|
Et
álibi
aliórum
plurimórum
sanctórum
Mártyrum
et Confessórum,
atque sanctárum
Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins. Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас! (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!) R.
Deo
grátias. R.
Thanks be to God.
March is the month of Saint Joseph since 1855; 
202322,800 lives saved since 2007 
For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done. The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us that a life of Christian perfection is not impossible.
It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life' Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List Joyful Mystery on Monday Saturday Glorius Mystery on Sunday Wednesday Sorrowful Mystery on Friday Tuesday Luminous Mystery on Thursday Veterens of War Acts of the Apostles Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque How do I start the Five First Saturdays? Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary.
March 3 – 14th apparition at Lourdes (1858) No manifestation of Christ can ever be detached from historical concreteness of the Body of Christ 
The Church and Mary are always together and this is precisely
the mystery of womanhood in the ecclesial community ... To separate
Jesus from the Church would introduce an “absurd dichotomy,” as Blessed
Paul VI wrote (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 16). It is not possible “to
love Christ but without the Church, to listen to Christ but not the Church,
to belong to Christ but outside the Church” (ibid.). Our faith is not an abstract doctrine or
philosophy, but a vital and full relationship with a person: Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God who became man, was put to death, rose from
the dead to save us, and is now living in our midst. Where can we encounter
him? We encounter him … in our hierarchical, Holy Mother Church. It is
the Church which says today: “Behold the Lamb of God”; it is the Church,
which proclaims him; it is in the Church that Jesus continues to accomplish
his acts of grace which are the sacraments.
No manifestation of Christ, even the most mystical, can ever be detached from the flesh and blood of the Church, from the historical concreteness of the Body of Christ. Without the Church, Jesus Christ ends up as an idea, a moral teaching, a feeling. 
Pope Francis Excerpt from his homily of January 1, 2015, given in the Vatican Basilica, for the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God March 3 - Our Lady of Angels (Toulouse, France) - 14th Apparition in Lourdes Mary's Unique Holiness It is no wonder therefore that the usage prevailed
among the Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely
holy and free from all stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy
Spirit and formed as a new creature. Adorned from the first instant
of her conception with the radiance of an entirely unique holiness,
the Virgin of Nazareth is greeted, on God's command, by an angel messenger
as "full of grace", and to the heavenly messenger she replies, "Behold
the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word."
Lumen Gentium Chapter VIII §56
Pope Paul VI, November
21, 1964Thus Mary, a daughter of Adam, consenting to the Divine Word, became the mother of Jesus, the one and only Mediator. Embracing God's salvific will with a full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son, under Him and with Him, by the grace of almighty God, serving the mystery of redemption. March 9 – Our Lady of Miracles (Treviso, Italy, 1510) How could she ever take away the glory of her children? Mary will always have an important
place in my life, partly because I was born near the Shrine of
Our Lady of the Cape, a major shrine in Quebec. Each time I pray
to her, for instance by reciting or "walking" the Rosary with my wife,
I know that the saints are not too far off, not to mention all the angels.
(…)
Mary intercedes for us here below. Mary cannot be separated from her children, in heaven or on earth, no more than Jesus can be separated from the Church. To pray to Mary is to pray to Jesus. (…) She is close to us because she is close to God. How could we not love her? Just by looking at her, we become better people. She is more a mother than a queen. To think that she could ever take away the glory of her children! The little Therese exclaimed, on August 21, 1897: "We shouldn't say that because of her prerogatives, she eclipses the glory of all the saints, like the rising sun causes the stars to disappear. My Lord! How strange that is! A Mother taking away the glory of her children! As for me, I think quite the opposite; I believe that she will make the splendor of the elect even greater." Jacques Gauthier www.jacquesgauthier.com You should never praise anyone until
you see how how it turns out in the end.
-- St. Francis of Assisi March 3 - Our Lady of Help (Italy) - 14th Apparition of Lourdes (France, 1858) No Big Fan of the Rosary Before going to Cameroon, I was no big
fan of the Rosary. I became an adept thanks to the nuns in my Cameroonian
parish. During my captivity, I prayed the Rosary a lot, oftentimes
when I was walking. I even invented more mysteries: the "merciful
mysteries," and others that don't end in -ful or -ous, around Jesus'
healings, and the Seven Words he gave us from the Cross.
However, I was never able to celebrate
Mass; I had no bread, no wine, and no missal… but I did pray overtly
in front of the guards so as to give a small testimony, so they would
know that Christians pray as well.
In the morning, I found it difficult to
pray Morning prayer but Evening prayer was always a special time
of grace for me. I felt at great peace, and knew that it was a gift,
something that didn’t come from me. The fact that I knew so many people
were praying for me was also a great source of comfort.
Missionary Father Georges VandenbeuschEx-hostage kidnapped in Cameroon in November 2013, interviewed by the newspaper La Croix, issue of January 2, 2014 (Excerpts). Mary's Divine Motherhood Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos). Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251. Commemoration of faithful Orthodox Christians departed this life in the hope of resurrection to eternal life |
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308 Basiliscus_Eutropius_and_Cleonicus
250 Alexandríæ pássio sanctórum Cæreális, Púpuli, Caji et Serapiónis. Ibídem commemorátio sanctórum Presbyterórum, Diaconórum et aliórum plurimórum St. Felix Martyr of North Africa with Fortunatus & others Natális sanctórum Mártyrum Macárii, Rufíni, Justi et Theóphili. Item sanctórum mílitum Cleoníci, Eutrópii et Basilísci, qui, in persecutióne Maximiáni, sub Asclepíade Præside, crucis supplício felíciter triumphárunt. 4th v St. Hemiterius and Cheledonius Spanish soldier martyrs in Calahorra 437 St. Camilla Recluse disciple of St. Germanus of Auxerre 6th v. St. Arthelais Virgin and patron of Benevento 6th v. St. Foila Co-patroness of Kil-Faile and Kil-Golgan parishes 6th v St. Winwaloc Abbot-founder St. Non Mother of St. David of Wales 536 St. Titian Bishop of Brescia great evangelizing and expansion movements 575 St. Calupan Recluse monk of Meallot 7th v. St. Lamalisse Scottish hermit. An Island near Arran 803 St. Anselm of Nonantola Benedictine abbot duke 1040 St. Cunegundes Empress Patron of Lithuania virgin 1075 ST GERVINUS, ABBOT 1104 BD SERLO,
ABBOT OF GLOUCESTER “How
much the grace of God, conspiring with his industry, elevated
the place [Gloucester Abbey], what eloquence can sufficiently explain?
The management of the abbey in spirituals is what the weak may look
up to and the strong not despise. This was effected by the discipline
of Serlo, a man humble to the good, but menacing and terrible to the proud
of heart.”
1167 ST AELRED, ABBOT OF Rievaulx "He who loves thee, possesses thee and he possesses thee in proportion as he loves, because thou art love. This is that abundance with which thy beloved are inebriated, melting away from themselves, that they may pass into thee by loving thee.” 1508 Blessed
Jacobinus de'Canepaci Carmelite lay-brother OC (AC)
this good Carmelite lay-brother seems to have been one of those
in which perfection is found by prayer, austerity and charity, A cultus
is said to have begun at his tomb shortly after his death
on account of the miracles worked there, and this was approved in 1845.
1899 Bl.
Mary Angela
Victory over death shone in the gentle countenance of her
face1955 St. Katharine Drexel material and spiritual well-being of black and native Americans |
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|
March 3 - Fourteenth Apparition at Lourdes (France,
1858)
Bernadette
Soubirous is the saint of Lourdes … the saint of penance… the saint
of poverty. Our Lady’s child visionary is also to many the saint
of family. A string of seemingly endless back luck fell on the Soubirous
family, but put to the test time and again, Bernadette and her family
discovered the meaning of unconditional commitment.Unconditional Commitment with Mary “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next”… The happiness that Mary promised to Bernadette was not only for life after death. It is the happiness experienced by all those who progress in the way of prayer; who go beyond prayerful words to the discovery of true prayer. There at the grotto, Bernadette’s deeply prayerful experience silently touched the hearts of all who watched, and crowds began to form in ever greater numbers as the famous Fortnight of Apparitions progressed. Since the apparitions, millions of pilgrims have come to pray to Our Lady of Lourdes in the Grotto of Massabielle. Many sick people have been cured: 67 cures have been recognized as miracles. One day, you also will be happy to come to Lourdes, to pray in front of the grotto where Bernadette saw the Blessed Virgin eighteen times…Adapted from www.catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes |
Pope
Francis|
Concerning the Feelings of
Marian Devotion
Of
all passions love
is the most unmanageable; nay
more, I would not give much
for that love which is never extravagant,
which always observes the proprieties,
and can move about in perfect good taste,
under all emergencies. What
mother, what husband or wife, what youth
or maiden in love, but says a thousand
foolish things, in the way of endearment,
which the speaker would be sorry for strangers
to hear; yet they are not on that account
unwelcome to the parties to whom they are
addressed.
Sometimes
by bad luck they
are written down, sometimes
they get into the newspapers;
and what might be even graceful,
when it was fresh from the heart, and
interpreted by the voice and the countenance,
presents but a melancholy
exhibition when served up cold for
the public eye.
John
Henri Newman
Letter to Pusey, 1866So it is with devotional feelings. Burning thoughts and words are as open to criticism as they are beyond it. What is abstractedly extravagant, may in particular persons be becoming and beautiful, and only fall under blame when it is found in others who imitate them. When it is formalized into meditations or exercises, it is as repulsive as love-letters in a police report. |
| St. Marinus senator & Asterius Roman soldier
Martyrs at Caesarea Israel. Cæsaréæ, in Palæstína, sanctórum Mártyrum Maríni mílitis, et Astérii Senatóris, in persecutióne Valeriáni. Horum prior, cum accusátus esset a commilitiónibus ut Christiánus, et, interrogátus a Júdice, se Christiánum esse voce claríssima testarétur, martyrii corónam abscissióne cápitis accépit; cumque Astérius corpus Mártyris, cápite truncátum, subjéctis húmeris et substráta veste, qua induebátur, excíperet, honórem quem Martyrii détulit, contínuo et ipse Martyr accépit. At Caesarea in Palestine, during the persecution of Valerian, the holy martyrs Marinus, soldier, and Asterius, senator. The former was examined by the judge on the charge laid against him by his fellow soldiers of being a Christian, and as he admitted the accusation in a firm tone of voice, he was beheaded, and thus received the crown of martyrdom. His mutilated body was taken by Asterius on his own shoulders, and wrapped in the garment which he himself wore. This service at once gained for Asterius the palm of martyrdom as a reward for the honour which he had given to a martyr. Marinus was a Roman soldier from a noble family of Caesarea, Palestine, denounced by a rival and martyred for the faith. Asterius, reportedly a senator, buried Marinus’ remains and was slain also. 262 SS. MARINUS AND ASTYRIUS, MARTYRS EUSEBIUS, in his
Ecclesiastical History, describes the martyrdom of St
Marinus. As a man who belonged to a noble family of Caesarea in Palestine,
and had served with distinction in the army, he was about to be honoured
with the decoration of the vine switch
, emblematic of the dignity of “centurion”, when a rival,
who was in the running for the same distinction, raised the objection
that since Marinus was a Christian and would not sacrifice to the
emperor, he was therefore disqualified. Achaeus, the governor, accordingly
questioned him, and eliciting a confession of his faith, gave him
three hours in which to reconsider his position. As he left the judgement
hall he was met by Theotecnus, bishop of the city, who leading him into
the church made him stand close to the altar. Pointing to the sword which
hung at his side and then to the book of the gospels, he told him to choose
between the two. Marinus without hesitation stretched out his hand and
took the book. “Hold fast then to God”, said the bishop, “that, strengthened
by Him, thou mayest obtain what thou hast chosen. Go in peace.” Upon returning
before the judge he declared his faith with as great determination as before,
and was immediately led away to execution.St Astyrius,
a Roman senator in high favour with the emperor, was present at the
martyrdom. Wrapping the body in the cloak he was wearing he carried
it away on his own shoulders and gave it honourable burial. Eusebius
does not say that Astyrius himself was put to death, but Rufinus in
his Latin version of the history assumes this, and both the Roman Martyrology
and the Greek Menaion (under August 7) commemorate the senator as a
martyr. All the information
we possess regarding these saints is derived from Eusebius, Eccl. Hist., bk vii, chs. 15 and 16.
|
| St. Felix Martyr of
North Africa with Fortunatus & others Cæsaréæ, in Palæstína, sanctórum Mártyrum Maríni mílitis, et Astérii Senatóris, in persecutióne Valeriáni. Horum prior, cum accusátus esset a commilitiónibus ut Christiánus, et, interrogátus a Júdice, se Christiánum esse voce claríssima testarétur, martyrii corónam abscissióne cápitis accépit; cumque Astérius corpus Mártyris, cápite truncátum, subjéctis húmeris et substráta veste, qua induebátur, excíperet, honórem quem Martyrii détulit, contínuo et ipse Martyr accépit. At Caesarea in Palestine, during the persecution of Valerian, the holy martyrs Marinus, soldier, and Asterius, senator. The former was examined by the judge on the charge laid against him by his fellow soldiers of being a Christian, and as he admitted the accusation in a firm tone of voice, he was beheaded, and thus received the crown of martyrdom. His mutilated body was taken by Asterius on his own shoulders, and wrapped in the garment which he himself wore. This service at once gained for Asterius the palm of martyrdom as a reward for the honour which he had given to a martyr. Luciolus, Marcia, and thirty-six companions . |
| 4th v St. Hemiterius
and Cheledonius Spanish soldier martyrs who died in Calahorra Old Castile, Spain, their martyrdom was
recorded by St. Gregory of Tour, France, and Prudentius. Calagúrri, in Hispánia, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Hemitérii et Cheledónii fratrum, qui, cum apud Legiónem, Gallǽciæ urbem, in castris militárent, ambo, exsurgénte persecutiónis procélla, pro confessióne nóminis Christi, Calagúrrim usque profécti, ibi, plúribus torméntis afflícti, martyrio coronáti sunt. At Calahorra in Spain, the birthday of the holy martyrs Hermiterius and Cheledonius, soldiers in the army at Léon, a city of Galicia. Upon the approach of persecution they went to Calahorra in order to confess the name of Christ, and after enduring many torments there, they were crowned with martyrdom. 304 SS. EMETERIUS AND CHELIDONIUS, MARTYRS BEYOND Their names and the
fact of their martyrdom, scarcely anything is actually known about
St Emeterius and St Chelidonius, the patrons of Santander. Prudentius,
who composed a long poem in their honour, says that the persecutors
burned the acts of their martyrdom, “grudging us the history of so
glorious a triumph”. Tradition says that they were the sons of St
Marcellus, both of them soldiers like their father, and that they perished
by the sword, under Diocletian, at Calahorra in Spain. According to
a story related by St Gregory of Tours, the ring of St Emeterius and
the orarium (handkerchief?) of St Chelidonius were caught up into heaven at the
moment of their execution.
This seems
to be one of the cases in which an early local cultus
and tradition fully guarantee the fact of the martyrdom,
though we lack knowledge of anything more than the names of the martyrs
and the date and place where they suffered. Prudentius mentions them
in more than one of his poems, and they are noticed in the “Hieronymianum”
(CMH., p. 124). The chapter devoted to them by Gregory of Tours is no.
92 of his In gloria martyrum.
|
| Eódem
die pássio sanctórum Felícis, Lucióli,
Fortunáti, Márciæ et Sociórum. The same day, the passion of the Saints Felix, Luciolus, Fortunatus, Marcia, and their companions. |
308 St. Cleonicus
Martyr with Eutropius & othersItem sanctórum mílitum Cleoníci, Eutrópii et Basilísci, qui, in persecutióne Maximiáni, sub Asclepíade Præside, crucis supplício felíciter triumphárunt. Also, the sainted soldiers Cleonicus, Eutropius, and Basiliscus, who gloriously triumphed by death on the cross under the governor Asclepias during the persecution of Maximian. Basiliscus, and others, put to death by Emperor Galerius in the Province of Pontus on the Black Sea. These martyrs were associated with St. Theodore. The Holy Martyrs Eutropius, Cleonicus and Basiliscus suffered in the city of Pontine Amasea (Asia Minor) in about the year 308. The brothers Eutropius and Cleonicus, and Basiliscus the nephew of the Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit (February 17), were comrades. After the martyric death of St Theodore, they wound up in prison and by their preaching brought many of the pagans in prison with them to the Christian Faith. When he tortured St Theodore, Publius perished shamefully, struck down by divine wrath. Asclepiodotus was chosen as ruler of Amasea, and was more inhumane than his predecessor. Knowing the comrades of St Theodore the Recruit were all in prison, the governor commanded that they be brought to him. Sts Eutropius, Cleonicus and Basiliscus thus firmly confessed their faith in Christ before this new governor. They were mercilessly beaten, so that their bodies were entirely bruised. As he was being tortured St Eutropius prayed loudly to the Savior, "Grant us, O Lord, to endure these wounds for the sake of the crown of martyrdom, and help us, as You helped Your servant Theodore." In answer to the saint's prayer, the Lord Himself appeared to the martyrs with His angels and the holy Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit, saying to them: "Behold, the Savior has come to help you, that you may know life eternal." Soldiers and many of the people standing nearby were also granted to behold the Savior. They urged Asclepiodotus to halt the tortures. Seeing that the people were distraught and ready to believe in the true God, the governor commanded the martyrs to be taken away. The governor then invited St Eutropius to supper and urged him to offer public sacrifice to the pagan gods, yet remain a Christian in soul. Eutropius refused this offer. On the following day they brought
the martyrs to a pagan temple, to force them to offer sacrifice. Eutropius
entreated the Savior: "Lord, be with us, and destroy the raging of
the pagans. Grant that on this place the Bloodless Sacrifice of the
Christians be offered to You, the true God." No sooner had these last
words been spoken, than an earthquake began. The walls of the temple collapsed,
and the statue of the goddess Artemis was smashed to bits. Everyone fled
from the temple avoid being crushed among the rubble. In the noise of
the earthquake a voice was heard from on high:
The night before their execution the saints
spent their time at prayer, and again the Lord appeared to them
and strengthened them."Your prayer has been heard, and on this place
a house of Christian prayer shall be built."
When the earthquake ended, the governor Asclepiodotus, barely recovered from his fright, gave orders to drive high wooden stakes into the ground, tie the martyrs to them and pour boiling tar over them. The saints began to pray to God, and Eutropius cried out turning to the torturers: "May the Lord turn your deed against you!" The tar began to flow beside the bodies of the martyrs, like water with marble, scorching the torturers. Those seeing this fled in terror, but the governor in his bitterness gave orders to rake their bodies with iron hooks and to sting their wounds with mustard mixed with salt and vinegar. The saints endured these torments with remarkable firmness. On the morning of March 3, Sts
Eutropius and Cleonicus were crucified, but Basiliscus was left in prison.
St Basiliscus was executed on May 22 in the city of Komana. They beheaded
him, and threw his body into a river, but Christians found his relics
and buried them in a ploughed field. Later at Komana a church was built
and dedicated to St Basiliscus.
An account of the life of the
holy martyr is found under May
22.
|
| 437 St. Camilla
Recluse disciple of St. Germanus of Auxerre. at Ravenna, Italy. She was born in Civitavecchia, became St. Germanus' disciple, and accompanied his missions to Auxerre, France. There she became a hermitess. |
|
536 St. Titian Bishop
of Brescia Italy; great evangelizing and expansion movements
He was part of the great evangelizing
and expansion movements of the Church in that era. He was German by birth. Bresíxiæ sancti Titiáni, Epíscopi et Confessóris. At Brescia, St. Titian, bishop and confessor. |
| 6th
v. St. Arthelais Virgin and patron of Benevento
Italy. She is recorded as having fled Constantinople, to escape the attentions of Byzantine Emperor Justinian. Arthelais was the daughter of Proconsul Lucius and his wife, Anthusa. When Arthelais fled from the emperor, she went to her uncle, Narses, in Benevento. Tradition states that the entire population of the city welcomed her. Arthelais died at the age of sixteen. 560? ST ARTHELAIS, VIRGIN These historical details cannot be regarded as trustworthy. DURING the reign of the Emperor Justinian, there lived in Constantinople a charming and virtuous girl, the daughter of the proconsul Lucius and his wife Anthusa. Many were the suitors for the hand of Arthelais, but the emperor, hearing of her beauty, sent messengers to her father asking that she should be handed over to him. Her parents and she were dismayed, and concluded that the only way to avoid dishonour was by flight. It was arranged that she should go to her uncle Narses Patricius at Benevento, and her father escorted her as far as Buda in Dalmatia, where he left her to prosecute her journey under the charge of three attendants. Hardly had he departed when they were set upon by robbers, who seized Arthelais whilst her servants took to flight.After three days’ imprisonment she was miraculously delivered and rejoined her escort, but the wrath of God fell upon her captors. The travellers crossed the sea in safety and arrived at Sipontum, from whence they sent messengers to Narses, who, however, had already started to meet them, having been apprised of their arrival in a dream. From Sipontum they passed on to Lucera and thence to Benevento, where the whole population came out to greet her. From the Golden gate of the city she walked barefoot to the church of our Lady, where she offered gifts, the bells in the meantime pealing forth in her honour. She then gave herself to unceasing prayer and fasted every day except Sunday—thereby, no doubt, undermining her health, for she died of fever at the age of sixteen amid general lamentation. These historical
details cannot be regarded as trustworthy. Besides the two very
short biographies printed in the Acta Sanctorum, March,
vol. i, a longer account is furnished in the text translated from a
Greek original by a certain Peter. See S. Borgia, Memorie
istoriche di Benevento, vol. i, pp. 143—176.
|
| 575 St. Calupan
Recluse monk of Meallot in Auvergne, France. He lived his later years in a
nearby cave. |
| 6th v. St. Foila
Co-patroness of Kil-Faile and Kil-Golgan parishes in
Galway, Ireland, the
sister of St. Colgan. |
| 6th
v St. Winwaloc Abbot-founder also called Wonnow,
Wynwallow, and Gwenno. Born at Ploufragen, in Brittany, France, he was of Anglo-Saxon descent. At the age of fifteen he entered the monastery on Lauren Island under Abbot Budoc. Several years later he and eleven monks founded Landevenne Monastery near Brest, in Brittany on land donated by Prince Gallo. Winwabe died there. As there are several churches in Cornwall, England, dedicated to him, it is possible that he had some connection with that region or that some of his relics were translated there in later years. 6th v. ST WINWALOE, OR GUÉNOLÉ, ABBOT THE accounts of the early life of St Winwaloe are so conflicting that it has been suggested that there were two holy men of that name, one of whom was born in Britain and became the disciple of St Samson, whereas the abbot who is commemorated on this day was born in Brittany, whither his parents, Fracan and Gwen, had migrated from Britain and settled at Ploufragan. On account of his beauty, the boy was named Winwaloe, or “He that is fair”, and, because he was their third son, his parents consecrated him to God from his birth. They were tenderly attached to him, and in spite of their vow they kept him with them until he was fifteen, although he had given early evidence of a vocation for the religious life. A violent thunderstorm which they took to be a sign from Heaven finally decided them to part from him, and his father took him to a monastery on the little island of Lauré, under an Abbot Budoc. Here St Winwaloe and his two brothers appear to have spent several years. It is told of him that while he was still at home he was one day walking with his father when he perceived a number of sails on the horizon, and with boyish exaggeration exclaimed, “I see a thousand ships”. They turned out to be pirates who landed on the coast, but Fracan and his followers completely defeated them. Winwaloe, who had been praying earnestly during the fight, persuaded his father to build a monastery with the spoil, and a cross which marks the spot where the invaders landed is called to this day, “The Cross of the Thousand Sails”. St Winwaloe made such progress
as a monk that the thought occurred to him of sailing to Ireland to
carry on the labours of St Patrick, but that saint, appearing in a
vision, dissuaded him. Thereupon Budoc sent him with eleven monks to
found another monastery. After wandering through the northern part of
Brittany they found, as they thought, a suitable island at the mouth
of the river Aulne, and there they built themselves a settlement of huts
which afterwards gave to the island its name of Tibidy or “The House of
Prayer”. The place proved, however, to be exposed to such violent storms
that, after three years, the monks were obliged to abandon it and to settle
on the mainland. With the assistance of the rough Prince Grallo, who had
a great veneration for St Winwaloe, they founded the monastery of Landévennec
in a sheltered valley on the opposite side of Brest harbour, and there
the holy abbot ruled over a large number of monks for many years, until
at last in extreme old age he died when standing at the altar after giving
the kiss of peace. The popularity of the saint
is attested by the number of dedications made to him and by the many
variations of his name. He appears as Winwalocus, Gumvaloeus,
Wingalotus, Galnutius, Guingalois, Guignolé, Guenolé and
in several other spellings. St Winwaloe’s name is entered in two or
three late medieval English calendars, but there seems to have been little
cultus outside the area of Celtic influences; there are dedications to him in Cornwall, at Gunwalloe,
Landewednack confidence in her was momentarily shaken. Feeling that
her position required her and elsewhere vindication, the empress asked
to be allowed the ordeal by fire, and walked unscathed. The legendary
character of the sources upon which this history is based is made
evident by the extravagant miracles with which it is freely embroidered.
The longest form seems to have been the composition of Wrdisten, Abbot
of Landévennec, who lived more than 300 years after the time
of St Winwaloe. The text of Wrdisten’s very tedious and discursive biography
may be found in the Analecta Bollandiana,
vol. vii (1888), pp. 167—264. In LBS., vol. iv, pp. 353—362,
there is a discussion of the various texts and abridgements of the
life. See also G. H. Doble, St Winwaloe (1940) and
Fr J. Le Jollec, Guénolé, le saint
de Landévennec (1952), who gives an
account of the abbey of Landévennec, whose restoration has been
undertaken by the Benedictines of Kerbénéat, and of the
saint’s cultus.
|
| St. Non Mother of St.
David of Wales also called Nonnita or Nonna.
Perhaps born of noble descent in Dyfed, Wales, she was seduced by or possibly married a local chieftain named Sant. The result of their union was St. David. She supposedly went to Cornwall and died in Brittany Her relics were enshrined in Cornwall until the Reformation. Non, Widow (AC) (also known as Nonnita) 6th century. Non is an obscure Irish saint of noble birth, who resided at a convent in Ty Gwyn near present-day St. David's in Wales. She is said to have been the unwed mother of Saint David (Dewi), after being seduced by a local chieftain named Sant. Some say she was married to Sant either before or after the birth of David. She was said to have later gone to Cornwall and to have ended her days at a convent in Brittany (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia). 6th v. ST NON, OR NONNITA Since the revised March volume of Butler’s Lives was published a church has been opened on the cliffs near Saint Davids by the Passionist fathers dedicated in honour of our Lady and St Non. It therefore seems desirable to say a word about this obscure saint, if only to show how little is known about her. If St Non is obscure, she
is also famous in the Celtic lands as the mother of St David,
and the few references to her are mostly to be found in Rhygyfarch’s
(Rice-march) life of St David and its derivatives. What truth there is in all
this no one can say. It at least seems likely that she was not a
nun; the Latin form of her name, Nonna, means “nun”, and so could easily
be misunderstood. According to some Irish writers she subsequently had
other children. And it may well be that, whether before or after David’s
birth, she was Sant’s wife. Later in life she is said to have gone
into Cornwall and then settled in Brittany, where place-names and church
dedications give some support to the statement. In the west of England
in the middle ages she was esteemed to be buried at Altarnun in Cornwall,
but Dirinon, in the department of Finistère in Brittany, seems
to have a better claim. Her grave is shown in the church there, covered
by a striking medieval table-tomb on which is a recumbent effigy of
the saint. In both Brittany and Wales there was considerable devotion
to St Non in the past; she was often called Non the Blessed, and the bards
refer to her beauty. Lewis Glyn Cothi (fifteenth century) in a poem swears
“by the hand of Non”, perhaps a reference to the legend that while in
labour with David she left the impression of her hand on a stone which
was by her side. See bibliographical
note to St David (March 1). A mystery play in Breton, Buhez Sante Nonn, formerly performed at Dirinon, was
translated from a manuscript of about 1400 into French in the Revue Celtique (vol. viii, 1887). See also LBS.,
s.v. Non and David, with numerous references. There are holy wells
of St Non at Saint Davids, at Dirinon and at several places in Cornwall,
though the best-known one here, at Altarnun, is now dried up; the Saint
Davids well is now in the grounds of the Passionist retreat there. For
an interesting reference to St David’s birth, see Blackfriars,
vol. xxix (1948), pp. 123—125 and cf. G. H.
Doble in the Cornish Times for August 17, 1928 (reprinted
separately, St Nonna, same year) he suggests that
the Cornish St Non was a man.
|
| 7th v. St. Lamalisse
Scottish hermit. An Island near Arran Scotland,
is named in his honor. |
| 7th v. St. Sacer
Also Mo-Sacra, an Irish abbot He is honored as
the founder of the monastery of Saggard, Dublin. |
| 728 St. Cele-Christ
Bishop Leinster England. His name is from Christicola,
meaning “Christ-worshipper.” |
| 803 St. Anselm of
Nonantola Benedictine abbot duke 803 ST ANSELM OF NONANTOLA, ABBOT WHEN the Langobard King Aistulf was reigning in Italy, he was greatly assisted in his military campaigns by his brother-in-law, Anselm, Duke of Friuli. The duke was not only a valiant soldier but also an ardent Christian, and founded first a monastery with a hospital at Fanano in the province of Modena and then a larger abbey twenty miles further south at Nonantola. Desirous of consecrating himself entirely to God, he then went to Rome, where he was clothed with the habit of St Benedict and appointed abbot over the new community. St. Anselm also received from Pope Stephen III permission to remove to Nonantola the body of Pope St Silvester; and Langobard King Aistulf enriched the abbey with gifts and granted it many privileges it became very celebrated throughout all Italy. Abbot Anselm came to rule over more than one thousand monks, besides having charge of a great hospital and hospice for the sick and for pilgrims. This he had built near the monastery and dedicated it in honour of St Ambrose. After the death of Aistulf, his successor Desiderius banished the holy abbot to Monte Cassino, where he remained for seven years, but Charlemagne restored him to Nonantola, where he died in a good old age, after having spent fifty years in religion. The short Latin
life of St Anselm, which has been several times printed (e.g.
by Mabillon, by Muratori, and in MCH.), was edited with much illustrative
matter by P. Bartolotti in 1892, Antica vita di S. Anselmo di
Nonantola.
He
was born in Forum Juhi, modern Friuli, Italy,
heir to a local title and brother-in-law of King Aistulf, the Lombard
ruler who married Anselm's sister, Gisaltruda. Anselm left his titles
and power, and in 750 founded a monastery at Tanano, Italy. Two years
later he built the monastery of Nonantola near Modena, Italy. He then
went to Rome where Pope Stephen II invested him with the habit of the
Benedictine Order. Anselm founded many charitable institutions; however,
he lost his patronage when Aistulf died. Desiderius, the new Lombard
ruler, banished Anselm from his kingdom in 756. He went to Monte Cassino
for seven years, until Desiderius fell to the armies of Charlemagne.
Anselm remained in Nonantola until his death. He is patron of the region.
Anselm of Nonantola, OSB, Abbot (AC) Brother-in-law of the Lombard King Aistulph, and duke of Friuli, Anselm became a monk and founded the abbey of Fanano near Modena, Italy--then a second at Nonantola. Both monasteries included hospitals and hostels. Aistulph's successor, King Desiderius banished Anselm to Montecassino, but after seven years he was restored to Nonantola by Charlemagne (Benedictines). |
1040 St. Cunegundes
Empress Patron of Lithuania virginBambérgæ sanctæ Cunegúndis Augústæ, quæ, sancto Henríco Primo, Romanórum Imperatóri, nupta, perpétuam virginitátem, ipso annuénte, servávit; ac, bonórum óperum méritis cumuláta, sancto fine quiévit, et post óbitum miráculis cláruit. At Bamberg, Empress St. Cunegunda, who preserved her virginity with the consent of her husband, Emperor Henry I. She completed a life rich in meritorious good works with a holy death, and afterward worked many miracles. 1033 ST CUNEGUND, WIDOW St CUNEGUND was piously trained from her earliest years by her parents, Siegfried of Luxemburg and his saintly wife Hedwig. She married St Henry, Duke of Bavaria, who gave her as a wedding present a crucifix of eastern workmanship which is said to be identical with one now existing in Munich. Later writers have asserted that they both took a vow of virginity on their wedding-day, and the story is accepted in the Roman Martyrology; but historians now seem to agree that there is no reliable evidence to corroborate the statement. In the middle of the eleventh century Cardinal Humbert knew nothing of the alleged celibate marriage he attributed their childlessness to divine punishment for what he regarded as Henry’s exploitation of the Church. Upon the death of the Emperor
Otto III, Henry was elected king of the Romans, and his coronation
by St Willigis at Mama was followed, two months later, by that of his
wife at Paderborn. In 1013 they went together to Rome to receive the
imperial crown from Pope Benedict VIII. In spite of her exemplary
life, Cunegund is said by the hagiographers of a later age to have
become the victim of slanderous tongues, so that even her husband’s
confidence in her was momentarily shaken, Feeling that her position required
her vindication, the empress asked to be allowed the ordeal by fire,
and walked unscathed over red-hot ploughshares. Henry was eager to make
amends for his unworthy suspicions, and they lived thenceforth in the
closest union of hearts, striving in every way to promote the glory of
God and the advancement of religion. But this story too is insufficiently
supported. It was partly at the instigation
of St Cunegund that the emperor founded the monastery and cathedral
of Bamberg, to the consecration of which Pope Benedict came in person,
and she obtained for the city such privileges that by common report
her silken threads were a better defence than walls. During a dangerous
illness she had made a vow that if she recovered she would found a convent
at Kaufungen, near Cassel, in Hesse. This she proceeded to do, and had
nearly finished building a house for nuns of the Benedictine Order when
St Henry died. Her later biographers
relate a quaint story about the first abbess. On the anniversary of her
husband’s death in 1024 Cunegund invited a number of prelates to the
dedication of her church at Kaufungen. There, when the gospel had been
sung at Mass, she offered at the altar a piece of the true cross, and
then, putting off her imperial robes, she was clothed in a nun’s habit,
and the bishop gave her the veil. Once she had been consecrated to God
in religion, she seemed entirely to forget that she had ever been an
empress and behaved as the lowest in the house, being convinced that she
was so before God. She feared nothing more than anything that could
recall her former dignity. She prayed and read much and especially made
it her business to visit and comfort the sick. Thus she passed the last
years of her life, dying on March 3, 1033 (or 1039). Her body was taken
to Bamberg to be buried with her husband’s. It
is to the contemporary chroniclers, rather than to the relatively
late biography of St Cunegund, that we must look for a trustworthy
statement of the facts of her life. The latter is under suspicion of
having been written with a view to her future canonization, which eventually
came about in the year 1200. J. B. Sägmüller, in particular
(Theologische Quartalschrift, 1903, 1907, 1951), has shown good reason for doubting
that the childlessness of the emperor and empress was due to any compact
between the parties to live together as Mary and Joseph; cf. A. Michel in the same, vol. xcviii (1916), pp. 463—467.
The biography, in varying forms, has been edited in the Acta
Sanctorum (March, vol. i) and by G. Waitz in MCII., Scriptores,
vol. vii. There are popular but rather uncritical modern lives
of St Cunegund written by Toussaint and by H. Muller, the latter including
an account of both St Henry and St Cunegund in one narrative. Cf. Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands,
vol. iii, p. 539. |
| 1075 ST GERVINUS, ABBOT St GERVINUS came of a family which is said to have been related to Bruno, Bishop of Toul, who afterwards was raised to the papacy as Leo IX. He was born in the district
of Rheims and received his education at the episcopal school. A clever
and eager student, he was greatly attracted by the Latin classics,
and was at one time in danger of being led astray by the sensuous charm
of the poetry he read, but by the grace of God he triumphed over
temptation. After his ordination to the priesthood he became one
of the canons of Rheims, and was thus comfortably provided for. More than once St Gervinus
visited England, where his abbey owned estates, and each time he
preached the word and visited English shrines. St Edward the Confessor
esteemed him highly, and a curious story is told that Queen Edith,
sharing her husband’s admiration, on their first meeting came forward
according to the English custom to welcome the abbot with a
kiss. Gervinus, thinking this unseemly, drew back and declined
the proffered salute. Queen Edith was so furious that her husband had
some difficulty in placating her, but the scene ended in her making the
abbot a present of a very handsome cloak. So great was the veneration
in which he was held that he was called “the holy abbot” even during
his lifetime. Although, for the last four years of his life, he suffered
from a terrible form of leprosy, he continued to carry on all his
customary duties as before, and he would often bless God for sending
him the trial. On March 3, 1075, when he offered his last Mass in
the little underground church of Notre-Dame de Ia Voute which he
had built, he was so ill that he could scarcely finish, and had to
be carried back to his cell as soon as it was over. To his monks who stood round
him in consternation he said, “Children, to-day our Blessed Lady
has given me my discharge from this life”, and he insisted upon making
a public confession of his sins. He then had himself taken back to the
church and laid before the altar of St John Baptist, where he died. When
his body was then washed, it was noticed that no trace of the leprosy
remained. The main source
of our knowledge of the life of St Gervinus is the Chronicle
of Saint_Riquier compiled by Hariulf. It is printed in Migne,
PL., vol. clxxiv, and extracts also in MGH.
|
|
1104 BD SERLO,
ABBOT OF GLOUCESTER “How much the grace of God, conspiring with his
industry, elevated the place [Gloucester Abbey], what eloquence
can sufficiently explain? The management of the abbey in spirituals
is what the weak may look up to and the strong not despise. This was
effected by the discipline of Serb, a man humble to the good, but menacing
and terrible to the proud of heart.” THE claims of Serlo to be
included in the calendar are perhaps doubtful, but he is described
as “Blessed” in the Benedictine martyrologies of Ménard and
Bucelin, while as abbot of a famous English monastery he has an
interest for English readers. By birth he seems to have been a Norman,
and he entered the Benedictine Order at Mont-Saint-Michel. In 1071
he was recommended to William the Conqueror by St Osmund (then chancellor
of Salisbury) as a good religious to whose rule the abbey of Gloucester
might suitably be confided, and he was consecrated abbot at the hands
of St Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester. When he came to Gloucester there
were only two adult monks and about eight young boys: he left when he
died a community of more than a hundred professed. In July 1100 the abbot thought
it his duty to write boldly to King William II telling him of the
vision which had been vouchsafed to one of the Gloucester monks—it
may have been himself—which announced that the cup of the king’s iniquities
was full to overflowing, and that the vengeance of Heaven was about
to strike him down. Ordericus, the chronicler, tells us that the letter
was brought to Rufus on the very morning that he was setting out on
the hunting excursion from which he was never to return. After reading
the letter the king laughed, gave his orders for the hunt to William
Tirel, and said aloud in the presence of all: “I wonder why my lord
Serb has been minded to write thus to me, for he is, I believe, a good
abbot, and a judicious old than. In his extreme simplicity he passes on
to me, busied with so many affairs, the nightmares of his snoring monks,
and from a long distance has even sent them to me in writing. Does he suppose
that I follow the example of the English, who will defer their journey
or their business for the dreams of wheezing old women?” Thereupon the
king mounted his horse and rode off, only to be pierced an hour or two
later by Tirel’s sharp arrow glancing from a tree (?). Serlo
himself died in 1104 after ruling the abbey for more than thirty
years. William of Malmesbury, a younger contemporary, writes of him:
“How much the grace of God, conspiring with his industry, elevated the
place [Gloucester Abbey], what eloquence can sufficiently explain? The
management of the abbey in spirituals is what the weak may look up to
and the strong not despise. This was effected by the discipline of Serb,
a man humble to the good, but menacing and terrible to the proud of heart.”
Serlo seems to have been a writer of ability both in prose and verse,
but it is difficult to disentangle his compositions from what has been
written by others who bore the name of Serlo and from those of Godfrey of
Winchester. See the Historia a Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae, vol.
i (Rolls Series), pp. xvii—xxii, as also the Gesta Region
of William of Malmesbury (Rolls Series), vol.
ii, p. 512, and Symeon of’ Durham (Rolls Series), vol. ii, p. 236.
There is also a notice of Serlo in the DNB and in T. D. Hardy,
Catalogue of British History, vol. ii,
p. 27.
|
|
1167 ST AELRED, ABBOT OF Rievaulx "He who loves thee, possesses thee and he possesses thee in proportion as he loves, because thou art love. This is that abundance with which thy beloved are inebriated, melting away from themselves, that they may pass into thee by loving thee.” AELRED (Ailred) was of good family, son of the “hereditary” priest of Hexham, and was born there in 1110. After a good education he was invited by St David, King of Scotland, to his court, and made master of his household, where he gained the esteem of all.His virtue shone with bright lustre in the world, particularly his meekness, which Christ declared to be the distinguishing mark of His true disciples. The following is a memorable instance of his gentle bearing. A certain person of quality having insulted and reproached him in the presence of the king, inadvertently, his displeasure at my infraction of the rule appeared in his looks, and Aelred heard him out with patience, and thanked him for his charity in telling him his faults. This behaviour made such an impression on his adversary that he asked his pardon on the spot. Another time, whilst he was speaking on a matter of importance, someone interrupted him very harshly and rudely: the servant of God heard him with tranquillity, and afterwards resumed his discourse with the same calm and presence of mind as before. He wished to devote himself entirely to God by forsaking the world; but the claims of friendship detained him some time in it. Reflecting, however, that he must sooner or later he separated by death from those he loved most, he condemned his own cowardice, and broke these ties of friendship at no little cost to himself. He describes his feelings during this crisis, and says, “Those who saw me, judging by the courtly atmosphere in which I lived, and not knowing what passed within my soul, said, speaking of me: ‘Oh, how well is it with him how happy he is!’ But they knew not the anguish of my mind: for the deep wound in my heart caused me a thousand torments, and I was not able to bear the intolerable stench of my sins.” But after he had taken his resolution; he says, “I began then to know, by a little experience, what immense comfort is found in Thy service, and how sweet that peace is which is its inseparable companion.” To cut himself off from the
world, Aelred left Scotland, and embraced the austere Cistercian
life at Rievaulx in Yorkshire, where a noble lord called Walter Espec
had founded a monastery in 1132. At the age of twenty-four he became
a monk under the first abbot, William, a disciple of St Bernard. Fervour
lending strength to his delicate body, he practised severe austerities
and employed much of his time in prayer and reading. He surrendered
his heart with great ardour to the love of God, and by this means finding
all his mortifications sweet and light, he cried out, “This is a yoke
which does not crush but liberates the soul this burden has wings, not
weight.” He had taken much delight
in his youth in reading Cicero’s De amicitia: but
after his conversion found that author and all other reading tedious
which was not sweetened with the honey of the holy name of Jesus and
seasoned with the word of God. This he tells us himself in his book,
On Spiritual Friendship. He
was much edified with the very looks of a monk called Simon, who had
despised high birth, an ample fortune and all the advantages of mind
and body to serve God in that penitential state. This monk went and
came as one deaf and dumb, always recollected in God; and was such a
lover of silence that he would scarce speak a few words on necessary
occasions. His very silence however, was sweet and full of edification.
Aelred says of him, “The very sight of his humility gifted my pride,
and made me blush at the immortification of my looks. The silence practised
among us prevented my ever addressing him of set purpose; but one day,
on my speaking a word to him he suffered me to lie some time prostrate
before him to expiate my fault; for which I grieved bitterly,
and for which I could never forgive myself.” St Aelred, much against his
inclination, was made abbot of a new monastery of his order, founded
at Revesby in Lincolnshire, in 1142, and soon after, in 1147, abbot
of Rievaulx, where he presided over three hundred monks. Describing their
life, he says that they drank nothing but water ate sparingly and of
the coarsest food; laboured hard, slept little, with
boards for their bed never spoke except to their superiors on necessary
occasions; carried the burdens which were laid on them
without refusing any went wherever they were led gave not a moment
to sloth or amusements of any kind, and never had any lawsuit or dispute.
St Aelred also speaks of their mutual charity and of the peace in
which they lived, and he is not able to find words to express the joy
which the sight of every one of them inspired in him. His humility and
love of solitude made him steadfastly refuse the bishoprics which
were pressed upon his acceptance. Reading and prayer were his delight. It appears clearly from Aelred’s
biographers, notably from the life by Walter Daniel, that in spite
of all the saint’s stern asceticism there was something singularly
gentle and lovable about him in his relations with others. “For seventeen
years I lived under his rule”, writes Walter, “and during all that
time he dismissed no one from the monastery.” Towards the close of his life
he was a great sufferer, apparently from gout and stone; in
1157 we find the general chapter of the Cistercians granting him exemptions
which the state of his health demanded. Nevertheless he is heard
of in Scotland in 1159 and again in 1165, and other visits of his can be
traced to different parts of England, and on one occasion to Citeaux itself.
For one afflicted as he was, such journeys must have been a torment. But
by 1166 he could leave his monastery no more, and after a lingering illness
he died, on January 12, 1167, in the shed alongside the infirmary which
for ten years had been his living and sleeping quarters. Of those last
days, Aelred’s patience and trust in God, the love and grief of his monks,
Walter Daniel has left us a most moving account. It must be admitted that
Alban Butler is not at his best in his treatment of St Aelred, who is one
of the most attractive of English saints, a great teacher of friendship,
divine and human, and a man who, quite apart from his writings, must have
exercised a great influence through the monasteries he founded from Rievaulx.
He was himself, “One whom I might fitly call friendship’s child: for his
whole occupation is to love and to be loved.” (De
spirituali amicitia). It seems that St Aelred was
canonized in 1191 (Pope Celestine III 1191-1198) his feast is kept
on March 3 in the dioceses of Liverpool, Hexham and Middlesbrough,
and by the Cistercians. Besides the
admirable study of St Aelred by Father Dalgairns (in Newman’s series
of Lives of the English Saints),
which may be truly described as one of the classics of
hagiography, a very complete
and up-to-date account of the saint is provided by F. M. Powicke’s
Ailrad of Rievaulx and his Biographer
Walter Daniel (1922). This writer shows that the life by Walter
Daniel, a contemporary monk of Rievaulx, is the source from which both
the two biographies previously known have been condensed. In 1950 Professor
Powicke published Daniel’s biography in Latin and English, with notes
and a long introduction. We also obtain a good many sidelights upon Aelred’s
character from his own treatises and sermons. All these, with the exception
of his book on the Hexham miracles, will be found printed in Migne,
PL., vol. cxcv. There is a great devotional glow in many of his ascetical
writings, notably in his Speculum charitatis.
He was the author also of several short biographies— e.g. that of St Ninian—and of historical and theological
tractates. There is a translation of De spirituali amicitia
by Fr Hugh Talbot, called Christian Friendship.
T. E. Harvey’s St Aelred of
Rievaulx (1932) is an excellent short book
by a Quaker. See also D. Knowles, The Monastic
Order in England (1949), pp. 240—245, 257—266 and passim.
Aelred’s name is variously spelt. In the DNB., for example,
he appears as “Ethelred”, in Powicke and others as “Ailred”. See, further,
the Acta Sanctorum for January 12 and the Dictionnaire de Spiritualité, vol. i, cc. 225--234.
|
| 1508
Blessed Jacobinus de'Canepaci Carmelite lay-brother; A cultus is said to have begun at his tomb shortly
after his death on account of the miracles worked there, and this
was approved in 1845. OC (AC) Born near Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy, in 1438; cultus confirmed in 1845. A Carmelite lay-brother in Vercelli (Benedictines). 1508 BD JACOPINO OF CANEPACI this good Carmelite lay-brother seems
to have been one of those in which perfection is found by prayer,
austerity and charity, A cultus is said to have begun
at his tomb shortly after his death on account of the miracles worked
there, and this was approved in 1845. THE
life of this good Carmelite lay-brother seems to have been one of
those in which perfection is found by prayer, austerity and charity,
and in which there is little to relate of striking achievements or of
intercourse with the outer world, He was born of humble parents in the
township of Piasca in the diocese of Vercelli, and being animated with
an intense devotion to the Blessed Virgin he sought admission at Vercelli
among the Carmelites of the old observance. The example of his fervour
was a stimulus to all. His special work was to collect alms, begging from
door to door throughout the town, and in the discharge of this humble
duty he seems to have found many opportunities for consoling those in trouble
or saying a word of good advice to the tempted or the fallen, Worn out
with toil, austerities and infirm health, he died on his seventieth birthday
in 1508. A cultus is said to have begun at his tomb
shortly after his death on account of the miracles worked there, and
this was approved in 1845.
The outlines
of Bd Jacopino’s life are sketched in the office sanctioned for
his feast, and there is a short biography, Vita del b.
Giacobino di Ayloche (1846).
|
| 1899 Bl. Mary Angela
Victory over death shone in the gentle countenance of her face.
Blessed Mary Angela, baptized as Sophia
Camille, was born in Kalisz, Poland
on May 16, 1825. Her parents, Joseph and Josephine
Truszkowski, from noble families of the landed gentry, were well
educated, devout Catholics and loyal patriots. Sophia was a
highly intelligent, generous, vivacious but frail child. She began
her education at home under a private tutor. When the family moved
to Warsaw in 1837, Sophia was enrolled in the then prestigious Academy
of Madame Guerin.
Because of ill health, Sophia was withdrawn from the Academy and continued her education at home where she availed herself of her father's vast library. She read extensively and, with profound insight, studied the causes and effects of contemporary social problems. Her father, in sharing his experiences as judge in the juvenile courts, broadened her knowledge of the social evils of her day. He helped to shape her sense of justice in an unjust world. Already from her childhood, Sophia was drawn to prayer and genuine concern for others; but it was in 1848 at the age of 23 that she experienced a great change in her spiritual life which she herself called her "conversion". This was the beginning of a more intensive interior life which manifested itself in a growing devotion to the Holy Eucharist, a greater love of prayer and a more ascetic life. She seriously considered joining the cloistered Visitation Sisters but her confessor advised her not to leave her ailing father. Later, while traveling with him through Germany, Sophia was enlightened by the Lord during her prayer in the cathedral of Cologne that, despite her love of prayer and solitude, she was destined to go among the suffering poor and to serve Christ in them through prayer and sacrifice. She became a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. During the day she worked zealously for the cause of the poor and at night she prayed, constantly searching for God's will for herself. Finally, Sophia discovered her path and forged ahead independently. By this time she had a crystallized vision of her mission. Acknowledging that the evils of her day were due to broken families, a licentious social milieu and a lack of religious and moral training, she undertook the moral and religious education of poor neglected children, gradually extending her spacious heart to the downtrodden, the exploited, the aged and homeless. With her father’s financial help and her cousin Clothilde’s assistance she rented two attic rooms. This center then became the acclaimed "Institute of Sophia Truszkowska" which began to serve as a conscience of its cultural milieu. Here, before an icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Sophia - now named Angela - together with Clothilde solemnly dedicated themselves on the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, November 21, 1855, to do the will of her Son, Jesus Christ, in all things. Hereafter, this was recorded as the official founding day of the Congregation of the Sisters of St.Felix of Cantalice. Mother Angela determined that the aim of her Congregation was that "in all and by all, God may be known, loved and glorified". Mother Angela was not only a
deeply spiritual woman but a truly enlightened woman of her day. Her community,
unique to the then traditional religious life in Poland, was innovative
in pioneering nontraditional leadership roles for women and service-oriented
roles to meet the needs of the times. However, she integrated these nontraditional
roles with the existing forms of religious life, thereby uniting ministry
and contemplation within the framework of her own charism.
Through her life, work and personal
holiness, the Foundress marked out the role and destiny of this 19th century
innovation in Poland. As one of the first active-contemplative communities,
her sisters actualized the Gospel message in generating needed social
changes, actively survived political suppression of foreign conquerors,
and assumed a vital and lasting role in the mission of the Church.
Mother Angela envisioned service for God’s kingdom on earth as all-embracing. When the Church called, the Felician Sisters responded. The myriad of ministries in which they engaged ranged from social and catechetical centers to converted makeshift hospitals for the wounded guerrilla fighters, including Russian and Polish soldiers - the oppressors with the oppressed - with a charity that made no distinctions. For three successive terms, Mother Angela was elected as superior general of the Congregation. Her desire to multiply herself a thousand times and travel to all parts of the world, to live God’s love and teach his merciful love to all living souls was realized in God’s own way. At the age of 44, at the peak of human competency, the Foundress moved aside and placed her Congregation in the hands of another. She abandoned herself to God’s will and for 30 long years she lived in complete hiddenness suffering progressive deafness, malignant tumors, and excruciating headaches. Despite the fact that she retired into the background, her concern for the sisters remained very much alive. As foundress and mother of the Congregation, she was the inspirator in the writing of the Constitutions, the initiator of new ministries and, above all, mother and guide to her spiritual daughters. She exerted her influence through letters, petitions, and even confrontations to bring to fruition the vision she had for her Congregation of Felician Sisters. She heartily endorsed the plan to send sisters to America and personally blessed the five pioneers as they left in 1874. Her submission to God’s will gradually brought her to a complete union with Him in the long mystic experience of her annihilation. Hers was a spirituality of essentials. There were no extraordinary forms of prayer, no visions, ecstasies, or divine revelations. Her lasting legacy of love is the childlike love and imitation of the virtues of Mary, and the Eucharistic spirituality which she bequeathed to her spiritual daughters as a way of life. To this day every provincial house of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice has the privilege of public exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament throughout the day. Mother Mary Angela died on October 10, 1899, at 12:45 a.m. Her face, ravaged by suffering, in death took on an expression of peace and quiet dignity. Victory over death shone in the gentle countenance of her face, and the sisters claimed that she was so beautiful and pleasing to look at that they could scarcely take their eyes off her. By special authorization of the municipality of Cracow, Mother Mary Angela Truszkowska was buried in the chapel adjoining the convent of the Felician Sisters on SmolenskStreet. For this world today, Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska remains an example of true femininity, a woman of conviction; a woman who has dared to be prophetic; a religious who has inspired and challenged many to action and contemplation. |
1955 St.
Katharine Drexel material and spiritual well-being of black and native
AmericansBorn in 1858, into a prominent Philadelphia family, Katharine became imbued with love for God and neighbor. She took an avid interest in the material and spiritual well-being of black and native Americans. She began by donating money but soon concluded that more was needed - the lacking ingredient was people. Katharine founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People, whose members would work for the betterment of those they were called to serve. From the age of 33 until her death in 1955, she dedicated her life and a fortune of 20 million dollars to this work. In 1894, Mother Drexel took part in opening the first mission school for Indians, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Other schools quickly followed - for Native Americans west of the Mississippi River, and for the blacks in the southern part of the United States. In 1915 she also founded Xavier University in New Orleans. At her death there were more than 500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country. Katharine was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 20, 1988. March 3, 2010 St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955) If your father is an international banker and you ride in a private railroad car, you are not likely to be drawn into a life of voluntary poverty. But if your mother opens your home to the poor three days each week and your father spends half an hour each evening in prayer, it is not impossible that you will devote your life to the poor and give away millions of dollars. Katharine Drexel did that. She was born in Philadelphia in 1858. She had an excellent education and traveled widely. As a rich girl, she had a grand debut into society. But when she nursed her stepmother through a three-year terminal illness, she saw that all the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain or death, and her life took a profound turn. She had always been interested in the plight of the Indians, having been appalled by reading Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor. While on a European tour, she met Pope Leo XIII and asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming for her friend Bishop James O’Connor. The pope replied, “Why don’t you become a missionary?” His answer shocked her into considering new possibilities. Back home, she visited the Dakotas, met the Sioux leader Red Cloud and began her systematic aid to Indian missions. She could easily have married. But after much discussion with Bishop O’Connor, she wrote in 1889, “The feast of St. Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored.” Newspaper headlines screamed “Gives Up Seven Million!” After three and a half years of training, she and her first band of nuns (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored) opened a boarding school in Santa Fe. A string of foundations followed. By 1942 she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states, plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools. Segregationists harassed her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania. In all, she establi shed 50 missions for Indians in 16 states. Two saints met when she was advised by Mother Cabrini about the “politics” of getting her Order’s Rule approved in Rome. Her crowning achievement was the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic university in the United States for blacks. At 77, she suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Apparently her life was over. But now came almost 20 years of quiet, intense prayer from a small room overlooking the sanctuary. Small notebooks and slips of paper record her various prayers, ceaseless aspirations and meditation. She died at 96 and was canonized in 2000 Comment: Saints have always said the same thing: Pray, be humble, accept the cross, love and forgive. But it is good to hear these things in the American idiom from one who, for instance, had her ears pierced as a teenager, who resolved to have “no cake, no preserves,” who wore a watch, was interviewed by the press, traveled by train and could concern herself with the proper size of pipe for a new mission. These are obvious reminders that holiness can be lived in today’s culture as well as in that of Jerusalem or Rome. Quote: “The patient and humble endurance of the cross—whatever nature it may be—is the highest work we have to do.” “Oh, how far I am at 84 years of age from being an image of Jesus in his sacred life on earth!” (Saint Katharine Drexel) |
Christian
council
held
at
Among
the
most
important
titles
we
have in
the
Catholic
Church
for the
Blessed
Virgin
Mary are
Our
Lady
of
Victory
and
Our Lady
of
the Rosary.
These
titles
can
be traced
back
to one of
the most
decisive
times
in the history
of
the world
and Christendom.
The
Battle
of Lepanto
took
place
on October
7 (date
of
feast
of Our Lady
of Rosary),
1571.
This proved
to be
the most crucial
battle
for
the Christian
forces
against
the radical
Muslim
navy
of Turkey.
Pope
Pius
V led a procession
around
St.
Peter’s
Square
in Vatican
City
praying
the Rosary.
He
showed
true pastoral
leadership
in recognizing
the danger
posed
to Christendom
by the
radical
Muslim
forces,
and in
using the
means necessary
to defeat
it. Spiritual
battles
require spiritual
weapons,
and
this more
than anything
was
a battle
that
had its
origins in
the spiritual
order—a
true battle
between
good and
evil.