Quote of the Day – 17 December – The Memorial of St John of Matha O.SS.T (1160-1213) – Founder of the Trinitarians and the Devotion to Our Lady of Good Remedy
From the Apostolic Letter “Sacred Vessel of the Holy Trinity” by St Pope John XXIII
(AAS LIII, 1961, 602-604)
The Trinitarian religious whose primary duties are to worship the Triune God with a special devotion, to promote this devotion and to aid the needy and those who suffer by performing works of mercy, have honoured the Virgin Mary – Sacred Vessel of the Holy Trinity – under the title of “Mother of Good Remedy” from the very beginnings of their Order.
Indeed, St John de Matha, their founder and lawgiver, had a great love for the Virgin Mother of God. He founded and spread this holy Order under her protection and bequeathed to his sons and daughters the heritage of a strong Marian devotion. A singular love, for the Mother of God, has flourished among these religious throughout the ages, for she continually healed the sufferings of her suppliants; indeed, it still flourishes among them up to the present day.
The General Chapter of 1959, aware that such traditional devotion had become even stronger in the Order, decided to express the desire of all religious of the Order and to petition the Apostolic See that the glorious Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Good Remedy, should be declared the principal, heavenly patroness of the Trinitarian Order.
We have willingly decided to grant this request, hoping that the friars of the Order will be inflamed to honour the Virgin Mary under this title with an even more ardent love. We also trust that they, moved by her example, will more intensely commit themselves to bring relief and remedy to the less fortunate. Therefore, after consulting with the Sacred Congregation of Titles, with full knowledge and mature deliberation and with the fullness of our apostolic authority, by virtue of this document, we designate and declare the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Good Remedy, to be forever the heavenly, principal patroness of the whole Order of the Most Holy Trinity, along with St Agnes, virgin and martyr. The celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Good Remedy is to be given all the liturgical honours and privileges which are fittingly accorded to the patrons of religious Orders and Congregations; moreover, we grant the added faculty of celebrating her feast each year on 8 October.
Most powerful Virgin,
we come to you in dangers and adversities.
You are our protection,
you are our refuge,
you are our Mother of Remedy.
AnaStpaul 