Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2

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Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo
Founder.
Joseph was born on 3 May 1786 at Bra, near Turin, Italy to a middle class family. Answering to the call of Holy Orders, he entered the seminary in Turin and was ordained in 1811 and engaged in pastoral work until something happeded that directed his energies elsewhere. Here is how SQPN puts it:

“For several years, Joseph treated his priesthood more as a career than a vocation. Then one night he was called to the bed of a poor, sick woman in labour. The woman badly needed medical help, but had been turned away everywhere for lack of money. Joseph stayed with her throughout the travail, and was there to hear her confession, give her absolution, Communion, and last rites. He baptized her newborn daughter, and then watched as both of them died in bed. The trauma of the evening changed his mind about his vocation”

In 1827 he opened a small home or hospital for the sick and the poor. When it began to expand, he organized the volunteers who had been manning it into the Brothers of Saint Vincent and the Daughters of Saint Vincent( Vincentian Sisters).
When cholera broke out in 1831, the local police closed the hospital for fear that it was a source of the illness. He moved the facilities to just outside the city at Valdocco and continued ministering to the stricken there. He called the new facility the Little House of Divine Providence (Piccola Casa). Saint Joseph depended entirely on Divine Providence for the necessary funds to run the hospital.
The hospital grew and Joseph expanded his activities to helping the aged, the deaf, the blind, the insane, etc not forgetting wayward girls. The Piccola Casa became a great medical institution.
To further minister to the unfortunates in the society, Saint Joseph also founded the following:
1: Daughters of Compassion.
2: Daughters of the Good Shepherd.
3: Hermits of the Holy Rosary, and 4: Priests of the Holy Trinity.
According to SQPN, Saint Joseph founded a total of fourteen communities!
Weakened by typhoid which he had contracted, he died on 30 April 1842 at Chieri, Italy.
He was canonized on 1934 by Pope Pius XI.
He is sometimes referred to as the Italian Vincent de Paul and as the "Workman of Divine Providence".
Saint Joseph Benedict Cottolengo
Pray for us!

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It is the Month of May once again.
This month is traditionally dedicated to
The Blessed Virgin Mary.

[odhiambo]

Sub Tuum Praesidum
We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God;
Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers,
O glorious and blessed Virgin.
Amen.

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May 1
Today is the Memorial of
1:Saint Joseph the Worker
2:Saint Peregrine Laziosi
Among many other Saints

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A Prayer for Workers

O glorious Joseph! Who concealed your incomparable and regal dignity of custodian of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary under the humble appearance of a craftsman and provided for them with your work, protect with loving power your sons, especially entrusted to you.
You know their anxieties and sufferings, because you yourself experienced them at the side of Jesus and of His Mother. Do not allow them, oppressed by so many worries, to forget the purpose for which they were created by God. Do not allow the seeds of distrust to take hold of their immortal souls. Remind all the workers that in the fields, in factories, in mines, and in scientific laboratories, they are not working, rejoicing, or suffering alone, but at their side is Jesus, with Mary, His Mother and ours, to sustain them, to dry the sweat of their brow, giving value to their toil. Teach them to turn work into a very high instrument of sanctification as you did.
Amen.

[odhiambo]

Today is also the Memorial of:
Saint Peregrine Laziosi
Monk and Mystic
Peregrine was born in 1260 at Forli, Italy of well to do parents. He led a dissolute youth. He was active in the antipapal party in Romagna. He reportedly became so carried away during some public disturbance that he struck the papal peace negotiator, Saint Philip Benizi, on the face. When the Saint calmly turned the other cheek, Peregrine underwent a profound conversion. Soon after the incident, he joined the Servites at Siena, Italy, was ordained and then he went back to Forli where he founded a new Servites house. He became famed for his preaching, austerities holiness and as a confessor. His fame became widespread when a healing miracle occurred to him. Peregrine had advanced cancer of his foot and according to SQPN, had been“scheduled for an amputation. He spent the night before the operation in prayer; he received a vision of Christ who touched the diseased area. The next morning, Peregrine found his cancer completely healed.”
Thus, the Saint was miraculously cured overnight. He is now the patron saint
against cancer; against open sores; against skin diseases; AIDS patients and
sick people in general.
He died on 1 May 1345 at Forli, Italy. He was canonized on 27 December 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII.
Saint Peregrine Laziosi
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Prayer to Saint Peregrine
Oh great Saint Peregrine, you who have been called "The Mighty" and "The Wonder-Worker" because of the numerous miracles which you have obtained from God for those who have had recourse to you. For so many years you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fiber of our being, and who had recourse to the source of all grace when the power of man could do no more. You were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His Cross to heal your affliction. Ask of God and Our Lady, the cure of these sick persons whom we entrust to you.
Aided in this way by your powerful intercession, we shall sing to God, now and for all eternity, a song of gratitude for His great goodness and mercy.
Amen!

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May 2
Today we remember
Saint Saturninus of Alexandria
Among many other Saints

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Saint Saturninus of Alexandria
Martyr.
Saturninus was put to death in Alexandria, Egypt during the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian. Martyred with him were others named Neopolus, Germanus, and Celestine.
They were martyred in 304.
Saint Santurninus,
Pray for us!

[martin]

It is the Month of May once again.
This month is traditionally dedicated to
The Blessed Virgin Mary.

May is my favorite month of the year. It reminds me of my first few years at school when each May we all would stand and sing a hymn to Our lady before commencing class. 

AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.

O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God, I place in thee all my interests and desires. O St. Joseph, assist me by thy powerful intercession and obtain for me all spiritual blessings through thy foster Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord, so that, having engaged here below thy heavenly power, I may offer thee my thanksgiving and homage.

O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating thee and Jesus asleep in thine arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near thy heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me, and ask Him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, patron of departing souls, pray for us.

[odhiambo]

May is my favorite month of the year. It reminds me of my first few years at school when each May we all would stand and sing a hymn to Our lady before commencing class. 

I remember it as the Month of the Rosary and not October which has been so dedicated.

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May 3
Today is the Memorial of
Saint Philip of Zell
Among many other Saints.

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Saint Philip of Zell
Hermit
Founder.
Philip was born in England. He made a pilgrimage to Rome where he was ordained.
He became a hermit near Worms, in Germany. He met King Pepin the Short of the Franks and became a friend and adviser to him.
He was highly regarded for his holiness and miracles. He attracted many followers and founded the monastery of Zell, so named because it started from a single cell or room. Around this monastery, grew the town of the same name in Germany.
Philip died in 770 and was canonized pre congregationally.
He is the patron of babies.
Saint Philip. 
Pray for us!     

[Shin]

Ah, I have a nice little pamphlet with prayers and a third class relic of St. Peregrine's. I remember I acquired it back in the beginning days from the International Crusade for Holy Relics.

St. Peregrine, St. Philip, St. Saturninus, St. Neopolus, St. Germanus, and St. Celestine pray for us.

St. Joseph, model and patron of those who love the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

The month of May, a happy month! 

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May 4
Today is the Memorial of
Saint Florian of Lorch
Among many other Saints

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Saint Florian
Martyr.
Florian was a Roman military officer stationed at Noricum, modern Austria. Florian surrendered himself to Aquilinus, the Roman governor of  Lorch, when  Aquilinus’ troops were hunting down Christians during the  persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. He was scourged, and then thrown into the River Enns with a rock tied to his neck..
He died in 304.
He is the patron of Poland and Upper Austria.
Saint Florian
Pray for us!