March 1:
St. David of Wales (d.
589?)
David is the patron saint of Wales and perhaps the most famous of British
saints. Ironically, we have little reliable information about him. It is
known that he became a priest, engaged in missionary work and founded many
monasteries, including his principal abbey in south-western Wales. Many
stories and legends sprang up about David and his Welsh monks. Their
austerity was extreme. They worked in silence without the help of animals to
till the soil. Their food was limited to bread, vegetables and water. In
about the year 550, David attended a synod where his eloquence impressed his
fellow monks to such a degree that he was elected primate of the region. The
episcopal see was moved to Mynyw, where he had his monastery (now called St.
David's). He ruled his diocese until he had reached a very old age. His last
words to his monks and subjects were: "Be joyful, brothers and sisters. Keep
your faith, and do the little things that you have seen and heard with me."
St. David is pictured standing on a mound with a dove on his shoulder. The
legend is that once while he was preaching a dove descended to his shoulder
and the earth rose to lift him high above the people so that he could be
heard. Over 50 churches in South Wales were dedicated to him in
pre-Reformation days. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 2:
St. Agnes of Bohemia
(1205-1282)
Agnes had no children of her own but was certainly
life-giving for all who knew her. Agnes was the daughter of Queen
Constance
and King Ottokar I of Bohemia. At the age of three, she was betrothed to the
Duke of Silesia, who died three years later. As she grew up, she decided she
wanted to enter the religious life. After declining marriages to King Henry
VII of Germany and Henry III of England, Agnes was faced with a proposal
from Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor. She appealed to Pope Gregory IX
for help. The pope was persuasive; Frederick magnanimously said that he
could not be offended if Agnes preferred the King of Heaven to him. After
Agnes built a hospital for the poor and a residence for the friars, she
financed the construction of a Poor Clare monastery in Prague. In 1236, she
and seven other noblewomen entered this monastery. Saint Clare sent five
sisters from San Damiano to join them, and wrote Agnes four letters advising
her on the beauty of her vocation and her duties as abbess. Agnes became
known for prayer, obedience and mortification. Papal pressure forced her to
accept her election as abbess; nevertheless, the title she preferred was
"senior sister." Her position did not prevent her from cooking for the other
sisters and mending the clothes of lepers. The sisters found her kind but
very strict regarding the observance of poverty; she declined her royal
brother’s offer to set up an endowment for the monastery. Devotion to Agnes
arose soon after her death on March 6, 1282. She was canonized in 1989.
"Have nothing to do with anyone who would stand
in your way and would seek to turn you aside from fulfilling the vows which
you have made to the Most High (Psalm 49:14) and from living in that
perfection to which the Spirit of the Lord has called you" (Clare to Agnes,
Letter II in Murray Bodo, O.F.M., Clare: A Light in the Garden, p.
118). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 3:
St. Katharine Drexel
(1858-1955)
If your father is an international banker and you ride in a private
railroad car, you are not likely to be drawn into a life of
voluntary poverty. But if your mother opens your home to the poor three
days each week and your father spends half an hour each evening in prayer,
it is not impossible that you will devote your life to the poor and give
away millions of dollars. Katharine Drexel did that. She was born in Philadelphia
in 1858. She had an excellent education and travelled widely. As a rich
girl, she had a grand debut into society. But when she nursed her stepmother
through a three-year terminal illness, she saw that all the Drexel money
could not buy safety from pain or death, and her life took a profound
turn. She had always been interested in the plight of the Indians, having
been appalled by reading Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor. While
on a European tour, she met Pope Leo XIII and asked him to send more missionaries
to Wyoming for her friend Bishop James O’Connor. The pope replied, "Why
don’t you become a missionary?" His answer shocked her into considering
new possibilities. Back home, she visited the Dakotas, met the Sioux leader
Red Cloud and began her systematic aid to Indian missions. She could easily
have married. But after much discussion with Bishop O’Connor, she wrote
in 1889, "The feast of St. Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder
of my life to the Indians and the Coloured." Newspaper headlines screamed
"Gives Up Seven Million!" After three and a half years of training, she
and her first band of nuns (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians
and Coloured) opened a boarding school in Santa Fe. A string of foundations
followed. By 1942 she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states,
plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools. Segregationists harassed
her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania. In all, she established
50 missions for Indians in 16 states. Two saints met when she was advised
by Mother Cabrini about the "politics" of getting her Order’s Rule approved
in Rome. Her crowning achievement was the founding of Xavier University
in New Orleans, the first Catholic university in the United States for
blacks. At 77, she suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Apparently
her life was over. But now came almost 20 years of quiet, intense prayer
from a small room overlooking the sanctuary. Small notebooks and slips
of paper record her various prayers, ceaseless aspirations and meditation.
She died at 96 and was canonized in 2000.
Saints have always said the same thing: Pray, be humble, accept
the cross, love and forgive. But it is good to hear these things in the
American idiom from one who, for instance, had her ears pierced as a teenager,
who resolved to have "no cake, no preserves," who wore a watch, was
interviewed by the press, travelled by train and could concern herself with
the proper size of pipe for a new mission. These are obvious reminders
that holiness can be lived in today’s culture as well as in that of Jerusalem
or Rome.
"The patient and humble endurance of the cross—whatever nature
it may be—is the highest work we have to do." "Oh, how far I am at 84
years of age from being an image of Jesus in his sacred life on earth!" (Saint
Katharine Drexel) (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 4:
St. Casimir (1458-1483)
Casimir, born of kings and in line (third among
13 children) to be a king himself, was filled with exceptional values and
learning
by a great teacher, John Dlugosz. Even his critics could not say
that his conscientious objection indicated softness. Even as a teenager, Casimir lived a highly disciplined, even severe life, sleeping on the
ground, spending a great part of the night in prayer and dedicating himself
to lifelong celibacy. When nobles in Hungary became dissatisfied with their
king, they prevailed upon Casimir’s father, the king of Poland, to send his
son to take over the country. Casimir obeyed his father, as many young men
over the centuries have obeyed their government. The army he was supposed to
lead was clearly outnumbered by the “enemy”; some of his troops were
deserting because they were not paid. At the advice of his officers, Casimir
decided to return home. His father was irked at the failure of his plans,
and confined his 15-year-old son for three months. The lad made up his mind
never again to become involved in the wars of his day, and no amount of
persuasion could change his mind. He returned to prayer and study,
maintaining his decision to remain celibate even under pressure to marry the
emperor’s daughter. He reigned briefly as king of Poland during his father’s
absence. He died of lung trouble at 23 while visiting Lithuania, of which he
was also Grand Duke. He was buried in Vilnius, Lithuania.
For many years Poland and Lithuania faded into
the grey prison on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Despite repression,
the Poles and Lithuanians remained firm in the faith which has become
synonymous with their name. Their youthful patron reminds us: Peace is not
won by war; sometimes a comfortable peace is not even won by virtue, but
Christ’s peace can penetrate every government repression of religion.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 5:
St. John Joseph of the Cross (1654-1734)
Self-denial is never an end in itself
but is only a help toward greater charity — as the life of Saint John Joseph
shows. John Joseph was very ascetic even as a young man. At 16 he joined the
Franciscans in Naples;
he was the first Italian to follow the reform
movement of Saint Peter Alcantara. John’s reputation for holiness prompted
his superiors to put him in charge of establishing a new friary even before
he was ordained. Obedience moved John to accept appointments as novice
master, guardian and, finally, provincial. His years of mortification
enabled him to offer these services to the friars with great charity. As
guardian he was not above working in the kitchen or carrying the wood and
water needed by the friars. When his term as provincial expired, John Joseph
dedicated himself to hearing confessions and practicing mortification, two
concerns contrary to the spirit of the dawning Age of Enlightenment. John
Joseph was canonized in 1839.
John Joseph’s mortification allowed
him to be the kind of forgiving superior intended by St. Francis.
"And by this I wish to know if you love the Lord God
and me, his servant and yours—if you have acted in this manner: that is,
there should not be any brother in the world who has sinned, however much he
may have possibly sinned, who, after he has looked into your eyes, would go
away without having received your mercy, if he is looking for mercy. And if
he were not to seek mercy, you should ask him if he wants mercy. And if he
should sin thereafter a thousand times before your very eyes, love him more
than me so that you may draw him back to the Lord. Always be merciful to
[brothers] such as these" (St. Francis, Letter to a Minister).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 6:
Servant of God
Sylvester of Assisi (d. 1240)
Sylvester was one of the first 12 followers of St. Francis of Assisi and was
the first priest in the Franciscan Order. A descendant of a noble family,
Sylvester once sold Francis stones which were to be used to rebuild a
church. When, a short while later, he saw Francis and Bernard of Quintavalle
distributing Bernard's wealth to the poor, Sylvester complained that he had
been poorly paid for the stones and asked for more money. Though Francis
obliged, the handful of money he gave Sylvester soon filled him with guilt.
He sold all of his goods, began a life of penance and joined Francis and the
others. Sylvester became a holy and prayerful man, and a favourite of
Francis—a companion on his journeys, the one Francis went to for advice. It
was Sylvester and Clare who answered Francis' query with the response that
he should serve God by going out to preach rather than by devoting himself
to prayer. Once in a city where civil war was raging, Sylvester was
commanded by Francis to drive the devils out. At the city gate Sylvester
cried out: "In the name of almighty God and by virtue of the command of his
servant Francis, depart from here, all you evil spirits." The devils
departed and peace returned to the city. Sylvester lived 14 more years after
the death of Francis and is buried near him in the Basilica of St. Francis
in Assisi. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 7:
Sts. Perpetua and
Felicity (d. 203?)
“When my father in his affection for me was trying to
turn me from my purpose by arguments and thus weaken my faith, I
said
to him, ‘Do you see this vessel—waterpot or whatever it may be? Can it
be called by any other name than what it is?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘So
also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am—a
Christian.’” So writes Perpetua, young, beautiful, well-educated, a
noblewoman of Carthage, mother of an infant son and chronicler of the
persecution of the Christians by Emperor Septimius Severus. Despite
threats of persecution and death, Perpetua, Felicity (a slavewoman and
expectant mother) and three companions, Revocatus, Secundulus and
Saturninus, refused to renounce their Christian faith. For their
unwillingness, all were sent to the public games in the amphitheater.
There, Perpetua and Felicity were beheaded, and the others killed by
beasts. Perpetua’s mother was a Christian and her father a pagan. He
continually pleaded with her to deny her faith. She refused and was
imprisoned at 22. In her diary, Perpetua describes her period of
captivity: “What a day of horror! Terrible heat, owing to the crowds!
Rough treatment by the soldiers! To crown all, I was tormented with
anxiety for my baby.... Such anxieties I suffered for many days, but I
obtained leave for my baby to remain in the prison with me, and being
relieved of my trouble and anxiety for him, I at once recovered my
health, and my prison became a palace to me and I would rather have
been there than anywhere else.” Felicity gave birth to a girl a few
days before the games commenced. Perpetua’s record of her trial and
imprisonment ends the day before the games. “Of what was done in the
games themselves, let him write who will.” The diary was finished by an
eyewitness.
Persecution for religious beliefs is not confined to
Christians in ancient times. Consider Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who, with
her family, was forced into hiding and later died in Bergen-Belsen, one of
Hitler’s death camps during World War II. Anne, like Perpetua and Felicity,
endured hardship and suffering and finally death because she committed
herself to God. In her diary Anne writes, “It’s twice as hard for us young
ones to hold our ground, and maintain our opinions, in a time when all
ideals are being shattered and destroyed, when people are showing their
worst side, and do not know whether to believe in truth and right and God."
Perpetua, unwilling to renounce Christianity, comforted her father in his
grief over her decision, “It shall happen as God shall choose, for assuredly
we depend not on our own power but on the power of God.“
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 8:
St. John of God (1495-1550)
Having given up active Christian belief while a soldier, John was 40 before
the depth of his sinfulness began to dawn on him. He decided to give the
rest of his life to God’s service, and headed at once for Africa, where he
hoped to free captive Christians and, possibly, be martyred.
He was soon
advised that his desire for martyrdom was not spiritually well based, and
returned to Spain and the relatively prosaic activity of a religious goods
store. Yet he was still not settled. Moved initially by a sermon of Blessed
John of Avila, he one day engaged in a public beating of himself, begging
mercy and wildly repenting for his past life. Committed to a mental hospital
for these actions, John was visited by Blessed John, who advised him to be
more actively involved in tending to the needs of others rather than in
enduring personal hardships. John gained peace of heart, and shortly after
left the hospital to begin work among the poor. He established a house where
he wisely tended to the needs of the sick poor, at first doing his own
begging. But excited by the saint’s great work and inspired by his devotion,
many people began to back him up with money and provisions. Among them were
the archbishop and marquis of Tarifa. Behind John’s outward acts of total
concern and love for Christ’s sick poor was a deep interior prayer life
which was reflected in his spirit of humility. These qualities attracted
helpers who, 20 years after John’s death, formed the Brothers Hospitallers,
now a worldwide religious order. John became ill after 10 years of service
but tried to disguise his ill health. He began to put the hospital’s
administrative work into order and appointed a leader for his helpers. He
died under the care of a spiritual friend and admirer, Lady Anne Ossorio.
The utter humility of John of God, which led to a totally selfless
dedication to others, is most impressive. Here is a man who realized his
nothingness in the face of God. The Lord blessed him with the gifts of
prudence, patience, courage, enthusiasm and the ability to influence and
inspire others. He saw that in his early life he had turned away from the
Lord, and, moved to receive his mercy, John began his new commitment to love
others in openness to God’s love. The archbishop called John of God to him
in response to a complaint that he was keeping tramps and immoral women in
his hospital. In submission John fell on his knees and said: “The Son of Man
came for sinners, and we are bound to seek their conversion. I am unfaithful
to my vocation because I neglect this, but I confess that I know of no bad
person in my hospital except myself alone, who am indeed unworthy to eat the
bread of the poor.” The archbishop could only trust in John’s sincerity and
humility, and dismissed him with deep respect. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 9:
St. Frances of Rome (1384-1440)
Frances’s life combines aspects of secular and religious life. A
devoted and loving wife, she longed for a lifestyle of prayer and service,
so she organized a group of women to minister to the needs of Rome’s poor.
Born of wealthy parents, Frances found herself attracted to the religious
life during her youth. But her parents objected and a young nobleman was
selected to be her husband. As she became acquainted
with her new relatives,
Frances soon discovered that the wife of her husband’s brother also wished
to live a life of service and prayer. So the two, Frances and Vannozza, set
out together—with their husbands’ blessings—to help the poor. Frances fell
ill for a time, but this apparently only deepened her commitment to the
suffering people she met. The years passed, and Frances gave birth to two
sons and a daughter. With the new responsibilities of family life, the young
mother turned her attention more to the needs of her own household. The
family flourished under Frances’s care, but within a few years a great
plague began to sweep across Italy. It struck Rome with devastating cruelty
and left Frances’s second son dead. In an effort to help alleviate some of
the suffering, Frances used all her money and sold her possessions to buy
whatever the sick might possibly need. When all the resources had been
exhausted, Frances and Vannozza went door to door begging. Later, Frances’s
daughter died, and the saint opened a section of her house as a hospital.
Frances became more and more convinced that this way of life was so
necessary for the world, and it was not long before she requested and was
given permission to found a society of women bound by no vows. They simply
offered themselves to God and to the service of the poor. Once the society
was established, Frances chose not to live at the community residence, but
rather at home with her husband. She did this for seven years, until her
husband passed away, and then came to live the remainder of her life with
the society—serving the poorest of the poor.
Looking at the exemplary life of fidelity to God and devotion to her
fellow human beings which Frances of Rome was blessed to lead, one cannot
help but be reminded of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who loved Jesus Christ in
prayer and also in the poor. The life of Frances of Rome calls each of us
not only to look deeply for God in prayer, but also to carry our devotion to
Jesus living in the suffering of our world. Frances shows us that this life
need not be restricted to those bound by vows. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 10:
St. Dominic Savio (1842-1857)
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 St. John Bosco as a student at
the Oratory in Turin at the age of 12. He impressed
John
with his desire to be a priest and to help him in his work
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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 John 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. St. John Bosco himself wrote the
account of his life. Some thought that Dominic was too young to be
considered a saint. St. Pius X declared that just the opposite was true, and
went ahead with his cause. Dominic was canonized in 1954.
Dominic was painfully aware that he was different
from his peers. He tried to keep his piety from his friends lest he have to
endure their laughter. Even after his death, his youth marked him as a
misfit among the saints and some argued that he was too young to be
canonized. Pius X wisely disagreed. For no one is too young—or too old or
too anything else—to achieve the holiness to which we are all called.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 11:
St. John Ogilvie (c.
1579-1615)
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. Ordained
a priest in France in 1610, he 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 missioned there. 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.
John came of age when neither Catholics nor Protestants were
willing to tolerate one another. Turning to Scripture, he found words that
enlarged his vision. Although he became a Catholic and died for his faith,
he understood the meaning of “small-c catholic,” the wide range of believers
who embrace Christianity. Even now he undoubtedly rejoices in the ecumenical
spirit fostered by the Second Vatican Council and joins us in our prayer for
unity with all believers. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 12:
Blessed Angela Salawa (1881-1922)
Angela served Christ and Christ’s little ones with all her strength. Born in
Siepraw, near Kraków, Poland, she was the 11th child
of
Bartlomiej and Ewa Salawa. In 1897, she moved to Kraków where her older
sister Therese lived. Angela immediately began to gather together and
instruct young women domestic workers. During World War I, she helped
prisoners of war without regard for their nationality or religion. The
writings of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross were a great comfort
to her. Angela gave great service in caring for soldiers wounded in
World War I. After 1918 her health did not permit her to exercise her
customary apostolate. Addressing herself to Christ, she wrote in her
diary, "I want you to be adored as much as you were destroyed." In
another place, she wrote, "Lord, I live by your will. I shall die when
you desire; save me because you can." At her 1991 beatification in
Kraków, Pope John Paul II said: "It is in this city that she worked,
that she suffered and that her holiness came to maturity. While
connected to the spirituality of St. Francis, she showed an
extraordinary responsiveness to the action of the Holy Spirit" (L'Osservatore Romano, volume 34, number 4,
1991).
Henri de Lubac, S.J., wrote: "The best Christians and the most vital are by
no means to be found either inevitably or even generally among the wise or
the clever, the intelligentsia or the politically-minded, or those of social
consequence. And consequently what they say does not make the headlines;
what they do does not come to the public eye. Their lives are hidden from
the eyes of the world, and if they do come to some degree of notoriety, that
is usually late in the day, and exceptional, and always attended by the risk
of distortion" (The Splendour of the Church, p. 187).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 13:
St. Leander of Seville
(c. 550-600)
The next time you recite the Nicene Creed at Mass, think of today’s saint.
For it was Leander of Seville who, as bishop, introduced the practice in the
sixth century. He saw it as a way to help reinforce the faith of his people
and as an antidote against the heresy of Arianism, which denied the divinity
of Christ. By the end of his life, Leander had helped Christianity flourish
in Spain at a time of political and religious upheaval. Leander’s own family
was heavily influenced by Arianism, but he himself grew up to be a fervent
Christian. He entered a monastery as a young man and spent three years in
prayer and study. At the end of that tranquil period he was made a bishop.
For the rest of his life he worked strenuously to fight against heresy. The
death of the anti-Christian king in 586 helped Leander’s cause. He and the
new king worked hand in hand to restore orthodoxy and a renewed sense of
morality. Leander succeeded in persuading many Arian bishops to change their
loyalties. Leander died around 600. In Spain he is honoured as a Doctor of
the Church. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March
14:
St.
Maximilian (d. 295)
We have an early, precious, almost
unembellished account of the martyrdom of St. Maximilian in modern-day Algeria.
Brought before the proconsul Dion, Maximilian refused enlistment in the Roman
army saying, "I cannot serve, I cannot do evil. I am a Christian."
Dion
replied: "You must serve or die."
Maximilian: "I will never serve. You can
cut off my head, but I will not be a soldier of this world, for I am a soldier
of Christ. My army is the army of God, and I cannot fight for this world. I tell
you I am a Christian."
Dion: "There are Christian soldiers serving our rulers
Diocletian and Maximian, Constantius and Galerius."
Maximilian: "That is
their business. I also am a Christian, and I cannot serve."
Dion: "But what
harm do soldiers do?"
Maximilian: "You know well enough."
Dion: "If you
will not do your service I shall condemn you to death for contempt of the army."
Maximilian: "I shall not die. If I go from this earth my soul will live with
Christ my Lord."
Maximilian was 21 years old when he gladly offered his life
to God. His father went home from the execution site joyful, thanking God that
he had been able to offer heaven such a gift.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 15:
St. Louise de Marillac (d. 1660)
Louise, born near Meux, France, lost her mother when she was still a child,
her beloved father when she was but 15. Her desire
to
become a nun was discouraged by her confessor, and a marriage was arranged.
One son was born of this union. But she soon found herself nursing her
beloved husband through a long illness that finally led to his death. Louise
was fortunate to have a wise and sympathetic counsellor, St. Francis de
Sales, and then his friend, the Bishop of Belley, France. Both of these men
were available to her only periodically. But from an interior illumination
she understood that she was to undertake a great work under the guidance of
another person she had not yet met. This was the holy priest M. Vincent,
later to be known as St. Vincent de Paul. At first he was reluctant to be
her confessor, busy as he was with his "Confraternities of Charity." Members
were aristocratic ladies of charity who were helping him nurse the poor and
look after neglected children, a real need of the day. But the ladies were
busy with many of their own concerns and duties. His work needed many more
helpers, especially ones who were peasants themselves and therefore close to
the poor and could win their hearts. He also needed someone who could teach
them and organize them. Only over a long period of time, as Vincent de Paul
became more acquainted with Louise, did he come to realize that she was the
answer to his prayers. She was intelligent, self-effacing and had physical
strength and endurance that belied her continuing feeble health. The
missions he sent her on eventually led to four simple young women joining
her. Her rented home in Paris became the training centre for those accepted
for the service of the sick and poor. Growth was rapid and soon there was
need of a so-called rule of life, which Louise herself, under the guidance
of Vincent, drew up for the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul
(though he preferred "Daughters" of Charity). He had always been slow and
prudent in his dealings with Louise and the new group. He said that he had
never had any idea of starting a new community, that it was God who did
everything. "Your convent," he said, "will be the house of the sick; your
cell, a hired room; your chapel, the parish church; your cloister, the
streets of the city or the wards of the hospital." Their dress was to be
that of the peasant women. It was not until years later that Vincent de Paul
would finally permit four of the women to take annual vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience. It was still more years before the company would be
formally approved by Rome and placed under the direction of Vincent's own
congregation of priests. Many of the young women were illiterate and it was
with reluctance that the new community undertook the care of neglected
children. Louise was busy helping wherever needed despite her poor health.
She travelled throughout France, establishing her community members in
hospitals, orphanages and other institutions. At her death on March 15,
1660, the congregation had more than 40 houses in France. Six months later
St. Vincent de Paul followed her in death. Louise de Marillac was canonized
in 1934 and declared patroness of social workers in 1960.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 16:
St. Clement Mary Hofbauer (1751-1820)
Clement might be called the second founder of the Redemptorists, as it was
he who carried the congregation of St. Alphonsus Liguori to the people north
of the Alps. John, the name given him at Baptism, was born in Moravia into a
poor family, the ninth of 12 children. Although he longed to be a priest
there was no money for studies, and he was apprenticed to a baker. But God
guided the young man's fortunes. He found work in the bakery of a monastery
where he was allowed to attend classes in its Latin school. After the abbot
there died, John tried the life of a hermit but when Emperor Joseph II
abolished
hermitages, John again returned to Vienna and to baking. One day
after serving Mass at the cathedral of St. Stephen, he called a carriage for
two ladies waiting there in the rain. In their conversation they learned
that he could not pursue his priestly studies because of a lack of funds.
They generously offered to support both him and his friend, Thaddeus, in
their seminary studies. The two went to Rome, where they were drawn to St. Alphonsus' vision of religious life and to the Redemptorists. The two young
men were ordained together in 1785. Newly professed at age 34, Clement Mary,
as he was now called, and Thaddeus were sent back to Vienna. But the
religious difficulties there caused them to leave and continue north to
Warsaw, Poland. There they encountered numerous German-speaking Catholics
who had been left priestless by the suppression of the Jesuits. At first
they had to live in great poverty and preached outdoor sermons. They were
given the church of St. Benno, and for the next nine years they preached
five sermons a day, two in German and three in Polish, converting many to
the faith. They were active in social work among the poor, founding an
orphanage and then a school for boys. Drawing candidates to the
congregation, they were able to send missionaries to Poland, Germany and
Switzerland. All of these foundations had eventually to be abandoned because
of the political and religious tensions of the times. After 20 years of
difficult work Clement himself was imprisoned and expelled from the country.
Only after another arrest was he able to reach Vienna, where he was to live
and work the final 12 years of his life. He quickly became "the apostle of
Vienna," hearing the confessions of the rich and poor, visiting the sick,
acting as a counsellor to the powerful, sharing his holiness with all in the
city. His crowning work was the establishment of a Catholic college in his
beloved city. Persecution followed him, and there were those in authority
who were able for a while to stop him from preaching. An attempt was made at
the highest levels to have him banished. But his holiness and fame protected
him and the growth of the Redemptorists. Due to his efforts, the
congregation, upon his death in 1820, was firmly established north of the
Alps. He was canonized in 1909.
Clement saw his life’s work meet with disaster. Religious and political
tensions forced him and his brothers to abandon their ministry in Germany,
Poland and Switzerland. Clement himself was exiled from Poland and had to
start all over again. Someone once pointed out that the followers of the
crucified Jesus should see only new possibilities opening up whenever they
meet failure. He encourages us to follow his example, trusting in the Lord
to guide us. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 17:
St. Patrick (415?-493?)
Legends about Patrick abound; but truth is best served by
our seeing two solid qualities in him: He was humble and he was courageous.
The determination to accept suffering and success with equal indifference
guided the life of God’s instrument
for
winning most of Ireland for Christ. Details of his life are uncertain.
Current research places his dates of birth and death a little later
than earlier accounts. Patrick may have been born in Dunbarton,
Scotland, Cumberland, England, or in northern Wales. He called himself
both a Roman and a Briton. At 16, he and a large number of his father’s
slaves and vassals were captured by Irish raiders and sold as slaves in
Ireland. Forced to work as a shepherd, he suffered greatly from hunger
and cold.
After six years, Patrick escaped, probably to France, and
later returned to Britain at the age of 22. His captivity had meant spiritual
conversion. He may have studied at Lerins, off the French coast; he spent
years at Auxerre, France, and was consecrated bishop at the age of 43. His
great desire was to proclaim the Good News to the Irish. In a dream vision it
seemed "all the children of Ireland from their mothers’ wombs were stretching
out their hands" to him. He understood the vision to be a call to do mission
work in pagan Ireland. Despite opposition from those who felt his education
had been defective, he was sent to carry out the task. He went to the west and
north, where the faith had never been preached, obtained the protection of
local kings and made numerous converts. Because of the island’s pagan
background, Patrick was emphatic in encouraging widows to remain chaste and
young women to consecrate their virginity to Christ. He ordained many priests,
divided the country into dioceses, held Church councils, founded several
monasteries and continually urged his people to greater holiness in Christ. He
suffered much opposition from pagan druids, and was criticized in both England
and Ireland for the way he conducted his mission. In a relatively short time
the island had experienced deeply the Christian spirit, and was prepared to
send out missionaries whose efforts were greatly responsible for
Christianizing Europe. Patrick was a man of action, with little inclination
toward learning. He had a rocklike belief in his vocation, in the cause he had
espoused. One of the few certainly authentic writings is his Confessio, above
all an act of homage to God for having called Patrick, unworthy sinner, to the
apostolate. There is hope rather than irony in the fact that his burial place
is said to be in strife-torn Ulster, in County Down.
"Christ shield me this day: Christ with me, Christ before
me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ
on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me, Christ in the eye that
sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me" (from "The Breastplate of St.
Patrick"). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 18:
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315?-386)
The crises that the Church faces today may seem minor when compared to the
Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ and threatened to overcome
Christianity in the fourth century. Cyril was to be caught up in the
controversy, accused (later) of Arianism by St. Jerome, and ultimately
vindicated both by the men of his own time and by
being declared a Doctor of
the Church in 1822. Raised in Jerusalem, well-educated, especially in the
Scriptures, he was ordained a priest by the bishop of Jerusalem and given
the task of catechizing during Lent those preparing for Baptism and during
the Easter season the newly baptized. His Catecheses remain valuable as
examples of the ritual and theology of the Church in the mid-fourth century.
There are conflicting reports about the circumstances of his becoming bishop
of Jerusalem. It is certain that he was validly consecrated by bishops of
the province. Since one of them was an Arian, Acacius, it may have been
expected that his “cooperation” would follow. Conflict soon rose between
Cyril and Acacius, bishop of the rival nearby see of Caesarea. Cyril was
summoned to a council, accused of insubordination and of selling Church
property to relieve the poor. Probably, however, a theological difference
was also involved. He was condemned, driven from Jerusalem, and later
vindicated, not without some association and help of Semi-Arians. Half his
episcopate was spent in exile (his first experience was repeated twice). He
finally returned to find Jerusalem torn with heresy, schism and strife, and
wracked with crime. Even St. Gregory of Nyssa, sent to help, left in
despair. They both went to the (second ecumenical) Council of
Constantinople, where the amended form of the Nicene Creed was promulgated.
Cyril accepted the word consubstantial (that is, of Christ and the Father).
Some said it was an act of repentance, but the bishops of the Council
praised him as a champion of orthodoxy against the Arians. Though not
friendly with the greatest defender of orthodoxy against the Arians, Cyril
may be counted among those whom Athanasius called “brothers, who mean what
we mean, and differ only about the word [consubstantial].”
“It is not only among us, who are marked with the name of Christ, that the
dignity of faith is great; all the business of the world, even of those
outside the Church, is accomplished by faith. By faith, marriage laws join
in union persons who were strangers to one another. By faith, agriculture is
sustained; for a man does not endure the toil involved unless he believes he
will reap a harvest. By faith, seafaring men, entrusting themselves to a
tiny wooden craft, exchange the solid element of the land for the unstable
motion of the waves. Not only among us does this hold true but also, as I
have said, among those outside the fold. For though they do not accept the
Scriptures but advance certain doctrines of their own, yet even these they
receive on faith” (Catechesis V). (AmericanCatholic)
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March 19:
Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed
Virgin Mary
The Bible pays Joseph the highest compliment: he was a “just”
man. The quality meant a lot more than faithfulness in paying
debts. When
the Bible speaks of God “justifying” someone, it means that God, the
all-holy or “righteous” One, so transforms a person that the individual
shares somehow in God’s own holiness, and hence it is really “right” for God
to love him or her. In other words, God is not playing games, acting as if
we were lovable when we are not. By saying Joseph was “just,” the Bible
means that he was one who was completely open to all that God wanted to do
for him. He became holy by opening himself totally to God. The rest we can
easily surmise. Think of the kind of love with which he wooed and won Mary,
and the depth of the love they shared during their marriage. It is no
contradiction of Joseph’s manly holiness that he decided to
divorce Mary
when she was found to be with child. The important words of the Bible are
that he planned to do this “quietly” because he was “a righteous man, yet
unwilling to expose her to shame” (Matthew 1:19). The just man was simply,
joyfully, wholeheartedly obedient to God—in marrying Mary, in naming Jesus,
in shepherding the precious pair to Egypt, in bringing them to Nazareth, in
the undetermined number of years of quiet faith and courage. The Bible tells
us nothing of Joseph in the years after the return to Nazareth except the
incident of finding Jesus in the Temple (see Luke 2:41–51). Perhaps this can
be taken to mean that God wants us to realize that the holiest family was
like every other family, that the circumstances of life for the holiest
family were like those of every family, so that when Jesus’ mysterious
nature began to appear, people couldn’t believe that he came from such
humble beginnings: “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named
Mary...?” (Matthew 13:55a). It was almost as indignant as “Can anything good
come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46b).
“He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy
guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, namely, his divine Son and
Mary, Joseph’s wife. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity
until at last God called him, saying: ‘Good and faithful servant, enter into
the joy of your Lord’” (St. Bernardine of Siena). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 20:
St. Salvator of Horta (1520-1567)
A reputation for holiness does have some drawbacks. Public
recognition can be a nuisance at times—as the confreres of Salvator found
out. Salvator was born during Spain’s Golden Age. Art, politics and wealth
were flourishing. So was religion. Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of
Jesus in 1540. Salvator’s parents were poor. At the age of 21 he entered the
Franciscans as a brother and was soon known for his asceticism, humility and
simplicity. As cook, porter and later the official beggar for the friars in
Tortosa, he became well known for his charity. He healed the sick with the
Sign of the Cross. When crowds of sick people began coming to the friary to
see Salvator, the friars transferred him to Horta. Again the sick flocked to
ask his intercession; one person estimated that two thousand people a week
came to see Salvator. He told them to examine their consciences, to go to
confession and to receive Holy Communion worthily. He refused to pray for
those who would not receive those sacraments. The public attention given to
Salvator was relentless. The crowds would sometimes tear off pieces of his
habit as relics. Two years before his death, Salvator was moved again, this
time to Cagliari on the island of Sardinia. He died at Cagliari saying,
"Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." He was canonized in 1938.
Medical science is now seeing more clearly the relation of some
diseases to one’s emotional and spiritual life. In Healing Life’s Hurts,
Matthew and Dennis Linn report that sometimes people experience relief from
illness only when they have decided to forgive others. Salvator prayed that
people might be healed, and many were. Surely not all diseases can be
treated this way; medical help should not be abandoned. But notice that
Salvator urged his petitioners to re-establish their priorities in life
before they asked for healing. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 21:
Blessed John of Parma (1209-1289)
The seventh general minister of the Franciscan
Order, John was known for his attempts to bring back the earlier spirit of
the Order after the death of St. Francis of Assisi. He was born in Parma,
Italy, in 1209. It was when he was a young philosophy professor known for
his piety and learning that God called him to bid good-bye to the world he
was used to and enter the new world of the Franciscan Order. After his
profession John was sent to Paris to complete his theological studies.
Ordained to the priesthood, he was appointed to teach theology at Bologna,
then Naples and finally Rome. In 1245, Pope Innocent IV called a general
council in the city of Lyons, France. Crescentius, the Franciscan minister
general at the time, was ailing and unable to attend. In his place he sent
Father John, who made a deep impression on the Church leaders gathered
there. Two years later, when the same pope presided at the election of a
minister general of the Franciscans, he remembered Father John well and held
him up as the man best qualified for the office. And so, in 1247, John of
Parma was elected to be minister general. The surviving disciples of St.
Francis rejoiced in his election, expecting a return to the spirit of
poverty and humility of the early days of the Order. And they were not
disappointed. As general of the Order John travelled on foot, accompanied by
one or two companions, to practically all of the Franciscan convents in
existence. Sometimes he would arrive and not be recognized, remaining there
for a number of days to test the true spirit of the brothers. The pope
called on John to serve as legate to Constantinople, where he was most
successful in winning back the schismatic Greeks. Upon his return he asked
that someone else take his place to govern the Order. St. Bonaventure, at
John's urging, was chosen to succeed him. John took up a life of prayer in
the hermitage at Greccio. Many years later, John learned that the Greeks,
who had been reconciled with the Church for a time, had relapsed into
schism. Though 80 years old by then, John received permission from Pope
Nicholas IV to return to the East in an effort to restore unity once again.
On his way, John fell sick and died. He was beatified in 1781.
In the 13th century, people in their 30s were middle-aged; hardly
anyone lived to the ripe old age of 80. John did, but he didn’t ease into
retirement. Instead he was on his way to try to heal a schism in the Church
when he died. Our society today boasts a lot of folks in their later
decades. Like John, many of them lead active lives. But some aren’t so
fortunate. Weakness or ill health keeps them confined and lonely—waiting to
hear from us. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 22:
St. Nicholas Owen (d. 1606)
Nicholas, familiarly known as "Little John," was small
in stature but big in the esteem of his fellow Jesuits. Born at Oxford, this
humble
artisan saved the lives of many priests and laypersons in England during the
penal times (1559-1829), when a series of statutes punished Catholics for
the practice of their faith. Over a period of about 20 years he used his
skills to build secret hiding places for priests throughout the country. His
work, which he did completely by himself as both architect and builder, was
so good that time and time again priests in hiding were undetected by
raiding parties. He was a genius at finding, and creating, places of safety:
subterranean passages, small spaces between walls, impenetrable recesses. At
one point he was even able to mastermind the escape of two Jesuits from the
Tower of London. Whenever Nicholas set out to design such hiding places, he
began by receiving the Holy Eucharist, and he would turn to God in prayer
throughout the long, dangerous construction process. After many years at his
unusual task, he entered the Society of Jesus and served as a lay brother,
although—for very good reasons—his connection with the Jesuits was kept
secret. After a number of narrow escapes, he himself was finally caught in
1594. Despite protracted torture, he refused to disclose the names of other
Catholics. After being released following the payment of a ransom, "Little
John" went back to his work. He was arrested again in 1606. This time he was
subjected to horrible tortures, suffering an agonizing death. The jailers
tried suggesting that he had confessed and committed suicide, but his
heroism and sufferings soon were widely known. He was canonized in 1970 as
one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales.
Nicholas was a clever builder and architect who used his
skills to protect endangered priests. Without his help, hundreds of English
Catholics would have been deprived of the sacraments. His gift for spotting
unlikely places to hide priests was impressive, but more impressive was his
habit of seeking support for his work in prayer and the Eucharist. If we
follow his example, we may also discover surprising ways to put our skills
to God’s service. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 23:
St. Turibius of Mogrovejo (1538-1606)
Together with Rose of Lima, Turibius is the first known saint of the New
World, serving the Lord in Peru, South America, for 26 years. Born in Spain
and educated for the law, he became so brilliant a scholar that he was made
professor of law at the University of Salamanca and eventually became chief
judge of the Inquisition at Granada. He succeeded too well. But he was not
sharp enough a lawyer to prevent a surprising sequence of events. When the
archbishopric of Lima in Spain’s Peruvian colony became vacant, it was
decided that Turibius was the man needed to fill the post: He was the one
person with the strength of character and holiness of spirit to heal the
scandals that had infected that area. He cited all the canons that forbade
giving laymen ecclesiastical dignities, but he was overruled. He was
ordained priest and bishop and sent to Peru, where he found colonialism at
its worst. The Spanish conquerors were guilty of every sort of oppression of
the native population. Abuses among the clergy were flagrant, and he devoted
his energies (and suffering) to this area first. He began the long and
arduous visitation of an immense archdiocese, studying the language, staying
two or three days in each place, often with neither bed nor food. He
confessed every morning to his chaplain, and celebrated Mass with intense
fervour. Among those to whom he gave the Sacrament of Confirmation was St.
Rose of Lima, and possibly St. Martin de Porres. After 1590 he had the help
of another great missionary, St. Francis Solanus. His people, though very
poor, were sensitive, dreading to accept public charity from others.
Turibius solved the problem by helping them anonymously.
The Lord indeed writes straight with crooked lines. Against
his will, and from the unlikely springboard of an Inquisition tribunal, this
man became the Christlike shepherd of a poor and oppressed people. God gave
him the gift of loving others as they needed it. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 24:
St. Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510)
Going to confession one day was the turning point of
Catherine’s life. When Catherine was born, many Italian nobles were
supporting Renaissance artists and writers. The needs of the poor and the
sick
were often overshadowed by a hunger for luxury and self-indulgence.
Catherine’s parents were members of the nobility in Genoa. At 13 she
attempted to become a nun but failed because of her age. At 16 she married
Julian, a nobleman who turned out to be selfish and unfaithful. For a while
she tried to numb her disappointment by a life of selfish pleasure. One day
in confession she had a new sense of her own sins and how much God loved
her. She reformed her life and gave good example to Julian, who soon turned
from his self-centred life of distraction. Julian’s spending, however, had
ruined them financially. He and Catherine decided to live in the Pammatone,
a large hospital in Genoa, and to dedicate themselves to works of charity
there. After Julian’s death in 1497, Catherine took over management of the
hospital. She wrote about purgatory which, she said, begins on earth for
souls open to God. Life with God in heaven is a continuation and perfection
of the life with God begun on earth. Exhausted by her life of
self-sacrifice, she died September 15, 1510, and was canonized in 1737.
Regular Confessions and frequent Communion can help us see
the direction (or drift) of our life with God. People who have a realistic
sense of their own sinfulness and of the greatness of God are often the ones
who are most ready to meet the needs of their neighbours. Catherine began
her hospital work with enthusiasm and was faithful to it through difficult
times because she was inspired by the love of God, a love which was renewed
in her by the Scriptures and the sacraments. Shortly before Catherine’s
death she told her goddaughter: "Tomasina! Jesus in your heart! Eternity in
your mind! The will of God in all your actions! But above all, love, God’s
love, entire love!" (Marion Habig, O.F.M., The Franciscan Book of Saints,
p. 212). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 25:
Annunciation of the Lord
The feast of the Annunciation goes back to the fourth or
fifth century. Its central focus is the Incarnation: God has become one of
us.
From all eternity God had decided that the Second Person of the Blessed
Trinity should become human. Now, as Luke 1:26-38 tells us, the decision is
being realized. The God-Man embraces all humanity, indeed all creation, to
bring it to God in one great act of love. Because human beings have rejected
God, Jesus will accept a life of suffering and an agonizing death: “No one
has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John
15:13). Mary has an important role to play in God’s plan. From all eternity
God destined her to be the mother of Jesus and closely related to him in the
creation and redemption of the world. We could say that God’s decrees of
creation and redemption are joined in the decree of Incarnation. As Mary is
God’s instrument in the Incarnation, she has a role to play with Jesus in
creation and redemption. It is a God-given role. It is God’s grace from
beginning to end. Mary becomes the eminent figure she is
only
by God’s grace. She is the empty space where God could act. Everything she
is she owes to the Trinity. She is the virgin-mother who fulfils Isaiah 7:14
in a way that Isaiah could not have imagined. She is united with her son in
carrying out the will of God (Psalm 40:8-9; Hebrews 10:7-9; Luke 1:38).
Together with Jesus, the privileged and graced Mary is the link between
heaven and earth. She is the human being who best, after Jesus, exemplifies
the possibilities of human existence. She received into her lowliness the
infinite love of God. She shows how an ordinary human being can reflect God
in the ordinary circumstances of life. She exemplifies what the Church and
every member of the Church is meant to become. She is the ultimate product
of the creative and redemptive power of God. She manifests what the
Incarnation is meant to accomplish for all of us.
“Enriched from the first instant of her conception with the
splendour of an entirely unique holiness, the virgin of Nazareth is hailed
by the heralding angel, by divine command, 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). Thus the daughter
of Adam, Mary, consenting to the word of God, became the Mother of Jesus.
Committing herself wholeheartedly and impeded by no sin to God’s saving
will, she devoted herself totally, as a handmaid of the Lord, to the person
and work of her Son, under and with him, serving the mystery of redemption,
by the grace of Almighty God” (Vat II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,
56). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 26:
Blessed Didacus of Cadiz (d. 1801)
Born in Cadiz, Spain, and christened Joseph Francis, the
youth spent much of his free time around the Capuchin friars and their
church. But his desire to enter the Franciscan Order was delayed because of
the difficulty he had with his studies. Finally he was admitted to the
novitiate of the Capuchins in Seville as Brother Didacus. He later was
ordained a priest and sent out to preach. His gift of preaching was soon
evident. He journeyed tirelessly through the territory of Andalusia of
Spain, speaking in small towns and crowded cities. His words were able to
touch the minds and hearts of young and old, rich and poor, students and
professors. His work in the confessional completed the conversions his words
began. This unlearned man was called "the apostle of the Holy Trinity"
because of his devotion to the Trinity and the ease with which he preached
about this sublime mystery. One day a child gave away his secret, crying
out: "Mother, mother, see the dove resting on the shoulder of Father Didacus!
I could preach like that too if a dove told me all that I should say."
Didacus was that close to God, spending nights in prayer and preparing for
his sermons by severe penances. His reply to those who criticized him: "My
sins and the sins of the people compel me to do it. Those who have been
charged with the conversions of sinners must remember that the Lord has
imposed on them the sins of all their clients." It is said that sometimes
when he preached on the love of God he would be elevated above the pulpit.
Crowds in village and town squares were entranced by his words and would
attempt to tear off pieces of his habit as he passed by. He died in 1801 at
age 58, a holy and revered man. He was beatified in 1894.
Didacus was such a poor student that the Franciscans
wouldn’t have him. When Capuchins finally took him into their order and
eventually ordained him, he proved to be a powerful preacher—to everyone’s
surprise. As we often do, Didacus’s contemporaries expected little from
someone with a slow mind. Didacus proved to them that intelligence is not
the only measure. The person who has a loving heart, a listening ear and a
wealth of compassion is, in the long run, much wiser.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 27:
Blessed Francis Faà di Bruno (1825-1888)
Francis, the last of 12 children, was born in northern Italy into an
aristocratic family. He lived at a particularly turbulent time in history,
when anti-Catholic and anti-papal sentiments were especially strong. After
being trained as a military officer, Francis was
spotted by King Victor
Emmanuel II, who was impressed with the young man's character and learning.
Invited by the king to tutor his two young sons, Francis agreed and prepared
himself with additional studies. But with the role of the Church in
education being a sticking point for many, the king was forced to withdraw
his offer to the openly Catholic Francis and, instead, find a tutor more
suitable to the secular state. Francis soon left army life behind and
pursued doctoral studies in Paris in mathematics and astronomy; he also
showed a special interest in religion and asceticism. Despite his commitment
to the scholarly life, Francis put much of his energy into charitable
activities. He founded the Society of St. Zita for maids and domestic
servants, later expanding it to include unmarried mothers, among others. He
helped establish hostels for the elderly and poor. He even oversaw the
construction of a church in Turin that was dedicated to the memory of
Italian soldiers who had lost their lives in the struggle over the
unification of Italy. Wishing to broaden and deepen his commitment to the
poor, Francis, then well into adulthood, studied for the priesthood. But
first he had to obtain the support of Pope Pius IX to counteract the
opposition to his own archbishop's difficulty with late vocations. Francis
was ordained at the age of 51. As a priest, he continued his good works,
sharing his inheritance as well as his energy. He established yet another
hostel, this time for prostitutes. He died in Turin on March 27, 1888, and
was beatified 100 years later.
It wasn’t Francis’ lack of scholarly ability or deep-down goodness that
almost kept him from the priesthood, but his bishop’s distrust of “late
vocations.” Until the later part of the 20th century, most candidates for
the priesthood entered the seminary right out of grade school. Today no
bishop would refuse a middle-aged applicant—especially someone whose care
for people in need is constant. Francis is a holy reminder that God’s call
to reassess our life’s direction can reach us at any age.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 28:
St. Hesychius of Jerusalem (c. 450)
Not only is the name of today's saint a bit hard to pronounce and spell.
It's also difficult to learn about such a modest and gentle man who lived in
the fourth and fifth century and who is better known in the Russian Orthodox
Church. The birth date of Hesychius (pronounced HESH-us) is unclear, but we
know that he was a priest and monk who wrote a history of the Church,
unfortunately lost. He also wrote about many of the burning issues of his
day. These included the heresy of Nestorianism, which held that there were
two separate persons in Jesus — one human, one divine — and the heresy of Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ. Some of his commentaries on
the books of the Bible as well, along with meditations on the prophets and
homilies on the Blessed Virgin Mary, still survive. It's believed Hesychius
delivered Easter homilies in the basilica in Jerusalem thought to be the
place of the crucifixion. His words on the Eucharist, written centuries ago,
speak to us today: "Keep yourselves free from sin so that every day you may
share in the mystic meal; by doing so our bodies become the body of Christ."
Hesychius died around the year 450. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 29:
Blessed Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885)
Born in Casoria (near Naples), Arcangelo Palmentieri was a cabinet-maker
before entering the Friars Minor in 1832, taking the
name Ludovico. After
his ordination five years later, he taught chemistry, physics and
mathematics to younger members of his province for several years. In 1847 he
had a mystical experience which he later described as a cleansing. After
that he dedicated his life to the poor and the infirm, establishing a
dispensary for the poor, two schools for African children, an institute for
the children of nobility, as well as an institution for orphans, the deaf
and the speechless, and other institutes for the blind, elderly and for
travelers. In addition to an infirmary for friars of his province, he began
charitable institutes in Naples, Florence and Assisi. He once said,
"Christ’s love has wounded my heart." This love prompted him to great acts
of charity. To help continue these works of mercy, in 1859 he established
the Gray Brothers, a religious community composed of men who formerly
belonged to the Secular Franciscan Order. Three years later he founded the
Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth for the same purpose. Toward the beginning of
his final, nine-year illness, Ludovico wrote a spiritual testament which
described faith as "light in the darkness, help in sickness, blessing in
tribulations, paradise in the crucifixion and life amid death." The local
work for his beatification began within five months of Ludovico’s death. He
was beatified in 1993. Ludovico’s spiritual testament begins: "The Lord
called me to himself with a most tender love, and with an infinite charity
he led and directed me along the path of my life." (AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 30:
St. Peter Regalado (1390-1456)
Peter lived at a very busy time. The Great Western Schism (1378-1417)
was settled at the Council of Constance (1414-1418). France and England
were fighting the Hundred Years’ War, and in 1453 the Byzantine Empire
was completely wiped out by the loss of Constantinople to the Turks. At
Peter’s death the age of printing had just begun in Germany, and Columbus's
arrival in the New World was less than 40 years away. Peter came from a
wealthy and pious family in Valladolid, Spain. At the age of 13, he was
allowed to enter the Conventual Franciscans. Shortly after his ordination,
he was made superior of the friary in Aguilar. He became part of a group
of friars who wanted to lead a life of greater poverty and penance. In
1442 he was appointed head of all the Spanish Franciscans in his reform
group. Peter led the friars by his example. A special love of the poor
and the sick characterized Peter. Miraculous stories are told about his
charity to the poor. For example, the bread never seemed to run out as
long as Peter had hungry people to feed. Throughout most of his life, Peter
went hungry; he lived only on bread and water. Immediately after his death
on March 31, 1456, his grave became a place of pilgrimage. Peter was canonized
in 1746.
Peter was an effective leader of the friars because he did not become
ensnared in anger over the sins of others. Peter helped sinning friars
rearrange the priorities in their lives and dedicate themselves to living
the gospel of Jesus Christ as they had vowed. This patient correction is
an act of charity available to all Franciscans, not just to superiors.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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March 31:
St. Stephen of Mar Saba (d. 794)
A "do not disturb" sign helped today's saint find holiness and peace.
Stephen of Mar Saba was the nephew of St. John Damascene, who introduced
the young boy to monastic life beginning at age 10. When he reached 24,
Stephen served the community in a variety of ways, including guest master.
After some time he asked permission to live a hermit's life. The answer
from the abbot was yes and no: Stephen could follow his preferred lifestyle
during the week, but on weekends he was to offer his skills as a counsellor.
Stephen placed a note on the door of his cell: "Forgive me, Fathers,
in the name of the Lord, but please do not disturb me except on Saturdays
and Sundays." Despite his calling to prayer and quiet, Stephen displayed
uncanny skills with people and was a valued spiritual guide. His biographer
and disciple wrote about Stephen: "Whatever help, spiritual or material,
he was asked to give, he gave. He received and honoured all with the
same kindness. He possessed nothing and lacked nothing. In total poverty
he possessed all things." Stephen died in 794. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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