# Matins Nocturn 2 reading for St. Lawrence Justinian, Bishop and
# Confessor (Sep 5). Sourced directly from
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/09-05.txt, English/Sancti/09-05.txt.
# Lectio4-6 combined into one reading, one continuous vita. No
# Lectio7-9 in his own file (his `[Rule]` is `vide C4`) -- defers to
# the Common's own Nocturn 3, not transcribed here.
id: st-lawrence-justinian
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Laurentius, ex illustri Justinianorum familia Venetiis natus,
        eximiam vel puer morum gravitatem præ se tulit. Exacta inter
        pietatis officia adolescentia, ad castum verbi et animæ connubium
        a divina sapientia invitatus, de religiosæ vitæ instituto
        capessendo deliberare cœpit. Novæ ítaque militiæ clam proludens,
        præter alias corporis affuctationes, super nudos cubabat asseres,
        sedensque velut arbiter hinc inter sæculi blandimenta, paratasque
        a matre nuptias, illinc claustrales inter austeritates oculis in
        Christi patientis crucem conversis: Tu, inquit, es Domine spes
        mea: ibi posuisti certissimum refugium tuum; ad canonicorum
        sancti Georgii in Alga congregationem convolavit: ubi novis
        excogitatis cruciatibus acrius in seipsum, veluti in hostem
        infensissimum, instaurans bellum, nullam adeo sibi oblectationem
        indulgebat, ut ne in domesticum umquam hortum, nec in paternam
        quidem domum, nisi cum morienti matri extrema pietatis officia
        siccis oculis persolvit, exinde intraverit. Par erat obedientiæ,
        mansuetudinis, ac præcipue humilitatis studium, cum abjectissima
        quæque cœnobii munia sibi ultro desumeret, celeberrima per urbis
        loca, non tam victum quam ludibria emendicaret, illatasque
        contumelias ac calumnias immotus ac silens perferret; assiduæ
        præsertim orationis subsidio, qua sæpe per mentis excessum
        rapiebatur in Deum; tantoque cor ejus æstuabat ardore, ut
        nutantes étiam sodales ad perseverantiam ac Jesu Christi amórem
        inflammaret.


        Ab Eugenio quarto patriæ episcopus designatus quem magna
        contentione honorem detrectaverat, majori gessit cum laude. Nam
        consueta vivendi ratione nihil admodum immutata, paupertatem,
        quam semper coluerat, in mensa, supellectili ac lecto perpetuo
        retinuit. Modicam domi alebat familiam, quod grandem alteram
        sibi esse diceret, pauperes Christi significans. Quacumque
        adiretur hora, præsto omnibus erat, paterna omnes caritate
        allevabat, non renuens vel ære se alieno gravare, illorum ne
        inopiæ deesset. Rogatus qua spe id faceret? Domini mei, qui pro
        me dissolvere facile poterit, respondebat. Spem autem non
        confundere divina providentia submissis inopinato subsidiis
        jugiter declarabat. Plura virginum monasteria construxit, quas
        étiam ad perfectioris vitæ rationem sua vigilantia composuit.
        Matronis a sæculi pompis et ornatus vanitate revocandis,
        ecclesiasticæ disciplinæ ac moribus reformandis maximopere
        studuit; dignus sane qui ab eodem Eugenio gloria et decus
        præsulum coram cardinalibus vocaretur, et qui a Nicolao quinto
        ejus successore, translato e Gradensi civitate titulo, primus
        Venetiarum patriarcha renuntiaretur.


        Lacrimarum dono insignitus, omnipotenti Deo placationis hostiam
        quotidie offerebat. Quod cum aliquando nocte Dominicæ Nativitatis
        peragéret, Christum Jesum sub pulcherrimi infantis specie videre
        promeruit; tantumque in eo erat commissi gregis præsidium, ut
        cælitus aliquando acceptum fuerit, pontificis sui intercessione
        ac meritis stetisse rempublicam. Prophetiæ spiritu afflatus,
        plura humanæ cognitioni prorsus impervia prædixit: morbos ac
        dæmones suis precibus sæpe fugavit: libros étiam cælestem
        doctrinam ac pietatem spirantes, grammaticæ pene rudis,
        conscripsit. Denique cum lethalem incidisset in morbum, et
        commodiorem domestici lectum seni atque ægro pararent, aversatus
        ejusmodi delicias, tamquam a durissima morientis Domini sui cruce
        plus nimio abhorrentes, consueto in stramine se jussit deponi, et
        finem vitæ suæ adventare prænoscens, sublatis in cælum oculis:
        Venio, inquit, ad te, o bone Jesu; ac die octava Januarii
        obdormivit in Domino.
      en: >-
        This Lawrence was born at Venice, of the noble family of the
        Giustiniani, and was an exceedingly sober lad even from his
        childhood. He passed a godly boyhood, and feeling the Divine
        Wisdom calling him to a pure marriage between his own soul and the
        Word of God, he began to think of becoming a monk. He therefore
        tried in private some of the exercises of this new warfare, and,
        among other afflictions of his body, used to sleep upon the bare
        boards. As he thus sat weighing on the one hand the pleasures of
        the world, and a marriage which his mother wished to bring about
        for him, and, on the other, the hardness of the cloister, he
        turned his eyes upon the Cross of the suffering Christ, and said:
        "Thou, O Lord, art my trust; there hast Thou made my surest
        refuge." He entered among the Canons of St-George's-in-the-sea-
        weed, where he devised new tortures and declared war against
        himself as his own worst enemy. He allowed himself no enjoyment,
        so that he would not even go into the private garden of the
        house, neither did he ever go thenceforth into the house of his
        own father, except when his mother was dying, and he went there
        with dry eyes to pay her the last offices of a son's duty and
        affection. His obedience, gentleness, and especially his lowliness
        were very great. He went out of his way to take the meanest
        pieces of work about the house. He used to go to the most public
        places of the city, seeking, not so much for food as for mockery,
        and bore unmoved and in silence the insults and slanders which
        were cast upon him. He found his ever-present help in prayer,
        wherein he became often beside himself and rapt in God, and such
        was the warmth that burned in his heart, that he stirred up
        failing comrades to hold bravely on and to love Jesus Christ.


        Eugene IV named him Bishop of Venice, an office which he very
        earnestly struggled to avoid, and which he discharged with great
        honour. He changed in no wise way of living, but kept always to
        his beloved poverty in his table, his furniture, and his bed. He
        kept but a small household, saying that he had another very
        large one, in Christ's poor. At what hour soever any one came to
        see him, he was always ready to receive them, he helped all with
        the tenderness of a father, not refusing to charge himself with
        debts, that he might have wherewith to relieve misery. When he was
        asked with what hope he incurred these liabilities, he answered:
        "With hope in my Master, Who can easily meet them for me." And the
        Providence of God put not his hope to shame, but helped him
        amply with unexpected funds. He built several Convents of nuns,
        for whom his watchful care ordered a more perfect way of living.
        He laboured much to wean married women from worldly folly and
        display, and to reform the discipline of the Church and the lives
        of all. He was indeed worthy that Eugene should call him in the
        presence of the Cardinals "the glory and ornament of the
        Episcopate," and that his successor Nicholas V should transfer
        the title of Patriarch from Grado, and create him the first
        Patriarch of Venice.


        He was eminent for the gift of tears, in which he offered up to
        God every day the Sacrifice of atonement. When he was so doing
        one Christmas Midnight, he won to see Christ Jesus in the form of
        a little Child exceeding fair to look upon. Such was his care of
        the flock committed to his charge, that it was sometime revealed
        from heaven that the Commonwealth had been saved by the prayers
        of her Bishop. He was inspired with the spirit of prophecy, and
        fore-told many things which no wit of man could have perceived.
        By his prayers he often put diseases and devils to flight. Though
        very ignorant of letters, he wrote books which breathe heavenly
        teaching and godliness. When he fell into his last deadly
        sickness, his servants got ready a more comfortable bed for the
        suffering old man, but he turned away from such ease as so
        different from the hardness of the Cross upon which his Master
        had died. He ordered himself to be laid upon the planks to which
        he was accustomed, and when he knew that the end of his life was
        come, he looked up to heaven and said: "O good Jesus, I am coming
        to thee," and so fell asleep in the Lord on the 8th day of
        January.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
