Saint of the Day – 24 July – Bl Cristobal of St Catherine T.O.S.F. (1638-1690) Priest, Founder of the Franciscan Hospitallers of Jesus of Nazareth, Franciscan Tertiary – born Cristóbal López de Valladolid Orea on 25 July 1638 at 8 Calle Baños, Mérida, Badajoz, Spain and died on 21 July 1690 in Córdoba, Spain of cholera. Patronage – the Franciscan Hospitallers of Jesus of Nazareth.
Cristóbal López de Valladolid Orea was born in 1638 as the son of poor labourers (he had five brothers) and was baptised in the church of Santa Eulalia. In either 1645 or 1646 he fled from his home in an effort to join the Order of Friars Minor but he soon returned home after his worried mother sent his brothers to bring him home. He served as an altar server and worked as a nurse in a hospital that the Order of Saint John of God managed.
He was ordained to the priesthood on 20 March 1663 in Badajoz and after was made a chaplain to armed services fighting in Portugal though he had to return home after falling ill. In 1667 he retired to a hermitage in the mountains of El Bañuelo but his desire to follow the Rule and the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi prompted him to pursue the Franciscan charism in a concrete manner. It was for this reason he became a professed member of the Third Order of Saint Francis in 1671 and he assumed the religious name of “Cristóbal of Saint Catherine”. He established the Franciscan Hospitallers of Jesus of Nazareth in Córdoba on 11 February 1673 which pushed the boundaries of a range of both religious and social issues.
He died in 1690 clutching a Crucifix, a victim of the cholera epidemic in which he tended to the victims. It was said not long after his death, several miracles were attributed to his direct intercession. His order received papal approval from Pope Benedict XIV in 1746.
The cause of beatification commenced on 27 June 1770 under Pope Clement XIV and the late priest was declared a Servant of God. Pope Benedict XVI declared him to have lived a life of heroic virtue on 28 June 2012 and named him Venerable.
On 20 December 2012 the pope approved a decree that recognised a miracle attributed to his intercession which would allow for him to be beatified. The beatification was held on 7 April 2013 and Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the celebration on the behalf of Pope Francis.
St Aliprandus of Pavia
St Antinogenes of Merida
St Aquilina the Martyr
St Arnulf of Gruyere
Bl Balduino of Rieti
St Boris of Kiev
St Capito
St Christiana
St Christina of Bolsena
St Christina of Tyre
St Christina the Astonishing
Bl Cristobal of St Catherine T.O.S.F. (1638-1690)
St Cyriacus of Ziganeus
St Declan of Ardmore
Bl Diego Martinez
Bl Donatus of Urbino
Bl Giovanni Tavalli
St Gleb
Bl Godo of Oye
St John Boste
Bl Joseph Fernandez
Bl Joseph Lambton
Bl Juan Solorzano
St Kinga
St Lewina of Seaford
Bl Louise of Savoy
Bl Menefrida
St Meneus
St Niceta
Bl Nicholas Garlick
Bl Paulus Yi Do-gi
Bl Pierre de Barellis
St Rainofle
Bl Richard Simpson
Bl Robert Ludlam
Rufinus of Mercia
St Sigolena of Trocar
St Stercatius of Merida
St Ursicinus of Sens
St Victor of Merida
St Victorinus of Amiterno
St Vincent of Rome
St Wulfhad of Mercia
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Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
Bl Cándido Castán San José
Bl Cecilio Vega Domínguez
St Ignacio González Calzada
St Jaime Gascón Bordas
Bl José Joaquín Esnaola Urteaga
Bl José Máximo Moro Briz
St Josep Guillamí Rodo
St Marcos Morón Casas
Bl Maria Angeles of Saint Joseph
Bl Maria Mercedes Prat
Bl Maria Pilar of Saint Francis Borgia
Bl Teresa of the Child Jesus and of Saint John of the Cross
St Xavier Bordas Piferrer
Thought for the Day – 23 July – The Memorial of St Bridget of Sweden (c 1303 – 1373)
The gift of mystical prayer, an experience of a special union with God in love, was given to Bridget. She often had visions of Christ’s passion. However, Bridget was also very practical in living out the Gospel.
After her husband’s death, Bridget founded an order of nuns known as the Bridgetines, who contributed to the culture of Scandinavia. She showed loving concern for people who were poor and sick and many people came to her for help. Bridget made pilgrimages around Italy and even to the Holy Land. She spent her last years in Rome. She urged the pope to leave Avignon in France and return to Rome.
Bridget’s visions, rather than isolating her from the affairs of the world, involved her in many contemporary issues, whether they be royal policy or the years that the legitimate Bishop of Rome lived in Avignon, France. She saw no contradiction between mystical experience and secular activity and her life is a testimony to the possibility of a holy life in the marketplace.
In 1999, Bridget, Saints Catherine of Siena and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, were named co-patronesses of Europe, together with the co-patrons, St Benedict of Nursia and Sts Cyril and Methodius (the latter two were added in 1980).
Quote of the Day – 23 July – The Memorial of St John Cassian (c 360- c 435)
“The thief on the cross certainly did not receive the Kingdom of Heaven as a reward for his virtues but as a grace and a mercy from God. He can serve as an authentic witness that our salvation is given to us only by God’s mercy and grace. All the holy masters knew this and unanimously taught that perfection in holiness can be achieved only through humility.”
One Minute Reflection – 23 July – The Memorial of St Bridget of Sweden (c 1303 – 1373) – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 12:38-42
“…There is something greater than Solomon here.”…Matthew 12:42
REFLECTION – “O Lord, make haste and illumine the night. Say to my soul that nothing happens without You permitting it and that nothing of what You permit, is without comfort.”…St Bridget
PRAYER – “O Jesus, Son of God, You Who were silent in the presence of Your accusers, restrain my tongue until I find what should say and how to say it. Show me the way and make me ready to follow it. It is dangerous to delay, yet perilous to go forward. Answer my petition and show me the way. As the wounded go to the doctor in search of aid, so do I come to You. O Lord, give Your peace to my heart. “(St Bridget). And we ask God our Father that the prayers of St Bridget may serve as an aid as we strive to attain virtue, through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 23 July – St John Cassian (c 360 – c 435) Priest, Monk, Theologian, Writer, Founder. Also known as John the Ascetic, or John Cassian the Roman (Latin: Ioannes Eremita Cassianus, Ioannus Cassianus, or Ioannes Massiliensis), was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern Churches for his mystical writings. St John Cassian is noted for his role in bringing the ideas and practices of Christian monasticism to the early medieval West. He was born in c 360 in Scythia Minor (modern-day Dobrogea, Romania) and died in c 435 in Massilia, Gaul (modern-day Marseilles, France), of natural causes.
Cassian was born around 360, most likely in the region of Scythia Minor (now Dobruja, a historical region shared today by Romania and Bulgaria), although some scholars assume a Gallic origin. The son of wealthy parents, he received a good education: his writings show the influence of Cicero and Persius. He was bilingual in Latin and Greek.
Cassian mentions having a sister in his first work, the Institutes, with whom he corresponded in his monastic life; she may have ended up with him in Marseilles.
Around 380, John Cassian migrated from Romania to Bethlehem, where he embraced the monastic life. After 385 he wandered the Egyptian desert, the heart of eastern monasticism. He visited abbots at monasteries and hermits in their caves, absorbing their teachings about the Christian life.
The year 400 found him on the staff of St John Chrysostom in Constantinople. When Chrysostom was unfairly deposed and exiled, Cassian was among his defenders who travelled to Rome to plead his case before the pope, who was Innocent I. At that time he was ordained a priest.
While he was in Rome, Cassian accepted the invitation to found an Egyptian-style monastery in southern Gaul, near Marseilles. He may also have spent time as a priest in Antioch between 404 and 415. In any case, he arrived in Marseilles around 415. His foundation, the Abbey of St Victor, was a complex of monasteries for both men and women, one of the first such institutes in the West and served as a model for later monastic development.
To instruct his monks and nuns, Cassian wrote two significant books. The Institutes described the eastern pattern of monastic life and the virtues required of monks. The Conferences presented the wisdom of the Egyptian desert in the form of discourses by famous abbots. In the following sample we hear “Abbot Isaac” on the practice of the presence of God:
“To keep the thought of God always in your mind you must cling totally to this formula for piety: ‘Come to my help, O God. Lord, hurry to my rescue’ (see Psalm 70:2).
“With good reason this verse has been chosen from the whole of Scripture as a device. It bears all the feelings that human nature can experience.
It can be adapted to every condition and deployed against every temptation. It carries a cry to God in the face of every danger. It piously confesses humility. It conveys our sense of frailty, our assurance of being heard, our confidence in help that is always and everywhere present. Someone forever calling out to his protector is very sure of his nearness. This short verse is an indomitable wall for all those struggling against the onslaught of demons.
Whatever the disgust, the anguish, or the gloom in our thoughts, it keeps us from despairing of our salvation since it reveals to us the One to whom we call, the One who sees our struggles and who is never far from those who pray to him.
If things go well for us in spirit, this verse is a warning. We must not get puffed up at being in a good condition that we cannot retain without the protection of God for whose continuous and speedy help it prays.
This little verse, I am saying, proves to be necessary and useful to each one of us in all circumstances.”
Cassian’s achievements and writings influenced Saint Benedict, who incorporated many of the principles into his monastic rule and recommended to his own monks that they read the works of Cassian. Since Benedict’s rule is still followed by Benedictine, Cistercian and Trappist monks, John Cassian’s thought still exercises influence over the spiritual lives of thousands of men and women in the Latin Church.
The Church also ranks him as a saint, with a feast day on 23 July. Like his contemporaries Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint John Chrysostom, he was never formally canonised, a process that came into use several centuries after his death. Pope Urban V referred to him as sanctus (a saint) and he was included in the Gallican Martyrology. He is included also in the Roman Martyrology with a feast-day on 23 July. Like the great majority of recognised saints of the Church, he is not one of the saints in the General Roman Calendar, but the Archdiocese of Marseilles and some monastic orders celebrate his memorial on his feast day.
Cassian’s relics are kept in an underground chapel in the Monastery of St Victor in Marseilles. His head and right hand are in the main church there.
Today laypeople cannot practice the presence of God with the constancy that Cassian demanded. But we can frequently remind ourselves of God’s nearness and draw on his grace by praying “Come to my help, O God. Lord, hurry to my rescue.”
St Anne of Constantinople
St Apollonius of Rome
Bl Basil Hopko
Bl Beaudoin of Beaumont
St Conan of Cornwall
Bl Emilio Arce Díez
St Eugene of Rome
St Herundo of Rome
Bl Jane of Orvieto
St John Cassian (c 360- c 435)
Bl Josep Sala Picó
Bl Juan de Luca
Bl Juan de Montesinos
Bl Leonard da Recanati
Bl Margarita de Maturana
Bl Pedro Ruiz de los Paños Angel
St Phocas the Gardener
St Primitiva of Rome
St Rasyphus of Macé
St Rasyphus of Rome
St Ravennus of Macé
St Redempta of Rome
St Romula of Rome
St Severus of Bizye
St Theophilus of Rome
St Trophimus of Rome
St Valerian of Cimiez
Bl Wojciech Gondek
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Martyrs of Barcelona – 7 beati: Seven Christians, some lay people, some members of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and some of the Franciscan Daughters of Mercy, who were martyred in two groups on the same day in the Spanish Civil War.
• Catalina Caldés Socías
• Francesc Mayol Oliver
• Miquel Pons Ramis
• Miquela Rul-Làn Ribot
• Pau Noguera Trías
• Prudència Canyelles Ginestà de Aguadé
• Simó Reynés Solivellas
23 July 1936 in Barcelona, Spain. They were Beatified on 28 October 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Martyrs of Bulgaria: An unknown number of Christians killed for their faith during the 9th century war between the Greek Emperor Nicephorus and the Bulgars.
Martyrs of Carabanchel Bajo – 9 beati: A group of nine Passionist priests, brothers and clerics who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War.
• Anacario Benito Nozal
• Felipe Ruiz Fraile
• Felipe Valcobado Granado
• José Osés Sainz
• José Ruiz Martinez
• Julio Mediavilla Concejero
• Laurino Proaño Cuesta
• Manuel Pérez Jiménez
• Maurilio Macho Rodríguez
22 July 1936 in Carabanchel Bajo, Madrid, Spain. They were Beatified on 1 October 1989 by Pope John Paul II.
Martyrs of Horta – 10 beati: A lay woman and nine Minim nuns who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War.
• Ana Ballesta Gelmá
• Dolors Vilaseca Gallego
• Josefa Pilar García Solanas
• Josepa Panyella Doménech
• Lucrecia García Solanas
• Maria Montserrat Ors Molist
• Mercè Mestre Trinché
• Ramona Ors Torrents
• Teresa Ríus Casas
• Vicenta Jordá Martí
23 July 1936 at the Sant Genís dels Agudells highway, Horta, Barcelona, Spain. They were Beatified on
27 October 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Martyrs of Manzanares – 5 beati: Five Passionist clerics who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War.
• Abilio Ramos y Ramos
• Epifanio Sierra Conde
• José Estalayo García
• Vicente Díez Tejerina
• Zacarías Fernández Crespo
They were shot on 23 July 1936 in Manzanares, Ciudad Real, Spain and Beatified on 1 October 1989 by Pope John Paul II.
Thought for the Day – 22 July – Feast of St Mary of Magdala
“When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and did not find the Lord’s body, she thought it had been taken away and so informed the disciples. After they came and saw the tomb, they too believed what Mary had told them. The text then says: “The disciples went back home,” and it adds: “but Mary wept and remained standing outside the tomb.”
We should reflect on Mary’s attitude and the great love she felt for Christ; for though the disciples had left the tomb, she remained. She was still seeking the one she had not found and while she sought she wept; burning with the fire of love, she longed for Him who she thought had been taken away.
And so it happened that the woman who stayed behind to seek Christ was the only one to see Him. For perseverance is essential to any good deed, as the voice of truth tell us: “Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved”…. Jesus says to her: “Mary.” Jesus is not recognised when He calls her “woman”, so He calls her by name, as though He were saying: ‘Recognise me as I recognise you, for I do not know you as I know others, I know you as yourself.’
And so Mary, once addressed by name, recognises who is speaking. She immediately calls Him ‘Rabboni’, that is to say, teacher, because the one whom she sought outwardly was the one who inwardly taught her to keep on searching.”
from a homily by St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) Father & Doctor
Saint of the Day – 22 July – Blessed Augustine Fangi OP (1430-1493) – Dominican Friar and Priest, Confessor, Mystic, known as “The Miracle Worker,” Augustine of Biella. He was commonly regarded, even in his time, as a miracle worker and, in serving as the Prior of several of his Order’s monasteries, was concerned with restoring and maintaining a faithful observance of the Rule of Saint Dominic. He was born in 1430 at Biella, Piedmont, Italy and died on 22 July 1493 at Venice, Italy of natural causes. In the 1530s, workmen found his coffin floating in the water that had seeped into the burial chamber – when opened, Augustine’s body and clothing were found to be Incorrupt and remains so.
Blessed Augustine’s father was a member of the Fangi family, who were wealthy and noble and, because of this, he had planned a secular career for his son. But when the Dominicans came to Biella, his plans were changed, for Augustine was completely charmed by their way of life and begged to be admitted. He entered, while quite young, the new convent that the Dominicans had built at Biella.
Augustine had a reputation for penance, even at a time when people were not as squeamish as they are today. Not only did he inflict harsh penances upon himself, he also bore with patience whatever pain and annoyance life granted him gratuitously.
One remarkable characteristic noted of Augustine, was his equanimity and ability to concentrate intensely on spiritual matters. One incident recorded, involves a surgical procedure, which he was required to undergo without anesthetic, as such an aid was not available in the fifteenth century. He did so without crying out at all. Afterwards, he simply stated that his mind was so intensely focused on something else that he hardly noticed what was being done. In prayer he was often seen levitating in ecstasy.
In 1464, Augustine was made Prior at Soncino. Several of his best known miracles were performed there. At one time, a deformed child, who had died without baptism, was restored to life, by Augustine’s prayer, long enough to be baptised. At another time, when he was passing down the street, he met a little boy who was crying bitterly, because he had broken a jug of wine. Augustine gathered up the shards and put them back together again. Then, with a prayer, he refilled the jug and handed it back to the startled child. Still another time, through his intercession, a woman was delivered from possession of five devils.
When his coffin, was opened in the 1530s and his body was found to be Incorrupt, interest was again revived in Blessed Augustine. Nevertheless, it was more than three centuries before his cultus was confirmed in 1872 by Pope Pius IX he was finally beatified in 1878 by Pope Leo XIII. His Shrine is at the Chapel of St Dominic in Venice (below).
St Anastasius of Schemarius
St Andrea of Antioch
St Andreas Wang Tianqing
St Anna Wang
Bl Augustine Fangi O.P. (1430-1493)
St Baudry of Montfaucon
Bl Benno of Osnabruck
St Claudius Marius Victorinus of Saussaye
St Cyril of Antioch
St Dabius
Bl Jacques Lombardie
St John Lloyd
St Joseph of Palestine
St Lewine
St Lucia Wang Wangzhi
Bl Manuela de Jesus Arias Espinosa
St Maria Wang Lishi
St Meneleus of Ménat
St Movean of Inis-Coosery
St Pancharius of Besancon
Bl Paolo de Lara
St Philip Evans
St Plato of Ancyra
St Syntyche of Philippi
St Theophilus of Cyprus
St Wandrille of Fontenelle
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Martyrs of Marula/Massylis: – 3 saints: Three Christians martyred together. We know nothing else about them but the names – Ajabosus, Andrew and Elian. They were martyred in Massylis (Marula), Numidia (in modern Algeria).
Martyrs of Massilitani: A group of Christians martyred together in northern Africa. Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote about them.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
Bl Jaime María Carretero Rojas
Bl Joaquin Rodríguez Bueno
Bl José María Mateos Carballido
Bl Juan Durán Cintas
Bl Ramón María Pérez Sous
Thought for the Day – 21 July – The Memorial of St Lawrence of Brindisi OFM Cap (1559-1619) Doctor of the Church
St Lawrence’s compassion for the poor moved him to make a dangerous trip to Spain to oppose an oppressive tyrant. He realised that evil has to be opposed and that if good men do not oppose it, the evil will continue and grow.
Our voices – small as they may be – individual or collective – MUST be heard, always, in the cause of truth and justice.
Quote/s of the Day – 21 July – The Memorial of St Lawrence of Brindisi OFM Cap (1559-1619) Doctor of the Church
“God is love and all his operations proceed from love. Once he wills to manifest that goodness by sharing His love outside Himself, then the Incarnation becomes the supreme manifestation of His goodness and love and glory. So, Christ was intended before all other creatures and for His own sake. For Him all things were created and to Him all things must be subject and God loves all creature, in and because of Christ. Christ is the first-born of every creature and the whole of humanity. as well as the created world, finds its foundation and meaning in Him. Moreover, this would have been the case, even if Adam had not sinned.”
“God is love and all His operations proceed from LOVE…”
“For Him all things were created and to Him all things must be subject and God loves all creature, in and because of Christ.”
“Christ is the first-born of every creature and the whole of humanity. as well as the created world, finds its foundation and meaning in Him.”
“The Holy Spirit sweetens the yoke of the divine law and lightens its weight, so that we may observe God’s commandments with the greatest of ease and even with pleasure”
“The word of God is replete with manifold blessings, since it is, so to speak, a treasure of all goods. It is the source of faith, hope, charity, all virtue, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all the beatitudes of the Gospel, all good works, all the rewards of life, all the glory of paradise…”
“…The word of God is a light to the mind and a fire to the will.”
St Lawrence of Brindisi(1559-1619) Apostolic Doctor
One Minute Reflection – 21 July – Saturday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time – The Memorial of St Lawrence of Brindisi OFM Cap (1559-1619) Doctor of the Church – Today’s Readings: Micah 2:1-5, Psalm 10:1-4, 7-8, 14, Matthew 12:14-21
“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased…. and in his name will the Gentiles hope.”…Matthew 12:18,21
REFLECTION – “My dear souls, let us recognise, I pray you, Christ’s infinite charity towards us, in the institution of this Sacrament of the Eucharist. In order that our love be a spiritual love, He wills a new heart, a new love, a new spirit for us. It is not with a carnal heart but with a spiritual one, that Christ has loved us with a gratuitous love, a supreme and most ardent love, by way of pure grace and charity. Ah! One needs to love Him back with one’s whole, whole, whole, living, living, living and true, true, true heart!!” …… St Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619) Apostolic Doctor
PRAYER – Lord God, You bestowed on St Lawrence of Brindisi the spirit of counsel and fortitude, so that Your name might be glorified and souls be saved. At the intercession of St Lawrence, grant that we may see what we have to do and, in Your mercy give us the strength to do it and the courage, love and charity to persevere. Grant above all, that by his prayers we may love You above all and with all we are. St Lawrence pray for us, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 21 July – The Memorial of St Lawrence of Brindisi OFM Cap (1559-1619) Doctor of the Church – Today’s Readings: Micah 2:1-5, Psalm 10:1-4, 7-8, 14, Matthew 12:14-21
“Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil upon their beds!”…Micah 2:1
The Peace Prayer
By St Francis of Assisi (c 1181-1226)
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love, where there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith, where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Saint of the Day – 21 July – St Lawrence of Brindisi OFM Cap (1559-1619) Doctor of the Church. He was created a Doctor of the Church by St Pope John XXIII in 1959 with the title Doctor apostolicus (Apostolic Doctor). Patronages – Brindisi, Italy.
St Lawrence is known as the “Franciscan Renaissance Man” – he was a Religious member of the Franciscan Friars Minor Capuchin, a Priest, Theologian, Vicar General of the Franciscans, Language scholar, Apologist of immense and calm resources, Humanist, Philosopher, Biblicist, Preacher, Missionary, Professor, International Administrator, Confidant of Popes, Emperors, Kings and Princes, Diplomatic envoy, Army Chaplain, Military Strategist and Morale builder, Polemicist, Prolific writer.
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi
By Pope Benedict XVI
General Audience, 23 March 2011
I still remember with joy the festive welcome I was given in Brindisi in 2008. It was in this city that in 1559 was born a distinguished Doctor of the Church, St Lawrence of Brindisi, the name that Julius Caesar Russo took upon entering the Capuchin Order.
He had been attracted since childhood by the family of St Francis of Assisi. In fact, his father died when he was seven years old and his mother entrusted him to the care of the Friars Minor Conventual in his hometown. A few years later, however, Lawrence and his mother moved to Venice and it was precisely there that he became acquainted with the Capuchins who in that period were generously dedicated to serving the whole Church in order to further the important spiritual reform promoted by the Council of Trent.
With his religious profession in 1575, Lawrence became a Capuchin friar and in 1582 he was ordained a priest. During his ecclesiastical studies for the priesthood he already showed the eminent intellectual qualities with which he had been endowed. He learned with ease the ancient languages, such as Greek, Hebrew and Syriac, as well as modern languages, such as French and German. He added these to his knowledge of Italian and of Latin that was once spoken fluently by all clerics and by all cultured people. Thanks to his mastery of so many languages, Lawrence was able to carry out a busy apostolate among the different categories of people. As an effective preacher, his knowledge, not only of the Bible but also of the rabbinic literature, was so profound that even the Rabbis, impressed and full of admiration, treated him with esteem and respect.
As a theologian steeped in Sacred Scripture and in the Fathers of the Church, he was also able to illustrate Catholic doctrine in an exemplary manner to Christians who, especially in Germany, had adhered to the Reformation. With his calm, clear exposition he demonstrated the biblical and patristic foundation of all the articles of faith disputed by Martin Luther. These included the primacy of St Peter and of his Successors, the divine origin of the Episcopate, justification as an inner transformation of man, and the need to do good works for salvation. Lawrence’s success helps us to realise that today too, in pursuing ecumenical dialogue with such great hope, the reference to Sacred Scripture, interpreted in accordance with the Tradition of the Church, is an indispensable element of fundamental importance. I wished to recall this in my Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini (n. 46). Even the simplest members of the faithful, those not endowed with great culture, benefited from the convincing words of Lawrence, who addressed humble people to remind them all to make their lives consistent with the faith they professed.
This was a great merit of the Capuchins and of other religious Orders which, in the 16th and 17th centuries, contributed to the renewal of Christian life, penetrating the depths of society with their witness of life and their teaching. Today too, the new evangelisation stands in need of well-trained apostles, zealous and courageous, so that the light and beauty of the Gospel, may prevail over the cultural tendencies of ethical relativism and religious indifference and transform the various ways of thinking and acting into genuine Christian humanism.
It is surprising that St Lawrence of Brindisi was able to continue without interruption his work as an appreciated and unflagging preacher in many cities of Italy and in different countries, in spite of holding other burdensome offices of great responsibility. Indeed, within the Order of Capuchins he was professor of theology, novice master, for several mandates minister provincial and definitor general and finally, from 1602 to 1605, minister general. In the midst of this mountain of work, Lawrence cultivated an exceptionally fervent spiritual life. He devoted much time to prayer and, especially, to the celebration of Holy Mass — often protracted for hours — caught up in and moved by the memorial of the Passion, death and Resurrection of the Lord.
At the school of the saints, every priest, as was emphasised frequently during the recent Year for Priests, may only avoid the danger of activism — acting, that is, without remembering the profound motives of his ministry — if he attends to his own inner life.
In speaking to priests and seminarians in the Cathedral of Brindisi, St Lawrence’s birthplace, I recalled that “the time he spends in prayer is the most important time in a priest’s life, in which divine grace acts with greater effectiveness, making his ministry fruitful. The first service to render to the community is prayer. And, therefore, time for prayer must be given true priority in our life… if we are not interiorly in communion with God, we cannot even give anything to others. Therefore, God is the first priority. We must always reserve the time necessary to be in communion of prayer with Our Lord” (Address of Benedict XVI to priests, deacons and seminarians of the Archdiocese of Brindisi, Cathedral of Brindisi, 15 June 2008).
Moreover, with the unmistakable ardour of his style, Lawrence urged everyone and not only priests, to cultivate a life of prayer, for it is through prayer that we speak to God and that God speaks to us: “Oh, if we were to consider this reality!”, he exclaimed. “In other words that God is truly present to us when we speak to him in prayer; that he truly listens to our prayers, even if we pray only with our hearts and minds. And that not only is he present and hears us, indeed he willingly and with the greatest of pleasure wishes to grant our requests”.
Another trait that characterises the opus of this son of St Frances, is his action for peace. Time and again both Supreme Pontiffs and Catholic Princes entrusted him with important diplomatic missions, to settle controversies and to encourage harmony among the European States, threatened in those days by the Ottoman Empire. The moral authority he enjoyed made him a counsellor both sought after and listened to. Today, as in the times of St Lawrence, the world is in great need of peace, it needs peaceful and peacemaking men and women. All who believe in God must always be sources and artisans of peace.
It was precisely on the occasion of one of these diplomatic missions that Lawrence’s earthly life ended, in 1619 in Lisbon, where he had gone to see King Philip III of Spain, to plead the cause of the Neapolitan subjects oppressed by the local authorities.
He was Canonised in 1881 and his vigorous and intense activity, his vast and harmonious knowledge, earned him the title of Doctor Apostolicus, “Apostolic Doctor”. The title was conferred on him by St Pope John XXIII in 1959, on the occasion of the fourth centenary of his birth. This recognition was also granted to Lawrence of Brindisi because he was the author of numerous works of biblical exegesis, theology and sermons. In them he offers an organic presentation of the history of salvation, centred on the mystery of the Incarnation, the greatest expression of divine love for humankind.
Furthermore, since he was a highly qualified Mariologist, the author of a collection of sermons on Our Lady entitled “Mariale”, he highlighted the unique role of the Virgin Mary, whose Immaculate Conception and whose role in the redemption brought about by Christ he clearly affirms.
With a fine theological sensitivity, Lawrence of Brindisi also pointed out the Holy Spirit’s action in the believer’s life. He reminds us that the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity illumines and assists us with his gifts in our commitment to live joyously the Gospel message.
“The Holy Spirit”, St Lawrence wrote, “sweetens the yoke of the divine law and lightens its weight, so that we may observe God’s commandments with the greatest of ease and even with pleasure”.
I would like to complete this brief presentation of the life and doctrine of St Lawrence of Brindisi by underlining that the whole of his activity was inspired by great love for Sacred Scripture, which he knew thoroughly and by heart and by the conviction that listening to and the reception of the word of God produces an inner transformation that leads us to holiness.
“The word of the Lord”, he said, “is a light for the mind and a fire for the will, so that man may know and love God. For the inner man, who lives through the living grace of God’s Spirit, it is bread and water but bread sweeter than honey and water better than wine or milk…. It is a weapon against a heart stubbornly entrenched in vice. It is a sword against the flesh, the world and the devil, to destroy every sin”.
St Lawrence of Brindisi teaches us to love Sacred Scripture, to increase in familiarity with it, to cultivate daily relations of friendship with the Lord in prayer, so that our every action, our every activity, may have its beginning and its fulfilment in him. This is the source from which to draw so that our Christian witness may be luminous and able to lead the people of our time to God….vatican.va Pope Benedict
Our Lady of Kazan: This miraculous icon, also known as the Theotokos of Kazan, is thought to have originated in Constantinople in the 13th century before it was taken to Russia. When the Turks took Kazan in 1438, the icon may have been hidden. Ivan the Terrible liberated Kazan in 1552 and the town was destroyed by fire in 1579.
The icon was eventually found in the ruins of a burnt-out house at Kazan on the River Volga on 8 July in 1579. According to tradition, the location of the icon was revealed during a dream by the Blessed Virgin Mary to a ten year old girl named Matrona. Matrona told the local bishop of her dream, but he did not believe her. There were two more similar dreams, after which Matrona and her mother went to the place indicated by the Blessed Virgin and dug in the ruins what had been a house until the uncovered the icon. It appeared untouched by the flames, with the colours as vivid and brilliant as if it were new. The bishop took the icon to the Church of Saint Nicholas and immediately there was a miracle of a blind man’s sight being restored to him. A monastery was built over the place where the icon had been found.
Known as the Holy Protectress of Russia, the icon was stolen on 29 June 1904. The thieves were later caught and claimed that they had destroyed the icon after taking the gold frame and jewels attached to the image. In any event, the original has never been found, though there are many copies in existence, thanks to the popularity of the icon. Many of the copies are known to be miracle working.
In 1993 a copy of the icon was given to Pope John Paul II, who kept it in his personal study before it was given to representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2004.
Bl Agrícola Rodríguez García de Los Huertos
St Alberic Crescitelli
St Arbogast of Strasbourg
St Barhadbescialas
St Benignus of Moyenmoutier
Bl Claudius of Avignon
St Claudius of Troyes
St Corona of Marceille
Bl Cristóbal López de Valladolid Orea
Bl Daniel Molini
St Daniel the Prophet
St Eleutherius of Marseille
St Eternus of Evreaux
Bl Gabriel Pergaud
St Iosephus Wang Yumei
St John of Edessa
St John of Moyenmoutier
Bl Juan de Las Varillas
Bl Juan de Zambrana
St Jucundinus of Troyes
St Julia of Troyes
St Justus of Troyes
Bl Parthenius of Thessaly
St Praxides of Rome
St Simeon Salus
St Victor of Marseilles
St Wastrada
St Zoticus of Comana
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Martyrs of Africa – 6 saints: Six Christians who were martyred together. We know no other details about them but the names – Emilian, Hugal, Motanus, Saphus, Stercorius and Victor. They were martyred in an unknown location in Africa, date unknown.
Thought for the Day – 20 July – The Memorial of Bl Gregory Lopez (1542-1596)
There are no patterns for sainthood and the Saints break all moulds.
God is interested in us, right where we are. He has placed us there and our own particular circumstances are as good a place as any other to become a saint . Holiness is within our reach! Only He knows where our pathways will lead. As Blessed Gregory and all our Saints show, it is about abandoning ourselves to Him and living our lives, where we are, in and for Him alone, keeping our eyes ever fixed on Christ . Over the course of time, our prayer evolves from acceptance of God’s will to a conscious act of love of God, to a devotion to and imitation of the person of Jesus, the Logos.
His Biographer, Fr Francisco de Losa said: “His soul appeared to be disengaged from all things else by a pure union with God.”
And as López said to him: “It is much better to treat with God than with man….The eyes of the true man are always fixed on Christ, who is his head and the soul that is touched with love of God is like a needle that is touched with the lodestone always pointing to the North.”…Blessed Gregory
An old print of this servant of God states in a few lines:
“The miser runs o’er sea and land His riches to increase, But Lopez, on the other hand, For poverty and peace.”
Many miracles were ascribed to him in life and after death. In February, 1620, the King of Spain ordered his Treatise on the Apocalypse published, adding, “I do not wish to lose a single moment in procuring the canonisation of this holy man, who,” as he says elsewhere, “passed thirty-three years in solitude in a marvellous penance, humility and love of God and his neighbour and had an admirable gift of prayer and understanding of the Holy Scriptures and the supernatural and human sciences, with the general approbation of the prelates and people of Mexico.” In fact, in the examinations that took place, bishops and theologians of all the religious orders, bore unanimous testimony to his extraordinary virtue and progress in the science of the saints.
One Minute Reflection – 20 July – Friday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, B – Today’s First Reading: Isaiah 38:1-6.,1-22,7-8 and the Memorial of Bl Gregory Lopez (1542-1596)
“O LORD, remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your presence, doing what was pleasing to you!” ….Isaiah 38:3
REFLECTION – “Thus, in whatever place a truly spiritual man is and in whatever, he is employed, his eyes and his heart are always fixed on Jesus Christ.”…Blessed Gregory Lopez
PRAYER – Almighty Father, let Your light so penetrate our minds, that walking by Your commandments, we may always follow You, our leader and our guide. Turn our hearts to see Your Son who “goes before us” and help us to never lose sight of His saving way. May the prayers of all Your holy ones in heaven, who are our examples and those of Blessed Gregory, be of assistance to us as we walk our earthly journey. We make our prayer through Christ, our Lord, amen.
Saint of the Day – 20 July – Blessed Gregory Lopez (1542-1596) – Hermit, Spiritual Advisor, Writer. Born on 4 July 1542 at Madrid, Spain and died on 20 July 1596 of natural causes near Mexico City.
Around 1585, word of a “Mystery Man” began to leak into Mexico City, a strange hermit who lived out in the lonely valley of Guesteca, who walked miles to go to Mass, lived totally subject to “Lady Poverty” and had travelled from the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Spain (which dates from 712), to her Shrine in Mexico (which dates from 1531). Disturbed by the wagging tongues of the day and the stories becoming exaggerated with the telling, the Archbishop of Mexico, set up an investigating commission to examine the matter. What they discovered was quite remarkable and Blessed Gregory had to find a new place to hide.
He had been a Page in the Court of Philip II of Spain and while visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Estremadura, had heard of the Shrine of the same name in Mexico. He sold all his possessions and gave the money to the poor and then went to Mexico convinced that God would show him what to do. In Mexico, he went in search of a place to live as a hermit. He found a suitable place in Guesteca, walked 24 miles to Mass on Sundays and Feast days and caused a lot of gossip by his unusual way of life. To quiet the tongues, he lived on a plantation for a while to attend daily Mass regularly but after the earthquake of 1566, he returned to his hermitage.
Our Lady of Guadalupe in Estremadura
He thought he should perhaps become a Dominican Friar but he found that community life was not for him and returned to his solitude. When the Archbishop approved his way of life and Blessed Gregory became too popular, he went to work in a hospital and wrote a book on pharmacy for the nursing brothers.
In 1589, a priest friend, Fr Francisco de Losa (1536-1634) helped him to set up a Hermitage near his Parish. At this point, Fr Losa could more carefully observe the piety of his charge and the biography focuses on this aspect. Fr Losa was so edified that he retires from his pastoral duties to accompany and observe his friend.
“I then observed both day and night all his actions and words with all possible attention, to see if I could discover anything contrary to the high opinion which I had of his virtue. But far from this, his behaviour appeared everyday more admirable than before, his virtue more sublime and his whole conversation rather divine than human.”
They spent time in scriptural study, long hours in prayer and became Spiritual advisors to many. Fr Losa notes a typical day. Gregory would rise, wash, read a little, then fall into a “recollection”: “All one could conjecture from the tranquility and devotion which appeared in his countenance was that he was in the continual presence of God.” They would dine at one o’clock, afterwards engage in conversation or one might read aloud as a recreation. Then Gregory would return to his room until the next day, though sometimes he received visitors; in his last years the visitors were often ecclesiastics, the learned, or the nobility, going away much edified. Gregory’s routine remained not to use a candle and he retired by about 9:30 in the evening. Towards his last years he had reluctantly accepted the sheepskin quilt offered by Fr Losa and a bed rather than the floor. In any case, he seldom slept more than a few hours.
Among the virtues of Gregory was his mildness, patience, and humility — though he must have suffered greatly from his physical pain (a bad intestinal illness which caused bleeding). He never judged others: “For many years I have judged no man but believed all to be wiser and better than me. I have not pretended to set myself up above others or to assume any authority over others.”
He never complained, and Fr Losa says, “I never heard him speak one single word that could be reproved.” His conversation was never but “useful and spiritual,” though he preferred silence. Gregory used to say that “My silence will edify more than my words” and “I see that many talk well, but let us live well.” Ultimately, however, Gregory no longer identified with this world: “Ever since I came to New Spain I have never desired to see anything in this world, not even my relations, friends or country.”
Fr Losa attests to the vast knowledge of López, of ecclesiastical and profane history, ancient to contemporary, of astronomy, cosmography, geography, botany, zoology, anatomy, medicine and botanicals. These topics did not distract López from his spirituality, however, for he told Losa, “I find God alike in little things and in great.”
But his spiritual discernment was keen and Fr Losa says that Gregory “saw spiritual things with the eyes of his soul as clearly as outward things with those of his body and had an amazing accuracy in distinguishing what was of grace and what of nature.” For this Blessed Gregory was often consulted by visitors as if he was an “oracle from heaven, as a prodigy of holiness.” One can imagine how this edified Fr Losa, for in 1579 he began writing about López, even while yet a rector of a large parish in Mexico City.
Blessed Gregory remained a hermit all his life, wishing always to be alone with God. When he died in 1596 at the age of 54, miracles were attributed to him almost immediately. He was a most unusual man, who took his own path to holiness and remained convinced that it was the will of God for him. His fame reached as far as England, France and Germany. The sickness that had dogged him returned one last time in 1596. He lost all appetite and could swallow only liquids. The bloody flux would not stop and he grew progressively weaker. He told Fr Losa that he had entered “God’s time” and his comportment would consist in doing and not in talking. Fr Losa records that “I never perceived in him during his whole illness any repugnance to the order of God but an admirable peace and tranquillity, with an entire conformity to His will. All his virtue shone marvellously in his sickness, particularly his humility.” López died in July 1595 at 54 years of age, 34 of them spent in the New World. Due to the unflagging efforts of Losa, Gregory López was eventually named “Blessed” but was never formally beatified though he is regarded as having received equipollent Beatification and is highly revered most especially in Mexico and Spain. Interestingly, many Protestants including John Wesley, revered him as a man of wonderful holiness.
St Apollinaris of Ravenna Disciple of St Peter – Martyr (Optional Memorial)
Bl Anne Cartier
St Ansegisus
St Aurelius of Carthage
St Bernward of Hildesheim
St Cassian of Saint Saba
St Chi Zhuze
St Elijah the Prophet
St Elswith
Bl Gregory Lopez (1542-1596)
St José María Díaz Sanjurjo
St Joseph Barsabas
Bl Luigi Novarese
St Margaret of Antioch
St Maria Fu Guilin
St Mère
St Paul of Saint Zoilus
St Rorice of Limoges
St Severa of Oehren
St Severa of Saint Gemma
St Wulmar
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Martyrs of Corinth – 22 saints: 22 Christians who were martyred together. We know nothing else about them but the names – • Appia • Calorus • Cassius • Celsus • Cyriacus • Donatus • Emilis • Felix • Fructus • Magnus • Maximus • Nestita • Partinus • Pasterus • Paul • Romanus • Spretus • Tertius • Theodolus • Ueratia • Valerian • Victor. They were martyred in Corinth, Greece.
Martyrs of Damascus – 16 saints: 16 Christians who were martyred together. We know the names of six of then, but no details about any of them – Cassia, Julian, Macrobius, Maximus, Paul and Sabinus. They were martyred in Damascus, Syria, date unknown.
Martyrs of Seoul – 8 saints: Eight lay native Koreans in various states of life who were murdered together for their faith.
• Anna Kim Chang-gum
• Ioannes Baptista Yi Kwang-nyol
• Lucia Kim Nusia
• Magdalena Yi Yong-hui
• Maria Won Kwi-im
• Martha Kim Song-im
• Rosa Kim No-sa
• Theresia Yi Mae-im
They were martyred on 20 July 1839 at the Small West Gate, Seoul, South Korea and Canonised on 6 May 1984 by St Pope John Paul.
Martyrs of Zhaojia – 3 saints: Married lay woman and her two daughters in the apostolic vicariate of Southeastern Zhili, China. During the persecutions of the Boxer Rebellion, the three of them hid in a well to avoid being raped. They were found, dragged out, and killed for being Christian. Martyrs. They were – Maria Zhao Guoshi (mother), Maria Zhao and Rosa Zhao (sisters). They were martyred in late July 1900 in Zhaojia, Wuqiao, Hebei, China.
Martyrs of Zhujiahe – 4 saints: Two Jesuit missionary priests and two local lay people who supported their work who were martyred together in the Boxer Rebellion during and immediately after Mass.
• Léon-Ignace Mangin
• Maria Zhu Wushi
• Paul Denn
• Petrus Zhu Rixin
They were martyred on 20 July 1900 in church in Zhujiahe, Jingxian, Hebei, China and Canonised on 1 October 2000 by St Pope John Paul.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Abraham Furones y Furones
• Blessed Antoni Bosch Verdura
• Blessed Francisca Aldea y Araujo
• Blessed Jacinto García Riesco
• Blessed Joan Páfila Monllaó
• Blessed Josep Tristany Pujol
• Blessed Matías Cardona-Meseguer
• Blessed Rita Josefa Pujalte y Sánchez
• Blessed Vicente López y López
Quote/s of the Day – 19 July – The Memorial of St John Plessington (c 1637-1679) Martyr of England
“But I know it will be said that a Priest, ordained by authority derived from the See of Rome, is by the Law of Nation, to die as a Traitor but if that be so, what must become of all the Clergymen or England, for the first Protestant Bishops had their Ordination from those of the Church of Rome….?”
“Bear witness, good hearers, that I profess, that I undoubtedly and firmly believe, all the Articles of the Roman Catholic Faith and for the truth of any of them, (by the assistance of God), I am willing to die and I had rather die, than doubt of any Point of Faith, taught by our Holy Mother the Roman Catholic Church.”
St John Plessington (c 1637-1679)
Martyred because he was a Catholic Priest
by Elizabeth I of England
John Plessington was born at Dimples Hall, near Garstang, Lancashire in 1637, the son of Robert Plessington and Alice Rawstone, into a family at odds with the authorities, for both their religious and political beliefs. Educated by Jesuits at Scarisbrick Hall, at Saint Omer’s in France and then at the College of Saint Alban at Valladolid, Spain, he was ordained in Segovia on 25 March 1662. He returned to England in 1663 ministering to Catholics in the areas of Holywell and Cheshire, often hiding under the name William Scarisbrick. He was also tutor at Puddington Hall near Chester. Upon arrest in Chester during the Popish Plot scare caused by Titus Oates, he was imprisoned for two months, and then hanged, drawn and quartered for the crime of being a Catholic priest. His speech from the scaffold at Gallow’s Hill in Boughton, Cheshire was printed and distributed:
He said: “I know it will be said that a priest ordayned by authority derived from the See of Rome is, by the Law of the Nation, to die as a Traytor but if that be so what must become of all the Clergymen of the Church of England, for the first Church of England Bishops had their Ordination from those of the Church of Rome, or not at all, as appears by their own writers so that Ordination comes derivatively from those now living.”
He was martyred in 1679. He was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI, and canonised as one of the Forty Martyrs on 25 October 1970 by Blessed Pope Paul VI.
A lot more detail about St John here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/07/19/saint-of-the-day-19-july-st-john-plessington/
and his scaffold speech here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/07/19/thought-for-the-day-19-july/
One Minute Reflection – 19 July – Thursday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year B – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 11:28-30.
“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”…Matthew 11:28-30
REFLECTION – “Jesus asks us to go to Him, for He is true Wisdom, to Him who is “gentle and lowly in heart”. He offers us “his yoke”, the way of the wisdom of the Gospel which is neither a doctrine to be learned, nor an ethical system but rather a Person to follow: He Himself, the Only Begotten Son, in perfect communion with the Father.”…Pope Benedict, XVI, General Audience, 7 December 2011
PRAYER – “Holy God, our Father, we turn to You in confidence as children and pray, give us meekness of heart, make us “poor in spirit” that we may recognise that we are not self-sufficient, that we are unable to build our lives on our own but need You, we need to encounter You, to listen to You, to speak to You. Help us to understand that we need Your gift, Your wisdom, which is Jesus Himself, in order to do the Your will in our lives and thus to find rest in the hardships of our journey.” Blessed Jozef Puchala, Holy Martyr for Christ, Pray for us, amen. (Adapted from the same homily above.)
NOTE: The Image used for the Reflection above is called “Christ the Consolator” by Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834-1890). You would be mistaken in believing that this great Artist was a Mormon but of course, he was a Danish Artist of a Christian leaning (Mormons are NOT Christians and were begun by Joseph Smith in the 1820s in New York), studied and was inspired and drawn to Catholicism (but did not convert) in Rome and was vastly influenced by Rembrandt (a protestant) in Holland. The Mormons have used his artworks endlessly – in their temples, advertising and media, he would be highly indignant I believe, without a doubt!
Saint of the Day – 19 July – Blessed Józef Achilles Puchala OFM Conv (1911-1943) Martyr – Priest and Franciscan Friar. Also known as – Achilles Puchala, Brother Achilles, Father Achilles. Born on 18 March 1911 in Kosina, Podkarpackie, Poland and died on 19 July 1943 in a barn outside Borovikovshchina, Minskaya voblasts’, (now) in Belarus. Additional Memorial on 12 June as one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II.
Blessed Jozef was born on 18 March 1911 and baptised on the day of his birth, which is the way Catholics lived and should still live!
He entered the minor seminary in Lviv (in modern Ukraine) in 1924 and once ordained a Deacon, he entered the Monastery of the Franciscan as a Friar Minor Conventual, taking the name Achilles and making his solemn vows on 22 May 1932.
He was ordained as a Priest on 5 July 1936. Before the total devastation of Poland by the Nazis, he served in the Franciscan convents in Grodno and Iwieniec in Poland.
In early 1940 he moved into parish service in Pierszaje, Poland to help with a shortage of priests who had been arrested, murdered or fled ahead of arrest, by the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation and persecutions of World War II.
Finally, Blessed Jozef too was arrested, tortured and eventually murdered by the Gestapo on 19 July 1943. The barn in which he was martyred was set alight but his remains were later retrieved by local Catholics. They were buried in the Parish Church, in which Blessed Jozef had served in in Pierszaje, Poland.
Blessed Jozef was Beatified on 13 June 1999 by St Pope John Paul along with the other 107 (known) Martyrs of World War II. Their liturgical feast day is 12 June. The 108 were Beatified by St Pope John Paul II in Warsaw, Poland. The group comprises 3 bishops, 52 priests, 26 members of male religious, 3 seminarians, 8 female religious and 9 lay people. There are two parishes named for the 108 Martyrs of World War II in Powiercie in Koło County and in Malbork, Poland.
St Ambrose Autpertus
Bl Antonio of Valladolid
St Arsenius the Great
St Aurea of Cordoba
Bl Bernhard of Rodez
St Daria of Constantinople
St Epaphras of Colosse
St Felix of Verona
St John Plessington (c 1637-1679) Martyr – About St John Plessington: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/07/19/saint-of-the-day-19-july-st-john-plessington/
Bl Józef Puchala OFM Conv (1911-1943) Martyr
St Macrina the Younger
St Martin of Trier
St Michael the Sabaitè
Bl Pascasio of Lyon
St Romain of Ryazan
St Pope Symachus
St Vicente Cecilia Gallardo
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Martyrs of Meros – 3 saints: Three Christians tortured and martyred together in the persecutions of emperor Julian the Apostate and governor Almachio. We know nothing else about them but the names – Macedoniuis, Tatian and Theodule.
They were burned to death on an iron grill in Meros, Phrygia (in modern Turkey).
Martyrs of China: 3 Beati
Elisabeth Qin Bianshi Elisabeth
Ioannes Baptista Zhu Wurui
Simon Qin Chunfu
One Minute Reflection – 18 July – Wednesday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time, B – Today’s Gospel Matthew 11:25-27.
“You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them, to the childlike”…Matthew 11:25
REFLECTION – “O my Saviour and my God! This ought to astonish us. We run after knowledge as if all our happiness depended on it. Woe to us if we don’t have it! We certainly need it but in its fullness, we ought to study but in moderation. Other people claim understanding of business and pass for people of substance and negotiation in the world. These are the ones from whom God takes away perception of Christian truths, from the learned and knowing of this world. Who does He give it to, then? To simple, ordinary people… Gentlemen, true religion is to be found among the poor. God enriches them with living faith, they believe, touch, taste the words of life… For the most part they preserve their peace in the midst of trouble and distress. What is the reason for this? Faith. Why? Because they are simple, God causes those graces to abound in them, that He refuses to the rich and learned of this world.”…St Vincent de Paul (1581-1660)
PRAYER – Lord God, in Your wisdom You created us, by Your Providence, You rule us. Penetrate our inmost being with Your holy light so that our way of life may always be one of faithful service and childlike trust in You. Grant that by the intercession of St Frederick, we may always follow behind Your Son and grasp His hand, to lead us to You, Through Jesus Christ our Lord with the Holy Spirit, one God, forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 18 July – St Frederick (c 815 – c 838) Martyr, Bishop – died on 18 July 8383 by being stabbed to death just after saying Mass.
Frederick was born around 780 in Friesland and was a grandson of the Frisian King Radboud. At a young age he was taught at Utrecht by the clergy, including Bishop Ricfried. He was trained in piety and sacred learning among the clergy of the Church of Utrecht. Being ordained priest, he was charged by Bishop Ricfried with the care of instructing converts and about 825 he was chosen to succeed him as Bishop of Utrecht. The new bishop at once began to establish order everywhere and sent St Odulf and other zealous and virtuous labourers, into the northern parts, to dispel the paganism which still subsisted there.
Given his reach and reputation, Saint Frederick was soon embroiled in the political matters of the times. Saint Frederick found himself in the position to admonish the Empress Judith, after her sons raised charges against her, citing immorality. While Frederick spoke to her with patience, prudence and charity, she became irate and worked to undermine him. Similarly, he raised the ire of many of those throughout the land who did not ascribe to the Christian faith, enforcing marriages and spreading the Gospel. Through his labours, he found himself greatly disliked by many dangerous and powerful individuals. Saint Frederick refused to be intimidated, however, certain in the power of the Lord.
On 18 July 838, following celebration of the Mass, Saint Frederick was stabbed by two assassins. He died only minutes later, reciting Psalm 144, “I will praise the Lord in the land of the living.” It is unclear as to who had ordered the assassination but historians agree it was due to his preaching and enforcing of the tenets of the faith. As such, the Church considers Saint Frederick a holy Martyr, having given his life to the faith and suffered death as a consequence.
St Frederick composed a prayer to the Blessed Trinity which for many ages was used in the Netherlands. The reputation of his sanctity appears from a poem of Rabanus Maurus, his contemporary, in praise of his virtues.
Our Lady of Good Deliverance: Since the 1000s, the Church of Saint-Etienne-des-Grès in the old Latin Quarter of Paris had a chapel to Our Lady of Good Deliverance, where, across the centuries, pilgrims sought the Virgin’s help with all kinds of sufferings. During the Wars of Religion and counter-Reformation, her confraternity had 12,000 members, including the King and Queen of France. In 1587, young St Francis de Sales, feeling himself damned, recovered confidence and joy after saying the prayer that had been pasted to a tablet before her statue, the Memorare.
In 1790, the revolutionary government closed the Church of Saint-Etienne-des-Grès. In 1791, when the church’s furnishings were advertised for sale, a devoted countess, Madame de Carignan Saint Maurice, bought the statue of the Black Virgin and moved it to her lodgings in Paris. The following year, St-Etienne’s was destroyed. In 1793, the countess was sent to prison, where she met the Sisters of St Thomas of Villanova. They all got out the next year but when the government threatened to disband the Sisters, Mme de Carignan vowed to give them the statue if they were spared. In 1806, she fulfilled the vow. The image was installed in the Sisters’ chapel in Paris, moving with them in 1908 to their present motherhouse in the suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.
On a pedestal above the altar, the life-size polychrome limestone statue dates from the 1300s: a classic Gothic standing mother and child, but both coal-black. The Black Virgin wears a white veil and dark blue mantle ornamented with fleurs-de-lys over a red robe. Every day, the Sisters gather in the chapel to pray on behalf of families, the sick, religious vocations, those who have entrusted themselves to the Virgin and peace in the world.
The feast of Our Lady of Good Deliverance, is set for 18 July, the date when the Vatican officially approved the congregation of Soeurs de Saint Thomas de Villenueve in 1873. The 1 May procession formerly held by her confraternity has been revived in recent years by the Chapter of Our Lady of Good Deliverance, Neuilly’s branch of Notre-Dame de Chrétienté.
St Aemilian of Dorostorium
St Alanus of Sassovivo
St Alfons Tracki
Bl Arnold of Amiens
St Arnoul the Martyr
St Arnulf of Metz
St Athanasius of Clysma
Bl Bernard de Arenis
Bl Bertha de Marbais
St Bruno of Segni O.S.B. (1049-1123)
St Ðaminh Ðinh Ðat
St Edburgh of Bicester
St Elio of Koper
St Frederick of Utrecht (c 815 – c 838)
St Goneri of Treguier
St Gundenis of Carthage
Bl Herveus
Bl Jean-Baptiste de Bruxelles
St Marina of Ourense
St Maternus of Milan
St Minnborinus
St Pambo of the Nitrian Desert
St Philastrius of Brescia
St Rufillus of Forlimpopoli
St Scariberga of Yvelines
St Szymon of Lipnicza
St Theneva
St Theodosia of Constantinople
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Martyrs of Silistria – 7 saints: Seven Christians who were martyred together. No details about them have survived but the names – Bassus, Donata, Justus, Marinus, Maximus, Paulus and Secunda. They were martyred in Silistria (Durostorum), Moesia (in modern Bulgaria), date unknown.
Martyrs of Tivoli – 8 saints: A widow, Symphorosa and her seven sons ( Crescens, Eugene, Julian, Justin, Nemesius, Primitivus and Stracteus) martyred in Tivoli, Italy in the 2nd-century persecutions of Hadrian.
Saint of the Day – 17 July – Blessed Pavol Peter Gojdic “The Man with a Heart of Gold”(pronunciation Goydich) O.S.B.M. (1888-1960) Martyr, Monk, Teacher, Basilian Bishop, Apostle of Charity, Eucharistic and Marian devotee. Born on 17 July 1888 at Ruské Peklany, PreSov, Slovak Republic as Peter Gojdic and died on 17 July 1960 in the prison hospital at Leopoldov, Hlohovec, Slovak Republic of illness and maltreatment received in prison. (O.S.B.M. The Order of Saint Basil the Great (Latin: Ordo Sancti Basilii Magni) also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat is a monastic religious order of the Greek Catholic Churches that is present in many countries and that has its Mother House in Rome (Santi Sergio e Bacco degli Ucraini). The order received approbation on 20 August 1631 and was based at the Holy Trinity monastery in Vilnius. Its monks, brothers and priests work primarily with Ukrainian Catholics and are also present in other Greek-Catholic churches in central and eastern Europe.
Pavol Gojdič was born on 17 July 1888 at Ruské Pekľany near Prešov, into the family of the Greek-Catholic priest Štefan Gojdič; his mother’s name was Anna Gerberyová. He received the name of Peter in baptism. Obeying God’s call to the priesthood he began his study of theology at Prešov, immediately after school. Since he obtained excellent results, he was sent a year later to continue his studies in Budapest. Here too he tried to lead a profoundly spiritual life. While still a seminarian, he was directed by his spiritual director on these lines: “Life is not difficult, but it is a serious matter”– words that were to guide him throughout his life. Having finished his studies on 27 August 1911 he was ordained priest at Prešov by Bishop Dr Ján Valyi. After his ordination he worked for a short period as assistant parish priest with his father. After a year he was appointed prefect of the eparchial seminary and at the same time taught religion in a higher secondary school. Later he was put in charge of protocol and the archives in the diocesan curia. He was also entrusted with the spiritual care of the faithful in Sabinov as assistant parish priest. In 1919 he became director of the episcopal office.
To everyone’s surprise on 20 July 1922 he joined the Order of St Basil the Great at Černecia Hora near Mukačevo, where, taking the habit on 27 January 1923 he took the name Pavol. He took this decision as a sign of modesty, humility and a desire to lead an ascetic life in order to better serve God. But God willed otherwise and had ordered him to a higher office as bishop. On 14 September 1926 he was nominated Apostolic administrator of the eparchy of Prešov. During his installation as Apostolic Administrator he announced the programme of his apostolate: “With the help of God I want to be a father to orphans, a support for the poor and consoler to the afflicted”.
The first official act of Pavol Gojdič in his office as newly appointed administrator of the eparchy of Prešov was to address a pastoral letter on the occasion of the 1100st anniversary of the birth of St Cyril, apostle of the Slavs. Thus he began his activity in the spirit of the apostle of the Slavs, always faithful to Rome, as they were. He was a Slav and was very fond of his oriental rite.
A short time later, on 7 March 1927 he was nominated bishop with the title of Harpaš (Church of Harpaš – in Asia Minor). The episcopal consecration took place in the basilica of San Clemente, Rome, on 25 March 1927, the feast of the Annunciation of Our Lady. After his episcopal ordination he visited the basilica of St Peter in Rome, where he prayed on the tomb of the Apostle. On 29 March 1927, together with Bishop Nyaradi, he was received in a private audience by the Holy Father Pius XI. The pope gave Bishop Pavol a gold cross saying: “This cross is only a faint symbol of the heavy crosses that God will send you, my son, in your work as bishop”.
For his episcopal programme he chose as a motto the following words: “God is love, let us love Him!”As bishop he was engaged in the promotion of spiritual life of both clergy and faithful. He insisted on the proper celebration of the liturgy and of church feasts. He erected new parishes, for instance, in Prague, Bratislava, Levoča and elsewhere. Thanks to his hard work the orphanage at Prešov was built and entrusted to the local sisters. His activity in the scholastic field was outstanding, as is proved by the foundation of the Greek-Catholic school in Prešov in the year 1936. He supported also the teaching academy, the seminary, colleges etc. He was interested in every aspect of spiritual reading, which resulted in the launching of the review Blahovistnik (Messenger of the Gospel), Da prijdet carstvije Tvoje (Thy Kingdom Come) and various prayers etc., published by the PETRA publishing house. For his kindness, caring and charitable relationship with the people he was described as “the man with a heart of gold”.
An important characteristic of the bishop was also his strong affection for the Eucharistic Saviour, which he continually strengthened through his visits to the Blessed Eucharist in the chapel at his residence. Another characteristic, not less evident, of his spiritual life, was his devotion to the Sacred Heart. Already as a Seminarian in Budapest he had consecrated himself to the Sacred Heart and this he confirmed every morning with the words “All the prayers, sacrifices and crosses, I offer, in reparation for the sins of the whole world!”. One must not forget that the bishop had great devotion to the Mother of God and as as a Marian devotee held in his residential chapel a picture of the Virgin of Klokočov, in front of which he prayed every day and to whose protection he entrusted himself and the whole eparchy.
On 13 April 1939 he was appointed apostolic administrator in Slovakia of the Apostolic Administration of Mukačevo. In the difficult situation of the Slovak State he became a “thorn in the flesh” for the representatives of the government of the time and so offered his resignation from the post – in fact the Holy Father refused his resignation but also made him residential bishop of Prešov. And so on 8 August 1940 he was solemnly enthroned at Prešov and then on 15 January 1946 confirmed in his jurisdiction over the Greek-Catholics in the whole of Czecho-Slovakia.
The progress in religious and spiritual life in the eparchy that followed the personal example and fervour of Bishop Pavol was interrupted by the events of war and especially with the coming to power of the communists in 1948. Their ideological programme made itself felt above all against the Greek-Catholic Church. Bishop Gojdič resisted any initiative to submit the Greek-Catholics to Russian orthodoxy assisted by the communist party and the power of the State, even though he knew he was risking persecution and arrest, maybe even death. Gradually he was isolated from the clergy and the faithful.
Even though put under severe pressure to renounce the Catholic faith and break unity with the Pope, he refused every attractive offer and exclaimed: “I am already 62 and sacrifice all my goods and residence but I will not deny my faith in any way because I want to save my soul. Do not even speak to me.”
During the sad event of Sobor of Prešov, 28 April 1950, when the State outlawed the Greek-Catholic Church and forbade her activity, Bishop Pavol Gojdič was arrested and interned. Thus began his via crucis in many prisons of what was Czecho-Slovakia, which ended with his death. In the days from the 11 to the 15 of January 1951 in a trial set up against the so called high treason Bishops (Vojtaššák, Buzalka, and Gojdič) he was given a life sentence; fined two hundred thousand crowns and deprived of all his civic rights. Transfers from one prison to another followed. Blessed Pavol suffered physical and psychological punishments, humiliations; he was forced to do the most difficult and degrading jobs. However, he never complained and never asked to be relieved. He made use of every available time to pray and celebrated the sacred liturgy in secret. Following the amnesty in 1953, given by State President A. Zapotocký, his life sentence was changed to 25 years detention. He was then 66 and his state of health deteriorated continuously. Yet all further requests for amnesty were refused.
Bishop Pavol Gojdič could only leave prison at the cost of his faithfulness to the Church and to the Holy Father. Various offers were made to him, as is proved by an event that he himself recounts: In the prison of Ruzyň he was received in an office, where he had been brought from his cell, by a high official in uniform. They informed him that from that office he could go straight to Prešov, on condition that he was willing to become patriarch of the Ortodox church in Czecho-Slovakia. The bishop refused this offer excusing himself and explaining that this would be a very grave sin against God, a betrayal of the Holy Father, of his conscience and of his faithful, most of whom were then suffering persecution.
Even in the most difficult situation he abandoned himself to the will of God, as can be seen from these words of his: “I do not really know whether it is a gain to exchange the crown of martyrdom with two or three years of life in freedom. But I leave the good Lord to decide”.On the occasion of his 70° birthday even the Holy Father Pius XII sent him a telegram in prison. In it he assured him he would not forget his heroic son. For the bishop this was one of his best days of his life.
A great desire of Blessed Pavol was to die comforted by the sacraments on his birthday. Both desires were fulfilled.
Father Alojz Vrána was transferred to the room of the prison hospital of Leopoldov (Slovakia), where the Bishop passed his last days and could hear his confession. The chalice of suffering of Blessed Pavol was about to overflow. An eye-witness of the last moments of his life was his fellow prisoner – the nurse František Ondruška, who has given a unique testimony. He confirmed that the desire of the bishop had been fulfilled – he died on 17 July 1960 that is on the day of his 72nd birthday. He died in the hospital of the prison of Leopoldov as a result of illness resulting from the ill treatment he had suffered. He was buried without ceremony in the prison cemetery in a nameless tomb, with the prison number 681.
As a result of the easing of the political situation in Czecho-Slovakia in 1968, the state autorities after many delays gave permission for exhuming the mortal remains of Blessed Pavol. This happened in the cemetery of Leopoldov on 29 October 1968 and was followed by the transfer of the remains to Prešov. By a decision of the authorities set up after the soviet occupation, these were transferred to the crypt of Greek-Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist in Prešov. From 15 May 1990 they are to be found in a sarcofagus in the chapel of the cathedral.
Cathedral of St John the Baptist
Bishop Pavol Gojdič was legally rehabilitated on 27 September 1990. Subsequently he was decorated posthumously with the Order of T G Masaryk – II class, and with the Cross of Pribina – 1st class.
The Holy Father, St John Paul II during his historic visit in Slovakia, while visiting Prešov, prayed at the tomb of this bishop-martyr in the chapel of the cathedral. He Beatified him on 4 November 2001.
St Alexius of Rome
St Andrew Zorard
Bl Arnold of Himmerod
Bl Bénigne
Bl Biagio of the Incarnation
St Clement of Ohrid
St Cynllo
St Ennodius of Pavia
St Fredegand of Kerkelodor
St Generosus
St Gorazd
St Hedwig, Queen of Poland
St Hyacinth of Amastris
St Kenelm
St Pope Leo IV
St Marcellina
St Nerses Lambronazi
Bl Pavol Gojdic (1888-1960) Martyr
St Petrus Liu Zeyu
Bl Sebastian of the Holy Spirit
Bl Tarsykia Matskiv
St Theodosius of Auxerre
St Theodota of Constantinople
St Turninus
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Martyrs of Compiegne (16 beati): Sixteen Blessed Teresian Martyrs of Compiègne.
Eleven Discalced Carmelite nuns, three lay sisters and two lay women servants who were martyred together in the French Revolution. They were the earliest martyrs of the French Revolution that have been recognized.
• Angelique Roussel • Anne Pelras • Anne-Marie-Madeleine Thouret • Catherine Soiron • élisabeth-Julitte Vérolot • Marie Dufour • Marie Hanniset • Marie-Anne Piedcourt • Marie-Anne-Françoise Brideau • Marie-Claude-Cyprienne Brard • Marie-Françoise de Croissy • Marie-Gabrielle Trezel • Marie-Geneviève Meunier • Marie-Madeleine-Claudine Lidoine • Rose-Chretien de Neuville • Thérèse Soiron •
They were guillotined on 17 July 1794 at the Place du Trône Renversé (modern Place de la Nation) in Paris, France.
Martyrs of Scillium (12 saints): A group of twelve Christians martyred together, the final deaths in the persecutions of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Upon their conviction for the crime of being Christians, the group was offered 30 days to reconsider their allegiance to the faith; they all declined. Their official Acta still exist. Their names –
• Acyllinus • Cythinus • Donata • Felix • Generosa • Januaria • Laetantius • Narzales • Secunda • Speratus • Vestina • Veturius
They were beheaded on 17 July 180 in Scillium, Numidia (in North Africa).
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