KALENDAR OP THE WEEK

Sunday, September 24. Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost. Our Lady of Ransom.
To-day's feast is a reminder of two movements in the Church's history: the Order of Our Lady of Ransom, established many centuries ago to give freedom to Christian slaves in thrall to the Eastern barbarians; and the modern Guild of Our Lady of Ransom founded in the nineteenth century to. redeem souls from the captivity of error and so hasten the conversion of England.
Monday, September 25. Feria.
Tuesday, September 26. SS. Cyprian and Justina.
SS. Cyprian and Justine were two martyrs beheaded about the beginning of the fourth century in the persecution under Diocletian. Cyprian had led an evil life and had sought to corrupt the maiden Justine, but instead was converted by that pious virgin to Christianity. Both were arrested and martyred for their Faith, The relies of these saints are preserved in Rome in the baptistry of St. John Lateran,
Wednesday, September 27. SS. Cosmos and Damian.
Here we have two well-known saints who are patrons of the medical profession. The Catholic Doctors' Guild in Great Britain, as many know, is dedicated to St. Luke and SS. Cosmas and Damian. These martyrs, brothers, were themselves physicians, giving their services freely to their fellowmen. With three other brothers of the family they were tortured and put to death (about A.D. 303). An important church in Rome stands in their honour.
Thursday, September 28. St. Wenceslaus.
Bohemia had an illustrious son in St. Wenceslaus, a tenth-century ruler who did much towards making his land Christian. While praying in a church in Prague he was killed, meeting his martyrdom, the records say, at the hands of his own unnatural mother and brother. The name of " Good King Wenceslaus " is known in this country chiefly by the popular carol.
Friday, September 29. St. Michael, Archangel.
Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are the three Archangels venerated in the Church's liturgy. St. Michael, invoked throughout the Christian world, East and West, is honoured as the Prince of the Heavenly Host. In Art he is represented usually as triumphant over Satan in the form of a dragon. The word Michaelmas, " Michael's Mass," alone keeps the feast in mind with the majority of the English people.
Saturday, September 30. St. Jerome. A Doctor of the Church and a great figure in Christian scholarship is St. Hieronymus, or Jerome. who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries. To him is due the Vulgate, the great Latin version of the Bible which to our own times has been authorised for use by the Church. St. Jerome's relics are in the basilica of St, Mary Major in Rome.