Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

The story of St Josephine Bakhita brought tears to my eyes! How much gentleness and love in the face of suffering. She could have turned into a bitter woman but forgave her captors. She obviously was traumatised till the very end.
St Bakhita pray for us!!

Yes, it did the same to me.
St Josephine Bakhita,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

9 February

Today is theMemorial of
Saint Jerome Emiliani
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Jerome Emiliani
Jerome was born in Venice in 1486.
 His parents were Angelo and Eleanor Mauroceni Emiliani.
Jerome’s father died when he was 15 years old. He ran away from home after this sad occurance and joined the army of the Venetian Republic. Twelve years later, on August 27, 1511, he was captured by Venetian forces. While imprisoned in a dungeon, he prayed to Our Lady for help, and he was miraculously freed by her apparition. This miraculous escape was followed by ten years of study for the priesthood. He was ordained in 1518.
St. Jerome Emiliani lived the rest of his life dedicated to the service of the poor, the sick and abandoned children. In 1532 he founded a congregation”Somaschi” or ( Clerks Regular of Somascha). The congregation was dedicated to educating children, especially orphans.
The Saint also founded six orphanages, a shelter for penitent prostitutes, and a hospital.
He died in 1537 of the plague while serving the afflicted.
He was canonized by Pope Clement XIII in 1767.
Later, in 1928 Pope Pius XI named him the universal patron of orphans and abandoned children.
Saint Jerome Emiliani,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

10 February

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Scholastica
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Scholastica
Benedictine Abbess and founder.
Almost everything we know about Saint Scholastica comes from the Dialogues of
Saint Gregory the Great.
According to this source, Scholastica was born in Nursia (Nurcia), Italy, in 480 and was the twin sister of Saint Benedict of Nursia who founded the Benedictine order. She consecrated herself to God at a young age and took up residence at a convent at Plombariola, near enough to her brother who was at Monte Cassino.
While there, she founded and governed a nunnery about five miles distant to the south from St. Benedict's monastery.
According to Saint Gregory, she met with her brother once a year at a house near Monte Cassino monastery to discuss matters of spiritual importance.
Three days after one such reunion, Scholastica died.
Following his own death about 547, Benedict was buried, according to his own wishes, in Scholastica’s grave.
She is considered the first Benedictine nun.
She is the patroness of Monte Cassino and all Cassinese communities.
She is invoked against storms.
Saint Scholastica
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

God hears our!
God answers our prayers!
Saint Gregory tells the story of the last meeting of the two saints on
earth. Scholastica and Benedict had spent the day in the "mutual comfort of
heavenly talk" and with nightfall approaching, Benedict prepared to leave.
Scholastica, having a presentiment that it would be their last opportunity to see
each other alive, asked him to spend the evening in conversation. Benedict sternly
refused because he did not wish to break his own rule by spending a night away
from Monte Cassino. Thereupon, Scholastica cried openly, laid her head upon the
table, and prayed that God would intercede for her. As she did so, a sudden storm
arose. The violent rain and hail came in such a torrential downpour that Benedict
and his companions were unable to depart.
"May Almighty God forgive you, sister" said Benedict, "for what you have done."
"I asked a favor of you," Scholastica replied simply, "and you refused it. I asked it
of Almighty God, and He has granted it!"
Three days later, she died!

[Patricia]

Our priest told us this story today during Mass and said how kind it was for the Lord to grant St. Scholastica the extra time with her brother just days before she died! 

[Shin]

God hears our!
God answers our prayers!
Saint Gregory tells the story of the last meeting of the two saints on
earth. Scholastica and Benedict had spent the day in the "mutual comfort of
heavenly talk" and with nightfall approaching, Benedict prepared to leave.
Scholastica, having a presentiment that it would be their last opportunity to see
each other alive, asked him to spend the evening in conversation. Benedict sternly
refused because he did not wish to break his own rule by spending a night away
from Monte Cassino. Thereupon, Scholastica cried openly, laid her head upon the
table, and prayed that God would intercede for her. As she did so, a sudden storm
arose. The violent rain and hail came in such a torrential downpour that Benedict
and his companions were unable to depart.
"May Almighty God forgive you, sister" said Benedict, "for what you have done."
"I asked a favor of you," Scholastica replied simply, "and you refused it. I asked it
of Almighty God, and He has granted it!"
Three days later, she died!

Quite heart warming! 

[odhiambo]

11 February

Today is the Feast day of
Our Lady of Lourdes

[odhiambo]

Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes is the name used to refer to the eighteen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, a small town in the south of France, on the banks of the river Gave.
Bernadette was a sickly little girl. Her parents were very poor; so poor that they reportedly lived in a cellar. 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 Our Lady appeared; Here is the story we all love so well.
On 11 February 1858, three little girls, Bernadette Soubirous , her sisters Marie Toinette and their friend Jeanne Abadie went out to collect some firewood. They were all children between the ages of eleven and fourteen. On their way they had to pass in front of a grotto or cave in the rocky cliff of Massabielle.
The other two girls passed this spot but Bernadette stopped to take off her shoes and stockings to wade through the water near the Grotto. It was then she heard the sound of two gusts of wind (coups de vent) but the trees and bushes nearby did not move. She saw a light in the grotto and a girl, as small as she was, dressed all in white, apart from the blue belt fastened around her waist and the golden yellow roses, one on each foot, the color of her rosary which was hung over her arm. The apparition, she said afterwards, was very beautiful.
Bernadette tried to keep this a secret, but Toinette told her mother. After questioning Bernadette on the matter, her mother thought that it might be a soul from Purgatory and forbade her to return to the grotto. Three days later, Bernadette returned to the Grotto with the two other girls. She had brought holy water as a test that the apparition was not of evil provenance, however the vision only inclined her head gratefully when the water was thrown.
On 18 February, she was told by Our Lady to return to the Grotto over a period of two weeks. Our Lady reportedly said: “I promise to make you happy not in this world but in the next.”
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 immaculada concepciou").
The eighteeth 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!

[Shin]

'I shall do everything for Heaven, my true home. There I shall find my Mother in all the splendor of her glory. I shall delight with her in the joy of Jesus himself in perfect safety.'

St. Bernadette Soubirous

 

[odhiambo]

12 February

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Apollonia
Among many other saints.

[odhiambo]

Saint Apollonia
Also known as Saint Apollonia of Alexandria
We do not know when Saint Apollonia was born. What we know is from the account of the life of St. Apollonia written by St. Dionysius then Bishop of Alexandria (247-265), to Fabian, Bishop of Antioch.
Apollonia was Deaconess of a Christian group in Alexandria in Egypt. During the reign of Emperor Philip, previous to the persecution of Decius, an anti-Christian uprising occurred during the festivities commemorating the first millenary of the Roman Empire.
She was seized by a mob and by repeated blows broke all her teeth. The men then built outside the city a huge fire and threatened to burn her alive if she refused to repeat after them impious words (either a blasphemy against Christ, or an invocation of the heathen gods).
She asked for a little freedom and when she was released, she sprang quickly into the fire and was burned to death. Apollonia belongs, therefore, to that class of early Christian martyrs who did not await the death they were threatened with, but either to preserve their chastity, or because, confronted with the alternative of renouncing their faith or suffering death, voluntarily embraced the latter in the form prepared for them
And so died Saint Apollonia in the year 248.
She is the Patron saint of dentists. She is also invoked in diseases of the teeth.
Saint Apollonia
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

13 February

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Giles Mary of Saint-Joseph
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Giles Mary-of-Saint-Joseph
He is also known by the following names:
Aegidius Mary of Saint Joseph Pontillo
Egidio Maria de Saint Giuseppe
Francis Pontillo
Saint of the Little Way
Today’s saint was born on 16 November 1729 at Taranto, Apulia , Italy as Francis Pontillo . He was raised in this small village by pious parents and when he was old enough, he became a rope maker by trade.
Francis became drawn to religious life. He applied to the Discalced Friars Minor of Saint Peter of Alcantara at Naples, Italy in 1754 at age 25. He wanted to become a priest, but because he lacked the education, he was accepted as a lay brother.
He served his friary as the community beggar for 53 years in humility and peace.
. The work of "community beggar" is little known today; the holder of this job was to walk the streets begging for the needs of the poor and the friars, in that order. He was known by the people as the "Consoler of Naples." He would constantly tell the people, "Love God, Love, God."
He was also porter and gate-keeper at his monastery's seminary.
The saint died on February 7, 1812 at Naples, Italy while at prayer
Huge crowds turned out for his funeral.
He was beatified in1888 by Pope Leo XIII and canonized on
2 June 1996 by Pope John Paul II.
Saint Saint Giles Mary-of-Saint-Joseph
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

14 February

Today is the Memorial  of
Saints Cyril aka Constantine
and Saint Methodius
Among many other saints.