Catholic Fire

The saint of the   day for April 12 is St. Julius, a Roman who was chosen Pope on February 6, 337.  Julius succeeded Pope Saint Mark, who had only reigned as pope for nine months. Immediately after taking office, Julius was involved with the Arian controversy. When Arians removed Anthanius of Alexandria from office and exiled him, Julius defended him and gave him refuge in Rome. He called a synod in 340 to clear him of charges brought against him and to affirm the right of bishops to appeal to the pope for redress. Eusebius of Nicomedia was against the return of Anthanasius so he and his followers elected George for the see of Alexandria. However, the Arians in Egypt wanted another man, named Pistus, to be bishop. They pleaded with Julius to bring Pistus into communion with Rome. In a letter to the Eusebian bishops, Julius declared Athanasius the rightful bishop of Alexandria and reinstated him. Julius, who died on April 12, 352, is credited with the reorganizing of...

The saints of the day for February 28 are SS. Romanus and Lupicinus. Saint Romanus, born in the late fourth century, left his relatives and spent some time in the monastery of Ainay at Lyons, near a large church at the point where the Saône and Rhone Rivers meet. The faithful had built it in honor of the famous martyrs of that region, whose ashes were thrown into the Rhone. His purpose for this retreat was to study all the practices of monastic life, and he obtained from the Abbot of Ainay some recently written books on the lives of the Desert Fathers. At the age of thirty-five, Romanus retired into the forests of Mount Jura, between France and Switzerland, and fixed his abode at a place called Condate, near two rivers, where he found a plot of ground fit for culture, and some trees which furnished him with wild fruit. Here he spent his time praying, reading, and laboring for his survival. Lupicinus, his brother, came to him there, accompanied by several other disciples, who we...