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.
Our Morning Offering – 15 January – Wednesday of the First week in Ordinary Time, Year A and the Memorial of St Arnold Janssen SVD (1837-1909)
O My God, I Believe in You By St Arnold Janssen (1837-1909)
O my God,
I believe in You,
because You are
the eternal truth.
O my God,
I hope in You,
because You are
infinitely merciful, faithful and almighty.
O my God,
I love You with my whole heart
and am sorry for having offended You.
Out of love for me
You are present in the Blessed Sacrament,
therefore, I long for You,
O my dearest Jesus.
From the Father
send me the Holy Spirit
with His seven gifts,
that I may glorify God
in all things.
Amen.
Saint of the Day – 15 January – St Arnold Janssen SVD (1837-1909) Priest, Founder, Missionary, Teacher, advocate of the Sacred Heart, Director of the Apostleship of Prayer, He founded the Society of the Divine Word, a Catholic missionary religious congregation, also known as the Divine Word Missionaries, as well as two congregations for women. In 1889 he founded in Steyl, Netherlands, the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, SSpS and in 1896 at the same place the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters, SSpSAP. He is the Patron of all of the Orders which he founded.
Arnold Janssen was born on 5 November 1837 in Goch, a small city in lower Rhineland (Germany). The second of ten children, his parents instilled in him a deep devotion to religion. He was Ordained a Priest on 15 August 1861 for the diocese of Muenster and was assigned to teach natural sciences and mathematics in a secondary school in Bocholt. There he was known for being a strict but just teacher. Due to his profound devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he was named Diocesan Director for the Apostleship of Prayer. This apostolate encouraged Arnold to open himself to Christians of other denominations.
Little by little, he became more aware of the spiritual needs of people beyond the limits of his own Diocese, developing a deep concern for the universal mission of the church. He decided to dedicate his life to awaking in the German church its missionary responsibility. With this in mind, in 1873 he resigned from his teaching post and soon after founded The Little Messenger of the Sacred Heart. This popular monthly magazine presented news of missionary activities and it encouraged German-speaking Catholics to do more to help the missions.
These were difficult times for the Catholic Church in Germany. Bismark unleashed the “Kulturkampf» with a series of anti-Catholic laws, which led to the expulsion of Priests and Religious and to the imprisonment of many Bishops. In this chaotic situation, Arnold Janssen proposed that some of the expelled priests could go to the foreign missions or at least help in the preparation of missionaries. Slowly but surely and with a little prodding from the Apostolic Vicar of Hong Kong, Arnold discovered that God was calling him to undertake this difficult task. Many people said that he was not the right man for the job, or that the times were not right for such a project. Arnold’s answer was, “The Lord challenges our faith to do something new, precisely when so many things are collapsing in the Church.”
With the support of a number of Bishops, Arnold inaugurated the mission house on 8 September 1875 in Steyl, Holland and thus began the Divine Word Missionaries. Already on 2 March 1879 the first two missionaries set out for China. One of these was Joseph Freinademetz (1852-1908) – he would be Canonised on the same day as St Arnold.
Sts Arnold and Joseph
Aware of the importance of publications for attracting vocations and funding, Arnold started a printing press just four months after the inauguration of the house. Thousands of generous lay persons, contributed their time and effort to mission animation in German-speaking countries, by helping to distribute the magazines from Steyl. From the beginning the new congregation developed as a community of both Priests and Brothers.
The volunteers at the mission house included women as well as men. From practically the very beginning, a group of women, including Blessed Maria Helena Stollenwerk, served the community. But their wish was to serve the mission as Religious Sisters. The faithful, selfless service they freely offered and a recognition of the important role women could play in missionary outreach, urged Arnold to found the mission congregation of the “Servants of the Holy Spirit,” SSpS, on 8 December 1889. The first Sisters left for Argentina in 1895.
In 1896 Fr Arnold selected some of the Sisters to form a cloistered branch, to be known as “Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration,” SSpSAP. Their service to mission would be to maintain an uninterrupted adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, praying day and night for the church and especially for the other two active missionary congregations.
Arnold died on 15 January 1909. His life was filled with a constant search for God’s will, a great confidence in divine providence and hard work. That his work has been blessed is evident in the subsequent growth of the communities he founded – more than 6,000 Divine Word Missionaries are active in 63 countries, more than 3,800 missionary Servants of the Holy Spirit and more than 400 Servants of the Holy Spirit of Perpetual Adoration. … Vatican.va
St Arnold was Canonised on 5 October 2003, by St Pope John Paul II, together with St Joseph Freinademetz and St Daniel Camboni, Apostle of Africa.
Our Lady of Banneux, Belgium (under 2 Titles Our Lady of the Poor and Queen of Nations): Our Lady of Banneux, or Our Lady of the Poor, is the sobriquet given to the apparition of the Virgin Mary to Mariette Beco, an adolescent girl living in Banneux, province of Liège (Belgium). Between 15 January and 2 March 1933, Beco told her family and parish priest of seeing a Lady in white who declared herself to be the “Virgin of the Poor,” saying I come to relieve suffering and believe in me and I will believe in you.
St Alexander of Goma
Bl Angelus of Gualdo Tadini St Arnold Janssen SVD (1837-1909)
Bl Peter of Castelnau
St Placid
St Probus of Rieti
St Romedio of Nonsberg
St Sawl
St Secondina of Anagni
St Secundina of Rome
St Tarsicia of Rodez
St Teath
—
Martyrs of Suances – 5 beati: A priest and four laymen in the archdiocese of Burgos, Spain who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War.
• Blessed Donato Rodríguez García
• Blessed Emilio Huidobro Corrales
• Blessed Germán García y García
• Blessed Valentín Palencia Marquina
• Blessed Zacarías Cuesta Campo
They were martyred on
15 January 1937 near Suances, Cantabria, Spain
Venerated on 30 September 2015 by Pope Francis (decree of heroic virtues)
and Beatified on 23 April 2016 by Pope Francis. The beatification was celebrated in Burgos, Spain, presided by Cardinal Angelo Amato.
Saint of the Day – 14 January – Blessed Alfonsa Clerici SPS (1860-1930) Virgin, Religious of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of Monza – an order that Venerable Maria Matilde Bucchi founded. Alfonsa served as an Teacher and a apostle of the education of the poor while serving in leadership positions to that effect.
Alfonsa Clerici was born on 14 February 1860 near Milan, the eldest of ten children to Angelo and Maria Romano Clerici, four of whom died in infancy. She was baptised on 15 February in the church of San Vittore Martire and received her entrance into the faith from Father Francesco Spreafico.
Two of her brothers, Ildefonso and Prospero, joined the Clerics Regular of St Paul, while her sister, Bonaventura became a professed member of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood in Monza. On 6 October 1868, at the age of eight, Alfonsa received Confirmation in the church of Saint Stephen and her First Communion was celebrated sometime between 1870 and 1872.
In 1875 Alfonsa enrolled at the College of the Precious Blood in Monza. She graduated in 1879 and went on to teach in the Lainate community school for four years. Alfonsa felt a strong desire to enter the religious life but decided to postpone her plans, since she still had to support her parents and her siblings. She pursued her call not long after and joined the Monza sisters on 15 August 1883, the Feast of the Assumption. Their apostolate is the education of young people. Alfonsa received the habit and commenced her period of novitiate in August 1884 while making her first vows on 7 September 1886, a few weeks prior to this her sister made her solemn profession into the congregation.
Alfonsa served as a teacher at the Monza sisters’ college from 1887 to 1889 and was made vice-director on 18 October 1898. The following month she was appointed director. She also served as secretary and general adviser to her Institute.
In 1911, Bishop Teodoro Valfré di Bonzo asked Alfonsa to take over management of the lead the House of Providence established in Vercelli in 1840 for the education of the girls and daughters of poor families. Alfonsa relocated to Vercelli on 20 November 1911 and would remain there for the next nineteen years.
Mother Alfonsa suffered a cerebral haemorrhage on the night of 12–13 January 1930 while in prayer and fell face down on the ground. She died at 13:30 on 14 January 1930, one month short of her seventieth birthday. She was buried in Vercelli after a 16 January funeral but was re-interred in Monza on 8 May 1965.
The miracle needed for her Beatification involved the healing of the near-fatal heart condition of Nedo Frosin,i after his wife Carla Demi Frosini turned to the intercession of the late religious. With the recognition of the miracle on 1 July 2010, Pope Benedict XVI approved the Beatification to take place. Archbishop Angelo Amato, Pro-Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided over the Beatification on the Pope’s behalf on 23 October 2010, in the Piazza of San Eusebio, Diocese of Vercelli, Italy.
Blessed Alfonsa Clerici SPS (1860-1930)
Bl Amadeus of Clermont
St Barbasymas
St Caldeoldus of Vienne
St Datius of Milan
Bl Devasahayam Pillai
St Engelmaro
St Eufrasio of Clermont
St Euphrasius the Martyr St Felix of Nola (Died C 253) Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2019/01/14/saint-of-the-day-14-january-st-felix-of-nola-died-c-253/
St Felix of Rome
St Fermin of Mende
St Glycerius of Antioch
Bl Godfrey of Cappenberg
St Isaias the Martyr
St Jesaja of Sinai
St Macrina the Elder
St Nino of Georgia
Bl Odoric of Pordenone
St Odo of Novara
Bl Pablo Merillas Fernández
St Paul of Africa Blessed Petrus Donders C.Ss.R. (1807-1887) About Blessed Petrus:
St Potitus
Bl Rainer of Arnsberg
St Sabas of Sinai
St Sava of Serbia
St Successus of Africa
St Theodolus of Sinai
Bl William de Sanjulia
—
Martyrs of Mount Sinai: A group of monks on Mount Sinai who were martyred by desert Bedouins. Their names and exact number have not come down to us. Martyred by Bedouins.
Martyrs of Raithu – 43 saints: A group of 43 monks in the Raithu Desert near Mount Sinai, Palestine, near the Red Sea. They were martyred for their faith by desert Bedouins. Their names have not come down to us. Martyred by Bedouins.
Quote/s of the Day – 13 January – Monday of the First week in Ordinary Time, Year A and the Memorial of St Hilary of Poitiers (315-368) Father and Doctor of the Church
“The privilege of our Church is such that it is never stronger, than when it is attacked, never better known, than when it is accused, never more powerful, than when it appears forsaken.”
(Treatise on the Trinity)
“The Church is the Ship outside which it is impossible to understand the Divine Word, for Jesus spoke from the boat to the people gathered on the shore.”
“God only knows, how to be love and He only knows, how to be Father. And the one who loves is not envious and one who is Father is so totally. This name does not permit compromises, as if God were only father in some aspects and not in others.”
St Hilary of Poitiers
(315-368)
Father & Doctor of the Church
One Minute Reflection – 13 January – Monday of the First week in Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: 1 Samuel 1:1-8, Psalm 116:12-14, 17-19, Mark 1:14-20
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him…Mark 1:17-18
REFLECTION – “Follow me!” Jesus says these words (…) to every Christian. Follow me, naked as I am naked, free from every hindrance as I myself am. Jeremiah said: “You will call me ‘My Father’ and never turn away from me” (Jer 3:19). So follow Me and put down the burdens you are bearing. For, laden as you are, you cannot follow Me who am running ahead. “I ran in thirst” says the psalmist about me (Ps 61:5 LXX), the thirst to save humanity. And where is He running? To the Cross. You too, run after Him. As He bore His cross for you, take up your own for your good. From whence these words of Saint Luke’s gospel: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself” by renouncing his own will, “take up his cross” by mortifying his passions, “daily”, that is all the time, “and follow me.” (Lk 9:23) (…)
Jesus speaks to us like a mother who, wanting to teach her child to walk, shows him apiece of bread or an apple and says to him: “Come with me and I’ll give it to you.” And when the child is so close that he can almost catch hold of it, she draws away a little, showing the thing to him and repeating: “Follow me if you want it.” Some kinds of birds lead their little ones out of their nest and, by flying, teach them to fly and to follow them. Jesus does the same. He shows Himself as an example and promises us His reward in the kingdom so that we might follow Him.
So “follow me” for I know the right way and will guide you. We read in the book of Proverbs: “I will show you the way of wisdom; I will lead you by the ways of equity. When you have entered, your steps will not be constrained and when you run you shall not meet a stumbling block” (cf. Prv 4:11-12 LXX). (…) Therefore, “follow me”.” … St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) Franciscan, Doctor of the Church – Sermon for the feast of Saint John the Evangelist
PRAYER – Holy Lord God, grant that we may live constantly in Your presence. Grant that we may possess a spirit of joy and gladness because of the firm knowledge that You are always with us and in You and through You and with You, the extraordinary is commonplace! And turn around Lord and call us, for we are behind You. Be with us Lord, always, we pray! Hear the prayers on our behalf, of St Mungo of Glasgow, whom we ask for intercession. Through the Lord Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, God forever for all eternity, amen
Saint of the Day – 13 January – Saint Kentigern of Glasgow (518-614) Founder and Archbishop of Glasgow, Missionary, Miracle-worker, known as “Saint Mungo”, (also known as Cantigernus or Cyndeyrn Garthwys) was the apostle of the Scottish Kingdom of Strathclyde in the late sixth century and the Founder and Patron Saint of the city of Glasgow. Born in c 518 at Culross, Fife, Scotland and died on 13 January 603 in Glasgow, Scotland of natural causes. Patronages – Glasgow, Scotland, Penicuik, salmon, those accused of infidelity, against bullies.
According to the “Life of Saint Mungo” written by the monk, Jocelin of Furness, in about 1185, Mungo’s mother was Princess Theneva daughter of Loth, the King of the Gododdin, who ruled an area centred on today’s East Lothian. After an illicit encounter with her cousin, the young King Owain of North Rheged, now part of Galloway, Princess Theneva fell pregnant. Her irate father had her tied to a chariot and launched off Traprain Law. It miraculously landed softly, hurting neither Theneva or her unborn child. The King, now believing Theneva also to be a witch, then cast her adrift in a coracle without oars on the River Forth. She drifted up-river and came ashore at Culross in Fife, where Kentigern was born.
St Mungo’s Birthplace
Kentigern was given the name Mungo, meaning something like “dear one”, by St Serf (c 500—583), who ran a monastery at Culross and took in both mother and son. St Serf then oversaw Mungo’s upbringing. At the age of 25, Mungo began his missionary work on the banks of the River Clyde. Here, he was welcomed by people previously converted to Christianity by St Ninian (c 360–432) and here Mungo built his church, close to the confluence of the River Clyde and the Molendinar Burn. Since the 1200s the site of this early church has formed part of Glasgow Cathedral.
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Mungo worked on the banks of the River Clyde for 13 years until the anti-Christian King Morken of Strathclyde drove him out in about 565. He then made his way through Cumbria to Wales, where he spent time with St David (c 500-589), possibly founded a cathedral at St Asaph and even found time for a pilgrimage to Rome.
But in the 570s King Rhydderch Hael of Strathclyde, having overthrown Morken, invited Mungo to become Archbishop of Strathclyde. Mungo initially based himself in northern Galloway. In August 584 Mungo is said to have converted the bard Merlin to Christianity near the site of a church he later founded – Stobo Kirk.
Mungo later returned to the River Clyde, where his church became the focus of a large community that became known as Clas-gu or “dear family.” From these beginnings emerged the modern city of Glasgow.
It was at Clas-gu that Mungo was visited by Saint Columban (543-615), who at the time was working as a missionary in central Scotland. It was here, too, that Mungo died, apparently in his bath (or while giving a baptismal service – interpretations differ), on Sunday 13 January 614. He was buried close by his church and today his tomb lies in the centre of the Lower Choir of Glasgow Cathedral, probably on the actual site of his grave.
St Mungo was said to have preformed many miracles but four of them have been remembered in this sweet verse, which children in Scotland sing and recite:
Here is the bird that never flew Here is the tree that never grew Here is the bell that never rang Here is the fish that never swam
In the first, he is said to have restored life to the pet robin of St Serf, which had been killed by some of his fellow classmates in Culross, hoping to blame him for its death.
In the second he used branches of a tree to restart a fire at St Serf’s monastery that had gone out, because Mungo had fallen asleep, while he was meant to be watching it.
The third relates to a miraculous bell he brought back with him from Rome.
And the fourth involved the story of Queen Languoreth of Strathclyde being accused of infidelity by her husband, King Riderich, who alleged she had given her wedding ring to her lover when, in reality, the king had himself thrown it into the river. Facing execution, the Queen appealed to St Mungo, who ordered a servant to catch a fish from the river. When the fish was cut open, the ring was found inside, demonstrating the Queen’s innocence.
St Mungo High Street, Glasgow
Today the bird, tree, bell and fish form the four elements of the Crest of Glasgow City Council, see Crest below. St Mungo is also responsible for the motto of his city, based on his original prayer: “Lord let Glasgow flourish through the preaching of Thy Word and praising Thy Name.” Sadly and pathetically, since 1699 this has been shortened to “Let Glasgow flourish.”
St Agrecius of Trier
St Andrew of Trier
St Berno of Cluny
St Ðaminh Pham Trong Kham
St Designatus of Maastricht
St Elian of Brittany
St Emil Szramek
St Enogatus of Aleth
St Erbin of Cornwall Blessed Francesco Maria Greco (1857-1931) Blessed Francesco’s Life: https://anastpaul.com/2019/01/13/saint-of-the-day-13-january-blessed-francesco-maria-greco-1857-1931/
Bl Francisca Inés Valverde González
St Giuse Pham Trong Ta
St Glaphyra
St Gumesindus of Córdoba
St Hermylus
Bl Hildemar of Arrouaise
Bl Ida of Argensolles
Bl Ivetta of Huy St Kentigern “Mungo” of Glasgow (c 518-614)
St Leontius of Caesarea
St Luca Pham Trong Thìn
Bl María Francisca Espejo y Martos
Bl Matteo de Lana
St Peter of Capitolíade
St Servusdei of Córdoba
St Stephen of Liège
St Stratonicus
Blessed Veronica of Binasco (1445-1497)
St Viventius
St Vivenzio of Blera
—
Forty Martyred Soldiers at Rome: Forty soldiers martyred in the persecutions of Gallienus.
They were martyred in 262 on the Via Lavicana, Rome, Italy.
Saint of the Day – 12 January – Blessed Pierre-François Jamet (1762-1845) Priest, Confessor, apostle of the poor, the deaf, the mentally ill, teacher and protector of the deaf-mute, called the “Second Founder” due to restoring the dwindled order of the Sisters of the Bon Sauveur. Born on 12 September 1762 in Fresnes, Aisne, France and died on 12 January 1845 in Caen, Calvados, France of natural causes, aged 82. Blessed Pierre built schools, homes and clinics for the poor and needy. In 1827 he was awarded the Legion of Honour for his service as a priest.
Pierre-François Jamet was born on 13 September 1762 in France to the poor farmers Pierre Jamet and Marie Madeleine Busnot. He had eight siblings – two became priests and one sister became a nun.
In 1782 he began his theological and philosophical studies at the University of Caen upon feeling that he was being called to become a priest and commenced his studies for the priesthood in that same village in 1784. He graduated with a masters in arts and completing a bachelor of theological studies. Jamet was Ordained to the Priesthood on 22 September 1787. However, he could not further his studies due to the outbreak of revolution not long after.
Fr Pierre refused to swear allegiance to the new government of the French Revolution in 1790 and was later arrested due to this dissidence. He even suffered death threats at this time. Upon his release, he set about the restoration of the Sisters of the Good Saviour, which was in decline at that time and would celebrate Mass in secret. On 19 November 1790 he was appointed as the Chaplain and Confessor of the Order. He became the Superior of the Congregation in 1819.
For nine years the Blessed was sought, denounced and persecuted, he was imprisoned and exposed to death several times but for this he did not cease to travel, now on foot, now on horseback, throughout the region to administer the Sacraments to the dying and animate everyone to the perseverance in faith. In the frequent visits he made to the nuns directed by him, he sought to nourish their hope for the future, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, frequent communion and meditation on the Passion of Jesus. Towards the end of 1796 the rigours of persecution began to fade. He took the opportunity to give lectures to the nuns, to celebrate Mass in song and to celebrate Benediction, assisted by Fr Carlo Boscher, his close friend, who was also hunted by the police.
As soon as he heard that the Capuchin monastery was for sale, he urged them to buy it for 30,000 francs and make it the centre of their apostolate. He also settled there to direct the work, help the nuns to pay their debts, instruct them in the practice of vows and get them used to celebrating liturgical services with piety, dignity and solemnity. The Sisters of the Good Saviour venerated him and blessed him as if he were their “second founder” and Fr Jamet in turn, placed all his energies and skills at the disposal of the Institute.
Among many his many occupations, Fr Jamet did not neglect sacred studies. His contemporaries admired him, not only for his zeal and charitable works but also for his scientific publications on the re-education of deaf-mutes and his ascetic and historical works.
Thanks to his cultural merits and talents, on 14 November 1822 Fr Jamet was appointed Rector of the University of Caen, despite the opposition of Freemasons and Gallicans. On the other hand, he himself had been aspiring to this position for some years, in order to offset the atheist, secularist and Jansenist teaching imparted there. In the eight years in which he held this position he worked, with extreme energy,
For all his memorable merits, King Charles X appointed the Blessed Fr Jamet as a Knight of the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour in 1827 but in 1830, he was so troubled and distressed by the political situation in France with the advent to the throne of Luigi Filippo d’Orièans (+1850), (known as “the usurper”) Fr Jamet resigned his position as the of Rector of the University.
Fr Jamet enjoyed robust health and was of ardent temperament, quick to notice the problems of his neighbour. However, the amount of work he had to take on daily, started to have a detrimental effect on his health and occasionally causing him illnesses which he endured by praying and suffering. His health began to decline seriously in 1836.
Blessed Pierre died on 12 January 1845. At his funeral, officiated by the Bishop of Bayeux, a large crowd of his admirers attended. St John Paul II recognised his heroic virtue on 21 March 1985 and Beatified him on 10 May 1987. His relics are venerated in Caen in the crypt of the chapel of the Sisters of the Good Saviour.
In the teachings that he imparted to the religious, the mystery of the Sacred Heat of Jesus and the Holy Trinity occupied a prominent place. He used to repeat to them: “We are part of the family of God … We must therefore resemble Him, walking in the footsteps of His only Son.” Or he said: “The soul consecrated to God no longer belongs to himself. It belongs entirely to God. By means of vows it gives God everything. Every sin becomes a profanation. From now on, God alone must count for us, God alone must suffice.”
Fr Jamet will be remembered widely for his devotion to the material and spiritual assistance to deaf-mute children and mentally insane. In this, he demonstrated that he truly possessed the “genius of charity”. With the help of the nuns directed by him, from 1816 he began to build special schools for the intellectual, moral and religious education of deaf-mutes, he also invented a sign language based on words and not on objects.
The assistance of the Sisters of the Good Savior gradually extended to other social classes which were in particular need. In fact, they opened free schools for the children of the people, a boarding school for girls, a retirement home for ladies and a dispensary for the poor.
Blessed Pier Francesco Jamet is considered an authentic martyr of charity at the time of the French Revolution. On the day of his Beatification, 10 May 1987, St Pope John Paul II said:
“He lived ardent charity in the many forms of his priestly activity. We are impressed by his courage, by his attitude in impressing on the faith an itinerary of a man of high culture, a faithful priest, a servant of the poor … We admire his intrepid generosity, his attention in not leaving the most handicapped without care of his brothers … he loved them to the point of learning to heal them and through them to heal ourselves.”
Bl Antoine Fournier St Antonio Maria Pucci OSM (1819-1892)
Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2019/01/12/saint-of-the-day-st-anthony-mary-pucci-osm-1819-1892/
St Arcadius of Mauretania
Bl Bartholomew Alvarez
Bl Bernardo de Plano
St Biccianus
St Benedict Biscop
St Bernard of Corleone
St Caesaria of Arles
St Caroticus
Bl Emmanuel d’Abreu
St Eutropius
St Ferreolus of Grenoble
Bl John Gaspard Cratz
St John of Ravenna
Bl Lucia of Valcaldara St Marguerite Bourgeoys CND (1620-1700)
St Martinian of Belozersk
St Martin of León
Bl Nicholas Bunkerd Kitbamrung
St Peter of Abessala Blessed Pierre-François Jamet (1762-1845)
St Probus of Verona
St Quinctus the Soldier
St Satyrus
St Tatiana of Rome
St Tigrius
St Victorian of Asana
Bl Vincent da Cunha
—
Martyrs of Africa – 44 saints: A group of 44 Christian soldiers murdered together for their faith in Africa. The only details that survive are four of their names – Castulus, Modestus, Rogatus and Zoticus.
Martyrs of Ephesus – 42 saints: Forty-two monks martyred at a monastery in Ephesus (modern Turkey) during the persecutions of the Iconoclast Byzantine Emperor Constantine V. Their names have not come down to us. Martyred c 762.
Martyrs of Iona – 38 saints: Thirty-eight monks martyred in Iona, Ireland. Their names have not come down to us. They were Martyred in 750 at Iona, Ireland.
Saint of the Day – 11 January – Blessed Ana Maria Janer Anglarill (1800-1885) Religious and Founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Urgell, of which order she is the Patron, Nurse, Teacher, apostle of the poor, the sick and the needy. Born on 18 December 1800 in Cervera, Lleida, Spain and died on 11 January 1885 in Talarn, Lleida, Spain. She dedicated her life to the service of God through aiding the poor and downtrodden across Spain in hospitals and educational facilities.
Anna Maria Janer Anglarill was born on 18 December 1800 in Spain to Josep Janer i Pallés and Magina Anglarill i Olivé. She studied at the Real Colegio de Educandras.
She decided to devote herself to the service of God at the age of sixteen and so joined the Sisters of Charity on 25 January 1819. In May 1819 she made her vows.
Sr Ana worked as a nurse at the Castelltort Hospital. She also served as the Director of the House of Charity – after her 1849 appointment – and in that position helped to care for both the old and children who were orphaned.
In 1833 the outbreak of the First Carlist War made the hospital take in wounded soldiers. Janer became a well-known figure in the hospital due to providing consolation to the patients and staff alike, when the hospital had to work to cater to greater numbers of wounded patients. The war wounded referred to her as “Mother” due to her tender care and devotion.
Ana also worked as a teacher and commissioned a hospital dedicated to the treatment of the poor.
In 1836 nuns were expelled from Spain and so she went to France to Toulouse where she worked at a hospital for a brief period of time. She was called to co-ordinate hospitals in Solsona at the behest of Charles V. In 1844 she returned to her original hospital.
She founded the Sisters of the Holy Family of Urgell on 29 June 1859 which would spread to Andorra and Mexico amongst other places.
Novices of the Holy Family sisters – mid 20th century
She died in 1885 at the age of 84.
Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the Beatification on behalf of the Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI on 8 October 2011.
St Alexander of Fermo
St Anastasius of Suppentonia Bl Ana Maria Janer Anglarill (1800-1885)
St Boadin of Ireland
St Breandan of Ireland
St Eithne
St Fedelemia
Bl Francis Rogaczewski
St Francisca Salesia Aviat
St Honorata of Pavia
St Pope Hyginus
St Leucius of Alexandria
St Leucius of Brindisi
St Liberata of Pavia
St Lucius the Soldier
St Luminosa of Pavia
St Mark the Soldier
St Michael of Klopsk
St Palaemon
St Paldo
St Peter Balsam
St Peter of Alexandria
St Peter of Anea
St Peter the Soldier
St Salvius of Amiens
St Severus of Alexandria
St Speciosa of Pavia
St Taso
St Theodosius the Soldier
St Theodosius of Antioch St Theodosius the Cenobiarch His lifestory: https://anastpaul.com/2017/01/11/saint-of-the-day-11-january-st-theodosius-the-cenobiarch/
St Tipasio of Tigava St Tommaso da Cori OFM (1655-1729) About St Tommaso: https://anastpaul.com/2019/01/11/saint-of-the-day-11-january-st-tommaso-da-cori-ofm-1655-1729/
Quote/s of the Day – 10 January – Fifth day after Epiphany and The Memorial of St Léonie Françoise De Sales Aviat OSFS (1844-1914)
“Go often to rest your heart near the tabernacle; you will find there, the necessary strength and graces to go more surely along the path of fidelity.”
“Let us love to give our heart anew, each morning.”
“Pray to your good angels, use them as messengers in your little joys and sufferings.”
“Do not be afraid! God will show you, to the hour and moment, what you should say and what you should do.”
“Do not be preoccupied with the future, God is in charge of it.”
One Minute Reflection – 10 January – Fifth Day after Epiphany and the Memorial of Bl Dolores Rodríguez Sopeña (1848-1918), Readings: 1 John 5:5-13, Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20, Luke 5:12-16
“Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him” … Luke 5:13
REFLECTION – “Christ said when He came into the world: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire but a body you prepared for me (…) Then I said: Behold I come to do your will’ ” (Heb 10:5.7; Ps 40:7-9 LXX). Can it be true that God wanted to become man to save us from our wretchedness (…) and conquer our love? Yes, it is so true that it is an article of faith: “Who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven… and was made man” (Creed) (…) Yes, this is what God has done, so to be loved by us! (… ) This is how He wanted to make known the immensity of His love for us: “the grace of God our saviour has appeared to all” (Ti 2:11). It is, as though, our Lord said: “Man does not love Me because he cannot see me, I am going to make Myself visible and talk to him, in that way I shall surely make Myself loved”: “He has appeared on earth and spoken with us” (cf. Bar 3:38).
God’s love for humankind is vast, vast from all eternity: “with age-old love I have loved you; so in mercy I have drawn you to myself” (cf. Jer 31:3). But we have not yet seen how great and incomprehensible He is. When the Son of God was seen in the form of a child lying on the straw in a stable then He was made known indeed: “the kindness and generous love of God our saviour appeared” (Ti 3:4). As Saint Bernard observed: “The creation of the world made God’s power shine out, the ordering of the world, His wisdom but the incarnation of the Word, caused His mercy to break forth in the sight of all.” (…)
“By showing disdain towards God,” Saint Fulgentius said, “man was separated from Him forever and, since man could no longer return to God, God deigned to come to find him on earth.” And as Saint Augustine had already said: “We were unable to go to the doctor, therefore the doctor had the graciousness to come to us.” … St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787) – Bishop and Doctor of the Church – 1st address for the Octave of Christmas
PRAYER – Almighty God and Father, by the guidance of a star, You revealed the Birth of the Saviour of the world. Open our minds and hearts to that revelation and may it bear fruit in our lives. May Your nearness, be understood in our hearts and minds, ‘may the Lord Jesus touch our eyes, as He did those of the blind’ and may the prayers of Bl Dolores Rodríguez Sopeña, grant us strength on our journey. We make our prayer, through Christ, our Lord in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 10 January – Blessed María Dolores Rodríguez Sopeña (1848-1918) Religious and Founder of the Sisters of the Catechetical Institute, apostle of the poor – born on 30 December 1848 in Velez Rubio, Almería, Spain and died on 10 January 1918 in Madrid, Spain of natural causes. Patronage – Sisters of the Catechetical Institute.
Dolores Rodríguez Sopeña was born in Velez Rubio, Almería, Spain, on 30 December 1848, the fourth of seven siblings. Her parents, Tomas Rodríguez Sopeña and Nicolasa Ortega Salomon, had moved from Madrid to Velez Rubio due to employment. Don Tomas had received his law degree at a very young age and because of this, could not work as a lawyer. He was able to find employment as an administrator of the Marqueses de Velez farms.
Dolores grew up in the Andalucía region where her father began to work as a magistrate and even though he was transferred often, she defined this time of her life as a “lake of tranquility.”
In 1866, her father was named Judge of Almería. Dolores was 17 and was formally introduced to society, though she did not enjoy the parties or the social life. Her interest was in doing good for others. In Almería, she had her first apostolic experiences – she attended, materially and spiritually, to two sisters who had typhoid fever and to a leper. She kept this hidden from her parents because she was afraid that they might forbid her from continuing her work. She also visited the poor of Saint Vincent de Paul with her mother. Three years later her father was sent to Puerto Rico. He travelled there with one of his sons while the rest of his family moved to Madrid. Dolores chose a spiritual adviser and began teaching the Catholic doctrine to women in prison, in the Princess Hospital and in the Sunday Schools.
In 1872, the family reunited in Puerto Rico. Dolores was 23 years old and would remain in the Americas’ until she was 28. She began her contact with the Jesuits and Father Goicoechea became her spiritual adviser. In Puerto Rico, she founded the Association of the Sodality of the Virgin Mary and the schools for the disadvantaged where she taught reading and writing, as well as Catechism.
In 1873, her father was named state attorney of Santiago de Cuba. These were difficult times, because a religious schism was raging on the island. Because of this, her work of visiting the sick was prohibited. She requested admission into the Sister of Charity community but was not admitted due to her poor eye sight. At the age of 8, Dolores had an eye operation and this disability remained with her the rest of her life.
At the conclusion of the schism, she began working in the poor neighbourhoods and founded the “Centres of Instruction.” There she taught Catechism, general instruction and provided medical assistance to those in need. For these efforts she was able to get much assistance and was able to establish the centres in three different neighbourhoods.
Her mother died in Cuba and her father applied for retirement. The family returned to Madrid in 1877. In Madrid she organised her life on three fronts – her home and the care of her father, her apostolic work (the same work she did before leaving Spain) and her spiritual life (she chose a spiritual adviser and annually participated in Saint Ignatius Spiritual Retreat). In 1883 her father died and once again she began to struggle with her vocation. At the advice of her spiritual advisor, Father López Soldado, S.I., she entered the convent of the Salesians, even though she had never thought of devoting her whole life to contemplation. After 10 days she left the convent, as she came to the realisation that this was not her vocation. She then began to give all of her attention to her apostolic work.
In 1885, Dolores opened a centre similar to modern social work centres. There, the poor and the needy were able to take their problems and their concerns were addressed and resolved. During this time she visited the neighbourhood of the Injurias. When she saw the moral, material and spiritual condition of the people, she began visiting this area every week and invited many of her friends to help her with her work. There she began the organisation “Works of the Doctrines,” later named “Centre for the Workers”.
In 1892, at the suggestion of the Bishop of Madrid, D. Ciríaco Sancha, she founded the Association of the Apostolic Laymen (which today is known as the Sopeña Lay Movement). The following year she received approval from the government which allowed her to expand her work to 8 neighbourhoods of Madrid.
In 1896 she began her activities outside Madrid. In 4 years she took 199 trips all over Spain to establish and consolidate the “Centre for the Workers.” At the same time, she accompanied Father Tarin to Andalucía to help in the missions.
In 1900, Dolores participated in a pilgrimage to Rome for the celebration of the Holy Year. There she took part in a retreat at the Saint Peter’s tomb and received approval to establish a Religious Institute that would provide continuation of her “Centre for the Workers” and help to sustain spiritually the Sopeña Lay Movement. Cardinal Sancha, then Archbishop of Toledo, proposed founding it there.
The “Sisters of Catechetical Institute” was founded on 24 September 1901. Dolores and 8 companions had just participated in the Spiritual Exercises, in Loyola, where St Ignatius was born and in the city of Toledo, on 31 October they started living as a religious community.
One of the greatest inspirations that Dolores had, was to establish at the same time, the Civil Association which today is known as OSCUS or Social & Cultural Work Sopeña. In 1902, the Association was officially recognised by the Spanish government.
In 1905, the Institute received from the Holy See the Degree of Praise. Two years later, on 21 November 1907, Dolores received the approval directly from Pope Pius X. Today the Institute is known as the “Sopeña Catechetical Institute”.
During these years, the anti clerical sentiment was an important facet in the decision for the religious community of this Institute not to wear a ‘habit’ and did not to wear any outward sign of religion. These changes were made with the end result in mind – to get close to the workers who were “alienated from the church,” that had been unable to receive any cultural, moral or religious instruction and to unite those who were socially outcast.
One of the main objectives of the centres was to bring people together to give them an opportunity to learn from each other. These encounters would result in mutual respect and a desire to help each other.
Her deep faith, rich in spirituality was the reason for her commitment to the service to others. Her commitment to the dignity of people was born through her experience that God the Father of all, who loves us with infinite tenderness and who wishes for us to live as sons and brothers and sisters, was the driving force behind all that she did. From there, she had a great desire to “Make of all, one family in Christ Jesus.” Her total immersion in Christ allowed her to see Him in everything and feel Him in everyone, especially in those that were in the most need of dignity and love.
Towards the end of the 19th century, it was inconceivable to find a woman, who would go out to work in the poor neighbourhood. The secret of her fearlessness was her deep faith, her confidence without limit. She recognised this as her greatest treasure and it made her feel that she had become the instrument of God’s work, the instrument of love, hope, dignity and justice.
In a few years, she was able to established communities and centres in industrialised cities. In 1910, the community celebrated the first General Chapter and Dolores was re-elected Superior General. In 1914 she founded a community in Rome and in 1917 opened their first house in the Americas.
The following year, on 10 January 1918, Dolores Sopeña died in Madrid. All were already speaking of her as being a saint.
On 11 July 1992, St John Paul II declared Dolores’ life work heroic and on 23 April 2002 he certified the miracle attributed to Dolores Sopeña which advanced her to Beatification status.
Currently the Sopeña Family which encompasses the three institutions founded by Dolores Sopeña are: the Sopeña Catechetical Institute, The Sopeña Lay Movement and the Sopeña Social and Cultural Work, can be found in Spain, Italy, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Blessed Dolores’ life was a “constant doing” but a doing, with a clear understanding of being an instrument in God’s hands. This experience develops in her such a sense of complete trust, that it made her courageous, capable of overcoming obstacles. She developed such confidence in her trust in God, that she attempted all and everything, regardless of the fact that often, her endeavours were incredibly risky for a woman of her time…. Vatican.va
St Aldo of Carbonari
St Pope Agatho
Bl Anna of the Angels Monteagudo
St Arcontius of Viviers
Bl Benincasa of Cava
St Dermot of Inis Clothrann
St Domitian of Melitene
Bl Pope Gregory X
Bl Giles of Lorenzana St Léonie Aviat/Françoise de Sales OSFS (1844-1914) St Léonie’s Life: https://anastpaul.com/2019/01/10/saint-of-the-day-10-january-st-leonie-francoise-de-sales-aviat-1844-1914/
St Marcian of Constantinople Bl Maria Dolores Rodríguez Sopeña y Ortega (1848-1918)
St Maurilius of Cahors
St Nicanor of Cyprus
St Paul the Hermit St Peter Orseolo OSB Cam. (928–987)
St Petronius of Die
Bl Raymond de Fosso
St Saethryth of Faremoutier
St Thecla of Lentini
St Thomian of Armagh
St Valerius of Limoges
St William of Bourges
Quote of the Day – 9 January – The Memorial of Blessed Alix le Clerc/Teresa of Jesus CND (1576-1622) known as Mother Alix and the Fourth Day after Epiphany
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…”
Luke 4:18
“My God and Lord, send me the light of Your Holy and Blessed Spirit, that I may find the path of peace which You declared to us on the day of Your holy Nativity… I implore You, my God and Saviour, to grant us all such grace, that we may walk by the road it has pleased You to tread for us…”
Blessed Alix le Clerc/Teresa of Jesus (1576-1622)
“He is the Gospel of God, He is the Mercy of God, He is the liberation of God, He is the One who became poor so as to enrich us with His poverty.”
One Minute Reflection – 9 January – Fourth Day after Epiphany, Readings: 1 John 4:19-5:4, Psalm 72:1-2, 14-15, 17, Luke 4:14-22 and the Memorial of Blessed Alix le Clerc/Teresa of Jesus CND (1576-1622) known as Mother Alix
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…”…Luke 4:18
REFLECTION – “Symbols of the Holy Spirit: Anointing. The symbolism of anointing with oil signifies the Holy Spirit, to the point of becoming a synonym for the Holy Spirit. In Christian initiation, anointing is the sacramental sign of Confirmation, called ‘chrismation’ in the Churches of the East. Its full force can be grasped only in relation to the primary anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit, that of Jesus. Christ (in Hebrew ‘messiah’) means the one ‘anointed’ by God’s Spirit.
There were several anointed ones of the Lord in the Old Covenant, pre-eminently King David. But Jesus is God’s Anointed in a unique way – the humanity the Son assumed, was entirely anointed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit established Him as ‘Christ’. The Virgin Mary conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit who, through the angel, proclaimed Him the Christ at His birth and prompted Simeon to come to the Temple to see Christ the Lord. The Spirit filled Christ and the power of the Spirit went out from Him in His acts of healing and saving.
Finally, it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. Now fully established as ‘Christ’ in His humanity victorious over death, Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly until the ‘saints’ constitute, in their union with the humanity of the Son of God, the perfect man “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” – “the whole Christ”, in St Augustine’s expression.” … CCC #695
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, through Christ, Your Son, You made of us a new creation. Shape us then, in His likeness, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, since in Him, our human nature now lives with You. Lord God, let Blessed Alix le Clerc ever commend us to Your love and care. May her charity and wisdom inspire us to treasure Your teaching and express it in our lives. Through our Lord Jesus, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 9 January – Blessed Alix le Clerc/Teresa of Jesus CND (1576-1622) known as Mother Alix -Religious, Teacher, Apostle of the Poor and Founder of the Canonesses of St Augustine of the Congregation of Our Lady (French: Notre-Dame), a religious order founded to provide education to girls, especially those living in poverty. They opened Schools of Our Lady throughout Europe. Offshoots of this order brought its mission and spirit around the globe.
Alix (the local form of Alice) Le Clerc was born into a wealthy family in Remiremont in the independent Duchy of Lorraine, part of the Holy Roman Empire. She was a vivacious girl who loved music and dancing. She would spend her evenings partying with her young friends. When she was about 18, her family moved to Mattaincourt, a manufacturing centre.
Conversion:
Three years later, a sudden illness confined her to her bed. While there, her only reading material was a devotional book. From the reading and reflection, while recuperating from her illness, Le Clerc began to feel the need for a change in her life. She approached the Parish Priest of the town, Dom Peter Fourier, with whom she shared this growing conviction. She was considering the religious life but that none of the religious orders appealed to her.
A vision of Our Lady answered her questioning and gave her the direction she sought, as she felt called to care for the daughters of the poor of the region, who had little or no access to education. Supported in this by Fr Fourier (1565–1640), who himself had seen the desperate need for this among the rural populace of his parish, Alix resolved to commit her life to this goal. She was joined in this enterprise by four of her friends, with whom she established a community where they could follow lives of simplicity, prayer and respecting the presence of God in each girl whom they would receive for instruction.
Foundress:
On Christmas Day 1597, Alix and her companions made private vows in the parish church to Fr Fourier. The small community opened their first school the following July in Poussay, where they offered free education to the girls of the duchy. Expansion of their work developed quickly, with communities being opened in Mattaincourt (1599), Saint-Mihiel (1602), Nancy (1603), Pont-à-Mousson (1604), Verdun and Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (1605). All the schools took the name of Notre-Dame.
Alix established herself in Nancy, capital of the duchy and devoted herself to the care of the girls who came to the schools of the new congregation. At the same time, working through major obstacles, she and Fourier developed constitutions for the new congregation through which the communities could be legally recognised by the Church and the State.
The vision Le Clerc and Fourier had was one in which schools would give a free education to all, poor and rich and all girls would be welcome, regardless of whether they were Catholic or Protestant. Additionally, the other needs of their locales would be answered, with visits to the sick and poor. They encountered resistance to this open form of life from the hierarchy, who did not look favourably on their teaching outside a cloister. In consultation with the first Sisters, especially Le Clerc, the final form of the constitutions which Fourier wrote took an innovative answer to this, by allowing two ways of life to those women who wished to follow the goals of the congregation. In keeping with ancient practice, each community would be autonomous, subject to the local bishop and would each have to seek this formal recognition on its own, from the local religious authorities. The houses were to be of two forms, all following the Rule of St Augustine, as well as the constitutions:
“Convents whose members who would take public vows (canonesses) and would observe full monastic enclosure, wearing the habit of the congregation. Convents whose members would take private vows (Daughters/Sisters of the congregation) and would be free to leave the convent, with the approval of the Superiors of the house for any legitimate purpose, such as going to Confession, participating in Mass when unable to do so in the convent, or participating in works of charity. They would not wear the religious habit of the Congregation but instead one developed for that community.”
The first approval for the Constitutions came on 6 March 1617 from the Bishop of Toul, in whose territory Nancy then lay, as a result of which that became the first monastery of the congregation. Le Clerc and the members of that community professed public vows on 2 December 1618, at which time she took the religious name of Teresa of Jesus, after the great Carmelite foundress. Immediately following the ceremony, Fourier met with the assembled Superiors of the various houses and distributed copies of the approved constitutions, for their study and observance. Shortly after that, the canonesses of Nancy held their first formal elections and Sr Teresa of Jesus was elected the prioress of the community.
St Peter Fourier
Sr Teresa of Jesus oversaw the development of the congregation as the various houses, each in their own turn, became formally recognised. For the rest of her life, she led the development of the spiritual and practical aspects of the lives of the canonesses in the various monasteries. She would visit each new community, to instill in them the spirit of their founding, saying to them, “May God be your only love!” Que Dieu soit votre amour entier! reflecting the deep spiritual life she maintained in the midst of her responsibilities in the congregation.
Death and veneration:
Sr Teresa of Jesus died on 9 January 1622 at the convent in Nancy. She was buried in the cemetery of the convent in a lead coffin.
The cause for her Canonisation was begun in the latter part of the century but proceeded slowly. The monastery in Nancy was destroyed during the upheavals of the French Revolution and the traces of the grave were lost. With the re-establishment of Catholic institutions in France in the early 19th-century, the cause was taken up again but faced the difficulty of there being no remains, normally required during the process. Various efforts were made by a number of priests to find Le Clerc’s remains in the precincts of the former cloister of the monastery over the next century, without success.
Despite this obstacle, the Holy See decided to proceed with the Beatification of Mother Teresa of Jesus. This was celebrated by Pope Pius XII on 4 May 1947.
Finding her remains:
Not long after this declaration of her holiness by the Church, in 1950 a group of young students in Nancy was exploring the basement of a building in the city and found a lead coffin buried nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters) below the ground.
By 1960, the remains were conclusively identified as those of Blessed Alix and were placed for veneration in the chapel of the Notre Dame School of the city. A special chapel was eventually built for the remains in the cathedral and they were transferred there on 14 October 2007, where they are available for veneration by the public.
Legacy:
The congregation spread throughout France, into which the duchy was forcibly absorbed in the 1630s. Within thirty years of Le Clerc’s death, the monastery which had been established in Troyes was instrumental in the extension of her vision to the New World. Through a connection with the governor of Fort Ville-Marie in the colony of New France, the canonesses had offered to go there to educate its children but the governor felt, that the colony was unable to support a cloistered community of teachers at that stage of its development. Instead, they recruited St Marguerite Bourgeoys, the president of a sodality attached to the community, to bring this service to the colony. She went there in 1653 and within five years her work there led to the founding of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal, an unenclosed institute of religious sisters with the same goal of free education for the poor. Today, they have 1,150 Sisters serving worldwide.
The congregation had also spread to other regions of Europe by the time it faced a century of upheaval, starting with the French Revolution, which closed many of their houses. In central Europe, communities were scattered, moving back and forth between Germany (founded in 1640) and Bohemia. Out of this chaos, Theresa Gerhardinger, a former student of the suppressed monastery in Stadtamhof, came to found the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1833. It currently has 3,500 members working in over 30 countries around the world.
At the time of St Peter Fourier’s Canonisation in 1897 by Pope Leo XIII, thirty convents of the congregation still functioned in Europe. Over the next decades, the congregation expanded to South America, Africa and Asia and they now serve in 43 nations. Their mission has expanded to include work for human rights, such as the protection of the rights of migrants and the promotion of justice for developing nations. The General Chapter of 2008 formally recognised the many groups of alumni and associates of the congregation which had sprung up around the world as full partners in the heritage of St Fourier and Blessed Alix Le Clerc.
Feast of the Black Nazarene, 9 January:
The Black Nazarene is a blackened, life-sized wooden icon of Jesus Christ carrying a cross. It was constructed in Mexico in the early 17th century by an Aztec carpenter. Spanish Augustinian Recollect friar missionaries to Manila, Philippines originally brought the icon to Manila in 1606. The transport ship caught fire, burning the icon but the locals kept the charred statue. Miracles, especially healings, have been reported in its presence. The church in which it stood burned down around it in 1791 and 1929, was destroyed by earthquakes in 1645 and 1863 and was damaged during bombing in 1945. It used to be carried through the streets every January and Christians would rub cloths on it to make healing relics but centuries of this treatment have left the statue in bad shape and since 1998 a replica is paraded at the feast day celebrations. In 1650, Pope Innocent X issued a papal bull which canonically established the Cofradia de Jesús Nazareno to encourage devotion. In the 19th century Pope Pius VII granted indulgences to those who piously pray before the image. Patronage: Quiapo, Philippines.
Blessed Alix le Clerc/Teresa of Jesus CND (1576-1622)
St Agatha Yi
Bl Antony Fatati
St Brithwald of Canterbury
St Eustratius of Olympus
Bl Franciscus Yi Bo-Hyeon
St Honorius of Buzancais
Bl Józef Pawlowski
Sts Julian and Basilissa (died c 304) Martyrs
Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2019/01/09/saints-of-the-day-sts-julian-and-basilissa-died-c-304-martyrs/
Bl Kazimierz Grelewski
St Marcellinus of Ancona
St Marciana
Bl Martinus In Eon-min
St Maurontius
St Nearchus
St Paschasia of Dijon
St Peter of Sebaste
St Philip Berruyer
St Polyeucte
St Teresa Kim
St Waningus of Fécamp
—
Martyrs of Africa – 21 saints: A group of 21 Christians murdered together for their faith in the persecutions of Decius. The only details to survive are 14 of their names – Artaxes, Epictetus, Felicitas, Felix, Fortunatus, Jucundus, Pictus, Quietus, Quinctus, Rusticus, Secundus, Sillus, Vincent and Vitalis. They were martyred in c 250.
Martyrs of Antioch – 6 saints: A group of Christians martyred together during the persecutions of Diocletian – Anastasius, Anthony, Basilissa, Celsus, Julian and Marcionilla.
Second Thought for the Day – 8 January – Third day after Epiphany and the Memorial of Blessed Titus Zeman SDB (1915-1969) Priest and Martyr
Many people who knew Fr Titus offered their testimony about his character, dedication and courage, even before the events that led to his martyrdom. One of his students described him as “my spiritual father.” Another calls him “simple-hearted, very funny and a great sportsman.” He helped hide Jews during World War II and hide nuns when the Red Army advanced through Slovakia. A Salesian student of theology remarked on how he helped clean up their school after the Russians left it full of excrement and stinking like a sewer: “I saw there his great love and tenacity for his work. He was a true Salesian who did everything in a humble way. It was clear he liked us, the young students of theology, a lot. He saw us as the hope for the Salesian Congregation in Slovakia.”
Fr Zeman’s “funeral was exceptionally touching … not only because of its outer aspects (it was a true triumph of sympathy, wonder and gratitude) but, mainly because such unity of emotion … is truly rare. There was not only a homily at the Mass but also several speeches and a funeral oration. All of the speakers emphasised the great qualities of the deceased – conscientiousness, strength of his spirit, profound faith, strong will, transcendental devotion to God’s will but mainly absolute self-sacrifice for the priestly ideal and effort to save young priestly vocations for the Church and the Salesian Society.”
Blessed Titus’s best known saying is probably, “Even if I lose my life, I do not consider it a waste, knowing that at least one of those whom I have saved has become a priest to take my place.” At his funeral the Slovak provincial noted that more than 50 priests and religious owed their vocations to him, his life was a kernel of wheat that fell to the ground and produced abundant fruit. “If every priest who died in Slovakia left such religious posterity, the funerals of Slovak priests would mean not a decrease but an increase in the priestly ranks.”
Blessed Titus Zeman, Pray for the Salesians, for all the Church, our Priests and us all, amen!
Prayer for the canonisation of Fr Titus Zeman
Almighty God,
you called Fr Titus Zeman
to follow St John Bosco’s charism.
Under the protection of Mary Help of Christians
he became a priest and an educator of the young.
He lived in accordance with your commandments,
and was known and respected among the people
for his friendly character and availability to everyone.
When the Church’s enemies
suppressed human rights and freedom of the Faith,
Fr Titus did not lose courage
and persevered in the way of truth.
Because of his fidelity to his Salesian vocation
and because of his generous service of the Church,
he was incarcerated and tortured.
He bravely resisted his torturers
and was mocked and humiliated because of this.
He suffered it all out of love and with love.
We ask you, almighty Father,
to grant that Blessed Titus
be enrolled among your saints
and through his intercession,
grant us the grace that we now ask you.
Through Christ Our Lord,
Amen
Facing execution, the Queen appealed to St Mungo, who ordered a servant to catch a fish from the river. When the fish was cut open, the ring was found inside, demonstrating the Queen’s innocence.
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