Quote/s of the Day – 23 March – Saturday of the Second Week of Lent, Year C and The Memorial of St Turibius of Mogrovejo (1538-1606)
“Christ said ‘I am the Truth’,
He did not say ‘I am the custom’.”
“Time is not our own
and we must give
a strict account of it.”
Saint of the Day – 23 March – St Joseph Oriol (1650-1702) Priest, Confessor, prophet, healer, apostle of penance, prayer and the sick and miracle-worker. Known as the Thaumaturgus of Barcelona. Born on 23 November 1650 in Barcelona, Spain and died on 23 March 1702 in his hometown of natural causes. Patronage – Barcelona.
St Joseph was born into a poor family but managed to study at the University of Barcelona where he was awarded a doctorate of theology on 1 August 1674. He was ordained on 30 May 1676.
He went on a pilgrimage to Rome, Italy in 1686, when Pope Innocent XI granted him a benefice at Santa Maria del Pino (Our Lady of the Pines), Barcelona, Spain, a parish he served for the rest of his life.
He went to Rome to offer himself for the foreign missions, seeking to evangelise the infidels and become a martyr. On the way to Rome, Joseph fell ill at Marseilles, France and had a vision that gave him a new mission – to revitalise the faith in his own country.
He returned home and worked with the youngest of children and roughest of soldiers and prayed without ceasing for the living and the dead. He wore a hair-shirt, lived for 26 years, half his life, solely on bread and water. He became a famed confessor, prophet, healer and miracle worker. The dying, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the lame and the paralytic, were said to be instantly cured by him.
Joseph was Beatified by Pope Pius VII on 5 September 1808 and Pope Pius X later Canonised him on 20 May 1909.
He is buried in the Chapel of the Virgin Mary of Montserrat in Church of the Parish which he served all his life, between 1687 and 1702, Our Lady of the Pines in Barcelona, although a Basilica has also been built in his honour.
The Canonisation Miracle:
On 6 April 1806, priest José Mestres fell off a walkway on the outside of the church’s apse. He rose unscathed from the experience and attributed the event to St Joseph Oriol, whose remains are interred inside the church.
Although St Joseph was renowned for his healing miracles in 17th century Barcelona. He cured the deaf, blind, mute and otherwise disabled people who came to him. But despite his accomplishments in life, sainthood can only be bestowed upon someone after their death. As a result of this posthumous miracle, Oriol was canonised by the pope in September of the same year. A small plaque was installed on the corner of the church to commemorate Padre Mestres’ blessed fall.
This tiny landmark, located on the side of the Church of Santa Maria del Pi in the middle of Barcelona’s dense Gothic Quarter, marks the memory of this miracle of Fr José.
While St Joseph Oriol is little known outside of Spain, his Feast day today is celebrated with a wonderful festival in Barcelona every year and flowers are placed at the numerous statues of St Joseph throughout Barcelona.
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)
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
St Theodolus of Antioch
St Victorian of Hadrumetum
—
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.
Thought for the Day – 22 March – Friday of the Second week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen (1878-1946) “The Lion of Munster”
MASS OF BEATIFICATION OF THE SERVANT OF GOD
CLEMENS AUGUST GRAF VON GALEN
EXCERPT from the HOMILY OF CARD. JOSÉ SARAIVA MARTINS
Vatican Basilica
Sunday, 9 October 2005
The tomb of the Supreme Pontiff Hadrian VI, well known for many centuries as the last non-Italian Pope, is located in the Church of Santa Maria dell’Anima, the national church of Germany in Rome. The following epitaph is engraved on his sepulchral monument: “Unfortunately, the conditions of the times strongly dissipate the effectiveness of the virtues of even the best of men”.
This epitaph is a negative reference to the conditions of the times in which Hadrian VI lived, but it also contains a very positive appreciation of the outstanding virtues that he practised precisely in the adverse conditions of his time.
Indeed, a characteristic feature of the famous Cardinal Clemens August von Galen, Bishop of Münster, whose beatification today fills our hearts with joy, is that he eminently and heroically practised the virtues of a Christian and a Pastor in a period so fraught with difficulties for the Church and for the German Nation.
Germany was then dominated by National Socialism. The Diocese of Münster can boast of having had as Bishop, on the Chair of St Ludger, a Pastor who boldly opposed the ideology that despised humanity and the death mechanism of the National Socialist State. This earned him the well-deserved nickname, “Lion of Münster”.
Bishop Clemens August Count von Galen, was one of the best known champions of the Church’s resistance to the unjust National Socialist regime. If we wonder where he found his daring to reprimand the Nazis publicly and with very clear arguments, since they were violating fundamental human rights and how he managed to persevere in this denunciation, we must turn to three important factors that built up his strong personality as a man, a believer, first and subsequently, Bishop.
These were: Family, Faith, and Politics. However, we must never lose sight of the fact that the Blessed’s attitude stemmed from his deeply-rooted Christian virtues.
Clemens August came from a family bound by a long tradition both to the Church and to public life. His father was involved in public affairs and his mother kept the family united – these factors gave Clemens August and his siblings a sense of security and a basis for life that later and rather unexpectedly enabled him to surpass himself and the tradition of the milieu into which he was born.
Traditionally, the life of the von Galen family was strongly oriented to a sense of public responsibility with regard to all the people in the Church and in society. At the family table in Dinklage Castle, in addition to family conversation and the prayer of the Rosary, the father’s position as a deputy of the Reichstag in Berlin often gave rise to political topics.
Without any doubt he was able to do what he did only thanks to a deep but at the same time very simple spirituality, founded both on the Eucharist and on devotion to the Mother of God.
He countered the deafening martial music and the empty phrases blaring from the amplifiers of the speakers’ platforms with the veneration of the Blessed Eucharist, the silence of contemplative adoration of the Lord who made himself Bread. Before the Lord present in the Sacrament of the Eucharistic Bread, apparently defenceless and thus not easy to recognise, he found the strength and nourishment that alone could permanently satisfy the human desire for life.
The unifying force of the new Blessed’s spiritual life was his profound and dynamic faith, enlivened by his active charity towards everyone, especially the suffering. Von Galen’s spirituality, inspired by the Gospel, allowed him to be transparent in his public role. All his actions and virtues flowed from his lived faith.
At the very outset of his pastoral work in Münster, Bishop von Galen unmasked the ideology of National Socialism and its contempt for human beings. In the middle of the war in the summer of 1941, he criticised it even more harshly in the three homilies he gave in the months of July and August that year, which have become famous.
In them he targeted the obligatory closure of convents and the arrest of Religious. He spoke vigorously against the deportation and destruction of those human lives that the regime deemed unworthy to be lived, that is, the mentally disabled. The Bishop’s fiery words dealt fatal blows to the Nazi’s systematic extermination policy.
His clear arguments infuriated the Nazi leaders who were at a loss as to what to do next, because they did not have the nerve to arrest or kill him due to Bishop von Galen’s extraordinary authority.
It was neither innate courage nor excessive temerity. Only a deep sense of responsibility and a clear vision of what was right and what was wrong could have induced Bishop Clemens August to speak these words. They invite us to reflect on the brilliance of his witness to faith, in times that may seem less threatening but are just as problematic with regard to human life, they invite us to imitate his example.
Thus, in March 1946, reflecting on what happened at that time, Cardinal von Galen summarised all this. He said: “The good Lord gave me a position that obliged me to call what was black, black, and what was white, white, as outlined in episcopal ordination. I knew that I could speak on behalf of thousands of people who, like me, were convinced, that only on the basis of Christianity, could our German People truly be united and attain a blessed future”.
Dear German pilgrims, we can look full of gratitude at this great personality from your Homeland. Bl. Bishop Clemens August realised who our God is and placed all his hope in Him (cf. Is 25: 9). When he was first a parish priest and later a Bishop, he spared no efforts in his pastoral ministry, he had learned how to do without (cf. Phil 4: 12) and was prepared to give his life in the service of human beings. Indeed, he was fully aware of his responsibility to God.
Therefore, the Lord has made him worthy of his magnificent riches (cf. Phil 4: 19), of which St Paul spoke in his Letter to the Philippians that we have just heard. In faith, we are convinced that he was called, that he was chosen to take part in the wedding banquet in the perfection of divine glory – the wonderful parable of Jesus, presented to us by the Gospel of today’s liturgy, prompts us to meditate on this wedding banquet (cf. Mt 22: 1-14).
I would like to congratulate the Diocese of Münster on the fact that precisely in the year in which its establishment, at least 12 centuries ago, is being commemorated, it can celebrate with joy and pride this Beatification here at the Tomb of the Apostle Peter, as if to strengthen its own apostolic roots, anchoring them even more firmly to the Magisterium of the Vicar of Christ who today, through God’s grace, is Benedict XVI. May the new Blessed be an encouragement to the Diocese of Münster to keep its rich and ever-timely heritage constantly alive, making it fruitful for the people of our times.
May the Lord, through the intercession of the new Blessed, bless the beloved and venerable Diocese of Münster and the entire Church in Germany…Vatican.va
Quote of the Day – 22 March – Friday of the Second week of Lent, Year C
and the Memorial of Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen (1878-1946)
“The Lion of Munster”
Hitler’s order for the “Aktion T4” Euthanasia Programme was dated 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland. As word of the programme spread, protest grew, until finally, Bishop Galen delivered his famous August 1941 sermons denouncing the programme as “murder”. On 3 August 1941, in one of his series of denunciations, Blessed Galen declared:
“‘Thou shalt not kill.'”
God engraved this commandment on the souls of men,
long before any penal code…
God has engraved these commandments in our hearts…
They are the unchangeable
and fundamental truths of our social life…
Where in Germany and where, here,
is obedience to the precepts of God? …
As for the first commandment,
‘Thou shalt not have strange gods before me,’
instead of the One, True, Eternal God,
men have created at the dictates of their whim,
their own gods to adore –
Nature, the State, the Nation, or the Race.”
Saint of the Day – 22 March – Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen (1878-1946) aged 68 known as “The Lion of Munste,r”,”The Bishop Who Roared Against The Nazis,” “The Bishop Who Took On the Führer.” Blessed Clemens had a great love for the Blessed Virgin, often leading pilgrimages, or going on his own, to Marian Shrines. He was too, a great lover of the Holy Eucharist and a fervent apostle of charity. Patronage – Munster.
Clemens August von Galen was born on 16 March 1878 in Dinklage Castle, Oldenburg, Germany, the 11th of 13 children born to Count Ferdinand Heribert and Elisabeth von Spee.
His father belonged to the noble family of Westphalia, who since 1660 governed the village of Dinklage. For over two centuries his ancestors carried out the inherited office of camerlengo of the Diocese of Münster.
Clemens August grew up in Dinklage Castle and in other family seats. Due to the struggle between Church and State, he and his brothers were sent to a school run by the Jesuits in Feldkirch, Austria.
He remained there until 1894, when he transferred to the Antonianum in Vechta. After graduation, he studied philosophy and theology in Frebur, Innsbruck and Münster and was ordained a priest on 28 May 1904 for the Diocese of Münster by Bishop Hermann Dingelstadt.
Parish priest, concern for poor:
His first two years as a priest were spent as vicar of the diocesan cathedral where he became chaplain to his uncle, Bishop Maximilian Gerion von Galen.
From 1906 to 1929, Fr von Galen carried out much of his pastoral activity outside Münster – in 1906 he was made chaplain of the parish of St Matthias in Berlin-Schönberg; from 1911 to 1919 he was curate of a new parish in Berlin before becoming parish priest of the Basilica of St Matthias in Berlin-Schönberg, where he served for 10 year, here, he was particularly remembered for his special concern for the poor and outcasts. In 1929, Fr von Galen was called back to Münster when Bishop Johannes Poggenpohl asked him to serve as parish priest of the Church of St Lambert.
“Nec laudibus, nec timore’:
In January 1933, Bishop Poggenpohl died, leaving the See vacant. After two candidates refused, on 5 September 1933, Fr Clemens was appointed Bishop of Münster by Pope Pius XI. On 28 October 1933 he was consecrated by Cardinal Joseph Schulte, Archbishop of Cologne. Bishop von Galen was the first diocesan Bishop to be consecrated under Hitler’s regime.
As his motto, he chose the formula of the rite of episcopal consecration: “Nec laudibus, nec timore” (Neither praise nor threats will distance me from God).
Throughout the 20 years that Bishop von Galen was curate and parish priest in Berlin, he wrote on various political and social issues – in a pastoral letter dated 26 March 1934, he wrote very clearly and critically on the “neopaganism of the national socialist ideology“. Due to his outspoken criticism, he was called to Rome by Pope Pius XI in 1937 together with the Bishop of Berlin, to confer with them on the situation in Germany and speak of the eventual publication of an Encyclical.
On 14 March 1937 the Encyclical “Mit brennender Sorge” (To the Bishops of Germany – The place of the Catholic Church in the German Reich) was published. It was widely circulated by Bishop von Galen, notwithstanding Nazi opposition.
“Lion of Munster’:
In the summer of 1941, in answer to unwarranted attacks by the National Socialists, Bishop von Galen delivered three admonitory sermons between July and August. He spoke in his old parish Church of St Lambert and in Liebfrauen-Ueberlassen Church, since the diocesan cathedral had been bombed. In his famous speeches, Bishop von Galen spoke out against the State confiscation of Church property and the programmatic euthanasia carried out by the regime.
The clarity and incisiveness of his words and the unshakable fidelity of Catholics in the Diocese of Münster embarrassed the Nazi regime and on 10 October 1943 the Bishop’s residence was bombed. Bishop von Galen was forced to take refuge in nearby Borromeo College.
From 12 September 1944 on, he could no longer remain in the city of Münster, destroyed by the war, he left for the zone of Sendenhorst.
In 1945, Vatican Radio announced that Pope Pius XII was to hold a Consistory and that the Bishop of Münster was also to be present.
Creation of a Cardinal:
After a long and difficult journey, due to the war and other impediments, Bishop von Galen finally arrived in the “Eternal City”. On 21 February 1946 the Public Consistory was held in St Peter’s Basilica and Bishop von Galen was created a Cardinal.
On 16 March 1946 the 68-year-old Cardinal returned to Münster. He was cordially welcomed back by the city Authorities and awarded honourary citizenship by the burgomaster.
On the site of what remained of the cathedral, Cardinal von Galen gave his first (and what would be his last) discourse to the more than 50,000 people who had gathered, thanking them for their fidelity to the then-Bishop of Münster during the National Socialist regime. He explained that as a Bishop, it was his duty to speak clearly and plainly about what was happening.
No one knew that the Cardinal was gravely ill and when he returned to Münster on 19 March 1946 he had to undergo an operation.
Cardinal von Galen died just three days later, on 22 March. He was buried on 28 March in the Ludgerus Chapel, which has become a place of pilgrimage to this defender of the faith in the face of political oppression….Vatican.va
Blessed Clemens was Beatified on 9 October 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI at St Peter’s, Vatican City. His tomb is venerated in Munster Cathedral.
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
Bl Bronislaw Komorowski
St Callinica of Galatia
Bl Clemens August 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
Lenten Thoughts – 21 March – Thursday of the Second week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Nicholas of Flue (1417-1487)
The Primacy of the Spiritual: Saint Nicholas of Flue (Excerpt)
By Christopher O Blum
Born to a pious, upstanding peasant family, young Nicholas stood out for his goodness, simplicity and mortification. While still a young man, labouring in the fields and meadows of the valleys south of Lucerne, he fasted four times per week, explaining himself, when pressed, by saying, “Such is the will of God.” Until his fiftieth year, his life was that of an exemplary Swiss free man. Like many of his fellow countrymen, he served his canton both under arms and by holding civic office. And this pillar of the community raised up five sons and five daughters with the help of his exemplary wife Dorothy. Yet God persisted in calling him to a life beyond that of the domestic holiness he had already embraced and sent visions to him in his late-night prayer vigils and his moments of afternoon solitude in the fields, visions that beckoned him to leave all.
As the eminent Swiss theologian Charles Cardinal Journet (1891-1975) explained in his biography of the hermit-saint, “it no longer sufficed for him to walk along the roads of the world with God in his heart, he had to take the path set aside for him, that he might be taken by the hand and led to where he knew not.” What praise of Dorothy of Flue could be lovelier, Journet asked, than to admire her magnanimity in being able to “comprehend the drama of this great soul”? They parted friends, just thirteen weeks after the birth of their youngest child and remained so. Several years later, a pilgrim visitor to Nicholas’ hermitage saw the saint, with joyous mien, lean out of the window of his tiny cell after the morning Mass to greet his family with a blessing: “May God give you a blessed day, dear friends and good people!”
Nicholas had initially thought to join a monastery, perhaps one in nearby Alsace known for its austerity. But a chance conversation with a peasant helped him to understand another of his mystical visions – this one of the nearby town of Liestal wrapped in flames. His good works were needed in his own neighbourhood. And so, he built himself a hermitage one valley over from his home and spent the next twenty years there, clad only in a tunic, with bare feet and a bare head, to do penance for his beloved people. His piety was simple, for he was illiterate. A neighbouring priest had taught him the practice of meditating on Christ’s Passion in stages to match the seven canonical hours of the Church’s daily prayer. This method bore good results. He soon became known for the wisdom and holiness of his counsel and pilgrims flocked to his hidden valley to listen to his simple, direct words: “O man, when the world hates you and is faithless toward you, think of your God, how he was struck and spat upon. You should not accuse your neighbour of guilt but pray to God, that he be merciful to you both.”
Writing during the Second World War, Cardinal Journet saw in Nicholas of Flue the “supreme incarnation of the genius of Switzerland.” By this he did not mean that the hermit was a pacifist. He was something higher and more important. His greatness “was to have affirmed the primacy of the spiritual life.” “For the saints”, the Cardinal explained, “are sent to us by God as so many sermons. We do not use them, it is they who move us and lead us, to where we had not expected to go.” Those were years of exceptional trial for the Swiss but they were also years in which men and women of good will prepared the ground for spiritual renewal and rebuilding.
What lesson might Nicholas of Flue hold out for our generation? Were he alive today this simple Swiss peasant would doubtless be startled by our wealth. The recession of recent years seems to have done little to dull the edge of our consumption. The adjective “worldly” is now being used as a term of approbation, to signify the savoir-faire of the person who knows the latest fashions and ways of thinking. It is a telling linguistic development. Nicholas of Flue spent the last twenty years of his life in a tiny room with two windows. Through one of them, he could see something of the beauty of his native land, a beauty that nourished his reflection and piety: “O man, think of the sun so high in the sky and consider its splendour – but your soul has received the splendour of the eternal God.” Through the other, he saw the altar, whence came the very food of his soul. “We should carry the Passion of God in our hearts, for this is the greatest consolation to a man at the hour of his death.” The one thing needful indeed.
My Lord and my God
St Nicholas of Flue (1417-1487)
My Lord and my God,
take from me everything
that distances me from You.
My Lord and my God,
give me everything
that brings me closer to You.
My Lord and my God,
detach me from myself
to give my all to You.
Amen
The above prayer of St Nicholas, is cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph #226.
CCC 226 – It means making good use of created things: faith in God, the only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it brings us closer to Him and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns us away from Him.
Thought for the Day – 21 March – Thursday of the Second week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello (1791 – 1858)
“O most blessed Light, fill the interior of the hearts of your faithful.” The words of the Sequence are a beautiful summary of the life of Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello and explain its extraordinary spiritual richness.
Guided by divine grace, the new saint was concerned to accomplish God’s will with fidelity and coherence. With boundless confidence in the Lord’s goodness, she abandoned herself to his “loving Providence”, deeply convinced, as she liked to repeat, that one must “do everything for love of God and to please Him”. This is the precious inheritance that St Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello left to her spiritual daughters that today is offered to the entire Christian community.
Come Holy Spirit, enkindle the hearts of your faithful! Help us to spread the fire of your love in the world. Amen!
St Pope John Paul on the Canonisation of St Benedetta, Sunday, 19 May 2002
Quote/s of the Day – 21 March – Thursday of the Second week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Nicholas of Flue (1417-1487)
“O man,
when the world hates you
and is faithless toward you,
think of your God,
how He was struck and spat upon.
You should not accuse your neighbour of guilt
but pray to God,
that He be merciful to you both.”
Saint of the Day – 21 March – St Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello (1791 – 1858) aged 66 – Wife, Religious and Foundress of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence. Patronages – her Order and Teachers.
Saint Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello was born on 2 October 1791 in Langasco (Genoa) Italy and she died on 21 March 1858 in Ronco Scrivia in Liguria. She was wife, religious and foundress. She let the Holy Spirit guide her through married life to the work of education and religious consecration. She founded a school for the formation of young women and also a religious congregation and did both with the generous collaboration of her husband. This is unique in the annals of Christian sanctity. Benedetta was a pioneer in her determination to give a high quality education to young women, for the formation of families for a “new Christian society” and for promoting the right of women to a complete education.
Call to marriage, then to religious life:
From her parents Benedetta received a Christian formation that rooted in her the life of faith. Her family settled in Pavia when she was a girl. When she was 20 years old, Benedetta had a mystical experience that gave her a profound desire for a life of prayer and penance and of consecration to God. However, in obedience to the wishes of her parents, in 1816, she married Giovanni Frassinello and lived married life for two years. In 1818, moved by the example of his saintly wife, Giovanni agreed that the two should live chastely, “as brother and sister” and take care of Benedetta’s younger sister, Maria, who was dying from intestinal cancer. They began to live a supernatural parenthood quite unique in the history of the Church.
Congregation founded by wife, who is supported by her husband:
Following Maria’s death in 1825, Giovanni entered the Somaschi Fathers founded by St Jerome Emiliani (1486-1537), and Benedetta devoted herself completely to God in the Ursuline Congregation of Capriolo. A year later, she was forced to leave because of ill health and returned to Pavia where she was miraculously cured by St Jerome Emiliani. Once she regained her health, with the Bishop’s approval, she dedicated herself to the education of young girls. Benedetta needed help in handling such a responsibility but her own father refused to help her. Bishop Tosi of Pavia asked Giovanni to leave the Somaschi novitiate and help Benedetta in her apostolic work. Together they made a vow of perfect chastity in the hands of the bishop and then began their common work to promote the human and Christian formation of poor and abandoned girls of the city. Their educational work was of great benefit to Pavia. Benedetta became the first woman to be involved in this kind of work. The Austrian government recognised her as a “Promoter of Public Education”.
She was helped by young women volunteers to whom she gave a rule of life that later received ecclesiastical approval. Along with instruction, she joined formation in catechesis and in useful skills like cooking and sewing, aiming to transform her students into “models of Christian life” and so assure the formation of families.
Benedictine Sisters of Providence:
Benedetta’s work was considered pioneering for those days and was opposed by a few persons in power and by the misunderstanding of clerics. In 1838 she turned over the institution to the Bishop of Pavia. Together with Giovanni and five companions, she moved to Ronco Scrivia in the Genoa region. There they opened a school for girls that was a refinement on what they had done in Pavia.
Eventually, Benedetta founded the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence. In her rule she stressed the education of young girls. She instilled the spirit of unlimited confidence and abandonment to Providence and of love of God through poverty and charity. The Congregation grew quickly since it performed a needed service. Benedetta was able to guide the development of the Congregation until her death. On 21 March 1858 she died in Ronco Scrivia.
Her example is that of supernatural maternity plus courage and fidelity in discerning and living God’s will.
Today the Benedictine Nuns of Providence are present in Italy, Spain, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Peru and Brazil. They are at the service of young people, the poor, the sick and the elderly. The foundress also opened a house of the order in Voghera. Forty years after the death of Benedetta, the bishop separated this house from the rest of the Order. The name was changed to the Benedictines of Divine Providence who honour the memory of the Foundress.
She was Beatified on 10 May 1987 and Canonised on 19 May 2002 by St Pope John Paul II…Vatican.va
Alfonso de Rojas
St Augustine Tchao
St Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello (1791 – 1858)
St Birillus of Catania
St Christian of Cologne
St Domninus of Rome
St Enda of Arran
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
St Serapion the Scholastic
Bl Thomas Pilcher
Bl William Pike
—
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.
Thought for the Day – 20 March – Wednesday of the Second week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Martin of Braga (c 520–580)
St Gregory of Tours (538-594) declared St Martin to be the greatest scholar of his age. His writings included a guide to the Christian life, a description of superstitious peasant customs, a set of moral maxims and a version of the sayings of the Egyptian fathers. Listen to Martin’s voice in the following selection from his little essay on vanity:
“A person desires nothing more than to be praised, nor is there a single thing that he would consider it more agreeable to receive than someone’s admiration for him as a person of renown… For those who have usurped the things above, all that is left, so it seems to me, is the things below…Everyone everywhere strives to spread his own fame and, therefore, the cure for such vanity is most difficult, because it mingles not only with vices but also with virtues…For when he rejoices in other people’s praises his joy is followed by exalted triumph and his triumph, in turn, by pretentiousness and overestimation of himself…This is that deadly vice of which the Lord spoke in the gospel thus to the Jews: “How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory which is from the only God?” (see John 5:44).”
Martin of Braga served the Christians of Galicia for nearly a quarter of a century. He died at his monastery at Dumium in 579. He is the true gospel-bearer that carries it, in his hands, in his mouth and in his heart. A person does not carry it in his heart that does not love it with all his soul.
Quote of the Day – 20 March – Wednesday of the Second week of Lent, Year C and the Memorial of St Martin of Braga (c 520–580)
“An old man said,
the man
that every hour
has death before his eyes,
will conquer
meanness of soul.”
About St Martin of Braga – https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/saint-of-the-day-20-march-st-martin-of-braga-c-520-580/
One Minute Reflection – 20 March – Wednesday of the Second week of Lent, Gospel: Matthew 20:17–28
“…even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”…Matthew 20:28
REFLECTION – “Resolute and obedient and nothing else! It was like this until the very end. The Lord enters in patience… He enters in patience. It is not only an example of a journey of suffering and dying on the Cross but also of a journey of patience.
He was unaccompanied in this decision because no-one understood the mystery of Jesus, the loneliness of Jesus on His journey towards Jerusalem, alone!
It was like this to the end.
Let us think, then, of the abandonment by the disciples, of Peter’s betrayal… alone!
How often have I tried to do so many things and have not looked to Him, who did all this for me? You entered in patience – the patient man, the patient God – who, with such patience, bears by sins, my failings?
And talk to Jesus like this. He is determined to always to go ahead. And thank Him. Let us take a little time today, a few minutes – five, ten, fifteen – perhaps before the Crucifix, or with the imagination, to ‘see’ Jesus walking resolutely towards Jerusalem and ask for the grace to have the courage to follow Him closely.”…Pope Francis – Santa Marta, 3 October 2017
PRAYER – Lord, You go before us! In patience, in total love and self-giving, alone! And we know You not and abandon You! Holy Father, grant us Your grace that we may see, understand and walk with Your Son, right behind Him, holding tightly to the hem of His robe, that we may learn to suffer and love as He does. Kindly listen Father God, to the prayers on our behalf, of St Josef Bilczewski, who always walked with Your Son. We make our prayer through Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, our Christ who with the Holy Spirit, is God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 20 March – St Jósef Bilczewski (1860-1923) Aged 62 – Archbishop of Lviv, Professor of Dogmatic Theology, Apostle of the Holy Eucharist, Marian devotion, the poor, the homeless, the needy, refugees, Social Reformer and Evangelist, Apostle of Catechesis both of the laity and of priests, Peace-maker. Patronages – Archdiocese of Lviv, Teachers, Wilamowice, Beggars, Homeless people.
Archbishop JOSEPH BILCZEWSKI was born on 26 April 1860 in Wilamowice near Kęty, in the present day Diocese of Bielsko Żywiec, then part of the Diocese of Krakow. Having finished elementary school at Wilamowic and Kęty, he attended high school at Wadowice receiving his diploma in 1880.
On 6 July 1884 he was ordained a priest in Krakow by Cardinal Albino Dunajewski. In 1886 he received a Doctorate in Theology from the University of Vienna. Following advanced studies in Rome and Paris he passed the qualifying exam at the Jaghellonic University of Krakow. The following year he became professor of Dogmatic Theology at the John Casimir University of Leopoli. He also served as Dean of Theology for a period of time prior to becoming Rector of the University. During his tenure at the University, he was appreciated as a professor by his students and also enjoyed the friendship and respect of his colleagues. He arduously dedicated himself to scientific work and, despite his young age, acquired a reputation as a learned man.
His extraordinary intellectual and relational abilities were recognised by Francis Joseph, the Emperor of Austria, who presented Monsignor Joseph to the Holy Father as a candidate for the vacant Metropolitan See of Leopoli. The Holy Father, Leo XIII responded positively to the Emperor’s proposal and on 17 December 1900 he named the forty year old Monsignor Joseph Bilczewski, Archbishop of Leopoli of the Latin Rite.
Given the complex social, economic, ethnic and religious situation, care for the large diocese required of the Bishop a deep commitment and called for great moral commitment, strong confidence in God and a faith enlivened by a continual contact in prayer with God.
Archbishop Joseph Bilczewski became known for his abundant goodness of heart, understanding, humility, piety, commitment to hard work and pastoral zeal which sprung from his immense love for God and neighbour.
Upon taking possession of the Archdiocese of Leopoli he spelled out very clearly his pastoral plan which can be summed up in his motto “totally sacrifice oneself for the Holy Church”. Among other things he pointed out the need for the development of devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament and frequent reception of Holy Communion.
A particular form of pastoral action of Archbishop Bilczewski were the pastoral letters and appeals addressed to the priests and the faithful of the Archdiocese. In them he spoke of the problems of faith and morals of the time as well as of the most pressing issues of the social sphere. He also explained devotion to the Eucharist and to the Sacred Heart in them and the importance of religious and moral formation of children and youth in the family and in school. Above all, he took great care to cultivate many holy priestly vocations. He saw the priest as first and foremost a teacher of faith and an instrument of Christ, a father for the rich as well as for the poor. Taking the place of Christ on Earth, the priest was to be the minister of the Sacraments and for this reason his whole heart had to be dedicated to the celebration of the Eucharist, in order to be able to nourish the people of God with the body of Christ.
He often exhorted the priests to adoration of the most Blessed Sacrament. In his pastoral letter devoted to the Eucharist he invited the priests to participate in the priestly associations – The Association for Perpetual Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament and the Association of Aid to Poor Catholic Churches, whose goal was to rejuvenate the zeal of the priests themselves. He also dedicated a great deal of care to the preparation of children and to full participation in the Mass, desiring that every Catechesis would lead children and youth to the Eucharist.
Archbishop Joseph Bilczewski promoted the construction of churches and chapels, schools and day-care centres. He developed teaching to help enable the growth in the instruction of the faithful. He materially and spiritually helped the more important works which were springing up in his Archdiocese. His holy life, filled with prayer, work and works of mercy, led to his meriting great appreciation and respect on the part of those of various faiths, rites and nationalities present in the Archdiocese. No religious or nationalistic conflicts arose during the tenure of his pastoral work. He was a proponent of unity, harmony and peace. On social issues he always stood on the side of the people and of the poor. He taught that the base of social life had to be justice made perfect by Christian love.
During the First World War, when souls were overtaken with hate and a lack of appreciation of the other, he pointed out to the people the infinite love of God, capable of forgiving every type of sin and offence. He reminded them of the need to observe the commandments of God and particularly that of brotherly love. Sensitive to the social questions regarding the family and youth, he courageously proposed solutions to problems based on the love of God and of neighbour. During his 23 years of pastoral service he changed the face of the Archdiocese of Leopoli Only his death, on 20 March 1923 could end his vast and far-sighted pastoral action.
He was prepared for death and accepted it with peace and submission as a sign of God’s will, which he always considered sacred.
He left this world having enjoyed a universal recognition of holiness. Wanting to rest among those for whom he was always father and protector, in accord with his desires, he was buried in Leopoli in the cemetery of Janów, known as the cemetery of the poor. 
Thanks to the efforts of the Archdiocese of Leopoli the process for his beatification and canonisation was initiated. The first step was concluded on 17 December 1997 with the declaration of the life of heroic virtue of Archbishop Joseph Bilczewski by The Holy Father, St Pope John Paul II. In June 2001, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognised as miraculous the fact of the rapid lasting and unexplainable “quo ad modum” healing through the intercession of Archbishop Bilczewski of the third degree burns of Marcin Gawlik, a nine year old boy, thus opening the way for his beatification. The Beatification took place in the Diocese of Leopoli on 26 June 2001 during St Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Visit to the Ukraine…Vatican.va
One final miracle was required for sainthood. St John Paul II approved a second healing on 20 December 2004. Cardinal Angelo Sodano formalised the date on 24 February 2005 at a consistory, representing the then very ill St John Paul II who died a month later. The new Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the Canonisation in Saint Peter’s Square on 23 October 2005.
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) Aged 62
St Maria Josefa Sancho de Guerra
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 – Solemnity of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
An excerpt from his On Saint Joseph (Sermon 2)
There is a general rule concerning all special graces granted to any human being. Whenever the divine favour chooses someone to receive a special grace, or to accept a lofty vocation, God adorns the person chosen with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfil the task at hand.
This general rule is especially verified in the case of Saint Joseph, the foster-father of our Lord and the husband of the Queen of our world, enthroned above the angels. He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of His greatest treasures, namely, His divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying – Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.
What then is Joseph’s position in the whole Church of Christ? Is he not a man chosen and set apart? Through him and, yes, under him, Christ was fittingly and honourably introduced into the world. Holy Church in its entirety is indebted to the Virgin Mother because through her it was judged worthy to receive Christ. But after her we undoubtedly owe special gratitude and reverence to Saint Joseph.
In him the Old Testament finds its fitting close. He brought the noble line of patriarchs and prophets to its promised fulfilment. What the divine goodness had offered as a promise to them, he held in his arms.
Obviously, Christ does not now deny to Joseph that intimacy, reverence and very high honour which He gave him on earth, as a son to His father. Rather we must say that in heaven Christ completes and perfects, all that He gave at Nazareth.
Now we can see how the last summoning words of the Lord appropriately apply to Saint Joseph – Enter into the joy of your Lord. In fact, although the joy of eternal happiness enters into the soul of a man, the Lord preferred to say to Joseph – Enter into joy. His intention was that the words should have a hidden spiritual meaning for us. They convey not only that this holy man possesses an inward joy but also that it surrounds him and engulfs him like an infinite abyss.
Remember us, Saint Joseph and plead for us to your foster-child. Ask your most holy bride, the Virgin Mary, to look kindly upon us, since she is the mother of Him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns eternally. Amen
Lenten Reflection – 19 March – Tuesday of The Second Week of Lent, Year C
The Solemnity of St Joseph, Husband of Mary
“When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him”
“How faithful in humility was the great saint we are celebrating! That can’t be said in all its perfection for, in spite of what he was, in what poverty and lowliness he lived all the days of his life, a poverty and lowliness beneath which he kept hidden and concealed his great virtues and dignity!… Truly, I have no doubt at all that the angels came, beside themselves with admiration, rank upon rank, to behold and wonder at his humility, while he sheltered that dearest child in the poor workshop where he worked at his employment so as to feed the little boy and the mother entrusted to him.
There is no doubt at all that Saint Joseph was braver than David and wiser that Solomon [who were his ancestors]. Nevertheless, seeing him reduced to the exercise of carpentry, who could have discerned this unless they were enlightened by a heavenly light, so hidden did he keep the remarkable gifts with which God had favoured him? And what wisdom did he not have? For God gave him his most glorious Son to care for…, the universal Prince of heaven and earth… Nevertheless, you can see how low and humbled he was brought, more than can be said or imagined… he went to his own country and town of Bethlehem and none but he was turned away from all those inns… Notice how the angel turns him about with both hands. He tells him he has to go to Egypt and he goes, he orders him to return and he returns. God wants him to be always poor… and he submits to it with love and not only for a while, for he was poor his whole life long.”
Daily Meditation:
Protect us from what could harm us
as St Joseph protected our Lord and Saviour.
God the Father has given us His only Son, the Word made man,
to be our food and our life. Let us thank Him and pray:
May the word of Christ dwell among us in all its richness.
Help us in this Lenten season to listen more frequently to Your word,
that we may celebrate the solemnity of Easter with greater love for Christ, our paschal teacher,
that we may encourage those in doubt and error to follow what is true and good.
Enable us to enter more deeply into the mystery of the Anointed One,
that our lives may reveal Him more effectively.
Purify and renew Your Church in this time of salvation,
that it may give an even greater witness to You.
For thy steadfast love was established forever,
thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens.
Thou hast said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
‘I will establish your descendants for ever,
and build your throne for all generations.’
Psalm 89:2–4
Closing Prayer:
God in heaven and in my life,
guide me and protect me.
I so often believe I can save myself
and I always end in failure.
Lead me with Your love away from harm
and guide me on the right path.
May Your Spirit inspire the Church
and make us an instrument of Your love and guidance.
Thank You for your care for me.
May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen
Quote/s of the Day – 19 March – The Solemnity of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Guardian of Jesus, Patron of the Dying, Patron of the Universal Church
Saint Joseph was the just man,
by his constant fidelity,
an effect of justice;
by his perfect discretion,
a sister to prudence;
by his upright conduct,
a mark of strength
and by his inviolable chastity,
a flower of temperance.”
“Some Saints are privileged,
to extend to us,
their patronage, with particular efficacy, in certain needs
but not in others
but our holy patron St Joseph,
has the power to assist us in all cases,
in every necessity,
in every undertaking.”
“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.”
“There is but one saint
who typifies to us
the next world
and that is Saint Joseph.
He is the type of
rest, repose,
peace.
He is the saint
and patron of home,
in death
as well as
in life.”
One Minute Reflection – 19 March – The Solemnity of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Guardian of Jesus and Patron of the Universal Church
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife...Matthew 1:24
REFLECTION – “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.
Today I want to ask, grant to all of us the ability to dream, that when we dream great things, beautiful things, we might draw near to the dream of God, the things God dreams about us. [I ask] that he might give to young people – because he was young – the capacity to dream, to risk, to undertake the difficult tasks they have seen in dreams. And [I ask] him to give to all of us the faithfulness that tends to grow when we have a just attitude – Joseph was just – [the faithfulness that] grows in silence, with few words, that grows in tenderness that guards our own weaknesses and those of others.”…Pope Francis – Santa Marta, 20 March 2017
PRAYER – Almighty God, at the beginnings of our salvation, when Mary conceived your Son and brought Him forth into the world, you placed them under Joseph’s watchful care. May his prayer still help Your Church to be an equally faithful guardian of Your mysteriest and a sign of Christ to mankind. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, God, forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 19 March – The Solemnity of St Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Guardian of Jesus and Patron of the Universal Church, Patron of Fathers, Patron of the Dying, Patron of Workers. et al
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
Saint of the Day – 19 March – Blessed Marcel Callo (1921-1945) aged 23 – Layman, Martyr – born on 6 December 1921 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, France and died on 19 March 1945 in Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Austria of tuberculosis and dysentery. His body was buried in a mass grave outside the walls of the Concentration camp and his remains never recovered.. He was Beatified on 4 October 1987 by St Pope John Paul II. His memory is also honoured and remembered on 19 April in the Diocese of Linz, Austria.
Marcel Callo was born on 6 December 1921, in Rennes, France, being one of nine children. 
He was a happy child, who was known to be a leader and a perfectionist. He helped with his household chores and he helped take care of his younger siblings. After completing his primary studies, he became an apprentice to a printer around age 13.
He did not like associating with fellow workers who swore and told many improper stories. He preferred accompanying good Catholic friends who belonged to the JOC, Jeunesse Ouvriere Chretienne (Young Christian Worker). He had a good sense of humour and would like to wrestle, play football, ping pong, cards and bridge.
When Marcel was 20 he fell in love with Marguerite Derniaux. 
He did not degrade women like his fellow worker but instead had deep respect for women. He said, “I am not one to amuse myself with the heart of a lady, since my love is pure and noble. If I have waited until 20 years old to go out with a young lady, it is because I knew that I wanted to find real love. One must master his heart before he can give it to the one that is chosen for him by Christ.” It took him about one year to declare his love to Marguerite and an additional four months before they first kissed. After being engaged, they imposed a strict spiritual rule of life which included praying the same prayers and going to Mass and receiving the Eucharist as often as they could.
On 8 March 1943, the war (World War II) had gripped their city of Rennes. That day his sister, Madeleine was killed by one of the bombs.
He was conscripted to serve during the war and his original intention was to flee but realised that if he did so, those he left at home would be arrested. He was reluctant but agreed to serve and when conscripted said: “I’m leaving not as a worker but as a missionary in the service of my companions”. Callo departed on 19 March 1943 for his service and brought with him – which he kept at all times – his badges as both a scout and a member of the YCW. The Gestapo arrested Callo on 19 April 1944 due to his membership with the YCW which was perceived to be an outlawed and secret order. 
Once there, he worked in a factory that produced bombs that would be used against his own countrymen. After three months or so of missing his family and missing Mass (there was no Catholic church in that town), Marcel became seriously depressed. He later found a room where Mass was offered on Sunday. This helped change his disposition. He reported that, “Finally Christ reacted. He made me to understand that the depression was not good. I had to keep busy with my friends and then joy and relief would come back to me.”
With his morale and hope restored, he cared for his deported friends. He organised a group of Christian workers who did activities together like play sports or cards. He also organised a theatrical group. He galvanised his friends despite him suffering from painful boils, headaches and infected teeth. For his French friends, he arranged a Mass to be celebrated in their native tongue. Eventually, his religious activities attracted unwanted attention from the German officials. The Germans arrested Marcel on 19 April 1944 saying that, “Monsieur is too much of a Catholic.”
The Germans interrogated Marcel. He admitted his Catholic activities and was imprisoned in Gotha. He secretly received the Eucharist while in prison and continued to pray and help his companions. He was considered dangerous to the Germans and was moved to a different prison at Mathausen. He suffered from various ailments such as bronchitis, malnutrition, dysentery, fever, swelling (due to the malnutrition and dehydration) and general weakness. He never complained. Despite his suffering, he encouraged his companions by saying, “It is in prayer that we find our strength.”
He died on the feast of St Joseph, 19 March 1945. The date was exactly two years from the day he left home. St Pope John Paul II Beatified Marcel Callo on 4 October 1987 as a Martyr murdered in hatred of the Faith. Colonel Tibodo – who saw thousands die in the camps witnessed that of Callo’s and said of it with emotion: “Marcel had the look of a saint.” Tibodo also testified for the beatification proceedings and said: “I have never seen in a dying man a look like this”.
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
Bl Marcel Callo (1921-1945) Martyr
Bl Mark of Montegallo
St Pancharius of Nicomedia
Bl Sibyllina Biscossi
—
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
Saint of the Day – 17 March – Blessed Juan Nepomuceno Zegri y Moreno (1831-1905) – Priest, Founder of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy.
Juan Nepomuceno Zegrí y Moreno was born on 11 October 1831 in Granada, Spain. His father, Antonio Zegrí Martín and his mother, Josefa Moreno Escudero, were most vigilant in educating their son and in helping to form his personality according to evangelical values. The young boy had a great love for Jesus and Mary and was particularly sensitive to the needs of the poor.
Binding wounds, healing hearts:
As a youth, Juan felt called to serve the Lord in society’s poor and wanted to become a priest. He entered St Dionysius Seminary of Granada and on 2 June 1855 was ordained in the Cathedral of Granada. He served in the parishes of Huétor Santillán and of San Gabriel de Loja in Granada.
His vocation, as he once proclaimed in a homily, was to be “like a good shepherd, going after the lost sheep; like a doctor, healing sick hearts wounded by faults and binding them with hope; like a father, who visibly provides for all of those who, suffering from abandonment, must drink from the bitter chalice and receive nourishment from the bread of tears”.
Fr Zegrí’s priestly life was characterised by a profound experience of God and a deep love for Jesus the Redeemer and Mary, Mother and Protectress. His sermons encouraged listeners to live the Christian life radically and responsibly.
He always served with great humility in the positions he was asked to assume as a priest – synodal judge, canon of the cathedral of Malaga, visitor of the religious orders, formator of the seminarians and preacher of and royal chaplain to Her Majesty Queen Isabel II.
Founder inspired by Mary:
It was with a profound interest in resolving social problems and in meeting the needs of the poor and neglected that Fr Zegrí felt called to found a religious congregation that would serve the most needy. On 16 March 1878 in Malaga, under the protection and inspiration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, he began the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy.
The Congregation’s main charism was to practice all of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy for the benefit of the poor. He asked the Religious to do all “for the good of humanity, in God, for God, towards God”. In only a few years, the Congregation was established in many Dioceses throughout Spain, all due to the dynamism of Fr Zegrí’s charismatic inspiration – heal wounds, repair evils, comfort sorrows, dry tears, do not, if possible, leave even one person in the world abandoned, afflicted, unprotected, without religious education and assistance.
He firmly believed that “charity is the only answer to all social problems”. In this light the key points of the spirituality of the Founder were: redemptive charity, love and configuration with Jesus the Redeemer, love for Mary, Our Lady of Mercy.
Testing and vindication:
God permitted Fr Zegrí to be severely tested and misunderstood after he founded the Congregation and his own Religious “daughters” falsely accused him. With a Pontifical Decree dated 7 July 1888 he was sent away from the Order that he himself had founded.
After years of silent suffering, his innocence was recognised with another Decree dated 15 July 1894. Although he was permitted to re-enter the Congregation, he was not accepted. He voluntarily kept himself at a distance in order to preserve communion with the Church and his “daughters”, so that they would not openly disobey Church authority.
On 17 March 1905 in Malaga, Fr Zegrí died just as he had desired: like Jesus, alone and abandoned. He offered himself for the good of humanity and forgave “his own” who had accused him.
After many years, the Congregation once again recognised him as Founder, all due to the fact that there were Sisters who had kept alive his memory and witness of holiness. In 1925 Fr Zegrí was officially declared as Founder of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy….vatican.va
He was Beatified on 9 November 2003 by St Pope John Paul II.
The Second Sunday of Lent, Year C
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
Bl Josep Mestre Escoda
St Joseph of Arimathea
Bl Juan Nepomuceno Zegrí 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
Thought for the Day – 16 March – Our devotion to the Saints
One thing that unites the Catholic Church to the Eastern Orthodox Churches and separates it from most Protestant denominations is the devotion to the saints, those holy men and women who have lived exemplary Christian lives and, after their deaths, are now in the presence of God in Heaven. Many Christians — even Catholics — misunderstand this devotion, which is based on our belief that, just as our life does not end with death, so too our relationships with our fellow members of the Body of Christ continue after their deaths. This Communion of Saints is so important that it is an article of faith in all Christian creeds, from the time of the Apostles’ Creed.
What Is a Saint?
Saints, broadly speaking, are those who follow Jesus Christ and live their lives according to His teaching. They are the faithful in the Church, including those who are still alive. Catholics and Orthodox, however, also use the term narrowly to refer to especially holy men and women who, through extraordinary lives of virtue, have already entered Heaven. The Church recognises such men and women through the process of canonisation, which holds them up as examples for Christians still living here on earth.
Why Do Catholics Pray to Saints?
Like all Christians, Catholics believe in life after death, but the Church also teaches us that our relationship with other Christians does not end with death. Those who have died and are in Heaven in the presence of God can intercede with Him for us, just as our fellow Christians do here on earth when they pray for us. Catholic prayer to saints is a form of communication with those holy men and women who have gone before us and a recognition of the “Communion of Saints,” living and dead.
Patron Saints
Few practices of the Catholic Church are so misunderstood today as devotion to patron saints. From the earliest days of the Church, groups of the faithful (families, parishes, regions, countries) have chosen a particularly holy person who has passed into eternal life to intercede for them with God. The practice of naming churches after saints and of choosing a saint’s name for Confirmation, reflects this devotion.
The Doctors of the Church
The Doctors of the Church are great saints known for their defence and explanation of the truths of the Catholic Faith. Thirty six saints, including four female saints, have been named Doctors of the Church, covering all eras in Church history.
The Litany/ies of the Saints
The Litany/ies of the Saints is one of the oldest prayers in continuous use in the Catholic Church. Most commonly recited on All Saints Day and at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, the Litany of the Saints is an excellent prayer for use throughout the year, drawing us more fully into the Communion of Saints. The Litany of Saints addresses the various types of saints and includes examples of each and asks all of the saints, individually and together, to pray for us Christians who continue our earthly pilgrimage.
Saint of the Day – 16 March – St Heribert (c 970–1021) Archbishop of Cologne, a miracle-worker and counsellor – born in c 970 at Worms, Germany and died on 16 March 1021 at Cologne, Germany of natural causes. Patronages – against drought, for rain and of Deutz, Germany. St Heribert was a German Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Cologne from 999 until his death. He also served as the Chancellor for the Emperor Otto III from 994 and collaborated with Saint Henry II Obl. SB (973-1074) with whom relations were strained though were strengthened over time. St Heribert’s Canonisation was confirmed in 1075 by St Pope Gregory VII.
St Heribert was born at Worms in Germany about 970 and educated at the Abbey of Gorze in Lorraine. He wanted to enter the Benedictine Order there but his father recalled him to Worms and obtained a canonry for him. As a young priest, Heribert became a trusted counsellor of the youthful Emperor Otto III, chancellor of the diocese and finally Archbishop of Cologne in 998.
In that same year the Saint accompanied the Emperor to Rome and assisted him in his last moments before his death in 1002. In the ensuing skirmishing for the post of Emperor, St Heribert at first was opposed to St Henry II through a mutual misunderstanding. But in time the two Saints, Archbishop and Emperor, were publicly reconciled and laboured together for the good of the people.
St Heribert was practically a model of what a Bishop should be. He was a peaceful man but a firm disciplinarian, a holy man but one who knew the value of money and saw to it that his was always divided among the poor. He was a man of prayer and in a time of drought, it was in answer to his prayers that a torrential rain fell, saving the harvest and delivering the people from famine, hence the reason he is invoked against drought and prayed to for rain.
Heribert built the monastery of Deutz, on the Rhine and was already honoured as a saint during his lifetime.
He died in Cologne on 16 March 1021 and is buried at the Cathedral of Deutz, which replaced the original Church, destroyed during WW II. St Heribert’s shrine, completed in 1175, is one of the major goldsmith works of the 12th century. It is displayed in the centre of the apse. 
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
St Gregory Makar
St Heribert of Cologne (c 970–1021)
St Hilary of Aquileia
Bl Joan Torrents Figueras
Bl John Amias
Bl John Sordi of Vicenza
St Julian of Anazarbus
St Largus of Aquileia
St Malcoldia of Asti
St Megingaud of Wurzburg
Thought for the Day – 15 March – The Memorial of St Clement Mary Hofbauer C.Ss.R.(1751-1820) “The Apostle of Austria” and “The Second Founder of the Redemptorists”
Among the passengers sharing a coach with Father Hofbauer on one occasion was a young man who was described as being infirm both in body and soul. Possibly embittered by his unfortunate physical state, the young man continually heaped coarse insults upon the holy priest, who endured the vulgarity in silence. At noon, when the coach drew up at an inn, all the other passengers disembarked to dine, giving no thought or concern for the crude cripple left behind. Hofbauer lifted the man in his arms, carried him into the inn, ordered his meal, then carried him back to the coach. The man’s behaviour toward the saint was totally changed for the rest of the trip. Filled with sorrow for his meanness, he declared that he would never have sunk to such moral degradation had he met such a priest earlier in life.
A Polish countess who had frequented St Benno’s reminisced in after years: “Whenever I recall him, I see him before me as a venerable priest, refined and awe inspiring in his deportment but withal very plain. Wherever he went, he radiated the beauty of peace and spread about him the consolation that springs from divine love. His language was always simple, he never made use of choice expressions. Still, his words always manifested great depth of mind and invariably awakened immediate confidence. The love of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which filled his heart, shone forth in all his actions but there was about him no trace of singularity or affectation. Purity of soul, peace of heart, the radiance of that holy joy which is born of the intimate union of man with his Maker, beamed from his countenance. The Holy Spirit had bestowed upon him a special talent for directing souls in the ways of virtue and holiness and he toiled on with unrelenting fervour, granting himself no rest or respite until his physical energy was exhausted.”
He was unrelenting in pursuing souls cut off from the life of grace, especially those facing imminent death. A nun entered the church one day and found Father Hofbauer kneeling before the altar. Unobserved by the saint, she saw his cheeks wet with tears as he pleaded for the conversion of some sinner outside the fold.
“Lord,” he begged, “give me this soul, for if Thou refuse, I shall go to Thy Mother!” The nun was so deeply affected by this scene that she immediately knelt before an image of the Blessed Virgin and united her own prayers to those of Hofbauer’s.
Even a tiny grain of imitation of this great Redemptorist Saint would be a huge impetus on our own road to holiness!
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