Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2

[odhiambo]

Saint Cajetan, a priest.
Born in 1480 in Italy. He became a priest and spent all his time in prayer and caring for the poor.
He founded the Theatines, a religious Institute of priests that is dedicated to evangelizing, preaching and prayers just like the apostles did.
Saint Cajetan,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

St. Cajetan, Confessor, pray for us!

[James - a humble servant]

Have a Happy and Blessed Feast of St. Dominic everyone !!!

[odhiambo]

"Arm yourself with prayer rather than a sword;
wear humility rather than fine clothes."

St. Dominic de Guzman

[odhiambo]

August 9
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Nun, Discalced Carmelite and Martyr
Memorial.

Just a few facts about this saint whose memorial is today.
She was  Jewish by birth and was born on that all important day
 Yom Kippur  that is, the Day of Atonement.
 Her given name was  Edith Stein.
As a young woman aged 14, Edith lost her Jewish faith; she was interested in philosophy and in women's affairs which she pursued to university level and beyond.
One day, years later, Edith, still not reconciled with matters "religion", came across a book,  an autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila.
She started to read this book and was hooked. All night long she was at it, reading and reading.  "When I had finished the book, I said to myself: This is the truth." she is quoted to have written.
She converted after this and was baptised into the Catholic Faith On 1 January 1922 which, that year, happened to be the Feast of the Circumcision of Our Lord.
Still later in her life, Edith joined the Carmelite Order, taking the name of Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross at her religious profession.
During the Nazi persecution of the Jews, she was arrested and deported to the concentration camp at  Auschwitz where she, her sister and many, many  others died in the gas chamber on this day not all that long ago in 1942. 
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Question about this saint.

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross is referred to as "Martyr"
I have wondered about that.
1. She was killed because she was of Jewish birth.
2. Those killed were given no choice.
I thought martyrs are those who willingly choose to die for their religious faith.

[Shin]

That is the case as far as I know, so perhaps it's either not official or a change in practice and definition for those making the reference?

[odhiambo]

10th August.
Today is the memorial of Saint Lawrence.
I wanted  us to remember this brave Roman martyr.
He was a deacon full of love for the poor; very courageous before his torturers.
Lawrence had a sense of humour. According to Tradition, as he was being roasted to death on a gridiron,
he asked his tortures to turn him over as he was "done" on that side.
Saint Lawrence,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

Prayer to Saint Lawrence

O glorious Saint Lawrence, Martyr and Deacon, who,
being subjected to the most bitter torments,
didst not lose thy faith nor thy constancy in confessing Jesus Christ,
 obtain in like manner for us such an active and solid faith,
 that we shall never be ashamed to be true followers of Jesus Christ,
 and fervent Christians in word and in deed.
Amen!

[odhiambo]

11th August.
Saint Clare, Virgin
Memorial.
Clare, born in Assisi in 1193, was just 18 years old when she ran away from home
in order to join Saint Francis and his followers.
She founded the Poor Clares and led a life of holiness, prayer and poverty.
Clare died in 1253 and was canonized in 1255, just two years after her death.
Saint Clare, pray for us!

[odhiambo]

11th August.
Saint Clare, Virgin
Memorial.
Clare, born in Assisi in 1193, was just 18 years old when she ran away from home
in order to join Saint Francis and his followers.
She founded the Poor Clares and led a life of holiness, prayer and poverty.
Clare died in 1253 and was canonized in 1255, just two years after her death.
Saint Clare, pray for us!

When the late Pope John Paul II was beatified  six years after his death, it was reported that this was the shortest period of time between death and sainthood of any one person that the Catholic Church had allowed.
It seems that the even shorter one of Saint Clare was forgotten.

[odhiambo]

12th August.
Blessed  Isidore Bakanja.
Martyr
Optional Memorial
Today the  Church of Africa remembers one of her youngest martyrs, Blessed  Isidore Bakanja.
He was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, present day Zaire, around the year 1886.
As a boy, Bakanja had to work  for his living. It was not easy to find work and what he found was often temporary which meant that he moved frequently in search of work. In his search for work, he came across
 Trappist Missionaries who baptised him in 1906. From the time he was baptised, Bakanja led a life of prayer.
 His final work  was as a house  servant of a Belgian colonialist, a Mr. Van Cauter. Sadly Van Cauter  resented Christians and forbade Bakanja from spreading  Christianity among his fellow-workers.
Bakanja , however insisted on wearing the scapular and saying the rosary in his free time.
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 him stripped and flogged a total of 25 lashes: still, Isidore would not remove the Scapular from around his neck. Van Cauter himself ripped the Scapular from the his neck and reportedly threw it to his dogs.
A short while after this incident, after a drinking spree Van Cauter had Bakanja  savagely flogged for his Christian Faith. He was flogged  to the extent of  drawing blood.
He died from the  wounds inflicted, on 15th October 1909 after having forgiven the superintendent.
Blessed  Isidore Bakanja,
Pray for us!

[odhiambo]

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.”
John 15:13


The saint the Church honors today, 14th August, Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr, is an example to us of just such a love.
Born in Poland in 1894, he was known as Raymond Kolbe until he joined the Franciscans and took the name Maximilian Mary. He was living his priestly life of which spreading the veneration of Mary was a major part.
When the Nazis invaded Poland, Maximilian was arrested and sent to Auschwitz. In 1941, he offered to die in the place of another man who had been selected for execution. He was starved for two weeks then killed with a lethal injection.
Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe,
Pray for us!

[Shin]

By the way the flora for the Assumption on the calendar is called 'Virgin's bower'.

It's a very pretty plant!

[Patricia]

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us!

[odhiambo]

16th August.
Saint Stephen of Hungary.
Optional Memorial
Stephen becamr king of Hungary in 997 and worked really hard to established
the Church throughout  his kingdom, inviting the Benedictines to go and evangelize there.
You know what?
His efforts did not go unnoticed.
On Christmas Day, 1000, the pope sent him a special crown and made him "apostolic king of Hungary"
Saint Stephen,
Pray for us!