cultus of Moluag decreased together with the power of the Pictish people he evangelized, there are many memorials to Moluag in the form of ancient churches and placenames. Kilmoluag is a common example. The name "Luke," which is very common among men in Scotland, is reliably stated to be derived from Moluag.

Saint Moluag is invoked against insanity and his intercession sought to heal wounds and to send wooden replicas of the cured limbs (Benedictines, Montague)

None of this would have troubled the humble Saint Prosper. He cared so little about his own glory that he built and consecrated this church outside the walls of Reggio, and directed that he should be buried there. But, far from forgetting about him, the people of Reggio claimed them for their own.

When a rich young man asked Jesus, "What have I to do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus replied, "Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: then come, follow me."

Tradition holds that Prosper, a true follower of Jesus, took His command seriously. He distributed his goods to the poor and died after ruling as bishop of Reggio, Emilia, Italy, for 22 years. His relics were translated in 703 to a new church built in his honor by Thomas, the bishop of Reggio. This Saint Prosper should not be confused with Prosper of Aquitaine (above), his contemporary (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, White).

Saint William was born to noble parents. He was orphaned while still an infant and was raised by relatives. When he was 14, William made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, Spain. William was at Melfi in 1106 and then spent two years as a hermit on Monte Solicoli, where he imposed rigorous penances on himself.

Thereafter he decided to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His friend, Saint John of Matera tried to dissuade him but William insisted on going. After abandoning a pilgrimage to Jerusalem when attacked by robbers, he became a hermit on Monte Virgiliano (Vergine) between Nola and Benevento and attracted so many disciples that he organized them into a community that by 1119 became known as the Hermits of Monte Vergine (in honor of the Blessed Virgin), and he built a monastery. Under his Rule, based on that of Saint Benedict, the monks led a life of extreme austerity, with special emphasis on fasting and manual labor.

When objections arose against the strictness of his rule based on that of Saint Benedict, he and his friend Saint John of Matera with five followers founded a community on Monte Laceno in Apulia, one of the most inhospitable places in the region. The soil was so poor that almost nothing could grow in it and in winter the weather was so bitter that the monks, who were living in wooden huts, could barely survive. William was urged to move to a more sheltered location, but refused. When fire destroyed their hermitages, William moved to Monte Cognato in the Basilicata. Again he left and founded monasteries at Conza, Guglietto, and Salerno opposite the palace where he became advisor to King Roger I of Naples. He died at Guglietto, while visiting the nuns of San Salvatore. Though his other foundations have disappeared, his monastery at Monte Vergine still exists (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

Saint William is depicted in art as an abbot near a wolf wearing a saddle. He may also be portrayed as he saddles the wolf that killed his ass, as a pilgrim, or with Christ appearing to him (Roeder). He is venerated at Benevento, Giuleto (near Nusco), Nola, and Vercelli (Roeder).