SAINTS MARCH

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”