Category:

Our Lady of Ransom

9/24/2013

In the early part of the thirteenth century of the era of our Lord, the greatest and fairest part of Spain lay crushed under the yoke of the Saracens, and countless numbers of the faithful were held in brutal slavery, with the most lively danger of being made to deny the Christian faith and of losing everlasting salvation. Amid such sorrows the most Blessed Queen of heaven came mercifully to the rescue, and shewed how the greatness of her motherly love was fain for their redemption. Holy Peter Nolasco, in the full bloom of the treasures of godliness as well as rich in earthly wealth, was earnestly pondering with himself how he could succour so many suffering Christians dwelling in bondage to the Moors. To him appeared with gracious visage the Most Blessed Virgin, and bade him know that it would be well-pleasing in her own sight, and in the sight of her Only-begotten Son, that an Order of Religious men should be founded in her honour, whose work it should be to redeem prisoners from Mohammedan slavery. Strengthened by this heavenly vision, the man of God began to burn with wonderful charity, nursing in his heart the one desire that he himself and the Order which he should found might exercise that love, greater than which hath no man, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Upon the same night the same most holy Virgin appeared to the Blessed Raymund de Pennafort, and to James, King of Aragon, charging them concerning the founding of the Order, and desiring them to help in raising up so great a work. Peter betook himself forthwith to the feet of Raymund, who was his confessor, and laid the matter before him, whom also he found taught from heaven, and to whose governance he right humbly submitted himself. Then came King James, who appointed to carry out this revelation, which himself also had received from the Most Blessed Virgin. The three took counsel together, and all with one consent entered upon the institution of an Order in honour of the said Virgin Mother, to be placed under the invocation of St. Mary of Ransom, for the Redemption of Captives.

Upon the 10th of August, in the year of our Lord 1218, the above-named King James decreed the establishment of this Order, thus already conceived by these holy men. The brethren take a fourth vow, whereby they bind themselves to remain in pawn with the unbelievers, if need so require, for the liberation of Christians. The King granted them the right to bear on their breasts his own Royal blazon, and obtained from Gregory IX the confirmation of this Institute and Order so nobly marked by brotherly charity. God himself, through the Virgin Mother, gave the increase, causing this Institute speedily and prosperously to spread through all the world, and to blossom with holy men, great in love and godliness, to spend in the redemption of their neighbours the alms which are committed to them by Christ's faithful people, to that end, and some whiles to give themselves up for the ransom of many. That due thanks might be rendered to God and to the Virgin Mother for the great blessing of this Institute, the See Apostolic among other well-nigh countless favours bestowed upon it, permitted that this special Feastday should be kept and this Office said.

St. Pio of Pietrelcina

9/23/2013

Padre Pio was born May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, Italy, a small country town located in southern Italy. His parents were Grazio Mario Forgione (1860-1946) and Maria Guiseppa de Nunzio Forgione (1859-1929). He was baptized the next day, in the nearby Castle Church, with the name of his brother, Francesco, who died in early infancy. Other children in the family were an older brother, Michele; three younger sisters: Felicita, Pellegrina and Grazia; and two children who died as infants.

Religion was the center of life for both Pietrelcina and the Forgione family. The town had many celebrations throughout the year in honor of different saints and the bell in the Castle Church was used not for ringing the hour, but for daily devotional time. Friends have described the Forgione family as "the God-is-everything-people" because they attended Daily Mass, prayed the Rosary nightly and fasted three days a week from meat in honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Although Padre Pio’s grandparents and parents could not read and write, they memorized Sacred Scripture and told the children Bible stories. It was in this lovely family setting that the seeds of Faith were nurtured within Padre Pio.

From his early childhood, it was evident that Padre Pio had a deep piety. When he was five years old, he solemnly consecrated himself to Jesus. He liked to sing hymns, play church and preferred to be by himself where he could read and pray. As an adult, Padre Pio commented that in his younger years he had conversed with Jesus, the Madonna, his guardian angel, and had suffered attacks by the devil.

Padre Pio’s parents first learned of his desire to become a priest in 1897. A young Capuchin friar was canvassing the countryside seeking donations. Padre Pio was drawn to this spiritual man and told his parents, "I want to be a friar… with a beard." His parents traveled to Morcone, a community thirteen miles north of Pietrelcina, to investigate if the friars would be interested in having their son. The Capuchins were interested, but Padre Pio would need more education than his three years of public schooling.

In order to finance the private tutor needed to educate Padre Pio, his father went to America to find work. During this time, he was confirmed (September 27, 1899), studied with tutors and completed the requirements for entrance into the Capuchin order. At age 15, he took the Habit of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin on January 22, 1903. On the day of his investiture, he took the name of Pio in honor of Saint Pius V, the patron saint of Pietrelcina, and was called Fra, for brother, until his priestly ordination.

In the mid-1960s, Padre Pio’s health began to deteriorate, but he continued to say Daily Mass and hear fifty confessions a day. By July of 1968, he was almost bedridden. On the fiftieth anniversary of the stigmata (September 20,1968), Padre Pio celebrated Mass, attended the public recitation of the Rosary and Benediction. On the next day, he was too tired to say Mass or hear confessions. On September 22, he managed to say Mass and the attendees had to struggle to hear him. Just after midnight, in the early morning hours of September 23, Padre Pio called his superior and asked to make his confession. He then renewed his vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. At 2:30am, Padre Pio died in his cell. As he foretold, Padre Pio lived sick but died healthy, with the stigmata healed.

Saint for Today - St. Linus, Pope

9/23/2013

Pope Linus was by birth a native of Velletri in Tuscany, and was the immediate successor of Peter in the government of the Church. His faith and holiness were such that he not only cast out devils, but also raised the dead. He wrote the acts of Blessed Peter, and especially the history of his strife with Simon Magus. He forbade women to enter the Church without having a veil upon their heads. His own head was cut off, on account of his firmness in confessing Christ, by command of the godless Consul Saturninus, an unthankful wretch whose own daughter he had delivered from being tormented by a devil. He was buried upon the Vatican Mount, hard by the grave of the Prince of the Apostles, upon the 23rd day of September. He sat as Pope eleven years, two months, and twenty-three days. He held two December ordinations, wherein he made fifteen Bishops, and eighteen Priests.

Saint for Today - St Thecla

9/23/2013

The virgin Thecla was the daughter of noble parents at Iconium, and a disciple of the Apostle Paul. She is the subject of extraordinary praises by the holy Fathers. In the eighteenth year of her age, she parted from one Thamiris, to whom she had been betrothed, and her kindred accused her of being a Christian. A pile was set a-fire for her, unless she should deny Christ, but she made the sign of the Cross, and willingly entered it, and rain came, and put out the fire. She came to Antioch, where they threw her to wild beasts; and strove to tear her asunder, by tying her to oxen driven different ways; and cast her into a pit with many snakes; but by the mercy of Jesus Christ she was delivered from all. The warmth of her faith and the holiness of her life brought many to Christ. She returned into her own country, and withdrew to be an hermit, alone on a certain mountain, and passed away to be with the Lord, aged ninety years, and famous for many good works and miracles. She was buried at Seleucia.

Saint for Today - St. Matthew

9/21/2013

It came to pass one day at Capernaum, that Christ went forth and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom; and he said unto him: Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house. This Levi is the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew. After that Christ was risen again from the dead, and while he was yet in Judea, before he set forth for that land which had fallen to the lot of his preaching, he wrote the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Hebrew tongue, for the sake of them of the circumcision who had believed. His was the first written of the four Gospels. Thereafter he went to Ethiopia, and there preached the Gospel, confirming his preaching with many miracles.

Of his miracles, the most notable was that he raised the King's daughter from the dead, and thereby brought to believe in Christ the King her father, his wife, and all that region. After that the King was dead, Hirtacus, who came after him, was fain to take his daughter Iphigenia to wife, but by the exhortation of Matthew she had made vow of her maidenhood to God, and stood firm to that holy resolution, for which cause Hirtacus commanded to slay the Apostle at the Altar while he was performing the mystery. He crowned the dignity of the Apostleship with the glory of martyrdom upon the 21st day of September. His body had been brought to Salerno, where it was afterwards buried in a Church dedicated in his name during the Popedom of Gregory VII, and there it is held in great worship and sought to by great gatherings of people.

Sermon of St Jerome

The other Evangelists, out of tenderness towards the reputation and honour of Matthew, have abstained from speaking of him as a publican by his ordinary name, and have called him Levi. Both names were his. But Matthew himself (according to that that Solomon hath: The just man is the first to accuse himself, and again, in another place: Declare thou thy sins that thou mayest be justified) doth plainly call himself Matthew the publican, to shew unto his readers that none need be hopeless of salvation if he will but strive to do better, since he himself had been all of a sudden changed from a publican into an Apostle.

Porphyry and the Emperor Julian the Apostate will have it that the account of this call of Matthew is either a stupid blunder on the part of a lying writer, or else that it sheweth what fools they were who followed the Saviour, to go senselessly after any one who called them. But there can be no doubt that before the Apostles believed they had considered the great signs and works of power which had gone before. Moreover, the glory and majesty of the hidden God, which shone somewhat through the Face of the Man Christ Jesus, were enough to draw them which gazed thereon, even at first sight. For if there be in a stone a magnetic power which can make rings and straws and rods come and cleave thereunto, how much more must not the Lord of all creatures have been able to draw unto himself them whom he called?

Korean Martyrs - Andrew Kim Teagon, Paul Chong Hasang

9/20/2013

Andrew Kim Taegon in English, was the first Korean-born Catholic priest and is the patron saint of Korea. In the late 18th century, Roman Catholicism began to take root slowly in Korea

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 15, Andrew travelled 1,300 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. Kim was one of several thousand Christians who were executed during this time. In 1846, at the age of 25, he was tortured and beheaded near Seoul on the Han River. His last words were:

"This is my last hour of life, listen to me attentively: if I have held communication with foreigners, it has been for my religion and for my God. It is for Him that I die. My immortal life is on the point of beginning. Become Christians if you wish to be happy after death, because God has eternal chastisements in store for those who have refused to know Him."

Before Ferréol, the first Bishop of Korea, died from exhaustion on the third of February, 1853, he wanted to be buried beside Kim, stating, “You will never know how sad I was to lose this young native priest. I have loved him as a father loved his son; it is a consolation for me to think of his eternal happiness.”

Paul Chong Hasang was a lay apostle and married man, aged 45. 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 bringing taxes to Beijing annually. 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 4,000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883.

When Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984 he canonized, besides Andrew and Paul, 98 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 lay persons: 47 women, 45 men.

Among the martyrs in 1839 was Columba Kim, an unmarried woman of 26. She was put in prison, pierced with hot tools 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 13, 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 41-year-old noble, apostatized under torture and was freed. Later he came back, confessed his faith and was tortured to death.

Today, there are almost 5.1 million Catholics in Korea.

Saint for Today - St Eustace and Companions

9/20/2013

Eustace (whose name before his Baptism was Placidus) was a Roman, alike well-known on account of his noble birth, his great earthly wealth, and his eminent distinction as a soldier. He gained, under the Emperor Trajan, the post of military commander. Once upon a time he was hunting, and following an extraordinarily large stag, when the beast stood still, and Eustace saw between his horns a tall and glorious figure of the Lord Christ hanging upon the Cross, whence came a voice bidding him to follow after life eternal. Thereupon Eustace and his wife Theopista, and their two little sons Agapitus and Theopistus, enlisted themselves as soldiers under the Great Captain, Christ.

In a little while he went back, according as the Lord had commanded him, to the place where he had seen the first vision, and there he heard from God how much he was to bear for his glory. It was not long after that he had great losses and became exceedingly poor, but he bore it very patiently. Then he was constrained to fly away privily, and on the journey was grievously afflicted in that, first, his wife and then his children were parted from him and carried he knew not whither. Under the weight of these sorrows he lay hid a long while a far-off place, working as the steward of a land-owner, until the voice of God called him forth, and Trajan sought for him again to make him a captain in his army.

While he was with the army he found his wife and children once more, by an unexpected happiness, and re-entered the city of Rome as a conquering soldier amid the loud applause of all men, but thereupon, when he was commanded to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving for the victory to the gods that are no gods, he stoutly refused. They tried him in vain with divers cajoleries to make him deny Christ, but could not, and he and his wife and little ones were thrown to the lions. When these beasts would not touch them, the Emperor's fury was kindled, and he commanded them all to be shut up in the brazen image of a bull, which was heated with fire underneath. There they praised God until their testimony was ended, and they departed hence to be perfectly blessed for ever and ever, upon the 20th day of September. Their bodies were buried whole by the faithful, with deep reverence, and were afterwards honourably carried to a Church built in their name.

Saint for Today - St Januarius

9/19/2013

What time the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian were furiously raging against Christians, Januarius, Bishop of Benevento, was taken to Nola, to Timotheus, Governor of Campania, on the charge of professing the Christian faith. There his firmness was tried divers ways, and he was cast into a burning fiery furnace, but came forth thence unhurt, for neither upon his raiment nor upon the hairs of his head did the flame take any hold. Thereupon the wrath of the Governor was enkindled, and he commanded the martyr to be torn limb from limb. But in the meanwhile, Januarius' Deacon Festus and his Lector Desiderius were taken, and the whole three were led in bonds to Pozzuoli in front of the Governor's chariot, and there thrown into the same prison wherein were already held four other Christians condemned to be devoured by wild beasts, that is to say, Sosius, a Deacon of Misenum; Proculus, a Deacon of Pozzuoli; and two laymen, named respectively Eutyches and Acutius.

The next day all seven were exposed to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre, but these creatures forgot their natural fierceness, and lay down at the feet of Januarius. Timotheus would have it that this came from charms, and commanded the witnesses of Christ to be beheaded. Thereupon he became of a sudden blind, until Januarius prayed for him; by the which miracle nearly five thousand persons were turned to Christ. But this good turn roused up no gratitude in the Governor, yea, rather, the conversion of so many drave him wild, and in his hot fear to obey the decrees of the Emperors he commanded that the holy Bishop and his companions should be smitten with the sword.

The cities of those coasts strove to obtain their bodies for honourable burial, so as to make sure of having in them advocates with God. By God's will the relics of Januarius were taken to Naples at last, after having been carried from Puzzuoli to Benevento, and from Benevento to Monte Vergine; when they were brought thence to Naples, they were laid in the chief Church there, and there have been famous on account of many miracles. Among these is remarkable the stopping of eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, whereby both that neighbourhood and also places afar off have been like to have been brought to desolation. It is also well known, and is the plain fact, seen even unto this day, that when the blood of Januarius, kept dried up in a small glass phial, is put in sight of the head of the same martyr, it is used to melt and bubble in a very strange way, as though it had but freshly been shed.

September 19, 2012
The blood of St. Januarius liquefied on September 19, his feast day, in the repetition of a familiar miracle in Naples.

St. Januarius, who was martyred during the persecutions of Diocletian, is the patron saint of Naples and of the city’s cathedral. A vial of his blood, preserved by the faithful since the 4th century, regularly turns into liquid form on his feast day. Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples, who presided at a traditional ceremony in the cathedral, assured a large congregation that the miracle had been repeated.

Many residents of Naples believe that if the saint’s blood does not turn to liquid form, it is a sign that some tragedy will befall the city. The miracle did not occur in 1980, when an earthquake south of Naples caused over 2,500 deaths. In the most distant past, the absence of the regular miracle was associated with military losses, volcanic eruptions, and outbreaks of the plague.

Scientists have been unable to explain why the saint’s blood, which ordinarily remains in solid form, liquefies on such frequent occasions. The Church has never formally pronounced on the miracle, although the Archbishop of Naples traditionally leads the ceremony at which the vials are placed upon the cathedral altar and the miracle is proclaimed.

Our Lady of La Salette - September 19th

9/19/2013

Mélanie and Maximin, the two children privileged to see Our Lady in 1846, came from the town of Corps near Grenoble, in a poor part of south-eastern France. Maximin Giraud was eleven years old at the time and Mélanie Calvat fourteen. On Saturday 19 September, they were looking after their employer's cattle, high up on the pasture above La Salette, a village near Corps, when they saw a wonderful apparition of Mary. A globe of light opened to reveal a resplendent woman seated on a stone with her head in her hands. The children later described her as very tall and beautiful, wearing a long, white, pearl studded, sleeved dress, and a white shawl, with some sort of tiara or crown on her head. Hanging from her neck was a large crucifix adorned with a small hammer and pincers, with a brilliantly shining figure of Christ on it. The whole effect was as if she was made of light.

Speaking tearfully she told them that unless people repented she would be forced to let go the arm of her son because it had become so heavy. Our Lady went on to complain that she had to pray ceaselessly to her son for them, but the people still worked on Sundays and blasphemed. She also spoke of coming punishments for these sins, including crop blights and famine. She confided a secret to each of the children, which they were not to divulge, although eventually these secrets were made known to Pope Pius IX

Finally she asked the children to spread her message before disappearing. When the children returned home they told their story, an account of which was taken down in writing the next day. They faced much opposition in making known Our Lady's message, but they maintained their story with resolution. The local Bishop too faced quite a degree of opposition in investigating the apparition, and it was only after four years, and having set up two commissions of enquiry, that Mgr de Bruillard, as bishop of Grenoble, approved of devotion to Our Lady of Salette, in the following terms.

"We declare that the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to two shepherds, on September 19, 1846, on a mountain in the Alps in the parish of La Salette, bears in itself all the marks of truth and that the faithful are justified in believing without question in its truth. And so, to mark our lively gratitude to God and the glorious Virgin Mary, we authorise the cult of Our Lady of La Salette."

"If my people do not obey, I shall be compelled to loose my Son's arm. It is so heavy I can no longer restrain it. How long have I suffered for you! If my son is not to abandon you, I am obliged to entreat Him without ceasing. But you take no heed of that. No matter how well you pray in the future, no matter how well you act, you will never be able to make up to me what I have endured on your behalf. I have given you six days to work. The seventh I have reserved for myself, yet no one will give it to me. This is what causes the weight of my Son's arm to be so crushing. The cart drivers cannot swear without bringing in my Son's name. These are the two things which make my son's arm so heavy."

Saint for Today - St. Joseph of Cupertino

9/18/2013

Joseph was born of godly parents at Copertino, a small village of the diocese of Nardo, between Brindisi and Otranto, in the year of Redemption 1603. The love of God came to him early, and he passed his childhood and youth in great guilelessness and harmlessness. After recovering by the help of the Virgin Mother of God from a long and painful sickness which he bore very quietly, he gave himself altogether to godliness and self-improvement. God called him inwardly to higher things, and to give himself more utterly to his service, he determined in himself to join the Seraphic Order. After divers failures and changes, he obtained his wish among the Friars of the convent of La Grotella. He went first as a lay brother, on account of his ignorance of letters, but God was pleased to allow him afterwards to be taken among the choir-brethren. After taking his solemn vows he was ordained Priest, and then set before him to aim at a more perfect life. To this end (as far as in him lay) he thrust from him all earthly affections and all carnal things, even to such as seem almost needful for life. He tormented his body with haircloth, scourging, spiked chains, and every kind of hardship and affliction. He fed his spirit sweetly upon the constant exercise of holy prayer, and gazing upon the highest matters. And so it came to pass that the love of God, which had been enkindled in his heart from his earliest years, burnt forth day by day more strangely and openly.

The chief outcome of this love of God was the strong and marvellous trances whereinto he oftentimes fell. It was, nevertheless, strange to observe that after he had entirely lost his senses he could be called out the trance by the mere order of his superiors. To be utterly obedient was one of his chief aims, and he was used to say that those who ruled him could lead him about like a blind man, and that it was better to die than not to obey. He so imitated the poverty of the Seraphic Patriarch, that when he was at the point of death, when the Friars use to dispose of anything they have, he was able to tell his Superior that he had absolutely nothing. Thus bearing about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus, the life also of Jesus was made manifest in his body. When he saw that certain persons had committed a foul sin of uncleanness, there came from him a strong savour, a proof of that snowy and glorious purity which, in spite of the most hideous temptations whereby the unclean spirit wrestled long to darken it, he kept undefiled, partly by an iron bridling of his senses, partly by the stern punishments he inflicted upon his own body, and partly by the extraordinary protection of the pure Virgin Mary, whom he was used to call his own Mother, whom he honoured and worshipped as his most tender Mother in his very heart of hearts, and whom he was eager that all men should honour, because, as he said, if we have her protection, every good thing cometh with it.

This eagerness on the part of the blessed Joseph was but one outcome from his love for his neighbours. So great was his zeal for souls, that he vehemently sought in all ways for the salvation of all. When he saw his neighbour in any trouble, whether it were poverty or sickness or any other affliction, his tenderness went out toward him, and he helped him as well as he could. They who reviled, and slandered, and insulted himself were not cut off from his love. He was used to welcome such with great long-suffering, meekness, and cheerfulness of countenance; and he preserved the same constantly amid many hardships and changes when he was sent hither and thither by command of the Superiors of his Order, and of the Holy Inquisition. People and princes alike marvelled at the exceeding holiness of his life, and the spiritual gifts poured upon him from above, but he was so lowly, that he sincerely held himself to be chief among sinners, and earnestly besought God to take away from him the more showy of his gifts. Of men he entreated that after his death they would cast his body somewhere where his memory might soonest perish. But God, who exalteth them of low degree, glorified his servant during life with the gifts of heavenly wisdom, of prophecy, of discerning the hidden thoughts of the heart, of healing, and of other spiritual gifts in marvellous abundance, gave him a precious death, and made the place of his rest glorious. He fell asleep in Jesus upon the very day and at the very place foretold by himself, that is, at Osimo, in the 61st year of his own age. He was famous for miracles even after his death, and Benedict XIV enrolled his name among those of the Blessed, and Clement XIII among those of the Saints. Clement XIV, being himself a member of the same Order, extended the use of the Office and Mass in memory of him to the whole Church.