Saint of the day and Feast days.

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Saint Nerses the Great
Bishop.
Martyr.
 
Nerses was born at Caesarea in Cappadocia, in 333 or 337. He was of royal descent.  He studied at Cappadocia after which he got married to  a princess and had a son, Isaac, later to be known as, Saint Isaac the Great. When his wife died, Nerses became a Chamberlain at the court of King Arshak of Armenia. In 353, he was ordained against his will and made patriarch or bishop ( Catholicos also Katholikos) of the Armenians.
He devoted much effort to reforming the Armenian Church, instituting reforms he had learned under Saint Basil at Caesarea. He also called the first national synod at Ashtishat  in 365. He founded hospitals and monasteries. His vigorous ecclesiastical reforms, however, alienated King Arshak. Matters came to a head when Nerses denounced Arshak for the murder of his wife, the Queen. The bishop was banished to Edessa and another bishop named to replace him. When Arshak was killed in battle with the Persians, he was succeeded by Pap and Nerses returned . His relationship with Pap was no better than it had been with Arshak. He refused to allow Pap into his church until  he reformed his evil ways. Seemingly repentant, Pap invited Nerses to a royal banquet at Khakh on the Euphrates River, andthere, he poisoned the Saint. He was canonized Pre –Congregation.
Saint Nerses
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

November 20, 2011
Today is the Feast of
Christ the King.

"That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those
that are in Heaven,
on earth and under the earth:
And that every tongue should confess that
the Lord Jesus Christ
is in the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2:10-11

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20th November.

Today is also the Memorial of
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne
Among many other saints

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Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne.
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne was born in Grenoble, France on August 29, 1769
Her family was ‘neuvaux riche’
She entered the convent of the Visitation Nuns at the age of 19 and remained with them despite a strong opposition from her family. Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne is said to have had a strong and dauntless will.
In the convent, she shared in all the hardships inflicted upon the Order by the onset of the French Revolution. During the Revolution, the convent was closed.
Rose Philippine began taking care of the poor and the sick.
She opened a school for street urchins and risked her life helping priests in the underground.
When the situation improved, she went back to her old convent and tried to revive its religious life; this however proved difficult as the Order now had very few nuns left. In 1804, they joined the Society of the Sacred Heart, whose superior was Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat.
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne , from her very early days as a little girl, when she used to hear stories of missionary work in Louisiana, USA,had wanted to travel to America and work among the Indians.
In 1818, this life long dream came to pass. She arrived in New Orleans and began missionary work. She soon founded the first convent of the Society in the United States in Saint Charles, Missouri. She also started a school for girls.
In the years that followed, Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne founded six more mission stations; including the one at Sugar Creek, Kansas, among the Potawatomi Indians founded when she was 72 years old. She worked with Father Pierre-Jean Desmet in this region.
Although she did not speak their language, the Indians soon named her ‘Woman Who Prays Always’.
While others taught, she prayed.
It is told that the little children of the area used to sneak behind her as she knelt in prayer, sprinkled bits of paper on her habit then ran off. They would then come back hours later and find them undisturbed!
Rose Philippine Duchesne died in 1852 at the age of 83.
She was beatified in 1940 and canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul 11.
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne,
Pray for us!

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21st November
Today we commemorate the
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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The Presentation of the B.V.M.
On this day, we commemorate how the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Anne and Joachim, presented Mary at the age of three to the Temple of God . This was done not just in accordance with the Jewish Custom that parents present their child to God at the Temple before the age of five but also to fulfill the promise that Mary’s parents made to God to consecrate their child to Him.
Mary remained in the Temple for about 12 years, being educated in the ways of the Lord.
In a way, we can say that the Presentation of Mary to the Temple is a picture of the Baptism of infants, when the newborns are presented to God for admission into the Body of Christ.
Hail Mary conceived without sin.
Pray for us who have recourse to thee.

[odhiambo]

22nd November

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

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Saint Cecilia.
Cecilia was from a noble Roman family. She was married against her will to a young Roman named Valerianus. (Valerian). Through her influence, Valerianus was converted to Christianity.
One day, Valerianus, together with Cecilia’s brother Tiburtius, were arrested for burying the bodies of martyrs. The two, together with another Christian called Maximus, were beheaded at Pagus Tropius, near Rome.
While burying the three martyrs, Cecilia too was arrested and tried by Almachius, the prefect. She was pronounced guilty and condemned to death.
She was to be smothered to death but this was miraculously prevented. She was then sentenced to death by beheading.
The soldier assigned to kill her, bungled the execution .It is recorded that she was struck three times in the neck with a sword but did not die immediately. She lived for three more days before dying from her wounds on November 16. Before her death, she asked the Pope to convert her home into a Church.
She was buried in the cemetery of Callistus. The relics of Cecilia, Valerianus and Tiburtius rest in the basilica of Saint Cecilia in Trastevere.
Saint Cecilia is the patroness of musicians, and societies bearing her name were founded to promote Church music.
The patronage is attributed to the legend that on her wedding night, Cecilia did not hear the secular music, but sang to the Lord in her own heart!
Saint Cecilia,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

St. Cecilia! She reminds me of some words from St. John Chrysostom:

'Do not dishonor marriage by diabolical feasts. If you banish from them unbecoming, effeminate singing, dances, improper conversation, the pomps of Satan, noise, boisterous laughter, intemperance, with all that is unbecoming in Christians, Christ will be present at the wedding. But it is Satan who presides at those weddings at which voluptuous and disgraceful dancing is indulged in; and, from all the expenses incurred on such occasions, great harm results, and no profit is derived.'

St. John Chrysostom

 

[Shin]

The Presentation of the B.V.M.
On this day, we commemorate how the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Anne and Joachim, presented Mary at the age of three to the Temple of God . This was done not just in accordance with the Jewish Custom that parents present their child to God at the Temple before the age of five but also to fulfill the promise that Mary’s parents made to God to consecrate their child to Him.
Mary remained in the Temple for about 12 years, being educated in the ways of the Lord.
In a way, we can say that the Presentation of Mary to the Temple is a picture of the Baptism of infants, when the newborns are presented to God for admission into the Body of Christ.
Hail Mary conceived without sin.
Pray for us who have recourse to thee.

When I think of the depth of the holiness of her life it sounds like Heaven on earth, before death.

It makes me think all the more of the religious life, and how her parents and their community lived an especially holy and religious life in preparation for the Saviour. A model for all Christians.

[Shin]

‘Woman Who Prays Always’.

That sounds like the Blessed Virgin. What woman wouldn't want to be named this? 

 

[Shin]

'That which is now called the Christian religion existed among the ancients, and never did not exist from the planting of the human race until Christ came in the flesh, at which time the true religion which already existed began to be called Christianity.'

St. Augustine

You see the Blessed Virgin was a Christian her whole life! The community which her parents came out of, were all awaiting the Messiah, and lived from what I understand, a life like the most devout and austere religious orders. Or rather, vice versa. 

[odhiambo]

St. Cecilia! She reminds me of some words from St. John Chrysostom:

'Do not dishonor marriage by diabolical feasts. If you banish from them unbecoming, effeminate singing, dances, improper conversation, the pomps of Satan, noise, boisterous laughter, intemperance, with all that is unbecoming in Christians, Christ will be present at the wedding. But it is Satan who presides at those weddings at which voluptuous and disgraceful dancing is indulged in; and, from all the expenses incurred on such occasions, great harm results, and no profit is derived.'
St. John Chrysostom
 

This is exactly what goes on in many of the marriages I have seen with the possible exception of "voluptuous and disgraceful dancing".

[odhiambo]

23 th November

Today is the Memorial of
Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro
Among other saints and Blesseds

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Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro
Miguel Agustine Pro was born in Guadalupe de Zacatecas, Mexico , on January 13, 1891, to a rich and devout family. His father was a mining engineer.
In August 1911, Miguel entered the novitiate of the Jesuits at Michoacan. In 1914, however, he had to flee the country because of religious persecutions. He fled to Granada, Spain and then to Belgium. He was ordained on August 31, 1925.
After his ordination, Miguel returned to Mexico, despite the fact that the revolutionary government banned all religious practices in the country.
He administered the Sacraments, taught catechists and supported the poor. All these, he did surreptitiously( to borrow  from Erle Stanley Gardner), while trying to avoid government forces at the same time.
On November 18, 1927, Miguel was arrested together with his brother, Roberto. They were falsely accused of attempting to assassinate the president of Mexico.
Roberto was spared but Miguel was executed by firing squad on November 23, 1927.
His funeral was a public demonstration of faith.
He was beatified by Pope John Paul 11 on September 18, 1988.
Blessed Miguel Augustine Pro,
Pray for us!

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"Viva Cristo Rey!" Long live Christ the King.

Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro's last words