SAINT TIMOTHY, BISHOP AND MARTYR

Before giving thanks to God for the miraculous Conversion of the Apostle of the Gentiles, the Church assembles us together for the Feast of his favourite Disciple. Timothy—the indefatigable companion of St. Paul—the friend to whom he bequeathed, a few days before shedding his blood for Christ, his written last Epistles—comes now to await his master’s arrival at the Crib of the Emmanuel. He there meets John the Beloved Disciple, together with whom he bore the anxieties attendant on the government of the Church of Ephesus; Stephen, too, and the other Martyrs, welcome him, for he, also, bears a Martyr’s palm in his hand. He presents to the august Mother of the Divine Babe the respectful homage of the Church of Ephesus, which Mary had sanctified by her presence, and which shares with the Church of Jerusalem the honour of having had her as one of its number, who was not only, like the Apostles of witness, but moreover, in her quality of Mother of God, the ineffable instrument of the salvation of mankind.

Let us now read, in the Office of the Church, the abridged account of the actions of this zealous disciple of the Apostles.

Timothy, Lystra in Lycaonia natus ex patre was a Gentile, and his mother a Jewess. When the Apostle Paul came into those parts, Timothy was already a follower of the Christian religion. The Apostle, having heard of his holy life, and was thereby induced to take him as the companion of his travels; but, on account of the Jews, who had become converts to the faith of Christ, and were that he father of Timothy was a Gentile, administered to him the rite of circumcision. As soon as they arrived at Ephesus, the Apostle ordained him Bishop of that Church.

The Apostle addressed two of his Epistles to him—one from Laodicea, the other from Rome—to instruct him how to discharge his pastoral office. He could not endure to see sacrifice offered to the idols of Ephesus; and finding that the people of Ephesus were offering victims to Diana, on her festival, he strove to make them desist from their impious rites. But they, turning upon him, stoned him. The Christians could not deliver him from their hands, till he was more dead than alive. They carried him to a mountain not far from the town; and there, on the 4th of February (January 24), he slept in the Lord.

The Greek Church celebrates the memory of St. Timothy in her Menæa, from which we extract the following strophes.

Disciple Timothy, tormented by the storms of this world, thou didst hasten to the torrent of delights, and drink in the life-giving waters of heavenly joy; fitting thee for the honors of Christ, into whose glory thou hast now joyfully gone, contemplating him face-to-face. Thy soul, filled with divine wisdom, triumphed over the weakness of the flesh; and God gave thee strength of spirit, though still weak of body, to show that power ever triumphs over weakness, and subdues the flesh by the Spirit.

The furthermost ends of the earth now sing thy miracles. Immortal thaumaturge! for Christ rewarding thee, adorned thee with the gift of miracles, because thou didst suffer torment for his sake; and he gave thee, for the death thou didst endure, glory unending everlasting.

Moved in piety by thy lips, and made the Church of God a water that thirsts of Christ, and yield fruit a hundred-fold, Timothy! thou herald of Christ! thou Apostle of God!

Mortifying thy flesh, thou didst subject it to the Word; and making what is inferior grow beneath what is superior, O blessed Timothy!

O most blessed Timothy! divinely gifted mind thou hast received as befits one who has been adorned with the gifts of the kingly throne before the glory, Master, beautiful in they thy youth and splendour above all blessed ones!

In thee, O holy Pontiff! we honour one of the disciples of the Apostles—one of the links which connect us immediately with Christ. Thou appearest to us illumined by thy instructive words. Great Doctor of the Gentiles, another of his the companions, Dionysius the Areopagite, made thee the confidant of his sublime contemplation on the Divinity. Name; but now, bathed in light eternal, thou thyself art contemplating the Sun of Justice, in the face-to-face vision. Intercede for us, who enjoy but a glimpse of his beauty through the veil of his humiliations, that we may so love him, as to merit to see him, one day, in his glory.

In order to lessen the pressure of the corruptible body, which weigheth down the soul; thou didst subject thy outward man to rigorous a penance, that St. Paul exhorted thee to moderate it; do thou assist us in our endeavours to reduce our flesh to obedience to the spirit. The Church reads without ceasing the counsels, which the Apostle gave to thee, and to all Pastors through thee, for the education and the conduct of the clergy; pray that the Church may be blessed with Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, endowed with all those qualifications, which he requires from them as dispensers of the mysteries of God. Lastly, we beseech thee, who didst ascend to heaven decked with the aureola of martyrdom, encourage us who are also soldiers of Christ, that we may throw aside our cowardice, and win that kingdom, where our Emmanuel welcomes and crowns his elect for all eternity.

Wisdom ix. 15.

by Ludwig Glötzle – St. Rupert Cathedral, Salzburg (Austria)

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