March 1
Saint Albinus of Angers
March 1
Daily Saints – 1 March.
Feast of Saint Albinus of Angers.
He is the patron saint of sick children, against blindness, against pertussis, against pirate attacks.
Albinus was born on 469 at Vannes, Brittany, France, to a noble family. He was a pious child. When he was still young he entered the monastery of Tintillant against the wishes of his parents. Albinus embraced the austerities of monastic life and accepted doing the most humble chores without complaining.
His burning desire was to live for Christ. Respected by the other monks for setting a good example and his devotion to prayer. Albinus was elected abbot when he was just 35.
The monastery flourished under his modest Rule, and the monks at Tintillant were enriched by his wisdom. In 529, after serving 25 years as abbot, Albinus was named Bishop of Angers. Although his opinions were now sought by royalty, his manner remained unpretentious.
His episcopacy was known for his charity to the poor, widows and orphans, for his ransoming of slaves from their owners, his personal holiness, and the miracles he worked.
As bishop, Albinus worked for the greater good of his people, instructing them in their faith. With the support of King Childebert, he convened two councils at Orleans that condemned the incestuous marriages of many powerful families.
The forceful moral appeals from Albinus met with opposition from some nobles and bishops, but the support of Saint Caesarius of Arles encouraged him to continue his work.
When his diocese was raided by pagan invaders and countless citizens were taken into slavery, Albinus made every effort to ransom them while giving generously to the sick and the poor.
He frequently visited prisoners and legend says that when he visited Etheria, a woman imprisoned by King Childebert for bad debts, the woman threw herself at Albinus’ feet, and pled for help. A guard made a move to strike her, but Albinus breathed in the man’s face, and he fell dead. The saint then helped the woman to pay off her debts and she was freed.
Another time Augin passed a prison tower in Angers, and heard the cries and moans of badly treated prisoners. He pled with the local magistrate for their release, but was refused. He returned to the tower and prayed in front of it; after several hours, a landslide brought down part of the tower, the prisoners escaped, followed Albinus to the church of Saint Maurichies, reformed their ways, and became model citizens and Christians.
He died on 1 March 549 of natural causes.
Feast of Saint Albinus of Angers.
He is the patron saint of sick children, against blindness, against pertussis, against pirate attacks.
Albinus was born on 469 at Vannes, Brittany, France, to a noble family. He was a pious child. When he was still young he entered the monastery of Tintillant against the wishes of his parents. Albinus embraced the austerities of monastic life and accepted doing the most humble chores without complaining.
His burning desire was to live for Christ. Respected by the other monks for setting a good example and his devotion to prayer. Albinus was elected abbot when he was just 35.
The monastery flourished under his modest Rule, and the monks at Tintillant were enriched by his wisdom. In 529, after serving 25 years as abbot, Albinus was named Bishop of Angers. Although his opinions were now sought by royalty, his manner remained unpretentious.
His episcopacy was known for his charity to the poor, widows and orphans, for his ransoming of slaves from their owners, his personal holiness, and the miracles he worked.
As bishop, Albinus worked for the greater good of his people, instructing them in their faith. With the support of King Childebert, he convened two councils at Orleans that condemned the incestuous marriages of many powerful families.
The forceful moral appeals from Albinus met with opposition from some nobles and bishops, but the support of Saint Caesarius of Arles encouraged him to continue his work.
When his diocese was raided by pagan invaders and countless citizens were taken into slavery, Albinus made every effort to ransom them while giving generously to the sick and the poor.
He frequently visited prisoners and legend says that when he visited Etheria, a woman imprisoned by King Childebert for bad debts, the woman threw herself at Albinus’ feet, and pled for help. A guard made a move to strike her, but Albinus breathed in the man’s face, and he fell dead. The saint then helped the woman to pay off her debts and she was freed.
Another time Augin passed a prison tower in Angers, and heard the cries and moans of badly treated prisoners. He pled with the local magistrate for their release, but was refused. He returned to the tower and prayed in front of it; after several hours, a landslide brought down part of the tower, the prisoners escaped, followed Albinus to the church of Saint Maurichies, reformed their ways, and became model citizens and Christians.
He died on 1 March 549 of natural causes.
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March 2
Daily Saints – 2 March.
Feast of Saint Angela of the Cross Guerrero.
Angela was born on 30 January 1846 at Seville, Spain as Maria of the Angels Guerrero Gonzalez. She was one of 14 children; only five of her siblings survived to adulthood. Her family was poor, but their faith was strong.
Her father worked as a cook and her mother a laundress in a Trinitarian Fathers convent. Ángela’s mother encouraged the children to honor our Blessed Mother, Mary. In their home, a simple altar was erected in honour of the Virgin Mary during the month of May, where the family would recite the Rosary and give special honour to Our Lady.
The family prayed the Rosary together often. Angela had to quit school at age twelve to work in a shoe factory to help support her family.
She made her First Communion at age eight, Confirmation at nine; she prayed the rosary daily, and had a great devotion as a youth to Christ Crucified. Her piety was so obvious that her employer, Antonia Maldonado, brought her to the attention of Father José Torres Padilla. He became her spiritual director when she was 16, and helped discern if Angela had a call to religious life.
She first tried to join the Carmelites, was refused, and when she was finally accepted at age 19, became so sick that she was forced to return to her family. When she recovered, she began caring for cholera victims, and those even poorer than herself.
In 1868 she entered the convent of the Daughters of Charity of Seville, Spain, but again her health failed, and she was forced to return to her parents and the shoeshop. In 1871, with Father Padilla’s blessing, she started a plan whereby she lived at home under a particular Rule, yearly renewing her vows.
While in prayer in 1873 Angela received a vision. She understood that God was calling her to a mission to the poor, and she began keeping a spiritual diary to record what she understood of the life to which God was calling her.
Others were attracted to her life, and on 2 August 1875 the Congregation of the Cross was born. The Congregation works with the sick, the poor, orphans, the homeless, finding them food, medicine, housing, and other needs, living solely on alms, and keeping only enough for themselves to continue their work. She died on 2 March 1932 in Seville, Spain of natural causes.
“The nothing keeps silent, the nothing does not want to be, the nothing suffers all. The nothing does not impose itself, the nothing does not command with authority, and finally, the nothing in the creature is practical humility.”
Feast of Saint Angela of the Cross Guerrero.
Angela was born on 30 January 1846 at Seville, Spain as Maria of the Angels Guerrero Gonzalez. She was one of 14 children; only five of her siblings survived to adulthood. Her family was poor, but their faith was strong.
Her father worked as a cook and her mother a laundress in a Trinitarian Fathers convent. Ángela’s mother encouraged the children to honor our Blessed Mother, Mary. In their home, a simple altar was erected in honour of the Virgin Mary during the month of May, where the family would recite the Rosary and give special honour to Our Lady.
The family prayed the Rosary together often. Angela had to quit school at age twelve to work in a shoe factory to help support her family.
She made her First Communion at age eight, Confirmation at nine; she prayed the rosary daily, and had a great devotion as a youth to Christ Crucified. Her piety was so obvious that her employer, Antonia Maldonado, brought her to the attention of Father José Torres Padilla. He became her spiritual director when she was 16, and helped discern if Angela had a call to religious life.
She first tried to join the Carmelites, was refused, and when she was finally accepted at age 19, became so sick that she was forced to return to her family. When she recovered, she began caring for cholera victims, and those even poorer than herself.
In 1868 she entered the convent of the Daughters of Charity of Seville, Spain, but again her health failed, and she was forced to return to her parents and the shoeshop. In 1871, with Father Padilla’s blessing, she started a plan whereby she lived at home under a particular Rule, yearly renewing her vows.
While in prayer in 1873 Angela received a vision. She understood that God was calling her to a mission to the poor, and she began keeping a spiritual diary to record what she understood of the life to which God was calling her.
Others were attracted to her life, and on 2 August 1875 the Congregation of the Cross was born. The Congregation works with the sick, the poor, orphans, the homeless, finding them food, medicine, housing, and other needs, living solely on alms, and keeping only enough for themselves to continue their work. She died on 2 March 1932 in Seville, Spain of natural causes.
“The nothing keeps silent, the nothing does not want to be, the nothing suffers all. The nothing does not impose itself, the nothing does not command with authority, and finally, the nothing in the creature is practical humility.”
Close
March 2
Saint Angela of the Cross Guerrero
March 3
Daily Saints – 3 March.
Feast of Saint Katharine Drexel.
She is the patron of racial justice and philanthropists.
Katherine was born in Philadelphia on November 26, 1858, the second child of a prominent and wealthy banker, Francis Anthony Drexel and his wife, Hannah Langstroth. Her mother passed away just five weeks after Katharine was born. Her father remarried to Emma Bouvier in 1860 and together they had another daughter in 1863, Louisa Drexel.
The girls received a wonderful education from private tutors and traveled throughout the United States and Europe. The Drexels were financially and spiritually well endowed. They were devout in the practice of their faith, setting an excellent example of true Christian living for their three daughters. They not only prayed but practiced what the Church calls the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
Katharine grew up seeing her father pray for 30 minutes each evening. Her mother opened up the family house three times a week to feed and care for the poor. The couple distributed food, clothing and provided rent assistance to those in need. The Drexels would seek out and visit women who were too afraid or too proud to approach the home in order to care for their needs in Christian charity.
Both parents encouraged their daughters to think of the family’s wealth not as their own, but as a gift from God which was to be used to help others.
During the summer months, Katharine and her sisters would teach catechism classes to the children of the workers on her family’s summer estate. The practice would prepare her for a life of service, with a strong focus on education and attention to the poor and vulnerable.
Though Katharine made her social debut in 1879, she never let her family’s money adversely affect the way she lived her life and faith. She was an example of a Christian with a proper understanding that the goods of this earth are given for the common good.
After watching her stepmother suffer with terminal cancer for three straight years, Katharine also learned that no amount of money could shelter them from pain or suffering. From this moment, Katharine’s life took a turn. She became imbued with a passionate love for God and neighbor, and she took an avid interest in the material and spiritual well-being of black and native Americans.
In 1884, while her family was visiting the Western states, Katharine saw first-hand the troubling and poor situation of the Native Americans. She desperately wanted to help them.
Katharine spent much of her time with Father James O’ Connor, a Philadelphia priest. He provided her with wonderful spiritual direction.
When her father passed away a year later, he donated part of his $15.5 million estate to a few charities and then left the remainder to be equally split amongst his three daughters.
As one of their first acts following their father’s death, Katharine and her sisters contributed money to assist the St. Francis Mission of South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation.
Katherine soon concluded that more was needed to help the Native Americans and the lacking ingredient was people.
In 1887, while touring Europe, the Drexel sisters were given a private audience with Pope Leo XIII. They were seeking missionaries to help with the Indian missions they were financing. The Pope looked to Katharine and suggested she, herself, become a missionary. The pope replied, “Why don’t you become a missionary?”
After speaking with Father O’ Connor, Katharine decided she would give herself and her inheritance to God through service to both Native Americans and African Americans. She wrote, “The feast of St. Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored.”
Katharine began her six-month postulancy at the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Pittsburgh in 1889. On February 12, 1891, Katharine made her first vows as a religious and dedicated herself to working for the American Indians and African-Americans in the Western United States.
Taking the name Mother Katharine, she established a religious congregation called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored, 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 her fortune to this work. In 1894, Mother Katharine took part in opening the first mission boarding school called St. Catherine’s Indian School, 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, Katherine founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic University in the United States for African-Americans.
By the time of her death, she had more than 500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country and she established 50 missions for Native Americans in 16 different states.
Katharine suffered a heart attack at 77-years-old and was forced to retire. She spent the remainder of her life in quiet and intense prayer. She recorded her prates and aspirations in small notebooks. Mother Katharine died on March 3, 1955 at the age of 96.
“If we wish to serve God and love our neighbor well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to Him and them. Let us open wide our hearts. It is joy which invites us. Press forward and fear nothing.”
“It is a lesson we all need – to let alone the things that do not concern us. He has other ways for others to follow Him; all do not go by the same path. It is for each of us to learn the path by which He requires us to follow Him, and to follow Him in that path.”
“The Eucharist is a never-ending sacrifice. It is the Sacrament of love, the supreme love, the act of love.”
“My sweetest Joy is to be in the presence of Jesus in the holy Sacrament. I beg that when obliged to withdraw in body, I may leave my heart before the holy Sacrament. How I would miss Our Lord if He were to be away from me by His presence in the Blessed Sacrament!”
“Ours is the Spirit of the Eucharist, the total Gift of Self.”
“Christ wishes the Christian Community to be a body that is perfect because we work together towards a single end, and the higher the motive which actuates this collaboration the higher, no doubt, will be the union. Now the end in question is supremely exalted: the continuous sanctification of the Body for the glory of God and the Lamb that was slain [Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament].”
Feast of Saint Katharine Drexel.
She is the patron of racial justice and philanthropists.
Katherine was born in Philadelphia on November 26, 1858, the second child of a prominent and wealthy banker, Francis Anthony Drexel and his wife, Hannah Langstroth. Her mother passed away just five weeks after Katharine was born. Her father remarried to Emma Bouvier in 1860 and together they had another daughter in 1863, Louisa Drexel.
The girls received a wonderful education from private tutors and traveled throughout the United States and Europe. The Drexels were financially and spiritually well endowed. They were devout in the practice of their faith, setting an excellent example of true Christian living for their three daughters. They not only prayed but practiced what the Church calls the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
Katharine grew up seeing her father pray for 30 minutes each evening. Her mother opened up the family house three times a week to feed and care for the poor. The couple distributed food, clothing and provided rent assistance to those in need. The Drexels would seek out and visit women who were too afraid or too proud to approach the home in order to care for their needs in Christian charity.
Both parents encouraged their daughters to think of the family’s wealth not as their own, but as a gift from God which was to be used to help others.
During the summer months, Katharine and her sisters would teach catechism classes to the children of the workers on her family’s summer estate. The practice would prepare her for a life of service, with a strong focus on education and attention to the poor and vulnerable.
Though Katharine made her social debut in 1879, she never let her family’s money adversely affect the way she lived her life and faith. She was an example of a Christian with a proper understanding that the goods of this earth are given for the common good.
After watching her stepmother suffer with terminal cancer for three straight years, Katharine also learned that no amount of money could shelter them from pain or suffering. From this moment, Katharine’s life took a turn. She became imbued with a passionate love for God and neighbor, and she took an avid interest in the material and spiritual well-being of black and native Americans.
In 1884, while her family was visiting the Western states, Katharine saw first-hand the troubling and poor situation of the Native Americans. She desperately wanted to help them.
Katharine spent much of her time with Father James O’ Connor, a Philadelphia priest. He provided her with wonderful spiritual direction.
When her father passed away a year later, he donated part of his $15.5 million estate to a few charities and then left the remainder to be equally split amongst his three daughters.
As one of their first acts following their father’s death, Katharine and her sisters contributed money to assist the St. Francis Mission of South Dakota’s Rosebud Reservation.
Katherine soon concluded that more was needed to help the Native Americans and the lacking ingredient was people.
In 1887, while touring Europe, the Drexel sisters were given a private audience with Pope Leo XIII. They were seeking missionaries to help with the Indian missions they were financing. The Pope looked to Katharine and suggested she, herself, become a missionary. The pope replied, “Why don’t you become a missionary?”
After speaking with Father O’ Connor, Katharine decided she would give herself and her inheritance to God through service to both Native Americans and African Americans. She wrote, “The feast of St. Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored.”
Katharine began her six-month postulancy at the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Pittsburgh in 1889. On February 12, 1891, Katharine made her first vows as a religious and dedicated herself to working for the American Indians and African-Americans in the Western United States.
Taking the name Mother Katharine, she established a religious congregation called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored, 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 her fortune to this work. In 1894, Mother Katharine took part in opening the first mission boarding school called St. Catherine’s Indian School, 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, Katherine founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic University in the United States for African-Americans.
By the time of her death, she had more than 500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country and she established 50 missions for Native Americans in 16 different states.
Katharine suffered a heart attack at 77-years-old and was forced to retire. She spent the remainder of her life in quiet and intense prayer. She recorded her prates and aspirations in small notebooks. Mother Katharine died on March 3, 1955 at the age of 96.
“If we wish to serve God and love our neighbor well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to Him and them. Let us open wide our hearts. It is joy which invites us. Press forward and fear nothing.”
“It is a lesson we all need – to let alone the things that do not concern us. He has other ways for others to follow Him; all do not go by the same path. It is for each of us to learn the path by which He requires us to follow Him, and to follow Him in that path.”
“The Eucharist is a never-ending sacrifice. It is the Sacrament of love, the supreme love, the act of love.”
“My sweetest Joy is to be in the presence of Jesus in the holy Sacrament. I beg that when obliged to withdraw in body, I may leave my heart before the holy Sacrament. How I would miss Our Lord if He were to be away from me by His presence in the Blessed Sacrament!”
“Ours is the Spirit of the Eucharist, the total Gift of Self.”
“Christ wishes the Christian Community to be a body that is perfect because we work together towards a single end, and the higher the motive which actuates this collaboration the higher, no doubt, will be the union. Now the end in question is supremely exalted: the continuous sanctification of the Body for the glory of God and the Lamb that was slain [Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament].”
Close
March 3
Saint Katharine Drexel
March 4
Daily Saints – 4 March.
Feast of Saint Casimir of Poland.
He is the patron of young people, bachelors, kings, princes, single laymen and against plague.
Casimir Jagiellon was born in 1458. He was the third of the thirteen children of Casimir IV, King of Poland, and of Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Albert II.
The young prince had a distaste for the luxury of courtly life, and instead chose the way of asceticism and devotion. He wore plain clothes with a hair shirt beneath them, slept frequently on the ground, and would spend much of the night in prayer and meditation on the suffering and death of Christ.
Casimir showed his love for God through these exercises of devotion, and also through his material charity to the poor. He was known as a deeply compassionate young man who felt others’ pains acutely.
The young prince was only 13 years old when his father was asked by the Hungarians to offer his son as their new king. Casimir was eager to aid the Hungarians in their defense against the Turks, and went to be crowned. This plan was unsuccessful, however, and he was forced to return to Poland.
After his return Casimir resumed his studies with Dlugosz, while developing a canny grasp of politics by observing his father’s rule. In 1479 the king left Poland to attend to state business in Lithuania, leaving Prince Casimir in charge of the realm between 1481 and 1483.
Advisers to the prince joined his father in trying to convince Casimir to marry. But he preferred to remain single, focusing his life on the service of God and the good of his people.
After experiencing symptoms of tuberculosis, Casimir foresaw his death and prepared for it by deepening his devotion to God. He died en route to Lithuania on March 4, 1484, at the age of 26, and was buried with a copy of a Marian hymn he frequently recited.
Feast of Saint Casimir of Poland.
He is the patron of young people, bachelors, kings, princes, single laymen and against plague.
Casimir Jagiellon was born in 1458. He was the third of the thirteen children of Casimir IV, King of Poland, and of Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Albert II.
The young prince had a distaste for the luxury of courtly life, and instead chose the way of asceticism and devotion. He wore plain clothes with a hair shirt beneath them, slept frequently on the ground, and would spend much of the night in prayer and meditation on the suffering and death of Christ.
Casimir showed his love for God through these exercises of devotion, and also through his material charity to the poor. He was known as a deeply compassionate young man who felt others’ pains acutely.
The young prince was only 13 years old when his father was asked by the Hungarians to offer his son as their new king. Casimir was eager to aid the Hungarians in their defense against the Turks, and went to be crowned. This plan was unsuccessful, however, and he was forced to return to Poland.
After his return Casimir resumed his studies with Dlugosz, while developing a canny grasp of politics by observing his father’s rule. In 1479 the king left Poland to attend to state business in Lithuania, leaving Prince Casimir in charge of the realm between 1481 and 1483.
Advisers to the prince joined his father in trying to convince Casimir to marry. But he preferred to remain single, focusing his life on the service of God and the good of his people.
After experiencing symptoms of tuberculosis, Casimir foresaw his death and prepared for it by deepening his devotion to God. He died en route to Lithuania on March 4, 1484, at the age of 26, and was buried with a copy of a Marian hymn he frequently recited.
Close
March 4
Saint Casimir of Poland
March 5
Daily Saints – 5 March.
Feast of Saint John Joseph of the Cross.
St. John Joseph of the Cross was born about the middle of the seventeenth century in the beautiful island of Ischia, near Naples. From his childhood he was the model of virtue.
In his sixteenth year he entered the Franciscan Order of the Strictest Observance, or Reform of St. Peter of Alcantara. Such was the edification he gave in his Order, that within three years after his profession he was sent to found a monastery in Piedmont.
He became a priest out of obedience, and obtained, as it seems, an inspired knowledge of moral theology. With his superiors’ permission he built another convent and drew up rules for that community, which were confirmed by the Holy See. He afterward became Master of Novices.
Sometimes later he was made provincial of the province of Naples, erected in the beginning of the eightheenth century by Clement XI. He labored hard to establish in Italy that branch of his Order which the sovereign Pontiff had separated from the one in Spain.
In his work he suffered much, and became the victim of numerous calumnies. However, the saint succeeded in his labors, endeavoring to instill in the hearts of his subjects, the double spirit of contemplation and penance bequeathed to his Reform by St. Peter of Alcantara.
St. John Joseph exemplified the most sublime virtues, especially humility and religious discipline. He practiced self-denial in the form of strict penances: he fasted constantly, never drank wine, and slept only three hours each night.
In order to keep his soul recollected, he kept a strict guard over all his senses; he strove constantly to deny his own will in order to do only the will of his superiors and thus fulfill the will of God. He emphasized this point also when giving advice to those who came to him for guidance.
He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and encouraged others to cultivate this devotion. He also possessed numerous gifts in the supernatural order, such as those of prophesy, healing and miracles.
An optician named Vincent Lainez was a penitent and a great admirer of our saint. He had a little son, five months old, who was very sick and near death. Full of grief Lainez came to Father Joseph and begged him to obtain the recovery os his child by his prayers.
“But Vincent,” said Father John Joseph, “God calls him to Himself.”
“No, no!” said the distressed father, “He must leave this child to me. Last year He took my daughter, that is enough; one for Him and the other for me.”
Reluctantly Father Joseph answered: “You should submit to the will of God; but since you will not, very well! You will suffer the consequences.”
The child recovered, but it ceased growing; it attained its third year, but gave no signs of intelligence. The unhappy father, whom Father Joseph evaded during this time, could stand it no longer; he went to the cell of the Father, cast himself contritely at his feet and acknowledged his sin. After praying a while, the saint turned to him with sincere compassion and said:
“You deprived God of the honor, and the child of the happiness which it should have enjoyed in heaven during all this time in praising God. So God punished you, but now He sees your sorrow, and the punishment is at an end. Return to your home.”
Arriving there, the father beheld his child in the throes of death. The boy turned his little face toward his father with a sweet smile, the first ever to be seen, and then a moment later his innocent soul took its flight to heaven.
As an old man, Saint John Joseph of the Cross was severely troubled with ulcers on his legs, so that he could hardly make a step without the use of a cane. One day when he was in the cathedral, to venerate the blood of the holy martyr Januarius, Father Joseph’s cane was lost in the crowd that pressed about him. He was obliged to support himself at the walls until he arrived at the church door. There he paused while he asked the saint to return his cane to him.
A distinguished gentleman, who had come to the church in his carriage, asked Father Joseph what had happened. Raising his hand, Saint John Joseph of the Cross said: “My hobby-horse has run away, but St Januarius will bring him back.”
At that moment the people in church began to cry aloud: “A miracle! A miracle!” The cane was seen passing through the air until it reached his hand. Later on, a cardinal asked the favor of possessing the object of so charming a miracle; he had it encased in a precious shrine.
Finally, consumed by labors for the glory of God, he was called to his reward. Stricken with apoplexy, he died an octogenarian in his convent at Naples on March 5, 1734.
Feast of Saint John Joseph of the Cross.
St. John Joseph of the Cross was born about the middle of the seventeenth century in the beautiful island of Ischia, near Naples. From his childhood he was the model of virtue.
In his sixteenth year he entered the Franciscan Order of the Strictest Observance, or Reform of St. Peter of Alcantara. Such was the edification he gave in his Order, that within three years after his profession he was sent to found a monastery in Piedmont.
He became a priest out of obedience, and obtained, as it seems, an inspired knowledge of moral theology. With his superiors’ permission he built another convent and drew up rules for that community, which were confirmed by the Holy See. He afterward became Master of Novices.
Sometimes later he was made provincial of the province of Naples, erected in the beginning of the eightheenth century by Clement XI. He labored hard to establish in Italy that branch of his Order which the sovereign Pontiff had separated from the one in Spain.
In his work he suffered much, and became the victim of numerous calumnies. However, the saint succeeded in his labors, endeavoring to instill in the hearts of his subjects, the double spirit of contemplation and penance bequeathed to his Reform by St. Peter of Alcantara.
St. John Joseph exemplified the most sublime virtues, especially humility and religious discipline. He practiced self-denial in the form of strict penances: he fasted constantly, never drank wine, and slept only three hours each night.
In order to keep his soul recollected, he kept a strict guard over all his senses; he strove constantly to deny his own will in order to do only the will of his superiors and thus fulfill the will of God. He emphasized this point also when giving advice to those who came to him for guidance.
He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and encouraged others to cultivate this devotion. He also possessed numerous gifts in the supernatural order, such as those of prophesy, healing and miracles.
An optician named Vincent Lainez was a penitent and a great admirer of our saint. He had a little son, five months old, who was very sick and near death. Full of grief Lainez came to Father Joseph and begged him to obtain the recovery os his child by his prayers.
“But Vincent,” said Father John Joseph, “God calls him to Himself.”
“No, no!” said the distressed father, “He must leave this child to me. Last year He took my daughter, that is enough; one for Him and the other for me.”
Reluctantly Father Joseph answered: “You should submit to the will of God; but since you will not, very well! You will suffer the consequences.”
The child recovered, but it ceased growing; it attained its third year, but gave no signs of intelligence. The unhappy father, whom Father Joseph evaded during this time, could stand it no longer; he went to the cell of the Father, cast himself contritely at his feet and acknowledged his sin. After praying a while, the saint turned to him with sincere compassion and said:
“You deprived God of the honor, and the child of the happiness which it should have enjoyed in heaven during all this time in praising God. So God punished you, but now He sees your sorrow, and the punishment is at an end. Return to your home.”
Arriving there, the father beheld his child in the throes of death. The boy turned his little face toward his father with a sweet smile, the first ever to be seen, and then a moment later his innocent soul took its flight to heaven.
As an old man, Saint John Joseph of the Cross was severely troubled with ulcers on his legs, so that he could hardly make a step without the use of a cane. One day when he was in the cathedral, to venerate the blood of the holy martyr Januarius, Father Joseph’s cane was lost in the crowd that pressed about him. He was obliged to support himself at the walls until he arrived at the church door. There he paused while he asked the saint to return his cane to him.
A distinguished gentleman, who had come to the church in his carriage, asked Father Joseph what had happened. Raising his hand, Saint John Joseph of the Cross said: “My hobby-horse has run away, but St Januarius will bring him back.”
At that moment the people in church began to cry aloud: “A miracle! A miracle!” The cane was seen passing through the air until it reached his hand. Later on, a cardinal asked the favor of possessing the object of so charming a miracle; he had it encased in a precious shrine.
Finally, consumed by labors for the glory of God, he was called to his reward. Stricken with apoplexy, he died an octogenarian in his convent at Naples on March 5, 1734.
Close
March 5
Saint John Joseph of the Cross
March 6
Daily Saints – 6 March.
Feast of Saint Colette.
She is the patron of craftsmen, Poor Clares, servants, Women seeking to conceive, expectant mothers, sick children and against eye disorders, against fever, against headaches, against infertility, against the death of parents.
Saint Colette was born on 13 January 1381 at Corbie, Picardy, France as Nicolette Boilet, named in honor of Saint Nicholas of Myra. Her parents were near 60 at her birth. Her father was a Carpenter. Her loving parents nicknamed her Colette from the time she was a baby.
Colette was a quiet and hard-working girl and she was a big help to her mother with the housework. Her parents noticed the child’s liking for prayer and her sensitive, loving nature.
Colette was orphaned at age 17. She was placed under the care of the abbot at the monastery where her father had worked. Her guardian wanted her to marry, but Colette was drawn to religious life. She initially tried to join the Beguines and Benedictines, but failed in her vocation.
She became a Franciscan tertiary. On 17 September 1402, at age 21, she became an anchoress – walled into a cell whose only opening was a grilled window into a church.
She spent her time praying and sacrificing for Jesus’ Church. More and more people found out about this holy young woman. They went to see her and asked her advice about important problems. They knew that she was wise because she lived close to God. She received everybody with gentle kindness. After each visit, she would pray that her visitors would find peace of soul.
She had visions in which Saint Francis of Assisi ordered her to restore the Rule of Saint Clare to its original severity. When she hesitated, she was struck blind for three days and mute for three more; she saw this as a sign to take action.
Colette tried to follow her mission by explaining it, but had no success. Realizing she needed more authority behind her words, she walked to Nice, France, barefoot and clothed in a habit of patches, to meet Peter de Luna, acknowledged by the French as the schismatic Pope Benedict XIII. He professed her a Poor Clare, and was so impressed that he made her superioress of all convents of Minoresses that she might reform or found, and a missioner to Franciscan friars and tertiaries.
She travelled from convent to convent, meeting opposition, abuse, slander, and was even accused of sorcery. Eventually she made some progress, especially in Savoy, where her reform gained sympathizers and recruits. This reform passed to Burgundy in France, Flanders in Belgium and Spain.
Colette helped Saint Vincent Ferrer heal the papal schism. She founded seventeen convents; one branch of the Poor Clares is still known as the Colettines.
She had a great devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist. She also spent time frequently meditating on the passion and death of Jesus. She loved Jesus and her religious vocation very much. She had an appreciation and care for animals. Colette fasted every Friday, meditating on the Passion. After receiving Holy Communion, she would fall into ecstasies for hours.
Colette foretold the date of her own death. She died on 6 March 1447 at Ghent, Belgium, at the age of sixty-seven.
“My eyes, I have filled with Jesus upon Whom I have fixed them at the Elevation of the Host at Holy Mass and I do not wish to replace Him with any other image.”
“If there be a true way that leads to the Everlasting Kingdom, it is most certainly that of suffering, patiently endured.”
“We must faithfully keep what we have promised. If through human weakness we fail, we must always without delay arise again by means of holy penance, and give our attention to leading a good life and to dying a holy death. May the Father of all mercy, the Son by his holy passion, and the Holy Spirit, source of peace, sweetness and love, fill us with their consolation. Amen.”
Feast of Saint Colette.
She is the patron of craftsmen, Poor Clares, servants, Women seeking to conceive, expectant mothers, sick children and against eye disorders, against fever, against headaches, against infertility, against the death of parents.
Saint Colette was born on 13 January 1381 at Corbie, Picardy, France as Nicolette Boilet, named in honor of Saint Nicholas of Myra. Her parents were near 60 at her birth. Her father was a Carpenter. Her loving parents nicknamed her Colette from the time she was a baby.
Colette was a quiet and hard-working girl and she was a big help to her mother with the housework. Her parents noticed the child’s liking for prayer and her sensitive, loving nature.
Colette was orphaned at age 17. She was placed under the care of the abbot at the monastery where her father had worked. Her guardian wanted her to marry, but Colette was drawn to religious life. She initially tried to join the Beguines and Benedictines, but failed in her vocation.
She became a Franciscan tertiary. On 17 September 1402, at age 21, she became an anchoress – walled into a cell whose only opening was a grilled window into a church.
She spent her time praying and sacrificing for Jesus’ Church. More and more people found out about this holy young woman. They went to see her and asked her advice about important problems. They knew that she was wise because she lived close to God. She received everybody with gentle kindness. After each visit, she would pray that her visitors would find peace of soul.
She had visions in which Saint Francis of Assisi ordered her to restore the Rule of Saint Clare to its original severity. When she hesitated, she was struck blind for three days and mute for three more; she saw this as a sign to take action.
Colette tried to follow her mission by explaining it, but had no success. Realizing she needed more authority behind her words, she walked to Nice, France, barefoot and clothed in a habit of patches, to meet Peter de Luna, acknowledged by the French as the schismatic Pope Benedict XIII. He professed her a Poor Clare, and was so impressed that he made her superioress of all convents of Minoresses that she might reform or found, and a missioner to Franciscan friars and tertiaries.
She travelled from convent to convent, meeting opposition, abuse, slander, and was even accused of sorcery. Eventually she made some progress, especially in Savoy, where her reform gained sympathizers and recruits. This reform passed to Burgundy in France, Flanders in Belgium and Spain.
Colette helped Saint Vincent Ferrer heal the papal schism. She founded seventeen convents; one branch of the Poor Clares is still known as the Colettines.
She had a great devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist. She also spent time frequently meditating on the passion and death of Jesus. She loved Jesus and her religious vocation very much. She had an appreciation and care for animals. Colette fasted every Friday, meditating on the Passion. After receiving Holy Communion, she would fall into ecstasies for hours.
Colette foretold the date of her own death. She died on 6 March 1447 at Ghent, Belgium, at the age of sixty-seven.
“My eyes, I have filled with Jesus upon Whom I have fixed them at the Elevation of the Host at Holy Mass and I do not wish to replace Him with any other image.”
“If there be a true way that leads to the Everlasting Kingdom, it is most certainly that of suffering, patiently endured.”
“We must faithfully keep what we have promised. If through human weakness we fail, we must always without delay arise again by means of holy penance, and give our attention to leading a good life and to dying a holy death. May the Father of all mercy, the Son by his holy passion, and the Holy Spirit, source of peace, sweetness and love, fill us with their consolation. Amen.”
Close
March 6
Saint Colette
March 7
Daily Saints – 7 March.
Feast of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity and their Companions.
Patron of mothers, expectant mothers, ranchers and butchers.
St. Perpetua was a young, well-educated, noblewoman and mother living in the city of Carthage in North Africa. Her mother was a Christian and her father was a pagan.
In terms of her faith, Perpetua followed the example of her mother. Despite the pleas of her father to deny her faith, Perpetua did the very opposite, and fearlessly proclaimed it.
She knew it could mean her death during the persecutions ordered by the Emperor Severus. Her surviving brother (another brother had died when he was seven) followed her leadership and became a catechumen as well.
At the age of 22, she was imprisoned for her faith. While in prison she continued to care for her infant child and put up with the tortures designed to make her renounce her faith. Perpetua remained steadfast until the end.
“When my father in his affection for me was trying to turn me from my purpose by arguments and thus weaken my faith, I said to him, ‘Do you see this vessel—waterpot or whatever it may be? Can it be called by any other name than what it is?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘So also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am—a Christian.’”
Perpetua was arrested with four other catechumens, including two slaves, Felicity and Revocatus, and Saturninus and Secundulus. Their instructor in the faith, Saturus, chose to share their punishment and was also imprisoned.
Perpetua was baptized before taken to prison. She was known for her gift of “the Lord’s speech” and receiving messages from God. She tells us that at the time of her baptism she was told to pray for nothing but endurance in the face of her trials.
Two deacons who ministered to the prisoners paid the guards to place the martyrs in a better part of the prison. There, her mother and brother were able to visit Perpetua and bring her baby to her.
When she received permission for her baby to stay with her she recalled, “my prison suddenly became a palace for me.” Once more her father came to her, begging her to give in, kissing her hands, and throwing himself at her feet. She told him, “We lie not in our own power but in the power of God.”
When she and the others were taken to be examined and sentenced, her father followed, pleading with her and the judge. The judge, out of pity, also tried to get Perpetua to change her mind, but when she stood fast, she was sentenced with the others to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena.
St. Felicity was a pregnant slave girl who was imprisoned with St. Perpetua. Little is known about the life of St. Felicity. It was against the law for pregnant women to be executed. To kill a child in the womb was shedding innocent and sacred blood. Felicity was afraid that she would not give birth before the day set for their martyrdom and her companions would go on their journey without her.
After imprisonment and torture, Felicity was also condemned to die at the games. Only a few days before her execution, Felicity gave birth to a daughter, who was secretly taken away to be cared for by some of the Faithful.
Perpetua and Felicity and their Companions were mauled by wild beasts and beheaded 7 March 203 at Carthage, North Africa.
Feast of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity and their Companions.
Patron of mothers, expectant mothers, ranchers and butchers.
St. Perpetua was a young, well-educated, noblewoman and mother living in the city of Carthage in North Africa. Her mother was a Christian and her father was a pagan.
In terms of her faith, Perpetua followed the example of her mother. Despite the pleas of her father to deny her faith, Perpetua did the very opposite, and fearlessly proclaimed it.
She knew it could mean her death during the persecutions ordered by the Emperor Severus. Her surviving brother (another brother had died when he was seven) followed her leadership and became a catechumen as well.
At the age of 22, she was imprisoned for her faith. While in prison she continued to care for her infant child and put up with the tortures designed to make her renounce her faith. Perpetua remained steadfast until the end.
“When my father in his affection for me was trying to turn me from my purpose by arguments and thus weaken my faith, I said to him, ‘Do you see this vessel—waterpot or whatever it may be? Can it be called by any other name than what it is?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘So also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am—a Christian.’”
Perpetua was arrested with four other catechumens, including two slaves, Felicity and Revocatus, and Saturninus and Secundulus. Their instructor in the faith, Saturus, chose to share their punishment and was also imprisoned.
Perpetua was baptized before taken to prison. She was known for her gift of “the Lord’s speech” and receiving messages from God. She tells us that at the time of her baptism she was told to pray for nothing but endurance in the face of her trials.
Two deacons who ministered to the prisoners paid the guards to place the martyrs in a better part of the prison. There, her mother and brother were able to visit Perpetua and bring her baby to her.
When she received permission for her baby to stay with her she recalled, “my prison suddenly became a palace for me.” Once more her father came to her, begging her to give in, kissing her hands, and throwing himself at her feet. She told him, “We lie not in our own power but in the power of God.”
When she and the others were taken to be examined and sentenced, her father followed, pleading with her and the judge. The judge, out of pity, also tried to get Perpetua to change her mind, but when she stood fast, she was sentenced with the others to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena.
St. Felicity was a pregnant slave girl who was imprisoned with St. Perpetua. Little is known about the life of St. Felicity. It was against the law for pregnant women to be executed. To kill a child in the womb was shedding innocent and sacred blood. Felicity was afraid that she would not give birth before the day set for their martyrdom and her companions would go on their journey without her.
After imprisonment and torture, Felicity was also condemned to die at the games. Only a few days before her execution, Felicity gave birth to a daughter, who was secretly taken away to be cared for by some of the Faithful.
Perpetua and Felicity and their Companions were mauled by wild beasts and beheaded 7 March 203 at Carthage, North Africa.
Close
March 7
Sts. Perpetua and Felicity and their Companions
March 8
Daily Saints – 8 March.
Feast of St. John of God.
He is the patron of Hospitals, sick people, Nurses, printers, book sellers, alcoholics, bookbinders, booksellers, dying people, firefighters, heart patients, hospital workers, publishers and against alcoholism, against bodily ills, against sickness.
John was born in Portugal during the year 1495 to middle-class parents. Tragically, at the age of 8, he was kidnapped by a stranger and was later abandoned to homelessness in a remote part of Spain.
He worked as a shepherd until age 22, when the opportunity came along for him to join the army of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. This apparent stroke of fortune, however, would eventually lead John into greater misery.
For the next 18 years, John lived and fought among the emperor’s foot soldiers, first against the French and later the Turks. His morals began to decline, as he completely abandoned the piety of his earliest youth for a greedy and brutal way of life.
John’s conscience was occasionally troubled, particularly by the memories of his early years before he was taken from his parents. And despite falling into a lifestyle of violence and plundering, he had a certain weakness for those who were poor or in extreme distress, and would give alms to them.
He was narrowly saved on two occasions from what seemed like certain death – once after instinctively uttering a prayer to the Virgin Mary after falling wounded in enemy territory; and again, when he was falsely suspected of theft and nearly executed but for another soldier’s intervention.
Events such as these weighed heavily upon him, and when his regiment was disbanded he decided to amend his life – beginning with a pilgrimage to Spain’s Santiago de Compostela Cathedral along the “Way of St. James.” There, he confessed his sins and committed himself to living a life of repentance.
Soon after this, he returned to Portugal and discovered what had become of his parents. His mother had died, brokenhearted, after the loss of her son, after which his father had become a Franciscan monk.
At age 42, John returned to Spain and picked up nearly where he had left off 20 years before, working again as a shepherd. This time, however, he was committed to living out the faith in God that he had regained. He traveled briefly to North Africa, seeking to help Christians there who had been enslaved by Muslims.
When John was 41, he had a vision of the Infant Jesus. Tradition tells us that in this vision he found a small child on the roadside, ill-clad and barefooted, who asked John to carry him part of his way. John lifted the child on his shoulders, and trudged along with his double burden. But the weight was heavy, and John was none too strong; when he reached a drinking fountain on the road John proposed to the child that they should stop and rest. The child came down from his shoulders but was suddenly transformed. “John of God,” he said, “Granada shall be your cross,” and immediately disappeared.
Eventually, he returned to Spain and settled for a time in the occupation of selling religious books and other goods, always encouraging his customers to live their faith sincerely. St. John of God’s later reputation as the patron saint of booksellers derives from this period of his life.
On St. Sebastian’s Day (January 20), John followed a crowd of people going to hear renowned preacher, John of Avila, who is known today as St. John of Avila.
During the sermon, John underwent a major spiritual experience. He approached John of Avila after the sermon, confessed to him and received spiritual counseling. John wanted to atone for his sins, acknowledging that there was no greater sinner than himself.
After his conversion, John temporarily went into a state of insanity. He was seen beating himself and “acting like a madman.” He was taken to the Royal Hospital, a psychiatric facility, where the warden was instructed to provide John with care and a quiet place to rest.
Unfortunately, John’s care was cruel and inadequate. He underwent harsh treatments. He was tied down and daily beaten and whipped. John learned very quickly that it was better not to rebel against his caretakers but to comply with their requests. John of Avila visited him and said his penance had been long enough…40 days…and had him moved to a better part of the hospital.
After a while, he was given special privileges, which allowed him to walk freely throughout the hospital. He took advantage of these privileges by visiting with other patients. By encouraging, supporting and comforting them, John felt he aided the nurses in providing better care. After a few months, he was considered well enough to be discharged.
Later, however, he felt compelled to give himself entirely to the service of the poor, sick, and vulnerable. He opened his house to them – allowing it to become a combined hospital, homeless shelter, and halfway-house, run entirely by John himself. When he was not bandaging wounded occupants or breaking up fights between them, he would go out begging on their behalf.
The Bishop of Granada approved his work, and gave him the name “John of God.” A group of volunteers came to accompany him in his work, many of whom had first come to him while in dire need themselves.
Others, who resented his work, assaulted John’s reputation by focusing on his past sins – but John, unfazed in his humility, would acknowledge the truth of what was said, as a testament to God’s grace in his life. He once offered to pay a woman to tell the entire city what she had been saying about him in private.
John served the sick and poor for 15 years, before meeting his death through an act of charity. He jumped into a freezing river and managed to save a drowning man, but came home shivering and weakened from the ordeal. He lay down in one of his own hospital beds, where his condition further declined.
The Bishop of Granada came to administer the last rites. As the bishop prepared him for death, John expressed a number of anxieties.
“There are three things that make me uneasy,” he said.
“The first is that I have received so many graces from God, and have not recognized them, and have repaid them with so little of my own.”
“The second is that after I am dead, I fear lest the poor women I have rescued, and the poor sinners I have reclaimed, may be treated badly.”
“The third is that those who have trusted me with money, and whom I have not fully repaid, may suffer loss on my account.”
The bishop, however, assured him that he had nothing to fear. John then asked to be alone, and summoned his last strength to rise from bed and kneel before a crucifix.
He died in prayer, with his face pressed against the figure of Christ, on the night of March 7, 1550.
“Labour without stopping; do all the good works you can while you still have the time.”
“Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin.”
Feast of St. John of God.
He is the patron of Hospitals, sick people, Nurses, printers, book sellers, alcoholics, bookbinders, booksellers, dying people, firefighters, heart patients, hospital workers, publishers and against alcoholism, against bodily ills, against sickness.
John was born in Portugal during the year 1495 to middle-class parents. Tragically, at the age of 8, he was kidnapped by a stranger and was later abandoned to homelessness in a remote part of Spain.
He worked as a shepherd until age 22, when the opportunity came along for him to join the army of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. This apparent stroke of fortune, however, would eventually lead John into greater misery.
For the next 18 years, John lived and fought among the emperor’s foot soldiers, first against the French and later the Turks. His morals began to decline, as he completely abandoned the piety of his earliest youth for a greedy and brutal way of life.
John’s conscience was occasionally troubled, particularly by the memories of his early years before he was taken from his parents. And despite falling into a lifestyle of violence and plundering, he had a certain weakness for those who were poor or in extreme distress, and would give alms to them.
He was narrowly saved on two occasions from what seemed like certain death – once after instinctively uttering a prayer to the Virgin Mary after falling wounded in enemy territory; and again, when he was falsely suspected of theft and nearly executed but for another soldier’s intervention.
Events such as these weighed heavily upon him, and when his regiment was disbanded he decided to amend his life – beginning with a pilgrimage to Spain’s Santiago de Compostela Cathedral along the “Way of St. James.” There, he confessed his sins and committed himself to living a life of repentance.
Soon after this, he returned to Portugal and discovered what had become of his parents. His mother had died, brokenhearted, after the loss of her son, after which his father had become a Franciscan monk.
At age 42, John returned to Spain and picked up nearly where he had left off 20 years before, working again as a shepherd. This time, however, he was committed to living out the faith in God that he had regained. He traveled briefly to North Africa, seeking to help Christians there who had been enslaved by Muslims.
When John was 41, he had a vision of the Infant Jesus. Tradition tells us that in this vision he found a small child on the roadside, ill-clad and barefooted, who asked John to carry him part of his way. John lifted the child on his shoulders, and trudged along with his double burden. But the weight was heavy, and John was none too strong; when he reached a drinking fountain on the road John proposed to the child that they should stop and rest. The child came down from his shoulders but was suddenly transformed. “John of God,” he said, “Granada shall be your cross,” and immediately disappeared.
Eventually, he returned to Spain and settled for a time in the occupation of selling religious books and other goods, always encouraging his customers to live their faith sincerely. St. John of God’s later reputation as the patron saint of booksellers derives from this period of his life.
On St. Sebastian’s Day (January 20), John followed a crowd of people going to hear renowned preacher, John of Avila, who is known today as St. John of Avila.
During the sermon, John underwent a major spiritual experience. He approached John of Avila after the sermon, confessed to him and received spiritual counseling. John wanted to atone for his sins, acknowledging that there was no greater sinner than himself.
After his conversion, John temporarily went into a state of insanity. He was seen beating himself and “acting like a madman.” He was taken to the Royal Hospital, a psychiatric facility, where the warden was instructed to provide John with care and a quiet place to rest.
Unfortunately, John’s care was cruel and inadequate. He underwent harsh treatments. He was tied down and daily beaten and whipped. John learned very quickly that it was better not to rebel against his caretakers but to comply with their requests. John of Avila visited him and said his penance had been long enough…40 days…and had him moved to a better part of the hospital.
After a while, he was given special privileges, which allowed him to walk freely throughout the hospital. He took advantage of these privileges by visiting with other patients. By encouraging, supporting and comforting them, John felt he aided the nurses in providing better care. After a few months, he was considered well enough to be discharged.
Later, however, he felt compelled to give himself entirely to the service of the poor, sick, and vulnerable. He opened his house to them – allowing it to become a combined hospital, homeless shelter, and halfway-house, run entirely by John himself. When he was not bandaging wounded occupants or breaking up fights between them, he would go out begging on their behalf.
The Bishop of Granada approved his work, and gave him the name “John of God.” A group of volunteers came to accompany him in his work, many of whom had first come to him while in dire need themselves.
Others, who resented his work, assaulted John’s reputation by focusing on his past sins – but John, unfazed in his humility, would acknowledge the truth of what was said, as a testament to God’s grace in his life. He once offered to pay a woman to tell the entire city what she had been saying about him in private.
John served the sick and poor for 15 years, before meeting his death through an act of charity. He jumped into a freezing river and managed to save a drowning man, but came home shivering and weakened from the ordeal. He lay down in one of his own hospital beds, where his condition further declined.
The Bishop of Granada came to administer the last rites. As the bishop prepared him for death, John expressed a number of anxieties.
“There are three things that make me uneasy,” he said.
“The first is that I have received so many graces from God, and have not recognized them, and have repaid them with so little of my own.”
“The second is that after I am dead, I fear lest the poor women I have rescued, and the poor sinners I have reclaimed, may be treated badly.”
“The third is that those who have trusted me with money, and whom I have not fully repaid, may suffer loss on my account.”
The bishop, however, assured him that he had nothing to fear. John then asked to be alone, and summoned his last strength to rise from bed and kneel before a crucifix.
He died in prayer, with his face pressed against the figure of Christ, on the night of March 7, 1550.
“Labour without stopping; do all the good works you can while you still have the time.”
“Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin.”
Close
March 8
Saint John of God
March 9
Daily Saints – 9 March.
Feast of Saint Frances of Rome.
She is the patron saint of automobile drivers, automobilists, aviators, cab drivers, death of children, lay people, motorcyclists, motorists, people ridiculed for their piety, pilots, housewives, taxi drivers, widows, women and invoked against plague.
St. Frances was born into a noble Roman family in the year 1384. From her mother she inherited a quiet manner and a pious devotion to God. From her father, however, she inherited a strong will.
From an early age, Frances felt drawn to the religious life, but at the age of thirteen her parents forced her into marriage.
She went to the spiritual director. After listening her, he asked her “Are you crying because you want to do God’s will or because you want God to do your will?” she understood the will of God and accepted married life.
She was thrust into the whirl of parties and banquets that accompanied a wedding. Her mother-in-law Cecilia loved to entertain and expected her new daughter-in-law to enjoy the revelry of her social life too.
Frances collapsed from the strain. For months she lay close to death, unable to eat or move or speak. She had a vision of St. Alexis. St. Alexis told her God was giving her an important choice: Did she want to recover or not? Frances was miserable. Finally, she whispered, “God’s will is mine.”
St. Alexis replied, “Then you will live to glorify His Name.” Her recovery was immediate and complete. Lorenzo became even more devoted to her after this – he was even a little in awe of her because of what she’d been through.
But her problems did not disappear. Her mother-in-law still expected her to entertain and go on visits with her. As Frances became acquainted with her in-laws she found that the wife of her brother-in-law felt the same calling to the religious life that she did.
From this point on, the two women began to work to help the poor. Frances did not allow her charitable work to interfere with her family life, and bore three children.
After the plague swept through Rome and left one of Frances’ children dead, she began to turn again to charitable work. Frances gave up all her wealth to the sick and poor and began to go door to door raising money to aid the sick and poor.
After the plague claimed Frances’ daughter, she opened up a wing of her home as a hospital for the poor. As Frances became more deeply involved in charitable work, she began to realize the great need for it in the world and began to seek permission from the pope to form a charitable society of women to do this work.
The women followed the ideals of the Benedictine order and carried on active charity and assistance of the poor. After setting up the foundation of this society, Frances continued to live with her husband until his death. After his death Frances lived the remainder of her life with the society that she formed. Frances died in 1440.
On her feast day priests bless cars due to her patronage of cars and drivers. Frances certainly never drove, but legend says that when she went abroad at night, her guardian angel went before her, lighting the road with a headlight-like lantern, keeping her safe in her travels.
“It is most laudable in a married woman to be devout, but she must never forget that she is a housewife. And sometimes she must leave God at the altar to find Him in her housekeeping.”
Feast of Saint Frances of Rome.
She is the patron saint of automobile drivers, automobilists, aviators, cab drivers, death of children, lay people, motorcyclists, motorists, people ridiculed for their piety, pilots, housewives, taxi drivers, widows, women and invoked against plague.
St. Frances was born into a noble Roman family in the year 1384. From her mother she inherited a quiet manner and a pious devotion to God. From her father, however, she inherited a strong will.
From an early age, Frances felt drawn to the religious life, but at the age of thirteen her parents forced her into marriage.
She went to the spiritual director. After listening her, he asked her “Are you crying because you want to do God’s will or because you want God to do your will?” she understood the will of God and accepted married life.
She was thrust into the whirl of parties and banquets that accompanied a wedding. Her mother-in-law Cecilia loved to entertain and expected her new daughter-in-law to enjoy the revelry of her social life too.
Frances collapsed from the strain. For months she lay close to death, unable to eat or move or speak. She had a vision of St. Alexis. St. Alexis told her God was giving her an important choice: Did she want to recover or not? Frances was miserable. Finally, she whispered, “God’s will is mine.”
St. Alexis replied, “Then you will live to glorify His Name.” Her recovery was immediate and complete. Lorenzo became even more devoted to her after this – he was even a little in awe of her because of what she’d been through.
But her problems did not disappear. Her mother-in-law still expected her to entertain and go on visits with her. As Frances became acquainted with her in-laws she found that the wife of her brother-in-law felt the same calling to the religious life that she did.
From this point on, the two women began to work to help the poor. Frances did not allow her charitable work to interfere with her family life, and bore three children.
After the plague swept through Rome and left one of Frances’ children dead, she began to turn again to charitable work. Frances gave up all her wealth to the sick and poor and began to go door to door raising money to aid the sick and poor.
After the plague claimed Frances’ daughter, she opened up a wing of her home as a hospital for the poor. As Frances became more deeply involved in charitable work, she began to realize the great need for it in the world and began to seek permission from the pope to form a charitable society of women to do this work.
The women followed the ideals of the Benedictine order and carried on active charity and assistance of the poor. After setting up the foundation of this society, Frances continued to live with her husband until his death. After his death Frances lived the remainder of her life with the society that she formed. Frances died in 1440.
On her feast day priests bless cars due to her patronage of cars and drivers. Frances certainly never drove, but legend says that when she went abroad at night, her guardian angel went before her, lighting the road with a headlight-like lantern, keeping her safe in her travels.
“It is most laudable in a married woman to be devout, but she must never forget that she is a housewife. And sometimes she must leave God at the altar to find Him in her housekeeping.”
Close
March 9
Saint Frances of Rome
March 10
Daily Saints – 10 March.
Feast of Saint John Ogilvie.
John was born on 1579 at Drum, Grampian, Scotland. His father Walter Ogilvie was a Scottish noble who raised his son John in the state religion of Scotland, Calvinism.
His father sent him to the continent to be educated. There, John became interested in the popular debates going on between Catholic and Calvinist scholars. Confused by the arguments of Catholic scholars whom he sought out, he turned to Scripture.
Two texts particularly struck him: “God wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth,” and “Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you.”
Slowly, John came to see that the Catholic Church could embrace all kinds of people. Among these, he noted, were many martyrs. He decided to become Catholic.
John converted to Catholicism at age 17 at Louvain, Belgium, and then attended several Catholic educational institutions. He joined the Jesuits soon after in 1597, and was ordained in Paris, France in 1610. Sent to work in Rouen, France.
It was a time of great persecution of Catholicism in Scotland. “Send only those,” wrote the Earl of Angus to the Jesuit General, “who wish for this mission and are strong enough to bear the heat of the day, for they will be in exceeding danger.”
Wholesale massacres of Catholics had taken place in the past, but by this point the hunters concentrated on priests and those who attended Mass. The Jesuits were determined to minister to the oppressed Catholic laity, but when captured, they were tortured for information, then hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Ogilvie repeatedly requested assignment to his home Scotland, and it was finally granted; he returned in November 1613. He worked as an underground missionary in Edinburgh and Glasgow, dodging the Queen’s priest-hunters, disguised as a soldier named Watson.
After 11 months in the field (and on the run), John was betrayed by a phony Catholic, imprisoned, interrogated, then tortured for the names of active Catholics. He gave no information. “Your threats cheer me; I mind them no more than the cackling of geese,” he told his captors. Asked if he feared to die Father John replied, “No more than you do to dine.”
His trial dragged on until he had been without food for 26 hours. He was imprisoned and deprived of sleep. For eight days and nights he was dragged around, prodded with sharp sticks, his hair pulled out. Still, he refused to reveal the names of Catholics or to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the king in spiritual affairs. He underwent a second and third trial but held firm.
At his final trial, he assured his judges: “In all that concerns the king, I will be slavishly obedient; if any attack his temporal power, I will shed my last drop of blood for him. But in the things of spiritual jurisdiction which a king unjustly seizes I cannot and must not obey.”
After three trials he was convicted of treason for being loyal to the Pope, and denying the king’s supremacy in spiritual matters. He was hanged 10 March 1615 at Glasgow. He is the Church’s only officially recorded Scottish martyr.
Feast of Saint John Ogilvie.
John was born on 1579 at Drum, Grampian, Scotland. His father Walter Ogilvie was a Scottish noble who raised his son John in the state religion of Scotland, Calvinism.
His father sent him to the continent to be educated. There, John became interested in the popular debates going on between Catholic and Calvinist scholars. Confused by the arguments of Catholic scholars whom he sought out, he turned to Scripture.
Two texts particularly struck him: “God wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth,” and “Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you.”
Slowly, John came to see that the Catholic Church could embrace all kinds of people. Among these, he noted, were many martyrs. He decided to become Catholic.
John converted to Catholicism at age 17 at Louvain, Belgium, and then attended several Catholic educational institutions. He joined the Jesuits soon after in 1597, and was ordained in Paris, France in 1610. Sent to work in Rouen, France.
It was a time of great persecution of Catholicism in Scotland. “Send only those,” wrote the Earl of Angus to the Jesuit General, “who wish for this mission and are strong enough to bear the heat of the day, for they will be in exceeding danger.”
Wholesale massacres of Catholics had taken place in the past, but by this point the hunters concentrated on priests and those who attended Mass. The Jesuits were determined to minister to the oppressed Catholic laity, but when captured, they were tortured for information, then hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Ogilvie repeatedly requested assignment to his home Scotland, and it was finally granted; he returned in November 1613. He worked as an underground missionary in Edinburgh and Glasgow, dodging the Queen’s priest-hunters, disguised as a soldier named Watson.
After 11 months in the field (and on the run), John was betrayed by a phony Catholic, imprisoned, interrogated, then tortured for the names of active Catholics. He gave no information. “Your threats cheer me; I mind them no more than the cackling of geese,” he told his captors. Asked if he feared to die Father John replied, “No more than you do to dine.”
His trial dragged on until he had been without food for 26 hours. He was imprisoned and deprived of sleep. For eight days and nights he was dragged around, prodded with sharp sticks, his hair pulled out. Still, he refused to reveal the names of Catholics or to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the king in spiritual affairs. He underwent a second and third trial but held firm.
At his final trial, he assured his judges: “In all that concerns the king, I will be slavishly obedient; if any attack his temporal power, I will shed my last drop of blood for him. But in the things of spiritual jurisdiction which a king unjustly seizes I cannot and must not obey.”
After three trials he was convicted of treason for being loyal to the Pope, and denying the king’s supremacy in spiritual matters. He was hanged 10 March 1615 at Glasgow. He is the Church’s only officially recorded Scottish martyr.
Close
March 10
Saint John Ogilvie
March 11
Daily Saints – 11 March.
Feast of Saint Eulogius of Cordoba.
He is the patron of carpenters, coppersmiths.
St. Eulogius was born in the 9th century. His family was of the senatorial class and held land in Córdoba from Roman times. The saint, like his five brothers, received an excellent education in accord with his good birth and under the guardianship of his mother Isabel.
After completing his studies in the monastery of St. Zoilus, St. Eulogius continued to live with his family the better to care for his mother; also, perhaps, to study with famous masters. He distinguished himself, by his virtue and learning, and, being made priest, was placed at the head of the chief ecclesiastical school at Cordova.
He was gentle, reverent, well-educated, steeped in Scripture, and so humble that he freely submitted to opinions of others less informed than he. Eulogius had a pleasant demeanor and conducted his relationships with such kindness that everyone regarded him as a friend.
A gifted leader, the most prominent among his charisma was the ability to give encouragement. As a priest serving in an occupied country, he used this gift to strengthen his friends in the face of danger.
This humility shone particularly on two occasions. In his youth he had decided to make a foot pilgrimage to Rome; notwithstanding his great fervour and his devotion to the sepulchre of the Prince of the Apostles, he gave up his project, yielding to the advice of prudent friends.
Again, during the Muslim persecution, in 850, after reading a passage of the works of St. Epiphanius he decided to refrain for a time from saying Mass that he might better defend the cause of the martyrs; however, at the request of his bishop, Saul of Córdoba, he put aside his scruples.
In 850 the Muslims began to persecute Christians because some had spoken against Mohammed and converted Muslims to Christianity. They imprisoned the bishop and priests of Cordoba, including Eulogius. In jail, the saint read the Bible to his companions, exhorting them to faithfulness.
In 858, a virgin named Leocritia of a noble family of the Moors was converted and sought his protection against her irate parents. St. Eulogius hid her among friends for a time, but eventually they were all discovered and condemned to death. St. Eulogius was beheaded on March 11, 859, and St. Leocritia four days later on March 15, 859.
St. Eulogius was chosen to fill the vacant Archepiscopal See of Toledo, but could not be consecrated as Archbishop of Toledo, owing to his imprisonment shortly before his execution by beheading.
He wrote to Flora and Mary, two young women who were threatened because they were converts. In the letter quoted below, he assured them that nothing done to their bodies could harm their souls:
“They threaten to sell you as slaves and dishonor you, but be assured that they cannot injure the purity of your souls, whatever infamy they may inflict on you. Cowardly Christians will tell you, in order to shake your constancy, that the churches are silent, deserted, and deprived of the sacrifice on account of your obstinacy: that if you will but yield temporarily you will regain the free exercise of your religion. But be persuaded that, for you, the sacrifice most pleasing to God is contrition of heart, and that you can no longer draw back or renounce the truth you have confessed. . .You must fight till death and leave God to defend his church: you must fight till death because in such a struggle as this victory is won by death alone.”
Feast of Saint Eulogius of Cordoba.
He is the patron of carpenters, coppersmiths.
St. Eulogius was born in the 9th century. His family was of the senatorial class and held land in Córdoba from Roman times. The saint, like his five brothers, received an excellent education in accord with his good birth and under the guardianship of his mother Isabel.
After completing his studies in the monastery of St. Zoilus, St. Eulogius continued to live with his family the better to care for his mother; also, perhaps, to study with famous masters. He distinguished himself, by his virtue and learning, and, being made priest, was placed at the head of the chief ecclesiastical school at Cordova.
He was gentle, reverent, well-educated, steeped in Scripture, and so humble that he freely submitted to opinions of others less informed than he. Eulogius had a pleasant demeanor and conducted his relationships with such kindness that everyone regarded him as a friend.
A gifted leader, the most prominent among his charisma was the ability to give encouragement. As a priest serving in an occupied country, he used this gift to strengthen his friends in the face of danger.
This humility shone particularly on two occasions. In his youth he had decided to make a foot pilgrimage to Rome; notwithstanding his great fervour and his devotion to the sepulchre of the Prince of the Apostles, he gave up his project, yielding to the advice of prudent friends.
Again, during the Muslim persecution, in 850, after reading a passage of the works of St. Epiphanius he decided to refrain for a time from saying Mass that he might better defend the cause of the martyrs; however, at the request of his bishop, Saul of Córdoba, he put aside his scruples.
In 850 the Muslims began to persecute Christians because some had spoken against Mohammed and converted Muslims to Christianity. They imprisoned the bishop and priests of Cordoba, including Eulogius. In jail, the saint read the Bible to his companions, exhorting them to faithfulness.
In 858, a virgin named Leocritia of a noble family of the Moors was converted and sought his protection against her irate parents. St. Eulogius hid her among friends for a time, but eventually they were all discovered and condemned to death. St. Eulogius was beheaded on March 11, 859, and St. Leocritia four days later on March 15, 859.
St. Eulogius was chosen to fill the vacant Archepiscopal See of Toledo, but could not be consecrated as Archbishop of Toledo, owing to his imprisonment shortly before his execution by beheading.
He wrote to Flora and Mary, two young women who were threatened because they were converts. In the letter quoted below, he assured them that nothing done to their bodies could harm their souls:
“They threaten to sell you as slaves and dishonor you, but be assured that they cannot injure the purity of your souls, whatever infamy they may inflict on you. Cowardly Christians will tell you, in order to shake your constancy, that the churches are silent, deserted, and deprived of the sacrifice on account of your obstinacy: that if you will but yield temporarily you will regain the free exercise of your religion. But be persuaded that, for you, the sacrifice most pleasing to God is contrition of heart, and that you can no longer draw back or renounce the truth you have confessed. . .You must fight till death and leave God to defend his church: you must fight till death because in such a struggle as this victory is won by death alone.”
Close
March 11
Saint Eulogius of Cordoba
March 12
March 12
St. Louis Orione.
Luis Orione was born in Pontecurone, diocese of Tortona, on June 23, 1872. At age 13 he was received at the Franciscan convent of Voghera (Pavia) which he left after a year for health reasons. From 1886 to 1889 he was a student of San Juan Bosco in the Oratorio de Valdocco de Turin.
On October 16, 1889 he entered the seminar in Tortona. Being still a young clergyman, he dedicated himself to living solidarity with others in the Sociedad de Mutuo Socorro San Marciano and the Conference of San Vicente. On July 3, 1892, opened in Tortona the first Oratorio to care for the Christian education of young people. The following year, on October 15, 1893, Luis Orione, a 21-year-old cleric, opened a school for poor boys in the San Bernardino neighborhood.
On April 13, 1895, Louis Orione was ordained a priest and at the same time, the Bishop imposed a clerical habit on six students of his school. In a short time, Don Orione opened new houses in Mornico Losana (Pavia), in Noto (Sicily), in Sanremo, in Rome.
Around the young Founder grew clerics and priests who formed the first core of the Small Work of Divine Providence. In 1899 he started the branch of the hermitages of Divine Providence.
The Bishop of Tortona, Mons. Igino Bandi, with Decree of March 21, 1903, recognised canonically the Children of Divine Providence (priests, coadjutant brothers and hermitages), male religious congregation of the Little Work of Divine Provident, dedicated to ′′ collaborating to bring the little ones, the poor and the people to the Church and the Pope, through the works of charity “, professing an IV vote of special ′′ faithfulness to the Pope “.
In the first Constitutions of 1904, between the ends of the new Congregation are working ′′ to achieve union of separate Churches “.
Encouraged by a great passion for the church and the salvation of souls, he became actively interested in emerging problems at the time, such as freedom and unity of the Church, the ′′ Roman issue “, modernism, socialism, Christianization of the working masses.
He heroically helped populations affected by Reggio and Messina earthquakes (1908) and Marsica (1915). By the wish of Pius X he was Vicar General of Messina diocese for three years.
Twenty years since the founding of the Children of Divine Providence, as in ′′ a single plant with many branches “, on June 29, 1915 the Congregation of the Little Sisters Missionaries of Charity began , encouraged by the same foundational charisma and, in 1927, the Blistering Sacramentine Worship Sisters, to which the Contemplatives of Jesus Crucified will be added later.
He organized laymen into the associations of the ′′ Ladies of Divine Providence “, the ′′ Ex-students ′′ and the ′′ Friends “. Then the Orionino Secular Institute and the Orionino Lay Movement will take body.
After World War I (1914-1918) multiplied schools, colleges, agricultural colonies, charitable works and welfare. Among the most characteristic works, he created the ′′ Little Cottolengos “, for those suffering and abandoned, emerged on the periphery of large cities as ′′ new pulpits ′′ from which to speak of Christ and the Church, ′′ headlights of faith and of humanity “.
The missionary zeal of Don Orione, which had already been manifested with the dispatch to Brazil in 1913 of his first religious ones, then extended to Argentina and Uruguay (1921), England (1935) and Albania (1936). In 1921-1922 and in 1934-1937, he himself made two trips to Latin America, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, reaching Chile.
He enjoyed the personal esteem of the Popes and the authorities of the Holy See, who entrusted him with numerous and delicate tasks to solve problems and heal wounds both within the Church and in relations with the civil world.
He was a preacher, confessor and tireless organizer of pilgrimages, missions, processions, ′′ living bellens ′′ and other popular demonstrations of faith. Very devoted to the Virgin, promoted her devotion by all means and, with the manual labor of her clerics, built the shrines of the Virgin of the Guard in Tortona and the Virgin of Caravaggio in Fumo.
In the winter of 1940, trying to ease the heart and lung problems suffered, he went to the house of Sanremo, although, as he said, ′′ It is not among the palm trees where I wish to live and die, but among the poor who are Jesus Christ “. After just three days, surrounded by the affection of his brothers, Don Orione passed away on March 12, 1940, sighing “! Jesus! Jesus! I’m going “.
St. Louis Orione.
Luis Orione was born in Pontecurone, diocese of Tortona, on June 23, 1872. At age 13 he was received at the Franciscan convent of Voghera (Pavia) which he left after a year for health reasons. From 1886 to 1889 he was a student of San Juan Bosco in the Oratorio de Valdocco de Turin.
On October 16, 1889 he entered the seminar in Tortona. Being still a young clergyman, he dedicated himself to living solidarity with others in the Sociedad de Mutuo Socorro San Marciano and the Conference of San Vicente. On July 3, 1892, opened in Tortona the first Oratorio to care for the Christian education of young people. The following year, on October 15, 1893, Luis Orione, a 21-year-old cleric, opened a school for poor boys in the San Bernardino neighborhood.
On April 13, 1895, Louis Orione was ordained a priest and at the same time, the Bishop imposed a clerical habit on six students of his school. In a short time, Don Orione opened new houses in Mornico Losana (Pavia), in Noto (Sicily), in Sanremo, in Rome.
Around the young Founder grew clerics and priests who formed the first core of the Small Work of Divine Providence. In 1899 he started the branch of the hermitages of Divine Providence.
The Bishop of Tortona, Mons. Igino Bandi, with Decree of March 21, 1903, recognised canonically the Children of Divine Providence (priests, coadjutant brothers and hermitages), male religious congregation of the Little Work of Divine Provident, dedicated to ′′ collaborating to bring the little ones, the poor and the people to the Church and the Pope, through the works of charity “, professing an IV vote of special ′′ faithfulness to the Pope “.
In the first Constitutions of 1904, between the ends of the new Congregation are working ′′ to achieve union of separate Churches “.
Encouraged by a great passion for the church and the salvation of souls, he became actively interested in emerging problems at the time, such as freedom and unity of the Church, the ′′ Roman issue “, modernism, socialism, Christianization of the working masses.
He heroically helped populations affected by Reggio and Messina earthquakes (1908) and Marsica (1915). By the wish of Pius X he was Vicar General of Messina diocese for three years.
Twenty years since the founding of the Children of Divine Providence, as in ′′ a single plant with many branches “, on June 29, 1915 the Congregation of the Little Sisters Missionaries of Charity began , encouraged by the same foundational charisma and, in 1927, the Blistering Sacramentine Worship Sisters, to which the Contemplatives of Jesus Crucified will be added later.
He organized laymen into the associations of the ′′ Ladies of Divine Providence “, the ′′ Ex-students ′′ and the ′′ Friends “. Then the Orionino Secular Institute and the Orionino Lay Movement will take body.
After World War I (1914-1918) multiplied schools, colleges, agricultural colonies, charitable works and welfare. Among the most characteristic works, he created the ′′ Little Cottolengos “, for those suffering and abandoned, emerged on the periphery of large cities as ′′ new pulpits ′′ from which to speak of Christ and the Church, ′′ headlights of faith and of humanity “.
The missionary zeal of Don Orione, which had already been manifested with the dispatch to Brazil in 1913 of his first religious ones, then extended to Argentina and Uruguay (1921), England (1935) and Albania (1936). In 1921-1922 and in 1934-1937, he himself made two trips to Latin America, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, reaching Chile.
He enjoyed the personal esteem of the Popes and the authorities of the Holy See, who entrusted him with numerous and delicate tasks to solve problems and heal wounds both within the Church and in relations with the civil world.
He was a preacher, confessor and tireless organizer of pilgrimages, missions, processions, ′′ living bellens ′′ and other popular demonstrations of faith. Very devoted to the Virgin, promoted her devotion by all means and, with the manual labor of her clerics, built the shrines of the Virgin of the Guard in Tortona and the Virgin of Caravaggio in Fumo.
In the winter of 1940, trying to ease the heart and lung problems suffered, he went to the house of Sanremo, although, as he said, ′′ It is not among the palm trees where I wish to live and die, but among the poor who are Jesus Christ “. After just three days, surrounded by the affection of his brothers, Don Orione passed away on March 12, 1940, sighing “! Jesus! Jesus! I’m going “.
Close
March 12
Saint Louis Orione
March 13
Daily Saints – 13 March.
Feast of Saint Leander of Seville.
Leander was born to Roman parents somewhere around the year 534 in Carthage, Spain. He was the son of Severianus and Theodora. St. Isidore and Fulgentius, both bishops were his brothers, and his sister, Florentina, is also numbered among the saints. When Leander was a young man, his family moved to Seville.
Leander became a Benedictine monk and in 579 was made Bishop of Seville. He also established a school, which became known as a center of learning and orthodoxy.
Leander became a great defender of the faith against Arianism, which was a heresy that denied the Divinity of Christ. During this time he also befriended Princess Ingunthis and assisted her in her attempts to convert her husband to Christianity. Her husband was the son of Leovigild, the Arian King of the Visigoths, and Leovigild was infuriated by his son’s conversion.
Leovigild sent Leander into exile, so from 579 to 582 Leander resided in Byzantium. While in exile, he composed many important writings against Arianism and met the future Pope Gregory the Great. They developed a close friendship and it was Leander who encouraged Gregory to write his famous commentary on the Book of Job, called the Moralia. Over the years, Leander and Gregory continued to correspond with each other.
Leovigild had his own son, Hermenegild, a Christian convert, put to death in the year 585, and Leovigild died in 589. Leander returned to Seville under the reign of King Reccared and continued his life’s work of promoting the true faith and fighting against Arianism.
In 589 he presided over the third local Council of Toledo where many moral reforms were brought about. Also at this Council, the consubstantiality of the three Persons of the Trinity was decreed. Through Leander’s wisdom and persistent defense of the faith, the Visigoths and the Suevi were led back to the Church.
Leander is responsible for introducing the Nicene Creed at Mass. He died around the year 600 and was succeeded as Bishop of Seville by his brother, Isidore, who also was later canonized.
Feast of Saint Leander of Seville.
Leander was born to Roman parents somewhere around the year 534 in Carthage, Spain. He was the son of Severianus and Theodora. St. Isidore and Fulgentius, both bishops were his brothers, and his sister, Florentina, is also numbered among the saints. When Leander was a young man, his family moved to Seville.
Leander became a Benedictine monk and in 579 was made Bishop of Seville. He also established a school, which became known as a center of learning and orthodoxy.
Leander became a great defender of the faith against Arianism, which was a heresy that denied the Divinity of Christ. During this time he also befriended Princess Ingunthis and assisted her in her attempts to convert her husband to Christianity. Her husband was the son of Leovigild, the Arian King of the Visigoths, and Leovigild was infuriated by his son’s conversion.
Leovigild sent Leander into exile, so from 579 to 582 Leander resided in Byzantium. While in exile, he composed many important writings against Arianism and met the future Pope Gregory the Great. They developed a close friendship and it was Leander who encouraged Gregory to write his famous commentary on the Book of Job, called the Moralia. Over the years, Leander and Gregory continued to correspond with each other.
Leovigild had his own son, Hermenegild, a Christian convert, put to death in the year 585, and Leovigild died in 589. Leander returned to Seville under the reign of King Reccared and continued his life’s work of promoting the true faith and fighting against Arianism.
In 589 he presided over the third local Council of Toledo where many moral reforms were brought about. Also at this Council, the consubstantiality of the three Persons of the Trinity was decreed. Through Leander’s wisdom and persistent defense of the faith, the Visigoths and the Suevi were led back to the Church.
Leander is responsible for introducing the Nicene Creed at Mass. He died around the year 600 and was succeeded as Bishop of Seville by his brother, Isidore, who also was later canonized.
Close
March 13
Saint Leander of Seville
March 14
Daily Saints – 14 March.
Feast of Saint Leobinus of Chartres.
Patron saint of innkeepers, wine merchants and against dropsy, against edema, against rheumatism.
Leobinus of Chartres was born at Poitiers, France. He was the son of a peasant. Leobinus used to do field work and was also a shepherd in his youth.
Leobinus having the thirst for Education, he went to the monastery at Noailles. Here he used to work for the monks during the day while being taught by them during the night. He used to study till late by candlelight of which annoyed the monks who had to wake up for early prayers. Leobinus took notice of this and put a screen around the candle and continued with his studies. With humility and perseverance Lubin advanced in knowledge.
He eventually joined the monastery and, probably at the suggestion of St. Carilef, for a time lived as a hermit under the guidance of St. Avitus. Later, after some misadventures, he settled in an abbey near Lyons, remaining for five years.
In a war between the Franks and the Burgundians this monastery was raided and all the monks fled with the exception of Lubin and an old monk. The enemy, unable to extort from Lubin the location of the monastery’s “treasure”, tortured him by first strangling him with a rope and then by tying his feet and dipping him, head first, into the river. Left for dead, he recovered, and was received in the monastery of Le Perche.
Bishop Aetherius of Chartres nominated Lubin the Abbot of Brou and had him ordained to the priesthood. His responsibility as abbot weighed so heavily upon him that he begged – although in vain – to be relieved of it. Instead, upon the death of the bishop, he was elevated and consecrated in his place. He brought about various reforms.
He was a miracle worker and had the gift of healing, especially of dropsy or edema. He worked with Saint Caletric who gave him his last Communion and succeeded him as bishop. The innkeepers and wine merchants near Charters considered Leobinus their patron.
Leobinus died on March 14, about the year 558, after a long illness.
Feast of Saint Leobinus of Chartres.
Patron saint of innkeepers, wine merchants and against dropsy, against edema, against rheumatism.
Leobinus of Chartres was born at Poitiers, France. He was the son of a peasant. Leobinus used to do field work and was also a shepherd in his youth.
Leobinus having the thirst for Education, he went to the monastery at Noailles. Here he used to work for the monks during the day while being taught by them during the night. He used to study till late by candlelight of which annoyed the monks who had to wake up for early prayers. Leobinus took notice of this and put a screen around the candle and continued with his studies. With humility and perseverance Lubin advanced in knowledge.
He eventually joined the monastery and, probably at the suggestion of St. Carilef, for a time lived as a hermit under the guidance of St. Avitus. Later, after some misadventures, he settled in an abbey near Lyons, remaining for five years.
In a war between the Franks and the Burgundians this monastery was raided and all the monks fled with the exception of Lubin and an old monk. The enemy, unable to extort from Lubin the location of the monastery’s “treasure”, tortured him by first strangling him with a rope and then by tying his feet and dipping him, head first, into the river. Left for dead, he recovered, and was received in the monastery of Le Perche.
Bishop Aetherius of Chartres nominated Lubin the Abbot of Brou and had him ordained to the priesthood. His responsibility as abbot weighed so heavily upon him that he begged – although in vain – to be relieved of it. Instead, upon the death of the bishop, he was elevated and consecrated in his place. He brought about various reforms.
He was a miracle worker and had the gift of healing, especially of dropsy or edema. He worked with Saint Caletric who gave him his last Communion and succeeded him as bishop. The innkeepers and wine merchants near Charters considered Leobinus their patron.
Leobinus died on March 14, about the year 558, after a long illness.
Close
March 14
Saint Leobinus of Chartres
March 15
Happy feast of Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer.
He is known as the Apostle of Vienna.
Clement was born on December 26,1751, at Taswitz, Moravia. He was the ninth of 12 children. At baptism, he was given the name John. His family was very poor and his father was a butcher who changed the family name from the Moravian Dvorák to the Germanic Hofbauer. His father died when Clement was six years old.
Although he longed to be a priest, there was no money for studies, and he was apprenticed to a baker. But God guided the young man’s fortunes. He found work in the bakery of a monastery where he was allowed to attend classes in its Latin school. After the abbot there died, John tried the life of a hermit, but when Emperor Joseph II abolished hermitages, John again returned to Vienna and to baking.
One day after serving Mass at the Cathedral of St. Stephen, he called a carriage for two ladies waiting there in the rain. In their conversation they learned that he could not pursue his priestly studies because of a lack of funds. They generously offered to support both John and his friend Thaddeus, in their seminary studies. The two went to Rome, where they were drawn to Saint Alphonsus’ vision of religious life and to the Redemptorists. The two young men were ordained together in 1785.
Newly professed at age 34, Clement Mary, as he was now called, and Thaddeus were sent back to Vienna. But the religious difficulties there caused them to leave and continue north to Warsaw, Poland. There they encountered numerous German-speaking Catholics who had been left priestless by the suppression of the Jesuits.
At first they had to live in great poverty and preach outdoor sermons. Eventually they were given the church of St. Benno, and for the next nine years they preached five sermons a day, two in German and three in Polish, converting many to the faith. They were active in social work among the poor, founding an orphanage and then a school for boys.
Drawing candidates to the congregation, they were able to send missionaries to Poland, Germany, and Switzerland. All of these foundations eventually had to be abandoned because of the political and religious tensions of the times.
After 20 years of difficult work, Clement Mary himself was imprisoned and expelled from the country. Only after another arrest was he able to reach Vienna, where he was to live and work the final 12 years of his life.
He quickly became “the apostle of Vienna,” hearing the confessions of the rich and the poor, visiting the sick, acting as a counselor to the powerful, sharing his holiness with all in the city. His crowning work was the establishment of a Catholic college in his beloved city.
Clement worked against the establishment of a German national Church. He fought against Josephinism which sought secular control of the Church and clergy.
Persecution followed Clement Mary, and there were those in authority who were able for a while to stop him from preaching. An attempt was made at the highest levels to have him banished. But his holiness and fame protected him and prompted the growth of the Redemptorists. Due to his efforts, the congregation was firmly established north of the Alps by the time of his death.
He died on 15 March 1820 at Vienna, Austria. Clement might be called the second founder of the Redemptorists, as it was he who carried the congregation of Saint Alphonsus Liguori to the people north of the Alps.
“Lord, give me this soul, for if Thou refuse, I shall go to Thy Mother!”
He is known as the Apostle of Vienna.
Clement was born on December 26,1751, at Taswitz, Moravia. He was the ninth of 12 children. At baptism, he was given the name John. His family was very poor and his father was a butcher who changed the family name from the Moravian Dvorák to the Germanic Hofbauer. His father died when Clement was six years old.
Although he longed to be a priest, there was no money for studies, and he was apprenticed to a baker. But God guided the young man’s fortunes. He found work in the bakery of a monastery where he was allowed to attend classes in its Latin school. After the abbot there died, John tried the life of a hermit, but when Emperor Joseph II abolished hermitages, John again returned to Vienna and to baking.
One day after serving Mass at the Cathedral of St. Stephen, he called a carriage for two ladies waiting there in the rain. In their conversation they learned that he could not pursue his priestly studies because of a lack of funds. They generously offered to support both John and his friend Thaddeus, in their seminary studies. The two went to Rome, where they were drawn to Saint Alphonsus’ vision of religious life and to the Redemptorists. The two young men were ordained together in 1785.
Newly professed at age 34, Clement Mary, as he was now called, and Thaddeus were sent back to Vienna. But the religious difficulties there caused them to leave and continue north to Warsaw, Poland. There they encountered numerous German-speaking Catholics who had been left priestless by the suppression of the Jesuits.
At first they had to live in great poverty and preach outdoor sermons. Eventually they were given the church of St. Benno, and for the next nine years they preached five sermons a day, two in German and three in Polish, converting many to the faith. They were active in social work among the poor, founding an orphanage and then a school for boys.
Drawing candidates to the congregation, they were able to send missionaries to Poland, Germany, and Switzerland. All of these foundations eventually had to be abandoned because of the political and religious tensions of the times.
After 20 years of difficult work, Clement Mary himself was imprisoned and expelled from the country. Only after another arrest was he able to reach Vienna, where he was to live and work the final 12 years of his life.
He quickly became “the apostle of Vienna,” hearing the confessions of the rich and the poor, visiting the sick, acting as a counselor to the powerful, sharing his holiness with all in the city. His crowning work was the establishment of a Catholic college in his beloved city.
Clement worked against the establishment of a German national Church. He fought against Josephinism which sought secular control of the Church and clergy.
Persecution followed Clement Mary, and there were those in authority who were able for a while to stop him from preaching. An attempt was made at the highest levels to have him banished. But his holiness and fame protected him and prompted the growth of the Redemptorists. Due to his efforts, the congregation was firmly established north of the Alps by the time of his death.
He died on 15 March 1820 at Vienna, Austria. Clement might be called the second founder of the Redemptorists, as it was he who carried the congregation of Saint Alphonsus Liguori to the people north of the Alps.
“Lord, give me this soul, for if Thou refuse, I shall go to Thy Mother!”
Close
March 15
Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer
March 16
Daily Saints – 16 March.
Feast of Saint Heribert of Cologne.
Patron saint for rain and against drought.
Heribert was born on c.970 at Worms, Germany. He was the son of Duke Hugo of Worms, Germany.
He wanted to become a Benedictine monk, after studying as a youth at the abbey of Gorze. But his father disapproved and called him home; upon his return, he was made a canon of the cathedral and was ordained. He became the chancellor of Emperor Otto III and in 998 became archbishop of Cologne.
Since he could not become a monk, St. Heribert of Cologne cultivated an intense spiritual life, at the same time serving his people and his diocese tirelessly. He accompanied the emperor on a trip to Italy, where the emperor caught smallpox and died. It was Heribert who accompanied the body back to Aachen for burial, carrying with him the imperial insignia for the next emperor, St. Henry II.
His relations with the new emperor were not the best, but Heribert served the new ruler loyally. As time went on, the new emperor learned to appreciate the qualities of his chancellor and toward the end of their lives the two saints were very close.
All the money he could spare from his own personal income, Heribert gave to the poor, sent money to priests throughout his diocese to help the destitute, and even went to hospitals and private homes to help the poor and the sick.
During a great drought in the city, he led a procession through the streets of the city to the church of St. Severinus. The participants saw a dove circling around Heribert. When he rose from his knees at the altar, a torrential rain came down and the year’s harvest was saved. People in that part of Germany still pray to him for rain.
Heribert’s extraordinary piety and generosity towards the poor were praised. Legend tells how Mary appeared to him and his friend and successor in the Episcopate Pilgrim in a dream and instructed Heribert to found the abbey in Cologne-Deutz . Since the builders did not find suitable wood for a cross, Heribert had his midday meal covered in his orchard, looked at a cross in a pear tree, and dropped the tree.
While on a pastoral visitation of his diocese, Heribert became ill with fever and had himself brought back to Cologne. He died a few days later on 16 March 1021 at Cologne.
Feast of Saint Heribert of Cologne.
Patron saint for rain and against drought.
Heribert was born on c.970 at Worms, Germany. He was the son of Duke Hugo of Worms, Germany.
He wanted to become a Benedictine monk, after studying as a youth at the abbey of Gorze. But his father disapproved and called him home; upon his return, he was made a canon of the cathedral and was ordained. He became the chancellor of Emperor Otto III and in 998 became archbishop of Cologne.
Since he could not become a monk, St. Heribert of Cologne cultivated an intense spiritual life, at the same time serving his people and his diocese tirelessly. He accompanied the emperor on a trip to Italy, where the emperor caught smallpox and died. It was Heribert who accompanied the body back to Aachen for burial, carrying with him the imperial insignia for the next emperor, St. Henry II.
His relations with the new emperor were not the best, but Heribert served the new ruler loyally. As time went on, the new emperor learned to appreciate the qualities of his chancellor and toward the end of their lives the two saints were very close.
All the money he could spare from his own personal income, Heribert gave to the poor, sent money to priests throughout his diocese to help the destitute, and even went to hospitals and private homes to help the poor and the sick.
During a great drought in the city, he led a procession through the streets of the city to the church of St. Severinus. The participants saw a dove circling around Heribert. When he rose from his knees at the altar, a torrential rain came down and the year’s harvest was saved. People in that part of Germany still pray to him for rain.
Heribert’s extraordinary piety and generosity towards the poor were praised. Legend tells how Mary appeared to him and his friend and successor in the Episcopate Pilgrim in a dream and instructed Heribert to found the abbey in Cologne-Deutz . Since the builders did not find suitable wood for a cross, Heribert had his midday meal covered in his orchard, looked at a cross in a pear tree, and dropped the tree.
While on a pastoral visitation of his diocese, Heribert became ill with fever and had himself brought back to Cologne. He died a few days later on 16 March 1021 at Cologne.
Close
March 16
Saint Heribert of Cologne
March 17
Daily Saints – 17 March.
Feast of Saint Patrick.
He is known as the Apostle of Ireland. He is the patron saint of barbers, hairdressers, barrel makers; coopers, blacksmiths, cattle, engineers, excluded people, miners and against fear of snakes or ophidiophobia; ophidiophobics, against snake bites, against snakes.
Patrick was born at Scotland as ‘Maewyn Succat’ into either a Scottish or English family in the fourth century. (Succat – pagan birth name and Patricius – baptismal name)
Patrick was captured as a teenager by Niall of the Nine Hostages who was to become a King of all Ireland. Patrick was sold into slavery in Ireland and put to work as a shepherd. He worked in terrible conditions for six years drawing comfort in the Christian faith that so many of his people had abandoned under Roman rule.
Patrick had a dream that encouraged him to flee his captivity and to head South where a ship was to be waiting for him. He travelled over 200 miles from his Northern captivity to Wexford town where, sure enough, a ship was waiting to enable his escape.
Upon arrival in England he was captured by brigands and returned to slavery. He escaped after two months and spent the next seven years travelling Europe seeking his destiny.
During this time he furthered his education and studied Christianity in the Lerin Monastery in France. He returned to England as a priest. Again a dream greatly influenced him when he became convinced that the Irish people were calling out to him to return to the land of his servitude.
He went to the Monastery in Auxerre where it was decided that a mission should be sent to Ireland. Patrick was not selected for this task to his great disappointment. The monk that was selected was called Paladius, but he died before he could reach Ireland and a second mission was decided upon.
Patrick was made a Bishop by Pope Celestine in the year 432 and, together with a small band of followers, travelled to Ireland to commence the conversion.
Patrick confronted the most powerful man in Ireland Laoghaire, The High King of Tara as he knew that if he could gain his support that he would be safe to spread the word throughout Ireland. To get his attention Patrick and his followers lit a huge fire to mark the commencement of Spring.
Tradition had it that no fire was to be lit until the Kings fire was complete, but Patrick defied this rule and courted the confrontation with the King. The King rushed into action and travelled with the intention of making war on the holy delegation.
Patrick calmed the King and with quiet composure impressed the King that he had no other intention than that of spreading the word of the Gospel. The King accepted the missionary, much to the dismay of the Druids who feared for their own power and position in the face of this new threat.
They commanded that he make snow fall. Patrick declined to do so stating that this was Gods work. Immediately it began to snow, only stopping when Patrick blessed himself.
Still trying to convince the King of his religion Patrick grasped at some Shamrock growing on the ground. He explained that there was but one stem on the plant, but three branches of the leaf, representing the Blessed Trinity. The King was impressed with his sincerity and granted him permission to spread the word of his faith, although he did not convert to Christianity himself.
Patrick and his followers were free to spread their faith throughout Ireland and did so to great effect. He drove paganism (symbolised by the snake) from the lands of Eireann.
Patrick was tempted by the Devil whilst on a pilgrimage at Croagh Patrick. For his refusal to be tempted, God rewarded him with a wish. Patrick asked that the Irish be spared the horror of Judgement Day and that he himself be allowed to judge his flock. Thus, the legend that Ireland will disappear under a sea of water seven years before the final judgement, was born.
Patrick died on March 17th in the year 461 at the age of 76.
Feast of Saint Patrick.
He is known as the Apostle of Ireland. He is the patron saint of barbers, hairdressers, barrel makers; coopers, blacksmiths, cattle, engineers, excluded people, miners and against fear of snakes or ophidiophobia; ophidiophobics, against snake bites, against snakes.
Patrick was born at Scotland as ‘Maewyn Succat’ into either a Scottish or English family in the fourth century. (Succat – pagan birth name and Patricius – baptismal name)
Patrick was captured as a teenager by Niall of the Nine Hostages who was to become a King of all Ireland. Patrick was sold into slavery in Ireland and put to work as a shepherd. He worked in terrible conditions for six years drawing comfort in the Christian faith that so many of his people had abandoned under Roman rule.
Patrick had a dream that encouraged him to flee his captivity and to head South where a ship was to be waiting for him. He travelled over 200 miles from his Northern captivity to Wexford town where, sure enough, a ship was waiting to enable his escape.
Upon arrival in England he was captured by brigands and returned to slavery. He escaped after two months and spent the next seven years travelling Europe seeking his destiny.
During this time he furthered his education and studied Christianity in the Lerin Monastery in France. He returned to England as a priest. Again a dream greatly influenced him when he became convinced that the Irish people were calling out to him to return to the land of his servitude.
He went to the Monastery in Auxerre where it was decided that a mission should be sent to Ireland. Patrick was not selected for this task to his great disappointment. The monk that was selected was called Paladius, but he died before he could reach Ireland and a second mission was decided upon.
Patrick was made a Bishop by Pope Celestine in the year 432 and, together with a small band of followers, travelled to Ireland to commence the conversion.
Patrick confronted the most powerful man in Ireland Laoghaire, The High King of Tara as he knew that if he could gain his support that he would be safe to spread the word throughout Ireland. To get his attention Patrick and his followers lit a huge fire to mark the commencement of Spring.
Tradition had it that no fire was to be lit until the Kings fire was complete, but Patrick defied this rule and courted the confrontation with the King. The King rushed into action and travelled with the intention of making war on the holy delegation.
Patrick calmed the King and with quiet composure impressed the King that he had no other intention than that of spreading the word of the Gospel. The King accepted the missionary, much to the dismay of the Druids who feared for their own power and position in the face of this new threat.
They commanded that he make snow fall. Patrick declined to do so stating that this was Gods work. Immediately it began to snow, only stopping when Patrick blessed himself.
Still trying to convince the King of his religion Patrick grasped at some Shamrock growing on the ground. He explained that there was but one stem on the plant, but three branches of the leaf, representing the Blessed Trinity. The King was impressed with his sincerity and granted him permission to spread the word of his faith, although he did not convert to Christianity himself.
Patrick and his followers were free to spread their faith throughout Ireland and did so to great effect. He drove paganism (symbolised by the snake) from the lands of Eireann.
Patrick was tempted by the Devil whilst on a pilgrimage at Croagh Patrick. For his refusal to be tempted, God rewarded him with a wish. Patrick asked that the Irish be spared the horror of Judgement Day and that he himself be allowed to judge his flock. Thus, the legend that Ireland will disappear under a sea of water seven years before the final judgement, was born.
Patrick died on March 17th in the year 461 at the age of 76.
Close
March 17
Saint Patrick
March 18
Daily Saints – 18 March.
Feast of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem.
Cyril was born in Jerusalem in 315. His parents were probably Christians. He also had a sister and a nephew, Gelasius, who became a bishop and a saint.
He speaks as one who belonged to a group called the Solitaries. These were men who lived in their own houses in the cities but practiced a life of complete chastity, ascetism, and service.
Cyril received an excellent education in classical Greek literature as well as the Bible. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Maximus of Jerusalem.
After he became a priest, his bishop, Maximus, put him in charge of preparing people to be baptized. Cyril became well-known for the catechesis he gave.
Maximus feared for the future of Jerusalem. The heresy of Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ, was spreading. Even bishops and the emperor believed in it. Maximus wanted a successor strong enough to stand up for the Church’s teaching. Cyril was ordained bishop in about 349 and began at once to bring law, order, and peace to Jerusalem.
In the neighboring diocese was a man named Acacius, a staunch believer in Arianism. When Acacius couldn’t persuade Cyril to support Arianism, he became angry. First, Acacius and his friends accused Cyril of heresy. Then they summoned him before a council of bishops, saying he had sold church property to feed those who were poor.
When Cyril refused to appear at the council, the group charged him with disobedience, and Cyril was exiled to Tarsus in southern Turkey. In exile, he won the hearts of the people with his preaching.
When Cyril was allowed to return to Jerusalem, it was violent with heresy, fighting, and crime. Even Saint Gregory of Nyssa, who was sent to help Cyril, left because conditions were so bad. Twice again before his death, Cyril was exiled over Arian disputes.
Cyril attended the Council at Constantinople in 381 where the Nicene Creed and orthodoxy triumphed and Arianism was finally condemned. Cyril received justice at the same Council who cleared him of all previous rumors and commended him.
Cyril had eight years of peace in Jerusalem before he died in 386, at about seventy years old.
“Our actions have a tongue of their own; they have an eloquence of their own, even when the tongue is silent. For deeds prove the lover more than words.”
“Since Christ Himself has said, “This is My Body” who shall dare to doubt that It is His Body?”
“The wider our contemplation of creation, the grander is our conception of God.”
“Your accumulated offences do not surpass the multitude of God’s mercies: your wounds do not surpass the great Physician’s skill.”
“In the person of Christ a man has not become God; God has become man.”
“Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the Cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow, and on everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we rise up; when we are in the way, and when we are still. Great is that preservative; it is without price, for the sake of the poor; without toil, for the sick; since also its grace is from God. It is the Sign of the faithful, and the dread of devils: for He ‘triumphed over them in it, having made a show of them openly’ (Colossians 2:15); for when they see the Cross they are reminded of the Crucified; they are afraid of Him, who bruised the heads of the dragon. Despise not the Seal, because of the freeness of the gift; but for this the rather honour your Benefactor.”
“Then during the Eucharistic prayer we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition.”
“It is not only among us, who are marked with the name of Christ, that the dignity of faith is great; all the business of the world, even of those outside the Church, is accomplished by faith. By faith, marriage laws join in union persons who were strangers to one another. By faith, agriculture is sustained; for a man does not endure the toil involved unless he believes he will reap a harvest. By faith, seafaring men, entrusting themselves to a tiny wooden craft, exchange the solid element of the land for the unstable motion of the waves. Not only among us does this hold true but also, as I have said, among those outside the fold. For though they do not accept the Scriptures but advance certain doctrines of their own, yet even these they receive on faith.”
“Children of justice, follow John’s exhortation: “Make straight the way of the Lord.” Remove all obstacles and stumbling blocks so that you will be able to go straight along the road to eternal life. Through a sincere faith prepare yourselves so that you may be free to receive the Holy Spirit. My brothers, this is truly a great occasion. Approach it with caution. You are standing in front of God and in the presence of the hosts of angels. The Holy Spirit is about to impress his seal on each of your souls. You are about to be pressed into the service of a great king. And so prepare yourselves to receive the sacrament. The gleaming white garments you are about to put on are not the preparation I am speaking of, but rather the devotion of a clean conscience.”
“But some one will say, If the Divine substance is incomprehensible, why then do you discourse of these things? So then, because I cannot drink up all the river, am I not even to take in moderation what is expedient for me? Because with eyes so constituted as mine I cannot take in all the sun, am I not even to look upon it enough to satisfy my wants? Or again, because I have entered into a great garden, and cannot eat all the supply of fruits, would you have me go away altogether hungry?.. I am attempting now to glorify the Lord, but not to describe him, knowing nevertheless that I shall fall short of glorifying God worthily, yet deeming it a work of piety even to attempt it at all.”
Feast of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem.
Cyril was born in Jerusalem in 315. His parents were probably Christians. He also had a sister and a nephew, Gelasius, who became a bishop and a saint.
He speaks as one who belonged to a group called the Solitaries. These were men who lived in their own houses in the cities but practiced a life of complete chastity, ascetism, and service.
Cyril received an excellent education in classical Greek literature as well as the Bible. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Maximus of Jerusalem.
After he became a priest, his bishop, Maximus, put him in charge of preparing people to be baptized. Cyril became well-known for the catechesis he gave.
Maximus feared for the future of Jerusalem. The heresy of Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ, was spreading. Even bishops and the emperor believed in it. Maximus wanted a successor strong enough to stand up for the Church’s teaching. Cyril was ordained bishop in about 349 and began at once to bring law, order, and peace to Jerusalem.
In the neighboring diocese was a man named Acacius, a staunch believer in Arianism. When Acacius couldn’t persuade Cyril to support Arianism, he became angry. First, Acacius and his friends accused Cyril of heresy. Then they summoned him before a council of bishops, saying he had sold church property to feed those who were poor.
When Cyril refused to appear at the council, the group charged him with disobedience, and Cyril was exiled to Tarsus in southern Turkey. In exile, he won the hearts of the people with his preaching.
When Cyril was allowed to return to Jerusalem, it was violent with heresy, fighting, and crime. Even Saint Gregory of Nyssa, who was sent to help Cyril, left because conditions were so bad. Twice again before his death, Cyril was exiled over Arian disputes.
Cyril attended the Council at Constantinople in 381 where the Nicene Creed and orthodoxy triumphed and Arianism was finally condemned. Cyril received justice at the same Council who cleared him of all previous rumors and commended him.
Cyril had eight years of peace in Jerusalem before he died in 386, at about seventy years old.
“Our actions have a tongue of their own; they have an eloquence of their own, even when the tongue is silent. For deeds prove the lover more than words.”
“Since Christ Himself has said, “This is My Body” who shall dare to doubt that It is His Body?”
“The wider our contemplation of creation, the grander is our conception of God.”
“Your accumulated offences do not surpass the multitude of God’s mercies: your wounds do not surpass the great Physician’s skill.”
“In the person of Christ a man has not become God; God has become man.”
“Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the Cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow, and on everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we rise up; when we are in the way, and when we are still. Great is that preservative; it is without price, for the sake of the poor; without toil, for the sick; since also its grace is from God. It is the Sign of the faithful, and the dread of devils: for He ‘triumphed over them in it, having made a show of them openly’ (Colossians 2:15); for when they see the Cross they are reminded of the Crucified; they are afraid of Him, who bruised the heads of the dragon. Despise not the Seal, because of the freeness of the gift; but for this the rather honour your Benefactor.”
“Then during the Eucharistic prayer we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition.”
“It is not only among us, who are marked with the name of Christ, that the dignity of faith is great; all the business of the world, even of those outside the Church, is accomplished by faith. By faith, marriage laws join in union persons who were strangers to one another. By faith, agriculture is sustained; for a man does not endure the toil involved unless he believes he will reap a harvest. By faith, seafaring men, entrusting themselves to a tiny wooden craft, exchange the solid element of the land for the unstable motion of the waves. Not only among us does this hold true but also, as I have said, among those outside the fold. For though they do not accept the Scriptures but advance certain doctrines of their own, yet even these they receive on faith.”
“Children of justice, follow John’s exhortation: “Make straight the way of the Lord.” Remove all obstacles and stumbling blocks so that you will be able to go straight along the road to eternal life. Through a sincere faith prepare yourselves so that you may be free to receive the Holy Spirit. My brothers, this is truly a great occasion. Approach it with caution. You are standing in front of God and in the presence of the hosts of angels. The Holy Spirit is about to impress his seal on each of your souls. You are about to be pressed into the service of a great king. And so prepare yourselves to receive the sacrament. The gleaming white garments you are about to put on are not the preparation I am speaking of, but rather the devotion of a clean conscience.”
“But some one will say, If the Divine substance is incomprehensible, why then do you discourse of these things? So then, because I cannot drink up all the river, am I not even to take in moderation what is expedient for me? Because with eyes so constituted as mine I cannot take in all the sun, am I not even to look upon it enough to satisfy my wants? Or again, because I have entered into a great garden, and cannot eat all the supply of fruits, would you have me go away altogether hungry?.. I am attempting now to glorify the Lord, but not to describe him, knowing nevertheless that I shall fall short of glorifying God worthily, yet deeming it a work of piety even to attempt it at all.”
Close
March 18
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
March 19
Daily Saints – 19 March.
Feast of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He is the patron saint of accountants, attornies, barristers, bursars, cabinetmakers, carpenters, cemetery workers, children, civil engineers, confectioners, craftsmen, dying people, educators, emigrants, exiles, expectant mothers, families, fathers, furniture makers, grave diggers, happy death, holy death, house hunters, immigrants, interior souls, joiners, laborers, lawyers, married people, orphans, people in doubt, pioneers, pregnant women, social justice, solicitors, teachers, travellers, unborn children, wheelwrights, workers, working people, Catholic Church, Oblates of Saint Joseph, for protection of the Church, Universal Church and against doubt, against hesitation.
St. Joseph, the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foster-father of Jesus, was probably born in Bethlehem and probably died in Nazareth. His important mission in God’s plan of salvation was “to legally insert Jesus Christ into the line of David from whom, according to the prophets, the Messiah would be born, and to act as his father and guardian”.
Most of our information about St. Joseph comes from the opening two chapters of St. Matthew’s Gospel. No words of his are recorded in the Gospels; he was the “silent” man. His high privilege is expressed in a single phrase, “Foster-father of Jesus.”
About him Sacred Scripture has little more to say than that he was a just man-an expression which indicates how faithfully he fulfilled his high trust of protecting and guarding God’s greatest treasures upon earth, Jesus and Mary.
We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:55). He wasn’t rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).
Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from a royal lineage. Luke and Matthew disagree some about the details of Joseph’s genealogy but they both mark his descent from David, the greatest king of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38). Indeed the angel who first tells Joseph about Jesus greets him as “son of David,” a royal title used also for Jesus.
We find no devotion to St. Joseph in the early Church. It was the will of God that the Virgin Birth of Our Lord be first firmly impressed upon the minds of the faithful. He was later venerated by the great saints of the Middle Ages.
Liturgical veneration of St. Joseph began in the fifteenth century, fostered by Sts. Brigid of Sweden and Bernadine of Siena. St. Teresa, too, did much to further his cult. Pius IX (1870) declared him patron and protector of the universal family of the Church.
“St. Joseph was chosen among all men, to be the protector and guardian of the Virgin Mother of God; the defender and foster-father of the Infant-God, and the only co-operator upon earth, the one confidant of the secret of God in the work of the redemption of mankind.” – St. Bernard of Clairvaux
“Though thou hast recourse to many saints as thine intercessors, go specially to St. Joseph, for he has great power with God.” – St. Teresa of Avila
“Saint Joseph was a just man, a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten familes.” – Pope John Paul II
“Since we all must die, we should cherish a special devotion to St. Joseph, that he may obtain for us a happy death. All Christians regard him as the advocate of the dying who had honored him during their life, and they do so for three reasons: First, because Jesus Christ loved him not only as a friend, but as a father, and on this account his mediation is far more efficacious than that of any other Saint. Second, because St. Joseph has obtained special power against the evil spirits, who tempt us with redoubled vigor at the hour of death. Third, the assistance given St. Joseph at his death by Jesus and Mary obtained for him the right to secure a holy and peaceful death for his servants. Hence, if they invoke him at the hour of death he will not only help them, but he will also obtain for them the assistance of Jesus and Mary.” – St. Alphonsus Liguori
“Some Saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others; but our holy patron St. Joseph has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking.” – St. Thomas Aquinas
“St. Joseph did not do extraordinary things, but rather by the constant practice of ordinary and common virtues, he attained that sanctity which elevates him above all the other saints.” – St. Joseph Marello
“To other Saints Our Lord seems to have given power to succor us in some special necessity—but to this glorious Saint, I know by experience, He has given the power to help us in all. Our Lord would have us understand that as He was subject to St. Joseph on earth—for St. Joseph, bearing the title of father and being His guardian, could command Him—so now in Heaven Our Lord grants all his petitions. I have asked others to recommend themselves to St. Joseph, and they, too, know the same thing by experience.” – St.Teresa of Avila
“He is Holy Joseph, because according to the opinion of a great number of doctors, he, as well as St. John Baptist, was sanctified even before he was born. He is Holy Joseph, because his office, of being spouse and protector of Mary, specially demanded sanctity. He is Holy Joseph, because no other Saint but he lived in such and so long intimacy and familiarity with the source of all holiness, Jesus, God incarnate, and Mary, the holiest of creatures.” – St. John Henry Newman
“In human life, Joseph was Jesus’ teacher in their daily contact, full of refined affection, glad to deny himself to take better care of Jesus. Isn’t that reason enough for us to consider this just man, this holy patriarch, in whom the faith of the Old Covenant comes to full fruition, as a master of interior life? Interior life is nothing but continual and direct conversation with Christ, so as to become one with him. And Joseph can tell us many things about Jesus. Therefore, never neglect devotion to him—Ite ad Ioseph: “Go to Joseph”—as Christian tradition puts it in the words of the Old Testament (Gen 41:55)” – St. Josemaría Escriva
“What emanates from the figure of Saint Joseph is faith. Joseph of Nazareth is a “just man” because he totally “lives by faith.” He is holy because his faith is truly heroic. Sacred Scripture says little of him. It does not record even one word spoken by Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth. And yet, even without words, he shows the depth of his faith, his greatness. Saint Joseph is a man of great spirit. He is great in faith, not because he speaks his own words, but above all because he listens to the words of the Living God. He listens in silence. And his heart ceaselessly perseveres in the readiness to accept the Truth contained in the word of the Living God. We see how the word of the Living God penetrates deeply into the soul of that man, that just man. And we, do we know how to listen to the word of God? Do we know how to absorb it into the depths of our human personalities? Do we open our conscience in the presence of this word?” – Pope John Paul II
“Saint Joseph, guardian of Jesus and chaste husband of Mary, you passed your life in loving fulfillment of duty. You supported the holy family of Nazareth with the work of your hands. Kindly protect those who trustingly come to you. You know their aspirations, their hardships, their hopes. They look to you because they know you will understand and protect them. You too knew trial, labor and weariness. But amid the worries of material life, your soul was full of deep peace and sang out in true joy through intimacy with God’s Son entrusted to you and with Mary, his tender Mother. Assure those you protect that they do not labor alone. Teach them to find Jesus near them and to watch over Him faithfully as you have done. Amen.” – Pope John XXIII
“St. Joseph’s mission is certainly unique and unrepeatable, as Jesus is absolutely unique. However, in protecting Jesus, in teaching him how to grow in age, wisdom and grace, he is a model for every educator, and in particular for every father.” – Pope Francis
“I have a great love for St. Joseph, because he is a man of silence and strength. On my table, I have an image of St. Joseph sleeping. Even when he is asleep, he is taking care of the Church! Yes! We know that he can do that. So when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it underneath St. Joseph, so that he can dream about it! In other words, I tell him: ‘Pray for this problem!” – Pope Francis
Feast of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
He is the patron saint of accountants, attornies, barristers, bursars, cabinetmakers, carpenters, cemetery workers, children, civil engineers, confectioners, craftsmen, dying people, educators, emigrants, exiles, expectant mothers, families, fathers, furniture makers, grave diggers, happy death, holy death, house hunters, immigrants, interior souls, joiners, laborers, lawyers, married people, orphans, people in doubt, pioneers, pregnant women, social justice, solicitors, teachers, travellers, unborn children, wheelwrights, workers, working people, Catholic Church, Oblates of Saint Joseph, for protection of the Church, Universal Church and against doubt, against hesitation.
St. Joseph, the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foster-father of Jesus, was probably born in Bethlehem and probably died in Nazareth. His important mission in God’s plan of salvation was “to legally insert Jesus Christ into the line of David from whom, according to the prophets, the Messiah would be born, and to act as his father and guardian”.
Most of our information about St. Joseph comes from the opening two chapters of St. Matthew’s Gospel. No words of his are recorded in the Gospels; he was the “silent” man. His high privilege is expressed in a single phrase, “Foster-father of Jesus.”
About him Sacred Scripture has little more to say than that he was a just man-an expression which indicates how faithfully he fulfilled his high trust of protecting and guarding God’s greatest treasures upon earth, Jesus and Mary.
We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:55). He wasn’t rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).
Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from a royal lineage. Luke and Matthew disagree some about the details of Joseph’s genealogy but they both mark his descent from David, the greatest king of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38). Indeed the angel who first tells Joseph about Jesus greets him as “son of David,” a royal title used also for Jesus.
We find no devotion to St. Joseph in the early Church. It was the will of God that the Virgin Birth of Our Lord be first firmly impressed upon the minds of the faithful. He was later venerated by the great saints of the Middle Ages.
Liturgical veneration of St. Joseph began in the fifteenth century, fostered by Sts. Brigid of Sweden and Bernadine of Siena. St. Teresa, too, did much to further his cult. Pius IX (1870) declared him patron and protector of the universal family of the Church.
“St. Joseph was chosen among all men, to be the protector and guardian of the Virgin Mother of God; the defender and foster-father of the Infant-God, and the only co-operator upon earth, the one confidant of the secret of God in the work of the redemption of mankind.” – St. Bernard of Clairvaux
“Though thou hast recourse to many saints as thine intercessors, go specially to St. Joseph, for he has great power with God.” – St. Teresa of Avila
“Saint Joseph was a just man, a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten familes.” – Pope John Paul II
“Since we all must die, we should cherish a special devotion to St. Joseph, that he may obtain for us a happy death. All Christians regard him as the advocate of the dying who had honored him during their life, and they do so for three reasons: First, because Jesus Christ loved him not only as a friend, but as a father, and on this account his mediation is far more efficacious than that of any other Saint. Second, because St. Joseph has obtained special power against the evil spirits, who tempt us with redoubled vigor at the hour of death. Third, the assistance given St. Joseph at his death by Jesus and Mary obtained for him the right to secure a holy and peaceful death for his servants. Hence, if they invoke him at the hour of death he will not only help them, but he will also obtain for them the assistance of Jesus and Mary.” – St. Alphonsus Liguori
“Some Saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others; but our holy patron St. Joseph has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking.” – St. Thomas Aquinas
“St. Joseph did not do extraordinary things, but rather by the constant practice of ordinary and common virtues, he attained that sanctity which elevates him above all the other saints.” – St. Joseph Marello
“To other Saints Our Lord seems to have given power to succor us in some special necessity—but to this glorious Saint, I know by experience, He has given the power to help us in all. Our Lord would have us understand that as He was subject to St. Joseph on earth—for St. Joseph, bearing the title of father and being His guardian, could command Him—so now in Heaven Our Lord grants all his petitions. I have asked others to recommend themselves to St. Joseph, and they, too, know the same thing by experience.” – St.Teresa of Avila
“He is Holy Joseph, because according to the opinion of a great number of doctors, he, as well as St. John Baptist, was sanctified even before he was born. He is Holy Joseph, because his office, of being spouse and protector of Mary, specially demanded sanctity. He is Holy Joseph, because no other Saint but he lived in such and so long intimacy and familiarity with the source of all holiness, Jesus, God incarnate, and Mary, the holiest of creatures.” – St. John Henry Newman
“In human life, Joseph was Jesus’ teacher in their daily contact, full of refined affection, glad to deny himself to take better care of Jesus. Isn’t that reason enough for us to consider this just man, this holy patriarch, in whom the faith of the Old Covenant comes to full fruition, as a master of interior life? Interior life is nothing but continual and direct conversation with Christ, so as to become one with him. And Joseph can tell us many things about Jesus. Therefore, never neglect devotion to him—Ite ad Ioseph: “Go to Joseph”—as Christian tradition puts it in the words of the Old Testament (Gen 41:55)” – St. Josemaría Escriva
“What emanates from the figure of Saint Joseph is faith. Joseph of Nazareth is a “just man” because he totally “lives by faith.” He is holy because his faith is truly heroic. Sacred Scripture says little of him. It does not record even one word spoken by Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth. And yet, even without words, he shows the depth of his faith, his greatness. Saint Joseph is a man of great spirit. He is great in faith, not because he speaks his own words, but above all because he listens to the words of the Living God. He listens in silence. And his heart ceaselessly perseveres in the readiness to accept the Truth contained in the word of the Living God. We see how the word of the Living God penetrates deeply into the soul of that man, that just man. And we, do we know how to listen to the word of God? Do we know how to absorb it into the depths of our human personalities? Do we open our conscience in the presence of this word?” – Pope John Paul II
“Saint Joseph, guardian of Jesus and chaste husband of Mary, you passed your life in loving fulfillment of duty. You supported the holy family of Nazareth with the work of your hands. Kindly protect those who trustingly come to you. You know their aspirations, their hardships, their hopes. They look to you because they know you will understand and protect them. You too knew trial, labor and weariness. But amid the worries of material life, your soul was full of deep peace and sang out in true joy through intimacy with God’s Son entrusted to you and with Mary, his tender Mother. Assure those you protect that they do not labor alone. Teach them to find Jesus near them and to watch over Him faithfully as you have done. Amen.” – Pope John XXIII
“St. Joseph’s mission is certainly unique and unrepeatable, as Jesus is absolutely unique. However, in protecting Jesus, in teaching him how to grow in age, wisdom and grace, he is a model for every educator, and in particular for every father.” – Pope Francis
“I have a great love for St. Joseph, because he is a man of silence and strength. On my table, I have an image of St. Joseph sleeping. Even when he is asleep, he is taking care of the Church! Yes! We know that he can do that. So when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it underneath St. Joseph, so that he can dream about it! In other words, I tell him: ‘Pray for this problem!” – Pope Francis
Close
March 19
Saint Joseph
March 20
Daily Saints – 20 March.
Feast of Saint Photina of Rome.
According to one tradition, St. Photina was that Samaritan woman whom our Lord met at Jacob’s Well. When He disclosed the secret of her profligate life, she believed in Him at once as that Messiah which was to come, and began spreading the Gospel among the Samaritans, converting many.
Later, she and her son Josiah and her five sisters went to Carthage to preach and then to Rome. Another son, Victor, was a soldier and had already come to Emperor Nero’s attention as being a Christian. The Emperor summoned the whole family and with threats and tortures tried to force them to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ.
Meanwhile, when Nero’s daughter Domnina came in contact with Photina (the Lord Himself had given her the name, meaning “resplendent” or “shining with light”), she, too, was converted. The enraged emperor had the heads of the sons and sisters cut off; Photina was held in prison for a few more weeks before being thrown into a well, where she joyously gave her soul to the Lord.
Feast of Saint Photina of Rome.
According to one tradition, St. Photina was that Samaritan woman whom our Lord met at Jacob’s Well. When He disclosed the secret of her profligate life, she believed in Him at once as that Messiah which was to come, and began spreading the Gospel among the Samaritans, converting many.
Later, she and her son Josiah and her five sisters went to Carthage to preach and then to Rome. Another son, Victor, was a soldier and had already come to Emperor Nero’s attention as being a Christian. The Emperor summoned the whole family and with threats and tortures tried to force them to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ.
Meanwhile, when Nero’s daughter Domnina came in contact with Photina (the Lord Himself had given her the name, meaning “resplendent” or “shining with light”), she, too, was converted. The enraged emperor had the heads of the sons and sisters cut off; Photina was held in prison for a few more weeks before being thrown into a well, where she joyously gave her soul to the Lord.
Close
March 20
Saint Photina of Rome
March 21
March 21
Saint Benedetta Chambiagio Brother.
Benita Cambiagio Frassinello was born in Langasco, Genoa, on October 2, 1791. Daughter of José and Francisca Ghiglione, and was baptized two days later. During his teens his family move to Pavia.
He receives from his parents a deep Christian education that lies in him the principles of faith and plasma his volitive and persevering character.
At age 20, he lives a strong inner experience that increases the love of prayer and penance and, especially, the desire to abandon everything to devote entirely to God.
However, he married on February 7, 1816 to Juan Bautista Frassinello, a young ligur who had immigrated to Vigevano with his family.
Benita’s path in pursuit of God’s will is quite arduous and difficult; it is driven by an inner drive toward life of virginity, cultivated from her adolescence. She lives two years married, after which she has the joy of performing, in that state, the deep and sublime aspect of spiritual virginity.
According to her husband, who attracted to the Holiness of Benita embraces this ideal, lives beside her as a sister. Together they take care, with great dedication, of Sister Mary, seriously ill with intestinal cancer, staying at home.
Benita and Juan experience supernatural spiritual motherhood and parenthood, in the faithfulness of sublimated spiritual love.
In 1825, when Maria dies, Juan Bautista enters the Somascos community and Benita in the Ursulinas of Capriolo. Sponsal love exclusively devoted to God.
In 1826 for health reasons Benita returns to Pavia. Healed prodigiously by St. Jerome Emiliani, she takes care of girls with the approval of the bishop, mons. Luigi Tosi.
As he needs help, as his father rejects him, the Bishop calls back to John the Baptist, who leaves the novitiate and returns to his wife’s side, renewing together the perfect chastity vow in front of the Bishop.
The two are generously dedicated to the reception and human-Christian education of poor and abandoned girls.
Benita’s work is inserted into Pavia’s social life at a time when the school institution was welcomed as a true welfare carrier.
She is the first woman in the city and province to see this need and the Austrian government gives her the title of ′′ Promoter of Public Instruction “.
Assisted from the outset by some young volunteers, to whom it gives a regulation approved by the Ecclesiastical Authority, it brings school education to catechistic training and training to work. Environments are used to transform chiras into ′′ Christian life models ′′ and thus ensure the true formation of families.
Her constant surrender is born and grows from the eucharistic fervor and contemplation of the Crucifix, because she is convinced that only God is her true support and protection.
In your life there is no shortage of mystical experiences that repeat themselves, particularly in liturgical parties without distracting them from their daily obligations.
For the love of girls, she is ready for the greatest sacrifices: of her person, of her property and even of fame, thus showing the incomparable greatness of the ′′ pedagogy of the Gospel “.
The singularity of Benita’s work and educational program are harshly criticized by opposition from powerful people, who are bothered by their vile interests, and also by the misunderstanding of some clergy people.
In July 1838 Benita surrenders her institution to Bishop Tosi and, along with her husband and five faithful companions, leaves Pavia and heads to Liguria.
In Ronco Scrivia opens a school for the village girls and founded the Congregation of the ′′ Benedictine Sisters of Providence “, for which he writes the Rules-Constitutions.
In them is embodied the development of the charisma of Pavia, expanding to all girls and young people Christian education, instruction and training, with their unmistakable spirit of limitless abandonment and confidence in the divine Providence, of love to God, through poverty and charity.
Benedictines of Providence develops rapidly. In 1847 he also arrives in Voghera. This seat, forty years after the death of Mother Benita, by the work of the Diocesan bishop becomes an independent institute. In such circumstances sisters take the name of ′′ Benedictines of Divine Providence ′′ in memory of Benita, its founder.
In 1851 Benita returns to Pavia, in a different area than the first foundation, and in 1857 opened a school in a town in Valpolcevera, San Quirico.
On March 21, 1858 Benita dies holyly in Ronco Scrivia, in the day and time predicted by her.
Saint Benedetta Chambiagio Brother.
Benita Cambiagio Frassinello was born in Langasco, Genoa, on October 2, 1791. Daughter of José and Francisca Ghiglione, and was baptized two days later. During his teens his family move to Pavia.
He receives from his parents a deep Christian education that lies in him the principles of faith and plasma his volitive and persevering character.
At age 20, he lives a strong inner experience that increases the love of prayer and penance and, especially, the desire to abandon everything to devote entirely to God.
However, he married on February 7, 1816 to Juan Bautista Frassinello, a young ligur who had immigrated to Vigevano with his family.
Benita’s path in pursuit of God’s will is quite arduous and difficult; it is driven by an inner drive toward life of virginity, cultivated from her adolescence. She lives two years married, after which she has the joy of performing, in that state, the deep and sublime aspect of spiritual virginity.
According to her husband, who attracted to the Holiness of Benita embraces this ideal, lives beside her as a sister. Together they take care, with great dedication, of Sister Mary, seriously ill with intestinal cancer, staying at home.
Benita and Juan experience supernatural spiritual motherhood and parenthood, in the faithfulness of sublimated spiritual love.
In 1825, when Maria dies, Juan Bautista enters the Somascos community and Benita in the Ursulinas of Capriolo. Sponsal love exclusively devoted to God.
In 1826 for health reasons Benita returns to Pavia. Healed prodigiously by St. Jerome Emiliani, she takes care of girls with the approval of the bishop, mons. Luigi Tosi.
As he needs help, as his father rejects him, the Bishop calls back to John the Baptist, who leaves the novitiate and returns to his wife’s side, renewing together the perfect chastity vow in front of the Bishop.
The two are generously dedicated to the reception and human-Christian education of poor and abandoned girls.
Benita’s work is inserted into Pavia’s social life at a time when the school institution was welcomed as a true welfare carrier.
She is the first woman in the city and province to see this need and the Austrian government gives her the title of ′′ Promoter of Public Instruction “.
Assisted from the outset by some young volunteers, to whom it gives a regulation approved by the Ecclesiastical Authority, it brings school education to catechistic training and training to work. Environments are used to transform chiras into ′′ Christian life models ′′ and thus ensure the true formation of families.
Her constant surrender is born and grows from the eucharistic fervor and contemplation of the Crucifix, because she is convinced that only God is her true support and protection.
In your life there is no shortage of mystical experiences that repeat themselves, particularly in liturgical parties without distracting them from their daily obligations.
For the love of girls, she is ready for the greatest sacrifices: of her person, of her property and even of fame, thus showing the incomparable greatness of the ′′ pedagogy of the Gospel “.
The singularity of Benita’s work and educational program are harshly criticized by opposition from powerful people, who are bothered by their vile interests, and also by the misunderstanding of some clergy people.
In July 1838 Benita surrenders her institution to Bishop Tosi and, along with her husband and five faithful companions, leaves Pavia and heads to Liguria.
In Ronco Scrivia opens a school for the village girls and founded the Congregation of the ′′ Benedictine Sisters of Providence “, for which he writes the Rules-Constitutions.
In them is embodied the development of the charisma of Pavia, expanding to all girls and young people Christian education, instruction and training, with their unmistakable spirit of limitless abandonment and confidence in the divine Providence, of love to God, through poverty and charity.
Benedictines of Providence develops rapidly. In 1847 he also arrives in Voghera. This seat, forty years after the death of Mother Benita, by the work of the Diocesan bishop becomes an independent institute. In such circumstances sisters take the name of ′′ Benedictines of Divine Providence ′′ in memory of Benita, its founder.
In 1851 Benita returns to Pavia, in a different area than the first foundation, and in 1857 opened a school in a town in Valpolcevera, San Quirico.
On March 21, 1858 Benita dies holyly in Ronco Scrivia, in the day and time predicted by her.
Close
March 21
Saint Benedetta Chambiagio Brother
March 22
Daily Saints – 22 March.
Feast of Saint Nicholas Owen.
Nicholas was born on 1562 in Oxford, England. Son of a carpenter, Nicholas was raised in a family dedicated to the persecuted Church, and became a capenter and mason.
Two of his brothers became priests, another a printer of underground Catholic books, and Nicholas used his building skills to save the lives of priests and help the Church‘s covert work in England.
Nicholas worked with Saint Edmund Campion, sometimes using the pseudonym John Owen; his short stature led to the nickname Little John. When Father Edmund was martyred, Nicholas spoke out against the atrocity. For his trouble, he was imprisoned.
Father Henry Garnet, Superior of English Jesuits, employed Nicholas to construct hiding places and escape routes in the various mansions used as priest-centers throughout England. By day he worked at the mansion on regular wood- and stone-working jobs at the mansions so that no one would question his presence; by night he worked alone, digging tunnels, creating hidden passages and rooms in the house.
Some of his rooms were large enough to hold cramped, secretive prayer services, but most were a way for single clerics to escape the priest-hunters. As there were no records of his work, there is no way of knowing how many of these hiding places he built, or how many hundreds of priests he saved.
The anti-Catholic authorities eventually learned that the hiding places existed, but had no idea who was doing the work, or how many there were.
Due to the work, the danger, and the periodic arrests of the Jesuits, Nicholas never had a formal novitiate, but he did receive instruction, and in 1577 became a Jesuit Brother.
On 23 April 1594 he was arrested in London and lodged in the Tower of London for his association with Father John Gerard. Not knowing who they had, the authorities released Nicholas soon after, and he resumed his work.
On 5 November 1605, Brother Nicholas and three other Jesuits were forced to hide in Hinlip Hall, a structure with at least 13 of his hiding places, to escape the priest-hunters. Owen spent four days in one of his secret rooms, but having no food or water, he finally surrendered and was taken to a London prison.
There he was endlessly tortured for information on the underground network of priests and their hiding. He was abused so violently that on 1 March 1606, while suspended from a wall, chained by his wrists, with weights on his ankles, his stomach split open, spilling his intestines to the floor; he survived for hours before dying from the wound.
Because he was under orders not to kill Nicholas, the torturer spread the lie that Owen had committed suicide. Nicholas received martyrdom on 2 March 1606 in London, England.
St. Nicholas Owen was known as “Little John.” He was only a little bit taller than a dwarf.
Feast of Saint Nicholas Owen.
Nicholas was born on 1562 in Oxford, England. Son of a carpenter, Nicholas was raised in a family dedicated to the persecuted Church, and became a capenter and mason.
Two of his brothers became priests, another a printer of underground Catholic books, and Nicholas used his building skills to save the lives of priests and help the Church‘s covert work in England.
Nicholas worked with Saint Edmund Campion, sometimes using the pseudonym John Owen; his short stature led to the nickname Little John. When Father Edmund was martyred, Nicholas spoke out against the atrocity. For his trouble, he was imprisoned.
Father Henry Garnet, Superior of English Jesuits, employed Nicholas to construct hiding places and escape routes in the various mansions used as priest-centers throughout England. By day he worked at the mansion on regular wood- and stone-working jobs at the mansions so that no one would question his presence; by night he worked alone, digging tunnels, creating hidden passages and rooms in the house.
Some of his rooms were large enough to hold cramped, secretive prayer services, but most were a way for single clerics to escape the priest-hunters. As there were no records of his work, there is no way of knowing how many of these hiding places he built, or how many hundreds of priests he saved.
The anti-Catholic authorities eventually learned that the hiding places existed, but had no idea who was doing the work, or how many there were.
Due to the work, the danger, and the periodic arrests of the Jesuits, Nicholas never had a formal novitiate, but he did receive instruction, and in 1577 became a Jesuit Brother.
On 23 April 1594 he was arrested in London and lodged in the Tower of London for his association with Father John Gerard. Not knowing who they had, the authorities released Nicholas soon after, and he resumed his work.
On 5 November 1605, Brother Nicholas and three other Jesuits were forced to hide in Hinlip Hall, a structure with at least 13 of his hiding places, to escape the priest-hunters. Owen spent four days in one of his secret rooms, but having no food or water, he finally surrendered and was taken to a London prison.
There he was endlessly tortured for information on the underground network of priests and their hiding. He was abused so violently that on 1 March 1606, while suspended from a wall, chained by his wrists, with weights on his ankles, his stomach split open, spilling his intestines to the floor; he survived for hours before dying from the wound.
Because he was under orders not to kill Nicholas, the torturer spread the lie that Owen had committed suicide. Nicholas received martyrdom on 2 March 1606 in London, England.
St. Nicholas Owen was known as “Little John.” He was only a little bit taller than a dwarf.
Close
March 22
Saint Nicholas Owen
March 23
Daily Saints – 23 March.
Feast of Saint Catherine of Sweden.
She is invoked against abortions and against miscarriages.
Catherine was born on 1331 in Sweden. She was the fourth of the eight children of Saint Bridget of Sweden and Ulf Gudmarsson.
At the age of seven, Catherine was sent to the Abbey at Risburgh by her parents and placed under the care of the abbess to receive an education and to build a foundation for her spiritual life.
At the age of 13, Catherine was taken from the abbey and given in marriage to Egard, a German nobleman. Upon meeting Egard, Catherine persuaded him to make a mutual vow of perpetual chastity with her. Catherine and Egard dedicated themselves to the service of God and encouraged each other in works of mortification, prayer and charity.
Around the year 1349, after the death of her father, Catherine accompanied her mother on a pilgrimage to Rome to visit the relics of the Roman Martyrs. Catherine’s husband died after she had been in Rome a short time. For the next 25 years the two women used Rome as a base for a series of pilgrimages, including one to Jerusalem.
When home, they spent their days in prayer and meditation, working with the poor, and teaching them religion. They each had to fend off the unwanted advances of local men, including young lords; during one of these, a wild hind came to Catherine’s defense, chasing off the troublesome, would-be suitor.
In 1373 St. Bridget died and Catherine returned to Sweden with her mother’s body. Two years later, Catherine returned to Rome to promote the cause for her mother’s canonization and to gain approval for a Rule she had written for a group of religious women.
After gaining approval for her rule, Catherine returned to Sweden and became abbess of Vadzstena. She wrote a devotional work entitled Sielinna Troëst (Consolation of the Soul), but no copies have survived.
Catherine was known for her austere lifestyle and her practice of making daily use of the Sacrament of Confession. Catherine served as abbess of Vadzstena until her death on 24 March 1381.
Feast of Saint Catherine of Sweden.
She is invoked against abortions and against miscarriages.
Catherine was born on 1331 in Sweden. She was the fourth of the eight children of Saint Bridget of Sweden and Ulf Gudmarsson.
At the age of seven, Catherine was sent to the Abbey at Risburgh by her parents and placed under the care of the abbess to receive an education and to build a foundation for her spiritual life.
At the age of 13, Catherine was taken from the abbey and given in marriage to Egard, a German nobleman. Upon meeting Egard, Catherine persuaded him to make a mutual vow of perpetual chastity with her. Catherine and Egard dedicated themselves to the service of God and encouraged each other in works of mortification, prayer and charity.
Around the year 1349, after the death of her father, Catherine accompanied her mother on a pilgrimage to Rome to visit the relics of the Roman Martyrs. Catherine’s husband died after she had been in Rome a short time. For the next 25 years the two women used Rome as a base for a series of pilgrimages, including one to Jerusalem.
When home, they spent their days in prayer and meditation, working with the poor, and teaching them religion. They each had to fend off the unwanted advances of local men, including young lords; during one of these, a wild hind came to Catherine’s defense, chasing off the troublesome, would-be suitor.
In 1373 St. Bridget died and Catherine returned to Sweden with her mother’s body. Two years later, Catherine returned to Rome to promote the cause for her mother’s canonization and to gain approval for a Rule she had written for a group of religious women.
After gaining approval for her rule, Catherine returned to Sweden and became abbess of Vadzstena. She wrote a devotional work entitled Sielinna Troëst (Consolation of the Soul), but no copies have survived.
Catherine was known for her austere lifestyle and her practice of making daily use of the Sacrament of Confession. Catherine served as abbess of Vadzstena until her death on 24 March 1381.
Close
March 23
Saint Catherine of Sweden
March 24
March 24th.
Holy Oscar Romero.
Oscar Arnulfo Romero was born in Ciudad Barrios, department of San Miguel, Republic of El Salvador, on August 15, 1917, the day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. His family was humble and with a modest kind of life.
From a young age, Oscar was known for his shy and reserved nature, his love of simplicity and his interest in communication. At an early age he suffered a serious illness that significantly affected his health.
During his childhood, on the occasion of a priestly ordination he attended, Oscar spoke with the father who accompanied the newly ordained and expressed his great desire to become a priest.
His wish became a reality, he entered the Minor Seminary of San Miguel and despite the financial difficulties that the family went through to keep him in the seminary, Oscar advanced in his idea of giving his life to the service of God and the people.
He studied with the Claretian Fathers at the San Miguel Minor Seminary from 1931 and later with the Jesuit Fathers at the San José de la Montaña Seminary until 1937. At the time that World War II broke out, he was chosen to go to study in Rome and complete his priestly formation and surely his choice was due to the spiritual integrity and academic intelligence manifested in the seminary.
He was ordained a priest at the age of 25 in Rome, on April 4, 1942. He continued studying in Rome to complete his Theology thesis on asceticism and mysticism, but due to the war, he had to return to El Salvador and abandon the thesis that was about to conclude.
He returned to the country in August 1943. His first parish was Anamorós in the department of La Unión. But shortly thereafter he was called to San Miguel where he carried out his pastoral work for approximately twenty years.
Father Romero was an extremely charitable and dedicated priest. He did not accept gifts that he did not need for his personal life. An example of this was the comfortable bed that a group of ladies gave him on one occasion, which he gave away and continued to occupy the simple bed he had.
Given his extensive priestly work, he was elected Secretary of the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador and held the same position in the Episcopal Secretariat of Central America.
On April 25, 1970, the Church called him to continue his pastoral journey, elevating him to the episcopal ministry as Auxiliary Bishop of San Salvador, which had the illustrious Bishop Luis Chávez y González as Archbishop and as Auxiliary to Bishop Arturo Rivera Damas. With them he would share his pastoral challenge and on the day of his episcopal ordination he made clear the motto of his entire life: “Feel with the Church.”
Those years as Auxiliary were very difficult for Monsignor Romero. He did not adapt to some pastoral lines that were promoted in the Archdiocese and he was also confused by the difficult atmosphere that was breathed in the capital. He was also appointed editor of the weekly Orientación, and gave the newspaper a remarkably clerical spin. This “turn” was highly criticized by some sectors within the Church itself, considering it a “newspaper without opinion.”
In El Salvador the situation of violence was advancing, with this the Church was built against that situation of pain, for this reason the persecution of the Church in all its senses began to come to life.
After many conflicts in the Archdiocese, the vacant seat of the Diocese of Santiago de María was his new path. On October 15, 1974 he was appointed bishop of that Diocese and on December 14 he took possession of it. Monsignor Romero took over the youngest Diocese of El Salvador at that time.
In June 1975 there was the event of “Las Tres Calles”, where a group of peasants returning from a liturgical act was murdered without compassion, even innocent creatures.
The official report spoke of alleged subversives who were armed; the “weapons” were nothing more than the Bibles that the peasants carried under their arms.
At that time, the priests of the Diocese, especially the young people, asked Monsignor Romero to make a public complaint about the incident and to accuse the military authorities of the incident, Mons. Romero had not understood that behind the civil authorities and military, behind the same President of the Republic, Arturo Armando Molina who was his personal friend, there was a structure of terror, which eliminated from its passage anything that seemed to threaten the interests of “the homeland” that were nothing more than the interests of the of the wealthy sectors of the nation.
Archbishop Romero had an illusory belief in the Government, this was his grave mistake. Little by little he began to face the harsh reality of social injustice.
The rich friends he had were the same ones who denied a fair wage to the peasants; this began to bother him, the situation of misery was reaching too far to wait for a solution from others. The situation worsened and the relations between the people and the government were cracking.
In the midst of this environment of injustice, violence and fear, Archbishop Romero was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador on February 3, 1977 and took office on February 22, in a very simple ceremony.
He was 59 years old and his appointment was a great surprise for many, the sure candidate for the Archdiocese was the auxiliary for more than eighteen years in it, Archbishop Arturo Rivera Damas: “God’s logic puzzles men.”
On March 12, 1977, the sad news of the murder of Father Rutilio Grande, a broad, conscientious, active priest, and above all committed to the faith of his people, was given. The death of a friend hurts, Rutilio was a good friend to Monsignor Romero and his death hurt him a lot: “a martyr gave life to another martyr.”
His choice began to bear fruit in the Archdiocese, the clergy rallied around the Archbishop, the faithful felt the call and protection of a Church that belonged to them, the “faith” of men became the weapon that would challenge cowards. weapons of terror. The situation became more and more complicated. A new electoral fraud imposed General Carlos Humberto Romero for the Presidency. A generalized protest was heard throughout the environment.
In the course of his Archbishop’s ministry, Archbishop Romero became an implacable protector of the dignity of human beings, especially of the most deprived; This led him to take an attitude of denunciation against violence, and above all to confront evil regimes face to face.
His homilies became a must-see across the country every Sunday. From the pulpit, he illuminated the events of the country with the light of the Gospel and offered rays of hope to change that structure of terror.
The first conflicts of Monsignor Romero arose as a result of the marked oppositions that his pastoral ministry encountered in the economically powerful sectors of the country and together with them, the entire governmental structure that fed this institutional framework of violence in Salvadoran society, added to this, the discontent with the nascent left-wing political-military organizations, who were harshly criticized by Archbishop Romero on several occasions for their idolatrous attitudes and their determination to lead the country towards a revolution.
As a result of his attitude of denunciation, Archbishop Romero began to suffer an extremely oppressive campaign against his archiepiscopal ministry, his pastoral option and his own personality, daily they were published in the most important newspapers, editorials, paid fields, anonymous, etc., where the physical integrity of Archbishop Romero was insulted, slandered, and more seriously threatened. The “Persecuted Church in El Salvador” became a sign of life and martyrdom for the people of God.
This ordeal that ran through the Church had already left traits in it, after the murder of Father Rutilio Grande, other murders followed one another. The priests Alfonso Navarro and his little friend Luisito Torres were assassinated, then Father Ernesto Barrera was assassinated, later, in a retreat center, Father Octavio Ortiz and four other young people were assassinated. Lastly, parents Rafael Palacios and Alirio Napoleón Macias were assassinated. The Church felt firsthand the irascible hatred of the violence that had been unleashed in the country.
It was difficult to understand in the Salvadoran environment that a man as simple and as shy as Archbishop Romero became an “implacable” defender of human dignity and that his image crossed national borders by the fact of being: “voice of the without voice”.
Many of the powerful sectors and some bishops and priests were in charge of staining his name, even reaching the ears of the Roman authorities. Archbishop Romero suffered a lot from this situation, the indifference or betrayal of someone against him hurt him.
Already at the end of 1979, Monsignor Romero knew the imminent danger that lurked against his life and on many occasions he made reference to it, aware of human fear, but more aware of the fear of God not to obey the voice that begged to intercede for those who had nothing. more than their faith in God: the poor.
One of the events that proved the imminent danger that loomed over the life of Archbishop Romero was the frustrated dynamite attack on the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in February 1980, which would have ended the life of Archbishop Romero and many faithful who were in the enclosure of said Basilica.
On Sunday, March 23, 1980, Bishop Romero delivered his last homily, which was considered by some to be his death sentence due to the harshness of his denunciation: “in the name of God and of this suffering people … I ask you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God, STOP THE REPRESSION “.
On March 24, 1980, Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero Galdámez was assassinated by a well-shot, at approximately 6:25 p.m. while officiating the Eucharist in the Chapel of the La Divina Providencia Hospital, exactly at the moment of preparing the table to receive the Body of Jesus.
Holy Oscar Romero.
Oscar Arnulfo Romero was born in Ciudad Barrios, department of San Miguel, Republic of El Salvador, on August 15, 1917, the day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. His family was humble and with a modest kind of life.
From a young age, Oscar was known for his shy and reserved nature, his love of simplicity and his interest in communication. At an early age he suffered a serious illness that significantly affected his health.
During his childhood, on the occasion of a priestly ordination he attended, Oscar spoke with the father who accompanied the newly ordained and expressed his great desire to become a priest.
His wish became a reality, he entered the Minor Seminary of San Miguel and despite the financial difficulties that the family went through to keep him in the seminary, Oscar advanced in his idea of giving his life to the service of God and the people.
He studied with the Claretian Fathers at the San Miguel Minor Seminary from 1931 and later with the Jesuit Fathers at the San José de la Montaña Seminary until 1937. At the time that World War II broke out, he was chosen to go to study in Rome and complete his priestly formation and surely his choice was due to the spiritual integrity and academic intelligence manifested in the seminary.
He was ordained a priest at the age of 25 in Rome, on April 4, 1942. He continued studying in Rome to complete his Theology thesis on asceticism and mysticism, but due to the war, he had to return to El Salvador and abandon the thesis that was about to conclude.
He returned to the country in August 1943. His first parish was Anamorós in the department of La Unión. But shortly thereafter he was called to San Miguel where he carried out his pastoral work for approximately twenty years.
Father Romero was an extremely charitable and dedicated priest. He did not accept gifts that he did not need for his personal life. An example of this was the comfortable bed that a group of ladies gave him on one occasion, which he gave away and continued to occupy the simple bed he had.
Given his extensive priestly work, he was elected Secretary of the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador and held the same position in the Episcopal Secretariat of Central America.
On April 25, 1970, the Church called him to continue his pastoral journey, elevating him to the episcopal ministry as Auxiliary Bishop of San Salvador, which had the illustrious Bishop Luis Chávez y González as Archbishop and as Auxiliary to Bishop Arturo Rivera Damas. With them he would share his pastoral challenge and on the day of his episcopal ordination he made clear the motto of his entire life: “Feel with the Church.”
Those years as Auxiliary were very difficult for Monsignor Romero. He did not adapt to some pastoral lines that were promoted in the Archdiocese and he was also confused by the difficult atmosphere that was breathed in the capital. He was also appointed editor of the weekly Orientación, and gave the newspaper a remarkably clerical spin. This “turn” was highly criticized by some sectors within the Church itself, considering it a “newspaper without opinion.”
In El Salvador the situation of violence was advancing, with this the Church was built against that situation of pain, for this reason the persecution of the Church in all its senses began to come to life.
After many conflicts in the Archdiocese, the vacant seat of the Diocese of Santiago de María was his new path. On October 15, 1974 he was appointed bishop of that Diocese and on December 14 he took possession of it. Monsignor Romero took over the youngest Diocese of El Salvador at that time.
In June 1975 there was the event of “Las Tres Calles”, where a group of peasants returning from a liturgical act was murdered without compassion, even innocent creatures.
The official report spoke of alleged subversives who were armed; the “weapons” were nothing more than the Bibles that the peasants carried under their arms.
At that time, the priests of the Diocese, especially the young people, asked Monsignor Romero to make a public complaint about the incident and to accuse the military authorities of the incident, Mons. Romero had not understood that behind the civil authorities and military, behind the same President of the Republic, Arturo Armando Molina who was his personal friend, there was a structure of terror, which eliminated from its passage anything that seemed to threaten the interests of “the homeland” that were nothing more than the interests of the of the wealthy sectors of the nation.
Archbishop Romero had an illusory belief in the Government, this was his grave mistake. Little by little he began to face the harsh reality of social injustice.
The rich friends he had were the same ones who denied a fair wage to the peasants; this began to bother him, the situation of misery was reaching too far to wait for a solution from others. The situation worsened and the relations between the people and the government were cracking.
In the midst of this environment of injustice, violence and fear, Archbishop Romero was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador on February 3, 1977 and took office on February 22, in a very simple ceremony.
He was 59 years old and his appointment was a great surprise for many, the sure candidate for the Archdiocese was the auxiliary for more than eighteen years in it, Archbishop Arturo Rivera Damas: “God’s logic puzzles men.”
On March 12, 1977, the sad news of the murder of Father Rutilio Grande, a broad, conscientious, active priest, and above all committed to the faith of his people, was given. The death of a friend hurts, Rutilio was a good friend to Monsignor Romero and his death hurt him a lot: “a martyr gave life to another martyr.”
His choice began to bear fruit in the Archdiocese, the clergy rallied around the Archbishop, the faithful felt the call and protection of a Church that belonged to them, the “faith” of men became the weapon that would challenge cowards. weapons of terror. The situation became more and more complicated. A new electoral fraud imposed General Carlos Humberto Romero for the Presidency. A generalized protest was heard throughout the environment.
In the course of his Archbishop’s ministry, Archbishop Romero became an implacable protector of the dignity of human beings, especially of the most deprived; This led him to take an attitude of denunciation against violence, and above all to confront evil regimes face to face.
His homilies became a must-see across the country every Sunday. From the pulpit, he illuminated the events of the country with the light of the Gospel and offered rays of hope to change that structure of terror.
The first conflicts of Monsignor Romero arose as a result of the marked oppositions that his pastoral ministry encountered in the economically powerful sectors of the country and together with them, the entire governmental structure that fed this institutional framework of violence in Salvadoran society, added to this, the discontent with the nascent left-wing political-military organizations, who were harshly criticized by Archbishop Romero on several occasions for their idolatrous attitudes and their determination to lead the country towards a revolution.
As a result of his attitude of denunciation, Archbishop Romero began to suffer an extremely oppressive campaign against his archiepiscopal ministry, his pastoral option and his own personality, daily they were published in the most important newspapers, editorials, paid fields, anonymous, etc., where the physical integrity of Archbishop Romero was insulted, slandered, and more seriously threatened. The “Persecuted Church in El Salvador” became a sign of life and martyrdom for the people of God.
This ordeal that ran through the Church had already left traits in it, after the murder of Father Rutilio Grande, other murders followed one another. The priests Alfonso Navarro and his little friend Luisito Torres were assassinated, then Father Ernesto Barrera was assassinated, later, in a retreat center, Father Octavio Ortiz and four other young people were assassinated. Lastly, parents Rafael Palacios and Alirio Napoleón Macias were assassinated. The Church felt firsthand the irascible hatred of the violence that had been unleashed in the country.
It was difficult to understand in the Salvadoran environment that a man as simple and as shy as Archbishop Romero became an “implacable” defender of human dignity and that his image crossed national borders by the fact of being: “voice of the without voice”.
Many of the powerful sectors and some bishops and priests were in charge of staining his name, even reaching the ears of the Roman authorities. Archbishop Romero suffered a lot from this situation, the indifference or betrayal of someone against him hurt him.
Already at the end of 1979, Monsignor Romero knew the imminent danger that lurked against his life and on many occasions he made reference to it, aware of human fear, but more aware of the fear of God not to obey the voice that begged to intercede for those who had nothing. more than their faith in God: the poor.
One of the events that proved the imminent danger that loomed over the life of Archbishop Romero was the frustrated dynamite attack on the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in February 1980, which would have ended the life of Archbishop Romero and many faithful who were in the enclosure of said Basilica.
On Sunday, March 23, 1980, Bishop Romero delivered his last homily, which was considered by some to be his death sentence due to the harshness of his denunciation: “in the name of God and of this suffering people … I ask you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God, STOP THE REPRESSION “.
On March 24, 1980, Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero Galdámez was assassinated by a well-shot, at approximately 6:25 p.m. while officiating the Eucharist in the Chapel of the La Divina Providencia Hospital, exactly at the moment of preparing the table to receive the Body of Jesus.
Close
March 24
Holy Oscar Romero
March 25
Daily Saints – 25 March.
Feast of Saint Dismas.
He is the patron saint of condemned prisoners, death row prisoners, dying people, funeral directors, penitent criminals, prison chaplains, prisoners, prisoners on death row, prisons, reformed thieves, undertakers.
The Christian tradition of Saint Dismas (or Dysmas) is based on the story of the ‘Good Thief’, as told in Luke 23:39-43.
One of the criminals crucified with Jesus abused him saying: “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself, and us as well”. But the other rebuked him, saying: “Have you no fear of god at all? You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it. but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. Jesus replied, “Indeed, I promise you, today you will be with me in Paradise”.
The Christian community took seriously Jesus’ words here that this good thief was saved, and honors him as a saint. Dismas’ response to Jesus is a good articulation of steps in conversion away from sin: he came to an honest awareness of his sin and turned away from it, seeking Jesus as the source of eternal life.
Dismas’ conversion was much more extraordinary because while the Apostles and other disciples witnessed Jesus’ miracles and saw Him at His greatest, Dismas saw no miracles, but rather saw Jesus at His weakest and most humanly shameful, yet still recognized His divinity.
The name is used in the narrative of this incident in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (10.2). The word may be derived from a Greek word ‘dusme’ meaning “sunset” or “death”. In some traditions, he is known as Titus or Zoathan. But the most popular name is Dismas.
An Arabic Gospel of the Infancy further embellishes the story by identifying the Good Thief with Titus, one of a band of robbers who captured the Holy Family during the flight into Egypt, but later released them.
According to the legend when the Holy Family were running to Egypt, they were set upon by a band of thieves, including Dismas and Gestas. One of the highwaymen realized there was something different, something special about them, and ordered his fellow bandits to leave them alone; this thief was the young Dismas.
This feast date was assigned because, by tradition, Jesus died on March 25. Often overshadowed by the Solemnity of the Annunciation, it’s no coincidence that these two fall on the same date as it reveals that Christ gave up His earthly life on the anniversary of the when he entered the world through the womb of His blessed mother.
Feast of Saint Dismas.
He is the patron saint of condemned prisoners, death row prisoners, dying people, funeral directors, penitent criminals, prison chaplains, prisoners, prisoners on death row, prisons, reformed thieves, undertakers.
The Christian tradition of Saint Dismas (or Dysmas) is based on the story of the ‘Good Thief’, as told in Luke 23:39-43.
One of the criminals crucified with Jesus abused him saying: “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself, and us as well”. But the other rebuked him, saying: “Have you no fear of god at all? You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it. but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. Jesus replied, “Indeed, I promise you, today you will be with me in Paradise”.
The Christian community took seriously Jesus’ words here that this good thief was saved, and honors him as a saint. Dismas’ response to Jesus is a good articulation of steps in conversion away from sin: he came to an honest awareness of his sin and turned away from it, seeking Jesus as the source of eternal life.
Dismas’ conversion was much more extraordinary because while the Apostles and other disciples witnessed Jesus’ miracles and saw Him at His greatest, Dismas saw no miracles, but rather saw Jesus at His weakest and most humanly shameful, yet still recognized His divinity.
The name is used in the narrative of this incident in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (10.2). The word may be derived from a Greek word ‘dusme’ meaning “sunset” or “death”. In some traditions, he is known as Titus or Zoathan. But the most popular name is Dismas.
An Arabic Gospel of the Infancy further embellishes the story by identifying the Good Thief with Titus, one of a band of robbers who captured the Holy Family during the flight into Egypt, but later released them.
According to the legend when the Holy Family were running to Egypt, they were set upon by a band of thieves, including Dismas and Gestas. One of the highwaymen realized there was something different, something special about them, and ordered his fellow bandits to leave them alone; this thief was the young Dismas.
This feast date was assigned because, by tradition, Jesus died on March 25. Often overshadowed by the Solemnity of the Annunciation, it’s no coincidence that these two fall on the same date as it reveals that Christ gave up His earthly life on the anniversary of the when he entered the world through the womb of His blessed mother.
Close
March 25
Saint Dismas
March 26
Daily Saints – 26 March.
Feast of St. Ludger of Münster (Ludger of Utrecht).
Ludger was born at Zuilen, near Utrecht, in the Netherlands about 742. He was the son of Thiadgrim and Liafburg, wealthy Christian Frisians of noble descent. He was the brother of Saint Gerburgis and Saint Hildegrin.
When he was eleven years of age, he saw the English missionary St Boniface and this made such an impression on him that he became a disciple of St Gregory of Utrecht (friend of St Boniface). He later wrote a Life of St Gregory.
Ludger then went to England to study under Alcuin at York for some years (767-771). While there he developed a friendship with Alcuin which lasted through life and was ordained a deacon.
In 775 Ludger was sent to revive the work at Deventer in the Netherlands begun by St Lebuin (an Englishman and monk of Ripon, who died 773). He restored the chapel and recovered the relics of St Lebuin. But because of conflict between the Frisians and the Saxons he withdrew and went to teach at Gregory school’s in Utrecht.
Ludger was ordained a priest at Cologne in 777. Subsequently he preached the gospel at Dokkum in Friesland, where St Boniface had been put to death.
Driven out by the Saxons about 785, Ludger went to Rome where he met with Pope Adrian I. He spent the next two years in Monte Cassino, planning to found a Benedictine monastery of his own.
At this time Charlemagne was forcefully converting the Frisians and Saxons to Christianity, with the Saxon leader Widukind providing serious opposition. When Ludger returned to the area in 787, Charlemagne entrusted him with the evangelisation of the Saxons in Westphalia.
His preaching of the gospel had more success than Charlemagne’s repressive measures. He is reported to have cured the blindness of, and thus caused the conversion of, the blind pagan bard Berulef.
Ludger made his headquarters in the place now called Münster, meaning “monastery”. Here in 795 he founded a community of canons regular, following the Rule of St Chordegang of Metz.
In 799 he established a monastery at Werden on the Rhur and became its first abbot. Around 803 he was consecrated bishop of Münster. He was a gentle pastor who achieved much for Christianity by his patient persuasion.
Ludger’s health failed in later years, but he never reduced his work load. No matter how busy or dangerous his outside life, he never neglected his time of prayer and meditation, it being a source of the strength to do everything else.
It is said that he was reprimanded and denounced only once during his bishopric – for spending more on charity than on church decoration.
Ludger died on Passion Sunday, 26 March 809 while on a preaching tour.
Feast of St. Ludger of Münster (Ludger of Utrecht).
Ludger was born at Zuilen, near Utrecht, in the Netherlands about 742. He was the son of Thiadgrim and Liafburg, wealthy Christian Frisians of noble descent. He was the brother of Saint Gerburgis and Saint Hildegrin.
When he was eleven years of age, he saw the English missionary St Boniface and this made such an impression on him that he became a disciple of St Gregory of Utrecht (friend of St Boniface). He later wrote a Life of St Gregory.
Ludger then went to England to study under Alcuin at York for some years (767-771). While there he developed a friendship with Alcuin which lasted through life and was ordained a deacon.
In 775 Ludger was sent to revive the work at Deventer in the Netherlands begun by St Lebuin (an Englishman and monk of Ripon, who died 773). He restored the chapel and recovered the relics of St Lebuin. But because of conflict between the Frisians and the Saxons he withdrew and went to teach at Gregory school’s in Utrecht.
Ludger was ordained a priest at Cologne in 777. Subsequently he preached the gospel at Dokkum in Friesland, where St Boniface had been put to death.
Driven out by the Saxons about 785, Ludger went to Rome where he met with Pope Adrian I. He spent the next two years in Monte Cassino, planning to found a Benedictine monastery of his own.
At this time Charlemagne was forcefully converting the Frisians and Saxons to Christianity, with the Saxon leader Widukind providing serious opposition. When Ludger returned to the area in 787, Charlemagne entrusted him with the evangelisation of the Saxons in Westphalia.
His preaching of the gospel had more success than Charlemagne’s repressive measures. He is reported to have cured the blindness of, and thus caused the conversion of, the blind pagan bard Berulef.
Ludger made his headquarters in the place now called Münster, meaning “monastery”. Here in 795 he founded a community of canons regular, following the Rule of St Chordegang of Metz.
In 799 he established a monastery at Werden on the Rhur and became its first abbot. Around 803 he was consecrated bishop of Münster. He was a gentle pastor who achieved much for Christianity by his patient persuasion.
Ludger’s health failed in later years, but he never reduced his work load. No matter how busy or dangerous his outside life, he never neglected his time of prayer and meditation, it being a source of the strength to do everything else.
It is said that he was reprimanded and denounced only once during his bishopric – for spending more on charity than on church decoration.
Ludger died on Passion Sunday, 26 March 809 while on a preaching tour.
Close
March 26
Saint Ludger of Utrecht
March 27
Daily Saints – 27 March.
Feast of Saint John of Lycopolis (John of Egypt).
John was born in Lycopolis, modern Assiut, Egypt, around the year 305. He spent his early adult years as a carpenter. When he was 25, he left everything to seek God in the desert with prayer.
John spent a decade with a hermit, taking direction from him and learning self-surrender. The hermit, for example, had him water a dry stick every day for a year. John learned obedience and humility, and when the hermit died, John traveled and visited other monasteries for five years.
Finally, John settled at the top of a steep hill near Lycopolis, Egypt, and carved three small cells out of rock. He slept in one, used another for work and living space, and prayed in the third. Then he walled these cells up with himself inside and lived this way until he died in his 90s.
John left a small window through which he could speak to people and receive food and water they might bring him. He only ate after sunset, and his diet was mostly dried fruit and vegetables—nothing cooked over a fire.
He spent five days a week in conversation with God alone, and two days a week, he conversed with people seeking spiritual direction and advice. Crowds would gather on those two days to hear him preach.
Other ascetics and hermits saw him as an example and a father, and many people sought him out for wisdom, including the emperor. He could discern what was secretly hidden in people’s hearts.
John was given the gift of seeing the future and knowing details from the lives of people he had never met. He predicted two military victories for Emperor Theodosius I, and they were proven accurate in 388 and 392.
Foreseeing his own death, he asked that no one visit him for three days, and he sealed off his window. He died peacefully, and his body was found in a position of prayer.
John was known and admired by the great saints of his time, including St. Augustine and St. Jerome. The cell he lived in was discovered in the early 1900s.
Feast of Saint John of Lycopolis (John of Egypt).
John was born in Lycopolis, modern Assiut, Egypt, around the year 305. He spent his early adult years as a carpenter. When he was 25, he left everything to seek God in the desert with prayer.
John spent a decade with a hermit, taking direction from him and learning self-surrender. The hermit, for example, had him water a dry stick every day for a year. John learned obedience and humility, and when the hermit died, John traveled and visited other monasteries for five years.
Finally, John settled at the top of a steep hill near Lycopolis, Egypt, and carved three small cells out of rock. He slept in one, used another for work and living space, and prayed in the third. Then he walled these cells up with himself inside and lived this way until he died in his 90s.
John left a small window through which he could speak to people and receive food and water they might bring him. He only ate after sunset, and his diet was mostly dried fruit and vegetables—nothing cooked over a fire.
He spent five days a week in conversation with God alone, and two days a week, he conversed with people seeking spiritual direction and advice. Crowds would gather on those two days to hear him preach.
Other ascetics and hermits saw him as an example and a father, and many people sought him out for wisdom, including the emperor. He could discern what was secretly hidden in people’s hearts.
John was given the gift of seeing the future and knowing details from the lives of people he had never met. He predicted two military victories for Emperor Theodosius I, and they were proven accurate in 388 and 392.
Foreseeing his own death, he asked that no one visit him for three days, and he sealed off his window. He died peacefully, and his body was found in a position of prayer.
John was known and admired by the great saints of his time, including St. Augustine and St. Jerome. The cell he lived in was discovered in the early 1900s.
Close
March 27
Saint John of Lycopolis
March 28
Daily Saints – 28 March.
Feast of St. Conon of Naso.
Patron saint against against ear problems and against nose problems.
Conon was born on 3 June 1139 in Naso, Messina, Italy, to the wealthy nobility. He was the son of Count Anselmo Navacita, governor of Naso, Italy, and Claudia Santapau.
At age 15 he turned his back on wealth and became a Basilian monk at the nearby monastery and later at the Fragala Abbey in Frazzano, Italy.
Conon became a spiritual student of Saint Lawrence of Frazzano. He was ordained a Priest. Upon the death of his parents, Conon inherited a large bequest which he immediately distributed to the poor.
He then retired to live the rest of his day as a prayerful hermit in the cave of San Michele. His reputation for holiness spread and he was recalled to his monastery and chosen abbot.
While praying in church, he resolved to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In the Holy Land, he experienced a vision of a serpent coiling itself around the throat of a certain priest. At once Conon went to the priest and related the vision as a warning to him. The priest confessed to Conon that he had hoarded money for himself. Conon persuaded him to give all his riches to the poor. Under Conan’s direction the priest gave his excessive savings to the poor and recommitted his life to serving others.
After returning to Sicily, Conon healed a boy afflicted with apoplexy. Conon died on Friday 28 March 1236 in the cave of San Michele near Naso, Italy of natural causes, apparently while in prayer.
That day the bells in the town of Naso began ringing on their own; the locals when to the holy man to ask why it was happening; they found him dead and believed that the bells were ringing to annouce his passing.
In 1571, over three centuries after Conon’s death, the city of Naso was stricken with a famine resulting from stormy weather that had prevented both the harvesting of the grain crop and the import of provisions by ship. The people thereupon invoked the intercession of Conon.
A sea captain was preparing to sail with a load of grain from a Sicilian port, Conon appeared to him in a vision and asked him to change his destination to a port near Naso. Torn between his fear of the rough seas and his reverential fear of the vision, the skipper in the end did as Conon had asked and completed the voyage safely. The grain from his ship reached Naso, ending the famine.
Feast of St. Conon of Naso.
Patron saint against against ear problems and against nose problems.
Conon was born on 3 June 1139 in Naso, Messina, Italy, to the wealthy nobility. He was the son of Count Anselmo Navacita, governor of Naso, Italy, and Claudia Santapau.
At age 15 he turned his back on wealth and became a Basilian monk at the nearby monastery and later at the Fragala Abbey in Frazzano, Italy.
Conon became a spiritual student of Saint Lawrence of Frazzano. He was ordained a Priest. Upon the death of his parents, Conon inherited a large bequest which he immediately distributed to the poor.
He then retired to live the rest of his day as a prayerful hermit in the cave of San Michele. His reputation for holiness spread and he was recalled to his monastery and chosen abbot.
While praying in church, he resolved to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In the Holy Land, he experienced a vision of a serpent coiling itself around the throat of a certain priest. At once Conon went to the priest and related the vision as a warning to him. The priest confessed to Conon that he had hoarded money for himself. Conon persuaded him to give all his riches to the poor. Under Conan’s direction the priest gave his excessive savings to the poor and recommitted his life to serving others.
After returning to Sicily, Conon healed a boy afflicted with apoplexy. Conon died on Friday 28 March 1236 in the cave of San Michele near Naso, Italy of natural causes, apparently while in prayer.
That day the bells in the town of Naso began ringing on their own; the locals when to the holy man to ask why it was happening; they found him dead and believed that the bells were ringing to annouce his passing.
In 1571, over three centuries after Conon’s death, the city of Naso was stricken with a famine resulting from stormy weather that had prevented both the harvesting of the grain crop and the import of provisions by ship. The people thereupon invoked the intercession of Conon.
A sea captain was preparing to sail with a load of grain from a Sicilian port, Conon appeared to him in a vision and asked him to change his destination to a port near Naso. Torn between his fear of the rough seas and his reverential fear of the vision, the skipper in the end did as Conon had asked and completed the voyage safely. The grain from his ship reached Naso, ending the famine.
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March 28
Conon of Naso
March 29
Daily Saints – 29 March.
Feast of Saints Jonas and Barachisius.
King Sapor of Persia, in the year 327, the eighteenth of his reign, raised a bloody persecution against the Christians and laid waste their churches and monasteries.
Jonas and Barachisius, two brothers of the city Beth-Asa, hearing that several Christians were under sentence of death at Hubaham, went there to encourage and serve them.
‘Fear not, brothers, but let us combat for the name of Jesus crucified, and like our predecessors we shall obtain the glorious crown promised to valiant soldiers of the Faith.’ Fortified by these words, nine of that number received the crown of martyrdom.
After their execution, Jonas and Barachisius were apprehended for having exhorted the martyrs to die. The president entreated the two brothers to obey the king of Persia, and to worship the sun, the moon, fire, and water.
They answered that it was more reasonable to obey the immortal King of heaven and earth than a mortal prince. Saint Jonas was beaten with knotty clubs and with rods until his ribs were visible, but he blessed God. Then he was chained by one foot and dragged to a frozen pond to spend the night there.
Saint Barachisius had two red-hot iron plates and two red-hot hammers applied under each arm, and melted lead dropped into his nostrils and eyes; after which he was carried to prison, and there hung up by one foot. Despite these cruel tortures, the two brothers survived and remained steadfast in the Faith.
New and more horrible torments were then devised; both finally expired under a terrible press. They yielded up their heroic lives, praying for their enemies, while their pure souls winged their flight to heaven, there to gain the martyr’s crown which they had so faithfully won.
Feast of Saints Jonas and Barachisius.
King Sapor of Persia, in the year 327, the eighteenth of his reign, raised a bloody persecution against the Christians and laid waste their churches and monasteries.
Jonas and Barachisius, two brothers of the city Beth-Asa, hearing that several Christians were under sentence of death at Hubaham, went there to encourage and serve them.
‘Fear not, brothers, but let us combat for the name of Jesus crucified, and like our predecessors we shall obtain the glorious crown promised to valiant soldiers of the Faith.’ Fortified by these words, nine of that number received the crown of martyrdom.
After their execution, Jonas and Barachisius were apprehended for having exhorted the martyrs to die. The president entreated the two brothers to obey the king of Persia, and to worship the sun, the moon, fire, and water.
They answered that it was more reasonable to obey the immortal King of heaven and earth than a mortal prince. Saint Jonas was beaten with knotty clubs and with rods until his ribs were visible, but he blessed God. Then he was chained by one foot and dragged to a frozen pond to spend the night there.
Saint Barachisius had two red-hot iron plates and two red-hot hammers applied under each arm, and melted lead dropped into his nostrils and eyes; after which he was carried to prison, and there hung up by one foot. Despite these cruel tortures, the two brothers survived and remained steadfast in the Faith.
New and more horrible torments were then devised; both finally expired under a terrible press. They yielded up their heroic lives, praying for their enemies, while their pure souls winged their flight to heaven, there to gain the martyr’s crown which they had so faithfully won.
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March 29
Saints Jonas and Barachisius
March 30
Daily Saints – 30 March.
Feast of St. John Climacus.
John was born around the year 525 in Palestine. As a youth, he excelled in his studies and was highly regarded by his peers for his knowledge. At the age of 16, John decided to leave the world and retired to a hermitage near the base of Mount Sinai.
For the next four years, John spent his time in prayer, fasting, meditation and discernment while preparing to take solemn vows to the religious life. Through the direction of Martyrius, John curbed his vices and worked to perfect his virtues.
After professing his solemn vows, John began to spend more of his time studying scriptures and the early fathers of the Church. He became very knowledgeable in these subjects but his humility caused him to hide his talents and not presume to share them with others.
As John progressed in years and wisdom, many of the religious living on Mount Sinai began to seek his advice in spiritual matters. He freely offered his advice and was highly regarded for his wisdom and holiness.
Near the end of his life, he was encouraged to share his knowledge with others and wrote the “Climax” also known as “The Ladder of Paradise.” This work was a collection of sayings and examples to illustrate how to live the monastic life. From this work, he received the name Climacus, a derivative from the Latin root for climax or ladder.
Around the year 600 the abbot of all the religious in the region of Mount Sinai died and John was chosen to replace him. John ruled until his death in 605 and always tried to lead through his own example.
“Obedience is the burial of the will and the resurrection of humility.”
“Fight to escape from your own cleverness. If you do, then you will find salvation and uprightness through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“Humility is the only virtue that no devil can imitate. If pride made demons out of angels, there is no doubt that humility could make angels out of demons.”
“Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards you will honour your patience.”
“Forgetting offences is a sign of sincere repentance. If you keep the memory of them, you may believe you have repented but you are like someone running in his sleep. Let no one consider it a minor defect, this darkness that often clouds the eyes even of spiritual people.”
“A discerning man, when he eats grapes, takes only the ripe ones and leaves the sour. Thus also the discerning mind carefully marks the virtues which he sees in any person. A mindless man seeks out the vices and failings … Even if you see someone sin with your own eyes, do not judge; for often even your eyes are deceived.”
“The offspring of virtue is perseverance. The fruit and offspring of perseverance is habit and child of habit is character.”
“Repentance lifts a man up. Mourning knocks at heaven’s gate. Holy humility opens it.”
“When the soul betrays itself and loses the blessed and longed-for fervor, let it carefully investigate the reason for losing it. And let it arm itself with all its longing and zeal against whatever caused this. For the former fervor can return only through the same door through which it was lost.”
“Whoever has become a servant of the Lord fears only his Master. But whoever is without the fear of God is often afraid of his own shadow. Fearfulness is the daughter of unbelief. A proud soul is the slave of fear; hoping in itself, in comes to such a state that it is startled by a small noise, and is afraid of the dark.”
“Tell us fool, what is the name of the man that fathered you and the mother who for the cause of wickedness brought you into the world, and the names of your vile sons and daughters. And not this alone, but tell us the plots and plans of those who battle against you and destroy you.” Anger will answer us, “I have many sources, and many fathers. My mothers are vanity, greed, and often lust. My father’s name is pride. My daughters are: remembering ill-treatment, wrath, hatred, and declaration of rights. But my enemies, who keep me bound, are the virtues of liberty from anger and humility. She who plots against me is known as meekness. But in regard to the one who begat meekness, ask her in the proper time.”
“Humility is an unchanging character of the soul which continues untouched either by a bad or good report, in disgrace or in honor.”
“The start of liberty from anger is stillness of the mouth when the heart is troubled. The middle is a stillness of the mind when there is a small agitation of the soul. The end is an unchanging calm beneath the breath of polluted winds.”
“Intelligent silence is the mother of prayer.”
“The one who requests less than he deserves from God will surely obtain more than he deserves. This is clearly shown by the tax-collector who requested forgiveness but obtained justification. And the thief merely requested to be remembered in His Kingdom, but he inherited Paradise.”
Feast of St. John Climacus.
John was born around the year 525 in Palestine. As a youth, he excelled in his studies and was highly regarded by his peers for his knowledge. At the age of 16, John decided to leave the world and retired to a hermitage near the base of Mount Sinai.
For the next four years, John spent his time in prayer, fasting, meditation and discernment while preparing to take solemn vows to the religious life. Through the direction of Martyrius, John curbed his vices and worked to perfect his virtues.
After professing his solemn vows, John began to spend more of his time studying scriptures and the early fathers of the Church. He became very knowledgeable in these subjects but his humility caused him to hide his talents and not presume to share them with others.
As John progressed in years and wisdom, many of the religious living on Mount Sinai began to seek his advice in spiritual matters. He freely offered his advice and was highly regarded for his wisdom and holiness.
Near the end of his life, he was encouraged to share his knowledge with others and wrote the “Climax” also known as “The Ladder of Paradise.” This work was a collection of sayings and examples to illustrate how to live the monastic life. From this work, he received the name Climacus, a derivative from the Latin root for climax or ladder.
Around the year 600 the abbot of all the religious in the region of Mount Sinai died and John was chosen to replace him. John ruled until his death in 605 and always tried to lead through his own example.
“Obedience is the burial of the will and the resurrection of humility.”
“Fight to escape from your own cleverness. If you do, then you will find salvation and uprightness through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“Humility is the only virtue that no devil can imitate. If pride made demons out of angels, there is no doubt that humility could make angels out of demons.”
“Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards you will honour your patience.”
“Forgetting offences is a sign of sincere repentance. If you keep the memory of them, you may believe you have repented but you are like someone running in his sleep. Let no one consider it a minor defect, this darkness that often clouds the eyes even of spiritual people.”
“A discerning man, when he eats grapes, takes only the ripe ones and leaves the sour. Thus also the discerning mind carefully marks the virtues which he sees in any person. A mindless man seeks out the vices and failings … Even if you see someone sin with your own eyes, do not judge; for often even your eyes are deceived.”
“The offspring of virtue is perseverance. The fruit and offspring of perseverance is habit and child of habit is character.”
“Repentance lifts a man up. Mourning knocks at heaven’s gate. Holy humility opens it.”
“When the soul betrays itself and loses the blessed and longed-for fervor, let it carefully investigate the reason for losing it. And let it arm itself with all its longing and zeal against whatever caused this. For the former fervor can return only through the same door through which it was lost.”
“Whoever has become a servant of the Lord fears only his Master. But whoever is without the fear of God is often afraid of his own shadow. Fearfulness is the daughter of unbelief. A proud soul is the slave of fear; hoping in itself, in comes to such a state that it is startled by a small noise, and is afraid of the dark.”
“Tell us fool, what is the name of the man that fathered you and the mother who for the cause of wickedness brought you into the world, and the names of your vile sons and daughters. And not this alone, but tell us the plots and plans of those who battle against you and destroy you.” Anger will answer us, “I have many sources, and many fathers. My mothers are vanity, greed, and often lust. My father’s name is pride. My daughters are: remembering ill-treatment, wrath, hatred, and declaration of rights. But my enemies, who keep me bound, are the virtues of liberty from anger and humility. She who plots against me is known as meekness. But in regard to the one who begat meekness, ask her in the proper time.”
“Humility is an unchanging character of the soul which continues untouched either by a bad or good report, in disgrace or in honor.”
“The start of liberty from anger is stillness of the mouth when the heart is troubled. The middle is a stillness of the mind when there is a small agitation of the soul. The end is an unchanging calm beneath the breath of polluted winds.”
“Intelligent silence is the mother of prayer.”
“The one who requests less than he deserves from God will surely obtain more than he deserves. This is clearly shown by the tax-collector who requested forgiveness but obtained justification. And the thief merely requested to be remembered in His Kingdom, but he inherited Paradise.”
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March 30
John Climacus
March 31
Daily Saints – 31 March.
Feast of Saint Guy of Pomposa.
Guy was born near Ravenna in northern Italy to parents who took great pride in him. Primarily to give them pleasure, he was meticulous in his dress and personal appearance.
Still, one day during a festival, realizing the vanity of this way of being, and taken with deep compunction, he stripped himself of his fine garments and gave them all away to the poor.
To his parents’ further mortification, their son donned shabby garments and departed for Rome, where he received the tonsure.
On his return, he placed himself under the direction of a hermit named Martin, who lived alone on a small island in the River Po. After three years of directing Guy, the hermit sent him to the Abbey of Pomposa to learn the ways of monastic life.
There Guy so advanced in virtue that he quickly rose to high office, and was elected abbot. Such was his reputation and so many flocked to the abbey that he was obliged to build another. Even his father and his brother joined the monastery.
At certain times of the year Abbot Guy would retire into solitude a few miles from his monastery and there would submit his body to severe austerities. Particularly during the forty days of Lent the austerities were such as to resemble tortures, and yet, he was extraordinarily tender toward his monks who were devoted to him.
Guy did not escape the persecution which often comes to those seeking holiness. For unknown reasons, the Archbishop of Ravenna had developed a hatred for the holy abbot and determined to destroy his monasteries. When Guy learned of the imminent attack, he fasted for three days, joined in this mortification by the entire community of monks. When the archbishop arrived with his soldiers, he was met by Guy with such humility and respect, that he was overwhelmed and asked the abbot’s pardon.
Towards the close of his life Guy again withdrew to his solitary hermitage. The Emperor Henry III, who had come to Italy to consult with the holy abbot, summoned him to Piacenza. Though he was unwilling to do so, the aged abbot obeyed, taking a tender farewell from his brothers whom he said he would see no more.
Attacked by a sudden illness in Borgo San Donnino near Parma, he died three days later.
Feast of Saint Guy of Pomposa.
Guy was born near Ravenna in northern Italy to parents who took great pride in him. Primarily to give them pleasure, he was meticulous in his dress and personal appearance.
Still, one day during a festival, realizing the vanity of this way of being, and taken with deep compunction, he stripped himself of his fine garments and gave them all away to the poor.
To his parents’ further mortification, their son donned shabby garments and departed for Rome, where he received the tonsure.
On his return, he placed himself under the direction of a hermit named Martin, who lived alone on a small island in the River Po. After three years of directing Guy, the hermit sent him to the Abbey of Pomposa to learn the ways of monastic life.
There Guy so advanced in virtue that he quickly rose to high office, and was elected abbot. Such was his reputation and so many flocked to the abbey that he was obliged to build another. Even his father and his brother joined the monastery.
At certain times of the year Abbot Guy would retire into solitude a few miles from his monastery and there would submit his body to severe austerities. Particularly during the forty days of Lent the austerities were such as to resemble tortures, and yet, he was extraordinarily tender toward his monks who were devoted to him.
Guy did not escape the persecution which often comes to those seeking holiness. For unknown reasons, the Archbishop of Ravenna had developed a hatred for the holy abbot and determined to destroy his monasteries. When Guy learned of the imminent attack, he fasted for three days, joined in this mortification by the entire community of monks. When the archbishop arrived with his soldiers, he was met by Guy with such humility and respect, that he was overwhelmed and asked the abbot’s pardon.
Towards the close of his life Guy again withdrew to his solitary hermitage. The Emperor Henry III, who had come to Italy to consult with the holy abbot, summoned him to Piacenza. Though he was unwilling to do so, the aged abbot obeyed, taking a tender farewell from his brothers whom he said he would see no more.
Attacked by a sudden illness in Borgo San Donnino near Parma, he died three days later.
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March 31
Saint Guy of Pomposa