Solemnities, Feasts and Memorial days of the Saints

[James - a humble servant]

June 23,

MEMORIAL OF ST. INNOCENT V

At the age of sixteen Peter of Tarentaise joined the Dominican Order. After completing his education at the University of Paris, where he graduated as master in sacred theology in 1259, he won distinction as a professor in that institution, and is known as "the most famous doctor", "Doctor famosissimus." For some time provincial of his order in France, he became Archbishop of Lyons in 1272 and Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia in 1273. He played a prominent part at the Second Ecumenical Council of Lyons (1274), in which he delivered two discourses to the assembled fathers and also pronounced the funeral oration on St. Bonaventure. Elected as successor to Gregory X, whose intimate adviser he was, he assumed the name of Innocent V. During his six-month pontificate in 1276, Innocent V continued Gregory X’s efforts to initiate a crusade, reunite the Greek and Roman churches, and pacify Italy’s warring states. As the first pope from the Dominican order, he established the papal custom of wearing a white cassock, the habit of the Dominicans.

[James - a humble servant]

Blessed Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist !

"Among those born of women, there has been none greater than John the Baptist"
~ Matt. 11:11

[Shin]

Pope St. Innocent V, pray for us!
St. John the Baptist, pray for us!

 

Congratulations on a new thread!

[James - a humble servant]

 

[odhiambo]

Blessed Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist !

"Among those born of women, there has been none greater than John the Baptist"
~ Matt. 11:11

       

"He will be great in the sight of the Lord
and will be filled with the Holy Spirit,
even from his mother's womb;
and many will rejoice at his birth. "

 Lk 1: 15, 14

[James - a humble servant]

June 25


St. Prosper of Aquitaine ca. 390-455

Are human beings saved by grace or by works? Must we seek God, or does God come after us? Are some predestined to damnation or are all free to embrace salvation? Such questions that still divide Christians today embroiled St. Prosper of Aquitaine in lifelong controversies on the issue of grace versus freedom of the will.

We first meet Prosper Tiro around 425 as a participant in the Semi-Pelagian controversy that rocked the church in southern France. Semi-Pelagians minimized the role of grace in the first steps of becoming a Christian. John Cassian and others vigorously opposed Augustine’s strict views that special grace was required for salvation and thus many were predestined to damnation. Prosper, a monk and lay theologian, championed Augustine. And in 428, a letter from Prosper prompted Augustine to write a major book on predestination.

In 431, Prosper went to Rome and obtained a letter from Pope Celestine I that affirmed Augustine and his views, and urged the French bishops to quell the dispute peacefully. But it raged on. For several more years Prosper wrote extensively, defending and popularizing Augustine’s teaching.

In his book The Call to All Nations, Prosper seems to have mellowed somewhat, allowing that God mercifully made the grace of salvation available to all human beings. In the following excerpt Prosper describes the interplay of grace and free will:

When the word of God enters the ears through the ministry of preachers, the action of the divine power fuses with the sound of the human voice. The soul passes from one will to another will. Although the will that is driven out lingers on for a while, the newborn will claims for itself all that is better in human beings. Thus the law of sin and the law of God do not dwell in the same way and together in the same person. Then the tempter tries to ambush a person through external things, but the mind strong with God’s help prevails. For there are occasions for struggle, and these greatly benefit the faithful. Their weakness is buffeted so that their holiness may not yield to pride. All good things, especially those conducive to eternal life, are obtained, increased and preserved through God’s favor.

Prosper spent the last part of his life in Rome where he served as secretary to Pope St. Leo the Great. During that time he wrote the Chronicle, a universal history from Adam’s fall to the Vandal’s conquest of Rome in 455. He died in Rome around 465.

[Shin]

St. Prosper of Aquitaine, pray for us!
St. Augustine, pray for us!
St. John Cassian, pray for us!
Pope St. Leo the Great, pray for us!

 

[James - a humble servant]

June 26

Memorial:
St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer
(1902-1975)
Founder of Opus Dei

[James - a humble servant]

June 27

MEMORIAL OF OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP

 O Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke thy most powerful name, which is the safeguard of the living and the salvation of the dying. O Purest Mary, O Sweetest Mary, let thy name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, O Blessed Lady, to help me whenever I call on thee, for in all my temptations I shall never cease to call on thee, ever repeating thy sacred name: Mary, Mary. Oh, what consolation, what sweetness, what confidence fills my soul, when I pronounce thy sacred name, or even only think of thee. I thank God for having given thee, for my good, so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely pronouncing thy name; let my love for thee prompt me ever to hail thee, Mother of Perpetual Help.

Also on this day:

Saint Cyril of Alexandria
Bishop and Doctor of the Church

[Optional Memorial]

…God the Word through Whom are all things, desiring to save that which was lost; by co-abasement unto us, lowered Himself to what He was not, in order that the nature of man too might become what it was not, eminent in the Dignities of the Divine Supremacy by union with Him, and should be rather brought up to what was above nature, than bring down unto what was alien from His Nature, the Unchangeable, as God.”

St. Cyril was born in 376 A.D. in northern Egypt. He was nephew to Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria. St. Cyril received a strong education in theology and culture, becoming a respected man of God under the mentorship of his uncle. In 412, St. Cyril succeeded his uncle as Archbishop. In 431, he convened the Council of Ephesus which vindicated Mary’s title as Mother of God. A prolific author, he wrote commentaries on the Pentateuch, Psalms, Isaiah, and the Gospels of John and Luke. St Cyril of Alexandria was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1882 by Pope Leo XIII.

[James - a humble servant]

I almost forgot !........



June 29

Happy Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

"These are the ones who, living in the flesh, planted the church with their blood;
they drank the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God." (Entrance Antiphon)

[James - a humble servant]

June 30

MEMORIAL OF THE FIRST MARTYRS OF ROME

"Around these men with their holy lives there are gathered a great throng of the elect, who... gave us the finest example of endurance in the midst of many indignities and tortures. But they courageously finished the course of faith and despite their bodily weakness won a noble prize." - Pope St. Clement
There were Christians in Rome within a dozen or so years after the death of Jesus, though they were not the converts of the “Apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 15:20). Paul had not yet visited them at the time he wrote his great letter in 57-58 A.D..
There was a large Jewish population in Rome. Probably as a result of controversy between Jews and Jewish Christians, the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome in 49-50 A.D. Suetonius the historian says that the expulsion was due to disturbances in the city “caused by the certain Chrestus” [Christ]. Perhaps many came back after Claudius’s death in 54 A.D. Paul’s letter was addressed to a Church with members from Jewish and Gentile backgrounds.
In July of 64 A.D., more than half of Rome was destroyed by fire. Rumor blamed the tragedy on Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace. He shifted the blame by accusing the Christians. According to the historian Tacitus, many Christians were put to death because of their “hatred of the human race.” Peter and Paul were probably among the victims.

[James - a humble servant]

July 1

MEMORIAL OF BL. JUNIPERO SERRA

Miguel Jose Serra was born on the island of Majorca on November 24, 1713, and took the name of Junipero when in 1730, he entered the Franciscan Order. Ordained in 1737, he taught philosophy and theology at the University of Padua until 1749.
At the age of thirty-seven, he landed in Mexico City on January 1, 1750, and spent the rest of his life working for the conversion of the peoples of the New World.
In 1768, Father Serra took over the missions of the Jesuits (who had been expelled by the government) in the Mexican province of Lower California and Upper California (modern day California). An indefatigable worker, Serra was in large part responsible for the foundation and spread of the Church on the West Coast of the United States when it was still mission territory. He founded twenty-one missions and converted thousands of Indians. The converts were taught sound methods of agriculture, cattle raising, and arts and crafts.
Junipero was a dedicated religious and missionary. He was imbued with a penitential spirit and practiced austerity in sleep, eating, and other activities. On August 28, 1784, worn out by his apostolic labors, Father Serra was called to his eternal rest.

[James - a humble servant]

July 3


FEAST OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE

John 20:24-29
Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,
was not with them when Jesus came.
So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
But Thomas said to them,
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands
and put my finger into the nail marks
and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Now a week later his disciples were again inside
and Thomas was with them.
Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Also on this day:

Bl. Joseph Peter Vyen
(1817-1838)

Born in East Tonkin (Vietnam), he was a Dominican
tertiary, catechist, prisoner and martyr. He died in
prison from the ill treatment he received there. He
was beatified in 1910.

[Shin]

St. Thomas, Apostle, pray for us!

[James - a humble servant]

July 4

MEMORIAL OF BL. PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is a saint for the modern world, and especially for the young people of our time. Born in 1901 in Turin, Italy, his time on earth was short-only 24 years-but he filled it passionately with holy living. Pier Giorgio was a model of virtue, a "man of the beatitudes," as Pope John Paul II called him at the saint's beatification ceremony in Rome on May 20, 1990. He was described by friends as "an explosion of joy." As Pier Giorgio's sister, Luciana, says of her brother in her biography of him, "He represented the finest in Christian youth: pure, happy, enthusiastic about everything that is good and beautiful."
Pier Giorgio prayed daily, offering, among other prayers, a daily rosary on his knees by his bedside. Often his agnostic father would find him asleep in this position. For Pier Giorgio, Christ was the answer. Therefore, all of his action was oriented toward Christ and began first in contemplation of Him. With this interest in the balance of contemplation and action, it is no wonder why Pier Giorgio was drawn in 1922 at the age of 21 to the Fraternities of St. Dominic. In becoming a tertiary, Pier Giorgio chose the name "Girolamo" (Jerome) after his personal hero, Girolamo Savonarola, the fiery Dominican preacher and reformer during the Renaissance in Florence.
Although Pier Giorgio grew up in a privileged environment, he never lorded over anyone the wealth and prestige of his family. Instead, he lived simply and gave away food, money, or anything that anyone asked of him. It is suspected that he contracted from the very people to whom he was ministering in the slums the polio that would kill him.
When news of Pier Giorgio's death on July 4, 1925 reached the neighborhood and city, the Frassati parents, who had no idea about the generous self-donation of their young son, were astonished by the sight of thousands of people crowded outside their mansion on the day of their son's funeral Mass and burial. The poor, the lonely, and those who had been touched by Pier Giorgio's love and faithful example had come to pay homage to this luminous model of Christian living.

[James - a humble servant]

July 6

MEMORIAL OF ST. MARIA GORETTI

Maria Goretti was born in Corinaldo, Ancona, Italy, on October 16 1890; her farmworker father moved his family to Ferrier di Conca, near Anzio. Her father died of malaria and her mother had to struggle to feed her children. In 1902 an eighteen-year-old neighbor, Alexander, tried to assault her. When Maria said that she would rather die than submit, Alexander began stabbing her with a knife. As she lay in the hospital, she forgave Alexander before she died. Her death didn't end her forgiveness, however.
Alexander was captured and sentenced to thirty years. He was unrepentant until he had a dream that he was in a garden. Maria was there and gave him flowers. When he woke, he was a changed man, repenting of his crime and living a reformed life. When he was released after 27 years he went directly to Maria's mother to beg her forgiveness, which she gave. "If my daughter can forgive him, who am I to withold forgiveness," she said.
When Maria was declared a saint in 1950, Alexander was there in the St. Peter's crowd to celebrate her canonization. She was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950 for her purity as model for youth.