Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

25 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Mark
Among Many other saints

[odhiambo]

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:

[odhiambo]

26 April

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Pedro de San Jose Betancur
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

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.

[odhiambo]

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!

[Shin]

Hmm.. I am going to have to remember that lion and keep an eye open.

God loves shepherds!

[odhiambo]

Hmm.. I am going to have to remember that lion and keep an eye open.

God loves shepherds!

Many a shepherd has found Him out there
You think maybe we went for the wrong jobs ?

[Shin]

Oh definitely. 

[Shin]

Tomorrow amongst other saints is Bl. Hosanna of Cattaro, who was a shepherdess when she was young.

She had many visions, it's too bad it's hard to find out more information about them. 

[odhiambo]

Tomorrow amongst other saints is Bl. Hosanna of Cattaro, who was a shepherdess when she was young.

She had many visions, it's too bad it's hard to find out more information about them. 

Now that you have mentioned her, I will post something on her as well

[odhiambo]

April 27

Today is also the Feast day of
Blessed Hosanna of Cattaro
Among many other saint and Blesseds

[Shin]

The shepherdess! 

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

[odhiambo]

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!

[Shin]

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!

 

[odhiambo]

The shepherdess! 

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'



'

St. Peter Canisius

Sorry Saint Peter Canisius.
I will post you another day.
Today is Saint  Louis Mary de Montfort and the shepherdess.

[odhiambo]

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!

 

That is why I decided to post her.
Thanks for mentioning her.