Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2

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What a beautiful gift! As the desert monks might say, the gift of tears watering the garden of the heart.
God help us to gain it! 

Quite an analogy that.
Lord, we pray for your gift of tears

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September 22

Today we remember
Saint Florentius the Venerable
Among many other Saints.

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Saint Florentius
Hermit.
He is also known as Florent le Vieux.
Florentius was born in Bavaria, Germany. He became a disciple of Saint Martin of Tours who ordained him and sent him to work as a missionary in Poitou, France. He later became a hermit on Mount Glonne in Anjou, France. He attracted so many disciples that he had to construct a monastery for them. He died in this monastery which was later renamed in his honor as the Saint Florent le Vieux Monastery.
Saint Florentius,
Pray for us!

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September 23

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Among many other Saints.

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Saint Padre Pio.
Also known as Francesco Forgione, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina and Pio of Pietrelcina.
Padre Pio was born on May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, a small town in southern Italy. His parents were Grazio Mario Forgione, a shepherd, and Maria Guiseppa de Nunzio Forgione. He was baptized the day following his birth. They gave him the baptismal name of Francesco. This was a special name in the family. It was given in honor of Saint Francis of Assissi; It was also the name of one of his brothers who had died in infancy. Two other children had also died in infancy. Other children in the family were an older brother, Michele; three younger sisters: Felicita, Pellegrina and Grazia.
Padre Pio grew up among people that had religion as the center of their lives. The little town of Pietrelcina had many celebrations throughout the year in honor of different saints.
The family attended Mass daily, prayed the Rosary every night and fasted. Although Padre Pio’s grandparents and parents could neither read nor write, they memorized Sacred Scriptures and told the children Bible stories. Padre Pio grew up in this pious family.
From his early childhood, it was evident for all to see that the child had a deep piety. He loved singing hymns and preferred to be on his own to read and pray. It is said that he consecrated himself to Jesus at the young age of five years!
Francesco felt drawn to the priesthood at an early age. Aged about 10 years, he felt drawn to a young Capuchin monk who was seeking donations from the community. He told his parents "I want to be a friar… with a beard.”
His father had to travel to America to look for a job so that the family could pay for him to be tutored privately to meet the standard of education that was needed for entrance into the Capuchin order. At age 15, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin friars in Morcone, a community thirteen miles north of Pietrelcina. On his admission, he took the name of Pio in honor of Saint Pius V, the patron saint of Pietrelcina. He was called Fra Pio which means brother Pio.
Then on August 10, 1910, the much-anticipated day finally arrived. The twenty-three year old Fra Pio was ordained a priest by Archbishop Paolo Schinosi at the Cathedral of Benevento. Padre Pio celebrated his first Mass four days later, at the parish church of Our Lady of the Angels.
Within a month of his ordination, on Friday, September 7, 1910, as Padre Pio was praying in the Piana Romana, Jesus and Mary appeared to him and gave him the wounds of Christ, the Stigmata.
Padre Pio asked Jesus to take it away. He said he wanted all his sufferings to be in secret. The wounds dissappeared, for a while that is.
On November 28, 1911, Padre Agostino, who was a contemporary, friend, and confidant, was advised that Padre Pio was ill. He rushed into Padre Pio’s room to care for him. Padre Agostino observed what he thought was a dying man and rushed to the chapel to pray. When he finished praying, he returned to Padre Pio’s room and found his friend alert and full of joy. This was the beginning of Padre Pio’s documented ecstasies.
Padre Pio had always suffered ill health. Because of his health issues, he was sent home to recuperate and was separated from his religious community from the end of 1911 to 1916.
On September 4, 1916, Padre Pio was ordered to return to his community life and was assigned to San Giovanni Rotondo, an agricultural community, located in the Gargano Mountains, Our Lady Of Grace Capuchin Friary was approximately a mile from town.
On Friday September 20, 1918, while he was praying before a crucifix and making his thanksgiving after Mass, the marks of the Stigmata appeared on his body. He was 31 years old. He reportedly became the first stigmatized priest in the history of the Church. This time Padre Pio, resigned to his fate, accepted the painfull wounds in his hands, feet and side and lived with them for the rest of his life. The blood from his stigmata gave off a scent perfume.
Padre Pio had the gift of bilocation. He was also said to levitate, and heal by touch.
He was able to read hearts and many people flocked to him for confession. He would enumerate the sins those confessing to him had forgotten. He heard confessions ten or twelve hours a day. He also had the gift of tongues, understanding languages he never learnt.
He had the grace to see angelic beings in form. As an adult, Padre Pio commented that in his younger years he had conversed with Jesus, the Madonna, his guardian angel, and had suffered attacks by the devil.
Padre Pio founded the House for the Relief of Suffering in 1956, a hospital that serves about 60,000 a year.
Worn out by over a half century of intense suffering and constant apostolic activity, the saint died of natural causes on 23 September 1968 in San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia, Italy.
He was pronounced venerable on 18 December 1997 by Pope John Paul II. He was beatified on 2 May 1999 by Pope John Paul II and canonized on 16 June 2002 by Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy.
Saint Padre Pio,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

St. Padre Pio is wonderful isn't he?

St. Florentius and St. Padre Pio pray for us!

There is also a St. Florentina!

An article about her relates the following story:

"Virgin; born towards the middle of the sixth century; died about 612. The family of St. Florentina furnishes us with a rare example of lives genuinely religious, and actively engaged in furthering the best interests of Christianity. Sister of three Spanish bishops in the time of the Visigothic dominion (Leander, Isidore, and Fulgentius), she consecrated her virginity to God, and all four have been canonized by the Church. Florentina was born about the middle of the sixth century, being younger than her brother Leander, later Archbishop of Seville, but older than Isidore, who succeeded Leander as archbishop of the same see. Before his elevation to the episcopal dignity, Leander had been a monk, and it was through his influence that Florentina embraced the ascetic life. She associated with herself a number of virgins, who also desired to forsake the world, and formed them into a religious community. Later sources declare their residence to have been the convent of S. Maria de Valle near Ecija (Astigis), of which city her brother Fulgentius was bishop. In any case, it is certain that she had consecrated herself to God before the year 600, as her brother Leander, who died either in the year 600 or 601, wrote for her guidance an extant work dealing with a nun's rule of life and with contempt for the world ("Regula sive Libellus de institutione virginum et de contemptu mundi ad Florentinam sororem", P.L. LXXII, 873 sqq.). In it the author lays down the rules according to which cloistered virgins consecrated to God should regulate their lives. He strongly advises them to avoid intercourse with women living in the world, and with men, especially youths; recommends strict temperance in eating and drinking, gives advice concerning the reading of and meditation on Holy Scripture, enjoins equal love and friendship for all those living together in community, and exhorts his sister earnestly to remain true to her holy state. Florentina regulated her life according to the advice of her brother, entered with fervour into the spirit of the religious life, and was honoured as a saint after her death. Her younger brother Isidore also dedicated to her his work "De fide catholica contra Judæos", which he wrote at her request. Florentina died early in the seventh century and is venerated as the patroness of the diocese of Plasencia. Her feast falls on 20 June. The name is written Florentia in the Roman martyrology, but Florentina is without doubt the correct form."

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St. Padre Pio is wonderful isn't he?

St. Florentius and St. Padre Pio pray for us!

There is also a St. Florentina!

My kind of Saint  
Saint Florentina, pray for us!

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September 24

Today we remember
Our Lady of Walsingham.
Among others

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Our Lady of Walsingham.
Our Lady of Walsingham, also known as Virgin by the Sea.
Lady Richeldis de Faverches, was a widow, a devout noblewoman. She lived in a manor in the village of Walsingham, in Norfolk, England. In 1061, this lady wanted to do something to honour Our Lady, the BVM.  In a vision she was taken to the Holy Land and shown the house at Nazareth where our Blessed Mother was born, where she grew up and where the angel Gabriel announced to her she was “full of grace” and was to “conceive a son”.
Our Lady asked Madam de Faverches to build a replica of this holy house in Walsingham and to dedicate it as a memorial to the Annunciation to her and the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. She gave this promise to Lady Richeldis de Faverches,
"Let all who are in any way distressed or in need seek me there in that small house that you maintain for me at Walsingham. To all that seek me there shall be given succour."
Lady Richeldis de Faverches, began work on the house immediately. She constructed a house 23'6" by 12'10" according to the plan given her.
After the establishment of the 'Holy House' Walsingham became known as the 'Little Nazareth’
The place soon became one of the greatest pilgrimage sites in all of Europe. A church was constructed around the house.
Richeldis had a son, Geoffrey, who became Lord of the Manor and Earl of the Marches. After her death he took over responsibility for the Holy House, and it flourished as a centre for pilgrimage.
Many English kings went on pilgrimages to Walsingham, including King Henry VIII, who reportedly made three, pilgrimages to the site before breaking with the Catholic Church in 1534 and forming the Church of England.
After the split, In 1534 Walsingham became one of the first houses to sign the Oath of Supremacy, recognizing Henry VIII as head of the Church in England. Dissenters were executed. Henry ordered the destruction of all Catholic shrines and places of worship. Accordingly, in 1538 the House was stripped of its valuables, its statue of the Virgin taken to London to be burned, its buildings used as farm sheds for the next three centuries.
In 1896, things stirred up again at Little Nazareth. It was found that a small chapel, called The Slipper Chapel, named in honor of those who, in the middle Ages, removed their shoes to walk barefoot to the Holy House, had managed to escape the destruction of the Reformation. A woman named Charlotte Boyd bought the Slipper Chapel and donated it to Downside Abbey. The following year, Pope Leo XIII re-founded the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. The re-emergence from the ashes, as it were, of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is due to the combined efforts of both Catholics and Anglicans. The construction of the Chapel of Reconciliation which began in In 1981, was part of this joint effort.
The feast of Our Lady of Walsingham was reinstated in 2000.
Our Lady of Walsingham,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

Haha, yes St. Florentina pray for us!

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us!

[odhiambo]

September 25

Today is the Memorial of
Saint Finbar
Among many other Saints

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Saint Finbar.
Finbar, who is also known as Bairre and Barr, was born around the year 550 at Connaught in Ireland . He was baptized Lochan. Reportedly, he was the illegitimate son of a master smith, an artisan and a woman of royal background, from the Irish court. He was educated at Kilmacahil monastery, Kilkenny in Ireland. The boy reportedly had such light hair that the monks at the monastery named him Fionnbharr (white head).
Saint Finbar went on a pilgrimage to Rome with some of the monks and on the way back, he visited Saint David of Wales.
On another visit to Rome, the Pope wanted to consecrate him a bishop but Saint Finbar was deterred by a vision. He told the pope that God had reserved that honor to Himself.
Saint Finbar preached throughout southern Ireland, and as well as in Scotland. He lived as a hermit on a small island at Lough Eiroe on the river Lee. He founded a monastery that developed into the city of Cork. He was it's first bishop. His monastery became famous in southern Ireland and attracted numerous disciples.
Many, many miracles are attributed to Saint Finbar, some really extravagant; for instance, the sun reportedly did not set for two weeks after his death!
Saint Findar died on 25 September 623 at Cloyne, Ireland. He was buried in the cathedral at Cork, Ireland. His canonization was
Pre-Congregation. He is the Patron Saint of Barra, Scotland and Cork, Ireland.
He is also the patron of immigrants.
Saint Findar,
Pray for us!

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September 26

Today is the Memorial of
Saint John of Meda
Among many other Saints

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Saint John of Meda, also known as
John of Como
John was born at Meda, province of Milan, Italy. Birth date not known. He became a secular priest first in Milan and then in Como. The Saint reportedly had a vision of the Virgin Mary. Following this vision, he joined the Humiliati in 1134.
Humiliati was an Italian religious order of lay men, a penitential movement formed around the 12th century. Adherents of this order devoted themselves to mortification, the care of the sick, and to preaching.
On the advice of Saint Bernard, in 1134, the Order withdrew from the world and established their first monastery at Milan in which he served as abbot. Other monasteries were also founded, both in Milan and in Lombardy. John adapted the rule of Saint Benedict to their needs and had the monks recite the Little Office of Our Lady daily, a liturgical devotion to the BVM.
John died on 26 September 1159 at Brera, Italy. He was canonized by Pope Alexander III.
Saint John of Meda,
Pray for us!

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September 27
Today is the Memorial of
Saint Elzear
Among many other Saints.

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Saint Elzear
Saint Elzear, who is also known as Elzear of Sabran as well as Eleazarus, was of noble parentage. His father was the Count of Ariano from the Kingdom of Naples, Italy.
He was born at the family castle at Ansouis, Provence in France in 1285.
Elzear was educated at St. Victor's monastery in Marseilles by his uncle, William of Sabron, who was the abbot of the monastery. At the age of sixteen, Elzear married Delphina of Glandieves. She too was sixteen years old. Both belonged to the Third Order of St. Francis. The young couple mutually agreed to a life of continence, deciding to live their married life chastely.
On the death of his father in 1309, Elzear inherited his father’s estate in the County of Ariano. Through this inheritance, he became Lord of Ansouis and Count of Ariano in the kingdom of Naples. He was twenty three years old. He went to Italy to take charge of his inheritance. He managed the estate wisely and with firmness. Elzear and Delphina were known for their holiness and piety and the two were regarded as an ideal married couple.
In 1317, they joined the court of King Robert of Naples, and Elzear became tutor to the King's son Charles. The King named him Justiciar, or Prime Minister of southern Abruzzi. . Acting as Robert's envoy to France , Elzear was on his way there to arrange the marriage of Mary of Valois and Charles. He fell ill on the trip, and died in Paris on September 27th1323.
Elzear was canonized in 1369 by Pope Urban V. His wife, Delphina attended the canonization ceremony.
He is the patron saint of tertiaries.
Saint Elzear,
Pray for us!