Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

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!

[Shin]

It's Saint Nicholas again!

He's worth remembering!

[odhiambo]

It's Saint Nicholas again!

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  

[Shin]

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

Did you see that March 21st was his birthday?

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.

[odhiambo]

It's Saint Nicholas again!

He's worth remembering!

I think it was Saint Nicholas Owen we remembered recently 

[Shin]

It's Saint Nicholas again!

He's worth remembering!

I think it was Saint Nicholas Owen we remembered recently 

St. Nicholas of Flue.

Senior Jokes.

 

[odhiambo]

It's Saint Nicholas again!

He's worth remembering!

I think it was Sjavascript:void(0);aint Nicholas Owen we remembered recently 

St. Nicholas of Flue.

Senior Jokes.

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

[odhiambo]

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

[Shin]

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. 

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.'

[odhiambo]

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

[odhiambo]

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!

[odhiambo]

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!

 

[Shin]

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

I should have known this one. 

[odhiambo]

3 April

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

[Shin]

'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

[odhiambo]

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.