Quote/s of the Day – 23 March – The Memorial of St Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès OLM (1832 – 1914)
“O Christ,
I unite my sufferings to Yours,
my pains with Your pains,
as I look at Your head,
crowned with thorns.”
“I am not afraid of death which I have waited for a long time.
God will let me live through my death.”
One Minute Reflection – 23 March – Monday of the Fourth week of Lent, Readings: Isaiah 65:17-21, Psalm 30:2, 4-6, 11-13, John 4:43-54 and the Memorial of St Rafqa (1832 – 1914)
“Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” … John 4:48
REFLECTION – “Whoever examines the majesty of God will be crushed by his glory” (Prv 25:27 Vg). God can do works that pass man’s understanding. (…) Faith is required of you and sincerity of life, not high intelligence, nor penetrating knowledge of the mysteries of God. If you do not understand nor grasp what is below you, how will you comprehend what is above you? Be subject to God, submit your feeling to the faith and the light of knowledge will be given to you as much as you need and can use.
Some have grave temptations concerning faith and sacrament, which are not to be imputed to them but rather, to the enemy. Take no notice, do not argue with your thoughts, nor answer the doubts with which the devil attacks you, believe God’s word, believe His saints and prophets and the wicked enemy will be routed. It is often most profitable to God’s servant to endure such things. For the devil does not tempt the infidel or sinner, of whom he has already secure possession but he uses various means to tempt and harass the devout faithful.
Go on then, with simple unquestioning faith and approach the Sacrament with reverent beseeching. Anything you cannot understand, commit it surely to God who is omnipotent. God does not deceive you. the over-confident person deceives himself. God walks in step with the simple ones, He shows Himself to the humble ones, He grants understanding to the little ones, “He reveals hidden meanings to little ones” and hides away His grace from the inquisitive and the proud. Human reason is feeble and fallible but true faith cannot be deceived. All use of reason, all human inquiry should walk in the footsteps of faith, it should not go on in front of it nor call it in question.” … Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471)- The Imitation of Christ Bk IV #18
PRAYER – Teach us Holy Father to do Your will! Grant us Your guiding hand and Your grace, that we may trust You in all things. Strengthen us by Your grace and give us a heart willing to live by the love of Your Son, who so loved the world that He gave Himself up to death for our sake. For if we love as He loved, nothing will lead us from You. Grant that the prayers of our most loving and merciful Mother and the blessed loving faith of St Rafqa, may intercede in our necessities. We make our prayer through the Christ, our Lord, one God with You and the Holy Spirit, now and for all eternity, amen.
Saint of the Day – 23 March – St Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès OLM (1832 – 1914) Nun of the Order of Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception, the “Mariamettes” and then of the Lebanese Maronite Order, Teacher and Catechist, Apostle of Prayer and Eucharistic Adoration, Marian devotee, Apostle of suffering – also known as Boutrossieh Ar-Rayes, Lily of Himlaya, Little Flower of Lebanon, Purple Rose, Rafka Al Rayes, Rafqa Shabaq al-Rayes, Rebecca Pierrette Ar-Rayes – born as Boutrossieh (in Arabic as the feminine of Peter) Ar-Rayès on 29 June 1832 and died on 23 March 1914 at the Convent of Saint Joseph, Grabta, Lebanon of natural causes. Patronages – against bodily ills or sickness, against loss of parents, of the sick.
Rafqa in Himlaya (1832-1859):
Rafqa was born in Himlaya, one of the villages of Northern Metn (Lebanon), on 29 June 1832. She was the only child of Mourad Saber el-Choboq el Rayess and Rafqa Gemayel. On 7 July 1832 she was Baptised and named Boutroussieh. Her parents taught her the love of God and the practice of daily prayer. At age seven, she suffered her first great loss with the death of her mother.
In 1843, her father experienced financial difficulties and sent her into service for four years in the home of Assaad Badawi. Rafqa grew into a beautiful, pleasant, humourous young woman, pure and tender with a serene voice.
When she was 14 years old, she returned home to find that her father had remarried. His new wife wanted Rafqa to marry her step-brother. Conflict developed when her step-mother sought to arrange a marriage between her son and Rafqa.
Rafqa in the Congregation of the Mariamettes (1859-1971):
At this time, Rafqa felt drawn to the religious life. She asked God to help her achieve her desire and set off for the convent of Our Lady of Deliverance in Bikfaya, accompanied by two girls whom she met along the road. When she entered the convent church, she felt deep joy and happiness. One look at the icon of Our Lady of Deliverance and she heard God’s voice confirming her desire to enter religious life.
Following a year of postulancy, Rafqa received the habit of her congregation on the feast of St Joseph, 19 March 1861. A year later, she pronounced her first vows. The new nun, along with sister Mary Gemayel, was assigned to work in the Jesuit-run seminary in Ghazir. Among the seminarians were Elias Houwayek and Boutros el-Zoghbi, later to become Partriarch and Archbishop, respectively. Rafqa was in charge of kitchen service. In her free time she studied Arabic, calligraphy and mathematics and also helped to educate girls aspiring to join her congregation.
In 1860 Rafqa was sent to Deir el-Kamar to teach Catechism. There she witnessed the bloody clashes that occurred in Lebanon during this period. On one occasion, she risked her own life by hiding a child under her robe and saving him from death. After a year in Deir el-Kamar, Rafqa returned to Ghazir. In 1862, she was sent to teach in a school of her order in Byblos. One year later, she was transferred to Maad village. There, with another nun, she spent seven years establishing a new school for girls, made possible through the generosity of Antoun Issa.
Rafqa in the Lebanese Maronite Order (1871-1914):
1. In the Monastery of St Simon el-Qarn in Aito (1871-1897)
While living in Maad and following a crisis in her congregation, Rafqa sought divine guidance. Entering St George’s Church, she prayed for help. Once again, she heard the Lord’s voice confirming her call to religious life. Soon after, she dreamt that St George, S. Simon and St Anthony the Great, the Father of Monasticism, were telling her to enter the Lebanese Maronite Order.
Her move from Maad to the Maronite Monastery of St Simon el-Qarn in Aito was facilitated by the generosity of Mr Antoun ISSA. She was immediately admitted to the Order, receiving the habit on 12 July 1871 and pronouncing her vows on 25 August 1872. She received the name, sister Rafqa, after her mother.
She was to spend the next 26 years in the monastery of St Simon. In her observation of the rule, her devotion to prayer and silence, in her life of sacrifice and austerity, she was a role model to the other nuns.
In 1885 Rafqa decided not to join the nuns for a walk around the monastery. In her autobiographical account she wrote, “It was the first Sunday of the Rosary. I did not accompany them. Before leaving each of the nuns came and said to me, ‘Pray for me sister.’ There were some who asked me to say seven decades of the Rosary … I went to the Church and started to pray. Seeing that I was in good health and that I had never been sick in my life, I prayed to God in this way, ‘Why, O my God, have you distanced yourself from me and have abandoned me . You have never visited me with sickness! Have you perhaps abandoned me?’” Rafqa continued in her account to her superior, the next night after the prayer “At the moment of sleeping I felt a most violent pain spreading above my eyes to the point that I reached the state you see me in, blind and paralysed and as I myself had asked for sickness I could not allow myself to complain or murmur.”
Her superior insisted that she undergo medical treatment. After all local attempts to cure her had failed, she was sent to Beirut for treatment. Passing by St John-Mark’s Church in Byblos, her companions learned that an American doctor was travelling in the area. Contacted, he agreed to perform surgery on the afflicted eye. St Rafqa refused anesthesia. In the course of the surgery, her eye became completely detached. Within a short time, the disease struck the left eye.
For the next 12 years she continued to experience intense pain in her head. Throughout this period, as before, she remained patient and uncomplaining, praying in thanksgiving for the gift of sharing in Jesus’ suffering.
2. Rafqa in St Joseph Monastery al Dahr in Jrabta (1897-1914):
When the Lebanese Maronite Order decided to build the Monastery of St Joseph al Dahr in Jrabta, Batroun, in 1897, six nuns, led by Mother Ursula Doumit, were sent to the new monastery. Rafqa was among them.
In 1899, she lost the sight in her left eye. With this a new stage of her suffering began, intensified by the dislocation of her clavicle and her right hip and leg. Her vertebrae were visible through her skin. Her face was spared and remained shining to the end. Her hands stayed intact and she used them to knit socks and make clothing. She thanked God for the use of her hands while also thanking Him for permitting her a share in His Son’s suffering.
Based on direct evidence and on the autopsy of Rafqa’s remains in 1927, she had become paralysed due to complete disarticulation in her wrist and finger joints, while the pain continued in her head, her devastated eye sockets and her nosebleeds … completely immobile, her lower jaw touched her benumbed knee.
Even in this state, Rafqa was able to crawl to the chapel on the feast of Corpus Christi to the amazement of all the sisters. When asked about this, Rafqa replied, “I don’t know. I asked God to help me and suddenly I felt myself slipping from the bed with my legs hanging down, I fell on the floor and crawled to the chapel.”
On a separate occasion, when asked by her superior if she would like to see, Rafqa responded, “I would like to see for at least an hour, to be able to look at you.” In an instant the superior could see Rafqa smile and suddenly said, “Look, I can see now.” Not believing her, Sister Ursula put her to the test asking her to identify several objects.
Three days before her death, Rafqa said, “I am not afraid of death which I have waited for a long time. God will let me live through my death.” Then on 23 March 1914, four minutes after receiving final absolution and the plenary indulgence, after a life of prayer and service and years of unbearable pain, she rested in peace. She was buried in the Monastery cemetery.
On 10 July 1927, her body was transferred to a shrine in the corner of the Monastery chapel. The cause for her Beatification was introduced on 23 December 1925 and canonical investigation of her life began on 16 May 1926. St Pope John Paul II declared her Venerable on 11 February 1982; Beatified her on 17 November 1985 as a role model in the Adoration of the Eucharist during the Jubilee Year 2000. … Vatican.va
St Rafqa was Canonised by St Pope John Paul II on 10 June 2001. In his homily he said:
“By Canonising Blessed Rafqa Choboq Ar-Rayès, the Church sheds a very particular light on the mystery of love given and received for the glory of God and the salvation of the world. This nun of the Lebanese Maronite Order desired to love and to give her life for her people. In the sufferings which never left her for 29 years of her life, St Rafqa always showed a passionate and generous love for the salvation of her brothers, drawing from her union with Christ, who died on the cross, the force to accept voluntarily and to love suffering, the authentic way of holiness.
May St Rafqa watch over those who know suffering, particularly over the peoples of the Middle East who must face a destructive and sterile spiral of violence. Through her intercession, let us ask the Lord to open hearts to the patient quest for new ways to peace and so hasten the advent of reconciliation and harmony.”
https://anastpaul.com/2019/06/26/saint-of-the-day-blessed-jacques-ghazir-haddad-ofm-cap-1875-1954/
St Turibius of Mogrovejo (1538-1606) (Optional Memorial)
Biography:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/03/23/saint-of-the-day-23-march-st-turibius-of-mogrovejo-1538-1606/
Bl Álvaro del Portillo Díez de Sollano
Bl Annunciata Asteria Cocchetti
St Benedict of Campagna
St Crescentius of Carthage
Bl Edmund Sykes
St Ethelwald of Farne
St Felix the Martyr
St Felix of Monte Cassino
St Fergus of Duleek
St Fidelis the Martyr
St Frumentius of Hadrumetum
St Gwinear
St Joseph Oriol (1650-1702)
His life:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/03/23/saint-of-the-day-23-march-st-joseph-oriol-1650-1702/
St Julian the Confessor
St Liberatus of Carthage
St Maidoc of Fiddown
Bl Metod Dominik Trcka
St Nicon of Sicily
St Ottone Frangipane
Bl Peter Higgins
Bl Pietro of Gubbio
St Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès OLM (1832 – 1914)
St Theodolus of Antioch
St Victorian of Hadrumetum
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Daughters of Feradhach: They are mentioned in early calendars and martyrologies, but no information about them has survived.
Martyrs of Caesarea – 5 saints: A group of five Christians who protested public games which were dedicated to pagan gods. Martyred in the persecutions Julian the Apostate. The only details we know about them are their names – Aquila, Domitius, Eparchius, Pelagia and Theodosia. They were martyred in 361 in Caesarea, Palestine.
Saint of the Day – 22 March – Blessed Bronislaw Komorowski (1889-1940) Priest and Martyr. Born on 25 May 1889 in Barlozno, Pomorskie, Poland and died by shooting, on Good Friday 22 March 1940 in a field, outside the Stutthof concentration camp near Sztutowo, Pomorskie, Poland. Bl Bronislaw, a Polish Patriot and Teacher, was murdered by the Nazi occupiers at Stutthof concentration camp, together with a number of Polish activists captured during the Polish September Campaign . On 13 June 1999, Fr Komorowski was among 108 Polish Martyrs of World War II, Beatified in Warsaw by St Pope John Paul II.
Bronisław Komorowski was born on 25 May 1889 in Barłożno near Starogard Gdański in a peasant family. After finishing the primary school and studies in Collegium Marianum in Pelplino, in years 1910-1914 he studied at the Seminary in Pelplino. He was Ordained to the Holy Orders on 2 April 1914.
From the beginning of his pastoral work, Fr Komorowski was an activist of Polonia of the Free City of Gdańsk. Beginning in 1920 he participated actively, in organising chaplaincy, churches and ministry in the Polish language. In 1923, together with other Polish activists, he created the Polish Churches Construction Association and in 1924 he created a church in a former riding arena in Gdańsk where he organised a chaplaincy for the Polish population. In 1925, thanks to his efforts, the Saint Stanislaus church was Consecrated. In the following years he continued his activity for the benefit of the Polish people in the Free City of Gdańsk. Many associations and organisations were created thanks to his initiative. Fr Komorowski was also a political activist. In 1933-1934, he was one of the councilors of the Free City of Gdańsk. In 1935, he run for Polish deputy in the Volkstag in Gdańsk.
Arrest
On 1 September 1936 Fr Bronisław Komorowski was arrested in his parish, from where he was taken to “Viktoria Schule”. Maksymilan Kempiński, a prisoner of the Nazis, describes this moment in his memoirs: ”Then I saw that Fr Komorowski was passing through the gate and did not avoid the blows of the soldiers. Upright, though stained with blood, he reached our small room.” Another prisoner, Wiesław Arlet, also remembers his meeting with Fr Komorowski in “Viktoria Schule” – “After the registration, my group was lead to a cellar so crowded that one could only stand. Among the maltreated people I saw Fr Komorowski, the parish priest of the Saint Stanislaus church in Wrzeszcz. His mouth was crushed into a bloody pulp”.
Stutthof
On 2 September, Fr Komorowski was placed in a 150-person group of prisoners sent in the first transport to Stutthof concentration camp. From the beginning of his imprisonment in the camp, he was persecuted and harassed by the SS men. Firstly, he worked on constructing the camp’s barracks, then he was given the hardest and most unpleasant work, mostly cleaning the toilets. In this way the Nazis wanted to humiliate the well-known Polish priest. They also named him the “captain” of the group which was cleaning the camp cesspit, at the same time forcing him to harass his subordinates. They didn’t achieve their goal because, as one of the prisoners, Roman Bellwon, recalls: “…he showed Christian love towards others, helping the most exhausted, sharing his food with them. Maltreated and cruelly tormented, until the end, he kept his heart open to everyone and a smile on his face. He always kept up our spirits and he always showed a truly Polish and sacerdotal attitude.”
Another witness of the humiliation of Fr Komorowski by the Nazis, Fr Wojciech Gajdus, asked him once what he felt when he was working in cesspit as a “captain.” Fr Bronislaw responded: “I felt as if I was in the pulpit watched by the prisoners and I cared that the sermon should be good. I think these were my finest sermons”.
In the last days of September 1939, Fr Bronisław Komorowski together with other priests, had been accused of stocking up on weapons in the church to protect themselves there. He was threatened that if he didn’t plead “guilty” he would be shot. Because he did not confirm the accusation he was punished with a three-day imprisonment in a bunker, where he was starved and tortured.
Execution
On 22 March 1940, on Good Friday, Fr Bronisław Komorowski together with a group of 66 activists of Polonia Gdańska, was taken away to the woods near the camp and shot. The grave was hidden but in 1946 it was found. After the exhumation, the bodies were buried on 4 April 1947 on the Gdańsk-Zaspa cemetery.
In 1999, Fr Bronislaw was Beatified by St Pope John Paul II. In the same year, the Social Committee of the Construction of the Blessed Bronisław Komorowski Monument was established. The monument was unveiled on the Bronisław Komorowski square in Wrzeszcz in 2000, in the 110th anniversary of the priest’s birth, the 85th anniversary of his Ordination and 75th anniversary of the Consecration of the Saint Stanislaus church.
Fourth “Laetare” Sunday of Lent +2019
Our Lady of the Seven Veils:
About:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/03/22/memorial-of-our-lady-of-the-seven-veils-and-memorials-of-the-saints-22-march/
Our Lady of Sorrows of Castelpetroso:
About the Apparitions:
http://mariancalendar.org/our-lady-of-sorrows-castelpetroso-italy/
St Avitus of Périgord
St Basil of Ancyra
St Basilissa of Galatia
St Benevenuto Scotivoli of Osimo
Blessed Bronislaw Komorowski (1889-1940) Priest and Martyr
St Callinica of Galatia
Bl Clemens August von Galen (1878-1946)
The Lion of Munster!
https://anastpaul.com/2019/03/22/saint-of-the-day-22-march-blessed-clemens-august-count-von-galen-1878-1946/
St Darerca of Ireland
St Deghitche
St Epaphroditus of Terracina
St Failbhe of Iona
Bl François-Louis Chartier
St Harlindis of Arland
Bl Hugolinus Zefferini
St Lea of Rome
Bl Marian Górecki
St Nicholas Owen SJ (1562-1606)
Dear St Nicholas Owen – The Priest-Hole Builder:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/03/22/saint-of-the-day-22-march-st-nicholas-owen-s-j-1562-1606-the-priest-hole-builder-martyr/
St Octavian of Carthage
St Paul of Narbonne
St Saturninus the Martyr
St Trien of Killelga
One Minute Reflection – 21 March – Saturday of the Third Week of Lent, Readings: Hosea 6:1-6, Psalm 51:3-4, 18-21, Luke 18:9-14 and the Memorial of St Enda of Aran
“…For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but he who humbles himself, will be exalted.”… Luke 18:14
REFLECTION – “It is of capital importance that you emphasise what is the basis for holiness and the foundation of goodness. I mean, to talk about the virtue of which Jesus presents himself explicitly as the model – humility (cf. Mt 11:29).
Inner humility, more inner than outward.
Recognise who you truly are – a nothing, something quite miserable, weak, full of defects, capable of turning good into bad, to let go the good, for the bad, to attribute to yourself the good and to justify yourself in doing bad and for love of evil, to despise the One who is the Supreme Good.
Never go to bed before having first examined your conscience to consider how you spent your day. Turn all your thoughts towards the Lord and consecrate to Him your own person, as well as all Christians. Then offer to His glory, the sleep you will get, without ever forgetting your guardian angel, who is always at your side.” … Saint Pio of Pietralcina “Padre Pio” (1887-1968) – Buona Giornata
PRAYER – We turn to You our God and Father and seek Your comfort and assurance. Jesus, our Lord, Your Son, taught us how to pray in humility and all we need to be and do, to reach You. Be patient good Father, as we grow by Your grace. May the prayers of St Enda, be heard together with the Mother of Christ and of Humility, as they pray on our behalf. Through Jesus our Lord, in union with the Holy Spirit, God now and forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 21 March – St Enda of Aran (c 450 – c 530) Priest, Monk, Abbot of Aran “Fatheh of Irish Monasticism” and Aran is known as “Aran of the Saints” – also known as Éanna, Edna, Éinne, Endeus, Enna – born in Meath, Ireland and died in c 530 of natural causes. Enda was a warrior-king of Oriel in Ulster, converted by his sister, Saint Fanchea, an abbess. About 484 he established the first Irish Monastery at Killeaney on Aran Mor. Most of the great Irish saints had some connection with Aran.
According to the Martyrdom of Oengus, Enda was an Irish prince, son of Conall Derg of Oriel (Ergall) in Ulster. Legend has it that when his father died, he succeeded him as king and went off to fight his enemies. The soldier Enda, was converted by his sister, Saint Fanchea, an abbess. He visited St Fanchea of Rossory (died c 585), who tried to persuade him to lay down his arms. He agreed, if only she would give him a young girl in the convent for a wife. He renounced his dreams of conquest and decided to marry. The girl she promised turned out to have just died and Fanchea forced him to view the girl’s corpse, to teach him that he, too, would face death and judgment.
Faced with the reality of death and by his sister’s persuasion, Enda decided to study for the priesthood and studied first at St Ailbe’s monastery at Emly. Fanchea sent him to Rosnat, a great centre of Monasticism. There he took Monastic vows and was Ordained.
In this way, St Fanchea succeeded in turning her brother not only from violence but even from marriage. He left Ireland for several years, during which time he became a Monk and was ordained as a Priest.
Upon his return to Ireland, he petitioned his King Aengus of Munster – who was married to another of Enda’s sisters – to grant him land for a Monastic settlement on the Aran Islands, a beautiful but austere location near Galway Bay off Ireland’s west coast.
During its early years, Enda’s island mission had around 150 monks. As the community grew, he divided up the territory between his disciples, who founded their own Monasteries to accommodate the large number of vocations. Enda did not found a religious order in the modern sense but he did hold a position of authority and leadership over the Monastic settlements of Aran – which became known as “Aran of the Saints,” renowned for the monks’ strict rule of life and passionate love for God.
Enda’s monks imitated the asceticism and simplicity of the earliest Egyptian desert hermits. He established the Monastery of Enda, which is regarded as the first Irish Monastery, at Killeany on Inismór. He also established a Monastery in the Boyne valley and several others across the island and along with St Finnian of Clonard is known as the Father of Irish monasticism. At Killeaney, the monks lived a hard life of manual labour, prayer, fasting and study of the Scriptures. The monks of Aran lived alone in their stone cells, slept on the ground, ate together in silence and survived by farming and fishing. St Enda’s monastic rule, like those of St Basil in the Greek East and St Benedict in the Latin West, set aside many hours for prayer and the study of scripture.
Enda divided the island into two parts, one half assigned to the Monastery of Killeany, and the western half to such of his disciples as chose “to erect permanent religious houses on the island.” Later he divided the island into 8 parts, in each of which he built a “place of refuge”. The life of Enda and his monks was frugal and austere. The day was divided into fixed periods for prayer, labour and sacred study. Each community had its own church and its village of stone cells, in which they slept either on the bare ground or on a bundle of straw covered with a rug but always in the clothes worn by day. They assembled for their daily devotions in the church or oratory of the saint under whose immediate care they were placed. The monks took their meals in silence in a common refectory, from a common kitchen, having no fires in their stone cells, however cold the weather or wild the seas.
They invariably carried out the monastic rule of procuring their own food and clothing by the labour of their hands. Some fished around the islands, others cultivated patches of oats or barley in sheltered spots between the rocks. Others ground grain or kneaded the meal into bread and baked it for the use of the brethren. They spun and wove their own garments from the undyed wool of their own sheep. They could grow no fruit in these storm-swept islands, they drank neither wine nor mead and they had no flesh meat, except perhaps a little for the sick.
During his own lifetime, Enda’s Monastic settlement on the Aran islands became an important pilgrimage destination, as well as a centre for the evangelisation of surrounding areas. At least two dozen Canonised Saints had some association with “Aran of the Saints.”
Enda’s Monastery flourished until Viking times but much of the stone was ransacked by Cromwell’s men in the 1650s for fortifications, so only scattered ruins remain. Most survive as coastal ruined towers. Cattle, goats, and horses now huddle and shiver in the storm under many of the ruins of old walls where once men lived and prayed. These structures were the chosen home of a group of poor and devoted men under Saint Enda. He taught them to love the hard rock, the dripping cave and the barren earth swept by the western gales. They were “Men of the Caves” and “also Men of the Cross.”
St Enda himself died in old age around the year 530. An early chronicler of his life declared that it would “never be known until the day of judgment, the number of saints whose bodies lie in the soil of Aran,” on account of the onetime-warrior’s response to God’s surprising call. His remains are buried at Tighlagheany, Inishmore, Ireland.
During his own lifetime, Enda’s monastic settlement on the Aran islands became an important pilgrimage destination, as well as a centre for the evangelisation of surrounding areas. At least two dozen canonised individuals had some association with “Aran of the Saints”. Among these were Saint Brendan the Navigator (c 484–c 577) https://anastpaul.com/2019/05/16/saint-of-the-day-16-may-st-brendan-the-navigator-c-484-c-577/, who was blessed for his voyage there, St Jarlath of Tuam, St Finnian of Clonard (470–549) https://anastpaul.com/2019/12/12/saint-of-the-day-12-december-saint-finnian-of-clonard-470-549-tutor-of-the-saints-of-ireland/ and Saint Columban (543-615) https://anastpaul.com/2018/11/23/saint-of-the-day-23-november-st-columban-543-615/ who called it the “Sun of the West. Aran became a miniature Mount Athos, with a dozen Monasteries scattered over the island, the most famous, Killeany, where Enda himself lived. There, a great tradition of austerity, holiness and learning was begun.
Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise (c 516 – c 549) came there first as a youth to grind corn and would have remained there for life but for Enda’s insistence that his true work lay elsewhere, reluctant though he was to part with him. When he departed, the Monks of Enda lined the shore as he knelt for the last time to receive Enda’s blessing and watched as the boat bore him from them. Saint Finnian left St Enda and founded the Monastery of Moville (where Columba spent part of his youth) and who afterwards became Bishop of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy.
Those who lived there loved the islands which “as a necklace of pearls, God has set upon the bosom of the sea” and all the more, because they had been the scene of heathen worship – according to a prophecy, “there will be left only three islands altogether, when Innish is sent from mortal planes, Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer.” On the largest will stand Saint Enda’s well and altar and the round tower of the church, where the bell was sounded, which gave the signal that Saint Enda had taken his place at the altar. At the tolling of the bell the service of the Mass began in all the churches of the island.
Alfonso de Rojas
St Augustine Tchao
St Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello (1791 – 1858)
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/03/21/saint-of-the-day-21-march-st-benedetta-cambiagio-frassinello-1791-1858/
St Birillus of Catania
St Christian of Cologne
St Domninus of Rome
St Enda of Aran (c 450 – c 530)
St Isenger of Verdun
St James the Confessor
Bl John of Valence
Bl Lucia of Verona
St Lupicinus of Condat
Bl Mark Gjani
Bl Matthew Flathers
St Nicholas of Flue (1417-1487)
About St Nicholas:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/03/21/saint-of-the-day-21-march-st-nicholas-of-flue-1417-1487/
St Philemon of Rome
Bl Santuccia Terrebotti
Bl Thomas Pilcher
Bl William Pike
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Martyrs of Alexandria: A large but unknown number of Catholics massacred in several churches during Good Friday services in Alexandria, Egypt by Arian heretics during the persecutions of Constantius and Philagrio. They were martyred on Good Friday in 342 in Alexandria, Egypt.
One Minute Reflection – 20 March – Friday of the Third week of Lent, Readings: Hosea 14:1-9 (2-10), Psalm 81:6-11, 14, 17, Mark 12:28-34 and the Memorial of St Maria Josefa of the Heart of Jesus (1842-1912)
“…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” …Mark 12:30-32
REFLECTION – “The love-story between God and man consists in the very fact that this communion of will, increases in a communion of thought and sentiment and thus our will and God’s will increasingly coincide – God’s will is no longer for me an alien will, something imposed on me from without, by the commandments but it is now, my own will, based on the realisation that God is, in fact, more deeply present to me, than I am to myself. Then self- abandonment to God increases and God becomes our joy (cf. Ps 73 [72]:23-28).
Love of neighbour is thus shown to be possible, in the way proclaimed by the Bible, by Jesus. It consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then, I learn, to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend… Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more, than their outward necessities, I can give them the look of love which they crave.”…Pope Benedict XVI – Encyclical “ Deus caritas est ”, # 17 – 18
PRAYER – Holy and eternal Father, we give praise to You for the radiant light You sent into the world, Your divine Son, Your Word made flesh. For He guides our steps in a path of light and teaches us how to live. May we love and glorify You and love our neighbour as ourselves. Grant, we pray, that by the help of Your angels and saints and Mary, our Immaculate Mother, we may proceed to live Your Word of Truth. St Maria Josefa of the Heart of Jesus please pray for us today. Through Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 20 March – Saint Maria Josefa of the Heart of Jesus (1842-1912) – Virgin, Nun, Founder of the Congregation known as the Servants of Jesus of Charity, Apostle of Charity, she had a particular devotion to the Holy Eucharist, the Passion of Christ and Devotion of the Blessed Virgin. Born as María Josefa Sancho de Guerra was born on 7 September 1842 in Vitoria, Basque Country, Spain and died on 20 March 1912 in Bilbao, Vizcaya, Spain of natural causes. Patronage – The Servants of Jesus of Charity.
LIFE AND WORKS
Maria Josefa of the Heart of Jesus, eldest daughter of Bernabe Sancho, chair-maker and of Petra de Guerra, housewife, was born in Vitoria (Spain) on 7 September 1842 and was baptised the following day. According to the custom practiced then, she was confirmed two years after, on 10 August 1844. Her father died when she was seven years old, her mother prepared her for the First Communion, which she received at ten years old. At the age of fifteen she was sent to Madrid to some relatives to receive education and a more complete formation. The characteristic traits of her infancy and childhood were – a strong piety to the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary, a remarkable sensibility towards the poor and the sick and an inclination to solitude.
She returned to Vitoria at the age of eighteen and manifested to her mother the desire to enter in a monastery, feeling an attraction to the cloistered life.
From adulthood, Blessed Maria Josefa used to repeat: “I was born with a religious vocation.” Only that, looking at the circumstances, it shows that she passed various experiences but not without listening to different suggestions of wise churchmen, before finding the definitive form of her vocation. She was, in fact, to be on the point of entering to the Conceptionists Contemplative of Aranjuez in 1860 but was prevented by the occurrence of a grave sickness of typhus. Her mother helped her to overcome the disappointment.
On the succeeding months, it seemed to her understanding that the Lord calls her to a type of religious active life. For this, she decided to enter in the Institute of the Servants of Mary, recently founded in Madrid by Saint Soledad Torres Acosta. With the coming of the time of her profession, she was assailed with grave doubts and uncertainty on her effective call in that Institute. She opened her soul to various confessors and from their advices she felt that she was mistaken in her vocation.
The meetings with the holy Archbishop Claret (St Anthony Mary Claret) and the serene conversations with the same Saint Soledad Torres Acosta, gradually arrived at the decision of leaving the Institute of the Servants of Mary form a new religious family, that had for its aim, the exclusive assistance to the sick in the hospitals and in their homes. Sharing this same ideal with three other Servants of Mary, who with the permission of Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, went out together with her with the same purpose.
The new foundation was made in Bilbao in the spring of 1871, when Maria Josefa was twenty nine years old. Since then, and for the succeeding forty one years, she was superior of the new Institute of the Servants of Jesus. She embarked on difficult trips to visit the different communities until a long sickness confined her in the house of Bilbao. Obliged to stay in bed or in an armchair, she continued to follow the events of the various communities within and outside Spain, through a painstaking correspondence. On her death, on 20 March 1912, which happened after long years of suffering, there were 43 houses founded and the number of her Sisters reached, more than one thousand.
Her holy death caused great impact to Bilbao and in numerous localities where she was known through the houses of her Institute. In the same way, her funeral had an extraordinary resonance. She was buried in the municipal cemetery of Bilbao. In 1926, her fame of sanctity grew and her mortal remains were transferred to the Mother House of the Institute and have been buried in the chapel there ever since.
SPIRITUALITY
The writings and the testimonies of the eye-witnesses put in evidence the central points of the spirituality of Blessed Maria Josefa:
1) Great love to the Eucharist and of the Sacred Heart.
2) Profound adoration to the mystery of Redemption and intimate participation to the sufferings of Christ and to his Cross.
3) Total dedication to the service of the sick in a context of contemplative spirit.
Here are some significant expressions taken from her writings:
“The charity and mutual love constitute even in this life, the paradise of the community. Without the cross we cannot live, wherever we go, because the religious life is a life of sacrifice and of abnegation. The foundation of greatest perfection is the fraternal charity.” (Don Pablo B. Aristegui, Beata Maria Josefa del Cuore di Gesù, Mensajero, Bilbao, 1992, p. 97).
“Don’t believe sisters, that the assistance consists only in giving medicines and food to the sick. There is another type of assistance that must never be forgotten and it is the assistance of the heart, that adjusts and enters in sympathy with the person who suffers and goes to meet his necessities.” (Ibidem, p. 100).
CHARISM TO SERVE THE SICK
The particular footprint imprinted by Mother Josefa to the Institute of the Servants of Jesus reflects her interior experience of a soul consecrated to the charitable service of the neighbour, especially to the sick, in a climate of contemplative spirit. We find her concept well expressed in the Directorio de Asistencias, written by herself, where it is understood and affirmed, that the Servants of Jesus provides for the sick, that she accompanies even to the door of eternity, a blessing better than that of a missionary, who with his preaching calls those who are lost to the right path of life.
“In this manner, as written in the functional manuals of our Institute, designed to procure the corporal health of the neighbour, is elevated to a great height, making our active life more perfect than that of a contemplative, as taught by the angelic teacher St Thomas, who speaks about the works directed to the salvation of souls derived from contemplation.” (Directorio de Asistencias de la Congregación Religiosas Siervas de Jesús de la Caridad, Vitoria, 1930, p. 9).
With this spirit, the Servants of Jesus, from the death of their Mother Maria Josefa and until now, have continued their service to the sick, with a generous offering of their lives in complete imitation of their Foundress.
Furthermore, in conformity to the progress of times and the necessities of the modern life, from the primary end of the assistance to the sick, the assistance to old persons in residences and the reception and assistance to the children in day care centres, some others were added, such as – provision of food to the indigents, centres for those afflicted with AIDS, day care centres for the aged, pastoral health care and other works of beneficence and charities, above all in the poorest places of Latin America and Asia.
Today, the 1,050 Religious of the Institute of the Servants of Jesus are present in Spain and in other countries such as Italy, France, Portugal, Chile, Argentina, Columbia, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Philippines.
ITINERARY OF THE CAUSE
A few years after the death of Mother Maria Josefa, the Institute of the Servants of Jesus planned to start the Cause of the Canonisation but because of the adverse circumstances due to the Spanish civil war of 1936 and the Second World War, was able to realise the plan only after almost thirty years.
a) On 31 May 1951, was the start of the Informative Ordinary Process in Bilbao.
b) On 7 January 1972 the Decretum super introductione Causae.
c) On 7 September 1989 was promulgated the Decretum super Virtutibus.
d) On 27 September 1992 she was solemnly beatified in Saint Peter’s Square.
e) The Consistory took place on 10 March 2000 where the Holy Father St John Paul II fixed the date of her Canonisation for 1 October 2000. … Vatican.va (translated from Spanish).
Prayer for the Intercession of St Maria Josefa
We bless You, Lord,
because You have chosen Saint Maria Josefa of the Heart of Jesus,
to make Your merciful love present in the world of pain.
Grant us the grace,
that through her intercession,
our request may be granted
………… (make the request)
and may her example help us to clothe ourselves
with the knowledge of the goodness and love of Your Divine Heart,
for the sick, elderly and children.
Heart of Jesus, health of the sick.
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, strength of the elderly.
Have mercy on us.
Heart of Jesus, friend of children.
Have mercy on us.
For more images in the Museum in the Birth home of the Saint in Bilbao, Spain and in the Reliquary in the Motherhouse:
https://www.siervasdejesusmadrid.org/qui%C3%A9nes-somos/nuestra-fundadora/museos
Bl Ambrose Sansedoni of Siena
Anastasius XVI
Archippus of Colossi
St Benignus of Flay
St Cathcan of Rath-derthaighe
St Clement of Ireland
St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
Bl Francis Palau y Quer
St Guillermo de Peñacorada
St Herbert of Derwenwater
Bl Hippolytus Galantini
Bl Jeanne Veron
Bl John Baptist Spagnuolo
St John Nepomucene
St John Sergius
St Jósef Bilczewski (1860-1923)
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/03/20/saint-of-the-day-20-march-st-josef-bilczewski-1860-1923/
St Maria Josefa of the Heart of Jesus/Sancho de Guerra (1842-1912)
St Martin of Braga (c 520–580)
Biography:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/saint-of-the-day-20-march-st-martin-of-braga-c-520-580/
St Nicetas of Apollonias
St Remigius of Strasbourg
St Tertricus of Langres
St Urbitius of Metz
St Wulfram of Sens
—
Martyrs of Amisus – 8 saints: A group of Christian women martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. The only details we have are eight of their names – Alexandra, Caldia, Derphuta, Euphemia, Euphrasia, Juliana, Matrona and Theodosia. They were burned to death c 300 in Amisus, Paphlagonia (modern Samsun, Turkey).
Martyrs of Rome – 9+ saints: A group of Christians martyred together in the persecutions of Nero. We know nothing else about them but the names Anatolius, Cyriaca, Joseph, Parasceve, Photis, Photius, Sebastian and Victor.
Martyrs of San Saba – 20 saints: Twenty monks who were martyred together in their monastery by invading Saracens.
They were martyred in 797 when they were burned inside the San Sabas monastery in Palestine.
Martyrs of Syria – 3+ saints: A group of Christians who were martyred together in Syria. We know nothing else about them but the names Cyril, Eugene and Paul.
Thought for the Day – 19 March – The Solemnity of the Feast of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
“If it is true that the importance of his God-given role upon earth is the measure of a Saint’s greatness, then with the exception of Mary, none is greater than St Joseph.
He was chosen by God as the head of the Holy Family, as the most chaste spouse of the Mother of God and the foster-father of Jesus Christ.
The Word Incarnate, the Lord and King of Heaven and earth, was obedient to him, as was the Blessed Virgin, the holiest of creatures.
He lived for thirty years in the company of Mary and was the chaste guardian of her virginity and divine motherhood.
He had the privilege of clasping the holy Infant to his breast and of providing, by his labour, for the needs of Him, whose omnipotence, causes the corn to sprout and brings forth the many fruits of the soil.
In this regard, St Joseph is greater than any of the Angels, for none of them was ever entrusted with such a sublime mission.
For this reason, we should love him, in the same way as he loved his most chaste spouse, Mary and, his foster child, Jesus.
Knowing that he will certainly protect us, we should entrust all our cares and needs to him.”
Quote/s of the Day – 19 March – The Solemnity of the Feast of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church
“Go, then to Joseph and do all, that he shall say to you,
Go to Joseph and obey him, as Jesus and Mary obeyed him,
Go to Joseph and speak to him, as they spoke to him,
Go to Joseph and consult him, as they consulted him,
Go to Joseph and honour him, as they honoured him,
Go to Joseph and be grateful to him, as they were grateful to him,
Go to Joseph and love him, as they love him still.”
“He was there to show Jesus to the world
and to hide Him when need arose,
to protect and nourish Him
and then to follow Him
at a distance and remain in the
shadows of the Lord’s mysteries,
shadows which were
every now and then,
lit with a heavenly radiance,
by the light touch
of a passing angel.”
“Be in good spirits
under the fatherly mantle of St Joseph,
a place of safest refuge
in trials and tribulations.”
Bishop of Acqui, Italy and Founder of the Oblates of Saint Joseph
“Ite ad Joseph!
Go to Joseph with extreme confidence,
because I do not remember
having asked anything from St Joseph,
without having obtained it readily.”
More St Joseph Quotes from the Saints here:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/03/19/quote-s-of-the-day-19-march-st-joseph/
Lenten Reflection – 19 March – The Solemnity of the Feast of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church, Readings: 2 Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16, Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29, Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22, Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers,
I will raise up your offspring after you,
who shall come forth from your body and I will establish his kingdom. …2 Samuel 7:12
DAILY MEDITATION:
“He has so much to say to us, in this time, of a strong sense of being orphaned.”
“And this man, this dreamer, is able to accept this duty, this grave duty. He has so much to say to us, in this time, of a strong sense of being orphaned. And so this man takes the promise of God and carries it onward in silence, with strength, he carries it onward so that God’s Will might be done. He is the man who doesn’t speak but obeys, the man of tenderness, the man capable of carrying forward the promises so that they might become solid, certain, the man who guarantees the stability of the Kingdom of God, the paternity of God, our sonship as children of God.
I like to think of Joseph as the guardian of weaknesses, of our weaknesses too, he is able to give birth to so many beautiful things from our weaknesses, even from our sins.” … Pope Francis
For thy steadfast love was established forever,
thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens.
Psalm 89:2
Intercessions:
Christ our Lord came among us as the light of the world, that we might walk in His light
and not in the darkness of death. Let us praise Him and cry out to Him:
Let Your word be a lamp to guide us.
God of mercy, help us today to grow in Your likeness,
– that we who sinned in Adam may rise again in Christ.
Let Your word be a lamp to guide us,
– that we may live the truth and grow always in Your love.
Teach us to be faithful in seeking the common good for Your sake,
– that Your light may shine on the whole human family by means of Your Church.
Touch our hearts to live in trust of Your saving help,
– and to make amends for our sins against Your wisdom and goodness.
Closing Prayer:
St Joseph, be our Protector
By St Pope John XXIII (1881-1963)
St Joseph,
be always our protector.
That your internal spirit of peace,
silence, honest work and prayer
in the service of the Church
give us life and happiness
in union with your blessed Spouse,
our Sweet and Immaculate Mother
in the strong and mild love to Jesus,
Glorious and Immortal King
of the centuries and the people.
Amen
One Minute Reflection – 19 March – The Solemnity of the Feast of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Patron of the Universal Church, Readings: 2 Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16, Psalm 89:2-5, 27, 29, Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22, Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24
When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home … Matthew 1:24
REFLECTION – “When the divine goodness chooses someone to receive a special grace, it gives him all the charisms he needs, which greatly increases his spiritual beauty. This is wholly confirmed in the case of Saint Joseph, legal father of our Lord Jesus Christ and rightful husband of she, who is Queen of the world and Sovereign of angels. The eternal Father chose him to be provider and faithful guardian to his chiefest treasures, namely His Son and His bride – a function he faithfully fulfilled . That is why the Lord said: “Good and faithful servant, come, share your master’s joy” (Mt 25,21).
If you compare Joseph with all the rest of Christ’s Church, is he not the one who has been specially chosen, through whom Christ came into the world in regular and respectable fashion? So, if the whole of holy Church is indebted to the Virgin Mary, because it was she who enabled it to welcome Christ, after her it is to Saint Joseph that it owes a recognition and honour without compare.
Indeed, it is he who brings the Old Testament to an end, it is in him that the dignity of patriarchs and prophets receives its promised fruit. He alone possessed in reality what divine goodness had promised to them. Nor indeed should we doubt that the closeness and respect Christ showed to Joseph during His earthly life, as a son to His father, were ever denied in heaven, rather, He enriched and completed them. So, with reason, the Lord adds: “Enter into your master’s joy”.
PRAYER – Blessed Joseph, remember us, intercede with the help of your prayers to your adopted Son and may you likewise make the blessed Virgin, your spouse, to be favourable towards us, for she is the mother of Him, who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns world without end.” … St Bernadine of Siena (1380-1444) – Sermon on Saint Joseph
Saint of the Day – 19 March – Blessed Sibyllina Biscossi (1287-1367) OP Blind Dominican Virgin and Recluse, Penitent, Miracle-worker – also known as Sibyllina of Pavia, Sybil – Additional Memorials – 20 March (Pavia, Italy) and 23 March (Order of Preachers). Patronages – Children whose parents are not married, illegitimacy, loss of parents, housemaids. Her body is incorrupt. 
The Roman Martyrology says of her – In Pavia, in Lombardy, Blessed Sibyllina Biscossi, Virgin, who became blind at the age of twelve, spent sixty-five years imprisoned alongside the Church of the Order of Preachers, shining with its interior light many who flocked to it.
“All things work for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). How many of us would have the faith to trust in God’s providence as did this holy woman? As Mother Angelica has witnessed, true faith is knowing that when the Lord asks you to walk into the void, He will place a rock beneath your feet. True faith is to be able to praise God in all things, to say with Job, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
Sybillina’s parents died when she was tiny and as soon as she was old enough to be of use to anyone, the neighbours, who had taken her in at the time she was orphaned, put her out to work. She must have been very young when she started to work, because at the age of 12, when she became blind and could not work any more, she already had several years of work behind her.
The cause of her blindness is unknown but the child was left doubly destitute with the loss of her sight. The local chapter of the Dominican tertiary sisters took compassion on the child and brought her home to live with them. After a little while of experiencing their kind help, she wanted to join them. They accepted her, young though she was, more out of pity than in any hope of her being able to carry on their busy and varied apostolate.
They were soon agreeably surprised to find out how much she could do. She learned to chant the Office quickly and sweetly and to absorb their teaching about mental prayer as though she had been born for it. She imposed great obligations of prayer on herself, since she could not help them in other ways. Her greatest devotion was to Saint Dominic and it was to him she addressed herself when she finally became convinced that she simply must have her sight back so that she could help the sisters with their work.
Praying earnestly for this intention, Sybillina waited for his feast day. Then, she was certain, he would cure her. Matins came and went with no miracle, little hours, Vespers– and she was still blind. With a sinking heart, Sybillina knelt before Saint Dominic’s statue and begged him to help her. Kneeling there, she was rapt in ecstasy and she saw him come out of the darkness and take her by the hand.
He took her to a dark tunnel entrance and she went into the blackness at his word. Terrified but still clinging to his hand, she advanced past invisible horrors, still guided and protected by his presence. Dawn came gradually and then light, then a blaze of glory. “In eternity, dear child,” he said. “Here, you must suffer darkness so that you may one day behold eternal light.”
Sybillina, the eager child, was replaced by a mature and thoughtful Sybillina who knew that there would be no cure for her, that she must work her way to heaven through the darkness. She decided to become a anchorite and obtained the necessary permission. In 1302, at the age of 15, she was sealed into a tiny cell next to the Dominican church at Pavia. At first she had a companion but her fellow recluse soon gave up the life. Sybillina remained, now alone, as well as blind.
The first seven years were the worst, she later admitted. The cold was intense and she never permitted herself a fire. The church, of course, was not heated and she wore the same clothes winter and summer. In the winter there was only one way to keep from freezing–keep moving–so she genuflected and gave herself the discipline. She slept on a board and ate practically nothing. To the tiny window, that was her only communication with the outside world, came the troubled and the sinful and the sick, all begging for her help. She prayed for all of them and worked many miracles in the lives of the people of Pavia.
One of the more amusing requests came from a woman who was terrified of the dark. Sybillina was praying for her when she saw her in a vision and observed that the woman–who thought she was hearing things–put on a fur hood to shut out the noise. The next day the woman came to see her and Sybillina laughed gaily. “You were really scared last night, weren’t you?” she asked. “I laughed when I saw you pull that hood over your ears.” The legend reports that the woman was never frightened again.
Sybillina had a lively sense of the Real Presence and a deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. One day a priest was going past her window with Viaticum for the sick, she knew that the host was not consecrated and told him so. He investigated and found he had indeed taken a host from the wrong container.
Sybillina lived as a recluse for 65 years. She followed all the Masses and Offices in the church, spending what few spare minutes she had working with her hands to earn a few alms for the poor.
She is buried in the Dominican church in Pavia
Her cultus was confirmed in 1853 by Pope Pius IX and she was Beatified by him on 17 August 1854.
From the General Calendar of the Order of Preachers on her Feast Day:
Let us Pray:
O God, who wast pleased to enlighten the soul of Blessed Sibyllina, Thy Virgin , with admirable splendour, though she was deprived of bodily sight, grant, through her intercession, that, enlightened with light from above, we may despise earthly things and earnestly strive after those that are eternal. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
O Lord, enkindle our hearts with the fire of the Spirit, who wonderfully renewed Blessed Sibyllina. Filled with that heavenly light may we come to know Jesus Christ crucified and always grow in Your love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, one God, forever and ever.
St Joseph (Solemnity)
St Joseph!
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/03/19/saint-of-the-day-19-march-the-solemnity-of-st-joseph-spouse-of-the-most-blessed-virgin-mary-mother-of-god-and-patron-of-the-universal-church/
St Adrian of Maastricht
St Alkmund of Northumbria
St Amantius of Wintershoven
Bl Andrea Gallerani
St Apollonius of Braga
St Auxilius of Ireland
Bl Clement of Dunblane
St Colocer of Saint-Brieuc
St Corbasius of Quimperlé
St Cuthbert of Brittany
St Gemus
Bl Isnard de Chiampo
Bl Jan Turchan
St John the Syrian of Pinna
St Lactali of Freshford
St Landoald of Maastricht
St Leontinus of Braga
St Leontinus of Saintes
Blessed Marcel Callo (1921-1945) Martyr
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/03/19/saint-of-the-day-19-march-blessed-marcel-callo-1921-1945-aged-23-martyr/
Bl Mark of Montegallo
St Pancharius of Nicomedia
Blessed Sibyllina Biscossi OP (1287-1367)
—
Martyrs of Sorrento: A group of three sisters and a brother who were martyred together. We have little more than their names – Mark, Quartilla, Quintilla and Quintius. They were martyred in Sorrento, Italy, date unknown.
Mark
Quartilla
Quintilla
Quintius
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War
• Blessed Alberto Linares de La Pinta
• Blessed Jaume Trilla Lastra
Quote/s of the Day – 18 March – The Memorial of St Cyril of Jerusalem (c 313-386) Father and Doctor of the Church
“After all, He saved the thief
on the holy hill of Golgotha
because of one hour’s faith,
will He not save you too,
since you have believed? “
“Since Christ Himself has said,
“This is My Body”
who shall dare to doubt
that It is His Body?”
On how to receive Holy Communion in the hand in the Fourth Century:
“Approaching,
do not come with thy palms stretched flat
nor with fingers separated.
But making thy left hand a seat for thy right
and hollowing thy palm,
receive the Body of Christ,
responding Amen.”
One Minute Reflection – 18 March – Wednesday of the Third week of Lent, Readings: Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9, Psalm 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20, Matthew 5:17-19 and the Memorial of St Cyril of Jerusalem (c 313-386) Father and Doctor of the Church
“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.”…Matthew 5:17
REFLECTION – “Grace, which was formerly veiled, so to speak, in the Old Testament, has been fully revealed in the Gospel of Christ by a harmonious disposition of the times, just as God usually disposes of everything with harmony… But within this wonderful harmony we notice a great difference between the two ages. On Sinai the people did not dare draw near the place where the Lord was giving His Law; in the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit comes down on all those assembled there, while waiting for the fulfilment of the promise (Ex 19:23; Acts 2:1). In the first instance, the finger of God inscribed the laws on tablets of stone but now, it is in human hearts, that He writes it (Ex 31:18; 2 Cor 3:3). Formerly the Law was written without and brought fear to sinners but now, it has been given to them within, to make them righteous…
Indeed, as the apostle Paul says, everything written on the stone tablets, “you shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill…, you shall not covet” and whatever other commandments there may be, are summed up in this saying: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbour, hence, love is the fulfilment of the Law” (Rm 13:9f.; Lv 19:18)… This charity has been “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rm 5:5)….St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor On the spirit and the letter, 28-30
PRAYER – Protect Your family, Lord and strengthen us with Your consoling presence. Help us in our way to follow Your commandments and live as disciples of love. Look now on Your chosen people, grant us the light of Your Spirit and bring us forever to eternal life. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Your Son and our Mother, be ever our protective shield. St Cyril of Jerusalem, pray for us all that we may always remain true to the Cross of Christ and our Holy Mother Church, amen. Through Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 18 March – Saint Anselm of Lucca the Younger (1036-1086) Bishop, Confessor – born in 1036 at Mantua, Italy and died on 18 March 1086 at Mantua, Italy of natural causes. Patronage – Mantua, the city of his birth and death, honours him as its patron.
Anselm was a medieval Bishop of Lucca in Italy and a prominent figure in the Investiture Controversy amid the fighting in central Italy between Matilda, countess of Tuscany and Emperor Henry IV. His uncle, Anselm preceded him as Bishop of Lucca before being elected to the papacy as Pope Alexander II, owing to this, he is sometimes distinguished as Anselm the Younger or Anselm II.
He was nephew of Anselm of Lucca, the Elder, who ascended the Papal throne as Alexander II in 1061.
In the year 1071 Alexander II designated Anselm as Bishop of Lucca and sent him to Germany to take investiture from Henry IV. Anselm went to Germany but was loath to receive the insignia of spiritual power from a temporal ruler and returned without investiture.
In 1073 Gregory VII, successor of Alexander II, also appointed Anselm Bishop of Lucca but advised him not to accept his ring and crosier from Henry IV. For some reason, Anselm accepted investiture from Henry but soon felt such remorse that he resigned his Bishopric and entered the Order of St Benedict at Padilirone, a monastery of the Cluniac Reform, situated near Mantua.
Gregory VII ordered him to return to his episcopal see at Lucca. Anselm returned reluctantly but continued to lead time life of a monk until his death.
St Anselm was Inspired, like Gregory VII, with a holy zeal to reform the clergy, he wished to impose stricter discipline upon the Canons of his Cathedral. Most of the Canons refused to submit to Anselm’s regulations and in 1081 he was expelled from Lucca with the help of the Emperor and his antipope, Guibert.
Anselm then retired to the castle of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany, whose spiritual adviser he was. Some time later he was made Papal Legate of Lombardy with instructions to rule over all the Dioceses which, during the conflict between pope and emperor, had been left without Bishops.
St Anselm was well versed in the Scriptures and wrote some exegetical and ascetical works. In his work “Contra Guibertum et sequaces ejus” he shows the unlawfulness of lay-investiture and defends Gregory against the Antipope Guibert. He also made a collection of canons which afterwards were incorporated into the well-known “Decretum” of Gratian.
Two biographies were written about the Bishop-saint shortly after his death on 18 March 1086, aged 50. He was Canonised by Pope Victor III in 1087. His relics reside in the cathedral of Mantua.
St Cyril of Jerusalem (c 313-386) (Optional Memorial)
Father and Doctor of the Church
Biography:
Saint of the Day – 18 March – St Cyril of Jerusalem (315-387)
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Bl Aimée-Adèle le Bouteiller
St Alexander of Jerusalem
St Anselm of Lucca the Younger (1036-1086)
St Braulio of Saragossa
Bl Celestine of the Mother of God
Bl Christian O’Conarchy
St Edward the Martyr
St Egbert of Ripon
St Eucarpius of Nicomedia
St Felix of Gerona
St Finan of Aberdeen
St Frigidian of Lucca
Bl John Thules
St Leobard of Tours
St Narcissus of Gerona
Bl Roger Wrenno
St Salvator of Horta
St Trophimus of Nicomedia
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Martyrs of Nicomedia – Commemorates the Christians who were martyred anonymously, either singly and in small groups, by local pagans in the area of Nicomedia prior to the year 300 and who may have been over-looked in the waves of Diocletian persecutions that resulted in the deaths of thousands.
One Minute Reflection – 18 March – Tuesday of the Third week of Lent, Readings: Daniel 3:25, 34-43, Psalm 25:4-9, Matthew 18:21-35 and the Memorial of Saint Jan Sarkander (1576-1620) Priest and Martyr of the Seal of Confession
“I forgave you all that debt because you besought me and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?”… Matthew 18:32-33
REFLECTION – “We must wash one another’s feet in the mutual daily service of love. But we must also wash one another’s feet, in the sense, that we must forgive one another ever anew. The debt for which the Lord has pardoned us is always infinitely greater than all the debts that others can owe us….not to allow resentment toward others to become a poison in the depths of the soul. It urges us to purify our memory constantly, forgiving one another whole-heartedly, washing one another’s feet, to be able to go to God’s banquet together.”…Pope Benedict XVI (Holy Thursday homily 20 March 2008)
PRAYER – Almighty God, we thank You for Your endless mercy. We are sinners but trust in Your merciful forgiveness when we turn to You in sorrow. Open our hearts, make them forgiving to our brother, teach us Your mercy. May Mary, Mother of Sorrow, pray for us. Grant that the prayers of St Jan Sarkander may continue to defend us, as he did in the world. We make our prayer through our forgiving Saviour, who even to those who killed Him, turned to them in love and mercy and asked You for their forgiveness. In union with the Holy Spirit, one God, for all eternity, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 17 March – Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
Excerpt from St Patrick’s Breastplate – Christ be Near
St Patrick (c 386 – 461)
Christ be near, at either hand,
Christ behind, before me stand,
Christ with me, where’er I go,
Christ around, above, below.
Christ be in my heart and mind,
Christ within my soul enshrined,
Christ control, my wayward heart,
Christ abide and ne’er depart.
Christ my life and only way,
Christ my lantern, night and day,
Christ be my unchanging friend,
guide and shepherd to the end.
We have this prayer and his own story in one of the few certainly authentic writings of Patrick – his Confessio, which is above all an act of homage to God for having called Patrick, unworthy sinner, to the apostolate.
Saint of the Day – 17 March – Saint Jan Sarkander (1576-1620) Priest and Martyr of the seal of confession, Confessor – born on 20 December 1576 at Skotschau (Skoczow), Austrian Silesia (in modern Poland) and died by being covered in flammable material and set on fire on 17 March 1620 at Olomouc, Moravia (in the modern Czech Republic). Patronages – the Seal of Confession, Confessors, Moravia, Persecuted Christians. St Jan Sarkander was married for a short period of time before he became widowed and pursued a path to the Priesthood where he became active in the defense of the faith during a period of anti-Catholic sentiment and conflict. He himself was arrested on false accusations as a means of silencing him and he refused to give in to his tormentors who tortured him for around a month before he died. His body is incorrupt.
Jan Sarkander was born on 20 December 1576 in Poland into a Silesian household as the son of Georg Mathias Sarkander and Helene Górecka. He had one sister and three other brothers – Nicholas (a priest himself), Paul and Wenceslas. His father died in 1589 and so he moved alongside his mother and siblings to Příbor. His mother remarried and he ended up having a half-brother Matthew as a result. Sarkander believed he was going to become a Priest but dropped the idea and instead married and settled in Brno. The marriage was short lived for his wife died not too long after (in 1607) the couple married, they were childless. He then decided to resume his studies for the Priesthood.
He studied at the Olomouc college from 1597 until 1600, when due to the plague, he was forced to transfer to the Charles University in Prague where he graduated with a master’s in philosophical studies. He obtained further education from the Jesuits in Prague and received his doctorate in philosophical studies in 1603. He continued theological studies in Austria from 1604. He later underwent theological studies at the Graz University and passed his examinations on 21 December 1607. He was made a sub-deacon on 20 December 1608 and elevated into the diaconate on 16 March 1609.
On 22 December 1607 he received the minor orders from Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein. The Bishop of Olomouc, Jan Křtitel Civalli ordained him to the Priesthood on 22 March 1609 in Grozin and he was assigned to work as a parish priest in Olmütz (Olomouc) and later he was sent to Holešov. Baron von Lobkowitz from Moravia supported Sarkander’s efforts to re-Christianise the region but the rich anti-Catholic landowner, Bitowsky von Bistritz opposed him to the extent, where he wanted Sarkander killed. 
The Thirty Years War began in 1618 and it saw a bitter conflict between the Protestants and Christians and this forced him to flee to Poland on 17 May 1619 for a brief period of time when the Protestants occupied Hollenschau. He returned that November. Polish forces moved into the area in 1620 and battle seemed imminent. He visited the field commander with the Eucharist in a monstrance as a shield – the forces saw him come and this prevented battle from taking place. The Jesuits also helped him to reconcile 200 non-Christians to the faith but the non-Christians were severely angered by this.
In 1620 – during the ongoing Bohemian Revolt – Protestant Moravian Estates (under von Bistritz) accused Sarkander of being a traitor and instigator and so he was tortured in the Olomouc prison. He was taken to Olmütz where he was tortured for a confession (as well as for revenge) and to also provide them with information on Sarkander’s friend Lobkowitz. One reason for him being tortured was due to his refusal to divulge what was said under the seal of confession.
Sarkander was covered in flammable material and was set on fire. He did not die outright but it took a month until he died of the injuries he sustained. Lighted candles as well as feathers soaked in oil and sulfur placed on him and ignited. The rack was used on him on 13 February and again on the 17 and 18th; it would last two to three hours. In 1720 his remains were exhumed and were deemed to be incorrupt.
The “Saint Jan Sarkander chapel” stands on the place of his torture at the top of Michael’s Hill. The original torturing rack and Sarkander’s gravestone are preserved here as well.
St Jan’s remains reside at the Cathedral of Jan Sarkander at Olomouc (in modern Czech Republic). The people immediately began to venerate John Sarkander and to ask for his Beatification. He was Beatified on 6 May 1860, at Saint Peter’s Basilica by Pope Pius IX and Canonised on 21 May 1995 at Olomouc, Czech Republic by St Pope John Paul II.
St Patrick (c 386-461) (Optional Memorial)
About dearly loved St Patrick:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/03/17/saint-of-the-day-17-march-st-patrick/
St Agricola of Châlon-sur-Saône
St Alexander
St Ambrose of Alexandria
Bl Conrad of Bavaria
St Diemut of Saint Gall
St Gabriel Lalemant
St Gertrude of Nivelles OSB (626-659)
About St Gertrude:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/03/17/saint-of-the-day-17-march-st-gertrude-of-nivelles-o-s-b-626-659/
Bl Gertrude of Trzebnica
St Jan Sarkander (1576-1620) Priest and Martyr
Bl Josep Mestre Escoda
St Joseph of Arimathea
Bl Juan Nepomuceno Zegrí y Moreno (1831-1905)
His life:
Saint of the Day – 17 March – Blessed Juan Nepomuceno Zegri y Moreno (1831-1905)
St Llinio of Llandinam
Bl Maria Bárbara Maix
St Paul of Cyprus
St Stephen of Palestrina
St Theodore of Rome
St Thomasello
St Withburga of Dereham
Martyrs of Alexandria – Also known as Martyrs of Serapis: An unknown number of Christians who were martyred together by a mob of worshippers of the Graeco-Egyptian sun god Serapis. They were Martyred in c 392 in Alexandria, Egypt.
Saint of the Day – 16 March – Blessed Giovanni de Surdis Cacciafronte OSB (1125 – 1184) Bishop and Martyr, Monk and Abbot (also known as John Sordi, John Cacciafronte and John de Surdis) – born in 1125 at Cremona, Italy as Giovanni de Surdis and died by being murdered on 16 March 1183 at Vicenza, Italy. He lived at the time of the struggle waged by the emperor Federico Barbarossa (1125-1190), against the Papacy and the Italian Municipalities. Patronage – persecuted Christians.
Giovanni was born in Cremona around 1125 to Evangelista Sordi and Berta Persico, both of very noble origins. At an early age Giovanni Sordi lost his father, his mother remarried with the nobleman Adam Cacciafronte, who loved him like a son of his own, giving him his name. He was educated in an excellent way by the two parents, receiving religious and cultural training.
At sixteen he entered the Benedictine Abbey of St Lorenzo in Cremona as a Benedictine monk. Over the years his qualities and virtues were increasingly evident, winning the sympathies of his superiors and confreres. He was first appointed Prior of the small Monastery of St Vittore, dependent on the Abbey of St Lorenzo and then Abbot of the same great Abbey of Cremona.
In those years the schism broke out in the Church, with the election of the antipope Vittore IV (1159-1164), supported by Federico Barbarossa, against the legitimate Pope Alexander III (1159-1181), who opposed the imperial power, supporting the Lombard League of Municipalities, which countered the invasion of Barbarossa’s troops.
The Abbot Cacciafronte by his influence, managed to keep Cremona in obedience to Pope Alexander III but the Emperor had him exiled for this. Later the Pope entrusted him with the government of the Diocese of Mantua, it is not specified whether as Apostolic Administrator or as Bishop, instead of Bishop Graziadoro who had joined the schism of the antipope Victor IV and his successors Pasquale III (1164-1168) and Callisto III (1168-1179).
After the famous battle of Legano (29 May 1176) lost by the Emperor of the Lombard League, to whose head Pope Alexander III was elected (the foundation of a new City, called in honour of the Pope, Alexandria ). There was peace deal in Venice in 1179, the antipope in office Callisto III was deposed.
The repentant Bishop Garziadoro returned to the episcopal see of Mantua and in 1179, Giovanni Cacciafronte, was transferred to the Bishopric of Vicenza. During his tenure he opened a new Seminary and fought against the heresy of the Cathars.
Just two years later, on 16 March 1181, Bishop Cacciafronte was killed by a certain Pietro, feudal lord in concession of the goods of the Vicenza Church, who wanted to take revenge because the Bishop had excommunicated him and deprived him of property, due to his frequent violations of the rights of the Church, which included embezzlement of ecclesiastical funds.
The assassination of the Bishop is mentioned in the “decretals” of Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241), in the text of a letter dated 21 March 1198, sent by Pope Innocent III, to the bishop of Vicenza, Msgr. Pistore, forbidding him to give the property of the Church in fiefdom to the assassins of Bishop Giovanni and their heirs.
The body of the holy Bishop and Martyr was buried in the Cathedral of Vicenza, the Cathedral of the Assumption and moved to the same cathedral in 1441, in a more dignified marble tomb in it’s own side chapel, see the Statue below.
The cult of blessed Giovanni Cacciafronte, Bishop and Martyr, for centuries bestowed on him, was confirmed by Pope Leo XII on 30 March 1824. As Giovanni died working for the Church and correcting a sinner, he is considered a Martyr. His liturgical feast is set for 16 March while in the diocese of Mantua his memory is celebrated on 9 July.
St Abban of Kill-Abban
St Abraham Kidunaia
St Agapitus of Ravenna
St Aninus of Syria
St Benedicta of Assisi
St Dionysius of Aquileia
St Dentlin of Hainault
Bl Eriberto of Namur
St Eusebia of Hamage
St Felix of Aquileia
St Finian Lobhar
Bl Ferdinand Valdes
Blessed Giovanni de Surdis Cacciafronte OSB (1125 – 1184) Bishop and Martyr
St Gregory Makar
St Heribert of Cologne (c 970–1021)
Biography:
St Hilary of Aquileia
Bl Joan Torrents Figueras
Bl John Amias
St Julian of Anazarbus
St Largus of Aquileia
St Malcoldia of Asti
St Megingaud of Wurzburg
One Minute Reflection – 15 March – The Third Sunday of Lent, Readings: Exodus 17:3-7, Psalm 95:1- 2, 6-9, Romans 5:1-2, 5-8, John 4:5-42 and the Memorial of Blessed Artemide Zatti SDB (1880-1951)
“Jesus, therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour.” … John 4:6
REFLECTION – “Now begin the mysteries. For it is not without a purpose that Jesus is weary, not indeed without a purpose that the strength of God is weary, not without a purpose that He is weary, by whom the wearied are refreshed, not without a purpose is He weary, by whose absence we are wearied, by whose presence we are strengthened.
Nevertheless, Jesus is weary and weary with His journey and He sits down and that, too, near a well and it is at the sixth hour that, being wearied, He sits down.
All these things hint something, are intended to intimate something, they make us eager, and encourage us to knock. May Himself open to us and to you, He who has deigned to exhort us, so as to say, Knock and it shall be opened to you. It was for you that Jesus was wearied with His journey.
We find Jesus to be strength and we find Jesus to be weak – we find a strong and a weak Jesus – strong, because in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. Would you see how this Son of God is strong? All things were made by Him and without Him was nothing made and without labour, too, were they made. Then what can be stronger than He, by whom all things were made without labour? Would you know Him weak? The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
The strength of Christ created you, the weakness of Christ created you anew. The strength of Christ caused that to be which was not, the weakness of Christ caused that what was, should not perish. He fashioned us by His strength, He sought us by His weakness.
But why at the sixth hour? Because at the sixth age of the world. In the Gospel, count up as an hour each, the first age from Adam to Noah; the second, from Noah to Abraham; the third, from Abraham to David; the fourth, from David to the removing to Babylon; the fifth, from the removing to Babylon to the baptism of John – thence is the sixth being enacted. Why do you marvel? Jesus came and, by humbling Himself, came to a well. He came wearied, because He carried weak flesh. At the sixth hour, because in the sixth age of the world. To a well, because to the depth of this our habitation. For which reason it is said in the psalm – From the depth have I cried unto You, O Lord. He sat, as I said, because He was humbled.” … St Augustine (354-430) – Father & Doctor of the Church – Tractate 15 (John 4:1-42)
PRAYER – Lord our God, Your Son so loved the world that He gave Himself up to death for our sake. Strengthen us by His weakness and Your grace and give us a heart willing to live by that same love. We know His excuses for us and His broken heart at our neglect and sin, make us like unto Him O Father, that we might be holy and come to see His Face. May the prayers of the angels, Blessed Artemide Zatti and the Blessed Virgin be of assistance to us. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 15 March – Blessed Artemide Zatti SDB (1880-1951) Italian Religious Brother of the Order of the Salesians of John Bosco, Missionary, Apostle of the poor sick, Pharmacist. Nurse – born on 12 October 1880 at Boretto, Reggio Emilia, in northern Italy and died on 15 March 1951 of cancer at Bahia Blanca, Argentina – Patronages Pharmacists and Immigrants. His nephew was the eighth rector of the Salesians – Juan Edmundo Vecchi.
Blessed Artemide Zatti was born on 12 October 1880 in Italy and died on 15 March 1951 at Viedma, Argentina. As a Salesian religious brother, he became a saint by running a hospital and pharmacy for the sick poor for 40 years in Viedma, Argentina. In 1897, when Artemide was 17 years old, his family emigrated from Reggio Emilia to join Artemide’s uncle who had a good job in Bahía Blanca, Argentina. There they found steady work and a livelihood. In his “new life” in Argentina, Artemide worked in a
hotel and then in a brick factory. On Sundays the Zatti family faithfully assisted at Mass and other activities in the parish of the Salesian Fathers who in 1890 set up a community in Bahía Blanca. With true apostolic spirit, Artemide used his free time to help the Salesian parish Priest in his parish activities and, especially, in visiting the sick.
He was inspired by the life of Don Bosco and by the Salesian priests and felt called to imitate him. In 1900 when he was 19, the Salesians accepted him as a student for the priesthood . But he had great difficulty with the studies since he had left elementary school long before. Also, during the novitiate, Artemide contracted a severe case of TB from taking care of a young priest who was a TB victim.
In 1902 Artemide was forced to leave the house of studies to seek a cure in the pure air of Viedma, a city located high in the Andes. Little did he realise that Viedma was going to be his city for the rest of his life. Along with the healthy climate, in Viedma there was a hospital and pharmacy attached to the Salesian College run by Fr Evaristo Garrone, a priest and physician who was known for his empirical approach to medicine. Fr Evaristo was also known for his trust in God’s Providence, he never turned away the poor who could not pay. Under the guidance of Fr Garrone, Artemide made a promise to Our Lady, Help of Christians, that if she would obtain a cure for him, he would serve the sick poor for the rest of his life. When he was cured, he promptly continued his training as a Salesian religious brother. 
In 1908 he was professed and began his mission alongside Fr Garrone. When Fr Garrone died in 1911, Artemide was put in charge of the pharmacy and the hospital. He was a trained pharmacist, nurse, operating-room assistant, as well as juggler of finances and head of personnel. He followed Fr Garrone’s rule that “he who has little, pays little and the one who has nothing pays nothing”. In running the hospital, Artemide also depended entirely on Providence and the generosity of the people. In his 40 years of dedicated service, he found in his religious life with its periods of prayer and community life the secret of balancing the daily tasks of administering the hospital and
pharmacy, taking care of patients inside and outside the hospital . Despite the demands of the sick and the needs of the hospital, Artemide was known for his “Salesian joy”, a sign of his holiness for those around him. He was “not only provider of medicine, but was himself a medicine for others by his presence, his songs, his voice …”
In 1913 he was the force behind the building of a new hospital which was demolished in 1941 when the spot was taken as the residence of the Bishop of the newly-founded Diocese.
In July 1950, after falling off a ladder that he was climbing to get on the roof to fix a leaky water tank, Artemide was forced to take a period of rest and recovery. After a few months the doctors diagnosed his livid skin colour as a serious cancer of the liver. He was sick from January to March. He died on 15 March 1951. His mortal remains repose in the chapel of the Salesians at Viedma.
Bl. Artemide lived what St John Bosco said to the first Salesians leaving for America: “Take special care of the sick, the children, the elderly, the poor and you will receive God’s blessing and the respect of those around you.”
The process for investigating a miracle opened in Buenos Aires after Jorge Mario Bergoglio – the future Pope Francis – inaugurated the process on 14 April 1998 and closed it one month later on 14 May 1998. A medical board approved the miracle on 9 March 2000 and theologians followed this decision on 27 October 2000. The C.C.S. voted in favour as well on 6 February 2001 which led to papal approval on 24 April 2001. Blessed Artimedi was Beatified by St John Paul II on 14 April 2002 in St Peter’s Square….Vatican.va
“Artemide Zatti, Salesian religious brother, left the diocese of Reggio Emilia with his family to seek a better life in Argentina, the land dreamt of by Don Bosco. There he discovered his Salesian vocation, which took the form of a passionate, competent and loving service to the sick. His almost fifty years in Viedma represent the history of an exemplary religious, careful to accomplish his duties in his community and totally devoted to the service of those in need. May his example help us to be conscious of the presence of the Lord and bring us to welcome him in all our needy brothers and sisters.” – from the beatification homily by Pope John Paul II
The postulator of the cause is the Fr Pierluigi Cameroni and there is currently a miracle being investigated through the intercession of Blessed Artemide which would lead to his Canonisation:
“Indeed the first miracle for the Beatification happened in 1980 to that time Salesian theology student Carlo Bosio (later on SDB provincial) and was the motivation for the Beatification of Br Zatti by St John Paul II in 2002. Now another presumed miracle is being investigated in the Philippines (Diocesan stage of the investigation) and it looks very serious (according the reports from the Philippines).
Possible canonisation of Br Zatti would remind the whole Catholic community worldwide about the love for the poor, showing all the way how to meet Jesus in the sick people: ‘Please, prepare the clothes for 12 year old Jesus! or Do you have ready the hot soup for 10 year old Jesus?’
We wish all Salesian family members both in Patagonia – Viedma and in the Philippines that the investigation about the presumed miracle, will bring many pastoral fruits for the growth in faith and charity amongst the Catholic community and beyond.” (by Salesian Sr Denise Sickinger).
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