Saint of the day sep 20
 St. EUSTACHIUS
 pray for us.

 Patron against fire; difficult situations; fire
 prevention; firefighters; hunters; hunting;
 huntsmen; Madrid; torture victims; trappers

Died: 118

St. Eustachius called by the Greeks
 Eustachius, and before his conversion
 named Placidus, was a nobleman who
 suffered martyrdom at Rome, about the
 reign of Adrian together with his wife
 Theopista, called before her baptism
 Tatiana, and two sons Agapius and
 Theopistus. These Greek names they must
 have taken after their conversion to the
 faith. The ancient sacramentaries mention
 in the prayer for the festival of St.
 Eustachius his profuse charities to the
 poor on whom he bestowed all his large
 possessions some time before he laid
 down his life for his faith. An ancient
 church in Rome was built in his honor,
 with the title of a Diacony; the same now
 gives title to a cardinal. His body lay
 deposited in this church, till, in the twelfth
 age, it was translated to that of St. Denis
 near Paris. His shrine was pillaged in this
 place, and part of his bones burnt by the
 Huguenots in 1567; but a portion of them
 still remains in the parish church which
 bears the name of St. Eustachius in Paris.

 How noble is it to see integrity and virtue
 triumphing over interest, passion, racks,
 and death and setting the whale world at
 defiance! To see a great man preferring the
 least duty of justice, truth, or religion, to
 the favor or menace of princes; readily
 quitting estate, friends, country, and life,
 rather than consent to any thing against
 his conscience, and at the same time,
 meek, humble, and modest in his
 sufferings; forgiving from his heart and
 tenderly loving his most unjust and
 treacherous enemies and persecutors!

Passion and revenge often make men
 furious; and the lust of power, worldly
 honor, applause, or wealth may prompt
 them to brave dangers; but these passions
 leave them weak and dastardly in other
 eases, and are themselves the basest
 slavery, and most grievous crimes and
 misery 2E Religion is the only basis on
 which true magnanimity and courage can
 stand.

It so enlightens the mind as to set a
 man above all human events, and to
 preserve him in all changes and trials
 steadily and calm in himself; it secures
 him against the errors, the injustices, and
 frowns of the world, is by its powerful
 motives the strongest spur to all generous
 actions, and under afflictions and
 sufferings a source of unalterable peace,
 and overflowing joy which spring from an
 assured confidence that God's will is
 always most just and holy, and that he will
 be its protector and rewarder. Does religion
 exert this powerful influences in us? Does
 it appear in our hearts, in our actions and
 conduct? It is not enough to encounter
 dangers with resolution; we must with
 equal courage and constancy vanquish
 pleasure and the softer passions, or we
 possess not the virtue of true fortitude.