Saint of the day and Feast days.

[odhiambo]

A book of his spiritual direction under the title "The Spiritual Direction of Saint Claude de la Colombière" along with St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's autobiography are great to read!
 

The more I read about him the more I like him.
God sent him to Paray-le-Monial for the explicit purpose of helping spread the Devotion to the Sacred Heart.
He died of tuberculosis, did you know that?
It was a killer in those days. He must have picked it up from his confinement in prison in England.
St. Claude de la Colombiere
Pray for us!

[Shin]

Yes, quite a killer! I didn't know he died of it!


St. Gilbert pray for us! St. Thomas of Canterbury pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Shin, I can see you are still on line.
When you have a minute, take a 'look see' at my parish church here in Nairobi Westlands.
I posted it at CAF , Saint's thread because today is also the Memorial of Blessed Joseph Allamano, founder of the Consolata Missionaries.
Yes, you guessed it; the parish is run by the Consolata Missionaries.

[odhiambo]

17 February
Today is the Memorial of
Seven Founders of the Servites Order

[odhiambo]

Seven Founders of the Servite Order
In today’s memorial, we recall how seven businessmen of Florence , Italy , decided to leave their families, and all their earthly possessions and embrace instead, a life of prayer, penance and the veneration of the Blessed Mother.

[odhiambo]

Seven Founders of the Servite Order
A long time ago in the thirteenth century in Florence, Italy, there were seven men, all active members of a confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
On day on the feast of the Assumption, while the seven men were deep in prayer, the Blessed Mother appeared to them. She inspired them to leave the world and to live alone with God. This they did and after several years of living as hermits, they went to their bishop and asked for his advise on the rule of life for them.
The bishop encouraged them to pray and to ask for guidance from Mary. This they did and Mary did not disappoint, she reportedly appeared to them carrying a black habit. At her side was an angel bearing a scroll with the words "Servants of Mary" written on it. In this vision, the Blessed Mother said that she had chosen them to be her servants. She asked them to wear a black habit. This was the habit they started to wear in 1240. They also began to live their religious life according to the rule of St. Augustine, thus , was found the Servite Order.
Six of the founders were ordained priests. They were Bonfilius, Amadeus, Hugh, Sostenes, Manettus and Buonagiunta. The seventh founder, Alexis, remained a religious until death. In his humility, he chose not to be ordained to the priesthood.
From Holy Spirit Interactive.

[Shin]

A good day to remember their black scapular of Our Lady's Sorrows.

[odhiambo]

A good day to remember their black scapular of Our Lady's Sorrows.

So the black scapular is theirs, I had no idea. I only know about the brown scapular.

[Shin]

I've been a five-fold scapular wearer for a long time.

'Jesus Christ Himself revealed to Blessed Veronica of Binasco, that, He is more pleased in seeing His Mother compassionated than Himself. He said to her: "My daughter, tears shed for My Passion are dear to Me; but as I loved My Mother Mary with an immense love, the meditation on the torments which She endured at My death is even more agreeable to Me." Wherefore the graces promised by Jesus to those who are devoted to the dolors of Mary are very great.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Another good way of devotion to Our Lady's dolors is the chaplet of seven dolors, a.k.a. the Servite Rosary.

I think the black scapular and it go together very nicely.

[odhiambo]

18 Febuary

Today is the Memorial of
Blessed John of Fiesole
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Blessed John of Fiesole
John was born Guido di Pietro Tuscany, in a small village outside Florence in 1387. Early in his life, his parents recognized their son’s artistic talent and capabilities. He, along with his brother, was sent to the Dominican monastery at Fiesole to study painting. While there, he joined the Dominican Order in 1407, taking the name John (Giovanni).
He worked tirelessly, illustrating illuminated manuscripts. John explained his painting as a way in which he could “preach the Love of God.” Throughout his artistic career, one which art historians have labeled “perfect” for he never painted a picture that didn’t address Christian themes. It is further said that he never picked up a paintbrush without having first prayed.
As his gifts became more and more apparent, John was commissioned to do paintings and frescoes in Florence and Rome, including the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican (later destroyed). His brother, also having joined the Dominican Order, often acted as his assistant. John was always able to capture the adoration and sublime love for Christ on the faces of those he painted. It was this ability that made John of Fiesole became known as Fra Giovanni Angelico (Brother John, the Angelic One).
His life and work were recognized to be pure, inspired, and from God. He is remembered for a pious, but simple, heart and is credited with saying:
“He who does Christ’s work must stay with Christ always.”
Fra Angelico died on February 18, 1455, in Rome at Santa Maria sopra Minerva and was buried there.
Blessed John of Fiesole,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

19 February

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Conrad of Piacenza
Among many other saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Conrad of Piacenza .
The actual date of Conrad’s birth is uncertain but is generally believed to be around 1290.
He was born in a noble family and married a girl named Euphrosyne, the daughter of a nobleman, at a young age.
 The two led a virtuous and God-fearing life.
One day, when he was engaged in his usual pastime of hunting, he ordered his attendants to set fire to some brushwood in which game had taken refuge. The prevailing wind caused the flames to spread rapidly, and the surrounding fields and forest were soon ablaze. A peasant, who happened to be found near the place where the fire had originated, was accused of starting the fire.
The innocent man was imprisoned, tortured to confess and condemned to death. As the man was being led to execution, Conrad, filled with remorse, confessed his guilt. He subsequently sold nearly all he owned in order to raise money needed to pay for the damaged property.
Conrad and his wife saw the hand of God in the dramatic events, and chose to give the poor everything they had left. They then separated. The wife became a nun of the Order of Poor Clares.  He, on the other hand retired to a hermitage some distance from Piacenza, joining a community of hermits, who were Franciscan tertiaries.
Conrad lived such a life of piety that his reputation for holiness spread quickly. He had the gift of healing.
Later he went to Rome, and then to Sicily. For thirty years, Conrad lived a most austere and penitential life. He worked numerous miracles.
The saint died at Noto Province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy on February 19, 1351, while kneeling before a crucifix
He was canonized in 1625
Saint Conrad is especially invoked for the cure of hernia
Saint Conrad,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

20 February

Today is the Memorial of
Blessed Jacinta Marto
and
Blessed Francisco Marto
Among many other Saints and Blesseds

[odhiambo]

Jacinta and Franciso Marto
These two are obviously very well known to us Catholics.
Jacinta and Francisco were two of the three children (along with Lucia de Jesus), to whom the Blessed Virgin appeared at Fatima in May 1917.
Francisco Marto was born in Fatima, Portugal, on June 11, 1908, and his sister Jacinta was born on March 11th, 1910.
The three lived in the village of Aljustrel, near Fatima.
Beginning at a young age, the two children accompanied their cousin Lucia Santo to the fields each day to watch the families' sheep. One day in 1916, they saw an Angel, who told them he was the angel of peace and the guardian angel of Portugal. The angel taught the amazed children a prayer to say in reparation for sins:
"My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You! I ask pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You!"
The angel appeared to the children three times in all, reminding them to pray and make sacrifices. During the third visit, the angel appeared holding a chalice and a host, and taught them another prayer:
"Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners."
He gave Lucia, who was the only one who had made her first Communion, the host, and gave Jacinta and Francisco the blood in the chalice to drink. These apparitions filled the children with a sense of peace and the presence of God, preparing them for the apparitions of Mary which were soon to take place.
On May 13, 1917, the three were attending sheep at the nearby Cova da Iria as they often did, when they beheld the first apparition of Our Lady. Lucia was ten years old at the time. Her cousins Francisco and Jacinta were nine and seven respectively.
After reciting the Rosary, the three children beheld a great light and a woman described by them as a “Lady brighter than the sun”.
The Lady invited them to return to the Cova da Iria for five consecutive months, on the 13th day.
The children went in June and July as instructed and the Lady appeared every time. In August, they were prevented from returning to the Cova da Iria by the mayor of Villa Nova de Ourem. On August 19th, while grazing sheep in the dos Vilnhos, they received another apparition. The final apparition occurred on October 13 with seventy thousand people in attendance. During this last apparition, The Blessed Mother proclaimed herself “Our Lady of the Rosary”
A miracle then occurred involving the sun!
Our Lady of the Rosary requested that a chapel be built in her honor at the site.
Our Lady of the Rosary
Pray for us who have recourse to thee!

[odhiambo]

Jacinta.
Jacinta was born in the tiny village of Aljustrel near Fatima, Portugal in 1910. She attended school for just a short time before she died. She was therefore unable to read or write throughout her short life. She was the youngest of seven children born to poor peasant parents. By the age of six, Jacinta was helping to tend the family's sheep. According to her cousin, Lucia, Jacinta was a rather spoiled child who sulked when she didn't get her own way. She could also be very sweet and loveable. Jacinta loved everything; flowers, dancing, she even loved the lambs they shepherded.
The three of them would go together to pasture the sheep each day. They would say the Rosary at some point but decided to make this exercise shorter by only saying "Our Father" and "Hail Mary" instead of the whole of the prayers.
About a year after the last apparition, precicely on August 1918, towards the end of World War I, Both Jacinta and Francisco contracted influenza. Jacinta complained one night of a bad headache and thirst, the following day she was very ill and so began months of great suffering. As a consequence of contracting influenza, Jacinta also contracted pleurisy and pneumonia and abcesses developed in her chest wall before her death.
While she was still able, Jacinta insisted on saying her prayers prostrate on the floor. She was moved from home to the nearest hospital and then transferred to the central Children's Hospital in the capital, Lisbon. She had two ribs removed, reportedly, without anaesthesia as it was thought that her heart would not stand it. She kept insisting that nothing would save her but suffered both the extreme pain and the attempted cures without complaint. She underwent great suffering but offered everything up "for sinners, for the Pope and for the intentions of Our Lady" as well as for world peace. Jacinta had prayed that she would die alone so that she could offer this up to God as a sacrifice and so it happened.
She died in Lisbon on February 20, 1920.
After initial burial in the tomb of the Baron Alvaiazere in Ourem, her remains were moved to the same cemetery as her brother in 1935 and then in 1951, to the basilica at the Cova da Iria.
Blessed Jacinta,
Pray for us!