en united, as he incessantly is, to his God,
and folded as if were in the arms of his heavenly Father.[9]--Charity
operates in some persons so as to carry them almost entirely out of
themselves. It illuminates others, and fills them with such sentiments
of joy, that they cannot help crying out: _The Lord is my helper and my
protector: in him hath my heart confided, and I have been helped. And my
flesh hath flourished again, and with my will I will give praise to
him_.[10] This joy which they feel in their hearts, is reflected on
their countenances; and when once God has united, or, as we may say,
{681} incorporated them with his charity, he displays in their exterior,
as in the reflection of a mirror, the brightness and serenity of their
souls: even as Moses, being honored with a sight of God, was encompassed
round by his glory." St. John Climacus composed the following prayer to
obtain the gift of charity: "My God, I pretend to nothing upon this
earth, except to be so firmly united to you by prayer, that to be
separated from you may be impossible: let others desire riches and
glory; for my part, I desire but one thing, and that is, to be
inseparably united to you, and to place in you alone all my hopes of
happiness and repose."

Footnotes:
1. Gr. l.
2. Procop. l. 5 de aedif. Justin.
3. S. Jo. Clim. gr. 27, n. 67.
4. St. Greg. l. 11; Ep. 1, l. 12; Ep. 16, t. 2, p. 1091.
5. Gr. 4 and 5.
6. Gr. 1.
7. Gr. 7, 27, 30.
8. Grad. 30, n. 12.
9. Gr {} n. 14.
10. Ps. xxvii.

S. ZOZIMUS, BISHOP OF SYRACUSE,

WAS successor to the holy bishop Peter; and faithfully discharged all
the duties of a worthy pastor until his death, which happened in 660.
His, name is mentioned in the Roman and Sicilian Martyrologies. See the
Bollandists and Baillet.

ST. REGULUS, OR RIEUL,

WHO having converted the country of Senlis to the faith, about the same
time that St. Dionysius preached in France, was made first bishop of
Senlis, and died in peace in the midst of his flock. See the Bollandists
and Tillem. t. 4, p. 719.

MARCH XXXI.

SAINT BENJAMIN, DEACON, M.

From Theodoret, Hist. Eccles. l. 5, c. 39, &c.

A.D. 429.

ISDEGERDES, son of Sapor III., put a stop to the crael persecutions
against the Christians in Persia, which had been begun by Sapor II., and
the Church had enjoyed twelve years' peace in that kingdom, when, in
420, it was disturbed by the indiscreet zeal of one Abdas, a Christian
bishop, who burned down t