251? ST CYRIL OF CAESAREA,
BOY MARTYR
OF this boy martyr we are told that without the knowledge of his pagan father
he had become a Christian. The father, discovering that the child refused
to pay any mark of respect to the idols, turned him out of doors. This happened
at Caesarea in Cappadocia, and the governor of the city gave orders that
Cyril should be brought before him. Cajoleries and threats proved equally
ineffectual to shake the boy’s resolution. Then the governor ordered him
off as if to execution; but he gave directions that after the youth had seen
the blazing pyre into which he might be thrown, he was to be brought back
to the court. On his return Cyril only complained that the sentence had not
been carried out, and the governor, infuriated, had him put to death by the
sword.
The so-called
passio, which exists only in Latin, looks more like a fragment
of a panegyric than a historical document. It is printed in the Acta Sanctorum,
May, vol. vii, and in Ruinart. The real interest of the case lies in the
fact that Cyril’s name, with a mention of Caesarea in Cappadocia, was included
already in the Syriac breviarium of the early fifth century under May 28,
and that the same entry also appears on May 29 in the Hieronymianum,
revised in Gaul a century or two later.
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275 St. Conon Two men, father and son, having the same name,
martyred at Iconium in Asia Minor
Apud Icónium,
in Lycaónia, pássio sanctórum Conónis, et fílii
annórum duódecim, qui, sub Aureliáno Imperatóre,
cratículæ, prunis suppósitis et óleo superinfúso
candéntis, suspensiónis in equúleo atque ignis pœnam
constánter passi, ad extrémum, málleo lígneo
mánibus eórum contrítis, spíritum emisérunt.
At Iconium in Lycaonia, in the time of Emperor Aurelian, the martyrdom of
the Saints Conon and his son, a child twelve years of age, who were laid
on a grate over burning coals sprinkled with oil, placed on the rack, and
exposed to the fire. Finally their hands were crushed with a mallet,
and they breathed their last.
The younger Conon
was only twelve when he and his father were roasted over a fire and then
killed on the rack.
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299 St.
Restitutus Roman
martyr first Bishop of London
Romæ, via Aurélia,
natális sancti Restitúti Mártyris.
At Rome, on the Via Aurelia, the birthday of St. Restitutus,
martyr.
He was put to
death during the persecution of the Church under Emperor Diocletian.becomes
the first Bishop of London. The site of his cathedral is unknown.
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303 St. Theodosia
& Companions group of thirteen female martyrs who were supposedly
slain at Caesarea, in Palestine. Theodosia was also the reputed mother of
St. Procopius.
Cæsaréæ Philíppi sanctárum Mártyrum
Theodósiæ, quæ sancti Procópii Mártyris
éxstitit mater, et aliárum duódecim nobílium
matronárum; quæ, in persecutióne Diocletiáni,
cápitis obtruncatióne consummátæ sunt.
At Caesarea Philippi, the holy martyrs Theodosia, mother
of the martyr St. Procopius, and twelve other noble women, whose lives were
ended by their being beheaded in the persecution of Diocletian.
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347 St. Maximinus of
Trier Bishop of
Trier, Germany miracle worker ardent
enemy of the Arian heretics in the councils of Milan, Sardica, and Cologne
apologist for orthodox Catholicism called “one of the most courageous bishops
of his time” by St. Jerome
Tréviris beáti Maximíni, Epíscopi et Confessóris;
a quo sanctus Athanásius Epíscopus, ob persecutiónem
Arianórum éxsulans honorífice suscéptus fuit.
At Treves, blessed Maximinus, bishop and confessor, who
received with honour the patriarch St. Athanasius when he was banished by
the Arian persecutors.
He was probably born at Silly,
France, and succeeded St. Agritus
as bishop of Trier, giving refuge to St. Athanasius in 336. St. Paul, the
patriarch of Constantinople, was also given Maximinus’ protection. Maximinus
was an ardent enemy of the Arian heretics, opposing them in the councils
of Milan, Sardica, and Cologne. He was a known miracle worker and apologist
for orthodox Catholicism and was called “one of the most courageous bishops
of his time” by St. Jerome.
347 ST MAXIMINUS, BISHOP OF TRIER
ST MAXIMINUS, who was perhaps
a native of Poitiers, left his home in early youth for Trier, possibly attracted
thither by the reputation of its bishop, St Agritius. There he completed
his education and there he was raised to the episcopate to become the successor
of St Agritius. When St Athanasius went to Trier as an exile in 336, St Maximinus
received him with honour, deeming it a privilege to be able to entertain
so illustrious a servant of God. St Athanasius stayed with him two years;
and his writings emphasize the courage, vigilance and noble qualities of
his host who was, moreover, already famous for his miracles. St Paul, bishop
of Constantinople, when banished by Constantius, likewise found a retreat
at Trier and a powerful protector in its bishop. St Maximinus convened the
synod of Cologne which condemned Euphratas as a heretic, depriving him of
his see. He warned the Emperor Constans, whose favourite residence was at
Trier, against the errors of the Arians and he himself opposed them on every
possible occasion: so that his name was coupled with that of St Athanasius
in the excommunication which the Arians afterwards launched against their
opponents from Philippopolis. The date of his death is uncertain: but we
are told that it cannot have been later than 347 because his successor Paulinus
is known to have been in possession of the see of Trier in that same year.
Although St Maximinus seems to have written much, none of his works have
survived.
A life
of Maximinus is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. vii, but
the biography written by Servatus Lupus in the ninth century is probably
preferable. It has been edited by B. Krusch
in MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. iii, pp. 71—82. The question of the
Council of Cologne in 346 has been much debated. Mgr Duchesne denied the
existence of any such council see Revue d’Histoire ecclésiastique,
vol. iii (1902), pp. 16—29; but consult H. Quentin in Revue Bénédictine,
vol. xxiii (1906), pp. 477—486, and Hefele-Leclercq, Histoire des Conciles,
vol. i, pp. 830—836. On Maximinus, cf. Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux,
vol. iii, p. 35, and the summary account by J. Hau, Sankt Maximinus (1935).
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|
5th v. Sisinius, Martyrius, and
Alexander, who were persecuted by the heathens of Anaunia
In agro Tridentíno
natális sanctórum Mártyrum Sisínii, Martyrii et Alexándri; qui, témpore Honórii Imperatóris, in Anáuniæ pártibus (ut scribit
in vita sancti Ambrósii Paulínus), persequéntibus Gentílibus, martyrii corónam adépti
sunt.
In the district
of Trent, in the time of Emperor Honorius, the birthday of the holy martyrs
Sisinius, Martyrius, and Alexander, who were persecuted by the heathens of
Anaunia, and obtained the crown of martyrdom, all of which is told by Paulinus
in the Life of Ambrose.
397 SS SISINNIUS, MARTYRIUS
AND ALEXANDER, MARTYRS
AMONGST the many strangers who came to sojourn in Milan during the reign
of Theodosius the Great were three natives of Cappadocia, Sisinnius and the
two brothers Martyrius and Alexander. St Ambrose esteemed them so highly
that he commended them to St Vigilius, bishop of Trent, who was in great
need of missionaries. Sisinnius having been ordained deacon and Martyrius
lector, the three were commissioned to preach the gospel in the Tyrolese
Alps where Christianity had made but little way. They laboured especially
in the valley of Anaunia (Val di Non). There, in spite of opposition and
ill-treatment, they gained a great number of souls and Sisinnius built a
church in the village of Methon or Medol, where he assembled his converts
to complete their instruction. The pagans, enraged at the success of the
missionaries, resolved to force the newly-baptized Christians to take part
in one of their festivals. Sisinnius and his companions did their best to
keep their converts away, and their opponents thereupon attacked the missionaries
in their own church, beating them so severely that Sisinnius died within
a few hours. Martyrius managed to creep away into a garden, but his enemies
found him the following day, and dragged him by the legs over sharp stones
till he died under this brutal treatment. Alexander also fell into their
hands. They tried by threats to make him renounce his faith as they were
burning the bodies of his companions. Finding their efforts unavailing, they
cast him alive into the same fire. The ashes of the saints were collected
by the faithful and taken to Trent. Afterwards St Vigilius erected a church
on the spot where they had suffered.
Though the details
supplied in the supposed “Acts” of Sisinnius, in the Bollandists, May, vol.
vii, are of little account, the fact of the martyrdom is certain. We possess
the letters written by Vigilius himself to the bishop of Milan and to St
John Chrysostom. St Augustine also speaks of them, as does St Maximus of
Turin. See further the references given in CMH., p. 281,.
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550 St. Maximus
6th century bishop
of Verona, Italy he governed his see in a period of political and military
turmoil.
Verónæ
sancti Máximi Epíscopi. At Verona,
St. Maximus, bishop.
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745 St. Theodosia
and companions
Nun and martyr defended icons
Born to a noble family, she was orphaned in her youth and eventually
became a nun at Constantinople
(modern Istanbul, Turkey) at the monastery of St. Anastasia.
She led a group of nuns in defense of the icon of Christ which hung over
the main door of the community when soldiers were sent to enforce the decrees
of the Iconoclast emperors Leo Ill the Isaurian and Constantine V. Theodosia and
twelve other nuns were arrested and tortured; Theodosia died of her grievous
injuries while in prison. Theodora and companions who are venerated on the
same feast day.
745 ST THEODOSIA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
THE history of St Theodosia was written
in the fourteenth century by Constantine Akropolites, who seems to have drawn
upon early written records and oral tradition; he inhabited a house at Constantinople
near the martyr’s tomb and was one of her great votaries. According to him
she came of a noble family and lost her parents when she was still very young.
She afterwards took the veil in the monastery of the Anastasis in Constantinople.
She lived in the days of the Emperors Leo the Isaurian and his son, Constantine
Copronymus, who strove to abolish the public veneration of sacred images.
When the order had gone forth for the destruction of a greatly revered image
of our Lord, Theodosia at the head of a band of women shook the ladder which
supported the official who was about to cast it down. The man fell and was
killed. The women then stoned the palace of the pseudo-patriarch Anastasius,
obliging him to flee. Summary punishment was meted out to the women but especially
to Theodosia as their ringleader. She was tortured in prison, her throat
was torn out, and she died of the treatment she received. It is not difficult
to suggest reasons why the name of this nun is not found in the Roman Martyrology.
A sufficient
account is provided in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. vii. Probably
the most reliable text is that of the Constantinople Synaxary
(ed. Delehaye), cc. 828—829, under July 18. A translation of the “passion”
will be found in Dom Leclercq, Les Martyrs, vol. iv.
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750
St. Votus, Felix (brothers), & John Hermits in the Pyrenees Mountains Their place
of seclusion became the site of the Benedictine abbey of St. John de Ia Pena
Votus and Felix were brothers from Saragossa, Spain, who gave
up all worldly interests and embraced the eremitical life. Upon going to
the Pyrenees, they became companions of John. Their place of seclusion, beneath
a rock (called a pena) became the site of the Benedictine abbey of St. John
de Ia Pena.
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750 St. John
de Atares Spanish
hermit in the Aragonese Pyrenees the Benedictine Abbey of St. John de Ia
Pena. It served as the cradle of the religious and spiritual life of Navarre
and Aragon.
lived under a rock promontory, and a monastery was later established
on the site, the Benedictine Abbey of St. John de Ia Pena. It served as the
cradle of the religious and spiritual life of Navarre and Aragon. |
St. Eleutherius Patron saint of Rocca d’Arce,
southern Italy brother of Sts. Grimbald and Fulk, was English
Arcáni, in Látio, sancti Eleuthérii
Confessóris. At Arcano in Lazio, St. Eleutherius,
confessor.
Eleutherius, the brother of Sts. Grimbald and Fulk, was English.
A pilgrim, he died in Rocca d’Arce. |
1242 SS. WILLIAM, STEPHEN,
RAYMUND AND THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
THE twelve martyrs who are commemorated together on this day were all directly
or indirectly connected with the branch of the Inquisition which had been
set up at Toulouse in s 1228 to combat the errors of the Albigensians and
other false teachers in Languedoc. Pope Gregory IX specially commissioned
the Order of Preachers to expound the faith in Toulouse and the neighbouring
districts, and to deliver heretics over to the secular arm. The Dominicans
encountered great hostility and drew upon themselves the bitter hatred of
the Albigensians; they were driven out of Toulouse, Narbonne and other places
by the mob. As they went, the friars, undaunted by the treatment they were
receiving, chanted aloud the “Salve Regina” and the Apostles’ Creed. At Avignonet,
to the south-west of Toulouse, they conducted a preaching mission with the
assistance of other priests, and were offered hospitality in the local castle,
which belonged to Count Raymund VII of Toulouse but which was then in charge
of his bailiff. All unsuspecting, they accepted the invitation. As they were
retiring for the night, they were set upon and butchered by a band of soldiers
who had been secretly introduced into the building. They uttered no cry,
but with their dying breath praised God in the words of the Te Deum. The
little company included three Dominicans—William Arnaud and two others—two
Friars Minor, Stephen and Raymund, two Benedictines, four other clerics and
a layman. Many cures reported at their grave led to a cultus that was confirmed
more than six hundred years later, in 1856.
A summary
compiled from the Chronicle of Toulouse and other sources will be found in
the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. vii. See also the Monumenta 0. P.
Historica, vol. i, pp. 231 seq. Mortier, Histoire des Maîtres
généraux 0. P., vol. i, pp. 357 seq. Leon, Aureole
Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 356—374; Procter,
Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 152—155.
|
1242 St. William
Arnaud martyred
by the heretics with eleven companions Dominican inquisitor general in Southern
France during the effort to extirpate the Albigensian heresy
Martyr and inquisitor.
A member of the Dominicans, he held the post of inquisitor general in Southern
France during the effort to extirpate the Albigensian heresy. He was martyred
by the heretics with eleven companions and is counted among the Martyrs of Toulouse.
|
1242 Bl. Marytrs of
Toulouse Twelve
martyrs put to death by Albigensian heretics nearToulouse 4 diocesan priests,
3 Dominicans, 2 Benedictines, 2 Franciscans, and 1 layman died singing the
Te Deum on the eve of the feast of the Ascension
Four diocesan priests, three Dominicans, two Benedictines, two Franciscans,
and one layman died singing the Te Deum. They were beatified in 1866.
|
1361 BD PETER PETRONI;
wonders reported at his tomb threatened to disrupt the peace
of the monastery so they ceased.
IN the Carthusian Order Peter Petroni of Siena is held in great
veneration. Born of a distinguished family in that city, he seems to have
manifested from his earliest childhood an extraordinary attraction for the
things of God. He loved to go apart and pray, and sought out little ragamuffins
in the streets to teach them and relieve their needs, spoiling his rich clothes,
so his parents complained, by living in such company. When the Carthusian
monastery of Maggiano was built near by through the munificence of one of
his relatives, he was eager to enter there, and in spite of opposition he
accomplished his purpose at the age of seventeen. His superiors wished him
later to be ordained priest, but he so shrank from the responsibilities entailed
that, after all his remonstrances bad proved fruitless, he chopped off the
index finger of his left hand to render himself for ever disqualified for
ordination. His life was marked by what might seem an almost fanatical determination
to have nothing to do with his own family; on the other hand he is said to
have been favoured by God with marvellous graces and with preternatural knowledge.
Shortly before his death he commissioned a devoted protégé
of his, Gioacchino Ciani, to warn the famous humanist, Boccaccio, that unless
he gave up his wanton literary work and mended his life, God would very soon
summon him to juggernaut. The message was delivered; Boccaccio demurred,
but when Ciani proceeded to remind him of secrets in his past, which were
known to no human being, but which he had learnt from Pd Peter’s disclosures,
the scholar was converted. Peter died on May 29, 1361, and the wonders reported
at his tomb threatened to disrupt the peace of the monastery so they ceased.
There is an
Italian life of Bd Peter, written at least in part by his disciple, Bd John
Colombini, which has been translated into Latin in the Acta Sanctorum,
May, vol. vii. See also the Annales Ordinis Cartusiensis,
by Dom Le Couteulx, vols. v, vi and vii. the conversion of Boccaccio
is confirmed by his correspondence with Petrarch.
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1583 Bl. Richard
Thirkeld priest English
martyr receive preparation for the priesthood at Reims and Douai,
France educated at Queen's College, Oxford. He ministered to
the Catholics of Yorkshire
Also listed as Thirkild. Born in County
Durham, England, he studied at Oxford and was said to be quite old when he
left the isle to receive preparation for the priesthood at Reims and Douai,
France. Ordained in 1579, he went back to England and served the Catholics
in the area around Yorkshire until his execution for being a priest on May
29 at York. England; died at York, England, 1583; beatified 1886. Richard
was educated at Queen's College, Oxford. He ministered to the Catholics of
Yorkshire and was condemned and executed for his priesthood at York (Benedictines).
1583 BD RICHARD THIRKELD, MARTYR
RICHARD TH1RKELD was already an old man when he was ordained a priest in
1579, after having studied at Douai and Rheims. He had been a student, probably
a “scholar”, at Queen’s College, Oxford. He was born in the diocese of Durham,
and for eight years he had prayed daily to be allowed to suffer death for
the faith. He was sent upon the English mission, where he exercised his ministry
chiefly at York and in the neighbouring districts. A night visit to a Catholic
prisoner aroused suspicion, and nine days after the execution of Bd William
Hart he was arrested on the charge of being a priest. He at once acknowledged
his priesthood, explaining the purpose for which he had come to England, and
he was accordingly imprisoned in the Kidcote prison at York. Two months later
he was tried by a jury which pronounced him guilty of treason, mainly on
the score of his admission that he had absolved and had reconciled to the
Church of Rome some of the Queen’s subjects. Remitted to the condemned cell,
he spent the whole night instructing some of the criminals by whom he was
surrounded and preparing them for death. The following day he came up again
before the court, and was condemned to die with the usual barbarities: he
fell upon his knees and gave thanks to God, saying, “This is the day which
the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.” The sentence was
duly carried out, but no details are available because extraordinary pains
were taken by the authorities to prevent the public in general from being
present, so universal was the admiration and sympathy felt for the holy and
venerable-looking old priest.
An account
is printed in Challoner, MMP., pp. 79—83, but more fully in Camm, LEM., vol.
ii, pp. 635—653.
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1607
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi virgin of the Order of the Carmelites famed
for her holy life suffering; mystical experiences God gave this saint
saw her ecstasies as evidence of a great fault in her, not a reward for holiness
Floréntiæ natális
sanctæ Maríæ-Magdalénæ de Pazzis, Vírginis,
ex Ordine Carmelitárum, vita et sanctitáte illústris.
Ejus vero festívitas quarto Kaléndas Júnii celebrátur.
1607 Sanctæ Maríæ-Magdalénæ
de Pazzis, ex Ordine Carmelitárum, Vírginis, cujus dies natális
octávo Kaléndas Júnii recensétur.
St. Mary Magdalene
of Pazzi of the Order of Carmelites, and virgin. Her birthday was mentioned
on the 25th
of May.
At Florence, the birthday of
St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, a virgin of the Order of the Carmelites, who
is famed for her holy life.
1607 ST MARY MAGDALEN DEI PAZZI, VIRGIN
THE family of the Pazzi was one of the most illustrious in Florence and was
closely allied to the Medici, the ruling house it gave to the state a long
line of eminent politicians, governors and soldiers; and to the world one
great woman who in fame has eclipsed them all. The father of St Mary Magdalen
dei Pazzi, Camillo Geri by name, had married Mary Buondelmonte, the descendant
of a family as distinguished as his own. The saint was born in Florence in
1566, and in honour of St Catherine of Siena received her name in baptism.
Almost from infancy she began to display an intense attraction for religion
and good works, and she made her first communion with wonderful fervour when
she was ten. Her father having been appointed governor of Cortona, she was
placed at the age of fourteen as a boarder in the convent of St John in Florence.
There she could give full scope to her devotion and learnt to love the atmosphere
of a religious house.
Fifteen months later her father took her home with a view to arranging a
marriage for her. Several desirable suitors were proposed, but her heart
was so strongly set upon the religious life that her parents after some opposition
reluctantly gave way to her desire. She chose the Carmelite convent of her
native town because its members made their communion almost every day. On
the eve of the Assumption, 1582, she entered the convent of St Mary of the
Angels upon the understanding that she should continue to wear her secular
clothes until she had had full experience of the rule. She had only been
there fifteen days when her parents fetched her home—hoping, no doubt, that
she would reconsider her decision. Her resolution, however, was unbroken,
and three months later she re-entered the convent with their approbation and
blessing.
On January 30, 1583, she received the habit, and took the name of Mary Magdalen.
When the priest placed the crucifix in her hands with the words, “God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ", her face
was suffused with an almost unearthly radiance and her heart was filled with
an ardent desire to suffer during the rest of her life for her Saviour. That
desire was never to leave her. After a most fervent noviciate she was allowed
to take her vows unusually early, because she was dangerously ill. As her
sufferings were obviously very severe, one of the sisters asked her how she
could bear so much pain without a murmur. The saint pointed to the crucifix
and said, “See what the infinite love of God has suffered for my salvation.
That same love sees my weakness and gives me courage. Those who call to mind
the sufferings of Christ and who offer up their own to God through His passion
find their pains sweet and pleasant.” When she was conveyed back to the infirmary
after her profession she sank into an ecstasy which lasted over an hour;
and for forty days she enjoyed heavenly consolations in addition to frequent
raptures. It has often been noticed by writers on the spiritual life that
God is wont thus to visit elect souls with special consolations after their
first act of complete self-surrender. He does it in order to brace them for
the trials which never fail to ensue. To crucify in them all self-seeking,
to teach them to know themselves, and to prepare them to be vessels of His
pure love, He refines them in the crucible of internal tribulation. Usually
the higher the degree of sanctity to which they are to rise, the fiercer
are the cleansing fires. This we find exemplified in the state of desolation
into which this saint fell after her first transports of spiritual joy. But
she did not desire spiritual consolations. Her aspiration was to suffer for
her Saviour’s sake.
Fearing that she might have offended God by over-eagerness to be professed,
Mary dei Pazzi asked and obtained permission to live as a novice two years
after she had made her vows. At the expiration of that time she was appointed
second directress of the extern girls, and three years later she was set
to instruct young nuns. She was now being tried by the most severe interior
trials. Although she fasted always on bread and water, except on Sundays
and holidays, she was assaulted with violent temptations to gluttony and
impurity. To resist them she chastised her body with disciplines, while she
never ceased to implore the help of her heavenly Spouse and of our Blessed
Lady. She seemed to be plunged into a state of darkness in which she saw
nothing but what was horrible in herself and in all around her. For five
whole years she remained in this state of desolation and spiritual dryness,
and then God restored to her soul His holy peace together with the comfort
of His divine presence. In 1590, on Whitsunday at Matins when the Te Deum
was intoned, she fell into a rapture. On emerging from it, she pressed the
hands of the prioress and the novice-mistress, exclaiming, “Rejoice with
me, for my winter is at an end Help me to thank and glorify my good Creator.”
From this time onwards God was pleased to manifest His graces in her.
Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi read the thoughts of others and predicted future
events. To Alexander dei Medici she foretold that he would one day be pope.
Repeating the prophecy on a subsequent occasion she added that his reign
would be a short one: it actually lasted twenty-six days. During her lifetime
she appeared to several persons in distant places and she cured a number
of sick people. As time went on, her ecstasies became more and more frequent.
Sometimes in that state she would appear rigid and lifeless, sometimes she
would carry on her customary duties while remaining entranced. Occasionally
from her words and gestures it was evident that she was in some way participating
in the passion of our Lord or conversing with her divine Spouse and the denizens
of Heaven. So edifying were the words that fell from her lips that a record
was kept of them by her sisters, who collected them after her death into
a book. Her union with God seemed unbroken she would call upon all created
things to glorify their Creator and longed for all mankind to love Him as
she did. She would pray with tears for the conversion of the heathen, of
unbelievers, of heretics, of sinners. She would cry out, “0 Love, love is
not loved, not known by His own creatures. 0 my Jesus If I had a voice sufficiently
loud and strong to be heard in every part of the world, I would cry out to
make this Love known, loved and honoured by all men as the one immeasurable
good.”
In 1604 St Mary Magdalen became bedridden. She was now subject to violent
headaches, and she lost all power in her limbs although she suffered agonies
if touched. Besides being in constant pain she experienced much spiritual
dryness. Nevertheless, the greater her suffering the greater grew her desire
for it. “0 Lord”, she prayed, “let me suffer or let me die—or rather—let
me live on, that I may suffer more!” She even rejoiced if her prayers were
not granted because it meant that God’s will was being done, not hers. When
she knew that her last hour was approaching, she gave a parting injunction
to the nuns assembled round her. “Reverend mother and dear sisters”, she
said, “I am about to leave you and the last thing I ask of you—and I ask
it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ— is that you love Him alone, that
you trust implicitly in Him and that you encourage one another continually
to suffer for the love of Him.” On May 25, 1607, she went to her eternal
reward at the age of forty-one years. Her body, which was untouched by corruption,
still lies in a shrine in the church attached to her convent in Florence,
and in 1669 she was canonized.
In the Acta
Sanctorum, May, vol. vi, the Bollandists print a Latin translation of
the two earliest lives of St Mary Magdalen del Pazzi. The first appeared
in 1611, written by Vincent Puccini, the saint’s confessor in her last years.
The narrative portion is comparatively brief, but it is accompanied by a
supplement of some 700 pages consisting of extracts from her visions and
letters. Father Cepari, who had also acted as her confessor, had likewise
a biography in preparation, but he withheld it out of consideration for Puccini.
It appeared, however, in 1669 with additions borrowed from the process of
canonization. These two works, combined with her letters and five manuscript
volumes of notes of her revelations and dialogues in ecstasy, taken down
by her fellow nuns, constitute our sources. A new selection of her utterances,
Extases et lettres, was presented in 1945 (in Italian,
1924) by Maurice Vaussard, who has further contributed a short life to the
series “Les Saints” (1925). The life by Cepari was translated into English
for the Oratorian Series and was printed in 1849, and there is a full biography
in French by the Viscountess de Beausire-Seyssel (1913). See Fr E. E. Larkin’s
paper on “The Ecstasies of the Forty Days of St Mary M. de’ Pazzi” in Carmelus,
vol. i (1954), pp. 29—71.
It would be easy to concentrate on the mystical experiences God gave this
saint, rather than on her life. In fact, it would be difficult to do differently,
so overwhelming were those gifts from God. The temptation for many modern
readers (including the author) would be to see little to identify with in
these graces and walk away without seeing more. The other temptation would
be to become so fascinated with these stories that one would neglect to dig
deeper and learn the real lessons of her life.
But Mary Magdalene de Pazzi is not a saint because she received
ecstasies and graces from God. Many have received visions, ecstasies, and
miracles without becoming holy.
She is a saint because of her response to those gifts -- a lifelong
struggle to show love and gratitude to the God who gave her those graces.
In fact Mary Magdalene saw her
ecstasies as evidence of a great fault in her, not a reward for holiness.
She told one fellow sister that God did not give this sister the same graces
"because you don't need them in order to serve him." In her eyes, God gave
these gifts to those who were too weak to become holy otherwise. That Mary
Magdalene received these gifts proved, in her mind, how unworthy she was.
Born in Florence on April 2, 1566, Mary Magdalene (baptized Catherine)
was taught mental prayer when she was nine years old at the request of her
mother. Her introduction at this age to this form of prayer which involves
half an hour of meditation did not seem to be unusual. And yet today we often
believe children incapable of all but the simplest rote prayers.
At twelve years old she experienced her first ecstasy while looking
at a sunset which left her trembling and speechless.
With this foundation in prayer and in mystical experience, it
isn't surprising that she wanted to enter a contemplative monastery of the
Carmelite Order. She chose the monastery of St. Mary's of the Angels because
the nuns took daily Communion, unusual at the time.
In 1583 she had her second mystical experience when the other
nuns saw her weeping before the crucifix as she said, "O Love, you are neither
known nor loved."
Mary Magdalene's life is a contradiction of our instinctive thought
that joy only comes from avoiding suffering. A month after being refused
early religious profession, she was refused she fell deathly ill. Fearing
for her life the convent had her professed from a stretcher at the altar.
After that she experienced forty days of ecstasies that coexisted with her
suffering. Joy from the graces God gave were mixed with agony as her illness
grew worse. In one of her experiences Jesus took her heart and hid it in
his own, telling her he "would not return it until it is wholly pure and
filled with pure love." She didn't recover from her illness until told to
ask for the intercession of Blessed Mary Bagnesi over three months later.
What her experiences and prayer
had given her was a familiar, personal relationship with Jesus. Her conversations
with Jesus often take on a teasing, bantering tone that shocks those who
have a formal, fearful image of God. For example, at the end of her forty
days of graces, Jesus offered her a crown of flowers or a crown of thorns.
No matter how often she chose the crown of thorns, Jesus kept teasingly pushing
the crown of flowers to her. When he accused her, "I called and you didn't
care," she answered back, "You didn't call loudly enough" and told him to
shout his love.
She learned to regret the insistence on the crown of thorns. We
might think it is easy to be holy if God is talking to you every day but
few of us could remain on the path with the five year trial that followed
her first ecstasies. Before this trial, Jesus told her, "I will take away
not the grace but the feeling of grace. Though I will seem to leave you I
will be closer to you." This was easy for her to accept in the midst of ecstasy
but, as she said later, she hadn't experienced it yet. At the age of nineteen
she started five years of dryness and desolation in which she was repelled
by prayer and tempted by everything. She referred to her heart as a pitch-dark
room with only a feeble light shining that only made the darkness deeper.
She was so depressed she was found twice close to suicide. All she could
do to fight back was to hold onto prayer, penance, and serving others even
when it appeared to do no good.
Her lifelong devotion to Pentecost can be easily understood because
her trial ended in ecstasy in 1590. At this time she could have asked for
any gifts but she wanted two in particular: to look on any neighbor as good
and holy without judgment and to always have God's presence before her.
Far from enjoying the attention her mystical experiences brought
her, she was embarrassed by it. For all her days, she wanted a hidden life
and tried everything she could to achieve it. When God commanded her to go
barefoot as part of her penance and she could not walk with shoes, she simply
cut the soles out of her shoes so no one would see her as different from
the other nuns. If she felt an ecstasy coming on, she would hurry to finish
her work and go back to her room. She learned to see the notoriety as part
of God's will. When teaching a novice to accept God's will, she told her,
"I wanted a hidden life but, see, God wanted something quite different for
me."
Some still might think it was easy for her to be holy with all
the help from God. Yet when she was asked once why she was weeping before
the cross, she answered that she had to force herself to do something right
that she didn't want to do. It's true that when a sister criticized her for
acting so different, she thanked her, "May God reward you! You have never
spoken truer words!" but she told others it hurt her quite a bit to be nice
to someone who insulted her.
Mary Magdalene was no pale, shrinking flower. Her wisdom and love
led to her appointment to many important positions at the convent including
mistress of novices. She did not hesitate to be blunt in guiding the women
under her care when their spiritual life was at stake. When one of the novices
asked permission to pretend to be impatient so the other novices would not
respect her so much, Mary Magdalene's answer shook this novice out of this
false humility: "What you want to pretend to be, you already are in the eyes
of the novices. They don't respect you nearly as much as you like to think."
Mary Magdalene's life offers a great challenge to all those who
think that the best penance comes from fasting and physical discomfort. Though
she fasted and wore old clothes, she chose the most difficult penance of
all by pretending to like the things she didn't like. Not only is this a
penance most of us would shrink from but, by her acting like she enjoyed
it, no one knew she was doing this great penance!
In 1604, headaches and paralyzation confined her to bed. Her nerves
were so sensitive that she could not be touched without agonizing pain. Ever
humble, she took the fact that her prayers were not granted as a sure sign
that God's will was being done. For three years she suffered, before dying
on May 25, 1607 at the age of forty-one.
In her footsteps: Prayer:
Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, pray that we
will make a commitment to seek the presence of God in prayer the way you
did. Guide us to see the graces God gives us as gifts not rewards and to
respond with gratitude and humility, not pride and selfishness. Amen
|
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 
Benedict XVI met with Aram I Catholicos of Cilicia, the highest
authority of the Orthodox Church. The Pope remembered the
martyrs of the Armenian Church and the Armenian genocide, without explicitly
mentioning it, and denounced the persecution of Christians in modern times.
Benedict XVI
As we watch the spectacle of the world seeming to self-destruct
before our eyes, we can’t help but be saddened and even frightened by so
much evil run rampant. Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, North Korea—It
is all a disaster of epic proportions displayed in living color on our television
screens.