Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

What a name, no? He sounds like a great patron for the pro-life movement.

That's quite an idea of yours Shin.
 Also, how about naming all the babies their  mothers choose not to bring into the world " Nonnatus"? Each and every one of them, known and unknown.

[odhiambo]

September 1
Today is the Feast day of
Saint Giles.
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Giles.
Benedictine Abbot
One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
Giles, also called Aegidius, was born in Athens, Greece. ( Our Sunday Encyclopedia of Saints opines that he was born in Province, France. So it seems that it is not certain whether the saint was a native of southern France or came there from Greece)
He was born in a wealthy and noble family. His parents died, however and Giles used his fortune to help the poor. He used to work miracles as well. He became the object of much admiration and andulation on account of his ability to work miracle as well as his kindness. Giles did not like this at all. To escape the unwelcomed and unsolicited attention, he left Athens and went to Marseilles.
He spent two years with Saint Caesarius at Arles and then he became a hermit in a cave at the mouth of the Rhone River.
Legend has it that he was fed by the milk of a deer that often came to his cave, presumably to keep him company and to feed him as well. One day, When Flavius, King of the Franks, was on a hunting expedition, they had their sights on this very deer.
They chased the deer that ran and disappeared into Giles' cave, which was hidden behind a large thorn bush. One of the men shot an arrow into the thicket, hoping to hit the deer. When they forced their way in, they discovered Giles sitting wounded in the leg by the arrow and holding the deer. He later became disabled from this injury.
Later, King Flavius built a monastery with Giles as Abbot.
He attracted many disciples and his reputation reached Charlemagne who sent for him to serve as his confessor and  spiritual advisor.
Dictionary of Saints adds that in confessing to him, the King failed to mention a sin he had committed and which an angel had revealed to Giles earlier while he was saying Mass. Giles mentioned this to the King who was amazed, admitted to the sin and repented.
These are just some of the many stories told about Saint Giles.
He died a natural death between 710 and 724 in France
He is one of the fourteen Holy Helpers.
 
Saint Giles,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

September 2

Today is the Feast day of
Saint William of Roskilde
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint William of Roskilde
William was an English priest. He was chaplain to King Canute and as such, used to accompany the King on his travels. While in Denmark one time, he was appalled at the level of ignorance, idolatry, and superstition among the people there. He could see how enormous their missionary needs were and decided there and then, to remain and preach the Gospel to them. He did just that. Eventually William was named bishop of Roskilde on Zeeland Island on the recommendation of Canute. When King Canute died, he was succeeded by King Sweyn Estridsen.
Most of the things related to William have reference to his unwearying efforts to reform the behavior of King Sweyn Estridsen. The new king, despite his many good qualities, was described as headstrong, willful and that several times his actions greatly offended against Christian virtue. One such actions of the King was the stoning to death of a number of men. This was done summarily and without trial, worse, the men were killed within the Church, violating its sanctuary.
William rebuked the king, risking his own life in so doing.  He went further and decreed that a person who had shed blood unjustly could not receive the sacraments until he had done public penance.
King Sweyn came to the saint's cathedral with armed men ready for a showdown.
 William stood at the door, armed only with his crozier, and refused the king entry. The armed men drew their swords, at which the saint offered them his neck, ready to give his life for his beliefs. At this point, the King saw reason and came off his high horse, so to speak. He asked for forgiveness. He offered property to the church as a token of his great shame.
There were other instances where William told the King off, about his lifestyle. It is said he marryed his own stepdaughter.
William remonstrated with him constantly for that. He sought and received public as well as the support of the archbishop of Hamburg. Even the Pope and the Emperor, all joined in condemning the King’s action. He was eventually forced to put aside his unlawful wife.
Despite their differences, the two men were friends and usually worked together.
 Then King Sweyn Estridsen died. As his body was being carried to Roskilde cathedral, William, who was participating at the funeral and was,on  his way to meet
 the cortege,  dropped down dead!
 The bodies of both men were then buried together in Roskilde cathedral.
Saint
William of Roskilde,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Saint William of Roskilde
William was an English priest. He was chaplain to King Canute and as such, used to accompany the King on his travels. While in Denmark one time, he was appalled at the level of ignorance, idolatry, and superstition among the people there. He could see how enormous their missionary needs were and decided there and then, to remain and preach the Gospel to them. He did just that.

Then he said to his disciples,
 "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Matthew 9: 37-38

[odhiambo]

September 3

Today is the Feast day of
Saint Gregory the Great
Among many other Saints,
 

[odhiambo]

Saint Gregory the Great
Pope
Doctor of the Church.
Gregory was born  in 540 in Rome, Italy. His father was a wealthy senator named Gordianus. His mother was a pious woman named Sylvia. Later she would become Saint Sylvia. (Some accounts name her as Celia).
Gregory was educated by the best of teachers in Rome. He became governor or prefect of Rome while still young. When his father died, Gregory, who had long been attracted to the religious life, abandoned his political career. He converted his estate on the Caelian Hill in Rome into Saint Andrew's Monastery under Valentius. He then became a monk there. He next founded six monasteries on his estates in Sicily.
After several years of seclusion at Saint Andrews’s, He was ordained priest by Pope Pelagius II. He was also made one of the seven papal deacons in 578. Gregory also served as papal nuncio in Constantinople for several years then returned to Rome to resume his monastic life and became Abbot of Saint Andrews's.
Gregory cared particularly about the poor and the defenceless. It is said that he once saw some boys being sold as slaves. When he learnt the boys were from England, he set out to go and evangelize England.  When plague struck Rome in 589-590, he was brought back by Pope Pelagius. When Pope Pelagius himself died a victim of the plague, Gregory was elected 64th Pope by unanimous acclamation and consecrated on  September 3, 590 despite reluctance on his part. Gregory ruled the Church for 14 years and is noted as one of the greatest popes the Church has ever had.
He conducted massive reforms of the clergy and clerical affairs; for instance, he removed unworthy clerics from the office.
He abolished clerical fees for burial and ordination.
He administered papal properties wisely and justly.
Protected  Jews from unjust practices.
He ransomed captives of the Lombards.
In 593, he negotiated a peace agreement with the Lombard King to spare Rome from siege and destruction.
Gregory also combated simony, heresy and injustice,
He sent Saint Augustine and 40 monks from his monastery on the Caelian Hill to England, thereby starting the conversion of the English.
He is credited with the form of musical worship known as the Gregorian chant.
Gregory also rebuilt Rome after many natural disasters. He launched charitable programs to feed the hungry people throughout Italy. Helping the poor, feeding the hungry, etc was of deep importance to Saint Gregory who is said to have once wept openly on hearing that someone had starved to death in Rome during his administration.
Gregory was a copious writer and a wonderful preacher.
He is the author of treaties, including his Dialogues and Liber Regulae Pastoralis (on the duties of the bishop) and many others.
Gregory was a deeply holy and sincerely humble pontiff. He took for himself the title, Servus Servorum Dei (Servant of the Servants of God) All the popes since have used this title.
He died of natural causes on 12 March 604 in Rome and was canonized by acclamation immediately after his death.
 
Saint Gregory,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Last year from the Saint Matthew Bible Study Group at CAF,
 I learned that Pope Saint Gregory the Great, in one of his homilies on the Gifts of the Magi said that the treasures represent the gifts that we Christians present to Christ in our daily lives.
Gold is Christ's Wisdom which shines in us.
Frankincense is the prayer and adoration we give Him.
Myrrh is our daily self sacrifice.

[odhiambo]

September 4

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

[odhiambo]

Saint Rosalia.
Also known as La Santuzza or
 "The Little Saint"
Rosalia was born at Palermo, Sicily in 1130. She was the daughter of a noble and wealthy  family descended from Charlemagne. Her father was Duke Sinibaldo, Lord of the Quisquina and the Roses, who was a cousin of King William II of Sicily. Rosalia grew up
around the royal court in Sicily. As a youth, however, she turned her back on this priviledged life of ease and  wealth, choosing to live alone in a cave near her home. According to tradition, she was led to this cave by two angels. On the wall of the cave she wrote the following words:
“I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses, and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Rosalia remained in this cave entirely cut off from the world, dedicated to prayer and works of penance for the sake of Jesus.
Later,  probably around 1159, she moved to a remote cave on Mount Pellegrino, about three miles from Palermo. It was here that Rosalia died alone most likely on 4th of September 1160 of natural causes.
Nothing was heard from her until 1624. This was the year the black plague struck Sicily.
 Rosalia appeared in a vision to a hunter lost on Monte Pellegrino. "Don't worry," she said "I will protect you and I will protect the city". She revealed to him the site of the cave in which she had lived as a hermit and told him to go back to Palermo and tell the archbishop and rulers of the city what he has seen and been told. The hunter did as he was instructed, and those leaders found her remains and displayed them through the streets of Palermo. Within three days, the plague ended, and she was proclaimed patron saint of the city.
A sanctuary was built in the cave where her remains were discovered.
I understand that during the first week of June every year in Santo Stefano Quisquina, there is a special celebration to commemorate her miraculous intervention that saved Palermo from the Black Plague.
According to SQPN, her feast day was made a holy day of obligation by Pope Pius XI in 1927.
Saint Rosalia,
Pray for us!

[Patricia]

Gold is Christ's Wisdom which shines in us.
Frankincense is the prayer and adoration we give Him.
Myrrh is our daily self sacrifice.

Also if I remember correctly reading somewhere: Gold given to Him because He is Royalty, Frankincense because He is God, and Myrrh to represent the Passion He would undergo.

[odhiambo]

Also if I remember correctly reading somewhere: Gold given to Him because He is Royalty, Frankincense because He is God, and Myrrh to represent the Passion He would undergo.

Very true!

[odhiambo]

September 5

Today is the Feast day of
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
Among many other Blesseds and Saints.

[odhiambo]

Blessed Teresa of Culcutta.

“By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.”

Those are the words of The Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, who is also known as
Mother Teresa, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, and Saint of the Gutters.
Mother Teresa was born on 26 August 1910 in Skopje, Albania present day Macedonia. She was given the name Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu at baptism.
She was the youngest of three children born to her parents Nikolle and Drandafille Bojaxhiu, Her father was a businessman and died when Agnes was just nine years old. After completing her studies at age 18, Agnes joined the Sisters of Loreto, at Loreto Abbey in Ireland on 25 September 1928 and took the name “Teresa”, choosing St Therese of Lisieux as her patron.
It was at Loreto that Agnes learnt English while training for the religious life.
In 1929, Sister Teresa went to Calcutta, and taught for 17 long years at the Order’s school in Calcutta, St Mary’s School at Entally. Here, she learnt and mastered the local language, Bengali.
On 10 September 1946, while traveling by train to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, Sister Teresa experienced a divine call to devote herself to caring for the sick and the poor.
She sought and obtained due permission from her Congregation, from the then Archbishop of Calcutta and from the Vatican. The process took nearly two years before she could embark on the work Jesus had revealed to her.
She abandoned the comfort and security of the Loreto Convent on 16 August 1948 to go out into the world and face the harsh realities of the slums of Calcutta.
On August 17, 1948, she dressed for the first time in a white, blue bordered sari,
a crucifix pinned at her shoulder, a Bible in hand and with less than five rupees in her pocket, Sister Teresa abandoned the comfort and security of her beloved Loreto Convent. She passed through its gates and entered the world of the poor, the world of the slums of Calcutta.
To equip her for the task ahead, she took a six month intensive training course in nursing, with the Medical Missions Sisters in Patna. After that, she was ready; there was no turning back. She found temporary lodging with the Little Sisters of the Poor. On 21 December she went for the first time to the slums. From then on, she started each day in communion with Jesus in the Eucharist and then went out, rosary in her hand, to find and serve Him in “the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for.”
Continue at the next post.

[odhiambo]

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta....

She nursed the sick and the dying with the utmost tender care and, lovingly cleansing their maggot-infested wounds, washing their naked bodies. In short, she saw Jesus in every human being she encountered and acted accordingly.
After some months, she was joined, one by one, by some of her former students.
On 21 December 1948, Mother Teresa started her first slum school. In 1949, some of her former pupils joined her in her mission to the dregs of society. In 1950, she adopted Indian nationality and on the Feast of the Hoy Rosary in October that year, she founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity. She also established “Nirmal Hriday”, a hospice where the poor and the dying destitutes could die in peace and dignity, instead of on the streets of Calcutta as was the case. “Nirmal Hriday” means pure heart. She also opened a home for children, “Shishu Bhavan”. And still more, she founded “Shanthi Nagar”, a colony of peace for lepers. And many more undertakings this Blessed did which cannot all be listed.
In time, the life of this “Saint of the Gutters” as she came to be known, became familiar to the world, particularly through the publication of Malcolm Muggeridge’s portrait of Teresa, Something Beautiful for God.
She received many awards throughout her lifetime including the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. Due to Mother Teresa’s commitment, the Missionaries of Charity have expanded throughout the world, running hospices, hospitals, caring for abandoned children, the aged and the homeless.
She died of natural causes on 5 September 1997 in Calcutta, West Bengal, India .
Was pronounced venerable on 20 December 2002 by Pope John Paul II , beatified on 19 October 2003 by Pope John Paul II .
Her canonization is pending.
If you have information relevant to the canonization of Mother Teresa's, contact
   Mother Teresa Center
   2498 Roll Drive
   PMB 733
   San Diego, CA 92154, USA
   - or -
   Missionaries of Charity
   54A Acharya Jagadish Ch. Bose Road
   Kolkata WB 700016, INDIA
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta is the patroness of  World Youth Day
 
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta,
Pray for us!