Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2

[odhiambo]

August 15.
It is the day we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary our Spiritual Mother.
On this day we commemorate the death of Mary and her bodily assumption into Heaven. God did not allow her precious body to go the way of the bodies of us all, i.e decay.
Mary is in heaven now body and soul. At the end of time, we too will reunite with our resurrected bodies and join her in eternal life.
Happy Feast Day.

[odhiambo]

August 15
Today we remember
Saint Tarcisius
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Tarcisius
Martyr
He is also known as Tarsicius. According to Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints, quoting from one of the Epigrammata written by Pope Saint Damasus I, Tarcisius was possibly a deacon in Rome. It was the Saint’s custom to bring the Blessed Sacrament to Christians locked away in Roman prisons. On one such a mission, he was accosted by a mob on the Appian Way. When he refused to surrender the Sacred Hosts, he was beaten to death. According to Dictionary of Saints by John J. Delaney, the incident is included in Cardinal Wiseman’s novel, Fabiola. Dictionary of Saints also mentions the fact the Poe Damasus wrote a poem about it.
His relics were originally placed in the catacombs of Saint Callistus, but later transferred.
Saint Tarcisiusis the patron saint of First Communicants.
Saint Tarcisius
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Today, August 15 is also the Memorial of another person.  I only learnt about him last Sunday when I saw his name in the Daily Missal. His story so touched me that I wanted others to read about him as well. Here it is:

Blessed Isidore Bakanja
‘Martyr of the Carmelite Brown Scapular.
Blessed Isidore was born in 1887 or thereabouts, the correct date is not known,  at Bokendela. He was born into a fishing community on the banks of the River Botato in the northeast Republic of what was then  known as the Belgian Congo , but is today properly referred to as the Democratic Republic of Congo ( Zaire) , a Central African Republic. His given name was Bakanja.
In 1904, when he was about 16, Bakanja left his village in search of work. He started off working as a stone mason for a state owned construction company. He was assistant to the headman, who was called  Linganga who, as fate would have it, was a Christian, having been baptized only about one year earlier by Cistercian (Trappist) Missionaries .
Bakanja began taking catechism instructions from Trappist missionaries from Westmalle Abbey in Belgium. He was baptized on 6th May 1906, taking the Christian name of “Isidore”. He also started wearing round his neck the Carmelite brown scapular, which they referred to as ‘Bonkoto Malia’ meaning ‘the habit of Mary’. It seems that the missionaries then encouraged all their converts to wear the scapular. They reportedly told the converts that the scapular and the rosary were the means by which they could show their Christian faith to others.
Isidore was confirmed on 25th November 1906 and received Holy Communion for the first time on 8th August 1907.
 Bakanja was a serious, good natured young man.  He took his faith very seriously and was said to be a devout Catholic, very devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and prayed the Rosary frequently.
After his Confirmation and First Holy Communion, he returned to his village but stayed only a short time before setting off again to find some other means of earning a living.
. This time he got a position as a house boy or domestic servant for an agent of a large white-owned rubber producing company, the Societe Anonyme Belge (SAB).
 His Belgian boss was called Reynders. All was well for a time and Isidore was contented with his life.
In 1908 however, Reynders moved to take a new position at a place called Ikili.
The manager of the new estate was one Andre Van Cauter, a man notorious for his unpredictable rages and brutality. He treated the workers as slaves despite the fact that slavery had officially been abolished. Productivity and profit were all that mattered to him; to crown it all Van Cauter hated Christians with a passion because Christian missionaries preached that all were equal in God’s eyes. He twisted the respectful address,   ‘Mon Père’ (Father), using the term mockingly, derogatively as a catch-phrase for priests and all that had to do with religion.
Isidore had the pious habit of praying.  He prayed often and many times, rosary in hand, he looked for opportunities to share with others what he knew about the Catholic Faith. Many thought of him as a catechist.
His prayerful ways and sharing of his Faith only served to  incense Van Cauter. He forbade Bakanja to pray either alone or with others. Things got from bad to worse when one day Isidore was serving at table for Van Cauter and the Belgian saw that Bakanja was still wearing his brown scapular under his shirt. He demanded Bakanja take it off, and when the young man refused Van Cauter had Bakanja stripped and flogged a total of 25 lashes; still, Isidore would not remove the Scapular from around his neck.
A short while after this incident, after a drinking spree Van Cauter ordered his men to find Bakanja and bring him to him.
Bakanja was brought and when he again refused to take off his scapular, Van Cauter ripped the Scapular from his neck and reportedly threw it to his dogs. He then had some of his men hold Bakanja face down on the ground and ordered first one, then another, to flogged him mercilessly using a specially designed whip made of elephant hide with nails protruding at the end.
 Although reluctant, the men knew if they did not do as they were told they would suffer the same fate, and rather than stand up to injustice they beat Bakanja savagely as ordered.
Isidore cried out  for mercy. "My God, I'm dying", he muttered. But Van Cauter kept kicking him in the neck and head, and ordered his workers to scourge him harder still. After  about 100 lashes, those assisting lost count of the number of blows, Isidore's back was one open wound with some of his bones exposed.
When the men could flog him no more because they were tired, Bakanja was thrown, legs chained, into a hut for processing rubber. He could not move , not even to relieve himself.
He was more or less abandoned here until, quite by chance, an inspector from the company arrived at the estate.
Terrified that he would be found out for his vicious behaviour, Van Cauter
 went to the hut and dragged Bakanja out, ordering him to walk through the bush to a nearby village. With his dreadful wounds, the poor man could hardly stand.  He managed somehow to drag himself along. As soon as Van Cauter was out of sight,
 Bakanja hid himself in the bush by the wayside where, thanks to God, he was later discovered by the inspector, a kind man named Dorpinhaus, who was horrified at the sight of Bakanja.
Here is  a written account of his impression: "I saw a man come from the forest with his back torn apart by deep, festering, malodorous wounds, covered with filth, assaulted by flies. He leaned on two sticks in order to get near me -he wasn't walking; he was dragging himself".
 On hearing Isidore’s sad story, the inspector, full of pity, took him to his own settlement, hoping to help him heal. Despite having his wounds tended and receiving the best of care, Bakanja died of his wounds on 15th August, the Feast of Our Lady’s Assumption, 1909. He died with his scapular around his neck and his rosary clutched in his hand.
From his words, before he died, he was in no doubt as to why he was killed and he also forgave the killer: Listen to this:
‘Tell the people that I have been attacked because I am a Christian.’ and 
‘If the white man beat me that’s his problem, not mine. If I die, I’ll pray for him in heaven.’
He was buried with his scapular around his neck and his rosary still clutched in his hand, as at the time of his death.
Isidore Bakanja was beatified by Pope John Paul II in April 1994.
Blessed Isidore Bakanja
Pray for us!
Ref:
1: EWTN Document Library:
2: 1: a  presentation given  by Carmelite Tertiary Maureen Pickman on the life and death of Blessed Isidore Bakanja, ‘Martyr of the Carmelite Brown Scapular’,
at the York Carmelite Spirituality Group’s February 2010.

[George]

With tears in my eyes.
Blessed Isidore Bakanja
Pray for us

[odhiambo]

With tears in my eyes.
Blessed Isidore Bakanja
Pray for us

 

[odhiambo]

August 16
Today we remember
Saint Roch
Amomg many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Roch
Saint Roch is also known as Rocco in Italy ; Roque in Spain and still other variants of the same name in other places.
He was born in 1295 at Montpelier, France . He was the son of the governor there. At birth, he was found to have a birth mark in the form of a red cross on his chest. Roch lost his parents when he was twenty years old. He later went on a pilgrimage to Rome and devoted himself to caring for the victims of a plague that was ravaging Italy at the time. He too became a victim at Piacenza but recovered. Roch was reputed to have performed many miracles of healing.
When he returned to Montpelier, his uncle, who was then governor, did not recognize him and ordered him imprisoned for five years as a spy in the disguise of a pilgrim. Roch did not identify himself to his uncle. He died in prison in1327 and was only identified after his death by the afore mentioned birth mark. According to Dictionary of Saints by John J. Delaney, another biographer says that Roch was arrested at Angers, Lombardy, and died in prison there.
Miracles were reported at his intercession after his death.
He patron against cholera , against epidemics , against plague, against knee problems, against skin diseases, etc
Saint Roch
Pray for us!

[Shin]

St. Roch, pray for us!

I have prayed for his help before but I did not know his story!

[Patricia]

Blessed Isidore Bakanja, pray for us!! Heart rending story!!     He died on the Assumption! What a brave martyr....to refuse to take off his scapular.
Saint Roch pray for us!

[odhiambo]

August 17
Today we remember
Saint Mamas
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Mamas
Martyr.
Mamas, who is also known as Mammas and also as Mamans, was a shepherd at Caesarea in Cappadocia, now Turkey. He was noted for his faith, for which he was martyred. The Roman Martyrology, reportedly identifies him as the son of Saint Theodotus and Saint Rufina, and that he was executed for his faith in old age during the reign of Emperor Aurelian. An Eastern tradition, on the other hand, reportedly, has him stoned to death while still a boy. Saint Basil and Saint Gregory Nazianzus, both wrote of him.
Saint Mamas,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

August 18
Today we remember
Saint Edburgh of Bicester
Among many other Saints

[odhiambo]

Saint Edburgh of Bicester.
Edburgh was born in 620 in Mercia, present day England. She was born a princess, the daughter of the pagan King Penda of Mercia. She was the sister of Saint Cuneburga and Saint Edith of Aylesbury and aunt of Saint Osith. ( So many saints in the family!). She became a nun at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. The towns of Adderbury and Edburton in England are thought to have been named for her.
She died on 18 July 650 at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. Her shrine is at Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, but her relics were transferred to Flanders, Belgium in 1500 by order of Pope Alexander VI.
Saint Edburgh,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Let us also remember today
Blessed Victoria Rasoamanarivo
Among others remembered on this day, the 18th of August.

[odhiambo]

Blessed Victoria Rasoamanarivo
Victoria Rasoamanarivo was born in 1848, in the capital city of Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Her family was one of the most influential in the country; her grandfather served as prime minister and so did her brother in his time. 
She was educated by the Jesuits and by the Sisters of the Congregation of St Joseph of Cluny. At age 15, Victoria was baptized and so became a Catholic. This, however, was a bad time for the Church;  a time of persecutions aimed at the Catholic Church. Her parents tried in vain to get her to give up her faith. Victoria wanted very much to become a nun but instead she was given in marriage to a non Christian; an officer of the royal army; the son of the Prime Minister, no less.
The husband unfortunately lived an immoral life. He was, reportedly, an alcoholic and violent to boot! Victoria, on her part, remained faithful to her vows and refused to divorce him despite the urgings of her parents and of the queen herself.  To her, Christian matrimony was, as per the marriage vows, “for better, for worse”…, i.e. indissoluble.
Her exemplary Christian life gained her the admiration of the court and the people and this approval of her was instrumental in her single handed and successful fight to keep the Faith alive in the country,  after the expulsion of the Catholic missionaries.
She publicly defended the Catholic Church against the authorities and kept the people’s faith alive. She pleaded with the authorities for permission to use the churches that had been closed. When the missionaries returned in 1886 they found a thriving Church, all thanks to her.
Victoria also prayed for the conversion of her husband. In 1888, he was critically injured in a serious accident. He, like Saint Augustine’s father, asked for baptism on his deathbed and received it through his wife.
Victoria, who was by now forty years old and without any children, decided to fulfill her childhood dream and devote herself to charity and the care of the sick.
She died on 21 August 1894 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1989.
The Pope described her as  “ a true missionary “ and “ a model for today’s laity”
Blessed Victoria Rasoamanarivo
Pray for us!