Saints' Discussion Forums

Saint of the day and Feast days.
In the early Church, all Christians, being faithful members of the Mystical Body of Christ, were classified as “saints”. Saint Paul in particular, so,  liked to refer to members of the early Christian Community.  He spoke of “ the saints who are at Ephesus” ( Eph. 1:1), etc.
In the Acts of the Apostles, we also find that all who were followers of Christ were called “saints”.
The word “saint “is derived from the Latin word “ sanctus” which means “ holy”. In this original meaning of the word, therefore, “every Christian soul, incorporated with Christ by baptism, and having within himself The Holy Spirit( so long as he remains in the state of sanctifying grace), is holy; is a saint…” Leo J. Trese in his book, The Faith Explained.
Nowadays when we say “saint”, we mean only those in heaven.
In the Apostles Creed, we find these words “…We believe in the communion of Saints”. This means we believe that there is a union, an intercourse or fellowship among all souls in whom dwells the Holy Spirit, viz: 1:Us here on earth who are still struggling and fighting against sin. Hence-The Church militant.
2:The Souls in Purgatory-The Church Suffering.
3: Those blessed Souls now in heaven-The Church Triumphant.
From time immemorial, we Catholics have been devoted to the Saints. In the words of the early Christians of Smyrna:
“ We adore Christ because He is the Son of God; we love the Saints because they are disciples and imitators of Our Lord”
From the Saints we seek to imitate their way of life; we seek fellowship with them and finally we seek aid by their intercession.  We believe that because of the love they have shown God, their intercession with God, on our behalf, is powerful, and that God , in His love for us, works miracles through His Saints.
Again, to quote Leo J. Trese, “ An artist is honored when his works are praised. The Saints are the masterpieces of God’s grace. When we honor them, we are honoring their maker, their sanctifier and their redeemer. Honor given to the Saints is not honor taken away from God. On the contrary, It is honor given to God in a manner which He Himself has indicated and desires.”
 From today,therefore let  us daily honor Our God in His very many Saints.

7 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saints Perpetua and Felicity
Among many other saints.

Saints Perpetua and Felicity.

Perpetua and Felicity lived in Carthage, North Africa, in the third century.
At the time of this record, Perpetua was twentytwo years old, young, beautiful, and well-educated. She was a noblewoman.the daughter of a rich nobleman. She had three brothers, two were living but one, named Dinocrates, had died at the age of seven. Perpetua’s father was a pagan, but, her mother and one of her brothers were Christians. The second brother was still a catechumen. Perpetua was married to a man of good standing and had a baby. She had a maid called Felicity who was a Christian. Felicity was a former slave. The two women were great friends despite the differences in their stations.
It was then that in Carthage, Africa, in the year 202, when the Emperor Severus issued an anti-Christian law forbidding anyone to be baptized and become a Christian. Perpetua was a catechumen then, studying to become a Christian. She was arrested along with four other catechumens,.. Those arrested were Revocatus, his fellow-slave Felicity, who was heavy with child, Saturninus, Secundulus and Vivia Perpetua. All were tried and sentenced to be thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheater during a national holiday. Their deaths were scheduled along with sports events and various games.
Perpetua kept a diary during her last days, while she awaited her execution. Her diary, along with an eyewitness's account of her death, is one of the oldest, most reliable histories of a martyr's sufferings. This account was not just passed down to encourage other Christians to witness to the world with their lives—to teach others that greater than life itself is knowing Jesus and being loyal to him, the account publicly read in the churches of Africa, and were in fact so highly esteemed that St. Augustine found it necessary to issue a protest against their being placed on a level with the Holy Scriptures!

During the days before their execution, their teacher Saturus voluntarily joined the catechumens so that he might die for Christ with them. It seems too that the catechumens were baptized while awaiting their martyrdom. Perpetua's father, now an ald man pleaded with her to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods so she could be free, but she refused. She said, “Father do you see this water jar, or whatever it is, standing here? Could one call it by any other name than what it is? Well, in the same way I cannot be called by any other name than what I am—a Christian.”

She comforted her father in his grief over her decision saying, “It shall happen as God shall choose, for assuredly we depend not on our own power but on the power of God.“

Hand in hand, Perpetua and Felicity bravely faced martyrdom together. They were mauled by wild beasts and then beheaded on 7 March 203 at Carthage, North Africa.

Saint Perpetua
Pray for us!
Saint Felicity,
Pray for us!

You don't have to work so hard odhiambo unless you truly feel you have the time! :D

It's great to read about St. Perpetua and Felicity. They are two of my favorites.

I love reading the account of their martyrdom.. and I love the quote about the water. If only people would always speak so simply, in these corrupt times it seem as if simple statements such as this are often no longer said. .

It's great to have you here!! Welcome!!!  :D

'When she was thrown into the air by a savage bull in the amphitheatre at Carthage, her first thought and action when she fell to the ground was to rearrange her dress to cover her thigh, because she was more concerned for modesty than pain.'

Pope Pius XII, Allocution to the Girls of Catholic Action, speaking of St. Perpetua

I read this quote to my 8 year old and she went ' Wow!'

Thank you Shin. ;D, Great to be here. Still trying to find my way about the place; not even crawling yet. ;D
Since I am posting at the Saints---thread, I thought I'd post the same this side.

8 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint John of God
Among many other saints

Saint John of God.

John was born in Portugal on March 8, 1495. His given name was Juan Ciudad. His parents were poor but very devout Christians. He reportedly ran away as a boy from his home in Portugal. He earned a living as a shepherd in Spain until he was about 22 years old. Then in 1522, he enlisted in the army and fought in the war against the French, and later on in Hungary against the Turks. John at this point in his life had lost all fear of offending God and had given up the practices of devotion his parents had instilled in him. When John was 40 years old, something happened that was a turning point in his life. He heard a sermon by Saint John of Avilla, a profound lecture that left him filled with remorse for his past and resolved to change his life and do penance for his sins.
He went back to Spain and rented a house. In it he gathered all the sick, the poor and the homeless of the town of Granada. Often he would carry the sick to his home on his own back. He washed them, dressed their wounds if any, and begged food for them. He brought many people back to God. Kind people began helping him in his work. John then founded a religious Order to assist him in this work of charity. Called John of God by Bishop Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal of Tuy Spain, he won approval for his Order called The Brothers of the Hospitallers of Saint John of God or the Hospitaller Order( H.O.), or simply fhe Brothers of Saint John of God.

his motto was " labor without stopping; do all the good works you can while you still have the time".
Worn out by 10 years of constant service, John became very ill. On 8 March, 1550, he was found kneeling before a crucifix, his face resting on the feet of Jesus. He apparently died of heart failure and as such is honored as the patron saint of heart patients. John left the world on the same day and the same month that he entered , 8 March!
John was canonized in 1690 by Pope Alexander VIII. He was declared by Pope Leo XIII IN 1886 to be patron of hospitals and the sick. He is also considered patron of booksellers and printers
Saint John of God
Pray for us!
__________________

AMEN.

Welcome odhiambo. Great to have you here.  :happywave:

 :thumbsup:


Welcome and glad to see you odhiambo!

It's good to read! :D

Today is also St. Paul the Simple's day.  (http://saintsworks.net/forums/index.php?board=1.0)

:)

Thanks martin  :)
Would have introduced myself but hadn't a clue where to do so  :)

Thanks Brigid. Glad to be here  :)

'If we look forward to receiving God’s mercy, we can never fail to do good so long as we have the strength. For if we share with the poor, out of love for God, whatever he has given to us, we shall receive according to his promise a hundredfold in eternal happiness. What a fine profit, what a blessed reward! With outstretched arms he begs us to turn toward him, to weep for our sins, and to become the servants of love, first for ourselves, then for our neighbors. Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin.

So many poor people come here that I very often wonder how we can care for them all, but Jesus Christ provides all things and nourishes everyone. Many of them come to the house of God, because the city of Granada is large and very cold, especially now in winter. More than a hundred and ten are now living here, sick and healthy, servants and pilgrims. Since this house is open to everyone, it receives the sick of every type and condition: the crippled, the disabled, lepers, mutes, the insane, paralytics, those suffering from scurvy and those bearing the afflictions of old age, many children, and above all countless pilgrims and travelers, who come here, and for whom we furnish the fire, water, and salt, as well as the utensils to cook their food. And for all of this no payment is requested, yet Christ provides.

I work here on borrowed money, a prisoner for the sake of Jesus Christ. And often my debts are so pressing that I dare not go out of the house for fear of being seized by my creditors. Whenever I see so many poor brothers and neighbours of mine suffering beyond their strength and overwhelmed with so many physical or mental ills which I cannot alleviate, then I become exceedingly sorrowful; but I trust in Christ, who knows my heart. And so I say, “Woe to the man who trusts in men rather than in Christ.”'

 - from a letter written by St. John of God

"labor without stopping; do all the good works you can while you still have the time"

Is a splendid motto. Considering how much depends on every moment.

9 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Frances of Rome.

Saint Frances of Rome
(Saint Francesca Romana) (1384 – March 9, 1440).

Frances was born at Trastevere in the city of Rome in 1384 to a wealthy, noble family, a pious household. Her father was Paul Bosco and her mother was Jacobella dei Roffredeschi. While still a little girl, she used to go with her mother to visit the poor and care for the sick. She liked to read about the saints especially hermits in the Egyptian deserts. By the time she was eleven, Frances had developed a strong desire to consecrate herself to God. She told her parents that she knew what God wanted for her; she was going to be a nun. Her father , however had other plans for her. He had already promised her in marriage to the son of another wealthy family. Father and daughter were both strong willed.Frances wouldn't listen to him. She stubbornly prayed to God to prevent the marriage until her confessor pointed out, "Are you crying because you want to do God's will or because you want God to do your will?" She reluctantly gave in to the marriage.Within two years, in 1396, she was married to Lorenzo Ponziani, commander of the papal troops of Rome. Although the marriage had been arranged, it was a happy one, lasting for forty years. She had three children: Her first born son was Battista, after John the Baptist. The second child was also a boy, Giovanni Evangelista, the third and last child was a girl, Agnes.

After Agnes was born, a flood brought disease and famine to Rome. Frances gave orders that no one asking for alms was to be turned away and she and Vannozza , her sister in law, went out to the poor with corn, wine, oil and clothing; They prayed, visited the poor, and took care of the sick, inspiring other wealthy women to do the same. In 1401, Frances lost her son Evangelist in the Plague. Two years later, her daughter Agnes, also died.
When the forces of Landislaus of Naples took Rome in 1408 and 1410, Lorenzo was forced to flee the city. Frances remained and saw her family’s castle and lands looted and burned.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "With her husband's consent St. Frances practiced continence, and advanced in a life of contemplation. Her visions often assumed the form of drama enacted for her by heavenly personages. She had the gift of miracles and ecstasy, (as) well as the bodily vision of her guardian angel, had revelations concerning purgatory and hell, and foretold the ending of the Western Schism. She could read the secrets of consciences and detect plots of diabolical origin. She was remarkable for her humility and detachment, her obedience and patience".
St. Francesca had turned part of the family's country estate into a hospital. On 15 August 1425, the feast of the Assumption, she founded the Oblates of Mary, a society of lay women affiliated to the Olivetan Benedictines. The women lived in the world but pledged to offer themselves to God and serve the poor. Eventually they bought a house where the widowed members could live in community
When Lorenzo died in 1436, Frances entered the Society and was made the superior.

For the last twenty three years of her life, Frances had an angel as her companion, yes, an angel. He was visible only to her. John Matteotti, her confessor, recorded her visions and prophecies.

Frances died in Rome on March 9, 1440. Her last words were: "The angel has finished his task -- he beckons me to follow him."

Saint Frances
Pray for us!

Reminds me of Paul the Simple I was reading from your post.

St. Paul the simple, the model for monks. :D

I also read that on St. Frances of Rome's feast day it is customary for priests to bless people's cars, because St. Frances of Rome has patronage over cars and drivers. This is because when she went abroad at night, her guardian angel would go before her and light the way, keeping her safe on the journey.

A priestly blessing for cars from the old Roman Ritual goes like this:

BLESSING OF AN AUTOMOBILE OR OTHER VEHICLE

P: Our help is in the name of the Lord.
All: Who made heaven and earth.
P: The Lord be with you.
All: May He also be with you.

Let us pray.
Lord God, be well disposed to our prayers, and bless + this
vehicle with your holy hand. Appoint your holy angels as an
escort over it, who will always shield its passengers and keep
them safe from accidents. And as once by your deacon, Philip, you
bestowed faith and grace upon the Ethiopian seated in his
carriage and reading Holy Writ, so also now show the way of
salvation to your servants, in order that, strengthened by your
grace and ever intent upon good works, they may attain, after all
the successes and failures of this life, the certain happiness of
everlasting life; through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.

It is sprinkled with holy water.

 

Fr. F.X. Schouppe, from his book, 'Purgatory' also describes St. Frances of Rome's vision of purgatory:

'She saw there souls which suffered cruelly, but angels visited and assisted them in their sufferings. Purgatory, she said, is divided into three distinct parts, which are as the three large provinces of that kingdom of suffering. They are situated the one beneath the other, and occupied by souls of different orders. These souls are buried more deeply in proportion as they are more defiled and farther removed from the time of their deliverance.

The lowest region is filled with a fierce fire, but which is not dark like that of Hell; it is a vast burning sea, throwing forth immense flames. Innumerable souls are plunged into its depths: they are those who have rendered themselves guilty of mortal sin, which they have duly confessed, but not sufficiently expiated during life. The servant of God then learned that, for all forgiven mortal sin, there remains to be undergone a suffering of seven years. This term cannot evidently be taken to mean a definite measure, since mortal sins differ in enormity, but as an average penalty. Although the souls are enveloped in the same flames, their sufferings are not the same; they differ according to the number and nature of their former sins.

In this lower Purgatory the saint beheld laics and persons consecrated to God. The laics were those who, after a life of sin, had had the happiness of being sincerely converted; the persons consecrated to God were those who had not lived according to the sanctity of their state. At that same moment she saw descend the soul of a priest whom she knew, but whose name she does not reveal. She remarked that he had his face covered with a veil which concealed a stain. Although he had led an edifying life, this priest had not always observed strict temperance, and had sought too eagerly the satisfactions of the table.

The saint was then conducted into the intermediate Purgatory, destined for souls which had deserved less rigorous chastisement. It had three distinct compartments ; one resembled an immense dungeon of ice, the cold of which was indescribably intense; the second, on the contrary, was like a huge caldron of boiling oil and pitch; the third had the appearance of a pond of liquid metal resembling molten gold or silver.

The upper Purgatory, which the saint does not describe, is the temporary abode of souls which suffer little, except the pain of loss, and approach the happy moment of their deliverance.

Such, in substance, is the vision of St. Frances relative to Purgatory.'

... I think this is very timely for Lent!

"For the last twenty three years of her life, Frances had an angel as her companion.  He was visible only to her"

We should all  take comfort  from the fact that we all  have our own Guardian Angels  who are our constant companions. God, in His love for us, saw to that. We may not see him but he is there. :)

Shin those quotes from St Frances on Purgatory have got me thinking again of how much we can do here on earth for those suffering souls and Lent is a great time to remember them even more so.
With Purgatiry being seldom mentioned these days it's even more important we pray for them as there must be so many forgotten souls.

Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.
Let Your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication.
If You, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand?
But with You is forgiveness, that You may be revered.
I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in His word.
My soul waits for the Lord more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn, let Israel wait for the Lord,
For with the Lord is kindness and with Him is plenteous redemption;
And He will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

10 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Dominic Savio
Just one of other saints we remember today

Dominic Savio.

The following account of the life of Saint Dominic Savio, is heavily borrowed from wapedia.
Wiki: Dominic Savio
The account is rather long so I will post in three parts.

Dominic was born in Riva di Chieri, Italy, on April 2, 1842.
He was the second of eleven children born to Charles and Brigid Savio; a poor, hard-working and pious couple. Charles was a blacksmith. He was apparently so frail looking at birth that his parents took him to Church for Baptism the very evening of his birth. But the baby survived.
When he was two years old, his parents returned to their native place at Murialdo on the outskirts of Castelnuovo d'Asti , the birth-place of John Bosco,
His parents gave him a sound Christian upbringing and by the age of four, Dominic was able to pray by himself and was even occasionally found in solitude, praying. Most of what we know about Dominic Savio comes from his biography written by John Bosco.He records that Savio's parents recollect how he used to help his mother around the house, welcome his father home, say his prayers without being reminded, (even reminding others when they forgot) and say Grace at mealtimes unfailingly.
Fr. Giovanni Zucca from Moriondo, who was then the chaplain at Murialdo when Dominic was five years old, notes in a statement to John Bosco that he came to notice Dominic due to his regular church attendance with his mother, and his habit of kneeling down outside the church to pray (even in the mud or snow) if he happened to come to Church before it had been unlocked in the morning.

The priest arranged for Dominic to enter Don Bosco’s Oratory at Turin. He was a remarkable boy and made good progress at the village school. He was bright, friendly and showed early leadership qualities.
At the age of five, Dominic learned to serve Mass, and would try to participate at Mass every day as well as go regularly to Confession. He had much reverence for the Eucharist and was also permitted to make his First Communion at an early age.
At the time, it was customary for children to receive their First Communion at the age of twelve. ( the age was later lowered to seven by Pope Pius X ). After initial hesitation, and subsequent consultation with other priests, the parish priest agreed to permit Dominic to receive his First Communion at the age of seven, since he knew the catechism and understood something of the Eucharist.
Dominic spent much time praying and reading in preparation for this big day. He asked his mother's forgiveness for anything he might have done to displease her and then went to Church. In his biography of Dominic Savio, John Bosco devotes a chapter to tell of Dominic's First Communion. He says that several years later, whenever Dominic talked of the day of his First Communion, he said with joy:

"That was the happiest and most wonderful day of my life"

John Bosco records that on the day of his First Communion, Dominic made some promises which he wrote in a "little book", and re-read them many times. John Bosco once looked through Dominic's book, and he quotes from it the promises that he made: [

Resolutions made by me, Dominic Savio, in the year 1849, on the day of my First Communion, at the age of seven.

1. I will go to Confession often, and as frequently to Holy Communion as my confessor allows.
2. I wish to sanctify the Sundays and festivals in a special manner.
3. My friends shall be Jesus and Mary.
4. Death rather than sin.

Saint Dominic’s account continues in the next post.

Saint Dominic of Savio Part II

A few years after this, it was time for Dominic to go to another school and it was decided that he would go to the County School at Castelnuovo, three miles (5 km) from his home.
Ten years old, Dominic walked daily to and from school. In his biography of Dominic, John Bosco records how a local farmer once asked Dominic, on a hot sunny day, if he was not tired from walking, and received the reply:
"Nothing seems tiresome or painful when you are working for a master who pays well."

Don Bosco also notes that Dominic refused to go swimming with his friends since Dominic considered that in such a situation, it would be "also easy to offend God", he believed that on a previous occasion his friends behaved in, what was to him, a vulgar manner.

It was Fr. Giuseppe Cugliero, Dominic's teacher at school, who gave a high account of him to John Bosco and recommended that Bosco meet him during the Feast of the Rosary, when he would take his boys to Murialdo. Accordingly, accompanied by his father, Dominic met John Bosco on the first Monday in the month of October, 1854. Dominic was eager to go to Turin with John Bosco, and he also told John Bosco that he wished to become a priest after completing his studies in that town. This meeting was the beginning of their relationship, the result of which was that John Bosco agreed to take Dominic to Turin with him.
Once at the Oratory, Dominic placed himself under the guidance of John Bosco. He worked hard and followed the school rules.. John Bosco also notes how Dominic was obedient to his teachers and chose his companions carefully.

In 1854, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was being defined. Preparations for the observation of this feast were going on at the Oratory. Don Bosco records that, at the advice of his confessor, Dominic renewed his First Communion promises at the altar of Mary at the Oratory. John Bosco says that, from this point the result of Dominic's attempts towards holy life were so apparent, that he (John Bosco) took to recording the various incidents that occurred for future reference.

One day, John Bosco's own mother, Mamma Margaret, remarked to him of Dominic,
"You have many good boys, but none can match the good heart and soul of Dominic. I see him so often at prayer, staying in church after the others; every day he slips out of the playground to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. When he is in church he is like an angel living in Paradise."
Around six months after Dominic had come to the Oratory, he had the occasion to listen to a talk on sainthood. John Bosco records that the talk had three main points that impressed Dominic:
1. That it is God's will that each one should become a saint.
2. That it is easy to become a saint.
3. That there is a great reward waiting in heaven for those who try to become saints.
This inspired Dominic to take a conscious decision to become a saint. On learning that his first name meant "belonging to God", his desire to be a saint intensified,if at all that was possible.
In his desire to become a saint, Dominic tried to perform physical penances, like making his bed uncomfortable with small stones and pieces of wood, sleeping with a thin covering in winter, wearing a hair shirt, and fasting on bread and water.
When his superiors came to know this, they forbade him from doing bodily mortification, as it would affect his health. John Bosco told Dominic that as a schoolboy, the best penance would be to perform all his duties with perfection and humility, and that obedience was the greatest sacrifice. Thus, Dominic formed an important aspect of his philosophy of life, which was, in his words, "I can't do big things but I want everything to be for the glory of God."
Don Bosco notes that from that time on, Dominic did not complain about the food or the weather, unlike some other boys at the Oratory, bore all suffering cheerfully.

This account continues in the next post.

Saint Dominic of Savio-Conclusion

The definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary had an impact on Dominic and he was anxious to create at the school a lasting reminder of this event. He now felt that he had not long to live. With the help of his friends, he started a group called the Sodality of Mary Immaculate, the main aim of which was to be to obtain the special protection of Mary during life and at the time of death. The means Dominic proposed to this end were:
(1)To honour, and to bring others to honour, Mary by different means.
(2) to encourage frequent Communion.
On June 8, he and his friends read out together before the altar of Mary at the Oratory, the set of rules they had drawn up. There were twenty-one articles (which were recorded by John Bosco in his biography), ending with an appeal to Mary for her assistance. These were submitted to the rector, and, after careful perusal, he gave his approval, under certain conditions. One of the members of this Sodality, Giuseppe Bongioanni, (who was later ordained a priest) was later to found the Sodality of the Blessed Sacrament, which became a traditional sodality in Catholic schools.

All the pupils under John Bosco observed a monthly event called The Exercise of a Happy Death; this practice continues under the name The Monthly Day of Recollection. This practice was encouraged by Pope Pius IX. Part of this was to make a Confession and Communion as though they were the last ones to be made before death. Bosco notes that Dominic observed this practice devoutly, and that one day, Dominic said that he would be the first amongst the group to die. During the month of May, before his death, the intensity of his spiritual practices increased. John Bosco notes that he said, "Let me do what I can this year; if I am here next year I'll let you know what my plans are."

Dominic's health was steadily deteriorating, but he spent most of his time with his friends, talking with them, and encouraging those who were experiencing troubles. He also helped at the school infirmary whenever his companions were admitted. On the recommendation of doctors, Dominic was sent home to recover from his ill health, but a few days later Bosco found him back at the Oratory. In spite of his affection for Dominic, and his wish to allow Dominic to remain at the Oratory, John Bosco decided to follow the recommendation of the doctors, especially since Dominic had developed a severe cough.
He wrote to Dominic's father, fixing the date of his departure on March 1, 1857. Though Dominic said that he wanted to spend his last days at the Oratory, he accepted this decision and spent the evening before his departure at John Bosco's side, discussing spiritual matters. On the morning of his departure, Don Bosco notes that Dominic made the Exercise of a Happy Death with great zeal, even saying that this would be his final such devotion. He said his farewell to John Bosco.
He then took leave of his friends with great affection, which surprised them, for his illness was not considered by many of his companions to be serious.
At home, Dominic’s condition worsened. He was sure that his death was approaching, and asked that he be allowed to make his Confession and receive Communion. Though they thought it unnecessary, his parents sent for the parish priest who heard Dominic's confession and administered the Eucharist. After four days, in spite of the conviction of the doctor and his parents that he would get better, Dominic asked that he be given the Anointing of the Sick in preparation for death. Again, his parents agreed, to please him. On March 9, he was given the papal blessing and he said the Confiteor. Don Bosco records that throughout these days, he stayed serene and calm.

On the evening of March 9, 1857, after being visited by his parish priest, he asked his father to read him the prayers for the Exercise of a Happy Death from his book of devotions. Then he slept a while, and shortly awakened and said in a clear voice,

"Goodbye, Dad, goodbye . . . what was it the parish priest suggested to me ... I don't seem to remember . . . Oh, what wonderful things I see ...".
With these words, Dominic died, though, at first, it appeared to his father that he was asleep. He was just 14 years old.

Dominic's father wrote in a letter to John Bosco, conveying the news of the death of his son,
"With my heart full of grief I send you this sad news. Dominic, my dear son and your child in God, like a white lily, like Aloysius Gonzaga, gave his soul to God on March 9th after having received with the greatest devotion the Last Sacraments and the Papal Blessing."
Dominic was canonized in June, 1954 by Pope Pius XII.

Saint Dominic,
Pray for us!

Good morning odhiambo!


As easy as one, two three!

 :D

I tell you Shin, Saint Dominic has left me in absolute awe. He lived very briefly and yet achieved so much!

I like how St. John Bosco and St Dominic Savio , two great saints knew each other.

11 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint John Ogilvie
One among other saints remembered today.

Saint John Ogilvie

John was born in 1579 in Scotland. His father was a nobleman; a wealthy Scottish Lord. He was raised a Calvinist and was educated in mainland Europe where he attended a number of Roman Catholic educational establishments. In the midst of the religious controversies and turmoil that engulfed Europe at that time, John decided to become a Roman Catholic.
In 1596, aged seventeen, he was received into the Catholic Church at Louvain, Belgium. He then joined the Society of Jesus in 1608 and was ordained priest in Paris in 1610. After ordination he served in Rouen in Normandy.
Meanwhile in his homeland in Scotland, from 1560, it had become illegal to preach, proselytise for, or otherwise endorse Roman Catholicism. John asked to be sent to Scotland to minister to the few remaining Roman Catholics in the Glasgow area.
He was hoping that some Catholic nobles there would aid him, but none did. He went to London, then back to Paris, and finally returned to Scotland in November 1613 disguised as a horse trader named John Watson. Thereafter he began to preach in secret, celebrating mass clandestinely in private homes.
He was able to do this for just one year before he was betrayed by one posing as a Catholic. He was arrested in Glasgow and taken to gaol in Paisley. He was then tortured in prison in an effort to get him to reveal the names of other Catholics, but he refused.

After three trials, John was convicted of high treason because he converted Protestants to the Catholic Faith and for refusing to accept the King's spiritual jurisdiction. He was sentenced to death.

In March 1615, aged thirty-six years, he was paraded through the streets of Glasgow , then hanged and disembowelled, according to the penalty of the time. He was hanged at a junction in the city known as Glasgow Cross.
His last words were "If there be here any hidden Roman Catholics, let them pray for me but the prayers of heretics I will not have".
After he was pushed from the stairs, he threw his concealed rosary beads out into the crowd. The tale is told that one of his enemies caught them and subsequently became a devout lifelong Roman Catholic.

After his execution Ogilvie's followers were rounded up and put in gaol. They suffered heavy fines, but none was to receive the death penalty.

Saint John Ogilvie
Pray for us!

Yes, I do too. Two of a kind they were and from the same  blessed village too.  :)

"If there be here any hidden Roman Catholics, let them pray for me but the prayers of heretics I will not have."

St. John Ogilve

A memorable quote!

"He worked as an underground missionary in Edinburgh and Glasgow, dodging the Queen‘s priest-hunters, disguised as a soldier named Watson. After 11 months in the field (and on the run), John was betrayed by a phony Catholic, imprisoned, interrogated, then tortured for the names of active Catholics. He gave no information. “Your threats cheer me; I mind them no more than the cackling of geese,” he told his captors. Asked if he feared to die Father John replied, “No more than you do to dine.”"

You are as busy as the proverbial bee Shin  :) God Bless you for all your hard work. Your reward is piling up in Heaven.  ;D

 ;D

These are quite inspiring.  I hope to read more.  Thank you odiambo!  (and glad to see you here)


This is the wisest thing I've ever read from a spiritual director.  St. Frances of Rome wanted a good thing (a religious vocation) and she was meant to be a wife and mother.  Without being the second, she would have never been an adequate tool for God to use for His purposes.  I think that is a lesson for all of us.  We aspire but God has His plans for us and often they are not what we want or have planned.

Thank you Bailey. I am very glad to be here.
I agree with your comment on the advise given to Saint Frances by her spiritual adviser. We tend to pray to God for want we want, completely forgetting it may not be what He wants for us! I guess we should, like Jesus did, always add, "But Your Will, not mine" at the end of each request we make of God.

12 March

Today is the Feast day of
Blessed Angela (Aniela) Salawa
One,among many others.

Blessed Angela (Aniela) Salawa.

Angela was born on September 9, 1881 at Siepraw , Krakow in Poland. She was the eleventh of twelve children of Bartholomew and Salawa Ewa Bochenek. She was baptised Angela (Aniela). Her father was a blacksmith and her mother was a housewife, devoted to her many children and to her house. She taught her children piety, modesty and hard work. This was the home environment under which Angela grew up. Her mother, also prepared her for her First Communion at twelve years, according to the custom of the time.
When Angela was 15 years old, she worked for a family in Siepraw. Her work consisted of grazing cows, cutting grass, and entertaining the children.
When she returned home, her father wanted her to marry. She was now 16 years old.
Angela rejected this call to marriage. She instead moved to Krakow where her older sister Therese lived.

Angela worked for some families in Krakow. She knew loss and sorrow as she lost her sister Theresa, then her mother. With this loss came the need for more closeness to God. She responded by extending her time for prayer in church and at home and in meditation. With the assistance of her spiritual director, the Jesuit Father Stanislaus Mieloch, she gave herself to God with the vow of perpetual chastity, a vow already pronounced in early youth.

In 1900 she enrolled in the Association of St. Zita, promoting care for the household, so she could exercise in a more organized fashion, a fruitful apostolate in her work, becoming a guide and a model of Christian life.
Angela joined the Third Order of St. Francis, on May 15, 1912, in the church of the Conventual Franciscans.
During the First World War, she helped with her little savings, prisoners of war, without distinction of nationality, voluntarily undertook to love the wounded and sick in hospitals in Cracow, where she was respectfully called “the holy lady”.

In 1916, Angela was accused of loving her master, a lawyer named Fischer. She was dismissed from the house where she had worked since 1905. Then followed some years of neglect, without work and with her health failing. She retreated into a small room in an attic. Here, she began the last period of her life, five years of suffering in union with God, who gratified her with visions, especially of Jesus with a crown of thorns and suffering. Her confessor bore her daily Communion. It is said that Angela , in her love for Jesus, begged to take upon herself the disease of others, her suffering was multiplied, while those for whom it was offered healed.

At the end she agreed to leave her small room in the attic and was hospitalized at St. Zita’s Hospital in Krakow, where after receiving the sacraments, she died on March 12, 1922 in extreme poverty with a reputation for holiness.
On May 13, 1949, Angela’s body was transferred from the cemetery to the Basilica of St. Francis of Krakow.
Pope John Paul II proclaimed her Blessed August 13, 1991 in Krakow, during his apostolic visit to Poland.

Blessed Angela
Pray for us!

I really marvelled at this. Many of us pray for God to heal us of our ailments. Saint Angela "in her love for Jesus, begged to take upon herself the disease of others, her suffering was multiplied, while those for whom it was offered healed"
Saint Angela
Pray for us, that we too may have such love for Jesus!

To take others' sufferings and punishments on, and make them your own instead, to heal, and to atone...

That,  I think is the perfection of love for ones neighbour.

We see the cross constantly in Blessed Angela's life, with which she grew in sanctity rather than wallow in bitterness. Praise God! :crucifix:

13 March
Today is the Feast day of
Saint Leander of Seville
Among, other saints.

Saint Leander of Seville
Bishop

Leander was born at Cartagena, Spain, about the year 534. His parents were Romans established in that city. The father was named Severianus (. Severian) and his mother was named Theodora.The family emigrated from Carthage about 554 and went to Seville.
Severian had three sons, Leander, Isidore, and Fulgentius and one daughter, Florentina. St. Leander and St. Isidore both became bishops of Seville; St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Carthagena, and St. Florentina, a nun. Leander became a Benedictine monk initially , and then in 579 Bishop of Seville. In the meantime be founded a celebrated school, which soon became a centre of learning and orthodoxy.
Saint Leander fought Aryanism while undergoing many trials but finally converted many heretics.
Among those he converted from the Arian heresy were the Visigoths who were at the time the overlords of most of the Iberian Peninsula.
Leander presided at the Third Council of Toledo in 589, where Visigothic Spain abjured Arianism. It was Leander who delivered the closing sermon.

On his return from this council, Leander convened another important synod in his metropolitan city of Seville in 590, and never afterwords ceased his efforts to consolidate the work, in which his brother and successor St. Isidore was to follow him.
Saint Leander also composed an influential Rule for nuns and was the first to introduce the Nicene Creed at Mass. He was a friend of Pope Saint Gregory the Great.

Worn out by his many activities in the cause of Christ, Leander died around 600 and was succeeded in the See of Seville by his brother Isidore. The Spanish Church honors Leander as the Doctor of the Faith.

Saint Leander
Pray for us!

14 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Maximilian
Among many other saints.

Saint Maximilian.
Also known as
St. Maximilian of Theveste.
Maximilian of Tebessa
Marmilian or Mamilian
Martyr.
Maximilian was born in AD 274. His father, Fabius Victor was a soldier in the Roman army, and because of this, Maximilian too, was expected to join the army at the age of 21, but this was not to be.
About the year 295, the proconsul of Numidia( Algeria) Cassius Dion, went to Theveste to recruit soldiers for the
third Augustan legion stationed there. At this time the Roman army was mainly
volunteers, but sons of veterans were obliged to serve. Maximilian, the
21-year-old son of the Roman army veteran Fabius Victor, was presented to
the recruiting agent. The advocatus Pompeianus, seeing that Maximilian would
make an excellent recruit, asked for him to be measured: he was 5'10" tall. The
ensuing dialogue between the proconsul Dion and Maximilian has been preserved to
this day.
When asked his name, Maximilian replied, "Why do you wish to know my name? I
cannot serve because I am a Christian." Nevertheless, orders were given for
him to be given the military seal. He answered, "I cannot do it: I cannot be a
soldier." When told he must serve or die, he said, "You may cut off my head,
but I will not serve. My army is the army of God, and I cannot fight for this
world,"
It was pointed out to him that there were Christians serving as
bodyguards for the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. To this he replied,
"That is their business. I am a Christian, too, and I cannot serve."
Dion then told Victor to correct his son. Victor, who had become a Christian like his son,
said, "He knows what he believes, and he won't change his mind."
Dion insisted, "Agree to serve and receive the military seal." "I already
have the seal of Christ, my God . . . I will not accept the seal of this world; if
you give it to me, I will break it for it is worthless. I cannot wear a piece of
lead around my neck after I have received the saving sign of Jesus Christ, my
Lord, the son of the living God. You do not know Him; yet He suffered for our
salvation: God delivered Him up for our sins. He is the one whom all
Christians serve; we follow Him as the Prince of Life and Author of Salvation."
Again Dion stated that there are other Christians who are soldiers.
Maximilian answered, "They know what is best for them. I am a Christian and I cannot do what is wrong." Dion continued, "What wrong do those commit who serve in the
army?" Maximilian answered, "You know very well what they do."

Threatened with death if he remained obstinate, Maximilian answered, "This
is the greatest thing that I desire. Dispatch me quickly. Therein lies my
glory."
Then he added, "I shall not die. When I leave this earth, I shall live with
Christ, my Lord." He was sentenced accordingly: "Whereas Maximilian has
disloyally refused the military oath, he is sentenced to die by the sword." That is by beheading.

Just before his execution, Maximilian encouraged his companions to persevere
and asked his father to give his new clothes to the executioner. We are told
that Fabius Victor "went home happily, thanking God for having allowed him to
send such a gift to heaven."

The place of Maximilian's death is given as Theveste (Tebessa) in Numidia,
but it may have been nearer Carthage, where his body was taken for burial by a
devout woman named Pompeiana. It was buried close to the relics of Saint
Cyprian.

Saint Maximilian
Pray for us!

I don't understand. How can I refuse to serve my country by being a soldier if my country requires me to? 

Not that I can imagine myself as a soldier. Heh heh  ;D  My family would laugh if they ever thought of me as  a soldier.

There must have been something particularly immoral about the matter at the time, I would think, or dangerous for his soul.

 ;D

We are not told precisely why Maximilian chose to die rather than become a soldier, or why he regarded the military profession as incompatible with his Christian faith. It may have had something to do with the early Christian attitudes to war and military service; It could have been fear of being forced to commit idolatry.I remember from a previous post on the same thread at CAF, we learnt of the decimation of the Theban Legoin consisting of 6666 soldiers or thereabouts, all Christians, all put to the sword on 22 September 286, hardly 10 years before Saint Maximilian's own martyrdom,  because they would not offer sacrifice to idols nor agree to the  emperor 's command that they should take the oath of allegiance and swear to assist in the extirpation of Christianity in Gaul.

You are a soldier Patricia, a soldier of Christ. :)

15 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Louise de Marillac
Among many other saints.

Saint Louise de Marillac.

(also known as Louise de Marillac Le Gras)
Foundress and patroness of social workers.
Co-founder, (with St. Vincent de Paul)
of the Daughters of Charity.

Louise was born at Ferrieres-en-Brie, France on August 12, 1591. She was born out of wedlock and never knew her mother. Her father, Louis de Marillac, a member of the then prominent Marillac family, was a military courtier and a widower at the time of Louise’s birth. He claimed Louise as his natural daughter but not his legal heir.
When Louise was about three years old, her father remarried. His new wife was Antoinette Le Camus. She refused to accept Louise as part of their family.
Louise was thus entrusted to the care of her aunt who was a Dominican nun at the royal monastery of Poissy near Paris.
Louise studied among the country’s elite, receiving an excellent education. She also developed a deep spiritual life. She remained at Poissy until her father’s death when she was twelve. She was then placed in a boarding home to learn domestic or household management skills.
At this time, Louise felt drawn to the cloistered life. She applied to the Capuchins in Paris, but she was refused admission. It is not clear if her refusal was due to her continual poor health or other reasons, but her spiritual director’s prophetic response to her application was that God had “other designs” for her.
When she was about 22 years old, her uncle arranged for her to marry Antoine Le Gras, secretary to Queen Marie de Medicis.
Louise and Antoine were married in the fashionable church of St. Gervaise on February 5, 1617. Later in that same year, the couple had their only child, Michel. Louise grew to truly love Antoine and to mother her son. Along with being devoted to her family, she was also active in ministry in her parish.
Around 1621, Antoine contracted a chronic illness and eventually became bedridden. He died on 21 December, 1625.

Louise now focused intently on her own spiritual development. Being a woman of great energy, intelligence, determination and devotion, she wrote her own "Rule of Life in the World" which detailed a structure for her day. Time was set aside for reciting the Office of the Blessed Virgin, attending Mass, receiving Holy Communion, meditation, spiritual reading, fasting, penance, reciting the rosary and special prayers. She also managed to find time to maintain her household, entertain guests and care for Michel, her thirteen year old son.

Around the time that Antoine died, Louise met Vincent de Paul.Vincent quickly recognized Louise's power and intelligence and understood her desire for spiritual direction. Over the next four years, the two communicated often through letters and personal meetings. In 1629, Vincent invited Louise to get involved in his work with the Confraternities of Charity.
In 1633, Louise opened her home to train workers for the poor , founding the Sisters or the Daughters of Charity of Saint Paul.

Louisa traveled throughout France to establish orphanages, hospitals, and other services for the poor, founding forty houses before she died on March 15, 1660, six months before the death of her dear friend and mentor, Vincent de Paul. She was sixty-eight years old.
Her remains are enshrined in the chapel of the motherhouse of the Daughters of Charity in Paris.

Louise de Marillac was beatified by Pope Benedict XV in 1920 and, in 1934, she was canonized by Pope Pius XI.
She was declared Patroness of Christian Social Workers by Pope John XXIII in 1960. Those with disappointing children, those who have lost parents, people rejected by religious orders, sick people, the Vincentian Service Corps and widows could also take St. Louise as an example and intercessor. As a wife, mother, teacher, nurse, social worker and religious foundress, she stands as a model for all women.

Saint Louise de Marillac
Pray for us!

Quotable quote.

“Above all be very gentle and courteous toward the people you serve; love them tenderly and respect them deeply.”

Louise de Marillac

That's what I was thinkng too Shin when I read St Maximilian's answer when asked,

"What wrong do those commit who serve in the
army?" Maximilian answered, "You know very well what they do."


A true soldier of Christ is our Patricia,  :soldier:  O:)

odhiambo those posts are great to read.  :thumbsup:

Thanks Martin, good to hear  :)

'Certainly it is the great secret of the spiritual life to abandon to God all that we love by abandoning ourselves to all that He wills.'

St. Louise de Marillac

'Take good care of the service of the poor. Above all, live together in great union and cordiality, loving one another in imitation of the union and life of our Lord. Pray earnestly to the Blessed Virgin, that she might be your only Mother.'

St. Louise de Marillac

'If we only knew the precious treasure hidden in infirmities, we would receive them with the same joy with which we receive the greatest benefits, and we would bear them without ever complaining or showing signs of weariness.'

St. Vincent de Paul

16 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer
Among many other saints.

Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer

Clement was born Johannes ("Hansl") Hofbauer on 26 December, the feast of Saint Stephen, in 1751. He was born in Tasswitz Moravia. He was the ninth of twelve children born to Maria (Steer) and Paul Hofbauer.( Pavel Dvorak). The father changed the family name from the Moravian "Dvorák" to the Germanic "Hofbauer"). He was baptized the following day and given the name of Johannes.
When Johannes was 6 years old, his father died. In a few years, he wanted to be a priest but his family was poor and unable to give him the necessary education. Johannes also needed to learn a trade so he became a baker’s assistant but devoted all his spare time to study.
In 1770 Johannes went to work in the bakery of the Premonstratensian monastery of the White Monks in Kloster Bruck. At that time, the effects of war and famine were sending many homeless and hungry people to the monastery for help. Johannes worked day and night to feed the poor people who came to his door.

In 1771, Johannes traveled to Tivoli, Italy.He decided to become a hermit at the shrine of Our Lady of Quintiliolo and requested the hermit's habit from the local bishop. It was at this time that Johannes Hofbauer took on the name of Clement Mary: Clement from the bishop of Ancyra in Asia and Mary from the Mother of Jesus.
As a hermit, Clement prayed for himself and for all the people in the world who forgot to pray. He worked at the shrine and assisted the pilgrims who came.
In less than six months, however, Clement left Quintiliolo. He was not settled as all he wanted was to be a priest, not a hermit.
He returned to the monastery of the White Monks at Kloster Bruck to bake bread and to begin to study Latin.By the year 1776, he completed his studies in philosophy. Unfortunately by this time, The Emperor would allow no new novices for the White Monks.
He went home and lived for two years as a hermit at Muehlfraun, forcing himself to endure strict fasts, harsh penances, and long vigils of prayer. At the insistence of his mother he left the hermitage to become once more a baker of bread. This time he got a job at a famous bakery in Vienna where he met the two distinguished ladies who became his greatest benefactors.
At the age of twenty-nine, Clement entered the University of Vienna. Since the government had closed all seminaries, students for the priesthood had to study at government-controlled universities.

During a pilgrimage in 1784, Clement and his traveling companion, Thaddeus Huebl, decided to join a religious community. The two seminarians were accepted into the Redemptorist novitiate at San Giuliano in Italy. On the feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, 1785, Clement Hofbauer and Thaddeus Huebl became Redemptorists, publicly professing to live the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Ten days later they were ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral of Alatri.
A few months after their ordination the two foreign Redemptorists were summoned by their Superior General, Father de Paola. They were told to return to their homeland across the Alps and establish the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in northern Europe.
The political situation , however, did not allow Clement to remain in his own country. The Austrian Emperor had already closed over 1,000 monasteries and convents, it was very unlikely he would allow the establishment of a new religious Order. Realizing this, the two Redemptorists moved on to Poland.
On their journey to Poland, the two new Redemptorist priests were joined by Peter Kunzmann, a fellow-baker who had accompanied Clement on a pilgrimage. He became the first Redemptorist Lay brother from outside Italy. Together they arrived in Warsaw with no money; Clement had given the last three silver coins to beggars along the way.
They reached Warsaw, a city of 124,000 people in February ,1787. The city had 160 churches plus 20 monasteries and convents. The people were poor and uneducated; their houses were in need of repair. Many people had turned from Catholicism to Freemasonry. They met with the apostolic delegate, Archbishop Saluzzo, who put them in charge of St. Benno's Church to work with the German-speaking people of Warsaw. Clement and his companions worked to help restore Catholic Faith.
When Clement saw a homeless boy on the street, he brought him to the rectory, cleaned him up, fed him, and then taught him a trade and instructed him in the Christian way of life. When the number of boys grew too large for the rectory, Clement opened the Child Jesus Refuge for his homeless boys. To keep the boys fed and clothed, he had to beg constantly. He did so unashamedly. Going into a bakery to buy a loaf of bread he came upon a master baker without an assistant. Clement spent the day working at the dough trough and the oven, using all his old baking skills. He got bread for his boys that day and for many days to come.
On another occasion, legend has it that he went begging to a local pub. When Clement asked for a donation, one of the patrons scornfully spat beer into Clement's face. Wiping off the beer, he responded, "That was for me. Now what do you have for my boys?" The men in the bar were so astounded by the response that they gave Clement more than 100 silver coins....

Please continue at the next post

Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer-Part 2

When the Redemptorists first opened their church they preached to empty benches. It took several years for the Redemptorists to gain the trust of the people; but in time St. Benno's became the thriving center of the Catholic Church in Warsaw.

In 1791, four years after their arrival, the Redemptorists enlarged the children's refuge into an academy. A boarding school had been opened for young girls under the direction of some noble Warsaw women. The number of orphan boys continued to grow steadily. Money to finance all this came from some regular benefactors and many other people who were willing to help in different ways; but Clement still had to beg from door to door seeking help for his many orphans.
In the church, Clement and the community of five Redemptorist priests and three lay Brothers began what they called the Perpetual Mission. Instead of having just a morning Mass in the church on a weekday, they had a full-scale mission every day of the year. You could attend St. Benno's every day and know that you would hear five sermons in both German and Polish. There were three high Masses, the office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, public visits to the Blessed Sacrament, the Way of the Cross, vespers, prayer services, and litanies. And priests were available for confessions all hours of the day and night.

By the year 1800 the growth could be seen both in the work at the church and in the Redemptorist community. Reception of the sacraments jumped from 2,000 (in 1787) to over 100,000. The number of men serving at St. Benno's had grown to 21 Redemptorist priests and seven lay brothers. There were also five novices and four Polish seminarians.

As often happens, there were those in Poland who were against the Redemptorists and had labeled them as traitors. They wanted the Redemptorists out of Poland. The decree of expulsion was signed on June 9, 1808. Eleven days later, the Church of St. Benno's was closed and the forty Redemptorists serving there were taken off to prison. They lived there for four weeks and then were ordered to return to their own countries.

In September 1808, after being exiled from Poland, Clement reached Vienna. About one year later In 1809 when the forces of Napoleon attacked Vienna, Clement worked as a hospital chaplain caring for the many wounded soldiers. The archbishop, seeing Clement's zeal, asked him to care for a little Italian church in the city of Vienna. He remained there for four years until he was appointed chaplain to the Ursuline Sisters in July 1813.
Attending to the spiritual welfare of the Sisters and the lay people who came to their chapel, Clement gained a reputation as a powerful preacher and gentle confessor.
Towards the end of his life,Clement was able to have an audience with Emperor Franz of Austria , to seek permission to start a Redemptorist foundation in the Country. The Emperor was agreeable.A church was selected and refurbished to become the first Redemptorist foundation in Austria. It was to be started without Clement, however as he became ill in early March of 1820, and died on March 15 of that year.

He was beatified on January 29, 1888, by Pope Leo XIII; canonized a saint of the Catholic Church on May 20, 1909 by Pope Pius X.

Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer
Pray for us!

Rather long-winded I am afraid  :) Sorry for that. :-[

Don't mind. :D

It's a good story.

Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer
Pray for us!

Thanks for the bio on St. Louise de Marillac.  Today is her feast day!
She is one of my favorites as she endured depression (among other Saints).  They called it melancholia back then.  St. Vincent de Paul tried to help her several times.

Here is a book of her life: Louise de Marillac: A Light in the Darkness by Kathryn B. LaFleur, SP

There seems to be three ways of bearing our trials.
1) with complaint   :toocrying:
2) with resignation   :silent:
3) with joy.   :cheers:

The third one obviously has the right attitude.
Now, how do I get there?  :D


Ah... The humility of the saints.  Wins the day every time.  O:)

I like her, too. I'll be interested to read this book.

A Light in the Darknes indeed. Thanks for the book.  :)

17 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint. Patrick
Among many other saints.

Saint. Patrick ( 385-461)

the patron saint of Ireland.

Saint Patrick is one of the most beloved of all saints. His given name was Patricius Magonus Sucatus. He was born around the year 385 in the then Roman province of Britain, somewhere along the west coast of Britain. He was a Roman citizen. His father was Calpurnius, a deacon and his grandfather was Potitus, a priest (apparently it was still not uncommon for deacons and priests to marry). Patrick’s parents were wealthy. Patrick therefore grew up in the church.
When Patrick was sixteen, Irish raiders invaded his home town, seized a great number of its inhabitants, including Patrick and carried them across the Irish Sea into Ireland and sold into slavery.
Patrick was bought by a landowner of Slemish, near Ballymena in County Antrim. He served as a herdsman. As a slave, he was poorly fed and clothed. Moreover, he longed for his home
During the six years he spent in servitude, Patrick underwent a profound religious transformation. In the year 407, he was commanded in a dream to escape, and he did just that by walking nearly 200 miles to the Irish coast where he found a ship departing and was allowed to board. The ship was full of Irish wolfhounds on its way to the continent. They arrive in France after spending two months with the crew.
He went to a monastery in the south of France: St. Honorat.
After a number of years Patrick returned to Britain and was warmly welcomed by the remaining relatives who treatsd him like a son and bid him to never leave again. But Ireland was calling him. Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation—an angel in a dream told him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than fifteen years. After his ordination as a priest, and later, bishop, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission: to minister to the few Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish.
Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish, and used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity.

Patrick faced opposition, however, mostly from Druids and their followers. He was robbed, beaten, imprisoned and tortured. Once he was taken a slaved again. Twelve times his enemies nearly killed him. He wrote: “Daily I expect murder, fraud, or captivity, but I fear none of these things. I have cast myself into the hands of God Almighty, who rules everywhere, as the prophet says: ‘Cast your cares upon God, and He shall sustain you.’”
By the end of his life, Patrick had traveled across the five kingdoms of the island and had won the conversion of virtually the whole of the Irish people. He established his home base in Armagh.
Before his death, Saint Patrick wrote thus: “ Hence did it come to pass in Ireland that those who never had a knowledge of God… have now been made a people of the Lord, and are called Sons of God”.
His two primary achievements were the promotion of a native clergy and the careful integration of the Christian faith with native Irish-Celtic culture.
He used a simple, sincere biblical style of teaching that won both hearts and minds.
Patrick was the author of Confessio- a moving testimony of his personal faith. He also wrote Letters to Coroticus, a troublesome chieftain.
Legends about Saint Patrick abound. The most famous is perhaps that of his expulsion of snakes from Ireland. Scientists are however certain that there never were snakes on the island.
Patrick died on March 17, 461. This day is now celebrated as St. Patrick’s Day.

Patrick’s spectacular success in converting Ireland from a pagan to a Christian land, as well as the body of legend that developed around his work have ensured that he is commemorated in Ireland and wherever Irish immigrants have settled throughout the world—from Boston to Singapore.

Saint Patrick,
Pray for us!

How smart is that! :irishwisdom:

“Daily I expect murder, fraud, or captivity, but I fear none of these things. I have cast myself into the hands of God Almighty, who rules everywhere, as the prophet says: ‘Cast your cares upon God, and He shall sustain you.’”

How fearless! However black, because of His trust in Providence -- we have St. Patrick!

This is one of my favorite pieces:

On the occasion of his first visit to Rathcrogan, the royal seat of the kings of Connaught, situated near Tulsk, in the County of Roscommon, a remarkable incident occurred, recorded in many of the authentic narratives of the saint's life.

Close by the clear fountain of Clebach, not far from the royal abode, Patrick and his venerable companions had pitched their tents and at early dawn were chanting the praises of the Most High, when the two daughters of the Irish monarch — Ethne, the fair, and Fedelm, the ruddy — came thither, as was their wont, to bathe. Astonished at the vision that presented itself to them, the royal maidens cried out: "Who are ye, and whence do ye come? Are ye phantoms, or fairies, or friendly mortals?" St. Patrick said to them: "It were better you would adore and worship the one true God, whom we announce to you, than that you would satisfy your curiosity by such vain questions." And then Ethne broke forth into the questions:

    "Who is God?"
    "And where is God?"
    "Where is His dwelling?"
    "Has He sons and daughters?"
    "Is He rich in silver and gold?"
    "Is He everlasting? is He beautiful?"
    "Are His daughters dear and lovely to the men of this world?"
    "Is He on the heavens or on earth?"
    "In the sea, in rivers, in mountains, in valleys?"
    "Make Him known to us. How is He to be seen?"
    "How is He to be loved? How is He to be found?"
    "Is it in youth or is it in old age that He may be found?"

But St. Patrick, filled with the Holy Ghost, made answer:

    "God, whom we announce to you, is the Ruler of all things."
    "The God of heaven and earth, of the sea and the rivers."
    "The God of the sun, and the moon, and all the stars."
    "The God of the high mountains and of the low-lying valleys."
    "The God who is above heaven, and in heaven, and under heaven."
    "His dwelling is in heaven and earth, and the sea, and all therein."
    "He gives breath to all."
    "He gives life to all."
    "He is over all."
    "He upholds all."
    "He gives light to the sun."
    "He imparts splendour to the moon."
    "He has made wells in the dry land, and islands in the ocean."
    "He has appointed the stars to serve the greater lights."
    "His Son is co-eternal and co-equal with Himself."
    "The Son is not younger than the Father."
    "And the Father is not older than the Son."
    "And the Holy Ghost proceeds from them."
    "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are undivided."
    "But I desire by Faith to unite you to the Heavenly King, as you are daughters of an earthly king."

The maidens, as if with one voice and one heart, said: "Teach us most carefully how we may believe in the Heavenly King; show us how we may behold Him face to face, and we will do whatsoever you shall say to us."

And when he had instructed them he said to them: "Do you believe that by baptism you put off the sin inherited from the first parents."

They answered: "We believe."

"Do you believe in penance after sin?"

"We believe."

"Do you believe in life after death?" Do you believe in resurrection on the Day of Judgement?"

"We believe."

"Do you believe in the unity of the Church?"

"We believe."

Then they were baptized, and were clothed in white garments. And they besought that they might behold the face of Christ. And the saint said to them: "You cannot see the face of Christ unless you taste death, and unless you receive the Sacrifice." They answered: "Give us the Sacrifice, so that we may be able to behold our Spouse." And the ancient narrative adds: "when they received the Eucharist of God, they slept in death, and they were placed upon a couch, arrayed in their white baptismal robes."

All the children of Ireland
cry out to thee:
Come, O Holy Patrick, and save us!
From the words the angel spoken to Patrick.

St Patrick ora pro nobis.   :+:

St. Patrick’s Breastplate

I like this portion of the poem traditionally attributed to Saint Patrick.
.....
I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s host to secure me
against snares of devils
against temptations of vices
against inclinations of nature
against everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and anear,
alone and in a crowd…..

We need some of these strong-willed Saints in this day and age, who will call a spade a spade.

We need a lot of priests who will call a spade a spade!

18 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
Among many other saints.

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
Bishop,
Confessor and Doctor of the Church.

Cyril was born in Jerusalem around the year 315. (other scholars believe that Cyril was born and brought up in Caesarea of Palestine). He was born in a family of Christian faith with both his parents being devout Christians and was immediately drawn to the Church.

His religious career started around 326 when he became a deacon. He slowly rose through the ranks next becoming a priest in 345. He was ordained priest by St. Maximus, who gave him the important charge of instructing and preparing the candidates for Baptism.
In 349 or 350, on the death of St. Maximus, Cyril was chosen Bishop or patriarch of Jerusalem.
At the beginning of his episcopate a cross was seen in the air reaching from Mount Calvary to Mount Olivet, and so bright that it shone at noonday. St. Cyril gave an account of it to the emperor; and the faithful regarded it as a presage or foreshadow of victory over the Arian heretics. The Arian Controversy however was still prevalent and causing severe upheaval. Because of the heretics, Cyril spent sixteen of his thirty-five years as Bishop in various kinds of exile.
In 357 he was driven from his seat by Arian heretics. He was forced to retire to Tarsus (in present-day Turkey). At that time he was officially charged with selling church property to help the poor, although the actual motivation appears to be that St. Cyril was teaching Nicene, and not Arian, doctrine in his catechism. He was restored to his see in 359.

He suffered a second exile in 360, this time by Emperor Julian the Apostate but later returned.

The Arian Emperor Valens banished him once more in 367, his third and final exile. Cyril was however cleared of all charges by Saint Gregory of Nyssa. The way was cleared for a return following Valens’ death at the battle of Adrianople in 378.at the accession of Emperor Gratian.

Cyril and Gregory attended the First Council of Constantinople together in 381. At that council, he voted for acceptance of the term "homooussios". that is, that Jesus Christ and God are of the "same substance" and are equally God.
After a troubled episcopate of thirty-five years, Cyril died in peace in 386. He was declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII

Saint Cyril.
Pray for us!

Cyril became well known for his charitable works in the City of Jerusalem. He was known for performing some rather unorthodox actions in order to feed the poor. For example in the mid 350’s the city of Jerusalem was hit with drastic food shortages at which point church historians Sozomen and theodoret reported “Cyril secretly sold sacrament ornaments of the church and a valuable holy robe, fashioned with gold thread that the emperor Constantine had once donated for the bishop to wear when he performed the rite of Baptism”

It was also believed Cyril sold ornaments and many imperial gifts all in the name of charity to keep his people from starving!
Question:
If indeed it was true that he sold sacramentals to feed the hungry, would there have been any wrong there?

Cyril is honored as a catechist. His famous twenty-three catechetical lectures is considered a theological masterpiece. Each lecture is based upon a text of Scripture, and there is an abundance of Scriptural quotation throughout. After a general introduction, eighteen lectures follow, they are instructional addresses for baptismal candidates during Lent and the remaining five are addressed to the newly baptized, in preparation for the reception of Holy Communion. These last instructional addresses are called mystagogic, because they deal with the mysteries i.e. Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.

This seems to be an unScriptural action, as the story of the woman washing Jesus' feet in expensive perfume and Jesus response to it shows.

Hmm. That's one that takes some thought about to figure out I am thinking, yes.  ;D

Three quotes:

'Be careful that you do not lose anything of the Body of the Lord. If you let fall anything, you must think of it as though you cut off one of the members of your own body. Tell me, I beg you, if someone gave you kernels of gold, would you not guard them with the greatest care and diligence, intent on not losing anything? Should you not exercise even greater care and vigilance, so that not even a crumb of the Lord's Body could fall to the ground, for It is far more precious than gold or jewels?'

St. Cyril of Jerusalem

'Our actions have a tongue of their own; they have an eloquence of their own, even when the tongue is silent. For deeds prove the lover more than words.'

St. Cyril of Jerusalem

'Keep careful watch, to ensure that the enemy does not make off with any who are off guard or remiss; and that no heretic may pervert part of what you have been given. Accepting the faith is like putting into the bank the money we have given you; God will ask you for an account of this deposit.'

St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Those quotes would seem to validate my theory, however maybe I'm missing something. :-\

19 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Joseph
Among many other saints.

Perhaps if we went to Sozomen and Theodoret there would be more details to help.

Hmm.

Saint Joseph
Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Foster Father of Jesus
Patron of the Universal Church.

All what we know about Saint Joseph, come from the Scripture. He figures in the Infancy
Narrative of both Matthew and Luke. From the Genealogy of Jesus, we learn that Joseph was a descendant of the royal house of David. Despite his royal descent, Joseph was not a rich man. He was a carpenter and lived in the town of Nazareth. He was betrothed to Mary but before they lived together, he learned that she was with child. The Bible tells us that since Joseph was “a righteous man” , he decided to divorce her quietly rather than bring shame on her. It was then that he was visited by an angel in a dream, who informed him that her pregnancy was “by the Holy Spirit” and that he should not be afraid to take Mary home as his wife. Joseph, the man of faith who was obedient to whatever God asked of him, immediately and without question or concern for gossip, took Mary to his home as his wife. . When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby. He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back (Matthew 2:13-23).

Joseph loved Jesus. His one concern was for the safety of this child entrusted to him. Not only did he leave his home to protect Jesus, but upon his return settled in the obscure town of Nazareth out of fear for his life. When Jesus stayed in the Temple we are told Joseph (along with Mary) searched with great anxiety for three days for him (Luke 2:48). We also know that Joseph treated Jesus as his own son, for the people of Nazareth say of Jesus, "Is this not the son of Joseph?" (Luke 4:22)

Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus' public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph probably had died before Jesus entered public ministry.

Joseph is the patron of the dying because, assuming he died before Jesus' public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him, the way we all would like to leave this earth.
Joseph is also patron of the universal Church, fathers, carpenters, and social justice.
We celebrate two feast days for Joseph: March 19 for Joseph the Husband of Mary and May 1 for Joseph the Worker.
Joseph is depicted in liturgical art as an elderly man with a lily and is sometimes portrayed with the Christ Child or with the symble of the carpenter’s trade.

Saint Joseph
Pray for us

A very important day in a very important month.

And right after St. Patrick's. :D

20 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Salvator of Horta
Among many other saints

Saint Salvator of Horta.

Salvator was born at Santa Columba in the diocese of Gerona in Spain in 1520. His family was poor. He was orphaned at a young age. When he became a teenager, he moved to town and found work as a shoemaker in Barcelona. His heart, however was set on the religious life.
At age 20. Salvatore joined the Franciscan Order in Barcelona as a lay brother. He was employed in the kitchen and worked for many years as a humble cook in the friary of Horta near Tortosa. Salvatore hungered for greater austerity, and so he moved on, first to the convent of St. Mary of Jesus at Tortosa, and then to the solitude of St. Mary of the Angels at Horta in the same diocese. In that house of very strict observance, he made a protracted stay but eventually he returned to Barcelona. His supernatural gifts attracted much notice.The blind, the lame and the deaf came to him to be healed.
He always walked barefoot, scourged himself daily, and kept long and rigorous fasts. He was specially devoted to our Lady and to St. Paul who is said to have appeared to him on several occasions, notably on his death-bed.

Saint Salvatore had gone to Sardinia in obedience to orders given by his superiors .While there, he was taken seriously ill. He died at Cagliari, Sardinia on March 18, 1567(1567-03-18). He was forty-seven years old.
St. Salvatore is usually described as "of Horta" because he spent many years in the Franciscan Friary of that place.

He was beatified on 5 February 1606 by Pope Paul V and canonized in 1938 by Pope Pius XI

Saint Salvator
Pray for us!

 ;D

I wonder who observes these strict austerities nowadays?

Too few I fear. . .  :'(

I always try to encourage people to greater mortification.

Step by step. Little step by step.


'We give our youth to the devil, and the remains of our life to the Good God, who is so good that He deigns to be content with even that. . . but, happily, everyone does not do so. A great lady has been here, of one of the first families in France; she went away this morning. She is scarcely three-and-twenty, and she is rich-very rich indeed. . . She has offered herself in sacrifice to the good God for the expiation of sins, and for the conversion of sinners. She wears a girdle all armed with iron points; she mortifies herself in a thousand ways; and her parents know nothing of it. She is white as a sheet of paper. Hers is a beautiful soul, very pleasing to the good God, such as are still to be found now and then in the world, and they prevent the world from coming to an end.'

St. Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, the Cure of Ars

. . . and they prevent the world from coming to an end.

I doubt that it is practiced or even encouraged anymore.  These days Christians just pray and try to follow the 10 Commandments  ;D. I am open to correction of course. ;D

Reining in our appetite, yes. Flogging?? :)

Us post-Vatican ll Catholics have gotten too soft.   :littlepigeons:  I admit I'm soft too.  :-[

Oh the orders still use the hair shirt, the cilice and the discipline, but one hears little about it, no doubt for a variety of reasons.

Corporal mortification is essential, to some degree.


'Without mortification nothing can be done.'

'Where there is no great mortification there is no great sanctity.'

St. Philip Neri


I could do a concordance I suppose.

If you want to be like Jesus.. you have to follow the Way of the Cross after all. There has to be a good deal of pain one way or another. There's no cross without pains.

And generally, people nowadays are simply.. hmm.. worldly in their reaction to such things. They do not understand taking on pains for the sake of Christ directly in this way, even though they see nothing wrong with taking on pains for worldly reasons.

Patricia, it's probably not half as hard as it is thinking about it as you might find in practice. Corporal mortifications can tend to be easier than other ones.

The hardest thing is probably the first step, and that's the mental part.
 
"The effeminate. . . shall not possess the kingdom of God", as the holy scriptures say.

From what I have read -- Traditionally, effeminacy is a vice known as softness, or attachment to pleasures and softness and inability to give them up to take on arduous tasks. In its worst cases its also associated with the unmentionable, but putting that off the table, it's important to know that it's a vice to be attached to softness and pleasures and be unable to give them up to do arduous tasks.

Men are by nature more suited for giving up softness and pleasures and doing very painful and arduous tasks, it's one of their particular virtues, due to their particular constitution. The virtue of fortitude. They are more single focused and easily able to block out emotional and physical pains, when properly formed in virtue. In these times, with everything upside down, most men have failed in this virtue and become effeminate, basically spoiled boys who do not work long into the ages of adulthood, because they cannot give up their pleasures, the vice has them.

A properly formed man excels in fortitude and mortification. He will sacrifice himself.

Women on the other hand excel in the virtues of temperance -- and modesty - normally, properly formed. Which of course in these times.. But I digress. :D

I have some notes I took from some conferences on the virtues I set aside for later, and here they've popped up again.

Perhaps I should practice more silence.  :D

A good place to start with mortification could be to offer up all the little inconveniences, trials and pains that come to us each day in various forms (with a smile if possible  ;D) and then add on our own extra bits once we can cope with the ones we have no control over.

It all sounds pretty easy on paper don't you think.  :D
We men here must lead the way. We can't have the ladies calling us sissies.  :-\
Right Shin, odhiambo!! Lets go!!!   I'm behind you' all the way.  ;D

I wish I knew which orders did which mandatorially, and which optionally now that I think of it. When option I wonder how many individuals request to be allowed it under obedience, and how many it has totally fallen into laxity with.

Not a good deal is said about it for a number of reasons, from laxity to worldly surprise.

The Carthusian Fathers wear the hair shirt at all times, for example, except when bathing I have read.

Yes Martin I see you back there.  :swordfight:

 :rejoice:

No way! How can you practice silence Shin!, I have adopted you as my on line teacher, though you do not know it ;) ;D

 :rotflblue: :rotfl:

 :biggrin:

Today is the Feast day of
Blessed John of Parma
Among many other Saints and Blesseds

Blessed John of Parma
Franciscan, and
Minister General of the Friars Minor
Also known as
Giovanni di Parma
John Buralli

John was born in Parma, Italy, in 1209. His family name was Buralli. He was educated by an uncle who was chaplain of the church of St. Lazarus at Parma. He progressed very quickly and soon became a professor of philosophy.
Around the year 1223, John left his teaching career and entered the Order of Friars Minor or the Franciscan Order, as it is more familiarly known these days.
After his profession John was sent to Paris to complete his theological studies. He was ordained priest, then was appointed to teach theology at Bologna, then Naples and finally Rome

In 1245, Pope Innocent IV called a general council in the city of Lyons, France. Crescentius, the Franciscan minister general at the time, was ailing and unable to attend. In his place he sent Father John, who made a deep impression on the Church leaders gathered there. Two years later, when the same pope presided at the election of a minister general of the Franciscans, he remembered Father John well and recommended him as the man best qualified for the office.

And so, in 1247, John of Parma was elected to be minister general. As general of the Order John traveled on foot, accompanied by one or two companions, to practically all of the Franciscan convents in existence. Sometimes he would arrive and not be recognized, remaining there for a number of days to test the true spirit of the brothers.
The pope called on John to serve as legate to Constantinople, where he was most successful in winning back the schismatic Greeks. Upon his return he asked that someone else take his place to govern the Order. St. Bonaventure, at John's urging, was chosen to succeed him. John took up a life of prayer in the hermitage at Greccio.

Many years later, John learned that the Greeks, who had been reconciled with the Church for a time, had relapsed into schism.
He was about 80 years old by then. His advanced age not withstanding, John obtained permission from Pope Nicholas IV to return to Greece in an effort to restore unity once more. He however, traveled only as far as Camerino (in the Marches of Ancona), where he died in the convent of the friars on 19 March 1289. Many miracles were soon reported at his tomb.

John was beatified in 1777.

Blessed John of Parma
Pray for us!

 

I will have to pretend not to know it.  :-[  :D


March 21st is also St. Nicholas of Flue's day, the Patron Saint of Switzerland.

'My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you.
My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you.
My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.'

St. Nicholas of Flue

From various sources:

'After receiving a mystical vision of a lily eaten by a horse, which he recognized as indicating that the cares of his worldly life (the draft horse pulling a plough) was swallowing up his spiritual life (the lily, a symbol of purity) he decided to devote himself entirely to the contemplative life. In 1467, he left his wife and his ten children with her consent and set himself up as a hermit in the Ranft chine in Switzerland, establishing a chantry for a priest from his own funds so that he could assist at mass daily. He survived for twenty years with no food or drink, except for Holy Communion, as was carefully established by investigation.

He wore neither shoes nor cap, and even in winter was clad merely in a hermit's gown. In 1468 he saved the town of Sarnen from a conflagration by his prayers and the sign of the cross. God also favored him with numerous visions and the gift of prophecy. Distinguished persons from nearly every country of Europe came to him for counsel in matters of the utmost importance. At first he lived in a narrow hut, which he himself had built with branches and leaves, and came daily to Mass either at Sachseln or at Kerns. Early in 1469 the civil authorities built a cell and a chapel for him, and on 29 April of the same year the chapel was dedicated by the vicar-general of Constance, Thomas, Bishop of Ascalon. In 1479 a chaplain was put in charge of the chapel, and thenceforth Nicholas always remained in the Ranft.

When in 1480 delegates of the Swiss confederates assembled at Stans to settle their differences, and civil war seemed inevitable, Henry Imgrund, the pastor of Stans, hastened to Nicholas, begging him to prevent the shedding of blood.

The priest returned to the delegates with the hermit's counsels and propositions, and civil war was averted.'

A wonderful prayer!
Doesn't the first line ring a bell? Everything that distances us from the Lord is the flesh as Brigid has said in her post "the flesh"
Saint Nicholas of Flue,
Pray for us!

22 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Nicholas Owen
Among many other saints

Saint Nicholas Owen
Martyr.

Very little is known about the early life of Saint Nicholas but it is believed that he was born in Oxford, England around the year 1550 into a devoutly Catholic family. and grew up during the Penal Laws in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. An explanation of Penal in English history :“In English history, penal law refers to a specific series of laws that sought to uphold the establishment of the Church of England against Protestant nonconformists and Roman Catholics, by imposing various forfeitures, civil penalties, and civil disabilities upon these dissenters”
Nicholas was a carpenter by trade and for about thirty years, he built hiding-places for priests being persued by English authorities, in the homes of Catholic families. He frequently travelled from one house to another, under the name of "Little John", accepting only the necessities of life as payment. Constructing these hiding places often involved breaking through thick stonework. To minimize the likelihood of betrayal he often worked at night, and always alone. The number of hiding-places he constructed were never known and, to the ingenuity of his craftsmanship, some may still be undiscovered.

For many years, Owen worked in the service of the Jesuit priest Henry Garnet, and was admitted into the Society of Jesus as a lay brother in 1580. He was first arrested in 1582 or 1583, after the execution of Edmund Campion, for publicly proclaiming the latter's innocence, but was later released. He was arrested again in 1594, and was tortured. He was released after a wealthy Catholic family paid a fine on his behalf.
Nicholas resumed his work, and it is believed that he masterminded the escape of Jesuit Father John Gerard from the Tower of London in 1597.

Early in 1606, Nicholas was arrested again with several priests at Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire. He gave himself up voluntarily in the hope of distracting attention from some other priests who were hiding nearby. Realizing just whom they had caught, and his value, Secretary of State, Robert Cecil exulted: "It is incredible, how great was the joy caused by his arrest... knowing the great skill of Owen in constructing hiding places, and the innumerable quantity of dark holes which he had schemed for hiding priests all throughout England."
After being committed to the Marshalsea, a prison on the southern bank of the Thames, Nicholas was removed to the Tower. He was tried for supposed complicity in the “Gunpowder Plot” Under English law, he was exempt from torture, having been maimed a few years before when a horse had fallen on him. He was, however, submitted to terrible torture on the Topcliffe rack, dangling from a wall with both wrists held fast in iron gauntlets and his body hanging. When this proved insufficient to make him talk, heavy weights were added to his feet. This procedure was followed until "his bowels gushed out with his life. The saint died most horribly.

The exact date of his death in 1606 is not agreed. Most sources cite 2 March, while others place his death on 12 November. Father Gerard wrote of him:

"I verily think no man can be said to have done more good of all those who laboured in the English vineyard. He was the immediate occasion of saving the lives of many hundreds of persons, both ecclesiastical and secular."
Saint Nicholas Owen was canonized as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales by Pope Paul VI on 25 October 1970.

Saint Nicholas.
Pray for us!

odhiambo, I just want to say that I really truly appreciate this service you are providing.  I read these posts whenever I can even when I don't actually post here.  Blessings!

I've no doubt that the sacrafices of these English martyrs will be the price paid for the reconversion of England in the Lords good time.

On Saturday coming we have the feast day of St Margaret Clitherow (probably one of the better known English martyrs) and one whom I invoke daily. I visited her house in the Shambles while I was in York and got to learn much about her life and martyrdom.

Holy martyrs of England orate pro nobis.

Saint Nicholas Owen's life is amazing. He is a hero.  I am so blessed to read about him. Never heard of him before. A mix of courage   :boxing: and genius  :irishwisdom:

Thanks Bailey for the thumbs up  :)
I am encouraged by your words and appreciate the fact that others are taking the time to read the posts .

Could you post a short biography of her or something on that day?
The American Catholic Calender of Saints which I am following, lists somebody else on that day.

Yes it truly does.  :)

23 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Turibius of Mongrovejo
Among many other saints.

Turibius of Mongrovejo
Also known as
Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo.

Turibius was born on 16 November 1538 in Mayorga, Spain to a noble and wealthy family. He
was named after another Spanish saint, Turibius of Astorga. He was very highly educated. He studied law and became a lawyer, then a professor of law at the highly reputed University of Salamanca. His education and virtuous reputation led to his appointment as Grand Inquisitor of Spain by King Philip II on the Court of the Inquisition at Granada in February 1571, although he was a layman.
He was ordained priest in 1578 and sent to Peru, and in May 1579, he was named Archbishop of Lima, Peru.
He arrived at Paita, Peru, 600 miles (970 km) from Lima, on May 24, 1581. He began his mission work by travelling to Lima on foot, baptizing and teaching the natives. His favourite topic was:

"Time is not our own, and we must give a strict account of it."

Three times he traversed the 450,000 square kilometers (180,000 square miles) of his diocese, generally on foot, frequently defenceless and often alone; exposed to tempests, torrents, deserts, wild beasts, tropical heat, fevers and sometimes threats from hostile tribes; baptizing and confirming nearly one half million people, among them St. Rose of Lima, and St. Martin de Porres.

He built roads, schoolhouses and chapels, many hospitals and convents, and at Lima, in 1591, founded the first seminary in the Western hemisphere. He inaugurated the first part of the third Lima Cathedral on February 2, 1604.

Turibius was seen as a champion of the rights of the natives against the Spanish masters. There was great opposition to him from the governors of Peru whose authority he challenged. He learned local dialects so that he could communicate with and convert the natives.
He is said to have predicted the day and hour of his death, years before he died.
Towards the end of his life, Turibius contracted fever at Pacasmayo, but continued to work to the last. He arrived at Sana (or Saña) when he was critically ill. Dragging himself to the sanctuary he received the Viaticum, dying shortly after on March 23, 1606
He was canonized in 1726.

Saint Turibius,
Pray for us!

'Time is not our own, and we must give a strict account of it.'

This means so much.. so much more than we comprehend..

That is true. The purpose of our existence here on earth is to get to know and love God so that we can be united with Him in Heaven. Our time on earth should be put to good use for this purpose otherwise as today's Saint stresses, the Master will demand an account.

25 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Catherine of Genoa
Among many other saints.

Saint Catherine of Genoa (Caterina Fieschi Adorno)
Mystic.

Catherine was born in Genoa in 1447 to an aristocratic family. She was the youngest of five children. Her parents were Jacopo Fieschi and Francesca di Negro, both of illustrious Italian birth. Her family had papal connections, and Jacopo became Viceroy of Naples.
When Catherine was 13 years old, she wanted to enter a convent, like her sister Limbania who was an Augustinian nun. She was however refused admission because of her youth. She accepted this decision and thought no more of it.
When she was 14 years old, her father died. Two years later at age 16, for political and financial reasons, her brother arranged her marriage to Giuliano Adorno, a member of a rival family. The marriage was not a happy one. Giuliano was unfaithful, vile-tempered, and a spendthrift, who made the life of his wife a misery. The marriage was not fruitful although her husband had at least one child by a mistress.
Ten years after her marriage, when she was now 26 years old, Catherine experienced a religious conversion.
She was converted by a mystical experience on 22 March 1473. Her conversion is described as an overpowering sense of God's love for her. This marked the beginning of her life of close union with God in prayer.
She began to receive Communion almost daily, a practice noted as rare for lay people at the time. She also underwent remarkable mental experiences. At about the same time of her conversion, her husband became bankrupt. Catherine began a life of social work, going into Genoa's slums to help the sick and poor.
By 1477, Catherine's husband had begun to help with her work. He later became a Franciscan tertiary (a lay person affiliated with the order). Catherine herself never became associated with any religious order. In 1479 the couple moved into rooms near the large Pammatone Hospital for the poor of Genoa and worked there, without pay.

In 1490, Catherine became the director of the hospital, and worked successfully to improve the institution's financial situation. Three years later in 1493, the plague came to Genoa. 80% of those who stayed in the city died from the disease. Catherine supervised those who were taking care of the dying. Her husband was one of these people. In 1496 her husband died and she resigned her position as director, although she continued working full time until 1499, when her own health began to fail.

During the ten years before her death, Catherine wrote Trattato del Purgatorio, describing her beliefs about Purgatory.She saw purgatory as a place of joy rather than a place of physical suffering. She also wrote what would become the first part of Dialogo Spirituale: a book embodying the internal conflict she had undergone between her spiritual goals and her bodily desires. It was also during this period that she accepted, for the first time, a spiritual director, her successor as head of the hospital, Father Marabotti.
Catherine died on 15 September 1510. In 1551, 41 years after her death, a book about her life and teaching was published, entitled Libro de la vita mirabile et dottrina santa de la Beata Caterinetta de Genoa.
Her writings were examined by the Holy Office and pronounced to contain doctrine that would be enough, in itself, to prove her sanctity.

She was beatified in 1675 by Pope Clement X, and canonized in 1737 by Pope Clement XII. Her writings also became sources of inspiration for other religious leaders such as Saints Robert Bellarmine and Francis de Sales and Cardinal Henry Edward Manning.. Pope Pius XII declared her patroness of the hospitals in Italy.

Saint Catherine,
Pray for us!

From the Calender, I see that
Today is also the Feast day of
Saint Gabriel the Archangel.

Gabriel, Archangel is the “Angel of the Annunciation”.
He announced the coming of Christ in the Old Testament.
He is the Angel sent to Zachariah (Lk 1:11-19).
He told Zachariah, “I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to convey to you this good news.”(Lk 1: 19).
The good news was the birth of Saint John the Baptist; Zachariah was to finally become a father.
In the Book of Daniel, he was sent to explain Daniel’s vision of a Ram and a Goat. (8:16, 9:21).
In traditional angelology, Gabriel is also believed to guard the Tree of Life and may have been the heavenly being who expelled Adam and Eve from Aden.
He is usually depicted as a hansome archangel, holding a scroll emblazoned with the Ave Maria.
Gabriel is patron of modern telecommunications and of postal services.
His emblem is a spear and a shield emblazoned with a lily.
Saint Gabriel,
Pray for us!

Ah, St. Catherine of Genoa: another Saint plagued with depression on and off.......... and no wonder!

Some great quotes of the saint:

'The great importance of purgatory, neither mind can conceive nor tongue describe. I see only that its pains are as great as those of hell; and yet I see that a soul, stained with the slightest fault, receiving this mercy, counts its pains as naught in comparison with this hindrance to her love. And I know that the greatest misery of the souls in purgatory is to behold in themselves aught that displeases God, and to discover that, in spite of his goodness, they had consented to it. And this is because, being in the state of grace, they see the reality and the importance of the impediments which hinder their approach to God.'


St. Catherine of Genoa

'From this judgment there is no appeal, for after death the freedom of the will can never return, but the will is confirmed in that state in which it is found at death. The souls in hell, having been found at that hour with the will to sin, have the guilt and the punishment always with them, and although this punishment is not so great as they deserve, yet it is eternal.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

'Oh, what peril attaches to sin willfully committed! For it is so difficult for man to bring himself to penance, and without penitence guilt remains and will ever remain, so long as man retains unchanged the will to sin, or is intent upon committing it.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

'There is no doubt that, if man could perceive the many difficulties thrown by self-love in the way of his own good, he would no longer allow himself to be deceived by it; and its malignity is the more to be dreaded because it is so powerful that were but one grain of it in the world would be sufficient to corrupt all mankind. Wherefore I conclude that self-love is the root of all evils which exist in this world and in the other. Behold Lucifer, whose present state is the result of following the suggestions of his self-love; and in ourselves it seems to me even worse. Our father Adam has so contaminated us that to my eyes the evil appears almost incurable, for it so penetrates our veins, our nerves, our bones, that we can neither say nor think nor do anything which is not full of the poison of this love - not even those thoughts and deeds which are directed toward the purification of the spirit.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

'I do not wish a love which may be described as for God, or in God. I cannot see those words, for and in, without their suggesting to me that something may intervene between God and me; and that is what pure and simple love, by reason of its purity and simplicity, is unable to endure. This purity and simplicity is as great as God is, for it is his own.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

'. . . when I see man fix his affections on creatures, even, as he sometimes does, on a dog or a cat, or any other created thing, delighting greatly in it, doing all that he can to serve it, unable to admit into his heart any other love, and as it were, breathing by it, I long to exterminate these things which hold him thus employed and cause him to lose the great reward of the love of God which alone can satisfy and make him happy.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

'If man clearly saw that by well-doing he could gain eternal life, and could imagine how great the happiness of heaven will be, he would always persevere in good; and even should he live until the end of the world, he would never occupy his memory, intellect, or will on any but celestial things. . . On the other hand, if man could know how greatly he must suffer hereafter for his sins, hold it for certain that for very fear he would not only abandon all things, but that he would not commit the smallest sin.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

'When I see that God is ever ready to give us all the interior and exterior aids necessary for our salvation, and that he observes our deeds solely for our own good; when, on the other hand, I see man continually occupied in useless things, contrary to himself and of no value; and that at the hour of death God will say to him: "What is there, O man, that I could have done for thee which I have not done?" and that man will clearly know this to be true; I believe that he will have to render a stricter account for this than for all other sins, and I am amazed and cannot understand how man can be so mad as to neglect a thing of such vast and extreme importance.'

St. Catherine of Genoa

Yes, to zero in on the obvious, her marriage was rather like a bed of thorns; that could have contributed to her problems. Hey, have you come across this expression that "happiness is an inside job" ?  Also that we should not expect others to behave in a way so as to make us happy? I read it somewhere and it stuck! I look back on times when I was really , really down and I wonder, was it really my fault? could I have just looked within me and found that happiness?

25 March
Today is the The Solemnity of
The Annunciation of the Lord.

The Feast of the Annunciation

The Feast of the Annunciation commemorates the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary
that she would conceive Jesus, and the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit at that moment. The feast on this day, March 25th, is celebrated 9 months before Jesus' birth at Christmas.
The story of the Annunciation, meaning the announcing, from the Latin annuntiare, is told in Luke's gospel. At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive a Son, and his name will be Jesus. His greeting, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you" has echoed down through the ages in many prayers, and is known as the "Hail Mary." Mary is initially confused as to how she will bear God's Son, seeing as she is a virgin. The angel then explains that the Holy Spirit would come upon her. This is why when we recite the Nicene creed we say "by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and became man." The Apostles Creed likewise affirms that Jesus was "conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit." Thus, the Feast of the Annunciation is the beginning of Jesus' miraculous life, and it begins with the the Blessed Virgin conceiving Jesus by the Holy Spirit's power
Mary's response to the angel, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word," (Latin: ecce ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum) is a statement of humble faith, and a model for how we are to respond when God calls us to do what seems impossible. This response is called Mary's fiat, from the Latin word meaning "let it be done." The Catechism addresses the significance of Mary's faith in relation to her role as Christ's mother:
By pronouncing her "fiat" at the Annunciation and giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary was already collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish. She is mother wherever he is Savior and head of the Mystical Body

Note:

The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the 4 "Quarter Days" in the Church. These are days which fall around the equinoxes or solstices, and mark the beginnings of the natural seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. These Quarter Days were Christian feast days used in medieval times to mark "quarters" for legal purposes. The other  Quarter Days are the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24), Michaelmas (September 29), and Christmas (December 25).

'By the Angelic Salutation God became man, a virgin became the Mother of God, the souls of the just were delivered from Limbo, the empty thrones in heaven have been filled, sin has been pardoned, grace been given to us, the sick been made well, the dead brought back to life, exiles brought home, the Blessed Trinity has been appeased, and men obtained eternal life.'

'Just as the Angelic Salutation gave glory to the Blessed Trinity, it is also the very highest praise that we can give to Mary.'

St. Louis Marie de Montfort

'This day (the Annunciation) is the beginning of our salvation. On this day the Son of God, who was anterior to all time, becomes the Son of Man. This day is the beginning of the restoration of human nature, and of the blotting out of the sin of creation. On this day our nature has been sanctified by the indwelling in it of its Creator. On this day it has been raised to the dignity of holding dominion over archangels. On this day the time predicted by the prophets is fully come. This is the day which saints have desired to see. On this day Adam has built a temple for his Creator in one of his own daughters, in which He might deign to dwell concealed, and thus become our Redeemer. This temple is Mary, the virgin; precious, blessed, and holy, the pure and stainless offshoot of Adam's nature, the Queen of the whole family of men. So pure that none can be found purer in the whole human race; so holy that none among all intelligent creatures shall ever surpass her in holiness. She is the glory of the people of Israel, and the light of the house of David. This is she, the Beauty whose purity the Heavenly King desired, sending to her His ministering spirit Gabriel to salute her with a salutation of great joy, and to acquaint her that she has been chosen by her Creator, saying, "Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women!"'

St. John Damascene

'The Blessed Virgin spoke to the Son, saying: "Blessed are you, my Son and my God, Lord of angels and King of glory! I pray that the words that you have spoken may take root in the hearts of your friends and cling to their minds like the pitch with which Noah's ark was plastered, which neither the storms nor the winds could dissolve. May they spread themselves throughout the world like branches and sweet flowers whose scent is spread far and wide. May they also turn into fruit and grow sweet like the date whose sweetness delights the soul beyond measure." The Son answered: "Blessed are you, my dearest Mother! My angel Gabriel said to you: 'Blessed are you, Mary, among women!' And I bear you witness that you are blessed and most holy above all the choirs of angels. You are like a garden flower that is surrounded by other fragrant flowers, but surpasses them all in fragrance, beauty, and virtue. These flowers represent all the elect from Adam to the end of the world. They were planted in the garden of the world, bloomed and blossomed in various virtues, but among all those who then were and who afterward were to be, you were the most excellent in the fragrance of a good and humble life, in the beauty of a pleasing virginity, in the virtue of abstinence.'

'Then his Mother answered: "Blessed are you, my Son, my God and my Lord! Since you were my sweet delight, I pray that others may be made partakers in its sweetness." The Son answered: "Blessed are you, my dearest Mother! Your words are sweet and full of love. Therefore, it will go well for anyone who receives your sweetness into his mouth and keeps it perfectly. But anyone who receives it and rejects it will be punished all the more bitterly." Then the Virgin responded: "Blessed be you, my Son, for all your love!"'

from the Revelations of St. Bridget of Sweden

'When people say, "The Lord is with thee," they renew the indescribable joy that was mine when the eternal Word became incarnate in my womb.'

'When you say to me, "Blessed art thou among women," I praise the mercy of God who has raised me to this exalted degree of happiness.'

'And at the words, "Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus," the whole of heaven rejoices with me to see my Son Jesus adored and glorified for having saved mankind."'

Our Lady speaking of the Ave Maria to St. Mechtilde

26 March

Today is the Feast day of
Blessed Didacus of Cadiz
Among many other saints

Didacus Joseph of Cadiz (Diego José)

Didicus was born on March 29, 1743, in Cadiz, Spain. He was baptized Joseph Francis. His lineage is said to date from the Visigoth kings. His parents were devout Christians and Didicus was brought up in the ways of the Lord, and remained thus throughout his life.
When he was old enough, Joseph learned how to serve Mass at the Franciscan church which was close by. He learned to love the Mass. He used to get up early so that he could be at the church each morning to wait for the doors to be unlocked. He never missed a day.
One of the priests or brothers gave Joseph a book about the lives of the Capuchin saints. He read it over and over. Joseph learned every story in that book. He grew to love the holy men who were poor and humble just like Jesus.
As a youth, Joseph was a bit of a slow learner at school, receiving the nickname of the "dunce of Cadiz".
It was not surprising that Joseph decided to become a religious. Since he attended a Capuchin church and was an avid reader of the lives of the Capuchin Saints, his decision to become a Franciscan was also not surprising.
He was, however initially rejected by the Franciscan Order (Order of Friars Minor) due to his perceived limitation of intellect. He was, however, accepted by the Capuchin Friars and entered their novitiate in Seville, Spain, where he was given the name "Didacus". Later he was ordained to the priesthood.
His first appointment was to the task of preaching. His biographers stated that the congregations marveled at the singular power of his words, which swayed his audiences and left an impression on their lives.
Joseph loved preaching, and as it soon became evident that he had wonderful gifts for preaching the Word of God, he was sent out to preach to the people the Good News of Jesus. He travelled throughout Spain teaching and preaching in remote villages and crowded towns. His homilies were so clear and kind that people listened.
Everyone marvelled at the singular power and sweetness of his words, which swayed his audiences and left marked impressions on their lives. They even brought friends to listen. Soon an ordinary church was too small for the crowds. When Father Didacus was preaching, the talks were held outdoors, usually in the town square or in the streets.

Father Didacus loved to preach about the Blessed Trinity. He was popularly called "The Apostle of the Holy Trinity", because of his devotion to the mystery of the Divine Persons, three in one God, and the clever way he included the theological dogma of the Blessed Trinity as part of his edifying sermons.
Didacus also was capable of touching the heart of those who came to him for confession. He also found time to visit prisons and hospitals and engage in other works of charity, whilst a great part of the nights he spent in prayer.

Didacus died in 1801, in the 58th year of his highly blessed life, and was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1894.
He became known as the saviour of the faith in Spain, a second Paul, and as the apostle of his century.

Blessed Didacus,
Pray for us!

I came across this as I was reading about Blessed Didacus of Cadiz:

“…This unlearned man was a celebrated preacher in Spain. During his preaching one day, a child shouted aloud in the church: "Mother, mother, see the dove resting on the shoulder of Father Didacus! I could preach like that too if a dove told me all that I should say!" Fr. Didacus prayed devotedly before his sermons, even scourging himself unto blood, in order to draw down God's mercy upon the people.

Once when his superior chided him because of the austerity of his life, Didacus Joseph replied: "Ah, Father, my sins and the sins of the people compel me to do it. Those who have been charged with the conversion of sinners must remember that the Lord has imposed upon them the sins of all their clients. By means of our penances we should atone for the sins of our fellowmen and thus preserve ourselves and them from eternal death. It would hardly be too much if we shed the last drop of our blood for their conversion."

I wonder how many shepherds actually realize this. Even parents (especially fathers) could learn a lesson from this too. I think that many look on hopelessly while their children stray into all sorts of bad things, not realizing that their circumstances could be changed by offering acts of reparation on their behalf.
Miracles come through perseverance in prayer and through acts of reparation. The greatest miracle being that we ourselves end up saving our own souls in the process.

This day is also shared by another great saint whom I mentioned during the week.
Here is a summary of her life taken from The Catholic Encyclopedia


                                      St Margaret Clitherow

Martyr, called the "Pearl of York", born about 1556; died 25 March 1586. She was a daughter of Thomas Middleton, Sheriff of York (1564-5), a wax-chandler; married John Clitherow, a wealthy butcher and a chamberlain of the city, in St. Martin's church, Coney St., 8 July, 1571, and lived in the Shambles, a street still unaltered. Converted to the Faith about three years later, she became most fervent, continually risking her life by harbouring and maintaining priests, was frequently imprisoned, sometimes for two years at a time, yet never daunted, and was a model of all virtues.

Though her husband belonged to the Established Church, he had a brother a priest, and Margaret provided two chambers, one adjoining her house and a second in another part of the city, where she kept priests hidden and had Mass continually celebrated through the thick of the persecution. Some of her priests were martyred, and Margaret who desired the same grace above all things, used to make secret pilgrimages by night to York Tyburn to pray beneath the gibbet for this intention.

Finally arrested on 10 March, 1586, she was committed to the castle. On 14 March, she was arraigned before Judges Clinch and Rhodes and several members of the Council of the North at the York assizes. Her indictment was that she had harboured priests, heard Mass, and the like; but she refused to plead, since the only witnesses against her would be her own little children and servants, whom she could not bear to involve in the guilt of her death. She was therefore condemned to the peine forte et dure, i.e. to be pressed to death. "God be thanked, I am not worthy of so good a death as this", she said. Although she was probably with child, this horrible sentence was carried out on Lady Day, 1586 (Good Friday according to New Style).

She had endured an agony of fear the previous night, but was now calm, joyous, and smiling. She walked barefooted to the tollbooth on Ousebridge, for she had sent her hose and shoes to her daughter Anne, in token that she should follow in her steps. She had been tormented by the ministers and even now was urged to confess her crimes. "No, no, Mr. Sheriff, I die for the love of my Lord Jesu", she answered. She was laid on the ground, a sharp stone beneath her back, her hands stretched out in the form of a cross and bound to two posts. Then a door was placed upon her, which was weighted down till she was crushed to death. Her last words during an agony of fifteen minutes, were "Jesu! Jesu! Jesu! have mercy on me!" Her right hand is preserved at St. Mary's Convent, York, but the resting-place of her sacred body is not known. Her sons Henry and William became priests, and her daughter Anne a nun at St. Ursula's, Louvain.

Her life, written by her confessor, John Mush, exists in two versions. The earlier has been edited by Father John Morris, S.J., in his "Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers", third series (London, 1877). The later manuscript, now at York Convent, was published by W. Nicholson, of Thelwall Hall, Cheshire (London, Derby, 1849), with portrait: "Life and Death of Margaret Clitherow the martyr of York". It also contains the "History of Mr. Margaret Ward and Mrs. Anne Line, Martyrs".

St Margaret Clitherow,
Pray for us!
Thank you martin.
 I am one of those people whose tears flow freely at the slightest provocation. :-[
 Your post left me blinded with tears and rushing for a tissue to blow my nose! Especially the "pressing to death" bit and she with child too!
May the Lord have mercy on us! We have sinned so much against him.

 :-[ I am one of those too.

Any suggestions on the best penances one can do for an errant child, anyone??  ???

Truly so memorable!


'You have preached, you have prayed, but have you fasted? Have you taken the discipline [a self imposed scourge]? Have you slept on the floor? So long as you have done none of these things, you have no right to complain.'

St. Jean Marie Vianney, to a priest complaining about the indifference of his parish

Good question. Perhaps Martin has some ideas!  ;D

I think tears are the sign of an honest heart you two.  :pathead:

It's a good way to be.

27 March

Today is the Feast day of
Blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno
Among many other saints

Francesco Faà di Bruno.

Francesco was born on 29 March 1825 in Alessandria, Piemonte, Italy. He was of noble birth. He began his education in 1841. He studied at the Royal Military Academy of Turin with the aim of making a career in the army and was commissioner in the army in 1847.
However by 1853 he had decided to leave the army and take up the study of mathematics instead. He travelled to Paris where he studied at the Sorbonne under Cauchy who he admired, not only for his genius, but also for his religious fervour and his philanthropy. After graduating he returned to Turin where he went on to study for his doctorate, which he obtained in 1861 and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science.

In 1871 Francesco became a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Turin. Apart from Mathematics, Francesco had other interests. He did a lot of charity work. It was around this time that Francesco met Father John Bosco who had been ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1841 in Turin and had began work there to help boys who came to look for work in the city. Through the influence of Father John Bosco, Francis was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Rome on 22 October 1876. He founded the Society of St. Zita for maids and domestic servants, later expanding it to include unmarried mothers, among others. He helped establish hostels for the elderly and poor. He even oversaw the construction of a church in Turin that was dedicated to the memory of Italian soldiers who had lost their lives in the struggle over the unification of Italy.

He founded a religious order (Suore Minime di Nostra Signora del Suffragio) in order to direct and work for girls gathered in a house (similar to those founded by John Bosco) called Conservatorio del Suffragio. In order to provide work for the girls.
Francis also made numerous and important contributions to mathematics. These include about forty original articles published in various journals including "American Journal of Mathematics" (John Hopkins University.

Francis died in Turin on March 27, 1888. and was beatified 100 years later by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome on 25 September 1988.

Today is the Feast day of Blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno Among many other saints

Blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno.
Pray for us!

28 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Hesychius of Jerusalem
Among many other saints.

Saint Hesychius of Jerusalem.

We do not know when Saint Hesychius (pronounced HESH-us), was born. We know, however that he was a native of Jerusalem and a student of Saint Gregory the Theologian. After the death of his mentor, he settled in one of the Palestinian desert.  In the year 412, the Archbishop of Jerusalem, consecrated him as a presbyter. As a priest, the saint became well known for his sermons which were inspired.  He is said to have written a history of the Church, which unfortunately is no longer available as it apparently got lost. He also wrote about many of the burning issues of his day. These included the heresy of Nestorianism, which held that there were two separate persons in Jesus viz: one human and one divine. He wrote about the heresy of Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ.

I understand from my reading that some of his commentaries on the books of the Bible as well, along with meditations on the prophets and homilies on the Blessed Virgin Mary , still survive.

His words on the Eucharist, written centuries ago , speak to us today:

“ Keep yourselves free from sin so that every day you may share in the mystic meal; by doing so our bodies become the Body of Christ”

Saint Hesychius died around the year 450(433 by other accounts)

Ref: American Catholic

Saint Hesychius,
Pray for us!

[moderator edit: removed url, please be careful: "American Catholic" has grave issues with dissidence, etc.]

Doubts Galore! :-\
I am having second thoughts again about the Calender I have chosen to follow. Shin you remember a few months back I had a similar problem  and I changed to American Catholics. Well, They have listed all these saints some of whom I am not very sure about. For instance, the one of today. He is said to be better known in the Russian Orthodox Church. Shin, Have I put my foot in it again? I have more or less prepared ahead already unfortunately. I think May 1 will see me change. I need some sugestions please someone? Anyone?

Hesychios of Jerusalem is a confusing one. Not certain myself. These matters aren't as simple as people might wish to make them out to be and have said at times.

There are apparently two Hesychios's that lived around the same time. I see a reference a Catholic Encyclopedia that does not cite the fellow as a saint, but that is not necessarily correct, or incorrect.

I wouldn't rely on American Catholic as they're associated with St. Anthony's Messenger Press which has grave problems.

I'm going to edit the post above briefly to remove the url, there's a 'no url' policy here without approval, don't be concerned about it. Everybody trips it up before reading the announcements, we have a different way of doing things here. Trying to avoid to using troublesome references of mixed quality, even with disclaimers. :D

Odhiambo you are doing a fine job and don't worry, you'll soon find the Catholic saints know how to get through the maze and arrive safely in your posts.  :D

I sometimes double check on other Catholic sites to see if a dubious one gets a mention. If they don't then I leave them aside until further info comes my way.
Like I say, the true ones have a way of making it here even if they've been initially rejected.  :D

That is fine with me Shin.You have my permission to edit. ;)

That makes me feel a lot better.  :D

Thanks martin!
Will stick to the General Roman Calender.
On those days where no Saints are listed on the General Calender, I will pick one from a proper Catholic resource.

Today we remember
Saint Barachisius and Saint Jonas.
Among many other saints.
 
Saint Barachisius and Saint Jonas( Saint Jonas of Hubaham)
Martyrs.
Jonas and Barachisius were  born at Beth-Asa, Persia
They were brothers and they were also monks living at a monastery in the city of their birth. This was the time when King Sapor (Shapur) of Persia, was persecuting Christians. On, hearing that several Christians had been sentenced to death at Hubaham, the two went there to encourage and to give spiritual support to the condemned. They were arrested .They were then asked to obey the king of Persia, and to worship the sun, the moon, fire, and water. They answered that it was more reasonable to obey the immortal King of heaven and earth than a mortal prince.
Refusing to deny the Faith, they were beaten and tortured.   Jonas was then crushed to death and his body cut to pieces. at Beth-Asa, Persia.
Barachisius, on the other hand, had brimstone and boiling pitch poured  down his throat! Both the brothers were martyred on 24 December 327.
They were canonized Pre-Congregation.
 

I came across "Pre-Congregation canonization" for the first time while reading about the two martyrs we are remembering today. I googled it just to be sure and this is what I got:

What is pre-congregation canonization?

"In the earlier times, saints were proclaimed to be saints by a local bishop, patriarch etc. and by popular devotion. Pre-congregation is when saints were canonized or declared to be saints, before the long and lengthy process that the Church has today to prove that they were saints, so the exact dates are not available"

Good information!  ;D

30 March

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Peter Regalado
Among many other Saints.

Saint Peter Regalado ( 1390-1456)
Also known as Peter Regulatus.
Rranciscan Reformer.

Peter was born at Valladolid, Spain. He was born in a wealthy , pious and noble family. At the age of just 13, he entered the Franciscan Order in his native city. After several years, he transferred to a far more austere monastery at Tribulos, where he became known for his severe ascetism as well as his abilities to levitate and enter into ecstacies.

In 1442 he was appointed head of all the Spanish Franciscans in his reform group. Peter led the friars by his example. A special love of the poor and the sick characterized him. Miraculous stories are told about his charity to the poor. For example, the bread never seemed to run out as long as Peter had hungry people to feed. Throughout most of his life, Peter went hungry; he lived only on bread and water.
For his zeal in adhering to the rules of the community, he was designated “Regulatus”
Peter died on March 31, 1456, and immediately after his death, his grave became a place of pilgrimage. He was canonized in 1746.

Saint Peter
Pray for us!

His life reads beautifully.  ;D

I also read:

'When his body was exhumed thirty-six years after his death, at the instance of Isabella the Catholic, it was found incorrupt and placed in a more precious tomb. . . In art he is represented with flames bursting from his heart.'

This brings home just how pampered our own teenagers have become.
Who could ever imagine a boy of thirteen being permitted to enter a monastery today.
I could see the parents being arrested and all the monks charged with mental abuse.

St. Peter Regalado pray for our children.

Such love he had for the Lord!

That is true. I find that most of the saints seem to know from very early on what they wanted and they never allow themselves to be distracted. Saint Peter actually wanted to enter the order at 10 years, but I guess he was not allowed.

This helps me to have confidence in God who will always provide.

31 March
Today ‘s Saint is
Saint Nicholas of Flue
Hermit and Swiss political figure.
(1417-1487)

Nicholas was born on 21 March, 1417, in Switzerland. He took his name from the Flueli River which flowed close to where he was born. He was the oldest son of pious, well-to-do peasants. From the time he was young, Nicholas liked to pray and to , practice mortification.
When he was 21 years old, he entered the army and is said to have fought heroically in several battles . At the age of 25, and in obedience to his parents, Nicholas married a pious girl from Sachseln, named Dorothy Wyssling. God blessed them with 10 children, five boys and five girls. His youngest son, Nicholas, born in 1467, became a priest and a doctor of theology.
Nicholas was held in high esteem by the people. He served his community as magistrate and highly respected councilor. Several times he refused the office of governor.
On 16 October, 1467, after 25 years of marriage, and with the consent of his wife and family, Nicholas left home to live as a hermit.
He took up residence at Ranft. At first he lived in a narrow hut, which he himself had built with branches and leaves, and went daily to Mass .Early in 1469 the civil authorities built a cell and a chapel for him, and on 29 April of the same year the chapel was dedicated by the vicar-general of Constance, Thomas, Bishop of Ascalon. In 1479 a chaplain was put in charge of the chapel. After that, Nicholas always remained in the Ranft.

He is said to have survived on nothing but the Holy Eucharist for nineteen years before he died.
Reknown for his holiness and wisdom, he was frequently visited by civic leaders, powerful personages as well as simple men and women, all with a variety of needs. In 1480, through his intervention, he helped prevent a civil war in his country.
Nicholas is said to be one of the most famous religious figures in Swiss history. He was known affectionataly as “Bruder Klaus”.
Nicholas lived to a ripe old age of 70. He them fell ill and died in 1487. Many pilgrims visit the chapel near the church of Sachseln, where his relics are preserved.
He was beatified by Pope Clement IX in 1669 and canonized in 1947 by Pope Pius XII.
He is considered the patron saint of Switzerland.
Saint Nicholas of Flue
Pray for us!

It's Saint Nicholas again! :D

He's worth remembering!

Again!
You mean we have remembered him already?
He was a last minute change from Saint Stephen of Mar Saba.
I will see if I can brush him up and post him so we can remember him as well  ;D

Ah, odhiambo, you need to go read our senior jokes section heheheh.

Did you see that March 21st was his birthday? :D

Actually, I did a double take for a bit myself, and thought, "Is this one that I was going to post about, or did we do this already?" and then I used the search engine.

So I should go read them too.

I think it was Saint Nicholas Owen we remembered recently  :)

St. Nicholas of Flue. (http://saintsworks.net/forums/index.php?topic=1352.105)

Senior Jokes. (http://saintsworks.net/forums/index.php?topic=833.0)

 :happyroll:

I have a perfect excuse Shin!
Good old age! That is what is is LOL :happyroll:

here is something to meditate on:

St. Nicholas of Flue Prophecy...

"The Church will be punished because the majority of her members, high and low, will become so perverted. The Church will sink deeper and deeper until she will at last seem to be extinguished, and the succession of Peter and the other Apostles to have expired. But, after this, she will be victoriously exalted in the sight of all doubters."

St. Nicholas of Flue, 15th century, cited in Catholic Prophecy, edited by Yves Dupont

Thanks Odhiambo.. It's great to read of him again and learn something new.. This has been helpful in prompting me to revisit learning about prophecies.  ;D

And to read his quote again:

'My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you.
My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you.
My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.'

1 April
Today is the Feast day of
Saint Hugh of Grenoble
Among  many other saints.

Saint Hugh of Grenoble
Also known as Hugh of Chateauneuf.
Bishop of Grenoble

Hugh was born in France in 1052. He showed piety from a very early age and wanted to be a monk.
While still a layman, Hugh became a canon of the cathedral in Valence. His piety was such that it was said of him that he only knew one woman by sight!
In 1080, while attending a synod in Avignon, Hugh was elected bishop of Grenoble. The see of Grenoble was in very poor state, and Hugh was selected to bring the much needed reforms.
He immediately applied himself to the task of reforming the abuses in his new diocese.
For the next two years, Hugh endeavoured, with a great deal of zeal but without much success, to eradicate the evils of simony and concubinage in his diocese. In 1082, discouraged and convinced that the task before him could not be done, he resigned his office and became a Benedictine monk at the austere abbey of Chaise-Dieu in Auvergne.
The Pope however commanded him to return to his Episcopal work at Grenoble the following year. It was Hugh who in 1084, personally conducted Saint Bruno of Cologne, and his six companions to the wild Alpine Solitude near Grenoble, called Chartreuse, and presented them with that land. On this land, Saint Bruno and his six companions constructed their first Carthusian monastery, which came to be known as the Grande Chartreuse (The Great Chartre-house). In this way, Saint Hugh is associated with the founding of the Carthusian Order.
Saint Hugh visited the monks frequently to share their life of poverty, prayer and solitary study. His personal austerities and excessive fasts affected his health and were only moderated at the insistence of Saint Bruno, his spiritual director.
Saint Hugh died on April 1, 1132, two months before his eightieth birthday. He was canonized on April 22, 1134 by Pope Innocent II, only two years after his death.

Saint Hugh.
Pray for us!

Shin,
this was the Saint I was trying to remember whose "piety was such that it was said of him that he only knew one woman by sight!"
Saint Hugh.
Pray for us!

 

I'm so glad you found him! St. Hugh, ora pro nobis!

I should have known this one.  ;D

3 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Francis of Paola
Among many other saints.

'In 1469, the Pope, Paul II.,sent one of his chamberlains to learn if Francis was indeed the saint which so many called him.

When the chamberlain arrived at Paula, Francis, as usual, was among the masons, at work on his church; but seeing two strangers coming towards him, he left his work and met them, bowing very low to them. The chamberlain had disguised himself, so as not to appear like a person of rank, nor even to be known as a priest; and when Francis met him with such humble courtesy he was equally humble, and attempted to kiss the hand of Francis, brown and hard with toil. But Francis would not allow this, and, falling on his knees, said he was himself bound to kiss the hands which God had consecrated during the thirty years he had said mass. The chamberlain was greatly surprised to hear a perfect stranger thus tell the number of years he had been a priest; but he said nothing, wishing to talk with Francis in his convent, aside from his companions.

The chamberlain was a very eloquent man, and he tried to convince Francis, by a long discourse, that his rule was too severe, and also of the dangers to which a person is exposed who pretends to miraculous gifts, or who lives in anyway differently from other good Christians; and urged him to leave all his extraordinary self-denials. Francis heard him patiently, and answered him with great humility; but, finding that the mind of his visitor was not changed, he took from the fire some burning coals, and holding them for a long time in his hand, said, "All creatures obey those who serve God with a perfect heart."

These golden words were repeated by Pope Leo X. in the bill of his canonization. The chamberlain returned to the archbishop of Cosenza, and to the Holy Father at Rome, and told them that the sanctity of Francis was greater than his fame in the world, own society, and in the very state, or town, or village in which we live.'

- Patron Saints

Saint Francis of Paola
Hermit
Founder of the Order of Minims.

Saint Francis was born on March 27, 1416 at Paola, Italy. His parents were God fearing people, noted as “remarkable for the holiness of their lives”. It appears that after his parents were married,they were not blessed with children for a long time. The couple turned to the one thing they new best - Prayers. They turned to St. Francis of Assisi, asking for his intercession. The Saint did not disappoint. Francis came first, followed by two other children.
When Francis was a baby, he had a serious eye problem and risked losing sight in one eye. His parents again turned to Saint Francis. They promised him that when the boy is cured, he would be sent for one year to live in one of the convents of his order wearing the “little habit” of Saint Francis.
Francis was healed. When he turned thirteen, it was time to fulfill the vow his parents made to Saint Francis. Accordingly, he was sent to a convent of this Order.
Francis was a prayerful, humble and obedient child. At the end of the one year promised to Saint, Francis, he left the convent and went for a pilgrimage to Assisi, Rome, and other places of devotion with his parents.
When the family came back home, Francis sought a lonely cave on his father's estate and lived there in solitude for awhile before moving to an even more secluded cave on the sea coast. He lived a solitary life here for about six years, giving himself completely to prayer and mortification.
In 1435, he was joined by two companions and because there was now need, a chapel and three cells were built. This was the begining of a new order. The followers gradually increased and by 1454, a monastery was built.
Francis and his followers lived in poverty, observing perpetual abstinence; the hallmark of their order, however, was said to be humility. They wanted nothing but to serve God hidden away from the world. To this end, Francis sought permission from the Pope to name his new community “Minims”, by which he meant to convey that they were the least of all the religious.
In 1474, Saint Francis was asked to write the rule of his community and their title was to be Hermits of St. Francis. The rule was written and formally approved by Alexander VI, who, however, changed their title back to that of Minims.
Saint Francis was renown for his very many miracles and he was also renown as a prophet.
I hope to post separately some quoted miracles of this holy man.
His last few days on earth included a Holy Thursday on which, knowing he was dying, he assembled the community around him and encouraged them to love one onother and particularly remember to continue with the vow of perpertual abstinence. On Good Friday again he called them to his bedside and gave them his last instructions. He then received the last sacraments and asked to have the Passion of Our Lord read out to him. He died peacfully during the reading of the Passion according to St. John. The date was April 2, 1507. He was 91years old.
Saint Francis,
Pray for us.

He was a remarkable saint and there is a lot of truth in his words "All creatures obey those who serve God with a perfect heart." !

St. Francis of Paola pray for us!

From Vatican Website.

A reading from the letters of St Francis of Paola, Hermit (Letter AD 1486)

Turn to the Lord with a pure heart.

"May our Lord Jesus Christ, who repays most generously, reward your labour. You must flee from evil, and drive away dangers. We and all our brothers, although unworthy, pray constantly to God the Father and to his Son Jesus Christ, as well as to Mary the Virgin Mother, to be with you as you seek the salvation of your souls and your bodies.

Brothers, I most strongly urge you to work for the salvation of your souls with prudence and diligence. Death is certain, and life is short and vanishes like smoke. Therefore you must fix your minds on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ who so burned with love for us that he came down from heaven to redeem us. For our sakes he suffered all the agonies of body and mind, and did not shrink from any torment. He gave us a perfect example of patience and love. For our part, we too must be patient when things go against us.

Put aside hatred and hostility. See to it that you refrain from harsh words. But if you do speak them, do not be ashamed to apply the remedy from the same lips that inflicted the wounds. In this way you will show each other mercy and not keep alive the memories of past wrongs. Remembering grievances works great damage. It is accompanied by anger, fosters sin, and brings a hatred for justice. It is a rusty arrow spreading poison in the soul. It destroys virtue and is a cancer in the mind. It thwarts prayer and mangles the petitions we make to God. It drives out love and is a nail driven into the soul, an evil that never sleeps, a sin that never fades away, a kind of daily death.

Be lovers of peace, the most precious treasure that anyone can desire. You are already aware that our sins drive God to anger,"so you must repent of them, that God in his mercy may spare you. What men conceal is open to God. Turn to him with a sincere heart. Live in such a way that you bring upon yourselves the blessing of God, and that the peace of God our Father may be with you always."

Ah, you found a beautiful letter. :D

Yes, I did and what a letter, so full of wise counsel. I have been trying to get an account of the incidence where he brought back someone to life but cannot get it from any of the Catholic references available.

“…Francis himself made the rock his bed ; his
best garment was a hair-shirt, and boiled herbs his only
fare. As his body withered his faith grew powerful…His name was reverenced through the Christian world. He died at the age of ninety-one, on Good Friday, 1507, with
the crucifix in his hand, and the last words of Jesus on his
lips, " Into Thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit’”

Excerpt from:
Lives of the Saints
With Reflections for everyday of the Year
Compiled From
The Lives of the Saints by
Rev. Alban Butler.

There's a lesson in this..

I can't seem to find my 'Saints Who Raised the Dead' book, another prompt  :swordfight: for me to get my library in order.

But I do recall hearing about the incident where a fellow was crushed by a tree, and later on fell from a steeple, and was raised from the dead twice by the saint!

Because of his miracles he was called to the deathbed of King Louis XI.. the "Spider King" of France. "He sent for Francis to cure him. Francis did not save his life, but wrought a profound change of heart in him, and Louis died in his arms."

Here are some excerpts, various quotations, from the prophecies of St. Francis of Paola..

They predict the coming of a great Catholic ruler who near the end of time will be key to the final reign of peace and abolishing of all heresies.

"...the Great Monarch...He shall be a great captain and prince of holy men, who shall be called 'the holy Cross-bearers of Jesus Christ,' with whom he will destroy the Mahometan sect and the rest of the infidels. He shall annihilate all the heresies and tyrannies of the world. He shall reform the Church of God by means of his followers, who shall be the best men upon the earth in holiness, in arms, in science, and in every virtue...

They shall obtain dominion over the whole world, both temporal and spiritual...

God Almighty will exalt a very poor man of the blood of Emperor Constantine...who shall on his breast wear a sign which you have seen at the beginning of this letter (a red Cross)...

He will gather a grand army, and the angels shall fight for them...

This religious order shall be the last and best in the Church: it shall proceed with arms...Woe to tyrants, to heretics, and to infidels to whom no pity will be shown...An infinite number of wicked men shall perish through the hands of the Cross-bearers...most holy Crossbearers elected by the Most High, who, not succeeding in converting heretics with science, shall make vigorous use of their arms...

These holy Cross-bearers shall reign and dominate holily over the whole world until the end of time...

But when shall this take place?

When crosses with the stigmas shall be seen, and the crucifix shall be carried as the standard.

The time is coming when the Divine Majesty will visit the world with a new religious order of holy Cross-bearers, who will carry a crucifix, or the image of our crucified Lord, lifted up upon the principal standard in view of all.

This standard will be admired by all good Catholics; but at the beginning it will be derided by bad Christians and by infidels...

You shall destroy the sect of the Mahomet, and all infidels of every sect. You shall put an end to all the heresies of the world..."

3 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Benedict of Palermo
Among many other saints

Saint Benedict of Palermo

Also known as
Benedict the African
Benedict of San Philadelphio
Benedict the Black
Benedict the Moor

Benedict was the son of Christopher and Diana Manasseri both Christians, living in an ancient town of Sicily, today named San Fratello (Holy Little Brother), in memory of our Saint. His parents were slaves and had decided not to bring any child into this world only to be reduced to their own situation; that of being slaves.
When their master promised to liberate their firstborn, however, the couple relaxed their resolve and Baby Benedict was born to them in 1526.
Benedict did not attend any school and was completely illiterate. From his childhood, he showed a great love for the Blessed Virgin and a tendency to charity, often giving away whatever he had to those needier and to the sick.
As a youth, he worked as a shepherd. He often became absorbed in prayer and spent long hours on his knees praying. This made him an object of derision by his age mates because he did not join in their games.
One day a pious hermit named Brother Jerome passed by, and witnessed Benedict being mocked by his neighbours. He also witnessed Benedict’s behaviour in the face of his neighbours’ agression. The boy was patient and bore himself with dignity. Brother Jerome, who was leader of a group of Franciscan hermits, invited Benedict to join their order. Benedict sold whatever meagre possessions he had and joined Brother Jerome at his hermitage. He eventually became leader of that group.
In 1562 or 1564 the order of hermits was disbanded by the Pope who joined them to the Order of Saint Francis. Benedict moved to Palermo to the Franciscan Friary of Saint Mary. Where he held the position of “cook”.
He was noted everywhere for his penances. And, whenever he was sent out to beg for the Community there were talks of miracles. While still a simple lay Brother, he was named Guardian of his convent in 1578. This was a rather difficult situation for him and indeed even for those he was to guard. They were priests where as he was an illiterate lay Brother. Benedict reluctantly accepted the promotion. He was successfull in helping the order to adopt a stricter version of the Franciscan monastic rule.
.
Saint Benedict was widely respected for his instinctive understanding of theology and the Holy Scripture. He was often sought after for counseling. He had a reputation as a healer as well. Many people continued to come to him for help even after he returned to kitchen duty in his later years.
Saint Benedict died in April of 1589. Countless miracles are reported to have occurred at his tomb.
At the entrance of his cell in the Franciscan Convent of Saint Mary of Jesus, there is a plaque with the inscription "This is the cell where Saint Benedict lived, and the dates of his birth and death - 1524 and 1589".( Yes, you read correctlly, there is some dispute; apparantly historians stick with 1526 birth date!)  ;D
Saint Benedict was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV on 15 May, 1743 and canonized on 24 May,1807 by Pope Pius VII.
Saint Benedict is a patron of Black people, Palermo, Sicily, and others. Benedict is remembered for his patience and understanding when confronted with racial prejudice and taunts.

Saint Benedict,
Pray for us!

One of my favorite saints is St. Moses the Black, one of the great Desert Fathers, a hermit. :)

St. Benedict is a great example of humility!



Our Lord loves shepherds. :D I have heard more than one good story about them.

One of the Audio Sancto priests before he became a shepherd of people took care of actual sheep, (http://www.audiosancto.org/sermon/20030114-Follow-the-Good-Shepherd.html) grew up on a farm.

'Above all we ought at least to know that there are three origins of our thoughts, i.e., from God, from the devil, and from ourselves. . . We ought then carefully to notice this threefold order, and with a wise discretion to analyze the thoughts which arise in our hearts, tracking out their origin and cause and author in the first instance, that we may be able to consider how we ought to yield ourselves to them. . .'

'We should then constantly search all the inner chambers of our hearts, and trace out the footsteps of whatever enters into them with the closest investigation. . .'

'You see then that the gift of discretion is no earthly thing and no slight matter, but the greatest prize of divine grace. And unless a monk has pursued it with all zeal, and secured a power of discerning with unerring judgment the spirits that rise up in him, he is sure to go wrong, as if in the darkness of night and dense blackness, and not merely to fall down dangerous pits and precipices, but also to make frequent mistakes in matters that are plain and straightforward.'

'Whatever then can help to guide us to this object; viz., purity of heart, we must follow with all our might, but whatever hinders us from it, we must shun as a dangerous and hurtful thing. For, for this we do and endure all things, for this we make light of our kinsfolk, our country, honours, riches, the delights of this world, and all kinds of pleasures, namely in order that we may retain a lasting purity of heart.'

St. Moses the Black Hermit

I never heard of this Saint Shin.When do we celebrate him?
Saint Moses,
You who is called Saint Moses the Black,
Pray for us!

I will post more about him soon, from the writings of the desert fathers and St. John Cassian.  :D

Amen.  :crucifix:

Looking forward to the posts  ;D

Here is an old thread on St. Moses. (http://saintsworks.net/forums/index.php?topic=754.msg7791#msg7791) August 28th.  :)

Thanks Shin  :)
"... Moses overcame them immediately with amazing ease, tied them up, and put them over his shoulders with such ease that it seemed as though he were picking up a sack of straw..."He brings the Biblical Samson to mind ;D

Yes he's an impressive fellow. I will share more later, God permitting, there's a good deal remembered about him. :D

Here too. (http://saintsworks.net/forums/index.php?topic=1178.0)

4 April
Today is the Feast day of
Saint Isidore of Seville
Among many other saints.

Saint Isidore of Seville.
Bishop, Doctor of the Church.

Isidore was born in Seville, Spain, about 560 AD. He was born into a family of saints, literally! Two of his brothers, Leander and Fulgentius, and one of his sisters, Florentina, are revered as saints in Spain. It was also a family of leaders and strong minds with Leander and Fulgentius serving as bishops and Florentina as abbess. Their father died when Isidore was still young. He was raised and educated by his older brother; Leander.He received his basic education in the Cathedral school of Seville. It appears that the saint was at first not learning as fast as his brother would have wanted and the latter, in his impatience, most likely out of love for the boy, used force and punishment.

Catholic on line, describes what happened next better than I ever could. Here is an excerpt:

“One day, the young boy couldn't take any more. Frustrated by his inability to learn as fast as his brother would have wanted and hurt by his brother's treatment, Isidore ran away. But though he could escape his brother's hand and words, he couldn't escape his own feeling of failure and rejection. When he finally let the outside world catch his attention, he noticed water dripping on the rock near where he sat. The drops of water that fell repeatedly carried no force and seemed to have no effect on the solid stone. And yet he saw that over time, the water drops had worn holes in the rock.
Isidore realized that if he kept working at his studies, his seemingly small efforts would eventually pay off in great learning. He also may have hoped that his efforts would also wear down the rock of his brother's heart.
When he returned home, however, his brother in exasperation confined him to a cell (probably in a monastery) to complete his studies, not believing that he wouldn't run away again”

After this unpleasant incident, the two brothers worked together. Isidore studied hard and was able to master Latin, Greek and Hebrew.
On the death of Leander, Isidore succeeded to the See of Seville about 599. He governed the See for 37 years and very successfully too. It was under him that the Visigoths, who had been ruling Spain for almost 200 years, were finally converted from Arianism to Catholicism. Isidore's main instrument of change was the use of provincial and national Church councils which were usually attended by king and nobility. In this way, he was able to strengthen Church discipline. Among his synods, the fourth national council at Toledo in 633 was particularly important in that it obliged each Bishop to establish a seminary in his respective diocese and to encourage the study of Greek and Hebrew, law and medicine. It was also at this fourth council that Isidore called for toleration of Jews, uniformity in the liturgy and close cooperation between Church and State.
Isidore founded seminaries and schools, and promoted the study of art, medicine and law as mentioned earlier.
He compiled the Book of Etymologies ( encyclopedia of knowledge, a systemic collection of the knowledge of his time.) the Etymologies, was the most popular textbook for nine centuries for instruction in theology, asceticism, history, geography, astrology, grammar, biography, etc.
Isidore also wrote treatises on theology, astronomy and geography. His “History of the Goths” is considered a major source of knowledge about the Goths. The Saint also completed the Mozarabic liturgy started by his brother Saint Leander.
Saint Isadore is considered the last of the ancient Christian philosophers.
Isadore died on 4 April, 636. He was given posthumous honors by the Eight Council of Toledo in 653.
He was canonized by Pope Clement VIII in 1598 and declared Doctor of the Church in 1722 by Pope Innocent XIII.
In liturgical art, Saint Isadore is depicted as a Bishop holding a pen. Swarms of bees or hives are sometimes shown with him.( I am afraid I cannot explain the significance of the bees) :)

Saint Isidore,
Pray for us!

Ref:1: Catholic on Line
2: Our Sunday Visitor Encyclopedia Of Saints.

By Matthew Bunson, Stephen Bunson, Margaret Bunson:

Hey, Did you know that today's Saint is also the Patron Saint of Internet ?
Interesting  :)

I've always loved St. Isidore.. Always.. He was a great gatherer of information, and so, I've always felt happy to think of his work being similar to mine.

I have his books of etymologies.

He truly deserves to be patron saint of the Internet. I don't know if it's official, but if it isn't, by popular acclaim, he is the one, I can't think of anyone else. :D

From a slow student to Doctor of the Church. And a family of saints. :D

From his Etymologies:

"The sky is named caelum because, just as an engraved vase, caelatum vas, it has the lights of the stars impressed on it, as if designs. A vase is called caelatum because it shines with its raised decorations. God adorned and filled the sky with bright lights: the sun, the shining orb of the moon, and the splendid constellations of the glittering stars. . ."

St. Isidore of Seville, Etymologies

'All vices must first be eradicated by the practice of good works in the active life, so that, the mind's eye being purified, one may advance to the contemplation of God in the contemplative life.'

St. Isidore of Seville

'In all your acts, in all your works, in all your behavior, imitate the good; be a competitor of the saints, keep your eye on the heroism of the martyrs, follow the example of the just. It is my wish that the life and teachings of the saints be for you an encouragement to virtue.'

St. Isidore of Seville

'It is dangerous to live among bad persons; it is harmful to be surrounded by those with perverse wills. You will feed yourself on their infamy if you associate with the undignified. It is better to suffer the hatred of evil persons than their company. Analogously, just as much good comes from the lives of the saints, much evil comes from the lives of bad persons, for those who touch what is filthy become contaminated.'

St. Isidore of Seville

'Heresy is from the Greek word meaning "choice". . . But we are not permitted to believe whatever we choose, nor to choose whatever someone else has believed. We have the Apostles of God as authorities, who did not. . . choose what they would believe but faithfully transmitted the teachings of Christ. So, even if an angel from heaven should preach otherwise, he shall be called anathema.'

St. Isidore of Seville

You actually have his books of etymologies! Shin, I am bereft of words.
Congratulations !
Must have cost you a pretty penny  ;D

Umph, yes, those were one of my indulgences. I hesitated over them for a long time!

Honestly, the prices of books these days. When I was a child I was always getting them for 95 cents. If they were still $2.95 that would be reasonable. What are people thinking.

Whenever I go the Catholic Bookshop in search of good books, I just cannot believe the prices quoted on the cover. It is like  there is a conspiracy to discourage the buying of these books  ;D

Shin, I think of you often when I hear of St. Isodore.

Our boys and girls took Mum out for a meal on Mothers day (My son-in-law and I were consigned to babysitting duty). Youngest daughter lost her cell phone while they were out but I got a call from her nimber today from a person who had found her phone and he delivered it right to the door. I'm Thinking, St Isodore had something to do with this.  :D

5  April
 
Today is the Feast say of
Saint Vincent Ferrer
Among many other Saints

Odhiambo I have a good article to post on this great saint. It is quite long but I just didn't know what to leave out without detracting from this amazing story of his life.
Once you start reading though it's hard to stop.

If you have something pepared please post it too as I would love to read more on St Vincent Ferrer.

                             ST. VINCENT FERRER

St. Vincent Ferrer was born at Valencia, in Spain on the 23rd of January, 1350. Excitement foreshadowed the child's birth.

His mother, Constance, experienced only joy and painlessness during her expectancy; furthermore, his father had a prophetic dream in which an unknown Dominican preacher appeared to him and told him that he would have a son whose fame would be world-renowned.

Also, a poor blind woman predicted that the child Constance bore within her was an "angel who would one day restore her sight" – which he did years later. St. Vincent brought with him into the world a happy disposition for learning and piety, which improved from his cradle by study and a good education. In order to subdue his passions, he fasted rigorously from his childhood every Wednesday and Friday.

The passion of Christ was always the object of his most tender devotion. The Blessed Virgin he ever honored as his spiritual mother. Looking on the poor as the members of Christ, he treated them with the greatest affection and charity, which caused his parents to make him dispenser of their bountiful alms. His father having proposed to him the choice of a religious state, an ecclesiastical, or a secular state, Vincent without hesitation said it was his earnest desire to consecrate himself to the service of God in the Order of St. Dominic.

His good parents with joy conducted him to a convent of that Order in Valencia, and he put on the habit in 1368, in the beginning of his eighteenth year.

He made a surprisingly rapid progress in the paths of perfection, taking St. Dominic for his model. To the exercises of prayer and penance, he joined the study and meditation of the Holy Scriptures and the readings of the Fathers. For three years, he read only the scriptures and knew the whole Bible by heart. Soon after his solemn profession, he was appointed to read lectures of philosophy, and, at the end of his course, published a treatise on Dialectic Suppositions, being not quite twenty-four years old. He was then sent to Barcelona, where he continued his scholastic exercises, and at the same time preached the word of God with great fruit, especially during a great famine, when he foretold the arrival of two vessels loaded with corn the same evening to relieve the city, which happened, contrary to all expectation. From thence he was sent to Lerida, the most famous university of Catalonia.

There, continuing his apostolic functions and education, he received his doctorate, receiving the cap from the hands of Cardinal Peter de Luna, legate of Pope Clement VII, in 1378, being twenty-eight years of age. At the earnest requests of the bishop, clergy and the people of Valencia, he was recalled to his own country, and pursued there both his lectures and his preaching with such extraordinary reputation, so manifestly attended with the benediction of the Almighty, that he was honored in the whole country above what can be expressed.

As a humiliation, God permitted an angel of Satan to molest him with violent temptations of the flesh, and to fill his imagination with filthy ideas. The arms which the saint employed against the devil were prayer, penance, and a perpetual watchfulness over every impulse of his passions. As he grew into manhood it was said that his countenance was beautiful and radiant, which reflected the beauty of a soul filled with the love of God.

Even in his old age, this radiance never left him. He was most radiant, however, when he gave a sermon on the Mother of God or the joys of Heaven. He was firmly devoted to the Passion and enjoyed a childlike devotion to Mary, which included a faithful observance of praying the Angelus. His heart was always fixed on God and he made his studies, labor, and all his actions a continued prayer.

The same practice he proposes to all Christians in his book entitled, A Treatise on a Spiritual Life, in which he writes thus: "Do you desire to study to your advantage? Let devotion accompany all your studies and study less to make yourself learned than to become a saint."

Consider some of the phrases in this marvelous book. "What is meritorious is not that a man should be poor, but that, being poor, he should love poverty."

"A vain question deserves nothing but silence. So learn to be silent for a time; you will edify your brethren and silence will teach you to speak when the hour is come."

"Regard yourself as more vile and miserable in the sight of God because of your faults than any sinner whatever, no matter what his sins... and consider closely that any grace or inclination to good or desire of virtue you may have, is not of yourself but of the sole mercy of Christ."

"Try to convince yourself that there is no crime-laden sinner but would have served God better than you... if he had received the same graces."

"Once humility is acquired, charity will come to life – a burning flame devouring the corruption of vice and filling the heart so full that there is no place for vanity."

Missionary Travels
Before the end of the year 1392, St. Vincent being forty-two years old, set out from Avignon towards Valencia. He preached in every town with wonderful efficacy; and the people having heard him in one place followed him in crowds to others. Public usurers, blasphemers, debauched women, and other hardened sinners everywhere were induced by his discourses to embrace a life of penance.

He converted a great number of Jews and Mohammedans, heretics and schismatics. He visited every province of Spain in this manner, except Galicia. He went thence into Italy, preaching on the coasts of Genoa, in Lombardy, Piedmont, and Savoy, as he did in part of Germany, about the Upper Rhine and through Flanders.

Numerous wars and the unhappy great schism in the Church had been productive of a multitude of disorders in Christendom; gross ignorance and a shocking corruption of manners prevailed in many places, whereby the teaching of this zealous apostle, who, like another Boanerges, preached in a voice of thunder, became not only useful but even absolutely necessary, to assist the weak and alarm the sinner.

The ordinary subjects of his sermons were sin, death, God's judgments, hell, and eternity. He delivered his discourses with so much energy that he filled the most insensible with terror. A great number of his sermons have come down to us, some in Latin and many in the vernacular. By them one seizes the man and the saint to the life.

They are masterpieces of naturalness, intelligence, picturesqueness and, at moments, poetry. In their kind there is nothing better. And they all develop one same theme.

First of all, there is sin as he had known it in the world under its seven root forms, stripped of all its pretenses and of its false promises of delight. After that comes penance, which can drive out sin or at least dull the sharpness of its edge, fortifying us against sin's assaults and uniting with the Blood of Christ to plead for us before the Throne of God.

Finally is the Judgment with its alternative for those who have done evil – Purgatory or Hell. That inevitable judgment, which awaits each one of us in the moment of death, he made concrete and dramatic by building it into one thing with the terrible picture of the universal Judgment, the Last Judgment, when Christ will appear on the clouds of heaven to summon the living and the dead to that damnation or glory.

He showed it in all its splendor, all its horror – in that light which is beatitude or torment, which ravishes the soul or burns it without end. Punishment is certain; punishment is at hand. It is coming towards us relentlessly. Every day we live brings it one day closer.

It may be upon us in an hour, in a second. He felt it so and he made sinners tremble with the feeling. He returned to this theme frequently and on great occasions. "Yes," you will say, "he wanted to frighten them."

He did indeed want to frighten them because he himself was afraid. And as his fear for himself grew less, his fear for them grew greater. Not, alas, that he believed himself just. How could he when he still had life before him and might still, therefore, fail? And if he failed that day? What if God held him responsible for the sins of his brethren because he had not succeeded in raising and fortifying them in virtue?

At his sermons he was frequently obliged to stop to give leisure for the sobs and sighs of the congregation. His sermons were not only pathetic, but were also addressed to the understanding and supported with a wonderful strength of reasoning and the authorities of scriptures and fathers, which he perfectly understood and employed as occasion required. His gift of miracles and the sanctity of his penitential life gave to his words the greatest weight.

Amidst these journeys and fatigues, he never ate flesh; fasted every day except Sundays, and on Wednesdays and Fridays he lived on bread and water, which course he held for forty years; He lay on straw or small twigs. He spent a great part of the day in the confessional, with incredible patience, and there finished what he had begun in the pulpit.

We have the testimony of John of Plascenia, who was with him for

some time, that he read souls like an open book.
He had with him five friars of his Order and some other priests to assist him. Though by his sermons thousands were moved to give their possessions to the poor, he never accepted anything himself and was no less scrupulous in cultivating in his heart the virtue and spirit of obedience than that of poverty, for which reason he declined accepting any dignity in the church or superiority in his Order.

He labored thus nearly twenty years, until 1417, in Spain, Majorca, Italy, and France. During this time, preaching in Catalonia, among other miracles, he restored the use of his limbs to John Soler, a crippled boy, judged by the physicians incurable, who afterwards became a very eminent man and Bishop of Barcelona.

In the year 1400 he was at Aix, in Provence, and, in 1401, he was in Piedmont and the neighboring parts of Italy, being honorably received in the obedience of each pope. Returning into Savoy and Dauphine, he found there a valley called Valpute, or Valley of Corruption, in which the inhabitants were abandoned to cruelty and shameful lusts.

He joyfully exposed his life among these abandoned wretches, converted them all from their errors and vices, and changed the name of the valley to Valpur, or Valley of Purity, which name it ever after retained. He preached two or three times every day, preparing his sermons while he was on the road.

He worked for three months, traveling from village to village and from town to town in Dauphine announcing the word of God, making a longer stay in three valleys in the diocese of Embrun, namely, Lucerna, Argenteya, and Valpute, having converted almost all the heretics which peopled those parts. Being invited in the most pressing manner into Piedmont, he, for thirteen months, preached and instructed the people there, in Montserrat and the valleys, and brought to the Faith a multitude of Vaudois and other heretics.

He says that the general source of their heresy was ignorance and want of an instructor, and cries out, "I blush and tremble when I consider the terrible judgment impending on ecclesiastical superiors who live at their ease in rich palaces, while so many souls redeemed by the Blood of Christ are perishing. I pray without ceasing the Lord of the harvest that He send good workmen into His harvest."

He adds that he had in the valley of Luferia converted a heretical bishop by a conference, extirpated a certain infamous heresy in the valley Pontia, converted the country into which the murderers of St. Peter, the martyr, had fled, reconciled the Guelphs and Gibelins, and settled a general peace in Lombardy. Being called back into Piedmont by the bishops and lords of that country, he stayed five months in the dioceses of Aoust, Tarentaise, St. John of Morienne and Grenoble.

He says he was then at Geneva, where he had abolished a very inveterate superstitious festival – a thing the bishop dared not attempt – and was going to Lausane, being called by the bishop to preach to many idolaters who adored the sun and to heretics, who were obstinate, daring, and very numerous on the frontiers of Germany.

Conversions of the Moors and Jews
The saint was honored with the gift of tongues. Preaching in his own, he was understood by men of different languages, which is affirmed by Lanzano, who says that Greeks, Germans, Sardes, Hungarians, and people of other nations declared they understood every word he spoke, though he preached in Latin or his mother tongue, as spoken at Valencia.

There is another marvelous fact which is beyond normal explanation. However far away people might be, everyone heard every syllable. He could make himself heard literally about three miles away, when it was of importance that he should be heard. He also worked many wonders through the Sign of the Cross and through the Holy Name of Jesus.

He warned lazy Christians who sloppily made a circular sign of the Cross that they were using a sign of the Devil instead!

The Moorish king had heard of him; the multitude of his miracles was startling, and for a good Moslem, upsetting. He could not get Vincent out of his head. Finally he decided he must see the man who worked the miracles. He sent for him. The saint arrived lame from a great sore in the leg and rode on his moth-eaten old donkey through all the splendors of the Alhambra grounds under the fixed stare of the marble lions.

The King wanted to hear him preach. That in itself was a revolution. They murmured, they listened, and doubtless they understood though he spoke no Arabic. For, after three sermons, eight thousand Moors asked for baptism. Some of the nobles, fearing the total subversion of their religion, obliged the king to dismiss him. He then labored in the kingdom of Aragon and again in Catalonia, especially in the diocese of Gironne and Vich; in a borough of the latter, he renewed the miracle of the multiplication of loaves, related at length in his life.

At Barcelona, in 1409, he foretold to Martin, King of Aragon, the death of his son, Martin, the King of Sicily, who was snatched away in the middle of his triumphs in the month of July. Vincent comforted the afflicted father and persuaded him to a second marriage to secure the public peace by an heir to his crown.

He cured innumerable sick everywhere and, at Valencia, made a dumb woman speak but told her she should ever remain dumb and that this was for the good of her soul, charging her always to praise and thank God in spirit, to which instructions she promised obedience.

He converted the Jews in great numbers in the diocese of Valencia, in the kingdom of Leon, as Mariana relates. It is difficult to arrive at a figure. The most cautious of his historians give twenty-five thousand converts among the Jews and eight thousand among the Moors. "You know," Vincent announced from the pulpit, "that we have good news. All the Jews and many of the Moors of Valladolid are converted."


There was similar news from Toledo, Huesca, Saragossa... This was after the Congress of Tortosa for the conversion of Israel, suggested to Benedict by a former rabbi, Josua Holuorqui, who had become Friar Jerome of the Holy Faith.

It met in 1414 and was the occasion of interminable arguments – sixty-seven sessions – between rabbis and religious. Vincent, who took part in the Congress, collaborated in a Treatise on the Jews which served as a base for his further labors among them; in it all the proofs of the Dogma of the Incarnation were magisterially set forth.

The Pope presided. The populace were massed on the river bank; Master Vincent had taken up his stand to preach on the roof of a house surrounded by trees on the far side of the Ebro. One day he stopped suddenly in his sermon. The people were startled.

"Do not be shocked by this interval," he said, "I must wait upon grace." As the crowd began to laugh, a party of Jews were seen approaching: Grace had conquered them. Of sixteen rabbis, fourteen were converted. How he loved these new children of his; he loved to remind Christians who too readily forgot the fact that Jesus and Mary were of the Jewish race.

He was invited to Pisa, Sienna, Florence and Lucca in 1409, whence, after having reconciled the dissensions that prevailed in those parts, he was recalled by John II, King of Castille. In 1411, he visited the kingdoms of Castille, Leon, Murcia, Andalusia, Asturias and other countries; in all of these places the power of God was manifested in His enabling him to work miracles and effect the conversion of an incredible number of Jews and sinners.

The Jews of Toledo, embracing the faith, changed their synagogue into a church under the name of Our Lady's. From Valadolid, the saint went to Salamanca in the beginning of the year 1412. There he met a procession with a bier and the corpse of a man who had been murdered.

In the presence of a great multitude, he commanded the deceased to arise and the dead man instantly revived. For a monument of this miracle a wooden cross was erected and is yet to be seen on the spot. In the same city, the saint entered the Jewish synagogue with a cross in his hand. Filled with the Holy Ghost, he made so moving a sermon that the Jews, who were at first surprised, all desired baptism at the end of his discourse and changed their synagogue into a church to which they gave the title of the Holy Cross.

Extraordinary Miracles
As a good Dominican, Master Vincent loved to proclaim the all-powerfulness of the Rosary. "Who observes this practice," he said, "is beyond the reach of adversity." He told the case of a very pious merchant who would say the rosary from morning to night, even to the neglect of his business.

One day he was captured by brigands and, knowing that his hour was come, he humbly asked for a little moment to pray. Hardly had he begun when the Blessed Virgin came to him accompanied by St. Catherine carrying a tray of roses and St. Agnes with a needle and a ball of thread.

The brigands, needless to say, opened their eyes wide. At each Ave the prisoner recited, the Blessed Virgin took a rose from the plate, pierced it with the needle, slipped it on to the thread. Thus, she made a wreath which she placed on the prisoner's brow. As he happened to have his eyes closed, he did not see the wreath, but he smelt its fragrance.

The Virgin and the two saints went off and the merchant offered them his neck, saying, "Now you can strangle me." "Strangle you?" said the brigands. "Who were those beautiful women? You must be a holy man; remember us in your prayers." Then they restored his goods and went away converted.

When he spoke of the Mother of Men, Vincent was transfigured.

He used to tell the case of a schoolboy who wanted at all costs to see her. An angel warned him that if he did so, he would lose an eye. He accepted and lost an eye. Then he asked to see her again, though it meant the loss of the other eye, which also took place. But when he was thus completely blind, the Blessed Virgin restored both eyes.

The people had recourse to him in every difficulty: The smallest villages fought to have him. In one place they took his hat, which assured pregnant women of a safe and easy delivery; in others, he drove away a cloud of grasshoppers and a whole army of weevils with holy water. Once he came to the point of utter exhaustion.

He could go no further. And heaven came to his aid. In the very heart of a wild lonely forest an excellent hotel appeared suddenly from nowhere to shelter him; leaving it the next day, he happened to forget his hat.

One of the penitents went back to the inn to get it, but there was no inn – the hat was hanging on the branch of a tree at the very spot where the inn had stood. The following year he came to Murcia. According to the Bishop's report, which has come down to us, almost no one remained untouched by the grace of the Spirit that filled all the air.

In that province there was an end for that time of gambling, debauchery, conspiracy, quarreling, and murder. How could anyone fail to follow the example of a Moor who promised to embrace the faith if the pyre he had lighted in the main square was extinguished at Vincent's prayer? Vincent prayed; the flames went out.

"It is an immense enterprise," as one historian has noted, "to write a life of which every incident was a miracle." Yes, everything in that life, ordinary things as well as extraordinary, was touched with miracles, and the greatest miracle in his life was that life itself, in its daily texture, was so burdened, toil-filled, and various; so continuously under fire, yet so steady and undeviating – in the midst of schism, in the midst of anarchy, under the sulfurous illumination of the Last Judgment, which tragic coming his own life may very well have helped to postpone. Consider the framework of his days.

He rose usually at two in the morning for the night office, recited his psalms, prayed, meditated, went to confession – each morning – and scourged himself, thus purging his soul and chastising his body.

Mass was at six o'clock, then three hours preaching, visits to the sick, mediations between parties in lawsuits and families at odds, final words of advice to souls he had just converted or brought back to grace: Then once more on the road.

Picture him on the road: In rain or sunshine, his feet in wooden stirrups attached to the saddle by cords which cut into his legs, the unending dust from the trampling of the crowd, the chanting of psalms and the never ending crunch of feet, and the incidents and the accidents and the care he must have for all his vast company.

There was one meal a day – soup and a tiny piece of fish, washed down with wine liberally watered. He never had an evening meal. Then he arrives at the next village to be won to our Lord, the next town to be set in order. The usual tumult and acclamations and idle questions and plain annoyances besieged him – clipping pieces out of his habit, kissing his hands – and everybody taking possession of him – a hundred people if there were a hundred, a thousand if there were a thousand, more if there were more, as many as there might be.

Then there was the usual platform where he must say in the evening what he had said in the morning, differently phrased but just as fresh and convincing, and the usual miracles which he must always be asking of God when his eloquence gained nothing or not enough – for unless it gained everything, there always remained something still to gain: God must attend to it – and that meant miracles.

The crowd was at last disposed of, but, before going to bed – five hours sleep, never more, and no siesta, not even in Spain – he still had to make his meditation, get his office said, instruct and direct his companions, prepare tomorrow's sermons, deal with his post, get off answers to bishops, princes, city magistrates, directors of confraternities, priors of convents, the Pope himself and any number of mere nuisances – on every conceivable subject, by no means always concerned with religion.

And, in addition, you should reckon the time he loved to devote to religious ceremonies – for he was a convinced liturgist and would have his ceremonies as correct and as magnificent as possible. This gives some idea of the routine of his days – week after week, month after month, for twenty years. And he held and did not break.

He said one day to a group of priests, "The moment you wake, to God's work! Identify yourselves with Christ. At such an hour, He was brought before Pilate, at such an hour the Jews cried out against Him, at such another hour, He gave up the ghost."

That indeed was the secret of his own resistance. We may be certain that he followed to the letter the precious counsel he gave others, followed it hour by hour exactly, passionately and simply. Living the passion of Christ in his body, heart and mind, he found all things came easily; almost pleasantly.

Christ was the other self within him: His words, works, sufferings, flowed as freely from Christ as his miracles. Hence the humility that lived within his awareness of his greatness; hence his patience against all the difficulties of life, all the trials of faith, and all the disappointments of Charity; hence the superabundance of gifts which on the human plane overflowed in achievement and on the divine plane blazed forth in miracles.

He came one time to the bedside of a sinner, to assist him in his last agony. The sinner clung to the saint; he felt that his tardy remorse, his imperfect contrition, his absence of penance, were insufficient to save him unless St. Vincent threw the whole of himself into the scale. He begged Vincent to make over to him a good share of the treasures of grace he had compiled. The saint had pity on his despair.

He said: "I give God all my merits to be applied to you." "Is that true?" The dying man was mistrustful: He did not know that what a saint says is definite. "Then write it down for me on a slip of paper. The saint cheerfully did what he was asked and the man died clutching his precious document.

Logically, Vincent had nothing left – he must begin to pile up another lot of graces to himself. But a few days later, while he was preaching, a paper whirled in the air above the heads of the crowd, like a dead leaf blown along by the wind.

Finally it settled on the preacher's cloak. I need not tell you what it was. God had decided to pay for the sinner's salvation in a different coin. He returned Vincent his merits along with his check. For you never lose by the gift of one's self unless you only half give it.

Whoever approached Vincent felt something about him, like the hot breath of a hidden fire. So it was with the boy at Caen, possessed by devils from the day when a careless barber had pierced a tumor. The boy had lost the use of speech, did not eat or drink, and had no bodily motions except the blood that spurted from his nostrils whenever he was angered.

If they beat him, he felt nothing. He grew physically, but in a frightful solitude of a human being who knew no human contact or communication, nor pain nor pleasure. Then Vincent came to him and touched him. "What do you feel, my son?" he asked. And the child, set free of what had possessed him, cried: "Father, I feel God's good pleasure which is accomplished at this moment." God's good pleasure passed through that hand which He never withheld.

At Pampeluna, they had just condemned an innocent man to death. Vincent pleaded for him in vain. As he was being led to the scaffold, they passed a corpse being taken to burial on a stretcher. Vincent suddenly addressed the corpse: "You who have no longer anything to gain by lying, is this man guilty? Answer me!" The dead man sat up and affirmed, "He is not." Then Vincent, to reward him for that service, offered the dead man, who was settling down again on the stretcher, to give him back the burden of earthly life.

"No, Father," he replied, "for I am assured of salvation." And he went off to sleep again and was carried to the cemetery.
There is another episode stranger still if not more marvelous. It happened at Gerona.

In the thick of the crowd stood a man somber, glowering, rage stamped on every feature: Near him was his wife with an infant in her arms, still at the breast. The man was devoured by a frenzy of jealousy. Brother Vincent saw him, saw what fire burned in him, and preached upon Jealousy. Suddenly he turned to the man.

"You doubt your wife's faithfulness, do you not? You think this child is not yours? Well, watch!" Then he cried in a great voice to the child: "Embrace your father!" The infant stirred, stood upright, turned towards the man and held out its arms. And thus was the man cured and the family peace restored.

It seems that he touched each heart at the point he chose, the point that charity suggested to him, and invariably at the precise moment. He knew for example that a shepherd in the heart of the mountains had so great confidence in him that he came to hear him, leaving his flock, only staying to draw a circle round them with his staff – counting on the saint to see that the sheep did not go out of the circle or the wolves come into it.

Vincent knew it, whether he had guessed it or read it in the man's eyes; or perhaps God revealed to him the poor shepherd's naive arrangement and let him know that He meant to grant his prayer.

At any rate, Vincent told him before all the crowd: "Your sheep are safe; God is watching over them." Similarly, we are told that mothers did not hesitate to leave their babies to come to his sermons: They confided the infants to the angels – as Vincent advised them to. He doubted nothing, this man – God least of all.

There was the very famous miracle of the wine cask which would not run dry while the crowd of Vincent's followers still needed to drink. It is worth adding that ten years later, the owner of the cask, the Seigneur Saint-Just, met a man who gave evidence in the canonization process and assured him that in all those years he had given that miraculous wine to the sick: That no matter what their malady, they were cured: That the wine grew no less though he drew from the cask every day. It would seem that charity once installed in that cask was unwilling to leave it.

Charity indeed he left behind him everywhere, impregnating everything he touched. Once, for lack of alms – his purse being empty – he gave a poor woman his hat. "Thank you... But what do you expect me to do with it?" Anyhow she took it away with her and that evening, at the gates of Valencia, it struck her to put it on the head of an inn-keeper who was unwilling to give her lodging. He was in an evil temper, having a raging headache. "Perhaps Master Vincent's hat will cure it."

It did. The inn-keeper put it aside to use when the need should arise again. The hat was to be seen for long after but in a pitiable condition – for he had had the notion of soaking it in water from time to time and it seems that this incredible hat-broth had cured his customers of all sorts of minor ailments.

Sometimes one asks oneself if it is possible to believe, so enormous are some of the things we are told he did. The miracle at Morella, for instance, is an exact reproduction of the famous miracle of St. Nicholas when he brought back to life the three children in the salting-tub.

One is tempted to think that some unscrupulous biographer made the whole thing up. Here is the story. There was a certain woman of great virtue but subject to attacks of nerves, which came very close to madness. One day, in the absence of her husband who had the preacher lodged in the house and had gone out to hear him preach, her mental affliction came upon her and she cut her small son's throat. She then went on to chop him up and roasted a portion of him.

This she gave to her husband on his return from listening to the sermon. The man found out somehow what had happened, and at the last point of horror and disgust, rushed out to tell the saint.

Vincent realized at once that heaven could not have allowed a happening so monstrous save as an occasion for a most signal manifestation of God's power. He came, prayed, gathered together the bleeding pieces of the child and said to the father, "If you have faith, God who created this little soul from nothing can bring him back to life."

He fell on his knees and the impossible happened. The child was alive again, whole and entire.

Consider the story of the two men consumed at Zamora. These were two criminals before whom Master Vincent preached for three hours in the presence of an enormous crowd. We know that he brought them to such a horror of their crime, depicted with such cruel and gripping realism the flames of hell, that when the guards came to bring them back to prison they found only two charred corpses.

Remorse – and, we may hope, repentance – had literally consumed them. They were buried in front of the steeple beneath two stones which stood for centuries to attest the fact.

One day a Portuguese man who passed that way and to whom the story was told, shrugged his shoulders skeptically. "I will believe it," he cried, "when one of the immense stones splits." He tapped one with the toe of his boot and it split clean in two from top to bottom. Since that is the story we are told, why not? At any rate, when you are dealing with miracles, do not commit the vulgarity of dragging in the question of likelihood.

Yes, the blind see; the deaf hear; paralytics walk; the plague-stricken are healed; the faithless believe; sinners repent; the unstable grow steadfast; the idle find energy; sworn enemies embrace; the hard of heart find their hearts on fire. And beside the miracles that affect men, storms are stilled, rain stops, rocks are split, lightning flashes from the sky.

Heaven itself opens and saints, angels, the Mother of God and her Son come forth. What must be must be – God will have it so. The prayer of a saint is omnipotent – if God decides to grant it. "Christ can do nothing," cried an obstinate sinner in Brothers Vincent's face. "I shall lose my soul if I please." There was the claim of human liberty.

"I shall save you by Him, in spite of yourself," replied the preacher. There was the claim of the omnipotence of a redemption purchased by the blood of God. Vincent leaned over the crowd. "Say the Rosary!" The Creed was said and the Our Father.

The Hail Marys followed one another on the beads. From Heaven, thus stormed by prayer, the Virgin Mother in person descended, holding in her arms the Child Jesus – sobbing. At that sight the sinner broke down, surrendered. The will for evil was conquered without a struggle by the will of Grace.

Last Years
Normandy and Brittany were the theater of the apostle's labors the two last years of his life. He was then so worn out and weak that he was scarce able to walk a step without help; yet no sooner was he in the pulpit but he spoke with as much strength, ardor, eloquence, and unction as he had done in the vigor of his youth.

He restored to health on the spot one that had been bedridden eighteen years, in the presence of a great multitude, and wrought innumerable other miracles, amongst which we may reckon as the greatest the conversion of an incredible number of souls. He inculcated everywhere a detestation of lawsuits, swearing, lying and other sins, especially of blasphemy.

As his health started failing, his companions persuaded him to return to his own country. Accordingly he set out with that view, riding on an ass, as was his ordinary manner of traveling in long journeys.

But after they were gone, as they imagined, a considerable distance, they found themselves again near the city of Vannes. Wherefore the saint perceiving his illness increase, determined to return into the town, saying to his companions that God had chosen that city for the place of his burial.

The joy of the city was incredible when he appeared again, but it was allayed when he told them he had come, not to continue his ministry among them, but to look for his grave. These words, joined with a short exhortation which he made to impress on the people's mind their duty to God, made many shed tears, and threw all into an excess of grief. His fever increasing, he prepared himself for death by exercises of piety and devoutly receiving the sacraments.

On the third day the bishop, clergy, magistrates, and part of the nobility made him a visit. He conjured them to maintain zealously what he had labored to establish amongst them, exhorted them to perseverance in virtue, and promised to pray for them when he should be before the throne of God, saying he should go to the Lord after ten days. His prayer and union with God he never interrupted.

The magistrates sent a deputation to him, desiring he would choose the place of his burial. They were afraid his Order, which had then no convent in Vannes, would deprive the city of his remains. The saint answered that, being an unprofitable servant and a poor religious man, it did not become him to direct anything concerning his burial; however, he begged they would preserve peace after his death, as he always inculcated to them in his sermons, and that they would be pleased to allow the prior of the convent of his Order which was the nearest to that town to have the disposal of the place of his burial.

He continued his aspirations of love, contrition, and penance; and often wished the departure of his soul from its fleshy prison, that it might the more speedily be swallowed up in the ocean of all good. On the tenth day of his illness he caused the passion of our Savior to be read to him, and after that recited the penitential psalms, often stopping totally absorbed in God. It was on Wednesday in Passion Week, the 5th of April, that he slept in the Lord, in the year 1419.

When he expired a host of little white butterflies fluttered around his head. These were little "angels" to take the Angel of Judgment home and to attest to his purity and holiness. There was even a "piercingly sweet odor" which arose from his body.

Joan of France, daughter of King Charles VI, Duchess of Brittany, washed his corpse with her own hands. God showed innumerable miracles by that water and by the saint's habit, girdle, instruments of penance, and other relics, of which the details may be read in the Bollandists.

The death of St. Vincent Ferrer did not check the flowing of the spring which his merits and penances and love had opened in the rock of Mercy inexhaustible. They laid two corpses in his tomb before they sealed it. Just as the touch of his habit wrought miracles during his life, so did the touch of his grave: two dead people were brought to life when placed upon it!

Nor is that an isolated incident. The inquiry set on foot at Vannes for the process of his canonization brought to light an incredible mass of miraculous happenings, sudden conversions, cures, apparitions, and a surprising number of resurrections from the dead.

Falls, drownings, murderous assaults, illnesses – he intervened in all and was always being invoked.

Petition for his canonization was universal and immediate from kings, bishops, universities, nobles and peasantry. Pope Nicholas V issued a bull to inquire into the life, heroic sanctity and miracles of Saint Vincent. The Duke of Brittany even levied a tax to defray expenses for the process.

According to Vincent's own prophecy, Alphonsus Borgia who was elected to the Papacy and became Callixtus III, did indeed canonize him. The canonization was held on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 1455, in the Dominican Church of Rome, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. The body was found to be incorrupt on that day.

During the Mass of canonization, two dead persons were covered with the cloak in which Saint Vincent had been buried. They were both restored to life. Also, the Duke of Brittany's relative was cured of leprosy that day and a blind man was restored to sight.

Fifty years after St. Vincent's death, a boy of twelve, Juan de Zuniga, died at Placenzia. A prayer to St. Vincent brought him back to life. He lived to be Cardinal Archbishop of Seville. A cathedral was built in commemoration of the event.

On the day they were celebrating the Saint's feast, the preacher failed to appear – he had suddenly fallen ill. The embarrassment would have been serious only that a Dominican father, absolutely unknown, appeared from nowhere and offered to take his place. He went up into the pulpit, preached and was seen no more.

It was St. Vincent Ferrer, naturally, since he is always present upon earth, in action if not in person. There seems to be no other possible explanation of the sudden appearance and disappearance of the preacher.

During his life Saint Vincent freed more than seventy people from the Devil and many more were freed at his tomb. He raised more than twenty-eight people from the dead and four hundred sick people were cured by resting on the couch where he had lain during his illness.

The change of a sinful heart is even a greater miracle than wondrous temporal benefits. Saint Vincent was not wanting here as we have seen; thousands of sinners became penitent, including Jews and Moors.

Wherein was the great success of this humble, friar-preacher? First, he was a living image of the Crucified. He was gentle and patient and never murmured a word of complaint. He loved poverty and his purity consisted in excluding all thoughts that did not tend towards God. He preserved this awesome purity by obedience.

As great as he was, he excelled more than anyone in submitting to his superiors. Second, he was an imitator of his spiritual father, Saint Dominic. It was said of Saint Dominic that he was "a light of the word, a dazzling reflection of Jesus Christ, a rose of patience, another precursor and a master in the science of souls."

Vincent was a worthy disciple who would himself protest that he was only imitating his holy founder. God is glorified in His saints!
The Angel of the Apocalypse provides us with some valuable lessons.

Of course, no one knows the day nor the hour of the Second Coming, but we can imitate Saint Vincent in his penitential life so as to be ready at all times to meet Our Judge. We will have little to fear if we combine that penitential life with the humility and love for Jesus and Mary that Saint Vincent had.

His intercession, once so powerful on earth, has surely only increased in Heaven. Pray to him in confidence and he will no doubt intercede for you before his beloved Master, Jesus Christ and his most beautiful Queen, Mary, the Mother of God.

The great humility of this saint appeared amidst the honors and applause which followed him. He lays down this principle as the preliminary to all virtue that a person be deeply grounded in humility "For whosoever will proudly dispute or contradict, will always stand without the door. Christ, the master of humility, manifests His truth only to the humble and hides Himself from the proud."

Article from:
The amazing Life and Miracles of St. Vincent Ferrer, Patron Saint of the Catholic Church.

Saint Vincent Ferrer
Spanish Dominican Preacher.

Vincent was born, and baptized on 23 January 1350 at Valencia, Spain. He was the second son of William Ferrer, an Englishman who had settled in Spain, and his wife, Constantia Miguel. They were both of noble origin and very pious people.
From a very early age, his parents instilled into Vincent an intense devotion to our Lord and His Mother and a great love of the poor. He fasted regularly each Wednesday and Friday on bread and water from early childhood, abstained from meat, and learned to deny himself extravagances in order to provide alms for necessities.
Vincent began his classical studies(most likely studies related to ancient Greeks and Romans) at the age of 8, philosophy at 12, and his theological studies at age 14. And, as everyone expected, he entered the Dominican priory of Valencia and received the habit on February 5, 1367. He was then 18 years old. He was sent to Barcelona to complete his studies.
It is said that for three good years, the Saint read nothing but, the Sacred Scripture, and that he eventually committed it to memory! He obtained his Master of Sacred Theology, then moved on to the University of Lleida, where he earned his doctorate in Theology. He subsequently taught at the Cathedral of Valentia.
Vincent quickly distinguished himself both as a philosopher and a preacher, who was very successful in arousing Christians to repentance. He devoted himself entirely to preaching, which was to be his life's work.
Then Vincent was summoned to Avignon, France by the antipope Benedict XIII. He became his confessor. He however declined all offices and honors bestowed on him by his patron.
During a French siege of Avignon, Vincent became fell very ill and almost died. It is said that he recovered miraculously after beholding a vision of Christ, Saint Dominic, and Saint Francis of Assisi. In the vision, Vincent was told to go out and preach. The antipope Benedict was, however, reluctant for him to leave Avignon. In 1389, Benedict finally gave his permission and Vincent started on a preaching tour across Western Europe.
He toured Aragon, Castile, Switzerland, France, Italy, England, Ireland and Scotland preaching the Gospel of Our Lord. Eloquent and passionate, he attracted huge crowds of believers and he converted many people.

One of Vincent’s finest achievements was his effort to end the Great Western Schism, which had divided the Church since 1378. While he believed that Benedict XIII was the legitimate pontiff, he nevertheless called publicly for him to step down for the good of the Church.
He also spent much time preaching for an end to the Schism. He did not however attend the Council of Constance that brought an end to the Schisms in 1418.
In his last years, he preached in northern France, including a sermon before the royal court at Caenin 1418.
Vincent died on 5 April 1419 at Vannes in Brittany, and was buried in Vannes Cathedral. He was canonized by Pope Calixtus III on 3 June 1455. The Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer, a Pontifical religious institute, is named after him.
Saint Vincent
Pray for us!
Ref: Our Sunday Visitor Encyclopedia Of Saints.
By Matthew Bunson, Stephen Bunson, Margaret Bunson

Hi martin.
I have only just noticed your post at the very moment of posting mine. If I had known earlier,I would have taken today off :)
The more the better though so that nothing gets left out! :)

My post is just the bare bones martin, yours is "meatier"  ;D

Something like that could explain it :) A cell phone, lost and found! Unusual is all I will say. They go like hot cakes over here. The first thing the thieves do once they have secured it is to switch it off and then change  the SIM card soonest possible. I am happy the little one got her phone back. We do rather get attached to these things! :)

 :rotfl: :happyroll:
I know... He's one of my favorite saints and I never give him a moments peace when I'm in need of some favor.  :D
He truly is a saint for all times and all circumstances.
There's also an excellent sermon on St Vincent on Audio Sancto, It's under "The End Times" heading on the right at the home page.

St Vincent Ferrer, Angel of the Apocalypse, ora pro nobis.

martin,
I will read your post tomorrow. Now it is 2.25 am and I have to call it a day. In case you have mentioned it in your post, then please just ignore this.
In my reading, I came across some controversy and would appreciate comments. Something about
forced conversion of Jews.

I will check that out.. I know he converted Jews by the thousands but I never heard of forced conversions. If you come across it again I would be interested in reading it but I suspect they all converted for the right reason please God.  :D

Good night Odhiambo.

May the Lord bless you and keep you;
May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
May He lift up His countenance upon you,
And grant you peace.

Thank you for the Blessing!
God Bless!

Great stuff martin  :)
Thanks for availing it to us.  :)

Shin,
I have this feeling that Reginator would really appreciate all these. Care to do something about it if you haven't already?
Thanks.

Did what I could! I think he'd be a good invite over here!  :D

There're a lot of free books on Saints' Books (http://http:/www.saintsbooks.net) don't forget. One has to pick up good habits to replace the TV with to do well.

Going out for walks, spiritual reading, a better prayer life, taking care of fish. . .  :fishie: :fishie: :fishie:

These all help. :D

One of the things I've always wanted is for the saints' books in print to be in every Catholic parish, and distributed free or at least at cost for charity. I can't do that with physical books, but at least there are the e-books.

It's too bad Our Lady of the Rosary Libary's selection has gotten smaller, they used to sell more of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori's books at charity cost.. Perhaps as time goes by more small presses will take up the cause of the saints.

Thanks for the tips Shin. :) I must cultivate a culture of spiritual reading. Imagine I have never really read the Bible from cover to cover like so many people have. Others have done so, not once but severally. I do so envy them.( where is the green monster smiley ?  ;D )  I had joined a Saint Matthew Bible Study Group at CAF. Everything was going fine, unfortunataly the person who started it became swamped with university work and could not continue. It was a big loss for me. :(

Perhaps someday you will find another good Bible study. :) All things in Christ's time!

Don't be afraid to try some of the book studies going on here. They go very slowly so they are easy to pick up.

'The Divine Favors' is a particular favorite of mine. I first read it long ago, around the time of my Confirmation. Truly it breathes piety.

O.K Shin  :)

Sure hope so  :)
In fact we are starting one at our Parish soon though I am not particularly looking forward to it. ;D
We used to have one before and I gained much more from the brief spell of online Bible Study I did at CAF than I did from months of studying the same chapters at our Parish.  ;D

6 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Crescentia Hoess
Among many other saints.

Crescentia Hoess.

Crescentia was born in1682  in Bavaria. Her given name was Anna  Hoess (Höss). Her parents were Matthias Hoess and Lucia Hoermann. She was raised devoutly, and knew at an early age that she wanted to become a nun at the local convent, the Franciscan Tertiary nuns of Mayerhoff. It is said that young Anna was once kneeling in the chapel of the local Franciscan nuns when she heard a voice from the crucifix: "This shall be your dwelling place."
Her father  was not a rich man; he was a poor woolweaver and did not  have enough money to pay the necessary “dowry”, or entry fee. Dowries were customary at the time in most convents.
.She was refused admission. Anna took it all in her stride. She simply waited patiently, working in her father's weaving business until she was 21. Then that patience was rewarded in a singular manner. This is how it was:
Next door to the convent was a very noisy inn. The sisters had at one time tried to buy it in an attempt to rid themselves of the noise but the landowner was asking too high a price for it and the nuns could not afford it.
The local mayor, a Protestant who was sympathetic towards the convent, got possession of the Inn and deeded the site to the sisters. He asked for nothing other than that the nuns receive Anna without a dowry. The Franciscans could hardly refuse, so, in 1704, Anna Hoess became a nun taking the name of Sister Maria Crescentia.
Sadly, the sisters were not kind to Anna at first.  She was subjected to a prolonged persecution by the unfriendly superior and some of the other sisters. The basic reason seems to have been her lack of a dowry. They called her a beggar and, and assigned to her the most menial tasks to perform.
Her tribulations ended when a more friendly nun was elected superior. Gradually all the other sisters began to recognize, that Crescentia was a pious and indeed, a very holy religious. She was eventually chosen as mistress of novices and finally as Mother Superior.
Despite her poor health, Saint Crescentia remained the convent's superior until her death on Easter of 1744.
She was canonized on November 25, 2001, by Pope John Paul II, along with three others. Her convent was renamed Crescentiakloster in her honor.
Saint Crescentia 
Pray for us!

All her troubles were part of what made her sanctity. :D

'God wants the convent rich in virtue, not in temporal goods.'

-St. Maria Cescentia Hoess

One can only surmise that those who refused her admission into the convent felt that obeying the rule of admission took precedence over all else.

Obeying rules is very important for religious. :D It all worked out in God's plan for her sanctification.

I've found that when it comes to the miraculous history of the saints, there's a lot of anti-Christian revisionism that takes place to explain away the miracles. And anti-Christian feeling among some Jewish historians especially.

That must be it!
It explains a lot.

7 April
Today is the Feast day of
Saint John Baptist de La Salle
Among many other saints.

Saint John Baptist de La Salle (1651-1719)
Founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
Patron of Christian Teachers.

John was born in Reims, France on April 30, 1651. He was the eldest of ten children of  noble and wealthy parents.

John wanted to become a priest while still very young, dedicating himself to the religious life at the age of eleven. He became canon of Reims Cathedral when only sixteen years old.  He was finally ordained a priest on April 9, 1678. By then he was twenty seven years old.

Two years after his ordination, John received his doctorate in theology.

Meanwhile, he started helping a group of teachers who were looking after poor children in the city.

At that time only few people lived in luxury. Most of the people were extremely poor: peasants in the country, and slum dwellers in the towns. Only a few could send their children to school and most children had little hope for the future.

John was moved by the plight of these poor people. He determined to put his own talents and advanced education at the service of the children who were often left to themselves and were badly brought up.

 To answer to this call which he saw as coming from God, he gave up everything; abandoning his family home, he moved in with the teachers. He renounced his position as Canon and his wealth and inheritance, becoming as poor as the children attending his schools. The Schools schools depended for survival on God's Providence.

This was the beginning of the community that became known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools. From this beginning,
the Institute of the "Brothers of the Christian Schools" gradually evolved.
 This congregation was uniquein that  its members, though belonging to a religious order, were laymen, who spent all their energy and the whole of their lives in educating children, especially those who were very poor.
As always, difficulties arose. Certain priests began to interfere in his work in the schools, not really comprehending the Saints purpose;
teachers in rival establishments took him to court because their
students had moved over to John Baptist's Christian schools, where studies were free of charge. Despite all the opposition to his work, John
resolutely kept his vision on just one goal: the WILL OF GOD.
His method of teaching revolutionized the teaching technique of the time, including the use of the vernacular instead of Latin and he became famous across much of Europe. King James II asked him to go to England and teach the young boys in the royal court. In 1698, he opened a college for Irish teachers.
 Due to opposition to his work, John was deposed in 1702 at the instigation of the Archbishop of Paris. The members of his congregation however saved him with their support. He remained in active control of the congregation until 1717 when he resigned.

John died at Saint Yon near Rouen early in 1719 on Good Friday, only weeks before his sixty-eighth birthday.

 
God's Will was indeed accomplished the end, for at the time Our Lord called John Baptist to himself, the Brothers' Institute had spread throughout France, and the schools were performing excellent work.
· John Baptist's last words were:
" I adore in everything God's Will in my regard"

He was beatified  on February 19, 1888,
canonized  on May 24, 1900 and
proclaimed Patron of Christian Teachers May 15, 1950 by
Pope Pius XII.
 
Saint John Baptist de La Salle.
Pray for us!

'The crown shall be proportioned to the labor sustained, the victories won, the fatigues endured. Hence all these trials may be considered as so many sources of rejoicing. Our zeal must herein find food upon which to strengthen itself against difficulties, obstacles, and persecutions.'

St. John Baptiste de la Salle

To all he was accustomed to say that their confidence in God should be in proportion to their spiritual misery. To one of his spiritual daughters who was greatly troubled, he wrote these touching and encouraging words:

"Never allow yourself to be foolishly persuaded that you are forsaken by God; on the contrary, believe that He is more than ever disposed to receive you into His arms. His mercy manifests itself in proportion to the greatness of your wretchedness. The more abandoned you seemingly are, the more abundantly will His mercies be shown in your favor. He knows the extent of your weakness ; that you require His grace to establish and confirm you. when weakness and cowardice would cause you to lose ground."

He would teach that Christian virtues do not grow spontaneously in the soul. They are the result of careful and constant culture; and this must begin early in childhood.

"I will always look upon the work of my salvation, and the foundation and government of our community, as the work of God; hence I will abandon the care of both to him, acting only through his orders." 

St. John Baptist de la Salle

 

8 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Julie Billiart
Among many other saints.

Saint Julie Billiart
Also known as Saint Julia Billiart.
Julia of Billiart.
Maria Rose Julia Billiart was born in Cuvilly, France, on July 12, 1751.
She was the sixth of seven children born to Jean-François Billiart and his wife, Marie-Louise-Antoinette Debraine. Her childhood was quite remarkable in that by the time she was seven years old, she had memorized the catechism! She used to gather her little companions around her to hear them recite it and to explain it to them.
Julia went to the local village school taught by her uncle, Thibault Guilbert. She received her First Holy Communion earlier than was the practice because she knew the catechism well and understood the significance of Holy Communion. At 9 years of age, she was confirmed and she also made a vow of Chastity.

When Julie was 16, she went to work to help support her family. At the age of 23 she became paralyzed by the trauma of a shooting that was aimed at her father. The next twenty years were to see her confined to her bed. She used the time to draw closer to God, receiving daily Communion and spending several hours daily in prayers. When she was not praying, she was either making laces for the Church or teaching catechism to the village children whom she gathered around her bed.
At the time of the French Revolution, Julie fled from Paris to the city of Amiens where she was given refuge by Countess Baudoin. It was here in Amiens, Julie met Françoise Blin de Bourdon, a woman she was to work closely with in future.
At first, she took no notice of Julia, but by degrees grew to love and admire her. They met frequently.
In 1804, Juliet, with the aid of Françiose Blin de Bourdon, founded the Sisters of Notre Dame. The aim of the society was to offer christian education to girls, thus making known God’s goodness and to bring His salvation, especially to the poor and abandoned children.
On the feast of the Sacred Heart, 1 June, 1804, Mother Julie, after a novena made in obedience to her confessor, was miraculously cured of paralysis.
Saint Julie died on 8 April, 1816, at her institute in Namur, Belgium. By the time of her death, there were 15 convents in operation.
She was canonized by Pope Paul VI on June 22, 1969.
Saint Julie,
Pray for us!

Such a hard lesson to learn, to wait on God's time trusting in His providnce.
Saint Crescentia ora pro nobis

I feel that I have not quite done justice to this Saint. Anyone with extra information, please post it . This way we honor the Lord in His saints. :)

The childhood of Julie was remarkable; at the age of seven, she knew the catechism by heart, and used to gather her little companions around her to hear them recite it and to explain it to them.

. . . When twenty-two years old, a nervous shock, occasioned by a pistol-shot fired at her father by some unknown enemy, brought on a paralysis of the lower limbs, which in a few years confined her to her bed a helpless cripple, and thus she remained for twenty-two years.

During this time, when she received Holy Communion daily, Julie exercised an uncommon gift of prayer, spending four or five hours a day in contemplation.

The rest of her time was occupied in making linens and laces for the alter and in catechizing the village children whom she gathered around her bed, giving special attention to those who were preparing for their First Communion.

At Amiens, where Julie Billiart had been compelled to take refuge with Countess Baudoin during the troublesome times of the French Revolution, she met Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Viscountess of Gizaincourt, who was destined to be her co-laborer in the great work as yet unknown to either of them.

The Viscountess Blin de Bourdon was thirty-eight years old at the time of her meeting with Julie, and had spent her youth in piety and good works; she had been imprisoned with all of her family during the Reign of Terror, and had escaped death only by the fall of Robespierre.

She was not at first attracted by the almost speechless paralytic, but by degrees grew to love and admire the invalid for her wonderful gifts of soul.

A little company of young and high-born ladies, friends of the viscountess, was formed around the couch of "the saint". Julie taught them how to lead the interior life, while they devoted themselves generously to the cause of God and His poor.

Though they attempted all the exercises of an active community life, some of the elements of stability must have been wanting, for these first disciples dropped off until none was left but Françoise Blin de Bourdon. She was never to be separated from Julie, and with her in 1803, in obedience to Father Varin, superior of the Fathers of the Faith, and under the auspices of the Bishop of Amiens, the foundation was laid of the Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame, a society which had for its primary object the salvation of poor children.

Several young persons offered themselves to assist the two superiors. The first pupils were eight orphans. On the feast of the Sacred Heart, 1 June, 1804, Mother Julie, after a novena made in obedience to her confessor, was cured of paralysis.

The first vows of religion were made on 15 October, 1804 by Julie Billiart, Françoise Blin de Bourdon, Victoire Leleu, and Justine Garson, and their family names were changed to names of saints.

They proposed for their lifework the Christian education of girls, and the training of religious teachers who should go wherever their services were asked for.

- from an encyclopedia article

"Oh, how good is the good God.”

“You will not doubt this: Friendship in God lasts forever.”

St. Julia Billiart

All together it's such a moving life's story isn't it odhiambo?  :D

It is indeed Shin!
Imagine memorising the catechism at the tender age of seven!
I did not know anything about the catechism at that age. Just eating and playing was all I was good far then  ;D

This is all making me think the more about holy children, like Ven. Anne. :D

I do not know her yet Shin .
I have seen your post  on her though  :)

She's a truly lovely one. :D

Here is a little about her! (http://saintsworks.net/forums/index.php?topic=1387.0)

It is beautiful Shin. I could just imagine the two of them at the interview.
The little girl so sure of her facts,the priest admiring and yet not letting on!
I would love a movie of the same. Why are there no movies of  the lives of Saints?

Haha, I can see it too. :D

The priest and the little angel. O:)

9 April

Today is the Feast day of
 Saint Casilda
Among many other saints.

 

Saint Casilda.

Also known as:
Saint Casilda of Toledo

Saint Casilda is not familiar to many of us. It is in fact the first time I am learning of her. I am however thankful to God for granting me this opportunity to get to know some of His less well known saints however fleetingly.
According to legend, Casilda lived in the 10th Century in Spain. She
was a daughter of a Muslim king (called Almacrin or Almamun), of Toledo, Spain. She was herself raised as a Muslim as was only to be expected.
Casilda is noted to have showed special kindness to Christian prisoners. She used to carry bread hidden in her clothes to feed them. Once she was stopped by Muslim soldiers and asked to reveal what she was carrying in her skirt. When she began to show them, the bread turned into a bouquet of roses.

One day Casilda, a young woman by then, fell ill. She, however had no confidence in the local doctors and believe they would not be able to cure her.
She, instead, made a pilgrimage to the shrine of San Vicenzo in northern Spain. At the time, many people suffering various ailments, traveled to the shrine seeking healing. It is recorded that Casilda left it relieved of her illness.( we do not know what the sickness was).
After her miraculous cure, Casilda became a Christian and lived a life of solitude and penance not far from the miraculous spring.
It is said that she lived to be 100 years old. Her death was likely to have occurred around the year 1050.

Saint Casilda,
Pray for us!

10 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Magdalene of Canossa
Among many other saints.

I had never heard of her before you told us.  ;D

There is more than one time in the lives of the saints God has done this -- changed what a saint concealed into flowers. To protect the saint..

'Flores apparuerunt in terra nostra. . . Fulcite me floribus. (The flowers appear on the earth. . . stay me up with flowers. Sg 2:5-12)

Saint Magdalene of Canossa (1774-1835)

Magdalene was born on March 1st 1774 in Verona, Italy. She was born in one of the grandest palaces of the city, being of rich and noble parentage. She was the third child of the Marquis Ottavio and Coutess Teresa Szluha.

When Magdalene was five years old, her father died suddenly. Two years after, her mother remarried, leaving the Canossa Palace and her children behind in the care of a French governess. In her loneliness, Magdalen turned to Mary for consolation.
Magdalen was 15 years old when the French revolution broke out and shook the whole of Europe.

When she was 17 years old' she spent some time in a Carmelite cloister but decided this was not the vocation for her. She returned to her family where she took up the task of heading and guiding the household during a time of extreme difficulty. This was the time, about 7 years later, when the real consequences of the French Revolution were felt in Verona. On June 10, 1796, General Napoleon entered the city as a conqueror. The following year Napoleon was a guest at Canossa Palace and Magdalen, being the lady of the house, had to do the honours to the General.

Verona was occupied successively by the French and the Austrians and the Canossa Palace hosted famous generals and emperors.
Amidst all that was happening, Magdalene withdrew herself gradually. Each day, was her union with God intensified.

Magdalene then contracted small pox. After recovering from this illness, she felt a calling to help the poor and the sick.

In 1808 Magdalen left the Canossa Palace indefinitely and with some companions, established herself in the poverty-stricken district of San Zeno and started their work among the poor. Magdalen called her companions “Daughters of Charity” because their task was to reveal God’s love to humanity.
Today the Daughters of Charity are present in many countries around the world.

Magdalen died in Verona on April 10, 1835. She was beatified in Rome on December 8, 1941. Then she was canonized on Octopber 2, 1988 and became St. Magdalen of Canossa.

Saint Magdalene
Pray for us!

The French Revolution and Napoleon caused a great deal of harm.

'St. Bernard says that poverty was not to be found in heaven, it existed only on earth; but that man, not knowing its value, did not seek after it. Therefore the Son of God came down from heaven to this earth, and chose it for his companion throughout his whole life, that by his example he might also render it precious and desirable to us: "Poverty was not found in heaven, but she was well known on earth, and men knew not her excellence. So the Son of God loved her, and came down from heaven to take her to himself, that we might learn to value her when we see how he regards her."'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

You posted that quote many months ago. The fact that I remember it means it must have sank in at the time.  :D

I think it was G K Chesterton who said, "There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less."

 :happyroll:

Mother Teresa sure knew the value of poverty. Here is her take on the subject

"We must have a real living determination to reach holiness.
''I will be a saint'' means I will despoil myself of all that is not God;
I will strip my heart of all created things;
I will live in poverty and detachment;
I will renounce my will, my inclinations, my whims and fancies, and make myself a willing slave to the will of God."

Mother Teresa (1910-1997) Albanian-born missionary.
If only we would heed her words.
Living in poverty without a coin to your name is so scary. Faith in God has to be really strong to overcome this fear.
It is one thing when it is forced on you;  quite another when it comes to voluntary poverty; it belongs to the realm of saints ; exactly what Mother Teresa is telling us  :)

11 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Gemma Galgani
Amomg many other Saints.

'Remember daughter, that whoever truly loves Jesus speaks little and bears all things. I command thee, on behalf of Jesus, to always refrain from giving your own opinion, unless it is asked; always to prefer silence to upholding your own views. Whenever you have committed a fault, accuse yourself of it at once, and do not wait for others to accuse thee. Give full obedience to your confessor, and to those whom he commands thee to obey; and be always sincere with them. Remember to guard your eyes, and be assured that the eyes that are mortified, shall behold the beauties of heaven.'

'Poor child! How imperfect you are! How much you need others to keep a constant guard over thee. Oh, how much patience I must have with thee.'

St. Gemma Galgani's Guardian Angel

Saint Gemma Galgani

Gemma Galgani was born on March 12, 1878, in a small Italian town near Lucca.
Her parents were poor people.
Gemma developed a love for prayers at an early age.
She received her First Holy Communion on June 17, 1887. She attended a school run by the Sisters of St. Zita.
Gemma was loved by all her teachers and her fellow pupils.
Unfortunately, she suffered from chronic ill health and had to quit school before completing her course of study.

When she was seven years old, her mother died; her father also died at a later date. At nineteen, Gemma was forced to work as a maid so as to be able to care for her seven brothers and sisters for whom she now had responsibility following the death of both their parents.

Her hope was to be a Passionist nun but her poor health prevented her from being accepted.(she took several vows in private).
She apparently suffered from spinal tuberculosis. She was later cured from this illness, through the intercession of Saint Gabriel Possenti .

Passionataly religious, the saint was the subject of various extraordinary supernatural phenomena such as visions, ecstasies, revelations, supernatural knowledge, conversations with her visible Guardian Angel, prophecy and miracles. These experiences were investigated by her confessor, Father Germano di San Stanislao Ruappolo.

Between 1899 and 1901, she intermittantly received the stigmata and marks of scourging on her body. It seems also that she exhibited occasional erratic behaviour that she attributed to diabolical possession.

She died quietly in the company of the parish priest, on Holy Saturday, April 11, 1903. She was twenty-five years old.
She was soon considered for canonization. This was opposed by some because of those erratic episodes of her life. She was however accepted as the holiness of her life was unquestionable.

She was beatified in 1933 and canonized on May 2, 1940, by Pope Pius XII, only thirty-seven years after her death.

Saint Gemma,
Pray for us!

She certainly died young! .. On Holy Saturday..

It is possible for one who is 'inhabited' by God to be possessed?

At one time during her sufferings, she was asked: “If Jesus gave you the choice between two alternatives, either going immediately to heaven and having your sufferings disappear, or else remaining here in suffering to procure still more glory for the Lord, which would you choose?” She answered: “I prefer to remain here rather than going to heaven, when it is a question of suffering for Jesus and His glory”

Coincidence. I was just reading about it in Fr Gabriele Amorth book 'An exorcist tells his story' a few moments back. I quote.

The lives of many saints include examples of this affliction. Among modern saints, I can cite two who have been beatified by Pope John Paul ll : Father Giovanni Calabria and Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified (who was the first Arab to be beatified).  In both cases, and without any human fault, they were subjected to periods of true satanic possession.  During those periods, the two saints did and said things totally incompatible with their holiness without the least fault, because it was the devil who acted through their bodies.

Behold me at Your most holy feet, O dear Jesus, to manifest to you my gratitude for the continual favors which You have bestowed upon me, and still wish to bestow upon me. As many times as I have invoked You, O Jesus, You have made me content; I have often had recourse to You and You have always consoled me. How shall I express myself to You, dear Jesus? I thank you! Yet one more grace I desire of you, O my God, if it would be pleasing to You (here mention your request). If you were not omnipotent, I would not make this request. O Jesus, have pity on me. May your most holy will be done in all things"
Prayer of St Gemma Galgani

Quite a coincidence that one Patricia. :)
 So it is possible, though it is still difficult for me to comprehend.  :)

A powerful prayer!
I never came across it.
Thanks for sharing :)

Yes a little eerie for me too! :)

12 April

To day is the Feast day of
Saint Teresa of the Andes
Among Many other saints.

Saint Teresa of the Andes

Also known as
Saint Teresa of Los Andes
Discalced Carmelite Mystic.

Teresa was born in Santiago, Chile, on 13 July 1900. She was christened Juana Enriqueta Josefina of the Sacred Hearts Fernandez Solar. She was , however called Juanita. Her family consisted of her parents Miguel Fernandez and Lucia Solar, three brothers and two sisters, her maternal grandfather, uncles, aunts and cousins. The family was well off and were also faithful Christians. She was educated in the college of the French nuns of the Sacred Heart.

Juanita was devoted to Christ from a very young age. When she was just fourteen, she decided to consecrate herself to God.
On May 7, 1919 at the age of 19, she entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery of the Holy Spirit in the township of Los Andes, some 90 kilometers from Santiago. She was clothed with the Carmelite habit on 14 October the same year and given the religious name of Teresa of Jesus.

Toward the end of her short life, Teresa began an apostolate of letter-writing, sharing her thoughts on the spiritual life with many people. Still aged 19 she contracted a severe case of typhus. She received the last sacraments, and on 7 April, because of danger of death, she made her religious profession early. She died April 12, 1920 during Holy Week. Three months more and she would have turned 20.
She still had 6 months to complete her canonical novitiate and to be legally able to make her religious vows. She died as a Discalced Carmelite nun.

Teresa was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Santiago de Chile on April 3, 1987. Luis, one of her siblings, was present at her beatification.
She was canonized by Pope John Paul II on March 21, 1993. Her remains are venerated in the Sanctuary of Auco-Rinconada of Los Andes.

She is the patron of young people.

Saint Teresa,
Pray for us!

Imagine your very own sister up there!  :)

'How is it that we do not die of love in seeing that God Himself could do no more than shed His divine blood for us drop by drop? When as man He was preparing for death, He made Himself our food in order to give us life. God becomes food, bread for his creatures. Is this not enough to make us die of love?'

'Perfection of life consists in drawing close to God. Heaven is the possession of God. In heaven God is contemplated, adored, loved. But to attain heaven it's necessary to be detached from what is earthly. What is the life of a Carmelite if not one of contemplating, adoring and loving God incessantly? And she, by being desirous for that heaven, distances herself from the world and tries to detach herself as much as possible from everything earthly.'

St. Teresa of the Andes

 13 April
Today is the Feast day of
Saint Martin I, 
Among many other saints.

Saint Martin I,
Pope, Martyr
Martin was born at Todi, Tuscany (Italy). He was of noble birth and studied in Rome, acquiring great knowledge. He became a deacon at Rome. Due to his great learning and piety, he was appointed papal nuncio to Constantinople for Pope Theodore I.
On July 21, 649 he was elected pope.
Martin’s pontificate occurred during an extensive controversy that had strained relations between the Eastern and Western churches, namely monothelitism, a heresy maintaining that Christ had only one will. Martin called a council at the Lateran in his first year, condemning Heraclius and monothelitism in the face of the decree, the Typos, issued by the Byzantine emperor Constans II Pogonatus that commanded there be no discussion of the heresy.
On June 17, 653, the Pope, already sick, was seized by Byzantine soldiers and dragged to Constantinople. He was brutally treated along the way by the soldies and when they finally reached the Byzantine capital, he was in very poor physical condition.
He was jailed for three months. Eventually he was tried on a charge of ‘treason’, while his real offence had been his refusal to accept the Typos. He was condemned unheard, flogged and sentenced to death. At the intercession of the Patriarch of Constantinople, the emperor commuted the sentence to banishment, thereby sparing his life, but he was exiled to Chersonesus in the Crimea. He died in exile on 13 April, 655, the last pope to die a martyr.

Saint Martin I,
Pray for us!

14 April
Today is the Feast day of
Blessed Peter González
Among many others.

Pope St. Martin I ora pro nobis!

Nowadays monotheletism seems so far away. But back then, it shook the world.

A good example for Martin!   ;)

James will like this next fellow, since he's a Dominican.

 :D

Saint Peter González
Also known as
Pedro González Telmo.
Saint Telmo.
Saint Elmo.
Erasmus.
Pietro Gonzales.

Peter was born in 1190 in Astorga, Spain. He was educated by his uncle, the Bishop of Astorga.
His becoming a priest was just a means to an end at the time as he had no true vocation then. His uncle made him the Canon of Palencia. For this, however, he had to obtained special papal dispensation as he was still too young for the position.
One day,during a grand Christmas Day entrance into the city, his horse was startled by the noise of the crowds. He was thrown and landed ,with all his fineries onto a dung-heap, much to the delight of the citizens who knew his was a political, not a spiritual appointment.
Humbled, Peter took a hard, long look at himself and it seems he did not like what he saw. He turned away from where he was heading, started on a new path, resigning his positio as Canon and entered the Dominican Order, where he became a renowned preacher. Multitudes gathered to hear him preach and there were numberless conversions.He was made court chaplain to King Saint Ferdinand III of Castile. Against the opposition of more worldly courtiers, he reformed court life around the king. Worked for the Crusade against the Muslims, accompanied Ferdinand into the battlefields, and
after King Ferdinand III and his troops defeated the Moors at Cordoba, Peter was successful in restraining the soldiers from pillaging and persuaded the king to treat the defeated Moors with compassion.

Peter’s real ambition, however, was to preach to the poor. After retiring from the court, he devoted the remainder of his life to the instruction and conversion of the ignorant and of the mariners in Galicia and along the coast of Spain.
Peter died on 15 April 1246 at Saintiago de Compostela, Tuy.
He is buried in the cathedral at Tuy.
He was beatified in 1254 by Pope Innocent IV and
Canonized on 13 December 1741 by Pope Benedict XIV (cultus confirmed)

He is the patron of sailors.
Saint Peter Gonzales,
Pray for us!

After he joined the Dominicans, family and friends tried to draw him back to his old life and their planned pursuit of position, but he responded:

"If you love me, follow me! If you cannot follow me, forget me!"

 :D

I loved the grand entry into the city  ;D

And that is the best response to "peer pressure".

He is huh  :)
Better draw his attention to it then  :)

I am happy that these days there are not so many heresies; if there are, I am not aware.

15 April
Today is the Feast day of
Blessed Cesar de Bus
Among many others

Blessed Cesar de Bus.

Cesar was born on 3 February 1544, at Cavaillon, France. He was the seventh of thirteen children.
After completing his Jesuit education he had difficulty settling between a military or a literary career. He wrote some plays but ultimately settled for life in the army and at court. For a while he was contented with his life. Then, he fell seriously ill and found himself reviewing his priorities, including his spiritual life. By the time he had recovered, Caesar had resolved to become a priest.
He was ordained to the priesthood in 1582. He distinguished himself by his works of charity and his zeal in preaching and teaching the catechism. Then he conceived the idea of instituting a congregation of priests who should devote themselves to nothing but the preaching of Christian Doctrine. Thus, in 1592, the Secular Priests of Christian Doctrine ( The Fathers of Christian Doctrine), was founded in the town of L'Isle and in the following year one was opened at Avignon. This institute's development into a religious congregation was approved by Pope Clement VIII, on 23 December 1597. Besides the Fathers, De Bus founded an order of women originally called "Daughters of Christian Doctrine", which later came to be called Ursulines (not, however, a part of the major religious Order of that same name); it died out in the 17th century. The Fathers were destroyed during the French Revolution, but an Italian branch, the Doctrinarian Fathers continues today with houses in Italy, France and Brazil.
Saint Francis de Sales called today's Saint "a star of the first magnitude in the firmament of Catechesis."

One of Caesar's works, Instructions for the Family on the Four Parts of the Roman Catechism, was published 60 years after his death.
Caesar died on Easter Sunday, 15 April 1607 in Avignon, France;. He was buried in the church of Saint Mary in Monticelli in Rome, Italy.
He was beatified on 27 April 1975 by Pope Paul VI.
Canonization is pending.
Blessed Caesar,
Pray for us!

Blessed Cesar , pray for us!  :crucifix:

Amen.

'I was so beside myself and fired with such a longing to do something in imitation of him, that I would not give my eyes sleep or my days rest until I had given some beginning to this resolution of mine.'

Bl. Cesar de Bus, writing about Saint Charles Borromeo

'It is a certain, well established fact that no other crime so seriously offends God and provokes His greatest wrath as the vice of heresy. Nothing contributes more to the down fall of provinces and kingdoms than this frightful pest.'

St. Charles Borromeo

'We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: "I will pray, and then I will understand."  This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work. In meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in others.'

St. Charles Borromeo

'Beginning from his earliest years to love and fear God, to practise virtue and avoid sin, St. Charles, when he came to the full use of reason, did not allow divine grace to lie idle in his soul, but strove to live in purity of conscience. He applied himself to prayer and self-examination, and frequently approached the Sacraments with self-denial and watchfulness over himself so as to avoid the least occasion of sin. He made such progress, that whereas at first he went to Confession and Communion once a week, he afterwards went every day. Thus by degrees he acquired the habit of continual prayer, and at first examined his conscience once or twice a day, but in time attained to such perfection that he not only made an examination of every particular action, but took care that his acts should be accompanied by all the conditions necessary to make them fruitful and give good example. He used to weigh well every word he uttered in order not to enter into useless conversation, or incur other faults. Those who were intimately acquainted with him for many years deposed upon oath that they never heard him utter an idle word: which is a remarkable testimony when his continual conferences and discussions are taken into account, as well as his daily occasions of falling into sins of the tongue. He entirely banished from his mouth all kinds of jokes and jests, and avoided vain and useless sayings and mere matters of curiosity: so that all his speech was about God or His service. As this holy custom of his was well known, no one spoke to him except upon business or things spiritual. To this he added another rule to be observed, which was never to lose a moment of time uselessly, so as not to have to accuse himself in confession of having wasted his time. These two things were admired in him, as having been noticed in but few servants of God; that plunged as he was in business and intercourse with the world, he should have so governed his tongue during the nineteen years of his active episcopate, that no one could say he had uttered an idle word or wasted a moment of time. He was so anxious, moreover, to spend his time fruitfully, that when he could, he would do two things at a time, such as making notes or studying at meal-times, which he did generally when fasting on bread and water. When in company with others, there was always during meal-times pious reading to which he paid great attention. He always read the Holy Scriptures, his constant study, on his knees, and used to be seen in tears, moved by the sacred subjects he was contemplating, and thus at one and the same time he would be eating, studying, and meditating.

He used to read, or had some one to read to him, while his hair was being cut. During his journeys, he generally prayed or studied, for which purpose he had a bag of books sent on before. The hour after dinner in order to employ it to good purpose he spent in giving audience to his Vicars-General and others, as not being a time for serious occupation of mind. In the distribution of his time, there was none set apart for recreation and relaxation of mind, which is commonly done even in strict religious orders.

As he had perfect control over his senses and governed his passions conscientiously, he was never elated by prosperity or depressed by adversity; never too lively or too sad, but preserved great equanimity under all circumstances. He was so sedate and circumspect in his actions, as to avoid any movement that might be noticeable as a defect; for instance, he sometimes rave audience leaning against a window, but was never seen to look into the street, whatever might occur there ; nor would he look about him when walking either alone or with others, considering it unbecoming to the gravity of a Bishop. He would never allow himself to be seen, except by his chamberlains, if he were not in his Cardinal's dress, in order to keep up his dignity, and he never left his private rooms in the morning except in his ordinary habit as ready to say Mass, for before Mass he never gave audience to any one unless on very urgent matters. He usually kept silence from the time of night prayers till after his Mass the next morning, out of reverence to that Divine Mystery.

In his every word and work he breathed sanctity and kept watch over his slightest actions, as he considered any failing to be of importance in a Bishop, not merely on its own account but because of his person, which ought to reflect a bright example of virtue. Being once asked by a man of mature years why ho would not listen to the news of what was going on in the world, which many who have the charge of important affairs would do as useful for them in their office, he replied that it was not fitting in a Bishop who should be engaged in meditating on the Divine law, and not in curiosity about worldly things. Wishing to point out how necessary it was for a person dedicated to God to be recollected and grave in all his actions, he quoted the example of St. Ambrose, who would not admit a young man into the ecclesiastical state because he observed something careless and unseemly in his gait. He used to censure his priests if he observed any deficiency in gravity of manner or outward bearing, and he effected so great a reform among ecclesiastics in his diocese, that they came to be greatly respected by seculars, whereas before they were a bye-word on account of the bad example they set.'

- from a life of St. Charles Borromeo

A model of virtues.  ;D

St. Charles Borromeo pray for us!  Pray for our priests!

Hmmm... Maybe not as obvious as the heresies back in the time of Pope St Martin I, but nevertheless there are many more subtle heresies abounding which many Catholics have mistakenly accepted as being true Church teaching. These can be found more-so at local level in parishes (though not exclusively) which have lost track of any sense of tradition.
A few I could mention in my own parish would be such things as, false ecumenism, disbelief in hell, disbelief in purgatory, Baptism being unnecessary for salvation, sacramental confession not being necessary for forgiveness of mortal sin, disbelief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist; some of these being more deep-rooted and widespread than others but definitely present to at least some degree and not just among the laity.  :-\

What can one say; They are Protestants at heart  :(
It is just plain sad that with all the evidence we have,we choose to believe otherwise.
I had no idea that even Catholics feel that way. Is it even correct to call them 'Catholics' feeling and talking that way?

16 April.

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Bernadette Soubirous
Among many other saints

Saint Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879)
Patroness of Lourdes

Bernadette was born on January 7, 1844, in Lourdes, France. She was the first born child of Francois and Louise Soubirous. She was baptized Mary Bernard. At the time of her birth, Francois was a miller, operating a mill which had belonged to his wife's people. He was a good-natured, easy-going man but without any business know-how. Consequently, he lost the mill due to bad debts and during most of Bernadette's childhood he was an odd job man. Add to this, within a short period of time, many children were born to the parents. Only five of whom survived infancy. After Bernadette, there was another girl, Toinette Marie, and three boys. Needless to say, the family lived in abject poverty, so poor that they reportedly lived in a cellar.

Bernadette was a sickly child who suffered from chronic severe asthma. She apparently had some difficulty learning as it is reported that she could neither write nor read even though she was fourteen years old. She was , however a poius little girl who loved God dearly. It was to this child that the Our Lady appeared; Here is the story:

On February 11, Bernadette, her sister Marie-Toinette and their friend Jeanne Abadie, all between the ages of eleven and fourteen, started out from their home in Lourdes to look for firewood. To reach their destination, they had to pass in front of a grotto in the rocky cliff of Massabielle and had also to cross a shallow stream. The two other girls crossed over, but Bernadette, who was wearing stockings because of her delicate health, bent down to remove the stockings when suddenly she heard a rustling sound as that made by a gust of wind. At first she paid only cursory attention but when she heard the same sound again, she looked intently towards the grotto. She saw the bushes violently agitated. Then, there floated out of the opening a golden cloud, and in the midst of this cloud, she perceived “a girl in white, no taller than I, who greeted me with a slight bow of the head”. The apparition, she said afterwords, was very beautiful. It was clad in white with a blue girdle, whilst a long rosary hung over her arm. The figure seemed to the child ,to invite her to pray. Bernadette knelt down and taking her rosary out of her pocket, began to pray. The apparition likewise took the rosary in her hand and passed the beads through her fingers. Her lips, however, did not move. No words were exchanged. At the end of the five decades, the figure withdrew into the shadow and disappeared.

When the other two children came back and found Bernadette on her knees, they laughed at her. She told her sister what she had seen and made her promise not to tell; but Toinette Marie told her mother that evening. After questioning Bernadette on the matter, her mother thought it might be a soul from Purgatory and forbade her to return to the Grotto.
Two days later, with permission from her father and accompanied by her mother, she returned to the Grotto, armed with holy water in a bottle. When the vision appeared, Bernadette went forward and threw some holy water towards it saying at the same time, “If you come from God, come nearer.” The vision advanced a little. The apparition asked Bernadette to continue to go to the Grotto daily for a fortnight. The apparition also said, “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in the next”.
No one believed her story. Not her relatives, nor the nuns who taught her catechism lessons.

After the news spread, the police and city authorities began to take an interest. Bernadette was prohibited by her parents and police commissioner Jacomet to ever go there again, but she went anyway.
On 24 February the apparition asked for prayer and penitence for the conversion of sinners. The next day, Bernadette was asked to dig in the ground and drink the water of the spring she found there. This is the miraculous spring which to date is a source of comfort and healing to numerous pilgrims.

On another occasion, Bernadette was bidden to tell the clergy that a chapel should be built and a procession held. She went to the ‘cure’ who received her very harshly as he apparently did not believe in the veracity of the apparition.

On March 25, the day of the Annunciation, Bernadette started for the grotto very early in the morning. When Our Lady appeared, Bernadette asked. “Would you kindly tell me who you are?” Our Lady, joining her hands together and raising her eyes to heaven, answered: “I am the Immaculate Conception”. ("que soy era immaculate concepciou").
The eighteenth and the final apparition was on July 16, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Bernadette lived for twenty one years after the last apparition.
At Lourdes, miracles are witnessed. Many people are cured of their varied ailments.
An imposing basilica, known as the Church of the Rosary, now stands on top of the rock where the apparition took place.

Hail Mary conceived without sin.
Pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Saint Bernadette,
Pray for us!
__________________

How wonderful to have that assurance  :)

'It is in loving the cross that one discovers His Heart, for divine Love does not exist without suffering.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

'What does it profit a man to gain the universe if he loses his soul? A terrible thought, but profoundly true! As Saint Ignatius said: How insignificant earth seems to me when I consider Heaven.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

'Holy Scripture tells us that whoever gives in to temptation will perish.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

'Why is He so little in me? Is it because I am not little enough, not humble enough. Therefore may I become more humble, may I humble myself, and Jesus will increase.

Grow, Jesus, grow in my, in my heart, in my spirit, my imagination, my senses, by your modesty, your purity, your humility, your zeal, your love. Grow with your grace, your light, your peace. Grow despite my resistance, my pride. Grow until you reach the fullness of human perfection. Grow as you did at Nazareth before God and before men, for the glory of your Father.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

'O Most Holy Mother of my Jesus, you who saw and felt the extreme desolation of your dear Son, help me in my own time of desolation.

And you saints of Heaven who have passed through this trial, have pity on those who are suffering it now and pray that I be given the grace to be faithful until death.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

'If I had to remake my character entirely, struggle endlessly against my own inclinations and destroy them, or even tear my own heart out, all this I would do to be worthy of serving you. I am entirely persuaded that the miracle you worked to reward the faith of our holy patron is but a shadow of the glorious resurrection you will deign to grant me if I am faithful to my vocation.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

'O Virtue! How rarely we see you, yet how real you are!'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

It's truly important to learn about the virtues and appreciate them and develop them in one's life. :D

'When you pass before a chapel and do not have time to stop for a while, tell your Guardian Angel to carry out your errand to Our Lord in the tabernacle. He will accomplish it and then still have time to catch up with you.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

My italics. :D

But let me add, if you have time do stop. . . :D

When I read this I think it points to how we must become people who do not habitually give into temptation. Great or small.. our habit must be to live supernaturally.. spiritually.. for the sake of God, directly, lives..

Whether it's food, excessive comforts, etc.. Mortification is so important to correct our predispositions and habitual weaknesses to the passions.. to give us fortitude.. and a spiritual orientation instead of an earthly one..

So that our -habit- is, overall, in all things, that we do not go with what temptation offers, great or small..

{'Holy Scripture tells us that whoever gives in to temptation will perish.'
St. Bernadette Soubirous}

So stated  as highlighted above, it sounds so frighteningly final, like there is no  penance, repentance or forgiveness. So many of us do give in to temptation, it is important to remember the warning as you said, but also that Jesus does forgive us even after we give in to temptation.

Do you know Shin, in days gone by, when I must have been a better person than I am today. ;)
I would start my rosary in bed but ask my Guardian Angel to finish it for me, once I am asleep.
Oh, the Blessed old days :)

17 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Benedict  Joseph Labre
Among many other saints

Saint Benedict Joseph Labre

Also known as
Beggar of Perpetual Adoration
Benedetto Giuseppe Labre
Saint Benedict, called “the Beggar of Rome”, was born March 25, 1748 in Amettes, France.
He was the first born in a family of fifteen children.( there were eighteen children by other accounts) His father was a shopkeeper and had done well for himself in the business. Benedict manifested exceptional piety from his earliest years. He was particularly attracted to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. He was educated by his uncle, the then parish priest of Erin, France. At the age of sixteen, following the death of his uncle, he tried to join the Trappists, Carthusians and Cistercians but was refused by these orders.
In 1770, he made a pilgrimage to the major shrines of Europe, settling in Rome in 1774. There he lived near the Collosseum, gaining fame for his sanctity.
He was dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament and attended the Fourty Hours devotion in the City. I had to look up this devotion from Catholic Encyclopedia. This is what it says:
“Also called Quarant' Ore or written in one word Quarantore, is a devotion in which continuous prayer is made for forty hours before the Blessed Sacrament exposed….”
He died in Rome on April 16 in 1783. It was on a Friday of Holy Week, just as it is Holy week now, when we are commemmorating his holy life.
Below is an excerpt from Eternal Word Television Network.

“"Scarcely had this poor follower of Christ breathed his last when all at once the little children from the houses hard by filled the whole street with their noise, crying out with one accord: 'The Saint is dead, the Saint is dead.'—But presently after they were not only young children who published the sanctity of Benedict; all Rome soon joined in their cries, repeating the self-same words: 'A Saint is dead.' . . . Great numbers of persons who have been eminent for their holiness, and famous for their miracles, have ended the days of their mortal life in this city; but the death of none of them ever excited so rapid and lively an emotion in the midst of the people as the death of this poor beggar. This stirred a kind of universal commotion; for in the streets scarcely anything could be heard but these few words: 'There is a saint dead in Rome. Where is the house in which he has died?"'

He was beatified in 1860 by Blessed Pius IX and canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1883
He is invoked against insanity among other ailments. He is the patron saint of beggars, pilgrims, and others.

Saint Benedict Joseph Labre
Pray for us!

18 April

Today is the Feast day of
Blessed James Oldo
Among many others Blesseds and Saints

Blessed James Oldo

Also known as
James D'Oldo
James of Lodi.
James of Oldo was born in 1364, into a well-to-do family at Lodi near Milan in Italy.

He married a woman named Catharine when he was quite young. He and Catharine were reportedly, both self-indulgent and appreciated the comforts that came with wealth. Then there was an outbreak of plague that drove James, his wife and their three children out of their home and into the countryside. Despite the precautions that they took, two of their daughters died from the plague. This calamity jolted James and was the turning point in his life.

Here I must also mention that there is another account that mentions an instantaneous conversion and I am not quite sure how to tie the two together. I would appreciate some help from anyone who is more familiar with this saint.

This other account adds that one day a travelling reproduction of the Holy Sepulchre came to Lodi. As a joke, James lay down on it to compare his height to that of Christ. While lying there, he had an instant conversion. He became a Franciscan tertiary. He gave up his old lifestyle and did penance for his sins.
His mother and wife were at first opposed to the change but they soon became tertiaries as well. The family turned their mansion into a chapel and they worked with the sick and with prisoners. When James’ wife died, he became a priest. His acts of penance were so severe that his bishop had to order him to eat at least three times a week. He was a celebrated preacher, who inspired many to enter the religious life.

James died at the age of 40 in 1404, from a disease he contracted from one of his patients. When his body was moved seven years after his death, it was found incorrupt.
James was beatified in 1933.

Blessed James,
Pray for us!

I read a biography of his in which he was referred to as 'Saint James Oldo'
It seems like he must have been canonized already.
Anyone with any information to that effect?

No, don't see any news about it.

But I truly love the story of his conversion.

"His acts of penance were so severe that his bishop had to order him to eat at least three times a week. He was a celebrated preacher, who inspired many to enter the religious life."

:)

Problem solved!
Canonization is pending. :)

19 April

Today is the Feast day of
Blessed Luchesio and Buonadonna
Among many other Saints and Blesseds

Blessed Luchesio and Buonadonna.

We do not know when Luchesio Modestini was born. We are told, however that he was a merchant in the town of Poggibonzi in Tuscany. He and his wife were both materialistic minded; regarding material success above all else.
One day, through an encounter with Saint Francis of Assisi, probably in the year 1213, Luchesio’s life changed for ever. He turned from his avaricious ways and began to perform works of charity instead.
At first Buonadonna was not happy about giving so much away. One day after complaining that he was giving everything to strangers, Buonadonna answered the door. It was another needy stranger. Luchesio asked her to give the poor man some bread. She frowned but went to the pantry to get the bread. There she discovered more bread than had been there the last time she looked.This miracle converted her completely. She became as zealous for the poor and simple life as her husband was. They sold the business, farmed enough land to provide for their needs and distributed the rest to the poor.
Then Saint Francis came to Poggibonzi at this time and visited with Luchesio. He was happy to find the latter was now a man of God instead of the avaricious man he had met earlier.
Luchesio asked for advice from Francis. They wanted a way of sharing in religious life, but outside the cloister. As it happaned, Saint Francis already had such a plan. He explained to them his plans for the establishment of an Order for lay people; and Luchesio and Buonadonna asked to be received into it at once.They were the first members of the Order of Penance, which later came to be called the Third Order, and yet again,the Secular Franciscan Order.

The charity of Luchesio drew the poor to him, and, like many other saints, he and Buonadonna seemed never to lack the resources to help these people.
One day Luchesio was carrying a crippled man he had found on the road. A frivolous young man came up and asked, "What poor devil is that you are carrying there on your back?" "I am carrying my Lord Jesus Christ," responded Luchesio. The young man immediately begged Luchesio’s pardon.
Luchesio and Buonadonna both died on April 28, 1260. It seems that this is how their deaths occurred at the same time:
“When he lay very ill, and there was no hope for his recovery, his wife said to him, "Implore God, who gave us to each other as companions in life, to permit us also to die together." Luchesio prayed as requested. and Buonadonna fell ill with a fever, from which she died even before her husband, after devoutly receiving the holy sacraments. Luchesio died on April 28, 1260. At his grave in the Franciscan church at Poggibonzi it is claimed that many miracles have occurred. His continuous veneration as Blessed was approved by Pope Pius VI.
Blessed Luchesio and Buonadonna,
Pray for us!

"I am carrying my Lord Jesus Christ,"

The holy and good reply..

"Trust in the Lord and gain strength and wisdom.
All things are possible through prayer.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul!"

 

I know, Patricia, Shin.
Just that one sentence says it all. :crucifix:

And the king will say to them in reply,
 ‘ Amen I say to you, whatever you do for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me’
Matthew 25:40

20 April
Today is the Feast day of
Saint Conrad of Parzham
Among many other saints.

I'd say the prayers of St Francis had something to do with this change of heart.

I love reading these saints of the day stories odhiambo. Great work.  :thumbsup:

Saint Conrad of Parzham.

 
Conrad was born on  22 December 1818 at Parzham, Bavaria, Germany. His given name was Johann Birndorfer.
He was the youngest in a family of nine children. His parents were Bartholomaus Birndorfer and Gertrude Niedermayer. They were farmers and John was born in the family farm at Parzham.  John’s mother died when he was 14 years old. From his earliest years, the young John showed signs of piety.  He was a modest child who loved solitude and prayer.
 
John spent his early years on the family farm. As the youngest son, he was supposed to inherit the farm. This was a common custom of the area; the youngest son carried on the work of the father and received the farm. This , however was not to be. . At age 30, John left his family home and inheritance and entered the Capuchin Order as a lay brother. Upon entering the novitiate, he took the name of Conrad.
 
Immediately after his profession he was assigned to the friary of St. Ann in the city of Altötting. This place is known for its shrine to the Mother of Mercy,the shrine of Our Lady of Altotting. Conrad was given the position of porter at this shrine, and retained it until his death.
 
 For more than 40 years Conrad , the  porter, admitted people to the friary, obtained supplies, dispened alms, encouraged others to open themselves to God, and generally assisting the thousands who came to the friary on pilgrimages.  He worked with local children, teaching them the faith and practices, and supported charities for them. He was noted for the gifts of prophesy and of reading people's hearts.
Conrad  loved  silence.His spare moments during the day were spent in a special spot  near the door where he could see and adore the Blessed Sacrament. At night he devoted  several hours to prayers. He is said to have written thus to a friend once:
 
 “My life is to love God, suffer, and marvel in ecstasies and prayers about the love God has for us, poor creatures. His love never ends. There is nothing in my occupations that separates me from this union with God. My book is the Cross. It suffices for me to look at it to know what I should do.”
 
Three days before his death, he resigned his office of porter. He celebrated Mass, and took to his sick bed. Local children whom he had taught the rosary recited it outside his window until the end.  He died on 21 April 1894 in the shrine where he had worked for forty-one years.His death was from natural causes.
He was:
Beatified
15 June 1930 by Pope Pius XI
Canonized
20 May 1934 by Pope Pius XI
 
Saint Conrad is the patron saint of doorkeepers among other patronages.
Saint Conrad,
Pray for us!

Thanks martin  :)
I agree with you; Saint Francis definitely had something to do with it  ;D

Quote:
"It was God’s will that I should leave everything that was near and dear to me. I thank him for having called me to religious life where I have found such peace and joy as I could never have found in the world. My plan of life is chiefly this: to love and suffer, always meditating upon, adoring and admiring God’s unspeakable love for his lowliest creatures"

Letter of Saint Conrad

A Spiritual Communion
By St. Conrad of Parzham

 
I have come to spend a few moments with Thee, O Jesus, and in spirit I prostrate myself in the dust before Thy Holy Tabernacle to adore Thee, my Lord and God, in deepest humility. Once more a day has come to its close, dear Jesus, another day which brings me nearer to the grave and my beloved heavenly home. Once more, O Jesus, my heart longs for Thee, the true Bread of Life, which contains all sweetness and relish. O my Jesus, mercifully grant me pardon for the faults and ingratitude of this day, and come to me to refresh my poor heart which longs for Thee. As the heart pants for the waters, as the parched earth longs for the dew of heaven, even so does my poor heart long for Thee, Thou Fount of Life. I love Thee, O Jesus, I hope in Thee, I love Thee, and out of love for Thee I regret sincerely all my sins. May Thy peace and Thy benediction be mine now and always and for all eternity. Amen.

Source: Franciscan Archive

    Resolutions of a Novice
    By St. Conrad of Parzham
     
    Resolutions taken with great deliberation and full confidence in the assistance of Jesus and Mary to help me keep them.

    1. I will strive earnestly to form the habit of always placing myself in the presence of God and of often asking myself: Would I do this or that if my confessor or my superior were observing me, and especially in the presence of God and my guardian angel?

    2. I will often ask myself when crosses and pain come upon me: Conrad, why are you here?

    3. I will avoid as much as possible going out of the monastery, unless love of neighbor or obedience or health demand it, or for some other good reason.

    4. I will earnestly strive to preserve brotherly charity in myself and in others. I will be careful never to utter a word against charity. I will patiently bear with the faults, defects and weaknesses of others and as far as possible I will cover them with the mantle of charity, whenever there is no obligation to reveal them to one who has the power to correct them.

    5. I will carefully observe silence as much as possible. I will always be sparing of my words in conversation and thereby avoid many faults and be able to converse the better with God.

    6. At table I will always place myself in the presence of God and conduct myself with great reserve, denying myself those dishes that I would relish most and practicing especially those mortifications which are least noticeable. Outside of mealtime I will take no food unless commanded by holy obedience.

    7. I will always go to the choir immediately when the signal is given, if not otherwise prevented.

    8. I will avoid association with persons of the other sex as much as possible, unless obedience imposes on me a duty which requires association with them. In that case I will be very serious and keep my eyes in strict control.

    9. I will always practice obedience exactly and punctually, and will strive particularly to conquer my own will in all things.

    10. I will earnestly try to be faithful even in small matters and abhor every voluntary imperfection. I will scrupulously observe the Holy Rule and never depart from it by even a hair's breadth, no matter what happens.

    11. I will ever strive to cultivate a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and endeavor to imitate Her virtues.

Source: Franciscan Archive

The 19th of April is also Pope St. Leo IX's day. ..

He was the son of Count Hugh of Egisheim, and a cousin of Emperor Conrad II.

His mother had a vision of a man in a religious habit, foretelling that her son would be great before God, and giving him the name he bore, 'Bruno'.

Whilst still a youth and at home for his holidays, he was attacked when asleep by some animal, and so much injured that for some time he lay between life and death. In that condition he saw, as he used afterwards to tell his friends, a vision of St. Benedict, who cured him by touching his wounds with a cross.

Before he became Pope he was a soldier and officer in the imperial army.

His given name was common, 'Bruno', but he was known to distinguish him from the others as 'the good Bruno'.

In the year of Our Lord 1021, while still in the military, he was chosen bishop of Toul, France, a position he held for 20 years. Indeed the people begged for him to be their bishop, and he having served there as canon was in line for this office. The see was seen as an insignificant post for one of his talents and lineage, but he persuaded the Emperor to allow him to hold it, happy for its obscurity, though his friends all sorrowed for the loss of his company.

He commanded troops under emperor Conrad II in the invasion of Italy in 1026.

Very disciplined himself, he brought order to the monasteries in his diocese, discipline to the clergy, and the Cluniac reform to many of his houses.

In 1049, after he was chosen 151st Pope he brought his zeal for discipline and reform to the entire Church.

He brought Hildebrand, later Pope Saint Gregory VII, to Rome with him as his spiritual advisor.

He reformed houses and parishes, fought simony, enforced clerical celibacy, and encouraged the use of chant.

He fought to prevent the coming Great Schism between the Eastern and Western churches.

He received the nickname of Pilgrim Pope due to his travels through Europe, enforcing his reforms, insisting that his bishops, clergy, and councils follow suit.

He held synods at Pavia, Rheims, Mainz and Vercelli where he condemned the heresies of Berengarius of Tours, which primarily concerned the Eucharist.

In what was intended to be a joint military expedition with Emperor Henry III, to relieve southern Italy from Norman oppression, he personally led an army to throw them out. However, the Emperor withdrew, and the Pope's army was defeated in the field and he was, with protestations of great respect from the Normans, nevertheless captured.

He spent months in imprisonment at Benevento. There he spent his time well, learning Greek to better understand the writings of the Eastern Church, but his health suffered badly.

He died shortly after his release.

. . .

'Seeing with what solicitude with which I must watch over all the churches, how the undisciplined and hostile nation of the Normans rose against the churches of God with unheard of fury and with an ungodliness worse than that of the pagans, how they slaughtered Christians everywhere and afflicted some of them with new and horrible tortures even unto death, how without any human feeling they spared neither child nor old man nor did they spare the weakness of woman; how they made no distinction between sacred and profane, how they plundered and burned the basilicas of the saints and tore them to the ground, I very often rebuked their perversity, reminding, beseeching, preaching, urging in season and out of season, and I threatened them with the terror of divine punishment.

But as the wise man says, "No one can make straight what God has made crooked" and "The fool is not corrected by words," their malice has become so hardened and obstinate that with every day it has added bad deeds to worse.

Consequently, choosing not only to use the property of others but also to exhaust my own resources in liberating Christ's sheep, I considered it necessary to raise a defensive force from whereever men could be recruited. . .'

Pope St. Leo IX

'Bishop Leo, servant of the servants of God, to the hermit Peter beloved son of Christ, the joy of eternal beatitude. . .

The book which you have published, my son, against the fourfold pollution of carnal contagion, frank in style and even more direct in reasoning, provides indisputable evidence of the intention of your mind to enter the holy fray on the side of the splendid might of shining modesty.

You have smitten wantonness of the flesh by thus striking with the arm of the spirit against obscene desire, clearly delineating the execrable vice by the authority of virtue, which, since it is itself immaculate, allows no uncleanness.'

Pope St. Leo IX, in a reply to St. Peter Damien, praising his book 'Gomorrah', against unnatural vice.

 :thrones:   Some treasure from St. Conrad, odhiambo!  :cherubim:

That's a fact :)

Pope St. Leo IX,
Pray for us!

It's truly wonderful to think of a Pilgrim Pope traveling the world, bringing discipline and strong reform wherever he visited, correcting abuses, bringing the Gregorian Chant. . .

 :D

You know something Shin. I thought a Chant was a Chant, I had no idea there are different types. Gregorian ?
I could not tell one from the other if I heard them all  :-[
How many types are there even?

I'd like to know too.  I like Gregorian and especially like Anglican, but they are all I ever heard. 

 :D :littleprayer: (Isn't there a singing or chanting smiley?)

Hi All  :)

It is Holy Week and our attention at this time of the year is focused on the Lord and His coming Passion and Resurrection.
I feel  it is appropriate to temporarily  halt the  daily postings of Saint of the day until after Easter. Anyone else feels the same way?
Any contrary opinion and why, is welcomed.
I am just looking to be advised on the best way forward.
We have seen already that  we do honour God in his saints. If there is majority opinion that we continue, the saints are waiting  ;D

Lord have mercy. :+:  I see this even today.


Either way odhiambo, it's all for the glory of God.  O:)

It is indeed martin.
Will continue and in addition, also post something  relevant to the period.
Thanks

April 21, 2011

Today is Holy Thursday
Also known as
Maundy Thursday

In the Catholic Church, Holy Thursday is the day that we celebrate the Last Supper. The day that Jesus and His disciples ate the feast of the passover. It was the last meal Jesus ate before He was Crucified . It was eaten in the upstairs room of a house in Jerusalem, believed to have been owned by John Mark and his mother, Mary (Acts 12:12).

The term “ Maundy” never made any sense to me till I learnt that it comes from the Latin word “mandatum,” meaning "command.” This stems from Christ's words in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you."
I am aware that there are other explanations to the origin of the term. The reader is welcome to comment.

During this last meal, Christ instituted the Mass and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
Holy Orders, the sacrament of Apostolic ministry also began with the Last Supper. The Apostles were there; they have been eye witnesses throughout His three year Ministry. Later He will commission them to “…go out and make disciples of all nations….”
This day marks the final part of Holy Week and is the first day of the Triduum, the three days before Easter , during which we commemorate Christ's Passion.

Something else of significance took place at the Last Supper.
Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. This was a profound act of love described only by Saint John, the disciple whom Jesus loved
We know that the disciples at times concerned themselves with the question of “ status”; who is greater than the other, etc.
We learn that in the course of this memorable Last Supper, Jesus “rose from the table, took off his outer garment and tied a towel round his waist. Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel round his waist”
New International Version(13:.4,5).
This was an act expected only of servant slaves and reserved only for them.
The custom then was that when guests arrived, their feet was washed by a slave, not just any slave, but Gentile slaves as Jewish slaves were exempted from foot washing, a task regarded as particularly menial. But Jesus did it. He did it anyway.

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:34-35 New International Version (NIV)

This explained to the Apostles and to us, the significance of His action in washing their feet.
We are to love one another and to serve others.

Have a prayerful Maundy Thursday.  :crucifix:

21 April

Today is  also the Feast day of
Saint Anselm (Anselm of Canterbury)
Among many other saints

This is a very long article so will be posted in two parts.
The account is from "Our Sunday Visitor's encyclopedia of saints
By Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, Stephen Bunson"
Welcome.


Saint Anselm of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury,
Doctor of the Church
Saint Anselm was born in 1033 at Aosta, in Lombardy, Italy. He was born in a wealthy and noble family. Anselm’s father was Gundulf de Candia. He was by birth a Lombard of the House of Candia. It seems that Mr. Gundulf was a very harsh man and treated his son harshly. His mother, Ermenberga of Geneva, on the other hand was a gentle soul, and was regarded as a prudent and virtuous woman.
At the age of fifteen, Anselm wanted to enter a monastery but his father refused to give his consent. Very disappointed and possibly reacting, as teenagers are wont to , he gave up his studies and lived a carefree life. During this period, his mother died and his father's harshness became unbearable. He resolved to leave home. This he did when he turned twenty-three.
He left home, accompanied by a servant; crossed the Alps and wandered through Burgundy and France. After passing nearly three years in Burgundy and France, he came to Normandy and spent some time at a place called  Avranches, before entering the then renown Benedictine Abbey of Bec, as a novice.
 The then prior of the Abbey was his own countryman. His name was   Lanfranc. The year was 1059 and Anselm was twenty-seven years old.
As a Benedictine novice, Anselm submitted himself to the Rule of Saint Benedict, which rule is  said to have shaped his life over the following decade.

In 1063, Lanfranc was made abbot of Caen and Anselm was elected prior of the abbey of Bec. He held this office for fifteen years before he became abbot at the death of Herluin, the abbey's founder, in 1078.
Under Anselm's jurisdiction, Bec became the foremost seat of learning in Europe, attracting students from Italy and elsewhere. It was during his time at Bec that Anselm wrote his first works of philosophy, the Monologion (1076) and the Proslogion (1077–8). These were followed by The Dialogues on Truth, Free Will and Fall of the Devil.

Anselm occasionally visited England , as part of his duties, to see the abbey's property there, as well as to visit Lanfranc, who, in 1070, had been installed as Archbishop of Canterbury. He made a good impression while there as his kindness won him many English followers. When Lanfranc died in 1089, he was the natural successor as Archbishop.
Upon Lanfranc's death, however, William II of England seized the possessions and revenues of the see, and made no new appointment. He kept the Church in England in a state of anarchy....

Saint Anselm of Canterbury-Part 2

....This state of affairs apparently prevailed until 1093 when he was named as Archbishop of Canterbury by the king.
The Church's rule stated that metropolitans could not be consecrated without receiving the pallium ( a sign of his office as metropolitan), from the hands of the pope. Anselm, accordingly, insisted that he must proceed to Rome to receive the pallium, but William would not permit it; he had not acknowledged Urban as pope and maintained his right to prevent a pope's acknowledgment by an English subject. This was at a time the Antipope Clement was disputing the authority of Urban II, who had been recognized by France and Normandy.
The Archbishop who believed in the supremacy of the pope in all matters, insisted on going to Pope Urban, whose authority he had already acknowledged. King William compromised by sending a legate to Rome to receive the pallium. Problems again arose when he tried to bestow it upon Anselm ; Anselm, refused take the pallium from his hand. He however, compromised and agreed he would take it from the alter. Accordingly, in a solemn service at Canterbury on 10 June, 1095 the pallium was laid on the altar by the legate, from where Anselm took it.
Anselm continued to agitate William for reform and the interests of Canterbury. His vision of the Church was one of a universal Church with its own internal authority, which was at odds with William's vision of royal control over both Church and state.
During the next two years, there was no overt dispute between Anselm and William. However, William blocked Anselm's efforts at church reform.
The conflict between these two men came to a head in 1097.
Anselm resolved to proceed to Rome and seek the counsel of the pope because William had refused to fulfill his promise of Church reform, but William denied him permission. The negotiations ended with William declaring that if Anselm left, he would take back the see, and never again receive Anselm as archbishop. If Anselm were to stay, William would fine him and force him to swear never again to appeal to Rome: Anselm was given the choice of exile or total submission. To Anselm, the choice was easy, exile it would be; and exile it was.
As an exile, in October 1097 Anselm set out for Rome. William immediately seized the revenues of the see and retained them until his death, though Anselm retained the archbishopric. Anselm went into exile to defend his vision of the universal Church.
William was killed on 2 August 1100. His successor, Henry I of England, invited Anselm to return, writing that he committed himself to be counseled by Anselm. Henry also had an alterior motive in courting Anselm. He needed his support for the security of his claim to the throne against that of his elder brother.
When Anselm returned, Henry requested that Anselm do him homage for the Canterbury estates and receive from him investiture in his office of archbishop. The papacy had recently banned clerics doing homage to laymen, as well as banning lay investiture; thus started Anselm's conflicts with Henry which eventually ended in a second exile for the archbishop.
Henry refused to relinquish the privilege possessed by his predecessors, and proposed that the matter be laid before the pope. Anselm set out for Rome in 1103. In 1106, the differences were settled and the English king gave up the right to invest bishops and abbots, thus, granting the Church freedom from throne politics and reinforcing papal authority.
Anselm returned to England and served the Church and king. He was regent of England in 1108 while Henry was in Normandy. At the same time, he was becoming the leading phylosopher and theologian of his time, earning the title, “ Father of Scholasticism.” As a theologian, Anselm was said to be a formidable spokesman for the Scholastic movement. He coined the term “Credo ut intelligam” which means, “ I believe in order to understand”
Some of his more recognized works are those already mentioned earlier as well as
Cur Deus Homo? ( Why did God become Man?).
He also wrote for the abolition of slave trading and the importance of priestly celibacy.
Anselm died during Holy Week, specifically on Holy Wednesday, 21 April 1109 at Canterbury, England.
He was canonized in 1494 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1720.

Saint Anselm, Founder of Scholasticism, is called “ one among the noblest worthies in the British Isles”

Saint Anselm,
Pray for us!

Here's a sermon for Maundy Thursday. (http://www.audiosancto.org/sermon/20080320-Maundy-Thursday.html)

St. Anselm of Canterbury, ora pro nobis.

One can read Why did God become Man? here. (http://www.saintsworks.net/bookslist/NewBookList.html#General)

It's a splendid read!

Thank you Shin  :)

May 22

Today is
Good Friday

On this day we commemorate the passion, the crucifixion and death of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross .

We adore you, O Christ and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.  :crucifix:

The LORD says,

“My servant will succeed in his task;
He will be highly honored”
Many people were shocked when they saw him;
He was so disfigured that he hardly looked human.
But now many nations will marvel at him,
And kings will be speechless with amazement.
They will see and understand something they had never known.”

And so I will give him a place of honor,
a place among the great and powerful.
He willingly gave up his life and shared the fate of evil man.
He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven.
Is. 52: 13-15; 53: 12
Good News Bible With DC

22 April

Today is also the Feast day of
Saint Adalbert of Praque
Among many other saints.

Saint Adalbert
Bishop of Praque.

Adalbert was born in 956 into an illustrious family of Bohemia ( now in the Czech Republic). He descended from the princes of Bohemia. His given name was Voytech or Wojtech).
While still a child, it seems that he became very ill. His parents turned to the Virgin Mother for help, vowing to offer him to the priesthood if he would be cured. Their prayers were answered, and the boy recovered his health.
They sent their son to Magdeburg in Germany, to the Archbishop of Magdeburg, a saintly man. The archbishop saw to his overall education, but most especially his religious education. At his baptism (or confirmation, it is not clear which from my reading), he took the name of his teacher, Adalbert.
In 973 he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Prague.
After the death of his mentor, the Archbishop of Magdeburg, in 981, Adalbert, who was inclined to missionary work and clerical reform, returned to Prague.
In 982, when the Bishop of Prague also died, Adalbert was elected his successor. He was now 27 years old.
He entered Prague barefoot and was joyfully received by the people. The Diocese was in a deplorable situation. Some of its inhabitants were still idolaters, and many Catholics were well entrenched in shameful vices. St. Adalbert tried to correct them and to bring them to religion and piety, but his efforts proved fruitless.
With sadness, he asked permission from the Pope to leave the Episcopate and enter a monastery in Rome. The Pope granted him his wish.
After five years (8 years by other accounts), Pope John XV sent him back to Prague with the provision that he could again leave the Episcopate if the people were still not responsive to his counsel.
For the second time he was received joyfully, and the people promised to correct their wayward ways and leave their heathen practices. These hasty promises, however, were soon forgotten. Saint Adalbert determined to abandon them forever and return to his monastery. On his way back to Rome, he met with a great success in Hungary, where he converted many to Catholicism. After the ministry in Hungary, he went to preach the Good News to people living near the Baltic Sea, the people of Prussia. He converted some of the inhabitants of Danzig.
It was here that he and two companions were martyred by pagan priests in that region. When he received the first blow, he thanked God for giving him the opportunity to suffer for Him. Then the pagan priest leading the idolaters pierced his body with a two-headed lance, saying: “Be joyous, then, since you want nothing more than to suffer with your Christ.” It was April 23, 997.

Adalbert's body was immediately ransomed and buried in Gniezno cathedral (Poland). In the mid-11th century his body was moved to St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.
He was canonized in 999.

Saint Adalbert,
Pray for us!

Must have been Holy Week, Just like now  :crucifix:

May 23
Today is Holy Saturday .

Jesus has been buried and His Body lies in the tomb.
His Soul , however, has gone elsewhere to free the souls of the righteous who had died before Him. We say in the Apostles' Creed that "He descended into hell":
after he was buried.
"Hell" here refers to the place of the dead in general, certainly not "Gehenna", the "Hell of the Lost," the eternal place of punishment for the damned, the place we usually refer to as simply "Hell" today. The word is used here in the loosest, earliest sense which includes Limbo, Purgatory and Gehena.
This used to worry me when I did not know any better. :)
Although tomorrow we rejoice in The Lord's Resurrection, today a great silence engulfs us all. Jesus Christ Our Lord, though innocent, was crucified because of my sins.

We adore you, O Christ and we praise you;
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.  :crucifix:

23 April

Today is also the Feast day of
Saint George
Among many other saints

Saint George.

George was born sometime between 275 AD and 285 AD most likely in Cappadocian, modern Turkey.
His father, Gerontius, was a Roman army official from Cappadocia , and his mother, Polychronia, was from Palestine. They were both Christians and from noble rank. George was therefore raised with Christian beliefs. His given name was Georgius (Latin) or Georgios (Greek), meaning "worker of the land". At the age of 14, his father died.He moved to Palestine with his mother, but a few years later, she too, died. (Other accounts give the names of his parents as Anastasius and Theobaste.).
Now aged about seventeen, and both his parents dead, George decided to go to Nicomedia, the imperial city of that time, and present himself to Emperor Diocletian to apply for a career as a soldier. Diocletian welcomed him with open arms, as he had known his father, Gerontius who had been one of his finest soldiers. By his late 20s, George was promoted to the rank of Tribune and stationed as an imperial guard of the Emperor at Nicomedia.

In the year AD 302, Diocletian issued an edict that every Christian soldier in the army should be arrested and every other soldier should offer a sacrifice to the Pagan gods. But George objected and with the courage of his faith approached the Emperor and objected to the ruling. Diocletian was upset, not wanting to lose his best tribune and the son of his best official, Gerontius. George loudly renounced the Emperor's edict, and in front of his fellow soldiers and tribunes he claimed himself to be a Christian and declared his worship of Jesus Christ. Diocletian attempted to convert George, even offering gifts of land, money and slaves if he made a sacrifice to the Roman gods. The Emperor made many offers, but George upheld his Faith.
Recognizing the futility of his efforts, Diocletian ordered that George be executed for his refusal to offer sacrifice to the Pagan gods. Before the execution George gave his wealth to the poor and prepared himself for the martyrdom.
He was put through various torture sessions, including laceration on a wheel of swords in which he was resuscitated three times. He was finally executed by decapitation before Nicomedia's city wall, on April 23, 303. This day is now known as Saint George's Day.

Witnessing his suffering, Empress Alexandra and Athanasius, a pagan priest, were converted to Christianity. They too, joined George in martyrdom. His body was returned to Lydda (in modern day Palestine) for burial, where Christians soon came to honour him as a martyr.

St. George is usually depicted in liturgical art as a soldier on horseback killing a dragon with a lance.

The Legend of St. George and the Dragon

There are many versions of the story of St George slaying the dragon. Most agree on the following:

A town was terrorised by a dragon.
A young princess was offered to the dragon
When George heard about this he rode into the village
George slayed the dragon and rescued the princess
Enjoy the allegory of good triumphing against evil.

This legend originated in the East and was brought to the West by the Crusaders. According to the Golden Legend the story took place in a place called "Silene," in Libya.
St. George travelled for many months by land and sea until he came to Libya. Here he met a poor hermit who told him that everyone in that land was in great distress, for a dragon had long ravaged the country.
'Every day,' said the old man, 'he demands the sacrifice of a beautiful maiden and now all the young girls have been killed. The king's daughter alone remains, and unless we can find a knight who can slay the dragon she will be sacrificed tomorrow. The king of Egypt will give his daughter in marriage to the champion who overcomes this terrible monster.'

When St. George heard this story, he was determined to try and save the princess, so he rested that night in the hermit's hut, and at daybreak set out to the valley where the dragon lived. When he drew near he saw a little procession of women, headed by a beautiful girl dressed in pure Arabian silk. The princess Sabra was being led by her attendants to the place of death. The knight spurred his horse and overtook the ladies. He comforted them with brave words and persuaded the princess to return to the palace. Then he entered the valley.

As soon as the dragon saw him it rushed from its cave, roaring with a sound louder than thunder. Its head was immense and its tail fifty feet long. But St. George was not afraid. He struck the monster with his spear, hoping he would wound it.
The dragon's scales were so hard that the spear broke into a thousand pieces. and St. George fell from his horse. Fortunately he rolled under an enchanted orange tree against which poison could not prevail, so that the venomous dragon was unable to hurt him. Within a few minutes he had recovered his strength and was able to fight again.

He smote the beast with his sword, but the dragon poured poison on him and his armour split in two. Once more he refreshed himself from the orange tree and then, with his sword in his hand, he rushed at the dragon and pierced it under the wing where there were no scales, so that it fell dead at his feet..

Another version I liked better has Saint George and the Princess in a conversation when the dragon reared out of the lake. Saint George fortified himself with the Sign of the Cross, charged it on horseback with his lance and gave it a grievous wound. Then he called to the princess to throw him her girdle, and he put it around the dragon's neck. When she did so, the dragon followed the girl like a meek beast on a leash.
She and Saint George led the dragon back to the city of Silene, where it terrified the people at its approach. But Saint George called out to them, saying that if they consented to become Christians and be baptized, he would slay the dragon before them. The king and the people of Silene converted to Christianity, George slew the dragon, and the body was carted out of the city on four ox-carts. "Fifteen thousand men baptized, without women and children." On the site where the dragon died, the king built a church to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint George, and from its altar a spring arose whose waters cured all disease.

Now is isn’t that a befitting end ? :)

Traditionally, the sword with which St. George slew the dragon was called Ascalon, a name recalling the city of Ashkelon, Israel. From this tradition, the name Ascalon was used by Winston Churchill for his personal aircraft during World War II ( so I understand) since St. George is the Patron Saint of England.

 Are dragons real?  ;D

It is a legend Patricia  ;D
Legends are full of fire breathers, flying horses and the like  ;D

So's Revelation!

You certainly have a point there Brigid save for the fact that The Book of Revelation was inspired by God. :)

May 24

Today is
Easter Sunday, 2011

Let us sing and give "praise to the risen Christ who is our life and whose triumph over death we proclaim to all the  world"
Alleluia!

24 April

Today is also the Feast day of
Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen
Among many other Saints.

Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen.

Also known as Mark Roy or Rey.
Saint Fidelis was born in Sigmaringen, Germany, in 1577 of noble parents, Johann and Genovefa Rey, and given the name Marcus.
As a youth, Marcus frequently received the Sacraments, visited the sick and the poor, and spent hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.

He was well educated having studied law and philosophy at the University of Fribourg. As an undergraduate student, he did not drink wine and he wore a hair-shirt. He was known for his modesty, meekness, and chastity.

After attaining his “ doctor of laws “ degree, it seems that he taught law and philosophy at the same university for a while but ultimately joined the legal practice as an advocate at Colmar, in Alsace. He soon acquired a reputation because of his charity and the just way he conducted his affairs. . His charity procured him the surname of advocate for the poor or the poor man's lawyer. Marcus, watching some of his colleagues as they become involved in get- rich- quick schemes, was disgusted by the greed, corruption, and lack of interest in justice by his fellow lawyers. He abandoned law practice and, giving away all his worldly wealth to the poor, he joined the Capuchin Order in 1612. He was 35 years old at the time.
The Order, gave him the religious name of "Fidelis", which means Faithful.
After finishing his course of theology, St Fidelis started preaching and hearing confessions. His next appointment was as superior of a Capuchin Convent in a town in Austria. He was soon able to reform that town and the neighboring places, converting many Calvinists as well.
Then, a newly formed society, the Vatican Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, commissioned the Saint to preach among the Grisons in Switzerland. He was the first missionary that was sent into those parts after the locals had embraced Calvinism.
Fidelis was threatened but as is only to be expected, the threat to his life did not deter him.
On April 24, 1622, after receiving the Sacrament of Penance, he was saying Mass at a place called Grusch. At the end of his sermon, the Saint is reported to have suddenly stood still, with his eyes fixed on Heaven. He was in ecstasy.In a stance, the Saint foretold his death to those present.

"P. Fidelis, prope diem esca vermium" ("Father Fidelis, in days ahead to become food for worms").

After Mass, he and several companions traveled to a place called Seewis for another service. He was reportedly very happy
It was here that he was confronted by a number of Calvinist soldiers while he was alone. Here that he was murdered.
Thus, the Saint’s life ended.

He was beatified on 24 March 1729 by Pope Benedict XIII and canonized on
29 June 1746 by Pope Benedict XIV
Saint Fidelis,
Pray for us!

Quote:

Woe to me if I should prove myself but a halfhearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned Captain.

-Saint Fidelis

 :crucifix:

25 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Mark
Among Many other saints

Saint Mark
The Evangelist.

Were there three men named “Mark” in the Gospel? Viz: Mark the Evangelist, John Mark and Mark, the Cousin of Saint Barnabas? Or is it the same Mark that is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, is referred to by Saint Peter in his first Epistle (5:3) and by Saint Paul in Colossians 4:10, 2 Timothy 4:11 and Philemon 24 ?
The book I have referred to and cited at the end, says yes, he is one and the same man.

He was the son of Mary, a prominent member of the Christian community at Jerusalem and an old friend of Peter’s, in whose house, the brethren were accustomed to assemble. He was a cousin of Saint Barnabas who the Acts state was a Levite and therefore it is quite probable that Mark too was a Levite. He was could have been a minister in the local synagogue when he met Jesus.
We first hear of Mark when Paul and Barnabas take him along to Antioch ( in modern Turkey), in the year 44, and on to Cyprus. He also accompanied Saint Paul on his first missionary journey ( Acts 13:13). Following a misunderstanding with Saint Paul, Mark returned to Jerusalem by himself. Afterwords he went to Rome and became a disciple of Saint Peter and acted as his interpreter.
He is believed to have been the young man who fled naked when Jesus was arrested (Mk. 14:51-51)
In his Gospel, known as the Gospel according to Saint Mark, written probably between the years 60 and 70, he has recorded what he heard from Saint Peter. He presents Jesus as seen in the eyes of His apostles and disciples, and Gospel tells of the life and teachings of Jesus and has many little details which are not in the other Gospels. It is believed that Mark provided Saint Matthew and Saint Luke with the basic sources for their Gospels.
An early tradition states that Mark was consecrated a bishop and sent to Alexandria, Egypt where he was instrumental in founding the Church. For several years, he preached the Gospel in Lybia and Egypt and converted many from among the Jews.
His success stirred up the heathens against him. They called him a magician on account of his many miracles and resolved to put him to death.
He was captured while offering the Sacrifice of Mass. They tied his feet with rope and dragged him along the streets the whole day long, to a rocky place near the sea. All along the way, the ground was stained with his blood and strewn with pieces of his flesh. When night came, he was cast into prison.
The following day, April 25, the infidels repeated their torture until, worn out, he breathed his last.
The Christians gathered up his mangled body and buried him at Bucoles, the place of his torture. Much later, his remains were transferred to Venice, Italy, where he is honored as its patron saint. The remains are enshrined in a beautiful cathedral dedicated to his honor.
Mark is represented in art with a lion at his feet and a scroll in his hand on which is inscribed the words:
Peace be to thee O Mark, my Evangelist!
And the lion; Why the lion?
Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine, two great doctors of the Church, have tried to explain the connection between Saint Mark and his lion by the consideration that Mark’s Gospel begins with a mention of the desert and that the loin is the Lord of the desert!
Any one heard of other explanations for the presence of the lion?
Saint Mark,
Pray for us!

Ref: Our Sunday Visitor Encyclopedia Of Saints.
By Matthew Bunson, Stephen Bunson, Margaret Bunson:

26 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Pedro de San Jose Betancur
Among many other Saints

he post will be in two parts as it is rather long.

Saint Pedro de San Jose Betancur.

Also known as
Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur
Saint Francis of the Americas

Pedro de San José de Betancur was born on the island of Tenerife, part of the Spain's Canary Islands. He was born in the village of Villaflor on March 21, 1621, ( also given as his birth date in other accounts are: 16 May 1619 and March 21, 1626) He was baptized on the same day.
He was the eldest of five children born to pious Christian parents.
As a youngster, Pedro looked after his father's flock, taking the animals out to the valleys and beaches of the island to graze and drink water.
This contact with nature, and the long quiet hours in the fields, helped him in contemplating God and His Creation. After his father's death, Pedro left his work as a shepherd to farm the family's small property. One day he heard Brother Luis de Betancur, a relative, speak about America, about its forests and its wealth, but also about the American Indians and the Black Americans who were reduced to slavery. A profound compassion for these unfortunate ones and a desire to go and evangelize them was born in his heart.
He was 24 years old. There was a problem. His mother, Mrs. de Betancur wanted him to marry. After much prayer and consultation with an aunt, Pedro decided to leave home. Before he left, he wrote to his mother that a greater love and a service of utmost importance was pressing him to leave everything. He boarded a ship to Havana in 1649. Two years later, wishing to reach the mainland, he boarded another ship and signed on as a cabin-boy to pay for the voyage. While at sea, he apparently became very sick. The captain of the ship decided to leave him on a beach in Guatemala, Central America. Before entering the capital, which he reached on foot, Pedro knelt down, prayed, and then kissed the ground. The date was February 18 and the year was 1651, at two o'clock in the afternoon. Now, at this very hour, the city was shaken by an earthquake....
please continue at the next post.

Saint Pedro de San Jose Betancur- Part 2

....Pedro hurried to assist the victims. The next day he felt so completely exhausted that he sought help at Saint John of God Hospital. This was the Hospital which received the most neglected patients, especially many Native Indians and Africans. He soon recovered and was able to find work at a bakery nearby.
Pedro wanted to become a priest. He enrolled in the local Jesuit college (Jesuit College of San Borgia) in the hope hope of studying for the priesthood. No matter how hard he tried, however, he could not master the material, and thus withdrew from the school.
Unable to take holy orders, he became a Franciscan tertiary in the convent of Costa Rica in Antigua Guatemala, and took the name "Peter of Saint Joseph" and took their habit in January 1655.
He then withdrew to El Calvario Church, where he assumed the role of sacristan. Pedro spent hours in adoration before a crucifix which was venerated in the sanctuary. In his free time, he performed works of mercy, looking after all the deprived, visiting hospitals, prisons, the poor, the hungry, and unemployed immigrants. He taught children their catechism with songs and games. Little by little, his kindness and his reputation for holiness drew many people to El Calvario.
Driven by the same spirit of charity as others before him, Brother Pedro bought in February 1658 a very poor house, which he named “The Little House of Our Lady of Bethlehem” There he welcomed street children, whites, Creoles, blacks, etc.Soon, students, foreigners, and poor convalescents who had been turned away from hospitals were streaming there. Thus did this man with hardly any formal schooling, become the founder of the first free basic literacy school in Central America, and founder of the first convalescence hospital in the Spanish territories in the New World. His success was such that he quickly had to expand the location. He was able to acquired neighboring houses curtesy of gifts he received.
One day, Pedro found at the door to the Saint Francis monastery a poor old woman, a former slave and now completely abandoned, he asked her to stay in his home, and carried her there himself on his shoulders. His charity to all earned him the title of “Mother of Guatemala” conferred on him by Pope John Paul II during his beatification.
Pedro’s desire was to build a real hospital especially for convalescents who still needed care and had to recover both their physical strength and the health of their soul. He explained his plan to the local bishop, who, after listening to him , asked him with what resources he would pay for such a costly building project. “I don't know,” replied Pedro, “but God knows and will provide them”. The bishop granted the permission and work began immediately. There was, however, no shortage of critics. Was it not presumptuous to undertake this kind of work? They asked.
One day, the superior of the Franciscan monastery came to visit the construction site in Pedro's absence, and he condemned the costly project. When he returned and was informed of the friar's thoughts, Pedro limited himself to saying:
“All this is done not on this Father's behalf, nor on mine, but on God's behalf, and who will live, will see”
In fact, Pedro's faith and humility allowed him to gradually collect the necessary funds.
On April 20, 1667, Pedro, now weak from his tireless work, developed pneumonia. When he realized he was dying, he designated Rodrigo of the Cross his successor and, blessed him with the words “May God make you humble!” he outlined for him the principles that he needed to maintain in the work he had undertaken.
Pedro died on 25 April 1667 at Guatamala City. He was beatified on 22 June 1980 by Pope John Paul II and canonized 30 July 2002 in Guatemala City, Guatemala by Pope John Paul II .

At the homily read by John Paul II in Guatemala City on July 30, 2002, Pedro was called the "first Canarian and Guatemalan saint.
Rodrigo of the Cross faithfully executed the founder's wishes and wrote the constitutions of the Order of Bethlehem. He accepted Sisters as well as Brothers. In 1674, Pope Clement X approved the rules of both communities.

Saint Pedro de San Jose Betancur
Pray for us!

Hmm.. I am going to have to remember that lion and keep an eye open.

God loves shepherds! :D

Many a shepherd has found Him out there
You think maybe we went for the wrong jobs ? ;D

Oh definitely.  ;D

Tomorrow amongst other saints is Bl. Hosanna of Cattaro, who was a shepherdess when she was young. :D

She had many visions, it's too bad it's hard to find out more information about them.  :D

Now that you have mentioned her, I will post something on her as well :)

April 27

Today is also the Feast day of
Blessed Hosanna of Cattaro
Among many other saint and Blesseds

The shepherdess!  ;D

It is also, traditionally, St. Peter Canisius's day:

'The heretics have made their false theology popular and presented it in a way that is within the capacity of the common people. They preach it to the people and teach it in the schools, and scatter pamphlets that can be bought and understood by many; they influence people by their writings when they cannot reach them by preaching. Their success is largely due to the negligence of those who should have shown some interest, and the bad example and the ignorance of Catholics, especially the clergy, have made such ravages in the vineyard of the Lord.'

St. Ignatius of Loyola, 'Letter to St. Peter Canisius'

'Better that only a few Catholics should be left, staunch and sincere in their religion, than that they should, remaining many, desire as it were, to be in collusion with the Church's enemies and in conformity with the open foes of our faith.'

St. Peter Canisius

Blessed Hosanna of Cattaro
Also known as Ossana

Hosanna was born in a place called Kumano in Montenegro
in 1493. Her given name was Catherine Kosic. Catherine’s parents were Greek Orthodox and she herself was baptized in the same faith.
As a young girl, Catherine used to tend her family's sheep. She used  those solitary hours during which she was  out with the sheep,  for prayers. The child soon developed a habit of contemplative prayer, and , as we all know, this is a  very potent form of prayer.

One day while Catherine was out in the pasture with the flock, she saw a pretty baby lying on the grass. The baby was asleep. Catherine was attracted to it and went to pick him up but the baby disappeared.
A great sense of loss and loneliness descended on her.
 When she went home  that day she told her mother what had happened but the mother told her she was imagining things. The visions however continued and now Catherine knew better than to confide in anyone. She treasured the appearances, keeping everything to herself.
When Catherine was 12 years old, she felt an urge to go to the town of Cattaro. There were several churches in this town and the young girl felt that she would be able to pray better in such a place. Her mother, though not really understanding Catherine’s need to go to Cattaro, obliged by arranging for her to go and work for a wealthy woman living in Cattaro. The woman happened to be a pious Catholic woman. She gave Catherine permission  to visit the church any time she wanted to and this she did frequently.
Eventually Catherine converted and became a  Roman Catholic.
Now in her late teens, Catherine felt the call to become a recluse,
an anchoress by withdrawing completely from the world and  living a solitary life of prayer and mortification.
She consulted her spiritual adviser about this. At first he was hesitant on account of her age. When she insisted, however, he allowed it.

In those days, it was common for every church or place of pilgrimage to
have one or more cells in which solitaries dwelt in prayer and penance. There was such
a cell near the Saint Bartholomew's Church in Cattaro. It had a window
through which the anchorite could hear Mass and another tiny window to which
people would come occasionally to ask for prayers or to give food.
It was to this cell that Catherine was solemnly and ceremoniously brought and the door sealed.

Catherine was later transferred to a cell at the Church of St. Paul. She  became a Dominican tertiary, taking the name Osanna in memory of Blessed Osanna of Mantua, , a Dominican tertiary who had died in 1505.

Osanna reportedly wore only the  coarsest of  clothes. She ate almost nothing, and endured
the heat and cold and misery of enclosure in a small space for half a
century. She frequently had heavenly visitors to brighted her life.
Our Lord appeared to her many times, usually in the form of the beautiful
baby she had seen while tending her flocks.
 Our Lady visited, too, with several of the saints.
She was also disturbed by demons who attempted to distract her from prayers.
 Once, the devil is said to have appeared to her in the form of the Blessed Virgin and
told her to modify her penances. She was however wise to him and managed to remain faithful.
She used to be consulted by a group of her Dominican sisters. She was also regarded as the foundress of a convent that was founded  during her time at Cattaro,  because of her prayers. She , however,  never saw the place. At one time, the city was attacked by Turks, the residents turned to her for help and they were saved. She is also credited with saving the people from plaque with her prayers.

She died in 1565 of natural causes .

Blessed Hosanna of Cattaro,
Pray for us!

Ah, odhiambo! I'm so happy! You found out far more than I knew was out there! And it's such a splendid story too. Just my type of saint.

It's a good day.

Of course everyday is a good day.

But.. it's a good day!

 :flower:

Sorry Saint Peter Canisius.
I will post you another day.
Today is Saint  Louis Mary de Montfort and the shepherdess. :)

That is why I decided to post her.
Thanks for mentioning her.

I'm so happy.  :D

Shin, go and rest. I noticed you on line when I came on duty.
Now I am going home and I see you are on ?still
You must be bleary- eyed by now  ;D

Hey Shin, have you got anything brief on Saint  Louis Mary de Montfort? Imagine  I forgot to prepare the post and it only now I have discovered the ommission  :-[


Never mind, I have located it somewhere in a folder.

Please ignore this and go ahead and post.
Don't forget CAF ;D

Oh, he's easy.  :D Very popular one.

'Poor men and women who are sinners, I, a greater sinner than you, wish to give you this rose, a crimson one, because the precious blood of our Lord has fallen upon it. Please God that it may bring true fragrance into your lives - but above all, may it save you from the danger that you are in. Every day unbelievers and un-repentant sinners cry, "Let us crown ourselves with roses." But our cry should be, "Let us crown ourselves with the roses of the holy Rosary."

How different are theirs from ours! Their roses are pleasures of the flesh, worldly honours and passing riches which wilt and decay in no time, but ours, which are the Our Father and Hail Mary which we have said devoutly over and over again, and to which we have added good penitential acts, will never wilt or die, and they will be just as exquisite thousands of years from now as they are today.'

St. Louis Marie de Montfort

'Because Mary remained hidden during her life she is called by the Holy Spirit and the Church "Alma Mater", Mother hidden and unknown. So great was her humility that she desired nothing more upon earth than to remain unknown to herself and to others, and to be known only to God. In answer to her prayers to remain hidden, poor and lowly, God was pleased to conceal her from nearly every other human creature in her conception, her birth, her life, her mysteries, her resurrection and assumption. Her own parents did not really know her; and the angels would often ask one another, "Who can she possibly be?", for God had hidden her from them, or if he did reveal anything to them, it was nothing compared with what he withheld.'

St. Louis Marie de Montfort

'According to St. Bonaventure, all the angels in heaven unceasingly call out to her: "Holy, holy, holy Mary, Virgin Mother of God." They greet her countless times each day with the angelic greeting, "Hail, Mary", while prostrating themselves before her, begging her as a favour to honour them with one of her requests. According to St. Augustine, even St. Michael, though prince of all the heavenly court, is the most eager of all the angels to honour her and lead others to honour her. At all times he awaits the privilege of going at her word to the aid of one of her servants.'

St. Louis Marie de Montfort

O.K. Shin.
Please post and thanks!

NP. :D

April 28th

St. Louis Marie de Montfort

"From his childhood, he was indefatigably devoted to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and, when from his twelfth year he was sent as a day pupil to the Jesuit college at Rennes, he never failed to visit the church before and after class. He joined a society of young men who during holidays ministered to the poor and to the incurables in the hospitals, and read for them edifying books during their meals. At the age of nineteen, he went on foot to Paris to follow the course in theology, gave away on the journey all his money to the poor, exchanged clothing with them, and made a vow to subsist thenceforth only on alms. He was ordained priest at the age of twenty-seven, and for some time fulfilled the duties of chaplain in a hospital. In 1705, when he was thirty-two, he found his true vocation, and thereafter devoted himself to preaching to the people. During seventeen years he preached the Gospel in countless towns and villages. As an orator he was highly gifted, his language being simple but replete with fire and divine love. His whole life was conspicuous for virtues difficult for modern degeneracy to comprehend: constant prayer, love of the poor, poverty carried to an unheard-of degree, joy in humiliations and persecutions.

The following two instances will illustrate his success. He once gave a mission for the soldiers of the garrison at La Rochelle, and moved by his words, the men wept, and cried aloud for the forgiveness of their sins. In the procession which terminated this mission, an officer walked at the head, barefooted and carrying a banner, and the soldiers, also barefooted, followed, carrying in one hand a crucifix, in the other a rosary, and singing hymns.

Grignion's extraordinary influence was especially apparent in the matter of the calvary at Pontchateau. When he announced his determination of building a monumental calvary on a neighbouring hill, the idea was enthusiastically received by the inhabitants. For fifteen months between two and four hundred peasants worked daily without recompense, and the task had just been completed, when the king commanded that the whole should be demolished, and the land restored to its former condition. The Jansenists had convinced the Governor of Brittany that a fortress capable of affording aid to persons in revolt was being erected, and for several months five hundred peasants, watched by a company of soldiers, were compelled to carry out the work of destruction. Father de Montfort was not disturbed on receiving this humiliating news, exclaiming only: "Blessed be God!""

- Catholic Encyclopedia

He preached Mary everywhere and to everyone. A member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, Saint Louis was one of the greatest apostles of the Rosary in his day, and by means his miraculously inspiring book, The Secret of the Rosary, he is still so today;

His greatest contribution to the Church and world is Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin. He propagated this in his day by preaching and after his own death by his other famous book True Devotion to Mary. Consecration to Mary is for Saint Louis the perfect manner of renewing one’s baptismal promises.

- Patron Saints

St. Louis Marie de Montfort loves Mary and he loves God.

He is also a strong saint against evil, as I have read.

On one occasion, for example, he was walking through the streets of a town when his attention was caught by a singer who was singing a licentious song and selling the music to his indecent song. He would not let this offense pass; he took the music sheets and tore them up in the face of the singer.

On another occasions, some drunks from a nearby tavern heckled him during his sermon. He went into the tavern, and beat the tar out of them. The next day they were his best listeners.

 :D

Way to go St. Louis Marie de Montfort  ;D

28 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Peter Chanel
Among many other saints

Saint Peter Chanel
Priest and Martyr.

Peter was born in 1803 at Cluet( Clet) in the diocese of Belley, France. His parents were peasants. At the age of seven, he was a shepherd boy. His intelligence and simple piety brought him to the attention of the local priest, Father Trompier. The priest convinced his parents to let him study, in a little school he had started locally. From there Peter went on to the seminary. Here, at the diocesan Seminary, Peter won the affection and the esteem of both students and professorst It was said of him: "He had a heart of gold with the simple faith of a child, and he led the life of an angel."
He was ordained a priest in 1827 and assigned to a parish at Crozet. In three years he had transformed the parish. In 1831, he joined the newly founded Society of Mary( Marist Fathers).He had always wanted to become a missionary. He was, however, assigned to teach at the seminary in Belley. He did this for five years. Finally, in 1836, his dream was realized, and he was sent with other Marists to the islands of the Pacific. St. Peter was appointed Superior of this little band of missionaries.
After strenous ten month journey, the team reached their destination. They split up and St. Peter went to the Island of Futuna ( ? Marshall Islands) accompanied by a lay brother and an English layman, Thomas Boog. They were at first well received by the pagans and their king Niuliki who had only recently forbidden canabalism. However, the king's jealousy and fear was aroused when the missionaries learned the language and gained the people's confidence. He realized the adoption of the Christian Faith would lead to the abolition of some of the powers he enjoyed as highpriest and also as king.
The last straw, was when the chief's son asked for baptism. This so angered the chief that he sent warriors to kill the missionary.
On April 18, 1841, a band of native warriors entered the hut of Father Peter Chanel on the island of Futuna in the New Hebrides islands near New Zealand. They clubbed the missionary to death and cut up his body with hatchets.
Two years after this detestible murder of Saint Peter, we are told that the whole island was Catholic!
Here is a very appropriate commentary from Eternal Word Television Network on the martyrdom of Saint Peter.

“St. Peter Chanel's death bears witness to the ancient axiom that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians." He is the first martyr from Oceania, that part of the world spread over the south Pacific, and he came there as the fulfillment of a dream he had had as a boy”

Saint Peter was canonized in 1954 by Pope XII.

Saint Peter Chanel,
Pray for us!

29 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Catherine of Siena
Among many other saints.

Saint Catherine of Siena.
Dominican tertiary.
Doctor of the Church-
Papal Adviser.
Dominican Tertiary.

Catherine was on 25 March, 1347 at Siena, in northern Italy. She was the youngest of the 25 children born to her parents . Her father, Giacomo di Benincasa, was a  wool dyer and  her mother, Lapa, was the daughter of a local poet. Catherine was  a special child, different from other little girls.

From an early age, (before what is considered to be 'the age of reason') she began to practice austerities, to spend long periods of time in prayer, and to have mystical visions. She consecrated her viginity to Christ when she was  just seven.

Her parents raised her strictly and at the age of twelve, they thought of arranging a marriage for her, but she begged them to allow her to remain single. They tried unsuccessfully to discourage her but when she remained steadfast in her resolve, her father relented.

Catherine then joined the Third Order of Dominicans. She was now sixteen years old. After becoming a Dominican tertiary, she spend the next three years 'in the desert' in a small room in her parent's home. She lived the life of the anchorites of the desert in that room.

Sometime during this time, she underwent what is called a 'spiritual espousal', and she had a vision of the Infant Jesus offering her a wedding band.

She rejoined the world, and began to serve Christ in the sick, poor and ignorant. Many people were attracted to her by her charm, calm and wisdom. She served the poor, sick and also prayed for the conversion of sinners. She still spend much time in prayer. Despite persecutions by the local clergy and others, she began to gather disciples.

In 1370 Catherine received a series of special manifestations of Divine mysteries, which culminated in a prolonged trance, a kind of mystical death, in which she had a vision of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, and heard a Divine command to leave her cell and enter the public life of the world. She began to dispatch letters to men and women in every condition of life, entered into correspondence with the princes and republics of Italy, was consulted by the papal legates about the affairs of the Church.

It was chiefly her letters, advice, and persistence that finally convinced Saint Gregory XI to leave Avignon and return to Rome, to reform the clergy and administration of the Papal States, and to call for a Crusade to regain Jerusalem from the muslim infidels. Catherine traveled to many cities (at a time when travel wasn't easy or comfortable, especially for women) working for peace in Italy and the Church. She wrote hundreds of letters to important people and ordinary people alike. All were treasured for their wisdom and clarity of thought. She also wrote a book, called the Dialogue a conversation between the Eternal Father and the human soul, discussing the whole of mankind's spiritual life. For this important body of work and her service to the Church, she was named a Doctor of the Church in1970 becoming one of two women to be named Doctor of the Church (the other is St. Teresa of Avila).

Saint Catherine died on 29 April 1380, when she was just 33 years old.

Her mortal remains are in Rome and her relics are enshrined in Siena  and Venice.

She was canonized by Pope Pius II in 1461

She was named co-patroness of Europe, with Saint Brigid of Sweden and Saint Edith Stein, on October 1, 1999, by Pope John Paul II.

In 1939, she was made patroness of Italy and in 1970 was declared a Doctor of the Church as mentioned above, by Pope Paul VI.

She has been the patroness of Rome since 1866 and patroness of the dying.

She is invoked against headaches and the plague

Saint Catherine,

Pray for us!

Ref: 1. the Catholic Encyclopedia.

            2. Our Sunday VisitorsEncyclopedia of Saints-Revised.

                                                                .

 

 

I think St Catherine would much prefer to live a solitary life but had to give it up and join the world because it was God's will that she do so.

St Catherine , Pray for us!  Give us the spirit of obedience to God's holy Will.  :crucifix:

30 April

Today is the Feast day of
Pope Saint Pius V,
Among many other saints.

Saint Pius V, Pope( 1504-1572)

Pope Pius V, said to be one of the foremost leaders of the Catholic Reformation, was born at Bosco, a little town in the diocese of Tortona, Italy, on the 27th of January 1504. He was descended of a noble Bolognese family, by then reduced to poverty. His given name was Antonio Ghislieri.
From his early years, Antonio was taught the ways of the Lord; and he never swerved from those principles during the whole of his life. He studied grammar under the care of the Dominican friars at Voghera. He also worked as a shepherd. At the age of fourteen, he joined the Dominican Order. He was ordained in 1528, taking the name of Michele Ghislieri (Michael Ghisleri).
He was called Brother Michele according to the book, Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints-Revised.

He studied at Bologna and Genoa, and then taught theology and philosophy for sixteen years before holding the posts of master of novices as well as prior for several Dominican houses.
He was named inquisitor for Como and Bergamo , and was so capable in fullfilling the duties of his office that by 1551, and at the urging of the powerful Cardinal Carafa, he was named by Pope Julius III, commisionary general of the Inquisition.
In 1555, Carafa was elected Pope Paul IV and was responsible for Ghislieri’s swift rise as bishop of Nepi and Sutri in 1556, cardinal in 1557, and grand inquisitor in 1558.

Under Pope Pius IV (1559–65) Ghisleri fell out of favour with the pope who disliked his reputation for excessive zeal. His opposition to that pontiff had procured his dismissal from the palace and the abridgment of his authority as inquisitor. Before Michele Ghislieri could return to his episcopate, Pope Pius IV died. On 7 January 1566, and that very same day, January 7, 1566, Ghisleri was unanimously elected to the Papal chair as Pope Pius V. He was crowned ten days later, on his 62nd birthday.
As pope, Pius saw his main course of action as the continuation of the massive programe of reform for the Church, in particular, the full implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent.

He published the Roman Catechism -1566.
The revised Roman Brieviary-1568.
And the Roman Missal. He also declared Saint Thomas Aquinas a Doctor of the Church, commanded a new edition of the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas-1570, and created a commission to revise the Vulgate.

The decrees of Trent were published throughout all Catholic lands. The pope insisted on strict adherence to the decrees.

In 1571, Pope Pius V created the Congregation of the Index to give strength to the Church;s resistance to Protestant and heretical writings and he used the inquisition to prevent any Protestant ideas from gaining a foot hold in Italy.

In dealing with the threat of the Ottoman Turks, who were advancing steadly across the Mediterranean, Pius organised a formidable alliance between Venice and Spain, culminating in the battle of Lepanto in October 5, 1571, which saw a complete and shattering defeat of the Turks, a triumph over them.
That day; the day of the victory, was declared a feast day of Our Lady of Victory( This was later changed to the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary)The day was dedicated to Our Lady in recognition of her intercession in answer to the saying of the Rosary all over Catholic Europe. Pope Pius V also spurred the reforms of the Church by example. He insisted upon wearing his coarse Dominican robes(thereby inaugurating the custom of popes wearing white), even beneath the magnificient vestments worn by the popes, and was wholeheartedly devoted to the religious life.

It is noted, however, that Pope Saint Pius V’s reign was blemished only by the continuing oppression of the Inquisition and the often brutal treatment of the Jews of Rome and the ill-advised decision to excommunicate Queen Elizabeth I of England in February 1570.

These blemishes were , however, overshadowed by his contributions to the Catholic Reformation, that is, according to the book cited at the below.

Pope Pius V died on the 1st of May 1572.He was sixty-eight years, three months, and fifteen days old, having governed the church six years and almost four months. He was beatified by Clement X in 1672 and canonized by Clement XI in 1712. His precious remains lie in the church of St. Mary Major.

Pope Saint Pius V
Pray for us!

Ref:1. Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints-Revised.

2.Eternal Word Television Network.

May 1

This year May 1 has combined a number of celebrations:
1: It is Mercy Sunday; The Liturgical celebration of The Divine Mercy.
2: It is the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.
3: It is the Beatification Day of Pope John Paul II in Rome

Today is Mercy Sunday.

The Liturgical celebration of The Divine Mercy.
The Devotion to the Divine Mercy dates back to a Polish nun, Sister Faustina Kowalska,(1905 - 1938), described as the Apostle of Divine Mercy. To this nun, Jesus appeared bringing the message of God's Mercyful Love for all mankind in a series of revelations. Her spiritual director advised her to write down all the revelations she received from Jesus. She wrote a diary of about 600 pages.Even before she died, the devotion to Divine Mercy had started to spread.
The "Devotion to The Divine Mercy involves a total commitment to God as Mercy. It is a decision to trust completely in Him, to accept His mercy with thanksgiving, and to be merciful as He is merciful"
Remember when Pope John Paul II went to the prison to meet the man who had shot him in 1986 ? He was leading us in being "merciful as He is merciful"

According to Saint Faustina, Jesus Himself,, had requested, not once, but severally, that Christians honor the Divine Mercy on the Sunday after Easter.
On 30 April 2000, at the Canonization of Sr. Faustina,Pope John Paul II, responded to this request because it was then that he established this liturgical celebration.
Note this : John Paul II died on April 2, 2005, just after a vigil Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday, and six years later, he’s being beatified on the very day.

So brothers and sisters in Our Lord Jesus Christ,
Ask for the Lord's Mercy in constant prayer. He is merciful and full of love for us .
Be merciful as He Himself is merciful.
"Trust the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding."
Proverbs 3:5

May 1
Today is also the day Pope John Paul II is beatified in Rome.

The late pope died in April 2005. All over the world, Catholics grieved and those who knew him best, we are told that, in their grief, they demanded that he be made saint immediataly, "Santo Subito!" we are told, they mourned the departed pontiff. Well, today marks another step towards that eventuality.
In preparation for today, last Friday, the coffin of the late pope was exhumed from "the crypts below St. Peter's Basilica." where it had been kept. It will be placed in front of St. Peter's Basilica's main altar for the ceremony. After all the visitors have viewed the coffin, "it will be moved to a new crypt under an altar in a side chapel near Michelangelo's statue of the Pieta."

During the beatification process, a vial of blood drawn from the late pontiff will serve as a relic.
It will be presented to Pope Benedict XVI and exposed for veneration during the Mass in St. Peter’s Square this. "The vial will then be stored in a shrine by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, along with other relics."
Four vials of blood had been drawn from John Paul II before his death on April 2, 2005 by his personal physician. This was done precautionarily in case the pontiff needed blood transfusion.

"One vial will remain in the custody of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul at the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome.

The remaining two vials are now in the possession of Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Archbishop of Krakow and former secretary of John Paul II and will be installed in a Polish church soon after the beatification.
Piotr Sionko, the spokesman for the John Paul II Center in Krakow, said the vials will be encased in crystal and built into the altar of a church in the city. The church, which is still under construction in Krakow’s Lagiewniki district, will open sometime after the May 1 beatification. The building is part of a planned center devoted to cultivating the memory and teachings of the late Pope, a former archbishop of Krakow.
Sionko said that Cardinal Dziwisz proposed the idea of using the blood as a relic, saying that the cardinal “is of the opinion that this is the most precious relic of John Paul II and should be the focal point of the church.”

Blessed John Paul II
Pray for us!

From Vativan News

May 1

Today is also the Feast day of
Saint Joseph the Worker.
Among many other saints.

May I has long been the day dedicated to the working class. Labor Day as it is known internationally.
On this day, in 1055, members of the Catholic Association of Italian Workers had converged in Saint Peter’s Square, to celebrate the 10 th anniversary of their society, and to pledge their loyalty to the Social Programme of the Church. Here, Pope Pius XII granted them audience. It was then that the Pope instituted the liturgical feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, assigning it to the 1st day of May.The Pope assured his audience and the “working people of the entire world”: “ You have at your side a Shepherd, a defender and a Father.”

On March 19, we celebrated the Feast day of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster father of Jesus. Today however, It is Joseph the working man whom we have before us. The contemplation of Joseph is meant to enable us to understand how our daily labor is important in building a more just and Christian society.

Saint Joseph,
Pray for us!

“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever else you do, do all for the glory of God”

(1 Corinthians 10:31)

May 2

Today we remember.
Saint Athanasius
Among many other saints
in the Holy Catholic Church.

Today’s saint is reputed for being one of the most dedicated opponents of Arianism, the heresy which originated with Arius, a priest from Alexandria, and which denied the divinity of Christ.

Saint Athanasius

Bishop of Alexandria.
Doctor of the Church.

Athanasius was born in Alexandria, Egypt most probably between 296 and 298. Not much is known about his family circumstances or his early education. It seems that while still a boy, he came within the influence of his predecessor Bishop Alexander of Alexandria. The Bishop , it appears, became his patron, and , in 313 or 318 ,employed him as his secretary after he was ordained as a deacon.
He accompanied Alexander to the Council of Nicaea in 325.
Of note is the fact that the Council condemned Arius as an heretic and reaffirmed Christ’s divinity.
On his return to Alexandria, and after the death of Alexander in 328, Athanasius was unanimously elected bishop of the see.
The Arian heresy was the chief crisis for Athanasius in the early years of his episcopacy.
In 330, Emperor Constantine I ( Constantine the Great) , commanded Athanasius to allow Arians to communion; Athanasius refused.
The heretics then falsely accused him. He was tried and found innocent but still, the heretics, who at the time had political influence, had him exiled.
The saint spent 17 years in banishment, being exiled from Alexandria on five different occasions.
Undaunted, he remained, through it all,the ardent and fearless “champion of Christ’s divinity”.
During one of the period of exiles, he spent 6 years in the Egyptian desert as a hermit , writing his Apology to Constantine, the Apology for His Flight, the Letter to the Monks and the History of the Arians.
Athanasius spent his last years consolidating the doctrine of the Council of Nicaea.
He died in Alexandria on May 2, 373

The following is an excerpt from Our Sunday Visitor Encyclopedia Of Saints.

‘‘Athanasius is called “the Father of Orthodoxy”

“the Pillar of the Church” and “ “Champion of Christ Divinity” His efforts in defeating Arianism helped lay the groundwork for the triumph of Orthodox Christianity at the Council of Constantinople in 381, years after Athanasius’ death. He did not compose the Athanasian Creed, but it was drawn from his writings. He is a Doctor of the Church, and his most important theological writings include: Contra Gentes and De IncarnationeVerbi Dei”

Saint Athanasius,
Pray for us!

June 3

Today is the Feast day of
Martyrs of Uganda
Among many other saints.

This feast day is also referred to as
Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions,
The Uganda Martyrs or the Holy Martyrs of Uganda.

The Holy Martyrs of Uganda.

We will begin the story of these martyrs from April 1875. This was the time when Henry Morton Stanley, a journalist and explorer, arrived at the court of Mutesa I, Kabaka (King) of Buganda, an area in the South-central region of Uganda. He went to pay his respects to the king.
The Kabaka was very interested and wanted to know more about the civilization of the white man and also about Christianity. He was a pagan. His interest was so great that he asked Stanley to arrange for Missionaries to come to Uganda.
And so it was that a party of Protestant missionaries arrived on June 30, 1877 and on
February17, 1879, the Catholics, represented by a group from the Society of Missionaries of Africa, founded by Charles Cardinal Lavigerie in 1868, (known as the White Fathers), arrived in Uganda. The Arabs too, from the East Africal island of Zanzibar, had found their way into Uganda and they too were busy spreading Islam. For a time, all lived peacefully together. Many Mohammedans abandoned Islam to embrace Christianity. That was when the peace was shattered. There was now hostilities from the Arabs who in September 1881, urged the king to declare Islam the religion of the state and everyone had to accept it. Father Lourdel, the leader of the Catholic missionaries, courageously and successfully pleaded with the king against such an edict.
The kabaka yielded and declared that everyone was free to pray as they chose. Many people from the court of the kabaka continued to flock to the missionaries.Young pages in their teens, soldiers, gate keepers, etc, all went to be baptized Christians, abandoning the pagan practices still followed by their king.
There was Charles Lwanga, a skilled wresler.
Jean Marie Mugei, a page.
Bruno Serunkuma, a soldier, and so on.

Then Mutesa I died and his eighteen year old son, Prince Mwanga, suceeded him. Although Mwanga had shown some love for the missionaries as a young prince, his attitude changed when he became king egged on by his chief adviser, the Katikiro, who slowly convinced him that Christians were a threat to his rule.
The king turned into an intolerant and vicious persecutor of Christians and all foreigners. He was convinced that the powers and authority which his predecessors had enjoyed were dwindling, and he blamed it all on the influence of the missionaries and their converts.
The ultimate humiliation for Mwanga was when he realised the pages were being protected from his immoral advances....

It continues with the next post

The Holy Martyrs of Uganda-Part 2

The king was the center of power and authority, and he could dispense with any life as he felt. Although "the unmentionable practices we read of in Sodom and Gomorrah is abhorred among the locals, it was unheard of for mere pages to reject the wishes of a king. (It is alleged that Mwanga learnt or acquired his "abomination." behavior from other foreigners in Uganda at the time).
Mwanga became determined to rid his kingdom of the new teaching and its followers.
In October of 1885 the Anglican Bishop James Hannington recently dispatched to head the Eastern Equatorial Africa, headquartered in Buganda, was murdered on his way to Buganda. Mwanga had ordered his death.

Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, a senior advisor to the king and a Catholic convert, condemned Mwanga for ordering Hannington's death without giving the Bishop a chance to defend himself as was customary. Mwanga was annoyed that Mukasa would question his actions, and he had him arrested and on Nov. 15 1885; Mukasa became the first Catholic martyr, when he was first beheaded and then burnt at a place called Nakivubo.
Christians were not cowed by this violent death. Between December of 1885 and May of 1886 many more converts were wantonly murdered.
Then one day in May 1886, Mwanga precipitated a show down. He learnt from a young page that he had been receiving religious instructions from another page called Denis Sebuggwawo.
Denis was sent for and the king simply thrust a spear through his throat.
Guards were then posted round the royal residence to prevent any Christians from escaping. Sorcerers were summoned and war drums beaten to assemble the professional excecutioners. The pages were all brought up before Mwanga and the Christians ordered to separate themselves from the rest. Led by Lwanga and Kizito, the oldest and the youngest, they did so.
There were 15 young men, all under 25 years old. They were joined by two soldiers and two others already under arrest. Mwanga ordered the converts to choose between their new faith, and complete obedience to his orders. They courageosly chose their faith. He asked them if they intended to remain Christians, “Till death” , came their prompt response. “Then put them to death” was the order.
The appointed place of execution, a place called Namugongo, was 37 miles away. The convoy set out at once. Three of the youths were killed on the way. The others were imprisoned for seven days at the site of execution while a huge pyre was built.
On Ascention Day, June 3, they were brought out, stripped of their clothing, bound and each wrapped in a mat of reed. They were then placed on the pyre and it was set alight.
Above the ritual chants of the executioners, their voices could be heard calling on God (Katonda!), the Kiganda word for "God!"
And so they died; a most cruel death.
The list of forty five known Catholic and Protestant martyrs includes only those who could be formally accounted for, many more murders went unreported. Of these 45 Christians, 22 were Catholics.
They were beatified in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV and canonized by Pope Paul VI on October 18, 1964; during Vatican II conference.

Thus these martyrs were now recognised by the universal church as being worthy of being honored as Saints. This was a first for modern Africa.

Rather than deter the growth of Christianity, the martyrdom of these early believers seems to have sparked its growth instead.
The blood of these martyrs proved to be the seed of faith. Christianity is now the dominant faith in Buganda and Uganda as a whole.
The Holy Martyrs of Uganda,
Pray for us!

From Saints for All
Lives of Saints for Every Week.
A Paulines Publications Africa.