Feast of SAINT AVERTANUS

Although no longer included within the Carmelite calendar, the feast of Avertanus is included in the 2004 edition of the “Martyrologium Romanum”, and is fixed on the 25th of February. However, in the recognitio of his sanctity, he is listed only with the rank of blessed; hence, even if Lent has not begun, a votive Mass may not be offered in his honor. He died around 1386.

PRAYER.

GRANT, we beseech Thee, O Lord! 
that we may perfectly imitate 
the religious life of Blessed Avertanus, Thy Confessor, 
under the banner of Thy Mother, Mary of Mount Carmel; 
that, his merits interceding for us, 
we may be made strong in all perfection.
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit
one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

LESSON IV.

Avertanus, the glorious offspring of Mount Carmel, was born at Limoges, in France, of parents of modest fortune, but rich in virtue, and he learned from infancy to fear God, and to honor the Mother of God. While still a youth, he was seized with the desire of consecrating himself as a victim to God in the religious life, and he ceased not to implore, with prayer and fasting, that the divine will might be made known, until at length an angel directed him to enter the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. He therefore hastened at once to the monastery of Limoges, where he received the the habit, after which he remained rapt in ecstasy for several hours. When he came to himself, he showed so great fervor in putting in practice the acts of virtue which his mind had conceived, that he not only surpassed all the Brethren, but won their love and admiration. He readily undertook the lowest duties of the monastery, and he hastened, nay, rather he ran, to obey every command of his superiors. For this reason he was commonly called by all “The Son of Obedience.”

LESSON V.

After Christ, Avertanus took the Prophet Elias, the founder of the Order, for his model of poverty. He was exact in the practice of this virtue, for he not only held it sinful to touch money, but even to speak of it, and he went so far as to turn his eyes away from it, as if from the pest. He relieved the wants of the poor by giving up to them his own food, and he showed himself ready to meet a thousand deaths for the salvation of sinners. Often would he pass entire days in the practice of prayer and contemplation, casting aside all care of the body, and he was so far lifted out of himself, that at times, even when a great uproar was raised, he hardly came to himself. Upon certain festivals of the year he was in the habit of climbing the hills in the neighborhood of the monastery upon his knees and in the middle of the night. Until dawn he dragged himself over the stones, with arms outstretched, and the tears streaming from his eyes, praying and beating his breast with a stone until the blood flowed. Continual praying on his knees had made them so callous that the skin looked as hard as iron.

LESSON VI.

Heaven inspired Avertanus with the desire of making a holy pilgrimage, and he therefore gained the permission of his superiors to do so, and to take with him, as his companion, Blessed Romaeus, a monk of the Order. After celebrating the Feast of All Saints, they started together on their journey; but when they had crossed the heights of the Alps, amidst storms of rain and snow, they found all the cities in Italy shut against them on account of an epidemic of plague which was raging within the Italian borders. Such was the case at Lucca even, when Avertanus, stricken with sickness, implored admittance at its gates. He was, however, charitably received into the hospital for strangets of the title of Saint Peter Major, which stands without the walls of the city. After struggling for some time against the inroads of disease, he was called at last to the reward of his labors during a visit which he received from Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, accompanied by a mighty host of angels. Thus, strengthened with the Sacraments of the Church, he ended the course of a holy life by a yet more holy death. On account of the many miracles that immediately took place through his intercession, his body was buried with great pomp in the church of the hospital, and it was carried later in solemn procession to the principal church of the city, together with the body of the Blessed Romaeus, who died soon after in the same place. Their relics are reverently preserved in the same shrine.

Taken from the book “Saints of Carmel” (BOSTON: JOHN CASHMAN & CO., 1896).