1400 Blessed Oddino
Barrotti, parish priest at the church of Saint John the Baptist at Fossano
and a Franciscan tertiary. Later he resigned from his pastoral duties and
turned his house into a hospital OFM Tert. (AC)
Born in Fossano, Piedmont, Italy,
in 1324; died there in 1400; cultus approved
in 1808. Oddino became a parish priest at the church of Saint
John the Baptist at Fossano and a Franciscan tertiary. Later he
resigned from his pastoral duties and turned his house into a hospital.
He is still highly venerated in Fossano (Benedictines).
The life of a secular
priest in a parish gives infinite scope for sanctity, but
rarely any opportunity for spectacular achievements. Things
were no different in the middle ages, when numerous priests of heroic
virtue lived and died in the obscurity of their own parishes and
their names died with them; except that now and again a local cultus
has kept them in memory, though generally with no
reliable particulars of what sort of men they were or what they did,
beyond a common-form catalogue of miracles and virtues. Of these
Bd Oddino Barrotti stands out as rather remarkable because of the
variety of activities that he engaged in, despite the fact that he
was a humble parroco, never called upon to rule
a great diocese or to counsel kings in the intricacies of politics,
ecclesiastical and secular. He was in about 1360 appointed to
the cure of the parish of St John Baptist in his native town of Fossarto
in Piedmont. He was so devoted to the needs of his flock that before
long the bishop of Turin had to order him to take some flesh-meat at
his meals, notwithstanding any vow he might have made to the contrary,
and to retain from the tithes paid over to him whatever was necessary
for his own proper support-for the good man was handing over everything
to the poor and making himself unfit for his work. In 1374 he
was appointed provost of the collegiate-chapter of Fossano (it has
since become cathedral) and rector of the parish served by the canons,
but after four years he resigned the double benefice in order to put
himself at the disposal of a religious confraternity, of which he
had been asked to become director.
Then he
became a Franciscan tertiary, turned his house into a shelter for
the destitute, and in 1381 made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On
his return home he was made governor of the Guild of the Cross, an association
for the care of the sick and to give hospitality to pilgrims; by his
efforts a free hospital was built, with a hospice attached from which
neither poor nor pilgrims were to be turned away: this shelter existed
on into the nineteenth century.
Bd Oddino showed
such capacity as organizer and builder that his successor
in the provostship of the chapter asked him to take on the contract
of building their new church. This he did, and in the course of the
work made use of more than natural means to forward it. The wonders
recorded are already familiar in the lives of other saints: an ox-drawn
wagon, loaded with a huge beam, got stuck in a bog and nothing would
move it; the saint seized hold of the draught-pole, exclaimed, "In
the name of God and of St Juvenal, come out!" and out it came (St Juvenal
was the patron of Fossano). Another time he was praying in the church
when a mason fell from the tower where he was working, and lay apparently
dead. Bd Oddino took him by the hand, saying, "Getup and go back
to work", and the man at once recovered, none the worse for the accident.
In 1396 the canons asked
Oddino again to become their provost, and he for the second
time accepted that office and the care of the parish wherein
he was so well known and loved. But four years afterwards
it was visited by a plague which made awful ravages among the people;
Bd Oddino was day and night at the beds of the sick and dying, he was
himself infected, and on July 7, 1400, he died-a fitting end in this
world for one who had given the whole of his life to the pastoral
care of others.
His memory has never gone out
of mind in Fossano; the local cultus was confirmed
in 1808.
A short account of Bd Oddino,
with a translation of an Italian panegyric, and a copy of
a rude engraving of the good priest, will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v.
|
|
1409 BD JAMES STREPAR, ARCHBISHOP
OF Galich; joined the Franciscans and
became guardian of their friary at Lvov; a zealous defender of the
mendicant friars; the miracles at his tomb showed
that he was still mindful of his people.
THE Friars Minor entered
Poland not many years after their foundation and when they
were well established extended their preaching to the reconciliation
of dissident Orthodox and the conversion of pagans in Lithuania.
Thus was inaugurated the Latin church in Galician Ukraine,
which was organized into dioceses during the fourteenth century.
Bd James Strepar was a member of a noble Polish family settled
in Galicia. He joined the Franciscans and became guardian of
their friary at Lvov, where he played a conspicuous part in very
troubled ecclesiastical affairs, the city having been laid under
an interdict.
He was a zealous defender of the mendicant friars,
who were bitterly attacked by the secular clergy, and
at the same time keenly concerned about the dissident
Orthodox. He worked among these for over ten years, making great
use of the Company of Christ’s Itinerants, a sort of missionary
society of Franciscan and Dominican friars, and put at the
head of the Franciscan “mission“ in western Russia. As
a missionary preacher and organizer Bd James had great success,
and in 1392 called to govern the see of Galich. He had himself
evangelized a considerable part of his diocese, and was now in
a position to consolidate his work.
He
built churches in remote districts and obtained experienced
priests from Poland to take charge of them, founded
religious houses, and established hospitals and schools.
Though a senator of the realm as well as archbishop he sometimes
carried out visitations on foot, and always wore the modest
habit of his order at a time when prelates not infrequently copied
the ostentatious clothes of lay lords. Bd James governed his large
diocese till his death at Lvov on June 1, in 1409 or 1411. During
his life he had been called “protector of the kingdom“ and the
miracles at his tomb showed that he was still mindful of his
people. His cultus was confirmed in 1791.
There is more than
one life in Polish, but only summaries seem
to be available in languages more generally known.
See, however, Scrobiszewski, Vitae episcoporum
Halicensium (1628) Stadler, Heiligen Lexikon, vol. iii,
pp. 111
seq.; Leon, L’Auréole
Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 312—315.
|
1409
Venerable Sava the Abbot of Zvenigorod model
of simplicity and humility e miraculous curative
power issuing from the grave numerous appearances
Disciple of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh
1490
Sava appeared to Dionysius (4th igumen of St Sava
monastery and said to him: "Dionysius! Wake up and paint
my icon."
St Sava loved solitude, and
avoided conversing with people. He lived
in constant toil, lamenting the poverty of his
soul, and trembling before the judgment of God. He was
a model of simplicity and humility, and he attained to such
a depth of spiritual wisdom that "in the monastery of St Sergius
he was a spiritual confessor to all the brethren, a venerable
and exceedingly learned Elder."
When Great Prince Demetrius
of the Don built the monastery of the Dormition of
the Mother of God at the River Dubenka, in gratitude for
the victory over Mamai, Sava became its Igumen, with the
blessing of St Sergius. Preserving the simple manner of his
ascetic lifestyle, he ate plants, wore coarse clothing and
slept on the ground.
In 1392 the brethren of the
Sergiev Lavra, with the departure of its Igumen Nikon into the wilderness,
asked St Sava to be the igumen of the monastery. Here he "shepherded well
the flock entrusted to him to the best of his ability, helped by the prayers
of his spiritual Father, St Sergius." According to Tradition, the great well
outside the Lavra walls was built when he was igumen.
Prince
Yuri Dimitrievich Zvenigorodsky, a godson of
St Sergius, regarded
St Sava with great love and esteem. He chose St Sava
as his spiritual Father and begged him to come and bestow
his blessing upon all his household. The saint had hoped
to return to his monastery, but the prince begged him
to remain and establish a new monastery, "in his fatherland,
near Zvenigorod, at a place called Storozhi."
St
Sava accepted the request of Prince Yuri Dimitrievich,
and praying with tears before an icon of the Mother
of God, he entreated Her protection for the wilderness place.
On Storozhi Hill, he built a small wooden church of the Nativity
of the Most Holy Theotokos, and a small cell for himself
nearby. Here in the year 1399 the monk established a monastery,
lovingly accepting all who came seeking a life of silence and
seclusion.
St
Sava toiled much at the building up of his monastery.
He dug a well at the foot of the hill, from which he
carried water on his own shoulders; he encircled the monastery
with a wooden palisade, and in a hollow above it, he dug
out a cell where he could dwell in solitude.
In
1399 St Sava blessed his spiritual son, Prince Yuri,
to go on a military campaign, and he predicted victory
over the enemy. Through the prayers of the holy Elder, the
forces of the prince won a speedy victory. Through the
efforts of St Sava, a stone church of the Nativity of the
Most Holy Theotokos was also built to replace the wooden one.
St
Sava died at an advanced age on December 3, 1406.
He appointed his disciple, also named Sava, to succeed him.
Veneration
of the God-pleaser by the local people began
immediately after his death. The miraculous curative
power issuing from the grave of the monk, and his numerous
appearances, convinced everyone that Igumen Sava "is
truly an unsetting sun of divine light, illumining all with
its miraculous rays." In a letter of 1539 St Sava is called a
wonderworker. Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich had a special veneration
for him, repeatedly going to the monastery of St Sava on
foot. Tradition has preserved for us a remarkable account of
how St Sava once saved him from a ferocious bear.
The
Life of St Sava, compiled in the sixteenth century,
relates how at the end of the fifteenth century (1480-1490),
the saint appeared to Dionysius, the fourth igumen of
the St Sava monastery and said to him: "Dionysius! Wake
up and paint my icon." When Dionysius asked who he was, he
replied, "I am Sava, the founder of this place."
Now
Dionysius had not known the saint personally, so
he summoned Elder Habakkuk, who had known St Sava in his
youth, hoping to convince himself of the truth of the dream.
He described the outward appearance of the saint, and Habakkuk
assured him that the saint looked exactly as the igumen had
seen him in his dream. Then Dionysius fulfilled the command and
painted the icon of St Sava.
The feastday of St Sava was
established at the Moscow Council of 1547. The incorrupt relics of the saint
were uncovered on January 19, 1652.
|
1410 Saint Sava of Moscow
succeeded St Andronicus as the igumen of
the monastery of the Savior, dedicated to the
Icon of Christ Not-Made-By Hands (August 16) in 1395.
He died in 1410.
Saint James acquired the gift
of discernment, learned the straight and narrow
path of God, and became a great wonderworker
had
such love for Christ, and so little regard for the
things of this world, that he liquidated his entire estate
and gave the proceeds to the poor without spending any of
the money on himself. Later, he fell into a demonic temptation
and became very proud. He would say, "Who knows better than
I do, concerning my own salvation?" Following his own self will
and personal preferences, he lived in solitude and undertook
difficult struggles without first seeking the advice of wise
and experienced ascetics.
Once
a demon appeared to him in the guise of an angel
of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He told James that Christ
was very pleased by his labors, and would come that night
to reward him. "Clean your cell," he said, "and make ready
by lighting the lamps and burning incense." The foolish
James, in his delusion, accepted all of this without question.
When the Antichrist came at midnight, James opened his door
and fell down in worship before him. The devil struck him on
the head, then vanished.
James
awoke at dawn and went to visit a certain Elder
to tell him what had happened. Before James could speak a
single word, the Elder said, "You must leave this place,
for you have been deceived by Satan." James was heartbroken
and wept bitter tears. The Elder also advised him to go to
a cenobitic monastery, which he did. There he fulfilled his obedience
in the trapeza with great humility. Then for seven years he sat
in his cell working at some handicraft, and fulfilling his Rule
of prayer.
St
James acquired the gift of discernment, learned
the straight and narrow path of God, and became a great
wonderworker. He completed the course of his life in peace.
|
1410 Bl. Ursulina
mystic accustomed to visions and ecstasies tried to end the scandals
of the "Babylonian Captivity"
1410 BD URSULINA, VIRGIN enjoyed heavenly visions / mystical
experiences, at fifteen a supernatural voice several times bade her go
to Avignon urge Clement VII renunciation of the papacy
OF the intrepid women who made noble efforts to end the scandals
of the “Babylonish Captivity” of Avignon and of the Great Schism which
ensued, not the least courageous, though certainly the youngest, was Bd
Ursulina of Parma. From her tenth year she had enjoyed heavenly visions
and mystical experiences, and when she was fifteen a supernatural voice
several times bade her go to Avignon to urge upon Clement VII the renunciation
of his claim to the papacy. A vision which was vouchsafed to her on Easter
day decided her purpose. With two companions, besides her mother who accompanied
her on all her subsequent travels, the girl made the toilsome journey over
the Alps and succeeded in obtaining an audience with Clement more than
once. Her efforts to persuade him proving fruitless, she went back to
Parma, but almost immediately proceeded to Rome where she delivered a
similar message to the true pope, Boniface IX. He received her graciously
and appears to have encouraged her to make another attempt to win over his
rival. Thereupon she undertook a second expedition to Avignon, with no
better success than before. Indeed this time she was separated from her
mother, was accused of sorcery, and narrowly escaped a trial. Another journey
to Rome was followed by a somewhat perilous pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
If she and her mother had hoped to settle down in Parma on their return
they were doomed to disappointment, for civil war broke out in the city
and they were expelled. They made their way to Bologna and then to Verona,
which Bd Ursulina seems to have made her home until her death at the age
of thirty-five.
Our information
comes almost entirely from the Latin life by Simon Zanachi, a Carthusian
of Parma. It is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April,
vol. i. A popular adaptation was published by H. M. Garofani in 1897,
Vita e Viaggi della B. Orsolina di Parma.
Virgin and visionary. A young woman of Parma, Italy,
she received visions and experienced ecstasies. At the age of fifteen
she was told by the visions to go to Avignon, France, to convince the
antipope there, Clement VII (1378-1394), to step down and so end the
Great Western Schism which had troubled the Church since 1378. Failing
in this, she journeyed to Rome and pleaded with Pope Boniface IX (r.
1389-1404) to resign. The pontiff refused, so she made one more unsuccessful
attempt to beg Clement to give up his claim. Ursulina then went on a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land and then returned home to Parma. She was soon expelled
from the city during some civil conflict, going to Bologna and then Verona,
where she died.
Blessed Ursulina of Bologna V (AC) Born in Parma, Italy, in
1375; died in Verona, Italy, in 1410. Ursulina was much like Saint Catherine of Siena (Born
in Siena, Italy, March 25, 1347, in Florence, Italy; died there on April
29, 1380). She was a mystic accustomed to visions and ecstasies. At
age 15, in response to a supernatural voice, Ursulina tried to end the
scandals of the "Babylonian Captivity" of Avignon by visiting the antipope
Clement VII to persuade him to give up the throne. Unsuccessful, she
next went to Rome to ask Pope Boniface IX to resign, and then back again
to petition Clement. After a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land, she
returned home and narrowly escaped being burned as a sorceress during a
civil war in Parma. She fled to Bologna, where she lived for a time before
retiring to Verona (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
|
1419
St. Vincent Ferrer Patron of Builders Dominican
at 19 simply "going
through the world
preaching Christ," eloquent and fiery preacher St
Vincent declared himself to be the angel of the Judgement
foretold by St John (Apoc. xiv 6). As some of his hearers
began to protest, he summoned the bearers who were carrying
a dead woman to her burial and adjured the corpse to testify to
the truth of his words. The body was seen to revive for a moment
to give the confirmation required, and then to close its eyes once
more in death. It is almost unnecessary to add that the saint laid
no claim to the nature of a celestial being, but only to the angelic
office of a messenger or herald—believing, as he did, that he was
the instrument chosen by God to announce the impending end of
the world.
At Vannes in Brittany, St. Vincent Ferrer, of the Order of Preachers,
and confessor. He was mighty in word and deed,
and converted many thousands of infidels to Christ.
b. 1350?
1419 ST VINCENT FERRER
THE descendant
of an Englishman or a Scotsman settled in Spain,
St Vincent Ferrer was born at Valencia, probably in
the year 1350. Inspired by prophecies of his future greatness,
his parents instilled into him an intense devotion to
our Lord and His blessed Mother and a great love for the poor.
Moreover they made him the dispenser of their bountiful alms,
and from them also he learnt the rigorous Wednesday and Saturday
fast which he continued to practise all his life. On the intellectual
side he was almost equally precocious. He entered the Dominican
priory of Valencia, where he received the habit in 1367, and before
he was twenty-one he was appointed reader in philosophy at Lerida,
the most famous university in Catalonia. Whilst still occupying
that chair he published two treatises, both of which were considered
of great merit. At Barcelona, whither he was afterwards transferred,
he was set to preach, although he was still only a deacon. The city was
suffering from famine: corn which had been despatched by sea had not
arrived and the people were nearly desperate. St Vincent, in the course
of a sermon in the open air, foretold that the ships would come in that
day before nightfall. His prior censured him severely for making
predictions, but the ships duly appeared—to the joy of the people who
rushed to the priory to acclaim the prophet. His superiors, however,
deemed it wise to transfer him to Toulouse, where he remained for a year.
He was then recalled to his own country, and his lectures and sermons
met with extraordinary success. Nevertheless it was to him a time of
trial. Not only was he assailed by temptations from the hidden powers
of darkness, but he was also exposed to the blandishments of certain
women who became attached to him—his good looks were exceptional—and
strove first to beguile him and then to blacken his name. From these
trials the saint emerged braced for the strenuous life which lay
before him, as well as for the priestly office which was conferred
upon him. He soon became famous as a preacher, whose eloquence
roused to penitence and fervour multitudes of careless Catholics,
besides converting to the Christian faith a number of Jews, notably
the Rabbi Paul of Burgos, who died bishop of Cartagena in 1435.
That terrible scandal had begun in 1378 when,
upon the death of Gregory XI, sixteen of the
twenty-three cardinals had hastily elected Urban
VI in deference to the popular cry for an Italian pope.
Under the plea that they had been terrorized, they then, with
the other cardinals, held a conclave at which they elected
Cardinal Robert of Geneva, a Frenchman. He took the name of Clement
VII and ruled at Avignon, whilst Urban reigned in Rome. St
Vincent Ferrer, who had been amongst those who recognized Clement,
naturally upon his death accepted as pope his successor, Peter
de Luna or Benedict XIII as he was called, who summoned the Dominican
to his side. [* Because of their anomalous position this Clement
VII and Benedict XIII are not referred to as antipopes but as
“called popes in their obedience”.]
St Vincent
duly arrived in Avignon where he had great favour shown
him, including the offer of a bishopric, which he refused;
but he found his position very difficult. He soon realized
that Benedict by his obstinacy was hindering all efforts that
were being made towards unity. In vain did Vincent urge him
to come to some sort of understanding with his rival in Rome.
Even when a council of theologians in Paris declared against his
claim, the Avignon pontiff would not stir an inch. The strain
upon the saint as his confessor and adviser was so great that
he fell ill. Upon his recovery he with great difficulty obtained
permission to leave the court and devote himself to missionary
work. His object was not primarily to escape from the intrigues
and worries of the papal court, but to obey a direct call, for
it is said that during his illness our Lord had appeared to him
in a vision with St Dominic and St Francis and, after making him
understand that he was to go and preach penance as those two had
done, had then instantaneously restored him to health.
He
set forth from Avignon in 1399 and preached to enormous
congregations in Carpentras, Arles, Aix, Marseilles. Besides
the inhabitants of the districts he visited, his audience
consisted of a number of men, women and even children who
followed him from place to place. These people, at first a heterogeneous
crowd, were gradually weeded out, organized and brought under
rule until, as “Penitents of Master Vincent”, they became valuable
helpers, when necessary staying behind in places where the mission
had been held to consolidate the good work begun. It is worthy
of note that, in a lax age, no breath of suspicion appears to have
attached to any member of that mixed company. Several priests travelled
with the party, forming a choir and hearing confessions.
Between
1401 and 1403 the saint was preaching in the Dauphiné,
in Savoy and in the Alpine valleys: he then went on to
Lucerne, Lausanne, Tarentaise, Grenoble and Turin. Everywhere
crowds flocked to hear him; everywhere innumerable conversions
and remarkable miracles were reported. Vincent preached
mainly on sin, death, hell, eternity, and especially the speedy
approach of the day of judgement; he spoke with such energy that
some of his hearers fainted with fear, whilst the sobs of his
congregation often compelled him to pause, but his teaching penetrated
beyond the emotions and bore fruit in many cases of genuine
conversion and amendment of life. At the Grande Chartreuse, which
he visited several times, his brother Boniface being prior,
the Carthusian Annals record that “God worked wonders by means
of these two brothers. Those who were converted by the preaching
of the one, received the religious habit at the hands of the other.”
In 1405
St Vincent was in Genoa, from whence he reached a port
from which he could sail for Flanders. Amongst other reforms
he induced the Ligurian ladies to modify their fantastic
head-dress—“the greatest of all his marvellous deeds”,
as one of his biographers avers. In the Netherlands he wrought
so many miracles that an hour was set apart every day for
the healing of the sick. It has also been supposed that he visited
England, Scotland and Ireland, but of this there is no shadow
of proof. Although we know from the saint himself that beyond his
native language he had learnt only some Latin and a little Hebrew,
yet he would seem to have possessed the gift of tongues, for
we have it on the authority of reliable writers that all his hearers,
French, Germans, Italians and the rest, understood every word
he spoke, and that his voice carried so well that it could be
clearly heard at enormous distances. It is impossible here to follow
him in all his wanderings. In fact he pursued no definite order,
but visited and revisited places as the spirit moved him or as he was
requested. In 1407 he returned to Spain.
Grenada was then under Moorish rule, but Vincent preached
there, with the result that 8000 Moors are said to have asked
to be baptized. In Seville and Cordova the missions had to
be conducted in the open air, because no church could accommodate
the congregations. At Valencia, which he revisited after fifteen
years, he preached, worked many miracles, and healed the dissensions
which were rending the town.
According to a letter
from the magistrates of Orihuela, the effects of
his sermons were marvellous: gambling, blasphemy and vice
were banished, whilst on all hands enemies were being reconciled.
In Salamanca he converted many Jews, and it was here that,
in the course of an impassioned open-air sermon on his favourite
topic, St Vincent declared himself to be the angel of the
Judgement foretold by St John (Apoc. xiv 6). As some of his hearers
began to protest, he summoned the bearers who were carrying a dead
woman to her burial and adjured the corpse to testify to the truth
of his words. The body was seen to revive for a moment to give the
confirmation required, and then to close its eyes once more in death.
It is almost unnecessary to add that the saint laid no claim to the
nature of a celestial being, but only to the angelic office of a messenger
or herald—believing, as he did, that he was the instrument chosen
by God to announce the impending end of the world.
St Vincent of course
had never ceased being deeply concerned at the disunity
within the Church, especially since after 1409 there had
been no less than three claimants to the papacy, to the great
scandal of Christendom. At last the Council of Constance
met in 1414 to deal with the matter and proceeded to depose one
of them, John XXIII, and to demand the resignation of the other
two with a view to a new election. Gregory XII expressed his
willingness, but Benedict XIII still held out. St Vincent went to
Perpignan to entreat him to abdicate, but in vain. Thereupon,
being asked by King Ferdinand of Castile and Aragon to give his
own judgement in the matter, the saint declared that because
Benedict was hindering the union which was vital to the Church, the
faithful were justified in withdrawing their allegiance. Ferdinand
acted accordingly, and at length Benedict, Peter de Luna, found
himself deposed. “But for you”, wrote Gerson to St Vincent, “this
union could never have been achieved.”
The last three years
of the saint’s life were spent in France. Brittany
and Normandy were the scene of the last labours of this “legate
from the side of Christ”. He was so worn and weak that he could
scarcely walk without help, but in the pulpit he spoke with
as much vigour and eloquence as though he were in the prime
of life. When, early in 1419, he returned to Vannes after
a course of sermons in Nantes, it was clear that he was dying,
and on the Wednesday in Passion Week 1419 he passed away, being
then in his seventieth year. His death was greeted by an outburst
of popular veneration, and in 1455 St Vincent Ferrer was canonized.
Amid all the honours
and applause which were lavished upon him, St Vincent
was remarkable for his humility. It seemed to him that his
whole life had been evil. “I am a plague-spot in soul and body;
everything in me reeks of corruption through the abomination
of my sins and injustice”, he laments in his treatise on the
spiritual life. It is ever thus with the great saints. The
nearer they are to God, the baser do they appear in their own
eyes.
According to
Dr H. Finke, a most competent historian of this period, no satisfactory life
of St Vincent Ferrer has yet been written. His story even now is overlaid
with legend; Peter Razzano, who compiled the first
biography thirty-six years after the saint’s death,
set a very bad example of credulity, which was followed
by too many of those who came after him. A collection of the
depositions taken in 1453 and 1454 for the process of canonization
has been printed by Fr H. Fages (1904) and other documents
(1905), as well as his works (1909), but the French life by
the same friar (1901) by no means corresponds to the requirements
of modem criticism. Other materials have been studied by R.
Chabas in the Revista de Archivos…, 1902—1903.
A short English life, based on that of Fages, was published by
Fr S. Hogan (1911). More recent accounts are those of R. Johannet
(1930), of M. M. Gorce (1924 and 1925) “Les Saints” series), and
S. Brettle (1924)—on which see the Analecta Bollandiana,
xliv (1926), pp. 216—218-—and there is a valuable note
by H. Finke in the Gustav Schnürer Festschrift
(1930) on St Vincent’s sermons in 1413. St Vincent
also figures largely in Mortier’s Histoire des Maîtres
Généraux O.P., vol. iv. A characteristic study by H. Ghéon has
been translated into English.
This was
the time of the “great schism”, when rival popes
were reigning at Rome and Avignon and when even great
saints were divided in their allegiance.
The polarization
in the Church today is a mild breeze compared with the
tornado that ripped the Church apart during the lifetime of
this saint. If any saint is a patron of reconciliation,
Vincent Ferrer is.
Despite
parental opposition, he entered the Dominican Order
in his native Spain at 19. After brilliant studies, he was
ordained a priest by Cardinal Peter de Luna—who would
figure tragically in his life.
Of
a very ardent nature, Vincent practiced the austerities
of his Order with great energy. He was chosen prior of
the Dominican house in Valencia shortly after his ordination.
The Western Schism divided Christianity
first between two, then three, popes. Clement
VII lived at Avignon in France, Urban VI in Rome. Vincent
was convinced the election of Urban was invalid (though
Catherine of Siena was just as devoted a supporter of the Roman
pope). In the service of Cardinal de Luna, he worked to persuade
Spaniards to follow Clement.
When
Clement died, Cardinal de Luna was elected at Avignon
and became Benedict XIII.
Vincent worked for him as apostolic
penitentiary and Master of the Sacred Palace.
But the new pope did not resign as all candidates in
the conclave had sworn to do. He remained stubborn despite
being deserted by the French king and nearly all of the cardinals.
Vincent
became disillusioned and very ill, but finally took
up the work of simply "going through the world preaching
Christ," though he felt that any renewal in the Church depended
on healing the schism. An eloquent and fiery preacher, he spent
the last 20 years of his life spreading the Good News in Spain,
France, Switzerland, the Low Countries and Lombardy, stressing
the need of repentance and the fear of coming judgment. (He became
known as the "Angel of the Judgment.")
He tried,
unsuccessfully, in 1408 and 1415, to persuade his
former friend to resign. He finally concluded that Benedict
was not the true pope. Though very ill, he mounted the pulpit
before an assembly over which Benedict himself was presiding
and thundered his denunciation of the man who had ordained
him a priest. Benedict fled for his life, abandoned by those
who had formerly supported him.
Strangely, Vincent had no part
in the Council of Constance, which ended the
schism.
Comment: The split in
the Church at the time of Vincent Ferrer should have been fatal—36 long years
of having two "heads." We cannot imagine what
condition the Church today would be in if, for that
length of time, half the world had followed a succession
of popes in Rome, and half, an equally "official" number
of popes in, say, Rio de Janeiro. It is an ongoing miracle that
the Church has not long since been shipwrecked on the rocks
of pride and ignorance, greed and ambition. Contrary to Lowell's
words, "Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne,"
we believe that "truth is mighty, and it shall prevail"—but it
sometimes takes a long time.
Quote:
“Precious stone of virginity...Flaming torch of charity...Mirror
of penance...Trumpet of eternal salvation...Flower
of heavenly wisdom...Vanquisher of demons.” (From the litanies
of St. Vincent)
St. Vincent
Ferrer is the patron saint of builders because of
his fame for "building up" and strengthening the Church: through
his preaching, missionary work, in his teachings, as confessor
and adviser. At Valencia in Spain, this illustrious
son of St. Dominic came into the world on January 23, 1357. In
the year 1374, he entered the Order of St. Dominic in a monastery
near his native city. Soon after his profession he was commissioned
to deliver lectures on philosophy. On being sent to Barcelona, he
continued his scholastic duties and at the same time devoted himself
to preaching. At Lerida, the famous university city of Catalonia,
he received his doctorate. After this he labored six years in Valencia,
during which time he perfected himself in the Christian life. In 1390,
he was obliged to accompany Cardinal Pedro de Luna to France, but he
soon returned home. When, in 1394, de Luna himself had become Pope at
Avignon he summoned St. Vincent and made him Master of the sacred palace.
In this capacity St. Vincent made unsuccessful efforts to put an
end to the great schism. He refused all ecclesiastical dignities,
even the cardinal's hat, and only craved to be appointed apostolical
missionary. Now began those labors that made him the famous missionary
of the fourteenth century. He evangelized nearly every province of Spain,
and preached in France, Italy, Germany, Flanders, England, Scotland,
and Ireland. Numerous conversions followed his preaching, which God Himself
assisted by the gift of miracles. Though the Church was then divided
by the great schism, the saint was honorably received in the districts
subject to the two claimants to the Papacy. He was even invited to Mohammedan
Granada, where he preached the gospel with much success.
He lived to behold the end of
the great schism and the election of Pope Martin
V. Finally, crowned with labors, he died April 5, 1419.
Vincent Ferrer, OP Priest (RM)
Born
in Valencia, Spain, January 23, c. 1350; died in Vannes,
Brittany, France, April 5, 1418; canonized in 1455 by Pope
Callistus III; formal bull issued in 1458 by Pius II authorizing
his feast on April 6, but it has always been celebrated on
April 5.
"Whatever you do, think not of yourselves but
of God." --Saint Vincent Ferrer.
Born
into a noble, pious family headed by the Englishman
William Ferrer and the Spanish woman Constantia Miguel,
Saint Vincent's career of miracle-working began early.
Prodigies attended his birth and baptism on the same day
at Valencia, and, at age 5, he cured a neighbor child of a
serious illness. These gifts and his natural beauty of person
and character made him the center of attention very early in life.
His parents
instilled into Vincent an intense devotion to our
Lord and His Mother and a great love of the poor. He fasted
regularly each Wednesday and Friday on bread and water from
early childhood, abstained from meat, and learned to deny himself
extravagances in order to provide alms for necessities. When
his parents saw that Vincent looked upon the poor as the members
of Christ and that he treated them with the greatest affection
and charity, they made him the dispenser of their bountiful alms.
They gave him for his portion a third part of their possessions, all
of which he distributed among the poor in four days.
Vincent
began his classical studies at the age of 8, philosophy
at 12, and his theological studies at age 14. As everyone
expected, he entered the Dominican priory of Valencia and
received the habit on February 5, 1367. So angelic was his appearance
and so holy his actions, that no other course seemed possible
to him than to dedicate his life to God.
No sooner
had he made his choice of vocation than the devil
attacked him with the most dreadful temptations. Even his
parents, who had encouraged his vocation, pleaded with him
to leave the monastery and become a secular priest. By prayer
and faith, especially prayer to Our Lady and his guardian angel,
Vincent triumphed over his difficulties and finished his novitiate.
He was
sent to Barcelona to study and was appointed reader
in philosophy at Lerida, the most famous university in Catalonia,
before he was 21. While there he published two treatises
(Dialectic suppositions was one) that were well received.
In 1373,
he was sent to Barcelona to preach, despite the fact
that he held only deacon's orders. The city, laid low by
a famine, was desperately awaiting overdue shipments of
corn. Vincent foretold in a sermon that the ships would
come before night, and although he was rebuked by his superior
for making such a prediction, the ships arrived that day.
The joyful people rushed to the priory to acclaim Vincent
a prophet. The prior, however, thought it would be wise to
transfer him away from such adulation.
Another
story tells us that some street urchins drew his attention
to one of their gang who was stretched out in the dust,
pretending to be dead, near the port of Grao: "He's dead, bring
him back to life!" they cried. "Ah," replied Vincent,
"he was playing dead but the, look, he did die." This is how
one definitely nails a lie: by regarding it as a truth. And
it turned out to be true, the boy was quite dead.
Everyone was gripped with fear.
They implored Vincent to do something. God did.
He raised him up.
In 1376, Vincent was transferred
to Toulouse for a year, and continued his education.
Having made a particular study of Scripture and Hebrew,
Vincent was well-equipped to preach to the Jews. He
was ordained a priest at Barcelona in 1379, and became a member
of Pedro (Peter) Cardinal de Luna's court--the beginning of
a long friendship that was to end in grief for both of them. (Cardinal
de Luna had voted for Pope Urban VI in 1378, but convinced
that the election had been invalid, joined a group of cardinals
who elected Robert of Geneva as Pope Clement VII later in the same
year; thus, creating a schism and the line of Avignon popes.)
After
being recalled to his own country, Vincent preached
very successfully at the cathedral in Valencia from 1385-1390,
and became famed for his eloquence and effectiveness at
converting Jews--Rabbi Paul of Burgos, the future bishop of
Cartagena was one of Vincent's 30,000 Jewish and Moorish converts--and
reviving the faith of those who had lapsed. His numerous miracles,
the strength and beauty of his voice, the purity and clarity of
his doctrine, combined to make his preaching effective, based
as it was on a firm foundation of prayer.
Of course,
Vincent's success as a preacher drew the envy of
others and earned him slander and calumny. His colleagues
believed that they could make amends for the calumny
by making him prior of their monastery in Valencia. He did
withdraw for a time into obscurity. But he was recalled to
preach the Lenten sermons of 1381 in Valencia, and he could not
refuse to employ the gift of speech which drew to him the good
and simple people as well as the captious pastors, the canons,
and the skeptical savants of the Church.
Peter
de Luna, a stubborn and ambitious cardinal, made Vincent
part of his baggage, so to speak; because from 1390 on,
Vincent preached wherever Peter de Luna happened to
be, including the court of Avignon, where Vincent enjoyed
the advantage of being confessor to the pope, when Peter de
Luna became the antipope Benedict XIII in 1394.
Two evils
cried out for remedy in Saint Vincent's day: the
moral laxity left by the great plague, and the scandal of
the papal schism. In regard to the first, he preached tirelessly
against the evils of the time. That he espoused the cause
of the wrong man in the papal disagreement is no argument against
Vincent's sanctity; at the time, and in the midst of such confusion,
it was almost impossible to tell who was right and who was wrong.
The memorable thing is that he labored, with all the strength he could
muster, to bring order out of chaos. Eventually, Vincent came to
believe that his friend's claims were false and urged de Luna to
reconcile himself to Urban VI.
He acted
as confessor to Queen Yolanda of Aragon from 1391
to 1395. He was accused to the Inquisition of heresy because
he taught that Judas had performed penance, but the charge was
dismissed by the antipope Benedict XIII, who burned the Inquisition's
dossier on Vincent and made him his confessor.
Benedict offered Vincent a bishopric,
but refused it. Distressed by the great schism
and by Benedict's unyielding position, he advised
him to confer with his Roman rival. Benedict refused.
Reluctantly, Vincent was obliged to abandon de Luna in 1398. The
strain of this conflict between friendship and truth caused
Vincent to become dangerously ill in 1398. During his illness,
he experienced a vision in which Christ and Saints Dominic and
Francis instructed him to preach penance whenever and wherever
he was needed, and he was miraculously cured.
After
recovering, he pleaded to be allowed to devote himself
to missionary work. He preached in Carpetras, Arles, Aix,
and Marseilles, with huge crowds in attendance. Between
1401 and 1403, the saint was preaching in the Dauphiné,
in Savoy, and in the Alpine valleys: he continued on to Lucerne,
Lausanne, Tarentaise, Grenoble, and Turin. He was such an effective
speaker that, although he spoke only Spanish, he was thought by
many to be multilingual (the gift of tongues?). His brother Boniface
was the prior of the Grande Chartreuse, and as a result of Vincent's
preaching, several notable subjects entered the monastery.
Miracles
were attributed to him. In 1405, Vincent was in Genoa
and preached against the fantastic head-dresses worn
by the Ligurian ladies, and they were modified--"the greatest
of all his marvelous deeds, reports one of his biographers.
From Genoa, he caught a ship to Flanders. Later, in the Netherlands,
an hour each day was scheduled for his cures. In Catalonia,
his prayer restored the withered limbs of a crippled boy, deemed
incurable by his physicians, named John Soler, who later became
the bishop of Barcelona. In Salamanca in 1412, he raised a dead
man to life. Perhaps the greatest miracle occurred in the Dauphiné,
in an area called Vaupute, or Valley of Corruption. The natives
there were so savage that no minister would visit them. Vincent,
ever ready to suffer all things to gain souls, joyfully risked
his life among these abandoned wretches, converted them all from
their errors and vices. Thereafter, the name of the valley was
changed to Valpure, or Valley of Purity, a name that it has retained.
He preached
indefatigably, supplementing his natural gifts with
the supernatural power of God, obtained through his fasting,
prayers, and penance. Such was the fame of Vincent's
missions, that King Henry IV of England sent a courtier to
him with a letter entreating him to preach in his dominions. The
king sent one of his own ships to fetch him from the coast of
France, and received him with the greatest honors. The saint having
employed some time in giving the king wholesome advice both for
himself and his subjects, preached in the chief towns of England,
Scotland, and Ireland. Returning to France, he did the same,
from Gascony to Picardy.
The preaching of Saint Vincent
became a strange but marvelously effective process.
He attracted to himself hundreds of people--at one
time, more than 10,000--who followed him from place
to place in the garb of pilgrims. The priests of the company
sang Mass daily, chanted the Divine Office, and dispensed
the sacraments to those converted by Vincent's preaching.
Men and women travelled in separate companies, chanting litanies
and prayers as they went barefoot along the road from city to city.
They taught catechism where needed, founded hospitals, and
revived a faith that had all but perished in the time of the plague.
The message
of his preaching was penance, the Last Judgment,
and eternity. Like another John the Baptist--who was also
likened to an angel, as Saint Vincent is in popular art--he went
through the wilderness crying out to the people to make straight
the paths of the Lord. Fearing the judgment, if for no other reason,
sinners listened to his startling sermons, and the most obstinate
were led by him to cast off sin and love God. He worked countless
miracles, some of which are remembered today in the proverbs of Spain.
Among his converts were Saint Bernardine of Siena and Margaret of Savoy.
He returned
to Spain in 1407. Despite the fact that Granada was
under Moorish rule, he preached successfully, and thousands
of Jews and Moors were said to have been converted and requested
baptism. His sermons were often held in the open air because
the churches were too small for all those who wished to hear
him.
In 1414
the Council of Constance attempted the end the Great
Schism, which had grown since 1409 with three claimants
to the papal throne. The council deposed John XXIII, and
demanded the resignation of Benedict XIII and Gregory XII so that
a new election could be held. Gregory was willing, but Benedict
was stubborn. Again, Vincent tried to persuade Benedict to abdicate.
Again, he failed. But Vincent, who acted as a judge in the Compromise
of Caspe to resolve the royal succession, influenced the election
of Ferdinand as king of Castile. Still a friend of Benedict (Peter
de Luna), King Ferdinand, basing his actions on Vincent's opinion
on the issue, engineered Benedict's deposition in 1416, which ended
the Western Schism.
(It is
interesting to note that the edicts of the Council
of Constance were thrown out by the succeeding pope. The council
had mandated councils every ten years and claimed that such
convocations had precedence over the pope.)
His book,
Treatise
on the Spiritual Life is still of value
to earnest souls. In it he writes: "Do you desire to
study to your advantage? Let devotion accompany all your
studies, and study less to make yourself learned than to become
a saint. Consult God more than your books, and ask him, with
humility, to make you understand what you read. Study fatigues
and drains the mind and heart. Go from time to time to refresh
them at the feet of Jesus Christ under his cross. Some moments of
repose in his sacred wounds give fresh vigor and new lights. Interrupt
your application by short, but fervent and ejaculatory prayers: never
begin or end your study but by prayer. Science is a gift of the Father
of lights; do not therefore consider it as barely the work of your own
mind or industry."
It seems
that Vincent practiced what he preached. He always
composed his sermons at the foot of a crucifix, both to
beg light from Christ crucified, and to draw from that object
sentiments with which to animate his listeners to penance and
the love of God.
Saint
Vincent also preached to Saint Colette and her nuns,
and it was she who told him that he would die in France.
Indeed, Vincent spent his last three years in France, mainly
in Normandy and Brittany, and he died on the Wednesday of Holy
Week in Vannes, Brittany, after returning from a preaching
trip to Nantes. The day of his burial was a great popular feast
with a procession, music, sermons, songs, miracles, and even
minor brawls (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Dorcy,
Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gheon, Husenbeth, Walsh, White).
Note:
I highly recommend reading the entry for Vincent
Ferrer in Butler's Lives of the Saints.
It's
more accurate than many of his biographies and much
more detailed about the saints travels and miracles than
presented here.
Saint
Vincent is the patron of orphanages in Spain. And Breton
fishermen still invoke his aid in storms (Dorcy). He is also
the patron of lead founders and invoked against epilepsy,
fever, and headache (Roeder).
In art,
Saint Vincent is a Dominican with a book, Christ is
above with the Instruments of His Passion. Sometimes Vincent
is shown (1) pointing to Christ, with a lily and crucifix;
(2) ditto, Christ above, shrouded corpses under his feet;
(3) surrounded by cherubim, flame in one hand, book in the
other; (4) with symbolic wings on his shoulder, trumpet in his
hand; (5) with flame, IHS and a radiant face; (6) with Blessed
Peter Cerdan (Roeder, Tabor); (7) with a cardinal's hat; or
with Jewish and Saracen converts around him (White).
|
1420 Blessed Elisabeth
the Good, OFM Tert. mystical experiences
including the stigmata V (AC)
Born in
Waldsee, W&uouml;rtemberg, Germany, 1386; died
there, ; cultus confirmed in 1766. Elisabeth lived her
whole life in a small community of Franciscan tertiaries
near Waldsee. She was subject to mystical experiences including
the stigmata, and went for long periods without any natural
food (Benedictines). |
1423 Bl. Juliana
of Norwich Benedictine English mystic anchorite
In 1373 experienced sixteen revelations. Her
book, Revelations of Divine Love - a work on the love
of God, the Incarnation, redemption, and divine consolation
Among English mystics none is greater
sometimes
called Julian. She was a recluse of Norwich, living
outside the walls of Saint Julian’s Church., she is
one of the most important writers of England. She wrote
on sin, penance, and other aspects of the spiritual life,
attracting people from all across Europe. She is called Blessed,
although she was never formally beatified.
Blessed
Juliana of Norwich, OSB Hermit (PC) Born c. 1342;
died in Norwich, England, c. 1423; she has never actually
been beatified.
Among
the English mystics none is greater than the Lady
Julian, who lived near Norwich, England, in a three-roomed
hermitage in the churchyard of Conisford. Absolutely
nothing is known of her life before becoming an anchorite.
In fact, we do not even know her name; she has been given
the name of the church where she had her cell. An old English historian
writes: "In 1393, Lady Julian, the anchoress here was a strict
recluse, and had two servants to attend her in her old age.
This woman was in these days esteemed one of the greatest holiness."
She
lived in an age of startling and confusing contrasts.
It was the time of the Black Death, the Peasants' Revolt,
Piers Plowman and Wat Tyler, when the old social
patterns were breaking down. But none of this is reflected
in her quiet and retired life or in the pages of her spiritual
autobiography, Revelations of Divine Love, which is the most
sublime of all expositions of its kind in English. Her masterpiece
encompasses the love of God, the Incarnation, redemption, sin,
penance, and divine consolation.
"These
revelations," she writes, "were shown to a simple
creature unlettered, the year of our Lord 1373, the
eighth day of May." She desired above all to know the
suffering of our Lord--what she called "the mind of His
Passion"--and that nothing might stand between herself and
God. She tells us that when at the age of 30 she was at the
point of death and the curate was sent for to administer the
last rites, "he set the Cross before my face and said: 'I have
brought you the Image of thy Maker and Savior: Look thereupon
and comfort yourself with it.'"
She
spent the next 20 years meditating upon the 16 revelations
that followed in a state of ecstasy, of Christ's Passion
and the Trinity. She saw the red blood flow from under
the Crown of Thorns; she saw the Virgin, a young and simple
maid; she saw our Lord a 'homely loving.' Then God showed her
a little thing--a hazel nut in the palm of her hand. She thought:
what may this be? and was answered: "It is all that is made. God
shaped it. God gave it life. God maintains it."
Thus, she learned the goodness
of God, in which is our highest prayer and
which "comes down to our lowest need." And still
regarding the Crucifix, she saw the stream of God's mercy
falling like showers of rain, and looked upon the tokens
of His Passion. She saw our Lord dying and underwent the
torments and agony of His suffering. "And thus I saw Him, and
sought Him; I had Him and I wanted Him." It seemed, she said,
as if He were seven nights dying, so outdrawn was His anguish,
suffering the last pain, seven nights dead, continually
dying, in a cold dry wind. "Thus was I taught to choose Jesus
for my Heaven, whom I saw only in pain at that time . . . to choose
only Jesus in good times and bad. . . He shall make all well that
is not well. . . . Prayer unites the soul to God."
In
this way, this remarkable book pursues its course,
full of deep insight and feeling: "In Christ our two
natures are united." "Our soul can never have rest in
things that are beneath itself." "God can do all that
we need." "I knew well that while I beheld in the Cross I
was surely safe." And its last word is: "Love was our Lord's meaning."
At the time of her death she had a far-spread reputation for
sanctity, which attracted visitors from all over England to
her cell (Benedictines, Delaney, Gill).
|
1426 The holy New Martyr
wonderworker Ephraim priest 27 years imitated life of the great Fathers/ascetics
of the desert; Turkes tortued him to death but
after 500 years he is quick to answer the prayers of
those who call upon him Ephraim
was born in Greece on September 14, 1384. His father died when
the saint was young, his pious mother left to care for 7 children
by herself.
When Ephraim
reached the age of fourteen, the all-good God directed
his steps to a monastery on the mountain of Amoman near
Nea Makri in Attica. The monastery was dedicated to the
Annunciation and also to St Paraskeva. Here he took on his shoulders
the Cross of Christ, which all His followers must bear (Matt.
16:24). Being enflamed with love for God, St Ephraim eagerly placed
himself under the monastic discipline. For nearly twenty-seven
years he imitated the life of the great Fathers and ascetics of
the desert. With divine zeal, he followed Christ and turned away
from the attractions of this world. By the grace of God, he purified
himself from soul-destroying passions and became an abode of the
All-Holy Spirit. He was also found worthy to receive the grace of
the priesthood, and served at the altar with great reverence and
compunction.
On September 14, 1425,
the barbarous Turks launched an invasion by sea,
destroying the monastery and and looting the surrounding
area. St Ephraim was one of the victims of their frenzied
hatred. Many of the monks had been tortured and beheaded,
but St Ephraim remained calm. This infuriated the Turks, so they
imprisoned him in order to torture him and force him to deny
Christ.6
They locked
him in a small cell without food or water, and they
beat him every day, hoping to convince him to become a Moslem.
For several months, he endured horrible torments. When the
Turks realized that the saint remained faithful to Christ, they
decided to put him to death. On Tuesday May 5, 1426, they led
him from his cell. They turned him upside down and tied him to a
mulberry tree, then they beat him and mocked him. "Where is your
God," they asked, "and why doesn't he help you?" The saint did not
lose courage, but prayed,
"O God, do not listen to the
words of these men, but may Thy will be done as Thou hast ordained."
The barbarians pulled the saint's
beard and tortured him until his strength ebbed.
His blood flowed, and his clothes were in tatters. His
body was almost naked and covered with many wounds. Still
the Hagarenes were not satisfied, but wished to torture him
even more. One of them took a flaming stick and plunged it violently
into the saint's navel. His screams were heart-rending, so
great was his pain. The blood flowed from his stomach, but the Turks
did not stop. They repeated the same painful torments many times.
His body writhed, and all his limbs were convulsed. Soon, the
saint grew too weak to speak, so he prayed silently asking God to
forgive his sins. Blood and saliva ran from his mouth, and the
ground was soaked with his blood. Then he lapsed into unconsciousness.
Thinking
that he had died, the Turks cut the ropes which bound
him to the tree, and the saint's body fell to the ground.
Their rage was still not diminished, so they continued to
kick and beat him. After a while, the saint opened his eyes and
prayed, "Lord, I give up my spirit to Thee." About nine o'clock
in the morning, the martyr's soul was separated from his body.
These things remained
forgotten for nearly 500 years, hidden in the depths
of silence and oblivion until January 3, 1950. By then
a women's monastery had sprung up on the site of the old
monastery. Abbess Makaria (+ April 23, 1999) was wandering
through the ruins of the monastery, thinking of the martyrs whose
bones had been scattered over that ground, and whose blood had
watered the tree of Orthodoxy.
She realized that this
was a holy place, and she prayed that God would
permit her to behold one of the Fathers who had lived
there. After some time, she seemed to
sense an inner voice telling her to dig in a certain spot. She
indicated the place to a workman whom she had hired to make
repairs at the old monastery. The man was unwilling to dig
there, for he wanted to dig somewhere else. Because the man
was so insistent, Mother Makaria let him go where he wished.
She prayed that the man would not be able to dig there, and so he
struck rock. Although he tried to dig in three or four places,
he met with the same results. Finally, he agreed to dig where the
abbess had first indicated.
In the ruins
of an old cell, he cleared away the rubble and began
to dig in an angry manner. The abbess told him to slow down,
for she did not want him to damage the body that she expected
to find there. He mocked her because she expected to find the
relics of a saint. When he reached the depth of six feet, however,
he unearthed the head of the man of God. At that moment an ineffable
fragrance filled the air. The workman turned pale and was unable
to speak. Mother Makaria told him to go and leave her there by herself.
She knelt and reverently kissed the body. As she cleared away more
earth, she saw the sleeves of the saint's rasson. The cloth was
thick appeared to have been woven on the loom of an earlier time.
She uncovered the rest of the body and began to remove the bones, which
appeared to be those of a martyr.
Mother Makaria
was still in that holy place when evening fell, so
she read the service of Vespers. Suddenly she heard footsteps
coming from the grave, moving across the courtyard toward
the door of the church. The footsteps were strong and steady,
like those of a man of strong character. The nun was afraid to turn
around and look, but then she heard a voice say, "How long are you
going to leave me here?"
She saw a
tall monk with small, round eyes, whose beard reached
his chest. In his left hand was a bright light, and he gave
a blessing with his right hand. Mother Makaria was filled with
joy and her fear disappeared. "Forgive me," she said, "I will
take care of you tomorrow as soon as God makes the day dawn." The
saint disappeared, and the abbess continued to read Vespers.
In the morning
after Matins, Mother Makaria cleaned the bones and
placed them in a niche in the altar area of the church,
lighting a candle before them. That night St Ephraim appeared
to her in a dream. He thanked her for caring for his relics,
then he said, "My name is St Ephraim." From his own lips, she
heard the story of his life and martyrdom.
Since St
Ephraim glorified God in his life and by his death,
the Lord granted him the grace of working miracles. Those
who venerate his holy relics with faith and love have been
healed of all kinds of illnesses and infirmities, and he is
quick to answer the prayers of those who call upon him.
|
1430 Blessed Thomas
of Walden; King Henry V chose him as his confessor and died in his arms
OC (PC)
(also known as Thomas Netter); miracles
at his tomb
THIS
holy and learned man has enjoyed a certain local cultus in
the Carmelite Order which has, however, not yet been formally confirmed
by the Holy See. He was an Essex man, born at Saffron Walden about 1375,
his family name being Netter. He joined the Carmelites in London, studied
at Oxford, where he took his doctorate in theology, and was ordained priest
about 1400. He made a name for himself as a professor, and in 1409 was sent
to the Council of Pisa, where he is said to have supported the election
of Pope Alexander V. On his return to England Friar Thomas
entered whole-heartedly into the opposition to the Lollards and other followers
of the errors of John Wyclif, and he is regarded as the most able of the
controversialists against them and their brethren on the continent—“never
was there such a netter of heretics”.
He
took part in the trials of their leaders, notably Sir John Oldcastle,
and his chief writings were directed against their errors, notably his
Doctrinale fidei. At this time the Carmelites were
popular among the nobility as confessors, and Thomas was appointed to that
office for King Henry V, being at the
same time prior provincial of his order in England, though probably not
yet forty years old. He was among the English representatives
at the Council of Constance, which condemned the teachings of Wyclif and
Flits, and immediately after was a member of an embassy to Poland on behalf
of the pope and the emperor. He is said to have established friaries of his
order in Lithuania and Prussia.
Friar Thomas was with Henry
V in France in 1422, and the king
died in his arms at Vincennes.
The
guardians of the infant Henry VI later appointed Thomas to be his
tutor, so that in some degree he may have been responsible for that king’s
subsequent holiness. Though Thomas was engaged so much in conflict with
stubborn and sometimes violent heretics, he was himself of a kindly disposition
and affectionate in his relations with others. He went to France with the
boy king in 1430, and died at Rouen on November 2, leaving
a reputation of holiness, which was confirmed by miracles at his tomb. Friar
Thomas’s numerous written works, which received the praise of Pope Martin
V, earned for him the title of Doctor praestantissimus,
“the Pre-eminent Teacher”, and Doctor authenticus,
“the Authoritative Teacher”. His treatise
De sacramentalibus includes a discussion of canonization,
which is of much interest in the history of the subject.
Thomas Netter is not included by the
Bollandists even among the praetermissi on this day. Neither
is he mentioned in Stanton’s Menology, or in the martyrologies
of Whitford or Wilson. The sources available have been indicated by B.
Zimmerman in his Monumenta Historica Carmelitana (1907),
pp. 442-482 and also by the same learned writer in the Catholic
Encyclopedia, vol. x, pp. 764-765. cf. K. L. Hine,
History of Hitchin (1927) vol. i, pp. 133-138 Netter was a young friar at Hitchin.
Born at Saffron Walden, 1375; died at Rouen,
1430. Thomas Netter was born at Saffron Walden and joined the Carmelites.
He was an active opponent of Lollardism and a prominent member of the Council
of Constance. King Henry V chose him as his confessor and died in his arms
(Benedictines).
|
1433 St. Lydwine heroically
accepted plight as will of God offered her
sufferings for humanity's sins Jesus Christ confided
in her She experienced mystical gifts, including
supernatural visions of heaven, hell, purgatory, apparitions
of Christ, and the stigmata. Patron of sickness
& skaters
St.
Lydwine is the patroness of sickness Lydwine of Schiedam
was born at Schiedam, Holland, one of nine children of
a working man. After an injury in her youth, she became
bedridden and suffered the rest of her life from various illnesses
and diseases. She experienced mystical gifts, including supernatural
visions of heaven, hell, purgatory, apparitions of Christ, and
the stigmata. Thomas a Kempis wrote a biography of her. She was
canonized Pope Leo XIII in 1890. Lydwine suffered a fall while ice
skating in 1396, when a friend collided with her and caused her
to break a rib on the right side. From this injury, she never recovered.
An abscess formed inside her body which later burst and caused
Lydwine extreme suffering. Eventually, she was to suffer a series
of mysterious illnesses which in retrospect seemed to be from the
hands of God. Lydwine heroically accepted her plight as the will
of God and offered up her sufferings for the sins of humanity. Some
of the illnesses which affected Lydwine were headaches, vomiting,
fever, thirst, bedsores, toothaches, spasms of the muscles, blindness,
neuritis and the stigmata.
Blessed
Lidwina of Schiedam V (AC) (also known as Lydwina,
Lydwid, Lidwyna) Born in Schiedam, the Netherlands, in
1380; cultus approved in 1890. Lidwina, one of nine children
of a laborer, developed a devotion to the Blessed Virgin
in her childhood. When her mother would send her on any errand,
Lidwina would visit the church to greet her Lady with a Hail Mary.
At the age of 12, she pledged her virginity to Christ.
She
was injured in 1396 while ice skating and became
a life-long invalid. She was cruelly wed to agonizing
bodily pains, ulcers, the Black Plague and other maladies,
without counting the familial and spiritual complications.
Lidwina bore the pain patiently as reparation for the
sins of others.
For
30 years she received no explanation of incredible
sufferings except through Jesus Christ who confided in
her and promised the consolation of a heavenly life. Upon
the advice of her confessor, Jan Pot, Lidwina meditated
night and day on our Lord's passion, which she divided into seven
parts, to correspond to the seven canonical hours of prayer. Through
this practice Lidwina soon found all her bitterness and affliction
converted into sweetness and consolation, and her soul so much
changed, that she prayed to God to increase her pains and patience.
Beginning in 1407, Lidwina began to experience supernatural gifts--ecstasies
and visions in which she participated in the Passion of Christ,
saw purgatory and heaven and visited with saints.
Though
her family was poor, Lidwina gave away the major
portion of the alms given to her by others. Upon the death
of her parents, she bequeathed to the poor all the goods
that they left to her.
The
last 19 years of her life she partook of no food except
the Holy Eucharist, slept little if at all during the
last seven years of her life, and became almost completely
blind and was unable to move any part of her body except her
head and left arm.
Her
extraordinary sufferings attracted widespread attention.
When a new parish priest accused her of hypocrisy, the
people of the town threatened to drive him away. An ecclesiastical
commission appointed to investigate declared her experiences
to be valid.
She
died on Easter Tuesday in 1433. Thomas a Kempis,
author of Imitation of Christ and an eyewitness of some
of her miracles, wrote her biography. The chapel in which
her body lay in a marble tomb was renamed for her
the following year, and her father's house was converted
into a monastery of Gray Sisters of the third order of St.
Francis.
Calvinists demolished the chapel
and changed the monastery into a hospital
for orphans.
Her
relics were translated to Brussels, and enshrined
in the collegiate church of St. Gudula. Isabella obtained
a portion of her relics and enshrined them in the church
of the Carmelite convent which she founded.
Lidwina
was never formally beatified; however, a Mass was
sung in her chapel at Schiedham on her festival, with a panegyric
on the holy virgin. Her vita was compiled by John Gerlac,
her cousin, and John Walter, her confessor: and by John Brugman,
provincial of the Franciscans, who were all personally acquainted
with her (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
Lidwina
is portrayed in art as a cripple holding a crucifix
and receiving a branch of roses from an angel. Sometimes
she may be shown (1) receiving a lily from the angel;
(2) with a cross and rosary; (3) as a girl falling on ice
while skating; or (4) working on embroidery (Roeder).
She is the patron of skaters.
|
1435 BD PETER OF PISA Many miracles were ascribed to him;
THE founder of
the Hermits, or Poor Brothers, of St Jerome was born in
1355 at Pisa, while his father, Peter Gambacorta, whose name
he bore, was ruling that republic. At the age of twenty-five
he secretly left the court in the disguise of a penitent, and retired
to the Umbrian solitude of Monte Bello. There he subsisted on
alms, which he collected in the nearest village. In 1380 he found
means to build an oratory and cells for a dozen companions who had
joined him (according to popular tradition they were highwaymen
whom he had converted). He prescribed for his community a rule supplemented
by certain constitutions gathered from the works of St Jerome, whom
he chose as patron of the new congregation. His monks kept
four Lents in the year, fasted on all Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays, and continued in prayer every night for two hours after
Matins. As for himself, his whole time was spent in prayer or in penitential
exercises. Many miracles were ascribed to him.
When his father
and brothers were assassinated in 1393 by Giacomo Appiano,
he was sorely tempted to leave his retreat to punish the perpetrator
of the outrage; but he overcame the temptation and, following
the example of his sister, Bd Clare Gambacorta (April
17) he freely forgave the murderer. His congregation, approved
by Pope Martin V in 1421, soon established itself elsewhere in
Italy. Bd Peter survived until 1435, dying in Venice at the age
of eighty, and was beatified in 1693. At one time there were forty-six
houses of Poor Brothers in the provinces of Ancona and Treviso. Small
groups of hermits and tertiaries became affiliated to them, and in
1668 Pope Clement IX united the community of St Jerome of Fiesole,
which had been founded by Charles Montegranelli, to Bd Peter's order.
But by 1933 its members had become so few that it was suppressed by the
Holy See.
An account, founded on rather late
materials, is given in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol.
iv; but see further the Kirchenlexikon,
vol. v, cc. 2016-2017; SajaneIlo, Hist. Mon. Ord. S. Hieron.
Congo S. Petri de Pisis,
vol. i, pp. 100 seq.; and Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, vol. i, pp.
592-596. The brief of suppression is in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. xxv (1933), pp. 147-149
|
1440 St. Frances of Rome
widow, renowned for her noble family, holy life, and the gift
of miracles.
Romæ sanctæ Francíscæ
Víduæ, nobilitáte géneris,
vitæ sanctitáte et miraculórum dono
célebris.
At Rome, St. Frances, widow, renowned for her noble
family, holy life, and the gift of miracles.
Frances was born in the city
of Rome in 1384 to a wealthy, noble family. From her
mother she inherited a quiet manner and a pious devotion
to God. From her father, however, she inherited a strong will.
She decided at eleven that she knew what God wanted for her
-- she was going to be a nun. And that's where her will ran right
up against her father's. He told Frances she was far too young to
know her mind -- but not too young to be married. He had already
promised her in marriage to the son of another wealthy family. In
Rome at that time a father's word was law; a father could even
sell his children into slavery or order them killed.
1440
ST FRANCES OF ROME, WIDOW
THE gentle saint
who was known first to her fellow-citizens and then
to the Church at large as Santa Francesca Romana, St Frances
the Roman, possessed to an extraordinary degree the power
of attracting the love and admiration of those who came in contact
with her. Nor has her charm ended with her death, for she is still
honoured by countless souls who seek her intercession and pray
before her tomb in Santa Maria Nuova. On her feast day and within
its octave, crowds flock to visit Tor de’ Specchi and the Casa
degli Esercizi Pu (the successor of the old Palazzo Ponziano),
the rooms of which are annually thrown open to the public and every
memorial and relic of the saint exhibited.
She was born in
the Trastevere district of Rome in 1384, at the beginning of the Great Schism
of the West, which was to cause het much grief as well as adversely to affect
the fortunes of her family. She did not live to see harmony completely restored.
Her parents, Paul Busso and Jacobella dei Roffredeschi, were of noble birth
and ample means, and the child was brought up in the midst of luxury but
in a pious household. Frances was a precocious little girl, and when she
was eleven she asked her parents to allow her to become a nun, only to be
met by a point-blank refusal. Her parents, who were excellent people and
much attached to her, had quite different plans for their attractive little
daughter. Within a year they announced to her that they had arranged to betroth
her to young Lorenzo Ponziano, whose position, character and wealth made
him a suitable match. After a time Frances withdrew her objections, and the
marriage was solemnized when she was barely thirteen. At first she found
the new life very trying, although she did her best to please her husband
as well as her parents-in-law, and Vannozza, the young
wife of Lorenzo’s brother Paluzzo, discovered her one day
weeping bitterly. Frances told her of her frustrated hopes,
and learnt to her surprise that this new sister of hers would
also have preferred a life of retirement and prayer. This was
the beginning of a close friendship which lasted till death, and
the two young wives strove together henceforth to live a perfect
life under a common rule. Plainly dressed they sallied out to visit
the poor of Rome, ministering to their wants and relieving their distress,
and their husbands, who were devoted to them, raised no objection
to their charities and austerities. This life was for a time interrupted
by a severe and somewhat mysterious illness to which Frances fell a
victim, and whichh er relatives sought to remedy
by the aid of magic. We are told that after a year St Alexis appeared
to her in a vision. He inquired if she was prepared to die or if she
wished to recover. She replied that she had no will but the will of
God. The saint then informed her that it was God’s will that she should
recover and work for His greater glory, and, after throwing his cloak
over her, he disappeared. Her infirmity had disappeared also.
After
this the lives of the sisterly pair became even stricter
than before, and daily they went to the hospital of Santo
Spirito in Sassia to nurse the patients, singling out more
particularly those suffering from the most repellent diseases.
Their mother-in-law, Donna Cecilia, not unnaturally, was afraid
lest they might injure their health, and thought that their avoidance
of banquets and entertainments might be misconstrued in society
and bring discredit on the family, but her Sons, to whom she
appealed, refused to interfere in any way. In 1400 a son was born
to Frances, and for a time she modified her way of life to devote
herself to the care of little John Baptist (Battista). The following
year Donna Cecilia died, and Frances was bidden by her father-in-law
take her place at the head of the household. In vain she pleaded that
Vannozza was the wife of the elder brother: Don Andrew and Vannozza
insisted that she was the more suitable, and she was obliged to consent.
She proved herself worthy of this position, discharging her duties
efficiently whilst treating her household not as servants but as
younger brothers and sisters, and trying to induce them to labour
for their own salvation, in all the forty years that she lived with
her husband there was never the slightest dispute or misunderstanding
between them. When she was at her prayers, if summoned by Lorenzo or
asked to give orders about the house, she laid all aside to respond
to the call of that duty. “It is most laudable in a married woman to
be devout”, she was wonton say, “but she must never forget that she is
a housewife. And sometimes she must leave God at the altar to find Him
in her housekeeping.” Her biographers relate that once when she was reading
our Lady’s office a page was sent to fetch her. “Madonna, my master begs
you to come to him”, said the lad. She immediately closed the book and
went. Three more times this interruption happened; but when at last
she opened the book for the fifth time she found the words of the antiphon
were written in letters of gold. In addition to the eldest, two other
children of Frances are known, a younger boy, Evangelist, and a girl,
Agnes; and she allowed no one but herself to look after them during
childhood.
Although,
like so many other interior souls, Frances was sorely
tried all her life by violent, temptations, which in her
case sometimes took the form of hideous or enticing visions,
and sometimes resembled bodily assaults, still for several
years outward prosperity seemed to smile upon her and her family.
The first indication of the clouds that were gathering came
in the form of a famine and pestilence, mainly the result of the
civil wars which were then convulsing Italy. Plague-stricken people
were dying in the streets, and disease and starvation decimated
Rome. Frances was unremitting in her efforts to relieve the sufferers
and, with the help of Vannozza, tried to succour all she came across.
Even the plentiful stock of provisions at the Palazzo Ponziano was
exhausted at last and the two women went from door to door begging
for food for the poor in spite of rebuffs and insults. It was then
that she received her father-in-law’s consent to sell her jewels,
and she never from that time forth wore any but the plainest dresses.
In
1408 the troops of Ladislaus of Naples, the ally of
the antipope, had entered Rome and a soldier of fortune,
Count Troja, had been appointed governor. The Ponziani had
always supported the legitimate pope, and in one of the frequent
conflicts Lorenzo was stabbed and carried home to Frances, to
whose devoted nursing he owed his restoration to health. Troja resolved
to leave the city after having wreaked his vengeance on the principal
papal supporters. Amongst these were the Ponziani, and he not only
arrested Vannozza’s husband Paluzzo, but also demanded as a hostage
little. Battista but whilst his mother Frances was praying in the church
of Ara Coeli the boy was released in circumstances that seemed to
be miraculous. Then, in 1410 when the cardinals were assembled at
Bologna for the election of a new pope, Ladislaus again seized Rome.
Lorenzo Ponziano, who as one of the heads of the papal party went in
danger of his life, managed to escape, but it was impossible for his
wife and family to follow him. His palace was plundered and Battista
was taken captive by the soldiers of Ladislaus, though he afterwards
got away and was able to join his father. The family possessions in
the Campagna were destroyed, farms being burnt or pillaged and flocks
slaughtered whilst many of the peasants were murdered. Frances lived
in a corner of her ruined home with Evangelist, Agnes and Vannozza, whose
husband was still, a prisoner, and the two women devoted themselves
to the care of the children and to relieving as far as their means
would allow the sufferings of their still poorer neighbours. During
another pestilence three years later, Evangelist died. Frances then
turned part of the house into a hospital, and God rewarded her labours
and prayers by bestowing on her the gift of healing.
Twelve
months after the death of Evangelist, as his mother
was praying one day, a bright light suddenly shone into
the room and Evangelist appeared accompanied by an
archangel. After telling her of his happiness in Heaven he said
that he had come to warn her of the impending death of Agnes. A
consolation was, however, to be vouchsafed to the bereaved mother.
The archangel who accompanied Evangelist was henceforth to be her
guide for twenty-three years. He was to be succeeded in the last epoch
of her life by an angel of still higher dignity. Very soon Agnes began
to fail, and a year later she passed away at the age of sixteen. From
that moment, as Evangelist had promised, the angel was always visible
to St Frances, though unseen by others. Only when she committed a
fault did he fade away for a time, to return as soon as she felt compunction
and made confession. The form he took was that of a child of about
eight years old. But, weakened by what she had gone through, Frances
herself fell a victim to the plague. So ill was she that every hope
of recovery was abandoned, but the disease suddenly left her, and
she began to regain her health. It was at this time that she had
a vision of Hell so terrible that she could never allude to it without
tears.
After many delays
Pope John XXIII summoned the Council of
Constance which was to prepare the healing of the Great
Schism, and in that same year 1414 the Ponziani regained their
property after being recalled from banishment. Lorenzo was now
a broken man and lived in retirement, being tended with the utmost
devotion by his faithful wife. It was his great wish to see his
son Battista married and settled before his death, and he chose for
him a beautiful girl called Mobilia, who proved to have a violent
and overbearing temper. She conceived a great contempt for Frances,
of whom she complained to her husband and his father, and whom she
ridiculed in public. In the midst of a bitter speech she was struck
down by a sudden illness, through which she was nursed by the saint.
Won by her kindness Mobilia found her contempt turned to love, and
thenceforward she sought to imitate her saintly mother-in-law. By this
time the fame of the virtues and miracles of St Frances had spread over Rome, and she was appealed to from all
quarters, not only to cure the sick but also to settle disputes and heal
feuds. Lorenzo, whose love and reverence for her only increased with
age, offered to release her from all the obligations of married life
provided only that she would continue to live under his roof.
She
was now able to carry out a project which had been
taking shape in her mind of forming a society of women living
in the world and bound by no vows, but pledged to make a simple
offering of themselves to God and to serve the poor. The plan
was approved by her confessor Dom Antonio, who obtained the
affiliation of the congregation to the Benedictines of Monte
Oliveto, to which he himself belonged. Known at first as the Oblates
of Mary, they were afterwards called the Oblates of Tor de’ Specchi.
The society had lasted seven years when it was thought desirable
to take a house adapted for a community, and the old building
known as Tor de’ Specchi was acquired. Whatever time she could spare
from her home duties St Frances spent with the oblates, sharing
in their daily life and duties. She never allowed them to refer to
her as the foundress, but insisted that all should be subject to
Agnes de Lellis who was chosen superioress. Three years later Lorenzo
died and was laid beside Evangelist and Agnes; and St Frances announced
her intention of retiring to Tor de’ Specchi. On the feast of St
Benedict she entered her foundation as a humble suppliant
and was eagerly welcomed. Agnes de Lellis immediately insisted
upon resigning office and Frances had to take her place in spite
of her protestations.
Her
life was now lived closer than ever to God. Her austerities
indeed she could not well increase, for she had long subsisted
on dry bread with occasionally some vegetables; she had
scourged herself and made use of horsehair girdles and chains
with sharp points. But now visions and ecstasies became more
frequent, and she sometimes spent whole nights in prayer. One evening
in the spring of 1440, though feeling very ill she tried to get back
home after visiting Battista and Mobilia. On the way she met her
director, Dom John Matteotti, who, shocked at her appearance, ordered
her to return at once to her son’s house. It was soon evident that
she was dying, but she lingered on for seven days. On the evening
of March 9 her face was seen to shine with a strange light: “The angel
has finished his task: he beckons me to follow him”, were her last
words. As soon as it was known that she was dead, the Ponziani Palace
was thronged by mourners and by those who brought their sick to be
healed. Her body was removed to Santa Maria Nuova, where the crowds
became even greater as the report of miracles wrought there
was spread abroad. She was buried in the chapel of the church
reserved for her oblates. Her congregation still survives at Tor
de’ Specchi, where the oblates carry on educational work; their dress
remains that of the Roman noble ladies of the period. St Frances
was canonized in it 1608, and Santa Maria Nuova is now known
as the church of Santa Francesca Romana.
By far the most important source for
the Life of St Frances of Rome is the collection of
visions, miracles and biographical details compiled first
of all in Italian by John Matteotti and afterwards, with omissions
and additions, translated by him into Latin. Matteotti had
been the saint’s confessor during the last ten years of her life,
but there is no evidence that he had been acquainted with her at an
earlier date. The seventeenth-century biography which has been
printed under the name of Mary Magdalen Anguillaria, superioress
of Tor de’ Specchi, adds little to the materials provided by Matteotti,
though it may have incorporated some new facts from the
processes which preceded the canonization. All these sources in
a Latin version will be found in the Acta Sanctorum,
March, vol. ii. There is a short but
very sympathetic life of St Frances in English by
Lady Georgians Fullerton published in 1853; and lives
in French by Rabory (1884), Rambuteau (1900) and Mrs Berthem-Bontoux
(1931), the last a solid but rather prolix work. The Italian
text of Matteotti has been edited by Armellini, but
cf M. Pelaez in the Archivio Soc.
Pomona di Storia patria, vols. xiv and xv (1891—1892).
Frances probably felt that's
what he was doing by forcing her to marry. But just
as he wouldn't listen to her, Frances wouldn't listen to
him. She stubbornly prayed to God to prevent the marriage until
her confessor pointed out, "Are you crying because you want
to do God's will or because you want God to do your will?"
She gave in to the
marriage -- reluctantly. It was difficult for people to
understand her objection. Her future husband Lorenzo Ponziani
was noble, wealthy, a good person and he really cared for her.
An ideal match -- except for someone who was determined to be a
bride of Christ. Then her nightmare began. This quiet, shy
thirteen year old was thrust into the whirl of parties and banquets
that accompanied a wedding. Her mother-in-law Cecilia loved to
entertain and expected her new daughter-in-law to enjoy the
revelry of her social life too. Fasting and scourging were far easier
than this torture God now asked her to face.
Frances collapsed
from the strain. For months she lay close to death,
unable to eat or move or speak.
At her worst, she had a vision
of St. Alexis.
The son of a noble family, Alexis had run away to beg rather
than marry. After years of begging he was so unrecognizable that
when he returned home his own father thought he was just another
beggar and made him sleep under the stairs. In her own way, Frances
must have felt unrecognized by her family -- they couldn't see how
she wanted to give up everything for Jesus. St. Alexis told her God was giving
her an important choice: Did she want to recover or not?
It's hard for us
to understand why a thirteen-year-old would want to die
but Frances was miserable. Finally, she whispered, "God's
will is mine." The hardest words she could have said -- but
the right words to set her on the road to sanctity.
St. Alexis replied,
"Then you will live to glorify His Name."
Her recovery was
immediate and complete. Lorenzo became even more devoted
to her after this -- he was even a little in awe of her because
of what she'd been through.
But her problems did not disappear.
Her mother-in-law still expected her to entertain and
go on visits with her. Look at Frances' sister-in-law Vannozza
--happily going through the rounds of parties, dressing up,
playing cards. Why couldn't Frances be more like Vannozza?
In a house where
she lived with her husband, his parents, his brother and
his brother's family, she felt all alone. And that's why
Vannozza found her crying bitterly in the garden one day. When
Frances poured out her heart to Vannozza and it turned out
that this sister-in-law had wanted to live a life devoted to the
Lord too. What Frances had written off as frivolity was just Vannozza's
natural easy-going and joyful manner. They became close friends
and worked out a program of devout practices and services to work
together.
They decided their
obligations to their family came first. For Frances that
meant dressing up to her rank, making visits and receiving
visits -- and most importantly doing it gladly.
The two spiritual
friends went to mass together, visited prisons, served
in hospitals and set up a secret chapel in an abandoned tower
of their palace where they prayed together.
It wasn't fashionable for noblewomen
to help the poor and people gossiped about two girls
out alone on the streets. Cecilia suffered under the laughter
of her friends and yelled at her daughters-in-law to stop
theirs spiritual practices. When that didn't work Cecilia then
appealed to her sons, but Lorenzo refused to interfere with Frances'
charity.
The beginning of
the fifteenth century brought the birth of her first
son, Battista, after John the Baptist. We might expect that
the grief of losing her mother-in-law soon after might have
been mixed with relief -- no more pressure to live in society.
But a household as large as the Ponziani's needed someone to
run it. Everyone thought that sixteen-year-old Frances was best
qualified to take her mother-in-law's place. She was thrust
even more deeply into society and worldly duties. Her family was
right, though -- she was an excellent administrator and a fair
and pleasant employer.
After two more children were
born to her -- a boy, Giovanni Evangelista, and a girl,
Agnes -- a flood brought disease and famine to Rome. Frances
gave orders that no one asking for alms would be turned away
and she and Vannozza went out to the poor with corn, wine,
oil and clothing. Her father-in-law, furious that she was giving
away their supplies during a famine, took the keys of the granary
and wine cellar away from her. Then just to make sure
she wouldn't have a chance to give away more, he sold off their
extra corn, leaving just enough for the family, and all but a cask
of one. The two noblewomen went out to the streets to beg instead.
Finally Frances
was so desperate for food to give to the poor she went
to the now empty corn loft and sifted through the straw searching
for a few leftover kernels of corn. After she left Lorenzo
came in and was stunned to find the previously empty granary
filled with yellow corn. Frances drew wine out of their one cask
until one day her father in law went down and found it empty. Everyone
screamed at Frances. After saying a prayer, she led them to cellar,
turned the spigot on the empty cask, and out flowed the most wonderful
wine. These incidents completely converted Lorenzo and her father-in-law.
Having her husband
and father-in-law completely on her side meant she could
do what she always wanted. She immediately sold her jewels
and clothes and distributed money to needy. She started wearing
a dress of coarse green cloth.
Civil war came to
Rome -- this was a time of popes and antipopes and Rome
became a battleground. At one point there were three men claiming
to be pope. One of them sent a cruel governor, Count Troja, to
conquer Rome. Lorenzo was seriously wounded and his brother was arrested.
Troja sent word that Lorenzo's brother would be executed unless
he had Battista, Frances's son and heir of the family, as a hostage.
As long as Troja had Battista he knew the Ponzianis would stop
fighting. When Frances heard this she grabbed Battista by
the hand and fled. On the street, she ran into her spiritual adviser
Don Andrew who told her she was choosing the wrong way and ordered
her to trust God. Slowly she turned around and made her way to Capitol
Hill where Count Troja was waiting. As she and Battista walked
the streets, crowds of people tried to block her way or grab Battista
from her to save him. After giving him up, Frances ran to a church
to weep and pray.
As soon as she left,
Troja had put Battista on a soldier's horse -- but every
horse they tried refused to move. Finally the governor gave
in to God's wishes. Frances was still kneeling before the altar when
she felt Battista's little arms around her.
Troubles were not
over. Frances was left alone against the attackers
when she sent Lorenzo out of Rome to avoid capture. Drunken
invaders broke into her house, tortured and killed the servants,
demolished the palace, literally tore it apart and smashed everything.
And this time God did not intervene -- Battista was taken to Naples.
Yet this kidnapping probably saved Battista's life because soon a
plague hit -- a plague that took the lives of many including Frances'
nine-year-old son Evangelista. At this point, her house
in ruins, her husband gone, one son dead, one son a hostage, she
could have given up.
She looked around,
cleared out the wreckage of the house and turned it into
a makeshift hospital and a shelter for the homeless.
One year after his death Evangelista
came to her in a vision and told her that Agnes was
going to die too. In return God was granting her a special
grace by sending an archangel to be her guardian angel for the
rest of her life. She would always been able to see him. A constant
companion and spiritual adviser, he once commanded her to stop
her severe penances (eating only bread and water and wearing a hair
shirt). "You should understand by now," the angel told her, "that
the God who made your body and gave it to your soul as a servant
never intended that the spirit should ruin the flesh and return it
to him despoiled."
Finally the wars were over and
Battista and her husband returned home. But though her
son came back a charming young man her husband returned broken
in mind and body. Probably the hardest work of healing Frances
had to do in her life was to restore Lorenzo back to his old
self.
When Battista married
a pretty young woman named Mabilia Frances expected
to find someone to share in the management of the household.
But Mabilia wanted none of it. She was as opposite of Frances
and Frances had been of her mother-in- law. Mabilia wanted
to party and ridiculed Frances in public for her shabby green
dress, her habits, and her standards. One day in the middle of
yelling at her, Mabilia suddenly turned pale and fainted, crying,
"Oh my pride, my dreadful pride." Frances nursed her back to health
and healed their differences as well. A converted Mabilia did
her best to imitate Frances after that.
With Lorenzo's support
and respect, Frances started a lay order of women attached
to the Benedictines called the Oblates of Mary. The women
lived in the world but pledged to offer themselves to God and
serve the poor. Eventually they bought a house where the widowed
members could live in community.
Frances nursed Lorenzo
until he died. His last words to her were, "I feel as
if my whole life has been one beautiful dream of purest happiness.
God has given me so much in your love." After his death, Frances
moved into the house with the other Oblates and was made superior.
At 52 she had the life she dreamed of when she was eleven. She had
been right in discerning her original vocation -- she just had the
timing wrong. God had had other plans for her in between.
Frances died four
years later. Her last words were "The angel has finished
his task -- he beckons me to follow him."
In Her Footsteps: Do you have a spiritual
friend who helps you on your journey, someone to pray with and serve with?
If you don't have one now, ask God to send you such a companion. Then look
around you. This friend, like Frances' Vannozza, may be near you already.
Try sharing some of your spiritual hopes and desires with those closest to
you. You may be surprised at their reaction. (But don't force your opinions
on others or get discouraged by lack of interest. Just keep asking God to
lead you.)
Prayer: Saint Frances
of Rome, help us to see the difference between what we want
to do and what God wants. Help us to discern what comes from
our will and what comes from God's desire. Amen
Frances of Rome, Widow (RM) Born
in Rome, Italy, 1384; died there, March 9, 1440; canonized 1608 by Pope Paul
V; named patroness of motorists by Pope Pius XI.
How can any woman
not love Frances of Rome, who taught, "A married woman,
even when praising God at the altar, must when needed by
her husband or the smallest member of her family, quit God at
the altar and find him again in her household affairs."
Saint Frances of
Rome has to be my all-time favorite. I love her implicit
trust in God: giving away the last food in the family's storeroom
to the poor of Rome, trusting God with the life of her son whom
He immediately returned to her, never wavering from her faith
though society mocked her. She was a loving wife and mother who
best exemplifies for me the balance of an active life, prayer, and
works of mercy (spiritual and corporal), including the founding of
the first home in Rome for abandoned children. She also shows us
how to live out the message of Ash Wednesday.
That you can be
a saint, In quite a rich home, Is shown by the case Of
Saint Frances of Rome. She had plenty of children,
A husband, a cook, A household to manage, A housekeeping book--And
they kept her so busy Both up and downstairs She couldn't think
when To get on with her prayers. She no sooner was kneeling
Than someone would call-- She thought she would never Get finished
at all. First her husband must see her, Then up came the
cook, Then a little boy shouting To please come and look--Then
a friend with a very Long story to tell, And a dozen poor people
With troubles as well. And she never lost patience, Or
said, "Not at home," And that's why we call her Saint Frances of
Rome.
Poem by Marigold
Hunt quoted in More Saints for Six O'Clock by Joan Windham
(London: Sheed and Ward).
Francesca di Bussi
di Broffedeschi lived in the then-aristocratic Trastevere
section of Rome in the great Ponziani family palazzo on the
via dei Vascellari, now known as the Pia Casa di Ponterotto
(Pious House of the Broken Bridge). Today it is a retreat
house called the Casa dei SS Spirituali Esercizi (House of Spiritual
Exercises) run by 12 fathers for up to 60 male retreatants
weekly.
Her father Paolo
di Bussi married Giacobella di Broffedeschi. Both were
connected to several other great families of wealth, stability,
and strong Christian principles. Frances, their first and
for a long time only child, was born in their middle years.
(She had a younger sister Perna, who lived with her after the death
of their parents.) Frances, a beautiful girl, was baptized the day
she was born and confirmed at age six in the Church of Saint Agnes
in the Piazza Navona. She had a life-long devotion to Saint Agnes.
She was close to her doting mother, who breastfed and taught Frances
herself contrary to custom.
Frances was a gentle
and thoughtful child, naturally devout, happy in a quiet
way, but grave rather than gay, undemonstrative, silent
under circumstances when most little girls are prone to chatter,
and given to self-denial from a very early age. Her mother was
pious and purposeful; her father stern. There was little socializing,
partly because the prevalent corruption of society was repugnant
to their tastes and principles.
The Church of Saint
Agnes was their parish, but they more frequently attended
the Benedictine Santa Maria Nuovo. Dom Antonio di Monte
Savello was both Frances's and Giacobella's confessor and an
intimate friend. He restrained Frances's impulse to severe acts
of penance in emulation of the martyrdom of Saint Agnes.
From her earliest years, she
ate only bread and vegetables and drank only water.
Like many pious little girls, she begged to be a nun, but
Dom Antonio reminded her that she would need her father's permission.
Her father said she was too young to consider a vocation, and
bluntly said that he had already promised her hand to Lorenzo
di Ponziano, the son of his old friend Andreazzo Ponziano and Cecilia
Mellini. She had to accept her father's decision as God's will. She
notes that, "Married life is indeed a sacrifice for one who aspires
to solitude, contemplation and frequent acts of piety, just as religious
life is a sacrifice for those whose natural disposition inclines
them to marriage."
In 1396 at age 12,
the beautiful Frances married him in the spirit of sacrifice,
unprepared for the rounds of festivities surrounding their
marriage. She got through the festivities, but collapsed completely
almost immediately afterward and nearly died. She was paralyzed
and unable to speak.
Frances was ill
in bed for a full year--she could not walk or speak
and was in constant pain. The Ponzani family thought she was
under a diabolical influence and admitted a witch to her room.
She recognized the depraved character of her guest and regained
her power of speech to oust the witch. Thereupon, she fell into
a stupor. In the middle of the night, a bright light shone around
her bed and Saint Alexis--a noble Roman whose feast day it was--appeared
to Frances in a vision. He asked whether she wanted to live or to
die. She eventually responded, "God's will is mine." Saint Alexis
then replied, "Then you will live to glorify His Name" and she recovered
immediately and completely.
Thereafter, she
was reconciled to married life, for she had learned
that "marriage need not diminish one's interior grace and
that Almighty God is not to be categorically limited in the distribution
of His favors to any class or station in life." She also wanted
children to give saints to Heaven.
Lorenzo was personable,
pleasant, and of unreproachable character. It is said
that Frances and Lorenzo lived together for forty years with
never a quarrel. Frances was warmly welcomed and lapped in luxury
by the Ponziano family, especially by Lorenzo's older brother Paolo
(a.k.a. Paluzzo), who was married to Giovanna (a.k.a. Vannozza)
di Santa Croce. Frances, however, was baffled by their candid
delights in worldly pleasures. Nevertheless, Lorenzo really loved
her and would not consciously, much less willfully, have failed
to treat her with tenderness.
During her illness,
Vannozza nursed her devotedly and they became fast friends.
Frances had mistaken Vannozza's natural joyousness for
frivolity; now she recognized it not as an impediment to spirituality,
but as a quality that gave luster to good deeds and great faith.
When Frances learned that Vannozza also had cherished hopes to live
as a religious, the two sisters-in-law planned a program of devout
practices. Duty to family was their first obligation, including
dressing appropriately for their rank, receiving visitors graciously,
and assisting in running the household with happy hearts and smiling
faces. In free moments they would attend Mass together, pray together
in a secluded garden oratory, visit prisons, and serve in the hospitals.
Soon these beautiful,
gentle, kind ladies were regarded by the common people
as saints. "In their own social circle they quickly acquired
imitators."
Almost daily they nursed the
sick in the Hospital of Santo Spirito, an 8th century
hospice built by Anglo-Saxon kings for Saxon pilgrims. About
1200, Pope Innocent III (who became pope at age 36) converted
it into a foundling hospital when some fishermen presented him
with dead babies who had been caught in their nets. A turntable
installed in the hospital walls provided an alternative to the Tiber
River for abandoning unwanted babies. The babies were treated with
musical therapy as the foster mothers breastfed them. The hospital,
run by Guido of Montepellier's Hospital Brethren, was enlarged to also
care for all who needed it.
Frances continued to go to Dom
Antonio every Wednesday for confession and communion
at the Church of Santa Maria Nuova. On Saturdays she went
to the Church of San Clemente for a conference with Fra Michele,
a Dominican monk who was an intimate friend of her father-in-law.
Because she loved
to entertain, Cecilia Ponziano resented her daughter-in-law
for spending so much time in prayer and refusing to dance
or play cards. Many of Cecilia's friends began to laugh at Frances,
and to turn her piety into ridicule. Lorenzo found his wife
too perfect to interfere with her activities as he was advised
to do. Both he and her brother-in-law were supportive, though
neither appears to have participated with their respective spouses.
Both Frances and
Vannozza wore haircloth under their beautiful brocades
and velvets, and starved and scourged themselves. Whenever possible
Frances slipped into nearby Saint Cecilia's Church for prayer
and meditation. Silence, habitual to her since her childhood,
became a more and more distinctive trait; she was courteous
in conversation, gracious in manner to all she met, but, in so
far as she properly could, she avoided chatter with associates
which seemed to her purposeless.
Frances was able
to see, hear, and feel her guardian angel after her marriage.
"At the least imperfection in her conduct . . . she felt
the blow of a mysterious hand . . . and every day her virtues and
piety increased" (Fullerton). At an early age Frances was aware of
the nearness of demonic temptation and danger. The devil was very real
to her: he had attacked her physically and spiritually. Her viewpoint
concerning a personal devil was one shared with many other great
saints, Teresa of Avila among them.
In 1400, Giovanni
Battista was born and baptized on his birthday in Saint
Cecilia's. Frances insisted on nursing her son herself. Shortly
thereafter Paolo di Bussi died and was buried in the Church
of Saint Agnes (later his body moved to the Tor di Specchi).
Her mother-in-law followed soon after and Frances was asked to assume
the duties of lady-of-the-house.
She was a good administrator
and a fair employer. She carefully arranged her servants
schedules to allow them time to attend Mass, family prayers,
and parochial instruction on Sundays and holidays. Mourning
was followed by famine and pestilence, so there was no need
for entertaining. Frances opened the doors to the poor and needy;
no one asking for alms was to be turned away. She also went out
among the nearby poor to offer corn, wine, oil, and clothing. Andreazzo,
her father-in-law, then took from her the keys to the granary
and wine cellar. Fearing that he would give in to her entreaties
for additional food for the poor, he sold all the wine and corn the
family would not need.
So, she and Vannozza
begged door to door for supplies without much luck. She,
Vannozza, and a faithful old servant Clara went to the granary
to search for stray kernels, and collected a measure after
several hours. They were carrying off their cache when Lorenzo
entered the granary and found the straw had turned into 40 measures
of corn.
Daily she drew wine
from the one large cask left in the family cellar until
it ran dry. Andreazzo hurled angry, bitter reproaches at
her, joined by Lorenzo and Paluzzo. She prayed and said,
"Do not be angry; let us go to the cellar; may be through God's
mercy, that the cask may be full by this time." And so it was.
Thereafter Lorenzo venerated her and encouraged her to follow
in every respect the divine inspirations she received.
Earlier miracles
included quince falling at her feet out of season; and
a particular fish desired by the ill Vannozza miraculously
appearing on the bedcover that immediately restored Vannozza
to health.
After consulting her spiritual
director and receiving permission from her father-in-law,
Frances sold all her jewels and clothing, and distributed
the money to the poor. From then on she dressed in coarse green
cloth and increased her good works and prayer. She was joined
by Vannozza, Rita Celli--a devout young friend, and their servant
Clara. Even with severe fasts and a stringent schedule, she
retained her health. They were later joined by Lucia degli Aspalli,
a young matron and kinswoman.
When Giovanni Battista was four
years old (Frances, 20), Giovanni Evangelista, "a child
of grace and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven," was
born. Evangelista was old in sense, small in body, great in
soul, resplendent in beauty, angel-like in all his ways. At age
three he was endowed with the gift of prophecy, and the faculty
of reading the unuttered thoughts of men's hearts. Frances's
third child was named Agnes after her favorite saint.
Politically this
was a turbulent period of two popes (Rome and Avignon)
and the virtual rule of Rome by Ladislas of Naples. The Ponziani
and Orsini families were engaged in a battle to end the schism
without result. Lorenzo and the rest of the family supported
Alexander V, a second anti-Pope, and Louis of France's quest
to conquer Naples. Lorenzo was gravely wounded in a street
fight and restored to health by the ministrations of his wife.
Soon thereafter,
Paluzzo was arrested, then the family was informed that
they must surrender nine-year-old Battista to Ladislas' governor
or Paluzzo would be killed. She fled into the streets with Battista
and ran into Dom Antonio, who told her to go to the Church of
Santa Maria d'Aracoeli, which she did. The Count of Traja was
awaiting them and she convinced the tearful Battista to go to
him. Turning away, she entered the church to weep bitterly before
the altar of the Merciful Mother. As soon as she had left, the count
had ordered Battista taken away on a horse, but all five that were
tried refused to move. So, they took him back to his mother who was
still praying.
Political troubles
continued when Balthazar Cossa (John XXIII) was elected
anti-Pope and Louis d'Anjou succeeded in getting a foothold
in Rome. Ladislas attacked and pillaged Rome. The Ponziani palace
was marked for demolition. They were about to escape to one
of their country estates when their terrified vintners, shepherds,
and cattlemen poured into the palace with tales of death and
destruction in the countryside. Lorenzo, in convalescent condition,
was finally persuaded to flee to a distant province. Soon after
his departure their home was invaded, servants tortured and killed,
the palace and all its contents demolished, and 13- year-old Battista
carried off to Naples. The wreckage was cleared and the family
continued to live there.
Famine and pestilence
followed. The beautiful child Evangelista died happily
convinced that angels had come to accompany him to heaven.
Thereafter Frances increased her good works. She and Vannozza
turned the destroyed inner banqueting hall into a hospital for
the homeless. They were joined by Rita and Lucia, plus two others:
Margherita di Montellucci and Giacobella di Biunemonti.
Occasionally Frances
went to the family vineyard near the Church of Saint Paul's-Outside-the-Walls
to gather grapes and dry vines to supplement the meager supply
of firewood and distribute among the poor who were without fuel.
Her nursing skills
were supplemented by the gift of healing and skill in making
ointments. She brought a dead, unbaptized baby back to life.
Many miracles are attributed to her, including a vision of the
dead Evangelista, who said: My abode is with God; my
companions are the angels; our sole occupation the contemplation
of the Divine perfections,-- the endless source of all happiness.
Eternally united with God, we have no will except His; and our
peace is as complete as His Being is infinite. He is Himself our
joy, and that joy knows no limits. There are nine choirs of angels
in heaven, and the higher orders of angelic spirits instruct in the
Divine mysteries the less exalted intelligences. If you wish to know
my place amongst them, my mother, learn that God, in His great goodness,
has appointed it in the second choir of angels, and the first hierarchy
of archangels.
While he was speaking,
Frances saw that he was not alone; a second celestial
figure stood beside him, very like him in build and height, but
even more beautiful. Evangelista turned in his direction and
said,
This my companion is higher than
I am in rank, as he is more bright and fair in aspect. The Divine Majesty
has assigned him to you as a guardian during the remainder
of your earthly pilgrimage. Night and day by your side,
he will assist you in every way. Never amidst the joys of Paradise
have I for an instant forgotten you, or any of my loved ones on
earth. I knew you were resigned; but I also knew that your heart
would rejoice at beholding me once more, and God has permitted
that I should thus gladden your eyes.
I have a message for you, Mother--a
message from God. He is asking for Agnes. So, before
long, she will leave you, too. But the archangel will remain.
To the moment of your death he will be ever present in your
sight.
The light surrounding
her guardian archangel was so bright that she could
read and write at night by it. She described him as full
of sweetness and majesty, long curly golden hair that fell
over his shoulders, eyes turned heavenward, wearing a luminous
long robe covered with a tunic of white, red, or sky blue.
Frances collapsed
after burying her daughter and was gravely ill for months
and had frequent visions of hell. She was only 29.
With Ladislas poisoned
by his mistress, and his sister and heir Joanna too preoccupied
with a succession of scandalous affairs, Battista was returned
to his mother. He had acquired the social and cultural graces
of court without losing his piety. Lorenzo, too, returned but
was a broken man. He tacitly blamed her for the death of Evangelista
and Agnes. When he had left she was strikingly beautiful; now
wan and wasted. Through tenderness and patience Frances succeeded
in restoring him to normalcy from deep melancholia.
On November 11,
1417, the Western schism ended with the deposition of
the two schismatic popes, abdication of Gregory XII, and
election of Ottone Colonna as Pope Martin V. Now unmolested
the vineyards and stock farms of the Ponziani prospered and their
houses restored. Frances began to spend more time with those
of her own social class, tending to their problems--perhaps because
of her visions of hell.
A former detractor,
frivolous Gentilezza, was restored to health by Frances
after promising to reform her life. Doctors had given up on
her. She persuaded Giovanni Antonio Lorenzi to abandon murderous
designs on an erstwhile friend and helped Angelo Savelli to
forgive the one who mortally wounded him in a duel. She helped
the Benedictine Dom Ippolito to rightly consider his vocation and
position, which led him to conversion, confession, and humble
service, and eventually to being named prior.
Frances believed
her obligations to her family came first and must never
be slighted in order to spend more time in prayer or acts of
charity. Once while attempting to recite Morning Prayer, she
was interrupted four times to handle domestic chores and each
time responded cheerfully. When she returned the fourth time, the
antiphon was inscribed in gold and remained that way until her death.
Now the miracles
associated with her began to have a more mystical character--she
received the stigmata in her side, which was known only
to Vannozza who dressed it and Dom Antonio, her confessor.
The wound was healed
after a vision in which she was transported to Bethlehem
and cleansed by the BVM.
Battista married 12-year-old
Mabilia Papazunni, also of noble family. Frances had
hoped that Mabilia would take on the responsibilities of
the household, but she preferred entertaining. Mabilia criticized
and ridiculed Frances in public. She dressed immodestly and
opulently, and found Frances's green dress obnoxious. Discord entered
the family with Mabilia. Frances continued tranquilly to hope
for a change in Mabilia's attitude. Mabilia collapsed while railing
against her mother-in-law's habits, dress, and standards. When
she recovered she acknowledged her sinful pride and was reconciled
with Frances. Eventfully, she bore children: Girolamo and Vannozza.
Sensing the deep
holiness of his wife, Lorenzo promised Frances complete
liberty if she would only agree to always inhabit his house,
and, naturally, she agreed. Mabilia took on more responsibilities
and freed Frances further to participate in the activities of
the Jubilee of 1423 and listen to the great Franciscan preacher
Bernardine of Siena.
Frances and her
friends approached Dom Antonio regarding establishing
an Oblate of Saint Benedict, since its rule did not permit
third orders. He went to Dom Ippolito, who was helped
by Frances and who obtained approval for the establishment of
the Oblates of Mary. The friends prepared for their consecration
on the Feast of the Assumption, 1425, with prayer, fasting,
and penance. They included Frances, Vannozza, Rita Celli, Agnes
Selli, and probably Anastasia di Clarelli, Perna Colluzzi, Caterina
Manetti, Frances di Veroli, Giacobella di Brumemonti, Agostina
di Viterbo, and Lella Maioli. This was not a solemn vow but an
affiliation.
Frances left Rome
only once to receive the "Great Pardon" at the Church
of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi. She walked there and
back accompanied by Vannozza and Rita. Lorenzo and the released
Paluzzo objected to this. They miraculously encountered Saint
Francis along the way (long dead).
While they were
gone Dom Antonio Savelli died. She chose the 33- year-old
Dom Giovanni Matteotti as her new confessor. He ordered her
to relate her visions to him in minute detail and kept a daily
record of all she told him. He became her biographer. Some
of the Benedictines questioned the legitimacy of attaching a
secular order to the monastery. So, Frances sought formal recognition
from the pope, but there were new political troubles.
Lorenzo was growing
feeble. Battista, as a brigadier general, was in constant
danger. Vannozza, mortally ill, was tended by Frances and
their friends until a soft white mist enveloped her as she
breathed her last and a shaft of light slanted toward heaven. She
wasn't buried in the Ponziani chapel, but in the Santa Croce family
chapel in the Church of Aracoeli.
Frances's ecstasies
and prophetic visions came more and more frequently.
She was extremely affected by
meditating on our Savior's passion, which she had always
present to her mind. At Mass she was so absorbed in God
as to seem immoveable, especially after holy communion: she
often fell into ecstasies of love and devotion. She had a
particular devotion to John the Evangelist, and above all to our
Lady.
Seven years after
their consecration, Frances invited her friends to
dine in her home during Lorenzo's absence and said that
they needed to be united in outward as well as interior life.
Christ had commanded her to build a spiritual edifice. They selected
a house under the spiritual guidance of Dom Ippolito, Dom Giovanni,
and Fra Bartolommeo Biondii, a Franciscan monk who was brother-in-
law to Agnes Selli and a theologian and orator of exceptional
talent.
She refused to use
the monies of her family but later accepted the deeds
to the vineyard near Saint Paul's-Outside-the- Wall and another
known as Porta Portere.
Only the unwed or widowed were
to live together, but it still alarmed their parents.
The married would visit. The choice fell to the site of
the Tor di Specchi (Tower of Mirrors). When the papal bull
was finally issued, the congregation was described as that of
the Oblates of Tor di Spechhi. The rules were revealed to Frances
in a series of visions. These divided the day into periods of work,
rest, and prayer, prescribed the manner of dress that was symbolic,
etc. Ten oblates moved into the Tor di Specchi on the Feast of the
Annunciation and Agnes Selli was chosen as their first superior.
When Lorenzo died
peacefully, Frances arranged for Masses to be said for
him and settled his estate. She tried to train Battista to
take over the management of the agricultural estates. She then
applied for admission to the community at Tor di Specchi. Agnes
wanted to resign as superior, Frances objected but was overruled
by the oblates and Dom Giovanni who commanded her to take charge.
On March 25, 1436, she was duly elected Superior.
That night her guardian
angel left her and presented the one to take his place,
who was even higher in the angelic hierarchy. The newcomer
also wore a dalmatic but of more precious tissue; the light
surrounding him was more dazzling, and his very glance was sufficient
to put demons to flight (while the other had to shake his locks).
He carried three
golden boughs from which came golden threads that he wound
around his neck or into balls to provide for a mysterious tissue
that would be used later on.
When in March 1440 Battista succumbed
to a fever, Frances instantly responded. During the day it became apparent
that she, too, was ill, nevertheless she insisted on returning on foot and
stopping to ask her spiritual director's blessing. He commanded her to return
to the palace. In a vision Jesus, surrounded by angels and saints, announced
that she would die in seven days. For the next days she resumed her normal
prayers. Her deathbed was marred only by an incident wherein she accused
her son of wrong dealings and he admitted his guilt.
She died as she
finished her vespers. Her last words were: "The Angel
has finished his task; he calls me to follow him." The cause
for her canonization was introduced almost immediately, but
it was not much advanced until the accession of Clement VIII,
who had a great devotion to the saint, but he and his successor
died before this was accomplished. Paul V (Borghese) decreed her
canonisation.
Her husband and
children are entombed beneath the pavement of the Ponziani
family chapel (now the sacristy) of the Church of Saint
Cecilia. The walls have scenes from her life. Her skeletal remains,
clad in the habit of the Oblates of the Congregation of Mount
Olivet, which she founded, lie exposed in a glass casket in
the church with her name, coupled with its original designation
of Santa Maria Nuovo. Once every hundred years it is opened to
reclothe her body in a fresh habit. This is her father Paolo di
Bussi's church.
On her feast day,
the priest blesses cars parked outside because she is
La Padrona degli Automobilisti, which is odd because she
may have left Rome only once to go to Assisi and generally
travelled by foot.
She did not live
in the Tor di Specchi on the via Teatro di Marcello near
the Orsini Palace until after the death of her husband. The
chapel of the Tor di Specchi has 20 frescoes, plus the altarpiece,
all in perfect condition, depicting the miracles of Saint Frances
(Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Berthem-Bontoux, Cecchetti,
Delaney, Delany, Encyclopedia, Farrow, Fullerton, Gill, Grandi,
Husenbeth, Keyes, Martindale, Morton, White, Windham).
In art, Saint Frances is portrayed
as a nun with her guardian angel dressed as a deacon
by her side. At times the icon may include (1) a monstrance
and arrow; (2) a book; or (3) an angel with a branch of oranges
near her; or she may be shown (4) receiving the veil from the
Christ Child in the arms of the Blessed Virgin (Roeder). She is
the patroness of Roman housewives (Roeder) and motorists and automobiles
(Farmer).
1440 Franziska von
Rome
Katholische Kirche:
9. März
Franziska de Bussi
wurde 1384 in Rom geboren. Sie wollte Nonne werden, ihre
adligen Eltern verheirateten sie aber 1395 mit dem Adligen
Lorenzo de Ponziani. Franziska wurde Mutter von 6 (nach anderen
Quellen 4) Kindern. Sie hatte tiefe mystische Erfahrungen (die
bekanntesten sind ihre Gesichte von Hölle und Fegefeuer und
der drei Himmel), führte zahlreiche Gespräche mit
ihrem Schutzengel, war aber auch karitativ tätig. Nachdem
ihr Ehemann und ihr Sohn verbannt wurden und ihre anderen Kinder an
der Pest starben, gründete sie 1425 die "Compania delle Oblate
del Monastero Olivetano di S. Maria Nova", einen Zweig der Benediktineroblaten,
die ab 1433 gemeinsam lebten. Nach dem Tod ihres Mannes 1436 trat
Franziska in ihre Gemeinschaft ein und wurde nach kurzer Zeit
zur Vorsteherin gewählt. Nachdem sie 1433 die Torre de
Specchi als Sitz der Gemeinschaft erworben hatte, nannte sie ihr
Werk "Nobili Oblati di Tor de' Specchi" (Gemeinschaft der Spiegelturmoblatinnen).
Sie starb 1440 und wurde in der Kirche S. Maria Nuova (seit
dem 17. Jahrhundert S. Francesca Romana) bestattet. In Italien
wird sie Cecolella (Kosename - kleine Franziska) genannt . Sie ist
Schutzpatronin der Frauen und der Autofahrer.
|
1444 St.
Bernardine of Siena He was called the "People's Preacher" because
his sermons were filled with lively and realistic depictions
of everything from a bachelor's household to women's
fashions throughout his life he was noted for his
unfailing affability, patience and courtesy; It is impossible
to follow him on his missionary journeys, for in them he covered
nearly the whole of Italy; His tomb at Aquila was honoured by
many miracles
Aquilæ, in Vestínis,
sancti Bernardíni Senénsis, Sacerdótis ex Ordine
Minórum et Confessóris, qui verbo et exémplo
Itáliam illustrávit.
At Aquila in
Abruzzi, St. Bernardin of Siena, priest of the Order of Friars
Minor, who added to the glory of Italy by his preaching and
his example.
1444 ST BERNARDINO OF
SIENA ,
ST BERNARDINO was born
in the Tuscan town of Massa Marittima, in which his father,
a member of the noble Sienese family of the Albizeschi, occupied
the post of governor. The little boy lost both his parents
before he was seven and was entrusted to the care of a maternal
aunt and her daughter— both excellent women, who gave him a religious
training and loved him as though he had been their own child. Upon
reaching the age of eleven or twelve he was placed by his uncles
at school in Siena, where he passed with great credit through the
course of studies deemed requisite for a boy of his rank. He grew
up a good-looking lad, so merry and entertaining that it was impossible
to be dull in his company; but a coarse or blasphemous remark
would always bring a blush to his cheek and generally a remonstrance
to his lips. Once when a man of position sought to lead him into
vice, Bernardino struck him in the face with his fists, and on
a second and similar occasion he incited his comrades to join him
in pelting the tempter with mud and stones. Except when thus moved
by righteous indignation, Bernardino was singularly sweet-tempered;
indeed, throughout his life he was noted for his unfailing affability,
patience and courtesy.
At the age of seventeen
he enrolled himself in a confraternity of our Lady,
the members of which pledged themselves to certain devotional
practices as well as to the relief of the sick; and he at
once embarked upon a course of severe bodily mortification. In
1400 Siena was visited by the plague in a virulent form, So serious
was its toll that from twelve to twenty persons died daily in
the famous hospital of Santa Maria della Scala, which found itself
bereft of almost all who tended the sick. In this extremity Bernardino
offered to take entire charge of the establishment, with the
help of some other young men whom he had fired with the determination
to sacrifice their lives if necessary to aid the sufferers. Their
services were accepted, and for four months the noble band worked
tirelessly, day and night, under the direction of Bernardino, who,
besides nursing the patients and preparing them for death, saw
to everything and brought order as well as cleanliness into the hospital.
Though several of his companions died, Bernardino escaped the contagion
and returned home after the epidemic was over, lhe was, however,
so exhausted by his labours that he fell an easy prey to a fever which
laid him low for several months.
Upon his recovery he found
that his immediate duty lay close at hand. An aunt
named Bartolomea, to whom he was much attached, had become
blind as well as bedridden, and to her he devoted himself as
he had done to the plague-stricken in the hospital. When, fourteen
months later, God called the invalid to Himself, it was in the
arms of her nephew that she breathed her last. Free now from all
earthly ties, Bernardino set himself by prayer and fasting to
learn God’s will as to his future. By this means he was led to enter
the Franciscan Order, the habit of which he received shortly afterwards
in Siena. The house, however, proved too accessible to the novice’s
many friends and relations, and with the consent of his superiors
he retired to the convent of Colombaio outside the city, where
the rule of St Francis was strictly observed. Here in 1403 he was
professed and here he was ordained priest—exactly a year later,
on the feast of the Birthday of our Lady which was his birthday and
the anniversary of his baptism and of his clothing.
History has little to
tell us about the saint during the next twelve years:
he preached occasionally, but his life was mainly spent
in retirement. Gradually he was being prepared by God for
the twofold mission of apostle and reformer. When at last his
hour had come, the way was made clear in a singular manner. A
novice in the convent at Fiesole in which the saint was staying
startled the community on three consecutive nights after Matins
by exclaiming, “Brother Bernardino! Hide no longer the gift that
is in you. Go to Lombardy, for all are awaiting you there!” Reprimanded
and questioned as to why he had thus spoken, he replied, “Because I
could not help it!” To Bernardino and his superiors this seemed to
be a call from on high, and he obeyed. He opened his apostolic career
at Milan to which he went as a complete stranger towards the end of
1417, but soon his eloquence and zeal began to attract enormous congregations.
At the close of a course of Lenten sermons, before he was allowed to leave
the city to preach elsewhere in Lombardy, he was obliged to promise
that he would return the following year. At first he was hampered in
his delivery by hoarseness and inability to make himself heard,
but afterwards, as the result, he firmly believed, of fervent prayer
to our Lady, his voice became singularly clear and penetrating.
It is impossible to follow
him on his missionary journeys, for in them he covered
nearly the whole of Italy with the exception of the kingdom
of Naples. He travelled always on foot, preached sometimes
for three or four consecutive hours and often delivered several
sermons on the same day. In large cities he frequently had to
speak from an open-air pulpit because no church could contain the
multitudes who crowded to hear him. Everywhere he preached penance,
denounced the prevalent vices and kindled popular fervour by spreading
devotion to the Holy Name. At the end of every sermon he would hold
up for veneration a tablet upon which he had written the letters I.H.S.,
surrounded by rays, and after telling the people to implore God’s
mercy and to live in peace he would give them a blessing with the
Holy Name. In cities torn by faction he would heal deadly feuds and
would persuade men to substitute the sacred monogram for the Guelf
or Ghibelline emblems that too often surmounted their front doors.
In Bologna, which was overmuch addicted to games of hazard, he preached
with such effect that the citizens gave up gambling and brought their
cards and dice to be burnt in a public bonfire. A card-manufacturer
who complained that he was deprived of his only means of livelihood
was told by St Bernardino to manufacture tablets inscribed with the I.H.S.,
and so great was the demand for them that they brought in more money than
the playing-cards had ever done. All over Italy men spoke of the wonderful
fruit of St Bernardino’s missions—the numerous conversions, the restoration
of ill-gotten goods, the reparation of injuries and the reform of morals.
Nevertheless there were some who took exception to his teaching
and accused him of encouraging superstitious practices. They went
so far as to denounce him to Pope Martin V, who for a time commanded
him to keep silence. However, an examination of his doctrine and
conduct led to a complete vindication and he received permission to
preach wherever he liked. The same pope, in 1427, urged him to accept
the bishopric of Siena, but he refused it, as he afterwards declined
the sees of Ferrara and of Urbino. His excuse was that if he were
confined to one diocese he could no longer minister to so many souls.
In 1430, nevertheless,
he was obliged to give up missionary work to become vicar
general of the friars of the Strict Observance. This movement
within the Franciscan Order had originated about the middle
of the fourteenth century in the convent of Brogliano between
Camerino and Assisi and had only maintained a struggling existence
until the coming of St Bernardino, who became its organizer and
its second founder. When he received the habit there were only
three hundred friars of the Observance in all Italy; when he died
there were four thousand. Wherever he went on his missionary tours,
fervent young men were drawn to the order with which he was identified,
and pious persons desirous of founding convents offered to bestow
them upon the Observants. It was therefore right and fitting that
he should be officially empowered to consolidate and regulate the
reform. He accomplished this task with so much wisdom and tact that
many convents passed voluntarily and without friction from the
Conventual to the Observant rule. The original Observants had
shunned scholarship as they had shunned riches, but St Bernardino
was aware of the danger of ignorance, especially in face of the ever-increasing
demand for Observant friars to act as confessors. He therefore insisted
upon instruction in theology and Canon law as part of the regular
curriculum. He was himself a learned man, as may be judged from a
series of Latin sermons which he wrote at Capriola and which are
still extant, and also by the fact that at the Council of Florence,
St Bernardino was able to address the Greek delegates in their own tongue.
Important as was the work
with which he was now entrusted, the saint longed
to return to his apostolic labours which he regarded as his
only vocation, and in 1442 he obtained permission from the pope
to resign his office as vicar general. He then resumed his missionary
journeys, which led him through the Romagna, Ferrara and Lombardy.
He was by this time in failing health, and so emaciated that
he looked like a skeleton, but the only concession he would allow
himself was the use of a donkey to convey him from one place to
another. At Massa Marittima in iw he preached on fifty consecutive
days a course of Lenten sermons, which he wound up by exhorting
the inhabitants to preserve harmony among themselves and by bidding
a pathetic farewell to his native town. Though obviously dying,
he still continued his apostolic work and set out for Naples,
preaching as he went. He succeeded in reaching Aquila, but there
his strength gave out and he died on the eve of the Ascension, May
20, 1444, in the monastery of the Conventuals. He had almost reached
the age of sixty-four years, forty-two of which he had spent as
a religious. His tomb at Aquila was honoured by many miracles and
he was canonized within six years of his death.
The number
of early Latin biographies of St Bernardino is considerable,
and it must suffice to note that a detailed enumeration
is supplied in BHL, nn 188—201. Some are given in full and
extracts made from others in the Acta
Sanctorum, May, vol. v. Excellent
modern studies of the life and apostolate of the saint are numerous.
The first edition of that by P. Thureau-Dangin was published
in 1896 (Eng. trans., 1911). Others which deserve special notice
were written by Dr K. Hefele, in German (1912) by A. G. Ferrers
Howell, in English (1913) by Father V. Facchinetti (1933) and
by Piero Bargellini (1933) both in Italian, but the number of such
works is great. A considerable amount of fresh material has been
brought to light and printed in modem times, for most of which see
the Archivum Franciscanum Historicum,
more especially vols. vi, viii, xi, xii, xv, etc. For a
fuller bibliography consult B. Stasiewski, Der
hl. Bernardin von Elena (1931), and V. Facchinetti, Bollettino
Bibliografico (1930). A
very pleasant English sketch is that of M. Ward, St Bernardino, the People’s Preacher (1914) The fifth centenary
of the saint’s death (1944) produced a number of new books, mostly
in Italian. See the life printed in Analecta
Bollandiana, vol. lxxi (1953), pp. 282—322.
In the year
1400, a young man came to the door of the largest hospital in
Siena. A plague was raging through the city so horrible that as
many as twenty people died each day just in the hospital alone. And
many of the people who died were those who were needed to tend the
ill. It was a desperate situation -- more and more people were falling
ill and fewer and fewer people were there to help them.
The twenty-year-old
man who stood there had not come because he was ill
but because he wanted to help. And he brought not new patients
but young men like himself willing to tend the dying. For
four months Bernardine and his companions worked day and night
not only to comfort the patients but to organize and clean the
hospital. Only at the end of the plague did Bernardine himself fall
ill -- of exhaustion.
But that was
Bernardine's way -- whatever he did, he put his whole
self into it. Immediately after he recovered he was back
caring for the sick -- but this time, he was responsible
not for a whole hospital but one person -- an invalid aunt. Yet
for fourteen months she got his full attention. Throughout his
life, he put as much energy into caring for one person as for hundreds,
as much commitment into converting one citizen as to preaching
to a whole city.
After his aunt
died, Bernardine started to think about where his
life should be going. The son of a noble family, he had been
orphaned at seven and raised by an aunt. We are told as a young
person that he hated indecent talk so much that he would blush
when he heard it. Even his schoolmates hesitated to make him
so uncomfortable but apparently one adult citizen thought it
would be a great joke to needle Bernardine. In a public marketplace
he stopped Bernardine and started to talk to him in a shameful
way. But if he had thought to get away with his cruel trick, he
was surprised when Bernardine slapped him in the face. The man
slunk away, shamed in front of the very crowd he'd b een trying to
impress.
Bernardine,
who had come to Siena to study, threw himself into prayer
and fasting to discover what God wanted him to do. One might
have expected him to continue his work with the sick but in
1403 he joined the Franciscans and in 1404 he was ordained a
priest.
The Franciscans
were known as missionary preachers, but Bernardine did
very little preaching with because of a voice that was weak
and hoarse. For twelve years he remained in the background,
his energies going to prayer or to his own spiritual conversion
and preparation.
At the end
of that time, he went to Milan on a mission. When he
got up to preach his voice was strong and commanding and his
words so convincing that the crowd would not let him leave unless
he promised to come back.
Bernardino of Siena, OFM Priest
(RM) Born in Massa Marittima (near Siena), Tuscany,
Italy, on September 8, 1380; died in Aquila, Italy,
May 20, 1444; canonized in 1450 by Pope Nicholas V.
"Jesus, crucified for me, with the nails of Your
love fasten my whole self to You."--Berardino of Siena.
Son of the
governor of Massa Marittima (near Siena), Bernardino
degli Albizzeschi was placed in the care of an aunt when
he was seven after the death of his parents in 1386. She provided
him with his religious education. At 17, he joined a confraternity
of Our Lady.
When the plague
came to Siena in 1400, Bernardino offered to take charge
of the hospital, recalling the gentleness and virtue his
pious aunt had taught him. He also gathered round him twelve
young friends who were willing to risk their lives to share this
duty. For the four months of the pestilence, they worked tirelessly.
Bernardino also organized an effective service of welfare
and relief. Although several of his companions died, he did
not contract the disease (one source said he did and came close
to death).
He then cared
for his blind, bedridden 90-year-old aunt, Bartholomea.
After her death, he set himself to prayer and fasting to
learn God's will for his future. While praying before his crucifix,
he was impressed and reproached, like Saint Francis, by the
suffering of Our Lord, who seemed to step down from the Cross
and appear before him in His nakedness and sorrow. He could not
resist the pleading in his Savior's eyes and surrendered all he
had.
He took the
habit on September 8, 1402, entered the Franciscan
monastery of strict observance at Colombaio outside Siena
in 1403. He was ordained on September 8, 1404--the Feast of
the Birth of Our Lady and his birthday as well. Later he
moved to Fiesole near Florence.
Over the next
12 years he preached only occasionally, preferring to
live as a solitary. He went to Milan and on September 8,
1417, he preached his first sermon as a missioner. Despite being
a stranger to the city, his eloquence and fiery sermons soon
attracted huge congregations. The people made him promise to
return the following year before they allowed him to leave to preach
in Lombardy. He covered nearly all of Italy, usually on foot, preaching
for two and three hours at a time, and often giving several speeches
in a day-- generally at a pulpit in the open air because the crowds
were so huge.
He attacked
usury relentlessly, and denounced the party strife
of the Italian cities as a fundamental evil of the age and place.
On the other hand, he did not rise above such contemporary characteristics
as hostility toward Jews and belief in widespread witchcraft.
He would castigate
vice and then hold up a placard with the sign of the
name of Jesus, "IHS," written on it, urging the congregation
to turn to the one symbolized by those letters. People became
so enthused that they even had IHS painted on houses. Throughout
Italy people spoke of the wonderful benefits of his preaching.
Once a man whose livelihood came from making playing cards complained
that Bernardino had so successfully fought against gambling that
the trade was ruined. Bernardino gave him a new, even more profitable
trade, printing cards with the sign IHS.
Some of his preaching was criticized
by the University of Bologna, but this controversy,
which troubled him for eight years, ended in his favor.
His detractors accused him of encouraging superstitious
practices. They said that he carried on his person a piece
of paper on which the Name of Jesus was written, that when he pleaded
with sinners he showed it to them and it gave out rays of light,
and denounced him to Pope Martin V. He was cleared of the charges
after an examination of his doctrine and conduct. It may well
be that the light symbolized that which flowed from his devoted
spirit and the grace and passion of his eager witness.
Pope Martin
V offered him the bishopric in Siena in 1427, but he
declined, as he later declined the bishoprics of Ferrara
and Urbino. In 1430, the "Apostle of the Holy Name" became vicar
general of the Friars of the Strict Observance. He reformed
the rule to involve the friars more as preachers and teachers
and many convents passed easily from the Conventual to the Observant
rule. In fact, the number of friars under the rule grew from 300
to over 4,000. The original Observants had shunned scholarship (as
riches), but Bernardino insisted upon instruction in theology and
canon law as part of the regular curriculum.
From 1430,
he wrote theological works in both Latin and Italian.
These covered the principal doctrinal and moral elements
of Christianity, as well as treatises on the Blessed Mother.
He established theological schools at Perugia and Monteripido.
In 1442, he
obtained permission from the pope to resign his office,
although Bernardino assisted at the Council of Florence. His
health was failing, but Bernardino was insistent upon a final
missionary journey. He began it at Massa Marittima in 1444
where he preached on fifty consecutive days. Although dying,
he continued his apostolic travels, setting out for Naples and
preaching as he went. He got as far as Aquila in the Abruzzi, where
he died.
His tomb at
Aquila was said to be the site of miracles. He was the
most prominent missioner of the 15th century, and he was canonized
within six years of his death.
It has been
said that the 'People's Preacher' inaugurated in Italy
'one of those rare periods in history when the rule of Jesus
made visible progress in society.' He was called the "People's
Preacher" because his sermons were filled with lively and
realistic depictions of everything from a bachelor's household
to women's fashions (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney,
Farmer, Gill, Origo, White).
Bernardino
is represented in art as an old, toothless Franciscan
holding up a sign bearing the legend "IHS," from which rays
shine forth. Medieval and Renaissance painters depicted him
as small and emaciated, with deep burning eyes. He may also be
seen (1) preaching before the Palazzo Communale in Siena with
IHS held before him; (2) with a banner bearing IHS and a star over
his head; (3) with three mounds surmounted by a banner with a cross
(possibly these mounds may really represent the three miters he refused--
Siena, Urbino, and Ferrara); with a trumpet as a sign of his power
as a preacher, or (5) in a painting by El Greco, bearded and habited,
or four mitres at his feet, IHS on his staff (Farmer, Gill, Roeder,
White).
Bernardino
was made the patron saint of advertisers and advertising
in 1956 by Pope Pius XII because of his ability
to illuminate the Catholic faith to audiences by the use
of simple language and telling symbols. He is invoked against
hoarseness, which he suffered in his early days of preaching,
and is believed to have been cured by a prayer to the Blessed
Virgin (White). He is also the patron of wool-weavers and invoked
against diseases of the chest and lungs (Roeder).
|
1444 Saint Macarius of Zheltovod
and Unzha; At 12 he left his parents and
accepted monastic tonsure at the Nizhni-Novgorod
Caves monastery under St Dionysius; extreme strict
fast, precise fulfillment of monastic rule; at Yellow Lake
organized a monastery for them in the Name of the Most Holy
Trinity, there preached Christianity to surrounding Cheremis
and Chuvash peoples, baptizing both Mohammedans and pagans
in the lake; on the shores of Lake Unzha he founded a new monastery;
granted gift healing, more than 50 people received healing from
his relics
Born
in the year 1349 at Nizhni-Novgorod into a pious
family. At twelve he secretly left his parents and accepted
monastic tonsure at the Nizhni-Novgorod Caves monastery
under St Dionysius (June 26). With all the intensity of
his youthful soul he gave himself over to the work of salvation.
He stood out among among the brethren for his extremely strict
fasting and precise fulfillment of the monastic rule.
The parents
of St Macarius only learned three years later where
he had gone. His father went to him and tearfully besought
his son merely that he would come forth and show himself.
St Macarius spoke with his father through a wall, saying that
he would see him in the future life. "Extend your hand, at least,"
implored the father. The son fulfilled this small request and the
father, having kissed his son's hand, returned home.
Burdened
by fame, the humble Macarius set off for the shores
of the River Volga, and here he pursued asceticism
near the waters of Yellow Lake. Here by firm determination
and patience he overcame the abuse of the Enemy of salvation.
Lovers of solitude gathered to St Macarius, and in 1435
he organized a monastery for them in the Name of the Most Holy
Trinity. Here also he began to preach Christianity
to the surrounding Cheremis and Chuvash peoples, and he baptized
both Mohammedans and pagans in the lake, which received its
name from the saint. When the Kazan Tatars destroyed the monastery
in 1439, they took St Macarius captive.
Out of respect for his piety
and charitable love, the Khan released the saint from
captivity and freed nearly 400 Christians with him.
But in return, St Macarius promised not to settle by Yellow
Lake.
St Macarius reverently buried
those killed at his monastery, and he went
200 versts to the Galich border. During the time
of this resettlement all those on the way were fed in
miraculous manner through the prayers of the saint. Having
arrived at the city of Unzha, St Macarius set up a cross 15
versts from the city, and built a cell on the shores of Lake
Unzha. Here he founded a new monastery. During the fifth year
of his life at Lake Unzha, St Macarius took sick and reposed
at age 95.
While
yet alive, St Macarius was granted a gift: he healed
a blind and demon-afflicted girl. After the death of the
monk, many received healing from his relics. The monks built
a temple over his grave, and established a cenobitic rule
at the monastery.
In
1522, Tatars fell upon Unzha and wanted to destroy
the silver reliquary in the Makariev monastery, but they
fell blind. In a panic, they took to flight. Many of them
drowned in the Unzha. In 1532, through the prayers of St Macarius,
the city of Soligalich was saved from the Tatars. In gratitude,
the inhabitants built a chapel in the cathedral church in
honor of the saint. More than 50 people received healing from
grievous infirmities through the prayers of St Macarius. This
was certified by a commission sent by Patriarch Philaret in 1619.
|
1444
Bd Felicia of Milan; life of chastity and
direct service of God'; a Poor Clare convent of St
Ursula at Milan 25 years; her sister followed her example
and her brother became a Friar Minor; remarkable in the community
for her faultless observance of the rule; perseverance in
prayer and penance in spite of the diabolical influences that were
active against her. The gentle nun overcame these fierce
trials; many miracles
Felicia
Meda was born at Milan in 1378, the eldest of three
children of good family. The sudden death of both
her parents when she was a child disposed her mind to
serious things, and soon after she was twelve she bound
herself to a life of chastity and direct service of God,
which she followed in the world for ten years. Then she became
a Poor Clare in the convent of St Ursula at Milan; shortly
afterwards her sister followed her example and her brother
became a Friar Minor. For twenty-five years Bd
Felicia led the hidden and austere life of her order, remarkable
in the community for her faultless observance of the rule;
perseverance in prayer and penance in spite of the diabolical
influences that were active against her. The gentle nun
overcame these fierce trials, and her experience and tempered
character caused her to be elected abbess.
Under her
loving and skilful direction the devotion and virtue
of the nuns of St Ursula's became famous, and when,
some fourteen years later, in 1439, the wife of Galeazzo
Malatesta, Duke of Pesaro, wished to found a Poor Clare
convent in that city she asked for an affiliation from Milan.
The Franciscan minister general sent Felicia herself
to make the new foundation. The sadness with which the Milanese
nuns parted from their abbess was equalled by the rejoicing
with which she was received at Pesaro, whither her reputation
preceded her. The wife of Galeazzo, accompanied by townspeople,
came out to meet her and her seven nuns, but could not persuade
them to get into the ducal carriages and drive in in state, so they
made their entry into the city altogether on foot. Bd
Felicia presided over the new convent for only four years, in which
time she filled it with devoted religious, and died on September
30, 1444. The people of Pesaro, who had attributed their deliverance
from war and plague to her prayers, flocked to venerate her tomb
and were rewarded by many miracles. This
cultus was approved
in 1812.
In the Acta Sanctorum, September,
vol. viii, a tolerably full account, based
mainly on Mark of Lisbon, is given of this beata.
An article, however, in the Archivum Franciscanum Historicum,
vol. xx (1927), pp. 241-259, supplies a more
thorough discussion of the sources, and points out
with reference to the sending of Bd Felicia to Pesaro that
the minister general's, Guglielmo da Casale, letter imposing
this obedience is still preserved. A life of the beata by Fra Agostino Gallucci
was printed in 1637.
|
|
1445
BD PETER OF TIFERNO; Dominican;
the friary of Cortona, where
he spent the greater part of his life.
VERY few particulars
of the life of this confessor have been preserved,
in part no doubt owing to the destruction by fire
of the archives of the friary of Cortona, where he
spent the greater part of his life. He belonged to the family
of the Cappucci and was born at Tiferno (Citta di Castello)
in 1390. When he was fifteen
he received the Dominican habit and was sent to Cortona,
where he was trained under the direction of Bd Laurence
of Ripafratta and in company of many other famous friars, including
St Antoninus and Fra Angelico.
Bd Laurence recommended him to devote himself to contemplation
rather than to activity, but the lessons of his office
note that he was as ready to minister to those who required
his services
outside his monastery as within it. Several
miracles are remembered of Bd Peter. He once met
a young man of bad character in the street, stopped him,
and said, “What wickedness are you up to now? How much longer
are you going on adding sin to sin ? You have just twenty-four
hours to live, and at this time tomorrow you’ll have to give God
an account of yourself.” The man was frightened but took not
more notice, till that night he had a bad accident; Peter was
sent for, and he received the sinner’s humble penitence before he
died. The cultus of Bd Peter,
who used to hold a skull in his hands while preaching, was confirmed
by Pope Pius VII.
Information regarding Bd Peter was certainly
not widely disseminated. In the, vast collection
of names which figure in the book of G. Michele
Pio, printed at Bologna in 1607, Delle vite degli huomini illustri di S. Domenico,
there is no mention of him. We have to fall back upon
the lessons of the Dominican breviary, the
Année Dominicaine, and such summaries
as Procter, Lives of the Dominican Saints,
pp. 294—297. Consult, however, Taurisano.
Catalogus hagiographicus OP.
|
1447 St. Colette
distributed her inheritance to poor holiness spiritual
wisdom Superior of all Poor Clare convents sanctity,
ecstacies visions of the Passion, prophesied
MARCH
06 FULL ARTICLE HERE
Apud Gandávum, in Flándria, sanctæ
Colétæ Vírginis, quæ,
primum tértii Ordinis Franciscális
régulam proféssa, deínde, divíno
Spíritu affláta, quamplúra Moniálium
secúndi ejúsdem Ordinis monastéria
primævæ restítuit disciplínæ;
atque, divínis exornáta virtútibus
et innúmeris clara miráculis, a Pio Séptimo,
Pontífice Máximo, in albo Sanctórum
adscrípta est.
At
Ghent in Flanders, St. Collette, virgin, who at
first professed the rule of the Third Order of St. Francis,
and afterwards, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
restored the pristine discipline to a great number of
monasteries of Nuns of the Second Order. Because
she was graced with heavenly virtues, and performed innumerable
miracles, she was inscribed on the roll of saints by
Pope Pius VII.
Colette
was the daughter of a carpenter named DeBoilet
at Corby Abbey in Picardy, France. She was born on January
13, christened Nicolette, and called Colette. Orphaned
at seventeen, she distributed her inheritance to the poor.
She became a Franciscan tertiary, and lived at Corby as
a solitary. She soon became well known for her holiness and
spiritual wisdom, but left her cell in 1406 in response to a dream
directing her to reform the Poor Clares. She received the Poor
Clares habit from Peter de Luna, whom the French recognized
as Pope under the name of Benedict XIII, with orders to reform
the Order and appointing her Superior of all convents she reformed.
Despite great opposition, she persisted in her efforts. She founded
seventeen convents with the reformed rule and reformed several older
convents. She was reknowned for her sanctity, ecstacies, and visions
of the Passion, and prophesied her own death in her convent at
Ghent, Belgium. A branch of the Poor Clares is still known as the
Collettines. She was canonized in 1807.
Colette
(Coleta, Niolette), Poor Clare V (RM) Born at Calcye,
Picardy, France, on January 13, 1381; died in Ghent,
Flanders, 1447; canonized in 1807.
Born
to De Boilet (or Boylet), a carpenter at Corbie
Abbey in Picardy, her parents named her Nicolette in honor
of Saint Nicholas of Myra. They died when she was 17, leaving
her in the care of the abbot.
Colette
was said to be petite and very beautiful. She tried
her religious vocation with the Beguines and Benedictines
but failed. She distributed her possessions to the poor and
entered the third order of Saint Francis.
When
she was 21, the abbot gave Colette a small hermitage
beside the church of Corbie, where she lived a life
of such austerity that her fame spread and people came
seeking her advice. Colette had dreams and visions in which
Saint Francis appeared and charged her to restore the first
rule of Saint Clare in its original severity. She hesitated
to act upon this but was struck blind for three days and dumb
for three more, which she saw as a sign.
Encouraged by her spiritual director,
Father Henry de Baume, she left her hermitage in 1406.
After trying to explain her mission to two convents,
she realized that she must have better authority to accomplish
her mission. She set out for Nice, barefoot and clothed
in a habit of patches, to meet with Peter de Luna, acknowledged
by the French during the great schism as pope under the name
Benedict XIII.
He
welcomed her and professed her as a Poor Clare.
He was so impressed with her that he made her superioress
of all the convents of Minoresses that she might reform
or found and a missioner to the friars and tertiaries of
Saint Francis.
She
travelled from convent to convent through Picardy
and Savoy. At first she was met with rude opposition and
treated as a fanatic, and even accused of sorcery. She met
rebuffs and curses patiently, however, and eventually
began to make inroads, especially in Savoy, where her reform gained
sympathizers and recruits. This reform passed to Burgundy,
France, Flanders, and Spain.
With the support of Henry de
Baume, the first house of Poor Clares to
receive the reformed rule did so in 1410. She
aided Saint Vincent Ferrer in the work of healing the
papal schism. Colette also founded 17 new convents, in
addition to reforming many, including several houses of
Franciscan friars. Her most famous convent is Le Puy-en-Velay
(Haute-Loire), which has sustained an unbroken continuity,
even through the French Revolution.
Saint
Colette was untrained and unprepared for the work
for which she had been commissioned; she achieved it
by the power of faith and holiness, and a determination that
no opposition could discourage. Impressed by her simple goodness,
many people of high rank were greatly influenced by her,
including James of Bourbon and Philip the Good of Burgundy.
Like
Saint Francis, Colette had a deep devotion to Christ's
Passion with an appreciation and care for animals.
She fasted on Fridays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., meditating
on the Passion. Almost always after receiving Holy Communion
she would fall into an hours-long ecstasy.
It
is said that Colette met Saint Joan of Arc on her
way with an army to besiege La Charite-sur-Loire in 1429,
but there is no evidence.
In
Flanders, where she had established several houses,
Colette was seized with a last illness. She foretold
her own death, received the last rites, and died in her
convent in Ghent at age 67. Her body was removed by Poor Clares
when Emperor Joseph II was suppressing religious houses
in Flanders; it was taken to her convent at Poligny, 32
miles from Besancon. A branch of Poor Clares is still known
as the Colettines (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia,
Gill, Perrin, White).
In
art, Saint Colette is often depicted as a Poor Clare
visited by Saint Anne, Saint Francis, or Saint Clare
in a vision; sometimes holding a crucifix and a hook.
She may also be shown miraculously walking on a stream
(Roeder, White). She is venerated in Ghent and Corbie (Picardy)
(Roeder).
|
|
1447 BD THOMAS OF FLORENCE;
a Franciscan lay brother;
the gift of miracles; Many urged that Bd Thomas
should be canonized with St Bernardino of
Siena, whose cause was then in process. To prevent
the delay that would have resulted, St John of Capistrano,
it is said, went to Thomas’s tomb at Rieti and commanded
him in the name of holy obedience to cease his miracles until
the canonization of Bernardino should be achieved. They stopped
for three years, but Bd Thomas has never been canonized.
His cultus was approved in 1771.
THOMAS BELLACCI, a native of Florence, was a Franciscan lay brother,
who as a young man had led a wild and disorderly
life. Realization of the futility of it all and
the wise words of a friend wrought a change in him
and he was accepted—with some trepidation, for his excesses
were notorious—by the friars of the Observance at Fiesole.
But his penitence equaled his former sinfulness, and in time,
for all he was a lay brother, he was made master of novices,
whom he trained in the strictest ways of the Observance.
When in 1414
Friar John of Stroncone went to spread the
reform in the kingdom of Naples he took Bd Thomas
with him. He laboured there for some six years, strengthened
with the gift of miracles, and then, authorized by
Pope Martin V, he undertook, in company with
Bd Antony of Stroncone, to oppose the heretical Fraticelli
in Tuscany. While engaged in this campaign he made
a number of new foundations, over which St Bernardino gave him
authority, his own headquarters being at the friary of Scarlino.
Here he established a custom of going in procession after the
night office to a neighbouring wood, where each friar had a little shelter of boughs and shrubs
wherein they remained for a time in prayer.
As
a result of the “reunion council” at Florence
in 1439, Friar Albert of
Sarzana was sent as papal legate to the Syrian
Jacobites and other dissidents of the East, and he took
Thomas with him, although he was in his seventieth year.
From Persia Albert commissioned him to go with three other friars
into Ethiopia. Three times on their way the Turks, who treated
them with great cruelty, seized them. But Bd Thomas insisted on preaching
to the Mohammedans, and eventually they had to be ransomed by
Pope Eugenius IV, just before their captors were
going to put them to death. Bd Thomas could not get over that God
had refused the proffered sacrifice of his life, and in 1447,
aged as he was, he set out for Rome to ask permission to go again
to the East. But at Rieti he was taken ill, and died there on October
31. Many urged that Bd Thomas should
be canonized with St Bernardino of Siena, whose cause was then
in process. To prevent the delay that would have resulted, St John
of Capistrano, it is said, went to Thomas’s tomb at Rieti and commanded
him in the name of holy obedience to cease his miracles until the
canonization of Bernardino should be achieved. They stopped for
three years, but Bd Thomas has never been canonized. His cultus was approved in 1771.
See Wadding, Annales Minorum; Mazzara, Leggendario francescano and the summary in Fr Léon,
Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), Vol. iv.
|
1452 Blessed Peter
de Geremia; heard a knock at the window; no church
large enough to hold crowds; countless miracles: fish,
stopped Aetna w/veil of Saint Agatha, raised dead etc.
OP (AC)
Born
in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, in 1381; cultus approved
in 1784. God has a mission for each of us and has given
us the gifts to successfully complete the purpose for which
He created us. Our job is to discern our role in His creation.
The gifts He has given us can be the instrument of our damnation
when used against His purposes; when we discern correctly through
prayer and spiritual direction these same talents and abilities
can sanctify us and those around us. It's not too late to seek God's
will for your life--in fact, we should attempt to understand His
will for our every action, each day, using all the gifts his has given
us.
1452 BD PETER GEREMIA
THE life of this holy man was written by
one of his brethren who knew him well and had lived with
him in the same friary. Born in Palermo, Peter was the son of
a jurist and fiscal agent to King Alfonso I and at the age
of eighteen was sent to the University of Bologna to study
law with a view to succeeding to his father’s office. There he
made such progress that he was often called upon to take the chair
of the professor when the latter was prevented from delivering
his lectures. Peter was on the eve of taking his degree when he
had a strange experience which he ever afterwards looked upon
as a supernatural interposition. He was sitting one evening in
his room, buried in study, when he was disturbed by loud and
persistent rapping on his window—which was on the third storey.
Startled, he inquired who the unseen visitor could be and what he
wanted. “I am your cousin”, replied a voice.
“After I had taken my degree, I also was called to
the bar where, as you know, I gained honour and distinction. Blind
and miserable wretch that I was, I spent my whole time in defence
of others, and I even, against my conscience, undertook unjust cases
in order to obtain money and fame. I found no one to plead my own
case before the judgement-seat of God, and I am now condemned to everlasting
torment. But before I am cast into Hell I am sent to warn you to
flee from the courts of men if you wish to be acquitted before
the judgement-seat of God.”
Peter lost no time in acting
upon the warning. Then and there he took a vow
of perpetual chastity, and the next morning he bought
an iron chain which he wound three times round his body
and riveted there, This was found embedded in his flesh
fifty-one years later when his body was being prepared for
burial. He then obtained admission into the Dominican convent at
Bologna. When news of this reached the ears of his father he was
greatly incensed and travelled to Bologna, intending to remove
the novice by force and compel him to complete his legal studies.
Peter refused to see his parent, but sent a message saying that he
was welt and needed nothing that his relations could give him except
their prayers. Whilst the father raged and threatened, the young man
was asking as a special grace that he might neither be unfaithful to
his vocation nor forfeit the love of his parents, to whom he was greatly
attached. When an interview was at last arranged, the father was completely
softened and gave Peter his blessing.
After he was raised to the
priesthood he became a celebrated preacher and
brought many to repentance and newness of life. St
Vincent Ferrer when he visited Bologna sought him out
to congratulate him on the work he was doing and to urge him
to continue labours which God had so wonderfully blessed. Summoned
as a theologian to the Council of Florence, Bd Peter found
his learning and eloquence greatly extolled by Pope Eugenius
IV, who wished to raise him to high ecclesiastical honours.
He declined all preferment, but was obliged to accept the post
of apostolic visitor in Sicily, though he stipulated that his
powers should be limited to the restoration of regular observance
in religious houses where irregularities had crept in
during the Great Schism. In this delicate task he was entirely
successful, and his preaching to the people was no less popular
than in Italy. He died at Palermo in 1452, and his cultus was confirmed in 1784.
A picturesque story is told
of Bd Peter when he was prior of Palermo. One
day the procurator told him that there was no food
in the house. It was a Friday, and the prior, knowing
that a fisherman in the neighbourhood had had a good haul of
tunny, took boat and went to beg a few of the fish for his brethren.
The man refused roughly. Peter said nothing and started back
in his boat, when lo! all the fish broke through the nets and were
escaping out to sea. The fisherman, aghast, followed in pursuit
of Peter and besought pardon. He made the sign of the cross over
the sea, and thereupon the fish again became entangled
in the nets, and the man eagerly
bestowed on the prior as much fish as he needed.
See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i; Taurisano, Catalogus
Hagiographicus O.P. p. 38; Mortier, Maîtres Généraux O.P.,
vol. iv, pp. 152—212 and M. A. Coniglione, Pietro Geremia (1952).
Peter
Geremia was unusually gifted. He was sent early
to the University of Bologna, where he passed his studies
brilliantly, and attracted the attention and praise of
all. On the brink of a successful career as a lawyer, he experienced
a sudden and total conversion. Having
retired one night, he was pleasantly dreaming of the honors
that would soon come to him in his work, when he heard a
knock at the window. As his room was on the third floor,
and there was nothing for a human to stand on outside his window,
he sat up, in understandable fright, and asked who was there.
A hollow voice responded that he was
a relative who had just died, a successful lawyer who had wanted
human praise so badly that he had lied to win it, and now was eternally
lost because of his pride. Peter was terrified, and acted at
once upon the suggestion to turn, while there was still time, from
the vanity of public acclaim. He went the next day to a locksmith
and bought an iron chain, which he riveted tightly about him. He began
praying seriously to know his vocation. Soon
thereafter, God made known to him that he should enter the Dominican
Order. He did so as soon as possible. His new choice of vocation
was a bitter blow to his father, who had gloried in his son's achievements,
hoping to see him become the most famous lawyer in Europe. He angrily
journeyed to Bologna to see his son and demanded that he come home.
The prior, trying to calm the excited man, finally agreed to call Peter.
As the young man approached them, radiantly happy in his new life, the
father's heart was touched, and he gladly gave his blessing to the new
undertaking.
Peter's
brilliant mind and great spiritual gifts found
room for development in the order, and he became known
as one of the finest preachers in Sicily. He was so well
known that Saint Vincent
Ferrer asked to see him, and they conversed happily
on spiritual matters. He always preached in the open air,
because there was no church large enough to hold the crowds that
flocked to hear him.
Being
prior of the abbey, Peter was consulted one day
when there was no food for the community. He went down to
the shore and asked a fisherman for a donation. He was
rudely refused. Getting into a boat, he rowed out from the shore
and made a sign to the fish; they broke the nets and followed
him. Repenting of his bad manners, the fisherman apologized,
whereupon Peter made another sign to the fish, sending them
back into the nets again. The records say that the monastery
was ever afterwards supplied with fish.
Peter
was sent as visitator to establish regular observance
in the monasteries of Sicily. He was called to Florence
by the pope to try healing the Greek schism. A union of the
opposing groups was affected, though it did not last. Peter
was offered a bishopric (and refused it) for his work in this
matter.
At
one time, when Peter was preaching at Catania, Mount
Etna erupted and torrents of flame and lava flowed down
on the city. The people cast themselves at his feet, begging
him to save them. After preaching a brief and pointed sermon on
repentance, Peter went into the nearby shrine of Saint Agatha, removed the veil
of the saint, which was there honored as a relic, and held it towards
the approaching tide of destruction. The eruption ceased
and the town was saved.
This
and countless other miracles he performed caused him
to be revered as a saint. He raised the dead to life, healed
the crippled and the blind, and brought obstinate sinners
to the feet of God. Only after his death was it known how
severely he had punished his own body in memory of his youthful
pride (Benedictines, Dorcy).
|
1457 St. Rita
of Cascia wife mother widow religious community member legendary
austerity prayerfulness charity
Cássiæ, in
Umbria, sanctæ Ritæ Víduæ,
Moniális ex Ordine Eremitárum sancti Augustíni;
quæ, post sæculi núptias, ætérnum
sponsum Christum únice diléxit.
At Cascia
in Umbria, St. Rita, a widow and nun of the Order
of the Hermits of St. Augustine, who, after being disengaged
from her earthly marriage, loved only her eternal spouse
Christ.
1457 ST RITA
OF CASCIA, WIDOW
IN the year 1381 there
was born in a peasant home at Roccaporena in the central
Apennines a little girl who, as an exemplary daughter, wife
and religious, was destined to attain to great heights of holiness
in this life, and afterwards to merit from countless grateful
souls by her intercession in Heaven the title of “the saint
of the impossible and the advocate of desperate cases”.
The child of her parents’
old age, Rita—as she was named—showed from her earliest
years extraordinary piety and love of prayer. She had set
her heart upon dedicating herself to God in the Augustinian convent
at Cascia, but when her father and mother decreed that she should
marry, she sorrowfully submitted, deeming that in obeying them
she was fulfilling God’s will. Her parents’ choice was an unfortunate
one. Her husband proved to be brutal, dissolute and so violent
that his temper was the terror of the neighbourhood. For eighteen
years with unflinching patience and gentleness Rita bore with his
insults and infidelities. As with a breaking heart she watched her
two Sons fall more and more under their father’s evil influence, she
shed many tears in secret and prayed for them without ceasing. Eventually
there came a day when her husband’s conscience was touched, so
that he begged her forgiveness for all the suffering he had caused
her: but shortly afterwards he was carried home dead, covered with
wounds. Whether he had been the aggressor or the victim of a vendetta
she never knew. Poignancy was added to her grief by the discovery
that her sons had vowed to avenge their father’s death, and in an
agony of sorrow she prayed that they might die rather than commit
murder. Her prayer was answered. Before they had carried out their
purpose they contracted an illness which proved fatal. Their mother
nursed them tenderly and succeeded in bringing them to a better
mind, so that they died forgiving and forgiven.
Left alone in the world,
Rita’s longing for the religious life returned, and
she tried to enter the convent at Cascia. She was informed,
however, to her dismay that the constitutions forbade the
reception of any but virgins. Three times she made application,
begging to be admitted in any capacity, and three times the
prioress reluctantly refused her. Nevertheless her persistence
triumphed: the rules were relaxed in her favour and she received
the habit in the year 1413.
In the convent St Rita
displayed the same submission to authority which she
had shown as a daughter and wife. No fault could be found with
her observance of the rule, and when her superior, to try
her, bade her water a dead vine in the garden, she not only complied
without a word, but continued day after day to tend the old stump.
On the other hand, where latitude was allowed by the rule—as
in the matter of extra austerities—she was pitiless to herself.
Her charity to her neighbour expressed itself especially in her
care for her fellow religious during illness and for the conversion
of negligent Christians, many of whom were brought to repentance
by her prayers and persuasion. All that she said or did was prompted
primarily by her fervent love of God, the ruling passion of her life.
From childhood she had had a special devotion to the sufferings
of our Lord, the contemplation of which would sometimes send her
into an ecstasy, and when in 1441 she heard an eloquent sermon on
the crown of thorns from St James della Marca, a strange physical
reaction seems to have followed. While she knelt, absorbed in prayer,
she became acutely conscious of pain—as of a thorn which had detached
itself from the crucifix and embedded itself in her forehead. It developed
into an open wound which suppurated and became so offensive that she
had to be secluded from the rest. We read that the wound was healed for
a season, in answer to her prayers, to enable her to accompany her sisters
on a pilgrimage to Rome during the year of the jubilee, 1450, but it
was renewed after her return and remained with her until her death, obliging
her to live practically as a recluse.
During her later years
St Rita was afflicted also by a wasting disease, which
she bore with perfect resignation. She would never relax any
of her austerities or sleep on anything softer than rough straw.
She died on May 22, 1457, and her body has remained incorrupt until
modern times. The roses which are St Rita’s emblem and which
are blessed in Augustinian churches on her festival refer to an
old tradition. It is said that when the saint was nearing her death
she asked a visitor from Roccaporena to go to her old garden and bring
her a rose. It was early in the season and the friend had little
expectation of being able to gratify what she took to be a sick woman’s
fancy. To her great surprise, on entering the garden, she saw on
a bush a rose in full bloom. Having given it to St Rita she asked
if she could do anything more for her. “Yes”, was the reply. “Bring
me two figs from the garden.” The visitor hastened back and discovered
two ripe figs on a leafless tree.
The evidence upon which rests the
story of St Rita as it is popularly presented cannot be described as altogether
satisfactory. The saint died in 1457, but the first biography of which anything
is known, written by John George de Amicis, only saw the light in 1600 and
we can learn little or nothing of the sources from which it was compiled.
A considerable number of lives have appeared in modern times, but in spite
of the diligence of their various authors they add hardly anything in the
way of historical fact to the slender sketch which may be read in the Acta Sanctorum (May, vol. v), which is
derived mainly from the seventeenth century life by Cavallucci. There are
also many chronological problems, which, pace Father Vannutelli, still remain
unsettled. In English we have a Life of St Rita of Cascia, by H. Conolly
(1903), and Our Own Saint Rita, by M. J. Corcoran (1919). Of the numerous
Italian biographies those by P. Marabottini (1923) and by L. Vannutelli (1925)
seem most in favour.
b. 1381 Like Elizabeth
Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow
and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected
in each phase of her life.
Born at Roccaporena
in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was
pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel
man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons.
After her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died,
Rita tried to join the Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful
at first because she was a widow, Rita eventually succeeded.
Over the years,
her austerity, prayerfulness and charity became legendary.
When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly
associated them with the wounds from Christ's crown of thorns.
She meditated frequently on Christ's passion. Her care for
the sick nuns was especially loving. She also counseled lay
people who came to her monastery.
Beatified in
1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired
the reputation, together with St. Jude, as a saint of impossible
cases. Many people visit her tomb each year.
She died on
May 22 at Cascia, and many miracles were reported instantly.
She is honored in Spain as La Santa de los Impossibles and elsewhere
as a patron saint of hopeless causes.
Comment:
Although we can easily imagine an ideal world in which
to live out our baptismal vocation, such a world does not exist.
An “If only ….” approach to holiness never quite gets underway,
never produces the fruit that God has a right to expect.
Rita became
holy because she made choices that reflected her Baptism
and her growth as a disciple of Jesus. Her overarching, lifelong
choice was to cooperate generously with God's grace, but many
small choices were needed to make that happen. Few of those
choices were made in ideal circumstances—not even when Rita became
an Augustinian nun.
Quote:
For the Baptism of adults and for all the baptized
at the Easter Vigil, three questions are asked: “Do you reject
sin so as to live in the freedom of God's children? Do you reject
the glamour of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin? Do you
reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?”
Rita (Margarita)
of Cascia, OSA Widow (RM) Born in Roccaporena in the
Apennines near Spoleto, Italy, in 1381; died at Cascia, Umbria,
Italy, May 22, 1457; canonized in 1900. Rita was born to elderly
parents and showed an early vocation for religious life.
She wanted to enter an Augustinian convent, but she gave into
her parents' wishes and married at the age of 12.
Her husband was a cruel and brutal
man, well known in the neighborhood for his rude manners and violent temper.
For 18 years she lived patiently with her contemptuous and philandering husband,
forced to watch her sons becoming tainted by his influence. There came a
point where he repented, however, and begged her to forgive him for his ill
treatment; he was murdered shortly afterward in a vendetta. When her sons
vowed to avenge their father's death, Rita prayed that they might die rather
than commit murder. Both fell ill, and she nursed them and brought to them
a spirit of forgiveness before they died.
Rita applied
three times to the Augustinian convent at Cascia but
was turned away because its rule permitted only virgins. But
in 1413, as a result of her persistence and strong faith, an
exception was made, and she took the habit. I much prefer the
version of the story that I learned in my youth: When the convent
repeatedly denied her entry into the convent, Rita continued to
pray until one night her prayer was answered. Miraculously, she
was transported into the convent at night despite the locked doors.
When the sisters found her inside they decided that it must be God's
will for Rita to be accepted.
Once professed
Rita enforced hard austerities upon herself, becoming
known for her penances and concern for others. She cared
for the other nuns when they were ill and worked to return Christians
who had neglected the faith back to observance.
In 1441, she
heard a sermon by Saint James della Marca on the Crown
of Thorns. Soon afterward, as she prayed, she became conscious
of pain, as if a thorn had become embedded in her forehead.
The location developed into an open wound, and it became so
unattractive that she was separated from her sisters. The wound
healed enough for her to attend a pilgrimage to Rome in 1450, but it
reappeared after her return and remained with her until her death
of tuberculosis, necessitating that she live in seclusion.
Several miracles
were attributed to her after her death. In fact, her
body is said to have remained incorrupt until recent times.
The earliest biography of Saint Rita was not written until
nearly 150 years after her death; thus, it should be recognized
that the details of her story are not well attested (Attwater,
Benedictines, Delaney, White).
In art, Saint
Rita is depicted as an Augustinian nun praying before
a crucifix, a thorn from the crown wounds her brow. She
may also be shown receiving a crown of roses from the Virgin
and a crown of thorns from the saints (Roeder). Rita's emblem
in art is roses, which are blessed on her feast day (White).
She is patron
of those in desperate situations (perhaps an allusion
to her own life), of parenthood, and against infertility.
In Spain Rita is known as "La Abogada de Imposibles", the patron
saint of desperate cases, particularly matrimonial difficulties.
An Italian poll showed that her popularity is greater than that
of the Madonna (White). Rita is especially venerated in Cascia
and Spoleto (Roeder).
|
15th v. Saint Matrona; she founded a small monastery for women. Soon
other nuns joined her in her ascetical struggles;
worked many miracles
both during her life and after her death, and
was revered throughout Chios for her virtuous life
and holiness. She showed charity to the poor, and was able
to heal the sick.
Born
in the village of Volissos on Chios of wealthy and
pious parents, Leon and Anna sometime in the fourteenth
century. From her youth she showed an inclination
for monasticism. One day she left her parents and went to
live in an unpopulated area, where she founded a small
monastery for women. Soon other nuns joined her in her ascetical
struggles.
St Matrona
worked many miracles both during her life and after
her death, and was revered throughout Chios for her virtuous
life and holiness. She showed charity to the poor,
and was able to heal the sick.
The service
to St Matrona was composed by Metropolitan Niketas
of Rhodes. It was found in a codex from 1455, which would
indicate that she died sometime before this date.
St Matrona is also commemorated on July 15 (the finding of
her head).
|
|
1450 Bd Stephen Bandelli;
doctor of canon
law, University
of Pavia professorship, honoured as a saint and a wonder-worker;
One of the most successful preachers of the Dominican Order in
the first half of the fifteenth century was Friar Stephen Bandelli. He was
born in 1369 in northern Italy, and received the Dominican habit at Piacenza.
His piety and obedience were an inspiration to his brethren, while his learning
obtained for him the degree of doctor of canon law
and a professorship in the University of Pavia. But it
was in the pulpit and in the confessional that he specially
shone. Wherever he preached, in Liguria and elsewhere, crowds
assembled to hear him, and innumerable sinners were converted
from the error of their ways. He died at the age of eighty-one
at Saluzzo, in the diocese of Turin, and was honoured as a saint
and a wonder-worker. Thirty-seven years after his death, when
Saluzzo was surrounded by a hostile force, strange forms appeared
in the sky, which were held to be those of our Lady and Bd Stephen;
the enemy withdrew without laying siege to the town, and the people
of Saluzzo, in gratitude to Bd Stephen, instituted an annual procession
in his honour. Pope Pius IX. confirmed his ancient
cultus in 1856.
See Seeböck,
Die Herrlichkeit der Katholischen
Kirche, pp. 127 seq. Procter,
Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 174-175;
Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus
O.P.
|
|
1455 BD JEROME RANUZZI;
a scholar and contemplative;
doctorate
in theology, and was afterwards ordained priest and employed as professor
in various houses-of-studies of his order in Italy; devotion of the people was so
great and miracles so numerous that his body, instead of being buried in
the conventual graveyard, was at once enshrined above an altar in the church
of the Servites at Sant’ Angelo
THERE is a notable contrast
between the characters of the two Servite beati commemorated this
month, both in their youth and their maturity. Bonaventure Buonaccorsi
was a preacher and what is called a man of action, Jerome Ranuzzi was a
scholar and contemplative; while the one spent his
life in violence and disorder till nearly middle age, the other from his
earliest years was noted for his devoutness and studious habits.
Ranuzzi
was born near the end of the fourteenth century at Sant’ Angelo in Vado,
a little town near Urbino which was one of the first to have a convent
of Servite nuns, and before his twentieth year took the habit of the Servite
friars, receiving the name of Jerome. After his profession he was
sent to the University of Bologna, where he took his doctorate in theology,
and was afterwards ordained priest and employed as professor in various
houses-of-studies of his order in Italy. He was thus engaged for some years,
till at last he was given permission to retire for a time to the priory
in his native town.
Father Jerome became the valued friend
of the whole neighbourhood. His solicitude in both temporal and spiritual
works of mercy, his wisdom in both temporal and spiritual difficulties,
soon made him known as an “angel of good counsel”. Frederick of Montefeltro,
Duke of Urbino, who asked the Servite authorities for his services as theologian
and personal adviser, knew his quality.
This was the last thing that Bd Jerome
wanted, but he was constrained by obedience to accept the post. It is not
known how long he remained at Frederick’s court, but he was as successful
there as in a monastery and conducted negotiations with the Holy See and
other matters of state to the satisfaction of his prince. He eventually
was allowed to go back to Sant’ Angelo, where before his death he rebuilt
the nuns’ convent. Jerome Ranuzzi died rather suddenly on December 11, 1455,
and the devotion of the people was so great and miracles so numerous that
his body, instead of being buried in the conventual graveyard, was at once
enshrined above an altar in the church of the Servites at Sant’ Angelo.
This cultus was confirmed in 1775.
Some account of this
beatus
may be gathered
from A. Giani, Annales Ordinis Servorum,
vol.
i, pp. 491—492; and some miracles attributed to him are recounted in vol.
iii, pp. 599—600. That no very copious information is obtainable may be
gathered from the fact that writers of the Servite Order itself (so Giani
complains) have confused this Jerome with another Servite named Jerome,
who lived some time before him and died in another part of the country.
|
1456
St. John of Capistrano “Initiative, Organization,
Activity.”
Apud Villáckum, in Pannónia,
natális sancti Joánnis de Capistráno,
Sacerdótis ex Ordine Minórum et Confessóris,
vitæ sanctitáte ac fídei cathólicæ
propagándæ zelo illústris;
qui Taurunénsem arcem, validíssimo Turcárum
exércitu profligáto, suis précibus
et miráculis ab obsidióne liberávit.
Ejus tamen festívitas quinto Kaléndas
Aprílis recólitur.
At Vilak in Hungary, the birthday of St.
John Capistran, priest and confessor of the Order of Friars
Minor, illustrious for the sanctity of his life and his zeal for
the propagation of the Catholic faith. By his prayers and
miracles, he routed a powerful army of Turks, and forced them to
quit the siege of Tornau. His feastday, however, is celebrated
on the 28th of March.
Sancti Joánnis de Capistráno, Sacerdótis
ex Ordine Minórum et Confessóris,
cujus memória recólitur décimo
Kaléndas Novémbris.
St. John Capistrano, confessor, a priest of the Order
of Friars Minor, who is mentioned on the 23rd of October,
formerly March 28.
ST JOHN OF CAPISTRANO
CAPISTRANO is a little town in the Abruzzi, which
of old formed part of the kingdom of Naples.
Here in the fourteenth century a certain free-lance —whether he
was of French or of German origin is disputed—had
settled down after military service under Louis
I and had married an Italian wife. A son, named John,
was born to him in 1386 who was destined to become famous
as one of the great lights of the Franciscan Order.
From early youth the boy’s talents made him conspicuous. He studied
law at Perugia with such success that in 1412
he was appointed governor of that city and married
the daughter of one of the principal inhabitants. During
hostilities between Perugia and the Malatestas he — was imprisoned,
and this was the occasion of his resolution to change
his way of life and become a religious.
How he got over the difficulty of his marriage is not altogether
clear. But it is said that he rode through
Perugia on a donkey with his face to the tail and
with a huge paper hat on his head upon which all his worst
sins were plainly written. He was pelted by the children
and covered with filth, and in this guise presented himself
to ask admission into the noviceship of the Friars Minor.
At that date, 1416, he was thirty years old, and his novice-master
seems to have thought that for a man of such strength of will
who had been accustomed to have his own way, a very severe training
was necessary to test the genuineness of his vocation. (He
had not yet even made his first communion.) The trials to which
he was subjected were most humiliating and were apparently sometimes
attended with supernatural manifestations. But Brother John
persevered, and in after years often expressed his gratitude
to the relentless instructor who had made it clear to him that
self-conquest was the only sure road to perfection.
In 1420 John was raised to the priesthood. Meanwhile he made extraordinary
progress in his theological studies, leading
at the same time a life of extreme austerity, in which
he tramped the roads barefoot without sandals, gave only
three or four hours to sleep and wore a hair-shirt continually.
In his studies he had St James of the Marches as a fellow learner, and for a master St Bernardino of Siena, for
whom he conceived the deepest veneration and
affection.
Very soon John’s exceptional gifts of oratory made themselves perceptible.
The whole of Italy at that period was passing
through a terrible crisis of political unrest and
relaxation of morals, troubles which were largely caused,
and in any case accentuated, by the fact that there were three
rival claimants for the papacy and that the bitter antagonisms
between Guelfs and Ghibellines had not yet been healed.
Still, in preaching throughout the length and breadth of the peninsula St John met with wonderful response. There is undoubtedly
a note of exaggeration in the terms in which
Fathers Christopher of Varese and Nicholas of Fara
describe the effect produced by his discourses. They
speak of a hundred thousand or even a hundred and fifty thousand
auditors being present at a single sermon. That was
certainly not possible in a country depopulated by wars,
pestilence and famine, and in view of the limited means of locomotion
then available. But there was good evidence to justify the
enthusiasm of the latter writer when he tells us: “No one was
more anxious than John Capistran for the conversion of heretics,
schismatics and Jews. No one was more anxious that religion
should flourish, or had more power in working wonders; no one
was so ardently desirous of martyrdom, no one was more famous for
his holiness. And so he was welcomed with honour in all the provinces
of Italy. The throng of people at his sermons was so great that it
might be thought that the apostolic times were revived. On his arrival
in a province, the towns and villages were in commotion and
flocked in crowds to hear him. The towns invited him to visit them,
either by pressing letters, or by deputations, or by an appeal to the
Sovereign Pontiff through the medium of influential persons.”
But
the work of preaching and the conversion
of souls by no means absorbed all the saint’s attention.
There is no occasion to make reference here in any detail
to the domestic embarrassments which had beset the Order
of St Francis since the death Of their Seraphic Founder. It
is sufficient to say that the party known as the “Spirituals”
held by no means the same views of religious observance as were
entertained by those whom they termed the “Relaxed”.
The
Observant reform which had been initiated
in the middle of the fourteenth century still found
itself hampered in many ways by the administration of
superiors general who held a different standard of perfection,
and on the other hand there had also been exaggerations
in the direction of much greater austerity culminating eventually
in the heretical teachings of the Fraticelli. All these
difficulties required adjustment, and Capistran, working
in harmony with St Bernardino of Siena, was called upon
to bear a large share in this burden. After the general chapter
held at Assisi in 1430,
St John was appointed to draft the conclusions at which
the assembly arrived, and these “Martinian statutes”, as they
were called, in virtue of their confirmation by Pope Martin
V, are among the most important in the history of the order.
So
again John was on several occasions entrusted
with inquisitorial powers by the Holy See, as
for example to take proceedings against the Fraticelli
and to inquire into the grave allegations which had been
made against the Order of Gesuats founded by Bd John Colombini.
Further, he was keenly interested in that reform of the Franciscan
nuns which owed its chief inspiration to St Colette,
and in the tertiaries of the order. In the Council of Ferrara,
later removed to Florence, he was heard with attention, but between
the early and the final sessions he had been compelled to visit
Jerusalem as apostolic commissary, and incidentally had done much
to help on the inclusion of the Armenians with the Greeks in the
accommodation, unfortunately only short-lived, which was
arrived at in Florence.
When the Emperor Frederick III, finding that the religious faith
of the countries under his suzerainty was suffering
grievously from the activities of the Hussites
and other heretical sectariès, appealed to
Pope Nicholas V for help, St John Capistran was
sent as commissary and inquisitor general, and he set out
for Vienna in 1451 with twelve of
his Franciscan brethren to assist him. It is beyond doubt that
his coming produced a great sensation. Aeneas Sylvius
(the future Pope Pius II) tells us how, when he entered Austrian
territory, “priests and people came out to meet him, carrying
the sacred relics. They received him as a legate of the Apostolic
See, as a preacher of truth, as some great prophet sent by God.
They came down from the mountains to greet John, as though Peter or
Paul or one of the other apostles were journeying there. They eagerly
kissed the hem of his garment, brought their sick and afflicted
to his feet, and it is reported that very many were cured...The
elders of the city met him and conducted him to Vienna. No square
in the city could contain the crowds. They looked on him as an
angel of God.”
John’s work as inquisitor and his dealings with the Hussites and
other Bohemian heretics have been severely
criticized, but this is not the place to attempt
any justification. His zeal was of the kind that sears
and consumes, though he was merciful to the submissive and
repentant, and he was before his time in his attitude to witchcraft
and the use of torture. The miracles which attended his progress
wherever he went, and which he attributed to the relics of
St Bernardino of Siena, were sedulously recorded
by his companions, and a certain prejudice was afterwards created
against the saint by the accounts which were published of these
marvels. He went from place to place, preaching in Bavaria, Saxony and
Poland, and his efforts were everywhere accompanied by a great revival
of faith and devotion.
Cochlaeus of Nuremberg
tells us how “those who saw him there describe
him as a man small of body, withered, emaciated, nothing
but skin and bone, but cheerful, strong and strenuous
in labour...He slept in his habit, rose before dawn, recited
his office and then celebrated Mass. After that he preached,
in Latin, which was afterwards explained to the people by an
interpreter.” He also made a round of the sick who awaited his
coming, laying his hands upon each, praying, and touching them
with one of the relics of St Bernardino.
It was the
capture of Constantinople by the Turks which
brought this spiritual campaign to an end. Capistran
was called upon to rally the defenders of the West and
to preach a crusade against the infidel. His earlier efforts
in Bavaria, and even in Austria, met with little response,
and early in 1456 the situation
became desperate. The Turks were advancing to lay siege
to Belgrade, and the saint, who by this time had made his way
into Hungary, taking counsel with the great general Hunyady,
saw clearly that they would have to depend in the main upon local
effort. St John wore himself out in preaching and exhorting the
Hungarian people in order to raise an army that could meet the threatened
danger, and himself led to Belgrade the troops he had been able to
recruit. Very soon the Turks were in position and the siege began.
Animated by the prayers and the heroic example in the field of Capistran,
and wisely guided by the military experience of Hunyady, the garrison
in the end gained an overwhelming victory. The siege was abandoned,
and western Europe for the time was saved. But the infection bred
by thousands of corpses which lay unburied round the city cost
the life first of all of Hunyady, and then a month or two later of
Capistran himself, worn out by years of toil and of austerities and
by the strain of the siege. He died most peacefully at Villach on
October 23, 1456, and was canonized in 1724. His feast was in 1890 made general for all the Western
church, and was then transferred to March 28.
The more important
biographical materials for the history of St
John of Capistrano are printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x. See BHL.,
nn. 4360—4368. But in addition to these there is a considerable
amount of new information concerning St John’s writings,
letters, reforms and other activities which has been printed
during the present century in the Archivum Franciscanum
Historicum edited at Quaracchi; attention may
be called in particular to the papers on St John and the Hussites
in vols. xv and xvi of the same periodical. This and other material
has been used by J. Hofer in his St John Capistran,
Reformer (1943), a work
of much erudition and value. English readers may also be
referred to a short life by Fr V. Fitzgerald, and to Leon,
Auréole Séraphique
(Eng. trans.), vol. iii, pp. 388—420.
It
has been said the Christian saints are the world’s
greatest optimists. Not blind to the existence and consequences
of evil, they base their confidence on the power of Christ’s
redemption. The power of conversion through Christ extends
not only to sinful people but also to calamitous events.
Imagine
being born in the fourteenth century. One-third
of the population and nearly 40 percent of the clergy were
wiped out by the bubonic plague. The Western Schism split
the Church with two or three claimants to the Holy See at one
time. England and France were at war. The city-states of Italy
were constantly in conflict. No wonder that gloom dominated
the spirit of the culture and the times.
John
Capistrano was born in 1386. His education was thorough.
His talents and success were great. When he was 26
he was made governor of Perugia. Imprisoned after a battle
against the Malatestas, he resolved to change his way of
life completely. At the age of 30 he entered the Franciscan
novitiate and was ordained a priest four years later.
His
preaching attracted great throngs at a time of religious
apathy and confusion. He and 12 Franciscan brethren
were received in the countries of central Europe as
angels of God. They were instrumental in reviving a dying
faith and devotion.
The
Franciscan Order itself was in turmoil over the
interpretation and observance of the Rule of St. Francis.
Through John’s tireless efforts and his expertise
in law, the heretical Fraticelli were suppressed and the
“Spirituals” were freed from interference
in their stricter observance.
He
helped bring about a reunion with the Greek and Armenian
Churches, unfortunately only a brief arrangement.
When the Turks captured Constantinople
in 1453, he was commissioned to preach a crusade for the
defense of Europe. Gaining little response in Bavaria and Austria,
he decided to concentrate his efforts in Hungary. He led the army
to Belgrade. Under the great General John Junyadi, they gained
an overwhelming victory, and the siege of Belgrade was lifted.
Worn out by his superhuman efforts, Capistrano was an easy prey
to the infection bred by the refuse of battle. He died October 23,
1456.
St.
John of Capistrano, priest
At Ilok in Hungary
of
the Order of Friars Minor. He was illustrious for
holiness Of life and zeal in extending the Catholic faith.
By his prayers and miracles, he delivered from a siege
the fortress of Zemun, a suburb of Belgrade, when it was beleaguered
by a powerful Turkish army.
Comment: John Hofer, a biographer
of John Capistrano, recalls a Brussels organization
named after the saint. Seeking to solve life problems
in a fully Christian spirit, its motto was:
“Initiative, Organization,
Activity.” These three words
characterized John's life. He was not one to sit around, ever.
His deep Christian optimism drove him to battle problems at all
levels with the confidence engendered by a deep faith in Christ.
Quote: On the saint's tomb
in the Austrian town of Villach, the governor
had this message inscribed: “This
tomb holds John, by birth of Capistrano, a man
worthy of all praise, defender and promoter of the faith, guardian
of the Church, zealous protector of his Order, an ornament
to all the world, lover of truth and religious justice, mirror
of life, surest guide in doctrine; praised by countless
tongues, he reigns blessed in heaven.”
That is a fitting epitaph for a real and successful optimist.
St.
John of Capistrano (1386-1456)
It
has been said the Christian saints are the world’s
greatest optimists. Not blind to the existence and consequences
of evil, they base their confidence on the power of Christ’s
redemption. The power of conversion through Christ extends
not only to sinful people but also to calamitous events.
Imagine
being born in the fourteenth century. One-third
of the population and nearly 40 percent of the clergy were
wiped out by the bubonic plague. The Western Schism split
the Church with two or three claimants to the Holy See at one
time. England and France were at war. The city-states of Italy
were constantly in conflict. No wonder that gloom dominated
the spirit of the culture and the times.
John
Capistrano was born in 1386. His education was thorough.
His talents and success were great. When he was 26
he was made governor of Perugia. Imprisoned after a battle
against the Malatestas, he resolved to change his way of
life completely. At the age of 30 he entered the Franciscan
novitiate and was ordained a priest four years later.
His
preaching attracted great throngs at a time of religious
apathy and confusion. He and 12 Franciscan brethren
were received in the countries of central Europe as
angels of God. They were instrumental in reviving a dying
faith and devotion.
The
Franciscan Order itself was in turmoil over the
interpretation and observance of the Rule of St. Francis.
Through John’s tireless efforts and his expertise
in law, the heretical Fraticelli were suppressed and the
"Spirituals" were freed from interference in their stricter
observance.
He helped bring about a reunion
with the Greek and Armenian Churches, unfortunately
only a brief arrangement.
When
the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, he was
commissioned to preach a crusade for the defense of Europe.
Gaining little response in Bavaria and Austria, he decided
to concentrate his efforts in Hungary. He led the army to
Belgrade. Under the great General John Junyadi, they gained
an overwhelming victory, and the siege of Belgrade was lifted.
Worn out by his superhuman efforts, Capistrano was an easy
prey to the infection bred by the refuse of battle. He died October
23, 1456.
|
1456 St. Peter Regulatus
noble family Franciscan reformer severe asceticism
levitate ecstasies
Aquilériæ,
in Hispánia, sancti Petri Regaláti,
in urbe Vallisoletána orti, Sacerdótis
ex Ordine Minórum et Confessóris, reguláris
disciplínæ in Hispániæ cœnóbiis
restitutóris; quem Benedíctus Décimus
quartus, Póntifex Máximus, Sanctórum
fastis adscrípsit.
At Aquileria in Spain, the confessor St.
Peter Regulatus, priest of the Order of Friars Minor.
He was born in Valladolid, and restored the regular
discipline in the Spanish monasteries. Pope Benedict
XIV placed him on the roll of saints.
b. 1390
Also Peter
Regalado, Franciscan reformer. Peter was born at Valladolid,
Spain, to a noble
family, and entered the Franciscan Order in his native city at
the age of thirteen. After several years, he transferred
to a far more austere monastery at Tribulos, where he
became known for his severe asceticism as well as his abilities
to levitate and enter into ecstasies. A success as abbot, he
gave himself over to bringing needed reforms to the monastery
and to promoting reforms in other Franciscan houses. For his zeal
in adhering to the rules of the community he was designated Regulatus.
St. Peter
Regaldo (1390-1456)
Peter lived
at a very busy time. The Great Western Schism (1378
- 1417) was settled at the Council of Constance (1414-1418).
France and England were fighting the Hundred Years’ War,
and in 1453 the Byzantine Empire was completely wiped out
by the loss of Constantinople to the Turks. At Peter’s death
the age of printing had just begun in Germany, and Columbus's arrival
in the New World was less than 40 years away.
Peter came
from a wealthy and pious family in Valladolid, Spain.
At the age of 13, he was allowed to enter the Conventual
Franciscans. Shortly after his ordination, he was made
superior of the friary in Aguilar. He became part of a group
of friars who wanted to lead a life of greater poverty and
penance. In 1442 he was appointed head of all the Spanish Franciscans
in his reform group.
Peter led
the friars by his example. A special love of the poor
and the sick characterized Peter. Miraculous stories are
told about his charity to the poor. For example, the bread
never seemed to run out as long as Peter had hungry people to
feed. Throughout most of his life, Peter went hungry; he lived only
on bread and water.
Immediately
after his death on March 31, 1456, his grave became
a place of pilgrimage. Peter was canonized in 1746.
Comment: Peter was an effective
leader of the friars because he did not become
ensnared in anger over the sins of others. Peter
helped sinning friars rearrange the priorities in
their lives and dedicate themselves to living the gospel
of Jesus Christ as they had vowed. This patient correction
is an act of charity available to all Franciscans, not
just to superiors.
Quote: "And
let all the brothers, both the ministers and servants
as well as the others, take care not to be disturbed
or angered at the sin or the evil of another, because the devil
wishes to destroy many through the fault of one; but they
should spiritually help [the brother] who has sinned as best
they can, because it is not the healthy who are in need of the physician,
but those who are sick (cf. Mt 9:12; Mk 2:17)" (Rule of 1221, Chapter
5).
|
1458 Blessed Bernard
of Baden renounced his worldly power and possessions in
order to organize a Crusade to the Holy Land died without
having met his goal (AC)
Born in 1428; cultus confirmed in 1481
and again in 1769. Bernard was the margrave of Baden, who
renounced his worldly power and possessions in order to organize
a Crusade to the Holy Land. While his brother took on Bernard's
former secular rule, God's man offered himself to several European
courts to undertake a crusade against the Turks. He died without
having met his goal (Benedictines).
Amoung the descendants of Herman von Zahringen,
who gave up the margravate of Baden to become a Cluniac monk,
was the Margrave James I, who was known in his day as "the
Solomon of Germany"; he married Catherine,
the daughter of Charles II of Lorraine and Margaret of Bavaria,
and to them was born a son Bernard, about the year 1429.
He turned out a brilliant young man, with a taste both for letters
and for soldiering, but he refused to betroth himself to the
daughter of the King of France; and when his father died in 1453
he turned his responsibilities and rights as margrave over to his
brother Charles and went from court to court of Europe trying to stir
up their sovereigns to a crusade against the Turks, who on May 29, 1453
had captured Constantinople. Bernard set out for Rome to get
the support of Pope Callistus III, but just after leaving Turin he
was attacked by the plague and died in the Franciscan monastery at Moncalieri,
being less than thirty years old, On account of his
great reputation for sanctity, supported by miracles reported at
his tomb, he was beatified in 1479 by Pope Sixtus IV,
in the presence of his mother and brothers.
There is some account in the
Acta Sanctorum, July, vol.
iv; and a fuller biography by 0. Ringholz (1892), who prints the contemporary
attestations of a number of miracles submitted in the process
of beatification; an abridgement of this appeared in 1907.
Two, more popular, small lives by J. Franck and H. Mohr were
published in 1929, the fifth centenary of Bernard's birth
|
1459 Bl. Anthony
della Chiesa Dominican superior companion
of St. Bernardino of Siena; one of the leaders
opposing the last of the antipopes, Felix V; known miracle
worker with an ability to read the consciences of men and
women; he conversed with Saint Mary, in ecstasy,
several times
Anthony
was born in 1394, the son of the Marquis della
Chiesa, in San Germano, Italy.
At twenty, despite his family's objections, Anthony
became a Dominican, gaining recognition as a preacher
and confessor. He accompanied St. Bernardine on missions and served
in various capacities in the Dominican monasteries.
Anthony was also one of the leaders opposing the last
of the antipopes, Felix V While journeying from Savona
to Genoa, Italy, Anthony was captured by pirates but was released
unharmed. He was a known miracle worker with an ability to
read the consciences of men and women.
Blessed
Antony della Chiesa, OP (AC) Born in San Germano,
near Vercelli, the Piedmont, Italy, in 1395; died
Como, Italy, January 22, 1459; beatified 1819. Antony
was born into the nobility, the family of the Marquis
della Chiesa, and a collateral ancestor of Pope Benedict XV.
He was well educated. Showing a taste early in life for he things
of God, he grew up with the hope of becoming a religious. His father,
who was a man of some importance, opposed this wish. Not until
Antony was 22 was he able to make the break with his family and enter
the monastery at Vercelli.
Here
he distinguished himself for both sanctity and
learning. Being a good preacher, he was for some years
the companion of Saint Bernardine of Siena, in his
missionary journeys through Italy. Antony was prior at
the friaries of Como, Savona, Florence, and Bologna.
Antony gives us a picture of one who followed the Dominican
life perfectly, managing, most of the time, to escape
public notice. There is in his life very little of the glamorous
or the unusual. He kept the rule, was a good superior, and
a just administrator. Shunning applause, he was always serene.
The legends mention that he
was particularly devoted to Our Lady, which is something one takes for granted
in a Dominican, and that he conversed with
her, in ecstasy, several times. He had the gift
of reading hearts and was a sought-after director of
souls. He also healed many sick people with his blessing.
However, if any miracles are ordinary ones, these may be
so described; they could be given as typical of most of
early Dominicans. At one time, Antony was on a ship that
was captured by pirates, but at his prayer, the pirates
spared the passengers and brought them safely to land.
One of the very few things of
unusual nature that in Antony's life is a
legend told of him when he was prior of Savona. It
makes a lovely ghost story, and it also provides food
for thought. According to the story, Antony was praying
one night in the church. Disturbed by the sound of horses hooves
clattering on the flagstones outside, he went to see who
could possibly be there at such a late hour. There were several
horsemen, all mounted on black horses. He addressed them, but
received no answer. Thinking that they might be foreigners,
he tried several languages, and still there was no response .
Aware, then, that something
was wrong, he commanded them in the name
of the Lord to tell him who they were and where
they were going. They said that they were devils, and that
they were on their way to meet the soul of a dying sinner,
a usurer, and escort him to hell. "I will pray for him," said
Antony. The demons laughed and told him he was too late. "Then
at least come back and tell me whether you succeed or not," said
the prior. A short while later, the group returned,
and they had succeeded. They held the unhappy usurer captive,
and, while the prior watched in horror, they bore him off. The
man was screaming. The next day, the usurer's relatives came
to arrange an elaborate funeral. "You would do much better to have
Masses said for yourselves and other poor sinners," he said.
Antony died at Como and was
buried there in the Dominican church Miracles
at his tomb led to his beatification (Benedictines,
Dorcy).
1459 Bl. Anthony della
Chiesa Dominican born 1395 at San Germano,
near Vercelli, of the noble family of della Chiesa
di Roddi, which was afterwards to give to the Church
Pope Benedict XV (Giacomo della Chiesa). Bd
Antony received the gift of miracles and of discernment
of spirits, and predicted the day of his own death, which was at
Como on January 28, 1459.
His religious vocation
was opposed by his parents, and he was already twenty-two
when he took the habit of the Friars Preachers at Vercelli.
He was a very successful preacher and director of souls,
and for some years accompanied the Franciscan St Bernardino of Siena on
his missions. While prior at Como he completely reformed
the life and morals of that town, and was sent successively
to govern The friaries at Savona, Florence and Bologna, where
he insisted on a rigorous observance of their rule. Each
time he relinquished office with joy and had soon to take it again,
saying sadly that he who could not even manage an oar
was entrusted with the tiller. From 1440
to 1449 the Church was troubled by an antipope, Amadeus of
Savoy, calling himself Felix V, who had a large following in Savoy
and Switzerland. Bd Antony stoutly opposed himself to this man
and succeeded in winning over a number of his adherents to lawful
authority. He also preached with great energy against
usury, using as a terrible warning the story of a usurer who
at his death had lost not only his soul but even his body, which
had been carried off by a troop of diabolic horsemen, so that his
relatives had to bury an empty coffin. Stories of this sort,
some entertaining, some touching, some to our ideas merely silly,
were part of the stock-in-trade of every medieval preacher.
While going by sea from Savona to Genoa with a fellow friar,
the ship in which they were was captured by corsairs ; they had
no reason to look for anything but death or slavery, but the pirates
were so impressed by the demeanour of the two religious that they
set them free without ransom. Bd Antony received the gift of
miracles and of discernment of spirits, and predicted the day of
his own death, which was at Como on January 28, 1459. His
cultus was approved
in 1819, his feast being kept on July 28, the date of the translation
of his relics to his birthplace in 1810.
An
account of Bd Antony is furnished in Procter,
Lives of the Dominican Saints,
pp. 210-213. See further V. Pellazza,
Elogio storico del
B. Antonio (1863) Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus
O.P., p. 40; and L. Ferretti, Vita del B. Antonio (1919).
|
1459 Antoninus
of Florence great soul in a frail body, and of the triumph of virtue over
vast and organized wickedness miracles after death body was found uncorrupted
in 1559 OP B (RM)
Sancti Antoníni, ex
Ordine Prædicatórum, Epíscopi Florentíni
et Confessóris, cujus dies natális
sexto Nonas mensis hujus recensétur.
St. Antoninus of the
Order of Preachers, confessor and archbishop of Florence,
whose birthday is the 2nd of May.
Born in Florence,
Italy, in 1389 (or 1384?); died there on May 2, 1459; canonized
in 1523.
The story of Antonino Pierozzi
is that of a great soul in a frail body,
and of the triumph of virtue over vast and organized
wickedness. His father, Niccolo Pierozzi, had been a
noted lawyer, notary to the Republic of Florence. He and
his wife Thomassina had their only child baptized as Antonio,
but because the saint was both small and gentle people called
him by the affectionate diminutive 'Antonino' all his life.
The world
in which he lived was engrossed in the Renaissance;
it was a time of violent political upheaval, of plague,
wars, and injustice. The effects of the Great Schism of
the West, over which Saint Catherine
(Born in Siena, Italy, March 25, 1347, in Florence, Italy;
died there on April 29, 1380; canonized in 1461; declared
a Doctor of the Church in 1970) had wept and prayed a generation
before, were still tearing Christendom apart when Antoninus was
born--in the same year as Cosimo de'Medici. The fortunes of Florence
were largely to rest in the hands of these two men.
There
are only a few known details about the early life
of Antoninus, but they are revealing ones. He was a delicate
and lovable child. His stepmother, worried over his frailty,
often gave him extra meat at table. The little boy, determined
to harden himself for the religious life, would slip the
meat under the table to the cats. Kids!
From the cradle his inclination was
to piety. His only pleasure was to read the lives of
saints and other good books, converse with pious persons,
or employ himself in prayer. Accordingly, if he was not
at home or at school, he was always to be found at Saint Michael's
Church before a crucifix or in our Lady's chapel there. He
had a passion for learning, but an even greater ardor to perfect
himself in the science of salvation. In prayer, he begged
nothing of God but His grace to avoid sin, and to do His holy will
in all things.
Antoninus
hitched his wagon to the star of great austerity
and, at 14, discovered the answer to all his questions
in the preaching of Blessed
John Dominici (Born in Florence, Italy, 1376
(or 1350?); died in Hungary 1419), who was then the prior
of Santa Maria Novella and later became cardinal-archbishop
of Ragusa and papal legate. Antoninus went to speak with the preacher
and begged to be admitted to the order.
At the time, Blessed John was reforming the Dominican
priories of the area according to the wishes
of Blessed Raymond of Capua(Born
1330 at Capua, Italy as Raymond delle Vigne Died 5 Oct 1399
at Nuremberg Germany of natural causes). John planned to build
a new and reformed house at Fiesole (near Florence), which he hoped
to start again with young and fervent subjects who would revivify
the order. It declined under the plague and effects of the schism. As
yet, he had no building in which to house the new recruits.
Even
were the monastery completed, it was to be a house
of rigorous observance, and Antoninus looked far too
small and frail for such an austere community. John Dominici,
not wishing to quench the wick of youthful eagerness,
had not the heart to explain all this. He told Antoninus
to go home and memorize the large and forbidding book called
Decretum
Gratiani, supposing that its very bulk
would discourage the lad.
{It
was about 1150 that the Camaldolese monk, Gratian, professor of theology
at the University of Bologna, to obviate the difficulties
which beset the study of practical, external theology (theologia
practica externa), i. e. canon law, composed the work entitled
by himself "Concordia discordantium
canonum", but called by others "Nova collectio",
"Decreta",
"Corpus juris
canonici", also "Decretum Gratiani",
the latter being now the commonly accepted
name.
In
spite of its great reputation the "Decretum" has
never been recognized by the Church as an official collection.
It is divided into three parts (ministeria, negotia,
sacramenta).
The first part is divided into 101
distinctions (distinctiones), the first 20 of which
form an introduction to the general principles of canon
Law (tractatus decretalium); the remainder constitutes
a tractatus ordinandorum, relative to ecclesiastical persons
and function.
The
second part contains 36 causes (causœ), divided into
questions (quœstiones), and treat of ecclesiastical administration
and marriage; the third question of the 33rd causa treats
of the Sacrament of Penance and is divided into 7 distinctions.
The
third part, entitled "De consecratione", treats
of the sacraments and other sacred things and contains 5
distinctions. Each distinction or question contains dicta
Gratiani, or maxims of Gratian, and canones. Gratian himself
raises questions and brings forward difficulties, which he
answers by quoting auctoritates, i. e. canons of councils, decretals
of the popes, texts of the Scripture or of the Fathers.
These are the canones; the entire remaining portion, even
the summaries of the canons and the chronological indications,
are called the maxims or dicta Gratiani. It is to be noted that
many auctoritates have been inserted in the "Decretum" by authors
of a later date. These are the Paleœ, so called from Paucapalea,
the name of the principal commentator on the "Decretum". The Roman
revisers of the sixteenth century (1566-82) corrected the text
of the "Decree" and added many critical notes designated by the words
Correctores Romani.}
Antoninus, however, was possessed
of an iron will. He went home and began to
read the book straight through. By the end of
the year, he had finished the nearly impossible task set
before him, and returned to Blessed John to recite it as
requested. There was now no further way to delay his reception
into the order, so he was received into the Dominican Order "for
the future priory of Fiesole" in 1405 by Blessed John.
Due
to the unsettled state of the Church, the order,
and Italian politics, the training of the young aspirants
was conducted at several different locations, including
Cortona, and, for a time, the regular course of studies
could not be pursued. Antoninus, nothing daunted, studied
by himself. He was happily associated during these years with
several future Dominican saints and beati, including Lawrence
of Ripafratta, the novice master; Blessed Constantius of
Fabriano(Born in Fabriano,
Marches of Ancona, Italy, 1410; died at Ascoli, Italy,
1481;); Peter Capucci(Born at Città di Castello
(the ancient Tifernum), in 1390; died 1445;) and his great
friend, the artist, Saint Fra Angelico (Born
in Mugello near Florence, Italy, in 1386 or 1387; died
in Rome, Italy, in 1455).
Ordained
and set to preaching, Antoninus soon won his place
in the hearts of the Florentines. Each time he said Mass,
he was moved to tears by the mercy of God, and his own devotion
moved other hearts. He was given consecutively several
positions in the order. While still very young, he was made
prior of the Minerva in Rome (1430). He served the friars in
various priories in Italy (including Cortona, Fiesole (1418-28),
Naples, Gaeta, Siena, and Florence). As superior of the reformed
Tuscan and Neapolitan congregations, and also as prior provincial
of the whole Roman province, Antoninus zealously enforced the reforms
initiated by John Dominici with a view to restoring the primitive
rule. Antoninus became a distinguished master of canon law and
assisted popes at their councils. There is evidence that at some
point he served as a judge on the Rota. Pope Eugenius IV summoned
him to attend the general Council of Florence (1439), and he assisted
at all its sessions.
In
1436, he founded the famous priory of San Marco
in Florence with the financial aid of Cosimo de'Medici
in buildings abandoned by the Silvestrines. Under his
guidance and encouragement, the San Marco's monastery
became the center of Christian art. He called upon his old companion,
Saint Fra Angelico,
and on the miniaturist, Fra Benedetto (Angelico's natural
brother), to do the frescoes and the choir books which
are still preserved there. He also ensured that an outstanding
library was collected.
Antoninus is still remembered
today in the exquisite 'Cloister of Saint
Antoninus' with its wide arches and beautiful
ionic capitals, designed in the saint's lifetime by Michelozzo
for San Marco. In the lunettes of the cloister Bernardino
Poccetti and others painted scenes from Antoninus's life.
(When Giambologna restored and altered the church of San
Marco in 1588, he built for the saint's body a superb chapel.)
To
his horror, Antoninus's wisdom and pastoral zeal
made him a natural choice by Pope Eugenius IV for archbishop
of Florence in 1446. Although Tabor reports that
the pope had first chosen Fra Angelico, whose purity
and wisdom had become known when he was painting in Rome.
The artist entreated the holy father to choose Fra Antoninus
instead, who had done great service by his unworldliness
and gentle but irresistible power.
Antoninus's
appointment as bishop was a genuine heartbreak
to a scholar who could never find enough time to study;
in fact, he had been in Naples for two years reforming the
houses of the province when he received word of the nomination
and confirmation by the Florentines. For a time he tried
to escape accepting the dignity by hiding himself on the island
of Sardinia. That did not work. So he tried begging the holy father
to excuse him because of his weak physical constitution. The pope
would accept no excuses; he commanded Antoninus to proceed immediately
to Fiesole under the pain of excommunication for disobedience.
While
he obeyed with trepidation, it was a blessing for
the people of Florence that he was consecrated bishop in
March 1446; they were not slow in demonstrating their
appreciation of their good fortune. He was the 'people's
prelate' and the 'protector of the poor' for he discharged
his office with inflexible justice and overflowing charity.
His love extended to the rich, too. The next year, the dying
Pope Eugenius
summoned Antoninus to Rome in order to receive the
last sacraments from the holy bishop before dying in his
arms on February 23, 1447.
For
the remainder of his life, Antoninus combined an
amazing amount of active work with constant prayer. He
allowed himself very little sleep. In addition to the church
office, he recited daily the office of our Lady, and the seven
penitential psalms; the office of the dead twice a week; and
the whole psalter
on every festival. His prayer
life allowed him to exhibit an exterior of serenity
regardless of the situation.
Francis Castillo, his secretary,
once said to him, bishops were to be pitied
if they were to be eternally besieged with hurry
as he was. The saint made him this answer, which the author
of his vita wished to see written in letters of gold:
"To
enjoy interior peace, we must always reserve in our
hearts amidst all affairs, as it were, a secret closet, where
we are to keep retired within ourselves, and where
no business of the world can over enter."
Because of his reputation for wisdom
and ability, Antoninus was often called upon to help
in public affairs civil & ecclesiastical. Pope Nicholas V sought
his advice on matters of church and state, forbade
any appeal to be made to Rome from the archbishop's judgements,
and declared that Antonino in his lifetime was as worthy of
canonization as the dead Bernardino
of Siena (Born in Massa Marittima (near
Siena), Tuscany, Italy, on September 8, 1380; died in Aquila,
Italy, May 20, 1444;), whom he was about to raise to the
altars.
Pius II nominated him
to a commission charged with reforming the Roman
court. The Florentine government gave him important
embassies on behalf of the republic and would have sent
him as their representative to the emperor if illness had
not prevented him from leaving Florence. Yet he also busied
himself with the beauty of the chant, and personally attended
the Divine Office at his cathedral.
A
distinguished writer on international law and moral
theology, his best known work is Summa moralis, which
is generally thought to have laid the groundwork for modern
moral theology. He was conscious of the new problems presented
by social and economic development, and taught that the
state had a duty to intervene in mercantile affairs for the
common good, and to give help to the unfortunate and needy. He was
among the first Christian moralists to teach that money invested
in commerce and industry was true capital; therefore, it was
lawful and not usury to claim interest on it (combine this
information with the fact that he was a staunch opponent of usury).
All his many books were of a practical nature, including guidance
for confessors (Summa confessionis) and a chronicle of the history
of the world.
His
first concern, however, was always for the people
of his diocese, to whom he set an example of simple living
and inflexible integrity. He preached regularly, made
a yearly visitation of all the parishes in the diocese on
foot, put down gambling, opposed both usury and magic, reformed
abuses of all kinds, and served as the example of Christian charity.
Each day he held an audience for anyone who wished to speak
with him. No one appealed for his help, material or spiritual,
in vain.
Antoninus
was probably best known for his kindness to the
poor, and there were many in the rich city of Florence.
He pulled up his own flower garden and planted vegetables
for the poor. He drove his housekeeper to distraction
by giving away even his own tableware, food, clothing, and
furniture. He never possessed any small precious objects,
such as plates or jewels. His stable generally housed one mule,
which he often sold to relieve some poor person. When that
happened, some wealthy citizen would buy the animal and offer
it as a present to the charitable archbishop. He kept in personal
contact with the poor of the city, particularly with those who
had fallen from wealth and were ashamed to beg. For their care
he founded a society called the "Goodmen of Saint Martin of Tours,"
who went about quietly doing much-needed charitable work--much
in the fashion of our modern Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.
His particular establishment now provides for about 600 families.
His charity did not end with the
poor, but also extended to his enemies. A criminal,
named Ciardi, who was called before the bishop to answer
accusations, attempted to assassinate the archbishop. The
saint narrowly escaped the thrust of his poniard, which pierced
the back of his chair. Yet Antoninus freely forgave the potential
assassin and prayed for his conversion. God answered his prayers
so that he had the comfort of seeing Ciardi become a sincere
Franciscan penitent.
When the plague again came to
Florence in 1448, it was the saintly archbishop
who took the lead in almsgiving and care of the
sick. Many Dominicans died of the plague as they went
about their priestly duties in the stricken city; sad but
undaunted, Antoninus continued to go about on foot among
the people, giving both material and spiritual aid. During the
earthquakes of 1453-1455, he was similarly self-giving. The
example of his own charity led many rich persons to likewise provide
for the afflicted.
Antoninus's was a role model
in other ways, too. When he learned that
two blind beggars had amassed a fortune, he took
the money from them and distributed it to others in dire
necessity. Was this an injustice? No, he provided for all
the needs of the two for the rest of their lives. The bishop
tried to hide his virtue from others and himself, until
he would see reflections of them in his flock. By accident
he discovered one such flame that he had sparked in a poor, obscure
handicraftsman who continually practiced penance. The man spent
Sundays and holidays in the churches, secretly distributed to the
poor all he earned beyond that needed for subsistence, and kept
a poor leper in his home, joyfully serving the ungrateful beggar
and dressing his ulcers with his own hands. The leper, increasingly
morose and imperious, carried complaints against his benefactor
to the archbishop, who, discovering this hidden treasure of
sanctity in the handicraftsman, secretly honored it, while he punished
the insolence of the leper.
Cosimo de'Medici, who did not
always have compliments for Dominicans, admitted
frankly, "Our city has experienced all sorts of
misfortunes: fire, earthquake, drought, plague, seditions,
plots. I believe it would today be nothing but a mass of ruins
without the prayers of our holy archbishop."
After
13 years as bishop, Antoninus died surrounded by
his religious brothers from San Marco and mourned by the
whole city. His whole life was mirrored in his last words,
"to serve God is to reign." Pope Pius II assisted
at his funeral, when he was buried in San Marco's church. Pius eulogized
Antoninus as one who "conquered avarice and pride, was outstandingly
temperate in every way, was a brilliant theologian, and popular preacher."
His hairshirt and other relics were
the vehicle for many miracles. It is significant that
the canonization of Saint Antoninus was decreed by the short-lived
Pope Adrian VI
(August 31, 1522, to September 14, 1523), whose
ideas for church reform were radical and drastic. His
body was found uncorrupted in 1559, when it was translated
with pomp and solemnity into a chapel richly adorned by the
two brothers Salviati (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Dominicans,
Dorcy, Farmer, Husenbeth, Jarrett, Tabor, Walsh).
Antonius
of Florence is generally portrayed in art as a
Dominican bishop with scales. He might be shown (1)
weighing false merchandise against the word of God;
(2) as a Dominican with a pallium; (3) as a young man giving
alms; (4) drifting down a river in a boat; or (5) holding
a book in a bag (Roeder). The likeness of the archbishop
was recorded by contemporary artists, as in the bust at
Santa Maria Novella and a statue at the nearby Uffizi Gallery
in Florence. Antonio del Pollaiuolo's painting of him
at the foot of the Cross survives at San Marco, as does a series
of scenes from his life in its cloister of San Antonino (Farmer)
and a portrait by Fra Bartolomeo (Tabor).
|
1460 Bd Archangelo
Of Calatafimi; from childhood a religious
and retiring disposition; withdrew himself to
a cave, there to live in solitude many people invaded
his retreat to seek his advice and conversation, and when
miracles take place, they came in greater numbers; removed
to Alcamo asked to revive and organize a decayed hospice for
the poor, which he undertook; once more returned to the solitary
life; Pope Martin V saw fit to order all the hermits in Sicily,
of which there were many, to return to the world or religious
order;Obedient received the habit of the Friars Minor of the Observance
from Bd Matthew of Girgenti
Archangelo
was born, a member of the family of Placentini, in
Sicily, about the year 1390. From his childhood
he was of a religious and retiring disposition and it
caused no surprise when in his early manhood he withdrew himself
to a cave, there to live in solitude. As so often happens,
many people invaded his retreat to seek his advice and conversation,
and when it was said that miracles had taken place there, they
came in greater numbers.
This distressed Archangelo; his charity was evoked
by the needs of his visitors, but his humility represented
him to himself as ill-equipped to help them. So he removed
to Alcamo; here he was asked to revive and organize
a decayed hospice for the poor, which he undertook, but
when it was firmly re-established he once more returned to
the solitary life.
It
happened that Pope Martin V saw fit to order all the
hermits in Sicily, of which there were many, to return
to the world or to accept the religious life in an approved
order. Obedient to this decree, Bd Archangelo went to
Palermo and there received the habit of the Friars Minor of
the Observance from Bd Matthew of Girgenti. After profession
he was sent to the hospital at Alcamo to establish it as a house
of the order, which was done. Archangelo accepted the Rule of
St Francis in all its primitive austerity, and he was withdrawn
from Alcamo to be minister provincial of the Sicilian Observants.
In that office he was able to come to the help of Bd Matthew when,
after resigning the see of Girgenti, he was shown the door by the father
guardian who had succeeded Archangelo at Alcamo. Worn out with
penance and work for souls, Archangelo died on April io, 1460, and
Pope Gregory XVI confirmed his cultus in 1836.
The fullest source of information
is the volume of Fr A. Gioia, Il beato Arcangelo Placenza da Calatafimi
(1926). The author has been
able to use the materials submitted for the confirmatio cultus, and also
a rare biography of the beatus by P. Longo printed
in 1804. See also Leon, L’Auréole Séraphique
(Eng, trans.), vol. ii, pp. 59-64
|
1461 Saint Jonah Metropolitan
of Moscow Wonderworker of All Russia miraculous healings at his grave
incorrupt relics first Metropolitan consecrated by Russian bishops
Isidore the Bulgarian was Metropolitan but became Catholic after attending
the Council of Florence (1438) and ousted by Russian heirarchs.
Born in the city of Galich
into a pious Christian family. The father of the future saint was named
Theodore. The youth received monastic tonsure in one of the Galich
monasteries when he was only twelve
years old. From there, he transferred to the Moscow
Simonov monastery, where he fulfilled various
obediences for many years.
Once, St Photius, Metropolitan of Moscow
(May 27 and July 2), visited the Simonov monastery. After the Molieben[Molieben (from Church Slavonic
Mol'ba - prayer, supplication) is a short liturgical service usually centered
on a particular need or occasion: the new year, a journey, an illness, an
act of thanksgiving, etc. It may be addressed to Christ, the Mother of God,
or to saints. Its general structure is that of Matins, and it can be served
either by request of the faithful or by decision of the parish Priest. The
Church asks us to "pray without ceasing" - Prayer is the life of the Church
and the life of each one of us, members of the Church. And because Christ
came to redeem and to sanctify the totality of our life, no part of that
life, no human need, no occasion is excluded from the Church's prayer. The
Molieben, thus, is the extension of the Church's prayer, of Christ's redeeming
grace to all aspects and realities of our life. "...knock and it will be
opened to you." --we are called constantly to knock at the doors of God's
mercy and our faith assures us that God hears us and is with us.] , he blessed the
archimandrite and brethren, and also wished to bless those monks who
were fulfilling their obediences in the monastery.
When he came to the bakery,
he saw St Jonah sleeping, exhausted from his work. The fingers of the saint's
right hand were positioned in a gesture of blessing. St Photius said not
to wake him. He blessed the sleeping monk and predicted to those present
that this monk would be a great hierarch of the Russian Church, and would
guide many on the way to salvation.
St Photius died in
1431.
Five years after his death,
St Jonah was chosen Metropolitan of All Russia for his virtuous and
holy life. The newly-elected Metropolitan journeyed to Constantinople
in order to be confirmed as Metropolitan by Patriarch
Joseph II (1416-1439). Shortly before this the
nefarious Isidore, a Bulgarian, had already been established as Metropolitan.
Spending a short time at Kiev and Moscow, Isidore journeyed to the Council
of Florence (1438), where he embraced Catholicism.
A Council of Russian hierarchs
and clergy deposed Metropolitan Isidore, and he was compelled to flee
secretly to Rome (where he died in 1462). St Jonah was unanimously chosen
Metropolitan of All Russia. He was consecrated by Russian hierarchs in
Moscow, with the blessing of Patriarch
Gregory III (1445-1450) of Constantinople.
This
was the first time that Russian bishops consecrated their own Metropolitan.
St Jonah became Metropolitan
on December 15, 1448. With archpastoral zeal he led his flock to virtue
and piety, spreading the Orthodox Faith by word and by deed. Despite
his lofty position, he continued with his monastic struggles as before.
In 1451 the Tatars unexpectedly
advanced on Moscow; they burned the surrounding area and prepared for
an assault on the city. Metropolitan Jonah led a procession along the walls
of the city, tearfully entreating God to save the city and the people.
Seeing the dying monk Anthony of the Chudov monastery, who was noted for
his virtuous life, St Jonah said, "My son and brother Anthony! Pray to
the Merciful God and the All-Pure Mother of God for the deliverance of
the city and for all Orthodox Christians."
The humble Anthony replied,
"Great hierarch! We give thanks to God and to His All-Pure Mother. She
has heard your prayer and has prayed to Her Son. The city and all Orthodox
Christians will be saved through your prayers. The enemy will soon take
flight. The Lord has ordained that I alone am to be killed by the enemy."
Just as the Elder said this, an enemy arrow struck him.
The prediction of Elder
Anthony was made on July 2, on the Feast of the Placing of the Robe of
the Most Holy Theotokos. Confusion broke out among the Tatars, and they
fled in fear and terror. In his courtyard, St Jonah built a church in
honor of the Placing of the Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos, to commemorate
the deliverance of Moscow from the enemy.
In old age, he desired
to experience such illness that he would suffer greatly, and would by
his sufferings be completely purified before his departure to the other
world. At his prayer, God gave him wounds in his feet, which were foreseen
in a vision by a priest, James. The saint died of these wounds and went
to join the citizens of heaven on March 31st, 1461. Many miracles were
performed through his relics. A dumb man, John, was brought to the saint's
relics. John kissed Jonah's hand and, as he related afterwards, the hand
grabbed hold of his tongue and he felt a sharp pain. When it let his tongue
go, he went back to his friends - and spoke as if he had never been dumb.
St
Jonah reposed in the year 1461, and miraculous healings began to take
place at his grave.
In 1472 the incorrupt relics
of Metropolitan Jonah were uncovered and placed in the Dormition Cathedral
of the Kremlin (Transfer of the holy Relics celebrated May 27). A Council
of the Russian Church in 1547 established the commemoration of St Jonah,
Metropolitan of Moscow.
In 1596, Patriarch Job
added St Jonah to the Synaxis of the Moscow Hierarchs (October 5).
|
1463 Commemoration of Sts Raphael, Nicholas and
Irene of Lesbos (also April 9). miracles,
Newly-Appeared Martyrs of Lesbos, Sts Raphael, Nicholas
and Irene These saints were martyred by the Turks on Bright Tuesday
(April 9, 1463) ten years after the Fall of Constantinople. For nearly
500 years, they were forgotten by the people of Lesbos, but "the righteous
Judge... opened the things that were hid" (2 Macc. 12:41).
For centuries the people of Lesbos would go on Bright
Tuesday to the ruins of a monastery near Thermi, a village northwest
of the capital, Mytilene. As time passed, however, no one could remember
the reason for the annual pilgrimage. There was a vague recollection
that once there had been a monastery on that spot, and that the monks
had been killed by the Turks.
In 1959, a pious man named Angelos Rallis decided
to build a chapel near the ruins of the monastery. On July 3 of that
year, workmen discovered the relics of St Raphael while clearing the
ground. Soon, the saints began appearing to various inhabitants of Lesbos
and revealed the details of their lives and martyrdom. These accounts form
the basis of Photios Kontoglou's 1962 book A GREAT SIGN (in Greek).
St Raphael was born on the island of Ithaka around
1410, and was raised by pious parents. His baptismal name was George,
but he was named Raphael when he became a monk. He was ordained to the
holy priesthood, and later attained the offices of Archimandrite and Chancellor.
In 1453, St Raphael was living in Macedonia with his fellow monastic,
the deacon Nicholas, a native of Thessalonica. In 1454, the Turks invaded
Thrace, so the two monks fled to the island of Lesbos. They settled in
the Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos near Thermi, where St Raphael
became the igumen.
In the spring of 1463, the Turks raided the monastery
and captured the monks. They were tortured from Holy Thursday until
Bright Tuesday. St Raphael was tied to a tree, and the ferocious Turks
sawed through his jaw, killing him. St Nicholas was also tortured, and
he died while witnessing his Elder's martyrdom. He appeared to people and
indicated the spot where his relics were uncovered on June 13, 1960.
St Irene was the twelve-year-old daughter of the village
mayor, Basil. She and her family had come to the monastery to warn the
monks of the invasion. The cruel Hagarenes cut off one of her arms and
threw it down in front of her parents. Then the pure virgin was placed
in a large earthen cask and a fire was lit under it, suffocating her within.
These torments took place before the eyes of her parents, who were also
put to death.
Her grave and the earthen cask were found on May 12,
1961 after Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene had appeared to people and
told them where to look.
Others who received the crown
of martyrdom on that day were Basil and Maria, the parents of St Irene;
Theodore, the village teacher; and Eleni, the fifteen-year-old cousin
of St Irene.
The saints appeared separately and together, telling
people that they wished to be remembered. They asked that their icon be
painted, that a church service be composed for them, and they indicated
the place where their holy relics could be found. Based on the descriptions
of those who had seen the saints, the master iconographer Photios Kontoglou
painted their icon. The ever-memorable Father Gerasimos of Little St Anne
Skete on Mt. Athos composed their church service.
Many miracles have taken place
on Lesbos, and throughout the world.
The saints hasten to help those
who invoke them, healing the sick, consoling the sorrowful, granting
relief from pain, and bringing many unbelievers and impious individuals
back to the Church.
St Raphael is tall, middle-aged, and has a beard of
moderate length. His hair is black with some grey in it. His face is
majestic, expressive, and filled with heavenly grace. St Nicholas is
short and thin, with a small blond beard. He stands before St Raphael
with great respect. St Irene usually appears with a long yellow dress
reaching to her feet. Her blonde hair is divided into two braids which
rest on either side of her chest.
Sts Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene (and those with them)
are also commemorated on Bright Tuesday. Dr. Constantine Cavarnos has
given a detailed account of their life, miracles, and spiritual counsels
in Volume 10 of his inspirational series MODERN ORTHODOX SAINTS
(Belmont, MA, 1990).
The Appearance of the Iveron
(Portaitissa) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos on Mt. Athos.
This icon was the property of
a pious widow who lived in the area of Nicea in Asia Minor during the
time of the iconoclastic emperor Theophilus (829-842). When the emperor's
men arrived there to find and destroy every holy icon, this faithful widow
threw the wonderworking icon of the Theotokos into the sea. Then she beheld
a strange wonder. The icon stood upright on the water and traveled westward
across the waves in this position. After a time the icon arrived
in front of the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos. A certain holy hermit named
Gabriel received it in his arms from the water, and he gave it to the monks.
They built a little church for the icon near the gate of the monastery,
and they placed the icon there. From that time it was called the Portaitissa.
Since then the Most Holy Theotokos has worked many
miracles through her holy icon. She has cured those who were possessed
by demons, healed those who were lame, and given sight to the blind. At
the same time, she has protected the monastery from every danger and saved
it from invasions of foreigners.
Among those who received benefit
from the Portaitissa was a Russian princess, the daughter of Tsar Alexei
Michailovitch (1651).
The icon arrived at the Holy Mountain on Bright
Tuesday 1004. Therefore, the Iveron Monastery celebrates this bright festival
even to the present day. The Divine Liturgy takes place in the church
by the sea, where holy water gushed up when the monk Gabriel took the icon
from the sea.
The Iveron (Portaitissa) Icon is also commemorated
on March 31.
Vimatarissa Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, Vatopedi
Monastery Mt. Athos.
The Martyrs of St David of Garesja Monastery in Georgia
in 1616 (also April 4).
The Venerable Patapius, Nikon and Hypomone.
These saints struggled in a cave where the monastery
of St Patapius was built (in the metropolis of Corinth). There the skulls
of St Patapius the New and St Hypomone are treasured, and also the jaw
of St Nikon the New. These holy relics were placed in silver reliquaries
by the Most Reverend Metropolitan Panteleimon (Karanikola).
St Patapius is also commemorated on December 8.
St Sava, deacon of Vatopedi Monastery (tenth century).
|
1463
St. Didacus several miracles restoring patients eremite kind
gentle
Complúti, in Hispánia,
natális sancti Dídaci Confessóris, ex
Ordine Minórum, humilitáte célebris; quem Xystus
Quintus, Póntifex Máximus, Sanctórum catálogo
adscrípsit. Ipsíus autem festum sequénti
die celebrátur.
At
Alcala in Spain, the birthday of St. Didacus, confessor, a member
of the Order of Friars Minor well known for his humility. Pope
Sixtus V included him in the catalogue of the saints and his feast
is celebrated today.
Sancti Dídaci,
ex Ordine Minórum, Confessóris; cujus dies natális
recólitur prídie hujus diéi.
St.
Didacus, confessor of the Order of Friars Minor, whose birthday
occurred on the preceding day.
1463 ST DIDACUS,
OR DIEGO
In the United
States of America the feast of St Frances Xavier Cabrini is
celebrated on this date. See Vol. IV, p. 593ff.
DIDACUS was a native of the
little town of San Nicolas del Puerto in the diocese of Seville,
and his parents were poor folk. Near that town a holy priest led
an eremitical life. Didacus obtained his consent to live with him
and, though very young, he imitated the austerities and devotions
of his master. They cultivated together a little garden, and also
employed themselves in making wooden spoons, trenchers and such-like
utensils.
After having lived thus a recluse for some years
he was obliged to return to his home, but he soon after went
to a convent of the Observant Friar Minors at Arrizafa, and there
took the habit among the lay brothers. After his profession he was
sent to the mission of his order in the Canary Islands, where he did
a great work in instructing and converting the people. Eventually,
in 1445 he, though a lay brother was appointed guardian of the chief
convent in those islands, called Fuerteventura. After four years he
was recalled to Spain, and lived in several friaries about Seville
with great fervour and recollection. In the year 1450 a jubilee was
celebrated at Rome and, St Bernardino of Siena being canonized at the
same time, very many religious of the Order of St Francis were assembled
there. Didacus went thither with Father Alonzo de Castro, and at Rome
he had to attend his companion during a dangerous illness. His devotion
in this duty attracted the notice of his superiors and he was put in
charge of the many sick friars who were accommodated in the infirmary
of the convent of Ara Caeli. St Didacus was thus engaged for three months,
and is said to have miraculously restored some of his patients. He lived
for another thirteen years after his return to Spain, chiefly at the
friaries of Salcedo and Alcala in Castile.
In 1463 he was taken ill at
Alcalà, and in his last moments asked for a cord (such as the friars wear); he
put it about his neck and, holding a cross in his hands, begged
the pardon of all his brethren assembled about his bed. Then,
fixing his eyes on the crucifix, he repeated with great tenderness
the words of the hymn on the cross, “Dulce lignum, dulces clavos,
dulce pondus sustinet”, and peacefully died on November 12. Several
miracles were attributed to him in his lifetime, and many more through
his intercession after his death. King Philip II, out of gratitude
for one in favour of his son, solicited the saint’s canonization, which
was decreed in 1588.
There
is apparently no medieval life of St Didacus, but the various
Franciscan chronicles of later date supply copious information.
For example, Father Mark of Lisbon (d. 1591) devotes a long section
to San Diego see the Italian translation (1501), vol. iii, fol.
155 seq. Among
separate biographies may be mentioned Moreno de la Rea, Vida del S. Fray Diego (1602) and two slight sketches
in more modern times, by Berguin and Chappuis in French (1901)
and by A. Gioia in Italian (1907). The canonization of St Didacus
(1588) was an occasion for rejoicing in Spain one or two of the
booklets with panegyrics delivered at the time are in the British Museum.
Didacus was a native of the little
town of San Nicolas of del Puerto in the diocese of Seville,
and his parents were poor folk. Near that town a holy priest led
an eremitical life. Didacus obtained his consent to live with him
and, though very young, he imitated the austerities and devotions
of his master. They cultivated together a little garden, and also employed
themselves in making wooden spoons, trenchers and such like utensils.
After having lived thus a recluse for some years he was obliged to
return to his home, but he soon after went to a convent of the Observant
Friar Minors at Arrizafa, and there took the habit among the lay brothers.
After his profession he was sent
to the mission of his Order in the Canary Islands, where he did
a great work in instructing and converting the people. Eventually,
in 1445, he, though a lay brother, was appointed chief guardian
of a chief convent in those islands, called Fuerteventura. After
four years he was recalled to Spain, and lived in several friaries
about Seville with great fervor and recollection. In the year 1450
a jubilee was celebrated at Rome and, St. Bernardine of Siena being
canonized at the same time, very many religious of the Order of St. Francis
were assembled there. Didacus went there with FAther Alonzo de Castro,
and at Rome he had to attend his companion during a dangerous illness.
His devotion in this duty attracted the notice of his superiors and he
was put in charge of the many sick friars who were accommodated in the
infirmary of the convent of Ara Caeli.
St. Didacus was thus engaged for
three months, and is said to have miraculously restored some
of his patients. He lived for another thirteen years after his return
to Spain, chiefly at the Friaries of Salcedo and Alcala in Castille.
In 1463 he was taken ill at Alcala and in his last moments asked for
a cord (such as the Friars wear); he put it about his neck and, holding
a cross in his hands begged the pardon of all his brethren assembled
about his bed. THen, fixing his eyes on the crucifix, he repeated with
great tenderness the words of the hymn on the cross, "Dulce lignum,
dulces clavos, dulce pondus sustinet", and peacefully died on November
12. Several miracles were attributed to him in his lifetime and many
more through his intercession after his death.
King Philip
II, out of gratitude for one in favor of his son, solicitated
the saint's canonization which was decreed in 1588.
Didacus of Alcalà, OFM
(RM) (also known as Diego, Diaz) Born
near Seville, Spain, c. 1400; died at Alcalà de Henares,
1463; canonized 1588. Born of poor parents, the young Diego lived for
a time as a solitary and then joined the Franciscans as a lay brother
at Arrizafa. Although remaining a lay brother,
Diego was appointed doorkeeper of Fuerteventura friary in the Canary
Islands because of his ability and goodness. Here he did great work
among the poor, and earned such a reputation for holiness that in 1445
he was chosen as superior of the house for a term.
Later he was recalled to Spain, and passed the last 13 years
of his life in humble duties at various houses of his order in Spain.
After a pilgrimage to Rome in 1450, died at the friary of Alcalà
in Castile. Diego's chief devotion was to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament
of the Altar (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
|
1463 1479 St. John
of Sahagun educated by the Benedictine monks
of Fagondez monastery there and when twenty, received
a canonry from the bishop of Burgos Augustinian friar famous for his
miracles, and had the gift of reading men's souls
Sancti Joánnis
a sancto Facúndo, ex Eremitárum
sancti Augustíni Ordine, Confessóris,
qui migrávit in cælum prídie hujus
diéi.
St. John
of St. Facundus, confessor of the Order of the Hermits
of St. Augustine, who died on the 11th of June.
John Gonzales
de Castrillo was born at Sahagun, Leon Spain. He was educated by the
Benedictine monks of Fagondez monastery there and
when twenty, received a canonry from the bishop of Burgos,
though he already had several benefices. He was ordained
in 1445; concerned about the evil of pluralism, he resigned
all his benefices except that of St. Agatha in Burgos. He spent
the next four years studying at the University of Salamanca
and then began to preach. In the next decade he achieved a
great reputation as a preacher and spiritual director, but
after recovering after a serious operation, became an
Augustinian friar in
1463 and was professed the following year. He served as
master of novices, definitor, prior at Salamanca, experienced
visions, was famous for his miracles, and had the gift of reading men's souls. He denounced
evil in high places and several attempts were made on his
life. He died at Sahagun on June 11, reportedly poisoned by the
mistress of a man he had convinced to leave her. He was canonized
in 1690 as St. John of Sahagun.
1479 St John
of Sahagun; granted to behold with bodily eyes the
human form of our Lord at the moment of consecration; was glorified by many
miracles, both before and after his death.
There was an early Spanish martyr named
Facundus, and he seems to have been adopted
as patron by the abbey of Sahagun or San Fagondez in
the kingdom of Leon. This locality was the birthplace of this
John, and from it he derives his distinctive surname. His
early education he received from the monks in the Benedictine
monastery just mentioned. While he was yet a boy, his father,
Don Juan Gonzalez de Castrillo, procured for him a small
benefice, and when he was twenty the bishop of Burgos gave him
a canonry in his cathedral, although the abbot of San Fagondez had
already presented him with three other livings. Pluralism was one
of the chief abuses of the age, but was leniently regarded in many
quarters as being a necessary evil in view of the alleged meagreness
of many stipends. John from his early youth led a moral, upright
life—exemplary in the eyes of ordinary Christians—but as he grew
older he was led by divine grace to see much that was imperfect in
his conduct and to set himself seriously to amend.
He had received the priesthood
in 1445, and his conscience reproached him
for disobeying the Church’s ordinances against
pluralities. He accordingly resigned all his benefices
except the chapel of St Agatha in Burgos. There he daily
celebrated Mass, frequently catechized the ignorant,
and preached, leading the while a very mortified life in
evangelical poverty. Realizing the necessity for a sounder
knowledge of theology, he then obtained the bishop’s permission
to go to Salamanca University, where he studied for four years.
His course completed, he soon
won a great reputation as a preacher and
director of souls in the parish of St Sebastian,
Salamanca, which he seems to have worked while holding
one of the chaplaincies in the College of St Bartholomew.
Nine years were thus spent, and then St John, faced with
the ordeal of a severe operation, vowed that if his life were
spared he would receive the religious habit. The operation
having proved successful, he made his application to the
superior of the local community of Augustinian friars,
who admitted him with alacrity, for his merits were known to
all. A year later, on August 28, 1464, he was professed.
He had already so fully acquired the spirit of his rule that no
one in the convent was more mortified, more obedient, more humble
or more detached than he. He spoke with such eloquence and fervour
that his sermons, coupled with his private exhortations, produced
a complete reformation of manners in Salamanca. He had
a wonderful gift for healing dissensions and succeeded in ending
many of the feuds which were the bane of society, especially amongst
the young nobles. Not only did he induce his penitents to forgive
injuries and to forego revenge, but he led many of them to return
good for evil.
Soon after his profession
St John was appointed novice-master, an office he discharged with great wisdom.
Seven times in succession he was definitor
and he also became prior of Salamanca. It was a
house which was famous for its discipline, and that
discipline St John maintained far more by his example than
by severity, for the high opinion everyone had of his sanctity
lent the greatest weight to his advice and admonitions. He
was, moreover, endowed with a judicious discernment and
with a remarkable gift for reading the thoughts of his penitents.
He heard the confessions of all who presented themselves, but
was rigid in refusing, or at least deferring, absolution in the
case of habitual sinners, or of ecclesiastics who did not live
in accordance with the spirit of their profession. His fervour
in offering the divine sacrifice edified all present, although
his superior sometimes reproved him for the length of time he took
in celebrating Mass. We are also told that he was one of those to
whom it has been granted to behold with bodily eyes the human form
of our Lord at the moment of consecration. The graces he received
in his prayers and communions also gave him courage and eloquence
in the pulpit. Without respect of persons he reproved vice in high places
with a vigour which sometimes drew upon him persecution and even
physical violence.
A sermon at Alba, in the course
of which he sternly denounced rich landlords
who oppressed their poor tenants, so enraged the
Duke of Alba that he sent two assassins to kill the bold
preacher. In the presence of their intended victim, however,
the men were struck with remorse, confessed their errand
and humbly implored his forgiveness. On another occasion
certain women of the city whose loose life he had reproved
attempted to stone him, and were only prevented from causing him
grievous injury by the appearance of a patrol of archers. A
prominent personage whose unblushing association with a woman not
his wife was causing grave scandal in Salamanca was induced
by St John to sever the connection entirely. The woman vowed vengeance
on the holy man and it was generally believed that the disorder
of which he died was occasioned by poison administered at her instigation.
He passed away on June 11, 1479. He was glorified
by many miracles, both before and after his death, and was canonized
in 1690.
The most reliable
source for the life of St John of Sahagun
is an account written by John of Seville in the
form of letters addressed to Duke Gonsalvo of Cordova.
They have been translated into Latin from the original
Spanish, and are printed in the Acta Sanctorum,
June, vol. iii. The Bollandists have also collected
a certain amount of information from other later writers.
There is also a summary written about a hundred years after
the death of St John by his fellow Augustinian, the famous
preacher, Bd Alphonsus d’Orozco. It will be found printed in
M. Vidal, Agustinos de Salamanca,
vol. i (1751), pp. 51 seq.
The best modern life seems to be that by T. Camara
(1891) in Spanish.
Seventeenth-century lives in Spanish and
French are numerous; several are mentioned in
U. Chevalier’s Bio-Bibliographie.
John
Gonzales de Castrillo was born at Sahagun, Leon
Spain. He was educated
by the Benedictine monks of Fagondez monastery there
and when twenty, received a canonry from the bishop
of Burgos, though he already had several benefices. He
was ordained in 1445; concerned about the evil of pluralism,
he resigned all his benefices except that of St. Agatha in
Burgos. He spent the next four years studying at the University
of Salamanca and then began to preach. In the next decade
he achieved a great reputation as a preacher and spiritual director,
but after recovering after a serious operation, became an
Augustinian friar
in 1463 and was professed the following year. He served as
master of novices, definitor, prior at Salamanca, experienced
visions, was famous for his miracles, and had the gift of
reading men's souls. He denounced evil in high places
and several attempts were made on his life. He died at Sahagun
on June 11, reportedly poisoned by the mistress of a man he had
convinced to leave her. He was canonized in 1690 as St. John of Sahagun.
John
of Sahagun, OSA (RM) (also known as John of Saint
Facundo) Born at Sahagun, León, Spain, c. 1430
(?); died in Salamanca, June 11, 1479; beatified in 1601;
canonized in 1690.
Saint
John was educated by the Benedictines at the great
abbey of his native Sahagun (from Sant'Facun). While he
was still a boy, his father, Don Juan Gonzalez de Castrillo,
procured for him a small benefice. The bishop of Burgos and the
abbot of Sahagun gave him four other benefices by the time
he was 20, because his family was influential and these leaders
recognized a promise of greatest in John. Thus, when John was
ordained in 1453, he held five benefices in Burgos at the same
time without holding residence in any of them--two acts of disobedience
to Church ordinances. Instead he was majordomo in the household
of the bishop.
Repenting
of such pluralism upon the bishop's death, he gave
up all but the one assigned to the chapel of Saint Agnes
in Burgos, where he celebrated the Eucharist daily, catechized
the ignorant, and preached. He had converted his life to
one of evangelical poverty. With this benefice John financed
his theological studies at the University of Salamanca. The
education he received there gave him the confidence he need to
minister more effectively in the nearby parish of Saint Sebastian,
while holding a chaplaincy in the College of Saint Bartholomew.
At
that time Salamanca was deeply divided and crime-ridden,
which gave John ample opportunity to preach reconciliation
and conversion. He followed up his preaching with individual
counselling in the confessional. John had a remarkable
gift for reading souls, which drew still more to his confessional.
He was rigid in refusing or deferring absolution to habitual
sinners and ecclesiastics who did not live in accordance
with the spirit of their profession. John's fervor in offering
the Mass edified all who assisted. In fact, it is related that
he was privileged to see the bodily form of Jesus at the moment of
consecration. The grace God poured into his soul during his prayers
and communions overflowed into his preaching--especially against
vice in high places.
After
a grave illness in 1463, he requested entry into
the Augustinian friary in the same city and was professed
on August 28, 1464. Soon after he undertook the office
of novice-master, while continuing his public preaching.
His work for reconciliation bore fruit: a pact of peace
was signed by hostile parties in 1476. About that time
he was elected prior by his community.
In
1479, John predicted his own death, which occurred
the same year. At Alba de Tormes his life was threatened
by two thugs hired by the duke because of his public denunciation
of oppressive landlords. In John's presence, however,
the would-be assassins were struck with remorse, confessed
their errand, and begged his forgiveness. But John's preaching
brought further rancor. It is said that John's death was
hastened by poisoning, brought about by a woman in Salamanca
whose paramour he had reformed.
By
his fearless preaching, John effected profound change
in the social life of Salamanca; for this he won the
popular acclamation of apostle of Salamanca. Soon after
his death, miracles and pilgrimages occurred at his tomb.
His relics survive in a feretory in the cathedral of his adopted
city of which he is patron. In art, he is portrayed with a
host in his hand in memory of his devotion to the Eucharist (Attwater,
Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Walsh).
|
1463 St. Catherine
of Bologna experience visions of Christ and
Satan, incorrupt healing miracles
Bonóniæ
sanctæ Catharínæ Vírginis, e secúndo
Ordine sancti Francísci, quæ vitæ
sanctitáte fuit illústris.
Ipsíus autem corpus magno cum honóre ibídem
cólitur.
At Bologna, St. Catherine, virgin, of the Second Order of St.
Francis, illustrious for the holiness of her life. Her body
is greatly honoured in that city.
Patron of Artists
1463 ST CATHERINE OF BOLOGNA, VIRGIN
John DE’ VIGRI, the father of St Catherine
of Bologna, was a lawyer and diplomatic agent to Nicholas
d’Este, Marquis of Ferrara. At the request of his patron,
he sent Catherine at the age of eleven as maid of honour
to young Margaret d’Este, whose studies she shared and whose
most intimate companion she became. Amongst other lessons,
the two girls worked at Latin, in which language Catherine afterwards
wrote several small works. When a marriage was arranged between
Margaret and Robert Malatesta she desired to retain her friend
in her service, but Catherine had already felt the call to the religious
life. Soon after returning home she lost her father, and almost
immediately she joined a company of Franciscan tertiaries at Ferrara,
who lived a semi-monastic life under the guidance of a woman called
Lucy Mascaroni.
Although only fourteen at
the time of her admission, Catherine at once aimed at a perfection so exalted
as to win the admiration of her sisters. From
this early age she was subject to visions, some of
which indeed came from God, whilst others were of Satanic
origin, as she was afterwards forced to conclude. In order
to help others to distinguish between divine visions and the
artifices of Satan, Catherine subsequently declared that she
had learnt to recognize when it was our Lord who was really
deigning to visit her, by the holy light of humility which, at
such times, always preceded the rising sun, for, as she went on
to explain, “she used to experience at the approach of
the Divine Guest a sentiment of respect which would inwardly bow
her spirit, or make her outwardly bow her head; or else she would
be aware that the origin of her faults, past, present or future,
was in herself: she used to consider herself too as the cause of
all the faults of her neighbours, for whom she felt a burning charity.
And Jesus would enter into her soul like a radiant sunshine. to establish
there the profoundest peace.” The Devil then sought to instil into
her mind blasphemous thoughts and doubts, the most grievous of which
concerned the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.
This caused her intense misery, until at last God revealed the whole
doctrine to her, and so completely answered her difficulties that
her doubts left her forever. He also assured her that if the conscience
is pure the effects of the sacrament are independent of sensible
fervour, nor do doubts hinder its efficacy, provided no consent is
given to them; and, moreover, that those who are patient under such
trials gain more by their communions than if they were favoured with
spiritual consolation. Probably as the result of all she had gone
through, St Catherine became oppressed by a constant and overpowering
inclination to sleep, which she regarded as a diabolic temptation,
but which may well have been a merciful dispensation to relieve
the bodily and mental strain which had preceded. This too passed
away and peace settled upon her soul.
She now began to write down
an account of her trials and the favours she
had received, thinking that it might help others
after her death. Not wishing the sisters to see this
diary, she used to sew it up in the cushion of a chair, but
the others, suspecting that she was doing something of the
sort, searched for and found the manuscript. Their indiscretion
was soon discovered by Catherine, and taking the leaves she
threw them into the oven furnace. This oven was under her special
charge, for she was the baker, and at one time, indeed, finding
that the glare was injuring her eyes and fearing lest she might
become a burden to the community, she mentioned her apprehensions
to the superior, who, however, told her to remain at her post
and leave her health to God. When she had been baker for a considerable
period, St Catherine became novice-mistress, and it was
about this time that she had a remarkable vision which is often
represented in art and which may best be described in her own
words.
Writing of herself in the third person she says: “She asked permission of her mistress
to pass the night of Christmas in the church of the monastery
and she obtained it. She went there as soon as she could, with
the intention of reciting a thousand Ave Marias in honour of
our most Blessed Lady: and this she really
did with all the attention and fervour of which she was capable,
and she was occupied in this way till midnight, the hour when it
is believed our Saviour was born. At this very hour she saw our Blessed
Lady appear, holding in her arms the Infant Jesus, swathed in linen
bands as new-born infants commonly are. This kind mother came to
her and gave her Son to her. I leave you to picture the joy of this
poor creature when she found herself holding the Son of the eternal Father
in her arms. Trembling with respect, but still
more overcome with joy, she took the liberty of caressing
Him, of pressing Him against her heart and of bringing His
face to her lips. . . . When the poor creature we speak of
dared to move her lips towards the Divine Infant’s mouth, He
disappeared, leaving her, however, filled with joy.” Two works
she wrote about this time consisted of a series of non-metrical
verses on the mysteries of the life of our Lord and of His
Mother, which she called a “Rosary”, and which was treasured
after her death in her monastery at Bologna, and a treatise
on the Seven Spiritual Weapons which was published posthumously
and had a great circulation throughout Italy.
Already some years earlier
the little community governed by Lucy Mascaroni
had embraced the strict Rule of St Clare and had
removed to a more suitable building, but it was felt
by St Catherine and the more austere sisters that the full
regularity of the convent could not be obtained until it
should become enclosed. The inhabitants of Ferrara, however,
long resisted this innovation, and it was mainly through
the prayers and efforts of St Catherine that enclosure was
conceded, and finally sanctioned by Pope Nicholas
V. Catherine was then appointed superioress of a new convent
of strict observance at Bologna, and although she shrank from
the office and would have preferred to remain in Ferrara, she received
a divine intimation that she was to go and made no further protest.
She and the religious who accompanied her were received at Bologna
by two cardinals, by the senate and magistrates, and by the entire
population, and there they established the convent of Corpus
Christi. Despite the strictness of the enclosure, the fame of
the sanctity and healing powers of St Catherine, as well as her
gifts of prophecy, attracted so many would-be postulants that
room could not be found for them all.
After working hard all the
week, she would devote the free time she had
on Sundays and festivals to copying her breviary,
illuminating it with colours. The whole of this breviary,
with the figures of our Lord, our Lady and the saints was
her work and is still preserved. She also composed a number
of hymns and painted several pictures. Three precepts which
Catherine practised all her life she was wont to impress upon
her daughters. The first was always to speak well of others,
the second was to practise constant humility, and the third
was never to meddle in matters which were no business of hers.
Strict beyond measure with herself, she was most tender to the
weaknesses of other people, and when the triennial election of
the abbess was pending the only objection that could be urged
against her re-election was that the rules lost their force through
her kindness. When she was novice-mistress and thought some
of the younger sisters were insufficiently fed, she used to beg
for eggs (hard-boiled, presumably), which she slipped into their
bags after having peeled them and left the shells on her own
plate. This caused her to be censured for sensuality at the annual
visitation, but she received the reproofs humbly as though they
had been deserved.
The saint’s health, which
had been failing since before her return to Bologna, ere long broke down
altogether. On the first Sunday in Lent of 1463 she was attacked by violent
pains, and was obliged to take to her bed, from which she never rose again.
On March 9 she rendered up her soul to God, and her passing was so peaceful
that the watching sisters did not realize that she was dead until they perceived
a sweet fragrance and noticed that her face
had become so fresh and beautiful that she looked
like a young girl of fifteen who was sleeping. Her body
was buried without a coffin and remained in the ground for
eighteen days, when it was disinterred, owing to the cures which
were reported and to the sweet scent which proceeded from the grave.
It was found to be incorrupt, and has ever since been preserved
in the chapel of the convent church in Bologna. There the entire
body may be seen through glass and behind bars it is in a sitting
posture and richly habited, but the face and hands, which are uncovered,
are now black with damp and age. St Catherine is honoured as a patron
of artists. The miniatures executed by her, which are still preserved
in her convent of Corpo di Cristo at Bologna, are said to have been
painted with remarkable delicacy. Two pictures of hers are also
still in existence. One is in the Pinacoteca at Bologna, the other
in the Academy of Fine Arts at Venice. She was canonized in 1712.
The outlines
of St Catherine’s history may be learnt from
a short memoir published nearly fifty years after
her death by a Franciscan friar, Denis Paleotti, but more
completely from the biography of Father J. Grassetti who,
though he only wrote in 1610, had access at Bologna to such
records as existed concerning her. Both these lives, originally
composed in Italian, were printed by the Bollandists
(Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii) in
a Latin translation. It seems regrettable that the most
valuable source of first-hand information concerning
Catherine Vigri has apparently never yet been printed. This is
the Specchio d’illuminazione,
a memorial of the saint penned by her fellow religious
and subject, Sister Illuminata Bembi, whose manuscript is still
preserved in the convent. Most modern biographies depend almost
entirely on Grassetti. The most imposing of these is that of
J. E. Duver, Vie de. sainte Catherine de Bologne
(1905) there is another in French by J. Stiénon
du PM (1949). A very useful collection of essays bearing on the
subject of Catherine appeared at Bologna in 1912 under the title
La Santa nella storia, nelle lettere e nell’ arte. See also Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans., vol. i, pp. 394—437) and Dunbar, Dictionary
of Saintly Women, vol. i, pp. 160—161.
An English translation of Grassetti was included
in the Oratorian Series.
She soon began to experience visions of Christ and
Satan, and wrote of her experiences, one of which occurred
one Christmas. Through her efforts with Pope Nicholas
V, the Poor Clare convent at Ferrara erected an enclosure,
and Catherine was appointed Superioress. The reputation of
the Community for its holiness and austerity became widespread.
She then was appointed Superioress of a new convent in Bologna.
In
Lent of 1463, Catherine became seriously ill, and
she died on March 9th. Buried without a coffin, her body
was exhumed eighteen days later because of cures attributed
to her and also because of the sweet scent coming from
her grave.
Despite the opportunity to live
a noble life at court, St. Catherine eagerly
responded to her call to lead the religious life.
Her piety, charity, and kindness attracted many to follow
her along the road to perfection. The beauty of her life and
death encourages us to resolve to live in perfect charity as a
Lenten goal.
Catherine
of Bologna, Poor Clare V (RM) (also known as Catherine
de'Vigri) Born in Bologna, Italy, September 8, 1413; died
there on March 9, 1463; name added to the Roman Martyrology
by Clement VIII in 1592; canonized 1712 by Clement XI; bull of canonization
published by Benedict XIII in 1724.
At
age 11, the patrician Catherine de'Vigri became lady-in-waiting
to Margherita d'Este at the ducal court of Nicholas
III d'Este at Ferrara, where she was given a good education.
After Margherita's wedding, Catherine (age 13) joined
a sisterhood of virgins in Ferrara, who lived according
to the rule of the Franciscan tertiaries. Largely as a
result of her efforts, this company formed itself into
a convent of Poor Clares.
In
1432 Catherine took solemn vows and soon became mistress
of novices. In 1456, she traveled to Bologna to oversee
the building of the Poor Clares' Corpus Christi Convent and
became abbess of the new foundation. She was an effective
novice mistress and superioress. Catherine's incredible zeal
and solitude for the souls of sinners made her pour forth unceasing
prayers and tears for their salvation.
From
an early age Catherine was subject to visions, some
of which from their nature and effects she judged to
be diabolical temptations, while others were consolatory
and for her good. One Christmas she had a vision of the
Blessed Virgin with the infant Jesus in her arms, which is reproduced
often in art since.
The learned saint recorded her
soul's struggles and mystical experiences in
a Latin work entitled Manifestations. She also wrote
Latin hymns, and composed and painted--including a self-
portrait that is really quite good. The transfiguration of
her prematurely aged, plain features often observed in her life
was even more remarkable after her death. She also had
a talent for calligraphy and miniature painting; a breviary
written out and ornamented by her still exists at the Bologna
convent.
Her
life and the occurrences after her death were described
by an eyewitness, Blessed
Illuminata Bembi:
"Thereupon the grave was prepared
and when they lowered the corpse which was
not enshrined in a coffin, it exhaled a scent of
surpassing sweetness, filling the air all around. The
two sisters, who had descended into the grave, out of compassion
for her lovely and radiant face covered it with cloth and
placed a rough board some inches above the corpse, so that
the clods of earth should not touch it. However they fixed it
so awkwardly that when the grave was filled up with earth it covered
the face and body nevertheless.
"The
sisters came to visit the churchyard often, wept,
prayed, and read by the grave and always noticed the sweet
odor in the air around it. As there were no flowers or herbs
near the grave-- nothing but arid earth--they came to believe
that it arose from the grave itself. "Soon miracles
occurred, for some who visited the grave in ill health were cured.
Therefore the sisters repented that they had interred her without
a coffin, and complained to their father confessor.
He
a man of sound judgment asked what they wanted to
do about it.
"We replied: 'To take her out
again, place her in a wooden coffin and rebury
her.' He was taken aback by this request it was 18
days after her death and he thought that by now the
corpse must be decomposed. We, however, pointed out the sweet
odor, and finally he granted permission to disinter her, provided
no smell of putrefaction would make itself felt during the digging.
"When we found the body and laid the face free, we found it crushed
and disfigured by the weight of the board placed above it. Also,
in digging, three of the sisters had damaged it with the spade.
So we placed her in a coffin, and made ready for re- interment, but
by some strange impulse were driven to place her for some time under
the portal.
"Here
the crushed nose and the whole face gradually regained
their natural form. The deceased became white of color,
lovely, intact, as if still alive, the nails were not
blackened, and she exhaled a delicious odor. All the sisters
were deeply stirred; the scent spread throughout the church
and convent, attaching itself to the hands that had touched her,
and there seemed to be no explanation for it.
"Now
after having been quite pale, she began to change
color and to flush, while a most deliciously scented sweat
began to pour from her body. Changing from paleness
to the color of glowing ember, she shed an aromatic liquid
which appeared sometime like clear water and then like a
mixture of water and blood.
"Full
of wonder and perplexity we called our confessor;
the rumor had already spread to the town and he hurried
to us accompanied by a learned physician, Maestro Giovanni
Marcanova, and they closely observed and touched the body.
Others joined them: priests, physicians, laymen." The whole of
Italy converged to see her, and her body was placed on a chair in
a special chapel behind bars and glass, and to this day is kept there
in a mummified condition (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia,
Husenbeth, Schamoni).
In
art, Saint Catherine is a Poor Clare carrying the
Christ Child. Sometimes she is shown enthroned with a
cross, book, a cross on her breast and bare feet (Roeder).
Catherine is the patron of artists (Attwater).
|
1464 BD MARGARET OF SAVOY,
WIDOW; took the habit of the third
order of St Dominic and with other ladies formed a community
at Alba. This retired life of prayer, study and charitable
works lasted for some twenty-five years; Pope Eugenius IV gave permission for
the tertiary sisters to become nuns, in the same place and under
the rule of Bd Margaret. During the last sixteen years of her life
ecstasies and miracles are alleged in abundance, among them a vision of our Lord offering
her three arrows, labelled respectively Sickness, Slander
and Persecution
BD
MARGARET was allied in blood to the principal royal
houses of Europe, her father being Amadeus of Savoy and
her mother a sister of the Clement VII who claimed to
be pope at Avignon during the “great schism”. In 1403 she made
a marriage befitting this high rank, with Theodore Palaeologus,
Marquis of Montferrat, a widower with two children, a headstrong
soldier but a good Christian at heart. Margaret herself had
no children but was devoted to those of her husband, and soon endeared
herself on all hands, working selflessly for the people during
a plague and the famine that followed it in Genoa.
In 1418
the Marquis of Montferrat died. Margaret, after endeavouring
for a time to bring the unhappy marital affairs of her
stepdaughter to a successful issue, went to live on
her estate at Alba in Piedmont, where she bound herself
by vow to widowhood and a life of good works. But she was
still young, thirty-six at the most, and politically a most
desirable match, and Philip Visconti of Milan wanted to marry
her. He was an old enemy of the Montferrats, a man of deplorable
character, and Margaret refused him, pleading her vow. So
Visconti went off to Pope Martin V and came back with a dispensation
for her, but she remained firm in her determination not again
to change her state.
In her youth
she had been friendly with St Vincent Ferrer, and
to strengthen her position she took the habit of the third
order of St Dominic and with other ladies formed a community
at Alba. This retired life of prayer, study and charitable
works lasted for some twenty-five years. There is in the
royal library at Turin a volume of the letters of St Catherine
of Siena and other matters copied and bound “by order of the
illustrious lady, Margaret of Savoy, Marchioness of Montferrat”
during this time.
Then Pope
Eugenius IV gave permission for the tertiary sisters
to become nuns, in the same place and under the rule of
Bd Margaret. During the last sixteen years of her life
ecstasies and miracles are alleged in abundance, among them a vision of our Lord offering
her three arrows, labelled respectively Sickness, Slander
and Persecution. Certainly Margaret suffered from all
three. She was accused of hypocrisy, of tyrannizing over her
nuns, and her ill-health was attributed to self-indulgence,
and Philip Visconti spread the rumour that the convent was
a centre of the Waldensian heresy. This was a peculiarly
shocking charge to bring against children of St Dominic, and
the innocent friar who was their confessor and director found himself
in prison. Margaret went to demand his release, but only had
her hand brutally crushed between the heavy doors of the castle
for her pains, and it was some time before the man was vindicated
from the malicious accusation of having corrupted both the faith
and morals of his charges.
Bd Margaret of Savoy died on November 23,
1464, strengthened by a vision, seen by others besides
herself, of St Catherine of Siena. Her cultus
was confirmed in 1669.
Four or five lives of Bd Margaret seem to have been published
in the seventeenth century, that by G. Baresiano
appearing in 1638. In more modern times we have
an Italian biography by F. G. Allaria (1877), another
without the author’s name (Torino, 1883), and a shorter
notice included in M. C. de Ganay’s book, Les Bienheureuses Dominicaines (1914), pp. 251—277.
See also Procter, Lives of
Dominican Saints, pp. 334—337.
|
1468
Blessed Elisabeth Bartholomea Picenardi, many miracles
were said worked at her tomb; OSM V (AC).
Born in Mantua,
Italy, in 1428; beatified in 1804. After her mother's
death, Elisabeth joined the Third Order of Servites.
Several young noblewomen of Mantua banded together to
live in community under Elisabeth's direction (Benedictines,
Encyclopedia).
1468 BD ELIZABETH OF MANTUA,
VIRGIN
VERY little
incident marks the career of Bd Elizabeth Picenardi.
Her parents were people of consideration in Mantua,
and she received a very religious education. Her father
taught her Latin so that she was able to read daily the Little
Office of our Lady, and her mother encouraged her in the
practice of meditation. She would not contemplate the
idea of marriage, and after her mother’s death both she and
one of her sisters obtained permission to enter the third
order of the Servites. We are told, but the authority for
the statement does not seem very reliable, that Elizabeth made a
practice of confessing and communicating daily, a thing almost unheard
of in the fifteenth century. The example of her humility and gentleness,
together with the supernatural gifts with which she was credited,
made a deep impression upon several young girls of her own age,
and they banded themselves together to form a community of the
Servite third order under Elizabeth’s direction. She is said to
have prophesied her own death a year before it happened. At the
age of forty, worn out by a painful internal complaint, “she rested
in the Lord so the Servite Martyrology states, “while sweetly contemplating
Jesus and his Mother amid the choirs of angels”. Extraordinary crowds
attended her funeral and many
miracles were said to have been worked at her tomb. She was beatified
in 1804.
See Bianchi, Memorie storiche
intorno alla Vita di
Elizabetta Picenardi (1803) and J. E. Stadler,
Heiligen-Lexikon.
|
1469 BD EUSTOCHIUM OF
PADUA, VIRGIN Apparitions and many miracles are said to have followed
and a celestial fragrance proceeded from the place of sepulture.
THERE are few stories in the
records of hagiography more curious than that of Bd Eustochium.
It should be said at the outset that her cultus seems
never to have received the formal approbation of the Holy See, though
her Life has more than once been written and she is to this day liturgically
honoured at Padua. Her very birth forms a sad memorial of a period
at which terrible scandals were rife in the cloister as well as in
the outside world. She was the daughter of a nun who had been seduced
by a profligate, and she was actually born within the convent in which
she eventually died. The community which connived at such irregularities
was afterwards dispersed by the bishop’s orders and was replaced by
sisters from a more observant foundation. The little Lucrezia, to
use the name by which she was christened, showed in her childhood signs
of being beset by certain influences of a strongly poltergeist type,
and she was believed to be possessed. She was, however, sent to school
at San Prosdocimo, the convent in which she had been born, but her conduct
was in every way edifying, and when she was somewhat older she sought
to be received there as a novice. The majority of the new community were
much opposed to her admission among them, for the story of her birth
was well known. However, with the bishop’s approval, the habit was eventually
given her, and she took the name of
Eustochium. Hardly had her noviceship begun when the strangest symptoms
manifested themselves. Normally she was the most gentle, obedient and
kindly of beings, full of fervour and observant of every rule, but now
at not infrequent intervals her character seemed to undergo a complete
transformation. She became stubborn, rude and subject to violent
outbursts of temper. Whether this was due to one of those strange dissociations
of personality with which modern psychological studies have made us familiar
it would be difficult to say, but it was attributed then to diabolical
possession.
In any case the treatment
of the afflicted girl was probably not very judicious. It terminated
in a blood-curdling scene in which the novice was seized with the
most horrible convulsions, shrieking, howling and eventually snatching
up a knife when an attempt was made to restrain her. She was treated
as mad people were commonly treated in that age, and for several days
she was kept tied up to a pillar. During these paroxysms, which recurred
from time to time, she seems sometimes to have inflicted severe injuries
upon herself which were said to have been caused by the devil which
possessed her. Though a period of calm succeeded, Eustochium was still
regarded with hostility and suspicion, and when the abbess fell ill
of a malady for which the doctors were unable to account, Eustochium
was believed to have poisoned her by diabolical or magical practices in
revenge for having been kept tied up. The story of what was happening got
abroad in the town, and a mob gathered round the convent who clamoured that
she should be surrendered to them that they might burn her for a witch.
The bishop decided that she must be kept prisoner in one of the cells and
that she should be allowed nothing but bread and water, passing the alternate
days without any food at all. This treatment seems to have continued for
three months. Fortunately the abbess recovered, but in spite of the efforts
of her confessor, who declared Eustochium to be perfectly innocent,
the feeling of the community against her was so strong that she was treated
as an outcast. No one would speak to her or have anything to do with her.
Efforts were made to persuade her to leave the convent of her own accord,
for she had as yet taken no vows. Friendly help was promised and a marriage
portion offered if she would accept a husband, but Eustochium, when quite
herself, believed that God had called her to serve Him in religion and refused
to consent.
For a long time the paroxysms
continued to return at intervals. Under their influence, to the
horror of the sisters, Eustochium clambered or was transported to
a beam high up in the roof where a false step would have meant instant
destruction; she was lifted into the air and then let fall
like a stone she was found in her cell divested of all her garments,
with marks of violence on her throat and on her limbs she took a knife
and gashed herself with cuts from which she lost great quantities
of blood; but none the less as soon as these spasms passed, she became
the same gentle, obedient unresentful creature, ready to sacrifice herself
in any work of charity for those who treated her so harshly. Eventually,
at the end of four years, she was allowed to take her vows, and by degrees
she gained the good will and in fact the reverence of all her fellow
nuns. She spent her last days bedridden, in much physical suffering,
and died at the age of twenty-six on February 13, 1469. In preparing
the body for burial the name of Jesus was found cauterized, it would seem,
upon her breast. Apparitions and many miracles are said to have followed
and a celestial fragrance proceeded from the place of sepulture. Three
and a half years later, by order of the very bishop who had been instrumental
in her cruel imprisonment, her body was transferred to a more honourable
resting-place. Though buried without a coffin, it was found perfectly incorrupt,
as if it had just been borne to the grave.
Fantastic as
this story may appear, it rests upon good contemporary evidence. A short
sketch was compiled and made public by Peter Barozzi, who in 1487
became bishop of Padua, where Eustochium eighteen years earlier
had ended her days. Fuller biographies were later on printed by G.
M. Giberti (1672) and C. Salio (1734) but the most reliable is undoubtedly
that of the well-known Jesuit historian Giulio Cordara, which first
appeared in 1765. Cordara explains that he based his whole narrative
upon a manuscript relation, drawn up by the priest Jerome Salicario,
who was confessor to the community during all the period of Eustochium’s
residence as a nun and who had himself taken a leading part in the proceedings.
This relation was still preserved at San Prosdocimo and was entrusted
to Fr Cordara for the purpose of his biography. A somewhat fuller account
than that here printed may be found in The Month for
February, 1926, entitled A Cinderella of the Cloister by Fr Thurston.
|
1473 St John Of Kanti; he persevered for some
years, and by the time he was recalled to
Cracow had
so far won his people’s hearts that they accompanied
him on part of the road with such grief that he said
to them, “This sadness does not please God. If I have done
any good for you in all these years, sing a song of joy.”
“Fight all false opinions, but let your weapons be patience,
sweetness and love. Roughness is bad for your own soul and
spoils the best cause.” Miracles attributed
Sancti Joánnis
Cántii, Presbyteri et Confessóris,
qui nono Kaléndas Januárii obdormívit
in Dómino.
St. John Cantius, priest and confessor, who fell
asleep in the Lord on the 24th of December.
Lived:
1403 - 1473 Canonized: 1767 Memorial:
October 20
John Cantius
receives his name from his birthplace, Kanti, near Oswiecim in Poland.
His parents were country folk of respectable position and, seeing
that their son was as quick and intelligent as he was good, they
sent him in due course to the University of Cracow. He took good degrees,
was ordained priest, and appointed to a lectureship or chair in
the university. He was known to lead a very strict life, and when
he was warned to look after his health he replied by pointing out
that the fathers of the desert were notably long-lived. There is a
story told that once he was dining in hall, when a famished-looking
beggar passed the door. John jumped up and carried out all his commons
to the man; when he returned to his seat he found his
plate again full—miraculously. This, it is said, was
long commemorated in the university by setting aside a special
meal for a poor man every day; when dinner was ready the vice-president
would cry out in Latin, “A poor man is coming”, to which the
president replied, “Jesus Christ is coming”, and the man was
then served. But while he was yet alive John’s success as a preacher
and teacher raised up envy against him, and his rivals managed to
get him removed and sent as parish priest to Olkusz. St John turned
to his new work with single-hearted energy, but his parishioners
did not like him and he himself was afraid of the responsibilities
of his position. Nevertheless he persevered for some years, and by
the time he was recalled to Cracow had so far won his people’s hearts
that they accompanied him on part of the road with such grief that he said
to them, “This sadness does not please God. If I have done any good
for you in all these years, sing a song of joy.”
St John’s second appointment at the university was
as professor of Sacred Scripture, and he held it to the
end of his life. He left such a reputation that his doctoral
gown was for long used to vest each candidate at the conferring
of degrees, but his fame was not at all confined to academic
circles. He was a welcome guest at the tables of the nobility
(once his shabby cassock caused the servants to refuse him
admission, so he went away and changed it. During the meal
a dish was upset over the new one. “No matter,” he said, “my clothes
deserve some dinner because to them I owe the pleasure of
being here at all”). All the poor in Cracow knew him.
His goods and money were always at their disposition, and time
and again they literally “cleared him out”. But his own needs
were few he slept on the floor, never ate meat, and when he went
to Rome he walked all the way and carried his luggage on his back.
He was never weary of telling his pupils to “fight all false
opinions, but let your weapons be patience, sweetness and love.
Roughness is bad for your own soul and spoils the best cause.” Several
miracles were reported of St John, and when news got round the city
that he was dying there was an outburst of sorrow. “Never mind about
this prison which is decaying”, he said to those who were looking after
him, “but think of the soul that is going to leave it.” He died on Christmas
Eve, 1473, at the age of eighty-three. St John Cantius was canonized
in 1767, and his feast extended to the whole Western church. He
is the only confessor not a bishop who has different hymns for Matins,
Lauds and Vespers in the Roman Breviary.
The Bollandists
in the Acta Sanctorum, October,
vol. viii, were unable to discover any satisfactory
medieval account of St John Cantius, and they reproduced
a biography published in 1628 by Adam of Opatow. This writer
claims to have had access to materials preserved at Cracow,
and in particular to have used notes compiled by a contemporary,
Matthias of Miechow, who certainly drew up a record of miracles
attributed to St John after his death. The latter document is
also printed by the Bollandists. A note upon the place and date
of birth of St John will be found in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. viii (1889),
pp. 382—388. A French life by E. Benoit was published in 1862.
Lives in Polish are numerous.
Priest Saint John was born
at Kenty in Poland in 1403. He studied philosophy
and theology at the University of Cracow with great intelligence,
industry, and success, while his modesty and virtue drew
all hearts to him. After earning his degrees, he was appointed
to the Chair of Theology at the university. He inflamed his
hearers with the desire of every kind of piety, no less by his
deeds than by his words. He was ordained a priest and was for
a short time in charge of a parish, where he manifested great
concern for the poor, at his own expense. At the University's request,
he resumed the professor's Chair and taught there until his holy
death.
He found
a poor man on the snow one day, dying of hunger and
cold; he clothed him in his own frock and took him to the
rectory, to eat at his table. Afterwards, for many years,
every professor of the College of Varsovie was obliged, once
every year, to invite a poor man to dine with him.
He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, preaching along
the way to the Turks, and hoping for the grace of martyrdom.
He went four times to Rome to visit the tombs of the Apostles
and pay honor to the Holy See, desiring thereby to be spared
the pains of purgatory. He always traveled on foot, carrying
his own effects.
Robbed one day by bandits, he forgot he had a few
gold pieces sewn into his cloak; he soon remembered and
called them back to give them to his benefactors. They were
so astonished they refused to accept the offering, and even
returned to him what they had taken.
Saint John Cantius wrote on the walls of his residence
some verses which showed the horror he had for the vice
of backbiting or detraction, talking without cause of our
neighbor's faults. He slept very little and often spent
entire nights praying before a crucifix. After his classes
he went to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in a church.
Before
his death, he gave absolutely everything he still
had to the poor. He died in 1473, at the age of seventy-six
years. The purple robe which he had worn as a Doctor
was religiously conserved and always given to the venerable
Head of the School of Philosophy on the day of his reception;
and a promise was required of the teachers there, to imitate
the virtues of this beloved Saint.
He
is a patron of both Poland and Lithuania; Clement
XIII canonized him in 1767.
Reflection:
He who orders all his doings according to the Will
of God may often be spoken of by the world as simple, even
stupid; but in the end he wins the esteem and confidence
even of the world itself.
Source:
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr.
Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882),
Vol. 12.
|
1478
Blessed Catherine of Pallanza hermit commune under Augustinian
Rule, fought epidemics, endowed
with the gift of prophecy OSA V (AC)
1478 BD CATHERINE
OF PALLANZA, VIRGIN During her life Blessed Catherine
was endowed with the gift of prophecy
MORE destructive
than the many wars which devastated medieval Europe
was the dread disease called plague which, with varying
severity, was of constant recurrence, sometimes sweeping
away entire populations. During one of these epidemics
there perished near Pallanza in the diocese of Novara
a whole family except one little child of the name of Catherine.
She was rescued by the local lord, who entrusted her to
a Milanese lady who adopted and educated her.
When Catherine was
in her fifteenth year she was so profoundly touched
by a sermon on the sufferings of our Lord that she then
and there resolved to consecrate her life to His service.
Her benefactress was now dead and there was no one to hinder
her, so she withdrew to the mountain district above Varese,
where the great St Ambrose, it was said, had once erected an altar
in honour of the Mother of God. From time to time men had lived there
as hermits, but she was the first woman to settle in that wilderness,
and for the next fifteen years she led a life of the utmost austerity.
She fasted for ten months of the year, living even at less penitential
seasons on presents of fish which were brought to her, for she seldom
left her retreat. Hidden as she strove to be, other women collected
round Catherine to imitate her example and to become her disciples.
Eventually she gathered them into a community which adopted the
Augustinian rule and was known as the convent of Santa Maria di Monte.
She died at the age of forty, after being prioress for four years.
During her life Blessed Catherine was endowed with the gift of prophecy,
and her cultus was approved in 1769.
See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i, where a life of the beata written in Italian by Cesare Tettamanzi has been translated
into Latin. Cf. also Sevesi in Studi
Francescani, vol. xxv (1928), pp. 389—449.
Born in Pallanza,
Novara, Italy, c. 1437; died 1478; cultus confirmed
in 1769. At age 14, Catherine began to live the life of
a hermit in the mountain district above Varese, near Milan.
Disciples gathered around her, whom she gathered into a
community under the Augustinian Rule. She fought epidemics,
which wiped out her entire family, and against wicked tongues
that spread slander about her little convent of Santa Maria di
Monte (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
|
1480 Saints moines
Marc, Jona et Vassa qui ont fondé le
monastère de Pskovo-Pechersk
réaparaissait
miraculeusement.
Les moines Marc, Jonas
et Vassa sont vénérés comme
étant parmi les Pères qui ont fondé
le monastère de Pskovo-Pechersk.
On ne sait pas avec
précision quand les premiers ermites
se sont installés près des ruisseaux
de Kamenets dans les cavernes naturelles de la colline,
que les habitants locaux ont appelé "la colline sainte."
La chronique du monastère présente un compte-rendu
d'un témoin oculaire, le chasseur-trappeur
de Izborsk surnommé Selishi: "Un jour par hasard,
nous avons abouti avec notre père sur la colline
extérieure, où se trouve maintenant l'église
de la Mère de Dieu, et a entendu ce qui ressemblait
à des chants d'église; ils chantaient harmonieusement
et respectueusement, mais on n'arrivait pas à
voir ceux qui chantaient, et l'air était rempli
d'un parfum d'encens."
Des premiers Anciens
du monastère de Pskovo-Pechersk, seul
Marc est connu par son nom. De lui il témoigne:
"Au début, un premier Ancien habitait près
de la crue du Kamenets dans la caverne, certains pêcheurs
l'ont aperçu aux trois rochers, se couchant par-dessus
la caverne de l'église de la Très-Sainte
Mère de Dieu; mais nous n'avons pas pu découvrir
quoique ce soit à son égard -- qui était-il
et son origine familliale, ni comment et d'où il était
venu à cet endroit, ni combien de temps il était
demeuré ici, ni comment il était mort."
Le
deuxième higoumène du monastère
de Pechersk portait le nom de Starets [Ancien] Marc
dans le Synodikon du monastère. Le moine Kornilii (commémoré
20 février), comme higoumène a
douté de la véracité de cette
inscription et il a ordonné que le nom soit effacé
du Synodikon. Soudain il est tombé gravement malade
et a reçu une révélation, comme
quoi ceci était une punition pour son ordre de rayer
le nom du moine Marc du diptyque du monastère. Implorant
le pardon avec larmes et prières sur la tombe du staretz
Marc, l'higoumène Kornilii réinscrit le nom du
saint. Quand l'église souterraine de l'Uspenie [Dormition]
de la Très-Sainte Mère de Dieu a été
réinstallée à l'air libre et
les tombes excavées, l'higoumène Dorophei
a trouvé la tombe du moine Marc en délabrement,
mais ses reliques et vêtements intacts.
En 1472, le paysan
Ivan Dement'ev a abattu la forêt sur la colline escarpée.
Un des arbres abattus a roulé en bas, déracinant par ses racines
un autre arbre. La chute a mis à nu l'entrée d'une caverne,
au-dessus de laquelle il était écrit:
"Une caverne construite par Dieu." Il existe une
tradition à cet égard qui rapporte
qu'un certain moine Fol-en-Christ Varlaam, à chaque
fois qu'il venait à la caverne, il effaçait
cette inscription, mais qu'à chaque fois elle réaparaissait
miraculeusement.
En ce saint lieu de prière
fréquenté par les premiers
ascètes, est venu d'ailleurs le prêtre
Jean, surnommé "Shestnik." Il était natif
de Moscovie et avait servi comm prêtre à
Iur'ev (maintenant Tartu) dans "une église de vrais
croyants, établie par les gens de Pskov" et dédiée
à saint Nicolas et au saint mégalomartyr George,
et ensemble avec le prêtre Isidor, ils avaient nourri
spirituellement les Russes habitant là-bas. En 1470
le Père Jean a été obligé de fuir avec
sa famille à Pskov, à cause de la persécution
des Allemand-Catholiques [note jmd : il s'agit des "Chevaliers
Teutoniques", cfr saint Alexandre Nevski]. Ayant appris que
son ami avait péri en martyr (on commémore le prêtre
et martyr Isidor le 8 janvier), Jean a décidé
de se retirer dans cette récemment-apparue "caverne construite
par Dieu," afin que là-bas, sur la frontière même
avec les Livoniens, il puisse trouver un un monastère comme
un poste avancé de l'Orthodoxie.
Peu après sa femme
tomba malade et, ayant prononcé ses
voeux monastiques sous le nom de Vassa, elle mourrut.
Sa vertu éclata immédiatement après
sa mort. Son mari et son père spirituel ont enterré
le religieuse Vassa dans le mur de "la caverne construite
par Dieu," mais de nuit son cercueil "s'enleva du sol par
le pouvoir invisible de Dieu." Le Père Jean et le prêtre-confesseur
de la religieuse Vassa, perturbés, pensaient que
cela venait du fait qu'ils auraient oublié de chanter
une partie de l'office de défunts, alors ils ont recélébré
l'office funèbre, puis réenterré
le corps, mais au matin il était à nouveau
"au dessus du sol." Alors tout s'éclairci : c'était
un signe de Dieu. Ils ont bâtit une tombe pour la religieuse
Vassa dans la caverne, sur le côté gauche. Bouleversés
par le miracle, Jean a prononcé ses voeux monastiques
sous le nom de Jonas et commencé à devenir un fervent
ascète.
Ayant mis à
l'air libre, à la main, l'église de caverne et deux cellules,
placées sur des piliers, il a commencé à adresser
des requêtes au clergé de la cathédrale de la Trinité
de Pskovsk pour le consacrer, mais ils n'ont pas voulu le faire directement
"à cause de l'emplacement insolite." Alors le Moine Jonas sollicita
la bénédiction de l'archévêque Theophile de
Novgorod.
Et le 15 août
1473, l'église de caverne a été
consacrée en l'honneur de l'Uspenie [Dormition]
de la Très-Sainte Mère de Dieu.
Pendant la consécration, un miracle a eu lieu, venant
d'une icône d'Uspenie de la Très-Sainte
Mère de Dieu, "envoyé par le Dieu
clément qui commence Ses grands dons à
Sa Toute-Pure Mère" -- une aveugle a recouvert la
vue. (Cette icône, qu'ils appellent "l'ancienne"
-- pour faire la distinction avec une autre icône miraculeuse
de la Dormtion de la Très-Sainte Mère de
Dieu bordée de scènes de Sa vie -- a été
écrite en 1421 par l'iconographe Aleksei de Pskov,
et est conservée à présent dans
l'autel du temple d'Uspensk, dans le batiment sur la colline.
L'icône a bordé avec la vie -- est la client-icône
de temple de l'église de caverne.)
La date de consécration
de l'église de caverne est reprise comme
date officielle de la fondation du monastère
de Pskovo-Pechersk. Le Moine Jonas vécut en
ascète au monastère de caverne jusqu'en
1480 et s'endormit paisiblement dans le Seigneur. A
sa mort, on découvrit sur son corps une cotte de
mailles en fer, qui a été accrochée
ai-dessus de sa tombe en témoignage des actes
ascétiques secrets du moine, mais elle fut volée
durant une incursion des Allemands.
Les reliques du moine
Jonas reposent dans les cavernes à côté de celles de
l'Ancien Marc et de la religieuse Vassa. Une fois durant une invasion du
monastère par les chevaliers de Livonian, se moquant des saintes
reliques, ont voulu ouvrir d'un coup d'épée le cercueil de
la religieuse Vassa, mais une flamme jailli du cercueil de la sainte ascète.
Les traces de ce feu punitif sont visibles de nos jours sur le cercueil
de la religieuse Vassa.
Saints monks Marc, Jona
and Vassa (1480) The monks Marc, Jonas
and Vassa are venerated as being among the Fathers who founded the monastery
of Pskovo-Pechersk.
One does not know with
precision when the first hermits settled close
to the brooks of Kamenets in the natural caves of
the hill, that the local inhabitants called “the
holy hill.” The chronicle of the monastery presents a report
of an eyewitness, the hunter-trapper of Izborsk called Selishi:
“One day by chance, we ended with our father on the external
hill, where now the church of the Mother of God is, and heard
what resembled hymns; they sang harmoniously and respectfully,
but one did not manage to see those who sang, and the air
was filled with an incense perfume.”
The first Old ones
of the monastery of Pskovo-Pechersk, only Marc is known by his name. To
him it testifies: “At the beginning, first Old lived close to raw to Kamenets
in the cave, certain fishermen saw it with the
three rocks, lying down over the cave of the church
of the Very-Holy Mother of God; but we could not discover
though it is in its connection -- who was it and his origin
familliale, neither how and from where it had come to this
place, neither how long it was remained here, nor how it had
died.”
The second higoumene of
the monastery of Pechersk bore the name of
Starets [Old] Marc in Synodikon of the monastery.
The Kornilii monk (commemorated February 20), like
higoumene doubted the veracity of this inscription and
it ordered that the name is unobtrusive of Synodikon. Suddenly
it fell seriously sick and received a revelation, as what
this was a punishment for its order to stripe the name of the Marc
monk of the diptych of the monastery. Beseeching forgiveness
with tears and prayers on the tomb of the staretz Marc, the higoumene
Kornilii re-registers the name of the saint. When the underground
church of Uspenie [Dormition] of the Very-Holy Mother of God
was reinstalled with the free air and the excavated tombs,
the higoumene Dorophei found fall it from the Marc monk in dilapidation,
but its relics and clothing intact.
In 1472, the peasant
Ivan Dement' ev cut down the forest on the escarpée
hill. One of the cut down trees rolled in bottom,
uprooting by its roots another tree. The fall exposed
the entry of a cave, above which he was written: “A cave
built by God.” There is a tradition in this respect which
reports that a certain monk Varlaam Fol-in-Christ, to each
time he came to the cave, he erased this inscription, but
that each time it réaparaissait miraculeusement.
In this holy place
of prayer attended by the first ascetics, came besides the Jean priest,
called “Shestnik.” He was native of Moscovie and had been used comm priest
for Iur' ev (now Tartu) in “a church of truths believing, established by
people of Pskov” and dedicated to Nicolas saint and to the saint mégalomartyr
George, and together with the Isidor priest,
they had nourished the Russians spiritually living
over there. In 1470 the Jean Father was obliged to flee
with his family with Pskov, because of the persecution
of the German-Catholics [note jmd: they are the “Knights Teutoniques”,
cfr holy Alexandre Nevski]. Having learned that his/her
friend had perished as a martyr (one commemorates the priest
and martyr Isidor on January 8), Jean decided to withdraw oneself
in this recently-appeared “cave built by God,” so that
over there, on the border even with Livoniens, it can find
a monastery like a advanced station of Orthodoxy.
Shortly after his wife
fell sick and, having pronounced her monastic
vows under the name of Vassa, it mourrut. Its virtue
burst immediately after its death. Her husband and his
spiritual father buried to it religious Vassa in the wall
of “the cave built by God,” but from night its coffin “was removed
ground by the invisible capacity of God.” The Jean Father
and the priest-confessor of the Vassa chocolate éclair,
disturbed, thought that that came owing to the fact that they
would have forgotten to sing part of the office the late ones,
then they recélébré the funeral office,
then réenterré the body, but in the morning it
was again “with the top of the ground.” Then very cleared up: it
was a sign of God. They have builds a tomb for the Vassa chocolate
éclair in the cave, on the left side. Upset by the miracle,
Jean pronounced his monastic vows under the name of Jonas
and started to become an enthusiastic ascetic.
Having put at the free
air, with the hand, the church of cave and two
cells, having placed on pillars, it started to address
requests to the clergy of the cathedral of the Trinity
of Pskovsk to devote it, but they did not want to directly
do it “because of the strange site.” Then the Jonas Monk
requested the blessing of archévêque Theophilus
de Novgorod.
And on August 15, 1473,
the church of cave was devoted in the honor
of Uspenie [Dormition] of the Very-Holy Mother
of God. During the dedication, a miracle took place,
coming from an icon of Uspenie of the Very-Holy Mother of
God, “sent by lenient God who begins His great gifts with His
All-Pure Mother” -- a blind man covered the sight. (This
icon, which they call “the old one” -- to make the distinction
with another miraculous icon of Dormtion of the Very-Holy
Mother of God bordered of scenes of His life -- was written in
1421 by the iconographe Aleksei de Pskov, and is preserved now
in the furnace bridge of the temple of Uspensk, in the building
on the hill. The icon bordered with the life -- is the customer-icon
of temple of the church of cave.)
The date of dedication
of the church of cave is taken again like dates
official from the foundation of the monastery of
Pskovo-Pechersk. The Jonas Monk lived as an ascetic
with the monastery of cave until 1480 and fell asleep peacefully
in the Lord. With his death, one discovered on his body a
coat of mail out of iron, which was hung have-top of its tomb in
testimony of the secret ascetic acts of the monk, but it was stolen
during an incursion of the Germans.
The relics of the Jonas
monk rest in the caves beside those of the Former
Marc and the Vassa nun. Once during an invasion of
the monastery by the knights of Livonian, making fun
of the holy relics, wanted to open of a blow of sword the coffin
of the Vassa chocolate éclair, but a flame spouted out
of the coffin of the holy ascetic. The traces of this punitive
fire are visible nowadays on the coffin of the Vassa chocolate
éclair.
|
1480 BD ANDREW OF MONTEREAL
Augustinian roll of honour describes him as “remarkable
for his patience in suffering, for his extraordinary
austerity of life, for his great learning and especially
for his success in preaching the word of God” numerous were the miracles wrought beside
the bier
ANDREW
of Montereale was born at Mascioni in the diocese of
Rieti and joined the Hermits of St Augustine when he was only
fourteen. For fifty years he preached the gospel in Italy and
in France. The Augustinian roll of honour describes him as
“remarkable for his patience in suffering, for his extraordinary
austerity of life, for his great learning and especially
for his success in preaching the word of God”. It is recorded of
him that he never went to see any public show or spectacle, and
that he never laughed. We are also told that when he died the
church bells began to toll of their own accord and continued
sounding at intervals for twenty-four hours. The Augustinian
Joseph Pamphili, who in 1570 was consecrated bishop of Segni,
states in his Chronica O.F.E.A. that in his day, a hundred years
after Andrew’s death, the body of the holy man, with the cloak that
covered it, remained as immune from decay as it was at the moment
when he expired. So great was the desire of those
who had known Bd Andrew to visit his remains, and so numerous
were the miracles wrought beside the bier, that a whole month elapsed
before the interment actually took place. His cultus was confirmed
in 1764.
In the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, a brief account of Bd Andrew,
published in Italian by S. Ricetelli
(1614), has been translated into Latin. See also L.
Torelli, Ristretto dells Vite degli Huomini
. . . O.F.E.A. (1647), pp.
380—382.
|
1481 Bl. Constantius a boy of extraordinary
goodness gift of prophecy or second sight
miracles.
Early in the fifteenth century,
there lived at Fabriano a boy of such extraordinary
goodness that even his parents would sometimes
wonder whether he were not rather an angel than a human
child. Once, when his little sister was suffering from a disease
which the doctors pronounced incurable, Constantius Bernocchi
asked his father and mother to join him in prayer by her bedside
that she might recover. They did so, and she was immediately
cured. At the age of fifteen he was admitted to the Dominican convent
of Santa Lucia and he seemed to have received the habit from the
hands of Blessed Laurence
of Ripafratta, at that time prior of this house
of strict observance. Constantius was one of those concerned
with the reform of San Marco in Florence, and it was while
he was teaching in that city that it was discovered that he had
the gift of prophecy or second sight.
Among
other examples, the death of St. Antoninus was made known
to him at the moment it took place, and this is mentioned
by Pope Clement VII in his Bull for the canonization
of that saint.
He
was also credited with the power of working miracles,
and besides the care of his office, he acted as peacemaker
outside the convent and quelled popular tumults. He
was esteemed so holy that it was reckoned a great favor to
speak to him or even to touch his habit. Upon the news of his
death, the senate and council assembled, "considering his death
a public calamity", and resolved to defray the cost of a public
funeral. The cultus of Blessed Constantius was confirmed
in 1821.
Blessed
Constantius of Fabriano, OP (AC) Born in Fabriano,
Marches of Ancona, Italy, 1410; died at Ascoli, Italy,
1481; equivalently beatified in 1821 (or 1811). Constantius
Bernocchi is as close to a 'sad saint' as it's possible for
a Dominican to get; he is said to have had the gift of tears.
However, that is not his only claim to fame. Constantius
had an remarkable childhood, not only for the usual signs of
precocious piety, but also for a miracle that he worked when
he was a little boy. Constantius had a sister who had been bedridden
most of her nine years of life. One day, the little boy brought
his parents in to her bedside and made them pray with him. The little
girl rose up, cured, and she remained well for a long and happy life.
Naturally, the parents were amazed, and they were quite sure it had
not been their prayers that effected the cure, but those of their
little son.
Constantius entered the Dominicans
at age 15, and had as his masters Blessed Conradin
and Saint Antoninus. He did well in his studies and wrote
a commentary on Aristotle. His special forte was Scripture,
and he studied it avidly. After his ordination, he was sent to
teach in various schools in Italy, arriving eventually at
the convent of San Marco in Florence, which had been erected as
a house of strict observance. Constantius was eventually appointed
prior of this friary that was a leading light in the reform
movement. This was a work dear to his heart, and he himself
became closely identified with the movement.
Several
miracles and prophecies are related about Constantius
during his stay in Florence. He one day told a student
not to go swimming, because he would surely drown if
he did. The student, of course, dismissed the warning and
drowned. One day, Constantius came upon a man lying in the
middle of the road. The man had been thrown by his horse and was
badly injured; he had a broken leg and a broken arm. All he
asked was to be taken to some place where care could be given
him, but Constantius did better than that--he cured the man and
left him, healed and astonished.
Constantius
was made prior of Perugia, where he lived a strictly
penitential life. Perhaps the things that he saw in
visions were responsible for his perpetual sadness,
for he foresaw many of the terrible things that would
befall Italy in the next few years. He predicted the sack
of Fabriano, which occurred in 1517. At the death of Saint Antoninus,
he saw the saint going up to heaven, a vision which was recounted
in the canonization process.
Blessed
Constantius is said to have recited the Office of
the Dead every day, and often the whole 150 Psalms, which
he knew by heart, and used for examples on every occasion.
He also said that he had never been refused any favor for
which he had recited the whole psalter. He wrote a number of
books; these, for the most part, were sermon material, and some
were the lives of the blesseds of the order.
On the day of Constantius's
death, little children of the town ran through the streets crying out, "The
holy prior is dead! The holy prior is dead!" On hearing of his death, the
city council met and stated that it was a public calamity. The relics
of Blessed Constantius have suffered from war and invasion. After the Dominicans
were driven from the convent where he was
buried, his tomb was all but forgotten for a long
time. Then one of the fathers put the relics in the keeping
of Camaldolese monks in a nearby monastery, where they
still remain (Benedictines, Dorcy, Encyclopedia).
|
1482 Blessed Antony
Bonfadini sent to the mission in the
Holy Land miracles were reported at his tomb
OFM (AC).
1482 Bd ANTONY BONFADINI
THE Bonfadini
were a good family of Ferrara, where Antony was born
in the year 1400. When
he was thirty-nine, he became a friar minor of the Observance
at the friary of the Holy Ghost in his native town, and
soon distinguished himself as a teacher and preacher. He was
sent on the Franciscan mission in the Holy Land, and on a journey
from there, in his old age, he died and was buried at the village
of Cotignola in the Romagna. A year later his body was
found to be still incorrupt, and miracles were reported at
his tomb. Accordingly, when some years later the Friars Minor
made a foundation at Cotignola, they were given permission to
translate the body to their church. The cultus
of Bd Antony was approved in 1901.
Although the
continued cultus is well attested,
we know little detail of the life of this holy
friar. Some account is furnished by such chroniclers
as Mazzara in Leggendario Francescano,
vol. iii (1680), pp. 601-602. See also the
Acta Ord. Fratrum Minorum, vol.
xx (1901), pp. 105 seq. and DHG.,
vol. iii, c. 763.
Born
at Ferrara, Italy, 1400; died at Cotignola, diocese
of Faenza, 1482; cultus
confirmed in 1901. After becoming
an Observant Franciscan, Blessed Antony was sent to the
mission in the Holy Land (Attwater 2, Benedictines). |
1482 Bd
Simon Of Lipnicza born at Lipnicza, in Poland, not far from
Cracow; Friars Minor; fostering devotion to the holy
name of Jesus, at the end of every sermon asking the people
to pronounce it three times aloud. That which
he preached in public he practised in private, and his virtues
were recognized by his superiors and brethren, who made him
in turn novicemaster, guardian and provincial;
Miracles were multiplied
at his tomb
He was born
at Lipnicza, in Poland, not far from Cracow, in the
university of which city he made his studies. In
1453 St John Capistran
began to preach a mission in Cracow, and one of
the first-fruits of his heart-searching appeals was
young Simon, who had just graduated. He offered himself
to the Friars Minor, who seemed to him the most humble, mortified,
and devoted to the cause of Christ and their neighbour; he
was accepted, clothed by St John, and after ordination worked
in his own city, his preaching and prayers bringing many sinners
to repentance within a few years. Like the holy father Francis
before him he visited the Holy Land in the hope that there his
life might he asked of him, but God did not destine him to martyrdom,
and he took up his apostolate at home with renewed energy. Bd Simon
lived in an age of great Franciscan preaching, and among so many
who were famed he was not the least eminent. In the face
of a certain amount of local opposition he followed
St Bernardino in fostering
devotion to the holy name of Jesus, at the end of every sermon
asking the people to pronounce it three times aloud. That which
he preached in public he practised in private, and his virtues were
recognized by his superiors and brethren, who made him in turn novicemaster,
guardian and provincial. When the plague broke out in Cracow
his devotion to our Lord and solicitude for the suffering drove
him into the most pestiferous places, where he waited on the sick
and dying by day and night. He himself became a victim, and he died
in the midst of his labours on July 18 in 1482. Miracles were multiplied at his tomb
and he was beatified in 1685.
There is a full account in the
Acta
Sanctorum, July, vol. iv, including a
life by L. Strobcowicz which was printed in 1636, but
the greater part of the notice devoted to him is a record
of posthumous miracles from a contemporary manuscript
source. Sec also Mazzarn, Leggendario Francescano (1679),
vol. ii, 122-125; and Léon, Auréole Séraphique
(Eng. tran.), vol. ii, pp. 503-506.
|
1483
St. Casimir born of kings slept little, spending his nights in prayer
Miracles were reported
at his tomb
Vilnæ, in Lithuánia,
beáti Casimíri Confessóris, e Casimíro
Rege progéniti; quem Leo Décimus, Románus Póntifex,
in Sanctórum
númerum rétulit.
At Vilnius in Lithuania,
blessed Casimir, confessor, the son of King Casimir, whom Pope Leo
X inscribed in the roll of the saints.
b. 1458
Casimir in line (third among 13 children) to
be a king himself, was filled with exceptional values and learning
by a great teacher, John Dlugosz. Even his critics could not say that
his conscientious objection indicated softness. Even as a teenager,
Casimir lived a highly disciplined, even severe life, sleeping on the
ground, spending a great part of the night in prayer and dedicating himself
to lifelong celibacy.
When nobles in Hungary became dissatisfied
with their king, they prevailed upon Casimir’s father, the king
of Poland, to send his son to take over the country. Casimir obeyed
his father, as many young men over the centuries have obeyed their government.
The army he was supposed to lead was clearly outnumbered by the “enemy”;
some of his troops were deserting because they were not paid. At the advice
of his officers, Casimir decided to return home. His father was irked
at the failure of his plans, and confined his 15-year-old son for three
months. The lad made up his mind never again to become involved in the
wars of his day, and no amount of persuasion could change his mind. He
returned to prayer and study, maintaining his decision to remain celibate
even under pressure to marry the emperor’s daughter. He reigned briefly
as king of Poland during his father’s absence. He died of lung trouble
at 23 while visiting Lithuania, of which he was also Grand Duke. He was
buried in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Comment: For many years
Poland and Lithuania faded into the gray prison on the other side of the
Iron Curtain. Despite repression, the Poles and Lithuanians remained firm
in the faith which has become synonymous with their name. Their youthful
patron reminds us: Peace is not won by war; sometimes a comfortable peace
is not even won by virtue, but Christ’s peace can penetrate every government
repression of religion.
St. Casimir Patron of Poland and Lithuania
Casimir grew up in a world where his life was
not his own. As a prince of Poland, the second son of King Casimir
IV and Elizabeth of Austria, his life was scheduled to cement his father's
authority and increase Poland's power. Casimir realized from an early
age that his life belonged to someone else, but to a much higher King
than his father. Despite pressure, humiliation, and rejection, he stood
by that loyalty through his whole life. Born the third of thirteen children
in 1461, Casimir was committed to God from childhood. Some of that commitment
was the result of a tutor, John Dlugosz, whose holiness encouraged Casimir
on his own journey.
It may be hard for us to imagine royal luxury
as a pressure. But for Casimir, the riches around him were temptations
to forget his true loyalties. Rebelling against the rich, fashionable
clothes he was expected to enjoy, he wore the plainest of clothes. Rejecting
even ordinary comforts, he slept little, spending his nights in prayer.
And when he did sleep, he lay on the floor not on a royal bed. Even though
he was a prince, many of those around him must have laughed and joked
at his choices. Yet, in the face of any pressure, Casimir was always friendly
and calm.
Though his father must have wondered about
him, he must have seen and admired Casimir's strength. He showed that
he misunderstood this strength when he sent Casimir as head of an
army to take over the throne of Hungary at the request of some nobles
there. Casimir felt the whole expedition was wrong but was convinced
to go out of obedience to his father. He could not help but feel at every
step that it was disobedient to his other Father. So when soldiers started
deserting, he was only too glad to listen to the advice of his officers
and turn back home. His feelings were confirmed when he discovered that
Pope Sixtus IV had opposed the move.
His father, however, was furious at being deterred
from his plans and banished Casimir to a castle in Dobzki, hoping
that imprisonment would change Casimir's mind. Casimir's commitment
to what he believed was right only grew stronger in his exile and he
refused to cooperate with his father's plans any more despite the pressure
to give in. He even rejected a marriage alliance his father tried to
form. He participated in his true King's plans wholeheartedly by praying,
studying, and helping the poor.
He died at the age of 23 in 1484 from lung
disease. He was buried with his favorite song, a Latin hymn to Mary
called "Omni die dic Mariae" which we know as "Daily, Daily Sing to
Mary." Because of his love for the song, it is known as the Hymn of
St. Casimir though he didn't write it.
1484 ST CASIMIR OF POLAND
ST CASIMIR, to whom the Poles
gave the title of “The Peace-maker”, was the third of the thirteen
children of Casimir IV, King of Poland, and of Elizabeth of Austria,
daughter of the Emperor Albert II. Casimir was the second son; he and
his two brothers, Ladislaus and John, had as their tutor John Dlugosz,
the historian, a canon of Cracow and a man of extraordinary learning
and piety. All the princes were warmly attached to the holy man, but
Casimir profited the most by his teaching and example. Devout from his
infancy, the boy gave himself up to devotion and penance, and had a horror
of anything approaching softness or self-indulgence. His bed was often
the ground, and he was wont to spend a great part of the night in prayer
and meditation, chiefly on the passion of our Saviour. His clothes were
plain, and under them he wore a hair-shirt. Living always in the presence
of God he was invariably serene and cheerful, and pleasant to all. The
saint’s love of God showed itself in his love of the poor who are Christ’s
members, and for the relief of these the young prince gave all he possessed,
using in their behalf the influence he had with his father and with his
brother Ladislaus when he became king of Bohemia. In honour of the Blessed
Virgin Mary Casimir frequently recited the long Latin hymn “Omni die dic Mariae”, a copy of which was by his desire
buried with him. This hymn, part of which is familiar to us through Bittleston’s
version, “Daily, daily sing to Mary”, is not uncommonly called the Hymn
of St Casimir, but it was certainly not composed by him; it is three centuries
older than his time.
The
nobles of Hungary, dissatisfied with their king, Matthias Corvinus,
in 1471 begged the King of Poland to allow them to place
his son Casimir on the throne. The saint, at that time not fifteen years
old, was very unwilling to consent, but in obedience to his father he
went to the frontier at the head of an army. There, hearing that Matthias
had himself assembled a large body of troops, and withal finding that
his own soldiers were deserting in large numbers because they could not
get their pay, he decided upon the advice of his officers to return home.
The knowledge that Pope Sixtus IV had sent an embassy to his father to
deter him from the expedition made the young prince carry out his resolution
with the firmer conviction that he was acting rightly. King Casimir, however,
was greatly incensed at the failure of his ambitious projects and would
not permit his son to return to Cracow, but relegated him to the castle
of Dobzki. The young man obeyed and remained in confinement there for
three months. Convinced of the injustice of the war upon which he had
so nearly embarked, and determined to have no further part in these internecine
conflicts which only facilitated the further progress into Europe of
the Turks, St Casimir could never again be persuaded to take up arms,
though urged to do so by his father and invited once more by the disaffected
Hungarian magnates. He returned to his studies and his prayers, though
for a time he was viceroy in Poland during an absence of his father. An
attempt was made to induce him to marry a daughter of the Emperor Frederick
III, but he refused to relax the celibacy he had imposed on himself.
St
Casimir’s austerities did nothing to help the lung trouble from which
he suffered, and he died at the age of twenty-three in 1484 and was
buried at Vilna, where his relics still rest in the church of St Stanislaus.
Miracles were reported at his tomb, and he was canonized in 1521.
A Latin life
of St Casimir by Zachary Ferreri was printed at Cracow in 1521 and
has been reproduced in the Acta Sanctorum, March,
vol. i, and there is also a biography by Prileszky in the Acts Sanctorum Hungariae (1743), vol. i, pp. 125—132. A popular account in German is that of Felix Iózefowicz,
Der heilige Kasimir, commending the saint
as a patron for young students. In the article devoted to St Casimir
in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Prof. L. Abraham
gives references to several works in Polish of more modern date. Casimir
is sometimes referred to as king of Poland and Hungary, though he never
occupied the throne of either country. The fact that he is accorded
apparently only one line in the Cambridge History of Poland,
vol. (1950) shows perhaps how little impression he made in
secular affairs. The so-called Hymn of St Casimir forms one division
of the great Mariale, a remarkable rhyming Latin
lyric of the twelfth century, which has been attributed both to St Anselm
and to St Bernard of Clairvaux. The true author is probably Bernard of
Morlaix, or Cluny. Casimir’s love of these verses is a testimony at once
to his good literary taste and to his devotion to the Mother of God. At
a time when certain enthusiastic sympathizers with Polish aspirations
were eager to claim the Omni die dic Manse as a sort of national
anthem, a book was brought out which printed the text of the hymn along
with translations in various modern languages in the metre of the original.
When a second edition was in contemplation, Cardinal Wiseman was invited
to contribute an English version of this hymn. His rendering was afterwards
published separately, with a musical setting, but it is now little known.
Casimir is patron saint of Poland
and Lithuania.
In His Footsteps: Where do your loyalties
lie? Is there a part of your life where you feel your loyalties divided
and feel pressure to follow worldly commitment? Today choose the action
that best serves Christ the King.
Prayer: Saint Casimir, help us to remember
that our true King is Jesus Christ and always serve him with joy
and love. Help us to turn to our true Father for guidance and protection.
Amen
March 4, 2007 St. Casimir (1458-1483)
Casimir, born of kings and in line (third among
13 children) to be a king himself, was filled with exceptional values
and learning by a great teacher, John Dlugosz. Even his critics could
not say that his conscientious objection indicated softness. Even as
a teenager, Casimir lived a highly disciplined, even severe life, sleeping
on the ground, spending a great part of the night in prayer and dedicating
himself to lifelong celibacy.
When nobles in Hungary became dissatisfied
with their king, they prevailed upon Casimir’s father, the king
of Poland, to send his son to take over the country. Casimir obeyed
his father, as many young men over the centuries have obeyed their government.
The army he was supposed to lead was clearly outnumbered by the “enemy”;
some of his troops were deserting because they were not paid. At the advice
of his officers, Casimir decided to return home. His father was irked
at the failure of his plans, and confined his 15-year-old son for three
months. The lad made up his mind never again to become involved in the
wars of his day, and no amount of persuasion could change his mind. He
returned to prayer and study, maintaining his decision to remain celibate
even under pressure to marry the emperor’s daughter. He reigned briefly
as king of Poland during his father’s absence. He died of lung trouble
at 23 while visiting Lithuania, of which he was also Grand Duke. He was
buried in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Comment: For many
years Poland and Lithuania faded into the gray prison on the other
side of the Iron Curtain. Despite repression, the Poles and Lithuanians
remained firm in the faith which has become synonymous with their name.
Their youthful patron reminds us: Peace is not won by war; sometimes
a comfortable peace is not even won by virtue, but Christ’s peace can
penetrate every government repression of religion.
|
1483 Saint Macarius
of Kalyazin repeatedly healed the paralyzed and the
demon-possessed incorrupt relics
(in
the world Matthew) was born in 1400 in the village
of Gribkovo (Kozhino), near the city of Kashin, into the
family of the boyar Basil Kozha. From youth he yearned for monasticism,
but he married at the insistence of his parents.
After
a year his parents died, and after three more years
his wife Elena also reposed. Having nothing to bind him
to his former life, Matthew became a monk at the Nikolaev
Klobukov monastery. Desiring solitude, he left the city monastery
with the abbot's blessing, and he found a suitable place
between two lakes, eighteen versts from Kashin. Here the monk
raised a cross and founded a solitary wilderness monastery.
The
boyar Ivan Kolyaga, to whom the nearby lands belonged,
began to fear that a monastery would grow up there,
and that monks would begin to cultivate the wastelands.
The Enemy of our salvation planted such spite and enmity in
the boyar, that he decided to kill the saint. Suddenly, he was
stricken with a grievous illness. Fear of death awakened
repentance in the boyar. Ivan Kolyaga was carried to the saint
and told him of his evil intent, asking forgiveness.
"God forgive you", the humble
ascetic replied. Wishing to expiate his sin
and to help the saint, the boyar gave his lands
to the growing monastery. The monks built a temple dedicated
to the Most Holy Trinity.
Word
of the boyar Kolyaga's conversion brought many
people to the monk, seeking salvation. St Macarius tonsured
Kolyaga and named the monastery Kalyazin for him.
It became necessary to choose
an igumen. St Macarius was then fifty-three
years of age, but he considered himself unworthy
of this dignity and he asked each of the older men coming
to him to become the monastery's priest and igumen. Yielding
to the common will, the saint was made igumen by Bishop Moses
of Tver.*
The
new igumen prepared for his first service at the
altar of God with long solitary prayer, and then communed
all the brethren with the Holy Mysteries.
In the rank of igumen, St Macarius
labored to guide the brethren. The monastery
had two chalices, a diskos and two plates fashioned
by St Macarius on a lathe.
He
guided not only the monks, but also laypeople coming
to the monastery, dealing with both the educated and
the simple.
Despite his noble origin and
his position of igumen, the saint wore ragged,
frayed and patched clothing. In his conduct and
his way of life St Macarius was so simple that the haughty
heretic Vassian, sneeringly called him the "peasant of
Kalyazin." The saint preferred to hear himself mocked rather
than praised. He went to solitary places, delighted to be
alone with nature.
Wild
animals, sensing his holiness, walked with him
like sheep, they submitted to him, and sometimes took
food from him.
The spiritual stature of St
Macarius was close to the spiritual stature of St Paphnutius of Borov (May
1, 1477). Not by chance did St Paphnutius' disciple, St Joseph of Volokolamsk
(September 9, 1515), visit St Macarius in 1478 and write down his impressions
of him:
"When
I arrived at this place," said St Macarius, "seven
Elders came with me from the monastery of Klobukov. They
were so excellent in virtues, fasting and monastic life,
that all the brethren came to them to receive instruction and
benefit. They enlightened all and taught them for their benefit.
They
affirmed the virtuous life, and censured those
inclined to misconduct, and neither did they seek to
do their own will."
Though the humble igumen was
silent about his own efforts, they were not
hidden from St Joseph. Perceiving the holiness
of the igumen, he accounted him blessed and spoke about
the life of the monastery:
"Such piety and decorum were
in that monastery, where everything was done
in harmony with the patristic and communal traditions,
that even the great Elder Metrophanes Byvaltsev
was amazed. He had just come from Mount Athos, where he spent
nine years, and said to the brethren: "My efforts and my journey
to the Holy Mountain were in vain, because one can find salvation
in the Kalyazin monastery. Life here is similar to life in
the cenobitic monasteries of the Holy Mountain."
From the moment St Macarius
settled in the wilderness, his did not abandon his strict Rule because of
old age. Even during his lifetime the saint repeatedly healed the paralyzed
and the demon-possessed.
The
saint reposed on March 17, 1483. At the time of his
death they found heavy chains on him, about which no
one knew. The incorrupt relics of St Macarius were uncovered
on May 26, 1521 when ditches were dug for a new church.
A Council of 1547 established his local festal celebration.
*
The successor of Bishop Moses was St Macarius' brother,
Bishop Gennadius (Kozhin) (1460-1477). The nephew of St
Macarius, St Paisius of Uglich (January 8 and June 6) was
also famed for his sanctity. The Kalyazin monastery had
a collection of the sermons of St Gregory the Theologian, which
St Macarius had copied in his own hand.
|
1484
Blessed Damian dei Fulcheri Hundreds of sinners
repented by the force of his preaching miracles
worked at his tomb OP (AC) (also known as Damian
of Finario)
Born in
Finario (Finale or Finarium near Genoa), Liguria,
Italy; died near Modena at Reggio d'Emilia, Italy, in 1484;
cultus approved in 1848.
Damian was
born of rich and noble parents at the end of the 14th
century. The only thing we know of his childhood was
that as a baby he was kidnapped by a madman. His parents prayed
to the Blessed Virgin, and Damian was returned unharmed.
He took
the Dominican habit at Savona, where he was a diligent
student. Once ordained, Damian became famous for his
preaching, which he did in nearly all the cities of Italy.
Hundreds of sinners repented and returned to God by
the force of his preaching. Almost immediately upon his death
he became the object of pious veneration because of the
miracles worked at his tomb (Benedictines, Dorcy). |
1484 Bd
Christopher Of Milan the apostle of Liguria great success
in evangelizing that part of Italy, Dominican
endowed with the gift of prophecy
Bd Christopher who is called
the apostle of Liguria because of his great
success in evangelizing that part of Italy, received
the Dominican habit at Milan, early in the fifteenth
century. Soon after his ordination he began to be known as
a great preacher, and his fame afterwards spread far and wide.
His biographers record that his sermons, which brought about
conversions and improvement of morals wherever he went, were
always based on the Bible, the theology of St Thomas and the
writings of the fathers, and that he denounced those preachers
who, in their attempts to be popular and up-to-date, aired new-fangled
notions and scorned to preach on the gospel for the day. Like a true
missionary he wandered fearlessly and untiringly over dangerous
passes and difficult country in his labours for souls. At Taggia,
where he was particularly successful, the grateful inhabitants
built Father Christopher a church and a monastery of which he became
prior. He was endowed with the gift of prophecy. One day, as he was
watching the people of Castellano dancing in the square, he exclaimed,
."You are now dancing merrily, but your ruin is nigh and your joy will
be changed into sorrow" -a forecast which was fulfilled a few years later
when the plague carried off most of the inhabitants. He also foresaw
the destruction of Trioria by the French, and he warned the population
of Taggia that they would flee from their city though not pursued, and
that their river would leave its banks and destroy their gardens-prophecies
which came true in every particular. When his last illness came
upon him, he was preaching the Lent at Pigna. He had himself carried
to his beloved Taggia and there breathed his last. His cult was confirmed
in 1875.
See L. Brétaudeau,
Un Martyr de la Revolution
á Vanne, (1908) M. Misermont, Le
bx P. R. Rogue (1937), and the decrees in
the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol.
xxi (1929), pp. 564—567,
and vol. xxvi (1934), pp. 304-308 and 292—296, which include
a biographical summary.
|
1485 Blessed James
of Bitetto heroic humility levitate during prayer accurately predict the
future incorrupted body remains many miracles OFM
(AC)
(also
known as James of Sclavonia, of Illyricum, of Zara,
of Dalmatia) Born in Sebenico, Dalmatia; died April 27,
c. 1485; feast day within the Franciscan order is celebrated
on April 20; cultus approved by Innocent XII.
James
received the habit of Saint Francis at Zara, but
served as a lay brother at Bitetto, near Bari in southern
Italy. James possessed heroic humility and reached heights
of heaven in his contemplation. During the process of
beatification, a fellow friar testified that he had seen
James levitate during prayer and heard him accurately predict
the future.
While James was the cook of
the abbey at Conversano (18 miles from Bari), he would contemplate the cooking
fire and see the fires of hell or the spark
of God's love that ignites hearts. Often he would
be found in the kitchen, motionless, rapt in ecstatic
contemplation. This happened one morning as he was fixing
beans for that night's dinner. He stood with his hand in the
beans, tears streaming down his face into the vessel before him.
Thus he was found by the duke on whose estate the monastery was
founded. King Ferdinand I's courtier watched in amazement before
declaring, "Blessed are the religious brethren whose meals are
seasoned with such tears." Later that day James, learning of the
duke's presence, went to him and asked what he would like for his
dinner. The nobleman replied that he wanted nothing but some of
the beans seasoned with James' tears.
Eventually
James was sent back to Bitetto where he died and
where his incorrupted body remains. Many miracles attributed
to James' intercession have been recorded (Benedictines,
Husenbeth).
|
1485 Blessed Michael
Gedroye famous for his gifts of prophecy
and miracles: his cell adjoining church of the
Augustinian canons regular at Cracow OSA (AC)
(also
known as Michael Giedroy;)
Born
near Vilna, Lithuania; Of noble lineage, Michael
was a cripple and a dwarf. He took up his abode in a cell
adjoining the church of the Augustinian canons regular
at Cracow, Poland, and there he lived his entire life. He
was famous for his gifts of prophecy and miracles (Attwater2,
Benedictines).
1485 Blessed
Michael Gedroye famous for his gifts of prophecy and miracles: his
cell adjoining church of the Augustinian canons regular at Cracow OSA
(AC)
(also known as Michael Giedroyc)
1485 BD MICHAEL GIEDROYC was endowed with the gifts of prophecy
and miracles
THE history of Bd Michael Giedroyc is the story of his infirmities
and his austerities. Born at Giedroyc Castle, near Vilna in Lithuania,
the only son of noble parents, it soon became evident that he could
never bear arms, being a dwarf and very delicate. Moreover, an accident
at a very early age deprived him of the use of one of his feet. His father
and mother therefore destined him for the Church, and his natural piety
pointed in the same direction. His studies being frequently interrupted
by ill-health and the lack of good teachers, the boy occupied himself
in making sacred vessels for the church when he was not engaged in
prayer. Weakly as he was, he had begun almost from childhood to practise
mortification, speaking seldom, fasting strictly four days in the week
and living as far as possible in retirement.
He joined the canons regular of St Augustine in the monastery
of our Lady of Metro at Cracow, but was permitted at his request to
take up his abode in a cell adjoining the church, There, in a space so
restricted that he could scarcely lie down, he spent the rest of his
life, only leaving his cell to go to church, and on very rare occasions
to converse with holy men. He never ate meat, living on vegetables, or
else on bread and salt. His austerities were extreme and were never relaxed
during illness or in his old age. Moreover, he suffered much physical
and mental torment from evil spirits. On the other hand, God gave him
great consolations: once, it is said, our Lord spoke to him from the crucifix,
and he was endowed with the gifts of prophecy and miracles.
An account
of this beatus, based on materials which do not seem
to be altogether reliable, is given in the Acta Sanctorum,
May, vol. i. The canons of our Lady of Metro were members
of a penitential order of which a brief description may be found in Hélyot,
Ordres religieux, vol. ii (1849), pp. 562—567.
Born near Vilna, Lithuania; Of noble lineage,
Michael was a cripple and a dwarf. He took up his abode in a cell
adjoining the church of the Augustinian canons regular at Cracow, Poland,
and there he lived his entire life. He was famous for his gifts of prophecy
and miracles (Attwater2, Benedictines).
|
1486 Blessed Bernard
Scammacca gift of prophecy miracles
spend his time in work of the confessional OP (AC).
Born in
Catania, Sicily; cultus approved 1825. Born of wealthy
and pious parents, Bernard was given a good education.
In spite of this good training, he spent a careless youth.
Only after he was badly injured in a duel was he brought back
to his senses.
His
long convalescence gave him plenty of time to think,
and once he was able to go out of the house, he went
to the Dominican convent of Catania and begged to be admitted
to the order.
Bernard,
as a religious, was the exact opposite of what
he had been as a young man. Now he made no effort to obtain
the things he had valued all his life, but spent his time
in prayer, solitude, and continual penance. There is little
recorded of his life, except that he kept the rule meticulously,
and that he was particularly kind to sinners in the confessional.
Apparently, he did not attain fame as a preacher, but was
content to spend his time in the work of the confessional and
the private direction of souls.
One legend
pictures Bernard as having great power over birds
and animals. When he walked outside in the gardens, praying,
the birds would flutter down around him, singing;
but as soon as he went into ecstasy, they kept still,
for fear they would disturb him. Once, the porter was sent to Bernard's
room to call him, and saw a bright light shining under the
door. Peeking through the keyhole, he saw a beautiful child
shining with light and holding a book, from which Bernard was reading.
He hurried to get the prior to see the marvel.
Bernard
had the gift of prophecy, which he used on several
occasions to try warning people to amend their lives.
He prophesied his own death. Fifteen years after
his death, he appeared to the prior, telling his to
transfer his remains to the Rosary chapel. During this translation,
a man was cured of paralysis by touching the relics (Benedictines,
Dorcy). |
1487 Nicholas of Flüe,
Hermit fighting "with a sword in one hand, and a rosary
in the other!" often rapt in ecstatic prayer, experiencing
visions and revelations as a hermit in almost perpetual prayer
for 21.5 yrs, he took no food for the body; patron saint of Switzerland.
(RM)
NICHOLAS VON FLUE (“Bruder
Klaus”) occupies a unique place in the estimation of
his countrymen. Ecclesiastics, patriots, politicians, historians
and poets of all creeds have sung his praises, and it may
safely be asserted that no religious figure in the history of
Switzerland has given rise to so varied and voluminous a body of
literature. The holy man, who was born near Sachseln in Unterwalden in 1417,
belonged to a much respected family of small farmers,
owners of the Kluster Alp or pasture in the Melchthal and
of the estate of Flüeli on the Sachsterberg, from which
they derived their surname. His father Henry also held a civil
post in the cantonal service, whilst his mother, Emma Robert,
was a native of Wolfenschiessen. She was a deeply religious woman
who brought up her two sons, Nicholas and Peter, to belong as she
did to the brotherhood of the Friends of God (Gottesfreunde).
The members of this society were scattered
over Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and were
drawn from both sexes and all classes. Adhering loyally to the
Catholic Church, they sought by strictness of life as well as by
constant meditation on the passion of our Lord and similar devotions,
to enter, as their name implied, into specially close relationship
with God. Some of them lived in their own families, others formed small
communities, and a few retired from the world altogether to lead
an eremitic life. Nicholas was specially responsive to the training
he received, and was remarkable from childhood for his piety, his
love of peace and his sound judgement.
At the age of twenty-two,
and in spite of his peace-loving disposition, Nicholas
fought in the ranks in the war with Zurich. Fourteen years
later, on the occasion of the occupation of the Thurgau, he
again took up arms, but this time he was captain of a company.
The high esteem in which he was held caused him to be appointed
magistrate and judge and to be sent on various occasions as deputy
for Obwalden to councils and meetings, where his clear-sighted
wisdom carried great weight. He was repeatedly offered the highest
post of all, that of landamman, or governor, but he could
never be induced to accept it. He had married a religious-minded
girl called Dorothea Wissling, and their union had been a
happy one. Of their ten children, John, the eldest son, became
landamman
during
his father’s lifetime, and the youngest studied at the University
of Bale, and was afterwards for many years parish-priest of
Sachseln.
Throughout the years of his married life, Nicholas had continued
the devout practices of his youth. To quote the testimony
of his eldest son: “My father always retired to rest at
the same time as his children and servants; but every night
I saw him get up again, and heard him praying in his room until
morning. Often too he would go in the silence of the night to the
old church of St Nicholas or to other holy places.” In obedience
to what seemed to him a supernatural call to contemplation, for he
had many visions and revelations, he used at times to withdraw
into solitude in the valley of the Melch, but when he was about
fifty he felt irresistibly drawn to abandon the world altogether
and to spend the rest of his days far from home as a hermit. His
wife did not oppose him, for the Friends of God recognized such
vocations as sent from on high. Nicholas resigned his offices, took
leave of his wife, his father and his children in the early autumn
of 1467 and set forth barefoot and bareheaded, clad in a grey-brown
habit and carrying his rosary and his staff.
His destination appears
to have been Strasbourg, in the neighbourhood of which
was a settlement of the brethren, Alsace having been their
headquarters. Before crossing the frontier, however, he received
hospitality from a peasant whom he discovered to be also a
Friend of God, and in the course of conversation his host sought
to deter him from leaving the country, assuring him that the Swiss
were unpopular in Alsace and elsewhere abroad on account of their
rough manners, and that he might fail to find the peaceful retreat
he sought. That night there was a terrific thunderstorm, and as Nicholas
looked at the little town of Liechstall beyond the frontier, the flashes
of lightning made it appear to be in flames. He took this to be a
sign which confirmed the advice he had received, and immediately retraced
his steps. One evening during the homeward journey, as he lay under
a tree, he was seized with such violent gastric spasms that he thought
his last hour had come: the pain passed off, but from that
time he lost all desire for ordinary food or drink, and became in
fact incapable of taking either. Later that autumn, hunters who had
been looking for game in the Melchthal brought home news that they had
come across Nicholas on his pasture land of the Klüster, where
he had made himself a shelter of boughs under a larch tree. His brother
Peter and other friends went to beseech him not to remain there to die
of exposure, and he was persuaded to move to Ranft, another part of
the valley, where the people of Obwalden soon built him a little cell
with a chapel attached.
In this spot, which was situated above a narrow gorge, the loneliness
of which was emphasized by the roar of the mountain
torrent in the valley below, St Nicholas spent
nineteen peaceful years. The hours from midnight to
midday were passed in prayer and contemplation, but in
the afternoon he would interview those who found their way to
his hermitage to seek his advice on spiritual or even on temporal
matters. God had given him the spirit of counsel, as he one admitted
to his friend Henry Imgrund, and he continued to exercise it as
he had done in the past. Strangers also were attracted by the fame
of this remarkable man, who was reported to live without eating
and drinking. Never very talkative, he was particularly sparing
of his words to those who came out of mere curiosity. So also, when
questioned as to his abstention from food, he would only reply, “God
knows”. That no one brought him provisions the cantonal magistrates
proved by having all approaches to his cell watched for a month, and
unprejudiced foreigners, such as Archduke Sigismund’s physician
and envoys from the Emperor Frederick III, satisfied themselves
of the truth of the report and were profoundly impressed by the hermit’s
sincerity.
Once a year Nicholas
took part in the great Musegger procession in Lucerne,
but otherwise he only left his retreat to attend divine
service and occasionally to visit Einsiedeln. The gifts of
the faithful enabled him in his later years to found a chantry
for a priest in connection with his own little chapel, and he
was thus able to assist at Mass daily and to communicate often.
At this epoch the Swiss
Confederation had just passed through the most glorious
phase in its history. Within six years, in the three battles
of Grandson, Morat and Nancy, the sturdy mountain folk had
vindicated their independence and had routed the hitherto unconquered
Charles the Bold, master of the two Burgundies and nearly the
whole of Belgium: their reputation was so great that every prince
in Europe sought their alliance. The hour of their most signal triumph
proved nevertheless to be the hour of their greatest danger,
for internal dissensions threatened to undo the success which their
arms had won. Quarrels arose over the division of booty and between
the country party and the towns. Another source of contention was,
the proposal to include Fribourg and Soleure (or Solothurn) in the confederation.
At length agreement was reached on most points and was embodied in
a document known as the Edict of Stans.
On the subject of the
inclusion of Fribourg and Soleure, however, no accommodation could be reached,
and feeling ran so high that it seemed that the question would have to be
settled by arms. The meeting was breaking up in disorder when the parish-priest
of Stans suggested seeking a final opinion from Nicholas von Flue. The deputies
gave their consent and he set out to seek the hermit.
His suggestion was no casual or sudden inspiration. As we
know from the protocols of the Council of Lucerne, that city,
which occupied an ambiguous position between the two parties,
had, at an early stage of the strife, sent delegates to Brother
Nicholas to obtain his advice, and it is quite possible that other
districts had done the same. It has been even suggested that the Edict
of Stans, a most statesmanlike charter, may have been drafted in the
hermit’s cell. In any case, it is greatly to the credit of the deputies
that, in the heat of their quarrel, they should have been willing to
refer the matter to him. The chronicler Diebold Schilling, who represented
his father at the council, tells us that the priest Imgrund arrived
back in Stans streaming with perspiration, and that, seeking out the
deputies in their lodgings, he besought them with tears to reassemble
immediately to hear the message which he must impart to them alone.
Schilling does not record the words of that message, but he informs
us that within an hour the council had arrived at a unanimous agreement.
Fribourg and Soleure were to be admitted into the Swiss Confederation,
but upon certain conditions, which were accepted for them by Hans von
Stall, the delegate of Soleure. The date was December 22, 1481.
That Christmas was a specially
joyful one throughout Switzerland, and the Stans Council
expressed in laudatory terms its gratitude to Nicholas
for his services. Letters of thanks from Berne and Soleure
to the holy man are still extant, as well as a letter written
on his behalf by his son John, thanking Berne for a gift which
would be expended upon the Church. (He himself could neither read
nor write, but used a special seal by way of a signature.) Several
of the hermit’s visitors have left accounts of their interviews
with him, and that written by Albert von Bonstetten, dean of the
monastery of Einsiedeln, is particularly interesting. He describes
the recluse as tall, brown and wrinkled, with thin grizzled locks
and a short beard. His eyes were bright, his teeth white and well
preserved, and his nose shapely. He adds, “He praises and recommends
obedience and peace. As he exhorted the Confederates to maintain
peace, so does he exhort all who come to him to do the same.” The
dean held him in great veneration, but with regard to the prophetical
gifts ascribed to Nicholas in some quarters, he says cautiously
that he had received no evidence of them from trustworthy sources.
Six years after the Council of Stans, Nicholas was seized with his
last illness, which lasted only eight days, but caused
him intense suffering. He bore it with perfect resignation
and died peacefully in his cell, on his birthday, having
attained the age of seventy. Immediately his death became
known he was honoured in all Switzerland both as a patriot and as
a saint, though it was only in 1669 that his cultus was formally sanctioned:
he was canonized in 1947. His skeleton lies in a shrine
under a black marble canopied altar which stands close to the
entrance to the choir of the present church of Sachseln, and
the habit in which he died is preserved in a cupboard in the
south apse. The two “Flue houses” at Flüeli date back to the
days of St Nicholas, and although they have been greatly modernized
one room in his dwelling-house remains intact.
In 1917 the
fifth centenary of the birth of “ Bruder Klaus” was
celebrated throughout Switzerland with quite remarkable
enthusiasm. Perhaps the most valuable result of the interest
thus awakened was the publication of a great historical monograph
by Robert Durrer, a scholar with an unrivalled knowledge of the
archives of his country. In these two quarto volumes, entitled
Bruder Klaus, which together total some
1350 pages, will be found all the available material bearing
on the life of Nicholas von Flue. The collection includes two early
sketches of the career of Bruder Klaus, one by Albrecht von Bonstetten,
the other by Heinrich von Gundelfingen, but these are supplemented
by a mass of documentary evidence derived from ancient records and
other sources. A comprehensive nineteenth century biography is that
of J. Ming, Der selige Bruder Nikolaus von Flue,
and others have since been written by A. Baumberger, F. X. Wetzel
and J. T. de Belloc, in Italian by F. Andina (‘945), and in French
by A. Andrey (1941) and C. Journet (i947). See also the Acta
Sanctorum, March, vol. iii, and the Kirchenlexikon,
vol. ix, pp. 316-319.
(also known as Bruder
Klaus)
Born at Flüeli
near Sachseln, Obwalden (Unterwalden), Switzerland, March
21, 1417; died at Ranft, Switzerland, March 21, 1487; cultus
approved in 1669; canonized 1947; feast day formerly
March 21; feast day in Switzerland is September 25.
"My Lord and my God,
remove from me all that may keep me from you. My Lord and
my God, give me all that I need to bring me to you. My Lord
and my God, take me from myself and give me to yourself." --Nicholas
von Flüe.
Nicholas was born into
a family of prosperous farmers, who owned the Kluster Alp
and the estate of Flüeli on the Sachsterberg (near Lucerne),
from which their surname derives. At various times Saint Nicholas
was a soldier, peasant, patriot, and judge in Switzerland.
His father held a civil post; his mother was very devout and
raised her sons to belong to the brotherhood of the Friends of
God (Gottesfreunde). The society sought to live a strict life, to
meditate on the passion of the Lord, and to seek a close relationship
with God. They lived with their families in small communities
or as hermits. Thus, Nicholas was pious from childhood. He was
also illiterate.
In his youth Nicholas
fought in defense of Swiss Confederation liberties, especially
against the Hapsburgs. After the siege of Zurich in 1439,
he was commissioned in the army. He defended women and children
and the Church, fighting "with a sword in one hand, and a rosary
in the other!"
He loved solitude and
prayer, but, by 1447, he married pious and comely Dorothea
Wysling, daughter of one of the chief families of Sachseln.
In the 30 years of their marriage, he had 10 children: John,
Rudolph, Walter, Henry, Nicholas, Dorothea, Marguerite, Katherine,
Veronica, and another girl who died in infancy. John was elected
Landmann of Unterwald. Nicholas (the youngest) studied at the University
of Basle and became a priest; another became a governor of the province.
Dorothea's piety led her to be called "the consolation of the Church."
Nicholas would rise
at dawn to tend the flocks, eat at 9:00 a.m. with his family
and servants at the same table, and again at the end of the
day they would gather for Vesperbrod and end the evening with
family prayers. While working in the fields, he was often rapt
in ecstatic prayer, experiencing visions and revelations. He
continued the devout practices of his youth, fasted frequently,
and often spent the night in prayer.
In 1460, Thurgau was
invaded by Austria and Nicholas commanded 100 men. During
this campaign at Katharinental the Swiss troops were faced
with a situation that anticipated in miniature that at Monte
Cassino in 1944: When the Swiss succeeded in capturing the village
of Diesenhofer, many Austrian soldiers sought refuge in the
church of the Dominican Convent of Saint Catherine. The Swiss
command was going to burn the church, but Nicholas prayed for divine
guidance before the crucifix in the cloister, then he asked the
command to revoke its order stressing the moral gravity of the act.
The order was canceled. Nicholas was awarded a gold medal when peace
was declared, in thanks for his services.
Fellow-citizens wanted
him to accept the office of Landmann (governor), but he
twice refused. He was appointed magistrate, served as judge
for the canton, and was sent as a deputy for Obwalden to councils.
When, in 1465, a powerful family appealed his fair decision
and was rendered an unjust one against a humble peasant, he resigned.
"Later he testified that he could see and feel flames of fire,
of a disgusting odor, issuing from the mouths of the judges as they
pronounced their unjust sentence; and he knew that they already had
a foretaste of hell within themselves." Though the elite turned
against him and spoke calumnies of him, Nicholas was still sought
out by his neighbors and people from the adjoining cantons to settle
disputes.
In 1467 (age 50), fourteen
months after the birth of the tenth child, Nicholas heard
God's command to live as a hermit and told his wife immediately.
He resigned his offices and, with his devout wife's permission,
left his family to live for the next 20 years as a hermit in
almost perpetual prayer. Dorothea was overcome by the news but
put no obstacles in his way because she recognized the call. "She
wept as she made the supreme sacrifice" of allowing her husband to
leave. His relatives and neighbors, however, were full of indignation,
which he disregarded. Nicholas and his wife drew up an agreement and
told the family and servants that Dorothea was thenceforth head of
the family.
He left barefoot and
bareheaded, wearing a drab habit and carrying a rosary
and a staff. Thus clad as a pilgrim, Nicholas became known as
Brother Klaus. He appears to have been headed for Strasbourg,
France, where the headquarters of the Gottesfreunde lay, looking
for a hermitage in which to spend his final years. On his way, however,
he wandered toward Basle, where he was put up by a peasant who was
a Friend of God, who told him that the Swiss were unpopular in Alsace
and that he might not find there the life that he sought.
That night during a
violent thunderstorm, Nicholas looked at a little town beyond
the frontier and saw that lightning made it appear to be
in flames. He took this as a divine confirmation of the peasant's
advice and turned back. When Brother Klaus decided to follow
the peasant's suggestion, he felt a violent pain in his intestines
and was surrounded by light. Thereafter, he "never felt the
need of human food or drink, and have never used them." Hunters brought
back to his family the news that they had seen him living on his pastureland
in a shelter of boughs. Family members went to beg him not to stay
there and fall prey to exposure.
So, he finally moved
to Ranft, where the people of Obwalden built him a cell
and a small chapel. He lived many years in this lonely place
above a narrow gorge within earshot of the mountain stream spending
most of his time in prayer. He prayed and meditated from midnight
to midday, attended Mass in Sachseln every Sunday, and paid an
annual visit to Lucerne for the Musegger procession. He never
ate or drank anything except the Blessed Sacrament.
Abbot Oswald Isner wrote:
"When Nicholas had abstained for 11 days from taking natural food, he sent
for me and asked me secretly whether he should take some food or continue
to fast. He had always desired to live without eating, the better to separate
himself from the world. I touched the parts of his body where little flesh
was left; all was dried up; his cheeks were hollow and his lips were very
thin.
"When I had seen and
understood that it could come only from divine love, I advised
brother Nicholas to continue to this test as long as he could
stand it without the danger of death. That is what brother
Nicholas did; from that moment until his death, that is for
about twenty-one and a half years, he continued to take no food
for the body.
"Since the holy brother
was more familiar with me than with anyone else, I asked
him many times how he managed to do it. One day in his cell
he told me, in great secrecy, that when the priest celebrated communion
he received the strength which alone permitted him to live without
eating or drinking."
When those seeking his
counsel asked him about eating nothing, Nicholas would reply, "God knows."
Cantonal magistrates had his cell watched for a month to ensure themselves
of the fact that no one brought him food.
Nevertheless, Nicholas
held that "holy obedience is the highest virtue." When Bishop
Thomas visited him and commanded him to eat bread and a little
wine after 18 months of nothing, Nicholas hesitated to obey.
When he did try to eat a tiny fragment of a morsel, he almost
choked to death and the bishop finally believed.
Until he had a chaplain,
he attended Sunday Mass and Holy Days at the parish church
of Sachseln. Nicholas founded a chantry for a priest with donations
and thus was enabled to assist at Mass daily. In 1470, Pope
Paul II granted the first indulgence to the sanctuary at Ranft
and it became a place of pilgrimage. Occasionally Klaus would make
a pilgrimage to Engleburg or Einsiedeln.
He received the great
(including Emperor Frederick III), the humble, and children.
Many pilgrims came for counsel. He could speak with authority
to married people and children. His wife and children also attended
Mass in his chapel and listened to his spiritual counsel.
In 1481, the Swiss Confederation
had gained its independence from Charles the Bold of Burgundy,
the rulers of Europe sought its alliance, and it was on
the verge of breaking apart over how to divide the spoils gained
during the conquests. Internal disputes threatened its solidarity,
but an agreement was reached and put forth in the Compromise of
Stans. Still unresolved, however, was the issue of the inclusion
of Fribourg and Soleure, and it caused such controversy that in
1481 civil war was feared. A parish priest of Stans recommended seeking
a final opinion from the 64- year-old Nicholas. This was agreed
to, and he went to Nicholas, whose counsel had been sought at various
stages of the drafting of the edict, and it has even been said that
it was drawn up in his cell. After the priest's return to Stans, the
council arrived at a unanimous decision within an hour and maintained the
unity of the land.
Despite his lack of
education and experience with the world, his mediation led
to permanent national unity for Switzerland. He could not
even write; he used a special seal as a signature. Letters of
thanks to him from Berne and Soleure still survive.
Six years later, he became
ill for the last time. He suffered greatly for eight days, received Holy
Viaticum, then died peacefully in his cell with his wife and children by
his bed. Nicholas was buried at Sachseln and the Flüe family still
survives in Switzerland.
His wife and children
were probably none the worse for his becoming a hermit.
It may be that his prayers and spiritual counsel did more for
his family than his remaining with them would have. We do not blame
explorers and soldiers for leaving their families, why blame
a saint?
His canonization was
delayed because a fire destroyed the documents relating
to it. Nevertheless, he is the patron saint of Switzerland.
Several accounts survive
of visitors' memories of Bruder Klaus: one described him
as tall, brown, and wrinkled with then grizzled locks and a
short beard, bright eyes, white teeth, and a shapely nose. This
corresponds well with a Fribourg portrait of him done in 1492 (Attwater,
Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, J. Delaney, S. Delany, Encyclopedia,
Farmer, White).
Saint Nicholas is portrayed
as a hermit being thrown into a thorn bush by the devil.
At other times he may be shown praying in a mountainous landscape
or entering a house while carrying a staff tipped with a cross.
Nicholas is greatly venerated in Switzerland (Roeder).
|
1491 BD BONAVENTURE OF
FORLI His relics were ultimately conveyed to Venice,
where a cultus grew up marked by many miraculous cures.
BD Bonaventure TORNIELLI
was born at Forli and was a man of good family. He
does not seem to have entered the Order of Servites until
1448, when he was thirty-seven years old, but his fervour
and austerity of life rapidly enabled him to make up
for lost time. After his ordination he prepared himself for
apostolic work by a year of retirement, and then began to preach
with wonderful eloquence and success. He was especially commissioned
by Pope Sixtus IV to undertake this apostolic mission, and
throughout the papal states, Tuscany and the Venetian province
his sermons were productive of a notable reformation of life.
Towards the close of 1488 he was elected vicar general of
his order, an office in which he gave proof of great administrative
ability and charity. But he still continued his missionary work,
and he had just finished preaching the Lent at Udine when
on Maundy Thursday 1491 God called him to Himself, worn out
by age and the hardships of the life he had been leading. His relics
were ultimately conveyed to Venice, where a cultus grew up marked
by many miraculous cures. This cultus was confirmed in 1911.
See the decree
of confirmation printed in the Acta
Apostolicae Sedis, vol. iii (191 s), pp. 659—660; and F. Cornelius, Ecclesiae Venetae, vol. ii, pp. 34—51.
|
1495 Blessed Louis
Morbioli third order Carmelite teaching Christian doctrine begged alms
for the poor OC Tert. (AC) so many miracles
were attributed to his intercession that the body was soon translated
to within he Cathedral.
Born in Bologna, Italy, 1439; cultus confirmed in 1842. As
a young man, Louis was notorious for his dissipated lifestyle which continued
even after his marriage. The Holy Spirit brought Louis low and raised
him up again. After a serious illness, Louis completely turned his life
over to the Lord. He became a member of the third order of Carmelites, began
teaching Christian doctrine, and begged alms for the poor (Benedictines).
Among the tertiaries not living in community must be mentioned Blessed
Louis Morbioli of Bologna (d. 1495).
1485 BD LOUIS MORBIOLI; many miracles were
attributed to his intercessio
The Carmelite friar Baptist of Mantua wrote a METRICAL life
of this beatus, adorned with classical allusions and figures after the
manner then fashionable, a few years after his death. Louis belonged to
a bourgeois family of Bologna where he was born in 1433. He
was a handsome young man, who soon married, but led a careless and at
times sinful life. But in 1462, while he was staying in the monastery of
the canons regular of St Saviour at Venice, Louis was taken very ill, and
the threat to his life, aided by the exhortations of his hosts, brought about
a complete Change in him.
From
being a scandal, he became an example to Bologna and his inward conversion
was manifested by his outward appearance the man of fashion now wore
the same thin, plain garments summer and winter, and no longer curled
and dressed his hair. After he had made provision for her, the wife of
Louis agreed to a separation, and he then began to go from place to place
preaching repentance.
He begged
alms for the poor, taught Christian doctrine to the young and ignorant,
and did not care how ridiculous he seemed to make himself to the eyes
of his former associates. In his moments of leisure he amused himself by
carving images in bone and wood. During the last years of his life his
lodging was below the staircase of a Bolognese mansion, and when his last
illness began he resolutely refused to see a doctor. Instead, he asked
for the sacraments, and when he had received them with great devotion
he died, on November 9, 1485. He was buried in the cemetery of the cathedral,
but so many miracles were attributed to his intercession that the
body was soon translated to within the building. During alterations and
rebuilding in the cathedral a hundred years later the site of his grave
was lost and has never been recovered; but this did not interrupt the cultus of Bd Louis Morbioli, which was confirmed in
1843. The Carmelites claim that Bd Louis became a secular tertiary of their
order after his conversion, and they keep his feast today.
The metrical
life by Baptista Mantuanus is printed in the Acta Sanctorum,
November, vol. iv, pp. 288—297, where it is remarked that the
author does not indulge in poetic licence and depends on his own or eye-witnesses’
knowledge. The Bollandists refer also to other
works. There seems to be some
little doubt about the chronology. There is an account in the Analecta Juris Pontificii, vol. xix
(1926), pp. 1043 seq.; and in R. McCaffrey, The White Friars (1926), pp. 62—63.
|
| 1492 BD BALTHASAR OF
CHIAVARI; vision of our Lady and was miraculously sheltered from a heavy
fall of snow; When he could not walk he had himself carried into church in
order to assist at Mass and the choir offices and to hear the confessions
of the faithful
BALTHASAR RAVASCHIERI was born
at Chiavari on the Gulf of Genoa about the year 1420. He joined the Friars
Minor of the Observance, and in due course was professed and ordained. Balthasar
was a friend and fellow-preacher with Bd Bernardino of Feltre, and joined
enthusiastically and successfully in his missions, but his activities were
cut short by ill health. When he could not walk
he had himself carried into church in order to assist at Mass and the choir
offices and to hear the confessions of the faithful who came to him in crowds.
He also used to be taken into the woods and left there for long periods of
meditation and reading, and here he had a vision of our Lady and was miraculously
sheltered from a heavy fall of snow. This double marvel was commemorated
in the sixteenth century by an inscription cut in stone, and in 1678 was
recorded in the archives of the town of Chiavari. Bd Balthasar died on October
17, 1492, at Binasco, and his cultus was confirmed
in 1930.
Though
we have a certain amount of evidence regarding the later cultus of this beatus, very little
can be stated with certainty about the facts of his life. See the Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, vol. ii (1909),
p. 523. What little is known has been gathered together in the small volume
of Fr Bernardino da Carasco, I1 b. Baldassare Ravaschieri (1930).
|
1492 Blessed Tadhg
MacCarthy Many cures have been reported at
his under the high altar of the cathedral of Ivrea
B (AC) Born 1455; died in Ivrea, Savoy,
Italy; beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1895.
Tadhg
was born into the ancient royal line of Munster;
the MacCarthys were the most prominent family in southern
Ireland and inevitably were pitted against the Norman
Fitzgeralds who seized Irish lands during the reign of
Henry II of England. A bitter enmity existed between the two
families that lasted for centuries.
When
Pope Sixtus IV consecrated Tadhg MacCarthy as bishop
of Ross, the Fitzgeralds reacted by contriving to place
a rival claimant in the office. When Tadhg returned from
his consecration in Rome he found the see occupied. About
that same time Sixtus died and Tadhg's enemies seized the
opportunity to vehemently denounce him to the new Pope Innocent
VIII. The charges were so outrageous that the holy father
immediately excommunicated the lawful bishop. An investigation,
however, revealed that Tadhg was innocent of the charges whereupon
Innocent issued three bulls that totally exonerated Tadhg
and appointed him to the bishopric of Cork and Cloyne.
The
Fitzgeralds still opposed him and refused to surrender
the property of the see or to allow him to occupy it.
Innocent intervened by issuing such a strong decree that
the Fitzgeralds finally relented. Tadhg set out from
Rome to assume the leadership of his see. He travelled as a
humble pilgrim and stayed overnight in the hospice of Ivrea.
The next morning he was found dead.
Tradition
says that the bishop of Ivrea was unable to sleep
that night, disturbed by a vivid dream of a bishop, unknown
to him, being taken into heaven. When it was discovered that
Tadhg was a bishop, this dream was considered the first of numerous
miracles connected with him. Many cures have been reported
at his under the high altar of the cathedral of Ivrea, where
he continues to be the subject of veneration (Montague).
1455-1492)
You
can trace the Irish Clan MacCarthy back to the third
century. They were the royal family of Desmond,
the lower half of Munster, the southeast Irish province.
It was Cormac MacCarthy, king and bishop (died 1138), who
built the famous chapel on the Rock of “Cashel
of the Kings.“
MacCarthys
ruled over Desmond until 1395. After that,
however, their power was bitterly contested by the Anglo-Norman
Fitzgeralds, who represented British encroachment.
Gerald, Earl of Kildare, was their dominant leader during
the late fifteenth century.
Thaddaeus
MacCarthy, born in Cork, was educated by the Franciscans
of nearby Kilcrea Friary, and ordained a priest by
the bishop of Cork, William Roche. The young priest was
in Rome in 1482 when Pope Sixtus IV learned of the death of
Domnal, Bishop of Ross. The pope, having become acquainted with
Thaddaeus and been impressed by him, named him successor to Domnal,
despite the fact that he had not yet reached the canonical age
for bishops. MacCarthy was consecrated in Rome.
Unfortunately,
the pope, when he appointed MacCarthy, did not
know the full situation back in the diocese of Ross. Domnal,
before his death, had resigned his see to Odo, whom he
delegated to go to Rome to report on the resignation and Odo's
succession. When Thaddaeus got back to Ireland, therefore,
he found that Odo considered himself rightful bishop of Ross.
The death of Pope Sixtus only complicated the question of which
claimant really possessed the see.
MacCarthy
was strongly supported by Bishop Edmund de Courcy,
but the Fitzgeralds stood firmly against Thaddaeus, and
he had to take refuge in a Cistercian monastery. It quickly
became a political and cultural battle between the native
Irish and the Anglo-Normans. The latter denounced Bishop
Thaddaeus as an intruder; and the new pope, Innocent VIII, taken
in by them, excommunicated MacCarthy.
Bishop
MacCarthy, to prevent continuing scandal, appealed
to the pope to investigate the case further. As a result,
Pope Innocent found that he had been misinformed by the
Geraldines. He confirmed Odo as bishop of Ross, but by way
of recompense, appointed Thaddaeus bishop of Cork and Cloyne,
praising his merits.
Unfortunately,
the Anglo-Normans rejected this Roman solution.
When Bishop MacCarthy returned to assume his duties
at Cork and Cloyne, he found that his enemies had gained
control of the diocesan property. For two years thereafter,
the bishop went from village to village in his diocesan
territory trying to prove his rights by means of the papal
documents. Nobody would listen to him, so at length he wearily
returned to Rome.
On
July 1, 1492, Pope Innocent VIII gave MacCarthy
another document. It sternly ordered Gerald, Earl of Kildare,
and all others, to protect the episcopal properties
of the bishop of Cork and Coyne and to acknowledge his right
to those sees.
Bishop
MacCarthy set out for Ireland once more.
There was nothing triumphant about his journey.
He traveled north alone, on foot, wearing no signs
of his rank, but only the scallop-shell of the pilgrim.
That night the pilgrim retired early.
At
dawn, the servants of the hostel, noting a light
streaming from his cell, investigated its cause. The
weary churchman had died peacefully during the night.
Now the local bishop of Ivrea, who had dreamt he saw
a stranger bishop ascending into heaven, came over to investigate.
In the dead pilgrim's wallet he found his episcopal
cross and ring and the papal document testifying to his rights
as bishop of Cork and Cloyne.
If
the Irish Geraldines had spurned their bishop,
the citizens of Ivrea gave him an honorable burial among
them. When miracles were wrought at his tomb, they
hailed him as "blessed," and promptly enshrined him in
their cathedral, where his relics are still venerated.
In 1895, Pope Leo XIII confirmed the title “Blessed
Thaddaeus” long since given to
him at Ivrea.
For
many of us, life is one frustration after another.
But if frustration is our cross, and we bear it with
patience and humility, it can gain us heaven as well as
any other mortal trial. That is how blessed Thaddaeus
MacCarthy won his crown.
--Father
Robert F. McNamara
|
1492 Saint Tikhon
of Medin and Kaluga lived in asceticism
in a deep dense forest, on the bank of the River Vepreika,
in the hollow of an ancient giant oak wonder
worker built a monastery in honor of the Dormition of the
Most Holy Theotokos
1503 St Tikhon
of Lukh, and Kostroma copied books with skill, and
was a fine lathe turner. Out of humility he did not become
a priest
In the world
Timothy, was born within the bounds of the Lithuanian
princedom and was in military service there. In the
year 1482, not wanting to accept Uniatism, he went from
Lithuania to Russia. The saint gave away everything that
he had, accepted monastic tonsure with the name Tikhon, and
settled in the Kostroma diocese in the Lukhov region. The city of
Lukh was at that time given to Prince Theodore Belsky, with
whom St Tikhon had come from Lithuania. On the banks of the boundary
of the Kopitovka St Tikhon built his cell. When two monks, Photius
and Gerasimus, came to him in the wilderness, because of them
Tikhon moved three versts from the Koptovka to a more satisfactory
location.
become a
priest. St Tikhon died on June 16, 1503 in such poverty
that his disciples did not know how they would bury him.
But to their comfort the Archbishop of Suzdal sent a monastic
burial shroud, in which to bury him. Soon after his death,
at the place of his labors, a monastery was built in honorThe
monks earned their living by the work of their hands. St Tikhon
copied books with skill, and was a fine lathe turner. Out of humility
he did not of St Nicholas the Wonderworker.
In 1569
there were healings of the sick at the grave of St
Tikhon, and his relics were found to be incorrupt. But
the igumen Constantine, who uncovered the relics, was
struck blind. After repenting and then recovering his
eyesight, he placed the relics of St Tikhon back into the
ground. The veneration of St Tikhon dates from this time. His
Life and an account of 70 posthumous miracles was compiled
in the year 1649.
1612 St.
Kaikhosro the Georgian The life of has been passed
down to our century in the works of Archbishop Timote
(Gabashvili), a famous Church figure and historian of
the 18th century.
In a passage
describing the frescoes and commemoration books of
the Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem, Bishop Timote writes
that an image of St. Kaikhosro the Georgian is among the
sacred frescoes.
According
to the commemoration books of the Holy Cross Monastery,
St. Kaikhosro the Georgian was tortured to death by Shah
Abbas I in 1612 for his pious veneration of the holy icons.
|
1492 Blessed
Prudentia Castori abbess-founder; her fame rests on miracles
reported wrought after her death; Her zeal was displayed
not only amongst her nuns, whom she ruled with great prudence,
but also in bringing about the restoration of the church
of the Visitation at Como OSA V (PC)
Blessed Prudentia joined
the hermits of Saint Augustine(13
November, 354 28 August, 430) at Milan and later
became abbess-founder of a new convent at Como, where
she died (Benedictines).
1492 BD PRUDENCE,
VIRGIN her fame rests on miracles reported wrought
after her death; Her zeal was displayed not only amongst
her nuns, whom she ruled with great prudence, but also in
bringing about the restoration of the church of the Visitation
at Como
This life of Bd Prudence
seems to have been quite uneventful, and her fame
rests entirely upon the miracles she is reported to have
wrought after her death. A member of the noble Milanese family
of the Casatori, she joined the Hermitesses of St Augustine
in her native city. She was promoted to be superior of the convent
of St Mark at Como, and succeeded in settling the dissensions
which were dividing the two communities. Her zeal was displayed
not only amongst her nuns, whom she ruled with great prudence, but
also in bringing about the restoration of the church of the
Visitation at Como. Full of years, labours and merits, she passed
to her eternal reward after she had governed the house at Como for
thirty-eight years.
Here the Bollandists,
apparently with good reason, complain of the lack of
materials though the Augustinian historiographer, Father A.
Torelli, had done his best to help them. Their account is printed
in vol. ii for May.
|
1493 Blessed Augustine
Fangi; Miracles during life; raised dead, removed devils,
mended broken jar and refilled it; and Miracles around
the tomb of Augustine of Biella led to his beatification in 1878,
after forgotten by everyone, except residents of the little town
at the foot of the Alps where he lived; His life noted for piety and
regularity, but quite unremarkable for unusual events or venturesome
projects, OP (AC)
1493 Bd Augustine Of Biella; suffered
from a painful illness reputation for miracles earned him publicity
most distasteful to him; bore it humbly and patiently; allowed
to withdraw to the house of his order at Venice, and there in retirement
spent the last ten years of his life
Augustine Fangi was born in 1430 at Biella
in Piedmont and became a Dominican at his birth-place.
His life was outwardly uneventful, being passed in a careful
observance of his duties as a religious. For a long time
he suffered from a painful illness, which was made more painful by
the remedies of the physicians, and his patience was the admiration
both of them and his brethren. He was in turn the prior of several
friaries, which he governed capably and restored to a stricter
observance when it had become lax. The success of his preaching
and a reputation for miracles earned him a publicity that was most
distasteful to him; having borne it humbly and patiently for some
time he was allowed to withdraw to the house of his order at Venice,
and there in retirement spent the last ten years of his life.
With the words, "Praise be to God! Praise be to the Most High!"
on his lips he died on July 22, 1493. The cultus of Bd Augustine was
approved in 1872.
Besides a life by D. Riccardi,
Il beato Agostino di
Biella (1874), there is also a sketch by M. Cicognani
(1873). See further, Procter, Dominican Saints, pp. 208-210,
and cf. Mortier, Maîtres Généraux O.P., vol. iv, p. 648.
Born at Biella, Italy, 1430; died in Venice,
1493; beatified in 1872. Miracles around the tomb of Augustine
of Biella led to his beatification in 1878, after he had long
been forgotten by everyone, except the residents of the little
town at the foot of the Alps where he lived. His is another example
of a life noted for piety and regularity, but quite unremarkable for
unusual events or venturesome projects. Augustine's father was
a member of the Fangi family, who were wealthy and noble, and, because
of this, he had planned a secular career for his son. But when the Dominicans
came to Biella, his plans were changed, for Augustine was completely
charmed by their way of life and begged to be admitted. He entered,
while quite young, the new convent that the Dominicans had built at Biella.
Augustine's had a reputation for penance,
even at a time when people were not as squeamish as they are
today. Not only did he inflict harsh penances upon himself, he also
bore with patience whatever pain and annoyance life granted him gratuitously.
At one time he was required to undergo a surgical operation without,
of course, any anaesthetic. He did so without making the slightest
outcry. In fact, he said afterwards that his mind was so intensely
focused on something else that he hardly noticed what was being done
to him.
His mind was on that "something
else" most of the time, for he prayed continually.
In 1464, Augustine
was made prior at Soncino. Several of his best known miracles
were performed there. At one time, a deformed child, who had died
without baptism, was restored to life, by Augustine's prayer,
long enough to be baptized. At another time, when he was passing
down the street, he met a little boy who was crying bitterly, because
he had broken a jug of wine. Augustine gathered up the shards and
put them back together again. Then, with a prayer, he refilled the jug
and handed it back to the startled child.
Still another time, through his
intercession, a woman was delivered from possession of five
devils.
Augustine spent his
last ten years in the convent in Venice, and he died there on
the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene. He was buried in a damp place.
Forty years later, on the occasion of some repairs to the church,
his coffin, found floating on water, was opened. His body and habit
were still intact. This did much to promote interest in his cause. Nevertheless,
it was more than three centuries before he was finally beatified (Benedictines,
Dorcy).
|
1494 Bl. Archangela Girlani
Carmelite mystic ecstasies and levitation miracles.
She was born in Trino, in northern Italy, in 1460,
baptized Eleanor. Though planning to become a Benedictine nun, she
was thwarted in her desire by her horse - the animal refused to carry
her to the convent. She then became a Carmelite in Parma, Italy, taking
the name Archangela, being professed in 1478. Named prioress of the
convent, Archangela founded a new Carmel in Mantua. She was gifted with
ecstasies and levitation and was reported to have performed miracles.
Archangela died on January 25,1494, and her cult was confirmed in 1864.
Blessed Archangela Girlani, OC V (AC) Born in Trino,
Monferrato, Italy, 1461; died 1494; cultus confirmed 1864. Archangela
became a Carmelite in Parma and, at the request of the Gonzagas, was
sent to found a new Carmel at Mantua. She was its first prioress, a living
pattern of perfection (Benedictines).
1494 BD ARCHANGELA GIRLANI, VIRGIN
ELEANOR GIRLANI was born at
Trino in northern Italy in the year 1460, and from earliest childhood
showed herself intensely serious and devout. She went to the neighbouring
Benedictine convent of Rocca delle Donne for her education, but found
that her people came to see her too often and that the discipline observed
by the nuns was not strict enough. Being bent on consecrating herself
to God, and her father refusing his consent, she implored the intervention
of the Marquess of Monferrato. In the end her father yielded, but
only on condition that she took the veil in the Benedictine house
already mentioned. We are told that every preparation had been made
for celebrating her entry into religion there with great solemnity.
The marquess himself was present in state, and the procession set out,
but when the horse which Eleanor was riding had gone but a little way
it stood stock still and nothing could make it advance further. In the
end the company dispersed, and Eleanor returning home was met soon afterwards
by a Carmelite friar who gave her a glowing account of the edifying
life led by the nuns of his order at Parma. Taking Archangela as her
name in religion, the girl entered there on her seventeenth birthday
and took her vows a year later, in 1478.
It is strange
to read that very shortly afterwards she was made prioress. How
soon exactly we are not told, but since she was sent at the request
of the Gonzagas to found a new Carmelite convent at Mantua, where
she died, and had raised this new community to a state of great perfection
before she was taken from them, the delay in advancing her to the office
of superior cannot have been long. We probably must attribute
a great deal of this precipitancy to her social position. As appears
plainly from the records of the religious houses of women in the early
middle ages, a princess or great lady who took the veil and proved herself
to be reasonably observant and virtuous was almost always elected abbess
as soon as a vacancy occurred. This practice seems to have lingered on
through later centuries. In Archangela’s case the deference paid to rank
does not seem to have been misplaced. She was the model of every
religious virtue, most austere in her practice of penance, charitable
to all and possessed of a marvellous spirit of prayer. Many times, we
are told, she was found in her cell rapt in ecstasy and raised several
yards from the ground. On one occasion an ecstasy in which she was completely
insensible to outward impressions lasted more than twenty-four hours.
When, owing to inundations, the convent at Mantua was threatened with
absolute starvation, she fell on
her knees in prayer and straightway an unknown person came to the gate
bringing an adequate supply of provisions.
Certain strange
happenings were recorded after her death, which occurred on January
25, 1494, of which the most interesting perhaps
is the pear tree tradition. Shortly after her arrival at Mantua Mother
Archangela had planted a pear tree in the convent garden. Now it
was believed that the tree always produced as many blossoms, and in
due course as many pears, as there were sisters in the community. What
is more, if a pear fell off, this was a certain indication that one
of the community would die within the year. The prioress herself, as
long as she was in charge, always, when a pear fell, exhorted her community
to make a good preparation for death, seeing that they none of them
knew for whom the warning was intended. It is also averred that the
same marvel continued for many years, long after Bd Archangela’s death.
Her cultus was confirmed in 1864.
It is difficult
to form any idea of the value of the evidence upon which these
and similar details connected with the life of Bd Archangela are
based. They may be read in a tiny booklet written by the Abbe Albarei
from notes supplied by a Piedmontese Dominican. It bears the Carmelite
device of cross and stars, and is entitled Notice
sup la Vie de la bse. Archangela Girt oni (Poitiers, 1865).
|
1495 BD BARTHOLOMEW OF
MANTUA; he showed himself a preacher
of great power, with a burning devotion to our Lord in
the Blessed Sacrament: it was by anointing with oil taken
from the lamp burning before the Most Holy that Bd Bartholomew
brought about several among his miracles of healing;
Bd Baptist Spagnuolo; Baptist
speaks of him as a “most holy guide and spiritual master”.
NOT much is
known of the life of Bartholomew Fanti, who was one
of several notably holy Carmelites who adorned the city
of Mantua during the fifteenth century. He was born there
in 1443, and joined the order when he was seventeen years
old. After his ordination he showed himself a preacher of
great power, with a burning devotion to our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament: it was by anointing with oil taken from the lamp burning
before the Most Holy that Bd Bartholomew brought about several
among his miracles of healing. At Mantua he instituted for
lay-people the confraternity of our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose
statutes and devotional exercises he drew up himself.
Bartholomew
is generally said to have been novice-master of the
Carmelite poet, Bd Baptist Spagnuolo; Baptist speaks of
him as a “most holy guide and spiritual master”. Bd Bartholomew
died on December 5, 1495, and his cultus was confirmed
in 1909.
See C. de
Villiers, Bibliotheca Carmelitana, vol. i, p. 243 Il Monte Carmelo, vol. i (1915), pp. 362—365; and Il Mosé Novello ossia il B. Bartolomeo Fanti (1909).
|
1496 BD SEBASTIAN OF BRESCIA all Genoa
came to his tomb, whereat many miracles were reported.
DURING the thirteenth century the family of the Maggi was
one of the most powerful in Brescia and at the head of the party
of the Guelfs; at the time of the birth of Bd Sebastian, early in
the fifteenth century, it had declined from its former estate, but the
name was still held in honour.
Sebastian entered
the Order of Preachers when he was fifteen, and his ministry was
attended with much success: large numbers were brought to repentance,
quarrelling families and communes were reconciled, and the work
of his order strengthened; but few particulars are 
known of his busy life.
He was a powerful preacher and an admirable superior in the many
friaries that he governed. He recognized the genius and virtues
of Jerome Savonarola, whose confessor for a time he was, and at the
age of twenty-nine, when Father Jerome had been professed only six
years, he made him master of the novices at Bologna. Bd Sebastian was
a strict upholder of monastic observance, and worked doggedly at the
reform of several houses, especially that of Lodi, where he set the
example of begging from door
to door for the support of the community. As a superior he wished
to be treated with the openness of a father, and was then gentle and
indulgent; but when his brethren regarded him merely as a master,
he was accordingly severe. When suffering from sickness Bd Sebastian
insisted on carrying out a visitation of his province, but when
he reached the priory of Santa Maria di Castello at Genoa he could
go no further; this, he said to his companions, was to be the place
of his rest for ever. He died there on December 16, 1496, and all Genoa
came to his tomb, whereat many miracles were reported. The
cultus
of Bd Sebastian
Maggi was confirmed in 1760.
Mortier
in his Histoire des mattres
généraux OP., vol. iv, pp. 548—550, speaks in some
detail of Bd Sebastian, and he figures in nearly all the lives
of Savonarola see, for example, Herbert Lucas, Fra Girolamo Savonarola
(1906), pp. 10, 191 seq., etc. A short account is
also given by Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints,
pp. 339—342. For a fuller bibliography
see Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus
OP
|
1496
Saint Daniel the Hesychast, the great wonderworker
and instructor of monastics
Born in Moldavia at the beginning of the fifteenth century. He was baptized
with the name Dumitru. When he was sixteen, he became a monk of the monastery
of St Nicholas at Radauti and received the name David. His spiritual Father
was St Leontius of Radauti (July 1). After many years of ascetical struggles,
he became a chosen vessel of the Spirit and was ordained to the holy priesthood.
He lived for some years at the monastery of St Laurence in the Civoul
de Sus district. There he fulfilled his obediences during the day, and
at night he kept vigil, prayed, and wove baskets. He received the Great
Schema and the new name Daniel. He obtained the igumen's blessing to live
in the wilderness in solitude, where he devoted himself to spiritual struggles.
Around 1450, he lived near the Neamts Monastery by Secu creek for fourteen
years. In time, people discovered where he lived and came to visit him.
Longing for solitude, he moved to northern Moldavia and chiseled out a cell
for himself in the face of a cliff near Putna creek. Next to it, he carved
out a small chapel for prayer.
After his spiritual child St Stephen the Great (July 2) built the Putna
Monastery, which was consecrated in 1470, St Daniel moved near the Voronets
Monastery. Here too, he carved a small cell out of the rock under Soim (Falcon)
Cliff and lived a God-pleasing life for the next twenty years. He guided
many disciples in the principles of the spiritual life, and he also had the
gift of healing the sick of their physical infirmities.
In 1488, when he was over eighty, St Daniel went to live at the Voronets
Monastery, where he was chosen to be the igumen.
St Daniel was a great ascetic and wonderworker, wise and clairvoyant.
People from near and far visited him seeking his spiritual advice, or to
confess their sins. He died in 1496 and was buried at the Voronet Monastery,
where people continue to venerate his tomb.
St Daniel was glorified
by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1992.
|
|
1497 BD THADDEUS,
BISHOP OF CORK AND CLOYNE; his tomb, and the popular cultus of
Bd Thaddeus, encouraged by many miracles, was thus begun. Bishops Richelmy
of Ivrea and Cailaghan of Cork having co-operated in the forwarding
of his cause, the cultus was confirmed in 1895. His feast is kept in the
dioceses of Ivrea, Ross, Cork and Cloyne.
OF the early
life of this bishop, the only Irishman beatified between the canonization
of Lorcan O’Toole in 1228 and the beatification of Oliver Plunket in 1920,
very little is known. He belonged to the royal MacCarthys in the part of
Munster later known as the Desmond country, his father being lord of Muskerry
and his mother a daughter of FitzMaurice, lord of Kerry; Thaddeus (Tadhg)
was a baptismal name in this house for seven hundred years. He is said
to have begun his studies with the Friars Minor of Kilcrea and to have
then gone abroad, and he seems to have
been in Rome when, in 1482 at the
age of twenty-seven, he was appointed bishop of Ross by Pope Sixtus
IV. Three years later when Henry Tudor became ruler of the three
kingdoms, the Yorkist Geraldines made a determined effort to have their
own representative in the see of Ross. Ever since the appointment of Thaddeus
MacCarthy there had been a rival claimant in the person of Hugh O’Driscoll,
his predecessor’s auxiliary, and it was now alleged that Thaddeus had intruded
himself under false pretences, with other charges added. The earl of
Desmond seized the temporalities of the see, and its bishop took refuge
at the Cistercian abbey near Parma, which was given him in
commendam by the bishop of Clogher. By the machinations of the FitzGeralds
Thaddeus was in 1488 declared suspended by the Holy See, and he set off
to Rome to plead his cause in person. After two years of investigation
and delay Pope Innocent VIII confirmed the bishopric of Ross to
Hugh, but nominated Thaddeus to the united dioceses of Cork and Cloyne,
then vacant.
When Bd Thaddeus arrived, he
found his cathedral closed against him and the see’s endowments in the hands
of the FitzGeralds, Barrys and others. In vain he endeavoured to assert his
canonical rights and to obtain peaceful control of his charge: there was
nothing for it but to go again to Rome and appeal to the Holy See. The pope
condemned the tyrants and provided Thaddeus with letters to the earl of
Kildare, then lord deputy of Ireland, to the heads of the bishop’s own clan,
and to others, exhorting them to protect and aid his just cause. With these
Bd Thaddeus set out for home as a pilgrim on foot, and in the evening of
October 24, 1497, reached Ivrea,
at the foot of the Alps, where he stayed at the hospice of the canons regular
of St Bernard of Montjoux. The next morning he was found dead in his bed.
When an examination of his
luggage showed who the dead pilgrim was, the matter was reported to the
bishop of Ivrea, who ordered that he should be buried with the utmost solemnity.
The story of the episcopal pilgrim travelling incognito and on
foot soon got around, and the cathedral was crowded with people from the
neighbourhood who came to the funeral. They continued to visit the tomb,
and the popular cultus of Bd Thaddeus, encouraged
by many miracles, was thus begun. Bishops Richelmy of Ivrea and Cailaghan
of Cork having co-operated in the forwarding of his cause, the cultus was confirmed in 1895. His feast is kept in
the dioceses of Ivrea, Ross, Cork and Cloyne.
Not very much seems to
be known concerning this beatus. In the Irish Ecclesiastical Record for 1896 the lessons sanctioned
for the office of his festival are printed, pp. 859—861. The decree confirming
the cultus may be read in the Analecta Ecclesiastica,
vol. iii (1895), p.
456. It gives very little biographical detail, but dwells principally
on the miracles worked at the shrine at Ivrea. Cf. V. Berardi,
Italy and Ireland in the Middle Ages (1950).
|
1497 Blessed Veronica of Binasco (b. 1445) known as a great contemplative who
also gave
loving care
to sick sisters in her community and ministered to
the people of Milan. She had the gifts of prophecy,
discernment and miracles.
Medioláni,
in cœnóbio sanctæ Marthæ,
Beátæ Verónicæ de Binásco
Vírginis, ex Ordine sancti Augustíni.
At Milan, in the monastery of St. Martha, blessed
Veronica of Binasco, virgin, of the Order of St. Augustine.
Although
she never learned to read and write, she was known
and respected by the secular and ecclesiastical leaders
of her day. Several times Christ gave to St. Martha, blessed Veronica of Binasco,
virgin, of the Order of St. Augustine.in
prayer important messages which she carried to influential
persons such as the Duke of Milan and Pope Alexander VI.
Born
Giovanna Negroni in Binasco, Milan, Italy in 1445,
she was raised in a peasant family. When she was 22 years
old, she joined the monastery of Saint Martha in Milan. She
took the religious name Veronica, reflecting her devotion to
the Passion of Christ.
1497 BD VERONICA OF BINASCO, VIRGIN
ALL states
of life furnish abundant means for attaining holiness,
and it is only owing to our sloth and tepidity that
we neglect to make use of them. Bd Veronica could boast
of no worldly advantages either of birth or fortune. Her
parents maintained their family by hard work in a village near
Milan, and her father never sold a horse, or anything else
that he dealt in, without being more careful to acquaint the purchaser
with all that was faulty in it than to recommend its good qualities.
His consequent poverty prevented his giving his daughter any
schooling, so that she never even learned to read; but his own
and his wife’s example and simple instructions filled her
heart with love of God, and the holy mysteries of religion engrossed
her entirely. She was, notwithstanding, a good worker, and so
obedient, humble and submissive that she seemed to have no will
of her own. When she was weeding, reaping or at any other labour
in the fields she strove to work at a distance from her companions,
to entertain herself the more freely with her heavenly thoughts. The
rest admired her love of solitude, and oncoming to her, often found
her countenance bathed in tears, which they sometimes perceived to
flow in great abundance, though they did not know the source to
be devotion, so carefully did Veronica conceal what passed between
her and God.
Veronica conceived a great
desire to become a nun in the poor and austere
convent of St Martha, of the Order of St Augustine,
in Milan. To qualify herself for this she sat up at
night to learn to read and write. One day, being in great
trouble about her little progress, the Mother of God bade her
banish that anxiety, for it was enough if she knew three letters
The first, purity of the affections, by setting her whole heart
on God; the second, never to murmur or grow impatient at the sins
or misbehaviour of others, but to bear them with patience, and
humbly to pray for them; the third, to set apart some time every day
to meditate on the passion of Christ. After three years preparation,
Veronica was admitted to the religious habit in St Martha’s, where
her life was no other than a living copy of her rule, which consisted
in the practice of evangelical perfection reduced to certain holy
exercises. Every moment of her life she studied to accomplish
it in the minutest detail, and was no less exact in obeying any
indication of the will of a superior.
She for three years suffered
from a lingering illness, but she would never
be exempted from any part of her work, or make use of the least
indulgence. Though she had leave, her answer always was, “I
must work whilst I can, whilst I have time”. It was her delight
to help and serve everyone and her silence was a sign of her
recollection and continual prayer, of which her extraordinary
gift of tears was the outward manifestation. Her biographer
declares that after she had been praying long in any place
the floor looked as if a jug of water had been upset there.
When she was in ecstasy they sometimes held a dish beneath
her face and the tears that flowed into it, so it is stated, amounted
to nearly a quart (!!).
She always spoke of her own
sinful life, as she called it, though, indeed,
it was most innocent, with feelings of intense
compunction. Veronica was favoured by God with many
extraordinary visions and consolations. A detailed account
is preserved of the principal incidents of our Lord’s life
as they were revealed to her in her ecstasies. By her moving
exhortations she softened and converted several obdurate sinners.
She died at the hour which she had foretold, in the year
1497, at the age of fifty-two,
and her sanctity was confirmed by miracles. Pope Leo X
in 1517 permitted her to be honoured in her monastery in the
same manner as if she had been beatified according to the usual
forms, and the name of Bd Veronica of Binasco is inserted on
this day in the Roman Martyrology, an unusual distinction in the
case of a servant of God who has not been formally canonized.
See the life
by Father Isidore de Isolanis, printed in
the Acta Sanctorum, for January
13. This contains a relatively full account of Bd
Veronica’s revelations, revelations which, as Father Bollandus
warns his readers, must be read with caution, as they
include many extravagant statements. Leo X’s bull may be read
in the same place. Cf. also P. Moiraghi,
La B. Veronica da
Binasco (1897).
Her
spiritual life was intense. She was particularly
devoted to the Eucharist and to the Suffering and Death
of Jesus. She experienced physical mistreatment from the
devil, but found strength in prayer, remaining at peace and
overcoming difficulties through the power of Christ. She
cheerfully helped others when help was needed. In spite
of her growing reputation for holiness and wisdom, Veronica remained
humble.
Veronica
died January 13, 1497. So numerous were her admirers
who came to pay their respects, her burial was delayed
for nearly a week. It is said that many sick persons who
touched her body were restored to health. Her remains
are preserved at the parish church in Binasco.
Veronica became accustomed to
nearly constant apparitions and religious ecstasies.
She saw scenes from the life of Christ, yet these never
interrupted her work. She joined an Augustinian lay order
at the convent of Saint Martha in Milan at the age of 22. This
community was very poor; Veronica's job was to beg in the streets
of the city for food. After three years into her vocation as
a nun she became racked with secret bodily pains, but was notably
patient and obedient to her superiors. She received a vision
of Christ in 1494, and was given a message for Pope Alexander VI,
and traveled to Rome to deliver it. After a six-month illness,
Veronica died on the date she had predicted, 13 January 1497.
Veronica is remembered in the Augustinian
Order for her obedience and desire for work. Butler
records a remark she made to her sister nuns: “I must work while I can, while I have
time.” Miracles were attributed
to her, and in a 1517 bulla, Pope Leo X permitted
her veneration in her monastery as though she had been beatified
according to the usual form. Veneration was extended to the
entire Church by Pope Clement X in 1672, and in 1749 her
name was inserted into the Roman Martyrology for 13 January
by Pope Benedict XIV, although her name appears in Augustinian
records of the same year for 28 January.
|
1498 BD MARK OF
MODENA credited with the working of many miracles.
THIS
Mark was born at Modena and entered the Dominican order, in which he became
a renowned preacher throughout northern Italy. He was for many years
prior of the friary at Pesaro and whilst there was credited with the working
of many miracles. Bd Mark died at Pesaro on September 23, 1498. His
body, buried in the church of his order, was afterwards solemnly transferred
to the Lady chapel, where it was venerated every year on Whit Monday. His
cultus was approved in 1857.
See the Acta
Sanctorum, September, vol. vi; L. Alberti, De viris illustribus OP., fol. 248
Année Dominicaine,
vol. vii, p. 49; L. Vedriani, Vita...(1663); Taurisano, Catalogus hagiographicus OP., p. 49.
|
15th v. Saint John of Serbia
incorrupt relics his parents Saint Stephen glorified by many miracles &
St Angelina.
The life of the Serbian
ruler Stephen Brankovich and his family was filled with instability
and misfortune.
After Serbia was
seized in 1457 by the Turks, the then Serbian ruler's middle son, Stephen
(October 9), distinguished by a meek disposition and fine knowledge
of Holy 
Scripture, went to
the capital of Turkey after his sister had been given to Sultan Murat in
marriage. Learning that the Turks had burned the Mileshevsk monastery with
fanatic cruelty, St Stephen rose up to defend Serbia from oppression.
When he married Angelina
(July 30), the daughter of the Prince of Albania, the Turks threatened
St Stephen and his family with punishment. With his wife and three
children he was forced to hide first in Albania, and then in Italy,
where he died.
St Angelina transferred
the incorrupt relics of her spouse to Kupinovo. At the end of
the fifteenth century a son of the Righteous Stephen and Angelina,
St John, became ruler of Serbia. The incorrupt relics of St John
and his parents were afterwards glorified by many miracles.
Saint_Angelina wife of
John
|
June 23 1480 Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God
Today the church celebrates the miracle which led to the saving of Moscow
from the invasion of Khan Achmed in 1480.