If you see that you have not yet suffered tribulations, consider it certain that you have not begun to be a true servant of God; for the Apostle says plainly that all who choose to live piously in Christ, shall suffer persecutions. - Saint Augustine of Hippo
Saint Athanasius, Saint Basil, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Jerome, and Saint Cyril were all charged with a thousand crimes, and in that way were greatly afflicted.
Saint Romualdo was slanderously accused by one of his monks of the commission of a shameful crime, was condemned in a public assembly to be burnt at the stake as a punishment, and in the meantime was suspended from his function as a priest. But, though he was then a centenarian, he bore all with the greatest tranquillity.
Saint Francis Xavier was grieved when he saw everything going on successfully with him in Lisbon; and if such favorable circumstances had continued to exist, he would have thought that he was not serving God well.
- text taken from A Year with the Saints, composed by an unknown Italian, translated by a member of the Order of Mercy; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan, Archdiocese of New York, New York, 21 January 1891