One Minute Reflection – 24 September – Thursday of the Twenty Fifth week in Ordinary Time, Readings: Ecclesiastes 1:2-11, Psalms 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17, Luke 9:7-9 and the Memorial of St Gerard Sagredo OSB (980-1046) Bishop and Martyr
“… Who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he sought to see him.” … Luke 9:9
REFLECTION – “He who wishes for anything but Christ, does not know what he wishes; he who asks for anything but Christ, does not know what he is asking; he who works and not for Christ, does not know what he is doing.” … St Philip Neri (1515-1595)
PRAYER – Shepherd of Your Church and we, the sheep of Your flock, who follow You and hear and do Your Word. Support us with grace those who are constantly striving to do Your will, so that following the example of the humble fiat of Your blessed Mother and ours, we may devote all our powers and talents to love of You and our neighbour and finally arrive safely in our heavenly home. May the prayers of St Gerard Sagredo, your faithful servant, be assistance in strengthening us in this vale of tears. In God, our Father we pray through You who live in union with Him and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ages and ages. Amen
Saint of the Day – 24 September – Saint Gerard Sagredo OSB (980-1046) Bishop and Martyr, “The Apostle of Hungary,” Venetian nobleman, Benedictine monk, Prior of San Giorgio, Missionary to Hungary, Adviser to King Saint Stephen, Tutor to Prince Saint Emeric, Hermit, Bishop of Csanád, Writer, Reformer and Martyr, murdered by pagans on this day in 1046. Born on 23 April 980 in Venice, Italy and died by being stabbed to death with a lance on 24 September 1046 at Buda, Hungary. Also known as Gerard of Hungary, Collert, Gerardo, Gellért.
At Baptism he received the name Jorge and belonged to a family from Dalmatia, which is descended from the Sagredo lineage. At the age of 5 he had a serious fever that his parents implored the grace of Saint George to heal.
Once cured and he had reached the required age, he entered the Benedictine Monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore on the Maggiore Island in Venice and in memory of his recently deceased father, he took the name Gerard. After a few years he was elected Prior of the Monastery and later Abbot but shortly after he resigned because he wanted to go on pilgrimage to Bethlehem.
He left in a ship, reached Zara, from where instead of continuing to the Holy Land, he went to Hungary where he settled. He was persuaded by Saint Stephen of Hungary to work in the evangelisation of the Magyars. However, he did not want to stay at the Court and for seven years he lived as a Hermit in the Beel.
Later he was Tutor to Prince Saint Emeric and in 1035, he was elected the first Bishop of Csnád; he worked with the utmost zeal, especially in liturgical observance and in the evangelisation of the people; they called him the Apostle of Hungary.
St Gerard with St Emeric
During the pagan reaction to the death of King Saint Stephen, he was martyred in Buda, where he was stoned and pierced by spears, locked in a barrel, he was thrown into the Danube from the top of a hill that today is called “Gellerthegy” – “Mount of San Gerard”; Gerard had refused to crown idolatrous kings.
Martyrdom of St GerardLife of St Gerard
He wrote several works among which the “Commentary on Daniel” is the most higly revered. He is considered the Apostle and Protomartyr of Hungary.
Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes / Our Lady of Mercy/Our Lady of Ransom, Barcelona, Spain (1218) – 1 August, 10 August – The Founding of the Mercedarian Order and 24 September:
Commemorates the foundation of the Mercedarian Order and the apparition of Our Lady of Ransom. In this appearance she carried two bags of coins for use in ransoming Christians imprisoned by Moors. On 10 August 1218, the Mercedarian Order was legally constituted at Barcelona, Spain by King James of Aragon and was approved by Pope Gregory IX on 17 January 1235. The Mercedarians celebrated their institution on the Sunday nearest to 1 August because it was on 1 August 1218 that the Blessed Virgin showed Saint Peter Nolasco the white habit of the Order. This custom was approved by the Congregation of Rites on 4 April 1615. On 22 February 1696 it was extended to the entire Latin Church and the date changed to 24 September. St Peter Nolasco (1189-1256) was the Founder of the Mercedarian Order – Memorial 28 January. Patronages – Bahía Blanca, Argentina, archdiocese of, Barcelona, Spain, Dominican Republic.
Our Lady of Walsingham / Virgin of the Sea (1061) – 24 September: In 2012 the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter for Anglicans joining the Church was given its Patron as the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title Our Lady of Walsingham. Patronages – England,East Anglia, England, diocese of, Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.
St Chuniald Bl Colomba Matylda Gabriel St Coprio St Erinhard St Felix of Autun St Gerard Sagredo OSB (980-1046) Bishop and Martyr, “The Apostle of Hungary” St Geremarus St Gislar St Isarnus of Toulouse St Lupus of Lyons St Pacificus of Severino OFM (1653-1721) His Life: https://anastpaul.com/2019/09/24/saint-of-the-day-24-september-saint-pacificus-of-severino-ofm-1653-1721/ St Paphnutius of Egypt Bl Robert Hardesty St Rusticus of Clermont St. Rupert of Salzburg St Terence of Persaro St Thyrsus of Autun St Ysarn of Saint Victor Bl William Spenser — Martyrs of Chalcedon – (49 saints): Forty-nine Christian choir singers of the church in Chalcedon in Asia Minor who were martyred together in their persecutions of Diocletian in 304.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: • Blessed Antonio Pancorbo López • Blessed Esteban García y García • Blessed José María Ferrándiz Hernández • Blessed Juan Francisco Joya Corralero • Blessed Luis de Erdoiza Zamalloa • Blessed Manuel Gómez Contioso • Blessed Melchor Rodríguez Villastrigo • Blessed Pascual Ferrer Botella • Blessed Rafael Rodríguez Mesa • Blessed Santiago Arriaga Arrien
Quote/s of the Day – 18 September – The Memorial of St Joseph of Cupertino OFM Conv. (1603-1663)
Free Will – “Our Unique Possession”
“Clearly, what God wants, above all, is our will, which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own. When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God, from whom all good things come … The will is what man has, as his unique possession.”
St Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663)
“A man may lose the good things of this life against his will but, if he loses the eternal blessings, he does so with his own consent.”
St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of Grace
“God desires, not death but faith. God thirsts, not for blood but for self-surrender. God is appeased, not by slaughter but by the offering of your free will.”
St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450) Bishop, Father & Doctor of Homilies
“Remove grace and you have nothing, whereby to be saved. Remove free will and you have nothing, that could be saved.”
St Anselm (1033-1109) Doctor of the Church
“Lord what will Thou have me do? Behold the true sign of a totally perfect soul – when one has reached the point of giving up his will so completely that he no longer seeks, expects or desires to do ought but that which God wills.”
St Bernard (1090-1153) Mellifluous Doctor
“Happiness is secured through virtue, it is a good attained by man’s own will.”
St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Angelic Doctor
“But do not forget, that all the saints cannot endear you to Christ as much as you can yourself. It is entirely up to you!”
St Cajetan (1480-1547)
“More determination is required to subdue the interior man than to mortify the body and to break one’s will, than to break one’s bones.”
St Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)
“A man makes the most progress and merits the most grace, precisely in those matters, wherein he gains the greatest victories over self and most mortifies his will.”
St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of Charity
“I will attempt, day-by-day, to break my will into pieces. I want to do God’s Holy Will, not my own!”
By St Gabriel Francis Possenti of Our Lady of Sorrows (1838-1862)
Saint of the Day – 18 September – Blessed Ambrosio María de Torrent (Salvador Chuliá Ferrandis) TC (1866-1936) Priest and Martyr of the Spanish civil War. Blessed Ambrosio was a religious Friar and Priest of The Amigonian Friars. He was a man of deep piety, a devotee of the Eucharist, a great apostle of the confessional and a competent director of souls. Born on 16 April 1866 in Torrent, Valencia, Spain and died by being shot at dawn on 18 September 1936 in Torrent, Valencia, Spain.
The Amigonian Friars and Sisters, are a religious institute of religious founded in Spain during the 19th century which specialises in working with young boys facing issues of juvenile delinquency and drug addiction. They follow the Rule of the Third Order Regular of St Francis. The Friars follow a spirituality based on the vision of St Francis of Assisi, given to them by their founder, a Capuchin Friar Minor. They also model themselves on the role of Our Lady of Sorrows, who stood at the foot of the Cross, sharing her Son’s agony and love for the world. She is a model to the Friars, of the generosity, mercy, strength and tenderness needed in the mission of serving their charges.
Salvador Chuliá Ferrandis , which was his civil name, was born in Torrent (Valencia) on 16 April 1866. He studied ecclesiastical studies at the Conciliar Seminary of Valencia but, once he received the diaconate, he entered the Capuchin Tertiary. On 4 April 1892, he was Ordained a Priest, making his perpetual religious vows on 5 July 1898, taking the name Ambrosio María de Torrent.
A man of broad culture but rather gentle in character and of little authority, he was always more inclined to exercise obedience than to command. In his pastoral ministry, he manifested himself as a man of council and spiritual director of the fraternity, confessor of religious and students.
Captured in his father’s house on 21 August 1936, he was taken to La Torre prison, in his hometown. In that prison, Father Ambrosio and nine other Capuchin Tertiaries practically led community life. From the street, you could hear them sing the Sorrows of the Virgin and the wounds of Saint Francis.
In the early hours of 18 September 1936, he was executed in the area of La Mantellina, Torrent, along with seven other Priests and Friars. Father Ambrosio, despite his shyness, was the one who bravely faced Martyrdom and encouraged his companions by raising, at the final moment, his hands to bless and forgive the executioners.
When trying to delineate his spiritual silhouette, the various biographers agree that Father Ambrosio was a little Franciscan flower – simple, humble, conciliatory, poor, obedient, silent, sparing in words, that he did not speak ill of anyone and that he always looked to find the good in all. Likewise, they define him as a man of deep piety, a devotee of the Eucharist, a great apostle of the confessional and a competent director of souls.
His mortal remains rest in the Chapel of Los Mártires, in the parish of Nuestra Señora de Monte Sión de Torrent (Valencia), where they are frequently visited.
Blessed Ambrosio was Beatified by Pope John Paul II togther with 232 others who were Martyred during the Spanish Civil War. The Image below shows the Martyrs of the Amigonian Orders.
St Oceano of Nicomedia Saint Richardis (839-c 895) Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2019/09/18/saint-of-the-day-18-september-saint-richardis-839-c-895/ St Sophia of Egypt — Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: • Blessed Ambrosio María de Torrent (Salvador Chuliá Ferrandis) • Blessed Carlos Eraña Guruceta • Blessed Fernando García Sendra • Blessed Jacinto Hoyuelos Gonzalo • Blessed Jesus Hita Miranda • Blessed José García Mas • Blessed José María Llópez Mora • Blessed Justo Lerma Martínez • Blessed Salvador Fernández Pérez • Blessed Vicente Gay Zarzo • Blessed Vicente Jaunzarás Gómez
Quote/s of the Day – 17 September – The Memorial of St Robert Bellarmine SJ (1542-1621) Doctor of the Church
“The school of Christ is the school of love. In the last day, when the general examination takes place … Love will be the whole syllabus.”
“What is easier, sweeter, more pleasant, than to love goodness, beauty and love, the fullness of which, YOU ARE, O Lord, my God?”
“It is granted to few, to recognise the true Church, amidst the darkness, of so many schisms and heresies and, to fewer still, so to love the Truth which they have seen, as to fly to it’s embrace!”
“Charity is that, with which no man is lost and without which, no man is saved.”
“It seems unbelievable that a man should perish in whose favour Christ said to His Mother: ‘Behold thy son’, provided that he has not turned a deaf ear to the words, which Christ addressed to him: ‘Behold thy Mother.’”
St Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) Doctor of the Church
One Minute Reflection – 17 September – Thursday of the Twenty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Readings: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Psalms 118:1-2, 16-17, 28, Luke 7:36-50 and the Memorial of St Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) Doctor of the Church
“Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” ~ Luke 7:48,50
REFLECTION – “A sinful woman has proclaimed to us that God’s love has gone forth in search of sinners. For when He called her, Christ was inviting our whole race to His love and, in her person, He was drawing all sinners to His forgiveness. He spoke to her alone but He was drawing all creation to His grace. (…)
Who would not be struck by the mercy of Christ, who accepted an invitation to a Pharisee’s house in order to save a sinner! For the sake of the woman who hungered for forgiveness, He, Himself felt hunger for the table of Simon the Pharisee and all the while, under the guise of a meal of bread, He had prepared for the sinner a meal of repentance! (…)
In order that you may have the same experience, reflect within yourself that your sin is great but that it is blasphemy against God and an injury to yourself, to despair of His forgiveness, because your sin seems to you to be too great. He has promised to forgive your sins, however many they are; will you tell Him you cannot believe this and dispute with Him, saying that your sin is too great and He cannot heal your sickness? Stop at that point and cry out with the prophet: “Lord, I have sinned against you” (Ps 51[50]:6). At once He will reply, “As for me, I have overlooked your fault, you shall not die.” Glory to Him from us all, through all ages! Amen, Amen.” ~ An anonymous Syrian writer of the 6th century – From a collection of homilies on the sinful woman, 1, 4.5.19.26.28 (Eastern Syrian)
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, teach me to do everything for Your honour and glory. Grant me the grace to work out my salvation with anxious concern each day of my life. St Robert Bellarmine, as you worked tirelessly for the salvation of souls, so now pray for us all, as tirelessly, that we may achieve eternal joy, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 17 September – Thursday of the Twenty Fourth week in Ordinary Time and the Memorial of St Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) Doctor of the Church
O Infinite Goodness Act of Contrition By St Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) Doctor of the Church
O my God, I am exceedingly grieved, for having offended Thee and with my whole heart, I repent of the sins I have committed. I hate and abhor them above every other evil, not only because, by so sinning, I have lost heaven and deserved hell but still more because I have offended Thee, O infinite Goodness, who art worthy to be loved above all things. I most firmly resolve, by the assistance of Thy grace, never more to offend Thee for the time to come and to avoid those occasions which might lead me into sin. Amen
Saint of the Day – 17 September – St Lambert (c 635-c 700) Bishop and Martyr, Bishop of Maastricht, Confessor, Missionary. Born in c635 at Maastricht, Netherlands and died by stabbing through the heart by a javelin in c 700 at the Chapel of Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian, Liège, Belgium while celebrating Mass. Patronages – Liège, Belgium, Diocese of Middelaar, Netherlands,Freiburg , Gladbeck and Lambrecht in the Palatinate; of farmers, surgeons, dentists, against kidney disease, against diseases of domestic animals, as well as against hernia, gallstones and epilepsy. Finally, he is the patron saint of fowl. St Lambert is also known as Lambert of Liege or of Maastricht, Lamberto, Lambertus, Landebertus.
The Martyrdom of St Lambert and his 2 newphews
Lambert was from a noble family of Maastricht, the supposed son of Apre, lord of Liège, and his wife Herisplende, both from noble families. The child was Baptised by his godfather, the local bishop, Remaclus and educated by Landoald, Archpriest of the city. Lambert was also related to the seneschal Hugobert, father of Plectrude, Pepin of Herstal’s lawful wife and thus an in-law of hereditary mayors of the palace who controlled the Merovingian kings of Austrasia.
Lambert appears to have frequented the Merovingian Court of King Childeric II and was a protégé of his uncle, St Theodard, who succeeded Remaclus as Bishop of Maastricht. He is described by early biographers as “a prudent young man of pleasing looks, courteous and well-behaved in his speech and manners, well-built, strong, a good fighter, clear-headed, affectionate, pure and humble and fond of reading.” When Theodard was murdered soon after 669, the councillors of Childeric made Lambert Bishop of Maastricht. After five years he was involved in the political turmoil following the death of Childeric II. Lambert was then exiled from his seat by Ebroino, the previous mayor of the Neustria palace.
He withdrew to the Monastery of Stavelot where he lived for seven years as one of the Monks, claiming no privileges despite his office. Once, getting up to pray during the night, he accidentally disturbed the monastic silence.
The Abbot called out for whoever was responsible, to do penance by standing barefoot in the snow, before a Cross outside the Monastery Church. In the morning, the Abbot was dismayed to see the Bishop standing barefoot, covered with snow, before the Cross, his face shining. The Abbot sought to apologise but Lambert replied that he was honoured to serve God like the Apostles, in cold and nakedness.
When King Pepin of Heristal took power in 681, he restored Lambert to his See, despite the Saint’s desire to remain in obscurity. The holy Bishop renewed his pastoral labours with vigour, visiting the most distant parishes and preaching the Gospel to the pagans who still inhabited the area, despite danger and threats.
In company with St Willibrord, who had come from England in 691, Lambert preached the gospel in the lower stretches of the Meuse, in the area to the north. In conjunction with St Landrada, he founded a female Convent at Munsterblizen. Lambert was also the spiritual director of the young noble Hubertus, eldest son of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine. Hubertus would later succeed Lambert as Bishop of Maastricht.
Lambert seems to have succumbed to the political turmoil that developed when various clans fought for influence as the Merovingian dynasty gave way to the Carolingians. Historian Jean-Louis Kupper says that the Bishop was the victim of a private struggle between two clans seeking to control the Tongres-Maastricht see. Lambert is said to have denounced Pepin’s adulterous liaison with Alpaida, who was to become the mother of Charles Martel. This aroused the enmity of either Pepin, Alpaida, or both. The Bishop was murdered at Liege by the troops of Dodon, Pepin’s domesticus (manager of state domains), father or brother of Alpaida.
The year of his death is variously given for some time between 700 and 709. Lambert came to be viewed as a Martyr for his defence of the Sacrament of Marriage and marital fidelity. Lambert’s two nephews, Peter and Audolet, were also killed defending their uncle. They too, were viewed as saints.
Although Lambert was buried in his family’s vault in the cemetery of Saint Peter, Maastricht, Netherlands, his successor as Bishop, St Hubertus, translated his relics to Liège, to which the see Maastricht was eventually moved. To enshrine Lambert’s relics, Hubertus, built a Basilica near Lambert’s residence which became the true nucleus of the city. The shrine became St Lambert’s Cathedral which was destroyed in 1794. Its site is the modern Place Saint-Lambert. Lambert’s tomb is now located in the present Liège Cathedral. The Cathedral of Our Lady and St Lambert in Liege was built in his honour.
Liege CathedralThe Cathedral of Our Lady and St Lambert in Liege
Saint Lambert is one of the best-loved Saints of Belgium, where many Parish Churches are dedicated to him. St Lambert’s admiration was also particularly widespread in the Archdiocese of Cologne. Near Lambrecht in the Palatinate Forest, in Germany now but bordering on France, is the Lambert Cross, a stone cross, which bears the name of Lambert, from which the town takes its name.
Stigmata of St Francis of Assisi: Two years before the great Saint Francis of Assisi died and when he was forty-two years old — one year after he had built the first crib in honour of Our Lord — he went off to a lonely mountain called Mount Alvernia, to prepare himself by forty days of fasting and prayer for the feast of Saint Michael, the greatest of God’s angels, whose feast day is 29 September. On the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on 14 September, Saint Francis received in his hands, feet and side the Sacred Wounds from Our Lord’s own body.
Never was a saint more beautifully loved by Jesus than Saint Francis of Assisi. The wounds Jesus gave him stayed in his hands, feet and side and continually bled for two more years, until he died in 1226. The day on which Saint Francis received the Five Wounds of Our Lord was 14 September but so, that this beautiful event might have a feast day for itself, the Stigmata of Saint Francis is commemorated today, on 17 September. The simple liturgy of this holy saint’s life might be put this way – the crib in 1223 and the Cross in 1224.
St Justin of Rome St Lambert (c 635-c 700) Bishop & Martyr St Narcissus of Rome St Peter Arbues St Rodingus St Satyrus of Milan St Socrates Bl Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary St Stephen St Theodora St Uni of Bremen St Zygmunt Sajna St Zygmunt Szcesny Felinski TOSF (1822-1895) His Life: https://anastpaul.com/2019/09/17/saint-of-the-day-17-september-saint-zygmunt-szcesny-felinski-1822-1895/ — Martyred in the Spanish Civil War • Blessed Álvaro Santos Cejudo Moreno Chocano • Blessed Juan Ventura Solsona • Blessed Timoteo Valero Pérez
Quote/s of the Day – 16 September – The Memorial of Sts Cornelius & Cyprian
“The world is going mad in mutual extermination and murder, considered as a crime, when committed individually, becomes a virtue, when it is committed by large numbers. It is the multiplication of the frenzy, that assures impunity to the assassins.”
“You cannot have God for your Father if you do not have the Church for your mother.”
“There is one God and one Christ and one Church and one Chair founded on Peter, by the word of the Lord. It is not possible to set up another altar or for there to be another priesthood besides that one altar and that one priesthood. Whoever has gathered elsewhere, is scattering!”
“Their property held them in chains… chains which shackled their courage and choked their faith and hampered their judgement and throttled their soul… If they stored up their treasure in heaven, they would not now have an enemy and a thief within their own household… They think of themselves as owners, whereas it is they rather, who are owned – enslaved as they are to their own property, they are not the masters of their money but it’s slaves!”
“We have solemnly renounced the world and therefore, whilst we continue in it, we should behave like strangers and pilgrims.”
“He [Christ], protects their faith and gives strength to believers, in proportion to the TRUST, that each man, who receives that strength, is willing to place in Him.”
“The wretched bodies of the condemned shall simmer and blaze in those living fires.”
St Cyprian of Carthage (c 200- c 258) Bishop and Martyr, Father of the Church
One Minute Reflection – 16 September – Wednesday of the Twenty Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Readings: 1 Corinthians 12:31–13:13, Psalms 33:2-3, 4-5, 12 and 22, Luke 7:31-35 and the Memorial of Sts Cornelius & Cyprian
“To what shall I compare the people of this generation?” … Luke 7:31
REFLECTION – “The apostle Paul says that there are some, who have no knowledge of God (1 Co 15:34). My opinion is that all those who lack knowledge of God, are those, who refuse to turn to Him. I am certain, that they refuse because they imagine this kindly disposed God, to be harsh and severe, this merciful God to be callous and inflexible, this lovable God to be cruel and oppressive. So it is, that wickedness plays false to itself, setting up for itself an image that does not represent God as He truly is.
What are you afraid of, you men of little faith? That He will not pardon your sins? But with His own hands He has nailed them to the cross. That you are used to soft living and your tastes are fastidious? But He knows the clay of which we are made (Gn 2:7). That a prolonged habit of sinning binds you like a chain? But the Lord loosens the shackles of prisoners. Or perhaps that angered by the enormity and frequency of your sins, He is slow to extend a helping hand? But where sin abounded, grace became superabundant (Rom 5,20). Are you worried about clothing and food and other bodily necessities so that you hesitate to give up your possessions? But He knows that you need all these things (Mt 6,32). What more can you wish? What else is there to hold you back from the way of salvation? This is what I say – you do not know God, yet you will not believe our words. I should like you to believe those whom experience has taught.” … St Bernard (1091-1153) Mellifluous Doctor of the Church – Commentary on the Song of Songs, Sermon 38
PRAYER – Look upon us Lord, Creator and Ruler of the whole world, give us the grace to serve You with all our hearts, to take up our cross and follow You, that we may come to know the power of Your love and the forgiveness which You give and You teach. Grant that by the intercession of Sts Cornelius and Cyprian, we may attain the glory of Your kingdom and see You face to face. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 16 September – Wednesday of the Twenty Fourth week in Ordinary Time and the Memorial of Sts Cornelius & Cyprian
“So, my brothers, let us pray as God our Master has taught us. To ask the Father, in words His Son has given us, to let Him hear the prayer of Christ ringing in His ears, is to make our prayer one of friendship, a family prayer. Let the Father recognise the words of His Son. Let the Son, who lives in our hearts, be also on our lips. We have Him as an Advocate for sinners, before the Father, when we ask for forgiveness for ours sins, let us use the words given by our Advocate. He tells us – Whatever you ask the Father in my name, He will give you. What more effective prayer could we then make, in the name of Christ, than in the words of His own prayer?”
St Cyprian of Carthage (c 200- c 258) Bishop and Martyr, Father of the Church
The Lord’s Prayer Jesus Matthew 6:9-13
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen
Saint of the Day – Blessed Luigi Ludovico Allemandi (1390-1450) Bishop and Cardinal – often called “The Cardinal of Arles.” Born in c 1390 possibly in Arbent, Bugey, Kingdom of France and died on 16 September 1450 (aged 60) Arles, Kingdom of France. Blessed Luigi was a Priest driven by immense love for the Holy Mother of God and for the Church. His involvement in various Councils and papal dissentions, were the result of his great desire to maintain the purity of the Chair of Peter. He is also known as Louis Allemand, Louis Alamanus, Louis Alemanus, Louis Almannus, Louis Alamandus.
The noble Germanic family of Allemandi moved, at the time of the Ottoni emperors, to Piedmont and more precisely to San Michele di Prazzo, in Val Maira. Most likely the present Blessed was born here, although according to other hypotheses he would have been born in the nearby French region of Bugey. What is certain, however, is the Saluzzo origins of the family, given the future good relations that Ludovico had with Cardinal Amedeo of the Marquises of Saluzzo.
He embarked on an ecclesiastical career at a very young age and, having entered the Canons of Lyon, he was elevated to the dignity of Prior of Piellonez and Contamines-sur-Arles. At the University of Avignon, he graduated in law in 1414. He received various positions as a teacher at Abbeys in Tours, Valenza and Barbona.
He took part in the councils of Pisa and Constance, both aimed at a positive conclusion of the Western schism. Pope Martin V then assigned him to the Episcopal chair of Maguelonne in 1418 and of Arles in 1423.
Awarded the Cardinal’s purple, in 1424 he became governor of Bologna, where he had to face the ongoing struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Here he was imprisoned for several long days by the powerful Guelph family of the Canetoli. When released, he moved to Rome where he worked at the Papal Court.
He was a prominent member of the Council of Basel in 1432 and together with Cardinal Julian Cesarini led the forces that maintained the power of the general councils over the Pope’s own control of the Church. It was while the council was proceeding, that he tended to victims of the plague. He later led opposition to the Pope but Cesarini was reconciled with Pope Eugene IV and had a prominent part in the Pope’s convoked Council of Florence. In 1439 he led the effort to depose Eugene IV and the election of a successor. In 1440 he placed the tiara upon Antipope Felix V and Consecrated him as a Bishop. This was a misguided attempt at reforming the Church which Blessed Luigi believed was vital. Eugene IV responded to this and excommunicated the antipope while also depriving Luigi of all his Ecclesiastical dignities. This occurred on 11 April 1440 – he was stripped of Arles as his Archdiocese and was stripped of his Titular Church.
Antipope Felix V made him the legate to the Diet of Frankfurt to the Court of Emperor Friedrich IV. He was further involved in the unsuccessful efforts to win over Europe’s Princes to Basel’s antipope. In order to make an end of the schism, the former cardinal advised Felix V to abdicate, at which stage Pope Nicholas V restored the Cardinal to all his honours and appointed him as a Papal Legate to the German kingdom; his full restoration was on 19 December 1449. He was restored to his Titular Church as well and from that moment, until his death served as the Protopriest of the College of Cardinals. It was due to his estrangement to the Roman See that he was not permitted to participate in the conclave of 1447.
He returned to his former Archdiocese of Arles, where he dedicated himself with great zeal, to the catechetical formation of the people. Death reached him in 1450 at the Franciscan convent of Salon. He was buried in his Cathedral and his tomb did not take long to become a pilgrimage destination and a miraculous place.
The historian, Saxius, summarised his life as follows: “Angelicam vitam duxit,” that is, “he led an angelic life,” characterised by a marked Marian devotion embodied in support of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
In 1527, Pope Clement VII officially confirmed his cult by declaring him “Blessed.”
St Abundantius of Rome St Abundius of Rome St Andrew Kim Taegon St Cunibert of Maroilles St Curcodomus Bl Dominic Shobyoye St Dulcissima of Sutri St Edith of Wilton St Eugenia of Hohenburg St Euphemia of Chalcedon St Geminianus of Rome St John of Rome Blessed Luigi Ludovico Allemandi (c 1390-1450) Bishop and Cardinal St Lucy of Rome St Ludmila St Marcian the Senator Bl Martin of Huerta Bl Michael Himonaya St Ninian (Died 432) Apostle to the Southern Picts Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2018/09/16/saint-of-the-day-16-september-st-ninian-c-360-died-432-apostle-to-the-southern-picts/
Martyrs of the Via Nomentana: Four Christian men martyred together, date unknown – Alexander, Felix, Papias and Victor. They were martyred on the Via Nomentana outside Rome, Italy.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: • Blessed Antonio Martínez García • Blessed Ignasi Casanovas Perramón • Blessed Manuel Ferrer Jordá • Blessed Pablo Martínez Robles • Blessed Salvador Ferrer Cardet
Quote/s of the Day – 15 September – The Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows and of St Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510)
‘By the cross of our salvation Mary stood in desolation While the Saviour hung above All her human powers failing, Sorrow’s sword, at last prevailing, Stabs and breaks her heart of love… Virgin Mary, full of sorrow, From your love I ask to borrow Love enough to share your pain. Make my heart to burn with fire, Make Christ’s love my own desire, Who for love of me was slain.’
Stabat Mater
“The spear which opened His side passed through the soul of the Virgin, which could not be torn from the heart of Jesus.”
St Bernard (1090-1153) Mellifluous Doctor of the Church
“Whoever you are, who love the Mother of God, take note and reflect with all your innermost feelings, upon her, who wept for the Only-Begotten as He died… The grief she felt in the Passion of her son, goes beyond all understanding.”
St Amadeus of Lausanne (1108-1159)
“Near the cross stood His mother, speechless; living she died; dying she lived.”
“Any time spent before the Eucharistic presence, be it long or short, is the best-spent time of our lives.”
“We must not wish anything other than what happens from moment to moment, all the while, however, exercising ourselves in goodness.”
“And when I hear it said, that God is good and He will pardon us and then see, that men cease not from evil-doing, oh, how it grieves me! The infinite goodness with which God communicates with us, sinners as we are, should constantly make us love and serve Him better but we, on the contrary, instead of seeing in His goodness an obligation to please Him, convert it into an excuse for sin, which will, of a certainty, lead in the end, to our deeper condemnation.”
“The one sole thing, in myself, in which I glory, is that I see in myself, nothing, in which I can glory.”
“Oh, what peril attaches to sin, wilfully committed! For it is so difficult for man to bring himself to penance and without penitence, guilt remains and will ever remain, so long as man retains unchanged, the will to sin, or is intent upon committing it.”
“I see clearly with the interior eye, that the sweet God loves, with a pure love, the creature that He has created and has a HATRED for nothing but SIN, which is more opposed to Him, than can be thought or imagined.”
Saint of the Day – 15 September – St Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510) Married laywoman, Mystic, Apostle of the sick, the poor and the needy, Writer – born in 1447 at Genoa, Italy as Caterina Fieschi Adorno and died on 15 September 1510 at Genoa, Italy of natural causes. Patronages – Brides, Childless Couples, Difficult Marriages, People Ridiculed For Their Piety, Temptations, Victims Of Adultery, Victims Of Infidelity. Her body is incorrupt and rests in a glass reliquary at the Capuchin Church in Genoa.
Catherine was born in Genoa in 1447. She was the youngest of five. Her father, Giacomo Fieschi, died when she was very young. Her mother, Francesca di Negro provided such an effective Christian education that the elder of her two daughters became a religious. When Catherine was 16, she was given in marriage to Giuliano Adorno, a man who after various trading and military experiences in the Middle East had returned to Genoa in order to marry.
Married life was far from easy for Catherine, partly because of the character of her husband who was given to gambling. Catherine herself, was at first induced to lead a worldly sort of life in which, however, she failed to find serenity. After 10 years, her heart was heavy with a deep sense of emptiness and bitterness. A unique experience on 20 March 1473 sparked her conversion. She had gone to the Church of San Benedetto in the monastery of Nostra Signora delle Grazie [Our Lady of Grace], to make her confession and, kneeling before the Priest, “received,” as she herself wrote, “a wound in my heart from God’s immense love.” It came with such a clear vision of her own wretchedness and shortcomings and at the same time of God’s goodness, that she almost fainted.
Her heart was moved by this knowledge of herself — knowledge of the empty life she was leading and of the goodness of God. This experience prompted the decision that gave direction to her whole life. She expressed it in the words: “no longer the world, no longer sin” (cf. Vita Mirabile, 3rv). Catherine did not stay to make her Confession. On arriving home she entered the remotest room and spent a long time weeping. At that moment she received an inner instruction on prayer and became aware of God’s immense love for her, a sinner. It was a spiritual experience she had no words to describe ( cf. Vita Mirabile, 4r).
It was on this occasion that the suffering Jesus appeared to her, bent beneath the Cross, as he is often portrayed in the Saint’s iconography. A few days later she returned to the Priest to make a good Confession at last. It was here, that began the “life of purification” which for many years caused her to feel constant sorrow for the sins she had committed and which spurred her to impose forms of penance and sacrifice upon herself, in order to show her love to God.
St Catherine of Genoa painted by artist Denys Savchenko. It resides in the St Catherine Church, Genoa, Italy.
On this journey Catherine became ever closer to the Lord until she attained what is called “unitive life,” namely, a relationship of profound union with God. In her Vita it is written, that her soul was guided and instructed from within, solely by the sweet love of God, which gave her all she needed. Catherine surrendered herself so totally into the hands of the Lord that she lived, for about 25 years, as she wrote, “without the assistance of any creature, taught and governed by God alone” (Vita, 117r-118r), nourished above all by constant prayer and by Holy Communion which she received every day, an unusual practice in her time. Only many years later did the Lord give her a Priest who cared for her soul.
Catherine was always reluctant to confide and reveal her experience of mystical communion with God, especially because of the deep humility she felt before the Lord’s graces. The prospect of glorifying Him and of being able to contribute to the spiritual journey of others, alone spurred her, to recount what had taken place within her, from the moment of her conversion, which is her original and fundamental experience.
The place of her ascent to mystical peaks was Pammatone Hospital, the largest hospital complex in Genoa, of which she was director and animator. Hence Catherine lived a totally active existence despite the depth of her inner life. In Pammatone a group of followers, disciples and collaborators formed around her, fascinated by her life of faith and her charity. Indeed her husband, Giuliano Adorno, was so so won over, that he gave up his dissipated life, became a Third Order Franciscan and moved into the hospital to help his wife.
Catherine’s dedication to caring for the sick continued until the end of her earthly life on 15 September 1510. From her conversion until her death there were no extraordinary events but two elements characterise her entire life – on the one hand her mystical experience, that is, the profound union with God, which she felt as spousal union and on the other, assistance to the sick, the organisation of the hospital and service to her neighbour, especially the neediest and the most forsaken. These two poles, God and neighbour, totally filled her life, virtually all of which she spent within the hospital walls.
Dear friends, we must never forget that the more we love God and the more constantly we pray, the better we will succeed in truly loving those who surround us, who are close to us, so that we can see in every person the Face of the Lord whose love knows no bounds and makes no distinctions. The mystic does not create distance from others or, an abstract life but, rather approaches other people, so that they may begin to see and act with God’s eyes and heart.
Catherine’s thought on purgatory, for which she is particularly well known, is summed up in the last two parts of the book mentioned above – The Treatise on Purgatory and the Dialogues between the body and the soul. The first original passage concerns the “place” of the purification of souls. In her day, it was depicted mainly using images linked to space – a certain space was conceived of, in which purgatory was supposed to be located. Catherine, however, did not see purgatory as a scene in the bowels of the earth – for her it is not an exterior but rather an interior fire. This is purgatory – an inner fire. The Saint speaks of the Soul’s journey of purification on the way to full communion with God, starting from her own experience of profound sorrow for the sins committed, in comparison with God’s infinite love (cf. Vita Mirabile, 171v).
We heard of the moment of conversion when Catherine suddenly became aware of God’s goodness, of the infinite distance of her own life from this goodness and of a burning fire within her. And this is the fire that purifies, the interior fire of purgatory. Here too, is an original feature in comparison with the thought of her time. In fact, she does not start with the afterlife in order to recount the torments of purgatory — as was the custom in her time and perhaps still is today — and then to point out the way to purification or conversion. Rather our Saint begins with the inner experience of her own life on the way to Eternity.
“The soul,” Catherine says, “presents itself to God, still bound to the desires and suffering that derive from sin and this makes it impossible for it to enjoy the beatific vision of God.” Catherine asserts that God is so pure and holy, that a soul stained by sin, cannot be in the presence of the Divine Majesty (cf. Vita Mirabile, 177r).
We too feel how distant we are, how full we are of so many things that we cannot see God. The soul is aware of the immense love and perfect justice of God and consequently, suffers for having failed to respond in a correct and perfect way to this love and, love for God itself, becomes a flame, love itself cleanses it from the residue of sin.
In Catherine we can make out the presence of theological and mystical sources on which it was normal to draw in her time. In particular, we find an image typical of Dionysius the Areopagite – the thread of gold that links the human heart to God Himself. When God purified man, he bound him with the finest golden thread, that is, His love and draws him toward Himself with such strong affection, that man i,s as it were “overcome and won over and completely beside himself.” Thus man’s heart is pervaded by God’s love that becomes the one guide, the one driving force of his life (cf. Vita Mirabile, 246rv). This situation of being uplifted towards God and of surrender to His will, expressed in the image of the thread, is used by Catherine to express the action of divine light on the souls in purgatory, a light that purifies and raises them to the splendour of the shining radiance of God (cf. Vita Mirabile, 179r).
With her life, St Catherine teaches us that the more we love God and enter into intimacy with Him in prayer the more He makes Himself known to us, setting our hearts on fire with His love. In writing about purgatory, the Saint reminds us of a fundamental truth of faith that becomes for us an invitation to pray for the deceased, so that they may attain the beatific vision of God in the Communion of Saints.
Moreover, the humble, faithful and generous service in Pammatone Hospital that the Saint rendered throughout her life, is a shining example of charity for all and an encouragement, especially for women who, with their precious work enriched by their sensitivity and attention to the poorest and neediest, make a fundamental contribution to society and to the Church.
Catherine’s writings were examined by the Holy Office and declared to contain doctrine that would alone be enough to prove her sanctity and she was accordingly Beatified in 1675 by Pope Clement X and Canonised in 1737 by Pope Clement XII. Her writings also, became sources of inspiration for other religious leaders such as Robert Bellarmine and Francis de Sales and Cardinal Henry Edward Manning. Pope Pius XII declared her Patroness of the hospitals in Italy.
When she died, her body was placed in a coffin in the Chapel of the hospital where she had served so selflessly. The wooden coffin unfortunately suffered water damage, yet after it was removed, a year later, the body itself was found to be incorrupt. Her body was later transferred to the Capuchin Convent Annunziata di Portoria, near the centre of Genoa and can be viewed by the public, in the Church attached to the Convent.
St Aichardus St Albinus of Lyon Bl Anton Maria Schwartz St Aprus of Toul St Bond of Sens St Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510)
Bl Camillus Constanzo St Emilas of Cordoba St Eutropa of Auvergne St Hernan Bl Jacinto de Los Ángeles and Bl Juan Bautista St Jeremias of Cordoba St Joseph Abibos St Mamillian of Palermo St Melitina St Mirin of Bangor St Nicetas the Goth St Nicomedes of Rome Blessed Paolo Manna PIME (1872-1952) “A Burning Soul” Priest, Missionary His Life: https://anastpaul.com/2019/09/15/saint-of-the-day-15-september-blessed-paolo-manna-pime-1872-1952-a-burning-soul/
St Porphyrius the Martyr St Ribert St Ritbert of Varennes Bl Rolando de Medici Bl Tommasuccio of Foligno St Valerian of Châlon-sur-Saône St Valerian of Noviodunum St Vitus of Bergamo Bl Wladyslaw Miegon — Martyrs of Adrianopolis – 3 saints: Three Christian men martyred together in the persecutions of Maximian – Asclepiodotus, Maximus and Theodore. They were martyred in 310 at Adrianopolis (Adrianople), a location in modern Bulgaria.
Martyrs of Noviodunum – 4 saints: Three Christian men martyred together, date unknown – Gordian, Macrinus, Stratone and Valerian. They were martyred in Noviodunum, Lower Moesia (near modern Isaccea, Romania).
Mercedarian Martyrs of Morocco – 6 beati: A group of six Mercedarians who were captured by Moors near Valencia, Spain and taken to Morocco. Though enslaved, they refused to stop preaching Christianity. Martyrs. – Dionisio, Francis, Ildefonso, James, John and Sancho. They were crucified in 1437 in Morocco.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: Bl Antonio Sierra Leyva Bl Pascual Penades Jornet
“Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times but seventy times seven.” … Matthew 18:21-22
REFLECTION – “The perfection of brotherly love lies in the love of one’s enemies. We can find no greater inspiration for this, than grateful remembrance of the wonderful patience of Christ. He who is more fair than all the sons of men, offered His fair face to be spat upon by sinful men. He allowed those eyes, that rule the universe, to be blindfolded by wicked men. He bared His back to the scourges. He submitted that head which strikes terror in principalities and powers, to the sharpness of the thorns. He gave Himself up to be mocked and reviled and, at the end, endured the cross, the nails, the lance, the gall, the vinegar, remaining always gentle, meek and full of peace. In short, He was led like a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb before the shearers He kept silent and did not open his mouth. Who could listen to that wonderful prayer, so full of warmth, of love, of unshakeable serenity – Father, forgive them – and hesitate to embrace his enemies with overflowing love? Father, He says, forgive them. Is any gentleness, any love, lacking in this prayer? Yet He put into it, something more. It was not enough to pray for them, He wanted also to make excuses for them. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. They are great sinners, yes but they have little judgement, therefore, Father, forgive them. They are nailing Me to the cross but they do not know who It is that they are nailing to the cross, if they had known, they would never have Crucified the Lord of glory. Therefore, Father, forgive them. They think it is a lawbreaker, an impostor claiming to be God, a seducer of the people. I have hidden My Face from them and they do not recognise My glory. Therefore, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
If someone wishes to love himself he must not allow himself to be corrupted by indulging his sinful nature. If he wishes to resist the promptings of his sinful nature, he must enlarge the whole horizon of his love, to contemplate the loving gentleness of the humanity of the Lord. Further, if he wishes to savour the joy of brotherly love with greater perfection and delight, he must extend even to his enemies the embrace of true love. But if he wishes to prevent this fire of divine love from growing cold because of injuries received, let him keep the eyes of his soul always fixed on the serene patience of his beloved Lord and Saviour.” … St Aelred of Rievaulx (1110 – 1167) – Speculum Caritatis 3,5
PRAYER – Lord God, strength of those who hope in You, by Your will, St John Chrysostom became renowned in the Church, for his astounding eloquence and his forbearance in persecution. Grant that we may be enriched by his teaching and thus grow in sanctity, to follow the commandments You set forth in Your Word, Your Son who is our Saviour and Redeemer. By the prayers of St John Chrysostom, may we attain the place You have prepared for us. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, one God, forever amen.
Saint of the Day – 13 September – Saint Amatus (c 560-c 627) Monk and Hermit, Penitent, miracle-worker, together with St Romaric, he founded Remiremont Abbey. Born in c 560 at Grenoble, France and died on 13 September 627 in Remiremont, Vosges, France of natural causes. Also known as – Aimé, Amad, Amat, Amé.
Amatus was born about the year 560 to a noble family at Grenoble. Around 581, he entered the Abbey of St Maurice Agaunum and at the age of thirty retired into a hermitage, where his reputation for a life of penance and prayer, privileged with the grace of miracle working, drew the attention of St Eustace of Luxeuil, who persuaded Amatus to join his community.
One of his missionary journeys brought him to the court at Metz and there he converted a former Count Palatine of King Theodebert II, the Frankish noble St Romaric.
S. Romaric founded with Amatus a double monastery for men and women at Remiremont Abbey, on land that had been in Romaric’s possession since his days as a Count Palatine.
Remiremont Abbey
Amatus was its first abbot. He ruled this Abbey for many years and established there the difficult pious practice of the “Laus perennis” or Perpetual Praise, which consisted in the maintaining in the Church, an uninterrupted service of Psalmody and Prayer, day and night.
Saint Amatus died in the year 627 and at his own request, was buried just outside the church door. Later, his remains were suitably enshrined under one of the altars of the same church.
Saint Amatus was Canonised on 3 December 1049 by Pope Leo IX. He is greatly venerated in Grenoble, France.
Dedication of the Basilicas of Jerusalem: Commemoration of the dedications of the basilicas built on Mount Calvary and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. — St Aigulf St Amatus OSB (c 560-c 627) Monk, Abbot St Amatus of Sens St Barsenorius Bl Claude Dumonet St Columbinus of Lure St Emiliano of Valence St Evantius of Autun St Gordian of Pontus Bl Hedwig of Hreford St Julian of Ankyra St Ligorius St Litorius of Tours St Macrobius St Marcellinus of Carthage Bl María López de Rivas Martínez St Maurilius of Angers (c 336-426) His Life: https://anastpaul.com/2019/09/13/saint-of-the-day-saint-maurilius-of-angers-c-336-426/ St Nectarius of Autun
St Notburga (c 1265-1313) St Philip of Rome St Venerius of Tino — Martyrs of Ireland: • Blessed Edward Stapleton • Blessed Elizabeth Kearney • Blessed James Saul • Blessed Margaret of Cashel • Blessed Richard Barry • Blessed Richard Butler • Blessed Theobald Stapleton • Blessed Thomas Morrissey • Blessed William Boyton
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War including the Martyrs of Pozo de Cantavieja – 11 beati: • Blessed Bienvenido Villalón Acebrón • Blessed Emilio Antequera Lupiáñez • Blessed Florencio Arnáiz Cejudo • Blessed Francisco Rodríguez Martínez • Blessed Joaquín Gisbert Aguilera • Blessed José Álvarez-Benavides de La Torre • Blessed José Cano García • Blessed José Román García González • Blessed Juan Capel Segura • Blessed Juan Ibáñez Martín • Blessed Luis Eduardo López Gascón • Blessed Manuel Alvarez y Alvarez • Blessed Manuel Martínez Giménez • Blessed Pío Navarro Moreno • Blessed Ramiro Argüelles Hevia • Blessed Sabino Ayastuy Errasti • Blessed Teófilo Montes Calvo
Saint of the Day – 12 September – Saint Ailbe (Died 528) Bishop of Emly, “The Patrick of Munster,” Confessor, Evangelist – Saint Ailbe is venerated as one of the four great Patrons of Ireland. Also known as – Ailbhe, Albert, Albeo, Albeus, Elvis. Patronages – Cashel, Ireland, Diocese of, Cashel and Emly, Ireland, Archdiocese of, Emly, Ireland, Diocese of, Munster, Ireland,wolves.
Ailbe was born to a maidservant in the house of Cronan, lord of Eliach in County Tipperary. Cronan, for reasons unrevealed, disapproved of his birth and directed that he be exposed to ‘dogs and wild beasts, that he might be devoured.’ But, instead, the baby was found hidden under a rock (Ail) and alive (beo), by a she-wolf who reared him among her own cubs. The Saint repaid the kindness toward the end of his life, when a she-wolf chased by hunters took refuge with him. He ordered that it should not be harmed and would come to eat with him each day.
Ailbe is frequently named as leader among the four “Palladian bishops” all of whom ministered in the south of Ireland – Ailbe of Emly, Ibar of Begerin, Declan of Ardmore and Ciaran of Saighir – before or around the time of the arrival of St Patrick.
Since Ailbe was also known in South Wales, it seems certain that before Patrick there was a movement of Christians between the south of Wales and the south of Ireland. And it may be from this movement that Ailbe received his Christian faith. Another source says Ailbe Baptised St David of Wales.
Ailbe was particularly friendly with Declan. The Life of Declan says: “They loved one another like brothers…” The Life also says they both went to Rome and were Ordained Bishop by the Pope.
The Life of Declan also deferentially declares: “Humble Ailbe was the Patrick of Munster….” He was considered to be one of the pre-Patrician Saints of Ireland
The church Ailbe founded at Emly in south-west Tipperary became a centre of formation for other well-known monastic saints, such as St Colman of Dromore and St Enda of Aran island.
Ailbe is said to have petitioned King Aengus of Cashel for a site for a Monastery for St Enda. Unaware that he had islands in his domain, Aengus that night dreamed about them and granted them to Enda.
According to the Annals of Innisfallen, which draws on records originally compiled at Emly, Ailbe died in 528.
Another interesting story is that Ailbe’s tomb, long forgotten, was discovered in Cashel in 580 when St Brendan of Birr came on a visit to inaugurate the new king. An ancient and weathered Celtic cross in its churchyard is known as “St Ailbe’s Cross.”
Emly later became an important Ecclesiastical centre and Diocese. In 1718 it was united with Cashel and St Ailbe is the Patron of the joint Archdiocese.
St Ailbe’s monastic Rule: A ninth century monastic rule bears Ailbe’s name. It consists of 56 verses in Irish, including these instructions to a monk:
Ailbe’s windowLet him be steady, let him not be restless, let him be wise, learned, pious; let him be vigilant; let him be a slave; let him be humble kindly.
Let him be gentle, close and zealous, let him be modest, generous and gracious; against the torrent of the world, let him be watchful, let him not be reproachful; against the brood of the world, let him be warlike.
The jewel of baptism and communion, let him receive it.
Let him be constant at prayer, his canonical hours let him not forget; his mind let him bow it down without insolence or contention.
A hundred genuflections for him at the Beata at the beginning of the day… thrice fifty psalms with a hundred genuflections every hour of vespers.
A genuflection thrice, earnestly, after going in past the altar rail, without frivolity and without excitement, going into the presence of the King of the angels.
A clean house for the guests and a big fire, washing and bathing for them and a couch without sorrow.
The Most Holy Name of Mary – 12 September (Optional Memorial): Feast of the entire Latin Church. It was first observed at Cuenca, Spain in 1513, then extended to the universal Church and assigned to its present place and rank by Pope Innocent XI in 1683 in thanksgiving to God and the Blessed Virgin for the liberation of Vienna, France and the signal victory over the Turks on 12 September 1683. It is the titular feast of the Society of Mary (Marianists) and of the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
Bl Maria Luisa Angelica/Gertrude Prosperi (1799-1847) St Mancius of Saint Thomas St Paul of Saint Clare Bl Pierre-Sulpice-Christophe Faverge St Sacerdos of Lyon St Silvinus of Verona St Tomás de Zumárraga Lazcano — Martyrs of Alexandria – 6 saints: A group of Christians martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian. We know little more than their names – Hieronides, Leontius, Sarapion, Seleusius, Straton and Valerian. They were drowned c 300 at Alexandria, Egypt.
Martyrs of Phrygia – 3 saints: Three Christians who were martyred for destroying pagan idols. We know little more than their names – Macedonius, Tatian and Theodolus. They were burned to death in 362 in Phrygia (modern Turkey).
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: • Blessed Fortunato Arias Sánchez • Blessed Francisco Maqueda López • Blessed Jaume Puigferrer Mora • Blessed Josep Plana Rebugent • Blessed Julián Delgado Díez
Quote/s of the Day 11 September – Friday of the Twenty Third week in Ordinary Time, Readings: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22b-27, Psalms 84:3, 4, 5-6, 12, Luke 6:39-42 and the Memorial of Blessed Charles Spinola SJ (1564-1622) Priest, Martyr, Missionary to Japan
“A disciple is not above his teacher…”
Luke 6:40
“Let us then learn from the Cross of Jesus our proper way of living. Should I say ‘living’ or, instead, ‘dying’? Rather, both living and dying. Dying to the world, living for God. Dying to vices and living by the virtues. Dying to the flesh, but living in the spirit. Thus in the Cross of Christ, there is death and in the Cross of Christ there is life. The death of death is there and the life of life. The death of sins is there and the life of the virtues. The death of the flesh is there and the life of the spirit.”
St Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167)
Blessed Charles Spinola went underground, going by the foreshadowing alias “Joseph of the Cross”, a haunt of the shadows who was obliged to conceal himself from daylight because his foreign features were instantly recognisable. With the help of Nagasaki’s ample Christian community he eluded capture for an amazingly long time.
“For nearly two years and a half I have devoted myself to encourage and support the Christians of this country, not without great difficulty. Having no home, I pass secretly from house to house, to hear confessions and celebrate our holy mysteries by night. Most of my time I spend in utter solitude, deprived of all human converse and consolation, having only that which God gives to those who suffer for His love … However I am tolerably well and, though destitute of almost everything and taking but one scanty meal a day, I do not fall away. Does not this prove that “man liveth not by bread alone?”
-Letter of Spinola dated March 20, 1617
“Father, how sweet and delightful is it to suffer for Jesus Christ! I have learned this better by experience than I am able to express, especially since we are in these dungeons where we fast continually. The strength of my body fails me but my joy increases as I see death draw nearer. O what a happiness for me, if next Easter I shall sing the heavenly Alleluia in the company of the blessed!”
“Oh, if you had tasted the delights with which God fills the souls of those who serve Him and suffer for Him, how would you condemn all that the world can promise!”
“… God is to be served chiefly for Himself alone, for He is the fountain of all goodness and merits all our devotion, without any hope of reward.”
Saint of the Day – 11 September – Blessed Charles Spinola SJ (1564-1622) Priest, Martyr, Missionary to Japan – born as Carlo Spinola in 1564 in Madrid, Spain and died by being slowly burned to death on 10 September 1622 at Nagasaki, Japan.
Charles Spinola was born in Madrid, Spain. His father, the Italian Count of Tassarolo, was tutor to Prince Rudolph, the Emperor’s son. After his early studies in Spain, Charles was sent to the Jesuit school in Nola, Italy where he lived with his uncle Philip Spinola, the Bishop of Nola. As a youth, Charles was so moved by the Martyrdom in India of Rudolph Acquaviva’s heroic example of love for God, that he too was determined to die for Christ and the faith. He entered the Society and became a novice at the Nola novitiate. In 1584 he went to Naples for his philosophy and after taking his vows, he was sent to Brera College in Milan where he completed his philosophy and his theology studies, though at the time his health was not too good. After his Ordination in 1594, he was assigned to give parish missions in Cremona although he had requested to go on foreign missions.
Two years later in 1596 Fr Spinola together with the Sicilian Jesuit, Jerome De Angelis, finally were assigned to the mission in Japan but it took him six years, eight ships and great patience to arrive in Nagasaki, Japan after overcoming shipwrecks, pirates and many unfortunate incidents along the way.
The first ship he took from Genoa struck a rock and was forced to return to Genoa. From Barcelona, he had to walk on foot across Spain and Portugal to reach Lisbon but there the ship met with a violent storm and its rudder was shattered. After five months, the ship was repaired in Brazil, they again set forth only to meet another storm and they found themselves drifted back to the Atlantic to its starting point. His second attempt was also unsuccessful and ended when English pirates captured the ship and took it to England and only managed to escape back to Lisbon after two years. It was only in 1600, when Fr Spinola set off on his third attempt did he reach Malacca, Malaya.
Eventually he reached Japan in 1602, after 6 years of attempts and he studied Japanese before going to Miyako (today’s Kyoto) where he was Novice Master at the Jesuit College and also teacher of mathematics and astronomy. He moved to Nagasaki seven years later to care for the temporal needs of the province. In 1614, the long period of peaceful relations with Shogan Iyeyasu ended, when the number of Christians in Japan had reached two million, causing the country leaders to become fearful that the Christians proposed a national threat and that their country might be taken over by Spain. This resulted in the Shogun’s decree banishing all foreign missionaries and forbidding Japanese Christians to harbour Priests or practice their religion.
Arising from this decree, about 100 Jesuits left Japan but some remained, including Fr Spinola and he eluded Priest-hunters for four years. Fr Spinola was captured together with Bro Ambrose Fernandes and their catechist, John Chogoku and were imprisoned for four years in a bird-like cage under harsh conditions.
We have the record of a letter from one Franciscan, Blessed Richard of St Anne, to his home Monastery in France:
“I have been for nearly a year in this wretched prison, where there are with me, nine religious of our order, eight Dominicans and six Jesuits. The others are native Christians who have helped us in our ministry. Some have been here for five years. Our food is a little rice and water. The road to martyrdom has been paved for us by more than 300 martyrs, all Japanese, on whom all kinds of tortures were inflicted. As for us survivors, we also are all doomed to death. We religious and those who have helped us, are to be burnt at a slow fire; the others will be beheaded… If my mother is still alive, I beg you to be so kind as to tell her of God’s mercy to me in allowing me to suffer and die for Him. I have no time left to write to her myself.”
In September 1622, the nine prisoners who had been caged together, were taken to Nagasaki and felt Martyrdom would soon be theirs. Before they left, Fr Spinola accepted the vows of his seven novices. On 9 September, the nine Jesuits together with twenty-four other prisoners at Suzuta, each with a rope round his neck and the Jesuits in their cassocks, were led to Martyrs’ Hill escorted by 400 soldiers. There they waited for another thirty-three prisoners from the city. When the 2 groups met, they embraced. Fr Spinola recognised Isabel Fernandez among them, the wife of Dominic Jorjes, who had sheltered Charles after he had Baptised her son, Ignatius, now a four-year-old. Isabel said “I brought him [Ignatius] with me to die for Christ before he is old enough to sin against Him.” The boy knelt for a blessing from Charles, witnessed the Martyrdom of his mother and was killed himself—all without crying out.
The religious, with exception of John Chugoku (being a lay person) were condemned to death by slow fire, the Christians and Chugoku were to be beheaded.
When fastened to his stake, Fr Spinola intoned the psalm, Praise the Lord, All You Nations and the martyrs joined in a song of thanksgiving to God. The fires were lit but the wood was so arranged to prolong the victims’ suffering. Fr Spinola died within half an hour as he was greatly weakened after four years of imprisonment. Fr Kimura, endured his martyrdom for three hours and was the last to die, during which time he remained immobile with his arms outstretched in the form of a cross.
The nine martyrs died on Martyrs’ Hill on 10 September 1622. When Pope Pius IX beatified the 205 Japanese Martyrs on 7 May 1867, Bro Ambrose Fernandes, who had died in prison, was also included.
Bl John Bathe St Leudinus of Toul St Matthew of Gravedona sul Lario St Paphnutius of Thebes St Patiens of Lyon Bl Peter Taaffe Bl Petrus Kawano St Protus of Rome St Regula of Zurich Bl Richard Overton St Sperandea St Theodora the Penitent Bl Thomas Bathe — Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: • Blessed José María Segura Panadés • Blessed José Piquer Arnáu • Blessed Josep Pla Arasa • Blessed Lorenzo Villanueva Larrayoz
Saint of the Day – 10 September – Blessed Oglerio O.Cist (c 1136-1214) Cistercian Monk, Abbot, Mediator and peace-maker, Reformer, Penitent, Writer – born in c 1136 in Trento, Trino Vercellese, Italy and died in 1214 of natural causes. He is also known as Ogerius, Ogler, Oglerius. Blessed Oglerio was devoted to Mary and in his writings praised her prerogatives, especially the Immaculate Conception. Not only a man of learning but of humility as well, he was found by Pope Innocent III to be an “instrument of peace” in settling quarrels among warring factions in Italy.
It can be said that Trino Vercellese is a land of the blessed. In addition to Blessed Magdalene Panattieri and Blessed Arcangela Girlani, Blessed Oglerio, Abbot of St Maria di Lucedio is also the pride of the people of Trento. This was an important Cistercian Abbey, founded in 1123 as a subsidiary of the Monastery of La Fertè, in a vast wooded plain not far from Trino. In those days, the abbeys were indeed centres of spirituality but they also had the important economic role of managing many lands recovered from the state of abandonment.
Oglerio was born around the year 1136, the son of a wealthy family. Even today in the city, his birthplace is traditionally indicated which, despite the inevitable alterations, retains three coats of arms from the 8th century on the facade. There is also a fresco depicting the three local blessed.
In 1248 the young Oglerio witnessed the solemn passage of St Bernard of Clairvaux who accompanied, together with fourteen cardinals, Blessed Pope Eugenio III (also a Cistercian) on the journey from Asti to Vercelli, for the Consecration of the Basilica of St Mary Major. The great Doctor of the Church, with his exceptional charisma, broke into the heart of Oglerio who, probably already a student at Lucedio, wore the white Cistercian habit three years later. According to the Benedictine Rule, he alternated study with work, he took his vows in 1153 and in 1161 he was Ordained a Priest. He killed his own body with penance and fasting but he was meek with others, revealing that character that would distinguish him throughout his life.
In 1174, when Bernard of Clairvaux was Canonised, Lucedio was at its peak. About ten years later Peter II was elected Abbot and Oglerio, his right hand, was often his companion in the many missions he undertook in the ecclesiastical and civil sphere. On behalf of Pope Celestino III they settled the disputes between the Bishop of Tortona and the Templars. From the successor Pope Innocent III, they had the task of reconciling Parma and Piacenza (1200), reforming the important Monastery of Bobbio and, with the Bishop of Vercelli, the congregation of the Umiliati of that city, to smooth out the discords between the Monks and Canons of St Ambrogio of Milan (1202) and between the Bishop of Genoa and the Chapter of his Cathedral (1203).
In 1202 they preached the IV Crusade in Trino, one of the captains was Bonifacio del Monferrato. The Crusade failed in its intent, also because the Venetians, despite the dissent of the Pope, exploited it for their own political gain. Boniface, however, was awarded the title of King of Thessaly and the Abbot Peter II was elected Bishop of Ivrea and later Patriarch of Antioch. Oglerio became the eleventh Abbot of Lucedio who, in that year (1205), had fifty Monks.
The Blessed always had a great love for his country and several times he acted as a “peacemaker” in the long-standing conflicts that arose between the Bishop and the Municipality of Vercelli. In 1210, Trino acquired a certain autonomy and the Emperor Otto IV granted the Monastery, possessions and privileges, that benefited the surrounding territory – great was the charity of the Monks who drew from the Abbey’s granaries to help the needy in the many periods of need.
Oglerio also had many diplomatic assignments, on behalf of the Order of Cîteaux, the Apostolic See and the local dignataries – on behalf of the Marquis Guglielmo il Buono, he went on a mission to the Emperor Conrad and the King of France Louis VII. In 1212 Pope Innocent III appointed him Arbitrator between the Canons of Casale and those of Paciliano and the following year he had the task of re-establishing the rights of the Cistercians at the Monastery of Chortaiton, near Thessalonica, devastated by the Saracens. The Bishop of Novara Gerardo had him reform a female Convent and settle some disputes between Lucedio and the municipality of Vercelli.
However, Oglerio was, above all, an excellent spiritual father, in the years in which the Church opposed the heresy of the Albigensians. Fortunately, the “Tractatus in laudibus Sanctae Dei Genitrix” and an “Expositio super Evangelium in Coena Domini” have come down to us of his writings, also precious from a literary point of view. The first, addressed in particular to consecrated women, narrates the glories of Mary, through the passages of the Gospel and defends her immunity from original sin from conception (what will be the dogma of the Immaculate Conception). The second contains thirteen homilies on the Eucharist, “bread of the Spirit”, dealing with chapters XIII – XV of the Gospel of John. Oglerio indicates Jesus as the Lamb sacrificed for the salvation of men and to his Monks he says the Eucharist is “the way, whereby you must go through, the truth you must come to, the life you must remain in” (sermon VII). Christ prevails over the devil for the virtues of “humility, patience and kindness” (sermon IX). He who “loved you without measure, without measure you must love Him” (Sermon I). Mary is “the uncorrupted virgin, the untempered virgin, the virgin before childbirth and after childbirth” (sermon III). His works, for a long time, were believed to be of St Bernard but, in 1661, Cardinal Giovanni Bona attributed them correctly. From them all the sweetness for his Monks shines – many were those trained by him in the school of holiness. The 13th century parchment codex (141 sheets) containing his writings was kept in the Staffarda Abbey, passed to the Royal Library of Turin and definitively, in 1724, to the University Library.
The illustrious Abbot from Trentino one day passed through a Ligurian city, driving away some evil spirits. This episode characterised its iconography (in the likeness of St Bernard) and in the Cistercian martyrology he is remembered as “terror of unclean spirits” but also, to remember his tireless apostolate as a peacemaker.
Now old, he died on 10 September 1214, with a great reputation as a saint among the people and in his Order. The body was placed first in the cloister of the Monastery, then under the main altar. An altar was dedicated to him in 1577, becoming the local parish. On 2 September 1616 there was a sacking of the Monastery by the soldiers of the Duke of Savoy but fortunately, the relics were not dispersed. In 1786 the Cistercians, moving, took them to Castelnuovo Scrivia. The people of Trento got them back on 9 September 1792 and they were definitively placed in the town’s parish Church, St Bartolomeo of Trino, which also includes the magnificent Altarpiece of the Immaculate Conception (see below). Pope Blessed Pius IX, on 8 April 1875, confirmed the cult and Beatified Oglerio. The Abbey of Lucedio was secularised by Pope Pius VI in 1784, the beautiful bell tower and a few elements of the complex remain original from the times of Oglerio, subsequently remodelled several times.
Beata Vergine Maria della Vita/Our Lady of Life: Celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary as patroness of the Our Lady of Life Hospital in Bologna, Italy, and as depicted in a painting in a sanctuary dedicated to her c 1375 in the hospital. Patronage – hospitals in the diocese of Bologna, Italy.
Blessed Oglerio O.Cist (c 1136-1214) St Peter Martinez St Pulcheria St Salvius of Albi St Sosthenes of Chalcedon St Theodard of Maastricht St Victor of Chalcedon — Martyrs of Bithynia – 3 sister saints: Three young Christian sisters martyred in the persecutions of emperor Maximian and governor Fronto: Menodora, Metrodora, Nymphodora. They were martyred in 306 in Bithynia, Asia Minor (in modern Turkey).
Martyrs of Japan – 205 beati: A unified feast to memorialise 205 missionaries and native Japanese known to have been murdered for their faith between 1617 and 1637.
Martyrs of Sigum – 8 saints: A group of Nicomedian martyrs, condemned for their faith to be worked to death in the marble quarries of Sigum. There were priests, bishops and laity in the group but only a few names have come down to us: Dativus, Felix, Jader, Litteus, Lucius, Nemesian, Polyanus, Victor. They were worked to death c 257 in Sigum.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: • Blessed Félix España Ortiz • Blessed Leoncio Arce Urrutia • Blessed Tomàs Cubells Miguel
AnaStpaul 
You must be logged in to post a comment.