September 1:
Saint Giles
of Castaneda (d.
710?)(Pictured)
An Abbot, said to have been born of
illustrious Athenian parentage about the middle of the seventh century.
Early in life he devoted himself exclusively to spiritual things, but,
finding his noble birth and high repute for sanctity in his native land
an obstacle to his perfection, he passed over to Gaul, where he
established himself first in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone
and later by the River Gard. But here again the fame of his sanctity
drew multitudes to him, so he withdrew to a dense forest near Nimes,
where in the greatest solitude he spent many years, his sole companion
being a hind. This last retreat was finally discovered by the king's
hunters, who had pursued the hind to its place of refuge. The king [who
according to the legend was Wamba (or Flavius?), King of the Visigoths,
but who must have been a Frank, since the Franks had expelled the
Visigoths from the neighbourhood of Nimes almost a century and a half
earlier] conceived a high esteem for solitary, and would have heaped
every honour upon him; but the humility of the saint was proof against
all temptations. He consented, however, to receive thenceforth some
disciples, and built a monastery in his valley, which he placed under
the rule of St. Benedict. Here he died in the early part of the eighth
century, with the highest repute for sanctity and miracles.
His cult spread rapidly far
and wide throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by the
numberless churches and monasteries dedicated to him in France,
Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the British Isles; by the numerous MSS.
in prose and verse commemorating his virtues and miracles; and
especially by the vast concourse of pilgrims who from all Europe
flocked to his shrine. In 1562 the relics of the saint were secretly
transferred to Toulouse to save them from the hideous excesses of the
Huguenots who were then ravaging France, and the pilgrimage in
consequence declined. With the restoration of a great part of the
relics to the church of St. Giles in 1862, and the discovery of his
former tomb there in 1865, the pilgrimages have recommenced. Besides
the city of St-Gilles, which sprang up around the abbey, nineteen other
cities bear his name, St-Gilles, Toulouse, and a multitude of French
cities, Antwerp, Bridges, and Tournai in Belgium, Cologne and Bamberg,
in Germany, Prague and Gran in Austria-Hungary, Rome and Bologna in
Italy, possess celebrated relics of St. Giles. In medieval art he is a
frequent subject, being always depicted with his symbol, the hind. His
feast is kept on 1 September. On this day there are also commemorated
another St. Giles, an Italian hermit of the tenth century (Acta SS.,
XLI, 305), and a Blessed Giles, d. about 1203, a Cistercian abbot of
Castaneda in the Diocese of Astorga, Spain (op. cit. XLI, 308).
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September 2:
Blessed John Francis Burté
and Companions (d. 1792; d.
1794)
These priests were victims of the French Revolution. Though their martyrdom
spans a period of several years, they stand together in the Church’s memory
because they all gave their lives for the same principle. The Civil Constitution
of the Clergy (1791) required all priests to take an oath which amounted
to a denial of the faith. Each of these men refused and was executed. John
Francis Burté became a Franciscan at 16 and after ordination taught theology
to the young friars. Later he was guardian of the large Conventual friary
in Paris until he was arrested and held in the convent of the Carmelites.
Appolinaris of Posat was born in 1739 in Switzerland. He joined the Capuchins
and acquired a reputation as an excellent preacher, confessor and instructor
of clerics. Sent to the East as a missionary, he was in Paris studying Oriental
languages when the French Revolution began. Refusing the oath, he was swiftly
arrested and detained in the Carmelite convent. Severin Girault, a member
of the Third Order Regular, was a chaplain for a group of sisters in Paris.
Imprisoned with the others, he was the first to die in the slaughter at the
convent. These three plus 182 others — including several bishops and many religious
and diocesan priests — were massacred at the Carmelite house in Paris on September
2, 1792. They were beatified in 1926. John Baptist Triquerie, born in 1737,
entered the Conventual Franciscans. He was chaplain and confessor of Poor
Clare monasteries in three cities before he was arrested for refusing to
take the oath. He and 13 diocesan priests were guillotined in Laval on January
21, 1794. He was beatified in 1955.
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" was the motto of the French Revolution.
If individuals have "inalienable rights," as the Declaration of Independence
states, these must come not from the agreement of society (which can be very
fragile) but directly from God. Do we believe that? Do we act on it? “The
upheaval which occurred in France toward the close of the 18th century wrought
havoc in all things sacred and profane and vented its fury against the Church
and her ministers. Unscrupulous men came to power who concealed their hatred
for the Church under the deceptive guise of philosophy.... It seemed that
the times of the early persecutions had returned. The Church, spotless bride
of Christ, became resplendent with bright new crowns of martyrdom” (Acts
of Martyrdom). (AmericanCatholic.org)
The
martyrs of September It is common knowledge that in
France on the eve of the great revolution of 1789 there were a number
of Catholic religious, priests and bishops who could scarcely be called
“good shepherds.” In contrast to these worldly churchmen, there were
other clerics who made up for the weakness of their brothers by
defending the faith even with their lives. Best known among these
Christian heroes were the clerics executed in September, 1792. Once
established, the revolutionary government had claimed the “republican”
right to take control of the Catholic Church in France. In 1790 it
enacted a “constitution” or law that denied to the pope any authority
over French Catholicism. Each French priest and bishop was ordered to
take an oath to uphold this law. Some priests did so. Most of them
decided they could not, because they would then be denying the
universal authority of the popes. For this refusal they would
eventually suffer. The “liberty” for which the French Revolution was
fought, was not very consistent. As the Revolution moved on, its
leadership came more and more into the hands of extremists. In 1792,
the radical Jacobins determined to punish with death not only the
aristocrats, but clergy who had refused the oath. The “non-jurors” — those who had refused the oath
— were arrested en masse in August,
1792, and herded into several Parisian monasteries out of which the
resident monks had been driven. These prisoners were priests, bishops
and religious from many dioceses. Then on September 2, a band of
violent armed men, perhaps 150 in number, was sent by the “Committee of
Vigilance” to one after the other of these temporary prisons. One
detail arrived at the Abbey of St. Germain just when a number of
prisoners got there, transferred from other places of detention. The
executioners shot them down in cold blood. Then they went to the old
Carmelite monastery, where another group of cutthroats joined them.
They ordered all the prisoners to come out into the garden, even the
oldest and most disabled. The clerics had already discussed once more
the question of taking the oath, and all had agreed they could not and
would not subscribe to it. Now the gang fell upon the first priests
they met and cut them down. Then they called out, “The Archbishop of
Arles!” Archbishop John du Lau of Arles was praying in the chapel. When
summoned, he came out and he said, “I am he whom you seek.” Thereupon,
they cracked his skull, stabbed him and trampled him underfoot. Then
the leader set up a “tribunal” before which the imprisoned were herded
and ordered to take the oath. All refused; so, as they passed down the
stairway, they were hacked to pieces by the murderers. The bishop of
Beauvais had earlier been wounded in the leg. When summoned, he
answered, “I do not refuse to die with the others, but I cannot walk. I
beg you to have the kindness to carry me where you wish me to go.” For
a moment, his courtesy silenced the assassins. But, when he, too,
refused the oath, he was killed like the rest. Later on the purge was
carried out elsewhere in France. Some 200 clergymen fell that
September, and they were only a small percentage of the 1500 clergy,
laymen and laywomen who were massacred in 1792 alone. (Saints)
Pope Pius XI beatified 191 of the priest
martyrs, in 1926, assigning to them the title of “Blessed John du Lau
and Companions, Martyrs.” They had been the helpless victims of wild
revolutionary ideology. As usual, however, their heroism in the defence
of the papacy was remembered long after the names of their
blood-thirsty executioners had been forgotten. They saved the
reputation of France as “eldest daughter of the Church.”
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September 3:
St. Gregory the Great (540?-604)
Coming events cast their shadows before: Gregory was the prefect of Rome
before he was 30. After five years in office he resigned, founded six monasteries
on his Sicilian estate and became a Benedictine monk in his own home at Rome.
Ordained a priest, he became one of the pope's seven deacons, and also served
six years in the East as papal nuncio in Constantinople. He was recalled
to become abbot, and at the age of 50 was elected pope by the clergy and
people of Rome. He was direct and firm. He removed unworthy priests from office,
forbade taking money for many services, emptied the papal treasury to ransom
prisoners of the Lombards and to care for persecuted Jews and the victims
of plague and famine. He was very concerned about the conversion of England,
sending 40 monks from his own monastery. He is known for his reform of the
liturgy, for strengthening respect for doctrine. Whether he was largely responsible
for the revision of "Gregorian" chant is disputed. Gregory lived in a time
of perpetual strife with invading Lombards and difficult relations with the
East. When Rome itself was under attack, it was he who went to interview
the Lombard king. An Anglican historian has written: "It is impossible to
conceive what would have been the confusion, the lawlessness, the chaotic
state of the Middle Ages without the medieval papacy; and of the medieval
papacy, the real father is Gregory the Great." His book, Pastoral Care, on
the duties and qualities of a bishop, was read for centuries after his death.
He described bishops mainly as physicians whose main duties were preaching
and the enforcement of discipline. In his own down-to-earth preaching, Gregory
was skilled at applying the daily gospel to the needs of his listeners. Called
"the Great," Gregory has been given a place with Augustine, Ambrose and Jerome
as one of the four key doctors of the Western Church. Gregory was content
to be a monk, but he willingly served the Church in other ways when asked.
He sacrificed his own preferences in many ways, especially when he was called
to be Bishop of Rome. Once he was called to public service, Gregory gave
his considerable energies completely to this work.
"Perhaps it is not after all so difficult for a man to part with his
possessions, but it is certainly most difficult for him to part with himself.
To renounce what one has is a minor thing; but to renounce what one is, that
is asking a lot" (St. Gregory, Homilies on the Gospels). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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September 4:
St. Rose of Viterbo (1233-1251)
Rose achieved sainthood in only 18 years of life. Even as a child
Rose had a great desire to pray and to aid the poor. While still very young,
she began a life of penance in her parents’ house. She was as generous to
the poor as
she was strict with herself. At the age of 10 she became a Secular
Franciscan and soon began preaching in the streets about sin and the sufferings
of Jesus. Viterbo, her native city, was then in revolt against the pope.
When Rose took the pope’s side against the emperor, she and her family were
exiled from the city. When the pope’s side won in Viterbo, Rose was allowed
to return. Her attempt at age 15 to found a religious community failed, and
she returned to a life of prayer and penance in her father’s home, where
she died in 1251. Rose was canonized in 1457.
The list of Franciscan saints seems to have quite a few men and women
who accomplished nothing very extraordinary. Rose is one of them. She did
not influence popes and kings, did not multiply bread for the hungry and
never established the religious order of her dreams. But she made a place
in her life for God’s grace, and like St. Francis before her, saw death as
the gateway to new life. Rose's dying words to her parents were: "I die with
joy, for I desire to be united to my God. Live so as not to fear death. For
those who live well in the world, death is not frightening, but sweet and
precious." (AmericanCatholic.org)
St.
Rosalia Hermitess, greatly venerated at Palermo and in the
whole of Sicily of which she in patroness. Her feast is celebrated on 4
September. A special feast of the translation of her relics is kept in
Sicily 15 June. There is no account of her before Valerius Rossi (about
1590), though churches were dedicated in her honour in 1237. Her Vita
(Acta SS., 11 Sept., 278) which, according to the Bollandist J.
Stilting, is compiled from local traditions, paintings, and
inscriptions, says: She was the daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Quisquina
and of Rosa, descended from the family of Charlemagne; in youthful days
she left home and hid herself in a cave near Bivona and later in
another of Monte Pellegrino near Palermo, in which she died and was
buried. In 1624 her remains were discovered and brought to the
Cathedral of Palermo. Urban VIII put her name into the Roman
Martyrology. Whether before her retirement she belonged to a religious
community, is not known. The Basilians, in their Martyrology, claim her
as a member. She is often represented as a Basilian nun with a Greek
cross in her hand. Many of her pictures may be found in the Acta SS.
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September 5:
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the
world for her work among the poorest of the poor, was
beatified October 19, 2003. Among those present were hundreds of Missionaries
of Charity, the Order she founded in 1950 as a diocesan religious community.
Today the congregation also includes contemplative sisters and brothers and
an order of priests. Speaking in a strained, weary voice at the beatification
Mass, Pope John Paul II declared 
her blessed, prompting waves of applause
before the 300,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. In his homily, read by
an aide for the aging pope, the Holy Father called Mother Teresa “one of the
most relevant personalities of our age” and “an icon of the Good Samaritan.”
Her life, he said, was “a bold proclamation of the gospel.” Mother Teresa's
beatification, just over six years after her death, was part of an expedited
process put into effect by Pope John Paul II. Like so many others around
the world, he found her love for the Eucharist, for prayer and for the poor
a model for all to emulate. Born to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje,
Macedonia (then part of the Ottoman Empire), Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu was
the youngest of the three children who survived. For a time, the family lived
comfortably, and her father's construction business thrived. But life changed
overnight following his unexpected death. During her years in public school
Agnes participated in a Catholic sodality and showed a strong interest in
the foreign missions. At age 18 she entered the Loreto Sisters of Dublin.
It was 1928 when she said goodbye to her mother for the final time and made
her way
to a new land and a new life. The following year she was sent to the Loreto
novitiate in Darjeeling, India. There she chose the name Teresa and prepared
for a life of service. She was assigned to a high school for girls in Calcutta,
where she taught history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy. But
she could not escape the realities around her — the poverty, the suffering,
the overwhelming numbers of destitute people.
In 1946, while
riding a train to Darjeeling to make a retreat, Sister Teresa heard what
she later explained as “a call within a call. The message was clear. I was
to leave the convent and help the poor while living among 
them.” She also
heard a call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and, instead,
to “follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.”
After receiving permission to leave Loreto, establish a new religious community
and undertake her new work, she took a nursing course for several months.
She returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums and opened a school
for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and sandals (the ordinary dress
of an Indian woman) she soon began getting to know her neighbours — especially
the poor and sick — and getting to know their needs through visits. The work
was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers who came to join
her in the work, some of them former students, became the core of the Missionaries
of Charity. Other helped by donating food, clothing, supplies, the use of
buildings. In 1952 the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel,
which became a home for the dying and the destitute. As the Order expanded,
services were also offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the
aging and street people. For the next four decades Mother Teresa worked tirelessly
on behalf of the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she
crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the
face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize. On September 5, 1997, God called her home. (AmericanCatholic.org)
St. Bertin was born about the beginning of the 7th century near
Constance, France, and received his religious formation at the abbey of
Luxeuil, at that time, the model abbey for the rather strict Rule of
St. Columban. About 639, together with two other monks, he joined St.
Omer, Bishop of Therouanne, who had for two years been evangelizing the
pagan Morini in the low-lying marshy country of the Pas-de-Calais. In
this almost totally idolatrous region, these holy missionary monks
founded a monastery which came to be called St. Mommolin after its
first Abbot. After eight arduous years of preaching the Faith for
Christ, they founded a second monastery at Sithiu, dedicated to St.
Peter. St. Bertin ruled it for nearly sixty years and made it famous;
accordingly, after his death it was called St. Bertin and gave birth to
the town of St. Omer. St. Bertin practiced the greatest austerities and
was in constant communion with God. He also traveled much and trained
disciples who went forth to preach the Faith to others. Among others,
he selected St. Winnoc to found a monastery at Wormhoudt, near Dunkirk,
and this saint figures in many medieval calendars. At an advanced age
(past 100), this zealous preacher of Christ died, surrounded by his
sorrowing monks.
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September 6:
Blessed Claudio Granzotto (1900-1947)
Born in Santa Lucia del Piave near Venice, Claudio was the youngest
of nine children and was accustomed to hard work in the fields. At the age
of nine he lost his father. Six years later he was drafted into the Italian
army, where he served more than three years. His artistic abilities, especially
in sculpture, led to studies at Venice’s Academy of Fine Arts, which awarded
him a diploma with the highest marks in 1929. Even then he was especially
interested in religious art. When Claudio entered the Friars Minor four years
later, his parish priest wrote, "The Order is receiving not only an artist
but a saint." Prayer, charity to the poor and artistic work characterized
his life, which was cut short by a brain tumour. He died on the feast of the
Assumption and was beatified in 1994. Claudio developed into such an excellent
sculptor that his work still turns people toward God. No stranger to adversity,
he met every obstacle courageously, reflecting the generosity, faith and
joy that he learned from Francis of Assisi.
In the beatification homily, Pope John Paul II said that Claudio made
his sculpture "the privileged instrument" of his apostolate and evangelization.
"His holiness was especially radiant in his acceptance of suffering and death
in union with Christ’s Cross. Thus by consecrating himself totally to the
Lord’s love, he became a model for religious, for artists in their search
for God’s beauty and for the sick in his loving devotion to the Crucified"
(L’Osservatore Romano, Vol. 47, No. 1, 1994). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Blessed
Bertrand of Garrigue (+1230) French, priest, one of the
original Dominicans, beloved companion of St. Dominic, ascetic,
established the Order throughout France. Credited many miracles during
life and after death OP (AC) Born at Garrigue, diocese of Nîmes,
France, c. 1195; died near there; cultus confirmed by Leo XIII.
Bertrand was a secular priest under the Cistercians, missioner, and
ardent opponent of Albigensianism when he first met Saint Dominic in
the party of Bishop Diego. Bertrand may have been the one to recruit
Dominic in the battle against the French heretics because they worked
closely together in this mission for the rest of their lives. Bertrand
joined the first Dominican friars by receiving the habit at Toulouse in
1216. Dominic left him in charge of the community when he travelled to
Rome to seek papal approval of the order. Bertrand's zeal and
experience played an important role in the founding of the Friar
Preachers. When the brothers were sent out in little groups on
missions, Bertrand was left in Paris with Matthew of France, where he
helped to form the Dominican tradition of learning and governed the
first foundation at Paris. While Bertrand's advice and prayers helped
to establish the order, he is best remembered as the closest friend and
travelling companion of Saint Dominic, until he was appointed as
provincial of Provence. He witnessed the miracles and heavenly favors
bestowed upon his friend and provided us with insightful testimony
about the heart and mind of the founder. Bertrand himself was credited
with many miracles, both during his life and after his death. Others
considered him a "second Dominic" in austerity and holiness, but he
humbly overlooked his own claims to sanctity in his loving insistence
on those of his friend. Bertrand was preaching a mission to the
Cistercian sisters of Saint Mary of the Woods near Garrigue, when he
fell sick and died. He was buried in the sisters' cemetery until the
frequency of miracles suggested that he should be given a more suitable
shrine. His relics were lost and shrine destroyed during the religious
wars, but pilgrimages were still made to "Saint Bertrand's Cemetery"
until the time of the French Revolution (Benedictines, Dorcy).
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September 7:
Blessed Frederick Ozanam (1813-1853)
A man convinced of the inestimable worth of each human being, Frederick
served the poor of Paris well and drew others into serving the poor of the
world. Through the St. Vincent de Paul Society, his work continues to the
present day. Frederick was the fifth of Jean 
and Marie Ozanam’s 14 children, one of only three to reach adulthood. As
a teenager he began having doubts about his religion. Reading and prayer
did not seem to help, but long walking discussions with Father Noirot of
the Lyons College clarified matters a great deal. Frederick wanted to study
literature, although his father, a doctor, wanted him to become a lawyer.
Frederick yielded to his father’s wishes and in 1831 arrived in Paris to
study law at the University of the Sorbonne. When certain professors there
mocked Catholic teachings in their lectures, Frederick defended the Church.
A discussion club which Frederick organized sparked the turning point in
his life. In this club Catholics, atheists and agnostics debated the issues
of the day. Once, after Frederick spoke on Christianity’s role in civilization,
a club member said: "Let us be frank, Mr. Ozanam; let us also be very particular.
What do you do besides talk to prove the faith you claim is in you?" Frederick
was stung by the question. He soon decided that his words needed a grounding
in action. He and a friend began visiting Paris tenements and offering assistance
as best they could. Soon a group dedicated to helping individuals in need
under the patronage of St. Vincent de Paul formed around Frederick. Feeling
that the Catholic faith needed an excellent speaker to explain its teachings,
Frederick convinced the Archbishop of Paris to appoint Father Lacordaire,
the greatest preacher then in France, to preach a Lenten series in Notre
Dame Cathedral. It was well attended and became an annual tradition in 
Paris. After Frederick earned his law degree at the Sorbonne, he taught law
at the University of Lyons. He also earned a doctorate in literature. Soon
after marrying Amelie Soulacroix on June 23, 1841, he returned to the Sorbonne
to teach literature. A well-respected lecturer, Frederick worked to bring
out the best in each student. Meanwhile, the St. Vincent de Paul Society was
growing throughout Europe. Paris alone counted 25 conferences. In 1846, Frederick,
Amelie and their daughter Marie went to Italy; there Frederick hoped to restore
his poor health. They returned the next year. The revolution of 1848 left
many Parisians in need of the services of the St. Vincent de Paul conferences.
The unemployed numbered 275,000. The government asked Frederick and his co-workers
to supervise the government aid to the poor. Vincentians throughout Europe
came to the aid of Paris. Frederick then started a newspaper, The New Era,
dedicated to securing justice for the poor and the working classes. Fellow
Catholics were often unhappy with what Frederick wrote. Referring to the
poor man as "the nation’s priest," Frederick said that the hunger and sweat
of the poor formed a sacrifice that could redeem the people’s humanity. In
1852 poor health again forced Frederick to return to Italy with his wife
and daughter. He died on September 8, 1853. In his sermon at Frederick’s
funeral, Lacordaire described his friend as "one of those privileged creatures
who came direct from the hand of God in whom God joins tenderness to genius
in order to enkindle the world." Frederick was beatified in 1997. Since Frederick
wrote an excellent book entitled Franciscan Poets of the Thirteenth Century
and since Frederick’s sense of the dignity of each poor person was so close
to the thinking of St. Francis, it seemed appropriate to include him among
Franciscan "greats."
"Those who mock the poor insult their Maker" (Proverbs 17:5). Frederick Ozanam never demeaned the poor in offering whatever service he could. Each
man, woman and child was too precious for that. Serving the poor taught Frederick
something about God that he could learn only there. Professor Bailly, the
spiritual leader of the first St. Vincent de Paul conference, told Frederick
and his first companions in charity, "Like St. Vincent, you, too, will find the
poor will do more for you than you will do for them." (AmericanCatholic.org)
Saint Regina
is a second century saint who was born
in Autun, France. She also called Reine and Reyne and is known almost
entirely through legend. According to tradition, she was the daughter
of Clement Alise, a pagan in Burgundy, and was raised a Christian by a
local woman after the death of her mother during childbirth. When her
father learned of her Christianity, he threw her out of the house and
she was forced to live with the woman who raised her. Regina was for a
time a shepherdess. The local prefect, Olybrius, became enamoured with
her and demanded her hand in marriage. When she refused, she was
arrested as a Christian, tortured, and beheaded.
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September 8:
Birth of Mary
The Church has celebrated Mary's birth
since at least the sixth century.
A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church 
begins its Church year with September. The September 8 date helped determine
the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8
(nine months
earlier). Scripture does not give an account of Mary's birth. However, the
apocryphal Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This work has no historical
value, but it does reflect the development of Christian piety. According
to this account, Anna and Joachim are infertile but pray for a child. They
receive the promise of a child that will advance God's plan of salvation
for the world. Such a story (like many biblical counterparts) stresses the
special presence of God in Mary's life from the beginning. St. Augustine
connects Mary's birth with Jesus' saving work. He tells the earth to rejoice
and shine forth in the light of her birth. "She is the flower of the field
from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the
nature inherited from our first parents is changed." The opening prayer at
Mass speaks of the birth of Mary's Son as the dawn of our salvation and asks
for an increase of peace.
We can see every human birth as a call for new hope in the world. The love
of two human beings has joined with God in his creative work. The loving
parents have shown hope in a world filled with travail. The new child has
the potential to be a channel of God's love and peace to the world. This
is all true in a magnificent way in Mary. If Jesus is the perfect expression
of God's love, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If Jesus has brought
the fullness of salvation, Mary is its dawning. Birthday celebrations bring
happiness to the celebrant as well as to family and friends. Next to the
birth of Jesus, Mary's birth offers the greatest possible happiness to the
world.
Each time we celebrate her birth we can confidently hope for an increase
of peace in our hearts and in the world at large.
"Today the barren Anna claps her hands for joy, the earth radiates with light,
kings sing their happiness, priests enjoy every blessing, the entire universe
rejoices, for she who is queen and the Father's immaculate bride buds forth
from the stem of Jesse" (adapted from Byzantine Daily Worship).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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September 9:
St. Peter Claver (1581-1654)
A native of Spain, young Jesuit Peter Claver left his homeland forever
in 1610 to be a missionary in the colonies of the New World. He sailed into
Cartagena (now in Colombia), a rich port city washed by the Caribbean. He
was ordained there in 1615. By this time the slave trade had been established
in the Americas for nearly 100 years, and Cartagena was a chief centre for
it. Ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year after crossing the
Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so
foul and inhuman that an estimated
one-third of the passengers died in transit. Although the practice of slave-trading
was condemned by Pope Paul III and later labelled "supreme villainy" by Pius
IX, it continued to flourish. Peter Claver's predecessor, Jesuit Father Alfonso
de Sandoval, had devoted himself to the service of the slaves for 40 years
before Claver arrived to continue his work, declaring himself "the slave
of the Negroes forever." As soon as a slave ship entered the port, Peter
Claver moved into its infested hold to minister to the ill-treated and miserable
passengers. After the slaves were herded out of the ship like chained animals
and shut up in nearby yards to be gazed at by the crowds, Claver plunged
in among them with medicines, food, bread, brandy, lemons and tobacco. With
the help of interpreters he gave basic instructions and assured his brothers
and sisters of their human dignity and God's saving love. During the 40 years
of his ministry, Claver instructed and baptized an estimated 300,000 slaves.
His apostolate extended beyond his care for slaves. He became a moral force,
indeed, the apostle of Cartagena. He preached in the city square, gave missions
to sailors and traders as well as country missions, during which he avoided,
when possible, the hospitality of the planters and owners and lodged in the
slave quarters instead. After four years of sickness which forced the saint
to remain inactive and largely neglected, he died on September 8, 1654. The
city magistrates, who had previously frowned at his solicitude for the black
outcasts, ordered that he should be buried at public expense and with great
pomp. He was canonized in 1888, and Pope Leo XIII declared him the worldwide
patron of missionary work among black slaves.
The Holy Spirit's might and power are manifested in the striking decisions
and bold actions of Peter Claver. A decision to leave one's homeland never
to return reveals a gigantic act of will difficult for the contemporary mind
to imagine. Peter's determination to serve forever the most abused, rejected
and lowly of all people is stunningly heroic. When we measure our lives against
such a man's, we become aware of our own barely used potential and of our
need to open ourselves more to the jolting power of Jesus' Spirit. Peter
Claver understood that concrete service like the distributing of medicine,
food or brandy to his black brothers and sisters could be as effective a
communication of the word of God as mere verbal preaching. As Peter Claver
often said, "We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them
with our lips." (AmericanCatholic.org)
St. Peter Claver
(1580-1654) Born in Spain, the
son of a farmer, Peter Claver entered the Society of Jesus and was
ordained in 1615 in Cartagena, South America, where he had made his
higher studies. Cartagena was the centre of the infamous slave trade,
where many thousands of African slaves were landed after crossing the
ocean amid inhuman conditions, and then penned like animals in yards.
Their terrible plight, corporal and spiritual, tore at the heart of the
young Jesuit and he determined to devote himself to the alleviation of
their misery. At his profession he had vowed "to be a slave of the
slaves forever," and he now began to carry out this vow. Though his
main concern was the salvation of the slaves, he realized that their
bodily misery needed attention first. "We must speak to them with our
hands," he said, "before we can speak to them with our lips." His love
and his endurance seemed boundless. Taking only a minimum of sleep, he
ministered tirelessly to the slaves, washing and tending their wounds,
feeding them with food begged in the city, burying their dead,
comforting them so lovingly that he appeared like an angel from heaven.
He saw in them not only Christ's brothers and sisters, but souls for
whom He had bled and died. He instructed the adults by means of
interpreters and pictures, and during the forty years of his heroic
apostolic labours he is said to have baptized over 300,000, including
infants. He fought courageously for enforcement of the law providing
for the Christian marriage of the slaves and forbidding the separation
of families. Every spring he conducted missions for the slaves in the
country, and in fall for the sailors and traders in the city, preaching
in the streets' hearing confessions for hours on end, so that he also
became the apostle of Cartagena itself. The plague struck the city in
1650, and Peter was one of its first victims. For four years he was
bedridden in his cell, unable to work, and almost forgotten. However,
when he announced his approaching end, crowds came to kiss his hands
and feet and to take away from his cell whatever they could as relics.
He was given a public burial, and the fame of his heroism, his
holiness, and his miracles soon spread throughout the world. Leo XIII
declared him the patron of all missionary work among the Negroes.
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September 10:
St. Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555)
St. Thomas was from Castile in Spain and received his surname from
the town where he was raised. He received a superior education at the University
of Alcala and became a popular professor of philosophy there. After joining
the Augustinian friars at Salamanca he was ordained and resumed his teaching,
despite a continuing absentmindedness and poor memory. He became prior and
then provincial of the friars, sending the first Augustinians to the New World.
He was nominated by the emperor to the archbishopric of Granada, but refused.
When the see again became vacant he was pressured to accept.
The money his
cathedral chapter gave him to furnish his house was given to a hospital instead.
His explanation to them was that "our Lord will be better served by your
money being spent on the poor in the hospital. What does a poor friar like
myself want with furniture?" He wore the same habit that he had received
in the novitiate, mending it himself. The canons and domestics were ashamed
of him, but they could not convince him
to change. Several hundred poor came
to Thomas's door each morning and received a meal, wine and money.
When criticized
because he was at times being taken advantage of, he replied, "If there are
people who refuse to work, that is for the governor and the police to deal
with. My duty is to assist and relieve those who come to my door." He took
in orphans and paid his servants for every deserted child they brought to
him. He encouraged the wealthy to imitate his example and be richer in mercy
and charity than they were in earthly possessions. Criticized because he
refused to be harsh or swift in correcting sinners, he said, "Let him (the
complainer) inquire whether St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom used anathemas
and excommunication to stop the drunkenness and blasphemy which were so common
among the people under their care." As he lay dying, Thomas commanded that
all the money he possessed be distributed to the poor. His material goods
were to be given to the rector of his college. Mass was being said in his
presence when after Communion he breathed his last, reciting the words: "Into
your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." Thomas of Villanova was already
called in his lifetime "the almsgiver" and "the father of the poor." He was
canonized in 1658.
The absent-minded professor is a stock comic figure. This absent-minded
professor earned even more derisive laughs with his determined shabbiness
and his willingness to let the poor who flocked to his door take advantage
of him. He embarrassed his peers, but Jesus was enormously pleased with him.
We are often tempted to tend our image in others’ eyes without paying sufficient
attention about how we look to Christ. Thomas still urges us to rethink our
priorities. (AmericanCatholic.org)
Saint Nicholas of
Tolentino Nicholas Gurrutti was born in the village of
Sant'Angelo in Pontano, Italy in 1245. His parents, middle-aged
and childless, made a pilgrimage to the 
shrine of Saint
Nicholas of Bari, their special patron, to ask his intercession on
their behalf. Shortly thereafter, a son was born to them whom
they named Nicholas out of gratitude. At an early age Nicholas was
greatly moved by the preaching of the Augustinian, Father Reginaldo do
Monterubbiano, prior of the monastery of Sant'Angelo, and requested
admission to the community. He was accepted by the friars and made his
novitiate in 1261. Nicholas directed his efforts to being a good
religious and priest, and soon became renowned for his charity toward
his confreres and all God's people. His religious formation was
greatly influenced by the spirituality of the hermits of Brettino, one
of the congregations which came to form part of the "Grand Union" of
Augustinians in 1256. whose communities were located in the region of
the March where Nicholas was born and raised. Characteristic of these
early hermits of Brettino was a great emphasis on poverty, rigorous
practices of fasting and abstinence and long periods of the day devoted
to communal and private prayer. As Nicholas entered the Order at
its inception he learned to combine the ascetical practices of the
Brettini with the apostolic thrust which the Church now invited the
Augustinians to practice. At times, Nicholas devoted himself to
prayer and works of penance with such intensity that it was necessary
for his superiors to impose limitations on him. At one point he
was so weakened though fasting that he was encouraged in a vision of
Mary and the child Jesus to eat a piece of bread signed with the cross
and soaked in water to regain his strength. Thereafter he
followed this practice in ministering to the sick himself. In his
honor the custom of blessing and distributing the "Bread of Saint
Nicholas" in continued by the Augustinians in many places today.
Nicholas was ordained to the priesthood in 1271. He lived in
several difference monasteries of the Augustinian Order, engaged
principally in the ministry of preaching. In 1275 he was
sent to Tolentino and remained there for the rest of his
life. Nicholas worked to counteract the decline of morality
and religion which came with the development of city life in the late
thirteenth century. He ministered to the sick and the poor, and
actively sought out those who had become estranged from the
Church. A fellow religious describes Nicholas' ministry in
these words: "He was a joy to those who were sad, a consolation to the
suffering, peace to those at variance, refreshment to those who toiled,
support for the poor, and a healing balm for prisoners."
Nicholas' reputation as a saintly man and a worker of miracles led many
people to the monastery of Tolentino. When in 1884 Nicholas was
proclaimed "Patron Saint of the Souls in Purgatory" by Pope Leo XIII,
confirmation was given to a long-standing aspect of devotion toward
this friar which is traced to an event in his own life. On a
certain Saturday night as he lay in bed, Nicholas heard Fra Pellegrino
of Osimo, a deceased friar who Nicholas had known. Fra Pellegrino
revealed that he was in purgatory and he begged Nicholas to offer Mass
for him and for the other suffering souls so that they might be set
free. For the next seven days, Nicholas did so and was rewarded
with a second vision in which the deceased confrere expressed his
gratitude and assurance that a great number of people were now enjoying
the presence of God through Nicholas' prayers. As this event
became known, many people approached Nicholas, asking his intercession
on behalf of their own deceased relatives and friends. Nicholas died in
Tolentino on September 10th, 1305. He was declared a saint in
1446 - the first member of the Augustinian Order to be canonized.
Saint Nicholas' body is venerated in the basilica in Tolentino which
bears his name. His feast is celebrated by the Augustinian family
on this day each September.
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September 11:
St. Cyprian (d. 258)
Cyprian is important in the development of Christian thought and practice
in the third century, especially in northern Africa. Highly educated, a famous
orator, he was converted to Christianity as an adult. He distributed his
goods to the poor, and amazed his fellow citizens by making a vow of chastity
before his Baptism. Within two years he had been ordained a
priest and was
chosen, against his will, as Bishop of Carthage (near modern Tunis). Cyprian
complained that the peace the Church had enjoyed had weakened the spirit
of many Christians and had opened the door to converts who did not have the
true spirit of faith. When the Decian persecution began, many Christians
easily abandoned the Church. It was their reinstatement that caused the great
controversies of the third century, and helped the Church progress in its
understanding of the Sacrament of Penance. Novatus, a priest who had opposed
Cyprian's election, set himself up in Cyprian's absence (he had fled to a
hiding place from which to direct the Church — bringing criticism on himself)
and received back all apostates without imposing any canonical penance. Ultimately
he was condemned. Cyprian held a middle course, holding that those who had
actually sacrificed to idols could receive Communion only at death, whereas
those who had only bought certificates saying they had sacrificed could be
admitted after a more or less lengthy period of penance. Even this was relaxed
during a new persecution. During a plague in Carthage, he urged Christians
to help everyone, including their enemies and persecutors. A friend of Pope
Cornelius, Cyprian opposed the following pope, Stephen. He and the other
African bishops would not recognize the validity of Baptism conferred by
heretics and schismatics. This was not the universal view of the Church,
but Cyprian was not intimidated even by Stephen's threat of excommunication.
He was exiled by the emperor and then recalled for trial. He refused to leave
the city, insisting that his people should have the witness of his martyrdom.
Cyprian was a mixture of kindness and courage, vigour and steadiness. He
was cheerful and serious, so that people did not know whether to love or
respect him more. He waxed warm during the baptismal controversy; his feelings
must have concerned him, for it was at this time that he wrote his treatise
on patience. St. Augustine remarks that Cyprian atoned for his anger by his
glorious martyrdom.
The controversies about Baptism and Penance in the third century remind
us that the early Church had no ready-made solutions from the Holy Spirit.
The leaders and members of the Church of that day had to move painfully through
the best series of judgments they could make in an attempt to follow the
entire teaching of Christ and not be diverted by exaggerations to right or
left. “You cannot have God for your Father if you do not have the Church
for your mother.... God is one and Christ is one, and his Church is one;
one is the faith, and one is the people cemented together by harmony into
the strong unity of a body.... If we are the heirs of Christ, let us abide
in the peace of Christ; if we are the sons of God, let us be lovers of peace”
(St. Cyprian, The Unity of the Catholic Church). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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September 12:
Holy Name of Mary
This feast is a counterpart to the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (January
3); both have the
possibility of uniting people easily divided on other matters. The feast
of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and in 1671 was extended
to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683, John Sobieski, king of
Poland, brought an army to the outskirts of Vienna to stop the advance of
Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople. After Sobieski entrusted
himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated
the Muslims. Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the entire Church.
Mary always points us to God, reminding us of God's infinite goodness.
She helps us to open our hearts to God's ways, wherever those may lead us.
Honoured under the title “Queen of Peace,” Mary encourages us to cooperate
with Jesus in building a peace based on justice, a peace that respects the
fundamental human rights (including religious rights)
of all peoples.
“Lord our God, when your Son was dying on the altar of the cross, he gave
us as our mother the one he had chosen to be his own mother, the Blessed
Virgin Mary; grant that we who call upon the holy name of Mary, our mother,
with confidence in her protection may receive strength and comfort in all
our needs” (Marian Sacramentary, Mass for the Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin
Mary). (AmericanCatholic.org)
St. Apollinaris
Claudius A Christian apologist, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia
in the second century. He became famous for his polemical treatises
against the heretics of his day, whose errors he showed to be entirely
borrowed from the pagans. He wrote two books against the Jews, five
against the pagans, and two on "Truth." In 177 he published an eloquent
"Apologia" for the Christians, addressed to Marcus Aurelius, and
appealing to the Emperor's own experience with the "Thundering Legion",
whose prayers won him the victory over the Quadi. The exact date of his death is
not known, but it was probably while Marcus Aurelius was still Emperor. None of
his writings are extant.
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September 13:
John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor of the Church (d.
407)
The ambiguity and intrigue surrounding John, the great preacher (his
name means "golden-
mouthed") from Antioch, are characteristic of the life of any great man in
a capital city. Brought to Constantinople after a dozen years of priestly
service in Syria, John found himself the reluctant victim of an imperial
ruse to make him bishop in the greatest city of the empire. Ascetic, unimposing
but dignified, and troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a
monk, John began his episcopate under the cloud of imperial politics. If
his body was
weak, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons, his
exegesis of Scripture, were never without a point. Sometimes the point stung
the high and mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours.
His life-style at the imperial court was not appreciated by some courtiers.
He offered a modest table to episcopal sycophants hanging around for imperial
and ecclesiastical favours. John deplored the court protocol that accorded
him precedence before the highest state officials. He would not be a kept
man. His zeal led him to decisive action. Bishops who bribed their way into
their office were deposed. Many of his sermons called for concrete steps
to share wealth with the poor. The rich did not appreciate hearing from John
that private property existed because of Adam's fall from grace any more than
married men liked to hear that they were bound to marital fidelity just as
much as their wives. When it came to justice and charity, John acknowledged
no double standards. Aloof, energetic, outspoken, especially when he became
excited in the pulpit, John was a sure target for criticism and personal
trouble. He was accused of gorging himself secretly on rich wines and fine
foods. His faithfulness as spiritual director to the rich widow, Olympia,
provoked much gossip attempting to prove him a hypocrite where wealth and
chastity were concerned. His action taken against unworthy bishops in Asia
Minor was viewed by other ecclesiastics as a greedy, uncanonical extension
of his authority. Two prominent personages who personally undertook to discredit
John were Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, and Empress Eudoxia. Theophilus
feared the growth in importance of the Bishop of Constantinople and took
occasion to charge John with fostering heresy. Theophilus and other angered
bishops were supported by Eudoxia. The empress resented his sermons contrasting
gospel values with the excesses of imperial court life. Whether intended
or not, sermons mentioning the lurid Jezebel and impious Herodias were associated
with the empress, who finally did manage to have John exiled. He died in
exile in 407.
Bishops "should set forth the ways by which are to be solved very
grave questions concerning the ownership, increase and just distribution
of material goods, peace and war, and brotherly relations among all people"
(Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops, 12). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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September 14:
St. Notburga
Patroness of poor peasants and servants in the Tyrol.
Born in Rattenberg, in the Tyrol, she was the daughter of peasants. At eighteen
she became a servant in the household of Count Henry of Rattenberg When Notburga
repeatedly gave food to the poor, she was dismissed by Count Henry’s wife,
Ottilia, and took up a position as a servant to a humble farmer. Meanwhile,
Henry suffering a run of misfortune and setbacks, wasted no time restoring
Notburga to her post after his wife died. Notburga remained his housekeeper for
the rest of her life, and was famous for her miracles and concern for the poor.
(www.catholic.org)
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September 15:
Our Lady of Sorrows
For a while there were two feasts in honour of the Sorrowful Mother:
one going back to the 15th
century, the other to the 17th
century. For a while both were celebrated
by the universal Church: one on the Friday before Palm Sunday, the other
in September. The principal biblical references to Mary's sorrows are in
Luke 2:35 and John 19:26-27. The Lucan passage is Simeon's prediction about
a sword piercing Mary's soul; the Johannine passage relates Jesus' words
to Mary and to the beloved disciple. Many early Church writers interpret
the sword as Mary's sorrows, especially as she saw Jesus die on the cross.
Thus, the two passages are brought together as prediction and fulfilment.
St. Ambrose in particular sees Mary as a sorrowful yet powerful figure at
the cross. Mary stood fearlessly at the cross while others fled. Mary looked
on her Son's wounds with pity, but saw in them the salvation of the world.
As Jesus hung on the cross, Mary did not fear to be killed but offered herself
to her persecutors.
John's account of Jesus' death is highly symbolic. When Jesus gives the beloved
disciple to Mary, we are invited to appreciate Mary's role in the Church:
She symbolizes the Church; the beloved disciple represents all believers.
As Mary mothered Jesus, she is now mother to all his followers. Furthermore,
as Jesus died, he handed over his Spirit. Mary and the Spirit cooperate in
begetting new children of God — almost an echo of Luke's account of Jesus'
conception. Christians can trust that they will continue to experience the
caring presence of Mary and Jesus' Spirit throughout their lives and throughout
history.
"At the cross her station
keeping,
Stood the mournful mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.
Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
All his bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed."
(Stabat Mater) (AmericanCatholic.org)
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September 16:
Saints Cornelius and Cyprian
St. Cornelius: Pope Cornelius
(251-253) was the successor to Pope Fabian.
During his reign a controversy
arose concerning the manner of reinstating those who had fallen from the
faith under the duress of persecution. The Novatians accused the Pope of
too great indulgence and separated themselves from the Church. With the help
of St. Lucina, Cornelius transferred the remains of the princes of the apostles
to places of greater honour. On account of his successful preaching the pagans
banished him to Centumcellae, where he died. St. Cyprian sent him a letter
of condolence. At the time of Pope Cornelius there were at Rome forty-six
priests, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, forty-two acolytes, fifty-two clerics
and more than five hundred widows who were supported by the Church (according
to Cornelius' letter to Bishop Fabian of Antioch).
St. Cyprian: Thascius Caecilius
Cyprianus, illustrious as a pagan rhetorician in Carthage, embraced the true
faith in the year 246 and was soon thereafter consecrated priest and bishop
of that city (248). He was an energetic shepherd of souls and a prolific
writer. He defended the unity of the Church against schismatic movements
in Africa and Italy, and greatly influenced the shaping of Church discipline
relative to reinstating Christians who had apostatized. He fled during the
Decian persecution but guided the Church by means of letters. During the
Valerian persecution (258) he was beheaded. He suffered martyrdom in the
presence of his flock, after giving the executioner twenty-five pieces of
gold. St. Jerome says of him: "It is superfluous to speak of his greatness,
for his works are more luminous than the sun." Cyprian ranks as an important
Church Father, one whose writings are universally respected and often read
in the Divine Office. His principal works are: On the Unity of the
Church; On Apostates; a collection of Letters;
The Lord's Prayer; On the Value of Patience.
Saint Cornelius, pope and martyr, and Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr
Saint Cornelius
was elected pope in 251 during the
persecutions of the Emperor Decius. His first challenge, besides the
ever present threat of the Roman authorities, was to bring an end to
the schism brought on by his rival, the first anti-pope
Novatian. He convened a synod of bishops to confirm him as the rightful
successor of Peter. The great controversy that arose as a result of the
Decian persecution was whether or not the Church could pardon and receive
back into the Church those who had apostacized in the face of
martyrdom. Against both the bishops who argued that the Church could
not welcome back apostates and those who argued that they should be
welcomed back but did not demand a heavy penance of the penitent,
Cornelius decreed that they must be welcomed back and insisted that
they perform an adequate penance. In 253 Cornelius was exiled by the
emperor Gallus and died of the hardships he endured in exile. He
is venerated as a martyr.
(Saints)
Saint Cyprian of
Carthage is second in importance
only to the great Saint Augustine as a figure and Father of the African
church. He was a close friend of Pope Cornelius and supported him both
against the anti-pope Novatian, and in his views concerning the
re-admittance of apostates into the Church. Saint Cyprian was born to
wealthy pagans about the year 190 and educated in the classics and
rhetoric. He converted at the age of 56, was ordained a priest a year
later and a bishop two years after that. His writings are of great
importance, especially his treatise on The Unity of the Catholic Church
in which he argues that unity is grounded in the authority of the
bishop, and among the bishops, in the primacy of the See of Rome.
During the Decian persecutions Cyprian considered it wiser to go into
hiding and guide his flock covertly rather than seek the glorious crown
of martyrdom, a decision that his enemies attacked him for. On
September 14, 258, however, he was martyred during the persecutions of
the emperor Valerian. In, "The Unity of the Catholic Church," St.
Cyprian writes, "You cannot have God for your Father if youdo not have
the Church for your mother.... God is one and Christ is one, and his
Church is one; one is the faith, and one is the people cemented
together by harmony into the strong unity of a body.... If we are the
heirs of Christ, let us abide in the peace of Christ; if we are the
sons of God, let us be lovers of peace."
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September 17:
St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621)
He was born at Montepulciano in Tuscany on October 4, 1542, the feast of
the Poverello of Assisi
toward whom he always cherished a special devotion. The day on which he died
(in Rome), September 17, is now the feast in honour of the stigmata of St.
Francis. The son of noble parents, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1560,
finishing his theological studies at Louvain, Belgium. His services to the
Church were outstanding and many. He occupied the chair of controversial theology
in Rome. He defended the Holy See against anti-clericals. He wrote books
against the prevailing heresies of the day. His catechism, translated into
many languages, spread the knowledge of Christian doctrine to all parts of
the world. He was the Counsellor of Popes and spiritual director of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. He helped St. Francis de Sales obtain approval of the Visitation
Order. As a religious he was a model of purity, humility and obedience; as
a bishop and Cardinal, an example of great love for his flock. He easily
ranks among the greatest Jesuits, illustrious for learning as well as for
piety, humility, and simplicity of heart. If it were possible to summarize
his life in a single sentence, one that would resolve all the varied activities
and accomplishments of his long career, a verse from the psalm might serve:
"If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten." His most important
work was controversial in nature but the impact of his presentation "resembled
the final chord in a mighty cantata, a chord that resounded through all the
vice and scandal resulting from the internal corruption of the Church of
that day, and that chord heralded Mother Church as one, holy, and Catholic"
(E. Birminghaus). Bellarmine also acted as confessor to the youthful Aloysius
and John Berchmans. It might be asked why three hundred years passed before
the beatification and canonization of Bellarmine. Long ago Bishop Hefele pointed
to the reason when he wrote: "Bellarmine deserves the highest degree
of respect from Catholics, even though he has not been canonized. Those who
laboured to besmirch him have only erected a monument of shame for themselves!"
Finally in 1923, he was beatified; canonization followed in 1930, and on
September 17, 1931, Pope Pius XI declared him a doctor of the Church. (CatholicCulture)
St. Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor of the Church (Picture) Born 4
October 1542 at Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy as Roberto Francesco
Romolo. Died in the morning of 17 
September 1621 at
Rome, Italy of natural causes; buried in Rome; relics translated to the
church of Saint Ignatius, Rome on 21 June 1923
Third of ten children on
Vincenzo Bellarmine and Cinzia Cervini, a family of impoverished
nobles. His mother, a niece of Pope Marcellus II, was dedicated to
almsgiving, prayer, meditation, fasting, and mortification. Suffered
assorted health problems all his life. Educated by Jesuits as a boy.
Joined the Jesuits on 20 September 1560 over his father's opposition;
he wanted Robert to enter politics. Studied at the Collegio Romano from
1560 to 1563, Jesuit centers in Florence in 1563 and Mondovi, Piedmont;
the University of Padua in 1567 and 1568, and the University of
Louvain, Flanders in 1569. Ordained on Palm Sunday, 1570 in Ghent,
Belgium.
Professor of theology at the University
of Louvain from 1570 to 1576. A the request of Pope Gregory XIII, he
taught polemical theology at the Collegio Romano from 1576 to 1587.
While there he wrote Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei
adversus hujus temporis hereticos, the most complete work of the day to
defend Catholicism against Protestant attack. Spiritual director of the
Roman College from 1588. Taught Jesuit students and other children;
wrote a children's catechism, Dottrina cristiana breve. Wrote a
catechism for teachers, Dichiarazione piu copiosa della dottrina
cristiana. Confessor of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga until his death, and
then worked for the boy's canonization. In 1590 he worked in France to
defend the interests of the Church during a period of turmoil and
conflict. Member of the commission for the 1592 revision of the Vulgate
Bible. Rector of the Collegio Romano from 1592 to 1594. Provincial of
the Jesuit province in Naples from 1594 to 1597. Theologian to Pope
Clement VIII from 1597 to 1599. Examiner of bishops and consultor of
the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition
in 1597; strongly considered with discipline among the bishops. Created
Cardinal-priest on 3 March 1598 by Pope Clement VIII; he lived an
austere life in Rome, giving most of his money to the poor. At one
point he used the tapestries in his living quarters to clothe the poor,
saying that "the walls won't catch cold."
Defended the Apostolic See against anti-clericals in
Venice, and the political tenets of James I of England. Wrote
exhaustive works against heresies of the day. Took a position
fundamentally democratic - authority originates with God, is vested in
the people, who entrust it to fit rulers, a concept which brought him
trouble with the kings of both England and France. Spiritual father of
Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Helped Saint Francis de Sales obtain formal
approval of the Visitation Order. Noted preacher. Archbishop of Capua
on 18 March 1602. Part of the two conclaves of 1605. Involved in
disputes between the Republic of Venice and the Vatican in 1606 and
1607 concerning clerical discipline and Vatican authority. Involved in
the controversy between King James I and the Vatican in 1607 and 1609
concerning cntrol of the Church in England. Wrote Tractatus de
potestate Summi Pontificis in rebus temporalibus adversus Gulielmum
Barclaeum in opposition to Gallicanism. Opposed action against Galileo
Galilei in 1615, and established a friendly correspondence with him,
but was forced to deliver the order for the scientist to submit to the
Church. Part of the conclave of 1621, and was considered for Pope.
Theological advisor to Pope Paul V. Head of the Vatican library.
Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Rites. Prefect of the Sacred
Congregation of the Index. Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on 17
September 1931.
Venerated 1627 by Pope Urban VIII when he began the process for canonization.
Beatified 13 May 1923 by Pope Pius XI. Canonized 29 June 1930 by
Pope Pius XI.
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September 18:
St. Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663)
Joseph of Cupertino was such an extraordinary saint that his fellow-Christians
could scarcely cope with him. First of all he was forgetful, even as a child,
often not turning up for the scanty meals his impoverished widowed mother
prepared. He would wander about the village of Cupertino, Italy, where he
was born, gazing open-mouthed at everything. He found it hard to learn. And
he was clumsy. When he was seventeen he decided he wanted to become a monk
or friar. The Franciscans would not take him because, they said, he was too
stupid. The Capuchins threw him out after eight months because he broke everything.
Eventually a Franciscan house at La Grotella accepted him as a stableboy.
He prayed and fasted and did his best to perform every task to perfection.
Eventually the delighted brothers decided to accept him as one of their equals,
and in 1628 he was ordained priest. From that time onwards Joseph of Cupertino
was continually passing into ecstatic trances, sometimes even appearing to
float above the ground. No meals could be taken in the monastery without
some extraordinary interruption because of Joseph's miraculous behaviour.
For thirty-five years the community decided that he should be kept out of
the choir and refectory. Naturally enough his miracles and above all the
reports of his supernatural levitations attracted countless curious visitors.
In 1653 the church authorities transferred him to a Capuchin friary in the
hills of Pietarossa and kept him completely out of sight. Finally Saint Joseph
was allowed to join his own order at a place called Osima, but he was still
kept out of sight until his death in 1663. All this he bore without the remotest
complaint. Fittingly the twentieth century has made the saint patron of pilots
and airline passengers. (Catholic Culture)
More on Joseph of Cupertino: http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/JOSEPH.htm
St
Joseph of Cupertino Born 17 June 1603 as Joseph Desa
at Cupertino, diocese of Nardo, in the kingdom of Naples. Died 18
September 1663 at Ossimo of a rapidly developed fever. Beatified 1753
by Pope Benedict XIV. Canonized 16 July 1767 by Pope Clement XIII
(Saints)
Joseph's father, Felice Desa was a poor
carpenter who died before Joseph was born. Creditors drove his
mother, Francesca Panara, from her home, and Joseph was born in a
stable. Starting at age 8, Joseph received ecstatic visions that left
him gaping and staring into space. He had a hot temper, which his
strict mother worked to overcome. Apprenticed to a shoemaker, at
17 Joseph applied for admittance to the Friars Minor Conventuals, but
was refused due to his lack of education. He applied to the Capuchins,
was accepted as a lay-brother in 1620, but his ecstasies made him
unsuitable for work, and he was dismissed. Abused by his family, he
continued his prayers, and was accepted as an oblate at the Franciscan
convent near Cupertino. His virtues were such that he became a cleric
at 22, a priest at 25. Joseph still had little education, could barely
read or write, but received such a gift of spiritual knowledge and
discernment that he could solve intricate questions. His life became a
series of visions and ecstasies, which could be triggered any time or
place by the sound of a church bell, church music, the mention of the
name of God or of the Blessed Virgin or of a saint, any event in the
life of Christ, the sacred Passion, a holy picture, the thought of the
glory in heaven, etc. Yelling, beating, pinching, burning, piercing
with needles - none of this would bring him from his trances, but he
would return to the world on hearing the voice of his superior in the
order. He would often levitate and float (which led to his patronage of
people involved in air travel), and could hear heavenly music. Even in
the 17th century, there was interest in the unusual, and Joseph's
ecstasies in public caused both admiration and disturbance in the
community. For 35 years he was not allowed to attend choir, go to the
common refectory, walk in procession, or say Mass in church. To prevent
making a spectacle, he was ordered to remain in his room with a private
chapel. He was brought before the Inquisition, and sent from one
Capuchin or Franciscan house to another. But Joseph retained his joyous
spirit, submitting to Divine Providence, keeping seven Lents of 40 days
each year, never letting his faith be shaken.
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September 19:
St Januarius
Little is known about St. Januarius. He was Bishop of Benevento in
Campania. He died near Naples, about the year 305, martyred under the persecution
of Emperor Diocletian. Around the year 400 the relics of St. Januarius were
moved to Naples, which honors Januarius as a patron saint. He supposedly
protected Naples from a threatened eruption of the volcano Mt. Vesuvius.
The "miracle of Januarius" has world-wide fame. At least three times a year — on
his feast day, December 16 and the first Sunday of May — the sealed vial with
congealed blood of the saint liquifies, froths and bubbles up. This miraculous
event has occurred every year, with rare exceptions. Popular tradition holds
that the liquefaction is a sign that the year will be preserved from disasters.
(In 1939, the beginning of World War II, the blood did not bubble up.)
Cardinal Schuster makes this statement in his Liber Sacramentorum (vol.
8, p. 233): "The author has seen the marvel of the blood liquefaction at closest
range and can give witness to the fact. Taking into consideration all the
scientific investigations that have been made, he would say that a natural
explanation of the phenomena does not seem possible." (CatholicCulture)
St
Januarius, bishop and martyr (4th century) Bishop of Benevento
(Italy). He died a martyr in Naples during the persecution of
Diocletian. His dried blood contained in a phial liquifies several
times each year.
(For a longer
account of St Januarius, click here)
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September 20:
St. Andrew Kim Taegon and St. Paul Chong Hasang and their
companions
This first native Korean priest was the son of Korean converts. His
father, Ignatius Kim, was 
martyred during the persecution of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. After
baptism at the age of fifteen, Andrew travelled thirteen hundred miles to
the seminary in Macao, China. After six years he managed to return to his
country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai
and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to arrange for
more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol.
He was arrested, tortured and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul,
the capital. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay apostle and a married man, aged
forty-five. Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592
when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers.
Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside
world except for an annual journey to Beijing to pay taxes. On one of these
occasions, around
1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean
Christians to study. A home church began. When a Chinese priest managed to
enter secretly a dozen years later, he found four thousand Catholics, none
of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were ten thousand
Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883.
When Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984, he canonized Andrew,
Paul, ninety-eight Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred
between 1839 and 1867. Among them were bishops and priests, but for the most
part they were laypersons: forty-seven women, forty-five men. Among the martyrs
in 1839 was Columba Kim, an unmarried woman of twenty-six. She was put in
prison, pierced with hot awls and seared with burning coals. She and her
sister Agnes were disrobed and kept for two days in a cell with condemned
criminals, but were not molested. After Columba complained about the indignity,
no more women were subjected to it. The two were beheaded. A boy of thirteen,
Peter Ryou, had his flesh so badly torn that he could pull off pieces and
throw them at the judges. He was killed by strangulation. Protase Chong,
a forty-one-year-old noble, apostatized under torture and was freed. Later
he came back, confessed his faith and was tortured to death.
Today there are approximately four million Catholics in Korea.
(CatholicCulture)
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September 21:
St. Matthew
Matthew was a Jew who worked for the occupying Roman forces, collecting
taxes from other Jews. Though the Romans probably did not allow extremes
of extortion, their main concern was their own purses.
They were not scrupulous
about what the "tax-farmers" got for themselves. Hence the latter, known
as "publicans," were generally hated as traitors by their fellow Jews. The
Pharisees lumped them with "sinners." So it was shocking to them to hear
Jesus call such a man to be one of his intimate followers. Matthew got Jesus
in further trouble by having a sort of going-away party at his house. The
Gospel tells us that "many" tax collectors and "those known as sinners" came
to the dinner. The Pharisees were still more badly shocked. What business
did the
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supposedly great teacher have associating with such immoral people?
Jesus' answer was, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick
do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners" (Matthew 9:12b-13). Jesus
is not setting aside ritual and worship; he is saying that loving others
is even more important. No other particular incidents about Matthew are found
in the New Testament.
From such an unlikely situation, Jesus chose one of the foundations
of the Church, a man others, judging from his job, thought was not holy enough
for the position. But he was honest enough to admit that he was one of the
sinners Jesus came to call. He was open enough to recognize truth when he
saw him. "And he got up and followed him" (Matthew 9:9b). We imagine Matthew,
after the terrible events surrounding the death of Jesus, going to the mountain
to which the risen Lord had summoned them. "When they saw him, they worshipped,
but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them [we think of him
looking at each one in turn, Matthew listening and excited with the rest], 'All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that
I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of
the age'" (Matthew 28:17-20). Matthew would never forget that day. He proclaimed
the Good News by his life and by his word. Our faith rests upon his witness
and that of his fellow apostles. (AmericanCatholic)
Saint
Matthew, Apostle and evangelist. Also called Levi, he was the
son of Alphaeus. He was a publican, that is, a tax collector for the Romans. His
profession was hateful to the Jews. Nevertheless, our lord called him to be one
of the Twelve. Matthew’s vocation reminds us that sanctity is not reserved for
privileged persons. All states in life, all professions, all noble tasks may be
sanctified, as the Church teaches. Matthew is one of the Twelve Apostles. We do
not know details of his work of evangelization or of his martyrdom which perhaps
took place in Persia. Tradition unanimously acknowledges him as the author of
the first Gospel, written in Aramaic, the language that our Lord himself spoke,
and translated into Greek afterwards. St Matthew’s name appears among the other
apostles in the Roman Canon.
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September 22:
St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions (1600?-1637)
Lawrence (Lorenzo) was born in Manila of a Chinese father and a Filipino
mother, both Christians. Thus he learned Chinese and Tagalog from them and
Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. He
became a professional calligrapher, transcribing documents in beautiful penmanship.
He was a full member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary under Dominican
auspices. He married and had two sons and a daughter. His life took an abrupt
turn when
he was accused of murder. Nothing further is known except the statement
of two Dominicans that "he was sought by the authorities on account of a
homicide to which he was present or which was attributed to him." At that
time three Dominican priests, Antonio Gonzalez, Guillermo Courtet and Miguel
de Aozaraza, were about to sail to Japan in spite of a violent persecution
there. With them was a Japanese priest, Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, and
a layman named Lazaro, a leper. Lorenzo, having taken asylum with them, was
allowed to accompany them. But only when they were at sea did he learn that
they were going to Japan. They landed at Okinawa. Lorenzo could have gone
on to Formosa, but, he reported, "I decided to stay with the Fathers, because
the Spaniards would hang me there." In Japan they were soon found out, arrested
and taken to Nagasaki. The site of wholesale bloodshed when the atomic bomb
was dropped had known tragedy before. The 50,000 Catholics who once lived
there were dispersed or killed by persecution. They were subjected to an
unspeakable kind of torture: After huge quantities of water were forced down
their throats, they were made to lie down. Long boards were placed on their
stomachs and guards then stepped on the ends of the boards, forcing the water
to spurt violently from mouth, nose and ears. The superior, Antonio, died
after some days. Both the Japanese priest and Lazaro broke under torture,
which included the insertion of bamboo needles under their fingernails. But
both were brought back to courage by their companions. In Lorenzo's moment
of crisis, he asked the interpreter, "I would like to know if, by apostatizing,
they will spare my life." The interpreter was noncommittal, but Lorenzo,
in the ensuing hours, felt his faith grow strong. He became bold, even audacious,
with his interrogators.
The five were put to death by being hanged upside down in pits. Boards
fitted with semicircular holes were fitted around their waists and stones
put on top to increase the pressure. They were tightly bound, to slow circulation
and prevent a speedy death. They were allowed to hang for three days. By
that time Lorenzo and Lazaro were dead. The three Dominican priests, still
alive, were beheaded. Pope John Paul II canonized these six and 10 others,
Asians and Europeans, men and women, who spread the faith in the Philippines,
Formosa and Japan. Lorenzo Ruiz is the first canonized Filipino martyr.
The Governors: "If we grant you life, will you renounce your faith?"
Lorenzo: "That I will never do, because I am a Christian, and I
shall die for God, and for him I will give many thousands of lives if I had
them. And so, do with me as you please." (AmericanCatholic.org)
Saint
Thomas of
Villanova (1486-1555) was known for his promotion of studies and
missions in the
Order of Saint Augustine, and for his love and care for the poor.
Thomas García Martínez was born in 1486 in Fuenllana,
Ciudad Real, Spain. He spent his childhood in the family home in
Villanova de los Infantes. A gifted student, Thomas entered the
University of Alcalá at the age of 15. He earned a degree in Theology in
a very short time, and was asked to join the faculty of this famous university.
His reputation as an excellent teacher spread, and the prestigious University of
Salamanca offered Thomas a professorship in 1516. He refused the position,
instead seeking admission into the Order of Saint Augustine. He professed his
vows as an Augustinian in 1517 and was ordained a Priest in 1518. Recognizing
his leadership ability, his fellow Augustinians chose him to serve as Prior
(local superior) and later as Provincial (regional superior). In this position,
Thomas encouraged a more faithful adherence to the principles of Augustinian
life. He also promoted missionary activity by Augustinians in the New World.
Thomas grew into a deeply spiritual life. He lived simply, giving away the small
fortune that he inherited from his parents. Asked to become Bishop of Granada,
Thomas refused, preferring the simple life to a life of power and prestige.
Several years later, Thomas was asked to become Bishop of Valencia. When he
refused again, the authorities persuaded Thomas' religious superiors to order
him under his vow of obedience to accept. He reluctantly accepted, and became
Archbishop of Valencia in 1545. There he found an archdiocese in spiritual
chaos. He began his episcopacy by visiting every parish in the Archdiocese to
discover what were the needs of the people. He then set up programs in which
funds provided by the wealthy would help to provide for the poor. In order to
have a well-formed clergy, Thomas started Presentation Seminary in 1550. He
established schools where the young would have access to a quality education. He
turned his own home into a sort of soup kitchen and shelter, giving to the poor
and the homeless food to eat and a place to sleep. For that reason he was known
as Beggar Bishop and Father of the Poor. Thomas became ill in 1551. As his
illness progressed and he grew weaker, he gave away all of his remaining
possessions. He died September 8, 1555 in Valencia. His remains are preserved at
the Cathedral there.
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September 23:
Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968) (Picture)
In one of the largest such ceremonies in history, Pope John Paul II
canonized Padre Pio of
Pietrelcina on June 16, 2002. It was the 45th canonization ceremony in Pope
John Paul's pontificate. More than 300,000 people braved blistering heat
as they filled St. Peter's Square and nearby streets. They heard the Holy
Father praise the new saint for his prayer and charity. "This is the most
concrete synthesis of Padre Pio's teaching," said the pope. He also stressed
Padre Pio's witness to the power of suffering. If accepted with love, the
Holy Father stressed, such suffering can lead to "a privileged path of sanctity."
Many people have turned to the Italian Capuchin Franciscan to intercede with
God on their behalf; among them was the future Pope John Paul II. In 1962,
when he was still an archbishop in Poland, he wrote to Padre Pio and asked
him to pray for a Polish woman with throat cancer. Within two weeks, she
had been cured of her life-threatening disease. Born Francesco Forgione,
Padre Pio grew up in a family of farmers in southern Italy. Twice (1898-1903
and 1910-17) his father worked in Jamaica, New York, to provide the family
income. At the age of 15, Francesco joined the Capuchins and took the name
of Pio. He was ordained in 1910 and was drafted during World War I. After
he was discovered to have tuberculosis, he was discharged. In 1917 he was
assigned to the friary in San Giovanni Rotondo, 75 miles from the city of
Bari on the Adriatic.
On September 20, 1918, as he was making his thanksgiving after Mass,
Padre Pio had a vision of Jesus. When the vision ended, he had the stigmata
in his hands, feet and side. Life became more complicated after that. Medical
doctors, Church authorities and curiosity seekers came to see Padre Pio.
In 1924 and again in 1931, the authenticity of the stigmata was questioned;
Padre Pio was not permitted to celebrate Mass publicly or to hear confessions.
He did not complain of these decisions, which were soon reversed. However,
he wrote no letters after 1924. His only other writing, a pamphlet on the
agony of Jesus, was done before 1924. Padre Pio rarely left the friary after
he received the stigmata, but busloads of people soon began coming to see
him. Each morning after a 5 a.m. Mass in a crowded church, he heard confessions
until noon. He took a mid-morning break to bless the sick and all who came
to see him. Every afternoon he also heard confessions. In time his confessional
ministry would take 10 hours a day; penitents had to take a number so that
the situation could be handled. Many of them have said that Padre Pio knew
details of their lives that they had never mentioned. Padre Pio saw Jesus
in all the sick and suffering. At his urging, a fine hospital was built on
nearby Mount Gargano. The idea arose in 1940; a committee began to collect
money. Ground was broken in 1946. Building the hospital was a technical wonder
because of the difficulty of getting water there and of hauling up the building
supplies. This "House for the Alleviation of Suffering" has 350 beds. A number
of people have reported cures they believe were received through the intercession
of Padre Pio. Those who assisted at his Masses came away edified; several
curiosity seekers were deeply moved. Like St. Francis, Padre Pio sometimes
had his habit torn or cut by souvenir hunters. One of Padre Pio’s sufferings
was that unscrupulous people several times circulated prophecies that they
claimed originated from him. He never made prophecies about world events
and never gave an opinion on matters that he felt belonged to Church authorities
to decide. He died on September 23, 1968, and was beatified in 1999.
"The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against
self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except
at the price of pain" (saying of Padre Pio). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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September 24
Our Lady of Ransom
Would you risk your life to free someone from a concentration camp?
Would you take the place
of a prisoner? Would you sacrifice comforts and even necessities to save
a slave? Would you pray and do penance for the freedom of Christian captives?
These things were done by the followers of Christ from the earliest days,
but especially
during the Middle ages. At that time the enemies of Christ's
Church had conquered a great part of Christian territory and had carried
off into slavery many thousands of Christians. Hit and miss, though heroic,
efforts to free these unfortunates had been made here and there. The Church
decided to organize the work of ransoming slaves. In 1198 St. John of Matha
and St. Felix of Valois founded the Trinitarians. From then until 1787 they
redeemed 900,000 captives. The Order of Our Lady of Ransom, called the Mercedarians,
and founded by St. Peter Nolasco, ransomed 490,736 slaves between the years
1218 and 1632. St. Vincent de Paul, a slave himself, led his priests to save
1200 Christian captives in the short period between 1642 and 1660 at the
staggering cost of 1,200,000 pounds of silver. An even greater achievement
was the conversion of thousands in captivity, and steeling them against the
sufferings of a cruel martyrdom for the faith. All this has been admitted
by a modern, competent Protestant historian, Bonet-Maury. He records that
no expedition sent into the Barbary States by the powers of Europe or America
equalled "the moral effect produced by the ministry of consolation, peace
and abnegation, going even to the sacrifice of liberty and life, which was
exercised by the humble sons of St. John of Matha, St. Peter Nolasco, and
St. Vincent de Paul." Our Blessed Mother herself appeared in a vision to
St. Peter Nolasco, and requested him to found a religious order devoted to
the rescue of captives. This was in 1218. Previous to that, since 1192, certain
noblemen of Barcelona, Spain, had organized to care for the sick in hospitals
and to rescue Christians from the Moors. St. Peter Nolasco, St. Raymond of
Pennafort, and King James formed the new Order of Our Lady of Mercy. The
group included religious priests who prayed and gathered the means, while
the lay monks or knights went into the very camps of the Moors to buy back
Christians, and, if necessary, take their very places. We have mentioned
the magnitude of their success, a success that was won through the heavenly
assistance of the Mother of Mercy, Our Lady of Ransom. (Excerpted from the Feasts of Our Lady by Fr. Arthur Tonne)
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September 25:
St. Pacifico of San Severino (1653-1721)
Pacifico was born into a distinguished family in San Severino in the
Marche of Ancona in central Italy. After joining the Friars Minor, he was
ordained. He taught philosophy for two years and then began a successful
preaching career. Pacifico was an ascetic man. He fasted perpetually, eating
no more than bread, soup or water. His "hair shirt" was made of iron. Poverty
and obedience were two virtues for which his confreres especially remembered
him. At the age of 35, Pacifico contracted an illness that eventually left
him deaf, blind and crippled. He offered his sufferings for the conversion
of sinners, and he cured many of the sick who came to him. Pacifico also served
as the superior of the friary in San Severino. He was canonized in 1839.
Pacifico lived out the words of St. Francis cited below. His preaching
and ministry were linked to his life of penance. Francis urged his brothers
to proclaim the Word of God without fanfare or self-interest. In that way,
their words were truly God’s and directed toward the welfare of their listeners.
The way Pacifico lived made his preaching all the more effective, for his
listeners knew the power present in his words. "Moreover, I advise and admonish
the friars that in their preaching, their words should be examined and chaste.
They should aim only at the advantage and spiritual good of their listeners,
telling them briefly about vice and virtue, punishment and glory, because
our Lord himself kept his words short on earth" (St. Francis, Rule of 1223,
Ch. 9) (AmericanCatholic.org)
Blessed Herman the
Cripple and Saint Finbar
Herman of Reichenau
born 18 February 1013 at Altshausen, Swabia (in modern 
Germany) Died 21
September 1054 at Reichenau abbey of natural causes. Born with a cleft
palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida to a farm family. His parents
were unable to care for the child, and in 1020 gave him to the abbey of
Reichenau at age seven; he spent the rest of his life there.
Benedictine monk at age twenty. A genius, he studied and wrote on
astronomy, theology, math, history, poetry, Arabic, Greek, and Latin.
Built musical instruments, and astronomical equipment. Eventually went
blind, and had to give up his academic writing. The most famous
religious poet of his day, and is the author of Salve Regina and Alma
Redemptoris Mater. Beatified 1863 (cultus confirmed).
Saint Finbar was
the son of an artisan and a lady of the Irish royal court. Born in
Connaught, Ireland, and baptized Lochan, he was educated at Kilmacahil,
Kilkenny, where the monks named him Fionnbharr (white head) because of
his light hair. He is also known as Bairre and Barr. On a visit to Rome
the Pope wanted to consecrate him a bishop but Saint Finbar was
deterred by a vision. The legend goes that he notified the pope that
God had reserved that honour to Himself and Saint Finbar was
consecrated from heaven. Whatever of that, he preached in southern
Ireland and lived as a hermit on a small island at Lough Eiroe on the
river Lee. Saint Finbar founded a monastery that developed into the
city of Cork and he was its first bishop. His monastery became famous
in southern Ireland and attracted numerous disciples. Many extravagant
miracles are attributed to him. Supposedly the sun did not set for two
weeks after he died at Cloyne about the year 633. Saint Finbar is the
patron of immigrants.
St. Elzear (1286-1323) and
Blessed Delphina (1283-1358)
This is the only Franciscan couple to be
canonized or beatified formally. Elzear came from a noble family in southern
France. After he married Delphina, she informed him that she had made a vow of
perpetual virginity; that same night he did the same. For a time Elzear, Count
of Ariano, was a counselor to Duke Charles of Calabria in southern Italy. Elzear
ruled his own territories in the kingdom of Naples and in southern France with
justice. Elzear and Delphina joined the Secular Franciscans and dedicated
themselves to the corporal works of mercy. Twelve poor people dined with them
every day. A statue of Elzear shows him curing several people suffering from
leprosy. Their piety extended to the running of their household. Everyone there
was expected to attend Mass daily, go to confession weekly and be ready to
forgive injuries. After Elzear’s death, Delphina continued her works of charity
for 35 more years. She is especially remembered for raising the moral level of
the king of Sicily’s court. Elzear and Delphina are buried in Apt, France. He
was canonized in 1369, and she was beatified in 1694.
St. Bonaventure wrote: "Francis sought occasion to love God
in everything. He delighted in all the works of God's hands and from the vision
of joy on earth his mind soared aloft to the life-giving source and cause of
all. In everything beautiful, he saw him who is beauty itself, and he followed
his Beloved everywhere by his likeness imprinted on creation; of all creation he
made a ladder by which he might mount up and embrace Him who is all-desirable" (Legenda
Major, IX, 1). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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September 26:
Saints Cosmas and Damian (d. 303?)
Nothing is known of their lives except that they suffered martyrdom in Syria
during the persecution of Diocletian. A church erected on the site of their
burial place was enlarged by the emperor Justinian. Devotion to the two saints
spread rapidly in both East and West. A famous basilica was erected in their
honour in Constantinople. Their names were placed in the canon of the Mass,
probably in the sixth century. Legend says that they were twin brothers born
in Arabia, who became skilled doctors. They were among those who are venerated
in the East as the "moneyless ones" because they did not charge a fee for
their services. It was impossible that such prominent persons would escape
unnoticed in time of persecution: They were arrested and beheaded.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Saints Cosmas and Damian, martyrs.
Early
Christian physicians and martyrs. They were twins,
born in Arabia, and
practiced the art of healing in the seaport Ægea, now Ayash
(Ajass), on the Gulf of Iskanderun in Cilicia, Asia Minor, and attained
a great reputation. They accepted no pay for their services and were,
therefore, called anargyroi, "the silverless". In this way they brought
many to the Catholic Faith. When the Diocletian persecution began, the
Prefect Lysias had Cosmas and Damian arrested, and ordered them to
recant. They remained constant under torture, in a miraculous manner
suffered no injury from water, fire, air, nor on the cross, and were
finally beheaded with the sword. Their three brothers, Anthimus,
Leontius, and Euprepius died as martyrs with them. The execution took
place September 27, probably in the year 287. At a later date a number
of fables grew up about them, connected in part with their relics. The
remains of the martyrs were buried in the city of Cyrus in Syria; the
Emperor Justinian I (527-565) sumptuously restored the city in their
honour. Having been cured of a dangerous illness by the intercession of
Cosmas and Damian, Justinian, in gratitude for their aid, rebuilt and
adorned their church at Constantinople, and it became a celebrated
place of pilgrimage. At Rome Pope Felix IV (526-530) erected a church
in their honour, the mosaics of which are still among the most valuable
art remains of the city. The Greek Church celebrates the feast of
Saints Cosmas and Damian on July 1, October 17, and November 1, and
venerates three pairs of saints of the same name and profession. Cosmas
and Damian are regarded as the patrons of physicians and surgeons and
are sometimes represented with medical emblems. They are invoked in the
Canon of the Mass and in the Litany of the Saints.
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September 27:
St. Vincent de Paul (1580?-1660)
The deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent's eyes to
the crying spiritual needs of the
peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life
of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest
with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life. It was the Countess
de Gondi (whose servant he had helped) who persuaded her husband to endow
and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among
the poor, the vassals and tenants and the country people in general. Vincent
was too humble to accept leadership at first, but after working for some
time in Paris among imprisoned galley-slaves, he returned to be the leader
of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians.
These priests, with vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and stability, were
to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages.
Later Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and
physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these, with the
help of St. Louise de Marillac, came the
Daughters of Charity, "whose convent
is the sickroom, whose chapel is the parish church, whose cloister is the
streets of the city." He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds
for his missionary projects, founded several hospitals, collected relief
funds for the victims of war and ransomed over 1,200 galley slaves from North
Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there
was great laxity, abuse and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical
training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries.
Most remarkably, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person
— even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God
he would have been "hard and repulsive, rough and cross." But he became a
tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others. Pope
Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among
these, of course, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, founded in 1833
by his admirer Blessed Frederic Ozanam.
"Strive to live content in the midst of those things that cause your
discontent. Free your mind from all that troubles you, God will take care
of things. You will be unable to make haste in this [choice] without, so
to speak, grieving the heart of God, because he sees that you do not honour
him sufficiently with holy trust. Trust in him, I beg you, and you will have
the fulfilment of what your heart desires" (St. Vincent de Paul, Letters).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Saint
Vincent De Paul, priest (1576-1660)
Founder of the Lazarist Fathers and the
Daughters of Charity. Saint Vincent was born in 1576 near Dax, south of
Bordeaux, of a poor family which survived by means of their labor. It
seemed that “mercy
was born with him.” When sent by his father to the mill to procure
flour, if he met a poor man coming home, he would open the sack and
give him handfuls of flour when he had nothing else. His Christian
father was not angry; seeing his good dispositions, he was sure his son
should become a priest, and placed him as a boarding student with a
group of religious priests in Dax. Vincent made rapid progress, and
after seven years of studying theology at Toulouse and in Saragossa,
Spain, was ordained a priest in 1600. He always concealed his learning
and followed the counsel of Saint Paul who said, “I have wanted to know
nothing in your midst but Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ crucified.”
Soon after his ordination, he was captured by corsairs and sold as a
slave in Tunisia. He converted his renegade master, and escaped with
him to France. Then, after a time of study in Rome, he returned to
Paris and took for his spiritual director Abbé de Berulle, a
famous director of souls. This servant of God saw in him a priest
called to render outstanding service to the Church, and to found a
community of priests who would labor for its benefit. He told Saint
Vincent this, that he might prepare himself insofar as was humanly
possible. When Saint Vincent was appointed chaplain-general of the
galleys of France, his tender charity brought hope into those prisons
where hitherto despair had reigned. When a mother mourned her
imprisoned son, Vincent put on his chains and took his place at the
oar, and gave him to his mother.
His charity
embraced the poor, the young and the aged, the provinces desolated by
civil war, Christians enslaved by the infidels. The poor man, ignorant
and degraded, was to him the image of Him who became as “a leper and no
man.” “Turn the medal,” he said, “and you will see Jesus Christ.” He
went through the streets of Paris at night, seeking the infants and
children left there to die — three or four hundred every year. Once
robbers rushed upon him, thinking he carried a treasure, but when he
opened his cloak, they recognized him and his burden, an abandoned
infant, and fell at his feet. Not only was Saint Vincent the providence
of the poor, but also of the rich, for he taught them to undertake
works of mercy. When in 1648 the work of the foundlings was in danger
of failure for want of funds, he assembled the ladies of the
Association of Charity, and said, “Compassion and charity have made you
adopt these little creatures as your children. You have been their
mothers according to grace, when their own mothers abandoned them. Will
you now cease to be their mothers? Their life and death are in your
hands. I shall take your votes; it is time to pronounce sentence.” The
tears of the assembly were his only answer, and the work was continued.
The Priests of
the Mission or Lazarists, as they are called, and thousands of the
Daughters of Charity still comfort the afflicted with the charity of
their holy Founder. It has been said of him that no one has ever
verified more perfectly than Saint Vincent, the words of Our Lord: “He
who humbles himself shall be exalted...” The more he strove to abase
himself in the eyes of all, the more God took pleasure in elevating him
and bestowing His blessings on him and on all his works. He died in
1660, in an old age made truly golden by his unceasing good works.
Sources: Les Petits
Bollandistes: Vies
des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris,
1882), Vol. 8; Little
Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s
Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger
Brothers: New York, 1894).
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September 28:
St. Wenceslaus (907?-929)
If saints have been falsely characterized as "otherworldly," the life of Wenceslaus stands as an example to the contrary:
He stood for Christian values
in the midst of the political intrigues which characterized 10th-century
Bohemia. He was born in 907 near Prague, son of the Duke of Bohemia. His
saintly grandmother, Ludmilla, raised him and sought to promote him as ruler
of Bohemia in place of his mother, who favoured the anti-Christian factions.
Ludmilla was eventually murdered, but rival Christian forces were victorious,
and Wenceslaus was able to assume leadership of the government. His rule
was marked by efforts toward unification within Bohemia, support of the Church
and peace-making negotiations with Germany, a policy which caused him trouble
with the anti-Christian opposition. His brother Boleslav joined in the plotting,
and in September of 929 invited Wenceslaus to Alt Bunglou for the celebration
of the feast of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. On the way to Mass, Boleslav attacked
his brother, and in the struggle, Wenceslaus was killed by supporters of
Boleslav. Although his death resulted primarily from political upheaval,
Wenceslaus was hailed as a martyr for the faith, and his tomb became a pilgrimage
shrine. He is hailed as the patron of the Bohemian people and of former Czechoslovakia.
"While recognizing the autonomy of the reality of politics, Christians
who are invited to take up political activity should try to make their choices
consistent with the gospel and, in the framework of a legitimate plurality,
to give both personal and collective witness to the seriousness of their
faith by effective and disinterested service of men" (Pope Paul VI, A
Call to Action, 46). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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September 29:
St. Raphael
St.
Raphael is one of seven Archangels who stand before the throne of the Lord. He
was sent by God to help Tobit, Tobiah and Sarah. At the time, Tobit was blind
and Tobiah's betrothed, Sarah, had had seven bridegrooms perish on the night of
their weddings. Raphael accompanied Tobiah into Media disguised as a man named
Azariah. Raphael helped him through his difficulties and taught him how to
safely enter marriage with Sarah. Tobiah said that Raphael caused him to have
his wife and that he gave joy to Sarah's parents for driving out the evil spirit
in her. He also gave Raphael credit for his father's seeing the light of heaven
and for receiving all good things through his intercession. Besides Raphael,
Michael and Gabriel are the only Archangels mentioned by name in the bible.
Raphael's name means "God heals." This identity came about because of the
biblical story which claims that he "healed" the earth when it was defiled by
the sins of the fallen angels in the apocryphal book of Enoch. Raphael is also
identified as the angel who moved the waters of the healing sheep pool. He is
also the patron of the blind, of happy meetings, of nurses, of physicians and of
travellers. (www.catholic.org)
Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels
Michael, Gabriel and Raphael Angels—messengers from
God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and
Raphael are named. Michael appears in Daniel's vision as "the great
prince"
who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of
Revelation, he leads God's armies to final victory over the forces of
evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion, rising in the
East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a
feast honouring Michael and the angels in the fifth century. Gabriel
also makes an appearance in Daniel's visions, announcing Michael's role
in God's plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young
Jewish girl named Mary, who consents to bear the Messiah. Raphael's
activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he
appears to guide Tobit's son Tobiah through a series of fantastic
adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah's marriage to
Sarah, the healing of Tobit's blindness and the restoration of the
family fortune. The memorials of Gabriel (March 24) and Raphael
(October 24) were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970
revision of the calendar joined their feasts to Michael's.
Each of these archangels performs a different
mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael
guides. Earlier belief that inexplicable events were due to the actions
of spiritual beings has given way to a scientific world-view and a
different sense of cause and effect. Yet believers still experience
God's protection, communication and guidance in ways which defy
description. We cannot dismiss angels too lightly. "The question of how
many angels could dance on the point of a pin no longer is absurd in
molecular physics, with its discovery of how broad that point actually
is, and what part invisible electronic 'messengers' play in the dance
of life" (Lewis Mumford).
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September 30:
St. Jerome (345-420)
Most of the saints are remembered for some outstanding virtue or
devotion which they practiced,
but Jerome is remembered too frequently for his bad temper! It is true that
he had a very bad temper and could use a vitriolic pen, but his love for
God and his Son Jesus Christ was extraordinarily intense; anyone who taught
error was an enemy of God and truth, and St. Jerome went after him or her
with his mighty and sometimes sarcastic pen. He was above all a Scripture
scholar, translating most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. He also wrote
commentaries which are a great source of scriptural inspiration for us today.
He was an avid student, a thorough scholar, a prodigious letter-writer and
a consultant to monk, bishop and pope. St. Augustine said of him, "What Jerome
is ignorant of, no mortal has ever known." St. Jerome is particularly important
for having made a translation of the Bible which came to be called the Vulgate.
It is not the most critical edition of the Bible, but its acceptance by the
Church was fortunate. As a modern scholar says, "No man before Jerome or
among his contemporaries and very few men for many centuries afterwards were
so well qualified to do the work." The Council of Trent called for a new and
corrected edition of the Vulgate, and declared it the authentic text to be
used in the Church. In order to be able to do such work, Jerome prepared
himself well. He was a master of Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Chaldaic. He began
his studies at his birthplace, Stridon in Dalmatia (in the former Yugoslavia).
After his preliminary education he went to Rome, the centre of learning at
that time, and thence to Trier, Germany, where the scholar was very much
in evidence. He spent several years in each place, trying always to find
the very best teachers. After these preparatory studies he travelled extensively
in Palestine, marking each spot of Christ's life with an outpouring of devotion.
Mystic that he was, he spent five years in the desert of Chalcis so that
he might give himself up to prayer, penance and study. Finally he settled
in Bethlehem, where he lived in the cave believed to have been the birthplace
of Christ. On September 30 in the year 420, Jerome died in Bethlehem. The
remains of his body now lie buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.
Jerome was a strong, outspoken man. He had the virtues and the unpleasant
fruits of being a fearless critic and all the usual moral problems of a man.
He was, as someone has said, no admirer of moderation whether in virtue or
against evil. He was swift to anger, but also swift to feel remorse, even
more severe on his own shortcomings than on those of others. A pope is said
to have remarked, on seeing a picture of Jerome striking his breast with
a stone, "You do well to carry that stone, for without it the Church would
never have canonized you" (Butler's Lives of the Saints).
"In the remotest part of a wild and stony desert, burnt up with the heat
of the scorching sun so that it frightens even the monks that inhabit it,
I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome.
In this exile and prison to which for the fear of hell I had voluntarily
condemned myself, I many times imagined myself witnessing the dancing of
the Roman maidens as if I had been in the midst of them: In my cold body
and in my parched-up flesh, which seemed dead before its death, passion was
able to live. Alone with this enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet
of Jesus, watering them with my tears, and I tamed my flesh by fasting whole
weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, but I grieve that I am
not now what I then was" (Letter to St. Eustochium). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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