Our Morning Offering – 23 January – Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year A and the Memorial of Blessed Benedetta Bianchi Porro (1936-1964) “The White Winter Rose” An Extraordinary Love
Blessed Benedetta last words were “Thank You”
Thank You, Jesus By Cardinal Nicholas Cusa (1401-1464)
Thank You, Jesus,
for bringing me this far.
In Your light, I see the light of my life.
Your teaching is brief and to the point,
You persuade us to trust in God,
You command us to love one another.
You promise everything
to those who obey Your teaching,
You ask nothing too hard for a believer,
nothing a lover can refuse.
Your promises to Your disciples are true,
nothing but the truth.
Even more, You promise us Yourself,
the perfection of all
that can be made perfect.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 23 January – Blessed Benedetta Bianchi Porro (1936-1964) Laywoman – born on 8 August 1936 at Dovádola, Forli, Italy and died on 23 January 1964 at Sirmione, Italy of complications resulting from her Recklinghausen DiseaseNeuro-Fibromatosis.
Benedetta Bianchi Porro was born at Dovadola as the second of six children to Guido Bianchi Porro and Elsa Giammarchi. She was baptised “in necessity” at the request of her mother with water from Lourdes, she received formal baptism on the following 13 August with the name of “Benedetta Bianca Maria”. Three months after her birth she fell ill with polio and required a brace on her left leg and an orthopedic shoe in order to prevent her spine from deforming. From March to May 1937 she suffered repeated bouts of bronchitis.
From the age of five she began to keep a journal in which to record experiences, one such entry was at the age of seven: “The universe is enchanting! It is great to be alive!”Porro attended school at a Convent school run by the Ursulines Benedetta was always very homesick while away at school. In 1942, the family moved to Sirmione.
During her childhood on one particular occasion, her brother Gabriele was involved in a brawl with a boy who mockingly called Porro a cripple and while the mothers of both boys separated them, she said: “He called me ‘the cripple’ – what is wrong with that? It’s the truth!”
In May 1944 she received her First Communion in the Church of the Annunciation where she received a Rosary that she would always keep with her. A fortnight later she was Confirmed by the Bishop of Modigliana, Maximilian Massimiliani. For the 1950 Holy Year convoked by Pope Pius XII, she and her aunt Carmen travelled on pilgrimages to Assisi, Rome and Loreto.
At the age of thirteen she began to lose her hearing. She first noticed this on 15 February 1953 when questioned by a teacher in Latin class as she was unable to hear all the questions put to her. At this time, Benedetta also began to stagger and required the use of a cane in order to walk.
In October 1953 – at the age of seventeen – she travelled to Milan where she went to enroll in a physics course in order to appease her father but she instead discovered that her true calling was to medicine. Here also, she realised that her true vocation was to engage with others as a doctor, to help those who needed aid the most. Some of her teachers opposed having a pre-medical student who was partially deaf but she proved to be a brilliant student.
Her illness progressed to the point where she was admitted into a nursing home on 12 July 1955 for a femur condition and for the subsequent rehabilitation. On the following 26 October, she asked for permission to enroll in clinical medicine and pathology courses. In November 1955, she was permitted to retake an oral examination from the previous summer but she did so in writing instead and passed with excellent results.
In 1957 her studies reached the point where she could diagnose herself – it was soon discovered that she had fallen victim to the rare Von Recklinghausen’s disease, which would leave her blind and deaf. Due to her illness, she was forced to leave medical school. Confined to her home, she began to evangelise others through correspondences in which she discussed faith and love of God. Friends from medical school visited her on a frequent basis.
Benedetta underwent several operations on her head in the next few years. Before the last of these, on 27 February 1963, Benedetta admitted her fear to Maria Grazia, who reminded her of this passage from Diary of a Country Priest, a novel by Georges Bernanos: “If I am afraid, I will say without shame, ‘I’m afraid’ and the Lord will give me the strength.” For a long time, Benedetta softly repeated this phrase and bit by bit, peace took hold of her. She thanked her friend effusively. The day after the operation, she announced that she was now blind but she asked that no- one tell the surgeon, so as not to sadden him. She accepted this cross of blindness that in 1955 had terrified her and her soul was at peace: “There is nothing to do but trust in God, with eyes closed. I am in the process of living simplicity, that is, the stripping of the soul. How beautiful it is! One becomes so light and free!”
Although, towards the end, she lost all the senses – the last were taste and sight – Benedetta continued to serve and heal others. Assisted at home by her mother, she communicated through sign language (with one hand) and transmitted to the world her messages. Although blind, she was able to see into the soul of those who came to visit her, understanding, even before they themselves, what they needed. She discovered that silence is the means by which God speaks to the soul and in that total silence of her senses, she grew in intimacy with Jesus. “We need to give God to others, without love, nothing matters,” she wrote in the diary.
In May 1962 she undertook a pilgrimage to Lourdes. There, she met 22-year-old Maria who was sobbing beside her. Porro took her hand and urged her to beseech the Blessed Virgin Mary for her intercession, at which point Maria was healed.
At the end of a pilgrimage to Lourdes said, “I don’t need a cure. I have faith and that is enough. I came for others.” And that statement fuelled her intention to be little and to give extraordinary love in the everyday things of each day. “Whoever comes closer to Jesus through suffering – she suggested to a young visitor – will become kinder, whoever distances himself becomes more cruel without even realising.”
From that point on, for nearly a year, Benedetta was like an inaccessible castle, with neither doors nor windows. Nevertheless, two little ‘peepholes’ remained open to the outside world—a weak voice to make herself heard and her left hand, which ‘miraculously’ remained functional. With the fingers of this functioning hand, her loved ones traced on her face the letters of the Italian alphabet for the deaf, which she did not see but could feel (for example, the «b» was formed with the tips of the index finger and middle finger pressing together, resting on the cheek). She could thus communicate! Her room was besieged by visitors who came to encourage her but also to ask for her help.
Benedetta had the gift of spreading joy around her. She gave advice and showed everyone the ‘narrow way’ that leads to God. She told her best friend, who could not bear to see her physically suffering so much: “We must accept the mystery, Maria Grazia. What fills us with anguish is asking ourselves ‘why’. The Lord gives us as much suffering as we can bear—not more, not less.”Her friend would later testify, “I then unexpectedly noticed something that had changed in her since becoming blind. A great peace enveloped her, as though she felt completely freed from fear and anxiety.” Don Gabriele, a priest who often brought her Holy Communion, would receive this confidence: “If for a brief instant, temptations arise, I call on Him and even if I am pale with fear, I immediately feel the presence of the Lord, who consoles me.”
On 21 January 1964, feeling that the definitive meeting with Jesus her Spouse was very near, Benedetta made her Confession and received Communion. During the night of the 22nd, she asked her nurse to remain close by, because Satan was tempting her: “Emilia, tomorrow I will die. I feel very ill.” In the morning, her mother noticed that a white rose had opened in the garden. A rose in bloom, in January! She announced her discovery to Benedetta, who replied, “This is the sign I was waiting for!” She then reminded her of a dream she had had on the previous All Saints’ Day – she went into the family burial vault and saw it decorated with a white rose dazzling with light. A little later, stricken by a hemorrhage, she died at the age of twenty-seven, murmuring, “Thank you.”
Declared venerable by St Pope John Paul II, Benedetta Bianchi Porro was laid to rest in a Sarcophagus in the Abbey of Saint Andrew, in Dovadola near Forlì.
Pope Francis confirmed a miracle attributed to her intercession in a decree on 7 November 2018. She was Beatified on 14 September 2019. The Beatification recognition was celebrated at the Cathedral of Santa Croce in Forlì, Italy, presided by Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu.
The current Postulator of the cause is Father Guglielmo Camera.
Espousal of the Blessed Virgin Mary – 23 January: Feast in honour of the Blessed Virgin’s espousal to Saint Joseph. It is certain that a real matrimony was contracted by Joseph and Mary. Still Mary is called “espoused” to Joseph (“his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph”, Matthew 1:18) because the matrimony was never consummated. The term spouse is applied to married people until their marriage is consummated. This feast dates from 1517 when it was granted to the nuns of the Annunciation by Pope Leo X with nine other Masses in honour of Our Lady. Adopted by many religious orders and dioceses, it was observed for a time by nearly the whole Church but is no longer in the Calendar.
Bl Joan Font Taulat
St John the Almoner/the Merciful (Died c 620)
Bl Juan Infante
St Jurmin
St Lufthild
St Maimbod
Bl Margaret of Ravenna
Martyrius of Valeria
St Messalina of Foligno
St Ormond of Mairé
St Parmenas the Deacon
St Severian the Martyr
Quote/s of the Day – 22 January – Wednesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time, Year A and the Memorial of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade SM (1761-1850), Founder of the Marianists
“The deposit of the Faith is entirely in Mary. At the foot of the Cross she held the place of the Church. “
“…We are, so to say, conceived of the Holy Spirit but we must, like the Saviour, be born of the Virgin Mary.”
One Minute Reflection – 22 January – Wednesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: 1 Samuel 17:32-33, 37, 40-51, Psalm 144:1-2, 9-10, Mark 3:1-6 and the Memorial of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade SM (1761-1850), Founder of the Marianists
“Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored.” … Mark 3:5
REFLECTION – “But Jesus, deeply grieved in heart at the hardness of their hearts, said in effect: “Let the ones who see continue to see. Let the ones who refuse to hear, do what they want to do. Let the ones who are hard in heart become stone. But let your right hand become full and tender. Rise, beg no longer.”
In effect Jesus was saying: “Do not continue to beg because of having a withered hand but after you finally have received it healthy and whole and have begun to work, stretch out your hand to the poor. Rise up and stand in their midst. Become a marvel to those who see. In you the struggle concerning the sabbath is finally being contested. Stand in their midst, so that the ones who are lame in their legs might stand . Stretch out your hand. I am not touching you so that they may not bring a charge against me. I am speaking with a speech so that they may not think that touching is an act of work. God did not say, ‘Do not speak on the sabbath.’ But if speech becomes an act of work, let the one who has spoken be an object of amazement. Stretch out your hand.”
While the withered hand was restored, the withered minds of the onlookers were not. For they went out and immediately, according to the reading, were debating what they would do to Jesus.
Are you debating what you will do? Worship Him as God. Worship the Wonder-worker. Worship One who worked good things on behalf of another. He did not add plasters, He was not tenderising with lotions. He did not apply medical ointments. He did this work openly, standing in their midst and not in a hidden way, so that some might retort: “He applied a plant, He added a plaster.”… St Athansius Bishop of Alexandria (297-373) Father and Doctor of the Church – Homilies, 28
PRAYER – Shed Your clear light on our hearts, Lord, keep us in Your Way, that we too may stretch out our hands and love to those who come our way. May Your law be our light and Your love our only way. Hear the prayers of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade and lead us to eternal life. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord with the Holy Spirit, God now and forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 22 January – Wednesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time, Year A and the Memorial of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade SM (1761-1850), Founder of the Marianists
The Gift of a Mother’s Love (A Marianist Prayer)
Gracious God,
source of light in every age,
the Virgin conceived
and bore Your Son
who is called Wonderful God,
Prince of Peace.
May her prayer,
the gift of a mother’s love,
be Your people’s joy
through all ages.
May her response,
born of a humble heart,
draw Your Spirit
to rest on Your people.
Grant this through
Christ our Lord.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 22 January – Blessed William Joseph Chaminade SM (1761-1850) Priest and Founder of the Society of Mary, usually called the Marianists, Reformer, Evangeliser, Teacher, Missionary. The Marianist Family’s other three branches—the married and single men and women of the Marianist Lay Communities, the consecrated laywomen of the Alliance Mariale and the Religious Sisters known as the Daughters of Mary Immaculate. Born on 8 April 1761 at Perigeux, France and died on 22 January 1850 of natural causes in Bordeaux, France. Patronages – the Marianists, Marian sodalities.
Bl. William Joseph Chaminade (he took the name Joseph as his Confirmation name and preferred it) was born in Périgueux, France, in 1761. He was the 14th child of a deeply Christian family – besides William Joseph, three of his brothers were priests. In 1771 he entered the minor seminary of Mussidan and four years later made private vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He was ordained a priest in 1785.
In 1790 after the outbreak of the French Revolution, he moved to Bordeaux, where he spent most of his life. In 1791 he refused to take the oath of the so-called Civil Constitution of the Clergy and clandestinely exercised his priestly ministry, putting his life in constant danger. At this time he came to know the Ven. Marie-Thérèse Charlotte de Lamourous (1754-1836), who was one of his closest collaborators and whom he later helped to found the Miséricorde in Bordeaux to aid fallen women. In 1795 he was given the delicate task of receiving back into the Diocese, priests who, having taken the constitutional oath, wanted to make their peace with the Church. He facilitated the reconciliation of some 50 priests.
In 1797, during the reign of the Directorate, he was forced to emigrate to Zaragoza, Spain, where he lived for three years. Near the Shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar, he forged his Marian-apostolic convictions and was inspired to found a family of religious and laity dedicated to Mary. In November 1800 he returned to Bordeaux and re-founded the old Marian Sodality on a new basis.
He made every effort to give his sodalists solid religious formation and directed them towards precise apostolic objectives, encouraging them to offer, to an indifferent and de-Christianised society, “the spectacle of a people of saints.” This sodality would be the basis of his untiring evangelising activity, aimed at the re-Christianisation of France.
During these years he was named Apostolic Administrator for the reorganisation of the Diocese of Bazas. In 1801 he received the title of Missionary Apostolic from the Holy See. It was the official confirmation of his insights into the Church in this new era.
Fr Chaminade viewed his own ministry and that of the Marian Sodalities as a permanent mission directed towards formation in the faith, using new methods and working in close alliance with Mary.
The Sodality of Bordeaux spread to other cities of the region and throughout France through groups that asked for affiliation because they wished to follow Fr Chaminade’s inspiration and methods. He fostered some groups of young men and women who, desiring greater dedication, made private vows and dedicated themselves to the apostolate of the Sodality without leaving their secular work.
In 1816, together with the Ven. Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon (1789-1828), he founded at Agen the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate and the following year, at Bordeaux, the Society of Mary. His first members, who would later be called Marianists, were members of the Marian Sodalities, men and women who wished to respond to the Lord with a more radical commitment, an extension of their baptismal consecration and of their devotion to the Virgin Mary.
The two institutes developed rapidly in France and in 1839 received the decretum laudis from Pope Gregory XVI. Since teaching was a primary need at that time, both institutes of Marianists, dedicated themselves to primary and secondary schools and to trade schools . They taught in order to educate and form their pupils in the faith. Fr Chaminade also conceived an ambitious project to establish a network of teachers’ schools for Christian education. Some of these schools were founded by sisters and brothers but the 1830 Revolution made their continuation impossible.
During these years Fr Chaminade gave priority to drafting the Constitutions and wrote important circulars on consecration-covenant with Mary and on Marianist religious life. The Society of Mary continued to grow in France, then in Switzerland (1839) and the United States of America (1849).
After 1836 the Daughters of Mary established a number of rural schools in south-western France for the education and advancement of women.
The last 10 years of his life were a time of severe trial – health problems, financial difficulties, the departure of some disciples, misunderstandings and distrust, obstacles to the exercise of his mission as founder. He faced these difficulties with great confidence in Mary, faithful to his conscience and to the Church, filled with faith and charity. He died peacefully in Bordeaux, surrounded by many of his sons, on 22 January 1850. … Vatican.va
Since his death, his orders and apostolates have spread throughout the world and have consistently been sources of evangelisation and conformity to the Catholic Faith. Blessed William was Beatified by St Pope John Paul II on 3 September 2000, after the confirmation of miracles due to his intercession.
St Anastasius the Persian
St Antonio della Chiesa
Bl Bernard of Vienne
St Blaesilla of Rome
St Brithwald of Ramsbury
St Caterina Volpicelli
St Dominic of Sora
Bl Esteve Santacana Armengol
St Francis Gil de Frederich de Sans
Blessed Giuseppe Giaccardo SSP (1896-1948)
Bl Giuseppe Nascimbeni
St Guadentius of Novara
Bl Ladislao Batthyany-Strattmann
Bl Laura Vicuna
Bl Maria Mancini
St Mateo Alonso de Leciñana
St Valerius of Saragossa (Died 315)
St Vincent Pallotti
Bl Walter of Himmerode Blessed William Joseph Chaminade SM (1761-1850)
Bl William Patenson
—
Martyrs of Puigcerda:
Orontius
St Victor
St Vincent
Quote/s of the Day – 21 January – Tuesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time, Year A and the Memorial of St Agnes (c 291- c 304) – Virgin Martyr
Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.”
Matthew 20:28
“You may stain your sword with my blood but you will never profane my body that I have consecrated to Christ.”
St Agnes (c 291- c 304) Virgin and Martyr
“The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.”
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
The Journals of Kierkegaard
“Deceitful are the ephemeral pleasures and joys of this world. Our supreme comfort in this life, is to die to the world that we may live with Jesus crucified. Let others seek gold and other earthly treasures. I already possess the immortal treasure of holy poverty on the Cross of Jesus crucified. The angelic virtue, growing like a pure, fragrant lily in the hidden beauteous garden of the cloister, adorns the forehead with heavenly tints, for it has roots in the Cross of Jesus crucified. A third crown completes my oblation, it is the seal of glory, whereby the obedient, spotless Lamb gained victory. Obedience is the secure science of living with Jesus crucified. With this triple treasure, I can hope to pass beyond the fleeting confines of mortal man, by living poor on this earth and rich in heaven, united with Jesus crucified.”
Blessed Miguel Agustin Pro (1891-1927)
Priest and Martyr
“One doesn’t suffer when one suffers for Christ.”
Bl Jerzy Popiełuszko (1947-1984) Priest and Martyr
One Minute Reflection – 21 January – Tuesday of the Second week in Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 89:20-22, 27-28, Mark 2:23-28 and the Memorial of St Agnes (c 291- c 304) – Virgin Martyr
“…so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath.”...Mark 2:28
REFLECTION – “From the first, the law of the Sabbath conferred many and great benefits, for instance, it made the Jews gentle and humane towards those of their own household, it taught them God the Creator’s providence and wisdom… hence God gave the law for the Sabbath He said… that He would have them refrain from evil works only when he said: “You must do no work, except for what is necessary for life” (Ex 12:16 LXX).
And in the temple, too, everything continued with more diligence than ever. Thus even by means of the very shadow, He was secretly opening the full light of truth (cf. Col 2:17).
Did Christ then do away with so highly profitable a thing? Far from it, He greatly enhanced it. For it was unnecessary… that we should learn from it, that God made all things or that we should be made kind by it, who are called to imitate God’s own love. For He says: “Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful”(Lk 6:36). It was no longer necessary to fix a day of festival for those who are commanded to keep a feast all their life long. For: “Let us keep the feast,” Saint Paul writes, “not with old leaven, neither with leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1Cor 5:8)…
So now, why is any sabbath required for Christians who are always keeping the feast and whose conversation is in heaven? Yes, my brethren, let us celebrate that continual, heavenly sabbath.”…St John Chrysostom (c 345-407) Father & Doctor
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, You choose what is weak in the world to shame what is strong. Grant that, as we celebrate the martyrdom of St Agnes, we may follow her example of steadfastness and trust in faith. We pray that through her intercession, we may grow in holiness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 21 January – Blessed Josefa María Inés de Benigánim OAD (1625–1696) born as Josefa María Albiñana Gomar on 9 February 1625 at Benigánim, Valencia, Spain and died on 21 January 1696 at Benigánim, Valencia, Spain of natural causes. She was a Spanish professed religious of the Discalced Augustinian Nuns with the religious name of “Josefa María of Saint Agnes,” Virgin, Mystic, gifted with the charism of prophecy and counsel. She became known for her profound spiritual and theological insight as well as for her severe austerities she practised during her life. Her body is incorrupt.
Josefa María was born to the poor Lluís Albiñana and Vicenta Gomar in Spain in 1625. Her father died during her childhood. The town mayor – her uncle Bartomeu Tudela – aided the family following the death of her father; she also suffered from epilepsy during her childhood. She received her Confirmation at the age of eight.
At the age of 13-14, she went out to the river to wash clothes and had a vision of Jesus Christ who called her to embrace Him and seek the religious life. She refused a marriage offer to do this – though the enraged suitor killed himself.
She entered the Discalced Augustinian convent in her hometown on 25 October 1643 and assumed her religious name – that of “Josefa María of Saint Agnes” – upon the profession of her vows and vesting in the habit on 26 June 1644; she made her solemn profession on 27 August 1645. Blessed Josefa began to practice severe austerities that characterised her life and her time amongst her fellow religious.
She became known for prophetic gifts, which prompted people to consult her for her spiritual insights. Though her formal education was minimal, her gifts of counsel and theological understanding were very evident, to the extent that she was admitted among the choir sisters in 1663 and was consulted for spiritual guidance and clarification on theological issues.
All of Josefa’s religious life was marked by the workings of grace. While her demeanour was simple and humble and her efforts dedicated to the service of the community, she possessed a remarkable spirit of contemplation.
Blessed Josefa died in 1696 – on the feast of Saint Agnes – after having received the sacraments for the last time. Her remains are incorrupt and in the Spanish Civil War her tomb was desecrated though later restored.
After the investigations and approval of two miracles, Blessed Josefa was Beatified on 26 February 1888, at Saint Peter’s Basilica by Pope Leo XIII.
Our Lady of Altagracia – 21 January – Also known as: Our Lady of Grace – Our Lady of High Grace – Protector and Queen of the hearts of the Dominicans – Tatica from Higuey – Virgen de la Altagracia – Virgin of Altagracia.
A portrait of the Virgin Mary in a Nativity scene. It is 13 inches (33 centimeters) wide by 18 inches (45 centimeters) high and is painted on cloth. It is a primitive work of the Spanish school, painted c 1500. The Spanish brothers Alfonso and Antonio Trejo, two of the first European settlers on Santo Domingo, brought the portrait to the island some time prior to 1502 and eventually donated it to the parish church at Higuey. It’s first shrine was finished in 1572 and in 1971 it was moved to its present Basilica. The image was crowned on 15 August 1922 during the pontificate of Pius XI. Due to its age, centuries of handling by the faithful and exposure to candle smoke, it was in sad shape, and was restored in 1978. On 25 January 1979 St Pope John Paul II crowned the image with a gold and silver tiara, his gift to the Virgin. It’s frame is made of gold, enamel and precious stones and was constructed by an unknown 18th century artisan.
The Dominicans see the image as exemplifying Our Lady watching over the island and the growth of Christianity there. The feast day is marked by services, all-night vigils, singing, dancing and festivals in many of the towns.
Legend says that the pious daughter of a rich merchant asked her father to bring her a portrait of Our Lady of Altagracia from Santo Domingo but no-one had heard of that title. The merchant, staying overnight at a friend’s house in Higuey, described his problem as they sat outdoors after dinner. An old man with a long beard, who just happened to be passing by, pulled a rolled up painting from his cloak, gave it to the merchant and said, “This is what you are looking for.” It was the Virgin of Altagracia. They gave the old man a place to stay for the night but by dawn he was gone, not to be seen again. The merchant placed the image on their mantle but it repeatedly disappeared only to be found outside and the family finally returned it to the church.
St Agnes of Aislinger
St Alban Bartholomew Roe
St Anastasius of Constantinople
St Aquila of Trebizond
St Brigid of Kilbride
St Candidus of Trebizond
Bl Edward Stransham
St Epiphanius of Pavia
St Eugenius of Trebizond
Bl Franciscus Bang
St Gunthildis of Biblisheim Blessed Josefa María Inés de Benigánim OAD (1625–1696)
St John Yi Yun-on
St Lawdog
St Maccallin of Waulsort
St Meinrad of Einsiedeln
St Nicholas Woodfen
St Patroclus of Troyes
St Publius of Malta
Bl Thomas Reynolds
St Valerian of Trebizond
St Vimin of Holywood
St Zacharias the Angelic
—
Blessed Martyrs of Laval – 19 beati: Fifteen men and four women who were martyred in Laval, France by anti-Catholic French Revolutionaries.
• Blessed André Duliou
• Blessed Augustin-Emmanuel Philippot
• Blessed François Duchesne
• Blessed François Migoret-Lamberdière
• Blessed Françoise Mézière
• Blessed Françoise Tréhet
• Blessed Jacques André
• Blessed Jacques Burin
• Blessed Jean-Baptiste Triquerie
• Blessed Jean-Marie Gallot
• Blessed Jeanne Veron
• Blessed John Baptist Turpin du Cormier
• Blessed Joseph Pellé
• Blessed Julien Moulé
• Blessed Julien-François Morin
• Blessed Louis Gastineau
• Blessed Marie Lhuilier
• Blessed Pierre Thomas
• Blessed René-Louis Ambroise
The were born in French and they were martyred on several dates in 1794 in Laval, Mayenne, France. They were beatified on 19 June 1955 by Pope Pius XII at Rome, Italy.
Martyrs of Rome – 30 saints: Thirty Christian soldiers executed together in the persecutions of Diocletian. They were martyred in 304 in Rome, Italy.
Martyrs of Tarragona: Augurius, Eulogius, Fructuosus
One Minute Reflection – 21 January – Monday of the Second week in Ordinary Time, Year A – Readings: 1 Samuel 15:16-23, Psalm 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23, Mark 2:18-22 and the Memorial of St Eustochia Smeraldo Calafato OSC (1434-1485)
“The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” … Mark 2:20
REFLECTION – “Of fundamental importance are the words of the Letter to the Ephesians: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the Church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish… ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’. This mystery is a profound one and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church” (5:25-32; Gn 2:24)…
We find ourselves at the very heart of the Paschal Mystery, which completely reveals the spousal love of God. Christ is the Bridegroom because “he has given himself” – His body has been “given”, His blood has been “poured out” (cf. Lk 22:19-20). In this way “he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). The “sincere gift” contained in the Sacrifice of the Cross gives definitive prominence to the spousal meaning of God’s love. As the Redeemer of the world, Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of our Redemption. It is the Sacrament of the Bridegroom and of the Bride. The Eucharist makes present and realises anew, in a sacramental manner, the redemptive act of Christ, who “creates” the Church, His body. Christ is united with this “body” as the bridegroom with the bride. All this is contained in the Letter to the Ephesians. The perennial “unity of the two” that exists between man and woman from the very “beginning” is introduced into this “great mystery” of Christ and of the Church.” … St John Paul II – Pope from 1978 to 2005 – Apostolic Letter “ Mulieris dignitatum ” #23, 26
PRAYER – Almighty God, ruler and creator of all things in heaven and on earth, listen favourably to the prayer of Your people. Through Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave us His life to lead us to You and made us His own body in His Church, grant us the grace of always listening for His word and following His deeds in all that we are and all that we do. May we too follow His teachings in our Holy Mother Church, for she is His and we are hers. May the prayers of St Eustochia Calafato, intercede for us. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 20 January – St Eustochia Smeraldo Calafato OSC (1434-1485) Nun of the Second Franciscan Order of the Poor Clares, Reformer, Founder of a reformed Monastery, Abbess, Ascetic born of her devotion to the Passion of Christ and the Holy Eucharist – born on 25 March (Good Friday) 1434 at Annunziata, Messina, Italy as Smerelda Colonna and died on 20 January 1491 at Messina, Sicily, Italy. Patronage – Messina, Italy. Additional commemoration – 22 August in Messina.
In Messina, in the ancient monumental Church of the Monastery of Montevergine, lies the body of Santa Eustochia Smeralda. Her body has remained incorrupt by a miracle of the Lord, for five centuries, burnished by time, with her right hand with her fingers contracted in perpetual blessing, she watches over the city and the flourishing monastery you founded.
Saint Eustochia was born with the name “Smeralda” (or ‘Esmeralda’ which means ‘emerald’) on 25 March 1434 in Messina, Italy. She was the fourth of six children. Smeralda’s mother was a fervent Christian and enthusiastic admirer of the Franciscan religious order, particularly of the reformers who insisted on following closely the life of St Francis, especially by embracing poverty.
The reform’s first monastery was established in Messina by Blessed Matthew of Agrigento. He inspired a renewal of faith in the people of Messina by his ardent preaching and way of life. Smeralda’s mother had attended one of Blessed Matthew’s sermon’s as an eighteen-year-old bride and devoted her life to prayer, penance and helping those in need. Thus, Smeralda was raised from childhood to exercise Christian piety and virtue, eventually exceeding her mother’s greatest hopes and expectations for her daughter.
Smeralda was beautiful both inside and out, she is thought to be the model for the painting The Virgin of the Annunciation by Antonello da Messina (seen here on the below). When she was fourteen years old, Smeralda wanted to become a Poor Clare nun but her father arranged marriage for her to an older, wealthy widower. Smeralda kept her hope in religious life and the widower died before the wedding. Her father again arranged a marriage for his daughter but that man also died, followed by Smeralda’s father himself. When she entered the convent of Santa Maria di Basico, her brothers threatened to burn it down if she did not return home, which she did. But seeing her great desire, they experienced a change of heart. She finally entered and took her vows, with the name Eustochia, at fifteen-and-a-half years old.
Unfortunately, Eustochia came to discover that the convent had drifted away from the poverty lived by their foundress, St Clare of Assisi. For more than a decade, Eustochia struggled to be an authentic Franciscan in the materialistic atmosphere. She received papal permission to establish a new convent but found resistance to her reforms. Some friars refused to say Mass at the convent, believing that the sisters’ lifestyle was too strict. Eustochia appealed directly to Church authorities in Rome, who approved of Mother Eustochia’s renewal of Franciscan asceticism and poverty. The friars who had refused to assist at the convent were threatened with excommunication should they continue to resist.
Eustochia’s holiness drew many women to her community – so many that they soon outgrew the building and moved to Montevergine, near Messina, where their convent still stands. The local people considered Eustochia their patron and protector and the cloister to be a place of refuge—especially during the earthquakes that rocked the area.
Eustochia was a spiritual mother to her daughters, instructing, educating and training them in the Franciscan life, encouraging them to meditate on the Passion of Christ. She often led them in two-hour Scripture study sessions. Eustochia conveyed to her nuns the fruits of asceticism and lovingly infused into their hearts the virtues which she herself practised with admirable constancy and heroism. She taught them to permeate their whole lives with a simple and generous Franciscan spirituality, focusing on their Beloved Suffering Christ, to devote themselves to the Eucharist and to draw all necessary strength and nourishment for daily meditation from an intense, liturgical life.
Eustochia’s love of Jesus in poverty and penance was outstanding. She wrote a treatise on the Passion, which, unfortunately, is now lost. Though she never visited the Holy Land, Eustochia had a devotion to the holy places that is reminiscent of Saint Bridget of Sweden . In fact, she had one of the first sets of the Stations of the Cross (as we know them today) constructed within her convent.
As she lay on her deathbed, Eustochia spoke to her daughters, who had gathered around her, about the Passion of Christ. She spoke for an hour before passing to her final rest on 20 January 1485.
A few days after her burial, Eustochia’s tomb and body manifested extraordinary phenomena and many people received powerful graces through her intercession. The sisters wrote a biography of their revered mother and founder. She was Beatified on 22 June 1987 and Canonised on 11 June 1988 by St Pope John Paul II.
Her incorrupt body rests in the Sanctuary of Montevergine in Messina, the monastery which she established and can be visited twice a week.
In his homily, John Paul II said of St Eustochia:
“Learning assiduously in the school of Christ Crucified, she grew in knowledge of Him and, meditating on the splendid mysteries of grace, she conceived a faithful love for Him. For our saint, the cloistered life was not a mere flight from the world in order to take refuge in God. Through the severe penance which she imposed upon herself, she certainly wanted to be united to Christ, gradually eliminating whatever in her, as in every human person, was fallen, at the same time, she felt united to all. From her cell in the monastery of Montevergine she extended her prayer and the value of her penances to the whole world. In such a way she wanted to be near to each brother and sister, alleviate every suffering, ask pardon for the sins of all.”
The Body of the Holy Founder is venerated by crowds of devotees, who rely on her intercession to obtain the graces they dream of, while the valid protection of the Saint for the city, especially during public calamities, is officially recognised. The highest city authorities, still today, in fact, meet in the Church of Montevergine on the occasion of the festivities of 22 August of each year, in fulfilment of an ancient vote of the Senate of Messina, to attend the Divine Sacrifice, pay homage to the illustrious Eustachia.
One of the miracles in the history of the Saint is linked to this particular protection. It was the year 1615 and the city was struck, night and day, by appalling earthquakes, so much so that the authorities and the people implored the intercession of the Saint in Montevergine, inviting the nuns to pray for this purpose. The Poor Clares removed the Body from the oratory, where they keep it and placed it in the choir, in its old stall.
As the evening prayers were about to begin, the body which has been incorrupt for almost two centuries suddenly parted its lips, intoning the first line of a psalm from the Office, which the nuns, terrified and moved, continued crying, especially when the body intoned the “Gloria Patri.” From that moment the earthquakes ended.
To the constant protection of the city, is added her uninterrupted presence among her spiritual Daughters, who receive clear and unequivocal signs, with which the Saint manifests her will, warns them about what is about to happen. So it can be said that, even after her death, she continues to be the abbess of the monastery.
St Ascla of Antinoe
Bl Basil Anthony Marie Moreau
St Basilides the Senator
St Bassus the Senator
Bl Benedict Ricasoli
Bl Bernardo of Poncelli
Bl Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi
St Daniel of Cambron
Bl Didier of Thérouanne
St Eusebius the Senator
St Eustochia Calafato
St Euthymius the Great St Eustochia Smeraldo Calafato OSC (1434-1485)
St Eutyches the Senator
Fechin of Fobhar
Bl Francesco Paoli
St Henry of Uppsalla
Bl Jeroni Fábregas Camí
St Maria Cristina dell’Immacolata Concezione
St Molagga of Fermoy
St Neophytus of Nicaea
St Stephen Min Kuk-ka
St Wulfsin
Sunday Reflection – 19 January – Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A and The Memorial of Blessed Marcelo Spínola y Maestre, Cardinal-Priest (1835-1906)
Blessed Marcelo was a pious man, of intense prayer and mortification, extremely sensitive to the needs and suffering of his faithful and an untiring apostle. Homes, workers’ societies, centres where food was given to those who needed it, orphanages, night schools, creation of the faculty of theology of Seville, etc., were all part of his mark. He toured all the dioceses in which he exercised his ministry, travelling on a mule, he fought against the attempt to displace the teaching of religion from public centres as a senator from Granada, consoled the afflicted and took the gospel to every corner, preaching and confessing.
And at the centre of the heart of Blessed Marcelo was the Holy Eucharist.
He wrote:
“The masterpiece of Jesus Christ’s love for humanity is the Eucharist. The Eucharist is within our reach. We can all get close to Christ the guest and talk with Him and perceive the warmth of His word. The word! How it inflames the spirits! How will the word of Christ inflame them! We can all get to the altar when He immolates Himself and shouts at us: Look how much I have loved and loved you! And we can all sit at His table and eat the bread and drink the intoxicating wine of charity. “
Saint of Day – 19 January – St Bassian of Lodi (c 320–c 413) Archbishop, Penitent, miracle-worker – Born c 320 in Syracuse, Sicily – died in 413 in Lodi, Italy of natural causes. Patronages – Bassano del Grappa, Italy, Lodi, Italy, San Bassano, Italy, Pizzighettone in Italy. St Bassian was a close of friend of St Ambrose and St Felix of Como.
Saint Bassian, Bishop of Lodi, was a friend of Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. Saint Bassian’s father governed the Syracuse region (in Sicily) and he prepared his son to follow in his footsteps. He sent him to Rome to receive his education. While still in his childhood Saint Bassian had heard about the Christians and he wanted to learn more about them and become familiar with the Christian Faith. Gordian the priest taught him the essentials of the Christian Faith and the youth was filled with the desire to accept Baptism. At the time of the performing of the Holy Sacrament, Saint Bassian beheld an angel in the Baptismal font, holding the garment in which the newly-baptised would be clothed. The saint made bold to ask who he was and where he was from. The angel replied that he was sent from afar to help him fulfil his holy intent to know Christ. Then he became invisible.
Saint Bassian began to lead a strict life, eating little food and spending his nights at prayer. His servants were astonished at such temperance and they surmised that he had accepted Christianity. They reported this to Saint Bassian’s father, who ordered him to return to Syracuse. Praying in the church of Saint John, the saint received from the Apostle the command to leave Rome. And so Saint Bassian distributed all his goods to the poor and together with his faithful Christian servant, he set off to Ravenna to his kinsman, Bishop Ursus.
Bishop Ursus set him up at a solitary place outside the city near the church in honour of the St Apollinaris. Saint Bassian quickly advanced spiritually and soon he was glorified by miracles. During this time a judge had been falsely accused and was sentenced to death by decapitation. Along the way to he prayerfully called out for help to Saint Bassian. When the executioner was already holding the sword over his head, the sword suddenly was knocked from his hands and flew off to the side. This occurred three times. The same thing happened with another executioner. When they reported this to the Emperor, the Emperor set the judge free. He then told how he had been saved through the intercession of Saint Bassian.
The people of the city, believing that the prayer of Saint Bassian was powerful before God, asked Bishop Ursus to Ordain him to the Priesthood. Upon the death of the Bishop of the city of Lodi in Liguria, Northern Italy, the priest Clement of the cathedral church had a revelation that Saint Bassian would be chosen Archbishop of Lodi. Both Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and Bishop Ursus officiated at at his Consecration.
He built a church dedicated to the Apostles, consecrating it in 381 in the presence of Saint Ambrose and Saint Felix of Como. He participated in the Council of Aquileia in 381 and may perhaps have participated in the Council of Milan (390).
Saint Bassian taught the people not only by word but also by deed, providing his flock example of a virtuous life. At Lodi, he built a beautiful church dedicated to the holy Apostles. Saint Bassian often exchanged letters with Saint Ambrose and he was present at his blessed repose and buried his body.
Saint Bassian died peacefully in the year 413, having served as Archbishop for 35 years. Bassian’s signature is found together with Ambrose’s in a letter sent to Pope Siricius.
In 1158, when Milanese forces destroyed Lodi, his relics were taken to Milan. They were returned in 1163, when Lodi Cathedral was rebuilt, the Statue below resides there.
St Maris of Persia
St Messalina of Foligno
St Ponziano of Spoleto
St Remigius of Rouen
St Wulstan of Worcester
—
Martyrs of Numidia – 9 saints: A group of Christians martryred together for their faith. The only details to survive are nine of their names – Catus, Germana, Gerontius, Januarius, Julius, Paul, Pia, Saturninus and Successus. 2nd century Numidia in North Africa.
Quot/s of the Day – 18 January – Saturday of the First week in Ordinary Time, Year A and The Memorial of Blessed Maria Teresa Fasce OSA (1881-1947)
I love Him, even if it costs much, I love Him, because, it is worth much, I love Him, at all cost.
Blessed Maria Teresa Fasce (1881-1947)
“To surrender all that we are, as we are, to the spirit of love, in order that our lives may bear Christ into the world – that is what we shall be asked.”
Saint of the Day – 18 January – Blessed Cristina Ciccarelli OSA (1481–1543) Religious of the Order of Saint Augustine, Mystic, Stigmatist, Apostle of the poor, Reformer, she had a had a particular devotion to the Eucharist and to the Passion and Death of Christ, she was granted the gift of Prophecy, visions and levitation – also known as Cristina of Aquila – born on 24 February 1481 at Luco, Abruzzi, Italy as Matthia Ciccarelli and died on 18 January 1543 at Aquileia, Italy of natural causes.
Mattia Ciccarelli was born in 1481 in Luco dei Marsi as the last of six children to Domenico de Pericolo and Maria de Pericolo. An image of the Pieta was kept in the Luco home from which she developed a strong and lifelong devotion to the Passion of Christ. Her parents taught her the importance of constant prayer. Her call to the religious life solidified during her childhood and she decided to enter the religious life as a nun.
In 1492 she was placed under the spiritual direction of the Franciscan priest Vincenzo dell’Aquila and took his advice on joining the Order of Saint Augustine.
Mattia entered the convent of Santa Lucia in Aquileia in June 1505 and assumed the habit and the religious name of “Cristina.” She served as the abbess several times and was noted for being a prophetic figure.
She became revered for her humble outlook as well as for her tender care of the poor. On one occasion – on the Feast of Corpus Christi – she was seen to have levitated and the image of the Eucharist as a host appeared and radiated from her upper chest.
On one Good Friday, she received the stigmata and the pains that Jesus felt until Holy Saturday when the pain subsided. This would be repeated every Friday of her life.
Blessed Cristina had a great devotion to Saint Mark. However, on one occasion Saint Martin of Tours appeared to her and asked why she had a devotion to the latter saint rather than to him – this prompted her to foster a devotion to him too.
Once a man accustomed to cursing, blasphemed Saint Anthony of Padua and she told him to be careful for if he continued to blaspheme she saw a black devil behind him set to choke him for such offences. The man – riding a donkey – did it again and was thrown to the ground where he fractured his skull and broke his neck which led to his death.
Blessed Cristina died in 1543 after a lengthy illness and was interred in the convent of Santa Lucia to the right side of the main altar.
The first biographical account of her life was written in 1595 by the nobleman Giampietro Interverj from l’Aquila and the Belgian Augustinian scholar, Cornelius Curtius, wrote another hagiography, in the Latin language, in Cologne.
Blessed Cristina was Beatified on 15 January 1841, at Saint Peter’s Basilica, Papal States by Pope Gregory XVI.
St Agathius the Martyr
St Ammonius of Astas
St Archelais the Martyr
Bl Beatrix of Este the Younger
Bl Charlotte Lucas
St Catus Blessed Cristina Ciccarelli OSA (1481–1543)
St Day/Dye
St Deicola of Lure
Bl Fazzio of Verona
Bl Félicité Pricet
St Leobard of Tours Blessed Maria Teresa Fasce OSA (1881-1947) Blessed Maria Teresa’s Life: https://anastpaul.com/2019/01/18/saint-of-the-day-18-january-blessed-maria-teresa-fasce-osa-1881-1947/
Bl Monique Pichery
St Moseus of Astas
St Prisca of Rome
St Susanna the Martyr
St Thecla the Martyr
St Ulfrid of Sverige
Bl Victoire Gusteau
St Volusian of Tours
—
Martyrs of Carthage – 3 saints
Martyrs of Egypt -37 saints
Martyrs of Nicaea – 3 saints
Quote of the Day – 17 January – Friday of the First week in Ordinary Time, Year A – The Memorial of Blessed Teresio Olivelli (1916–1945) Martyr “Rebel for Love”
The Rebel’s Prayer
By Blessed Teresio Olivelli
Lord, who among men raised Your Cross as a sign of contradiction, You, who preached and suffered the revolt of the spirit from the treachery and attacks of the powerful, the inert deafness of the mass, oppressed by numerous and cruel abuses we, who have trampled on You, source of free life, grant us the strength of rebellion.
O God, You who are Truth and Freedom, make us free, strong and zealous, breathe in us new purpose, inspire our goals, tend to our wills, multiply our strengths, help clothe us in Your armour. We pray You, Lord.
You who were rejected, reproached, betrayed, persecuted, crucified, in the hour of darkness support us by Your victory, be the Viaticum of consolation, in dangers, of support, of comfort, in our bitterness.
The more the opponent grows stronger and darkens, make us bright with Your Light.
In torture, clamp our lips. Strengthen us, don’t let us bend.
If we fall, let our blood join Your innocent blood, may our death help to grow justice and charity in the world.
You who said “I am the Resurrection and the Life” make Italy, in it’s pain be reborn in a new life in You.
Free us from the temptation of affections, for You watch over our families.
On the windy mountains and in the catacombs of the cities, from the pits of the prisons, we pray to You, grant us the peace that You alone know how to give.
God of peace and armies, Lord who carries the sword of joy, hear the prayer of us the “Rebels for Love.” Amen.
Blessed Teresio Olivelli (1916–1945) Martyr
“Rebel for Love”
(Note: I cannot find a very good translation of this beautiful Prayer, so this is an adaptation of the best of them, by myself).
One Minute Reflection – 17 January – Friday of the First week in Ordinary Time, Year A – Readings: 1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22, Psalm 89:16-19, Mark 2:1-12 and the Memorial of Blessed Teresio Olivelli (1916–1945) Martyr “Rebel for Love”
“My son, your sins are forgiven.” … Mark 2:5
REFLECTION – “Why are you downcast? See. Someone’s hands are fishy; a little oil makes them clean. How much more can God’s compassion purify you. For just as you have no difficulty in washing your garment, in the same way – and even more – it is not difficult for the Lord to wash you clean from all reproach, even if each day you naturally have to experience temptation. Indeed, the instant you say: “I have sinned against the Lord”, the response is given you: “Your sins are forgiven” (Mt 9:2). “It is I who wipe out and remember no more” (Is 43:25 LXX). As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed your sins. As a father has compassion on his children, I have had compassion on you” (Ps 102[103], 12-13 LXX).
Only do not keep away, or distance yourself, from He who has chosen you to sing and pray but all your life long, remain close to Him, either through pure confidence, or by a holy audacity and courageous confession. Then He will hear and purify you. Is He not God who has justified us in His love for human souls? Who will condemn us? (cf. Rm 8:33). If we invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our conscience is easily purified and nothing separates us from the prophets and other saints.
For God has not destined us for wrath but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. So, whether we are awake in virtue, or asleep in some kind of woe, or are bearing certain circumstances according to nature, we will live with Christ (1 Thes 5:9-10), turning our eyes towards Him, sighing deeply, weeping constantly and only breathing Him. Let us then put on the breastplate of faith and wear the helmet of salvation (cf. 1 Thes 5:8) that the arrows of discouragement and despair may not penetrate us.” … John of Karpathos (7th Century) Monk and Bishop – Texts for the monks in India (The Philokalia)
PRAYER – Lord God, You hold out the light of Your Word to those who do not know You. Strengthen in our hearts, the faith You have given us, so that no trials may quench the fire Your Spirit has kindled within us. Grant us the grace of approaching You in sorrow and repentance, so that we may hear Your Word, “your sins are forgiven you, go and sin no more.” May the prayers of Blessed Teresio Olivelli, grants us eyes to see and ears to hear and strength to approach You. Through Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God now and forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 17 January – Blessed Teresio Olivelli (1916–1945) Martyr – known as the “Rebel for Love” – Layman, Lawyer, Professor, Soldier,Defender of Human dignity and rights, apostle of the poor, those in need, apostle of prayer, the Holy Eucharist, the Blessed Virgin, of love of Christ and His Church – born on 7 January 1916 at Bellagio, Como, Italy and died by being beaten and kicked to death by guards on 12 January 1945 at Hersbruck, Nürnberger Land, Germany, he was 29 years old. His body was cremated at the Hersbruck camp and his ashes dumped in a common grave. Patronage – Italian Catholic Action, soldiers, young people.
Teresio was born in Bellagio, in the province and diocese of Como, on 7 January 1916, son of Domenico Olivelli and Clelia Invernizzi. He spent his childhood between Carugo Brianza and Zeme Lomellina (Pavia), receiving a profoundly Christian education from his parents and his uncle Fr Rocco Invernizzi.
At the age of 10, in 1926, the family moved to Mortara in the province of Pavia, where Teresio attended gymnasium, becoming passionate about Latin. His adolescence revealed him full of vitality and capable of not being afraid of anything or anyone.
He ardently professed his love for Jesus, not caring about those who derided him. His faith was crystal clear – every week he attended the Sacrament of Confession and received daily Communion in the parish of San Lorenzo. He meditated every day on the Word of God and on the text of the “Imitation of Christ”.
At the high school in Vigevano (Pavia) he distinguished himself among his peers for intelligence and maturity. He became involved in Catholic Action, taking part in many conferences on religious and social issues and organising some himself. When, in 1931, the Catholic Action circles were forcibly closed, the young Teresio became inflamed against the Fascist regime, saying: “Either Mussolini changes course or we change it!”
Referring to the apostles James and John, called by Jesus “sons of thunder” for their zealous and impetuous character, he often stated that, having been born and baptised in the parish of St James, he too had to become “son of thunder”.
At 18, he was a confident young man, tall and slender, with a firm faith, in other words a convinced and credible Catholic. He enrolled at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pavia, staying at the Ghislieri University College (founded by St Pius V). He attended the University from 1934 to 1938, the year in which he graduated with honours in Law.
In those years in Pavia, Teresio won the affection of professors and classmates, for his generosity and the spirit of sacrifice, for the devotion with which he prayed during Mass and with which he was in Adoration before the Eucharist. He, so cheerful and cultured, immersed himself in long and intense prayers with the Rosary in his hand, isolating himself from everyone – he thus deserved, from those who admired him and those who were just teasing him, the nickname of “Father Olivelli” from the companions of the college.
In 1936 the civil war broke out in Spain – the Church suffered one of the most ferocious persecutions of the modern era, with thousands of priests, religious and lay Catholics, killed by the communist and anarchist revolutionary militias. Teresio, now in his twenties, immediately proposed himself as a volunteer to fight the Godless. To his uncle, Father Rocco, he wrote: “Youth is either heroic or miserable. The man cannot give half measures of himself, he must give everything. When then Christ is the Ideal that impels us, I believe that our duty is realised in total love to Him and must be consumed until the last drop. Either faith is experienced as conquest or it is anaemia of invertebrates. In Catholic Spain, the Divine is fought in us. We must overcome the anti-Christ, the denial of man and of Christ. The future does not belong to the soft. Life is perfect when love is perfect.” His family members prevented him from leaving but from that moment Teresio, while continuing his studies, devoted himself to prayer and self-offering, so that Christ would triumph not only in Spain but also in Russia which was prey to atheistic Bolshevism.
Almost immediately after graduating, he was assistant Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Turin. During his stay in that city, he also undertook to take young stragglers on the right path and took care of the poor of Cottolengo. For him it was a period of intense work, studies and research on legal and social issues.
It was a time when much of the Catholic world believed that it was possible to apply Christian principles to fascism. Teresio, therefore, worked with the ambitious aim of detaching the regime from the German National Socialism as much as possible.
He won the “Littorali della Cultura” of Trieste (competitions of oratory skills and cultural preparation), supporting the thesis that establishes the equal dignity of the human person, regardless of race. He then wrote legal and social articles in the university newspaper “Libro e Muschetto” and in the journal “Civiltà Fascista.” Finally he was appointed Littore and secretary of the Institute of Fascist Culture and a member and first secretary to the Office of Studies and Legislation at Palazzo Littorio.
In 1939 and in 1941, for reasons of study, he stayed in Berlin. At that time, he came into contact with the culture and politics of half of Europe, in Prague, Berlin, Vienna and then in Rome at the National Institute of Culture. He soon discovered the reality that surrounded him and the hatred of opposing ideologies, which developed violence in every sense. The news of the occupation of various nations by the Nazis began – the Second World War had broken out.
In June 1940, Italy also went to war alongside the German ally. Meanwhile, Teresio had been called to military service – he refused the exemption as a teacher. In 1940 he was appointed officer of the Alpini and asked to volunteer in the war of Russia. On 10 September 1941 he found himself on the front line, despite being at the head of the 31st Battery, he shared the dangers and the sufferings of his soldiers. He provided them with help of all kinds, in short, he appeared to them as a big brother rather than a superior in rank. During the disastrous retreat of the Italian troops of the VIII Armata, ill equipped for that frost and attacked by the Russians, the second lieutenant Olivelli succoured the wounded, he comforted the desperate and assisted the dying. He often lingered in the march to help the fallen, regardless of the grave danger. He went through these terrible conditions for two thousand kilometers on foot.
He returned to Italy with the survivors in March 1943, deeply marked in his spirit and increasingly eager to give all of himself to others, especially if suffering. His first occupation was to inform the families about the fate of the soldiers, by letter or personally, also by taking an interest in the prisoners.
A few months later, at the age of 27, he won the Rector’s post at the Ghislieri College of Pavia. However, the position only lasted a few months, because in July 1943 he was recalled again to arms. Shortly thereafter, after the 8 September armistice, Italy was invaded by the Germans. Teresio, who deeply loved his homeland, refused to surrender himself to Hitler’s troops, so as not to be complicit in their occupation. As a result, on 9 September 1943, he was captured and imprisoned in a prison camp in Innsbruck. After two failed attempts to escape, he succeeded on the third attempt, on the night between 20 and 21 October, he managed to escape from the Markt Pongau camp. After a long and exhausting walk he reached Italy, finding refuge a family in Milan. He recovered his health but by now, he was an outlaw. He became part of the Italian resistance movement in Milan as part of the triangular resistance including Brescia and Cremona branches. He worked to create the newspaper “Il ribelle”. His paper was the underground newspaper for the Green Flames Brigades partisan group. In the newspaper he published the article “Rebels”, a manifesto of the moral revolt against fascism and its time and a prayer, commonly called the “The Rebel’s Prayer” considered the most inspiring and beautiful spiritual testimony of the whole Catholic Resistance.
On 27 April 1944 he was arrested in Milan by the fascist police and locked up in the San Vittore prison, where he suffered beatings and torture until 8 June when he was sent to the concentration camp of Fossoli near Modena, from where he again tried to escape, unsuccessfully. In August 1944 he was deported to the concentration camp of Gries. His prison garment was marked not only with the red triangle of political prisoners but also with the red-rimmed white disk of the fugitive prisoners, who needed to be monitored more. Even in Gries he tried to escape, taking refuge in a warehouse, where he remained hidden for about a month. Discovered, he was cruelly and violently beaten and in September 1944 transferred to Flossenburg in Bavaria.
The conditions of life became unbearable but Teresio did not give up – his faith and his charity were opposed to the hatred and violence of the torturers. He confronted the SS by speaking German perfectly, to help alleviate the sufferings of his fellow inmates. In the evenings he organised the recitation of the Rosary and, assisted all who needed him for spiritual guidance and advice.
After 40 days of arrival, he was sent along with others to the satellite camp in Hersbruck. The surviving prisoners later remembered him for his serenity and courage, for the solidarity with the most exposed inmate. He was himself suffering terribly, wasted and beaten, developing many ancillary illnesses due to the conditions and the hunger, the torture and the beatings.
He assisted his friend Blessed Odoardo Focherini (1907-1944) Martyred at aged 37, originally from Carpi, interned for his relief work to the Jews and forced to be admitted to the infirmary for a serious leg injury. He was able to assist him on his deathbed on 27 December 1944. Blessed Odoardo Focherini was an Italian Roman Catholic journalist. He issued false documents to Jewish people. Yad Vashem later recognised him as a Righteous Among the Nations in 1969 for his efforts. He was Beatified in June 2013.
Blessed Odoardo Focherini (1907-1944)
In early January 1945, while Teresio served as a shield with his emaciated and wounded body to a young Ukrainian beaten up unjustly, the irritated wardens launched a violent kick to his belly, followed by twenty-five further kicks. Hospitalised in the infirmary of the Hersbruck camp, he remained lucid and praying to the last. He died on 17 January 1945, at age 29, after having donated the last intact clothes to a friend.
Civil recognition, such as the Gold Medal for Military Valor, were conferred on Teresio on 25 April 1953.
The Beatification process opened in the Diocese of Vigevano in a diocesan process that Bishop Mario Rossi inaugurated on 29 March 1987. The formal introduction to the cause came under St Pope John Paul II on 19 January 1988 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the official “nihil obstat” and titled him as a Servant of God. On 1 December 2015, the confirmation of his life of heroic virtue allowed for Pope Francis to name Olivelli as Venerable. The pope approved his beatification on 16 June 2017 and on 3 February 2018 the Beatification recognition was celebrated at Palazzetto di Vigevano, Vigevano, Italy presided by Cardinal Angelo Amato, on behalf of Pope Francis.
“The Gospel and the constant reference to the figure of Jesus were his strengths.”
Pope Francis
O God, You who are Truth and Freedom, make us free, strong and zealous, breathe in us, new purpose, inspire our goals, tend to our wills, multiply our strengths, help clothe us in Your armour. We pray You, Lord. from The Rebel’s Prayer (Teresio Olivelli)
Our Lady of Pontmain – 17 January: During the Franco-Prussian War, German troops approached the town of Pontmain, France and the villagers there prayed for protection. On the evening of 17 January 1871, Mary appeared in the sky for several minutes over the town. She wore a dark blue dress covered in stars, carried a crucifix and below her were the words – Pray please. God will hear you soon. My son lets Himself be touched. That night the German army was ordered to withdraw and an armistice ending the war was signed eleven days later on 28 January. Approval of diocesan bishop.
St Achillas of Sketis
St Amoes of Sketis
St Antony of Rome
Bl Euphemia Domitilla
Bl Gamelbert of Michaelsbuch
St Genitus
St Genulfus
St Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo
St John of Rome
Bl Joseph of Freising
St Julian Sabas the Elder
St Marcellus of Die
St Merulus of Rome
St Mildgytha
St Nennius
St Neosnadia
St Pior
St Richimir
One Minute Reflection – 16 January – Thursday of the First week in Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: 1 Samuel 4:1-11, Psalm 44:10-11, 14-15, 24-25, Mark 1:40-45 and the Memorial of Blessed Gonzalo de Amarante OP (1187-1259)
And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”… Mark 1:40
REFLECTION – “It is possible to see leprosy as a symbol of sin, which is the true impurity of heart that can distance us from God. It is not, in fact, the physical disease of leprosy that separates us from God, as the ancient norms supposed but sin, spiritual and moral evil. The sins that we commit distance us from God and, if we do not humbly confess them, trusting in divine mercy, they will finally bring about the death of the soul. This miracle thus has a strong symbolic value. Jesus, as Isaiah had prophesied, is the Servant of the Lord who “has borne our griefs / and carried our sorrows” (Is 53: 4). In His Passion He will become as a leper, made impure by our sins, separated from God, He will do all this out of love, to obtain for us reconciliation, forgiveness and salvation. In the Sacrament of Penance, the Crucified and Risen Christ purifies us through His minister, with His infinite mercy, restores us to communion with the heavenly Father and with our brothers and sisters, makes us a gift of His love, His joy and His peace.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us invoke the Virgin Mary whom God preserved from every stain of sin so that she may help us to avoid sin and to have frequent recourse to the Sacrament of Confession, the sacrament of forgiveness, whose value and importance for our Christian life must be rediscovered today.”… Pope Benedict XVI – Angelus 15 February 2009
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, we make our prayer to You at morning, noon and evening. Dispel from our hearts, the darkness of sin and bring us to the true light, Christ Your Son. Grant that through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Bl Gonzalo de Amarante, we may deny ourselves and love You above all things. Through Jesus, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 16 January – Blessed Gonzalo de Amarante OP (1187-1259), Dominican Priest, Hermit, Marian Devotee – born as Gonçalo de Amarante in 1187 at Vizella, diocese of Braga, Portugal and died on 10 January 1259 of natural causes. His memorial is celebrated on 10 January by the Dominicans. Patronages – Amarante, Itapissuma, Cajari, Matinha, Viana. He became a Dominican friar and hermit after his return from a long pilgrimage that took him to both Rome and to Jerusalem. He was noted as a wonderworker through whom miracles occurred and he was known for his solitude and silence in reflection, in order to better achieve communication with God.
Gonzalo de Amarante was a true son of the Middle Ages, a man right out of the pages of the ‘Golden Legend.’ His whole life reads like a mural from the wall of a church–full of marvellous things and done up in brilliant colours.
In his boyhood Gonzalo gave wonderful indications of his holiness. As he was being carried to the baptismal font as an infant, he fixed his eyes on the church’s crucifix with a look of extraordinary love. While still young, he was consecrated to study for the Church and received his training in the household of the Archbishop of Braga. After his Ordination he was given charge of a wealthy parish, an assignment that should have made him very happy. Gonzalo was not as interested in choice parishes as some of his companion – he went to his favourite Madonna shrine and begged Our Lady to help him administer this office fairly.
There was no complaint with Gonzalo’s governance of the parish of Saint Pelagius. He was penitential himself but indulgent with everyone else. Revenues that he might have used for himself were used for the poor and the sick. The parish, in fact, was doing very well when he turned it over to his nephew, whom he had carefully tutored, before making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Gonzalo would have remained his entire life in the Holy Land but after 14 years his Archbishop commanded him to return to Portugal. Upon his arrival, he was horrified to see that his nephew had not been the good shepherd that he had promised to be, the money left for the poor had gone to purchase a fine stable of thoroughbred horses and a pack of fine hounds. The nephew had told everyone that his old uncle was dead and he had been appointed pastor in his place by an unsuspecting Archbishop. When the uncle appeared on the scene, a bit ragged and, of course, older but very much alive, the nephew was not happy to see him. Gonzalo seems to have been surprised as well as pained.
The ungrateful nephew settled the matter by turning the dogs on his inconvenient uncle. They would have torn him to pieces but the servants called them off and allowed the ragged pilgrim to escape. Gonzalo decided then, that he had withstood enough parish life and went out into the hills to a place called Amarante. Here he found a cave and other necessities for an eremitical life and lived in peace for several years, spending his time building a little chapel to the Blessed Virgin. He preached to those who came to him and soon there was a steady stream of pilgrims seeking out his retreat.
Happy as he was, Gonzalo felt that this was not his sole mission in life and he prayed to Our Lady to help him to discern his real vocation. She appeared to him one night as he prayed and told him to enter the order that had the custom of beginning the office with “Ave Maria gratia plena.” She told him that this order was very dear to her and under her special protection. Gonzalo set out to learn what order she meant and eventually came to the convent of the Dominicans. Here was the end of the quest and he asked for the habit.
Blessed Peter Gonzales was the Prior and he gave the habit to the new aspirant. After Gonsalvo had gone through his novitiate, he was sent back to Amarante, with a companion, to begin a regular house of the order. The people of the neighbourhood quickly spread the news that the hermit was back. They flocked to hear him preach and begged him to heal their sick.
A view of the Monastery and Church in Amarante in 1910
One of the miracles of Blessed Gonzalo concerns the building of a bridge across a swift river that barred many people from reaching the hermitage in wintertime. It was not a good place to build a bridge but Gonsalvo set about it and followed the heavenly directions he had received. Once, during the building of the bridge, he went out collecting and a man, who wanted to brush him off painlessly, sent him away with a note for his wife.
Gonzalo took the note to the man’s wife and she laughed when she read it . “Give him as much gold as will balance with the note I send you,” said the message. Gonzalo told her he thought she ought to obey her husband, so she got out the scales and put the paper in one balance. Then she put a tiny coin in the other balance and another and another–the paper still outweighed her gold–and she kept adding. There was a sizeable pile of coins before the balance with the paper in it swung upwards.
When workers who helped briefly with his bridge building ran out of wine, Gonzalo prayed, smacked a rock with a stick, it split open and wine poured out. When the workers ran out of food, Gonzalo went to the water, called out and fish jumped onto the river bank to feed them.
Gonzalo died on 10 January 1259, after prophesying the day of his death and promising his friends that he would still be able to help them after death. Pilgrimages began soon and a series of miracles indicated that this holy man was indeed the saint he was believed to be. Forty years after his death he appeared to several people who were apprehensively watching a flood on the river. The water had arisen to a dangerous level, just below the bridge, when they saw a tree floating towards the bridge and Gonzalo was balancing capably on its rolling balk. The friar carefully guided the tree under the bridge, preserving the bridge from damage and then disappeared (Benedictines, Dorcy).
Dominicans are noted for their ability to preach. Sermons are their speciality. Yet even among them, Gonzalo must have stood out. During a homily, in which he wanted to show the horror of exclusion from the Church, he ‘excommunicated’ a basket of bread, the loaves immediately became black, rotted and inedible. When he removed the ‘excommunication’ a few minutes later, the bread became fresh and wholesome again.
He was Beatified on 16 September 1561, Saint Peter’s Basilica, Papal States by Pope Pius IV. But Pope Julius III had on 24 April 1551 allowed for public worship in his honour in Portugal though did not allow his Beatification at that time. Pope Clement X – after the Beatification – extended his public worship with a Mass and Divine Office to Portugal and the entire Dominican order.
St Berard and Companions (Peter, Adjute, Accurs, Odo and Vitalis)
St Dana of Leuca
St Dunchaid O’Braoin
St Fulgentius of Ecija
St Fursey of Peronne Blessed Gonzalo de Amarante OP (1187-1259) Blessed Giuseppe Tovini OFS (1841-1897) Blessed Giuseppe’s Life: https://anastpaul.com/2019/01/16/saint-of-the-day-16-january-blessed-giuseppe-tovini-ofs-1841-1897/
St Henry of Coquet
St Honoratus of Arles
St Honoratus of Fondi
Bl James of Luino
St James of Tarentaise
Bl Joan of Bagno di Romagna
St Juana Maria Condesa Lluch
Bl Konrad II of Mondsee
St Leobazio
St Liberata of Pavia
St Pope Marcellus I
St Melas of Rhinocolura
St Priscilla of Rome
St Sigeberht of East Anglia
St Titian of Oderzo
St Triverius
St Valerius of Sorrento
Quote/s of the Day – 15 January – Wednesday of the First week in Ordinary Time, Year A – The Memorial of St Arnold Janssen SVD (1837-1909)
“Proclamation of the Good News is the first and most significant expression, of love for one’s neighbour.”
Quarter-Hour Prayer
St Arnold, in his youth, invented a means of personally keeping in contact with God. To do so, he prayed the acts of faith, hope and charity every quarter hour at the signal of the church tower clock or the chime of the clock at home or in school. He would pray:
O God, eternal truth, I believe in You. O God, our strength and salvation, I trust in You. O God, infinite goodness, I love You with my whole heart.
St Arnold Janssen (1837-1909)
Founder of the Missionaries of the Divine Word Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters
One Minute Reflection – 15 January – Wednesday of the First week in Ordinary Time, Year A – Readings: 1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20, Psalm 40:2, 5, 7-10, Mark 1:29-39 and the Memorial of St Arnold Janssen SVD (1837-1909)
And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and the fever left her and she served them...Mark 1:31
REFLECTION – “And he helped her up.” As she couldn’t stand up by herself, it was the Lord who helped her. “He grasped her hand and helped her up.” When Peter was in danger on the sea, just as he was going to drown, he too was grasped by the hand and raised up… What a beautiful sign of friendship and love towards this sick woman! He helped her up by taking her hand, His hand healed the sick woman’s hand. He grasped that hand as a doctor would have done, He, who is both doctor and remedy, took her pulse and assessed the gravity of the fever. Jesus touched it and the fever vanished.
Let us want Him to touch our hand so that in this way what we do may be made pure. Should He enter our house, let us get off our bed at last and not remain lying down. Jesus stands at our bedside and will we remain lying down? Come on! To your feet!… “There is one among you whom you do not recognise” (Jn 1:26), “the kingdom of God is among you” (Lk 17:21). Let us have faith and we shall see Jesus among us.”…St Jerome (347-420) Father & Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – God our Saviour, through the grace of Baptism, You made us children of light. You lead us by the hand and guide and protect us by Your commandments. Fill us with joy at Your nearness and the light of Your Son, by whose beam we see You and follow. St Arnold Janssen was a shining example to us all, grant, we pray, that his prayers may aid us. Through Jesus our Lord and Christ, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
![bl chaminade_aspel[1]](https://anastpaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/bl-chaminade_aspel1.jpg?w=840)
Upon the death of the Bishop of the city of Lodi in Liguria, Northern Italy, the priest Clement of the cathedral church had a revelation that Saint Bassian would be chosen Archbishop of Lodi. Both Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and Bishop Ursus officiated at at his Consecration.
AnaStpaul 
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