Sts. Perpetua and Felicity

 

"Feast of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity"

By Fr. Jacob Boddicker, SJ

Noble-born Perpetua, child at breast,

Taken first by Christ, then by jealous Rome

Who sought from Heaven her heart to wrest;

Bound was she in chains, taken from her home.

Too was brought Felicity, round with child,

And bore him ‘fore her own labor began,

From “blood to blood” down the wedding aisle

To the Spouse of Martyrs, the God-Made-Man.

Two sisters in Christ stood before the crowd,

Stripped, then robed to satisfy false dismay

Before they battled with a wild cow,

Their sex mocked; yet manly faith won the day.

Treading the Serpent’s head, spurning his hiss,

Rose they to Heaven’s perpetual bliss.

Painting: Perpetua refusing her father's pleas to deny Christ. Artist unknown.

Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen

SAINTS OF THE DAY 

January 2

Saint Basil the Great and Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church 

Today the Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Basil the Great (329-379) and St. Gregory Nazianzen (330-390), bishops and doctors of the Church.

• St. BASIL THE GREAT 

St. Basil was born about 330, the oldest of four sons; three of his brothers became bishops, one of whom was St. Gregory of Nyssa. His pious grandmother Macrina exercised a great influence upon his religious education: "Never shall I forget the deep impression that the words and example of this venerable woman made upon my soul." Between St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzen an intimate friendship existed from youth to old age. Of Western monasticism St. Benedict was the father and founder, of Eastern monasticism, St. Basil.

As bishop, Basil was a courageous and heroic champion of the Catholic faith against the Arian heresy. In 372 Emperor Valens sent Modestus, the prefect, to Cappadocia to introduce Arianism as the state religion. Modestus approached the holy bishop, upbraided him for his teaching, and threatened despoliation, exile, martyrdom, and death. To these words of the Byzantine despot, Basil replied with the peace of divine faith: "Is that all? Nothing of what you mentioned touches me. We possess nothing, we can be robbed of nothing. Exile will be impossible, since everywhere on God's earth I am at home. Torments cannot afflict me, for I have no body. And death is welcome, for it will bring me more quickly to God. To a great extent I am already dead; for a long time I have been hastening to the grave." Astonished, the prefect remarked: "Till today no one has ever spoken to me so courageously." "Perhaps," rejoined Basil, "you have never before met a bishop." Modestus hastened back to Valens. "Emperor," he said, "we are bested by this leader of the Church. He is too strong for threats, too firm for words, too clever for persuasion."

Basil was a strong character, a burning lamp during his time. But as the fire from this lamp illumined and warmed the world, it consumed itself; as the saint's spiritual stature grew, his body wasted away, and at the early age of forty-nine his appearance was that of an old man. In every phase of ecclesiastical activity he showed superior talent and zeal. He was a great theologian, a powerful preacher, a gifted writer, the author of two rules for monastic life, a reformer of the Oriental liturgy. He died in 379, hardly forty-nine years old, yet so emaciated that only skin and bones remained, as though he had stayed alive in soul alone.

• St. GREGORY NAZIANZEN

Gregory, surnamed the "Theologian" by the Greeks, was born at Nazianz in Cappadocia in 339. He was one of the "Three Lights of the Church from Cappadocia." To his mother, St. Nonna, is due the foundation for his saintly life as an adult. He was educated at the most famous schools of his time - Caesarea, Alexandria, Athens. At Athens he formed that storied bond of friendship with St. Basil which was still flaming with all the fervor of youthful enthusiasm when he delivered the funeral oration at the grave of his friend in 381.

Gregory was baptized in 360, and for a while lived the quiet life of a hermit. In 372 he was consecrated bishop by St. Basil. At the urgent wish of Gregory, his father and bishop of Nazianz, he assisted him in the care of souls. In 381 he accepted the see of Constantinople, but grieved by the constant controversies retired again to the quiet life he cherished so highly and dedicated himself entirely to contemplation.

During his life span the pendulum was continually swinging back and forth between contemplation and the active ministry. He longed for solitude, but the exigencies of the times called him repeatedly to do pastoral work and to participate in the ecclesiastical movements of the day. He was unquestionably one of the greatest orators of Christian antiquity; his many and great accomplishments were due in great measure to his exceptional eloquence. His writings have merited for him the title of "Doctor of the Church."

St. Gregory’s relics, along with those of St. John Chrysostom, were returned to Constantinople (Istanbul) by Pope St. John Paul II on November 27, 2004 and kept in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George.

Saint Giles Patron of the Disabled and Poor Feasday September 1

 

Saint Giles
Monk

Description
Saint Giles, also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly legendary. Wikipedia
Born: 650 AD, Athens, Greece
Died: 710 AD, Saint-Gilles, France
Full name: Giles
Place of burial: Abbatiale Saint-Gilles du Gard, Saint-Gilles, France
Feast: 1 September
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
Attributes: arrow; crosier; hermitage; hind

PRAYER

Grant, we beseech You, O Lord, that the prayers of Your holy Abbot, St. Giles, may commend us unto You. May we, who have no power to help ourselves, by his advocacy, find favor in Your sight. We pray for healing for all those who struggle with disability and discomfort of any kind, as well as for the homeless, beggars, and outcasts of this world. Through the intercession of St. Giles, stretch forth Your hand and bring them the healing, peace, and joy of Your Kingdom, where the last shall be first. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. (September 1st is the Feast Day of St. Giles, the Patron Saint of the disabled and poor.)

Saint Isidore, The Farmer

SAINT OF THE DAY

ST. ISIDORE THE "FARMER "

(SAN ISIDRO LABRADOR)

(Feast Day: May 15,)

Saint Isidore the Farmer’s Story

Saint Isidore was born in Madrid, in about the year 1070, of poor but very devout parents, and was christened Isidore from the name of their patron, St. Isidore of Seville.When he was barely old enough to wield a hoe, Isidore entered the service of John de Vargas, a wealthy landowner from Madrid, and spent his life as a hired hand and worked faithfully on his estate outside the city for the rest of his life. He shared what he had, even his meals, with the poor. Juan de Vargas would later make him bailiff of his entire estate of Lower Caramanca.

He married a young woman as simple and upright as himself. Isidore married Maria Torribia, known as Santa María de la Cabeza in Spain; she has never been canonized, pending confirmation by Pope Francis. Isidore and Maria had one son. On one occasion, their son fell into a deep well and, at the prayers of his parents, the water of the well is said to have risen miraculously to the level of the ground, bringing the child with it. In thanksgiving Isidore and Maria then vowed sexual abstinence and lived in separate houses. Their son later died in his youth.

Isidore had deep religious instincts. He rose early in the morning to go to church and spent many holidays devoutly visiting the churches of Madrid and surrounding areas. All day long, as he walked behind the plow, he communed with God. His devotion, one might say, became a problem, for his fellow workers sometimes complained that he often showed up late because of lingering in church too long.

While he walked the fields, plowing, planting, and harvesting, he also prayed. As a hardworking man, Isidore had three great loves: God, his family, and the soil. He and his wife Maria, proved to all their neighbors that poverty, hard work, and sorrow cannot destroy human happiness if we accept them with faith and in union with Christ. Isidore understood clearly that, without soil, the human race cannot exist too long. The insight may explain why he always had such a reverent attitude toward his work as a farmer.

Isidore and Maria were known for their love of the poor. Often they brought food to poor, hungry persons and prayed with them. During his lifetime, Isidore had the gift of miracles. If he was late for work because he went to Mass, an angel was seen plowing for him. He was known for his love of the poor, and there are accounts of Isidore’s supplying them miraculously with food. More than once he fed hungry people with food that seemed to multiply miraculously.

He had a great concern for the proper treatment of animals.

Isidore died on May 15, 1130, at his birthplace close to Madrid, although the only official source places his death in the year 1172.

He died after a peaceful life of hard labor and charity.

He was declared a saint in 1622, with Saints Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Avila, and Philip Neri. Together, the group is known in Spain as “the five saints.”

In the Philippines , Saint Isidore, just like Saint Vincent Ferrer and the devotion to the Holy Cross, is celebrated in many towns, villages and barrios in the month of May. He is the Patron of many towns, foremost of which are the towns of Tubigon, Bilar, Trinidad and San Isidro. (Wikipedia)

Isidore has become the patron of farmers and rural communities. In particular, he is the patron of Madrid, Spain, and of the United States National Rural Life Conference.

Reflection

Many implications can be found in a simple laborer achieving sainthood: Physical labor has dignity; sainthood does not stem from status; contemplation does not depend on learning; the simple life is conducive to holiness and happiness. Legends about angel helpers and mysterious oxen indicate that his work was not neglected and his duties did not go unfulfilled. Perhaps the truth which emerges is this: If you have your spiritual self in order, your earthly commitments will fall into order also. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” said the carpenter from Nazareth, “and all these things will be given you (Matthew 6:33).

Let us pray

Lord God, to whom belongs all creation,

and who call us to serve you

by caring for the gifts that surround us,

inspire us by the example of Saint Isidore

to share our food with the hungry

and to work for the salvation of all people.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. AMEN.

Happy Feast Day, Saint Isidore the Farmer! 🌾

We thank you, Saint Isidore, Catholic Patron Saint of Farmers, for all your blessings. May you bless all of us, especially the farmers, and may they have an abundant harvest in every season with your help.

San Isidro Labrador, pray for us!

Today's Gospel Reading

Gospel Reading Today

Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a

'Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.

Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.

When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,

but before they lived together,

she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,

yet unwilling to expose her to shame,

decided to divorce her quietly.

Such was his intention when, behold,

the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

“Joseph, son of David,

do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.

For it is through the Holy Spirit

that this child has been conceived in her.

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins.”

When Joseph awoke,

he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him

and took his wife into his home.'

Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a

Prayer to Saint Joseph -Solemnity of Saint Joseph March 19

 Prayer to Saint Joseph

To thee, O Blessed Joseph, we have recourse in our tribulations, and while imploring the aid of thy most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke thy patronage also. By that love which united thee to the Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, and by the fatherly affection with which thou didst embrace the Infant Jesus, we humbly beseech thee graciously to regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased with His Blood and to help us in our necessities, by thy powerful intercession.

Protect, O most provident Guardian of the Holy Family, the chosen children of Jesus Christ; ward off from us, O most loving Father, all taint of error and corruption; graciously assist us from Heaven, O most powerful protector, in our struggle with the powers of darkness; and as thou didst once rescue the Child Jesus from imminent peril to His life, so now defend the Holy Church of God from the snares of her enemies and from all adversity.

Shield each one of us with thy unceasing patronage that, imitating thy example and supported by thy aid, we may be enabled to live a good life, die a holy death, and secure everlasting happiness in Heaven.

Amen.

SAINT OF THE DAY St. John Ogilvie (Feast Day: March 11)

SAINT OF THE DAY

St. John Ogilvie

(Feast Day: March 11)

Pray for us!

Saint John Ogilvie’s Story

John Ogilvie’s noble Scottish family was partly Catholic and partly Presbyterian. His father raised him as a Calvinist, sending 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 and was received into the Church at Louvain, Belgium, in 1596 at the age of 17.

John continued his studies, first with the Benedictines, then as a student at the Jesuit College at Olmutz. He joined the Jesuits and for the next 10 years underwent their rigorous intellectual and spiritual training. At his ordination to the priesthood in France in 1610, John met two Jesuits who had just returned from Scotland after suffering arrest and imprisonment. They saw little hope for any successful work there in view of the tightening of the penal laws. But a fire had been lit within John. For the next two and a half years he pleaded to be placed there as a missionary.

Sent by his superiors, he secretly entered Scotland posing as a horse trader or a soldier returning from the wars in Europe. Unable to do significant work among the relatively few Catholics in Scotland, John made his way back to Paris to consult his superiors. Rebuked for having left his assignment in Scotland, he was sent back. He warmed to the task before him and had some success in making converts and in secretly serving Scottish Catholics. But he was soon betrayed, arrested, and brought before the court.

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.”

Condemned to death as a traitor, he was faithful to the end, even when on the scaffold he was offered his freedom and a fine living if he would deny his faith. His courage in prison and in his martyrdom was reported throughout Scotland.

John Ogilvie was canonized in 1976, becoming the first Scottish saint since 1250.

SAINT OF THE DAY St. Frances of Rome Feast Day: March 9

SAINT OF THE DAY

St. Frances of Rome

Feast Day: March 9

Pray for us!

Frances of Rome, Obl.S.B., is an Italian saint who was a wife, mother, mystic, organizer of charitable services and a Benedictine oblate who founded a religious community of oblates, who share a common life without religious vows. Wikipedia

Born: 1384, Rome, Italy

Died: March 9, 1440, Rome, Italy

Patronage: Benedictine oblates; automobile drivers; widows

Feast: March 9

Canonized: March 15 1608, Rome, Papal States, by Pope Paul V

Beatified: September 15 1607

Parents: Iacobella dei Roffredeschi, Paolo Bussa de' Leoni

Saint Frances of Rome’s Story

Frances’ life combines aspects of secular and religious life. A devoted and loving wife, she longed for a lifestyle of prayer and service, so she organized a group of women to minister to the needs of Rome’s poor.

Born of wealthy parents, Frances found herself attracted to the religious life during her youth. But her parents objected and a young nobleman was selected to be her husband.

As she became acquainted with her new relatives, Frances soon discovered that the wife of her husband’s brother also wished to live a life of service and prayer. So the two, Frances and Vannozza, set out together—with their husbands’ blessings—to help the poor.

Frances fell ill for a time, but this apparently only deepened her commitment to the suffering people she met. The years passed, and Frances gave birth to two sons and a daughter. With the new responsibilities of family life, the young mother turned her attention more to the needs of her own household.

The family flourished under Frances’ care, but within a few years a great plague began to sweep across Italy. It struck Rome with devastating cruelty and left Frances’ second son dead. In an effort to help alleviate some of the suffering, Frances used all her money and sold her possessions to buy whatever the sick might possibly need. When all the resources had been exhausted, Frances and Vannozza went door to door begging. Later, Frances’ daughter died, and the saint opened a section of her house as a hospital.

Frances became more and more convinced that this way of life was so necessary for the world, and it was not long before she requested and was given permission to found a society of women bound by no vows. They simply offered themselves to God and to the service of the poor. Once the society was established, Frances chose not to live at the community residence, but rather at home with her husband. She did this for seven years, until her husband passed away, and then came to live the remainder of her life with the society—serving the poorest of the poor.

"A married woman must, when called upon, quit her devotions to God at the altar to find Him in her household affairs." 

-St. Frances of Rome

PRAYER :

Lord, I long to spend time with You in prayer. I also know that you have given me work to do in this world. May I find You, Lord, in every moment of my day, whether before the tabernacle or in front of a pile of laundry. St. Frances of Rome, pray for me. Amen.

SAINT OF THE DAY -St John of God- Feast Day: March 8

 SAINT OF THE DAY

 St  John of God 

Feast Day: March 8

Pray for us! 

Patron: Hospitals, the Sick, Nurses, Booksellers, Printers, those with Heart Disease

HEALING PRAYER TO SAINT JOHN OF GOD


Saint John of God, I honor thee as the Patron of the Sick, especially of those who are afflicted by heart disease. I choose thee to be my patron and protector in my present illness. To thee I entrust my soul, my body, all my spiritual and temporal interests, as well as those of the sick throughout the world. To thee I consecrate my mind, that in all things it may be enlightened by faith above all in accepting my cross as a blessing from God; my heart, that thou doth keep it pure and fill it with the love for Jesus and Mary that burned in thy heart; my will, that like thine, it may always be one with the Will of God.




Good Saint John, I honor thee as the model of penitents, for thou didst receive the grace to give up a sinful life and to atone for thy sins by untiring labors in behalf of the poor and sick. Obtain for me the grace from God to be truly sorry for my sins, to make atonement for them and never again offend God. Aid me in mastering my evil inclinations and temptations, and in avoiding all occasions of sin. Through thine intercession may I obtain the grace from Jesus and Mary to fulfill faithfully all the duties of my state of life and to practice those virtues which are needful for my salvation. Help me to belong to God and Our Lady in life and in death through perfect love. May my life, like thine, be spent in the untiring service of God and my neighbor.




Since Holy Mother Church also invokes thee in her prayers for the dying, I beg thee to be with me in my last hour and pray for me. As thou didst die kneeling before a crucifix, may I find strength, consolation and salvation in the Cross of my Redeemer, and through His tender mercy and the prayers of Our Lady, and through thine intercession, attain to eternal life.

Amen.

THE LIFE OF SAINT JOHN OF GOD

Religious

(1495-1550)

         Nothing in John's early life foreshadowed his future sanctity. He ran away as a boy from his home in Portugal, tended sheep and cattle in Spain, and served as a soldier against the French, and afterwards against the Turks.

        When about forty years of age, feeling remorse for his wild life, he resolved to devote himself to the ransom of the Christian slaves in Africa, and went thither with the family of an exiled noble, which he maintained by his labor. On his return to Spain he sought to do good by selling holy pictures and books at low prices.

        At length the hour of grace struck. At Granada a sermon by the celebrated John of Avila shook his soul to its depths, and his expressions of self-abhorrence were so extraordinary that he was taken to the asylum as one mad. There he employed himself in ministering to the sick.

        On leaving he began to collect homeless poor, and to support them by his work and by begging. One night St. John found in the streets a poor man who seemed near death, and, as was his wont, he carried him to the hospital, laid him on a bed, and went to fetch water to wash his feet. When he had washed them, he knelt to kiss them, and started with awe: the feet were pierced, and the print of the nails bright with an unearthly radiance. He raised his eyes to look, and heard the words, "John, to Me thou doest all that thou doest to the poor in My name: I reach forth My hand for the alms thou givest; Me dost thou clothe, Mine are the feet thou dost wash." And then the gracious vision disappeared, leaving St. John filled at once with confusion and consolation.

        The bishop became the Saint's patron, and gave him the name of John of God. When his hospital was on fire, John was seen rushing about uninjured amidst the flames until he had rescued all his poor.

        After ten years spent in the service of the suffering, the Saint's life was fitly closed. He plunged into the river Xenil to save a drowning boy, and died, 1550, of an illness brought on by the attempt, at the age of fifty-five.

Mother Teresa's Fragrance Prayer

Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, honoured in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She was born in Skopje, then part of the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia

Born: August 26, 1910, Skopje, North Macedonia

Died: September 5, 1997, Kolkata, India

Full name: Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu

Title: Superior general

Awards: Nobel Peace Prize, Bharat Ratna, Order of the Smile, Golden Honour of the Nation, More

Parents: Dranafile Bojaxhiu, Nikollë Bojaxhiu

Siblings: Aga Bojaxhiu, Lazar Bojaxhiu

Mother Teresa's Fragrance

Prayer

Mother Teresa took a well-loved prayer poem by Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), changed the singular to plural, and prayed it every day after Communion with her Sisters of Charity. Here’s the prayer poem.

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.

Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly, that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul.

Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine, so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine; it will be you, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.

Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.

SAINT OF THE DAY St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin (Feast Day: Feb. 26)

Maria Bertilla Boscardin was an Italian nun and nurse who displayed a pronounced devotion to duty in working with sick children and victims of the air raids of World War I. She was later canonised a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. 

Source:Wikipedia

Born: October 6, 1888, Brendola, Italy

Died: October 20, 1922, Treviso, Italy

Canonized: May 11, 1961 by Pope John XXIII

Feast: October 20

Beatified: June 8, 1952 by Pope Pius XII

Major shrine: Vicenza, Veneto, Italy

 SAINT OF THE DAY 

 St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin 

Feast Day: Feb. 26

Pray for us!

Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin’s Story

If anyone knew rejection, ridicule and disappointment, it was today’s saint. But such trials only brought Maria Bertilla Boscardin closer to God and more determined to serve him.

Born in Italy in 1888, the young girl lived in fear of her father, a violent man prone to jealousy and drunkenness. Her schooling was limited so that she could spend more time helping at home and working in the fields. She showed few talents and was often the butt of jokes.

In 1904, she joined the Sisters of Saint Dorothy and was assigned to work in the kitchen, bakery and laundry. After some time Maria received nurses’ training and began working in a hospital with children suffering from diphtheria. There the young nun seemed to find her true vocation: nursing very ill and disturbed children. Later, when the hospital was taken over by the military in World War I, Sister Maria Bertilla fearlessly cared for patients amidst the threat of constant air raids and bombings.

She died in 1922 after suffering for many years from a painful tumor. Some of the patients she had nursed many years before were present at her canonization in 1961.

Reflection

This fairly recent saint knew the hardships of living in an abusive situation. Let us pray to her to help all those who are suffering from any form of spiritual, mental, or physical abuse.

SAINT OF THE DAY FEBRUARY 25: BLESSED SEBASTIÁN OF APARICIO

🕊 🙏 SAINT OF THE DAY 💕 🕊

🙏🏻 Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio 🙏🏻

(Feast Day: Feb. 25,)

Pray for us!

Sebastian de Aparicio y del Pardo was a Spanish colonist in Mexico shortly after its conquest by Spain, who after a lifetime as a rancher and road builder entered the Order of Friars Minor as a lay brother. Source:Wikipedia

Born: January 20, 1502, A Gudiña, Spain

Died: February 25, 1600, Puebla, Mexico

Feast: 25 February

Beatified: 17 May 1789 by Pope Pius VI

Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio’s Story

Sebastian’s roads and bridges connected many distant places. His final bridge-building was to help men and women recognize their God-given dignity and destiny.

Sebastian’s parents were Spanish peasants. At the age of 31, he sailed to Mexico, where he began working in the fields. Eventually he built roads to facilitate agricultural trading and other commerce. His 466-mile road from Mexico City to Zacatecas took 10 years to build and required careful negotiations with the indigenous peoples along the way.

In time Sebastian was a wealthy farmer and rancher. At the age of 60, he entered a virginal marriage. His wife’s motivation may have been a large inheritance; his was to provide a respectable life for a girl without even a modest marriage dowry. When his first wife died, he entered another virginal marriage for the same reason; his second wife also died young.

At the age of 72, Sebastian distributed his goods among the poor and entered the Franciscans as a brother. Assigned to the large (100-member) friary at Puebla de los Angeles south of Mexico City, Sebastian went out collecting alms for the friars for the next 25 years. His charity to all earned him the nickname “Angel of Mexico.”

Sebastian was beatified in 1787 and is known as a patron of travelers.

SAINT OF THE DAY St. Peter Damian (Feast Day: Feb.21)

SAINT OF THE DAY

St. Peter Damian

(Feast Day: Feb.21,)

Pray for us!

Saint Peter Damian’s Story

Maybe because he was orphaned and had been treated shabbily by one of his brothers, Peter Damian was very good to the poor. It was the ordinary thing for him to have a poor person or two with him at table and he liked to minister personally to their needs.

Peter escaped poverty and the neglect of his own brother when his other brother, who was archpriest of Ravenna, took him under his wing. His brother sent him to good schools and Peter became a professor.

Already in those days, Peter was very strict with himself. He wore a hair shirt under his clothes, fasted rigorously and spent many hours in prayer. Soon, he decided to leave his teaching and give himself completely to prayer with the Benedictines of the reform of Saint Romuald at Fonte Avellana. They lived two monks to a hermitage. Peter was so eager to pray and slept so little that he soon suffered from severe insomnia. He found he had to use some prudence in taking care of himself. When he was not praying, he studied the Bible.

The abbot commanded that when he died Peter should succeed him. Abbot Peter founded five other hermitages. He encouraged his brothers in a life of prayer and solitude and wanted nothing more for himself. The Holy See periodically called on him, however, to be a peacemaker or troubleshooter, between two abbeys in dispute or a cleric or government official in some disagreement with Rome.

Finally, Pope Stephen IX made Peter the cardinal-bishop of Ostia. He worked hard to wipe out simony—the buying of church offices–and encouraged his priests to observe celibacy and urged even the diocesan clergy to live together and maintain scheduled prayer and religious observance. He wished to restore primitive discipline among religious and priests, warning against needless travel, violations of poverty, and too comfortable living. He even wrote to the bishop of Besancon complaining that the canons there sat down when they were singing the psalms in the Divine Office.

He wrote many letters. Some 170 are extant. We also have 53 of his sermons and seven lives, or biographies, that he wrote. He preferred examples and stories rather than theory in his writings. The liturgical offices he wrote are evidence of his talent as a stylist in Latin.

He asked often to be allowed to retire as cardinal-bishop of Ostia, and finally Pope Alexander II consented. Peter was happy to become once again just a monk, but he was still called to serve as a papal legate. When returning from such an assignment in Ravenna, he was overcome by a fever. With the monks gathered around him saying the Divine Office, he died on February 22, 1072.

In 1828, he was declared a Doctor of the Church.

Saint of the Day: Saint Valentine

This is what the Bible says about Valentine:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

Saint Valentine was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his Saints' Day has been associated with a tradition of courtly love. He is also a patron saint of Terni, epilepsy and beekeepers. - Wikipedia

Born: 175 AD, Terni, Italy

Died: February 14, 269 AD, Rome, Italy

Full name: Valentine of Terni

Feast: February 14 (Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran Churches), July 6 and July 30 (Eastern Orthodox)

Place of burial: Basilica di San Valentino, Terni, Italy

💞🙏 St.Valentine was a priest in Rome who was ordered beaten, stoned and beheaded by the emperor Claudius II for helping Christian couples to wed at a time when Roman law forbade young people from marrying.

The most famous miracle attributed to Saint Valentine involved the farewell note that he sent to Julia. Believers say that God miraculously cured Julia of her blindness so that she could personally read Valentine's note, rather than just have someone else read it to her.

During his time in jail, Valentine fell in love with his jailer's daughter, who visited him in prison. Before he was put to death, Valentine sent a letter to the girl signed “from Your Valentine”, the basic expression we still use every year during this holiday.

 Valentine was executed on February 14, 270 AD.Valentine refused to deny Christ before the emperor Claudius II Gothicus (214-270) and was executed outside the Flaminian Gate as a result. His martyrdom on 14 February became his Saints' Day, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine (Saint Valentine's Day).

St. Valentine gave his life so that young couples could be bonded together in holy matrimony. They may have killed the man, but not his spirit. Even centuries after his death, the story of Valentine’s self-sacrificing commitment to love was legendary in Rome. Eventually, he was granted sainthood and the Catholic Church decided to create a feast in his honor. They picked February 14 as the day of celebration because of the ancient belief that birds (particularly lovebirds, but also owls and doves) began to mate on that very day.

Valentine is also the patron saint of beekeepers—charged with ensuring the sweetness of honey and the protection of beekeepers among many other things. Saints are certainly expected to keep busy in the afterlife. Their holy duties include interceding in earthly affairs and entertaining petitions from living souls.

♥ Happy St Valentine's Day! 💕

SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

 

SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS

-a great lover of Mary

A young John de Yepes y Álvarez, aged 4, had fallen in a pond while throwing sticks in it. As he was trying to get out of the water, a "beautiful lady" – whom he later acknowledged to be the Virgin Mary – held out her hand to help him. John refused to grab her hand because his were covered with sludge. A laborer who was walking by pulled him out of the water with his goad.




Later, his mother, a poor widow, sent him to a school of Christian doctrine. There, he fell into the well of a waterwheel. The people who rescued him marveled that he hadn't drowned or wasn't hurt. John said he was under the protection of the Virgin Mary.




He chose the order of the Carmelites, out of love for Mary. The Carmelite brothers helped him to attend the University of Salamanca, where he received a rigorous, broad education.




The year of his novitiate, in Medina, John of the Cross wrote a poem (now lost) called: "In thanksgiving for the grace which (the Lord) has given him to make him worthy to belong to the said order (the Carmel), under the protection of His most Blessed Mother.”




Chosen by Saint Teresa of Avila and sent by the apostolic vicar, John of the Cross became the confessor of the Carmel of Avila and the reformer of the order. After that he founded several Carmelite monasteries for men. Although he was younger than her, Saint Teresa of Avila called him her spiritual father.




His brothers of Andalusia gave the following testimony, around the years 1585-1588:




"Father John of the Cross was so devoted to Our Lady that he recited the office of Our Lady each day, on his knees... In all his homilies and conversations, he talked about the Blessed Sacrament and the Most Blessed Virgin, Our Lady."




On December 7, 1591, John received the last rites. He died at midnight on the following Friday, at the beginning of the office of matins, on a Saturday, a day especially dedicated to the Virgin Mary.




Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

SAINT LUCY OF SYRACUSE

 

Saint Lucy of Syracuse, Virgin and Martyr-Memorial December 13

St. Lucy (283-304) was born in Syracuse, Sicily, where she also died. She was of a noble Greek family, and was brought up as a Christian by her mother, who was miraculously cured at the shrine of St. Agatha in Catania. Lucy made a vow of virginity and distributed her wealth to the poor. This generosity stirred the wrath of the unworthy youth to whom she had been unwillingly betrothed and who denounced her to Paschasius, the governor of Sicily. When it was decided to violate her virginity in a place of shame, Lucy, with the help of the Holy Spirit, stood immovable. A fire was then built around her, but again God protected her. She was finally put to death by the sword. Her name appears in the second list in the Canon.

Saint Lucy's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Lucy, is a Christian feast day celebrated on 13 December in Advent, commemorating Saint Lucy, a 3rd-century martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution, who according to legend brought "food and aid to Christians hiding in the catacombs" using a candle-lit wreath to "light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible. Her feast once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feast day has become a Christian festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy's Day is viewed as an event signaling the arrival of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar, on Christmas Day.

Saint Lucy's Prayer:

Saint Lucy, you did not hide your light under a basket, but let it shine for the whole world, for all the centuries to see. We may not suffer torture in our lives the way you did, but we are still called to let the light of our Christianity illumine our daily lives. Please help us to have the courage to bring our Christianity into our work, our recreation, our relationships, our conversation -- every corner of our day. Amen

Prayer to Saint Nicholas -December 6

 

December 6

Saint Nicholas Day

December 6th is the feast day of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children, which appropriately falls during the Advent season. This feast day is an especially exciting one for children as they count down the days on their Advent calendars in anticipation of Christmas day.

St. Nicholas of Myra is a major saint in many European and Eastern countries, and one of the old Christian traditions surrounding his feast day is for kids to leave their shoes out overnight in front of the fireplace, on the windowsill, or outside their bedroom door so that St. Nicholas can fill them with special fruits, candies, and other small gifts and treats

A PRAYER TO ST NICHOLAS

Blessed Saint Nicholas,

we honor you for your acts of kindness,

goodwill and charity to those on the margins of life.

Inspire us with your desire for justice and joy for all people;

help us learn from you what faith and action means,

and make us aware of those around us.

Give us the same sense of joy you had in your ministry.

And when we remember you

may we also remember the Lord you loved and followed,

both in times of tribulation, famine, persecution and humiliation,

as well as in times of joy and peace.

Saint Gertrude

 

SAINT GERTRUDE THE GREAT 

Feast Day  November 16

Today the Church celebrates one of the most loved ecclesial mystic heroes of the Middle Ages; Saint Gertrude of Helfta or better-known as Saint Gertrude the Great. Her feast day was made part of the universal Calendar of the Roman Rite by Pope Clement XII in 1738 and she was given the tile of “the great” by Pope Benedict XIV. Born on January 6, 1256 in the region of Eisleben in Germany. Incidentally, this is the same hometown of Augustinian monk turned protestant reformer, Martin Luther. Saint Gertrude died at Helfta on November 17, 1301…

Saint Gertrude’s spiritual life, as a Benedictine nun, centered around the Sacred Liturgy. Her attendance at the Divine Office throughout the day and participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice was the substance of her spiritual food. However, she also spent many hours in prayer and meditation in which the Lord appeared to her. She experienced visions of the Lord for the rest of her life. As we might imagine, they had a powerful effect on her soul. In addition, Saint Gertrude had great power for intercessory prayer and miracles. Her prayers led to many healings of her sisters and those who came to the monastery. Her visions of Jesus and prayer led her to write several beautiful treatises on mysticism and nuptial mysticism, which were shared with her monastic sisters.

O my adorable and loving Savior, consume my heart with the burning fire with which Yours is aflamed. Pour down on my soul those graces which flow from Your love. Let my heart be united with Yours. Let my will be conformed to Yours in all things. May Your Will be the rule of all my desires and actions. Amen.

PRAYER OF SAINT GERTRUDE THE GREAT FOR THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY


Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family.

Amen..


Saint Gertrude the Great is invoked for souls in purgatory and for living sinners. Our Lord told Saint Gertrude that the above prayer would release 1,000 souls from purgatory each time it is said. The prayer was extended to include living sinners as well.

Unfailing Prayer to Saint Anthony of Padua

 St. Anthony of Padua 

(Feast Day – June 13th)

St Anthony is one of the most beloved and admired saints of the Church. He was canonized less than a year after his death. He is also the patron saint of finding things or lost people.

Unfailing Prayer to St. Anthony of Padua 

O Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and Charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me (request). O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms; and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen.

THE GREAT SAINT WHO HAD THE GIFTS OF VISIONS, MIRACLES AND PROPHECY

Saint Gertrude The Great

Saint Gertrude was born January 6, 1256 in Germany. By 1261 as a student at the Benedictine abbey at Helfta in Saxony she had been placed in the care of the Abbey, Gertrude. The nuns of Helfta described Gertrude as a loveable and quick-witted. At the age of 15 or 16 she entered the Benedictine community as a novice, where she eventually became a teacher at the school. Gertrude was not very pious as a nun. She began to find the routine of the Benedictine community tiresome. By 1280 she had become depressed and withdrawn.

Shortly after her 25 birthday Jesus spoke to Gertrude. She tells us that she heard Christ say to her, "Do not fear. I will save you and set you free." This was the first in a series of visions that transformed her life. From then on, she spent many hours reading the bible and writing essays on the word of God. When she was asked to write about her experiences, she claimed that it would serve no purpose. When she was told that her words would encourage others, Gertrude agreed to write spiritual autobiography. Only the first 24 chapters of this book, THE HERALD OF GOD'S LOVING-KINDNESS, is her writing. The remainder has been added by members of the community to which she belonged. Gertrude also wrote her SPIRITUAL EXERCISES, a book of prayers, hymns and reflections. St. Gertrude is one of the leading women religious writers of the late 13th century. Outwardly, she appeared to be a the simple Benedictine nun. She had a great devotion to the Holy Souls in purgatory. Her raptures were frequent and so absorbing that she was insensible to what passed around her. She had the gift of miracles well as that of prophecy.

During one of her visions Jesus told ST. Gertrude that the following prayer would release

1000 souls from purgatory each time it is said:

'Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most precious blood of thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family’