In Christ we have peace

"When [Jesus] says, 'These things have I spoken to you, that in me
you might have peace,' he refers not only to what he has just said but
also to what he had said all along, either from the time that he first
had disciples, or since the supper, when he began this long and
wonderful discourse... He declares this to be the object of his whole discourse, that is, that in him they might have peace. And this peace
will have no end but is itself the end of every godly action and
intention."
--St. Augustine--(excerpt from TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 104.1.15)

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June 6th - Saint Claudius of Besançon
(French: Saint Claude, sometimes called Claude the Thaumaturge)

(b. ca. 607 - d. June 6, 696 or 699 AD)

St. Claudius was a priest, monk, abbot, and bishop. A native of
Franche-Comté, Claudius became a priest at Besançon and later a monk.
Georges Goyau in the Catholic Encyclopedia wrote that “The Life of St. Claudius, Abbot of Condat, has been the subject of much controversy.” Anglican Henry Wace has written that "on this saint the inventors of
legends have compiled a vast farrago of improbabilities."

Nevertheless, Wace did not find reason to doubt that Claudius had come
from the nobility. According to a long tradition from
Salins-les-Bains, Claudius was born in the castle of Bracon near
Salins, of a Gallo-Roman family named Claudia. This family had
produced another Saint Claudius in the 6th century.

One of his biographers, Laurentius Surius, writes that Claudius was
entrusted to tutors at a young age and that in addition to studying
academic subjects, Claudius spent hours reading devotional works,
particularly the lives of the saints. Until the age of twenty, he
served as a border guard, but in 627 he was appointed as a canon by
Donatus (Donat), bishop of Besançon. Donatus had written regulations
for his canon priests; Claudius followed them assiduously. He became
famous as a teacher and ascete, eating only one frugal meal per day.

After serving as a priest at Besançon, Claudius entered the abbey of
Condat, at Saint-Claude, Jura (which was named after him after his
death), in the Jura mountains. He was then elected to succeed as the
twelfth abbot at Condat at the age of 34 in 641 or 642, during the
pontificate of Pope John IV. He brought the Benedictine Rule to
Condat. He obtained support from Clovis II (whose wife, Balthild, had
persuaded him to do so), obtaining from the monarch an annuity. Under
Claudius' rule, the abbey thrived. Claudius had built new churches and reliquaries, and fed the poor and the pilgrims in the area.

On the death of Saint Gervase (Gervasius), bishop of Besançon, the
clergy of that city elected Claudius as their archbishop in 685. He
thus served, rather reluctantly, as 29th bishop of Besançon, according
to the episcopal catalogues.

However, upon seeing that discipline had become lax at Condat,
Claudius decided to abdicate his see and return as abbot at Condat. He
then died in 696 or 699.

After his death Claudius became one of the popular saints of France.
In the 9th century, Rabanus Maurus mentions Claudius in his
Martyrologium as an intercessor, with the words VII idus junii,
depositio beati Claudii, episcopi. His body, said to have been in an incorruptible state, and which had been hidden during the Arab
invasions, was rediscovered in 1160, and visited in 1172 by St. Peter
of Tarentaise. The relics were solemnly carried throughout Burgundy
before being brought back to Condat.[2] However, a document from the
ninth century does state that his body was already kept in the abbey
of Saint-Claude (Saint Oyend, Oyand).

The town of Saint-Claude was originally named Saint-Oyand or
Saint-Oyend after Saint Eugendus. However, when Claudius had, in 687,
resigned his Diocese of Besançon and had died, in 696, as twelfth
abbot, the number of pilgrims who visited Claudius' grave was so great
that, since the thirteenth century, the name "Saint-Claude" came more
and more into use and superseded the other name. Saint-Claude
Cathedral, in the town, was dedicated to him.

Claudius's relics were burned in March 1794, during the French Revolution. Queen Claude of France, first wife to Francis I, was named after him.


Saint Quote:
The divinely inspired Scriptures affirm that the Word of God was made
flesh, that is to say, he was united to a human body endowed with a
rational soul. He undertook to help the descendants of Abraham,
fashioning a body for himself from a woman and sharing our flesh and
blood, to enable us to see in him not only God, but also, by reason of
this union, a man like ourselves.
-- Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Bible Quote:
"so you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to our Lord, or ashamed
of me for being his prisoner; but share in my hardships for the sake
of the gospel, relying on the power of God who has saved us and called
us to be holy, not because of anything we ourselves had done but for
his own purpose and by his own grace. This grace had already been
granted to us, in Christ Jesus, before the beginning of time, but it
has been revealed only by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus."
[2 Timothy 1:8-10a]


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Direction of Intention of St. Francis de Sales:

My God, I yield myself to Thee this day; and offer Thee, now, all of the
good that I shall do and I promise to accept--for love of Thee--all of
the difficulty that I shall meet. Help me to conduct myself during this day
in a manner pleasing to Thee. Amen.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)