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 CATHERINE LABOURE

*​SAINT OF THE DAY​*

Feast Day: November 28

*St. Catherine Laboure*

(1806-1876)

Zoe Laboure, born in 1806, was the daughter of a French farmer. She was the only one of her large family who did not go to school. She could not read or write. Her mother died while she was still very young. Zoe had to run the house when her older sister became a nun.

Zoe, too, would have liked to enter the convent when she was in her early teens. However, because she was needed at home, she waited until she was twenty-four. Zoe became a Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. She took the name of Catherine.

Shortly after she finished her training as a postulant, Sister Catherine received a special privilege. She began to see the Blessed Mother. One night, she was awakened from sleep. A "shining child" led her to chapel. There Our Lady came to talk to her. The Blessed Mother, in another vision, showed herself standing on a globe with streams of light coming from her hands. Underneath were the words: "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who turn to thee!" Sister Catherine was told that a medal was to be made of this picture of Our Lady. She was also told that all who wore it would receive many graces from Jesus through his mother's prayers.

Sister Catherine told her confessor and he later told the bishop. So it was that the medal which we call the miraculous medal was made. Soon many, many people all over the world were wearing it. Yet no one in the convent knew that humble Sister Catherine was the one to whom Our Lady had appeared. She spent the remaining forty-five years of her life doing ordinary convent tasks. She answered the door. She looked after the hens that provided the nuns with eggs. She also took care of elderly and sick people. She was happy to keep her special privilege hidden, and was only interested in serving God as best she could. Catherine died in 1876. She was proclaimed a saint by Pope Pius XII in 1947.

Happy feast day of St. Catherine Labouré!💕

(Saint of Humility or Holy Silence)

“GOD always speaks to you when you approach Him plainly and simply.”

“I have only been an instrument. The Blessed Virgin did not appear on my behalf...If she chose me, it was so that no one could doubt her.”

PRAYER:

Saint Catherine Labouré, you were the chosen confidant of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She revealed to you her desire that her children wear the Miraculous Medal as a mark of their love for her and in honor of her Immaculate Conception. Intercede for us, that we may follow our heavenly mother's desires. Ask that we may receive those special graces which flow from her motherly hands like rays of light. Amen.

St. Catherine Labouré, pray for us!🙏🏼

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL

Immaculate Virgin of the Miraculous Medal that you manifested to Saint Catherine Labouré, as mediator of all graces, attend to my prayer. In your maternal hands I leave all my spiritual and temporal interests and I entrust to you in particular the grace that I dare to implore from your goodness, so that you entrust it to your Divine Son and ask him to grant it to me if it is in accordance with his Will and it has to be for good of my soul.

Raise your hands to the Lord and then turn them towards my Powerful Virgin. Wrap me in the rays of your graces so that in the light and warmth of those rays, I may detach myself from earthly things and may joyfully follow you, until the day you welcome me at the gates of Heaven.

AMEN

Miraculous Medal Novena

Intro Prayer

V. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

R. Amen.

V. Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created.

R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

V. Let us pray: O God, who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation, through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

R. Amen.

V. O Mary, conceived without sin,

R. Pray for us who have recourse to thee. (3 times)

Lord Jesus Christ who hast vouchsafed to glorify by numberless miracles the Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculate from the first moment of her Conception, grant that all who devoutly implore her protection on earth may eternally enjoy Thy presence in heaven who, with the Father and Holy Ghost livest and reignest, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O Lord Jesus Christ who for the accomplishment of Thy greatest works hast chosen the weak things of the world that no flesh may glory in Thy sight and who for a better and more widely diffused belief in the Immaculate Conception of Thy Mother hast wished that the Miraculous Medal be manifested to Saint Catherine Laboure grant, we beseech Thee that filled with like humility we may glorify this mystery by word and work. Amen.

MEMORARE

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession, was left unaided, Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother!

To thee I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.

NOVENA PRAYER

O Immaculate Virgin Mary Mother of Our Lord Jesus and our Mother penetrated with the most lively confidence in thy all powerful and never-failing intercession, manifested so often through the Miraculous Medal, we thy loving and trustful children implore thee to obtain for us the graces and favors we ask during this Novena, if they be beneficial to our immortal souls, and the souls for whom we pray.

(Here mention your intentions)

Thou knowest, O Mary, how often our souls have been the sanctuaries of thy Son who hates iniquity.

Obtain for us then a deep hatred of sin and that purity of heart which will attach us to God alone so that our every thought, word and deed may tend to His greater glory. Obtain for us also a spirit of prayer and self-denial that we may recover by penance what we have lost by sin and at length attain to that blessed abode where thou art the Queen of angels and of men. Amen.

Concluding Prayer

AN ACT OF CONSECRATION TO OUR LADY OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL

Virgin Mother of God, Mary Immaculate, we dedicate and consecrate ourselves to thee under the title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal.

May this Medal be for each one of us a sure sign of thy affection for us and a constant reminder of our duties toward thee. Ever while wearing it, may we be blessed by thy loving protection and preserved in the grace of thy Son.

O most powerful Virgin, Mother of our Savior, keep us close to thee every moment of our lives. Obtain for us, thy children, the grace of a happy death; so that, in union with thee, we may enjoy the bliss of heaven forever. Amen.

V. O Mary, conceived without sin,

R. Pray for us who have recourse to thee. (3 times)

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.)

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION TO OUR LADY OF FATIMA

May 13

 FEAST OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA

Also known as

Lady of the Rosary (she called herself that when Lucia asked her name)

Commemorates the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three children in Fatima, Portugal on the 13th of each month from May to October in 1917. Our Lady appeared to Lucia, age 9, Blessed Francisco Marto, age 8, and Blessed Jacinta Marto, age 6, while they were tending sheep; they described her as "a woman all in white, more brilliant than the sun", and her message was to do reparation for sins that offend God, and to pray constantly for the conversion of sinners. She asked for devotion to the Holy Trinity, and for praying the Rosary daily for world peace. Word spread, and by the final apparition on 13 October, 70,000 people showed up to witness the Lady and the sign that she had promised; they witnessed the sun make three circles and zigzag around in the sky.

Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for us! 🙏

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION TO OUR LADY OF FATIMA 

O Virgin of Fatima, Mother of Mercy, Queen of Heaven and earth, Refuge of Sinners, we consecrate ourselves to your Immaculate Heart. To you we consecrate our hearts and souls, our families and all that we have. And in order that this consecration may be truly effective and lasting, we renew today the promises of our Baptism and Confirmation; and we undertake to live as good Christians, faithful to God, the Church and the Holy Father. We desire to pray the Rosary, partake in the Holy Eucharist, attach special importance to the first Saturday of the month and work for the conversion of sinners. Furthermore we promise, O most holy Virgin, that we zealously spread devotion to you, so that through our consecration to Your Immaculate Heart and through your own intercession, the coming of the Kingdom of Christ in the world may be hastened. Amen.

PATRON SAINT OF TEENAGERS St.Pancras (290 - 304)

SAINT OF THE DAY

Feast Day: May 12



St.Pancras

(290 - 304)




Pancras was born in 290 AD in Synnada, Phrygia a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia (modern Turkey).


He is also known by the names Pancritas and Pancratius. He was orphaned at an early age and taken to Rome by his uncle, Dionysius.


Pancras converted to Christianity after meeting Christians in Rome and through the influence of Dionysius


Pancras lived during the rule of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (r.284-305). Emperor Diocletian mounted some of the fiercest persecutions of the early Church especially in the East of the Empire.


Converting to Christianity during this period was highly dangerous and at the age Pancras announced his Christian faith publically.


He was arrested and then beheaded. He was only 14 years old. He is the patron saint of teenagers.

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. Dominic Savio Feast Day: March 9

SAINT OF THE DAY 

St. Dominic Savio 

(Feast Day: March 9 )

Pray for us!

Dominic Savio was an Italian student of Saint John Bosco. He was studying to be a priest when he became ill and died at the age of 14, possibly from pleurisy. He was noted for his piety and devotion to the Catholic faith, and was eventually canonized. Wikipedia

Born: April 2, 1842, Chieri, Italy

Died: March 9, 1857, Castelnuovo Don Bosco, Italy

Feast: 6 May (formerly 9 March)

Patronage: choirboys, falsely accused people, juvenile delinquents

Canonized: 12 June 1954, Rome by Pope Pius XII

Major shrine: The Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin (his tomb)

Parents: Carlo Savio, Brigida Gaiato

Saint Dominic Savio’s Story

So many holy persons seem to die young. Among them was Dominic Savio, the patron of choirboys.

Born into a peasant family at Riva, Italy, young Dominic joined Saint John Bosco as a student at the Oratory in Turin at the age of 12. He impressed Don Bosco with his desire to be a priest and to help him in his work with neglected boys. A peacemaker and an organizer, young Dominic founded a group he called the Company of the Immaculate Conception which, besides being devotional, aided John Bosco with the boys and with manual work. All the members save one, Dominic, would, in 1859, join Don Bosco in the beginnings of his Salesian congregation. By that time, Dominic had been called home to heaven.

As a youth, Dominic spent hours rapt in prayer. His raptures he called “my distractions.” Even in play, he said that at times, “It seems heaven is opening just above me. I am afraid I may say or do something that will make the other boys laugh.” Dominic would say, “I can’t do big things. But I want all I do, even the smallest thing, to be for the greater glory of God.”

Dominic’s health, always frail, led to lung problems and he was sent home to recuperate. As was the custom of the day, he was bled in the thought that this would help, but it only worsened his condition. He died on March 9, 1857, after receiving the Last Sacraments. Saint John Bosco himself wrote the account of his life.

Some thought that Dominic was too young to be considered a saint. Saint Pius X declared that just the opposite was true, and went ahead with his cause. Dominic was canonized in 1954. His Liturgical Feast Day is October 9.

PRAYERS

Prayer to St Dominic

O Saint Dominic Savio, a model of purity, piety, penance and apostolic zeal for youth; grant that, through your intercession, we may service God in our ordinary duties with fervent devotion, and attain the grace of holy joy on earth, that we may one day love God forever in Heaven. Amen.

… St Dominic Savio, Pray for Us …

Prayer of Dominic Savio

To the 

Blessed Virgin Mary

O Mary, I give you my heart.

Grant me to be always yours.

Jesus and Mary, be ever my friends;

and, for love of you,

grant me to die a thousand deaths

rather than to have the misfortune

of committing a single mortal sin. Amen.

(By St Dominic Savio)

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 St. Jacenta and Francisco Marto (Feast Day: February 20)

 

SAINT OF THE DAY

St. Jacenta and Francisco Marto

(Feast Day: February 20,)

Pray for us!

Saints Jacinta and Francisco

Marto’s Story

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese shepherd children from Aljustrel, received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fátima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. At that time, Europe was involved in an extremely bloody war. Portugal itself was in political turmoil, having overthrown its monarchy in 1910; the government disbanded religious organizations soon after.

At the first appearance, Mary asked the children to return to that spot on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months. She also asked them to learn to read and write and to pray the rosary “to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.” They were to pray for sinners and for the conversion of Russia, which had recently overthrown Czar Nicholas II and was soon to fall under communism. Up to 90,000 people gathered for Mary’s final apparition on October 13, 1917.

Less than two years later, Francisco died of influenza in his family home. He was buried in the parish cemetery and then re-buried in the Fátima basilica in 1952. Jacinta died of influenza in Lisbon in 1920, offering her suffering for the conversion of sinners, peace in the world, and the Holy Father. She was re-buried in the Fátima basilica in 1951. Their cousin Lúcia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and was still living when Jacinta and Francisco were beatified in 2000; she died five years later. Pope Francis canonized the younger children on his visit to Fátima to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first apparition–May 13, 2017. The shrine of Our Lady of Fátima is visited by up to 20 million people a year.

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 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.

Know about the Story of Saint Andrew, Brother of Peter November 30 Feast Day

 

🕊 SAINT OF THE DAY 🕊

🙏🏻 SAINT ANDREW 🙏🏻

(Feast Day: Nov. 30)

Pray for us!

Saint Andrew’s Story

Andrew was Saint Peter’s brother, and was called with him. “As [Jesus] was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is now called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, ‘Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him” (Matthew 4:18-20).

John the Evangelist presents Andrew as a disciple of John the Baptist. When Jesus walked by one day, John said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Andrew and another disciple followed Jesus. “Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come, and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day” (John 1:38-39a).

Little else is said about Andrew in the Gospels. Before the multiplication of the loaves, it was Andrew who spoke up about the boy who had the barley loaves and fishes. When the Gentiles went to see Jesus, they came to Philip, but Philip then had recourse to Andrew.

Legend has it that Andrew preached the Good News in what is now modern Greece and Turkey and was crucified at Patras on an X-shaped cross.

Reflection

As in the case of all the apostles except Peter and John, the Gospels give us little about the holiness of Andrew. He was an apostle. That is enough. He was called personally by Jesus to proclaim the Good News, to heal with Jesus’ power and to share his life and death. Holiness today is no different. It is a gift that includes a call to be concerned about the Kingdom, an outgoing attitude that wants nothing more than to share the riches of Christ with all people.

Saint Andrew is the Patron Saint of:

Fishermen

Greece

Russia

Scotland

Say this prayer for financial problems and urgent needs

 

Saint Expedite Prayer for Urgent Needs

(This prayer is to be said daily until your request is granted, Be sure to publish this prayer thanking Saint Expedite so that his name and glory will grow.)

Saint Expedite, you lay in rest.

I come to you and ask that this wish be granted.

(Mention you urgent request)

Saint Expedite now what I ask of you. Saint Expedite now what I want of you, this very second.

Don’t waste another day.

Grant me what I ask for.

I know your power, I know you because of your work.

I know you can help me.

Do this for me and I will spread your name with love and honor so that it will be invoked again and again.

Expedite this wish with speed, love, honor, and goodness.

Glory to you, Saint Expedite!

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