St Ardo of Aniane
St Deifer of Bodfari
St Drausinus of Soissons
St Enodoch
St Esterwine of Wearmouth
St Eubulus of Caesarea
St Gaudiosus of Brescia
Bl Henry of Austria Bl Leonid Feodorov (1879-1935) Martyr
Bl Maria Antonia de Paz y Figueroa
St Paul of Prusa
St Paul the Simple
Bl St Reinhard of Reinhausen
St Teresa Margaret Redi
Bl William of Assisi
—
Martyrs of Carthage – 4 saints: A catechist and three students martyred together for teaching and learning the faith. We know little more than their names – Revocatus, Saturninus, Saturus and Secundulus. Mauled by wild beasts and beheaded 7 March 203 at Carthage, North Africa
Martyrs of Korea
Siméon-François Berneux
Bernard-Louis Beaulieu
Ioannes Baptista Nam Chong-Sam
Pierre-Henri Dorie
Simon-Marie-Just Ranfer de Bretenières
Martyrs of Laos
Bl Luc Sy
Bl Maisam Pho Inpèng
Martyrs of Tyburn
Bl German Gardiner
Bl John Ireland
Bl John Larke
Quote/s of the Day – 6 March – Ash Wednesday and the Memorial of St Colette (1381-1447)
“Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful….
Joel 2:12-13
He need not fear anything, nor be ashamed of anything, who bears the Sign of the Cross on his brow.
St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
We must faithfully keep what we have promised. If through human weakness we fail, we must always without delay arise again by means of holy penance and give our attention to leading a good life and to dying a holy death. May the Father of all mercy, the Son by His holy Passion and the Holy Spirit, source of peace, sweetness and love, fill us with Their consolation. Amen
Saint of the Day – 6 March – St Colette PCC (1381-1447 -aged 66) Abbess and Foundress of the Colettine Poor Clares, a reform branch of the Order of Saint Clare.
Renewing religious institutions is not easy. We would expect a person chosen to reform convents and monasteries to be formidable. Maybe even physically tall, overbearing, and somewhat threatening. God, however, doesn’t seem to agree. For example, in the fifteenth century he selected St Colette, a young woman the opposite of these characteristics, to call Franciscans to strict observance of the rules of St Clare and St Francis.
Not that Colette was unimpressive. She was a beautiful woman whose radiant inner strength attracted people. However, her spirituality, her commitment to God and her heart for souls, not her physical qualities, suited her for her reforming mission.
At seventeen, upon her parents’ death, Colette joined the Franciscan Third Order. She lived for eight years as a hermit at Corbie Abbey in Picardy. Toward the end of this time, St Francis appeared to her in a vision and charged her to restore the Poor Clares to their original austerity. When Friar Henry de Beaume came in 1406 to conform her mission, Colette had the door of her hut torn down, a sign that her solitude was over and her work begun. And she then prayed for her commitment:
“I dedicate myself in health, in illness, in my life, in my death, in all my desires, in all my deeds, so that I may never work henceforth, except for your glory, for the salvation of souls and towards the reform for which you have chosen me.
From this moment on, dearest Lord, there is nothing which I am not prepared to undertake for love of You.”
Colette’s first reports to reform convents met vigorous opposition. Then she sought the approval of the Avignon pope, Benedict XIII, who professed her as a Poor Clare and put her in charge of all convents she would reform. He also appointed Henry de Beaume to assist her. Thus equipped, she launched her reform in 1410 with the Poor Clares at Besancon. Before her death in 1447, the saint had founded or renewed seventeen convents and several friaries throughout France, Savoy, Burgundy and Spain.
Like Francis and Clare, Colette devoted herself to Christ crucified, spending every Friday meditating on the passion. She is said to have miraculously received a piece of the cross, which she gave to St Vincent Ferrer O.P. (1350-1419) when he came to visit her.
St Joan of Arc (c 1412–1431) once passed by Colette’s convent in Moulins but there is no evidence that the two met. Like Joan, Colette was a visionary. Once, for instance, she saw souls falling from grace in great numbers, like flakes in a snowstorm. Afterward, she prayed daily for the conversion of sinners. She personally brought many strays back to Christ and helped them unravel their sinful patterns. At age sixty-six, Colette foretold her death, received the sacrament of the sick and died at her convent in Ghent, Flanders.
St Cyriacus of Trier
St Cyril of Constantinople
St Evagrius of Constantinople
Fridolin Vandreren of Säckingen
Bl Guillermo Giraldi
St Heliodorus the Martyr
Bl Jordan of Pisa
St Julian of Toledo
St Kyneburga of Castor
St Kyneswide of Castor
St Marcian of Tortona
Bl Ollegarius of Tarragona
St Patrick of Malaga
St Sananus
Bl Sylvester of Assisi
St Tibba of Castor
St Venustus of Milan
—
Martyrs of Amorium – 42 saints – Also known as Martyrs of Syria and Martyrs of Samarra
A group of 42 Christian senior officials in the Byzantine empire who were captured by forces of the Abbasid Caliphate when the Muslim forces overran the city of Amorium, Phrygia in 838 and massacred or enslaved its population. The men were imprisoned in Samarra, the seat of the Caliphate, for seven years. Initially thought to be held for ransom due to their high position in the empire, all attempts to buy their freedom were declined. The Caliph repeatedly ordered them to convert to Islam and sent Islamic scholars to the prison to convince them; they refused until the Muslims finally gave up and killed them. Martyrs. We know the names and a little about seven of them:
• Aetios
• Bassoes
• Constantine
• Constantine Baboutzikos
• Kallistos
• Theodore Krateros
• Theophilos
but details about the rest have disappeared over time. However, a lack of information did not stop several legendary and increasingly over-blown “Acts” to be written for years afterward. One of the first biographers, a monk name Euodios, presented the entire affair as a judgement by God on the empire for its official policy of Iconoclasm.
Deaths:
• beheaded on 6 March 845 in Samarra (in modern Iraq) on the banks of the Euphrates river by Ethiopian slaves
• the bodies were thrown into the river, but later recovered by local Christians and given proper burial
Martyrs of Nicomedia
Bassa
Claudian
Victor
Victorinus
Thought for the Day – 5 March – Tuesday of the Eighth week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Shrove Tuesday 2019 and the Memorial of St John Joseph of the Cross OFM (1654-1734)
St John Joseph’s mortifications allowed him, to be the kind of forgiving superior, intended by Saint Francis.
Self-denial should lead us to charity—not to bitterness, it should help us clarify our priorities and make us more loving.
John Joseph is living proof of Chesterton’s observation:
“It is always easy to let the age have its head, the difficult thing is to keep one’s own” (GK. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, page 101).
As we are nearly ready to leap into the three main areas of our lenten practice – fasting, prayer, almsgiving – let us recall the saints who so bountifully lived permanent ‘lents’ and aim to do the same.
One Minute Reflection – 5 March – Tuesday of the Eighth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Mark 10:28–31 – Shrove Tuesday 2019 and the Memorial of St John Joseph of the Cross OFM (1654-1734)
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life. But many that are first will be last and the last first.”…Mark 10:29-31
REFLECTION – “All offerings to God are of great value, if they are made with a cheerful heart. The greatest of all such offerings are observing God’s commandments and showing kindness to the poor. Prayer itself, is like a great offering, when made in thankfulness.
Jesus highlights the blessing that radical renouncers, for the sake of the Gospel, will receive. What most people do not understand, when taking note of the ‘hundred-fold’ is the prediction of persecution that goes with it. When one is not ready for it, his renunciation is incomplete. ‘Persecution’ in this context, can also include the challenges of committed religious life, before which one is tempted to give up. But one should gather up courage and continue. Another danger, is to place oneself ahead of others even in renounced life, thus condemning oneself to the last position. But fortunately, the last too has hope to change roles.”…Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil SDB
“Sursum corda” – lift up your hearts, high above the tangled web of our concerns, desires, anxieties and thoughtlessness – “Lift up your hearts, your inner selves!” In both exclamations we are summoned, as it were, to a renewal of our Baptism: “Conversi ad Dominum” – we must distance ourselves ever anew from taking false paths, onto which we stray so often in our thoughts and actions. We must turn ever anew towards Him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must be converted ever anew, turning with our whole life towards the Lord. And ever anew, we must allow our hearts to be withdrawn from the force of gravity, which pulls them down and inwardly we must raise them high, in truth and love. At this hour, let us thank the Lord, because through the power of His word and of the holy Sacraments, He points us in the right direction and draws our heart upwards.”…Pope Benedict 22 March 2008
PRAYER – Yes, Lord, make us Easter people, men and women of light, filled with the fire of Your love. Kindly listen to the prayers of the angels and saints on our behalf, as we start our Lenten journey. May You bless us through their prayers and grant us strength. Beloved Virgin Mother of God and our mother and St John Joseph of the Cross, pray for us, amen.
Saint of the Day – 5 March – St John Joseph of the Cross OFM (1654-1734) – Priest, Franciscan Friar, Mystic, ascetic, gifted with prophecy and miracles – born Carlo Gaetano Calosinto on 15 August 1654 at Ischia, Naples, Italy and died on 5 March 1734 of natural causes. Patronage – Ischia.
Saint John Joseph of the Cross was born on the feast of the Assumption in 1654, on the island of Ischia in the kingdom of Naples. From his childhood he was a model of virtue and in his sixteenth year he entered the Franciscan Order of the Strict Observance, or Reform of Saint Peter of Alcantara (1499-1562), at Naples. Such was the edification he gave in his Order, that within three years after his profession he was sent to found a monastery in Piedmont. He assisted in its construction himself and established there the most perfect silence and monastic fervour.
One day Saint John Joseph was found in the chapel in ecstasy, raised far above the floor. He won the hearts of all his religious and became a priest out of obedience to his Superiors. He obtained what seemed to be an inspired knowledge of moral theology, in prayer and silence. He assisted at the death of his dear mother who rejoiced and seemed to live again in his presence and after he had sung the Mass for the repose of her soul, saw her soul ascend to heaven, to pray thereafter to their God face to face.
With his superiors’ permission he established another convent and drew up rules for the Community, which the Holy See confirmed. Afterward, he became a master of novices vigilant and filled with gentleness and of a constantly even disposition. Some time later he was made Provincial of the Province of Naples, erected in the beginning of the 18th century by Clement XI. He laboured hard to establish in Italy this branch of his Order, which the Sovereign Pontiff had separated from the same branch in Spain. His ministry brought him many sufferings, especially moral sufferings occasioned by numerous calumnies. Nonetheless, the Saint succeeded in his undertakings, striving to inculcate in his subjects the double spirit of contemplation and penance which Saint Peter of Alcantara had bequeathed to the Franciscans of the Strict Observance. He gave them the example of the most sublime virtues, especially of humility and religious discipline. God rewarded his zeal with numerous gifts in the supernatural order, such as those of prophecy and miracles.
Finally, consumed by labours for the glory of God, he was called to his reward. Stricken with apoplexy, he died an octogenarian in his convent at Naples, on 5 March 1734. Countless posthumous miracles confirmed the sanctity and glory of the Saint and he was Canonised in 1839 by Pope Gregory XVI.
St Adrian of Caesarea
St Caron
St Carthach the Elder
Bl Christopher Macassoli of Vigevano
St Clement of Santa Lucia
St Colman of Armagh
St Conon of Pamphylia
Bl Conrad Scheuber
St Eusebius of Cremona
St Eusebius the Martyr
St Gerasimus
Bl Giovanna Irrizaldi
Bl Ion Costist
St John Joseph of the Cross OFM (1654-1734)
St Kieran
Bl Lazër Shantoja
St Lucius I, Pope
St Mark the Ascetic
St Oliva of Brescia
St Phocas of Antioch
St Piran
Bl Roger
Bl Romeo of Limoges
St Theophilus of Caesarea
St Virgilius of Arles
Saint of the Day – 24 February – Blessed Constantius of Fabriano OP (1401-1481) Dominican Priest, Prior, Reformer, Preacher of renown, Writer, known as a Miracle-Worker and had the gift of prophecy, peacemaker – born Constantius Bernocchi in 1401 at Fabriano, Marches of Ancona, Italy and died in 1481 at Ascoli Piceno, Italy of natural causes.
Constantius had an remarkable childhood, not only for the usual signs of precocious piety but also for a miracle that he worked when he was a little boy. Constantius had a sister who had been bedridden most of her nine years of life. One day, the little boy brought his parents in to her bedside and made them pray with him. The little girl rose up, cured and she remained well for a long and happy life. Naturally, the parents were amazed and they were quite sure it had not been their prayers that effected the cure but those of their little son.
Constantius entered the Dominicans at age 15 and had as his masters Blessed Conradin and Saint Antoninus. He did well in his studies and wrote a commentary on Aristotle. His special forte was Scripture and he studied it avidly. After his ordination, he was sent to teach in various schools in Italy, arriving eventually at the convent of San Marco in Florence, which had been erected as a house of strict observance. Constantius was eventually appointed prior of this friary that was a leading light in the reform movement. This was a work dear to his heart and he himself became closely identified with the movement.
Several miracles and prophecies are related about Constantius during his stay in Florence. He one day told a student not to go swimming, because he would surely drown if he did. The student, of course, dismissed the warning and drowned. One day, Constantius came upon a man lying in the middle of the road. The man had been thrown by his horse and was badly injured, he had a broken leg and a broken arm. All he asked was to be taken to some place where care could be given him but Constantius did better than that–he cured the man and left him, healed and astonished.
Constantius was made prior of Perugia, where he lived a strictly penitential life. Perhaps the things that he saw in visions were responsible for his perpetual sadness, for he foresaw many of the terrible things that would befall Italy in the next few years. He predicted the sack of Fabriano, which occurred in 1517. At the death of Saint Antoninus, he saw the saint going up to heaven, a vision which was recounted in the canonisation process.
He was also credited with the power of working miracles and besides the care of his office, he acted as peacemaker outside the convent and quelled popular tumults.
Blessed Constantius is said to have recited the Office of the Dead every day, and often the whole 150 Psalms, which he knew by heart and used for examples on every occasion. He also said that he had never been refused any favour for which he had recited the whole psalter. He wrote a number of books, these, for the most part, were sermon material and some were the lives of the blesseds of the order.
He was esteemed so holy that it was reckoned a great favour to speak to him or even to touch his habit.
On the day of Constantius’s death, little children of the town ran through the streets crying out, “The holy prior is dead! The holy prior is dead!” Upon the news of his death, the senate and council assembled, “considering his death a public calamity” and resolved to defray the cost of a public funeral. The cultus of Blessed Constantius was confirmed in 1821 by Pope Pius VII.
The relics of Blessed Constantius have suffered from war and invasion. After the Dominicans were driven from the convent where he was buried, his tomb was all but forgotten for a long time. Then one of the fathers put the relics in the keeping of Camaldolese monks in a nearby monastery, where they still remain.
Virgin & Child with Dominican Saints, Bl Constantius on the right
St Adela of Blois
Bl Antonio Taglia
Bl Arnold of Carcassonne
St Betto of Auxerre
Bl Berta of Busano Bl Constantius of Fabriano OP (1401-1481)
St Cummian Albus of Iona
St Ethelbert of Kent
Evetius of Nicomedia
Bl Florentina Nicol Goni
Bl Ida of Hohenfels
Bl Josefa Naval Girbes
St Liudhard
Bl Lotario Arnari
Bl Marco De’ Marconi
St Modestus of Trier
St Peter the Librarian
St Praetextatus of Rouen
St Primitiva
St Sergius of Caesarea
Bl Simon of Saint Bertin Blessed Tommaso Maria Fusco (1831-1891)
Thought for the Day – 23 February – A rich and pleasing sacrifice – Memorial of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, Apostolic Father, Bishop and Martyr
Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (c 69 – c 155) Bishop, Apostolic Church Father and Martyr
An excerpt from a Letter on the Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp by the Church of Smyrna
When the pyre was ready, Polycarp took off all his clothes and loosened his under-garment. He made an effort also to remove his shoes, though he had been unaccustomed to this, for the faithful always vied with each other in their haste to touch his body. Even before his martyrdom he had received every mark of honour in tribute to his holiness of life.
There and then, he was surrounded by the material for the pyre. When they tried to fasten him also with nails, he said: “Leave me as I am. The one who gives me strength to endure the fire will also give me strength to stay quite still on the pyre, even without the precaution of your nails.” So they did not fix him to the pyre with nails but only fastened him instead. Bound as he was, with hands behind his back, he stood like a mighty ram, chosen out for sacrifice from a great flock, a worthy victim made ready to be offered to God.
Looking up to heaven, he said: “Lord, almighty God, Father of Your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have come to the knowledge of Yourself, God of angels, of powers, of all creation, of all the race of saints who live in Your sight, I bless You for judging me worthy of this day, this hour, so that in the company of the martyrs I may share the cup of Christ, Your anointed one and so rise again to eternal life in soul and body, immortal through the power of the Holy Spirit. May I be received among the martyrs in Your presence today as a rich and pleasing sacrifice. God of truth, stranger to falsehood, You have prepared this and revealed it to me and now You have fulfilled Your promise. I praise You for all things, I bless You, I glorify you through the eternal priest of heaven, Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son. Through Him be glory to You, together with Him and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.”
When he had said “Amen” and finished the prayer, the officials at the pyre lit it. But, when a great flame burst out, those of us privileged to see it witnessed a strange and wonderful thing. Indeed, we have been spared in order to tell the story to others. Like a ship’s sail swelling in the wind, the flame became as it were a dome encircling the martyr’s body. Surrounded by the fire, his body was like bread that is baked, or gold and silver white-hot in a furnace, not like flesh that has been burnt. So sweet a fragrance came to us that it was like that of burning incense or some other costly and sweet-smelling gum.
The fire was lighted but it did him no hurt, so he was stabbed to the heart and his dead body was burnt. “Then,” say the writers of his acts, “we took up the bones, more precious than the richest jewels or gold and deposited them in a fitting place, at which may God grant us to assemble with joy to celebrate the birthday of the martyr to his life in heaven!”
St Polycarp was a Christian leader in a pagan world. He spoke clearly and simply, fearless in love and defense of Christ, even though persecutions raged around him. He sought only to hand on the message he had been given by John. Even as Polycarp prepared for martyrdom, his joy and confident trust were evident to all.
The community of believers celebrated the anniversary of Polycarp’s death with great joy, for in him they had seen an outstanding example of love and patience. He had held strong and had won the treasure of eternal life. Polycarp is remembered as an Apostolic Father, one who was a disciple of the apostles.
Quote/s of the Day – 23 February – The Memorial of St Polycarp (c 69–c 155) Martyr and Apostolic Father of the Church
“Stand fast, therefore, in this conduct and follow the example of the Lord, firm and unchangeable in faith, lovers of the brotherhood, loving each other, united in truth, helping each other with the mildness of the Lord, despising no man.”
St Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians
“Let us, therefore, forsake the vanity of the crowd and their false teachings and turn back to the Word delivered to us from the beginning.”
“Hear me declare with boldness, I am a Christian!”
One Minute Reflection – 23 February – Saturday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time, Year C – The Memorial of St Polycarp (c 69–c 155) Martyr and Father of the Church
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain, apart by themselves and he was transfigured before them and his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses and they were talking to Jesus…Mark 9:2-4
The witness of the Prophets leads to the witness of the Apostles
REFLECTION – “It was the will of the Lord Jesus that Moses alone (though he was accompanied, it is true, by Joshua (Ex 24:13)) should climb the mountain to receive the law. In the gospel too, out of His many disciples He limited the revelation of His risen glory to three – Peter, James and John. Wishing to put no stumbling block in the way of His weaker followers, whose vacillating minds might prevent them from taking in the full meaning of the paschal mystery, He chose to keep His redemptive plan a secret and repeatedly warned Peter, James and John not to talk freely about what they had seen. Peter, in fact, did not know what to say. He thought of setting up three shelters for the Lord and His attendants. Then he found himself unable to bear the brilliance of the glory radiating from His transfigured Lord. Together with those “sons of thunder” (Mk 3:17), James and John, he fell to the ground (Mt 17:6)…
They entered the cloud in order to receive knowledge of hidden, secret matters and there they heard the voice of God saying: “This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” What does “This is my beloved Son” mean? The implication is as follows: Make no mistake, Simon. Do not imagine God’s Son can be put into the same category as the servants who attend him. This man is my Son – neither Moses nor Elijah can be given that title, even though the one opened the sea and the other closed the heavens. Both of them exercised dominion over the elements but it was by the power of the Lord’s word that they did so (Ex 14; 1 Kgs 17:1). They were only servants, it was the Lord who made the waters into a solid wall, the Lord who caused the drought that closed the heavens and the Lord who, in his own time, opened them to release the rain.
For evidence of the resurrection to be accepted, the combined witness of those servants is required. But when the glory of their risen Lord is revealed, the servant’ aureole is lost in shadow. Sunrise obscures the stars, the light of the heavenly bodies grows pale before the brilliance of the sun shining on this material world. How then could human stars attract notice in the presence of the eternal Sun of Justice? (Mal 3:20).”…St Ambrose (340-397) Father & Doctor
PRAYER – Lord of all creation, let us praise You with voice and mind and deed. Let us too give glory to Your Holy Son and bask in the Sun of Justice! Grant us a place in the reflection of His Light to shine on those around us. As You gave St Polycarp, a place in the company of the Martyrs, grant us our eternal joy with him and all Your angels and saints. May his intercession, give us the strength to drink from that cup which Christ drank and so rise to eternal life. Through Christ our Lord, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 23 February – St Serenus the Gardener (Died 307) Martyr – born in Greece and was beheaded on 23 February 303 at Sirmiun, Pannonia (modern Hungary). Patronages – bachelors, falsely accused people, gardeners.
Serenus was by birth a Grecian. He left his family estate, friends and country to serve God in celibacy, penance and prayer. With this design he bought a garden in Sirmium in Pannonia, which he cultivated with his own hands and lived on the fruits and herbs it produced.
One day a woman came to his garden with her two daughters. Serenus, seeing them come up, advised them to withdraw and to conduct themselves in future as decency required in persons of their sex and condition. The woman, stung at our Saint’s charitable remonstrance, retired in confusion but resolved on revenging the supposed affront. She accordingly wrote to her husband that Serenus had insulted her.
He, on receiving her letter, went to the emperor to demand justice, whereupon the emperor gave him a letter to the governor of the province to enable him to obtain satisfaction. The governor ordered Serenus to be immediately brought before him. Serenus, on hearing the charge, answered, “I remember that, some time ago, a lady came into my garden at an unseasonable hour and I own I took the liberty to tell her it was against decency for one of her sex and quality to be abroad at such an hour.” This plea of Serenus having put the officer to the blush for his wife’s conduct, he dropped his prosecution.
But the governor, suspecting by this answer that Serenus might be a Christian, began to question him, saying, “Who are you and what is your religion?” Serenus, without hesitating one moment, answered, “I am a Christian. It seemed a while ago as if God rejected me as a stone unfit to enter His building but He has the goodness to take me now to be placed in it; I am ready to suffer all things for His name, that I may have a part in His kingdom with His Saints” The governor, hearing this burst into rage and said, “Since you sought to elude by flight the emperor’s edicts and have positively refused to sacrifice to the gods, I condemn you for these crimes to lose your head.”
The sentence was no sooner pronounced than the Saint was carried off and beheaded, on 23 February, in 307.
St Alexander Akimetes
St Boswell
St Dositheus of Egypt
St Felix of Brescia
St Florentius of Seville
St Giovanni Theristi
Bl Giovannina Franchi
Bl John of Hungary
Bl Josephine Vannini
Bl Juan Lucas Manzanares
Bl Ludwik Mzyk
St Martha of Astorga
St Medrald
St Milburga
Bl Nicolas Tabouillot
St Ordonius
St Polycarp of Rome
Bl Rafaela Ybarra de Villalongo
St Romana St Serenus the Gardener (Died 307) Martyr
Bl Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski
St Willigis of Mainz
St Zebinus of Syria
—
Martyrs of Syrmium – 73 Christians who were martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. We know no details about them, and only six of their names – Antigonus, Libius, Rogatianus, Rutilus, Senerotas and Syncrotas.
Quote/s of the Day – 22 February – The Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:16
“On this rock I will build my Church”
Matthew 16:18
“How blessed is the Church of Rome, on which the Apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood!” (De Praescriptione Hereticorum, 36)
Tertullian (c 155- c 240)
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus
“I decided to consult the Chair of Peter, where that faith is found exalted by the lips of an Apostle; I now come to ask for nourishment for my soul there, where once I received the garment of Christ. I follow no leader save Christ, so I enter into communion with Your beatitude, that is, with the Chair of Peter, for this I know, is the rock upon which the Church is built.” (cf. Le lettere I, 15, 1-2)
St Jerome (343-420) Father & Doctor
“The Cross is God’s chair in the world.”
“Today’s celebration highlights the role of Peter and his Successors in steering the barque of the Church across this “ocean”…. Let us thank God together for founding His Church on the rock of Peter.
“Today, …Christ is repeating to each of you: “I have prayed for you” that your faith will not fail in the situations in which your fidelity to Christ, to the Church, to the Pope, may be put to the greatest test.”
One Minute Reflection – 22 February – The Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter
“And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it..”…Matthew 16:18
REFLECTION –“You are Peter and on this rock I shall build my Church.” He was given this name of ‘Peter’ because he was the first to set the foundations of the faith among the nations and because he is, the indestructible rock on which rests, the judgement seat and the whole edifice, belonging to Christ Jesus. It was on account of his faithfulness that he was called Peter, whereas our Lord receives the same name on account of His power according to Saint Paul’s words: “They drank from a spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was the Christ” (1Cor 10:4). Yes, the apostle chosen to be His co-worker, merited to share, the same name as Christ. They built the same building together – Peter does the planting, the Lord gives the increase and it is the Lord, too, who sends those, who will do the watering (cf. 1 Cor 3:6f.).
As you know, my beloved, it was following on from his own failure, when our Saviour suffered, that blessed Peter was raised up. It was after he had denied the Lord that he became the first next to him. Rendered more faithful when he wept over the faith he had betrayed, he received a still greater grace than the one he had lost. To him Christ confided His flock, so that he might guide it like a good shepherd and he who had been so weak, would now become the support of all. He who had fallen when questioned about his faith, must now establish the others, on the unshakeable foundations of faith. Hence he is called the foundation stone of the piety of the Churches.”…St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Holy Father, send Your Divine Enlightener into the hearts of all Your faithful, filling us with the strength to fulfil our mission as the followers of the Chair of St Peter. And most of all, we pray Lord Holy God to inspire and light the way of our Holy Father, Francis. Sustain and guide him, keep him in health and strength, to lead Your people by the Light of the Way and the Truth. Holy Father, have mercy on us, Holy Spirit guide and lead us, Lord Jesus Christ be our intercessor and teacher, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 22 February – The Memorial of St Margaret of Cortona TOSF (1247–1297)
O St Margaret of Cortona By St John Paul (1920-2005)
O Saint Margaret of Cortona,
I too come today as a pilgrim and I pause to pray with you
at the feet of the image of Christ Crucified and Risen,
whom, as a penitent, you contemplated at length.
Lord Jesus, crucified for us,
in offering yourself on Calvary for all humanity,
You have revealed to us, the wellsprings of everlasting life.
May the mystery of Your Passion, enlighten our life,
making us ready to follow You on the way of holiness and love.
Rekindle our faith, teach us to recognise and welcome
in our everyday life, the plans of Your mysterious Providence.
Give us the courage to confess our sins
and open our hearts to sorrow,
in order to receive the gift of Your mercy.
Empower us to forgive our brethren
following the example of Your love that knows no bounds.
Help us to be humbly disposed to repair the harm we have done
by actively and generously serving the poor, the sick
and all who are marginalised and without hope.
Give everyone the joy of persevering faithfully,
in full harmony with the Church,
along the way of the particular calling.
Above all others, show the young,
the splendid plan of love that You intend to bring about for them
and with them, in the new millennium.
Enable us to be peacemakers,
tenacious weavers of daily relationships of fraternal solidarity,
artisans of reconciliation,
witnesses and apostles of the civilisation of love.
O glorious Saint Margaret of Cortona,
present this request to your Crucified Lord and ours.
Guide us with the strength of your example,
support us with your constant protection,
be our companion, we beg you,
till we reach our Father’s house.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 22 February – St Margaret of Cortona TOSF (1247–1297) Penitent, Franciscan Tertiary, Mystic, Apostle of Charity, Founder of a charitable Lay Apostolate and an Order of Sisters – born in 1247 at Loviano, Tuscany, Italy and died on 22 February 1297 at Cortona, Italy of natural causes. Patronages – against insanity or mental illness, against sexual temptation, against temptations, of falsely accused people, beggars and homeless people, against the death of parents, stepchildren, midwives, penitent women, people ridiculed for their piety, reformed prostitutes, single laywomen, tertiaries, Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro, Italy, Diocese of, Cortona, Italy, Diocese of, Cortona, Italy.
Margaret was born of farming parents, in Laviano, a little town in the diocese of Chiusi. At the age of seven, Margaret’s mother died and her father remarried. Stepmother and stepdaughter did not like each other. As she grew older, Margaret became more wilful and reckless and her reputation in the town suffered. At the age of 17 she met a young man, according to some accounts, the son of Gugliemo di Pecora, lord of Valiano and she ran away with him. Soon Margaret found herself installed in the castle, not as her master’s wife, for convention would never allow that but as his mistress, which was more easily condoned. For ten years, she lived with him near Montepulciano and bore him a son.
When her lover failed to return home from a journey one day, Margaret became concerned. The unaccompanied return of his favourite hound alarmed Margaret and the hound led her into the forest to his murdered body.
That crime shocked Margaret into a life of prayer and penance. Margaret returned to his family all the gifts he had given her and left his home. With her child, she returned to her father’s house but her stepmother would not have her. Margaret and her son then went to the Franciscan friars at Cortona, where her son eventually became a friar. She fasted, avoided meat and subsisted on bread and vegetables.
In 1277, after three years of probation, Saint Margaret joined the Third Order of Saint Francis and chose to live in poverty. Following the example of St Francis of Assisi, she begged for sustenance and bread. She pursued a life of prayer and penance at Cortona and there established a hospital for the sick, homeless and impoverished. To secure nurses for the hospital, she instituted a congregation of Tertiary Sisters, known as “le poverelle” (Italian for “the little poor ones”).
While in prayer, Margaret heard the words, “What is your wish, poverella?” (“little poor one?”) and she replied, “I neither seek nor wish for anything but You, my Lord Jesus.” She also established an order devoted to Our Lady of Mercy and the members bound themselves to support the hospital and to help the needy.
On several occasions, St Margaret participated in public affairs. Twice, following divine command, she challenged the Bishop of Arezzo, Guglielmo Ubertini Pazzi, in whose diocese Cortona lay, because he lived and warred like a prince. She moved to the ruined Church of St Basil, now Santa Margherita and spent her remaining years there, she died on 22 February 1297.
After her death, the Church of Santa Margherita in Cortona was rebuilt in her honour. In the church of Santa Margherita you can view her incorrupt body of Saint Margaret. Hundreds of reports of miracles, both physical and spiritual, were reported by those who come here to venerate her. Saint Margaret was Canonised by Pope Benedict XIII on 16 May 1728.
Thought for the Day – 21 February – the Memorial of St Peter Damian OSB (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church
Excerpt from Pope Benedict’s Catechesis on St Peter Damian General Audience Wednesday, 9 September 2009
One detail should be immediately emphasised – the Hermitage at Fonte Avellana was dedicated to the Holy Cross and the Cross was the Christian mystery that was to fascinate Peter Damian more than all the others. “Those who do not love the Cross of Christ do not love Christ”, he said (Sermo XVIII, 11, p. 117) and he described himself as “Petrus crucis Christi servorum famulus Peter, servant of the servants of the Cross of Christ” (Ep, 9, 1).
Peter Damian addressed the most beautiful prayers to the Cross in which he reveals a vision of this mystery which has cosmic dimensions for it embraces the entire history of salvation: “O Blessed Cross”, he exclaimed, “You are venerated, preached and honoured by the faith of the Patriarchs, the predictions of the Prophets, the senate that judges the Apostles, the victorious army of Martyrs and the throngs of all the Saints” (Sermo XLVII, 14, p. 304).
Dear Brothers and Sisters, may the example of St Peter Damian spur us too always to look to the Cross as to the supreme act God’s love for humankind of God, who has given us salvation.
St Peter Damian, who was essentially a man of prayer, meditation and contemplation, was also a fine theologian – his reflection on various doctrinal themes led him to important conclusions for life. Thus, for example, he expresses with clarity and liveliness the Trinitarian doctrine, already using, under the guidance of biblical and patristic texts, the three fundamental terms which were subsequently to become crucial also for the philosophy of the West – processio, relatio and persona (cf. Opusc. XXXVIII: PL CXLV, 633-642; and Opusc. II and III: ibid., 41 ff. and 58 ff).
However, because theological analysis of the mystery led him to contemplate the intimate life of God and the dialogue of ineffable love, between the three divine Persons, he drew ascetic conclusions from them for community life and even for relations between Latin and Greek Christians, divided on this topic. His meditation on the figure of Christ, is significantly reflected, in practical life, since the whole of Scripture is centred on Him.
The “Jews”, St Peter Damian notes, “through the pages of Sacred Scripture, bore Christ on their shoulders as it were” (Sermo XLVI, 15). Therefore Christ, he adds, must be the centre of the monk’s life: “May Christ be heard in our language, may Christ be seen in our life, may he be perceived in our hearts” (Sermo VIII, 5). Intimate union with Christ engages not only monks but all the baptised. Here we find a strong appeal for us too not to let ourselves be totally absorbed by the activities, problems and preoccupations of every day, forgetting that Jesus must truly be the centre of our life.
Communion with Christ creates among Christians a unity of love. In Letter 28, which is a brilliant ecclesiological treatise, Peter Damian develops a profound theology of the Church as communion. “Christ’s Church”, he writes, is united by the bond of charity to the point that just as she has many members so is she, mystically, entirely contained in a single member – in such a way that the whole universal Church is rightly called the one Bride of Christ in the singular, and each chosen soul, through the sacramental mystery, is considered fully Church”. This is important – not only that the whole universal Church should be united but that the Church should be present in her totality in each one of us. Thus the service of the individual becomes “an expression of universality” (Ep 28, 9-23).
However, the ideal image of “Holy Church” illustrated by Peter Damian does not correspond as he knew well to the reality of his time. For this reason he did not fear to denounce the state of corruption that existed in the monasteries and among the clergy, because, above all, of the practice of the conferral by the lay authorities of ecclesiastical offices; -various Bishops and Abbots were behaving as the rulers of their subjects rather than as pastors of souls. Their moral life frequently left much to be desired. For this reason, in 1057 Peter Damian left his monastery with great reluctance and sorrow and accepted, if unwillingly, his appointment as Cardinal Bishop of Ostia. So it was that he entered fully into collaboration with the Popes in the difficult task of Church reform. He saw that to make his own contribution of helping in the work of the Church’s renewal contemplation did not suffice. He thus relinquished the beauty of the hermitage and courageously undertook numerous journeys and missions.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is a great grace that the Lord should have raised up in the life of the Church a figure as exuberant, rich and complex as St Peter Damian. Moreover, it is rare to find theological works and spirituality as keen and vibrant as those of the Hermitage at Fonte Avellana.
St Peter Damian was a monk through and through, with forms of austerity which to us today might even seem excessive. Yet, in that way he made monastic life an eloquent testimony of God’s primacy and an appeal to all to walk towards holiness, free from any compromise with evil. He spent himself, with lucid consistency and great severity, for the reform of the Church of his time. He gave all his spiritual and physical energies to Christ and to the Church but always remained, as he liked to describe himself, Petrus ultimus monachorum servus, Peter, the lowliest servant of the monks.
St Peter Damian,
‘Peter, Servant of the Servants of the Cross of Christ’
Quote/s of the Day – 21 February – the Memorial of St Peter Damian OSB (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church
“Let us faithfully transmit to posterity, the example of virtue, which we have received, from our forefathers.”
“He pours light into our minds, arouses our desire and gives us strength… As the soul is the life of the body, so the Holy Spirit, is the life of our souls.”
“When you are scorned by others and lashed by God, do not despair. God lashes us in this life, to shield us from the eternal lash, in the next.”
“May Christ be heard in our language, may Christ be seen in our life, may He be perceived in our hearts” (Sermo VIII, 5)
“O Blessed Cross, You are venerated, preached and honoured by the faith of the Patriarchs, the predictions of the Prophets, the senate that judges the Apostles, the victorious army of Martyrs and the throngs of all the Saints” (Sermo XLVII, 14, p. 304)
“Those, who do not love the Cross of Christ, do not love Christ” (Sermo XVIII, 11, p. 117)
One Minute Reflection – 21 February – Thursday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Mark 8:27-33 and the Memorial of St Peter Damian OSB (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church
“Who do men say that I am?”… “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” ...Mark 8:27,29
REFLECTION – “With these two questions, Jesus seems to say that it is one thing to follow the prevailing opinion and another, to encounter Him and open oneself to His mystery, there one discovers the truth. Prevailing opinion contains a true but partial response, Peter and with him, the Church of the past, present and always, by the grace of God, responds with the truth: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.
Jesus is the Son of God – hence He is perennially alive as His Father is eternally alive. This is the novelty, that grace ignites, in the heart of those who are open to the mystery of Jesus, the non-mathematical — but even stronger, inner — certainty, of having encountered the Wellspring of Life, Life itself made flesh, visible and tangible in our midst. This, is the experience of Christians and it is not their merit, not that of we Christians, it is not our merit but comes from God, it is a grace of God, the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. All this is contained in the seed of Peter’s response: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.… Pope Francis – Angelus, 29 June 2018
PRAYER – Lord of heaven and earth, by Your grace You have brought our hearts and mind to seek and hope in Your saving love, in Your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. May we, who like Peter, our father in faith, declare, ‘You are the Christ!’, remain ever in His steps, carrying the cross behind Him. We thank You for the blessing of St Peter Damian, grant that, through his intercession, we may, like him, constantly follow the Light of Christ and so rise to eternal life. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen
Saint of the Day – 21 February – St Peter Damian OSB (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church, Bishop Cardinal, Benedictine Monk, Confessor, Theologian, Writer, Teacher, Preacher, Poet, Reformer. Patronages – Spiritual warfare, Church Reformers and Faenza, Italy. Partly because he was orphaned and had been treated shabbily by one of his brothers, Peter Damian was very good to the poor. It was the ordinary thing for him to have a poor person or two with him at table and he liked to minister personally to their needs.
Peter escaped poverty and the neglect of his own brother when a second brother, who was Archpriest of Ravenna, took him under his wing. His brother sent him to good schools and Peter became a professor.
Already in those days, Peter was very strict with himself. He wore a hair shirt under his clothes, fasted rigorously and spent many hours in prayer. Soon, he decided to leave his teaching and give himself completely to prayer with the Benedictines of the reform of Saint Romuald at Fonte Avellana. They lived two monks to a hermitage. Peter was so eager to pray and slept so little that he soon suffered from severe insomnia. He found he had to use some prudence in taking care of himself. When he was not praying, he studied the Bible.
Unknown St Peter Damian 1725
The abbot commanded that when he died Peter should succeed him. Abbot Peter founded five other hermitages. He encouraged his brothers in a life of prayer and solitude and wanted nothing more for himself. The Holy See periodically called on him, however, to be a peacemaker or troubleshooter, between two abbeys in dispute or a cleric or government official in some disagreement with Rome.
Finally, Pope Stephen IX made Peter the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia. He worked hard to wipe out simony—the buying of church offices–and encouraged his priests to observe celibacy and urged even the diocesan clergy to live together and maintain scheduled prayer and religious observance. He wished to restore primitive discipline among religious and priests, warning against needless travel, violations of poverty and too-comfortable living. He even wrote to the Bishop of Besancon complaining that the canons there sat down when they were singing the psalms in the Divine Office.
He wrote many letters. Some 170 are extant. We also have 53 of his sermons and seven lives, or biographies, that he wrote. He preferred examples and stories rather than theory in his writings. The liturgical offices he wrote are evidence of his talent as a stylist in Latin.
I cannot find out much about this image, it seems to be Saint Romuald on the left (of whom St Peter wrote a biography), St Peter Damian in the centre and an unknown saint, I presume on the right.
He asked often to be allowed to retire as Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and finally Pope Alexander II consented. Peter was happy to become once again just a monk but he was still called to serve as a papal legate. When returning from such an assignment in Ravenna, he was overcome by a fever. With the monks gathered around him saying the Divine Office, he died on 22 February 1072.
In 1828, he was declared a Doctor of the Church.
In Canto XXI, Dante has the Saint pronounce an invective against the luxury enjoyed by prelates in the Church of his day and in that of Dante`s – the translation below is by Allen Mandelbaum:
113 … There, within that monastery, 114 in serving God, I gained tenacity: 115 with food that only olive juice had seasoned, 116 I could sustain with ease both heat and frost, 117 content within my contemplative thoughts.
118 That cloister used to offer souls to Heaven, 119 a fertile harvest but it now is barren 120 as Heaven’s punishment will soon make plain.
121 There I was known as Peter Damian 122 and, on the Adriatic shore, was Peter 123 the Sinner when I served Our Lady’s House.
124 Not much of mortal life was left to me 125 when I was sought for, dragged to take that hat 126 which always passes down from bad to worse.
127 Once there were Cephas and the Holy Ghost’s 128 great vessel – they were barefoot, they were lean, 129 they took their food at any inn they found.
130 But now the modern pastors are so plump 131 that they have need of one to prop them up 132 on this side, one on that and one in front,
133 and one to hoist them saddleward. Their cloaks 134 cover their steeds, two beasts beneath one skin: 135 o patience, you who must endure so much!”
Amos Nattini (1892-1985) Divina Commedia, Paradiso canto XXI, San Pier Damiani nel cielo di Saturno 1923-1941
St Peter Damian OSB (1007-1072) Doctor of the Church (Optional Memorial)
A lot about St Peter here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/saint-of-the-day-21-february-st-peter-damian/
St Avitus II of Clermont
Bl Caterina Dominici
Bl Claudio di Portaceli
St Daniel of Persia
Bl Eleanora
St Ercongotha
St Eustathius of Antioch
St Felix of Metz
St George of Amastris
St Germanus of Granfield
St Gundebert of Sens
Bl Noel Pinot
St Paterius of Brescia
St Pepin of Landen
St Peter Mavimenus
St Randoald of Granfield St Robert Southwell SJ (1561-1595) Martyr
St Robert’s Biography: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/02/21/saint-of-the-day-21-february-st-robert-southwell-s-j-1561-1595-martyr/
St Severian of Scythopolis
St Severus of Syrmium
Bl Thomas Pormort
St Valerius of San Pedro de Montes
St Verda of Persia
—
Martyrs of Sicily – 79 saints – Seventy-nine Christians martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. They were martyred in c 303 on Sicily.
Martyrs of Hadrumetum – A group of 26 Christians martyred together by Vandals. We know little more than eight of their names – Alexander, Felix, Fortunatus, Saturninus, Secundinus, Servulus, Siricius and Verulus. c 434 at Hadrumetum (modern Sousse, Tunisia)
Martyrs Uchibori – Three Japanese laymen, all brothers, all sons of Paulus Uchibori Sakuemon, one a teenager, one only five years old and all martyred for their faith in the persecutions in Japan. 21 February 1627 in Shimabara, Nagasaki, Japan. Beatified 24 November 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Antonius
Balthasar
Ignatius
Thought for the Day – 20 February – The Memorial of Blessed Julia Rodzinska OP (1899-1945) Martyr
Excerpt from the account of the Works of Mercy, Spirituality, Love of God and the Church and the Martyrdom of Blessed Julia Rodzinska, by Eva Hoff, a prisoner of KL Stutthof, a German Jewess, who survived and after the war settled in Sweden
In her presence, you felt the need and urge to pray.
Everything she had, she shared with others, even the last piece of bread. Though devastated by starvation, she saw others to be in greater need and offered them her meagre ration of bread.
When other prisoners did everything to avoid contact with those who were sick and dying of typhus, she, instead, rushed to assist them.
Her sacrificial love of neighbour was stronger than fear of exposing herself to a deadly disease. She cared more for others than herself. The person in need was her key concern. She assisted anyone in need with no difference. Her heart’s desire was to be wherever she was of help. She never thought about herself, yet always about others. She was very devout. Her piety was contagious and inspired others to pray. She sought the brokenhearted and downcast to console and uplift their spirits. Strikingly noticeable was tranquillity, her face radiated with. Every time I had been with her, I could sense how calm and recollected she was.
She died of exhaustion and commitment to her sacrificial ministry, so we, whom she served, could survive. She performed works of mercy where there was no mercy!
I got to know sister Julia in that ghastly concentration camp of Stutthof near Gdańsk (Poland), where we suffered humiliation at every turn. The initial selection after arrival at the camp was already horrible. People were sent to the gas, based on external appearance.
I accompanied Sister Julia until her last days. She never concealed that she was a religious. She showed unwavering faith and hope in God. She consoled all of us, entrusted us to God and encouraged us to pray. She organised and led common prayers. We always prayed the rosary, the litany of Our Lady, hymns and any number of prayers she composed according to our needs and situation. Prisoners of different nationalities came to pray. People spread the word – let’s pray the rosary with sister Julia. The image will always stay with me – the small, poorly lit room overflowing with people on bunk beds, three or even four levels high; here and there, rags drying in the air. Kneeling on a wooden plank, straight, with her head lifted up and eyes aimed at the Infinite is our Sister Julia. She holds a rosary in her strong, shapely hands. Her face is focused… She was very pious. Her piety influenced others. In her presence, one felt the need to pray.
She was outstanding in her love of God and the Church. She made arrangements secretly to meet with a priest—also a prisoner—to go to confession and to give others an opportunity for reconciliation. On many a Sunday morning, when the circumstances allowed, we walked in silence around the barrack taking part spiritually in the Mass.
When I encouraged her to talk about the convent, she spoke about the noble customs and lofty ceremonies of religious life. At those time, she became absorbed by what was highest and dearest to her. She thanked me at the end of such conversations, whereas it was I who should have thanked her, for what those conversations meant to me.
Sister Julia performed works of mercy in the camp, where people had nearly forgotten that mercy even exists. She was cheerful, prayerful, obliging and self-sacrificing. She risked her life to help others. She cared for those who despaired. She showed the same attitude toward every person, regardless of nationality or religion. She knew how to offer consolation because of her profound hope in God. She literally shared everything—to the last piece of bread—with those who suffered hunger more than she did.
She reminded us frequently that God guides everything. She said that we needed to obey God’s will, even if we had to suffer everything in such humiliation or die in the camp, that everything was in God’s hands. She accepted her fate in the spirit of faith in Divine Providence, even as she sensed that she would not survive. She prayed constantly and served her neighbour until the very end.
She visited the victims of typhus—so terribly contagious—when others did everything to avoid them. She wouldn’t lie down herself, despite her own illness, in order to help others. Led by love, by sacrificial love, she succumbed to the disease. Despite everything, she couldn’t imagine abandoning those who needed her help. Her sacrificial love was stronger.
Sensing imminent death, she missed her Community and those she would not see again. She cried in her helplessness but she didn’t despair. She overcame her weakness by prayer, serving the sick until the end. Sister Julia died from typhus. She gave her life for others. The survivors spoke of her, as a great and holy person.
Quote/s of the Day – 20 February – The Memorial of Blessed Julia Rodzinska OP (1899-1945) Martyr
“Kneeling on a wooden plank, straight, with her head lifted up and eyes aimed at the Infinite is our sister Julia. She holds a rosary in her strong, shapely hands. Her face is focused… She was very pious. Her piety influenced others. In her presence, one felt the need to pray.”
“She was outstanding in her love of God and the Church.”
“She performed works of mercy where there was no mercy.”
“She reminded us frequently that God guides everything.”
By a fellow inmate of the Concentration Camp speaking of Blessed Julia Rodzinska, Martyr
One Minute Reflection – 20 February – Wednesday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time, Year C – Gospel: Mark 8:22-26 and The First Memorial of Saints Francisco (1908-1919) and Jacinta (1910-1920) and Blessed Julia Rodzinska OP (1899-1945) Martyr
And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village….Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored and saw everything clearly. And he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”...Mark 8:22,25-26
REFLECTION – “They came, then, to Bethsaida, into the village of Andrew and Peter, James and John. Bethsaida means “house of fishers” and, in truth, from this house, hunters and fishermen are sent into the whole world. Ponder the text. The historical facts are clear, the literal sense is obvious. But we must now search into its spiritual message. That He came to Bethsaida, that there was a blind man there, that He departed, what is there remarkable about all that? Nothing, but what He did there is great; striking, however, only if it should take place today, for we have ceased to wonder about such things.
How, then, is his house not in Bethsaida? Note the text exactly. If we consider the literal interpretation only, it does not make any sense. If this blind man is found in Bethsaida and is taken out and cured and he is commanded: “Return to your own house,” certainly, he is bid: “Return to Bethsaida.” If, however, he returns there, what is the meaning of the command: “Do not go into the village?” You see, therefore, that the interpretation is symbolic. He is led out from the house of the Jews, from the village, from the law, from the traditions of the Jews. He, who could not be cured in the law, is cured in the grace of the gospel. It is said to him, “Return to your own house” — not into the house that you think, the one from which he came out but into the house that was also the house of Abraham, since Abraham is the father of those who believe.”… St Jerome (343-420) Father & Doctor of the Church – Tractate on the Gospel of Mark, Homily 79.
“Our lives are sometimes similar to that of the blind man who opened himself to the light, who opened himself to God, who opened himself to His grace. Today, we are invited to open ourselves to the light of Christ in order to bear fruit in our lives, to eliminate unchristian behaviours; we are all Christians but we all, everyone, sometimes has unchristian behaviours, behaviours that are sins. We must repent of this, eliminate these behaviours in order to journey well along the way of holiness, which has its origin in baptism. We, too, have been “enlightened” by Christ in baptism, so that, as St Paul reminds us, we may act as “children of light” (Eph 5:8), with humility, patience and mercy.
Let us ask ourselves about the state of our own heart? Do I have an open heart or a closed heart? It is opened or closed to God? Open or closed to my neighbour? We are always closed to some degree, which comes from original sin, from mistakes, from errors. We need not be afraid!
Let us open ourselves, to the light of the Lord, He awaits us always in order to enable us to see better, to give us more light, to forgive us. Let us not forget this!”…Pope Francis – Angelus, 30 March 2014
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, just as the little children, Francisco and Jacinta and Blessed Julia Rodzinska, were chosen to be bearers of Your message, grant we pray, that by their prayers on our behalf, we too may Your bearers of light. Be with us, holy Mother, during our journey to the eternal glory of your Son, help us to become like little children and in that new purity, shine with His Light. Through Jesus our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 20 February – Blessed Stanislawa/Julia Rodzinska OP (1899-1945) Martyr – Dominican Sister, known as the “Mother of Orphans” and the “Apostle of the Rosary”, Apostle of Charity, Teacher, Catechist, also known as Sister Maria Julia, Mother Maria Julia, prisoner P40992.
Blessed Sister Julia Stanisława was born on 16 March 1899 in Nawojowa, a town near Nowy Sącz. She was baptised and given the names, Stanisława Marta Józefa. Her father was an organist. He also worked in a savings bank and in the District Office. There were four other children in the family. When Stanisława was 8 years old, her mother died and two years later, her father. After her parents’ death, the Dominican Sisters from a nearby convent run by Sr Stanisława Lenart took care of her. There, she finished school and then she started her studies in the Teachers’ College which she was unable to complete because she began her religious formation in Wielowieś. On 3 August 1917 she assumed the habit together with a new name – Maria Julia. On 4 September 1918 she continued her studies in the Holy Family Teachers’ College in Kraków, from which she graduated in May 1919.
After having completed her studies, Sister Julia Rodzińska began to work as a teacher, mainly among orphaned children. She made her monastic vows on 5 August 1924. She then continued her education and in 1925-1926 she completed an Advanced Teachers’ Course and at the age of 27 she was named the director of the State Primary School of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius. Sr Julia was not strong physically, suffering from a very serious stomach disorder, which meant she had to undergo a difficult operation in 1937.
After the Soviet army occupied Vilnius, the situation of the Dominican Sisters was put into jeopardy. In September 1940, the sisters who worked as teachers were dismissed from work. At first, they tried to work as technical personnel but finally in 1941 the Home for Orphans was removed from their authority and placed under that of Lithuanian authorities and Sister Julia left the Home forever. The schooling work done by the Dominican Sisters since 1922 was terminated.
The Dominicans did not leave Vilnius. Together with Sister Julia, they stayed on Parkowa Street and in the convent of the Nuns of Visitation on Rossa Street. In these conditions, Sister Julia continued to teach in secret, also during the German occupation, until she was arrested in 1943.
On 12 July 1943, Sister Julia was arrested by the Gestapo on a charge of political activity and collaboration with the Polish partisans. She was imprisoned in Vilnius and for almost a year she was kept in an isolation cell. Then she was transported to the disciplinary camp but soon, she was evacuated together with other prisoners to Stutthof concentration camp. She arrived there on 9 July 1944 and was given number 40992. Together with a group of women from the Vilnius intelligence, she was assigned to block no 27 in the “Jewish Camp”. The conditions were indescribable. Filth, vermin, overcrowding in the barracks (three or four women slept on one bed on a three-storey bunk bed), low-calorie food rations given out in extreme conditions, unbearable physical work, limited access to water, lack of hygienic products, necessity to satisfy one’s bodily needs in public – these are only some of the elements of the indirect extermination used in the camp. An additional torment, was the inhumane treatment carried out by the prisoners who were assigned as ‘wardens’ – mainly German criminals and SS men.
In these conditions sister Julia did not lose her hope for survival. She shared her hope and spiritual strength with other prisoners. In the camp it had a special meaning because the inhumane treatment distorted the prisoners’ minds and changed the moral norms of many of them. In the barrack, where mostly Jews lived, Sister Julia organised and led the prayers. She also constantly reminded the prisoners about the religious values. Religious observances were strictly prohibited and punished in the camp. Therefore this was one of the forms of moral resistance of the prisoners to what was happening in the camp. Sister Julia was never guided by nationality or religion in her way of helping others. She was kind to all the needful. She was known as the one who consoled and encouraged all the adrift and miserable. She knew that one prisoners, whose wife was living in the “Jewish Camp”, was about to commit suicide. She sent him notes until he assured her that he wouldn’t take his life. According to the testimony of this prisoner, he survived the camp thanks to Sister Julia, who awaken his hope for survival and overcame the fear of the life in the camp.
In November 1944 a typhus epidemic devastated the camp. The illness spread mainly among the prisoners in the Jewish part of the camp. The authorities of KL Stutthof isolated the “Jewish Camp” from the rest of the compound and left the women without any help. Risking her own life, Sister Julia Rodzińska undertook the task of helping the Jews from block XXX, who were dying alone. When the majority avoided this “death block” fearing the infection, Sister Julia took a decision that meant the acceptance of death among those who she helped. She organised water to drink, dressings and medicines that where available in the camp. She served the needful even when she got infected with typhus and was suffering from serious illness.
The Dominican Sister, Julia Rodzińska, died on 20 February 1945 in block no 27. Her body was burnt on a pyre. An amazing testimony about the heroic conduct and the martyr’s death of Sr Julia has been written and declared by Eva Hoff, a prisoner of KL Stutthof, a German Jewess, who survived the marine evacuation and after the war settled in Sweden. There, she gave an oral and written account of the life and the circumstances of the death of Sr Julia in KL Stutthof. The account has been confirmed by other prisoners of KL Stutthof and Father Franciszek Grucza who heard Sr Julia’s confessions and gave her Communion.
A Shrine where Sr Julia’s body was burnt
On the 13 June 1999, during his pilgrimage to Poland, the Holy Father John Paul II beatified 108 martyrs of World War II. Sister Julia Rodzińska, the Dominican nun, was among them.
On 12 June 2006 the Primary School in Nawojowa has been named after blessed Sister Julia Rodzińska.
St Leo of Catania
St Nemesius of Cyprus
St Pothamius of Cyprus
St Serapion of Alexandria
St Silvanus of Emesa Bl Stanislawa/Julia Rodzinska OP (1899-1945) Martyr
St Valerius of Courserans
St Wulfric of Haselbury
St Zenobius of Antioch
Thought for the Day – 19 February – Tuesday of the Sixth week in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Mark 8:14–21 and the memorial of Bl John Sullivan SJ (1861-1933)
And He said to them “Do you not yet understand or comprehend?”...Mark 8:21
Faith, the theologians say, is a certain and obscure habit of soul. It is an obscure habit because it brings us to believe divinely revealed truths, that transcend every natural light and infinitely exceed, all human understanding. As a result, the excessive light of faith bestowed on a soul, is darkness for it – a brighter light will eclipse and suppress a dimmer one. The sun so obscures all other lights, that they do not seem to be lights at all when it is shining and instead of affording vision to the eyes, it overwhelms, blinds and deprives them of vision since its light is excessive and disproportioned to the visual faculty. Similarly, the light of faith in its abundance, suppresses and overwhelms that of the intellect…
Another clearer example… If those born blind were told about the nature of the colours white or yellow, they would understand absolutely nothing, no matter how much instruction they received, since they never saw these colours… Only the names of these colours would be grasped, since the names are perceptible through hearing… Such is faith to the soul – it informs us of matters we have never seen or known… The light of natural knowledge does not show them to us… Yet we come to know it through hearing, by believing, what faith teaches, in blinding our natural light and bringing it in to submission. St Paul states: “Faith comes through hearing” (Rm 10:17). This amounts, to saying, that faith is not a knowledge, derived from the senses but an assent of the soul, to what enters through hearing… Faith, manifestly, is a dark night for souls but in this way, it gives them light. The more darkness it brings on them, the more light it sheds. For by blinding, it illumines them, according to those words of Isaiah: “If you do not believe, you will not understand” (cf. Is 7:9).
Blessed John Sullivan was illuminated by the Light of faith, in his many hours of silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, the place where our light is found.
God and Father,
You honour those who honour You.
Make sacred the memory
of Your servant John Sullivan,
by granting through his intercession,
the petition we now make
……………….(name the petition)
and hastening the day,
when his name will be venerated
by the title of Saint.
We make our prayer
through Christ our Lord,
in the Holy Spirit,
God forever.
Amen
AnaStpaul 
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