⛪ Saint of the Day : January 16
ST. HONORATUS was of a consular Roman family settled in Gaul. In his
youth he renounced the worship of idols, and gained his elder brother,
Venantius, to Christ. Convinced of the hollowness of the things of this
world, they wished to renounce it with all its pleasures, but a fond
pagan father put continual obstacles in their way. At length, taking
with them St. Caprais, a holy hermit, for their director, they sailed from
Marseilles to Greece, with the intention to live there unknown in some
desert. Venantius soon died happily at Methone, and Honoratus, being
also sick, was obliged to return with his conductor. He first led a
hermitical life in the mountains near Frejus. Two small islands lie in
the sea near that coast; on the smaller, now known as St. HonorΓ©, our
Saint settled, and, being followed by others, he there founded the
famous monastery of Lerins, about the year 400. Some of his followers
he appointed to live in community; others, who seemed more perfect,
in separate cells as anchorets. His rule was chiefly borrowed from that
of St. Pachomius. Nothing can be more amiable than the description St.
Hilary has given of the excellent virtues of this company of saints,
especially of the charity, concord, humility, compunction, and devotion
which reigned among them under the conduct of our holy abbot. He
was, by compulsion, consecrated Archbishop of Arles in 426, and died,
exhausted with austerities and apostolical labors, in 429.
⛪ Reflection —The soul cannot truly serve God while it is involved in
the distractions and pleasures of the world. St. Honoratus knew this,
and chose to be a servant of Christ his Lord. Resolve, in whatever state
you are, to live absolutely detached from the world, and to separate
yourself as much as possible from it.
Source : Lives Of The Saints By Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. Edition