Our Morning Offering – 9 July – The Memorial of Blessed Adrian Fortescue T.O.S.D. (1476-1539) Martyr
A Dominican Offering
May God the Father bless us.
May God the Son heal us.
May God the Holy Spirit enlighten us,
and give us
eyes to see with,
ears to hear with,
hands to do the work of God with,
feet to walk with,
a mouth to preach
the word of salvation with,
and the angel of peace
to watch over us and lead us at last,
by our Lord’s gift, to the Kingdom.
Amen
Saint of the Day – Blessed Adrian Fortescue (1476-1539) Martyr
After a remarkable life, Bl. Adrian Fortescue died a martyr at the strike of an executioner’s blade at Tower Hill in 1539. A husband and father, a Justice of the Peace, a Knight of the Realm, a Knight of Malta and a Dominican Tertiary (Lay Dominican),he was at once a loyal servant of the Crown so far as he could be but still more, he was a man of unshakeable faith.
The House of Fortescue into which Adrian was born is said to date from the Battle of Hastings where Richard le Fort saved William the Conqueror’s Life by the shelter of his “strong shield” and, thereafter, was called “Fort – Escu”. His family had a history of service to the Crown although this was later complicated by the dynastic battles of The Wars of the Roses. Vicissitudes notwithstanding, his great uncle, Sir John Fortescue (d.1479) became Chief Justice of the King’s Bench (1442-61). Sir John’s writings on the law and politics of England were arguably the most significant contribution of the fifteenth century and are still studied by lawyers and political theorists today. Adrian’s father, also named Sir John, fought for the victorious Lancastrians at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 when Adrian was but a young boy. And later in his life, Adrian’s first cousin, Anne Boleyn, became King Henry VIII’s second wife (before her eventual beheading in 1536). We can say with some justification then that the Fortescues occupied a privileged position at the Rroyal court.
The first mention of Adrian Fortescue is in 1499, by which time, aged about 23, he was already married to Anne Stonor. He lived at his wife’s family seat at Stonor Park in Oxfordshire. This estate would later become the subject of an acrimonious legal dispute between him and his relative. In 1503, on Prince Henry becoming Prince of Wales (after Prince Arthur’s death) Adrian was made a Knight of the Order of Bath. Sir Adrian took the motto Loyalle Pensée; his loyalty was indeed to be tested.
Like his forebears, Adrian served King Henry VIII in his ambitious military campaigns. He helped to rout the French the Battle of Spurs in 1513, and fought again in 1523. King Henry rewarded his support and in 1520 invited him to the splendorous Field of the Cloth of Gold where Henry famously wrestled with the King of France. Closer to home, Sir Adrian was made a Justice of the Peace of the county of Oxfordshire. In this period of history, royal favour could also take more peculiar forms. Sir Adrian had the dubious honour of being made a Gentleman of the King’s Privy Chamber, forerunner to the august body now known as the Privy Council.
In addition to being an assiduous servant of the Crown, Sir Adrian was evidently also a man of strong religious conviction and charity. His accounts reveal a number of benefactions to clergy and religious foundations. In 1532, he became a Knight of Devotion in the Order of Malta. The following year in July of 1533, he was admitted as a Dominican Tertiary at Blackfriars, Oxford, which he would visit from Stonor. But he also had a strong association with the Dominican Priory in London. His lodgings in the capital were in the precincts of the Blackfriars, close to the present eponymous tube station.
Not long after becoming a Lay Dominican, began what Adrian called his “trobilles”. At the start of Summer 1533, he assisted in the Coronation of his cousin, Anne Boleyn – then six months pregnant – as Queen of England. He must have realised that the marriage was not valid but perhaps thought, at that stage at least, that in the words of Sir Thomas More, it was not his business “to murmur at it or dispute upon it”. This narrow compromise was to prove short-lived.
The King’s infidelity and presumption were rebuked when the Pope refused to grant an annulment declaring Henry’s marriage to Catherine as valid on 23rd March 1534. The following month on 13th April, Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More refused to take the Oath of Succession. Sir Adrian was similarly arrested that same year but he was released without explanation, probably in the Spring of 1535. Fisher and More were afforded no such clemency and the two Saints were executed in Summer 1535.
The Act of Supremacy was also passed in 1535, making Henry supreme Head of the Church “immediately under God”. As a matter of law, Henry expressly denied the Pope’s authority. A writ affirming this and dated the following year can be found in Sir Adrian’s extant Missal. Tellingly, perhaps, it has with a line struck through it: apparent evidence of his disapproval. The die, it seems, was cast.
In February 1539, Sir Adrian was again arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. In the sitting of Parliament that Spring, a number of laws were passed in what has been described as the most servile Parliamentary session in history. Among the draconian laws enacted was a novel provision whereby a sentence of death might be passed without any trial of the accused. Under this procedure, no evidence was needed, neither could a defence be heard. Ironically, the architect of the law, Thomas Cromwell (then Lord Chancellor) was himself condemned by the same measure a year later leading to his own execution. This device was put to use on 11th May 1535 when a Bill of Attainder was passed condemning fifty people of High Treason who opposed Henry’s ecclesiastical policies. The names included Sir Adrian, Reginald Cardinal Pole, and the Countess of Salisbury.
Sir Adrian’s Book of Hours contains a Rule of Life written in his own hand and giving an insight into the interior life of a man who exemplified holiness and virtue in his conduct. He led a life of asceticism and honour, trying to follow God’s will in all things and daily seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. His pursuit of God’s truth brought him to a martyr’s death on 8th July 1539 (but possibly 9th or 10th) when he was beheaded at Tower Hill. His servants were also killed for treason on the same day but were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. As one later account neatly puts it, “Sir Adrian Fortescue died for his faith in Him whose acts Parliament was not competent to repeal”.
Pope Leo XII declared Adrian Fortescue blessed on 13th May 1895 and as a layman, he ranks among the great Dominicans as an outstanding example to all Christians. … By Br Samuel Burke O.P.
Br Samuel Burke is a deacon based in Rome where he is completing his studies at the Angelicum
One Minute Reflection – 4 July – The Memorial of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati T.O.S.D. (1901-1925) “Man of the Eight Beatitudes”
If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth…..1 John 3:17-18
REFLECTION – “Everyone of you knows, that the foundation of our religion is charity. Without it all our religion would crumble because we would not truly be Catholics, as long as we did not carry out, or rather shape our whole lives, by the two commandments in which the essence of the Catholic Faith lies: to love God with all our strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves.”…….Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati
PRAYER – Loving Father, teach me to see the face of Your Divine Son in all those I meet especially those in need. Help me to realise that love is the most powerful force in the world. Saint Elizabeth of Portugal and Blessed Pier Georgio are an inspiration to us all, teaching us by their actions, that it is only in living love in charity that we can be true Catholics. Saint Elizabeth of Portugal and Blessed Pier Georgio pray for us, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 1 July – Month of the Most Precious Blood
Constant Prayer
to the Precious Blood of Jesus
By St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
Precious Blood,
ocean of divine mercy,
Flow upon us!
Precious Blood,
most pure offering,
Procure us every grace!
Precious Blood,
hope and refuge of sinners,
Atone for us!
Precious Blood,
delight of holy souls,
Draw us!
Amen.
Saint of the Day – 10 June – Blessed John Dominici O.P. (c 1355-1419) ArchBishop, Cardinal, Religious Friar, Theologian, Preacher, Confessor, Reformer, Papal Legate, Papal Counsellor and Confessor, Writer, Evangeliser – born on 1356 at Florence, Italy and died on 10 June 1419 of a fever at Buda, Hungary. 
Although John had little education and suffered from a speech impediment that caused him to stammer and stutter, he possessed a tremendous drive to improve himself, overcome his obstacles and serve our Lord. He also had a great memory and later in life became a great theologian and preacher. John Dominic met St Catherine of Siena when he was young, entered the Order of Preachers and was an integral part of a major reform movement. This reform helped to revitalise the Order after its decimation by the plague and general laxity of observance. Not only was he a major force in the Dominican Order but he became a cardinal in the Church and an official legate for the Pope. Most importantly, he worked to resolve the Great Western Schism. He also brought Fra Angelico, the world famous painter and St Antoninus, a brilliant theologian and reformer, into the Order.
Born in c 1355 at Florence, Italy, John spent a great deal of his youth in or around the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella. He joined the Order at the age of 17, despite his lack of education and his speech impediment, even while the Dominicans are scholars and preachers. After entering the Order, Blessed John studied in Pisa and Florence and received a degree from the University of Paris. As a priest, Blessed John once believed that his speech impediment would threaten his vocation but it was cured through the intervention of Saint Catherine of Siena. Blessed John spent 12 years in Venice as a preacher.
In 1392, Blessed John found himself to be the Vicar provincial serving in Rome. At the time, Blessed Raymond of Capua was the Master General of the Order and he helped rebuild the Order after the ravages of the Plague and helped return regular discipline to the Order’s members.
Blessed John founded Dominican convents in Venice, Fiesole, Chioggia, Citta de Castello, Cortona, Lucca and Fabriano and was a correspondent of Blessed Clara Gambacorta, advising her of how to restore discipline to Dominican nuns of the day. For a time, he lost papal support because of support for the Dominican White Penitents in Venice but was later welcomed back and resumed his work in the Order.
Most importantly, Blessed John worked to provide a Christian education to young people. He opposed pagan ideas that were taking hold in the humanism of his day and was a confessor and adviser to Pope Gregory XII. He was made Cardinal of San Sisto in 1407 and Archbishop of Ragusa in 1408. In these roles, he helped to heal the Western Schism and convinced Pope Gregory XII to call the Council of Constance and to abdicate the papacy causing the anti-popes to also drop their claims to the papal throne.
He was appointed the Papal legate to Milan, Genoa, Hungary and Bohemia for Pope Martin V and, in that role, worked to settle the disputes caused by the death of Jon Hus and to heal the Hussite Schism. However, while Blessed John was able to convert some, he was unable to resolve the Hussite Schism.
John is widely known for his scripture commentaries and hymns. His portrait was painted by Fra Angelico and a his memoir was written by St Antonius of Florence, who joined the Order after hearing Blessed John preach.
Blessed John died on 10 June 1419 at Buda, Hungary, from a fever and he was buried in the Saint Paul the Hermit church there. His tomb became a site of miracles and his remains were venerated and miracles reported, until the destruction of the church during a Turkish invasion. His cultus was confirmed in 1832 and he was beatified by Pope Gregory XVI in 1837.
Sunday Reflection – 3 June 2018 – The Solemnity of Corpus Christi
There is a claim that the Adoro Te Devote, our morning offering today, was the prayer that St Thomas Aquinas addressed to Christ as he was dying. The claim remains doubtful, (in the sense that it is a highly intricate prayer and it would be difficult to write whilst very ill) but the account that his biographer, William of Tocco, gives of the holy Doctor’s last moments of life is, in itself, an extraordinary testimony of Eucharistic devotion and reveals the source of the doctrine that, directly or indirectly, inspired the most beautiful Eucharistic texts of the Latin Church, including the Adoro Te Devote.
“Feeling his strength failing and sensing the nearness of his departure from this world, the holy Doctor, with great devotion, requested the viaticum of the Christian pilgrimage, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
After the abbot and the monks had brought the Eucharist to him, he prostrated himself on the ground, weak in body but strong in spirit and went, with tears, to meet his Lord.
Then, in the presence of the Sacrament of the Body of Christ, as is the custom with every Christian at the moment of death, he was asked if he believed that in that consecrated host was the true Son of God, born of the womb of the Virgin, suspended from the scaffold of the Cross, who died and rose for us on the third day. With a free voice and great devotion, mingled with tears, he replied:
“I truly believe and hold as certain that He is true God and true man, Son of God and of the Virgin Mother and I believe with my heart and profess with my lips, that which the priest has asked me of this most Holy Sacrament.”
And after some words of devotion (at this point it is believed St Thomas quoted the Adoro), receiving the Sacrament, he exclaimed:
“I receive You, price of the Redemption of my soul, for love of which I have studied, watched and worked, I have preached and taught You, I have said nothing against You nor am I obstinate in my opinion, if in some part I have spoken poorly of this Sacrament, I submit all to the correction of the Holy Roman Church, in who obedience, I pass from this life.”
May we also, at the end of life, be able to say the same as St Thomas Aquinas!
Let us be transported to the same climate of expectation and joyful hope as we feel in the Adoro Te Devote with these last words of the Lauda Sion, the Eucharistic hymn/sequence also written by St Thomas Aquinas. (Fr Raneiro Cantalamessa O.F.M. “This is My Body”)
Source of all we have or know,
feed and lead us here below.
Grant that with Your saints above,
Sitting at the feast of love,
We may see You face to face.
Amen Alleluia!
Quote/s of the Day – 19 May – Saturday of the Seventh Week of Eastertide
“Truly, it is in darkness
that one finds the light,
so when we are in sorrow,
then this light is nearest of all to us.”
“If the only prayer,
you ever say,
in your entire life,
is “thank you”,
it will be enough.
“The eye
with which
I see God,
is the same eye,
with which,
God sees me.”
Saint of the Day – 15 May – Blessed Andrew Abellon O.P. (1375-1450) Dominican Priest, Confessor, Preacher, Apostle of the Sick, noted Artist in his day, he was especially known for his manuscript illuminations. Blessed Andrew was born in 1375 at Saint Maximin, Provence, France and he died on 15 May 1450 at Aix-en-Provence, France of natural causes. Patronages – of Artists and against fevers.
Blessed Andrew was born near the world-famous shrine of Mary Magdalen. His entire life was centred around the shrine and it is greatly due to his efforts that devotion to the great penitential has become so well established.
As a young man, Andrew may have heard the stirring sermons of Saint Vincent Ferrer, who was at that time preaching in France. Perhaps the purity and penitential zeal for which this great preacher was renowned gave the young Andrew the pattern for his own life. He soon demonstrated his choice of purity and penance by joining the Dominicans in his home town. After a happy and holy novitiate, he made his profession and was ordained. In a few years, a preacher and a guide for souls, he turned his attention to the neglected shrine of Saint Mary Magdalen.
This rugged and penitential region of France had been honored from the time of the Apostles as the chosen retreat for Mary Magdalen, who did penance there for the sins of her youth. From earliest days, it had been a place of pilgrimage but had no definite arrangements for the care of pilgrims, nor any way of supplying their spiritual needs. In Blessed Andrew’s time, Dominican fathers from Saint-Maximin had taken over the spiritual care of the pilgrims as a mission work but without financial help and in the face of great trials.
Seeing the need of a permanent foundation at the shrine, Andrew set about creating one. He interested the queen in his project and obtained enough money from her to build a monastery, which was a gem of architecture as well as a source of spiritual power. Andrew had studied art before his entry into the order and he used his talents in building, beautifully and permanently, whatever he was called upon to do.
A lover of great beauty in the physical order, Andrew was the same in the spiritual. He was famous as a confessor and his wise government as prior, gave help to the spiritual growth of the new convent. A practical man as well as deeply spiritual, Andrew established two mills near the shrine that would provide the people with a means of earning a living while remaining there. Quite naturally, a priest who interested himself in the welfare of the people to this extent could hope for great influence with them and this he had, both at Saint Maximin and at Aix, where an altarpiece he painted may still be seen.
After his death, Blessed Andrew was buried in the Church of the Magdalene. His tomb soon became a place of pilgrimage,his help especially was sought in the cure of fevers and many miracles were reported. His beatification was approved on 19 August 1902 after Pope Leo XIII signed a decree, that recognised the late priest’s longstanding and popular “cultus” – or veneration – which acted as a prerequisite for beatification for older causes of sainthood.
St Isidore the Farmer (c 1070-1619) (Optional Memorial)
St Achilles of Larissa
St Adiutor of Campania
St Alvardo
Bl Andrew Abellon O.P. (1375-1450)
Bercthun of Beverley
Bertha of Bingen
St Caecilius of Granada
St Caesarea of Otranto
St Cassius of Clermont
Bl Clemente of Bressanone
St Colman Mc O’Laoighse
St Ctesiphon of Verga
Bl Diego of Valdieri
St Dymphna
St Euphrasius of Andujar
St Gerebernus
St Hallvard of Oslo
St Hesychius of Gibraltar
St Hilary of Galeata
St Indaletius of Urci
St Isaias
St Isidore of Chios
Bl Joan Montpeó Masip
St Maximus of Clermont
St Nicholas the Mystic
St Rupert of Bingen
St Secundus of Avila
St Simplicius of Sardinia
St Sophia of Rome
St Victorinus of Clermont
St Waldalenus of Beze
—
Martyrs of Maleville: 50 Mercedarian friars murdered for their faith by Huguenots. 1563 in the Mercedarian convent of Maleville in Rodez, France.
Martyrs of Persia: Three Christians who were tortured, mutilated, imprisoned, starved and finally executed together for refusing to worship the sun and fire during the persecutions of Shapur II. We know nothing else about them but their names: Bohtiso, Isaac and Simeon. They were beheaded or burned at the stake (records vary) in the late 3rd century somewhere in Persia
Martyrs of Lampsacus:
Andrew of Troas
Denysa of Troas
Paul of Troas
Peter of Lampsacus
Quote/s of the Day – 29 April – Fifth Sunday of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
“Proclaim the Truth
and do not be silent
through fear.”
“Preach the Truth
as if you had a million voices.
It is silence that kills the world.”
“Nothing great is ever achieved,
without much enduring.”
“All the way to heaven is heaven
because Jesus said, “I am the way.”
“Strange that so much suffering is caused
because of the misunderstandings
of God’s true nature.
God’s heart is more gentle
than the Virgin’s first kiss upon the Christ.
And God’s forgiveness to all, to any thought or act,
is more certain than our own being.”
“Everything comes from love,
all is ordained for the salvation of man,
God does nothing without this goal in mind.”
“A soul cannot live without loving.
It must have something to love,
for it was created to love.”
“What is it you want to change?
Your hair, your face, your body?
Why? For God is in love with all those things
and He might weep when they are gone!”
Saint of the Day – 13 April – Blessed Margaret of Castello O.P. (1287-1320) was an Italian professed member from the Third Order of the Order of Preachers of St Dominic. Margaret was disabled and became known for her deep faith and holiness. Patronages – against poverty, disabled people, handicapped people, people rejected by religious orders,Pro-Right Groups. Her body is incorrupt.
Bl Margaret of Castello was born in the fourteenth century in Metola, Italy to noble parents who wanted a son. When the news was brought to the new mother that her newborn daughter was a blind, hunchbacked dwarf, both parents were horrified. Little Margaret was kept in a secluded section of the family castle in the hopes that her existence would be kept secret. However, when she was about six years old, she accidentally made her presence known to a guest. Determined to keep her out of the public eye, her father had a room without a door built onto the side of the parish church and walled Margaret inside this room. Here she lived until she was sixteen, never being allowed to come out. Her food and other necessities were passed in to her through a window. Another window into the church allowed her to hear Mass and receive Holy Communion. The parish priest became a good friend and took upon himself the duty to educate her. He was amazed at her docility and the depth of her spiritual wisdom.
When Margaret was sixteen years old, her parents heard of a shrine in Citta di Castello, Italy, where many sick people were cured. They made a pilgrimage to the shrine so that she could pray for healing. However, Margaret, open to the will of God, was not healed that day, or the next, so her parents callously abandoned her in the streets of the town and left for home, never to see her again. At the mercy of the passersby, Margaret had to beg her food and eventually sought shelter with some Dominican nuns.
W. R. Bonniwell writes, “Her cheerfulness, based on her trust in God’s love and goodness, was extraordinary. She became a Dominican tertiary and devoted herself to tending the sick and the dying” as well as prisoners in the city jail.
Deprived of all human companionship, Margaret learned to embrace her Lord in solitude. Instead of becoming bitter, she forgave her parents for their ill treatment of her and treated others as well as she could. Her cheerfulness stemmed from her conviction that God loves each person infinitely, for He has made each person in His own image and likeness. This same cheerfulness won the hearts of the poor of Castello and they took her into their homes for as long as their purses could afford. She passed from house to house in this way, “a homeless beggar being practically adopted by the poor of a city” (Bonniwell, 1955).
Bl Margaret died on 13 April 1320 at the age of 33. More than 200 miracles have been credited to her intercession since her death. She was beatified on 19 October 1609 by Pope Paul V (concession of indult for Mass and Office). Thus, the daughter that nobody wanted is now one of the glories of the Church.
Saint of the Day – 10 April – Blessed Antony Neyrot O.P. (1425-1460) Martyr, Dominican Priest, an Apostate who reconverted, Penitent. Bl Anthony was born c 1425 at Rivoli, Diocese of Turin, Italy and died by being stoned to death on 10 April 1460 in Tunis, Tunisia. His body was returned to Rivoli, Italy by merchants travelling through the region. He was Beatified on 22 February 1767 by Pope Clement XIII (cultus confirmation).
Anthony was the only Dominican blessed ever to renounce his faith and yet in the end return to the faith and die a Martyr’s death. Bl Anthony is a reminder to us that nothing is lost which cannot be found again and no-one can stray so far that the Good Shepherd cannot bring him or her home.
Not much is known about the youth of Bl Anthony, only that he was from Rivoli in Italy. He was received into the Order by the great Dominican, Saint Antoninus. After his studies and ordination, Anthony was assigned to the convent of San Marco in Florence. Being somewhat wayward and impatient, Anthony quickly grew tired of this and asked for a change of scenery. He was sent first to Sicily, about which he was not thrilled and then to Naples. While sailing to Naples, Anthony’s ship was captured by pirates and he and the other passengers were taken to the city of Tunis in North Africa.
At first, Anthony was well-liked by the emir in Tunis and was allowed a measure of freedom. His continuing arrogance, though, quickly brought the wrath of his captors and Anthony was put in prison and given only bread and water. Anthony eventually gave in, denying his faith in order to obtain his freedom. Anthony quickly embraced his new faith, even going so far as to attempt a translation of the Qur’an. Soon, he was adopted by the emir and married a high-born Turkish lady.
Anthony’s newfound complacency, though, was quickly shattered. Into his life came the news that his beloved teacher and mentor, Saint Antoninus, had died. Love for his old master stirred in Anthony’s heart a desire for the Truth which he had abandoned. He had a dream in which Antoninus appeared to him; the conversation that transpired caused Anthony to resolve to readopt the faith which he had left behind, although such an action would result in his certain death.
Finding a Dominican priest, Anthony confessed his sins, and on Palm Sunday of 1460, he publicly asked forgiveness from his fellow Catholics and was thereafter readmitted to his order. Wanting his re-conversion to be as public as his denial had been, Anthony waited until the king held a public procession then, Anthony appeared on the palace steps wearing again his Dominican habit and proclaiming his faith in a loud voice and his sorrow at ever having abandoned it. Failing to change Anthony’s mind, the emir ordered his death. Anthony died under a shower of stones, proclaiming his faith and his sorrow on Holy Thursday, 1460. His body was eventually returned to Rivoli, where it soon became a site of pilgrimage and many miracles were attributed to it and an annual procession was held at his shrine.
Holy Mary, Searcher for the Lost, pray for us.
Blessed Anthony Neyrot, pray for us.
Bl Antony Neyrot O.P. (1425-1460) Martyr
Bl Antonio Vallesio
St Apollonius of Alexandria
Bl Archangelus Piacentini
St Bademus
St Bede the Younger
St Beocca of Chertsey
Bl Boniface Zukowski
Bl Eberwin of Helfenstein
St Ethor of Chertsey
St Ezekiel the Prophet
St Fulbert of Chartres
St Gajan
St Hedda of Peterborough
St Macarius of Antioch
St Maddalena of Canossa
St Malchus of Waterford
Bl Marco Mattia
Bl Mark Fantucci
St Michael de Sanctis
St Palladius of Auxerre
St Paternus the Scot
—
Martyrs of Carthage – 50 saints: A group of 50 Christians who were imprisoned in a pen of snakes and scorpions, and then martyred, all during the persecutions of Decius. Only six of their names have come down to us – Africanus, Alessandro, Massimo, Pompeius, Terence and Teodoro. Beheaded in 250 at Carthage.
Martyrs of Georgia: Approximately 6,000 Christian monks and lay people martyred in Georgia in 1616 for their faith by a Muslim army led by Shah Abbas I of Persia.
Martyrs of Ostia: A group of criminals who were brought to the faith by Pope Saint Alexander I while he was in prison with them. Drowned by being taken off shore from Ostia, Italy, in a boat which was then scuttled, c 115.
One Minute Reflection – 5 April – Easter Thursday and the Memorial of St Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419)
Nothing is to be done out of jealousy or vanity; instead, out of humility of mind everyone should give preference to others, everyone pursuing not selfish interests but those of others...Philippians 2:3-4
REFLECTION – “Once humility is acquired, charity will come to life like a burning flame devouring the corruption of vice and filling the heart so full, that there is no place for vanity.”…
PRAYER – Lord God, who sent St Vincent Ferrer to preach the Gospel of Christ, grant that we may see the Son of Man reigning in heaven, whom he proclaimed as Judge of Mankind. Grant that by the prayers of St Vincent, we may attain true humility and charity to all we meet. We make our prayer through our Lord, Jesus in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God, forever amen.
Our Morning Offering – 5 April – Easter Thursday and the Memorial of St Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419)
Grant me O my God
By St Vincent Ferrer
Good Jesus,
let me be penetrated with love
to the very marrow of my bones,
with fear and respect toward You;
let me burn with zeal for Your honour,
so that I may resent terribly all the outrages
committed against You, especially those
of which I myself have been guilty.
Grant further, O my God,
that I may adore
and acknowledge You humbly, as my Creator
and that, penetrated with gratitude
for all Your benefits,
I may never cease to render You thanks.
Grant that I may bless You in all things,
praise and glorify You
with a heart full of joy and gladness
and that, obeying You with docility
in every respect, I may one day,
despite my ingratitude and unworthiness,
be seated at Your table
together with Your Holy Angels and Apostles
to enjoy ineffable delights.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 5 April – St Vincent Ferrer O.P. (1350-1419), called the “Angel of the Apocalypse/The Last Judgement” and the “The Mouthpiece of God.”- Dominican Priest, Missionary, Master of Sacred Theology, Philosopher, Teacher, Preacher, Logician, Apostle of Charity – born on 23 January 1350 in Valencia (part of modern Spain) and died on 5 April 1419 at Vannes, Brittany, France of natural causes. His remains are interred in the Cathedral of Vannes. Patronages – Archdiocese of Valencia, Builders, Prisoners, Construction workers, Plumbers, Fishermen, Spanish orphanages, Calamonaci, Italy, Casteltermini, Agrigento, Italy, Leganes, Philippines, Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, diocese of. 
St Vincent was born in Valencia, Spain. However, even in utero he was performing miracles. His mother visited a blind woman she often helped. The lady placed her head on the mother’s womb to hear the baby’s heart beat and was instantly healed of her blindness. The entire city was quite animated at his birth and their town square argument over his name had to be settled by the local bishop who recommended he share the name of the city’s patron saint (St Vincent of Zaragosa, a third century martyr, died 304). Before St Vincent was three months old, Valencia was struck by a terrible famine. The infant spoke in a perfectly intelligible manner to his mother, informing her that all the townspeople needed to carry a venerated statue in procession about the city to end the famine. No sooner had the procession begun than rain began to fall and the famine was broken.
From his tenderest years, it was clear that God was calling St Vincent to serve Him at His Altar. The boy was gifted with great intelligence and even more profound piety. When Vincent joined the Dominicans, he zealously practiced penance, study and prayer. He was a teacher of philosophy and a naturally gifted preacher called the “Mouthpiece of God.” His saintly life was what made his preaching so effective. Vincent’s subjects were judgement, heaven, hell and the need for repentance. Soon he was teaching and preaching all over Spain.
But at this time, three men claimed to be pope in the 1300s and 1400s. Kings, princes, priests and laypeople fought one another to support the different claimants for the Chair of Peter. This chaos led to the Western Schism and then God raised up Vincent Ferrer.
Even the holiest people can be misled. Pope Urban VI was the real pope and lived in Rome but Vincent and many others thought that Clement VII and his successor Benedict XIII, who lived in Avignon, France, were the true popes. Vincent convinced kings, princes, clergy and almost all of Spain to give loyalty to them. After Clement VII died, Vincent tried to get both Benedict and the pope in Rome to abdicate so that a new election could be held. Vincent returned to Benedict in Avignon and asked him to resign. Benedict refused.
Vincent came to see the error in Benedict’s claim to the papacy. Discouraged and ill, Vincent begged Christ to show him the truth. In a vision, he saw Jesus with Saint Dominic and Saint Francis, commanding him to “go through the world preaching Christ.” For the next twenty years he travelled to England, Scotland, Ireland, Aragon, Castile, France, Switzerland and Italy, preaching the Gospel and converting many. Many biographers believe that he could speak only Valencian but was endowed with the gift of tongues. St Vincent also had great success in preaching to the Moors and Jews. Countless converts came into the Church and on one single day he converted more than five thousand Jews. His spiritual success was even more fruitful among Catholics. Hatreds, envies, wars and other divisions were all brought to an abrupt end under his guidance. Once he raised a woman from the dead so that she could testify to all present that he was indeed the Angel of the Apocalypse (cf. Apco 14:6), sent by God to call a world seeped in sin to repentance. He preached to St Colette of Corbie and to her nuns and it was she who told him that he would die in France. Too ill to return home to Spain, he did, indeed, die in Brittany in 1419, at the age of sixty-nine. Breton fishermen still invoke his aid in storms. Vincent spread the Good News throughout Europe. He fasted, preached, worked miracles and drew many people to become faithful Christians.
One day while Benedict was presiding over an enormous assembly, Vincent, though close to death, mounted the pulpit and denounced him as the false pope. He encouraged everyone to be faithful to the one, true Catholic Church in Rome. Benedict fled, knowing his supporters had deserted him. The Great Western Schism was finally ended in 1417 when all the world universally acknowledged Martin V as rightful pope.
St Vincent was canonised by Pope Calixtus III on 3 June 1455.
St Vincent Ferrer O.P. (1350-1419) (Optional Memorial)
St Albert of Montecorvino
Bl Antonius Fuster
St Becan
Bl Blasius of Auvergne
St Claudius of Mesopotamia
St Derferl Gadarn
St Gerald of Sauve-Majeure
St Irene of Thessalonica
St Maria Crescentia Hoss
St Mariano de la Mata Aparicio
St Pausilippus
Bl Peter Cerdan
St Theodore the Martyr
St Zeno the Martyr
—
Martyrs of Lesbos: 5 saints – Five young Christian women martyred together for their faith. We don’t even know their names. island of Lesbos, Greece.
Martyrs of North-West Africa: Large group of Christians murdered while celebrating Easter Mass during the persecutions of Genseric, the Arian king of the Vandals. They were martyred in 459 at Arbal (in modern Algeria).
Martyrs of Seleucia: 120 saints – One-hundred and eleven (111) men and nine (9) women who, because they were Christians, were dragged to Seleucia and martyred for refusing to worship the sun or fire or other pagan idols during the persecutions of King Shapur II. They were burned alive in 344 in Seleucia, Persia.
Thought for the Day – 23 March – The Memorial of St Turibius of Mogrovejo (1538-1606)
Nothing gave our saint so much pleasure as the greatest labours and dangers, to procure the least spiritual advantage to one soul. Burning with the most vehement desire of laying down his life for his flock and of suffering all things for Him who died for us, he feared no dangers. When he heard that poor Indians wandered in the mountains and deserts, he sought them out; and to comfort, instruct, or gain one of them he often suffered incredible fatigues and dangers in the wildernesses and boldly travelled through the haunts of wild animals.
The ardour of his faith, his hope, his love of his Creator and Redeemer, his resignation and perfect sacrifice of himself, gathered strength in the fervent exercises and aspirations which he repeated almost without ceasing in his illness. By his last will he ordered what he had about him to be distributed among his servants and whatever else he otherwise possessed to be given to the poor.
His body when translated the year after his death to Lima, was found incorrupt, the joints flexible, and the skin soft.
The Lord indeed writes straight with crooked lines. Against his will and from the unlikely springboard of an Inquisition tribunal, this man became the Christlike shepherd of a poor and oppressed people. God gave him the gift of loving others as they needed it. St Turibius, pray for us!
“Remember that you will derive strength
by reflecting that the saints
yearn for you
to join their ranks;
desire to see you fight bravely,
and behave like a true knight
in your encounters
with the same adversities
which they had to conquer,
and that breathtaking joy
is their eternal reward
for having endured a few years
of temporal pain.
Every drop of earthly bitterness
will be changed into
an ocean of heavenly sweetness.”
St Patrick (c 386-461) (Optional Memorial)
St Agricola of Châlon-sur-Saône
St Alexander
St Ambrose of Alexandria
Bl Conrad of Bavaria
St Diemut of Saint Gall
St Gabriel Lalemant
St Gertrude of Nivelles (626-659)
Bl Gertrude of Trzebnica
St Jan Sarkander
Bl Josep Mestre Escoda
St Joseph of Arimathea
Bl Juan Nepomuceno Zegrí y Moreno
St Llinio of Llandinam
Bl Maria Bárbara Maix
St Paul of Cyprus
St Stephen of Palestrina
St Theodore of Rome
St Thomasello
St Withburga of Dereham
Martyrs of Alexandria – Also known as Martyrs of Serapis: An unknown number of Christians who were martyred together by a mob of worshippers of the Graeco-Egyptian sun god Serapis. They were Martyred in c 392 in Alexandria, Egypt.
One Minute Reflection – – 14 March 2018 – Wednesday of the 4th Week of Lent and the Memorial of St Matilda
Now is the acceptable time! Now is the time of salvation….2 Corinthians 6:2
REFLECTION – “You no longer have the time that is past. Nor are you sure of the time that is to come. Hence, all you do have, is this present point in time – and nothing more!”… St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Timeless loving Lord, teach me to be grateful for every moment that You allot to me. Grant that I may always understand this ‘blink of an eye’ and live each moment only for You, in You and with You. Difficult as your times were St Matilda, you maintained your eyes on the Lord alone, pray for us all, that we too may follow your example. Amen
Saint of the Day – 16 February – Blessed Bernard Scammacca O.P. (1430-1487) – Religious Priest, Preacher, apostle of charity, mystic, with a gift of prophecy and a great devotion to the Passion of Christ. Born Bernardo in 1430 in Catania, Sicily and he died on 11 January 1487 of natural causes. Fifteen years after his death he appeared in a vision to the prior in Catania and asked that his remains be moved to the house’s rosary chapel, during this relocation, a man was cured of paralysis by touching the relics. He was Beatified in 1825 by Pope Leo XII (cultus confirmed). His body is incorrupt.
Blessed Bernard Scammacca was born in 1430 in Catania to upper-class and pious parents.
Scammacca was well-educated in his childhood. Despite his education he spent his adolescence as a wild and dissolute man and during one such revel he received a leg wound in a duel with a man with whom he had quarrelled. His subsequent convalescence provided him with adequate time to reflect on what had happened as well as the course his life had taken. This made him realise that he was heading in the wrong direction and needed urgent changes. His healing over time renewed his links to his faith; he approached the Order of Preachers in 1452 in Catania and begged to be admitted into their ranks.
Bl Bernard became known for his range of charitable works and for his life of repentance for the life he had led, as well as for his strict adherence to the rule of St Dominic. He fostered a particular devotion to the Passion of Christ, which sometimes led him into ecstasies. He founded a hospital for the poor, which still exists. He also liked to spend time in the confessional and worked as a spiritual director. He had the gift of being a prophet and used that gift to warn others to change their lives. He also prophesied the date of his own death.
Scammacca was named the prior of the convent of St Dominic in Catania and later named as the prior of the convent in Palermo. He was also made the vicar general of the reformed Sicilian convents.
It was often said that when he walked in his convent’s garden the birds would come and sing to him but would stop at once when he stopped to reflect. On one occasion a porter was sent to his room to fetch him and the man saw a bright light under a door. He peeked in to see a child shining with light holding a book that Scammacca was reading from.
Bl Bernard died in 1487 in Catania. In 1502 it was said that he appeared in a vision to the prior of his convent and asked that his incorrupt remains be relocated the house’s chapel. During the translation a man was cured of his paralysis after he touched Scammacca’s relics.
Thought for the Day – 13 February – The Memorial of Blessed Jordan of Saxony O.P. (1190-1237
“You have no doubt heard that our kind Father, Master Jordan, his two companions and ninety-nine other persons have been taken from this wicked world by shipwreck in a violent storm. However, dear brothers, do not let your hearts be saddened by this awful calamity; for God, in His mercy, has already greatly consoled us, who have become orphans through the untimely death of a good Father. After the storm, the bodies of our three confrères were washed ashore and bright lights in the form of crosses shone over them every night until they were found and buried where they lay by those who escaped from the disaster. These, together with many others, have borne testimony to the miracle. Moreover, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, drawn to the place of the catastrophe by reports of so marvellous an occurrence, testify that they experienced a sweet fragrance all round; while those who touched the bodies declare that this fragrance did not leave their hands for more than ten days. Indeed, this same sweet odour pervaded the locality until the fathers at Ptolomais came in a boat and took up the bodies for burial in the conventual church of that city. There now repose the remains of our late beloved Master General; and many wonders have in this short time been attributed to his intercession. Blessed be God in all His works. Amen”
All through his religious life the second head of the Order had been regarded as a very saintly man. A number of prodigies were said to have been wrought by him. Others came after his death; while several very holy persons declared that, in visions, they saw his soul ascend into heaven. All this, together with the facts recorded in the letter just quoted, occasioned a devotion to the man of God which continued through the course of centuries and caused him to be given the title of Blessed Jordan of Saxony. After a thorough study of this immemorial veneration by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, Leo XII, who reigned from 1823 to 1829, allowed the Friars Preacher the world over to say mass and recite the divine office in his honour. Throughout his Order he is held in an esteem second only to that which is accorded to Saint Dominic.
It is not commonly known or understood the highly efficacious intercession available to us all and thus we pray, Blessed Jordan of Saxony, Pray for us!
Quote of the Day – 13 February – The Memorial of Blessed Jordan of Saxony O.P. (1190-1237)
“There are two ways of keeping God’s word, namely, one, whereby we store in our memory what we hear and the other, whereby we put into practice, what we have heard (and none will deny that the latter is more commendable, inasmuch, as it is better to sow grain, than to store it in the barn).”
Our Morning Offering – 13 February – The Memorial of Blessed Jordan of Saxony O.P.
O Lord, King of all!
By St Albert the Great O.P. (1200-1280) Doctor of the Church
We pray to You, O Lord,
who are the supreme Truth,
and all truth is from You.
We beseech You, O Lord,
who are the highest Wisdom,
and all the wise depend on You for their wisdom.
You are the supreme Joy,
and all who are happy owe it to You.
You are the Light of minds,
and all receive their understanding from You.
We love, we love You above all.
We seek You, we follow You,
and we are ready to serve You.
We desire to dwell under Your power
for You are the King of all.
Amen.
Saint of the Day – 13 February – Blessed Jordan of Saxony O.P. (1190-1237) Religious Priest, Preacher, the Second Master-General of the Domican Order, after St Dominic himself. He was born in 1190 at Padberg Castle, diocese of Paderborn, Westphalia, old Saxony (in modern Germany), though it is rumoured to have been born in Palestine while his parents were on a pilgrimage, and named after the River Jordan but this is apparently aprochryphal. He died by drowning in 1237 in a shipwreck off the coast of Syria while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He is buried in Acre. Patronages – against drowning, of the Dominican Order, Vocations to the Dominicans. Attributes – Dominican writing, a pen, a lily.
Mothers hid their sons when Master Jordan came to town…
These ten short words sum up in a humorous kind of way, the outstanding legacy of the successor of St Dominic. It not only gives the impression that this new group of mendicant preachers had a clearly defined and essential role to play, challenging the infectious heresies so prevalent at the time (as was confirmed by Pope Honorius III in 1216 when he formally recognised the Order) but also that people were powerless to resist when confronted with it. Of Blessed Jordan we are told that that during his tenure as Master General, between 1222 and 1237, over 1000 novices joined the Dominicans, new convents were established and new provinces formed. Under his rule the Order continued to win many of the best men available, particularly in the Universities where many a Professor was seduced. With such a charming figure sweeping through the neighbourhood is it any wonder that mothers tried to keep their sons out of reach?
A German of noble descent born in 1190, he had been in the Order a mere two years before his election as Master General in 1222. By today’s standards, his rapid accession may appear hasty, a point he himself was quick to highlight when he became the first Provincial of Lombardy in 1221. In the Libellus he writes:
‘In 1221, at the General Chapter in Bologna, they saw fit to make me the first Provincial of Lombardy, although I had only been in the Order one year and had not struck root as deeply as I ought to have done. I was to be placed over others as their superior, before I had learned to govern my own imperfection. I was not present at this Chapter myself.’
Despite his anxiety, he must have made quite an impression on his brothers during his short tenure in the Order. We are told about the type of person he was by those who knew. It is obvious that he possessed all those qualities the ideal leader should have. Inspired by his brother and friend St Dominic, he was abounding in faith, kind and compassionate, humble, authoritative and yet at the same time understanding. He had the ability to attract people by his sincerity. His style of life complemented his style of words; something that was evidently lacking at the time among the Clergy and Religious. This was vital at a time when ‘reform’ was the buzzword of the day.
His great love for the poor was well known. There is a story said of him that:
‘Meeting a vagabond upon the road who feigned sickness and poverty, he gave him one of his tunics, which the fellow at once carried straight to a tavern for drink. The brethren, seeing this done, taunted him with his simplicity: ‘There now, Master, see how wisely you have bestowed your tunic.’ ‘I did so,’ said he, ‘because I believed him to be in want through sickness and poverty and it seemed at the moment to be a charity to help him; still, I reckon it better to have parted with my tunic than with charity.’
Our Blessed Jordan may well be still speaking to us today! Not all those people who present themselves as being needy these days may be genuine. However, when we stop caring, we stop striving to be like Jesus. Let us never restrain God’s work in our hearts but allow ourselves to be moved by compassion . Perhaps it was this genuineness that caused Mothers in the district to be wary of his arrival.
Jordan died in a shipwreck on his return from Palestine, where he had visited the local convents of the Order; the shipwreck occurred off the coast of Syria in 1237. It is perhaps fitting that this great servant of the Order of Preachers, who was kept at arm’s length by the Mothers who feared his magnetic appeal on their sons, should nestle snuggly within the loving embrace of the Mother of God as famously depicted in that famous vision of St Dominic.
Thought for the Day – 25 January – The Memorial of Blessed Henry Suso O.P. (1290-1365)
Henry Suso is a bundle of contradictions and a person, moreover, who has gathered legends about him like a snowball rolling downhill. He was a poet, which is not always a key to happiness in this world; a mystic of the highest order; a hard working Dominican; and a man with a positive genius for getting into embarrassing situations. He has suffered at the hands of chroniclers who dislike his followers, or his tactics, or his poetry; he is all but canonised by those who see in him the Dominican mystic. It will require many years of exhaustive research to sort out the diverse elements in his personality, if, indeed, it can ever be accomplished. Poets are not easy to analyse, and Henry, before all else, was a poet and a mystic.
Anyone who endures dryness at prayer or feels abandoned by God will find instruction, and perhaps some relief, in the experience of Henry Suso. A mystic who called himself the “servant of Eternal Wisdom,” he endured long stretches of spiritual darkness interrupted only by occasional bursts of brightness. Henry’s life says to us that in apparent barrenness the soul draws closest to God. And we see him only by learning to look deep within.
Henry Suso was born at Constance, Switzerland and became a Dominican there at 13. Five years later an extraordinary divine encounter launched him on his lifelong mystical pursuit of God. For the next decade, however, Suso suffered severe depression and doubt. Finally, counsel with Meister Eckhart, the patriarch of 14th-century German mysticism, delivered him from the worst of it.
Like many other mystics, at midlife Henry threw himself into active Christian work. For nearly two decades he travelled throughout the Rhineland preaching, teaching and giving spiritual direction. He also wrote extensively about the inner life. His work on prayer, The Little Book of Eternal Wisdom, became the most popular Christian book in Europe before The Imitation of Christ appeared. In this excerpt he asks God, the Eternal Wisdom, why he seems to forsake those he loves:
Eternal Wisdom: When I hide myself, only then do you become aware of who I am or who you are. I am eternal Good, and so when I pour myself forth so lovingly, everything I enter becomes good. One can thus detect my presence as one detects the sun by its brightness since one cannot see its essence.
Servant: Lord, I find within myself a great unevenness. When I feel forsaken, my soul is like a sick person to whom everything is repugnant. But when the bright morning star bursts forth in my soul, all gloom disappears. Quickly, however, it is all snatched away and I am again forsaken. But then after intense sadness it returns. What is going on?
Eternal Wisdom: I am causing it, and it is the game of love. As long as love is together with love, love does not know how dear love is. But when love departs from love, then truly love feels how dear love was.
Servant: Dear Lord, teach me how to conduct myself in this game.
Eternal Wisdom: On good days you should consider the bad days, and on the bad days consider the good days. Then neither exuberance at my presence nor despondency can harm you. To find joy on earth, it is not enough that you give me a certain period of the day. You must constantly remain within yourself if you want to find God, hear his familiar words and be sensitive to his secret thoughts.
Suso’s individualistic piety and his association with Meister Eckhart, who was suspected of heresy, won him many enemies. He was accused of theft, sacrilege, fathering a child, poisoning and heresy, he suffered greatly but he was completely cleared of all charges. Toward the end of his life he served as the prior of the Dominican house at Ulm in central Germany. Henry Suso died there in 1366.
Henry died in 1365, in Ulm and was buried there in the convent of St Paul. However, in spite of the fact that his body was found intact and giving forth a sweet odour two hundred and fifty years later, the beatification was delayed until 1831. The relics, meantime, had disappeared entirely and have never been recovered.
Blessed Henry Suso, pray for us!
Quote/s of the Day – 25 January – The Memorial of Blessed Henry Suso O.P. (1290-1365)
“Suffering is the ancient law of love;
there is no quest without pain;
there is no lover
who is not also a martyr.”
“Suffering is
a short pain
and a long joy.”
“After big storms
there follow
bright days.”
“I have often repented of having spoken.
I have never repented of silence.”
“The eternal God asks a favour of His bride:
“Hold me close to your heart,
close as locket or bracelet fits.”
No matter whether we walk
or stand still, eat or drink,
we should at all times
wear the golden locket
“Jesus” upon our heart.”
“Nowhere does Jesus
hear our prayers
more readily than
in the Blessed Sacrament.”
Saint of the Day – 18 January – St Margaret of Hungary OP (1242-1270) – Nun and Virgin – born in 1242 and died on 18 January 1271 at Budapest, Hungary. Her relics were given to the Poor Clares at Pozsony (modern Bratislava, Slovak Republic) when the Dominican Order in the area was dissolved, however, most of her relics were destroyed in 1789 though what remains are still preserved at Gran, Gyor, Pannonhalma, Hungary. Patronage – against flood. Attributes – Dominican holding a lily and a book, a princess with a lily, Dominican in prayer with a globe of fire over her head. Princess Margaret was a Dominican nun and the daughter of King Béla IV of Hungary and Maria Laskarina. 
Margaret, the daughter of King Bela IV, champion of Christendom and Queen Mary Lascaris of Hungary, was offered to God before her birth, in petition that the country would be delivered from the terrible scourge of the Tartars. The prayer having been answered, the king and queen made good their promise by placing the rich and beautiful three-year-old in the Dominican convent at Vesprim. Here, in company with other children of nobility, she was trained in the arts thought fitting for royalty.
Margaret was not content with simply living in the house of God, she demanded the religious habit–and received it–at the age of four. Furthermore, she took upon herself the austerities practised by the other sisters–fasting, hairshirts, the discipline (scourge), and night vigils. She soon learned the Divine Office by heart and chanted it happily to herself as she went about her play. She chose the least attractive duties of the nuns for herself. She would starve herself to keep her spirit humble. No one but Margaret seemed to take seriously the idea that she would one day make profession and remain as a sister, for it would be of great advantage to her father if she were to make a wise marriage.
This question arose seriously when Margaret was 12. She responded in surprise. She said that she had been dedicated to God, even before her birth and that she intended to remain faithful to that promise. Some years later her father built for her a convent on the island in the Danube between Buda and Pest. To settle the matter of her vocation, here she pronounced her vows to the master general of the order, Blessed Humbert of the Romans, in 1255 and took the veil in 1261.
Again, when Margaret was 18, her father made an attempt to sway her from her purpose, because King Ottokar of Bohemia, hearing of her beauty, had come seeking her hand. He even obtained a dispensation from the pope and approached Margaret with the permission. Margaret replied as she had previously, “I esteem infinitely more the King of Heaven and the inconceivable happiness of possessing Jesus Christ than the crown offered me by the King of Bohemia.” Having established that she was not interested in any throne but a heavenly one, she proceeded with great joy to live an even more fervent religious life than she had before.
Margaret’s royal parentage was, of course, a matter of discussion in the convent. But the princess managed to turn such conversation away from herself to the holy lives of the saints who were related to her by blood–King Saint Stephen, Saint Hedwig, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and several others. She did not glory in her wealth or parentage, but strove to imitate the saints in their holiness. She took her turn in the kitchen and laundry, seeking by choice much heavy work that her rank might have excused her from doing. She was especially welcome in the infirmary, which proves that she was not a sad-faced saint and she made it her special duty to care for those who were too disagreeable for anyone else to tend.
Margaret’s austerities seem excessive to us of a weaker age. The mysteries of the Passion were very real to her and gave reason for her long fasts, severe scourgings and other mortifications detailed in the depositions of witnesses taken seven years after her death (of which records are still in existence). Throughout Lent she scarcely ate or slept. She not only imitated the poverty-stricken in their manual labour and hunger but also in their lack of cleanliness–a form of penance at that time.
She had a tender devotion to Our Lady and on the eve of her feasts, Margaret said a thousand Hail Mary’s. Unable to make the long pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to Rome, or to any of the other famous shrines of Christendom, the saint developed a plan by which she could go in spirit: she counted up the miles that lay between herself and the desired shrine and then said an Ave Maria for every mile there and back. On Good Friday she was so overcome at the thoughts of Our Lord’s Passion that she wept all day. She was frequently in ecstasy and very embarrassed if anyone found her so and remarked on her holiness.
A number of miracles were performed during Margaret’s lifetime and many more after her death because Margaret had an implicit faith in the power and efficacy of prayer. The princess nun was only 28 when she died. Most of the particulars of her life are recorded in existing depositions of witnesses taken in 1277. Her friends and acquaintances petitioned for her to be acclaimed a saint almost immediately after her death. Among them was her own servant, Agnes, who rightly observed that this daughter of a monarch showed far more humility than any of the monastery’s maids. Although their testimony expressed Margaret’s overpowering desire to allow nothing to stand between her and God, the process of canonisation was not complete until 1943, when she was canonised on 19 November by Venerable Pope Pius XII.
Thought for the Day – 15 November – The Memorial of St Albert the Great (1200-1280) Doctor of the Church Pope Benedict XVI on St Albert, Faith and Science (Excerpt)
One of the great masters of medieval theology is St Albert the Great. The title “Great”, (Magnus), with which he has passed into history indicates the vastness and depth of his teaching, which he combined with holiness of life. However, his contemporaries did not hesitate to attribute to him titles of excellence even then. One of his disciples, Ulric of Strasbourg, called him the “wonder and miracle of our epoch”.
He still has a lot to teach us. Above all, St Albert shows that there is no opposition between faith and science, despite certain episodes of misunderstanding that have been recorded in history. A man of faith and prayer, as was St Albert the Great, can serenely foster the study of the natural sciences and progress in knowledge of the micro- and macrocosm, discovering the laws proper to the subject, since all this contributes to fostering thirst for and love of God. The Bible speaks to us of creation as of the first language through which God who is supreme intelligence, who is the Logos reveals to us something of himself. The Book of Wisdom, for example, says that the phenomena of nature, endowed with greatness and beauty, is like the works of an artist through which, by analogy, we may know the Author of creation (cf. Wis 13: 5). With a classical similitude in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance one can compare the natural world to a book written by God that we read according to the different approaches of the sciences (cf. Address to the participants in the Plenary Meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 31 October 2008; L’Osservatore Romano English edition, 5 November 2008, p. 6). How many scientists, in fact, in the wake of St Albert the Great, have carried on their research inspired by wonder at and gratitude for a world which, to their eyes as scholars and believers, appeared and appears as the good work of a wise and loving Creator! Scientific study is then transformed into a hymn of praise. Enrico Medi, a great astrophysicist of our time, whose cause of beatification has been introduced, wrote: “O you mysterious galaxies… I see you, I calculate you, I understand you, I study you and I discover you, I penetrate you and I gather you. From you I take light and make it knowledge, I take movement and make it wisdom, I take sparkling colours and make them poetry; I take you stars in my hands and, trembling in the oneness of my being, I raise you above yourselves and offer you in prayer to the Creator, that through me alone you stars can worship” (Le Opere. Inno alla creazione).
St Albert the Great reminds us that there is friendship between science and faith and that through their vocation to the study of nature, scientists can take an authentic and fascinating path of holiness.
His extraordinary openmindedness is also revealed in a cultural feat which he carried out successfully, that is, the acceptance and appreciation of Aristotle’s thought. In St Albert’s time, in fact, knowledge was spreading of numerous works by this great Greek philosopher, who lived a quarter of a century before Christ, especially in the sphere of ethics and metaphysics. They showed the power of reason, explained lucidly and clearly the meaning and structure of reality, its intelligibility and the value and purpose of human actions. St Albert the Great opened the door to the complete acceptance in medieval philosophy and theology of Aristotle’s philosophy, which was subsequently given a definitive form by St Thomas. This reception of a pagan pre-Christian philosophy, let us say, was an authentic cultural revolution in that epoch. Yet many Christian thinkers feared Aristotle’s philosophy, a non-Christian philosophy, especially because, presented by his Arab commentators, it had been interpreted in such a way, at least in certain points, as to appear completely irreconcilable with the Christian faith. Hence a dilemma arose: are faith and reason in conflict with each other or not?
This is one of the great merits of St Albert: with scientific rigour he studied Aristotle’s works, convinced that all that is truly rational is compatible with the faith revealed in the Sacred Scriptures. In other words, St Albert the Great thus contributed to the formation of an autonomous philosophy, distinct from theology and united with it only by the unity of the truth. So it was that in the 13th century a clear distinction came into being between these two branches of knowledge, philosophy and theology, which, in conversing with each other, cooperate harmoniously in the discovery of the authentic vocation of man, thirsting for truth and happiness: and it is above all theology, that St Albert defined as “emotional knowledge”, which points out to human beings their vocation to eternal joy, a joy that flows from full adherence to the truth.
St Albert the Great was capable of communicating these concepts in a simple and understandable way. An authentic son of St Dominic, he willingly preached to the People of God, who were won over by his words and by the example of his life.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us pray the Lord that learned theologians will never be lacking in holy Church, wise and devout like St Albert the Great and that he may help each one of us to make our own the “formula of holiness” that he followed in his life: “to desire all that I desire for the glory of God, as God desires for His glory all that He desires”, in other words always to be conformed to God’s will, in order to desire and to do everything only and always for His glory.
Pope Benedict XVI – Saint Peter’s Square, Wednesday, 24 March 2010
St Albert the Great, Pray for us!
Quote/s of the Day – 15 November – The Memorials of St Albert the Great (1200-1280) Doctor of the Church and St Raphael Kalinowski (1835-1907)
“Nor could He have commanded anything more lovable,
for this sacrament produces love and union.
It is characteristic of the greatest love to give itself as food.
“Had not the men of my text exclaimed:
‘ Who will feed us with his flesh to satisfy our hunger?’
as if to say: ‘I have loved them and they have loved me
so much that I desire to be within them
and they wish to receive me so that the,
may become my members.’
There is no more intimate or more natural means
for them to be united to me and I to them.
Nor could He have commanded anything
which is more like eternal life.
Eternal life flows from this sacrament
because God with all sweetness
pours Himself out upon the blessed.”
“Our Redeemer ever present in the most Blessed Sacrament,
extends His hands to everyone.
He opens His heart and says, ‘Come to Me, all of you.'”
AnaStpaul 
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