ABIMANYU

ABIMANYU dikenal pula dengan nama :
Angkawijaya,
Jaya Murcita,
Jaka Pangalasan,
Partasuta,
Kirityatmaja,
Sumbadraatmaja,
Wanudara dan
Wirabatana.
Abimanyu adalah putra Arjuna, salah satu dari lima satria Pandawa dengan Dewi Sumbadra, putri Prabu Basudewa, raja Negara Mandura dengan Dewi Badrahini.
Abimanyu mempunyaai 13 orang saudara lain ibu, yaitu : Sumitra, Bratalaras, Bambang Irawan, Kumaladewa, Kumalasakti, Wisanggeni, Wilungangga, Endang Pregiwa, Endang Pregiwati, Prabakusuma, Wijanarka, Anantadewa dan Bambang Sumbada.
Abimanyu merupakan makhluk kekasih Dewata.
Sejak dalam kandungan Abimanyu telah mendapat “Wahyu Hidayat”, yang mempunyai daya : mengerti dalam segala hal.

Setelah dewasa Abimanyu mendapat “Wahyu Cakraningrat”, suatu wahyu yang dapat menurunkan raja-raja besar.
Abimanyu mempunyai sifat dan perwatakan; halus, baik tingkah lakunya, ucapannya terang, hatinya keras, besar tanggung jawabnya dan pemberani. Dalam olah keprajuritan ia mendapat ajaran dari ayahnya, Arjuna.
Sedang dalam olah ilmu kebathinan mendapat ajaran dari kakeknya, Bagawan Abiyasa.
Abimanyu tinggal di kesatrian Plangkawati, setelah dapat mengalahkan Prabu Jayamurcita.

Abimanyu mempunyai dua orang isteri, yaitu :
1. Dewi Siti Sundari, putri Prabu Kresna , Raja Negara Dwarawati
dengan Dewi Pratiwi,
2. Dewi Utari, putri Prabu Matswapati
dengan Dewi Ni Yutisnawati, dari negara Wirata, dan berputra
Parikesit.

Abimanyu gugur dalam perang Bharatayuda oleh gada Kyai Glinggang milik Jayadrata, satria Banakeling.

SAINT CHRISTOPHER

St. Christopher

Before the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, Christopher was listed as a martyr who died under Decius. Nothing else is known about him. There are several legends about him including the one in which he was crossing a river when a child asked to be carried across. When Christopher put the child on his shoulders he found the child was unbelievably heavy. The child, according to the legend, was Christ carrying the weight of the whole world. This was what made Christopher patron saint of travelers and is invoked against storms, plagues, etc.. His former feast day is July 25.
Before the formal canonization process began in the fifteenth century, many saints were proclaimed by popular approval. This was a much faster process but unfortunately many of the saints so named were based on legends, pagan mythology, or even other religions -- for example, the story of the Buddha traveled west to Europe and he was "converted" into a Catholic saint! In 1969, the Church took a long look at all the saints on its calendar to see if there was historical evidence that that saint existed and lived a life of holiness. In taking that long look, the Church discovered that there was little proof that many "saints", including some very popular ones, ever lived. Christopher was one of the names that was determined to have a basis mostly in legend. Therefore Christopher (and others) were dropped from the universal calendar.
Some saints were considered so legendary that their cult was completely repressed (including St. Ursula). Christopher's cult was not suppressed but it is confined to local calendars (those for a diocese, country, or so forth). His name Christopher, means Christ-bearer. He died a martyr during the reign of Decius in the third century.
Copyright 1996-2000 Terry Matz. All Rights Reserved.


Bl. Christopher Bale c. 1564-1590

Christopher Bales, of Coniscliffe, England, journeyed to the continent to study for the priesthood, and was ordained around the age of twenty-three. In 1588 he returned to England, but was soon captured by the Elizabethan authorities. Under the direction of the murderous government agent Richard Topcliffe, Father Bales was tortured on a rack, and at one point was hung up by his wrists for a span of twenty-four hours. At his trial he was condemned to death for having been ordained overseas and for having come back to England to exercise his priestly ministry. In response to these charges, Father Bales asked the judge whether the great missionary to England, Saint Augustine of Canterbury (+c. 605), who was also ordained overseas and came to England to exercise his priesthood, was likewise a traitor. The judge offered the absurd answer that since the time of Saint Augustine, the law had been changed to make these actions illegal. Just before suffering execution by drawing and quartering, Father Bales declared to the bystanders that he was being put to death only because he was a priest.
© Magnificat 2006