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The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

5/31/2014

The Lesson is taken from a Sermon by
St. Peter Canisius the Priest

If we follow the writings of St. John of Damascus, St. Athanasius, and others, do these not oblige us to call Mary by the name of Queen, since her father David doth receive the highest praise in Scripture as a renowned king, and her Son as the King of kings and Lord of lords, reigning forever? She is Queen, moreover, when compared with the Saints who reign like kings in the heavenly kingdom, co-heirs with Christ, the great King, placed on the same throne with him, as saith the Scripture. And as Queen she is second to none of the elect, but in dignity is raised so high above both Angels and men that nothing can be higher or holier than she, who alone hath the same Son as God the Father, and who seeth above her only God and Christ, and below her all creatures other than herself.

The great Athanasius said clearly: Mary is not only the Mother of God, but also can truly be called Queen and Lady, since in the fact the Christ who was born of the Virgin Mother is God and Lord and also King. It is to this Queen, therefore, that the words of the Psalmist are applied: Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in a vesture of gold. Thus Mary is rightly called Queen, not only of heaven, but also of the heavens, as the Mother of the King of Angels, and as the Bride and beloved of the King of the heavens. O Mary, most august Queen and most faithful Mother, to whom no one doth pray in vain who prayeth devoutly, and to whom all mortal men are bound by the enduring memory of so many benefits, again and again reverently do I beseech thee to accept and be pleased with every evidence of my devotion towards thee, to value the poor gift I offer according to the zeal with which it is offered, and to recommend it to thine all-powerful Son.

The Lesson is taken from the Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XII
11 October 1954

From the documents of ancient Christianity, from the prayers of the liturgy, from the innate religious sense of the Christian people, from works of art, from all sides we gather witness which assert that the Virgin Mother of God doth excel in queenly dignity. And we have set forth the reasons which sacred theology deducible from the treasury of divine faith to confirm the same truth. All these witnesses form a chorus as it were, proclaiming far and wide the supreme queenly honour granted to the Mother of God and man, who is above all exalted over the choirs of Angels to reign in heaven. Thus it is that after mature and thoughtful consideration we have been persuaded that great benefits would flow to the Church if, like a light that doth illumine more brightly when placed in its stand, this solidly proven truth were to shine out more clearly to all; and so, by Our Apostolic Authority, we decree and institute the Feast of Mary, Queen, which is to be celebrated every year on the thirty-first day of May throughout the world.

May 30th - St Joan of Arc

5/30/2014

St. Joan of Arc is the patroness of soldiers and of France. On January 6, 1412, Joan of Arc was born to pious parents of the French peasant class, at the obscure village of Domremy, near the province of Lorraine. At a very early age, she heard voices: those of St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret.

At first the messages were personal and general. Then at last came the crowning order. In May, 1428, her voices "of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret" told Joan to go to the King of France and help him reconquer his kingdom. For at that time the English king was after the throne of France, and the Duke of Burgundy, the chief rival of the French king, was siding with him and gobbling up evermore French territory.

After overcoming opposition from churchmen and courtiers, the seventeen year old girl was given a small army with which she raised the seige of Orleans on May 8, 1429. She then enjoyed a series of spectacular military successes, during which the King was able to enter Rheims and be crowned with her at his side.

In May 1430, as she was attempting to relieve Compiegne, she was captured by the Burgundians and sold to the English when Charles and the French did nothing to save her. After months of imprisonment, she was tried at Rouen by a tribunal presided over by the infamous Peter Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, who hoped that the English would help him to become archbishop.

Through her unfamiliarity with the technicalities of theology, Joan was trapped into making a few damaging statements. When she refused to retract the assertion that it was the saints of God who had commanded her to do what she had done, she was condemned to death as a heretic, sorceress, and adulteress, and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. She was nineteen years old. Some thirty years later, she was exonerated of all guilt and she was ultimately canonized in 1920, making official what the people had known for centuries. Her feast day is May 30.

Joan was canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.

Saint for Today - St Augustine of Canterbury

5/28/2014

Augustine, a monk of the Lateran monastery in Rome, was sent by Gregory the Great to England with forty other monks as companions, in the year 597, to convert that nation to Christ. At that time King Ethelbert held the chief power in Kent, and, hearing the reason why Augustine came, he invited him and his companions to Canterbury, the chief city of his kingdom, where he generously gave him permission to remain and preach Christ. The holy man, for that reason, built an oratory near Canterbury, where he lived for some time, imitating with his companions the apostolic way of living.

His preaching of heavenly doctrine, confirmed by many miracles and the example of his life, so softened the hearts of the islanders as to draw many of them to the Christian faith, and finally he baptized the king himself, with a great number of his people, to the great joy of his wife, Queen Bertha, who was a Christian. One Christmas day, when he had baptized more than ten thousand in the bed of the river at York, it is related that those who were suffering from any disease received health of body and soul together. He was consecrated bishop by order of Gregory, and fixed his see at Canterbury in the church which he built in honour of the Saviour, where he placed monks to help him in his work. He also built in the suburbs a monastery of St. Peter, which was afterwards called by his own name. The same Pope Gregory granted him the use of the pallium, and the power to organize the ecclesiastical hierarchy in England, sending him a new band of helpers, namely Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinianus.

Having arranged the affairs of his church, Augustine held a synod with the bishops and doctors of the ancient Britons, who had long been at variance with the Roman Church in the celebration of Easter and other rites. But since he could not move them, either by the authority of the apostolic see or by miracles, to put an end to these variations, in a prophetic spirit he foretold their ruin. At length, after having endured many difficulties for Christ, and having become noted for miracles, when he had placed Mellitus in charge of the church of London, Justus of that of Rochester, and Laurence in charge of his own church, he passed to heaven on the 26th day of May, in the reign of Ethelbert, and was buried in the monastery of St. Peter, which thereafter became the burying-place of the bishops of Canterbury and of some kings. The English people honoured his memory with fervent zeal; and the Supreme Pontiff Leo XIII extended his Office and Mass to the universal Church.

Saint for Today - St. Bede the Venerable

5/27/2014

Bede the priest was born at Jarrow, on the borders of England and Scotland. At the age of seven years he was placed under the care of holy Benedict Bishop, Abbot of Wearmouth, to be educated. Thereafter, he became a monk, and so ordered his life that, whilst he should devote himself wholly to the study of the sciences and of doctrine, he might in nothing relax the discipline of his Order. There was no branch of learning in which he was not most thoroughly versed, but his chief care was the study of Holy Scriptures; and that he might the better understand them he acquired a knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew tongues. When he was thirty years of age he was ordained priest at the command of his Abbot, and immediately, on the advice of Acca, Bishop of Hexham, undertook the work of expounding the Sacred Books. In his interpretations he so strictly adhered to the teaching of the holy Fathers, that he would advance nothing which was not approved by their judgement, nay, had the warrant of their very words. He ever hated sloth, and by habitually passing from reading to prayer, and in turn from prayer from reading, he so inflamed his soul that often amid his reading and teaching he was bathed in tears. Lest also his mind should be distracted by the cares of transitory things, he never would take the office of Abbot when it was offered to him.

The name of Bede soon became so famous for learning and piety that St. Sergius the Pope thought of calling him to Rome, where, certainly, he might have helped to solve the very difficult questions which had then arisen concerning sacred things. He wrote many books for the bettering of the lives of the faithful, and defending and extending of the faith. By those he gained everywhere such a reputation that the holy martyr Bishop Boniface styled him a Light of the Church; Lanfranc called him The Teacher of the English; and the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle The Admirable Doctor. But as his writings were publicly read in the churches during his life, and as it was not allowable to call him already a saint, they named him The Venerable, a title which in all times after hath remained peculiarly his. The power of his teaching was the greater also, in that it was attested by a holy life and the graces of religious observance. In this way, by his earnestness and example, his disciples, who were many and distinguished, were made eminent, not only in letters and the sciences, but in personal holiness.

Broken at length by age and labour, he was seized by a grievous illness. Though he suffered under it for more than seven weeks, he ceased not from his prayers and his interpreting of the Scriptures; for at that time he was turning the Gospel of John into English for the use of his people. But when, on the Eve of the Ascension, he perceived that death was coming upon him, he desired to be fortified with the last sacraments of the Church: then, after he had embraced his companions, and was laid on a piece of sackcloth on the ground, he repeated the words, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, and fell asleep in the Lord. His body, very sweet, as it related, breathing sweet odour, was buried in the monastery of Jarrow, and afterwards was translated to Durham with the relics of St. Cuthbert. Bede, who was already a Doctor among the Benedictines, and in other religious Orders, and venerated in certain dioceses, was declared by Pope Leo XIII, after consulting with the Congregation of Sacred Rites, to be a Doctor of the universal Church; and the Mass and Office for Doctors was ordered to be recited by all on his feast-day.

St. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People

St. Mariana of Quito - Feast 26th May

5/26/2014

A Tapestry of Lights and Shadows

The lives of the people of the Colonial period, characters, both good and bad, that have been affected by the appearance of Our Lady of Good Success in Quito, Ecuador have contributed to create an enchanting, and to some, a seemingly phantasmal story. Like the intertwining fibers of a beautiful tapestry, these fibers both bright and dark, create the illusion of lights and shadows upon its medium. These lives are essential in relaying an accurate account of the life and times of Mother Mariana and Our Lady of Good Success. Lacking one or the other, the glorious story and devotion to Our Lady under this eloquent title of Good Success would not exist. This section of the website is dedicated to focusing on one of the many "lights" of this tapestry.

"A Saint Has Canonized Another Saint"

This first light is a subtle light—rather a soft glow which emanates from the picture itself.

In the history that revolves around the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Success in Quito, Ecuador, there exists not only the Mariana that is known affectionately as "Mother Mariana", the visionary but a St. Mariana, the Lily of Quito. Both bear the name of Mariana de Jesus. When discovering the distinction between these two "Mariana’s" there is a natural urge to feel a little tinge of disappointment since our heroine of the story of Our Lady of Good Success has not yet been canonized. Instead this "other Mariana" has been chosen to hold this title of honor and sanctity, becoming the first canonized saint of Ecuador. (For the sake of lessening the confusion between the 2 Mariana’s I will title Mother Mariana –"Mother Mariana" and St. Mariana I will title "The Lily of Quito")

Remember, then, that in this intriguing story of Our Lady, Mother Mariana asked Our Lady of Good Success a special favor—to remain unknown and hidden as it were from the local people of that time since she feared they would try to idolize her. Our Lady of Good Success granted her request but promised her that this favor would only be for a time. She stated that in the Twentieth Century Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres would become known as this devotion to Our Lady of Good Success would see resurgence

This page is dedicated then to St. Mariana de Jesus Paredes y Flores-The Lily of Quito. She is a minor character in the story of Our Lady of Good Success but an important one nonetheless. The Lily of Quito is essentially important since she subtly points approvingly and encouragingly to the legitimacy of this devotion to Our Lady of Good Success by the recorded account of her respectful and revering attitude toward Mother Mariana.

The known account of "The Lily of Quito’s" contact with Mother Mariana is a bit unusual in that it occurred at Mother Mariana’s funeral in 1635. It is written in "The Lily of Quito’s" own hand in her diary that she kept. It is now part of the archives of the Carmelite Monastery in Quito which was once her home. These archives rest in the Jesuit Church of "La Compania".

Upon learning of the death of Mother Mariana, The Lily of Quito wished to venerate the remains of the sister that understood the concept of true sanctity. Rightfully, they were kindred spirits at heart. It is said that "The Lily of Quito", upon reaching the Conceptionist Church, found it already packed with faithful souls paying their last respects to Mother Mariana. Despite being only seventeen years of age, "The Lily of Quito" was already known far and wide amongst the people of Quito for her sanctity. At the sight of this holy young woman and out of respect for her reputation of sanctity, a passageway was created so that she could easily make her way through the throng to be as close as possible to the coffin. From this choice spot, she participated in the funeral ceremony. She was able to gaze upon the face of the deceased as she listened to the inspired words of the Bishop of Quito, Mons. Fr. Pedro of Oviedo( also Spiritual Director of the Conceptionist sister). At the end of this inspirational sermon, "The Lily of Quito" could not contain in her heart that which had just been revealed to her about Mother Mariana’s exemplary and virtuous life by way of Divine Inspiration. With deepest sincerity and reverence, she exclaimed, "A saint has died!"

Thus her appearance at the funeral of Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres made a testimony to this good sister’s sanctity.

In the book, "La Mujer y la Monja Extraordinaria- Mariana Francisca De Jesús Torres y Berriochoa", Dr. Luis E. Cadena y Almelda, Postulator for the Cause of Beatification of the Servant of God Mother Mariana Francisca de Jesus Torres y Berriochoa, expresses his thoughts about this eventful happening in this quotation:

"In this way, a saint has canonized another saint."

Truly there is no better way to summarize this significant occurrence! May the Church see fit to someday agree with the proclamation of St Mariana de Jesus Paredes y Flores, The Lily of Quito!

Saint for Today - St Philip Neri

5/26/2014

Philip Neri was born at Florence, of pious and respectable parents. From his early childhood, he gave evident promise of future sanctity. While yet a young man, he gave up an ample fortune which he inherited from an uncle, and went to Rome. Here he studied philosophy and sacred letters, and devoted himself entirely to Christ. So great was his abstinence, that he frequently passed three days without eating. He was intent upon watching and praying, and, frequently visiting the seven churches of Rome, he was in the habit of spending the night in the cemetery of Callistus, in the contemplation of heavenly things. Being ordained priest out of obedience, his one object was the salvation of souls. To the last day of his life assiduous in hearing confessions, he was the father in Christ of almost innumerable children. Wishing to nourish them with the daily hearing of God's word, with frequent sacraments, with constant prayer, and with other pious exercises, he founded the Congregation of the Oratory.

He was ever languishing with the love of God, by which he was wounded, and such was the ardour that glowed within his heart, that, as he could not keep it in its place, his breast was miraculously enlarged by the breaking and expansion of two of his ribs. Sometimes, when celebrating Mass, or in fervent prayer, he was seen to be raised up in the air and encircled with a bright light. He cared for the needy and the poor with an all-providing charity. He was deemed worthy to give alms to an Angel, in the guise of a beggar; and once when carrying loaves to the poor during the night, he fell into a pit, and was in like manner rescued unhurt by an Angel. He was devoted to humility, and always shrank from honours; and when even the highest ecclesiastical dignities were more than once offered to him, he very firmly refused them.

He was noted for the gift of prophecy, and was marvellously eminent in reading the thoughts of men's minds. Throughout his whole life he preserved his chastity unsullied. He had the power of distinguishing those who were chaste by a sweet odour, and the unchaste by a stench. He sometimes appeared to persons at a distance, and assisted them in moments of danger. He restored many who were sick, and at death's door, to health. He also restored a dead man to life. He was frequently favoured with apparitions of heavenly spirits and of the Virgin Mother of God, and saw the souls of many ascending, amid great brightness, into heaven. At length, in the year of salvation 1595, on the 25th day of May, on which day there fell the Feast of Corpus Christi, after having said Mass with extraordinary spiritual joy, and after the other functions were finished, just after midnight, which was the hour he had foretold, in his eightieth year he fell asleep in the Lord. Illustrious for his miracles, he was added to the number of the Saints by Gregory XV.

The Tomb of St. Philip Neri in the Chiesa Nuova, Rome

Saint of the day - St. Rita of Cascia

5/22/2014

May 22
Patron of impossible cases
1381 - 1457

St. Rita was born at Spoleto, Italy in 1381. At an early age, she begged her parents to allow her to enter a convent. Instead they arranged a marriage for her. Rita became a good wife and mother, but her husband was a man of violent temper. In anger he often mistreated his wife. He taught their children his own evil ways.

Rita tried to perform her duties faithfully and to pray and receive the sacraments frequently. After nearly twenty years of marriage, her husband was stabbed by an enemy but before he died, he repented because Rita prayed for him. Shortly afterwards, her two sons died, and Rita was alone in the world. Prayer, fasting, penances of many kinds, and good works filled her days. She was admitted to the convent of the Augustinian nuns at Cascia in Umbria, and began a life of perfect obedience and great charity.

Sister Rita had a great devotion to the Passion of Christ. "Please let me suffer like you, Divine Saviour," she said one day, and suddenly one of the thorns from the crucifix struck her on the forehead. It left a deep wound which did not heal and which caused her much suffering for the rest of her life. She died on May 22, 1457. She is the patroness of impossible cases. Her feast day is May 22.

Some criticism have addressed Rita's portrayal of in an inaccurate religious habit. While most common images of Rita show her in a classic Augustinian traditional black habit, historical accuracy shows that the religious sisters in the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene in 14th-century Cascia, Italy wore beige or brown habits, particularly with a white veil with a brown edge ribbon. This correction was particularly noted in the 2004 film Santa Rita da Cascia.

The forehead wound

One day when she was about sixty years of age, she was meditating before an image of Christ crucified, as she was accustomed to do. Suddenly a small wound appeared on her forehead, as though a thorn from the crown that encircled Christ’s head had loosed itself and penetrated her own flesh. For the next fifteen years she bore this external sign of stigmatization and union with the Lord.

Roses

A story is told that near the end of her life, Rita was bedridden at the convent. A cousin visited her and asked her if she desired anything from her old home. Rita responded by asking for a rose from the garden. It was January and her cousin did not expect to find anything due to the weather. However, when her relative went to the house, a single blooming rose was found in the garden and her cousin brought the rose and fig back to Rita at the convent. St. Rita is often depicted holding roses or with roses nearby. On her feast day, churches and shrines of St. Rita provide roses to the congregation that are blessed by the priest during Mass.

May 21st - St. Christopher Magallanes and Companions

5/21/2014

Saint Christopher Magallanes and his Companions Cristóbal Magallanes Jara was born in the state of Jalisco in Mexico in 1869. He was ordained priest at the age of 30 and became parish priest of his home town of Totatiche. He took a special interest in the evangelization of the local indigenous Huichol people and founded a mission for them. When government persecution of the Catholic Church began and the seminaries were closed, he opened a small local “auxiliary seminary.” He wrote and preached against armed rebellion but was falsely accused of promoting the Cristero rebellion. He was arrested on 21 May 1927 while on the way to celebrate Mass at a farm. He was executed without a trial, but not before giving his remaining possessions to his executioners and giving them absolution. With him are celebrated 24 other Mexican martyrs of the early 20th century.

Other saints: St Eugène de Mazenod (1782 - 1861) He was born at Aix-en-Provence in the south of France and had to flee together with his family when the French Revolution broke out. When he returned, in 1802, it was in a penniless and uncertain state, but after a period of depression he began to develop a concern for the French Church, which had been attacked and half destroyed by the Revolution. He discerned a vocation to the priesthood and was ordained in 1811. He returned to Aix-en-Provence and lived as a wandering priest with no parish church. He and the companions he gathered round him went from village to village, preaching in Provençal, the language of the people. Facing opposition from the local clergy, Eugène went straight to the Pope and obtained official recognition of the “Oblates of Mary Immaculate,” of which he was then elected Superior General. He continued to guide the order until his death. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of Marseilles in 1832, provoking a furious and debilitating five-year diplomatic row with the French government. At length he became Bishop of Marseilles in 1837, on the retirement of his predecessor. He continued to rebuild the strength of the French Church, and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate were persuaded to send missionaries to other parts of the world, so that they are now active in 68 countries.

Saint for Today - St Bernardine of Sienna

5/20/2014

Bernardine Albizeschi, of a noble family of Siena, gave clear marks of sanctity from his earliest years; for he was well reared by pious parents, and when studying the rudiments of grammar, he used to give up his time for play, and applied himself to works of piety, to fasting, prayer, and especially to devotion to the most blessed Virgin. His charity to the poor was indeed extraordinary. As time went on, that he might be better able to cultivate these virtues, it was his will to enroll himself among those who took care of the hospital of blessed Mary of the Ladder of God (Santa Maria della Scala) in Siena, from which place there came forth so many men celebrated for holiness. There he laboured, in bodily suffering and with unbelievable charity, to take care of the sick while a terrible pestilence was raging. And among his other virtues, he guarded his chastity as a holy thing, and it was in danger because of his handsome appearance, and no one, not even the most depraved, ever dared to say an improper word in his presence.

After suffering a serious illness lasting four months, which he bore with the greatest patience, when he had safely recovered he began to think of embracing some institute of the religious life. To prepare his way for this, he hired a little hut on the outskirts of the city; and in it he hid himself, leading a more austere life in every way, and assiduously beseeching God to shew him the path he was to follow. A divine inspiration led him to prefer to all others the order of blessed Francis, in which he excelled in humility, patience, and the other virtues of a religious man. The rector of the convent noticing this, and having previously perceived that Bernardine had experience in teaching and in sacred letters, imposed the duty of preaching upon him. The saint most humbly accepted the office, though he was aware that the weakness and hoarseness of his voice unfitted him for it: but he sought God's help, and was miraculously freed from these impediments.

And although those times abounded with vices and crimes, and with bloody civil wars in Italy, so that all things, divine and human, were thrown into utter confusion, Bernardine went through the cities and towns, and in the Name of Jesus, which was ever on his lips and in his heart, restored the fallen piety and morals to a great extent by his word and example. After this had been done, several important cities asked the Supreme Pontiff to make Bernardine their bishop; but this office he most strenuously rejected with invincible humility. At length the man of God, worn out with heavy labours, after working many and great miracles, and also having written pious and learned books, died a happy death, at the age of sixty-six, in a city of the Abruzzi, called L'Aquila. New miracles daily made him illustrious, and, in the sixth year after his death, the Supreme Pontiff Nicholas V placed him in the list of the Saints.

The Burial of St. Bernardine of Siena

May 19th - St Pudentiana

5/19/2014

The maiden Pudentiana was the orphan daughter of Pudens the Roman Senator. She was a Christian of eminent godliness. She with her sister Praxedes distributed to the poor the money which they obtained by the sale of their inheritance. She gave herself continually to fasting and prayer. By her care the whole of the household, being ninety-six persons, were baptized by Pope Pius I. Whereas the Emperor Antoninus had forbidden the Christians to offer sacrifice in public, Pope Pius used to meet with them in Pudentiana's house, to celebrate the holy rites. She was a gracious hostess to them, and ministered to them in such things as are needful for the body. She thus busied herself in works of Christian godliness until she passed from this present life to a better. She was buried in her father's sepulchre in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Salarian Way upon the 19th day of May.

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