December
1:
Blessed
John of Vercelli (c. 1205-1283)
John was
born near Vercelli in northwest Italy in the early 13th century. Little
is known of his early life. He entered the Dominican Order in the 1240s
and served in various leadership capacities over the years. Elected
sixth master general of the Dominicans in 1264, he served for almost
two decades. Known for his tireless energy and his commitment to
simplicity, John made personal visits — typically on foot — to almost all
the Dominican houses, urging his fellow friars to strictly observe the
rules and constitutions of the Order. He was tapped by two popes for
special tasks. Pope Gregory X enlisted the help of John and his fellow
Dominicans in helping to pacify the States of Italy that were
quarrelling with one another. John was also called upon to draw up a
framework for the Second Council of Lyons in 1274. It was at that
council that he met Jerome of Ascoli (the man who would later become
Pope Nicholas IV), then serving as minister general of the Franciscans.
Some time later the two men were sent by Rome to mediate a dispute
involving King Philip III of France. Once again, John was able to draw
on his negotiating and peacemaking skills. Following the Second Council
of Lyons, Pope Gregory selected John to spread devotion to the name of
Jesus. John took the task to heart, requiring that every Dominican
church contain an altar of the Holy Name; groups were also formed to
combat blasphemy and profanity. Toward the end of his life John was
offered the role of patriarch of Jerusalem, but declined. He remained
Dominican master general until his death.
The need for
peacemakers is certainly as keen today as in the 10th century! As
followers of Jesus, John’s role falls to us. Each of us can do
something to ease the tensions in our families, in the workplace, among
people of different races and creeds. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
2:
Blessed
Rafal Chylinski (1694-1741)
Born near
Buk in the Poznan region of Poland, Melchior showed early signs of
religious devotion; family members nicknamed him "the little monk."
After completing his studies at the Jesuit college in Poznan, Melchior
joined the cavalry and was promoted to the rank of officer within three
years. Against the urgings of his military comrades, in 1715 Melchior
joined the Conventual Franciscans in Kraków, receiving the name
Rafal,
and was ordained two years later. After pastoral assignments in nine
cities, he came to Lagiewniki (central Poland), where he spent the last
13 years of his life, except for 20 months ministering to flood and
epidemic victims in Warsaw. In all these places, Rafal was known for
his simple and candid sermons, for his generosity as well as his
ministry in the confessional. People of all levels of society were
drawn to the self-sacrificing way he lived out his religious profession
and priestly ministry. Rafal played the harp, lute and mandolin to
accompany liturgical hymns. In Lagiewniki he distributed food, supplies
and clothing to the poor. After his death, the Conventual church in
that city became a place of pilgrimage for people throughout Poland. He
was beatified in Warsaw in 1991. The sermons preached by
Rafal were powerfully reinforced by the living sermon of his life. The
Sacrament of Reconciliation can help us bring our daily choices into
harmony with our words about Jesus’ influence in our life.
During the beatification homily, Pope
John Paul II said, "May Blessed Rafal remind us that every one of us,
even though we are sinners, has been called to love and to holiness" (L'Osservatore
Romano, 1991, vol. 25, number 19). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
3:
Saint
Francis Xavier, priest (1506-1552)
Jesus asked, “What profit would there be
for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew
16:26a). The words were repeated to a young teacher of philosophy who
had a highly 
promising
career in academics, with success and a life of prestige and honour
before him. Francis Xavier, 24 at the time, and living and teaching in
Paris, did not heed these words at once. They came from a good friend,
Ignatius of Loyola, whose tireless persuasion finally won the young man
to Christ. Francis then made the spiritual exercises under the
direction of Ignatius, and in 1534 joined his little community (the
infant Society of Jesus). Together at Montmartre they vowed poverty,
chastity and apostolic service according to the directions of the pope.
From Venice, where he was ordained priest in 1537, Francis Xavier went
on to Lisbon and from there sailed to the East Indies, landing at Goa,
on the west coast of India. For the next 10 years he laboured to bring
the faith to such widely scattered peoples as the Hindus, the Malayans
and the Japanese. He spent much of that time in India, and served as
provincial of the newly established Jesuit province of India. Wherever
he went, he lived with the poorest people, sharing their food and rough
accommodations. He spent countless hours ministering to the sick and
the poor, particularly to lepers. Very often he had no time to sleep or
even to say his breviary but, as we know from his letters, he was
filled always with joy. Francis went through the islands of Malaysia,
then up to Japan. He learned enough Japanese to preach to simple folk,
to instruct and to baptize, and to establish missions for those who
were to follow him. From Japan he had dreams of going to China, but
this plan was never realized. Before reaching the mainland he died. His
remains are enshrined in the Church of Good Jesus in Goa.
All of us are called to “go and preach
to all nations” (see Matthew 28:19). Our preaching is not necessarily
on distant shores but to our families, our children, our husband or
wife, our co-workers. And we are called to preach not with words, but by
our everyday lives. Only by sacrifice, the giving up of all selfish
gain, could Francis Xavier be free to bear the Good News to the world.
Sacrifice is leaving yourself behind at times for a greater good, the
good of prayer, the good of helping someone in need, the good of just
listening to another. The greatest gift we have is our time. Francis
gave his to others. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
4:
St.
John
Damascene (676?-749)
John spent most of his life in the
monastery of St. Sabas, near Jerusalem, and all of his life under
Muslim rule, indeed, protected by it. He was born in Damascus, received
a classical and theological education, and followed his father in a
government position under the Arabs. After a few years he resigned and
went to the monastery of St. Sabas. He is famous in three areas. First,
he is known for his writings against the iconoclasts, who opposed the
veneration of images. Paradoxically, it was the Eastern Christian
emperor Leo who forbade the practice, and it was because John lived in
Muslim territory that his enemies could not silence him. Second, he is
famous for his treatise, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, a summary of
the Greek Fathers (of which he became the last). It is said that this
book is to Eastern schools what the Summa of Aquinas became to the
West. Thirdly, he is known as a poet, one of the two greatest of the
Eastern Church, the other being Romanus the Melodist. His devotion to
the Blessed Mother and his sermons on her feasts are well known.
John defended the Church’s understanding
of the veneration of images and explained the faith of the Church in
several other controversies. For over 30 years he combined a life of
prayer with these defences and his other writings. His holiness
expressed itself in putting his literary and preaching talents at the
service of the Lord.
“The saints must be honoured as friends
of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and
evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power
to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of
life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced
the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope,
zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so
that we may also share their crowns of glory” (Exposition of
the Orthodox Faith). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December 5:
St. Sabas
(b. 439) (Picture: relics of
Saint Sabas at Mar Saba monastery, Palestine)
Born in
Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey), Sabas is one of the most highly
regarded patriarchs among the monks of Palestine and is considered one
of the founders of Eastern monasticism. After an unhappy childhood in
which he was abused and ran away several times, Sabas finally sought
refuge in a monastery. While family members tried to persuade
him to
return home, the young boy felt drawn to monastic life. Although the
youngest monk in the house, he excelled in virtue. At age 18 he
travelled to Jerusalem, seeking to learn more about living in solitude.
Soon he asked to be accepted as a disciple of a well-known local
solitary, though initially he was regarded as too young to live
completely as a hermit. Initially, Sabas lived in a monastery, where he
worked during the day and spent much of the night in prayer. At the age
of 30 he was given permission to spend five days each week in a nearby
remote cave, engaging in prayer and manual labour in the form of weaving
baskets. Following the death of his mentor, St. Euthymius, Sabas moved
farther into the desert near Jericho. There he lived for several years
in a cave near the brook Cedron. A rope was his means of access. Wild
herbs among the rocks were his food. Occasionally men brought him other
food and items, while he had to go a distance for his water. Some of
these men came to him desiring to join him in his solitude. At first he
refused. But not long after relenting, his followers swelled to more
than 150, all of them living in individual huts grouped around a
church, called a laura. The bishop persuaded a reluctant Sabas, then in
his early 50s, to prepare for the priesthood so that he could better
serve his monastic community in leadership. While functioning as abbot
among a large community of monks, he felt ever called to live the life
of a hermit. Throughout each year — consistently in Lent — he left his
monks for long periods of time, often to their distress. A group of 60
men left the monastery, settling at a nearby ruined facility. When Sabas learned of the difficulties they were facing, he generously gave
them supplies and assisted in the repair of their church. Over the
years Sabas travelled throughout Palestine, preaching the true faith and
successfully bringing back many to the Church. At the age of 91, in
response to a plea from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sabas undertook a
journey to Constantinople in conjunction with the Samaritan revolt and
its violent repression. He fell ill and, soon after his return, died at
the monastery at Mar Saba. Today the monastery is still inhabited by
monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and St. Sabas is regarded as one
of the most noteworthy figures of early monasticism.
Few of us share Sabas’s yearning for a
cave in the desert, but most of us sometimes resent the demands others
place on our time. Sabas understands that. When at last he gained the
solitude for which he yearned, a community immediately began to gather
around him and he was forced into a leadership role. He stands as a
model of patient generosity for anyone whose time and energy are
required by others—that is, for all of us. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
6:
St.
Nicholas (d.
350?)
The
absence of the “hard facts” of history is not necessarily an obstacle
to the popularity of saints, as the devotion to St. Nicholas shows.
Both the Eastern and Western Churches honour him, and it is claimed
that, after the Blessed Virgin, he is the saint most pictured by
Christian artists. And yet, historically, we can pinpoint only the fact
that Nicholas was the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a
province of Asia Minor. As with many of the saints, however, we are
able to capture the relationship which Nicholas had with God through
the admiration which Christians have had for him—an admiration
expressed in the colourful stories which have been told and retold
through the centuries. Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas
concerns his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide
dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age. Rather than see
them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold
through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, thus
enabling the daughters to be married. Over the centuries, this
particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint’s
feast. In the English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a
twist of the tongue, Santa Claus — further expanding the example of
generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.
The critical eye of modern history makes
us take a deeper look at the legends surrounding St. Nicholas. But
perhaps we can utilize the lesson taught by his legendary charity, look
deeper at our approach to material goods in the Christmas season and
seek ways to extend our sharing to those in real need.
“In order to be able to consult more
suitably the welfare of the faithful according to the condition of each
one, a bishop should strive to become duly acquainted with their needs
in the social circumstances in which they live.... He should manifest
his concern for all, no matter what their age, condition, or
nationality, be they natives, strangers, or foreigners” (Decree on the
Bishops' Pastoral Office, 16). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
7:
St.
Ambrose (340?-397)
One of Ambrose’s biographers observed
that at the Last Judgment people would still be divided
between those
who admired Ambrose and those who heartily disliked him. He emerges as
the man of action who cut a furrow through the lives of his
contemporaries. Even royal personages were numbered among those who
were to suffer crushing divine punishments for standing in Ambrose’s
way. When the Empress Justina attempted to wrest two basilicas from
Ambrose’s Catholics and give them to the Arians, he dared the eunuchs
of the court to execute him. His own people rallied behind him in the
face of imperial troops. In the midst of riots he both spurred and
calmed his people with bewitching new hymns set to exciting Eastern
melodies. In his disputes with the Emperor Auxentius, he coined the
principle:
“The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church.” He publicly
admonished Emperor Theodosius for the massacre of 7,000 innocent
people. The emperor did public penance for his crime. This was Ambrose,
the fighter, sent to Milan as Roman governor and chosen while yet a
catechumen to be the people’s bishop. There is yet another side of
Ambrose — one which influenced Augustine, whom Ambrose converted. Ambrose
was a passionate little man with a high forehead, a long melancholy
face and great eyes. We can picture him as a frail figure clasping the
codex of sacred Scripture. This was the Ambrose of aristocratic
heritage and learning. Augustine found the oratory of Ambrose less
soothing and entertaining but far more learned than that of other
contemporaries. Ambrose’s sermons were often modelled on Cicero and his
ideas betrayed the influence of contemporary thinkers and philosophers.
He had no scruples in borrowing at length from pagan authors. He
gloried in the pulpit in his ability to parade his spoils — “gold of the
Egyptians” — taken over from the pagan philosophers. His sermons, his
writings and his personal life reveal him as an otherworldly man
involved in the great issues of his day. Humanity, for Ambrose, was,
above all, spirit. In order to think rightly of God and the human soul,
the closest thing to God, no material reality at all was to be dwelt
upon. He was an enthusiastic champion of consecrated virginity. The
influence of Ambrose on Augustine will always be open for discussion.
The Confessions reveal some manly, brusque encounters between Ambrose
and Augustine, but there can be no doubt of Augustine’s profound esteem
for the learned bishop. Neither is there any doubt that Monica loved
Ambrose as an angel of God who uprooted her son from his former ways
and led him to his convictions about Christ. It was Ambrose, after all,
who placed his hands on the shoulders of the naked Augustine as he
descended into the baptismal fountain to put on Christ.
Ambrose exemplifies
for us the truly catholic character of Christianity. He is a man
steeped in the learning, law and culture of the ancients and of his
contemporaries. Yet, in the midst of active involvement in this world,
this thought runs through Ambrose’s life and preaching: The hidden
meaning of the Scriptures calls our spirit to rise to another world.
“Women and men are not mistaken when
they regard themselves as superior to mere bodily creatures and as more
than mere particles of nature or nameless units in modern society. For
by their power to know themselves in the depths of their being they
rise above the entire universe of mere objects.... Endowed with wisdom,
women and men are led through visible realities to those which are
invisible” (Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 14–15). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
8:
The
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
A feast
called the Conception of Mary arose in the Eastern Church in the
seventh century. It came to the West in the eighth century. In the
eleventh century it received its present name, the 
Immaculate Conception. In the
eighteenth century it became a feast of the universal Church. In 1854
Pius IX gave the infallible statement: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary,
in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and
privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus
Christ, the saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain
of original sin.” It took a long time for this doctrine to develop.
While many Fathers and Doctors of the Church considered Mary the
greatest and holiest of the saints, they often had difficulty in seeing
Mary as sinless—either at her conception or throughout her life. This
is one of the Church teachings that arose more from the piety of the
faithful than from the insights of brilliant theologians. Even such
champions of Mary as Bernard and Thomas Aquinas could not see
theological justification for this teaching. Two Franciscans, William
of Ware and Blessed John Duns Scotus, helped develop the theology. They
point out that Mary’s Immaculate Conception enhances Jesus’ redemptive
work. Other members of the human race are cleansed from original sin
after birth. In Mary, Jesus’ work was so powerful as to prevent
original sin at the outset.
In Luke
1:28 the angel Gabriel, speaking on God’s behalf, addresses Mary as
“full of grace” (or “highly favoured”). In that context this phrase
means that Mary is receiving all the special divine help necessary for
the task ahead. However, the Church grows in understanding with the
help of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit led the Church, especially
non-theologians, to the insight that Mary had to be the most perfect
work of God next to the Incarnation. Or rather, Mary’s intimate
association with the Incarnation called for the special involvement of
God in Mary’s whole life. The logic of piety helped God’s people to
believe that Mary was full of grace and free of sin from the first
moment of her existence. Moreover, this great privilege of Mary is the
highlight of all that God has done in Jesus. Rightly understood, the
incomparable holiness of Mary shows forth the incomparable goodness of
God.
“[Mary] gave to the world the Life that
renews all things, and she was enriched by God with gifts appropriate
to such a role. “It is no wonder, then, that the usage prevailed among
the holy Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely holy
and free from all stain of sin, fashioned by the Holy Spirit into a
kind of new substance and new creature. Adorned from the first instant
of her conception with the splendours of an entirely unique holiness,
the Virgin of Nazareth is, on God’s command, greeted by an angel
messenger as ‘full of grace’ (cf. Luke 1:28). To the heavenly messenger
she replies: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me
according to thy word’ (Luke 1:38)” (Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, 56). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December 9:
St.
Juan
Diego (1474-1548)
Thousands of people gathered in the
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe July 31, 2002, for the 
canonization of Juan Diego,
to whom the Blessed Mother appeared in the 16th century. Pope John Paul
II celebrated the ceremony at which the poor Indian peasant became the
Church’s first saint indigenous to the Americas. The Holy Father called
the new saint “a simple, humble Indian” who accepted Christianity
without giving up his identity as an Indian. “In praising the Indian
Juan Diego, I want to express to all of you the closeness of the church
and the pope, embracing you with love and encouraging you to overcome
with hope the difficult times you are going through,” John Paul said.
Among the thousands present for the event were members of Mexico’s 64
indigenous groups. First called Cuauhtlatohuac (“The eagle who
speaks”), Juan Diego’s name is forever linked with Our Lady of
Guadalupe because it was to him that she first appeared at Tepeyac hill
on December 9, 1531. The most famous part of his story is told in
connection with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). After
the roses gathered in his tilma were transformed into the miraculous
image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, however, little more is said about Juan
Diego. In time he lived near the shrine 
constructed at
Tepeyac, revered
as a holy, unselfish and compassionate catechist who taught by word and
especially by example. During his 1990 pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope
John Paul II confirmed
the long-standing liturgical cult in honour of Juan Diego, beatifying
him. Twelve years later he was proclaimed a saint.
God counted on Juan Diego to play a
humble yet huge role in bringing the Good News to the peoples of
Mexico. Overcoming his own fear and the doubts of Bishop Juan de
Zumarraga, Juan Diego cooperated with God’s grace in showing his people
that the Good News of Jesus is for everyone. Pope John Paul II used the
occasion of this beatification to urge Mexican lay men and women to
assume their responsibilities for passing on the Good News and
witnessing to it.
“Similar to ancient biblical personages
who were collective representations of all the people, we could say
that Juan Diego represents all the indigenous peoples who accepted the
Gospel of Jesus, thanks to the maternal aid of Mary, who is always
inseparable from the manifestation of her Son and the spread of the
Church, as was her presence among the Apostles on the day of Pentecost”
(Pope John Paul II, beatification homily). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
10:
Blessed
Adolph Kolping (1813-1865)
The rise
of the factory system in 19th-century Germany brought many single men
into cities where they faced new challenges to their faith. Father
Adolph Kolping began a ministry to them, 
hoping
that they would not be lost to the Catholic faith as was happening to
workers elsewhere in industrialized Europe. Born in the village of
Kerpen, Adolph became a shoemaker at an early age because of his
family’s economic situation. Ordained in 1845, he ministered to young
workers in Cologne, establishing a choir, which by 1849 had grown into
the Young Workmen’s Society. A branch of this began in St. Louis,
Missouri, in 1856. Nine years later there were over 400 Gesellenvereine
(workman’s societies) around the world. Today this group has over
400,000 members in 54 countries across the globe. More commonly called
the Kolping Society, it emphasizes the sanctification of family life
and the dignity of labour. Father Kolping worked to improve conditions
for workers and greatly assisted those in need. He and St. John Bosco
in Turin had similar interests in working with young men in big cities.
He told his followers, “The needs of the times will teach you what to
do.” Father Kolping once said, “The first thing that a person finds in
life and the last to which he holds out his hand, and the most precious
that he possess, even if he does not realize it, is family life.” He
and Blessed John Duns Scotus are buried in Cologne’s Minoritenkirche,
served by the Conventual Franciscans. The Kolping Society’s
international headquarters is at this church. Kolping members journeyed
to Rome from Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania for Father
Kolping’s beatification in 1991, the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo
XIII’s revolutionary encyclical Rerum Novarum
(On the Social Order).
Father Kolping’s personal witness and apostolate helped prepare for
that encyclical.
Some people thought
that Father Kolping was wasting his time and talents on young working
men in industrialized cities. In some countries, the Catholic Church
was seen by many workers as the ally of owners and the enemy of
workers. Men like Adolph Kolping showed that was not true.
“Adolph Kolping gathered skilled workers
and factory laborers together. Thus he overcame their isolation and
defeatism. A faith society gave them the strength to go out into their
everyday lives as Christ’s witnesses before God and the world. To come
together, to become strengthened in the assembly, and thus to scatter
again is and still remains our duty today. We are not Christians for
ourselves alone, but always for others too” (Pope John Paul II,
beatification homily). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
11:
St.
Damasus I (305?-384)
To his secretary St. Jerome, Damasus was
“an incomparable person, learned in the Scriptures, a virgin doctor of the
virgin Church, who loved chastity and heard its praises with pleasure.”
Damasus seldom heard such unrestrained praise. Internal political
struggles, doctrinal heresies, uneasy relations with his fellow bishops
and those of the Eastern Church marred the peace of his pontificate.
Possibly of Spanish extraction, Damasus started as a deacon in his
father’s church, and served as a priest in what later became the
basilica of San Lorenzo in Rome. He served Pope Liberius (352-366) and
followed him into exile.
When Liberius died, Damasus was elected bishop
of Rome; but a minority elected and consecrated another deacon,
Ursinus, as pope. The controversy between Damasus and the antipope
resulted in violent battles in two basilicas, scandalizing the bishops
of Italy. At the synod Damasus called on the occasion of his birthday,
he asked them to approve his actions. The bishops’ reply was curt: “We
assembled for a birthday, not to condemn a man unheard.” Supporters of
the antipope even managed to get Damasus accused of a grave crime as
late as A.D. 378. He had to clear himself before both a civil court and
a Church synod. As pope his lifestyle was simple in contrast to other
ecclesiastics of Rome, and he was fierce in his denunciation of
Arianism and other heresies. A misunderstanding of the Trinitarian
terminology used by Rome threatened amicable relations with the Eastern
Church, and Damasus was only moderately successful in dealing with the
situation. During his pontificate Christianity was declared the
official religion of the Roman state (380), and Latin became the
principal liturgical language as part of the pope’s reforms. His
encouragement of St. Jerome’s biblical studies led to the Vulgate, the
Latin translation of Scripture which the Council of Trent (12 centuries
later) declared to be “authentic in public readings, disputations,
preachings.”
The
history of the papacy and the Church is inextricably mixed with the
personal biography of Damasus. In a troubled and pivotal period of
Church history, he stands forth as a zealous defender of the faith who
knew when to be progressive and when to entrench. Damasus makes us
aware of two qualities of good leadership: alertness to the promptings
of the Spirit and service. His struggles are a reminder that Jesus
never promised his Rock protection from hurricane winds nor his
followers immunity from difficulties. His only guarantee is final
victory.
"He who walking on the sea could calm
the bitter waves, who gives life to the dying seeds of the earth; he
who was able to loose the mortal chains of death, and after three days'
darkness could bring again to the upper world the brother for his
sister Martha: he, I believe, will make Damasus rise again from the
dust" (epitaph Damasus wrote for himself). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
12:
Our Lady
of Guadalupe (Mexico)
The feast in honour of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the sixteenth
century. Chronicles 
of that period
tell us the story. A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and
given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a
small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531,
he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honour of Our
Lady. He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac
when he heard beautiful music like the
warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young
Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke
to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico,
a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build
a chapel in the place where the lady appeared. Eventually the bishop
told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time
Juan Diego’s uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Diego to try to
avoid the lady. The lady found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that
his uncle would recover and provided roses for Juan to carry to the
bishop in his cape or tilma. When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the
bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to
his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared an image of Mary as she had
appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531. (click here for
information about scientific studies on the eyes in the image)
Mary's
appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder
that Mary and the God who sent her accept all peoples. In the context
of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the
Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of
vast significance for Native Americans. While a number of them had
converted before this incident, they now came in droves. According to a
contemporary chronicler, nine million Indians became Catholic in a very
short time. In these days when we hear so much about God's preferential
option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God's
love for and identification with the poor is an age-old truth that
stems from the Gospel itself.
Mary to Juan Diego: “My dearest son, I
am the eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, Author of Life,
Creator of all and Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth...and it is my
desire that a church be built here in this place for me, where, as your
most merciful Mother and that of all your people, I may show my loving
clemency and the compassion that I bear to the Indians, and to those
who love and seek me...” (from an ancient chronicle). (American.Catholic.org)
(click
here for video)
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to Index to Saints-----------------------------------
December
13:
Saint
Lucy, virgin and martyr (d. 304)
Every
little girl named Lucy must bite her tongue in disappointment when she
first tries to find 
out what there is to
know about her patron saint.
The older books will have a lengthy paragraph detailing a small number
of traditions. Newer books will have a lengthy paragraph showing that
there is little basis in history for these traditions. The single fact
survives that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian
and she was executed in Syracuse (Sicily) in the year 304. But it is
also true that her name is mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer,
geographical places are named after her, a popular song has her name as
its title and down through the centuries many thousands of little girls
have been proud of the name Lucy. One can easily imagine what a young
Christian woman had to contend with in pagan Sicily in the year 300. If
you have trouble imagining, just glance at today’s
pleasure-at-all-costs world and the barriers it presents against
leading a good Christian life. Her friends must have wondered aloud
about this hero of Lucy’s, an obscure itinerant preacher in a far-off
captive nation that had been destroyed more than 200 years before. Once
a carpenter, he had been crucified by the Roman soldiers after his own
people turned him over to the Roman authorities. Lucy believed with her
whole soul that this man had risen from the dead. Heaven had put a
stamp on all he said and did. To give witness to her faith she had made
a vow of virginity. What a hubbub this caused among her pagan friends!
The kindlier ones just thought her a little strange. To be pure before
marriage was an ancient Roman ideal, rarely found but not to be
condemned. To exclude marriage altogether, however, was too much. She
must have something sinister to hide, the tongues wagged. Lucy knew of
the heroism of earlier virgin martyrs. She remained faithful to their
example and to the example of the carpenter, whom she knew to be the
Son of God. She is the patroness of eyesight.
If you are a little girl named Lucy, you
need not bite your tongue in disappointment. Your patron is a genuine,
authentic heroine, first class, an abiding inspiration for you and for
all Christians. The moral courage of the young Sicilian martyr shines
forth as a guiding light, just as bright for today’s youth as it was in
A.D. 304.
“The Gospel tells us of all that Jesus
suffered, of the insults that fell upon him. But, from Bethlehem to
Calvary, the brilliance that radiates from his divine purity spread
more and more and won over the crowds. So great was the austerity and
the enchantment of his conduct....
“So may it be with you, beloved
daughters. Blessed be the discretion, the mortifications and the
renouncements with which you seek to render this virtue more
brilliant.... May your conduct prove to all that chastity is not only a
possible virtue but a social virtue, which must be strongly defended
through prayer, vigilance and the mortification of the senses” (Pope
John XXIII, Letter
to Women Religious). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
14:
St.
John
of the Cross (1541-1591)
John is a saint because his life was a
heroic effort to live up to his name: “of the Cross.” The folly 
of the cross came to
full realization in time. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny
himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34b) is the story of
John’s life. The Paschal Mystery — through death to life — strongly marks
John as reformer, mystic-poet and theologian-priest. Ordained a
Carmelite priest at 25 (1567), John met Teresa of Jesus (Avila) and
like her vowed himself to the primitive Rule of the Carmelites. As
partner with Teresa and in his own right, John engaged in the work of
reform, and came to experience the price of reform: increasing
opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, imprisonment. He came to
know the cross acutely—to experience the dying of Jesus—as he sat month
after month in his dark, damp, narrow cell with only his God! Yet, the
paradox! In this dying of imprisonment John came to life, uttering
poetry. In the darkness of the dungeon, John’s spirit came into the
Light. There are many mystics, many poets; John is unique as
mystic-poet, expressing in his prison-cross the ecstasy of mystical
union with God in the Spiritual Canticle. But as agony leads to
ecstasy, so John had his Ascent to Mt. Carmel, as he named it in his
prose masterpiece. As man-Christian-Carmelite, he experienced in
himself this purifying ascent; as spiritual director, he sensed it in
others; as psychologist-theologian, he described and analysed it in his
prose writings. His prose works are outstanding in underscoring the
cost of discipleship, the path of union with God: rigorous discipline,
abandonment, purification. Uniquely and strongly John underlines the
gospel paradox: The cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy,
darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial to self to union
with God. If you want to save your life, you must lose it. John is
truly “of the Cross.” He died at 49 — a life short, but full.
John in his life and writings has a
crucial word for us today. We tend to be rich, soft, comfortable. We
shrink even from words like self-denial, mortification, purification,
asceticism, discipline. We run from the cross. John’s message — like the
gospel — is loud and clear: Don’t — if you really want to live!
Thomas Merton said of John: "Just as we
can never separate asceticism from mysticism, so in St. John of the
Cross we find darkness and light, suffering and joy, sacrifice and love
united together so closely that they seem at times to be identified."
In John's
words:
"Never was fount so clear,
undimmed and bright;
From it alone, I know proceeds all light
although 'tis
night." (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
15:
Blessed
Mary Frances Schervier
(1819-1876)
This woman who once wanted to become a
Trappistine nun was instead led by God to establish a community of
sisters who care for the sick and aged in the United States and
throughout the world. Born into a distinguished
family in Aachen (then
ruled by Prussia but formerly Aix-la-Chapelle, France), Frances ran the
household after her mother’s death and
established a reputation for
generosity to the poor. In 1844 she became a Secular Franciscan. The
next year she and four companions established a religious community
devoted to caring for the poor. In 1851 the Sisters of the Poor of St.
Francis (a variant of the original name) were approved by the local
bishop; the community soon spread. The first U.S. foundation was made
in 1858. Mother Frances visited the United States in 1863 and helped
her sisters nurse soldiers wounded in the Civil War. She visited the
United States again in 1868. When Philip Hoever was establishing the
Brothers of the Poor of St. Francis, she encouraged him. When Mother
Frances died, there were 2,500 members of her community worldwide. The
number has kept growing. They are still engaged in operating hospitals
and homes for the aged. Mother Mary Frances was beatified in 1974.
The sick, the poor and the aged are
constantly in danger of being considered "useless" members of society
and therefore ignored — or worse. Women and men motivated by the ideals
of Mother Frances are needed if the God-given dignity and destiny of
all people are to be respected.
In 1868, Mother Frances wrote to all her
sisters, reminding them of Jesus’ words: “You are my friends if you do
what I command you.... I am giving you these commands so that you may
love one another” (John 15:14,17). She continued: “If we do this
faithfully and zealously, we will experience the truth of the words of
our father St. Francis who says that love lightens all difficulties and
sweetens all bitterness. We will likewise partake of the blessing which
St. Francis promised to all his children, both present and future,
after having admonished them to love one another even as he had loved
them and continues to love them.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
16:
Blessed Honoratus Kozminski (1825-1916)
He was
born in Biala Podlaska (Siedlce, Poland) and studied architecture at
the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. When Wenceslaus was almost sixteen,
his father died. Suspected of participating in a rebellious conspiracy,
the young man was imprisoned from April 1846 until the following March.
In 1848 he received the Capuchin habit and a new name. Four years later
he was ordained. In 1855 he helped Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska
establish the Felician Sisters. Honoratus served as guardian in a
Warsaw friary already in 1860. He dedicated his energies to preaching,
to giving spiritual direction and to hearing confessions. He worked
tirelessly with the Secular Franciscan Order. The failed 1864 revolt
against Czar Alexander III led to the suppression of all religious
Orders in Poland. The Capuchins were expelled from Warsaw and forced to
live in Zakroczym, where Honoratus continued his ministry and began
founding twenty-six male and female religious congregations, whose
members took vows but wore no religious habit and did not live in
community. They operated much as today’s secular institutes do.
Seventeen of these groups still exist as religious congregations. The
writings of Father Honoratus are extensive: forty-two volumes of
sermons, 21 volumes of letters as well as 52 printed works on ascetical
theology, Marian devotion, historical writings, pastoral writings — not
counting his many writings for the religious congregations he founded.
In 1906, various bishops sought the reorganization of these groups
under their authority; Honoratus defended their independence but was
removed from their direction in 1908. He promptly urged the members of
these congregations to obey the Church’s decisions regarding their
future. He “always walked with God,” said a contemporary. In 1895 he
was appointed Commissary General of the Capuchins in Poland. Three
years before he had come to Nowe Miasto, where he died and was buried.
He was beatified in 1988.
The story is told that Francis and
Brother Leo, his secretary, were once on a journey and Francis
volunteered to tell Leo what perfect joy is. Francis began by saying
what it was not: news that the kings of France, England, as well as all
the world’s bishops and many university professors had decided to
become friars, news that the friars had received the gift of tongues
and miracles, or news that the friars had converted all the
non-Christians in the world. No, perfect joy for them would be to
arrive cold and hungry at St. Mary of the Angels, Francis’ headquarters
outside Assisi, and be mistaken by the porter for thieves and beaten by
the same porter and driven back into the cold and rain. Francis said
that if, for the love of God, he and Leo could endure such treatment
without losing their patience and charity, that would be perfect joy
(cited in Regis Armstrong, O.F.M. Cap., and Ignatius Brady, O.F.M.,
Francis and Clare: The Complete Works, pages 165-166).
Honoratus worked very zealously to serve
the Church, partly by establishing a great variety of religious
congregations adapted to the special circumstances of Poland in those
years. He could have retreated into bitterness and self-pity when the
direction of those congregations was taken away from him; that was
certainly a “perfect joy” experience. He urged the members of these
groups to obey willingly and gladly, placing their gifts at the service
of the Good News of Jesus Christ.
When the Church removed Honoratus from
the direction of his religious congregations and changed their
character, he wrote: “Christ’s Vicar himself has revealed God’s will to
us, and I carry out this order with greatest faith.... Remember, dear
brothers and sisters, that you are being given the opportunity to show
heroic obedience to the holy Church.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
17:
Lazarus,
brother of Martha and Mary
Lazarus,
the friend of Jesus, the brother of Martha and Mary, was the one of
whom the Jews said, "See how much he loved him." In their sight Jesus
raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. Legends abound about the life
of Lazarus after the death and
resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of
what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some
say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being
put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters and
others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving
as bishop for 30 years. A church was built in his honour in
Constantinople and some of his reputed relics were transferred there in
890. A Western legend has the oarless boat arriving in Gaul. There he
was bishop of Marseilles, was martyred after making a number of
converts and was buried in a cave. His relics were transferred to the
new cathedral in Autun in 1146.
Whatever of the legends, it is certain there was early devotion to the
saint. Around the year
390, the pilgrim lady Etheria talks of the procession that took place
on the Saturday before Palm Sunday at the tomb where Lazarus had been
raised from the dead. In the West, Passion Sunday was called Dominica
de Lazaro, and Augustine tells us that in Africa the Gospel of the
raising of Lazarus was read at the office of Palm Sunday.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
18:
Blessed
Anthony Grassi (1592-1671)
Anthony’s
father died when his son was only 10 years old, but the young lad
inherited his father’s devotion to Our Lady of Loreto. As a schoolboy
he frequented the local church of the Oratorian Fathers, joining the
religious order when he was 17. Already a fine student, he soon gained
a reputation in his religious community as a "walking dictionary" who
quickly grasped Scripture and theology. For some time he was tormented
by scruples, but they reportedly left him at the very hour he
celebrated his first Mass. From that day, serenity penetrated his very
being. In 1621, at age 29, Anthony was struck by lightning while
praying in the church of the Holy House at Loreto. He was carried
paralysed from the church, expecting to die. When he recovered in a few
days he realized that he had been cured of acute indigestion. His
scorched clothes were donated to the Loreto church as an offering of
thanks for his new gift of life. More important, Anthony now felt that
his life belonged entirely to God. Each year thereafter he made a
pilgrimage to Loreto to express his thanks. He also began hearing
confessions, and came to be regarded as an outstanding confessor.
Simple and direct, he listened carefully to penitents, said a few words
and gave a penance and absolution, frequently drawing on his gift of
reading consciences. In 1635 he was elected superior of the Fermo
Oratory. He was so well regarded that he was re-elected every three
years until his death. He was a quiet person and a gentle superior who
did not know how to be severe. At the same time he kept the Oratorian
constitutions literally, encouraging the community to do likewise. He
refused social or civic commitments and instead would go out day or
night to visit the sick or dying or anyone else needing his services.
As he grew older, he had a God-given awareness of the future, a gift
which he frequently used to warn or to console. But age brought its
challenges as well. He suffered the humility of having to give up his
physical faculties one by one. First was his preaching, necessitated
after he lost his teeth. Then he could no longer hear confessions.
Finally, after a fall, he was confined to his room. The archbishop
himself came each day to give him holy Communion. One of Anthony’s
final acts was to reconcile two fiercely quarrelling brothers.
Nothing provides a better reason for
reassessing a life than a brush with death. Anthony’s life already
seemed to be on track when he was struck by lightning; he was a
brilliant priest blessed, at last, with serenity. But his experience
softened him. He became a loving counsellor and a wise mediator. The
same might be said of us if we put our hearts to it. We needn’t wait to
be struck by lightning. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
19:
Blessed
Pope Urban V (1310-1370)
In 1362,
the man elected pope declined the office. When the cardinals could not
find another person among them for that important office, they turned
to a relative stranger: the holy person we honour today. The new Pope
Urban V proved a wise choice. A Benedictine monk and canon lawyer, he
was deeply spiritual and brilliant. He lived simply and modestly, which
did not always earn him friends among clergymen who had become used to
comfort and privilege. Still, he pressed for reform and saw to the
restoration of churches and monasteries. Except for a brief period he
spent most of his eight years as pope living away from Rome at Avignon,
seat of the papacy from 1309 until shortly after his death. He came
close but was not able to achieve one of his biggest goals — reuniting
the Eastern and Western churches. As pope, Urban continued to follow
the Benedictine Rule. Shortly before his death in 1370 he asked to be
moved from the papal palace to the nearby home of his brother so he
could say goodbye to the ordinary people he had so often
helped. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December 20:
St.
Dominic of Silos (c.
1000-1073)
It’s not
the founder of the Dominicans we honour today, but there’s a poignant
story that connects one Dominic with the other. Our saint today,
Dominic of Silos was born in Spain around the year 1000 into a peasant
family. As a young boy he spent time in the fields, where he welcomed
the solitude. He became a Benedictine priest and served in numerous
leadership positions. Following a dispute with the king over property,
Dominic and two other monks were exiled. They established a new
monastery in what at first seemed an unpromising location. Under
Dominic’s leadership, however, it became one of the most famous houses
in Spain. Many healings were reported there. About 100 years after
Dominic’s death, a young woman made a pilgrimage to his tomb. There
Dominic of Silos appeared to her and assured her that she would bear
another son. The woman was Joan of Aza, and the son she bore grew up to
be the "other" Dominic — the one who founded the Dominicans. For many
years thereafter, the staff used by St. Dominic of Silos was brought to
the royal palace whenever a queen of Spain was in labour. The practice
ended in 1931. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December 21:
St. Peter
Canisius (1521-1597)
The
energetic life of Peter Canisius should demolish any stereotypes we may
have of the life 
of a saint as dull or
routine. Peter lived his 76
years at a pace which must be considered heroic, even in our time of
rapid change. A man blessed with many talents, Peter is an excellent
example of the scriptural man who develops his talents for the sake of
the Lord’s work. He was one of the most important figures in the
Catholic Counter-Reformation in Germany. His was such a key role that
he has often been called the “second apostle of Germany” in that his
life parallels the earlier work of Boniface. Although Peter once
accused himself of idleness in his youth, he could not have been idle
too long, for at the age of 19 he received a master’s degree from the
university at Cologne. Soon afterwards he met Peter Faber, the first
disciple of Ignatius Loyola, who influenced Peter so much that he
joined the recently formed Society of Jesus. At this early age Peter
had already taken up a practice he continued throughout his life — a
process of study, reflection, prayer and writing. After his ordination
in 1546, he became widely known for his editions of the writings of St.
Cyril of Alexandria and St. Leo the Great. Besides this reflective
literary bent, Peter had a zeal for the apostolate. He could often be
found visiting the sick or prisoners, even when his assigned duties in
other areas were more than enough to keep most people fully occupied.
In 1547 Peter attended several sessions of the Council of Trent, whose
decrees he was later assigned to implement. After a brief teaching
assignment at the Jesuit college at Messina, Peter was entrusted with
the mission to Germany — from that point on his life’s work. He taught in
several universities and was instrumental in establishing many colleges
and seminaries. He wrote a catechism that explained the Catholic faith
in a way which common people could understand — a great need of that age.
Renowned as a popular preacher, Peter packed churches with those eager
to hear his eloquent proclamation of the gospel. He had great
diplomatic ability, often serving as a reconciler between disputing
factions. In his letters (filling eight volumes) one finds words of
wisdom and counsel to people in all walks of life. At times he wrote
unprecedented letters of criticism to leaders of the Church — yet always
in the context of a loving, sympathetic concern. At 70 Peter suffered a
paralytic seizure, but he continued to preach and write with the aid of
a secretary until his death in his hometown (Nijmegen, Netherlands) on
December 21, 1597.
Peter’s untiring efforts are an apt
example for those involved in the renewal of the Church or the growth
of moral consciousness in business or government. He is regarded as one
of the creators of the Catholic press, and can easily be a model for
the Christian author or journalist. Teachers can see in his life a
passion for the transmission of truth. Whether we have much to give, as
Peter Canisius did, or whether we have only a little to give, as did
the poor widow in the Gospel (see Luke 21:1–4), the important thing is
to give our all. It is in this way that Peter is so exemplary for
Christians in an age of rapid change when we are called to be in the
world but not of the world. When asked if he felt overworked, Peter
replied, "If you have too much to do, with God's help you will find
time to do it all." (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
22:
Blessed Jacopone da
Todi (d. 1306)
Jacomo, or James, was born a noble member of the Benedetti family in
the northern Italian city of Todi. He became a successful lawyer and
married a pious, generous lady named Vanna. His young wife took it upon
herself to do penance for the worldly excesses of her husband. One day
Vanna, at the insistence of Jacomo, attended a public tournament. She
was sitting in the stands with the other noble ladies when the stands
collapsed. Vanna was killed. Her shaken husband was even more disturbed
when he realized that the penitential girdle she wore was for his
sinfulness. On the spot, he vowed to radically change his life. He
divided his possessions among the poor and entered the Third Order of
St. Francis. Often dressed in penitential rags, he was mocked as a fool
and called Jacopone, or "Crazy Jim," by his former associates. The name
became dear to him. After 10 years of such humiliation, Jacopone asked
to be a member of the Franciscan Order. Because of his reputation, his
request was initially refused. He composed a beautiful poem on the
vanities of the world, an act that eventually led to his admission into
the Order in 1278. He continued to lead a life of strict penance,
declining to be ordained a priest. Meanwhile he was writing popular
hymns in the vernacular. Jacopone suddenly found himself a leader in a
disturbing religious movement among the Franciscans. The Spirituals, as
they were called, wanted a return to the strict poverty of Francis.
They had on their side two cardinals of the Church and Pope Celestine
V. These two cardinals, though, opposed Celestine’s successor, Boniface
VIII. At the age of 68, Jacopone was excommunicated and imprisoned.
Although he acknowledged his mistake, Jacopone was not absolved and
released until Benedict XI became pope five years later. He had
accepted his imprisonment as penance. He spent the final three years of
his life more spiritual than ever, weeping "because Love is not loved."
During this time he wrote the famous Latin hymn, Stabat Mater. On
Christmas Eve in 1306 Jacopone felt that his end was near. He was in a
convent of the Poor Clares with his friend, Blessed John of La Verna.
Like Francis, Jacopone welcomed "Sister Death" with one of his favourite
songs. It is said that he finished the song and died as the priest
intoned the Gloria from the midnight Mass at Christmas. From the time
of his death, Brother Jacopone has been venerated as a saint.
“Crazy Jim,” his contemporaries called Jacopone. We might well echo
their taunt, for what else can you say about a man who broke into song
in the midst of all his troubles? We still sing Jacopone’s saddest
song, the Stabat Mater, but we Christians claim another song as our
own, even when the daily headlines resound with discordant notes.
Jacopone’s whole life rang our song out: “Alleluia!” May he inspire us
to keep singing. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
23:
St. John of Kanty
(1390?-1473)
John was a country lad who made good in the big city and the big
university of Kraków, Poland. After brilliant studies he was
ordained a
priest and became a professor of theology. The inevitable opposition
which saints encounter led to his being ousted by rivals and sent to be
a parish priest at Olkusz. An extremely humble man, he did his best,
but his best was not to the liking of his parishioners. Besides, he was
afraid of the responsibilities of his position. But in the end he won
his people’s hearts. After some time he returned to Kraków and
taught
Scripture for the remainder of his life. He was a serious man, and
humble, but known to all the poor of Kraków for his kindness.
His goods
and his money were always at their disposal, and time and again they
took advantage of him. He kept only the money and clothes absolutely
needed to support himself. He slept little, and then on the floor, ate
sparingly, and took no meat. He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, hoping
to be martyred by the Turks. He made four pilgrimages to Rome, carrying
his luggage on his back. When he was warned to look after his health,
he was quick to point out that, for all their austerity, the fathers of
the desert lived remarkably long lives.
John of
Kanty is a typical saint: He was kind, humble and generous, he suffered
opposition and led an austere, penitential life. Most Christians in an
affluent society can understand all the ingredients except the last:
Anything more than mild self-discipline seems reserved for athletes and
ballet dancers. Christmas is a good time at least to reject
self-indulgence. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
24:
St. Adele
St. Adele, Widow. A daughter of King Dagobert II of Germany, St. Adele became a
nun upon the death of her husband, making provisions for her son, the future
father of St. Gregory of Utrecht. She founded a convent at Palatiolum near Trier
and became its first Abbess, ruling with holiness, prudence, and compassion. St.
Adele seems to have been among the disciples of St. Boniface, the Apostle of
Germany, and a letter in his correspondence is addressed to her. After a devout
life filled with good works and communion with God, she passed on to her
heavenly reward in 730.
(www.catholic.org)
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December
25:
St. Anastasia III
Martyr honoured with a special commemoration in the second Mass
celebrated on Christmas Day. She is also included in the Roman canon of the
Mass, although she was not venerated in Rome until the end of the fifth century.
Probably a native of Sirmium, Pannonia, she was martyred during the persecutions
initiated by Emperor Diocletian. Tradition states that she was the daughter of
Praetextatus, a noble Roman. She married a pagan named Publius, who died while
on a mission to Persia. As a widow, Anastasia cared for the Christians, enduring
persecution, and was arrested herself. On a ship with other prisoners, Anastasia
was miraculously saved from drowning by St. Theodata. The prisoners, including
Anastasia, landed on the island of Palmaria, where they were burned to death.
She was made patroness of a basilica in Rome in the sixth century.
(www.catholic.org)
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December 26:
Saint Stephen, first martyr (d. 36 A.D.?)
All we know of Stephen is found in Acts of the Apostles, chapters six
and seven.
It is enough to tell us what kind of man he was: At that
time, as the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenist
(Greek-speaking) Christians complained about the Hebrew-speaking
Christians, saying that their widows were being neglected in the daily
distribution. So the Twelve called together the community of the
disciples and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God
to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men,
filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task,
whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the
word.” The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they
chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit.... (Acts
6:1-5) Acts says that Stephen was a man filled with grace and power,
who worked great wonders among the people. Certain Jews, members of the
Synagogue of Roman Freedmen, debated with Stephen but proved no match
for the wisdom and spirit with which he spoke. They persuaded others to
make the charge of blasphemy against him. He was seized and carried
before the Sanhedrin. In his speech, Stephen recalled God’s guidance
through Israel’s history, as well as Israel’s idolatry and
disobedience. He then claimed that his persecutors were showing this
same spirit. “You always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like your
ancestors” (Acts 7:51b). His speech brought anger from the crowd. “But
[Stephen], filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven
and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God....’ They threw him out of the city,
and began to stone him....As they were stoning Stephen, he called out,
‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit....Lord, do not hold this sin against
them’” (Acts 7:55-56, 58a, 59, 60b).
Stephen died as Jesus did: falsely accused, brought to unjust
condemnation because he spoke the truth fearlessly. He died with his
eyes trustfully fixed on God, and with a prayer of forgiveness on his
lips. A “happy” death is one that finds us in the same spirit, whether
our dying is as quiet as Joseph’s or as violent as Stephen’s: dying
with courage, total trust and forgiving love. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December 27:
St John the beloved
disciple
It is God who calls; human beings answer. The vocation of John and his
brother James is stated very simply in the Gospels, along with that of Peter and
his brother Andrew: Jesus called them; they followed.
The absoluteness of their
response is indicated by the account. James and John “were in a boat, with their
father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left
their boat and their father and followed him” (Matthew 4:21b-22). For the three
former fishermen — Peter, James and John — that faith was to be rewarded by a
special friendship with Jesus. They alone were privileged to be present at the
Transfiguration, the raising of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in
Gethsemane. But John’s friendship was even more special. Tradition assigns to
him the Fourth Gospel, although most modern Scripture scholars think it unlikely
that the apostle and the evangelist are the same person. John’s own Gospel
refers to him as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (see John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2),
the one who reclined next to Jesus at the Last Supper, and the one to whom he
gave the exquisite honour, as he stood beneath the cross, of caring for his
mother. “Woman, behold your son....Behold, your mother” (John 19:26b, 27b).
Because of the depth of his Gospel, John is usually thought of as the eagle of
theology, soaring in high regions that other writers did not enter. But the
ever-frank Gospels reveal some very human traits. Jesus gave James and John the
nickname, “sons of thunder.” While it is difficult to know exactly what this
meant, a clue is given in two incidents. In the first, as Matthew tells it,
their mother asked that they might sit in the places of honour in Jesus’
kingdom — one on his right hand, one on his left. When Jesus asked them if they
could drink the cup he would drink and be baptized with his baptism of pain,
they blithely answered, “We can!” Jesus said that they would indeed share his
cup, but that sitting at his right hand was not his to give. It was for those to
whom it had been reserved by the Father. The other apostles were indignant at
the mistaken ambition of the brothers, and Jesus took the occasion to teach them
the true nature of authority: “...Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be
your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and
to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:27-28). On another occasion
the “sons of thunder” asked Jesus if they should not call down fire from heaven
upon the inhospitable Samaritans, who would not welcome Jesus because he was on
his way to Jerusalem. But Jesus “turned and rebuked them” (see Luke 9:51-55). On
the first Easter, Mary Magdalene “ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other
disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, ‘They have taken the Lord from the
tomb, and we don’t know where they put him’” (John 20:2). John recalls, perhaps
with a smile, that he and Peter ran side by side, but then “the other disciple
ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first” (John 20:4b). He did not
enter, but waited for Peter and let him go in first. “Then the other disciple
also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and
believed” (John 20:8). John was with Peter when the first great miracle after
the Resurrection took place — the cure of the man crippled from birth—which led to
their spending the night in jail together. The mysterious experience of the
Resurrection is perhaps best contained in the words of Acts: “Observing the
boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men,
they [the questioners] were amazed, and they recognized them as the companions
of Jesus” (Acts 4:13).
The evangelist wrote the great Gospel, the letters and the Book of
Revelation. His Gospel is a very personal account. He sees the glorious and
divine Jesus already in the incidents of his mortal life. At the Last Supper,
John’s Jesus speaks as if he were already in heaven. It is the Gospel of Jesus’
glory. It is a long way from being eager to sit on a throne of power or to call
down fire from heaven to becoming the man who could write: “The way we came to
know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our
lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
28:
The Holy Innocents
Herod “the Great,” king of Judea, was unpopular with his people because
of his connections with the Romans and his religious indifference.
Hence he was insecure and fearful of any threat to his throne. He was a
master
politician and a tyrant capable of extreme brutality. He killed
his wife, his brother and his sister’s two husbands, to name only a
few. Matthew 2:1-18 tells this story: Herod was “greatly troubled” when
astrologers from the east came asking the whereabouts of “the newborn
king of the Jews,” whose star they had seen. They were told that the
Jewish Scriptures named Bethlehem as the place where the Messiah would
be born. Herod cunningly told them to report back to him so that he
could also “do him homage.” They found Jesus, offered him their gifts
and, warned by an angel, avoided Herod on their way home. Jesus escaped
to Egypt. Herod became furious and “ordered the massacre of all the
boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under.” The horror
of the massacre and the devastation of the mothers and fathers led
Matthew to quote Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah,/sobbing and
loud lamentation;/Rachel weeping for her children...” (Matthew 2:18).
Rachel was the wife of Jacob/Israel. She is pictured as weeping at the
place where the Israelites were herded together by the conquering
Assyrians for their march into captivity.
Twenty
babies are few, in comparison to the genocide and abortion of our day.
But even if there had been only one, we recognize the greatest treasure
God put on the earth—a human person, destined for eternity and graced
by Jesus’ death and resurrection.
"Lord, you give us life even before we understand" (Prayer Over the Gifts, Feast of the Holy Innocents). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December 29:
St. Thomas Becket (1118-1170)
A strong man who wavered for a moment, but then
learned one cannot come to terms with evil and so became a strong
churchman, a martyr and a saint—that was Thomas Becket, archbishop of
Canterbury, murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.
His career
had been a stormy one. While archdeacon of Canterbury, he was made
chancellor of England at the age of 36 by his friend King Henry II.
When Henry felt it advantageous to make his chancellor the archbishop
of Canterbury, Thomas gave him fair warning: he might not accept all of
Henry’s intrusions into Church affairs. Nevertheless, he was made
archbishop (1162), resigned his chancellorship and reformed his whole
way of life! Troubles began. Henry insisted upon usurping Church
rights. At one time, supposing some conciliatory action possible,
Thomas came close to compromise. He momentarily approved the
Constitutions of Clarendon, which would have denied the clergy the
right of trial by a Church court and prevented them from making direct
appeal to Rome. But Thomas rejected the Constitutions, fled to France
for safety and remained in exile for seven years. When he returned to
England, he suspected it would mean certain death. Because Thomas
refused to remit censures he had placed upon bishops favoured by the
king, Henry cried out in a rage, “Will no one rid me of this
troublesome priest!” Four knights, taking his words as his wish, slew
Thomas in the Canterbury cathedral. Thomas Becket remains a hero-saint
down to our own times.
No one becomes a
saint without struggle, especially with himself. Thomas knew he must
stand firm in defence of truth and right, even at the cost of his life.
We also must take a stand in the face of pressures — against dishonesty,
deceit, destruction of life — at the cost of popularity, convenience,
promotion and even greater goods.
In T. S. Eliot's
drama, Murder in the Cathedral, Becket faces a final temptation to seek
martyrdom for earthly glory and revenge. With real insight into his
life situation, Thomas responds: "The last temptation is the greatest
treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason." (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
30:
St. Egwin (d. 717)
You say you’re not familiar with today’s saint?
Chances are you aren’t—unless you’re especially informed about
Benedictine bishops who established monasteries in medieval England.
Born of royal blood in the 7th century, Egwin entered a monastery and
was enthusiastically received by royalty, clergy and the people as the
bishop of Worcester, England. As a bishop he was known as a protector
of orphans and the widowed and a fair judge. Who could argue with that?
His popularity didn’t hold up among members of the clergy, however.
They saw him as overly strict, while he felt he was simply trying to
correct abuses and impose appropriate disciplines. Bitter resentments
arose, and Egwin made his way to Rome to present his case to Pope
Constantine. The case against Egwin was examined and annulled. Upon his
return to England, he founded Evesham Abbey, which became one of the
great Benedictine houses of medieval England. It was dedicated to Mary,
who had reportedly made it known to Egwin just where a church should be
built in her honour. He died at the abbey on December 30, in the year
717. Following his burial many miracles were attributed to him: The
blind could see, the deaf could hear, the sick were healed. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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December
31:
St. Sylvester
I, Pope (d. 335)
When you think of this pope, you think of the Edict of Milan, the
emergence of the Church from the catacombs, the building of the great
basilicas, Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter’s and others, the Council of
Nicaea and other critical events. But for the most part, these events
were planned or brought about by Emperor Constantine. A great store of
legends has grown up around the man who was pope at this most important
time, but very little can be established historically. We know for sure
that his papacy lasted from 314 until his death in 335. Reading between
the lines of history, we are assured that only a very strong and wise
man could have preserved the essential independence of the Church in
the face of the overpowering figure of the Emperor Constantine. The
bishops in general remained loyal to the Holy See and at times
expressed apologies to Sylvester for undertaking important
ecclesiastical projects at the urging of Constantine.
It takes deep humility and courage in the face of criticism for a
leader to stand aside and let events take their course, when asserting
one’s authority would only lead to useless tension and strife.
Sylvester teaches a valuable lesson for Church leaders, politicians,
parents and others in authority.
To emphasize the
continuity of Holy Orders, the recent Roman breviary in its biographies
of popes ends with important statistics. On the feast of Saint
Sylvester it recounts: "He presided at seven December ordinations at
which he created 42 priests, 25 deacons and 65 bishops for various
sees." The Holy Father is indeed the heart of the Church's sacramental
system, an essential element of its unity. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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