Quote/s of the Day – 8 January – Third day after Epiphany, Readings: 1 John 4:11-18, Psalm 72:1-2, 10-13, Mark 6:45-52 and the Memorial of Blessed Titus Zeman SDB (1915-1969) Priest and Martyr
“They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, “Take courage, it is I, be not afraid!” (Mark 6:50)
Prudentius (c 348 – c 413) (formally known as Aurelius Clemens Prudentius) comments on this verse from the Gospel proclaimed during today’s Mass:
Thus I by my loquacious tongue From the heaven of silence am led Into perils unknown and dark.
Not as Peter, disciple true, Confident in his virtue and faith, I am as one whose unnumbered sins Have shipwrecked on the rolling seas.
How easily can I be shipwrecked, One untaught in seafaring arts, Unless you, almighty Christ, Stretch forth Your hand with help divine.
(Against Symmachus, 2)
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens was a Roman Christian poet, born in the Roman province of Tarraconensis (now Northern Spain) in 348. He probably died in the Iberian Peninsula some time after 405, possibly around 413. Prudentius practised law with some success and was twice provincial governor, perhaps in his native country. Towards the end of his life (possibly around 392) Prudentius retired from public life to become an ascetic, fasting until evening and abstaining entirely from animal food and writing poems, hymns and controversial works in defence of Christianity. Prudentius later collected the Christian poems written during this period and added a preface, which he himself dated 405. The poetry of Prudentius is influenced by early Christian authors, such as Tertullian and St. Ambrose, as well as the Bible and the acts of the martyrs. His hymn Da, puer, plectrum (including “Corde natus ex parentis” – “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”) and the hymn for Epiphany O sola magnarum urbium (“Earth Has Many A Noble City”), both from the Cathemerinon, are still in use today.
“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.”
One Minute Reflection – 8 January – Third day after Epiphany and the Memorial of Blessed Titus Zeman SDB (1915-1969) Priest and Martyr, Readings: 1 John 4:11-18, Psalm 72:1-2, 10-13, Mark 6:45-52
“Take courage, it is I, be not afraid!” … Mark 6:50
REFLECTION – “All ships have a compass which, when touched by the magnet, always turns towards the polar star. And even when the boat is making its way in a southward direction, yet the compass does not cease turning towards its north at all times.
In the same way, let the fine point of your spirit always turn towards God, its north. ( … ) You are about to take to the high seas of the world, do not on this account, alter dial or mast, sail or anchor or wind. Keep Jesus Christ as your dial, at all times, His Cross for mast on which to hoist your resolutions, as a sail. Let your anchor be, profound trust in Him and set out early. May the propitious wind of heavenly inspirations ever fill the sails of your vessel more and more and cause you, to speed forward, to the harbour of a holy eternity. ( … )
Should everything turn upside down, I do not say around us but within us, that is to say, should our soul be sad, happy, in sweetness, in bitterness, peaceful, troubled, in light, in darkness, in temptation, in rest, in enjoyment, in disgust, in dryness, in gentleness, should the sun burn it or the dew refresh it, ah!, this point of our heart, our spirit, our higher will, which is our compass, should, nevertheless, always and at all times turn unceasingly, tend perpetually towards the love of God.” … St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) – Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – God and Father, light of all mankind, make our hearts radiant with the splendour of that light which long ago You shed on our fathers in the faith and give Your people the joy of lasting peace.,, May the prayers of Your blessed saints and martyrs be a comfort on our journey. ,,Blessed Titus Zeman please pray for us all. Through Christ, our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 8 January – Third day after Epiphany and the Memorial of Blessed Titus Zeman SDB (1915-1969) Priest and Martyr
As today is the Memorial of the Priest and Martyr, Blesssed Titus Zeman of the Salesians of St John Bosco – a man whose life is an excellent example of faithfulness to Don Bosco’s cause, especially through the zeal and love that he showed to save the vocations of young Salesians under the Communist regime of Czechoslovakia, let us pray St John Bosco’s prayer to Our Lady Help of Christians, to whom Blessed Titus gave all the honour of his work.
Our Lady, Help Of Christians By St John Bosco (1815-1888)
Most Holy Virgin Mary,
Help of Christians,
how sweet it is to come to your feet
imploring your perpetual help.
If earthly mothers cease not
to remember their children,
how can you,
the most loving of all mothers forget me?
Grant then to me, I implore you,
your perpetual help in all my necessities,
in every sorrow and especially in all my temptations.
I ask for your unceasing help
for all who are now suffering.
Help the weak,
cure the sick,
convert sinners.
Grant through your intercession,
many vocations to the religious life.
Obtain for us, O Mary, Help of Christians,
that having invoked you on earth
we may love and eternally thank you in heaven.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 8 January – Blessed Titus Zeman SDB (1915-1969) Priest and Martyr, a professed member of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Professor, Catechist, Defender of the Faith and of the oppressed. Born on 4 January 1915 in Vajnory, Bratislavský, Slovakia and died on 8 January 1969 in Bratislava, Slovakia of heart failure, aged 54. Patronage – Persecuted Christians.
Blessed Titus studied in Italian cities prior to his ordination and worked in Slovakia to protect fellow Salesians after the communist regime outlawed religious orders. He was arrested after attempting to send Salesians out of the country and was imprisoned from 1952 until 1964 and died due to poor health sustained from the prison conditions. He has been acclaimed as a Martyr and Defender of religious liberties.
Fr Titus was born into a Catholic family on 4 January 1915, at Vajnory, near Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. As early as age 10 he had wanted to become a priest. After completing his secondary studies with the Salesians, in 1931 he entered the novitiate. He professed vows in 1932 and on 7 March 1938, made his perpetual profession at Sacred Heart in Rome.
He did his theology at the Gregorian University in Rome and then went to Chieri, where he spent his free time at the oratory. In Turin in 23 June 1940, he achieved the goal of Priestly Ordination. On 4 August 1940, he celebrated his first Mass at Vajnory, his birthplace.
After his Ordination, he was assigned briefly to the Salesian youth centre in Bratislava but then the provincial sent him to University to take a degree in chemistry and natural sciences, which he did. He was then sent to teach in the diocesan high school at Trnava in 1943. There, he was loved and respected by the students because of his cheerful, calm but no-nonsense yet fatherly disposition. Always ready to assist people, he made many friends. On at least one occasion he gave a place of safety to protect a Jewish youth.
After the war the high school was nationalised and the government ordered that Crucifixes be removed from the classrooms. Fr Titus and two other teachers procured and put up new ones, to the displeasure of the principal.
Fr Titus moved to the Salesian school in Trnava and was prefect of studies in 1946-1947, then Catechist in 1947-1949 while also helping in several parishes.
Saving Vocations with Clandestine Escapes:
In mid-April 1950, when the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia banned religious orders and congregations and suddenly arrested and began to intern religious in concentration camps, on the night of 13-14 April —“the night of the barbarians”—the Slovak provincial believed it was necessary to organise clandestine trips to Turin so that young religious (both clerics and coadjutors) could complete their studies and he asked Fr Titus to undertake, the risky activity of smuggling them across the border to Austria. He carried out two such expeditions for more than 60 young Salesians, giving the credit for their success to Mary Help of Christians and winning the admiration of Fr Peter Ricaldone and the other superiors in Turin.
During a third expedition in April 1951, he and the other fugitives were caught and arrested. He then underwent a difficult trial, during which he was accused of being a traitor to his country and a Vatican spy and he risked the death penalty. On 22 February 1952, in consideration of attenuating circumstances, he was instead condemned to 25 years in prison.
A Slow Martyrdom:
Fr Titus was released from prison after 12 years on 10 March 1964. He was suffering obviously from the long ordeal in prison and survived only five years, dying on 8 January 1969. He was very much known for his holiness and, indeed, his martyrdom. He lived his life of suffering with a great spirit of sacrifice and as an offering: “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.”
Zeman was acclaimed a Servant of God in 2010 under Pope Benedict XVI after the Canonisation process commenced in Bratislava – the cause was taken with ascertaining whether Zeman had died “in odium fidei” (in hatred of the faith). Pope Francis approved his Beatification on 27 February 201 – the Beatification occurred in Bratislava on 30 September 2017.
St Garibaldus of Regensburg
St Gudule of Brussels
St Helladius
St Julian of Beauvais
St Lawrence Giustiniani
St Lucian of Beauvais
St Maximian of Beauvais
St Maximus of Pavia
Bl Nathalan of Aberdeen
St Patiens of Metz
St Pega of Peakirk
St Severinus of Noricum
St Theophilus the Martyr
St Thorfinn Blessed Titus Zeman SDB (1915-1969) Priest and Martyr
The above film was the winner of the International “Festival dobrých správ” (of Good News) honoured a short film about the life of blessed Titus Zeman SDB. The video entitled “Titus Zeman – a martyr for spiritual freedom to follow oneʹs vocation” was first place in the category of short films under 15 minutes and takes a closer look at the heroic sacrifice of the Salesian. The author of the winning film is Salesian past pupil Roman Maturkanič from Slovakia who currently works as a film director. “Probably the biggest challenge was to narrate the very eventful life of Titus in such a short time. We won the first place prize, but we could say that this is Titusʹ victory,” said the director of the film’s achievement in the competition.
St Wulsin of Sherborne
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Martyrs of Greece – 9 saints: A group of Christians honored in Greece as martyrs, but we have no details about their lives or deaths – Euctus, Felix, Januarius, Lucius, Palladius, Piscus, Rusticus, Secundus and Timotheus
Martyrs of Terni – 4 saints: A group of Christian soldiers in the imperial Roman army. Executed during the persecutions of emperor Claudius. Martyrs. – Carbonanus, Claudius, Planus and Tibudianus. They were martyred in 270 in Terni, Italy.
Quote/s of the Day – 7 January – St Raymond of Peñafort (1175-1275) “Father of Canon Law”
“This is that enviable and blessed Cross of Christ . . . the Cross in which alone, we must make our boast, as Paul, God’s chosen instrument, has told us.”
“May the God of love and peace, set your hearts at rest and speed you on your journey, may He meanwhile, shelter you from disturbance by others, in the hidden recesses of His love, until He brings you, at last, into that place of complete plenitude, where you will repose forever, in the vision of peace, in the security of trust and in the restful enjoyment of His riches.”
One Minute Reflection – 7 January – Second day after Epiphany, Readings: 1 John 4:7-10, Psalm 72:1-4, 7-8, Mark 6:34-44 and the Memorial of St Raymond of Peñafort OP (1175-1275)
And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people ... Mark 6:41
REFLECTION – “Christ gave us His flesh to eat in order to deepen our love for Him. When we approach Him, then, there should be burning within us, a fire of love and longing… The wise men paid homage to Christ’s body even when it was lying in a manger… They only saw Christ in a manger, they saw nothing of what you now see and yet they approached Him with profound awe and reverence.
You see Him, not in a manger but on an altar, not carried by a woman but offered by a priest and you see the Spirit bountifully poured out upon the offerings of bread and wine. Unlike the wise men, you do not merely see Christ’s body, you know His power as well and the whole divine plan for our salvation… Let us then awaken in ourselves a feeling of awe and let us show a far greater reverence than did those foreigners so that we do not approach this sacrament casually, without thinking of what we do…
This food strengthens us, it emboldens us to speak freely to our God, it is our hope, our salvation, our light and our life.
If we go to the next world fortified by this sacrifice, we shall enter its sacred portals with perfect confidence, as though protected all over, by armour of gold. But why do I speak of the next world? Because of this sacrament earth becomes heaven for you. Throw open the gates of heaven, look through and you will see the proof of what I say. What is heaven’s most precious possession? I will show you it here on earth. I do not show you angels or archangels, heaven or the heaven of heavens but I show you the very Lord of all these. Do you not see how you gaze, here on earth, upon what is most precious of all? You not only gaze on it but touch it as well. You not only touch it but eat it. So cleanse your soul from sin and prepare your mind to receive these mysteries.” … St John Chrysostom (345-407) Bishop of Constantinople, Father and Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Almighty God, our Father, when Your only-begotten Son revealed Himself in flesh and blood, we came to know Him as our fellow-man . Now He feeds us by His mysteries and cleanses us by His Blood to transform us inwardly, until we bear His likeness. As You inspired St Raymond of Peñafort with an immense compassion for sinners and captives, grant us, through his prayer, freedom from sin and the grace to do Your will. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever with You, amen.
Saint of the Day – 7 January – St Raymond of Peñafort OP (1175-1275) known as the “Father of Canon Law” – Master of the Order of Preachers, Archbishop, Dominican Priest, Confessor, Evangelist, Missionary, Theologian,Teacher, Philosopher, Lawyer of both Canon and Civil Law, Writer, Spiritual Director and Adviser, Preacher, miracle worker. Born as Raimundo de Peñafort in 1175 at Peñafort, Catalonia, Spain and died on 6 January 1275, aged 100 years old, at Barcelona, Spain of natural causes . Patronages – attorneys, barristers, lawyers, canon lawyers, medical record librarians, Barcelona, Spain, Navarre, Spain.
As a lawyer, priest and preacher, St Raymond of Penyafort made a significant mark on the history of Spain and the church. His preaching helped re-Christianise Spain after the Moors were overthrown. And his compilation of papal and conciliar decrees, it was the main source of canon law for seven centuries.
Raymond of Peñafort was born in Vilafranca del Penedès, a small town near Barcelona, Catalonia, around 1175 . Descended from a noble family with ties to the royal house of Aragon, he was educated in Barcelona and at the University of Bologna, where he received doctorates in both civil and canon law.
An accomplished lawyer and scholar, Raymond joined the Dominicans at Barcelona in 1222. The 47-year-old novice was assigned to develop a book of case studies for confessors that helped to shape the medieval church’s penitential system. Also a gifted preacher, Raymond had remarkable success evangelising Moors and Jews. And he travelled throughout Spain rejuvenating the spiritual life of Christians that the Moors had enslaved. Among his main themes were spiritual combat and standing firm in trials. Listen to his voice in this letter:
“The preacher of God’s truth has told us that all who want to live righteously in Christ will suffer persecution. . . . the only exception to this general statement is, I think, the person who either neglects, or does not know how, to live temperately, justly and righteously in this world.
May you never be numbered among those whose house is peaceful, quiet and free from care, those on whom the Lord’s chastisement does not descend, those who live out their days in prosperity and in the twinkling of an eye will go down to hell.
Your purity of life, your devotion, deserve and call for a reward, because you are acceptable and pleasing to God, your purity of life must be made purer still, by frequent buffetings, until you attain perfect sincerity of heart. If from time to time you feel the sword falling on you with double or treble force, this also should be seen as sheer joy and the mark of love. The two-edged sword consists in conflict without, fears within. It falls with double or treble force within, when the cunning spirit troubles the depths of your heart with guile and enticements. . . . The sword falls with double and treble force externally when, without cause, persecution breaks out from within the church, where wounds are more serious, especially when inflicted by friends.
This is that enviable and blessed cross of Christ . . . the cross in which alone we must make our boast, as Paul, God’s chosen instrument, has told us.”
St Raymond on the left with the key which represents his unlocking of the decretals
In 1230, Pope Gregory IX brought Raymond to Rome as his confessor. The reputation of the saint for juridical science decided the pope to employ Raymond of Peñafort’s talents in re-arranging and codifying the canons of the Church. He had to rewrite and condense decrees that had been multiplying for centuries and which were contained in some twelve or fourteen collections already existing. We learn from a Bull of Gregory IX to the Universities of Paris and Bologna, that many of the decrees in the collections were but repetitions of ones issued before, many contradicted what had been determined in previous decrees and many, on account of their great length, led to endless confusion, while others had never been embodied in any collection and were of uncertain authority.
The pope announced the new publication in a Bull directed to the doctors and students of Paris and Bologna in 1231 and commanded that the work of St Raymond alone, should be considered authoritative and should alone, be used in the schools. Because they were so well arranged, canonists relied on Raymond’s Decretals until the new codification of 1917.
When Raymond completed his work, the pope appointed him Archbishop of Tarragona but the saint declined the honour. After declining the appointment of Archbishop, he could not avoid his election as the third general of the Dominicans in 1238. But when he reformed the Dominican rule, he slipped in a clause allowing early retirement of office holders. And he used it to retire in 1240.
But he continued to work 35 more years, focusing on bringing Jews and Moors to Christ. To equip Catholics for this work, he introduced the study of Hebrew and Arabic among Dominicans and persuaded Thomas Aquinas to write his Summa Contra Gentes as an evangelistic tool. Raymond told his general that ten thousand Moors had been baptised through the efforts of the Dominicans. He died at 100 years of age in 1275.
St Raymond was Canonised by Pope Clement VIII in 1601. He was buried in the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia in Barcelona.
st Raymond’s Tomb in Barcelona Cathedral
Most Famous Miracle
Raymond of Penyafort served as the confessor for King James I of Aragon, who was a loyal son of the Church but allowed his lustful desires to shackle him. While on the island of Majorca to initiate a campaign to help convert the Moors living there, the king brought his mistress with him. Raymond reproved the king and asked him repeatedly to dismiss his concubine. This the king refused to do. Finally, the saint told the king that he could remain with him no longer and made plans to leave for Barcelona. But the king forbade Raymond to leave the island and threatened punishment to any ship captain who dared to take him.
Saint Raymond then said to his Dominican companion, “Soon you will see how the King of heaven will confound the wicked deeds of this earthly king and provide me with a ship!” They then went down to the seashore where Raymond took off his cappa (the long black cloak the Dominicans wear over the white tunic and scapular) and spread one end of it on the water while rigging the other end to his walking staff. Having thus formed a miniature mast, Raymond bid the other Dominican to hop on but his companion, lacking the saint’s faith, refused to do so. Then Raymond bid him farewell and with the Sign of the Cross he pushed away from the shore and miraculously sailed away on his cloak. Skirting around the very boats that had forbidden him passage, the saint was seen by scores of sailors who shouted in astonishment and urged him on.
Raymond sailed the ~160 miles to Barcelona in the space of 6 hours, where his landing was witnessed by a crowd of amazed spectators.
Touched by this miracle, King James I renounced his evil ways and thereafter, led a good life.
St Raymond of Peñafort OP (1175-1275) (“Father of Canon Law”) (Optional Memorial)
St Aldric of Le Mans
Bl Ambrose Fernandez
St Anastasius of Sens
St Brannock of Braunton
St Candida of Greece
St Canute Lavard
St Cedd
St Clerus of Antioch
St Crispin I of Pavia
St Cronan Beg
St Emilian of Saujon
St Felix of Heraclea
Bl Franciscus Bae Gwan-gyeom
St Januarius of Heraclea
St Julian of Cagliari
St Kentigerna
St Lucian of Antioch
Bl Marie-Thérèse Haze
St Pallada of Greece
St Polyeuctus of Melitene
St Reinhold of Cologne
St Spolicostus of Greece
St Theodore of Egypt
St Tillo of Solignac
St Valentine of Passau
St Virginia of Ste-Verge
Bl Wittikund of Westphalia
Quote/s of the Day – 6 January – First Day after Epiphany and the Memorial of St André Bessette (1845-1937)
“When you invoke St Joseph, you don’t have to say much. Say, “if you were in my place, St Joseph, what would you do? Well, pray for this on my behalf.”
“When you say to God, ‘our Father’, He has His ear right next to your lips.”
“It is with the smallest brushes that the Artist paints the best paintings.”
One Minute Reflection – 6 January – First Day after Epiphany, Readings:
1 John 3:22–4:6, Psalm 2:7-8, 10-11, Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25
” .. The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death, light has arisen.” … Matthew 4:16
REFLECTION – “In speaking of vision, or rather of a great light, Matthew undoubtedly intends us to understand our Saviour’s luminous preaching, the radiance of the Good News of the Kingdom of God. The land of Zebulon and of Naphtali heard it from our Lord’s own mouth before anyone else…
For in fact it was in this particular land that our Lord began to preach, it was there His preaching was inaugurated… And the apostles, who were the first to see this true light over these regions of Zabulon and Naphtali, themselves became “lights of the world”... As Isaiah’s text continues: “They rejoice before you as at the harvest, as men make merry when dividing the spoils.” This joy will indeed become the apostles’s joy, it will be a twofold joy when “they come back like reapers carrying their sheaves” and “as conquerors sharing the spoil”, that is to say of the conquered devil…
For it was You, our Lord and Saviour, who removed from their shoulders “the yoke that burdened them”, that yoke of the devil’s who in former times lorded it over the world when he reigned over all the nations and caused their necks to bow beneath the yoke of a grievous slavery… You it was who, without troops, without bloodshed, in the secret of Your power, freed us to place us at Your service… Yes, the devil will be “burned as fuel for the flames” because “a child is born to us”, the lowly Son of God “upon whose shoulders dominion rests” because, being God, He is able to possess the pre-eminence by His own strength… And His “dominion extends” since He will not only reign over the Jews, as David did but He will have the sovereignty over all nations “both now and forever”.” … Rupert of Deutz OSB (c 1075-1130) Benedictine Monk, Theologian, Exegete, Writer.
PRAYER – Lord, may the radiance of Your glory, light up our hearts and bring us through the shadows of this world, until we reach our homeland of everlasting light. May the prayers of St Andre Bessette and all Your saints who stand beside You, be an assistance in our moments of trial. Through Christ, the Light which shows us light and the Holy Spirit, God now and forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 6 January – Saint André Bessette CSC (1845-1937) “God’s Doorkeeper” more commonly known as Brother André and since his Canonisation as Saint André of Montreal, was a lay brother of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Apostle of Prayer, the Holy Eucharist, the Passion of Christ and of charity to the sick. He is famous for the many miracles worked during his and since his death. He was a devotee of St Joseph and constantly attributed all the cures to his intercession.
Saint Brother André, born Alfred Bessette on 8 August 1845 in Saint-Grégoire d’Iberville, Quebec, was the eighth in a family of 12 children, four of whom died in infancy. At birth, he was so frail that the curé baptised him in an emergency ritual the following day. The family was working-class, his father, Isaac Bessette, was a carpenter and lumberman and his mother, Clothilde Foisy Bessette, saw to the education of her children. In 1849, with employment scarce and his family living in poverty, Alfred’s father moved to Farnham, Quebec to work as a lumberman but soon perished tragically crushed by a falling tree. André was only nine years old and his mother died of tuberculosis three years later, when he was 12 years of age, he was an orphan, without money or education.
He remained small for his age and rather frail. He tried working as a helper on his uncle’s farm and he tried learning a number of trades – shoemaking, baking, welding and blacksmithing but his health did not permit him to persevere in any of them. When he was about 18, he emigrated to New England, where he found work in the textile industry.
He returned to Canada in 1867 and he pastor of his parish, the Fr André Provençal, noticed the devotion and generosity of the young man. He decided to present Alfred to the Congregation of Holy Cross in Montreal, writing a note to the superior, “I’m sending you a saint.” Although he was initially rejected by the order because of frail health, Archbishop Ignace Bourget of Montreal intervened on his behalf and in 1872, Alfred was accepted and entered the novitiate of the congregation, receiving the religious name of Brother André, by which he was known for the rest of his life. He made his final vows on 2 February 1874, at the age of 28. Although he spoke fluent French and English, he could neither read nor write.
For 40 years, he was the porter at Notre-Dame College in Montreal. He also looked after the laundry and the sacristy, he ran errands and cleaned. “When I joined this community, the superiors showed me the door, and I remained 40 years,” he said. As his work permitted, Brother André visited the sick and met with the handicapped and the chronically ill. His great confidence in Saint Joseph inspired him to recommend the saint’s devotion to all those who were afflicted.
On his many visits to the sick in their homes, he would rub the sick person lightly with oil taken from a lamp burning in the college chapel and recommend them, in prayer, to Saint Joseph. People claimed that they had been cured through the prayers of the good Brother and Saint Joseph and they were grateful their prayers had been heard.
His reputation spread throughout Montreal and many brought their sick relatives to see the College door-keeper. They came in such great numbers that there were complaints from the parents of students and Brother André’s superiors as well as doctors, the compromise solution was to authorise him to place a statue of Saint Joseph on the mountainside, facing the College.
In 1904, with the help of some lay friends he built a wooden chapel on Mount Royal. The cost, $200, came from the offerings of those whom he had helped and from the nickels he charged students for haircuts. Pilgrims flocked to the chapel and so many people wrote to Brother André with requests for prayers that four secretaries were required to answer their letters. The chapel was enlarged in 1908 and a stone crypt was erected in 1917. Construction of the Basilica began in 1924. It was finally completed in 1967. Saint Joseph’s Oratory on Mount Royal is known around the world as a place of pilgrimage. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people are drawn to this place of prayer and recollection.
Brother André died on 6 January 1937, at the age of 91. A million people filed past his coffin.
The remains of Brother André lie in the church he helped build. His body lies in a tomb built below the Oratory’s Main Chapel, except for his heart, which is preserved in a reliquary in the same Oratory. The heart was stolen in March 1973, but was recovered in December 1974 with the help of famous criminal attorney Frank Shoofey. He was declared Blessed on 23 May 1982 by Saint John Paul II. On Sunday, 17 October 2010, Pope Benedict Canonised him.
André Bessette was above all a man of prayer. Father André Provençal, who had recommended him as a candidate for joining the religious of the Holy Cross, had noticed his piety when Alfred was a young man. Alfred was hesitant to present himself to the Holy Cross novitiate because he had so little education but Father Provençal managed to persuade him that one didn’t have to know how to read or write in order to pray. St André’s spirit of prayer overcame the reticence of his Holy Cross superiors. The novice master was convinced that even if he turned out to be unsuitable for work, he could surely pray and teach by example.
Prayer was at the heart of his works of mercy. He prayed with the sick and involved them in praying, inviting them to reconciliation with God. He regularly prayed well into the night. He meditated on the passion of Jesus and saw the suffering of Jesus in the suffering people who came to him for help.
Like Moses on the mountain, he spent hours in intercessory prayer on behalf of those who asked him to talk to God on their behalf, often at the foot of the crucifix and before the Blessed Sacrament. That is where he found the courage, the patience and the serenity, to carry on his joyful love of all who came to his door.
Stained Glass window with St Andre Bessette at the University of Notre Dame.
He understood Saint Joseph’s life to be much like his own – a worker, at times an emigrant, fulfilling the role of a servant in an educational context. This was also the reality of many of the people who shared with Brother André their difficulties, suffering, weaknesses and illnesses. His love of God and neighbour became a movement of the people, based entirely on word of mouth and the witness of those who had received help from his prayers.
St André Bessette, Pray for us too, we beg you, amen.
Statue of St André Bessette on the grounds of Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal.
The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord – Epiphany celebrates the visit of the three kings or wise men to the Christ Child, signifying the extension of salvation to the Gentiles. The date of Epiphany, one of the oldest Christian feasts, is 6 January the 12th day after Christmas. However, in most countries, the celebration of Epiphany is transferred to the Sunday that falls between January 2 and January 8 (inclusive). Greece, Ireland, Italy and Poland continue to observe Epiphany on 6 January as do some dioceses in Germany.
Because Epiphany is one of the most important Christian feasts, it is a Holy Day of Obligation in most countries.
St Demetrius of Philadelphia
St Diman Dubh of Connor
St Edeyrn
St Eigrad
St Erminold of Prüfening
St Felix of Nantes
Bl Frederick of Saint-Vanne
Bl Gertrud of Traunkirchen
Bl Gertrude van Oosten
St Guarinus of Sion
St Guy of Auxerre
St Honorius
St Hywyn of Aberdaron
St John de Ribera
St Julian of Antinoë
St Julius
Bl Luc of Roucy
Bl Macarius the Scot
St Macra of Rheims
St Merinus
St Nilammon of Geris
St St Petran of Landévennec
St Peter of Canterbury
Bl Peter Thomas
St Pia of Quedlinburg
St Pompejanus
St Rafaela Porras y Ayllón
Bl Raymond de Blanes
Bl Rita Amada de Jesus
St Schotin
St Wiltrudis of Bergen
—
Martyrs in Africa: Unknown number of Christian men and women who were martyred in the persecutions of Septimus Severus. They were burned to death c 210.
Martyrs of Sirmium – 8 saints: A group of Christians martyred together for their faith. The only surviving details are the names of eight of them – Anastasius VIII, Florianus, Florus, Jucundus, Peter, Ratites, Tatia and Tilis. They were martyred in the 4th century at Syrmium, Pannonia (modern Sremska Mitrovica, Vojvodina, Serbia).
Twelve Apostles Saints of Ireland: Twelve 6th century Irish monks who studied under Saint Finian at Clonard Abbey and then spread the faith throughout Ireland. Each has his own commemoration but on this day they and their good work are considered and celebrated together. Though Saint Finian is sometimes included, most ancient writers list them as –
• Brendan of Birr
• Brendan the Navigator
• Columba of Iona
• Columba of Terryglass
• Keiran of Saighir
• Kieran of Clonmacnois
• Canice of Aghaboe
• Lasserian of Leighlin
• Mobhí of Glasnevin
• Ninnidh the Saintly of Loch Erne
• Ruadh´n of Lorrha
• Senan of Iniscathay
Saint of the Day – 5 January – Saint Genoveva Torres Morales (1870-1956) – Nun and Foundress of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Angels (The Angélicas) of which Order she is the Patron, known as the “Angel of Solitude,” Apostle of the Holy Eucharist and of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Genoveva Torres Morales was born on 3 January 1870 in Almenara, Castille, Spain, the youngest of six children. By the age of eight, both her parents and four of her siblings had died, leaving Genoveva to care for the home and her brother, José. Although he treated her with respect, José was very demanding and taciturn. Being deprived of affection and companionship from her early years, Genoveva became accustomed to solitude.
When she was 10, she took a special interest in reading spiritual books. Through this pursuit she came to understand that true happiness is doing God’s will and it was for this reason that each one of us is created. This became her rule of life.
At the age of 13, Genoveva’s left leg had to be amputated in order to stop the gangrene that was spreading there. The amputation was done in her home and since the anaesthesia was not sufficient, the pain was excruciating. Throughout her life her leg caused her pain and sickness and she was forced to use crutches.
From 1885 to 1894 she lived at the Mercy Home run by the Carmelites of Charity. In the nine years she lived with the sisters and with other children, the young Genoveva deepened her life of piety and perfected her sewing skills. It was also in these years that Fr Carlos Ferrís, a diocesan priest and future Jesuit and founder of a leprosarium in Fontilles, would guide the “beginnings” of her spiritual and apostolic life.
God also gave Genoveva the gift of “spiritual liberty” and this was something she would endeavour to practise throughout her life. Reflecting on this period at the Mercy Home, she later would write: “I loved freedom of heart very much and worked and am working to achieve it fully…. It does the soul so much good that every effort is nothing compared with this free condition of the heart.”
Genoveva intended to join the Carmelites of Charity but it seems she was not accepted due to her physical condition. She longed to be consecrated to God and, being of a decided and resolute nature, she continued to be open to His guidance.
In 1894 Genoveva left the Carmelites of Charity’s home and went to live briefly with two women who supported themselves by their own work. Together they “shared” the solitude and poverty.
In 1911, Canon Barbarrós suggested that Genoveva begin a new religious community, pointing out that there were many poor women who could not afford to live on their own and thus suffered much hardship. For years, Genoveva had thought of starting a religious congregation that would be solely concerned with meeting the needs of such women, since she knew of no one engaged in this work.
With the help of Canon Barbarrós and Fr Martín Sánchez, SJ, the first community was established in Valencia. Shortly thereafter, other women arrived, wanting to share the same apostolic and spiritual life. It was not long before more communities were established in other parts of Spain, despite many problems and obstacles.
A constant source of suffering for Mother Genoveva was her involvement in external activity and the new foundations. She desired to return to her characteristic interior solitude and remain alone with the Lord but she accepted her calling as God’s will and did not let her physical or interior suffering stop her.
She would say: “Even if I must suffer greatly, thanks be to God’s mercy, I will not lack courage.”
She was known for her kindness and openness to all and for her good sense of humour – she would even joke about her physical ailments.
In 1953, the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Angels received Pontifical approval. Mother Genoveva died on 5 January 1956. She was Beatified by St Pope John Paul II on 29 January 1995 at St Peter’s and Canonised by him on 4 May 2003 in Spain. … Vatican.va
The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord +2019(many countries and Diocese will celebrate tomorrow 6 January, as per usual but many others will celebrate today, the nearest Sunday to the 6th).
Bl Convoyon of Redon
St Deogratias of Carthage
St Dorotheus the Younger
Bl François Peltier
St Gaudentius of Gnesen St Genoveva Torres Morales (1870-1956)
St Gerlac of Valkenburg
Bl Jacques Ledoyen
Bl Joan Grau Bullich
St Kiara
St Lomer of Corbion
Bl Marcelina Darowska
Bl Maria Repetto
Bl Paula of Tuscany
Nl Pierre Tessier
Bl Pietro Bonilli
St Simeon Stylites
St Syncletica
St Talida of Antinoë
—
Martyrs of Africa – 14 saints: A group of Christians martyred together in Africa, date unknown, exact location unknown. We know nothing more than their names – Acutus, Anastasia, Candidus, Coelifloria, Felix, Honorius, Januaria, Jucundus, Lucianus, Marcus, Petrus, Secundus, Severus and Telesphorus.
Martyrs of Sais: A group of Christians martyred for their faith, but about whom no details have survived. They were martyred by drowning near Sais, Egypt.
Martyrs of Upper Egypt: There were many martyrs who suffered in the persecutions of Diocletian in the Thebaid region. Though we know these atrocities occurred, to the point that witnesses claim the torturers and executioners were exhausted by the work, we do not know the names of the saints and we honour them as a group. Many were beheaded and or burned alive in 303 in Upper Egypt.
Quote/s of the Day – 4 January – Saturday of Christmas – the Memorial of Saint Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
“Dear brothers and sisters, Blessed Angela’s life began with a worldly existence, rather remote from God. Yet her meeting with the figure of St Francis and, finally, her meeting with Christ Crucified, reawakened her soul to the presence of God, for the reason that with God alone life becomes true life, because, in sorrow for sin, it becomes love and joy. And this is how Blessed Angela speaks to us.
Today we all risk living as though God did not exist, God seems so distant from daily life. However, God has thousands of ways of His own for each one, to make Himself present in the soul, to show that He exists and knows and loves me. And Blessed Angela wishes to make us attentive to these signs with which the Lord touches our soul, attentive to God’s presence, so as to learn the way with God and towards God, in communion with Christ Crucified.
Let us pray the Lord that He make us attentive to the signs of His presence and that He teach us truly to live.”
Pope Benedict XVI A talk on Angela of Foligno – October, 2010
“O children of God, transform yourselves totally in the human-God who so loved you that He chose to die for you, a most ignominious and altogether unutterably painful death and in the most painful and bitterest way. And this was solely for love of you, O human being.”
One Minute Reflection – 4 January – Saturday of Christmas, Readings:
1 John 3:7-10, Psalm 98:1, 7-9, John 1:35-42
He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him that day … John 1:39
REFLECTION – “John was there and two of his disciples with him.” John was such “a friend of the Bridegroom” that he did not seek his own glory, he simply bore witness to the truth (Jn 3:29.26). Did he dream of keeping back his disciples and preventing them from following the Lord? Not in the least. He himself showed them the one they were to follow (…) He declared: “Why cling to me? I am not the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God (…) Behold him who takes away the sins of the world.”
At these words the two disciples who were with John followed Jesus. “Jesus turned and saw that they were following him and said to them: ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him: ‘Rabbi, where are you staying?” As yet they were not following Him definitively, as we know, they joined themselves to Him when He called them to leave their boat (…), when He said to them: “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:19). That was the moment they joined Him definitively, no longer to leave Him. But for now they wanted to see where Jesus was living and put into practice the words of Scripture: “If you see an intelligent man, seek him out at daybreak; let your feet wear away his doorstep! Learn from him the precepts of the Lord” (cf. Sir 6:36f.). So Jesus showed them where He was living, they went and stayed with Him. What a happy day they spent! What a blessed night! Who can say what it was they heard from the Lord’s mouth? Let us, too, build a dwelling in our hearts, construct a house where Christ can come to teach and converse with us.” … St Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo, Father & Doctor of the Church – Sermons on Saint John’s Gospel, no 7
PRAYER – Almighty God, the light of a new star in heaven, heralded Your saving love . Let the light of Your salvation dawn in our hearts and keep them always open to Your life-giving grace. May we stay with Your Son, for He will teach us Your ways. Kindly hear the prayers on our behalf of Mary our mother and of all Your saints and may St Angela of Foligno intercede today on our behalf. Through Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God now and forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 4 January – Saint Angela of Foligno TOSF (1248-1309) known as the “Mistress of Theologians” – Wife, Mother, Widow, Religious, Mystic, Writer, Third Order Franciscan, Foundress of a religious community, which refused to become an enclosed religious order, so that it might continue her vision of caring for those in need. It is still active. Patronages – against sexual temptation, against temptations, assistance with the death of children, people ridiculed for their piety, widows.
Angela’s birth date, which is not known with certainty, is often listed as 1248. She was born into a wealthy family at Foligno, in Umbria. Married, perhaps at an early age, she had several children. Angela reports that she loved the world and its pleasures. Around the age of 40, she reportedly had a vision of St Francis and recognised the emptiness of her life. From that time, she began to lead a life devoted to higher perfection.
Angela of Foligno is a model for people who want to simplify their lifestyle. As a young adult she reveled in luxury and sensuality. She married a rich man of Foligno, Italy, and used his wealth to indulge herself in possessions. And her impetuous temperament nudged her into sinful behaviour.
However in 1285, Angela experienced a surprising conversion. One day she wept bitterly and confessed a serious sin to a friar, who absolved her. Then she embarked on a life of prayer and penance. Over the next six years, step-by-step she divested herself of her attachments to people and things.
In 1288 her mother, husband and sons died of a plague. As a widow, Angela was free to concentrate on her pursuit of holiness . She modelled herself on St Francis of Assisi and joined the Franciscan Third Order in 1291. Like Francis, Angela expected to meet Christ in the poor. For instance, on Holy Thursday, 1292, she and a companion went to care for lepers at the hospital in Foligno. After they had washed a man who was badly decomposed, they drank some of the bathwater. The experience so moved Angela that she says all the way home she felt “as if we had received Holy Communion.”
Angela of Foligno was a visionary who, like St Catherine of Siena, regularly fell into trances. From 1292 to 1296 she dictated her revelations to Brother Arnold, her confessor. Angela recorded 30 steps of her tortured spiritual journey, which always seemed to blend awareness and absence of God, certitude and doubt and joy and agony.
A small band of disciples gathered around the saint. She led them wisely, instructing them in basic Christian living. This excerpt from her Instructions, advocates prayer and meditation on Scripture:
“No-one can be saved without divine light. Divine light causes us to begin and to make progress and it leads us to the summit of perfection. Therefore, if you want to begin and to receive this divine light, pray. If you have begun to make progress, pray. And if you have reached the summit of perfection and want to be super-illumined so as to remain in that state, pray. If you want faith, pray. If you want hope, pray. If you want charity, pray. If you want poverty, pray. If you want obedience, pray. If you want chastity, pray. If you want humility, pray. If you want meekness, pray. If you want fortitude, pray. If you want any virtue, pray.”
And pray in this fashion – always reading the Book of Life, that is, the life of the God-man, Jesus Christ, whose life consisted of poverty, pain, contempt and true obedience.
At Christmas, 1308, Angela told her companions she would die shortly. A few days later Christ appeared to her, promising to come personally to take her to heaven. She died in her sleep on 3 January 1309, surrounded by her community. Her remains repose in the Church of St Francis at Foligno and many miracles have been recorded there.
Considered a “great medieval mystic,” Angela is said to have received mystical revelations, which she dictated to a scribe in the late 13th century. These accounts are contained in a compilation of two works, her Book of Visions and Instructions.
Pope Clement XI approved the veneration paid to her over the centuries in his Beatification of her on 11 July 1701 and Pope Francis extended the veneration to all the Church on 9 October 2013, declaring her a saint by equipollent Canonisation, recognising the validity of the long-standing veneration of her.
Her feast day is celebrated by the Third Order of Saint Francis, both Secular and Regular, on 4 January (7 January in the United States). Although the community she founded was not recognised as a religious institute until the 20th-century, she is honoured as a religious.
St Aedh Dubh
St Aggaeus the Martyr St Angela of Foligno TOSF (1248-1309)
St Celsus of Trier
Bl Chiara de Ugarte
St Chroman
St Dafrosa of Acquapendente
St Ferreolus of Uzès
St Gaius of Moesia
St Gregory of Langres
St Hermes of Moesia
St Libentius of Hamburg
Bl Louis de Halles St Manuel Gonzalez Garcia (1877–1940) “Apostle of the Abandoned Tabernacles” St Manuel’s Story:
St Mavilus of Adrumetum
St Neophytos
St Neopista of Rome
St St St Oringa of the Cross
Bl Palumbus of Subiaco
St Pharaildis of Ghent
St Rigobert of Rheims
Bl Roger of Ellant
St Stephen du Bourg
St Theoctistus
Bl Thomas Plumtree
—
Martyrs of Africa – 7 saints: A group of Christians martyred together in the persecutions of the Arian Vandal king Hunneric. Saint Bede wrote about them. – Aquilinus, Eugene, Geminus, Marcian, Quintus, Theodotus and Tryphon. In 484 in North Africa.
Martyrs of Rome – 3 saints: Three Christians martyred together in the persecutions of Julian the Apostate for refusing to renounce Christianity as ordered. – Benedicta, Priscillianus and Priscus. In 362 in Rome, Italy.
Saint of the Day – 3 January – Saint Genevieve (c 419-c 502) Virgin, apostle of prayer and of the poor and sick – Patronages – against plague, against natural disasters, against fever, French security forces (chosen in 1962), Paris, France, Women’s Army Corps. In 451 she led a “prayer novena” that was said to have saved Paris by diverting Attila’s Huns away from the city. When the Germanic king Childeric I besieged the city in 464, she acted as an intermediary between the city and its besiegers, collecting food and convincing Childeric to release his prisoners. Her following and her status as patron saint of Paris were promoted by Clotilde – Princess and Saint (c 474-545), who may have commissioned the writing of her vita.
On his way to combat heresy in Britain, St Germanus of Auxerre (c 378-c 448) made an overnight stop at Nanterre, France. In the crowd that gathered to hear him speak, Germanus spotted Genevieve, a beautiful 7-year-old girl and he foresaw her future holiness. When he asked little St Genevieve if she wanted to dedicate her life to God, she enthusiastically said yes. So he laid hands on her with a blessing, thus launching the spiritual career of one of France’s most admired saints.
Saint Genevieve, seventeenth-century painting, Musée Carnavalet, Paris
St Genevieve was born around the year 420 in the small French village of Nanterre. After both of her parents died, she went to live with her godmother in Paris. She was admired for her piety and works of charity and she practised corporal austerities which included abstaining completely from meat and breaking her fast only twice in the week. Many of her neighbours, filled with jealousy and envy, accused Genevieve of being an impostor and a hypocrite.
At 15, Genevieve formally consecrated herself as a virgin but continued to live as a laywoman. Because of her generous giving to the poor, she became widely known in the vicinity around Paris. At first, however, Genevieve met great hostility. But St Germanus defused it by authorising her with public signs of his support.
Once when the Franks were besieging Paris, Genevieve rescued the city from starvation by leading a convoy of ships up the Seine to Troyes to obtain food. In this selection from her biography, we learn that she had to work a miracle to bring it home safely:
During the return voyage, however, the ships were so buffeted by the wind . . . that the high holds fore and aft in which they had stored the grain tipped over on their sides. And the ships filled with water. Quickly Genovefa, her hands stretched toward heaven, begged Christ for assistance. Immediately the ships were righted. Thu,s through her, our God . . . saved eleven grain-laden ships. . . .
When she returned to Paris, her sole concern was to distribute the grain to all according to their needs . She made it her first priority to provide a whole loaf to those whose strength had been sapped by hunger. Thus, when her servant girls went to the ovens they would often find only part of the bread they had baked. . . . But it was soon clear who had taken the bread from the ovens for they noticed the needy carrying loaves throughout the city and heard them magnifying and blessing the name of Genevieve. For she put her hopes not in what is seen but in what is not seen. For she knew the Prophet spoke truly who said: “Whoever is kind to the poor is lending to God” (Proverbs 19:17). For through a revelation of the Holy Spirit she had once been shown that land, where those who lend their treasure to the poor expect to find it again. And for this reason, she was accustomed to weep and pray incessantly, for she knew that as long as she was in the flesh she was exiled from the Lord.
From that time Genevieve enjoyed a heroine’s status and used her influence and wonders on the city’s behalf. For example, she persuaded Childeric, who had conquered Paris, to release many captives. And in 451, when Attila the Hun was advancing on the city, she got the populace to pray and fast for their safety. The invader changed his course and Paris was spared. She also became a trusted adviser to Clovis, the king of the Franks.
St Genevieve had a particular devotion to St Denis (died 3rd century) and wished to erect a chapel in his honour to house his relics. Around the year 475 Genevieve purchased some land at the site of the saint’s burial where a shrine was built. This small chapel became a famous place of pilgrimage during the fifth and sixth centuries.
When Genevieve died around 500, she was buried in the church of Sts Peter and Paul at Paris. So many miracles occurred through her intercession there that it became a pilgrimage spot and came to be called St Genevieve.
St Genevieve’s Tomb
The King, Clovis, founded an abbey for St Genevieve, where she was later re-interred. Under the care of the Benedictines, who established a monastery there, the church witnessed numerous miracles wrought at her tomb. In the year 1129, the city was saved from an epidemic, the relics of St Genevieve were carried in a public procession.
About 1619 Louis XIII named Cardinal François de La Rochefoucauld abbot of Saint Genevieve’s. The canons had been lax and the cardinal selected Charles Faure to reform them. This holy man was born in 1594 and entered the canons regular at Senlis. He was remarkable for his piety and, when ordained, succeeded after a hard struggle in reforming the abbey. Many of the houses of the canons regular adopted his reform. In 1634, he and a dozen companions took charge of Saint-Geneviève-du-Mont of Paris. This became the mother-house of a new congregation, the Canons Regular of St Genevieve, which spread widely over France.
St Pope Antherus
Bl Arnold Wala
St Athanasius of Cilicia
St Bertilia of Mareuil
St Bertille of Thuringia
St Blitmund of Bobbio
St Constant of Gap
St Cyrinus of Cyzicus
St Daniel Himmerod the Younger
Bl Daniel of Padua
St Eustadius
St Finlugh
St Fintan of Doon
St Florentius of Vienne
St Florentius of Vienne the Martyr St Genevieve (c 419-c 502)
Bl Gerard Cagnoli
St Gordius of Cappadocia
St Imbenia
St Kuriakose Elias Chavara
St Lucian of Lentini
St Melorius
St Peter of Palestine
St Primus of Cyzicus
St Salvator of Belluno
St Theogenes of Cyzicus
St Theonas
St Theopemptus of Nicomedia
St Wenog
Bl Bl William Vives
St Zosimus of Cilicia
—
Martyrs of Africa – 12 saints: A group of Christians martyred together in Africa, date unknown, exact location unknown. We know nothing more than their names – Acuta, Candidus, Constantius, Eugenia, Firmus, Hilarinus, Lucida, Martial, Poenica, Possessor, Rogatianus and Statutianus.
Martyrs of Tomi – 7 saints: A group of Christians martyred together, date unknown. We know nothing more than their names – Claudon, Diogenius, Eugene, Eugentus, Pinna, Rhodes and Rhodo. They were martyred at Tomi, Exinius Pontus, Moesia (modern Constanta, Romania).
Quote/s of the Day – 2 January – Christmas Weekday and The Memorial of St Basil the Great (329-379) and St Gregory of Nazianzen (330-390), Readings: 1 John 2:22-28, Psalm 98:1-4, John 1:19-2
“The hairsplitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us. Whoever deliberately commits abortion is subject to the penalty for homicide.”
St Basil the Great (329-379)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians.”
St Gregory of Nazianzen (330-390)
(from his writings on his friendship with St Basil)
“If anyone does not believe that Holy Mary is the Mother of God, such a one is a stranger to the Godhead.”
St Gregory of Nazianzen (330-390) Father & Doctor of the Church
One Minute Reflection – 2 January – Christmas Weekday and The Memorial of St Basil the Great (329-379) and St Gregory of Nazianzen (330-390), Readings: 1 John 2:22-28, Psalm 98:1-4, John 1:19-28
He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” … 1 John 2:23
REFLECTION – “Prepare a way for the Lord.” Brethren, however far you journey along it… from the very nature of goodness, there is no limit to the way along which you travel. And so… the wise and indefatigable traveller… can say to himself each day: “Now I begin”… And how many “go astray in the wilderness”… None of them can yet say: “Now I begin.”
For “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” If the beginning of wisdom, then surely it is also the beginning of the way of goodness… It is this that encourages praise…; it also moves the proud to penance, so that they hear the voice of him crying in the wilderness,ordering the preparation of the way and thus showing how to begin it: “Do penance for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand”…
If you are on the way then fear only one thing, lest you leave it, lest you offend the Lord who leads you along it so that He would abandon you to “wander in the way of your own heart”… If you feel that the way is too narrow look forward to the end to which it leads you. If you were to see how everything is to be attained, then you would say without hesitation: “Broad indeed is your command!” If you cannot see so far, believe Isaiah who could… “Behold,” he says, “the redeemed shall walk by this way and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Sion with singing, everlasting joy shall be upon their heads . They shall obtain also joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Those who dwell sufficiently on this end I think will not only make the way easier for himself but also grow wings, so that he no longer walks but flies… May He, who is the track of the runners and the reward of the winners, lead and guide you along it – He, Christ Jesus.” … Blessed Guerric of Igny (c 1080-1157) Cistercian Abbot – 5th sermon of Advent, SC 166
PRAYER – Look with favour on our morning prayer, Lord and in Your saving love, let Your light penetrate the wilderness in our hearts. May no sordid desires darken our minds, renewed and enlightened as we are, by Your heavenly grace. God our Father, You enriched Your Church and gave examples for us to follow in the life and teachings of Sts Basil and Gregory. Grant that, learning Your truth with humility, we may practise it in faith and love. Sts Basil and Gregory, pray for our beloved Church, pray for all Catholic Christians, through Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 2 January – Christmas Weekday and The Memorial of St Basil the Great (329-379) and St Gregory of Nazianzen (330-390)
Steer the Ship of my Life, Lord By St Basil the Great (329-379)
Steer the ship of my life, Lord,
to Your quiet harbour,
where I can be safe from
the storms of sin and conflict.
Show me the course I should take.
Renew in me the gift of discernment,
so that I can see the right direction
in which I should go.
And give me the strength
and the courage to choose the right course,
even when the sea is rough
and the waves are high,
knowing that through enduring
hardship and danger in Your name
we shall find comfort and peace.
Amen
Saint of the Day – Blessed Marie Anne Blondin SSA (1809-1890) Religious and Foundress of the Sisters of Saint Anne, apostle of the Holy Eucharist and Divine Providence, Teacher – born Esther Blondin on 18 April 1809 in Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada and died on 2 January 1890 at Lachine, Quebec, Canada of natural causes.
Esther Blondin, in religion “Sister Marie Anne”, was born in Terrebonne (Quebec, Canada) on 18 April 1809, in a family of deeply Christian farmers. From her mother she inherited a piety centred on Divine Providence and the Eucharist and, from her father, a deep faith and a strong patience in suffering. Esther and her family were victims of illiteracy so common in French Canadian milieu of the nineteenth century. Still an illiterate at the age of 22, Esther worked as a domestic in the Convent of the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, that had been recently opened in her own village. A year later, she registered as a boarder in order to learn to read and write. She then became a novice in the Congregation but had to leave, due to ill health.
In 1833, Esther became a teacher in the parochial school of Vaudreuil. Little by little, she found out, that one of the causes of this illiteracy was due to a certain Church ruling, that forbade that girls be taught by men and that boys be taught by women. Unable to finance two schools, many parish priests chose to have none. In 1848, under an irresistible call of the Spirit, Esther presented to her Bishop, Ignace Bourget, a plan she long cherished – that of founding a religious congregation “for the education of poor country children, both girls and boys in the same schools”. A rather new project for the time! It even seemed quite rash and contrary to the established order. Since the State was in favour of such schools, Bishop Bourget authorised a modest attempt so as to avoid a greater evil.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne was founded in Vaudreuil on 8 September 1850. Esther, now named “Mother Marie Anne”, became its first superior. The rapid growth of this young Community soon required larger quarters. During the Summer of 1853, Bishop Ignace Bourget transferred the Motherhouse to Saint Jacques de l’Achigan. The new chaplain, Father Louis Adolphe Marechal, interfered in an abusive way in the private life of the Community. During the Foundress’ absence, Father changed the pupils’ boarding fees. Should he be away for a while, he asked that the Sisters await his return to go to confession. After a year of this existing conflict between the chaplain and the Foundress, the latter being anxious to protect the rights of her Community, Bishop Bourget asked Mother Marie Anne, on 18 August 1854, “to resign.” He called for elections and warned Mother Marie Anne “not to accept the superiorship, even if her sisters wanted to re-elect her.” Even though she could be re-elected, according to the Rule of the Community, Mother Marie Anne obeyed her Bishop whom she considered God’s instrument. And she wrote: “As for me, my Lord, I bless Divine Providence a thousand times for the maternal care he shows me in making me walk the way of tribulations and crosses.”
Mother Marie Anne, having been named Directress at Saint Genevieve Convent, became the target of attacks from the Motherhouse authorities, influenced by the dictatorship of Father Marechal. Under the pretext of poor administration, Mother Marie Anne was recalled to the Motherhouse in 1858, with the Bishop’s warning: “take means so that she will not be a nuisance to anyone.” From this new destitution and until her death on 2 January 1890, Mother Marie Anne was kept away from administrative responsibilities. She was even kept away from the General Council deliberations when the 1872 and 1878 elections reelected her. Assigned to mostly hidden work in the laundry and ironing room, she led a life of total self-denial and thus ensured the growth of the Congregation. Behold the paradox of an influence which some wanted to nullify! In the Motherhouse basement laundry room in Lachine, where she spent her days, many generations of novices received from the Foundress a true example of obedience and humility, imbued with authentic relationships which ensure true fraternal charity. To a novice who asked her one day why she, the Foundress, was kept aside in such lowly work, she simply replied with kindness : “The deeper a tree sinks its roots into the soil, the greater are its chances of growing and producing fruit.”
The attitude of Mother Marie Anne, who was a victim of so many injustices, allows us to bring out the evangelical sense she gave to events in her life. Just as Jesus Christ, who passionately worked for the Glory of His Father, so too Mother Marie Anne sought only God’s Glory in all she did. “The greater Glory of God” was the aim she herself gave her Community. “To make God known to the young who have not the happiness of knowing Him”was for her a privileged way of working for the Glory of God. Deprived of her most legitimate rights and robbed of all her personal letters with her bishop, she offered no resistance and she expected, from the infinite goodness of God, the solution to the matter. She was convinced that “He will know well, in his Wisdom, how to discern the false from the true and to reward each one according to his deeds.”
Prevented from being called “Mother” by those in authority, Mother Marie Anne did not jealously hold on to her title of Foundress, rather she chose annihilation, just like Jesus, “her crucified Love”, so that her Community might live. However, she did not renounce her mission of spiritual mother of her Community. She offered herself to God in order “to expiate all the sins which were committed in the Community” and she daily prayed to Saint Anne “to bestow on her spiritual daughters the virtues so necessary for Christian educators.”
Like any prophet invested with a mission of salvation, Mother Marie Anne lived persecution by forgiving without restriction, convinced that “there is more happiness in forgiving than in revenge.” This evangelical forgiveness, the guarantee of “the peace of soul which she held most precious,” was ultimately proven on her death bed when she asked her superior to call for Father Marechal “for the edification of the Sisters.”
As she felt the end approaching, Mother Marie Anne left to her daughters her spiritual testament in these words which are a resume of her whole life : “May Holy Eucharist and perfect abandonment to God’s Will be your heaven on earth.” She then peacefully passed away at the Motherhouse of Lachine, on 2 January 1890, “happy to go to the Good God”she had served all her life…. Vatican.va
St Basil the Great (329-379) Father & Doctor of the Church (Memorial) St Gregory of Nazianzen (330-390) Father & Doctor of the Church (Memorial) About these 2 great fathers:
St Adelard of Corbie
Bl Airaldus of Maurienne
St Asclepius of Limoges
St Aspasius of Auch
St Blidulf of Bobbio
Bl Guillaume Répin
St Hortulana of Assisi
St Isidore of Antioch
St Isidore of Nitria
St Laurent Bâtard
St Macarius the Younger Blessed Marie Anne Blondin SSA (1809-1890)
St Maximus of Vienne
Bl Odino of Rot
St Paracodius of Vienne
St Seraphim of Sarov
St Seiriol
Bl Stephana de Quinzanis
St Telesphorus, Pope
St Theodota
St Theopistus
St Vincentian of Tulle
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Many Martyrs Who Suffered in Rome: There were many martyrs who suffered in the persecutions of Diocletian for refusing to surrender the holy books. Though we know these atrocities occured, we do not know the names of the saints and we honour them as a group. c 303 in Rome, Italy.
Martyrs of Antioch – 5 saints: A group of Christian soldiers martyred together for their faith. We know the names of five – Albanus, Macarius, Possessor, Starus and Stratonicus. They were born in Greece and were martyred in Antioch (modern Antakya, Turkey).
Many Martyrs of Britain: The Christians of Britain appear to have escaped unharmed in the earlier persecutions which afflicted the Church but the cruel edicts of Diocletian were enforced in every corner of the empire and the faithful inhabitants of this land, whether native Britons or Roman colonists, were called upon to furnish their full number of holy Martyrs and Confessors. The names of few are on record but the British historian, Saint Gildas, after relating the martyrdom of Saint Alban, tells us that many others were seized, some put to the most unheard-of tortures and others immediately executed, while not a few hid themselves in forests and deserts and the caves of the earth, where they endured a prolonged death until God called them to their reward. The same writer attributes it to the subsequent invasion of the English, then a pagan people, that the recollection of the places, sanctified by these martyrdoms, has been lost and so little honour paid to their memory. It may be added that, according to one tradition, a thousand of these Christians were overtaken in their flight near Lichfield and cruelly massacred and that the name of Lichfield, or Field of the Dead, is derived from them.
Martyrs of Ethiopia – 3 saints: A group of Christians martyred together for their faith. We know the names of three – Auriga, Claudia and Rutile.
Martyrs of Jerusalem – 2 saints: A group of Christians martyred together for their faith. We know the names of two – Stephen and Vitalis.
Martyrs of Lichfield: Many Christians suffered at Lichfield (aka Lyke-field, meaning field of dead bodies), England in the persecutions of Diocletian. Though we know these atrocities occured, we do not know the names of the saints, and we honour them as a group. Their martyrdom occurred in 304 at Lichfield, England.
Martyrs of Piacenza: A group of Christians who died together for their faith in the persecutions of Diocletian. No details about them have survived. They were martyred on the site of church of Madonna di Campagna, Piacenza, Italy.
Martyrs of Puy – 4 saints: Missionaries, sent by Saint Fronto of Périgueux to the area of Puy, France. Tortured and martyred by local pagans. We know the names – Frontasius, Severinus, Severian and Silanus. They were beheaded in Puy (modern Puy-en-Velay), France and buried together in the church of Notre Dame, Puy-en-Velay by Saint Fronto, their bodies laid out to form a cross.
Martyrs of Syrmium – 7 saints: Group of Christians martyred together, date unknown. We know the names of seven – Acutus, Artaxus, Eugenda, Maximianus, Timothy, Tobias and Vitus – but very little else. This occurred in the 3rd or 4th century at Syrmium, Pannonia (modern Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia).
Martyrs of Tomi – 3 saints: Three brothers, all Christians, all soldiers in the imperial Roman army, and all three martyred in the persecutions of emperor Licinius Licinianus. We know their names – Argeus, Marcellinus and Narcissus – but little else.
They were martyred in 320 at Tomi, Exinius Pontus, Moesia (modern Constanta, Romania).
Quote/s of the Day – 1 January – The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God and the Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord and the Memorial of St Fulgentius of Ruspe (c 462 – 533)
“My brothers, Christ made love the stairway that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it and by your progress in it, make your ascent together.”
St Fulgentius of Ruspe (c 462 – 533)
From a sermon on The Feast of Saint Stephen
“Love God, serve God, everything is in that.”
St Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)
“During this new year, I resolve to begin a new life. I do not know, what will happen to me, during this year. But I abandon myself entirely to You, my God. And my aspirations and all my affections, will be for You. I feel so weak, dear Jesus but with Your help, I hope and resolve, to live a different life, that is, a life closer to You.”
Saint of the Day – 1 January – Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (c 462 – 533) Abbot, Bishop of the city of Ruspe, Roman province of Africa, North Africa in modern day Tunisia, Theologian, Writer- known as “The Pocket Augustine” – born Fabius Claudius Gordianus Fulgentius in c 462 at Carthage, North Africa (modern Tunis, Tunisia) and died on 1 January 533 in Ruspe of natural causes. He is venerated today and on 3 January by the Augustinians.
He was born to a Roman senatorial family, and was well educated. His father Claudius, died while Fulgentius was still quite young. His mother, Mariana taught him to speak Greek and Latin. He became so good at Greek, that he spoke it like a native and committed all of Homer to memory. He was also well trained in Latin literature.
As he grew older, he managed his house wisely in subjection to his mother and Fulgentius quickly gained wide respect for his conduct of the family affairs. This reputation helped him to acquire a post as a civil servant in the government of Rome, as a procurator of Byzacena.
He quickly grew tired of the provincial life. This, together with his studies of religion, particularly a sermon of Saint Augustine of Hippo on Psalm 36, led to his being attracted to a religious life and he entered a monastery, became a monk, then was Ordained and became Abbot.
At the time, the Arian persecutions had ceased but the election of Catholic bishops was forbidden. In 508 it became necessary to defy the law when bishops were consecrated, Fulgentius being chosen for Ruspe (modern Kudiat Rosfa, Tunisia). He was exiled with 60 other bishops to Sardinia. There they built a monastery and continued to write, pray, and study.
Fulgentius was invited back to Carthage by the Arian king Thrasimund to hold a debate with his Arian replacement around 515 and so successfully refuted his Arian opponents that he was exiled again in 518.
King Hilderic succeeded Thrasimund in 523 and permitted the exiles to return. Peace finally being restored to the African church, Fulgentius returned to his Diocese. He would have preferred to return to his monastery and resume his studies but he was such a popular preacher, he was kept busy in the pulpit until his death.
As a Bishop, he followed Augustine’s example in living in community with the clergy of his Diocese. He founded several other monasteries in Africa. When he was exiled to Sardinia, not wanting to be away from the monastic community life, he even founded monasteries there.
Various letters and eight sermons survive. Fulgentius’s work shows his vast knowledge of Greek and a strong influence and agreement with Saint Augustine, so much so, that he is known as “The Pocket Augustine.” He wrote frequently against Arianism and Pelagianism.
Saint Fulgentius died of natural causes in 533 at Ruspe. Some of his relics are located at Bourges, France.
St Fulgentius truly aimed to live a life in conformity with St Augustine’s precept:
“Everything outside of us fluctuates with the storms and temptations of this age. But we need an interior desert, where we gather ourselves and live of our faith.” … (Sermo 47,25)
53rd Annual World Day of Prayer for Peace: Feast day dedicated to peace. It first observed on 1 January 1968, proclaimed by St Pope Paul VI. It was inspired by the encyclical Pacem in Terris by St Pope John XXIII and with reference to Paul’s encyclical Populorum Progressio. Our Holy Fathers have used this day to make magisterial declarations relevant to the social doctrine of the Church on such topics as the United Nations, human rights, women’s rights, labour unions, economic development, the right to life, international diplomacy, peace in the Holy Land, globalisation, migrants, refugees and terrorism.
Titular Feast of the Society of Jesus – But now celebrated on 3 January, the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus
Bl Adalbero of Liege
St Baglan of Wales
St Basil of Aix
Bl Bonannus of Roio
St Brogan
St Buonfiglio Monaldi
Bl Catherine de Solaguti
St Clarus of Vallis Regia
St Clarus of Vienne
St Colman mac Rónán
St Colman Muillin of Derrykeighan
St Concordius of Arles
St Connat
St Cuan
St Demet of Plozévet
St Elvan
St Eugendus of Condat
St Euphrosyne of Alexandria
St Fanchea of Rossory
St Felix of Bourges
St Frodobert of Troyes St Fulgentius of Ruspe (c 462 – 533)
St Gisela of Rosstreppe
St Gregory Nazianzen the Elder
Bl Hugolinus of Gualdo Cattaneo
Bl Jean-Baptiste Lego
Bl Jean of Saint-Just-en-Chaussée
St Joseph Mary Tomasi
St Justin of Chieti
Bl Lojze Grozde
St Maelrhys
St Magnus the Martyr
Bl Marian Konopinski
St Mydwyn
St Odilo of Cluny
St Odilo of Stavelot
St Peter of Atroa
St Peter of Temissis
Bl René Lego
St Sciath of Ardskeagh
St Severino Gallo
St Telemachus
St Thaumastus of Mainz
St Theodotus
St Tyfrydog
Bl Valentin Paquay
St Vincent Strambi
St William of Dijon
St Zedislava Berka
St Zygmunt Gorazdowski
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Breton Missionaries to Britain
Martyred Soldiers of Rome: Thirty soldiers martyred in Rome as a group during the persecutions of Diocletian. We don’t even known their names. They were martyred c 304 at Rome, Italy.
Martyrs of Africa – 8 saints: Eight Christians martyred together in Africa, date unknown. The only details we have are four of their names – Argyrus, Felix, Narcissus and Victor.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Andrés Gómez Sáez
Second Thought for the Day – 31 December – The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas and the Memorial of Blessed Alain de Solminihac (1593-1659) Bishop of Cahors, France
2018 was the 400th Anniversary the Priestly Ordination of Blessed Alain de Solminihac. His Diocese of Cahors, France launched a Year of Vocations to conincide with this event of their former Bishop. One of their aims, besides promoting vocations, was to make known the life and holiness of Blessed Alain. Bishop Laurent Camiade, the current Bishop of Cahors, wrote:
“It is wonderful to know that you are called to holiness and it is inspiring to answer the call, to give your whole life, for consecration in the Church. All Christians are concerned with the “universal vocation to holiness.” Some are specifically called to give their whole life – religious consecration, or in an institute, hermit or order of the virgins, or commitment to celibacy with a view to being ordained a priest.
Providence wanted 2018 to be the 400th anniversary of the Priestly Ordination of Blessed Alain de Solminihac. He was Ordained Deacon on 25 March 1617 and Priest on 22 September 1618. In 1636, he was called again to become Bishop of Cahors. This is why, after having spoken to different councils, I hope that we will take advantage of this Anniversary to return to listening to the teachings of Blessed Alain. He teaches us with his vigorous and profound words … and by his exemplary life, to strive to be courageous, ardent and sober.
Today, as in Alain de Solminihac’s time, devoting his whole life to God involves difficulties. Celibacy according to a sober lifestyle has never been obvious. In the time of Blessed Alain, the choice of becoming a priest, religious or nun, made it possible to ensure material security, thanks to a system of benefits attached to abbeys or dioceses. As a result, in the 17th century, not all consecrated persons had internalised, the spiritual conditions, for living in accordance with their state and the clergy did not always give a good testimony. It is in this context, that Blessed Alain would become a “reformer”, that is to say, a demanding promoter of coherence between vocation and lifestyle.
Alain de Solminihac put spirituality and fidelity to the duties linked to the received mission first. “You must follow the good pleasure of God as soon as you know it , he wrote, and accomplish it by immediately turning your eyes to God, remaining in a simple expectation to receive another sign or command, without wasting time delight in the satisfaction of having accomplished this adorable Will of God.”
The requirements of Blessed Alain sometimes provoked reactions of opposition but they also attracted many young people, happy to give themselves, in a way that made sense and above all, pushed by the Holy Spirit who wanted this for the Church. His motto was Faith and Valour! and he lived up to it!
It is clearly a current need to relaunch the call to specific vocations (priests, religious, nuns, consecrated). The desire to give all of one’s life to follow Christ, exists in many young people (recent statistics prove it) but this is seldom realised, as we can see.
The priests and seminarians of our Diocese are deeply attached to Our Lady of Rocamadour, who played an often decisive role in their engagement. Blessed Alain fought with all the vigour of his temper, to keep this sanctuary in the Diocese of Cahors. We are therefore grateful to him for these graces which, by the will of God, reflect from the pierced heart of Christ, to our local Church. Blessed Alain considered Rocamadour to be the most famous Marian place in the kingdom . He was very attached to Mary who, he explains, “had more humility than all the other saints, because, holier than the others, she had a more perfect knowledge of the excellence of God and by consequence of her own nothingness. “
Relics of Blessed Alain de Solminihac in Cahors
May Blessed Alain de Solminihac help us to share his missionary ardour and his discreet humility.”
One day she wept bitterly and confessed a serious sin to a friar, who absolved her. Then she embarked on a life of prayer and penance. Over the next six years, step-by-step she divested herself of her attachments to people and things.
AnaStpaul 
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