St. Albert the Great

Albert Bollstadt was born at the German castle of Lauinger on the River Danube in 1206. Nothing is known of his youth, but he studied at the University of Padua and in 1222, became a Dominican, much to the anger of his family. He taught at Cologne in 1228, and later, at a University in Paris, where he received his doctorate in 1245. He returned to Cologne in 1248 upon the request of his Dominican superiors to establish a school of advanced learning. He became regent of the school there, and during that time taught St. Thomas Aquinas.

Albert was well learned in physics, geography, astronomy, mineralogy, chemistry and biology, and authored many writings on these subjects. His reputation as a scientist grew from his endeavors at Cologne. He carried on experiments in chemistry and physics created a large collection of plants, insects and chemical compounds. However, he is most renowned for allowing the philosophies of Aristotle to become acceptable to Catholicism: with his learned background, he rewrote the works of the great man using the science of theology.

In 1260, he was appointed Bishop of Regensburg but resigned after less than three years. However, he was still called upon to advise Pope Urban IV and was sent on several diplomatic missions. He lived the rest of his life in Cologne, traveling to Lyons in 1274 to take part in the council there.  His final appearance in public was in Paris where he defended the teaching of his late student, Thomas Aquinas.

He died in Cologne on November 15, 1280 and is buried in the Church of St. Andrea. He was canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931 by Pope Pius XI. For his great knowledge and scientific writings, he is considered the patron of scientists.

No less a sin

Not to oppose error is to approve it;
and not to defend truth is to suppress it;
and indeed to neglect to confound evil men, when we can do it,
is no less a sin than to encourage them.

Pope St. Felix III

St. Laurence O'Toole

Born in 1128 in County Kildare, Ireland, Laurence was the son of Murtagh, chieftain of the Murrays. When he was ten years old, Laurence was taken hostage by King Dermot McMurrogh of Leinster in a raid and, after two years of mistreatment by his captor, was sent to live with the Bishop of Glendalough.

Guided by the bishop, Laurence became a monk, and in 1161, was consecrated as the Archbishop of Dublin. His first act as archbishop was to begin the reform of the clergy under his charge and require the canons of his church to receive the rule of the regular canons of Arrouaise, a rule reputed for its sanctity and austerity. Laurence himself followed this rule, and as an act of charity, had over thirty poor people dine with him every night. He became beloved for his charity, and was much sought after for his fatherly wisdom and advice.

In 1175, Laurence traveled to England to negotiated a treaty between King Henry II and Rory O’Conor, the new monarch of Ireland who succeeded to the throne after the death of Dermot McMurrogh. Henry was impressed by the holy man’s piety, and Laurence successfully negotiated peace.

Laurence died on November 4, 1180, and was canonized in 1225.
Photo by: Andreas F. Borchert

This is what the powers of hell fear

Men do not fear a powerful hostile army
as much as the powers of hell fear the name and protection of Mary.

St. Bonaventure

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Born on July 15, 1850 into a family of Italian farmers near Lombardi, Frances was the youngest of thirteen children. Her parents, Augustine and Stella Cabrini, died in 1870 when she was eighteen, and Frances lived with her sister, Rosa. Though she was always a devout child, Frances became truly close to God as she grew older, and she became renowned for her holiness.

Around the year 1874, Frances was invited by her parish priest to assist at the House of Providence, an orphanage where she remained for six years. In 1877, she and seven of her close friends took their first vows. That same year, the Bishop asked her to found the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to care for poor children in schools and hospitals. She and her seven followers organized themselves at an old Franciscan friary at Codogno, and there Frances wrote a rule for the sisters to follow. By 1887, the process for the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to become officially recognized by the Church had begun, and houses were founded all over Italy.

In 1889, Pope Leo XIII asked Frances to travel to New York with six of her sisters to work among the Italian immigrants. When she arrived on March 31, she discovered the plan had fallen through: there was no building in which to teach, no orphanage and no home for the hard-traveled nuns to stay. Archbishop Corrigan apologized and suggested the nuns return to Italy, to which Frances replied, “No, Monsignor, not that. The Pope sent me here, and here I must stay,” and within a few weeks, she made progress with her mission, ultimately establishing schools, hospitals, and orphanages.

In 1892, Frances completed her most well-known achievement: the Columbus Hospital in New York. This success led to houses and schools being opened in Brazil, Chile and Europe. By 1907, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart were officially recognized by the Catholic Church. Their small community had grown to over a thousand, and free schools, orphanages and convents had been established in eight countries.

Her body had been failing for six years, but Frances’s death came suddenly. She died in the convent in Chicago on December 22, 1917. She was canonized in 1946.

The reason for our afflictions

Without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace.
The gift of grace increases as the struggles increase.

St. Rose of Lima

St. Josaphat Kunsevich

John Kunsevich was born in Lithuania around the year 1580. His father, a burgess for a wealthy family, raised his son as a Catholic and instilled in him a great love for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. As a young man John spent much of his time learning Church Slavonic as he desired to assist and participate more fully in the divine worship that he loved so much. In 1604, he entered the Monastery of the Holy Trinity at Vilna taking the name Josaphat, and dedicated his life to uniting the Ruthenians with the Roman Church.

Josaphat was ordained a deacon and soon after, a priest, becoming widely known as a Catholic reformer. While retaining unity with Rome, Josaphat opposed the total Latinization of the Ruthenian peoples and the suppression of Byzantine traditions. He was beloved for his great sermons and preaching, eventually becoming abbot of the monastery in Vilna. By 1617, he was consecrated Bishop of Vitebsk, and after the death of the archbishop a year later, succeeded him. He immediately sought unity with Rome, and began to reinstate Catholic practices that had fallen into disuse. By 1620, he succeeded in the endeavor.

Soon after Josaphat’s great victory, however, his work began to unravel. Meletius Smotritsky, the Archbishop of Polotsk, claimed that Josaphat’s goal was to completely eliminate Byzantine traditions in the name of Catholic unity, and Latinize all Ruthenians. Meletius gained a number of followers and so frenzied was the agitation against him that a plan was contrived to kill Josaphat. As he walked to church for morning prayers, he was attacked by the group of Meletius’ followers. He was beaten and shot as his attackers cried, “Kill the papist!” His mutilated body was dragged to the river Dvina and carelessly thrown into the water.

St. Josaphat was canonized in 1867, the first saint of the Eastern churches to be officially canonized.

How to deal with evil

To tolerate an evil is to consent to its existence.
Just as good produces good, evil yields evil.
When we are obliged to tolerate something evil, we must limit
the evil effects of this tolerance to the greatest degree possible
and diligently prepare the conditions for eradicating the evil,
rendering further toleration unnecessary.

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

St. Martin of Tours

Martin was born in German Sabaria about the year 316. His father, a military tribune, was transferred to Pavia when Martin was still quite young and the boy accompanied him to Italy. Upon reaching adolescence, Martin was enrolled in the Roman army in accordance with the recruiting laws of the time. Touched by grace at an early age, he was among the first attracted to Christianity, which had been in favor in the military camps since the conversion of Emperor Constantine.

Martin's regiment was soon sent to Amiens in Gaul, and this town became the scene of the celebrated "legend of the cloak." One bitterly-cold winter day, Martin met a shivering and half-naked beggar at the gates of the city. Moved with compassion, Martin divided his coat into two parts and gave one to the poor man. The part he kept for himself became the famous relic preserved in the oratory of the Frankish kings and known to all as “Saint Martin’s cloak.”

Martin, who was still only a catechumen, soon received Baptism and was finally released from military service at Worms on the Rhine. Freed from his obligations, he hastened to set out to Poitiers to enroll himself among the disciples of St. Hilary, the wise and pious bishop whose reputation as a theologian was already spreading beyond the frontiers of Gaul. However, he desired to see his parents again and returned to Lombardy across the Alps. The inhabitants of this region were infested with Arianism and bitterly hostile towards Catholicism. Martin did not conceal his faith and was very badly treated by order of Bishop Auxentius of Milan, the leader of the heretical sect in Italy. He was very desirous of returning to Gaul, but learning that the Arians also persecuted their opponents in that country and had even succeeded in exiling St. Hilary to the Orient, he decided to seek shelter on the island of Gallinaria, now Isola d’Albenga, in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

As soon as Martin learned that an imperial decree had authorized St. Hilary to return to Gaul, he hastened to the side of his chosen master at Poitiers in 361. After having obtained permission from him to embrace the life of a hermit, which he had adopted in Gallinaria, he settled in a deserted region now called Ligugé. His example soon drew a great number of monks who settled near him. Such was the beginning of the celebrated Benedictine Abbey of Ligugé. Martin remained about ten years in this solitude and often left it to preach the Gospel in the central and western parts of Gaul where the rural inhabitants were still plunged in the darkness of idolatry and given up to all sorts of gross superstitions. The memory of these apostolic journeys survives to our day in the numerous local legends where Martin is the hero and which roughly indicate the routes that he followed.

When St. Lidorius, second Bishop of Tours, died in 371 or 372, the clergy of that city desired to replace him by the famous hermit of Ligugé. But, as Martin remained deaf to the prayers of the deputies who brought him this message, it was necessary to resort to a ruse to overcome his resistance. A rich citizen of Tours by the name of Rusticius went and begged him to come to attend to his wife who was in the throes of death. Without suspicion, Martin followed him in all haste, but hardly had he entered the city when, in spite of the opposition of a few ecclesiastical dignitaries, popular acclamation constrained him to become Bishop of Tours.
Consecrated on July 4, Martin fulfilled the duties to his office with all the energy and dedication that he had demonstrated in the past. He did not however change his way of life. He fled from the distractions of the large city and settled himself in a small cell a short distance from Tours, beyond the Loire. Other hermits soon joined him there and thus was gradually formed a new monastery that surpassed the Ligugé and came to be known as the Majus Monasterium, the “great monastery” or Marmoutier.

Thus, by an untiring zeal and great simplicity Martin administered to his pastoral duties and so succeeded in sowing Christianity throughout the region of Touraine. Nor was it a rare occurrence for him to leave his diocese when he thought that his appearance in some distant locality might produce some good. He even went several times to Trier, where the emperors had established their residence in order to plead the interests of the Church or to ask pardon for some condemned person.

His role in the matter of the Priscillianists and Ithacians was especially remarkable. Martin hurried to Trier, not to defend the Gnostic and Manichaean doctrines of Priscillian, but to remove him from the secular jurisdiction of the emperor. The Council of Saragossa had justly condemned the Spanish heresiarch Priscillian and his partisans and angry charges were brought before Emperor Maximus by some orthodox bishops of Spain, led by Bishop Ithacius.

Maximus at first consented to Martins’s request but when he departed, Maximus yielded to the solicitations of Ithacius and ordered Priscillian and his followers to be beheaded. Deeply grieved, Martin refused to communicate with Ithacius. However, when he went again to Trier a little later to ask pardon for two rebels, Narses and Leucadius, Maximus would only pardon them on the condition that Martin make his peace with Ithaeius. To save the lives of his clients, Martin consented to this reconciliation, but afterwards reproached himself bitterly for this act of weakness.

After a last visit to Rome, Martin went to Candes, one of the religious centers created by him in his diocese and there he was stricken with a malady, which ended his life. Ordering himself to be carried into the presbytery of the church, he died there at the age of about eighty-one, with the same exemplary spirit of humility and mortification that he had always practiced in life.

Victory

No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross.
No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ.

Pope St. Leo the Great

The Fence

There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he should hammer a nail into the back fence. The first day the boy drove thirty-seven nails into the fence. 
The number gradually dwindled. The boy discovered that it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy did not lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence.
The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there.

"A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one."

 "Have much charity even for those who are bad. Speak ill of no one and flee from those who do so. Be very patient, for patience leads us to heaven. Mortification and sacrifices greatly please Our Lord."  Blessed Jacinta Marto

Pope St. Leo the Great

Although he descended of a noble Tuscan family, Leo was born in the Eternal City. He was already known outside of Rome even as a deacon under Pope Celestine I, and had some relations with Gaul during this period. During the pontificate of Pope Sixtus III, Leo was sent to Gaul by the Emperor Valentinian III to settle a dispute and bring about a reconciliation between Aëtius, the chief military commander of the province, and the chief magistrate, Albinus. This commission is a proof of the great confidence placed in the clever and able deacon by the Imperial Court. While Leo was away in Gaul, the Pope died on August 19, 440 and the deacon-delegate was chosen as his successor. Returning to Rome, Leo was consecrated as Vicar of Christ on September 29 of the same year, and governed the Church for the next twenty-one years.

Whilst the Eastern Empire was distracted by heretical factions, the Western was harassed by barbarian hordes. Halted in his ruinous advance through Gaul by the Roman general Aëtius, Attila the Hun turned south into Italy. Leaving blood and desolation in his wake, he sacked Milan, razed Pavia and laid waste whole provinces. The weak Emperor Valentinian III shut himself up in Ravenna, and the Romans, in the utmost terror, expected to see the barbarian invaders speedily before their gates. Such was the state of affairs when Pope Leo went to meet Attila.

They found the proud tyrant near Ravenna and contrary to the general expectation he received the pope with great honor, gave him a favorable audience, and, at his suggestion, concluded a treaty of peace with the empire on the condition of an annual tribute. It is said that Attila saw two venerable personages, supposed to be the apostles Peter and Paul, standing on the side of the pope whilst he spoke. The barbarian king immediately commanded his army to forbear all hostilities, and soon after recrossed the Alps, and retired beyond the Danube. On his way home “the Scourge of God” was seized with a violent vomiting of blood, of which he died in 453.

It was the glory of this saintly pope to have checked Attila’s fury and protected Rome, when it was in no condition to be defended. Pope Leo rose to its defense once again in the year 455, this time prevailing upon the Arian Vandal king Genseric to restrain his troops from slaughter and burning, and to content himself with the plunder of the city, thus demonstrating by his example that even in the worst of times, a holy pastor is the greatest comfort and support of his flock.

His militant vigilance was not limited to the defense of merely earthly treasures, but was above all active in the spiritual realm. Leo’s chief aim was to sustain the unity of the Church. Not long after his elevation to the Chair of Peter, he saw himself compelled to combat energetically the heresies which seriously threatened church unity even in the West.

Former adherents of Pelagius (who denied original sin and its effects and believed in man’s self-justification without grace) who had been admitted to communion without an explicit abjuration of their heresy were directed to do so publicly before a synod and to subscribe to an unequivocal confession of Faith.

He emphatically warned the Christians of Rome to be on their guard against the Gnostic teachings of the Manichæans who, among other tenets, denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, taught an elaborate form of dualism, professed salvation through knowledge and repudiated marriage as evil. His pastoral zeal in waging war against Manichæism was ably followed up by a number of imperial decrees and the edict of June, 445 establishing civil punishments for the obdurate adherents of the sect.

In Spain, the heresy of Priscillianism still survived, and for some time had been attracting fresh adherents. In response to a letter from Bishop Turibius of Astorga regarding the spread of its false teachings in his jurisdiction, Pope Leo wrote a lengthy refutation of its errors and ordered that a council of neighboring bishops should be convened to determine to what extent the heresy had contaminated the hierarchy of the surrounding provinces. He also called for a universal synod of all the main pastors in the Spanish provinces. These two synods were in fact held in Spain to deal with the Gnostic-Manichæan doctrines of the Priscillianists.

In 448, Eutyches appealed to the pope after he had been excommunicated by Flavian, the Patriarch of Constantinople, on account of his Monophysite views which denied the hypostatic union of Christ and the fact that Jesus was both fully God and fully man. In response, Pope Leo wrote a sublime dogmatic letter to Flavian, concisely setting forth and confirming the doctrine of the Incarnation, and the union of the Divine and human natures in the one Person of Christ.

In Leo’s conception of his duties as supreme pastor, the maintenance of strict ecclesiastical discipline occupied a prominent place. This was particularly important at a time when the continual ravages of the barbarians were introducing disorder into all conditions of life, and the rules of morality were being seriously violated. Leo used his utmost energy in maintaining this discipline, insisted on the exact observance of the ecclesiastical precepts, and did not hesitate to rebuke when necessary.

The primacy of the Roman Church was thus manifested under this pope in the most various and distinct ways and we cannot but admire the clear, positive, and systematic manner in which Leo, fortified by the primacy of the Holy See, took part in this difficult entanglement.

Leo was no less active in the spiritual formation of souls, and his sermons are remarkable for their profundity, clearness of diction, and elevated style. Five of these discourses, delivered on the anniversaries of his consecration, manifest his lofty conception of the dignity of his office, as well as his thorough conviction of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome.

Leo died on November 10, 461, and was buried in the vestibule of Saint Peter’s on the Vatican. In 688 Pope Sergius had his remains transferred to the basilica itself, and a special altar erected over them. They rest today in Saint Peter’s, beneath the altar specially dedicated to St. Leo. In 1754 Benedict XIV exalted him to the dignity of Doctor of the Church.

Without noise

Jesus needs neither books nor Doctors of Divinity
in order to instruct souls; He, the Doctor of Doctors,
He teaches without noise of words.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Dedication of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome

Although most Catholics believe the Basilica of St. Peter’s to be the main church of the Pope, it is not: St. John Lateran, also called the Church of Holy Savior or the Church of St. John the Baptist, is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, or the Pope’s church. “The Lateran” was built on land that the Emperor Constantine received from the wealthy and virtuous Lateran family. He, in turn, gave the land to the Church, who constructed the first basilica there in the early fourth century.

Consecrated in 324 by Pope Sylvester, the Lateran Basilica was where cardinals were consecrated to the papacy until the fourteenth century when Pope Gregory XI returned the papal enclave from Avignon in France to Rome and arrived to find the Lateran and the nearby papal palace ruined beyond repair. The Lateran was not restored until many years later, when Pope Innocent X built the current structure in 1646. One of the most marvelous and imposing churches in Rome, it has five large statues of Christ, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist and twelve Doctors of the Church, and holds beneath the high altar what is left of the wooden table which St. Peter himself used as an altar to celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Since the Basilica of the Lateran is officially the Pope’s cathedral, it is also considered the parish church of all Catholics. It is called “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput,” or "the mother and mistress of all the churches of Rome and of the world."

I am worried about America!

I am worried about America! I am not so much
worried about its politics and economics,
important though they be: I am worried about its soul.
After all, politics and economics are determined
by the sense of values which underlies them.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

St. Godfrey of Amiens

Godfrey was born about the year 1065 in Soissons, France. When he was only five years old, he was placed in the care of his godfather, the abbot of the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Quentin. Here he grew up and, in due course, became a monk and was ordained to the priesthood. In 1096 he was made the abbot of Nogent-sous-Coucy, a dilapidated abbey in the province of Champagne, where the community numbered a mere half a dozen monks who had become very lax in their discipline.

He rebuilt, restored and revitalized the abbey. Under Godfrey’s direction, monastic discipline and order were restored and the community began to flourish. News of his success spread and Godfrey was urged to accept the position of superior of the renowned Abbey of Saint-Remi. This he refused, saying “God forbid I should ever desert a poor bride by preferring a rich one!”

In 1097, Godfrey was offered the archbishopric of Rheims. This he likewise refused, counting himself as unworthy of this new honor as the previously-offered one.

When, in 1104, he was offered the bishopric of Amiens and once more refused the ecclesiastical dignity, he was ordered by the papal prelate to accept it.

A zealous reformer, as Bishop of Amiens, his strict discipline and rigid austerity – first with himself and then with those under his charge – his insistence upon clerical celibacy and his unrelenting struggle against drunkenness and simony, aroused bitter opposition among the lax clergy and even caused attempts upon his life. Godfrey ardently desired to resign and retire as a Carthusian monk during this time, nevertheless, he persevered. Finally, in 1114, he withdrew to the Grand-Chartreuse but, within a few months, the demands of his people won out and he was ordered by a Council held at Soissons and by King Philip himself to return to his diocese. Resigned to the will of God, Godfrey returned to his episcopal see.

While on his way to visit his metropolitan in 1115, Godfrey died at the Abbey of Saint-Crépin near Soissons. He was buried at the abbey and his tomb became renowned for the many miracles wrought there.

Have confidence

Confession heals,

confession justifies,

confession grants pardon of sin.
All hope consists in confession.

In confession there is a chance for mercy.

Believe it firmly.

Do not doubt, do not hesitate,

never despair of the mercy of God.
Hope and have confidence in confession.

St. Isidore of Seville

St. Willibrord

Willibrord was born in 658 in Northumbria. When he was seven he was sent to a monastery governed by St. Wilfrid, where he remained for thirteen years until he traveled to Ireland to join St. Egbert and St. Wigbert to study in monastic schools.

He studied in Ireland for the next twelve years, receiving ordination and extensive missionary training. In 690, he set out with a dozen companions for Friesland, or Frisia, to evangelize. In 693, he visited Rome to seek approval from Pope Sergius for his labors. Approval was granted and Willibrord was given relics to be used for the consecration of new churches. In 695, Willibrord again visited the Eternal City, this time with a letter of recommendation from the Frankish leader Pepin of Heristal. Willibrord returned to Frisia a consecrated archbishop, built the Church of Our Savior in Utrecht and in the year 696, established his episcopal see there.

Some years later, Willibrord founded the monastery of Echternach in Luxembourg to serve as a center of missionary endeavors and extended the efforts of missionaries into Denmark and Upper Friesland. Daily he faced menacing dangers from outraged pagans, including one who nearly murdered him after he tore down a pagan idol. In 714, the pagan Radbod reclaimed the extensive territories acquired by Pepin, and Willilbrord watched as all of the progress he had made become nearly undone. However, after Radbod's death, Willibrord began again with great enthusiasm, receiving invaluable assistance from St. Boniface (who spend three years in Friesland before going to Germany) and other colleagues, this time expanding into Holland, Zeeland and the Netherlands.

Willibrord died on retreat at the monastery of Echternach on November 7, 739 when he was eighty-one years old. For his apostolic efforts, he is called the Apostle of the Frisians.

What we need most

What we need most in order to make progress is
to be silent before this great God with our appetite and with our tongue,
for the language He best hears is silent love.

St. John of the Cross

St. Illtud

Brittany, on the west coast of France, was so named for the Britons – primarily from Wales, Cornwall and Devon – that settled there from the island of Britain during the fifth to the seventh centuries. When the Roman legions withdrew from Gaul in the middle of the fifth century, the long-established trade connections between the two peoples were reinforced by religious links from the mainland and the migrant Britons that settled in the region left a lasting impression of themselves upon the language, place-names and traditions of Brittany.

Illtud was the son of a minor Breton prince named Bican Farchog who lived with his wife in Brittany during the sixth century. His father was King Arthur’s uncle on his mother’s side, thus making him and Illtud cousins. It was while visiting his royal cousin that the young Illtud met and married a woman named Trynihid. Later, he crossed over to Britain while serving in Arthur’s army, and subsequently joined the military services of a chieftain in Glamorgan in southern Wales. As a warrior he distinguished himself and gained renown for his military prowess earning for himself the title of “Illtud the Knight.”

Grief-stricken by the loss of several of his closest friends in a hunting accident, the soldier-knight was miraculously converted by St. Cadoc, who advised Illtud to leave the military and become a hermit. For a short time he lived with his wife in a reed hut by the river Nadafan, before an angel appeared to him, counseling him to leave her. He received the monk’s tonsure and was ordained by Dubricius and lived in austerity and solitude until disciples began to gather round about him. He then established a monastery, which soon flourished and became the first great monastic school of Wales, known as Llanilltud Fawr.

According to legend, this school was situated on a small waste island, which, at his prayer, was miraculously reunited with the mainland. The story of the miracle may have been inspired by the fact that the saint was skilled in agriculture, for he is supposed to have introduced the Welsh to better methods of farming and to have helped them reclaim land from the sea.

Renowned for his wisdom and piety, Illtud is considered one of the greatest of the Welsh saints.

November is the Month of the Holy Souls

The powerful intercession of the souls in purgatory

Besides being a spiritual work of mercy and a powerful reminder of the afterlife, devotion to souls in Purgatory also affords us invaluable intercession as demonstrated by Church Tradition.
According to the dogma of the Communion of Saints, they form a part of the Church (called the Church Suffering) and are therefore united to us, and can intercede for us.

Click here:  Prayer to Our Lady to Overcome Temptation

Examples of this abound in Church History and many readers have undoubtedly experienced such intercession. We will relate a few examples below.
The Countess of Stratford, an English protestant, having doubts about the existence of Purgatory, consulted the Bishop of Amiens, France. Hearing her objection, he answered, "Tell the Bishop of London (an Anglican) that I will leave the Faith and become an Anglican if he can prove that Saint Augustine never celebrated Mass or prayed for the dead, especially his mother."
Following his advice, the Countess wrote the Anglican bishop of London. Seeing that he did not respond, she converted.
At a certain point during her reform of the Carmelites, Saint Teresa was in need of a convent. A noble named Bernadine of Toledo responded to her need and donated a place for the convent. He died shortly afterwards. Saint Theresa received the revelation that he would remain in Purgatory until the first Mass was celebrated in the convent he had donated. She thus hastened to establish its foundation. During communion of this first Mass, she saw his soul radiant with splendor at the side of the priest. Thanks to that Mass which had been said for him, he was freed from Purgatory.
Whenever Saint Catherine of Bologna's prayers seemed unanswered, she would call upon the intercession of the souls in Purgatory. She affirmed that these prayers were always answered.

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Few souls understand

Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them
if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him
and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly.

St. Ignatius Loyola

St. Bertilla

The future abbess was born of devout parents in Soissons, France in the first half of the seventh century. From an early age, she felt drawn to God and resolved to renounce the world in pursuit of eternal truths. In this resolution she was encouraged by St. Ouen the Bishop of Rouen. With the consent and support of her parents she entered the monastery of Jouarre, near the city of Meaux, recently founded under the rule of St. Columban.
Here she was formed in the strictest practice of monastic perfection and became a model of perfect obedience and piety. She was also remarkable for her prudence and tact and the duties of hospitality, ministering to the sick and infirm, and the care of the children educated at the monastery were in turn committed to her charge. Bertilla, however, had also a very strong temperament with a serious flaw: a temper. Her eighth-century biographer recounts the following incident in the life of the Saint:

“Once, when a troubled sister spoke angry words to her, Bertilla called down divine judgment upon her. Although the fault was forgiven, Bertilla worried about her curse. Then the sister died unexpectedly, choked by asthma. Not having heard the signal for the funeral, Bertilla asked the reason for the resounding chorus of psalms. When she learned of the sister’s death, she trembled fearfully. She hurried to the place where the little body lay lifeless and with great faith laid her hand on the dead nun’s breast. Bertilla ordered her receding soul through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, not to leave, but before she spoke with Him, to forgive her anger against her. And God permitted the spirit that had left the body to return to the corpse. To the amazement of all, the revived cadaver drew breath. Looking at the servant of God, she said: “What have you done, sister? Why did you retrieve me from the way of light?”
“I beg you sister,” said Bertilla humbly, “to give me words of forgiveness, for once I cursed you when you had a troubled spirit.”
“May God forgive you,” said the nun. “I harbor no resentment in my heart against you now and I love you. Please entreat God for me and permit me to go in peace and don’t hold me back. For I am ready for the bright road and now I cannot start without your permission.”
“Go then in the peace of Christ,” said Bertilla, “and pray for me, sweet sister.”

When St. Bathildis, the wife of King Clovis II, founded the Benedictine Abbey of Notre-Dame-des-Chelles about the year 658, Bertilla became its first abbess. She governed the abbey with austerity and virtue, attracting many by her example. The saintly queen herself retired to Chelles in 664 and died there in 680. Attracted by the news of the holy abbess, Hereswitha, the sister of St. Hilda and widow of the king of the East Angles, also joined. Having served as Abbess of Chelles for forty-six years, during which time her reputation for humility and gentleness spread widely, Bertilla died around the year 705.

How to do the job well

If teaching and preaching is your job,
then study diligently and apply yourself
to whatever is necessary for doing the job well.

Be sure that you first preach by the way you live.

St. Charles Borromeo

St. Charles Borromeo

Charles was born into a family both noble and devout and divided his early years between the family’s Castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore and their palace in Milan. At twelve he was admitted to minor clerical orders and received the revenues from a wealthy abbey nearby, but he showed his upright character by assigning the money to the poor except for those funds needed for his education. His college career paralleled that of St. Peter Canisius in that he avoided all circumstances and friendships that would compromise his purity of life. It differed, however, by receiving his doctorate in canon law at the University of Pavia.

Due to his extraordinary talent and seriousness, Charles took charge of all family business at the request of his father and older brother despite his youth. He even found time to restore the ancient monastic discipline in the abbey of which he was titular abbot. One week into his pontificate, Pius IV summoned him to Rome. Promotions and responsibilities soon followed, all leading to his appointment as Papal Secretary of State and Archbishop of Milan, although he was not permitted to reside in Milan during his uncle’s lifetime. His thoroughness, modesty, and zeal for work had the effect of concealing his capacity for superior judgment in handling the affairs of both the Church and the State, especially when he refused to enrich himself in the manner of the Renaissance era prelates. Virtually all diplomatic correspondence passed through his hands, to the point that historians cannot determine which instructions originated with the Pope and which came from his young administrator. William T. Walsh believes the reform of the Church during Pius IV’s pontificate was chiefly accomplished through the effort of his nephew, whose body is incorrupt to this day. Despite the uprightness of his life and self-sacrificing devotion to Church affairs, Charles did not practice the strict austerities and self-denial of his later years. He was exceptionally fond of hunting and paid much attention to the magnificence of his own household, which consisted of 150 servants. The improvement of his family’s circumstances also occupied much of his attention. His brother had married the daughter of the Duke of Urbina, a member of the illustrious della Rovere family, and his sisters made wealthy marriages with the Gonzaga and Colonna. Then with the family rising to the heights of the Farnese and de Medici, his brother died after a short illness at the age of twenty-seven. Although a Cardinal and administrator of the vacant diocesan see of Milan, Papal Secretary of State, and entrusted with the government of the Papal States, as well as supervisor of the Franciscans, the Carmelites and the Order of Malta, Charles was still only a sub-deacon at the time, which nevertheless precluded marriage. Many of his more worldly-minded relatives thought that he would certainly seek a dispensation and pursue fame and fortune to maintain his family’s position. But his brother’s sudden death opened his eyes to the vanity of such ambitions and Charles resolved instead to embrace his ecclesiastical state entirely. He was ordained a priest on September 4, 1563 and consecrated a bishop on December 7 the same year. He adopted a strict, ascetic life of prayer and fasting after making the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, now intent upon fulfilling the duties of his ecclesiastical office with dignity and without reserve.

Pope Pius IV had reopened the third and last period of the Council of Trent at the beginning of 1562 against strong opposition from numerous prelates who saw that their unwarranted privileges and incomes would be curtailed and many sovereigns who saw that their authority over Church matters would be contested. Yet the bark of Saint Peter steered through all the obstacles to bring the Council to a successful conclusion two years later.

Retained in Rome by the Pope and the heavy duties incumbent upon him by the work of the Council, Charles governed his diocese my means of personal representatives through whom he convoked a diocesan synod for the promulgation of the decrees of the Council. He began the much-needed reform of the clergy by fulfilling all things required in himself first, thus leading by example. The widespread clerical abuses required skilful and tactful treatment. Ecclesiastical discipline and the education of youth were foremost in his thoughts but his pastoral solicitude encompassed every detail involved in the monumental work: repression of avaricious priests, the founding and staffing of seminaries for the proper formation of the clergy, liturgical ceremony and church music, the manner of preaching, the renewal of strict observance of rule in the convents, etc. This last mentioned brought down upon him the wrath and displeasure of some of his own relatives, two Dominican aunts, sisters of Pope Pius IV. Notwithstanding the opposition and difficulties, Charles persevered, sparing himself in nothing. The apostolic zeal and charity with which he reformed his own household bore fruit in the remarkable number of its members who became distinguished bishops and prelates. The austerities which he practiced amidst the incredible fatigues of his apostolic life seem almost excessive.

Doctrinal and disciplinary controversies and heated disputes of every kind, both ecclesiastical and temporal; complicated questions of spiritual and civil jurisdictions; fierce attacks upon the rights of the Church and life-threatening physical attacks upon himself; heresy, witchcraft, sorcery and wickedness of every sort, libelous personal accusations and epidemic plagues – he faced them all with a moral courage and equanimity that won the grudging admiration of even his most bitter enemies. Ravaged by relentless attacks from every side, the Church weathered the fierce storm of the pseudo-Reformation. From the bosom of the Church, God called forth great saints in that era and they rallied to Her defense like ardent lions – souls of grandeur, on fire with the love of God and zeal for souls. The Church and Faith under attack brought forth unparalleled sanctity. Among these great saints of the sixteenth century is St. Charles Borromeo.

Physically worn out by the crushing weight of his many duties and responsibilities, he seemed to know when death was at hand and yet was determined to work as long as he had strength left. Towards the end of 1584, his health took a definite turn. In October he began his annual retreat and began his preparation for death with a general confession. Plagued with recurrent bouts of high fever, he carried on: visitations, correspondence, consultations. Indefatigable to the end, his ardent soul wore out his frail body. He died at Milan on November 3, 1584 at the age of forty-six. He was canonized in 1610 by Pope Paul V.

1st Friday & 1st Saturday Devotions

 

NINE FIRST FRIDAYS DEVOTION

When Our Lord appeared to Saint Margaret Mary in 1673, He promised to grant the following favors to all those who practiced devotion to His Sacred Heart:

12 Promises of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary:

1)  I will give them all the graces necessary for their state of life.

2)  I will give peace in their families.

3)  I will console them in all their troubles.

4)  I will be their refuge in life and especially in death.

5)  I will abundantly bless all their undertakings.

6)  Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.

7)  Tepid souls shall become fervent.

8)  Fervent souls shall rise speedily to great perfection.

9)  I will bless those places wherein the image of my Sacred Heart shall be exposed and venerated.

10) I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.

11) Persons who propagate this devotion shall have their names eternally written in my Heart.

12) In the excess of the mercy of my heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the First Fridays, for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance: they will not die in my displeasure, nor without receiving the sacraments; and my Heart will be their secure refuge in that last hour.

A veritable treasure chest of spiritual gems! And what does He ask of us in return?

How to complete the Nine First Fridays Devotion:
On the first Friday of nine consecutive months:

1. Receive Holy Communion on each of the First Fridays;

2. The nine first Fridays must be consecutive;

3. They must be made in honor of and in reparation to His Sacred Heart.

Click here for more about this Devotion

 

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 FIVE FIRST SATURDAYS DEVOTION

In December of 1925, Our Lady appeared to Sister Lucia, giving her the following guaranty of salvation for those who complete the First Five Saturdays Devotion:

“I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls."

Why Five Saturdays?
The five first Saturdays correspond to the five kinds of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary:

1) Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception.

2) Blasphemies against her virginity.

3) Blasphemies against her divine maternity, at the same time the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all men.

4) Instilling indifference, scorn and even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children.

5) Direct insults against Her sacred images.

How to complete the Five First Saturdays Devotion:
On the first Saturday of five consecutive months:

1. Go to confession;

2. Receive Holy Communion;

3. Say five decades of the Rosary;

4. Keep Our Lady company for 15 minutes, meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary;

5. Have the intention of making reparation to Our Lady for the offenses listed above.

Click here for more about this powerful Devotion

The Rosary Saves Soldiers in Kuwait

Veronica first learned of the Rosary as a small girl watching her father fingering the beads. At first she thought he was “playing” with the shiny strand, but later, realizing the full meaning of her father’s action, and under the promptings of Grace, she became a devotee of the Rosary as well.

Click here to Order your free Rosary booklet

The recitation of the Rosary was always a great help to Veronica, who felt the Blessed Mother’s protection in her life. But then, when her youngest son, Randy, was stationed in Kuwait during Desert Storm, the devotion was to play a crucial role.
While attending a convention of Catholic Women, and greatly concerned for her son’s safety, she confided to a presiding priest that Randy was serving overseas. The good priest then suggested she and others in the group join him in praying a Rosary for Randy’s safety and other pressing intentions. Something compelled Father and the ladies not only to say five decades, but to persevere for several hours.
Two weeks later Veronica received a letter from her son in which he described that he and fellow soldiers had been in a harrowing conflict. As the bullets whizzed by, he feared for his and his buddies’ lives and prayed with all his heart. Suddenly, a great calm came over him and he heard a voice, “from the sky” that assured him they would be alright.
Conferring dates and times, mother and son marvelled at finding that the time in which he and the others were in dire peril was the same day and hour Father, Veronica and her friends were persevering in reciting the Rosary.
Note: Based on a story from 101 Inspirational Stories of the Rosary by Sister Patricia Proctor, OSC

God gives this to those whom he wishes to save

Devotion to you, O Blessed Virgin, is a means of salvation
which God gives to those whom he wishes to save.

St. John Damascene

St. Martin de Porres

Born in Lima, Peru on December 9, 1579, Martin was the illegitimate son of Juan de Porras, a noble Spanish knight, and Ana Velázquez, a freed black slave from Panama. To his father’s great displeasure, Martin had inherited his mother’s features and dark skin, and while he acknowledged him as his son, soon after the birth of Martin’s sister Juana, Juan de Porras left the children to the care of their mother.

At the age of twelve, his mother apprenticed Martin to a barber-surgeon from whom he learned not only the duties of a barber but also how to draw blood and to prepare and administer medicine. Three years later, he entered the Dominican Priory of the Holy Rosary in Lima where he applied himself to the lowliest tasks. After many years, under obedience to his religious superiors, he was compelled to accept the habit of a professed lay brother, an honor that he had considered too great for himself.

Devoted to Our Lord’s Passion from his childhood, he lived a life of almost constant prayer. His charity, humility and obedience were extraordinary and he practiced unbelievable austerities. As almoner, Martin was charged with distributing the Priory’s alms to the poor. Oftentimes, it was noted that when the food was insufficient for the needs at hand, it miraculously increased. His skills as a surgeon were also in great demand within and outside the Priory walls and he was put in charge of caring for the sick, a duty he exercised with unfailing patience. With equal charity he ministered to Spanish nobles and the lowliest slaves, recently arrived from Africa. Cures became too numerous to count. But it was as much by his prayers as through his medical ability that he cured the most daunting diseases. Although he never left Lima once he entered the Dominican Order, Martin was seen in foreign countries by people who knew him well. He was known to bilocate to the bedside of the sick, consoling them in their sufferings, often curing them of their infirmities; he reserved his most tender solicitude for the dying. During prayer, he was often seen in ecstasy before the Blessed Sacrament, suspended in midair and surrounded by light.

St. Martin was a contemporary and close friend of both St. John Massias and St. Rose of Lima. Before his death, among other works of charity, he who had been abandoned by his own father founded a residence for orphans and abandoned children. He died on November 3, 1639 after a long and painful illness. The entire population of Lima, high-born and low, flocked to his funeral, at which the Prior himself officiated. Four of the humble lay brother’s closest friends – the Viceroy, the Archbishop of Mexico, the Bishop of Cuzco and the Judge of the Royal Court – carried his body to its resting place. Martin was beatified in 1837 and canonized in 1962.

Solemnity of All Souls

The “Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed” is founded upon the Catholic Church’s doctrine that those faithful who have not been cleansed from the temporal punishment due to sin and from their attachment to sin cannot enjoy the Beatific Vision in heaven immediately upon their death and that they may be assisted by the prayers, almsgiving, and sacrifices of the living.

This duty of charity observed by the people of God in the Old Testament was continued by the Church in the New Testament. Over time, it found expression not only in the public and private prayers of the faithful and in their cultural and religious traditions, but particularly in the singing of the Office for the Dead and in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the “Poor Souls in Purgatory”.

In the eleventh century, the tradition established by St. Odilo of Cluny for the monasteries  of his order, spread to other religious congregations and thence to the universal Church. Thus, the many different regional dates for commemorating the dead that had arisen throughout the Church gave way to the universal observance of “All Souls’ Day” on November 2.

The Church grants many indulgences to the prayers and devout practices of the faithful on this feast day and during the entire month of November when they are offered for the relief and the release of the Holy Souls.

Even now I can pray for the happy death of my great-grandfather

Padre Pio was asked why he prayed for the happy death
of his great-grandfather who had already passed away.
He said, “For the Lord, the past doesn’t exist; the future doesn’t exist.
Everything is an eternal present. Those prayers had already been taken into account.
And so I repeat that even now I can pray for the happy death of my great-grandfather.”

– from the book, The Holy Souls by Alessio Parente, OFM Cap.

Solemnity of All Saints

The Solemnity of All Saints is celebrated on November 1 and was instituted to honor all the saints, those known and the vast number of those unknown.

The solemn commemoration of each martyr’s death became a practice among the early Christians who would gather at the place of their martyrdom on the anniversary of their death. Groups of martyrs who died on the same day were naturally commemorated together on the same day. However, during the persecutions of Diocletian in the third century, such was the vast number of Christian martyrs that the Church, desiring that each should be honored and venerated, a common day was appointed for all of them. At first only the martyrs and the Precursor, St. John the Baptist, were venerated in this solemn manner. Gradually, as a regular process of canonization was established, other saints were added to this practice.

The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs (c.1423-24)
Tempera on wood by Fra Angelico – National Gallery, London

In the year 609 or 610, Pope Boniface IV had 28 wagon loads of the martyrs’ bones carted to the Pantheon, a Roman temple dedicated to the pagan gods. On May 13, he rededicated the temple as a Christian church and consecrated it to the Blessed Virgin and All the Martyrs. The Pontiff had the relics of the martyrs buried beneath it in order that, “the memory of all the saints might in the future be honored in the place which had formerly been dedicated to the worship not of gods but of demons,” according to the Venerable Bede.  From this date, on which the translation of the relics of the early Christian martyrs took place, the Pope ordered the solemn commemoration of their memory. In the following century, Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in the Basilica of Saint Peter to All the Saints and fixed November 1 for their solemn feast day.  A hundred years later, his namesake, Pope Gregory IV, extended the celebration of the Feast of All Saints to the universal Church.

Impatient?

A person who believes in nothing beyond this world
is very impatient, because he has only a limited time in
which to satisfy his many wants. The more materialistic
a civilization is, the more it is in a hurry.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Through Mary and with Mary

If you want to grow in perfection,
you cannot advance by yourselves
– you need a guide.

Hence, when you go to God,
go through Mary and with Mary!

St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe

St. Wolfgang of Ratisbon

Sankt Wolfgang im Salzkammergut parish church ( Upper Austria ). Saint Wolfgang´s chapel: Fresco at the ceiling – Saint Wolfgang making the devil build a church.

Wolfgang, born around 930, was of the family of the Swabian counts of Pfullingen.

As a young man he was sent to the renowned Benedictine Abbey on the monastic island of Reichenau located on Lake Constance. Here he became a friend of Henry, the brother of the Bishop of Wurzburg. They studied together at the cathedral school there.

Henry became acquainted with Wolfgang’s intelligence and capacity, and when he was consecrated Archbishop of Trier in 956, Wolfgang helped him with the improvements of religion in his diocese.

After the Archbishop’s death in 964, Wolfgang became a Benedictine in the monastery of Einsiedeln. There, he was appointed director of the school of the monastery.  St. Ulric, Bishop of Augsburg, ordained Wolfgang a priest, and for a while was sent to preach to the Magyars of Pannonia.

After this mission, the results of which did not correspond to his zeal, he was recommended to Otto II for the ecclesiastical seat of Ratisbon (present-day Regensburg in Bavaria), and though he begged to return to his monastery, was consecrated in 972.

Never quitting the monastic habit, and practicing all the austerities of monastic life, Wofgang ruled his diocese with fortitude and wisdom. One of the first things he set out to do was to reform the clergy, as well as monasteries, specially two disorderly nunneries.

He generously worked with Emperor Otto II in the reduction of his large diocese and the resultant formation of the diocese of Prague whose first bishop was St. Aldabert.  He also took part in several imperial diets, and in 978 accompanied Otto in his campaign to Paris.

While traveling on the Danube to the south of Austria, he fell ill at the village of Pupping. At his request he was carried into the chapel of St. Othmar, where he breathed his last. His body, taken back to Bishop of Ratisbon by friends, was solemnly interred in the chapel of St. Emmeran where many miracles occurred. He was canonized in 1042.

The Church still lives on

All past persecutors of the Church are now no more, but
the Church still lives on.
The same fate awaits modern persecutors; they, too, will pass on, but
the Church of Jesus Christ will always remain,
for God has pledged His Word
to protect Her and be with Her forever, until the end of time.

St. John Bosco

St. Alphonsus Rodriguez

Alfonso was the third child of a well-to-do merchant in Segovia. He met the Jesuits early on when Blessed Peter Fabre and another stayed with them for a while, and at fourteen was sent to Alcala to study under the Order.

But his father soon died and he carried on the business with his mother. At twenty-three, his mother retiring, he ran it alone. He married Maria Suarez with whom he had two children, a girl and a boy.

But business began to go badly, then his little girl died and after, his wife. Two years later his mother died, and this succession of misfortunes turned Alfonso’s thoughts to what God might be calling him.

After selling his business, he moved in with his two sisters, pious women who initiated him in the practice of meditative prayer, to which he took assiduously.

After a few years his son also died, and dividing all he had left between his sisters and the poor of Segovia, he applied to the Jesuits. Being forty, and not too strong in health, he was refused. With the support of a friend, Father Louis Santander, S.J., he put himself through Latin school, and was finally accepted in the Jesuit Order as a lay brother.

Sent to the College of Montefiascone in the island of Mallorca, he was made hall-porter. He fulfilled this duty until too old and infirm. At this post he was known by all: clergymen, noblemen, students, professionals, poor men, merchants, etc. All grew to respect and love Br. Alphonsus. One of his “pupils” was St. Peter Claver.

Every minute that he was not working was dedicated to prayer, and Alphonsus developed a deep intimacy with God, though he had periods of painful aridity.   He wrote many a manuscript on the spiritual life, which, after his death, was published as “Obras Espirituales del Beato Alfonso Rodriguez”.

In October, 1617 Alphonsus sensed that his end was at hand.  After receiving Holy Communion on October 29, all pain of mind and body left him. He lay in an unbroken ecstasy until midnight of October 31, when a terrible agony began. After half an hour he again became peaceful. Looking around lovingly at his brethren, he kissed the crucifix, cried out “Jesus”, and died.

He was canonized in 1888 with St. Peter Claver.

Value vs. love

An action of small value
performed with much love of God
is far more excellent
than one of a higher value
performed with less love of God.

St. Francis de Sales

St. Narcissus of Jerusalem

Born toward the end of the first century, Narcissus was advanced in age when he was elected bishop of Jerusalem. Many miracles were attributed to the saintly prelate, one of which the historian Eusebius relates: the deacons being out of oil for the lamps to be used in the Easter Vigil liturgical solemnities, the bishop bade them draw water from a well. Pronouncing a blessing over this water, he poured it into the lamps, and it immediately turned to oil to the astonishment of all the faithful. Some of this oil was still preserved when Eusebius wrote of the miracle.
The general veneration of all good men for this holy bishop could not shelter him from evil tongues. Three incorrigible sinners, resentful of Narcissus’ strictness in the observance of ecclesiastical discipline, accused him of an atrocious crime, which Eusebius does not specify. They stressed the “truth” of their shameless slander by terrible oaths: one wished that he would perish by fire, the other to be struck with leprosy, and the other that he to be made blind.

Despite the fact that the faithful unwaveringly believed their bishop innocent, Narcissus – notwithstanding the shock of the detestable calumny – retired into solitude.

Sometime later, divine vengeance pursued the calumniators:  the first man died with his whole family in a fire that consumed his home; the second contracted leprosy, and the third, deeply repentant, died blind from the amount of tears he shed.

So that Jerusalem was not left without a pastor, the surrounding bishops appointed three consecutive pastors to lead the church. On the third bishop’s term, Narcissus reappeared, as one returned from the dead. His innocence having been authentically proven, his whole flock wished to reinstate him. Narcissus acquiesced, but because of his great age, he soon asked St. Alexander to be his coadjutor.

Narcissus continued to serve his flock and even other churches by his earnest prayers and exhortations as St. Alexander testifies in a letter to the Arsinoites in Egypt. In this letter he writes that Narcissus was, at that time, one hundred and sixteen years old. The Roman Martyrology honors his memory on October 29.

In their agony

The Blessed Virgin Mary comforts and refreshes
those who are in their last agony.

Then she also receives their souls at death.

St. Vincent Ferrer

Sts. Simon and Jude

Simon, surnamed the Zealot, may have been part of the group of that name, which repudiated foreign domination of Israel. Beyond the fact that he was chosen by Our Lord as one of the twelve Apostles, there is no mention of him in the Gospels. According to Western tradition, after preaching in Egypt, he joined St. Jude in Syria and suffered martyrdom there.

Jude, also known as Thaddeus, is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus.  Mentioned twice in the Gospels (John 6:16 and Acts 1:13), he is thought to have been a cousin of Our Lord on St. Joseph’s side.

His attribute is the club or ax, by means of which he is thought to have suffered martyrdom. The most generally recognized depiction of St. Jude, the apostle holds a medallion with the face of the Lord, possibly linked to the image of Edessa.

The legend of the image of Edessa is recorded in the Historia Ecclesiastica written by Eusebius. According to the account, King Abgar, being ill, sent a letter to Jesus through a messenger by the name of Hannan. In this letter Abgar asked Jesus for a cure. Hannan either painted an image of the face of Jesus, or received it miraculously, by Jesus lifting a cloth to His face and imprinting His image upon it. The royal messenger brought the image back to Edessa. After the death of our Holy Savior, the apostle Thomas sent Jude to Abgar, and Jude cured the king miraculously. Astonished, the king accepted Christianity and many of his subjects were baptized.

St. Jude is also depicted with a flame above his forehead indicating that he received the Holy Ghost with the other apostles at Pentecost.

According to tradition, after Jude’s martyrdom, pilgrims visited his grave and many experienced his powerful intercession. St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Bernard had visions from God in which they were shown St. Jude as “The Patron Saint of the Impossible.”

His relics were brought from Beirut to Rome and today rest alongside those of St. Simon in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Blood-stained

They will have the two-edged sword of the word of God in their mouths
and the blood-stained standard of the Cross on their shoulders.
They will carry the crucifix in their right hand
and the rosary in their left,
and the holy names of Jesus and Mary on their heart.
The simplicity and self-sacrifice of Jesus 
will be reflected in their whole behavior.

St. Louis de Montfort

St. Frumentius of Ethiopia

Around the year 330, Meropius, a Christian philosopher of Tyre, undertook a voyage to the coast of Arabia. With him were two young pupils, Frumentius and Aedesius.

On the voyage homeward, their vessel docked at an Ethiopian port. Falling out with some of the sailors, the natives massacred the crew and passengers, with the exception of the two lads who were studying under a tree at some distance.

When found, they were taken to the king who, impressed with their demeanor and knowledge, made Aedesius his cupbearer, and the elder, Frumentius, his secretary.

On his deathbed, in gratitude for their services, this prince granted them liberty. But the queen, regent for her young son, begged them to stay and help her, which they did.

Frumentius, having the principal management of affairs, convinced several Christian merchants who traded in Aksum to settle in the country, procuring for them all sorts of privileges and conveniences for religious worship.

When the young prince came of age and became king, ruling with his brother, the two Tyrians resigned their posts despite the young king’s entreaties that they remain. Aedesius returned to Tyre where he was ordained a priest, and related his adventures to Rufinus who wrote them in his Church History.  Frumentius sought out St. Theodosius in Alexandria and talked to him about his zeal for the conversion of the Ethiopians, entreating him to send a pastor to that country. Whereupon, St. Athanasius consecrated Frumentius bishop of Aksum, judging no one better suited for the task.

The consecration of Frumentius took place roughly around the year 350. Returning to Aksum, he gained numbers to the Faith through his preaching and miracles. The two royal brothers are said to have received baptism. But the conversion of the Aksumite kingdom was far from completed during the life of Frementius, though the population held him in the highest esteem.

He died about the year 383, and was reverently called Abuna – “Our Father” – and  Aba Salama – “Father of Peace”. To this day Abuna is the title of the primate of the Church of Ethiopia.

It is very difficult to renounce sin without this

He who does not acquire the love of God
will scarcely persevere in the grace of God, for
it is very difficult to renounce sin
merely through fear of chastisement.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

St. Cedd of the East Saxons

What little is known about St. Cedd comes to us from the saintly Venerable Bede, an early English historian.

A native of the region of Northumbria, England, he was one of four brothers, one of whom was St. Chad. By the year 653 he had been ordained a priest.

At the time what is today the British isle was divided into several small kingdoms. Under the influence of St Augustine of Canterbury and other missionary saints the seeds of Christianity were sown far and wide throughout the land.

King Oswid of Northumbria, having been baptized by St. Finan, sent Cedd to evangelize the Middle Angles of Mercia. Mercia’s king was Penda, a pagan tolerant of Christianity, while his son, Peada, had promised to become Christian in exchange for the hand of King Oswid’s daughter in marriage.

Though Cedd made some headway in Mercia, his brother Chad reaped a greater harvest ten years later, probably under the more secure patronage of Peada.

From Mercia, Cedd was sent to re-evangelize the East Saxons at the request of King Sigeberht, who under the influence of King Oswid accepted baptism from St. Finan. Bede speaks of Cedd as a man unafraid to confront the powerful.

His success in this mission, earned for him the respect of St. Finan who consecrated him bishop of the East Saxons. Cedd built churches and founded two monasteries, one of which was the monastery of Lastingham. Both structures were eventually destroyed by the Danes.

In 664 Cedd was present at the Synod of Whitby, and was one of those who accepted the implementation of the Roman calendar and practices as opposed to the Celtic rite. Bede recounts that his ease with languages greatly aided in the communication of the various parties, which spoke Gaelic, early Welsh, Frankish, Old English and Latin.

He died of a plague that struck in 664. He was succeeded by his brother St. Chad as abbot of Lastingham.

How to keep purity

Humility is the safeguard of chastity.
In the matter of purity, there is no greater danger than not fearing the danger.
For my part, when I find a man secure of himself and without fear,
I give him up for lost.
I am less alarmed for one who is tempted and who resists by avoiding the occasions,
than for one who is not tempted and is not careful to avoid occasions.
When a person puts himself in an occasion, saying, I shall not fall,
it is an almost infallible sign that he will fall, and with great injury to his soul.

St. Philip Neri

St. Gaudentius of Brescia

Gaudentius succeed St. Philastrius as Bishop of Brescia, Italy, under whom he seems to have studied, and whom he calls his “father”. Prior to his election, being very popular in Brescia, Gaudentius went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem hoping to be forgotten. But upon returning and finding that his mentor had died, he also found that the Brescians would have no other as successor. He was consecrated by St. Ambrose in 387. A record of Gaudentius’ discourse made at the time of his elevation survives.

Brescia rejoiced in the treasure of so holy a pastor. A nobleman, Benevolus, who had been disgraced by the Empress Justina for refusing to uphold Arian beliefs, had retired to Brescia. Being ill, and missing the bishop’s Easter sermons, he convinced Gaudentius to write them for his benefit. Thus several of his sermons survive.

In 405, Pope Innocent I and Emperor Honorius charged Gaudentius to defend St. John Chrysostom, a personal friend of the bishop, before Emperor Arcadius. St. John Chrysostom had been unjustly accused by a heretic and exiled, and he had been replaced by another.

Ill received, the delegates were imprisoned in Thrace. Ultimately they were returned safely to Italy, though in a most untrustworthy vessel. Despite the failure of the mission, St. John Chrysostom sent a letter of thanks to his friend. Gaudentius died around the year 410.

Our Lady’s Power at the Time of Death

In her City of God, Venerable Maria of Agreda, a XVII Century Conceptionist nun and mystic, to whom the Blessed Mother dictated her life, writes of a marvelous event in the early Christian Church.
After the first Pentecost, one of the five thousand first converts was a girl called Lillian. One day she fell gravely ill, and the devil, capitalizing on her bodily weakness, and the fact that she had given in to a few sins, took the form of a woman, and paid her sick-calls.
Little by little, by slandering the disciples of Jesus and the Christian community, the fiend introduced doubts in Lillian’s mind about her new-found Faith. At first the sick girl resisted, speaking of the peace and kindness of the beautiful lady who was Jesus’ Mother. But the devil assured Lillian that she was the worst of all. In the end, Lillian gave up her Faith.

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One of the disciples of Jesus on visiting and finding Lillian’s attitude changed, tried to win the girl back to Christ, but to no avail. Deeply concerned, he informed the Apostle John.
St. John immediately visited the young woman and was able to see legions of devils surrounding her sick bed. Though the devils recoiled at his sight, so deceived was the girl, that he could not make a difference.
He then had recourse to the Blessed Mother, who, at the time was living in Jerusalem. On hearing of the case, Mary Most Holy implored her divine Son for the welfare and salvation of this young strayed lamb. She then made ready to visit the girl with St. John.
Just then, several angels appeared, and gallantly ushering Holy Mary onto a throne of clouds, carried her to Lillian’s side.
As soon as the great lady set foot on the threshold of the sufferer’s door, the demons infesting the room took chaotic flight, tripping over each other in their haste, and seeking refuge in the depths of Hell.
With the air cleared, Holy Mary sat by the dying girl, and with gentle words sweetly brought her back into her Son’s fold. Lillian wept tears of repentance and asked for the last Sacraments, which St. John administered. Thus, with her Mother holding her hand, Lillian expired.
As if not enough, Our Lady, with her prayers, made up for the girl’s time in Purgatory, and summoning one of her angels, bid him deliver the purified soul to heaven.
So, when saying the Hail Mary, may we stress: “…pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
By A.F. Phillips