The Marvelous World of Our Lady's Flowers

While modern men look for happiness in instant gratification, there was once a time in Christendom when men believed happiness came from a true understanding of the order of the universe. They saw the universe as a great lesson book which, through symbols, one could come to know, love and serve God. One beautiful and touching page in this book was their perception of flowers.

With great practical sense born of observation, people of those distant times believed flowers to be symbolic of virtues and qualities that ultimately reflected the perfections of God, but which could be seen more directly in that most perfect of all God’s creatures – the Blessed Virgin.
Flowers belonged to Mary, the Mother of God.  In those times when spiritual life and daily life were so intertwined, flowers were a veritable catechism for the faithful.  Flowers transformed abstract virtues into easily understood symbols found in daily life and linked them to Our Lady, the perfect human model of Christian virtue.
Thus, there were at least a thousand flowers and herbs named after Our Lady, her qualities, and episodes in her life. In medieval times, each country circulated its own names and legends adapting to the local culture and flora.  Art, poetry and literature celebrated this intimate link between flowers and the Blessed Mother. To better contemplate these marvels, there were enclosed “Mary Gardens” with those flowers and herbs that spoke of her to the faithful.

Some of the flower names make this link easy to trace. The marigold comes from the idea that this bright yellow flower is “Mary’s gold.”  Carnation is a corruption of the word “coronation” since the flower was often used to crown statues of Our Lady.  The herb Rosemary is said to honor Mary, the Mystical Rose. “Lady’s Slipper,” like many other flowers that now begin with the word “lady,” was originally “Our Lady’s Slipper.”

However, other flower names have not survived to our times. The lily of the valley was called "Our Lady’s Tears"; since from afar the white flowers seemed like tear drops falling. The humble sweet violet used to be known as “Our Lady’s Modesty.” The enchanting forget-me-nots were reminders of the “Eyes of Mary.”  Even the lowly dandelion with its bitter tasting greens came to be called “Mary’s Bitter Sorrow.”  And the names go on and on, since nearly every familiar flower or herb known today had its equivalent Marian name.

Some flowers gained their name because they bloomed close to feast days. The snowdrop, for example, was called “Candlemas Bells” since it often bloomed early on Candlemas – the feast of the Purification. The Assumption lily bloomed near the feast of the Assumption.  It represented her immaculate purity, virginity and innocence that were rewarded by her assumption into heaven.
Of course, the rose came to symbolize Mary from the earliest times of the Church since it is a flower so rich in expression that it encompassed her purity, sorrow and glory. Numerous varieties of roses are associated with the Blessed Mother: the Rose of Sharon, Christmas Rose, or Scotch Rose. A collection of roses in a garden was called a rosarium. Later, a collection of Hail Mary prayers became known as a Rosary.

From this vision of flowers came lore and pious legend full of innocence and wonder. Legend has it, for example, that the tiny flower columbine sprang up wherever Our Lady’s foot touched the ground when on her way to visit her cousin Saint Elizabeth and was thus called “Our Lady’s Shoes.”  It was said the carnation (also called “Mary’s Love of God”) first appeared when it sprang from the tears of the Blessed Mother that fell upon the ground upon seeing her Son carry the Cross.  The lily, it was said, was originally yellow and came from the sorrowful tears of Eve upon being expelled from paradise. When Our Lady stooped to pick a lily, the lily became white and fragrant.  It is told that the stars of the heavens came down to earth in their desire to glorify the Christ Child in Bethlehem and planted themselves around the manger as radiant buttercups.

While such stories were but mere legend, they spoke of great truths. They served to enchant, instruct and inspire the faithful to greater devotion and love of God. They made more human that tender connection between the Blessed Mother and fallen humanity.  In this way, common flowers united all in virtue, speaking through poetry and song to saint and sinner, rich and poor, old and young, learned and ignorant.
Such was the marvelous world of Our Lady’s flowers that we have lost.  It is but one of many pages of that great lesson book where even the most common things in Creation were a source of simple joys accessible to all.  Indeed, even sorrow in this vale of tears was made meaningful and beautiful.
For our sad days, it is a lesson for us.  If we are to return to some kind of order, it must not have as its basis the sterile statistics of a society where money alone rules.  It cannot have as its foundation the frenetic intemperance of rushed lifestyles.  Such things lead to frustration not happiness.
Doubtless we must provide amply for material needs.  However, this order should have as its aim the desire to understand the meaning of things by seeking out their final and highest causes, which is called wisdom.  In an order based on wisdom, men derive great happiness in naturally seeking God or the likeness of God in all things – even in common flowers.  

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Do You Have Enemies?

You have enemies?
Good.
That means
you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

Sir Winston Churchill

 With MARY on the Way of the Cross

15 Minutes Before the Blessed Sacrament

 It is not necessary, My child, to know much in order to please Me; 

all that is needed is that you love Me with great fervor. Speak with Me,

like you would with your most intimate friends, like you would with 

your mother or brothers etc.

Do you  need to ask a favor on someone’s behalf?

Tell Me his name. Could it be your parents, your brothers, or your friends? Tell Me what you would want Me to do at the present time for them. Ask for much, very much; do not hesitate to ask; I like generous hearts that forget themselves in order to alleviate the needs of others. Speak to Me then, with simplicity, of all the poor whom you would like to console; of the sick whom you see suffer; of those who have gone astray whom you wish to see on the right path again; of your friends who are far away and whom you would like to see at your side. Talk to Me, but like a friend, trusting with all your heart.
Remember, I have promised to hear every request that comes from the heart; and should not the plea and requesting favor for those whom your heart most especially loves come from your own heart?


And for you, do you need any graces?
Make Me a list, if you wish, of all your needs and come read it in My presence.
Tell Me frankly that you are proud, love sensuality and luxuries. Perhaps you are selfish, inconstant, and negligent. . .
Then ask Me to help you as you struggle to be free of such miseries.
Do not be embarrassed. Oh! My poor soul! There are many saints and pious souls who hold the highest rank in heaven and that had the same faults! But they prayed with humility and, little by little, they were freed of their faults.
Do not hesitate to ask for spiritual and corporal goods; good health of body and soul; success in your works, business or studies. I will give you all that is good for you, providing it will not hinder but help your sanctification, day by day. What can I do for you today? What do you need? If you only knew how much I desire to grant you these favors! Just ask!

Do you have a project on hand right now?
Tell Me every detail. What worries you? What are you thinking of? What do you desire? What do you want Me to do for your parents, your sons or daughters, your brothers or sisters, your friends or superiors? What do you wish for them?
If you have parents, pray for them. The prayers of a child cannot be refused by the One who gave the example of faithful love on this earth. If you have a spouse, ask Me to make your relationship a temple of love and comfort. Ask me to lay My hands over your spouse and your children, if you have them. Ask for talents and the help necessary in order to be happy now and forever.

And for Me? Do you not feel a desire for My glory?
Do you not wish you could do something good for your neighbors, your friends, those whom you love very much that have perhaps forgotten Me?
Tell Me, what particular thing holds your attention today? What do you long for and with what means do you wish to attain it? Tell Me what went wrong with your projects, and I will tell you the cause of your failure. Do you not want to trust Me with something in your favor? My child, I am the owner of all hearts and I gently take them where it pleases Me without prejudice or liberties.

Are you feeling sad or in bad humor?
Confide, confide in Me disconsolate soul, with all your unhappiness and with all its details. Who hurt you? Who hurt your pride? Who has taken you for granted? Come to My heart, which is ready to hear all your hurts and heal them. Tell Me everything. In the end, you will find, that because of Me, you can forgive and forget everything, and in return, I will bless and console you.
Do you dread something painful? Is there in your soul a vague fear, which seems unreasonable, and yet torments you? Cast yourself in the arms of My loving providence. I am with you here—at your side. I see everything. Not for one moment will I abandon you.
Do you feel ignored by persons whom you loved, and have now forgotten you and gone from your side without the least motive?
Pray for them and I will return them to your side, only if they are not an obstacle to your sanctification.

Do you not perhaps have some good news you wish to share with Me?
Tell Me, what consoled you or brought joy to your heart since the last visit we had yesterday? Perhaps you had a nice surprise; maybe an old grudge has disappeared or perhaps you received happy news, a letter, or a sign of love. Have you overcome a difficulty or a sudden predicament? It has all been My work and I have made it possible. Manifest your gratitude for everything and simply tell Me like a child would tell its father “Thank you, my Father, thank you.” Gratitude brings blessings because He who gives likes to be reciprocated.

Do you have a promise to offer Me?
You know, I can read what is deep in your heart. Man can be fooled very easily, but not God. Speak to me with all sincerity. Have you firmly resolved not to expose yourself to that occasion that causes you to sin, and deprive yourself of that object which has harmed you? To not continue reading that book which has excited your imagination? Or to discontinue the relationship with that person who has robbed your soul of peace?
Will you be kind, amiable and considerate again towards that person whom you have seen as your enemy and has failed you until now?
Now then, My child, return to your habitual occupation, to your workshops, to your family, to your studies, but do not forget the fifteen minutes of pleasing conversation we have had here in the solitude of the sanctuary. Observe silence, modesty, concentration of thought, resignation, and charity towards your neighbor. Love and honor My Mother, who is also your Mother. Return tomorrow with a more loving and surrendering heart. Each day you will find in My heart new love, new blessings and new consolations. I will wait for you here.

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St. John of God

John of God was born of pious parents in 1495 in Montemoro Novo in northern Portugal. Obscure circumstances led to him being absconded from his parents into Spain at the age of nine to be raised by a farmer.

Pleased with his pious character and diligence the farmer insisted that John marry his daughter, whom John viewed as a sister. Unwilling to do so, he enlisted in the army of Emperor Charles V and served in the wars between France and Spain and later against the Turks.

In the army John took on the loose lifestyle of soldiers for which his upright character would later bitterly reproach him.

On leaving the army he made a trip to Portugal in an attempt to find his parents. News of his mother’s premature death after his mysterious disappearance saddened him.

Succeeding years find him engaged in different occupations first in Seville, then Gibraltar and later in Africa, to ransom with his own liberty the Christians held captive by the Moors. At the advice of his confessor he returned to Spain and began selling religious books and pictures as a form of apostolate.

Around this time John, who was now about forty, had a vision of the Infant Jesus holding an open pomegranate (in Spanish “Granada”), Who said to him, “John of God, Granada will be your cross.”

Proceeding to the city of Granada, John was struck to the heart by a sermon of St. John of Avila. Entering a period of intense remorse for his sins, he went about as if deranged beating his breast and calling out for God’s mercy. St. John of Avila convinced him to desist from his lamentations and to take up another method of penance to atone for his past life.

He then made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Guadeloupe where the Blessed Virgin revealed to him his vocation. On returning to Granada, John of God dedicated his life to the care of the sick and poor. After renting a house, he searched the city for the homeless and afflicted with all sorts of diseases and carried them on his shoulders to shelter. Soon others joined him in the endeavor.

Though St. John of God never officially founded an order in his lifetime, his work was later constituted into the Order of the Hospitallers of St. John of God.

John of God died exhausted by his labors on behalf of the abandoned of society and died on his knees before an altar on March 8, 1550 at age fifty-five. The whole of Granada, rich and poor, the powerful and the weak attended his funeral.

March 7 - Quote of the Day

To desire grace
without recourse to the Virgin Mother
is to desire to fly
without wings.

Pope Pius XII

Sts. Perpetua and Felicita

In the ancient city of Carthage, North Africa in the year 203, Perpetua, a young married lady and the mother of an infant son, and Felicita, a pregnant slave girl found themselves in a dark dungeon. With them were Felicita’s fellow slave Revocatus and two free men Saturninus and Secundulus. Another, Seturus, who declared himself a Christian before the judge, joined them – he was probably Perpetua’s husband. The first five were catechumens and were imprisoned for violating the decree issued by Emperor Septimus Severus forbidding any one from becoming a Christian. They were baptized before being incarcerated.

Perpetua, who was of a patrician family and well educated, left an amazing chronicle of their ordeal up to the day before their martyrdom. Her father was a pagan and her mother a Christian. Her father repeatedly pleaded with her to give up her faith for the sake of her family and infant son. In her account she writes: “When my father in his affection for me was trying to turn me from my purpose by arguments and thus weaken my faith, I said to him, ‘Do you see this vessel, water pot, or whatever it may be? Can it be called by any other name than what it is? ‘No’, he replied. ‘So also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am – a Christian.’”

Later, in prison she recounts: “What a day of horror! Terrible heat on account of the crowd! Rough treatment by the soldiers! To crown all, I was tormented with anxiety for my baby…" But Pepetua’s mother was able to bring her child to her to suck, which relieved her "...and being relieved of my…anxiety for him, I at once recovered my health, and my prison became a palace to me and I would rather have been there than anywhere else.”

In prison Perpetua and Saturus were given visions foretelling their martyrdom and their entrance into heaven. Felicita was anxious that being pregnant she would not be able to suffer martyrdom with her companions, as Roman law forbade the execution of expectant mothers. But two days before their martyrdom she gave birth to a little girl who was adopted by a Christian woman. Secundulus died in prison.
The account of the martyrdom of the five holy confessors comes to us through an eye-witness. The martyrs suffered as part of the games for the Emperor’s birthday on March 7, 203. The pagan mob first demanded they be scourged. Then a boar, a bear and a leopard were set on the men. The two women were thrown before a raging bull which wounded them. Then they were put to the sword.

Before dying Perpetua made a profession of faith:

“For the sake of this cause, we came willingly into prison, that our liberty may not be obscured. To this Christian cause have we devoted our lives.”

How should we fight temptations against chastity?

In temptations against chastity, the spiritual masters advise us not
so much to contend with the bad thought,
as to turn the mind to some spiritual, or, at least, indifferent object.  
It is useful to combat other bad thoughts face to face,  
but not thoughts of impurity.

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

St. Colette Broyet

Colette Broyet lived during the great Church schism when there were two men claiming to be Pope: one in Rome and one in Avignon.

Her father worked as a carpenter for the Benedictine Abbey of Corbie in French Picardy. Both parents were older and prayed earnestly to St. Nicholas of Myra to conceive. On the birth of a daughter, they named her Nicolette. Left an orphan at seventeen, Colette distributed what little she had to the poor, and with the help of her guardian, the Abbot of Corbie, moved into a small hermitage and joined the Third Order of Saint Francis.

In her cell, Colette lived a life of austerity and prayer becoming known for her holiness. In a vision, St. Francis asked her to reform his order. Heartsick at the prospect, the twenty-five year old girl hesitated, only to become blind for three days, and then deaf for another three. Taking this as a sign that she must take up her mission, in 1406 she left her seclusion and under the direction of her confessor, Fr. Henry de Baume, set about to try to explain her mandate only to realize that, if she was to succeed, she must be invested with the proper authority.

She visited Peter de Luna, who under the name of Benedict XIII was then considered the true Pope by the French, though illegitimate according to Church history.  Luna was so impressed with Colette that he professed her in the rule of St. Clare and invested her with the necessary authority for her mission.

With these credentials Colette visited convents in France, Savoy and Flanders inviting these to return to the original rule of St. Clare. Still, at first she met with violent opposition. Bearing all with joy she persevered and, after a while, began to make a difference as convents accepted her revised rule. In all, she founded seventeen new convents, and several houses of Franciscan friars also accepted her reform.

An energetic reformer, mystic and miracle worker, Collette died in Flanders at age of sixty-seven after foretelling her own death. She was canonized in 1807.

The Origin of the Rosary

Second Rose, from the Secret of the Rosary, by Saint Louis de Montfort

Since the Holy Rosary is composed, principally and in substance, of the Prayer of Christ and the Angelic Salutation, that is, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, it was without doubt the first prayer and the first devotion of the faithful and has been in use all through the centuries from the time of the Apostles and disciples down to the present.
But it was only in the year 1214, however, that Holy Mother Church received the Rosary in its present form and according to the method we use today. It was given to the Church by Saint Dominic who had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a powerful means of converting the Albigensians and other sinners.
I will tell you the story of how he received it, which is found in the very well-known book "De Dignitate Psalterii" by Blessed Alan de la Roche.
Saint Dominic, seeing that the gravity of people's sins was hindering the conversion of the Albigensians, withdrew into a forest near Toulouse where he prayed unceasingly for three days and three nights. During this time he did nothing but weep and do harsh penances in order to appease the anger of Almighty God. He used his discipline so much that his body was lacerated, and finally he fell into a coma.
At this point Our Lady appeared to him, accompanied by three angels, and she said:
"Dear Dominic, do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?"
"Oh, my Lady," answered Saint Dominic, "you know far better than I do because next to your Son Jesus Christ you have always been the chief instrument of our salvation."
Then Our Lady replied:
"I want you to know that, in this kind of warfare, the battering ram has always been the Angelic Psalter which is the foundation stone of the New Testament. Therefore if you want to reach these hardened souls and win them over to God, preach my Psalter."
So he arose, comforted, and burning with zeal, for the conversion of the people in that district he made straight for the Cathedral. At once unseen angels rang the bells to gather the people together and Saint Dominic began to preach.
At the very beginning of his sermon an appalling storm broke, out, the earth shook, the sun was darkened, and there was so much thunder and lightning that all were very much afraid. Even greater was their fear when looking at a picture of Our Lady exposed in a prominent place they saw her raise her arms to heaven three times to call down God's vengeance upon them if they failed to be converted, to amend their lives, and seek the protection of the Holy Mother of God.
God wished, by means of these supernatural phenomena, to spread the new devotion of the Holy Rosary and to make it more widely known.
At last, at the prayer of Saint Dominic, the storm came to an end, and he went on preaching. So fervently and compellingly did he explain the importance and value of the Holy Rosary that almost all the people of Toulouse embraced it and renounced their false beliefs. In a very short time a great improvement was seen in the town; people began leading Christian lives and gave up their former bad habits.

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To the heart that loves, all is well

 Everything is grace; everything
is the direct effect of our Father’s love.
Everything is grace because everything is God’s gift.
Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events
– to the heart that loves, all is well.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

St. John Joseph of the Cross

On August 15, 1654 on the island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples, a little boy was born to an exemplary, well-to-do couple, Joseph and Laura Calosirto. Baptized the same day, the new arrival was given the name of Carlo Caetano. One of seven boys, five of which were to enter religion, Carlo gave early signs of seeking sanctity, which his family recognized and respected.

At sixteen Carlo had a talk with the superior of the Franciscan Monastery of Santa Lucia del Monte in Naples.  Discerning a great vocation, the superior received him despite his youth. The new novice did not disappoint his superiors to the point that at age twenty-one, and not yet a priest, he was appointed superior of a new monastery in Piedmont.

Though he wished to remain a deacon like his founder, St. Francis of Assisi, his superiors insisted that he be ordained, and so he was in 1677. Despite his youth and innocence he proved to be an exceptional, insightful confessor.

Fr. John Joseph spent his life in the service of his order at times as superior, at times as novice master, always a loving, balanced and wise director of souls.

At one period of great aridity in his life he was consoled by a vision of a departed brother who reassured him as to his condition. After this incident, Fr. John Joseph began to demonstrate the powers of a wonder worker, with miraculous cures and the multiplication of food for the house. His fame spread so quickly that when he returned to Ischia to visit his dying mother, his town acclaimed him as a saint.

In 1722, Fr. John Joseph was the wise and tactful arbiter in a great conflict that arose regarding the management of his order.

Warned of his death, he talked freely of it to those about him but continued to carry out his duties. On March 1, 1734 he had an apoplectic seizure and died five days later. Almost immediately his tomb became a place of pilgrimage. He was canonized in 1839.

First Saturday

The Five First Saturdays devotion is one of the principal points of the Fatima message. It centers on the urgent need for mankind to offer reparation and expiate for the many injuries that the Immaculate Heart of Mary suffers from the hands of both impious and indifferent men.

History
During the third apparition on July 13, 1917, Our Lady revealed that she would come to ask for the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart and for the Communion of Reparation of the Five First Saturdays. Consequently, she asked for the devotion in 1925 and the consecration in 1929.
While staying at the House of the Dorothean Sister in Pontevedra, Portugal, Sister Lucia received a vision on December 10, 1925 where the Blessed Mother appeared alongside a Boy who stood over a luminous cloud. Our Lady rested one hand on the Boy’s shoulder while she held on the other hand a heart pierced with thorns around it.
Sister Lucia heard the Boy say, "Have pity on the Heart of your Most Holy Mother which is covered with thorns with which ingrate men pierce it at every moment with no one to make an act of reparation to pull them out."
Our Lady expressed her request in the following words,
"See, my daughter, My Heart surrounded with thorns with which ingrates pierce me at every moment with blasphemies and ingratitude. You, at least, make sure to console me and announce that all those who for five months, on the first Saturdays, go to confession, receive Communion, say five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for 15 minutes meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the purpose of making reparation to Me, I promise to assist them at the hour of death with all the graces necessary for the salvation of their souls."
A few days afterward, Sister Lucia detailed this vision in a letter addressed to Monsignor Manuel Pereira Lopes, her confessor when she resided in the Asylum of Vilar in the city of Oporto, Portugal.

 Read here: Our Lady Kept Her Promise!

Why Five Saturdays?     
Sister Lucia’s confessor questioned her about the reason for the five Saturdays asking why not seven or nine. She answered him in a letter dated June 12, 1930. In it she related about a vision she had of Our Lord while staying in the convent chapel part of the night of the twenty-ninth to the thirtieth of the month of May, 1930. The reasons Our Lord gave were as follows:
The five first Saturdays correspond to the five kinds of offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are:
  a.    Blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception
  b.    Blasphemies against her virginity
  c.    Blasphemies against her divine maternity, at the same time the refusal to accept her as the Mother of all men
  d.    Instilling , indifference, scorn and even hatred towards this Immaculate Mother in the hearts of children
  e.    Direct insults against Her sacred images
Let us keep the above reasons firmly in our minds. Devotions have intentions attached to them and knowing them adds merit and weight to the practice.

Modifications to the Five First Saturdays Devotion to facilitate its observation
The original request of Our Lady asks one to confess and receive Communion on five consecutive first Saturdays; to say five decades of the Rosary; to meditate during 15 minutes on the mysteries of the Rosary for the purpose of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in reparation for the sins of men.
In subsequent private visions and apparitions however, Sister Lucia presented to Our Lord the difficulties that devotees encountered in fulfilling some conditions. With loving condescension and solicitude, Our Lord deigned to relax the rules to make this devotion easy to observe:

• Confession may be done on other days other than the First Saturdays so long as one receives Our Lord worthily and has the intention of making reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
• Even if one forgets to make the intention, it may be done on the next confession, taking advantage of the first occasion to go to confession.
• Sister Lucia also clarified that it is not necessary to meditate on ALL mysteries of the Rosary on each First Saturdays. One or several suffice.

With much latitude granted by Our Lord Himself, there is no reason for the faithful to hesitate or delay this pious practice in the spirit of reparation which the Immaculate Heart of Mary urgently asks.

This devotion is so necessary in our days
The culture of vice and sin remains unabated even as one reads this. Abortion, blasphemy, drug abuse, pornography, divorce and bad marriages, religious indifference, the advances of the homosexual agenda and others are just some of society’s many plagues that cut deeply into the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
We must console Our Lady amidst all these insults and injuries to her and her Divine Son. She asks for reparation, she pleads for our prayers, she hopes for our amendment of life. Let us listen to her maternal pleas and atone for the ingratitude of men.
The First Five Saturdays devotion stimulates the spirit of reparation; it instills a tender love for the Holy Sacraments of Confession and the Blessed Eucharist. It nurtures a holy affection for the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Rosary. Above all, it is an excellent means to maintain one in the state of grace while immersed in the daily spiritual battles and prosaic existence in the neo-pagan world that we live in.
Let us not delay in observing this devotion for it too gives us hope for eternal salvation.

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REFERENCE:
Solimeo, Luiz Sergio, Fatima, A Message More Urgent than Ever 
(Spring Grove, PA: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property-TFP, 2008.)

  

Can God do anything?

God always grants us

the graces necessary
to win,
but He cannot do anything
unless we cooperate

with our good will.

St. Joseph Marello

St. Casimir of Poland

Casimir was the third of thirteen children born to King Casimir IV of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Elizabeth of Habsburg, an Austrian princess, daughter of Emperor Albert II.

Casimir and two of his brothers studied under the historian Jonh Dlugosz, a man of great knowledge and piety. Under the holy man, the young prince, already devout from infancy, embarked upon the pursuit of sanctity. Giving himself up to devotion and mortification, he often spent part of the night in intense prayer and meditation. Prince Casimir also had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

At the death of Casimir’s uncle, King Ladislaus of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus a Hungarian nobleman was elected king. In 1471, at the instance of a group of Hungarian noblemen, Casimir IV decided to advance his fifteen-year-old son Casimir for the throne of Hungary. Both father and son participated in the endeavor. A Polish army of 12,000 advanced on Buda, but the campaign was unsuccessful.

Returning to Poland, Casimir resumed his studies. The prince was known for his intelligence, capacity, wisdom and charm. For four years, while his father was away in Lithuania, he administered Poland. Around this time his father tried to arrange a marriage for him to Kunegunde of Austria, daughter of Frederick II, but the prince refused, choosing to remain celibate.

Shortly after, the saintly prince succumbed to a severe attack of lung trouble. While on a journey to Lithuania he died at the court of Grodno on March 4, 1484 at the age of twenty-six.

A miracle attributed to Prince Casimir in 1518 caused his brother Sigismund I to advance his cause for canonization. During the Siege of Polotsk, Casimir appeared to the Lithuanian army and showed them where to cross the Daugava River and relieve the city besieged by the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

Canonized in 1522 by Pope Adrian VI, St. Casimir is greatly revered in Poland.

March 4 - First Friday

“I promise you, in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the first Friday for nine consecutive months, the grace of final repentance; they shall not die in my disgrace nor without receiving the sacraments; my divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in that last moment.”  — Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary



How to complete the First Friday’s Devotion:

1. Receive Holy Communion on each First Friday;
2. The nine Fridays must be consecutive;
3. They must be made in honor and in reparation to His Sacred Heart.

ACT OF REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
Sacred Heart of Jesus, animated with a desire to repair the outrages unceasingly offered to Thee, we prostrate before Thy throne of mercy, and in the name of all mankind, pledge our love and fidelity to Thee!
The more Thy mysteries are blasphemed, the more firmly we shall believe them, O Sacred Heart of Jesus!
The more impiety endeavors to extinguish our hopes of immortality, the more we shall trust in Thy Heart, sole hope of mankind!
The more hearts resist Thy Divine attractions, the more we shall love Thee, O infinitely amiable Heart of Jesus!
The more unbelief attacks Thy Divinity, the more humbly and profoundly we shall adore It, O Divine Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy holy laws are transgressed and ignored, the more we shall delight to observe them, O most holy Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Sacraments are despised and abandoned, the more frequently we shall receive them with love and reverence, O most liberal Heart of Jesus!
The more the imitation of Thy virtues is neglected and forgotten, the more we shall endeavor to practice them, O Heart of Jesus, model of every virtue!
The more the devil labors to destroy souls, the more we shall be inflamed with desire to save them, O Heart of Jesus, zealous Lover of souls!
The more sin and impurity destroy the image of God in man, the more we shall try by purity of life to be a living temple of the Holy Spirit, O Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Holy Church is despised, the more we shall endeavor to be her faithful children, O Sweet Heart of Jesus!
The more Thy Vicar on earth is persecuted, the more we will honor him as the infallible head of Thy Holy Church, show our fidelity and pray for him, O kingly Heart of Jesus!
O Sacred Heart, through Thy powerful grace, may we become Thy apostles in the midst of a corrupted world, and be Thy crown in the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.

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.

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Also Read:

• First Fridays Devotion Confirmed at Death
• Sacred Heart, Bridge and Refuge

Why should we honor those who educate children?

Those who educate children well
are more to be honored
than they who produce them;
for the latter only gave them life,
the former give them the art of living well.

Aristotle

St. Katharine Drexel

Katharine Drexel was born Catherine Marie Drexel on November 26, 1858, the second daughter of Francis Anthony Drexel, a wealthy banker, and his wife, Hannah, who died very shortly after Catherine’s birth. Francis married again two years later, and he and his new wife, Emma, had another daughter when Catherine was five.

The three Drexel children were well educated and enjoyed many social and material privileges. They were privately educated at home by their tutors and would often tour parts of the United States and Europe with their parents. They were brought up to the practice of the virtues and assisted their parents every week when they opened their home to the care and aid of the poor.

Catherine made her social debut in 1879 as a wealthy, popular young heiress. However, her life took a profound turn when, after nursing Emma Drexel for three years during a terminal illness, she realized that her family’s fortune could not buy freedom from pain or death. She became a very active and staunch advocate for the black and native Americans after witnessing their plight during a family trip to the Western United States in 1884.

At the prompting of Pope Leo XIII, the young heiress became a missionary religious in 1891 and established the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to work among the American Indians and Afro-Americans. Her decision to enter religion rocked Philadelphia social circles, one newspaper carrying the banner headline: “Miss Drexel Enters a Catholic Convent—Gives Up Seven Million."

Over the course of the next sixty years, Mother Katharine Drexel, as she became known, devoted herself and her fortune to propagating her missionary work. By the time of her death in 1955, at the age of ninety-six, she had established a system of Catholic schools for blacks in thirteen states, twenty-three rural schools, and fifty missions for Indians in sixteen states. Her most famous establishment was Xavier University for Blacks in New Orleans in 1915 – it was the first of its kind in the United States and faced great opposition from radical racists.

Mother Katharine Drexel was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000, the second native-born American ever to be declared a saint after St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in 1774.

"Be Gone, Satan"

Like St. Michael, make no compromises with evil - PROTEST NOW
Fox TV has brought a new series to America’s prime-time viewing hours called Lucifer. Without a doubt, this program aids and abets the rise of Satanism in our dear country.
Our words and efforts should echo the response of Christ Himself:
"Be gone, Satan: the Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him alone shalt thou serve!" (Matt. 4:10)
The story line has the demon Lucifer getting “bored running Hell and comes to the City of Angels in human form.”
Here’s how this Fox series is advertised to portray Satan:

• Fox's online "About The Show" presents the devil as "charming, charismatic and devilishly handsome."
• Lucifer is a successful, handsome, dashing, witty, likeable, and intelligent young man innocently “indulging in a few of his favorite things – wine, women and song.”
• Lucifer’s “conscience” is increasingly touched by a successful, beautiful, serious, likeable, and intelligent young woman detective.
• In the show - Lucifer refers to God like this: "Hey, he's my father, not yours. I can say whatever I want about the guy. I quit Hell because I was sick and tired of playing a part in Dad's plan. I believe in free will, not the tyranny of all his predestination hoo-ha."
• Lucifer continues: "Thank you! But I've been doing a fair amount of thinking. Do you think I'm the devil because I'm inherently evil or simply because dear ol' Dad decided I was? Is this a classic case of labeling? What do you think?"
• The film is quite demonic in its subtlety. In a nightclub, clips show plenty of gyrating, scantily clad dancers, sexual innuendos, glorify a party lifestyle, and portray Lucifer as a fun loving young man while God and his angel Amenadiel are no fun at all and don't relate to modern man. We must not allow Fox TV or anyone to get our children used to Lucifer.
   

Our children do not need Lucifer, they need God.

I Will Always Reject Lucifer and This Fox Program - PROTEST NOW

How do you make yourself a pleasant place of shelter for Jesus?

If you are willing to serenely bear the trial of
being displeasing to yourself,
then you will be for Jesus
a pleasant place of shelter.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

 

 

The statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, the Slipper Chapel, Walsingham, Norfolk, England

Photo by Thorvaldsson
CC BY 3.0

Photo by Richard Croft

CC BY-SA 2.0

St. Chad of Lichfield

Chad was one of four Anglo brothers all of whom became priests, and two of whom, including St. Chad and his brother St. Cedd, became bishops.

Chad was a man of modest character who helped his brother St. Cedd found a monastery in Lastingham, Yorkshire. At his brother’s death in 664 he succeeded him as abbot.
Shortly afterwards, St. Wilfrid went to Gaul to be consecrated bishop of York but he remained so long that King Oswin had Chad consecrated bishop for that office. Following the example of the Apostles, Chad visited his diocese on foot, and devoted himself to ecclesiastical truth, purity of doctrine and the practice of humility, self-denial and study.

At the arrival of St. Theodore, the newly elected Archbishop of Canterbury, Chad was asked to give up the diocese of York to St. Wilfrid. Furthermore, the Archbishop found that Chad’s episcopal consecration lacked legitimizing details. To which Chad promptly replied: “If you consider I have not been properly consecrated, I willingly resign this charge of which I never thought myself worthy...and only took up under obedience.”

Deeply impressed with Chad’s humility and holiness, the Archbishop of Canterbury supplied whatever was defective in his consecration and appointed him Bishop of Mercia which see was later moved to Lichfield. The archbishop further forbade the aging bishop to continue his visitations on foot, and himself lifted him onto his horse.

Although St. Chad only ruled in his diocese for two and a half years, his virtues left so deep an impression in the country that thirty-one churches were dedicated to his honor.

Frequently Asked Questions about America Needs Fatima

1. What is America Needs Fatima?
America Needs Fatima (ANF) is the American TFP's special campaign to spread the Fatima message in the United States. The goal of America Needs Fatima is to win the heart and soul of America for Mary by spreading Our Lady's Fatima message and promoting devotion to Her Immaculate Heart.
2. How does America Needs Fatima go about accomplishing its goal?
By means of faith-filled prayer, word, and action. Hundreds of thousands have already accepted ANF's encouragement to pray the Rosary and do the five First Saturday's devotion requested by Our Lady.
ANF reaches out to millions of Americans on the Fatima message using hand-distributed and publication-inserted fliers, direct mail campaigns, and major media advertisements.
Over 3,000 Catholics gathered to protest the launching of the blasphemous film Dogma
ANF's anti-blasphemy network organizes protests and public acts of reparation for attacks on the honor and purity of Our Lord, the Blessed Mother, and the Catholic Church. In 2006, ANF organized 2,062 protests nationwide against the gnostic movie The Da Vinci Code.
ANF also organizes the public recitation of the Rosary on college campuses and city streets. To honor the 90th anniversary of Fatima's miracle of the sun, on October 13, 2007, ANF is holding some 2,000 Public Square Rosary rallies coast-to-coast.
ANF has over 3,000 Public Square Rosary Rallies planned for October 11, 2008.
Through its Mary in Every Home apostolate, ANF custodians take Pilgrim Virgin statues to individual homes where they give a two-hour Fatima presentation and pray the Rosary. Since 1995, the Mary in Every Home apostolate has reached over 400,000 people.
All of ANF's efforts would be in vain, but for the prayers of many priests and religious across the country who pray regularly for its efforts.
3. When did America Needs Fatima start?
TFP's America Needs Fatima apostolate started in February 1985.
4. Who directs America Needs Fatima?
Between 1985 and 1994, the America Needs Fatima campaign was headed by Mr. Charles Preston Noell III, a TFP director. From 1994 to 1996, the campaign was blessed with the leadership of Rev. Fr. Kevin J. Beaton. From 1996 to the present, the campaign has been directed by Mr. Robert E. Ritchie, a TFP director.
5. How many members does America Needs Fatima have?
Since 1985 more than 600,000 people have participated in the America Needs Fatima apostolate. Active membership is over 125,000.

Crowning the statue of Our Lady of Fatima at a home enthronement visit
6. What is the Mary in Every Home apostolate? America Needs Fatima's Mary in Every Home apostolate consists in a two-hour Fatima home visit and presentation. An America Needs Fatima custodian brings a 48" Pilgrim Virgin statue, which is then crowned by the host(ess) in his/her home. The Rosary is prayed, a 25 minute DVD on the Fatima story and message is shown, and the custodian gives two small presentations. Free devotional materials on the Rosary and the five First Saturdays devotion are also distributed. America Needs Fatima has twelve dedicated custodians who travel the country reaching thousands of homes every year.
7. How can I schedule a visit of a Fatima Pilgrim Virgin statue to my home? Just call the scheduling office in Kansas at 888-460-7371. The staff there will be happy to schedule a visit of a statue the next time a custodian is in your area.
8. Does the Church support America Needs Fatima?
Over the years, America Needs Fatima has received hundreds of letters of support from bishops praising the apostolate or specific efforts it has undertaken. You can read many of these letters, by clicking here. And, over the decades, thousands of priests and religious have provided their support and prayers as well.
9. Is America Needs Fatima linked to Fr. Nicholas Gruner and the Fatima Crusader? No. America Needs Fatima is not associated in any way with Fr. Nicholas Gruner or his quarterly publication The Fatima Crusader. TFP's bi-monthly magazine is called Crusade, but TFP's use of this name for its magazine is unrelated to Fr. Gruner and dates back to the early 1970's.
10. Does America Needs Fatima publish anything? Yes. Besides its millions of fliers, novenas, devotional items, and holy cards, ANF has printed several publications. These include

Click above to see available titles
Our Lady at Fatima: Prophecies of Tragedy or Hope for America and the World? by Antonio A. Borelli
Jacinta's Story by Andrea F. Phillips
Meet the Witnesses by John Haffert
The Book of Confidence by Fr. Thomas de Saint-Laurent
The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis de Montfort
The Way of the Cross by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Fatima Children's Drawing Book by Andrea F. Phillips
Annual Fatima calendar 11. Is there a relationship between America Needs Fatima and the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property-TFP?
Yes. America Needs Fatima is the American TFP's special campaign to spread the Fatima message in the United States. The American TFP strives to defend the Church and Christian civilization from the evils of the day and to further the basic principles of a Christian society, i.e. tradition, family, and private property. As part of its efforts, TFP promotes the Fatima message, and it does this through its America Needs Fatima campaign.
12. Does America Needs Fatima sell rosaries and statues?
Yes it does. Please visit our online store by clicking here. Not only do we have Fatima statues, but statues of the Sacred Heart, Our Lady, crucifixes, medals, rosaries and other religious items. You can also buy books published by TFP and America Needs Fatima.
13. Are donations to America Needs Fatima tax-deductible? Yes. Both TFP and America Needs Fatima are campaigns of The Foundation for a Christian Civilization, Inc., a New York nonprofit and publicly supported 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
Consequently, donations to America Needs Fatima are deductible up to 50% of the donor's federal adjusted gross income. You can make a donation online, by clicking here. Please help pass the Fatima message on to future generations by prayerfully including America Needs Fatima in your will!
14. Where can I find more information on TFP and America Needs Fatima?
You can find more information and hundreds of useful articles on TFP's website at www.TFP.org. Or, you can contact the organization directly at:
The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, Property-TFP
1358 Jefferson Road
Spring Grove, Penn. 17362
Toll-free: (888) 317-5571 Email: tfp@tfp.org

Stories of Mary: Mary’s Delayed Response

A True, Recent Story…

Three months after her husband had been buried,
a priest knocked on her door and asked,
"Are you Mrs. Donna E.?"

(3 minute read - Enjoy!)

America Needs Fatima has 8 to 11 full-time teams of Fatima Custodians crisscrossing America all year long. Each team carries a replica of the miraculous Pilgrim Virgin statue of Our Lady of Fatima that wept 13 times. Her most recent weeping–photographed, investigated, and ecclesiastically approved–was in a church in New Orleans, USA, during the evening of July 17, 1972. (story and photo here)
Along with taking the statue of Our Lady of Fatima into their hosts’ homes, our Fatima Custodians show an audio-visual presentation on Mary’s apparitions in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, and speak about her prophetic message to the world.
Kenneth Murphy, one of our Custodians, relays the following true story from a Fatima home visit:
“Hosting the Fatima Visit was Mrs. Donna E., in Arlington, VA.
While explaining how to fulfill the Five First Saturdays devotion I asked, ‘Does anyone know Our Lady’s promise to those who make this devotion?’
Donna replied, "Those making the Five First Saturdays will receive all the graces they need for salvation before they die." (see note in P.S.)
She then said that her husband had loved making the Five First Saturdays devotion. However, when he died, it seemed that Our Lady hadn't kept her promise… He passed away suddenly.


Here’s what happened
One day Donna’s husband was traveling through snow-covered roads. Suddenly, he suffered a heart attack, lost control, and crashed.
The ambulance promptly arrived but, unfortunately, her husband passed away on the way to the hospital.
When Donna arrived at the hospital, she was told that he had died, and, unfortunately, without the benefits of the Church’s Sacraments…Besides the obvious grief at such news, she was anxious as to the state of his soul at that last moment.


Apparently, Our Lady hadn't kept her promise
Three months after Donna’s husband had been buried, a priest knocked on her door and asked, "Are you Mrs. Donna E.?"
The priest then related how, three months earlier, he had been driving behind her husband and saw him lose control of his car.
He said, "I knew right away that he had experienced a heart attack and was in danger of dying." The priest stopped, ran over and asked, "Are you a Catholic?" Mr. E. responded in the affirmative.
He was in a lot of pain but was able to make a full confession to the priest. The priest heard his confession and gave him Last Rites before the ambulance arrived.
Because the priest had been on his way to say Mass, when the ambulance arrived, he left for the Church.
After hearing that Mr. E. had passed on the way to the hospital, the priest felt that it was important to let the family know that he had had the Last Rites. The medical facility, however, would not give him the family's information.
Only after three months did someone at the hospital give him an address.
Indeed, Our Lady had kept her promise!  

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P.S. OUR LADY’S EXACT WORDS: On December 10, 1925, Our Lady promised to Sister Lucia (the oldest Fatima seer) that she would “…assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months confess, receive Holy Communion, pray a Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour meditating on the fifteen mysteries with the intention of offering me reparation.”

In Your Time of Need, Turn to the Rosary for Help

More than ever, Catholics need to grab on to the Rosary and to pray with all our might.  Because we are faced with situations in our private lives and in the Church that are very serious and confusing.
Let us take comfort in the fact that, for centuries, Catholics have turned to the Rosary to overcome problems big and small.
It has won battles, fought off heresies and wrought countless miracles. A multitude of saints and popes have endorsed it. Pope Pius IX declares, "Among all the devotions approved by the Church,  none has been so favored by so many miracles as the Rosary devotion." 

The Rosary’s efficacy proven in history
We need only to recall how Pope Pius V convoked the Christian world to pray the Rosary to ask God for victory in the crusade against the Ottoman Turks which culminated in a famous sea battle at Lepanto in 1571. And when the Turkish fleet were repulsed and vanquished, the elated pontiff established the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary on October 7 in thanksgiving to the Mother of God.
There is also the story of eight German Jesuits who lived just a kilometer away from ground zero when the A-bomb exploded in Hiroshima, Japan in August 1945. They attributed their miraculous survival to observing the message of Fatima by praying the Rosary daily.[¹]
And how can one explain the sudden pullout of the Russians from Austria in 1948? A striking quandary to military experts and historians, but not to men of faith who know that 70,000 Austrians under the leadership of Father Petrus Pavlicek prayed daily rosaries to drive the militant forces of atheistic Marxism from their country.[²]

Never out of fashion
Nihil sub sole novum.( Ecclesiastes 1:10.) There is nothing new under the sun as the famous line goes. What more can be added to the glories of the Rosary?
This most revered of Catholic devotions never goes out of vogue. As one website reveals, personal testimonies show the power and relevance of the Rosary in our days. From something trivial as passing a driving test to escaping a horrendous vehicular accident unscathed, people keep having recourse to the Rosary.

Baghdad horror
A survivor’s gripping account gives yet again another convincing testimony of the power of the Rosary. A 25 year-old female student who lost her brother and her mother in the terrorists attack in the Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad on October 31, 2010 relates[³],

“Next to my brother, there was also a woman who was bleeding profusely.  She asked the terrorist: ‘Kill me, please, do not let me suffer any more.’ He answered her: "No, suffer; that way you will experience hell on earth and after your death."  And he repeated: "You are infidels, Allah ou akbar!"   And I, then, prayed the rosary, with my head bent down towards the floor.  A terrorist came and asked me: "What are you praying?  What do you venerate?  Do you venerate Christ?"  And then, some grenades exploded and we truly had the impression that the church was going to collapse on us.  I myself absolutely did not think that I would survive.  I prayed as if I was about to die.  It is Our Mother who saved us.”

Needed more than ever in our times
Amid that horrific bedlam and terrible carnage, the student courageously hung on to her rosary and prayed even as the Islamic terrorist accosted her. By the grace of God, she was spared from death.
That was chaos on a smaller scale. On a grander scale we find ourselves amid the turmoil and moral corruption of our times, mankind continues to flaunt the sins of abortion, homosexuality, pornography, drug abuse and many more grave offenses against God with wanton abandon.
Our Lady gave her maternal warnings at Fatima. And like a true mother, she also gave the solution. She asked for the daily recitation of the Rosary and requested the establishment of the devotion to Her Immaculate Heart as well as the Five First Saturday devotion. Sadly her maternal warnings remain largely unheeded.

Message of Hope
Our Lady also assured us that “In the end, my immaculate Heart will triumph.” But at a time when all seems lost humanly speaking, when events turn for the worst, we must not give in to the temptation that her promises are empty. We must confide in her and reject that temptation with all our hearts and minds.
We do have a powerful weapon in the Rosary. Let us cling to it and ask our heavenly Mother to intercede for us and intervene for the greater glory of God. Historical antecedents show how the Rosary gave victory to those who prayed it assiduously with faith. Let us expect no less during our tumultuous times. Let us pray the Rosary daily and look forward to a glorious Catholic Civilization in the Reign of Mary as St. Louis Grignion de Montfort prophesied.

"Give me an army saying the Rosary and I will conquer the world." Pope Pius IX

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Notes:

[1] Donal Anthony Foley, “The Priests Who Survived The Atomic Bomb,” http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/2010/08/05/the-priests-who-survived-the-atomic-bomb/ [back to text]

[2] Charles E. Schaffer, “Expelled By The Rosary,”  https://americaneedsfatima.org/The-Holy-Rosary/expelled-by-the-rosary.html [back to text]

[3]Iraq: A survivor of the attack in Baghdad tells her story, DICI – Documentation Information Catholiques Internationales, http://www.dici.org/en/news/iraq-a-survivor-of-the-attack-in-baghdad-tells-her-story/ [back to text]

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America Needs Fatima report: Catholics Defend Virgin Mary Against Satani...