Ss. Cosmos and Damian

Today on the new calendar or tomorrow on the old is the feast of Ss. Cosmos and Damian, patrons of physicians and veterinarians and namesakes of my two favorite cats in Philly.

Here's a translation of the Vespers hymn for the feast that I found at Musica Sacra:

O people dedicated to God, o strong
And manifold assembly,
O every group and meeting
Held by time's round,
The wave of which cleans the blood
Of each victim.

By the excellent ones, moved in the ear
Also the depths of the breast,
At the same time of the inmost heart
And highest mind, spread it out.
A pious thing is narrated; everyone
Come flying to this place.

Lo, at a new procession
A miracle rushes up,
While the full line stands firm
To give all a cure.
For they are strong, Cosmas and the other,
Renowned Damian.

By mouth, by touch, by order, they can
Heal with grace.
By fire of iron, [cauterization] by fire of Word,
They dry out all that's diseased.
By art from books, by art from heaven,
They heal all the listless.

Whoever stands firm to be with them,
He makes it to salvation.
One virtue shapes both.
And those who are lively,
While they are strong, by mouth,
By hand, they determine all.

Bones, nerves or marrow,
Blood, limb, entrails,
Breath, and all the breast,
Anxious by boredom.
As many who by the saints bear the full,
So many they pray for a cure for:

For those demon would destroy, and horror.
Faintness, the ulcer that would cut them down.
Let grace follow the fault,
And clemency, the crime.
Let the evil end altogether
And eternity be for the good.

Praise be to You through all time,
O unbiased Trinity,
Praise, honor and all virtue,
Singular glory.
May it endure to You, God,
For an age of ages, Amen.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

The Virgin feeds St. Bernard from her breast.

Today is the Feast of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the political and theological heavy-hitters of the Middle Ages, who counseled popes and kings and whose preaching and writing earned him the title of The Mellifluous Doctor. It is hard to know what to say of a saint so gifted and complex as St. Bernard, so I'll leave it to the older edition of the Cistercian Menology, where several other great saints of his era weigh in:

The feast of our very glorious Father St. Bernard, first Abbot of Clairvaux. Of noble birth, at the age of twenty-two, he succeeded in bringing to follow Christ thirty associates whom he led to Citeaux. In the Cloister his fasts, vigils and prayers were marvellous, and his life therein all heavenly. Soon, in spite of his youth, he was sent to Clairvaux. While assiduous about his own perfection, he labored zealously and successfully for the sanctification of those committed to his care. But circumstances compelled him to leave his solitude. He advises Popes, pacifices kings, converts the people, puts and end to the schism, crushes heresy, preaches the Crusades, refuses Bishoprics, works countless miracles, writes inestimable works, and when he dies at the age of 63, 160