Thought for the Day – 26 May – The Memorial of St Philip Neri (1515-1595)
Philip Neri was a sign of contradiction, combining popularity with piety against the background of a corrupt Rome and a disinterested clergy: the whole post-Renaissance malaise.
At an early age, Philip abandoned the chance to become a businessman, moved to Rome from Florence and devoted his life and individuality to God. After three years of philosophy and theology studies, he gave up any thought of ordination. The next 13 years were spent in a vocation unusual at the time—that of a layperson actively engaged in prayer and the apostolate.
As the Council of Trent (1545-63) was reforming the Church on a doctrinal level, Philip’s appealing personality was winning him friends, from all levels of society, from beggars to cardinals. He rapidly gathered around himself a group of laypersons won over by his audacious spirituality. Initially, they met as an informal prayer and discussion group, and also served poor people in Rome.
At the urging of his confessor, Philip was ordained a priest and soon became an outstanding confessor himself, gifted with the knack of piercing the pretenses and illusions of others, though always in a charitable manner and often with a joke. He arranged talks, discussions and prayers for his penitents, in a room above the church. He sometimes led “excursions” to other churches, often with music and a picnic on the way.
Some of Philip’s followers became priests and lived together in community. This was the beginning of the Oratory, the religious institute he founded. A feature of their life was a daily afternoon service of four informal talks, with vernacular hymns and prayers. Giovanni Palestrina was one of Philip’s followers and composed music for the services. The Oratory was finally approved after suffering through a period of accusations of being an assembly of heretics, where laypersons preached and sang vernacular hymns!
Philip’s advice was sought by many of the prominent figures of his day. He is one of the influential figures of the Counter-Reformation, mainly for converting to personal holiness many of the influential people within the Church itself. His characteristic virtues were humility and gaiety.
After spending a day hearing confessions and receiving visitors, Philip Neri suffered a hemorrhage and died on the feast of Corpus Christi in 1595. He was Beatified in 1615 and Canonised in 1622. Three centuries later, Cardinal John Henry Newman founded the first English-speaking house of the Oratory in London.
Many people wrongly feel that such an attractive and jocular personality as Philip’s cannot be combined with an intense spirituality. Philip’s life melts our rigid, narrow views of piety. His approach to sanctity was truly catholic, all-embracing and accompanied by a good laugh. Philip always wanted his followers to become not less but more human through their striving for holiness.
Our Morning Offering – 26 May “Mary’s Month!” – The Memorial of St Philip Neri (1515-1595)
Mary, I Love You By St Philip Neri (1515-1595)
Mary, I love you.
Mary, make me live in God,
with God and for God.
Draw me after you, holy mother.
O Mary, may your children persevere in loving you.
Mary, Mother of God and mother of mercy,
pray for me and for the departed.
Mary, holy Mother of God, be our helper.
In every difficulty and distress,
come to our aid, O Mary.
O Queen of Heaven,
lead us to eternal life with God.
Mother of God, remember me,
and help me always to remember you.
O Mary, conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to you.
Pray for us,
O holy Mother of God,
that we may be made worthy
of the promises of Christ.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray to Jesus for me.
Amen
Saint of the Day – 26 May – St Philip Neri Cong. Orat. (1515-1595) Priest and Founder, Mystic, Missionary of Charity known as “The Third Apostle of Rome”, after Saints Peter and Paul, was an Italian priest noted for founding a society of secular clergy called the Congregation of the Oratory. Patronages – Rome, Gravina, Italy, archdiocese of Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy Mandaluyong, US Special Forces, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, Piczon Vill, Catbalogan, laughter, humour. St Philip Neri was extraordinarily touched by the divine presence and radiated such joy that he was moved to share it with all he met.
St Philip made a life for himself in Rome, becoming a priest at the age of 35 and becoming known as one who had a particular apostolate for giving young men spiritual direction using unconventional ways to challenge the vain young men of the Eternal City. Once a man came to St Philip Neri and asked him if he thought wearing a hair shirt was a good penance. St Philip replied that it would be a good penance if he wore the hair shirt outside his nice clothes.
St Philip had a long history of playing jokes on a distinguished friend of his, Cesare Baronius, who would become a cardinal. St Philip would send Baronius shopping for wine, with the strict instruction that he was to taste every wine in the shop until he found the right one. After taking such great trouble sampling many types of wine, St Philip would tell Baronius casually that he only required half a bottle of wine.
He was greatly unsettled when many Italians started leaving the Church because of a bogus and damaging history of the Church was doing the rounds. He commissioned Baronius to write a factual history of the Catholic Church and when Baronius would give him drafts to read, St Philip would flippantly throw them over his shoulder. St Philip didn’t allow anyone in his circle to take themselves too seriously. It took Baronius 30 years to write a true history of the Church, which was entitled, Ecclesiastical Annals.
The saint’s best-known achievement is that he founded the Roman Congregation of the Oratory. Key to his success was that he used humour as his medicine. He may have made others laugh, from going around Rome with half his beard shaved off, doing humorous dances or setting penances for young men that involved them making fools of themselves in public. But he needed jokes more badly than those around him. He was said to have had an all consuming love of God and in order to concentrate before offering Mass, St Philip would need to hear jokes or read humorous anecdotes which distracted him just a little from total absorption in the glory of God, so that he was able to concentrate on the task at hand, which was to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
He had a phenomenal capacity for love – his heart would hammer so strongly against his chest that it shook furniture. His facility to love so greatly was received on the eve of Pentecost, 1544, when St Philip saw a vision of a ball of fire enter through his mouth and go to his heart. Straightaway he was filled with an intense divine love and fell to the floor, crying out, “Enough, enough, Lord, I can bear no more!”
St Philip Neri is the patron saint of joy and with this in mind, he could become a powerful intercessor for people who have periods of feeling down. We pray a lot to St Valentine and St Raphael – so that these saints may find us romantic partners who will love us. But we might do well to pray to St Philip Neri that he inspires us with the ability to cherish others and to be filled with the joy of love… Perhaps most acutely for our selfie age, he could become an intercessor for people who agonise over how they look, who spend all their free time finding flattering selfies to post on Facebook and fear that that narcissism is beginning to rule their lives.
More on St Philip’s life: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/05/26/saint-of-the-day-26-may-s-philip-neri-cong-orat/
The work of the Oratory continues in Rome and across the world today. The Oratorians take no formal vows but promise to live in charity with one another. Some 500 priests serve more than 70 oratories around the world today. Cardinal Blessed John Henry Newman and St Francis de Sales were both members of this order.
Philip was always in touch with the supernatural—people said that they noticed his face radiating light and he often fell into deep, ecstatic trances while celebrating Mass. In fact, his normal congregations got used to beginning Mass with him, then leaving after the “Lamb of God” to let him experience his rapture and return two hours later to finish the liturgy and receive Communion.
Philip died of a massive heart attack on this date in 1595, which was the feast of Corpus Christi. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica and the Shrine contains the sketch below, which depicts him conversing with someone on the streets in Rome.
St Philip Neri, your body and soul were touched with divine love and you shared it with with all others, pray for us!
Our Lady of Caravaggio/Nostra Signora di Caravaggio: Title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared in an apparition on 26 May 1432 in the countryside outside Caravaggio, Lombardy, Italy. Giannetta de’ Vacchi: Varoli was cutting hay in a field when the Virgin appeared. Mary requested penance from and a chapel built by the locals. A new spring of healing water appeared in the hay field. The apparition anniversary became a day of pilgrimage to the shrine of Santa Maria del Fonte built at the site and devotion to the Madonna of Caravaggio spread through the region and eventually around the world. In 1879, Italians from Lombardy built a chapel for their settlement in southern Brazil. As it was the only sacred art that any of them possessed, they dedicated the chapel to the Madonna di Caravaggio. Today the shrine hosts over a million pilgrims annually. Patronage – diocese of Cremona, Italy.
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St Alphaeus
St Anderea Kaggwa
Bl Andrea Franchi
St Becan of Cork
Bl Berengar of Saint-Papoul
St Damian the Missionary
St Desiderius of Vienne
St Pope Eleuterus
St Felicissimus of Todi
St Fugatius the Missionary
St Gioan Ðoàn Trinh Hoan
St Guinizo of Monte Cassino
St Heraclius of Todi
Bl Lambert Péloguin of Vence
St Mariana de Paredes y Flores of Quito
St Odulvald of Melrose
St Paulinus of Todi
St Peter Sanz
St Ponsiano Ngondwe
St Priscus of Auxerre and Companions
St Quadratus of Africa
St Quadratus the Apologist
St Regintrudis of Nonnberg
St Simitrius of Rome and Companions
St Zachary of Vienne
Saint of the Day – 25 May – St Pope Gregory VII (1015-1085) Monk, Priest, Reformer, Administrator, Adviser, born Hildebrand of Sovana (Italian: Ildebrando da Soana), was Pope from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. Patronage – Diocese of Sovana. St Pope Gregory was born in c 1015 in Soana (modern Sovana), Italy and died on 25 May 1085 at Salerno, Italy of natural causes. Pope Gregory “was probably the most energetic and determined man ever to occupy the See of Peter and was driven by an almost mystically exalted vision of the awesome responsibility and dignity of the papal office” (Eamonn Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes.
A disciple of Pope Gregory VI
Born at Sovana, a small town in southern Tuscany, the son of a blacksmith and christened Hildebrand, he was educated in Rome by the archpriest John Gratian, who in 1045 became Pope Gregory VI. However, because of a financial deal involved in getting rid of his corrupt predecessor, Gregory was deposed in 1046 by the reforming German king and Holy Roman Emperor Henry III and went into retirement in the Benedictine monastery of Cluny, France. Hildebrand went with his master into exile at Cluny and spent three years there as a monk.
Ambassador of four popes
However, he returned to Rome in 1049 to serve the newly elected Pope St Leo IX as papal treasurer. Hildebrand became a deacon and then prior of the monastery of St Paul’s Outside the Walls and was an assistant to a major influence on the next four popes, all of whom were reformers. He was also successful in various ambassadorial roles. On the death of Pope Alexander II (1061-73, he was elected pope by popular acclaim by the clergy and people of Rome. He still had to be ordained priest and bishop before he could act as pope.
Conflict with King Henry IV of Germany Taking his name from his mentor Gregory VI, Gregory VII immediately set about cleaning up the abuses of simony, clerical concubinage and lay investiture. He demanded that bishops take an oath of obedience to him and threatened those who wouldn’t carry out papal decrees. Over lay investiture he faced opposition from King Philip I of France, William the Conqueror of England and the young King Henry IV of Germany. Henry, whose father had appointed bishops and popes at will, resented the brusqueness of this new pontiff and gathered “his” bishops at Worms and insisted Gregory be deposed. But Gregory then excommunicated Henry and all the bishops collaborating with him and absolved his subjects from allegiance. Ecclesiastical support for Henry cracked and in 1077 he had to travel to the house of Matilda of Canossa in Italy where Gregory was staying and there he begged the Pope’s pardon and absolution. Gregory left Henry standing in humiliation for three days in the snow before eventually granting him pardon.
Pyrrhic victory and death
But Gregory’s victory was short lived. Henry rallied his forces and in 1080 invaded Italy, captured Rome, declared Gregory deposed. He installed an antipope Guibert of Ravenna as Clement III. Gregory took refuge in Castel Sant’Angelo, invited in the Normans under Robert Guiscard to rescue him. However, the Normans behaved so badly in Rome that the Romans turned on Gregory and forced him to retire first to Monte Cassino and then to Salerno south of Naples where he died. His last words were famously an adaptation of Psalm 44 (45) verse 7: “I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore I die in exile”.
Papal claims
Gregory’s pontificate represents a strong staking out of the papal claim of power over the secular world and though he achieved little, the spirit of papal reform continued and the papacy never receded from its claims to freedom from secular and political control in spiritual matters. From this time on also the pope began to be presented not just as the vicar of St Peter, but as “the vicar of Christ himself” (Innocent III 1198-1216).
His influence
Gregory’s beatification (1585) and canonisation (1605) took place at a time when the papacy was in conflict with secular powers – Queen Elizabeth I and James I in England. His feast was extended to the universal Church in 1728, causing some fury among proponents of Gallicanism in France.
He was later seen as a precursor of Vatican I with its definition of the doctrine of papal infallibility . One could perhaps be forgiven for detecting a hint of spin or ideology in his promotion but the tyrannies of the 20th century bear out the value of his insistence on the freedom of the Church in speaking out on spiritual matters.
St Pope Gregory VII (1015-1085) (Optional Memorial)
St Mary Magdalen of Pazzi (1566-1607) (Optional Memorial)
St Agustin Caloca
St Aldhelm of Sherborne
Bl Antonio Caixal
Bl Bartolomeo Magi di Amghiari
St Canio
St Cristobal Magallanes Jara
St Denis Ssebuggwawo
St Dionysius of Milan
St Dunchadh of Iona
St Egilhard of Cornelimünster
Bl Gerardo Mecatti
St Gerbald
St Injuriosus of Auvergne
St Iosephus Chang Song-Jib
Bl James Bertoni
Bl Juan of Granada
St Leo of Troyes
St Madeline Sophie Barat
St Matthêô Nguyen Van Ðac Phuong
St Maximus of Evreux
Bl Nicholas Tsehelsky
St Pasicrates of Dorostorum
Bl Pedro Malasanch
St Pherô Ðoàn Van Vân
St Scholastica of Auvergne
St Senzio of Bieda
St Urban I, Pope
St Valentio of Dorostorum
St Victorinus of Acquiney
St Winebald of Saint Bertin
St Worad of Saint Bertin
St Zenobius of Florence
Marian Thought for the Day – 24 May “Mary’s Month” – Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians
Mary is the “Consolatrix Afflictorum,” the Consoler of the Afflicted
Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
St PAUL says that his Lord comforted him in all his tribulations, that he also might be able to comfort them who are in distress, by the encouragement which he received from God. This is the secret of true consolation: those are able to comfort others who, in their own case, have been much tried and have felt the need of consolation and have received it. So of our Lord Himself it is said: “In that He Himself hath suffered and been tempted, He is able to succour those also that are tempted.”
And this, too, is why the Blessed Virgin is the comforter of the afflicted. We all know how special a mother’s consolation is and we are allowed to call Mary our Mother from the time that our Lord from the Cross established the relation of mother and son between her and St John. And she especially can console us because she suffered more than mothers in general. Women, at least delicate women, are commonly shielded from rude experience of the highways of the world but she, after our Lord’s Ascension, was sent out into foreign lands almost as the Apostles were, a sheep among wolves. In spite of all St John’s care of her, which was as great as was St Joseph’s in her younger days, she, more than all the saints of God, was a stranger and a pilgrim upon earth, in proportion to her greater love of Him who had been on earth, and had gone away. As, when our Lord was an Infant, she had to flee across the desert to the heathen Egypt, so, when He had ascended on high, she had to go on shipboard to the heathen Ephesus, where she lived and died.
O ye who are in the midst of rude neighbours or scoffing companions, or of wicked acquaintance, or of spiteful enemies and are helpless, invoke the aid of Mary by the memory of her own sufferings among the heathen Greeks and the heathen Egyptians.
Mary “Consolatrix Afflictorum,”Consoler of the Afflicted – Help of Christians
Quote of the Day – 24 May “Mary’s Month” – Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians
“This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace, continues uninterruptedly, from the consent, which she loyally gave, at the Annunciation and which she sustained, without wavering beneath the Cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect.
Taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession, continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth, surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home.
Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix. This, however, is so understood, that it neither takes away anything from, nor adds anything to, the dignity and efficacy of Christ the one Mediator.”
Lumen Gentium, 62
Blessed Pope Paul VI (1897-1978)
One Minute Marian Reflection – 24 May “Mary’s Month” – Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians
He said to the disciple, “there is your mother.”...John 19:27
REFLECTION – “MARY: HELP OF CHRISTIANS – “Yes, we are still pilgrims but our Mother has gone on ahead, where she points to the reward for our efforts. She tells us that we can make it. If we are faithful, we will reach home. Not only is the Blessed Virgin our model but she is also the Help of Christians. And as we besiege her with our petitions — ‘Show that you are our Mother’ – she cannot help but watch over her children with motherly care.” … St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975) “Cause of our Joy,” Christ is Passing By, 177. Let us offer to our Mother today: In addition to the mysteries of the day, one more part (five decades) of the Holy Rosary.
PRAYER – Have pity on us Mother and heal the wounds of our souls, remove the sorrow and worries of our souls. Console us in our day of suffering and enlighten us by your wisdom. Show us your mercy, Mother and pray for us, turn our sadness into true joy. Fill our hearts with your sweetness and make us forget the miseries of this life. Be gracious to your children and do not allow them to be overcome in their temptations. For Hail Mary, full of grace, our Mother and Mother of our Lord, He is with thee! Amen
Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians – 24 May – Also known as Auxilium Christianorum.
The tradition of this advocation goes back to 1571, when the whole of Christendom was saved by Our Lady, Help of Christians when Catholics throughout Europe prayed the Rosary. The great battle of Lepanto occurred on 7 October 1571. For this reason, this date has been chosen as the feast of the Holy Rosary. In 1573 Pope Pius V instituted the feast in thanksgiving for the decisive victory of Christianity over Islamism.
Near the end of the 17th century, Emperor Leopold I of Austria took refuge in the Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians at Pasau, when 200,000 Ottoman Turks besieged the capital city of Vienna but a great victory occurred thanks to Our Lady, Help of Christians, on 8 September, Feast of Our Lady’s Birthday, plans were drawn for the battle. On 12 September, Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, Vienna was finally freed through the intercession of Mary, Help of Christians. All Europe had joined with the Emperor crying out “Mary, Help!” and praying the Holy rosary.
In 1809, Napoleon’s men entered the Vatican, arrested Pius VII and brought him in chains to Grenoble and eventually Fontainbleau. His imprisonment lasted five years. The Holy Father vowed to God that , if he were restored to the Roman See, he would institute a special feast in honour of Mary. Military reverses forced Napoleon to release the Pope and on May 24th 1814, Pius VII returned in triumph to Rome. Twelve months later, the Pope decreed that the feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, be kept on 24 May.
St John Bosco (1815 – 1888) was a dynamic priest who founded the Salesian Order in the XIX century in Italy. His many prophetic dreams, beginning at age nine, guided his ministry and gave insights on future events.
On 14 May 1862, Don Bosco dreamed about the battles the Church would face in the latter days. In his dream, the Pope of those days anchors the ‘ship’ of the Church between two pillars, one with a statue of Our Lady ( the Auxilium Christianorum or ‘Help of Christians’) and the other with a large Eucharistic Host.
St John Bosco wrote about his congregation, the Salesians: “The principal objective is to promote veneration of the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to Mary, Help of Christians. This title seems to please the august Queen of Heaven very much.”
The Salesian Sisters of St John Bosco or Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians, are the sister order of the Salesians of Don Bosco.
St John Bosco, himself, on 9 June1868, dedicated to Our Lady Help of Christians, the mother church of his congregation at Turin (Italy). The Salesian Fathers and their Sisters have carried the devotion to their numerous establishments all over the world.
More info here: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/05/24/saint-of-the-day-24-may-the-feast-of-mary-help-of-christians/
Our Lady, Help of Christians/Auxilium Christianorum
Our Lady of China: Our Lady of China is a title for the Virgin Mary in China who is believed to have appear at the small village of Donglu in 1900. In Chinese she is called Zhōnghuá Shèngmǔ. She is also known as Our Lady of Donglu.
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St Afra of Brescia
Bl Benedict of Cassino
St David of Scotland
Bl Diego Alonso
St Donatian of Nantes
St Gennadius of Astroga
St Hubert of Bretigny
Bl Isidore Ngei Ko Lat
St Joanna the Myrrhbearer
Bl John del Prado
Bl John of Montfort
Bl Juan of Huete
Bl Louis-Zéphirin Moreau
St Manahen
St Marciana of Galatia
Bl Mario Vergara
St Meletius the Soldier
Bl Nicetas of Pereslav
St Palladia
St Patrick of Bayeux
Bl Philip of Piacenza
St Rogatian of Nantes
St Sérvulo of Trieste
St Simeon Stylites the Younger
St Susanna
Bl Thomas Vasière
St Vincent of Lérins
St Vincent of Porto Romano
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Martyrs of Istria: A group of early martyrs in the Istria peninsula. We know little more than some names – Diocles, Felix, Servilius, Silvanus and Zoëllus.
Martyrs of Plovdiv: 38 Christians martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian and Maximian. We don’t even known their names. They were beheaded in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Martyrs of the Small West Gate: Additional Memorial – 20 September as part of the Martyrs of Korea. A group of lay catechists and catechumens who were imprisoned and executed together for the crime of being Christian.
• Saint Agatha Kim A-Gi
• Saint Agatha Yi So-Sa
• Saint Anna Pak A-Gi
• Saint Augustine Yi Kwang-Hon
• Saint Barbara Han A-Gi
• Saint Damianus Nam Myong-Hyok
• Saint Lucia Pak Hui-Sun
• Saint Magdalena Kim Ob-I
• Saint Petrus Kwon Tug-In
They were beheaded on 24 May 1839 at the Small West Gate, Seoul, South Korea and were Canonised on 6 May 1984 by Pope John Paul II.
Saint of the Day – 23 May – St John Baptist de Rossi (1698-1764) born Giovanni Battista de Rossi (22 February 1698 at Voltaggio, diocese of Genoa, Italy – 23 May 1764 at Trinita dei Pellegrini, Italy of multiple strokes) Priest, Preacher and Teacher, Apostle of Charity. Patronage – Voltaggio.
St John was born in 1698, near Genova, Italy. When he was 10, he went on a summer holiday to his relatives, a very pious couple. They noted the piety of the youth and asked permission of his parents to take him to their house in Geneva to educate him there. Capuchin priests came often to visit the house of this couple to ask for assistance for the poor. These religious recommended the youth to the Provincial Father. He made arrangements for John to study in Rome. In the Roman College he studied with great application, gaining the liking of his professors and friends. He was ordained a priest at the age of 23.
He read in some exaggerated book, that recommended doing very strong penances and he dedicated himself to mortify himself in food, drink and sleep, so intensely that a nervous depression overtook him that left him incapable of doing anything for several months. He was able to regain his strength but from then on he always had to struggle against his poor health. He learned that the best mortification is to accept the sufferings and the work of every day, doing well in each moment what one must do and to have patience with the people and the bothers of life.
From the time he was a seminarian, he felt a great predilection for the poor, the sick and the abandoned. The Supreme Pontiff had founded a shelter to receive people that did not have anywhere to spend the night and the young John Batiste went there for many years to care for the poor and the needy, to teach them catechism and to prepare them to receive the Sacraments. He took several friends with him, over whom the work had a great influence. He also agreed to go himself in the early hours of the morning to the market, when the farmers were arriving to sell their produce. There he taught the children and the adults catechism and prepared to make their confession and receive first Communion.
The first years of his priesthood he almost never dared to confess because it seemed to him that he would not be able to give the proper counsel. But one day a holy Bishop asked him to dedicate himself to hearing confessions in his Diocese for a time. There John Batiste discovered that this was the office for which God had destined him. Upon returning to Rome, he told one of his friends, “Before I was asking myself what would be the path for me to achieve heaven and to save many souls. I have discovered that the help that I can give to those that want to be saved is to confess them. The great amount of good that can be done by confession is incredible.”
He went to help a priest in a church that very few people attended. But from the time that Rossi began to confess there, the Church was frequented by hundreds and hundreds of penitents that came to be absolved of their sins. Each penitent brought other people with them to be confessed by him and the conversions that were happening were admirable.
The Supreme Pontiff entrusted to him the office of going to confess and preach to the prisoners in jail and the employees that worked at the prisons. And there he obtained many conversions. They invited from everywhere the sick, prisoners and people that desired to be converted. He went to many places to preach missions and obtained from heaven numerous conversions. In the hospitals he was an esteemed confessor and consoler of the sick. His friends were always the poor, the helpless, the sick, street children and sinners seeking conversion. He lived for them and he totally spent his life for them. He always remained humble and ready to help as many as possible. .
On May 23, 1764, he suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 66. His poverty was such that they had to use alms to pay for his burial. 260 priests, the Archbishop, many religious and an immense crowd attended his funeral. The requiem Mass was sung by the Pontifical choir of the Basilica in Rome.
On a superficial level St John Baptist de Rossi’s life was uneventful. A simple priest, for forty years he worked in the capacity of an assistant pastor in Rome. On a spiritual level, however, he touched thousands of needy people—the sick, the homeless, prostitutes, transient cattle drivers who came to market in Rome and other rough sorts. By day he devoted himself to the sick poor in Rome’s hospitals. By night he ministered to street people at a refuge.
Caregivers can look to John Baptist as a model. Before he would speak to a dying person about salvation, he did all he could to relieve their suffering. No service for the sick, no matter how repugnant, repulsed him. And his selflessness won people’s hearts.
Once, for example, a young man dying of syphilis rebuffed de Rossi’s attention until the priest emptied his bedpan. Touched by John Baptist’s humble care, the fellow finally listened to him and made a good confession before he died. Other priests and penitents were amazed by John Baptist’s persuasiveness in the confessional. With a few gentle words he turned people’s lives. Once a young man came to him who was sexually entangled with a woman who kept coming to his house under the pretence of washing and mending his clothes. A brief conversation with John Baptist broke the youth’s addiction. As a sign of his cure, the next day he brought the priest a pile of his clothes he had taken from the woman.
John Baptist exhorted others to follow his example in caring for souls. Here is an excerpt from one of his sermons to his fellow priests:
“Ignorance is the leprosy of the soul. How many such lepers exist in the church here in Rome, where many people don’t even know what’s necessary for their salvation? It must be our business to try to cure this disease. The souls of our neighbours are in our hands and yet how many are lost through our fault? The sick die without being properly prepared because we have not given time or care enough to each particular case. Yet with a little more patience, a little more perseverance, a little more love, we could have led these poor souls to heaven.”
Many of us shrink from going to the hospitals from fear of infection or from the sights and smells that await us there. Courage! We are not in the world to follow our own will and pleasure but to imitate the Lord.
John Baptist de Rossi, himself worn out by his unselfish service, suffered a stroke in 1763 and died a year later. “The poor come to church tired and distracted by their daily troubles. If you preach a long sermon they can’t follow you. Give them one idea that they can take home, not half a dozen, or one will drive out the other and they will remember none.”
St John Baptist de Rossi was Canonised on 8 December 1881 by Pope Leo XIII.
St Basileus of Braga
St Desiderius of Langres
St Epitacius of Tuy
St Euphebius of Naples
St Euphrosyne of Polotsk
St Eutychius of Valcastoria
St Florentius of Valcastoria
St Goban Gobhnena
St Guibertus of Gorze
Bl Ivo of Chartres
St Jane Antide Thouret
St John Baptist de Rossi (1698-1764)
Bl Józef Kurzawa
Bl Leontius of Rostov
St Michael of Synnada
St Onorato of Subiaco
St Spes of Campi
St Syagrius of Nice
St William of Rochester
Bl Wincenty Matuszewski
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Martyrs of Béziers: 20 Mercedarian friars murdered by Huguenots for being Catholic. Martyrs. 1562 at the Mercedarian convent at Béziers, France.
Martyrs of Cappadocia: A group of Christians tortured and martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian and Galerius. Their names and the details of their lives have not come down to us. They were crushed to death in c.303 in Cappadocia (in modern Turkey).
Martyrs of Carthage: When a civil revolt erupted in Carthage in 259 during a period of persecution by Valerian, the procurator Solon blamed it on the Christians, and began a persecution of them. We know the names and a few details about 8 of these martyrs – Donatian, Flavian, Julian, Lucius, Montanus, Primolus, Rhenus and Victorius. They were beheaded in 259 at Carthage (modern Tunis, Tunisia).
Martyrs of Mesopotamia: A group of Christians martyred in Mesopotamia in persecutions by imperial Roman authorities. Their names and the details of their lives have not come down to us. They were suffocated over a slow fire in Mesopotamia.
Martyrs of North Africa: A group of 19 Christians martyred together in the persecutions of the Arian Vandal King Hunneric for refusing to deny the Trinity. We know little more than a few of their names – Dionysius, Julian, Lucius, Paul and Quintian. c 430.
Saint of the Day – 22 May – Bl John Forest O.F.M. (1471-1538) Martyr – Franciscan Priest and Friar and Martyr – Born in 1471 at Oxford, England – died by being hanged and burned on 22 May 1538 at Smithfield, England. Additional Memorial – 1 December as one of the Martyrs of Oxford University.
Already by the 15th century, England was upset about church and country relations. Many of the people were very proud to be English; in fact too proud. They did not want to listen to their Bishops and Priests and they did not want to obey the Pope in Rome. They felt that they knew what was best concerning the laws of the church and the laws of the country but they were wrong, very, very wrong.
During this period of time, in 1471, a very great man was born; his name was John Forest. He was born at Oxford, England of noble, well-to-do parents. In spite of their wealth, John did not become a worldly person and during his boyhood, he got a very good religious education. When he was 21 years old, he entered the Strict Franciscan Order at the Greenwich Monastery. He proved to be a very brilliant student when he was sent to study at Oxford and there he received his doctorate in Theology, when he was about 26 years old.
In time, John Forest became a Franciscan priest. As the years passed, Fr Forest became known as a very holy and learned man. And in 1520, when he was about 49 years old, the Franciscan brothers elected him as the Provincial Superior. Then five years later, Cardinal Wolsey appointed him to be a regular preacher at St Paul’s, in the capital, London.
Then there quickly followed the appointment that was to lead him down the narrow road to martyrdom. Catherine of Aragon was married to Henry VIII, the King of England. She was a very devout Third Order Franciscan and asked Fr Forest to become her Confessor and Chaplain. But before King Henry VIII got married to Catherine of Aragon, he had to get a dispensation from Pope Julius, to marry the widow of his dead brother. Catherine was actually his sister-in-law. The Pope gave the dispensation and after Henry and Catherine were married they had three sons and a daughter, Princess Mary. Little Mary lived o, but the three boys died. In time King Henry wanted to get an annulment from the Pope. Henry figured that since he had to get permission to marry his sister–in-law in the first place, the Pope could now give him an annulment. But the King was in for a big surprise when the Pope said he would not give Henry an annulment, their marriage was valid and he should stay married to his good wife Catherine.
By now, King Henry was already starting to look at another woman,her name was Anne Boleyn. And to make matters worse, Anne was also looking at King Henry. Now, both you and I know that it is wrong to desire to have another man or woman, when you are already married. Henry’s second desire, was to have a male heir to the throne, he wanted a King to rule England, not a Queen!
Covetousness and Pride; these were Henry’s faults. In 1527, Henry asked Pope Clement VII to annul the marriage, or to grant him a divorce. But when the good Pope refused to go along with the king’s stupid ideas, Henry was most angry. He got a divorce from Catherine and married Anne Boleyn, he didn’t care what the Pope told him to do. In 1533, the Pope declared that King Henry was truly married to Catherine and that he was not married to Anne Boleyn. Because of this, Henry VIII hated Catherine and all that was connected with her. Now, not only Catherine, but also young Princess Mary and Fr Forest as well, suffered from the King’s anger. Henry thought that when his wife Catherine had written to the Pope, that Fr Forest should have stopped her from doing so.
Fr Forest and the other Franciscan Friars lived at Greenwich, near King Henry’s palace. The friars discussed Henry’s affairs among themselves and they thought that they had nothing to fear from Henry because he had always admired these friars. In fact, in the past, King Henry had written to Pope Leo X, telling him: “I admire the holiness and life of the Greenwich Franciscans. I find it quite impossible to describe their merits, as they deserve. They present an ideal of Christian poverty, sincerity and charity. Their lives are devoted to fasting, watching and prayer. They are occupied in hard toil by day and night, to win sinners back to God.”
After, their discussions, the friars, especially Fr Forest, sided with Queen Catherine and not Henry VIII. They knew that Henry was in the wrong and that Catherine was right. When Henry found out that the friars were against him, he demanded that Fr Forest be replaced by another person. After a meeting, Fr Forest was moved to a convent in the North and later, in 1534, King Henry had the holy priest cast into prison at Newgate. While in this prison, Fr Forest spent his time in prayer and in writing a book, defending the Pope and the Church. His reason for writing this book was because King Henry VIII had left the Catholic Church and was now calling himself the “Supreme Head of the Church” of England. Only the Pope is the Head of the Church Henry was making a terrible mistake! When Henry found out that Fr Forest had written this book, the King was furious. He condemned the holy priest to death, because he refused to recognise the King as the Head of the Church, in England.
Henry also persecuted the Strict Franciscan Friars in England. He took away all their monasteries and cast many of them into prison, where fifty of them died. But a good friend also helped a lot of these good friars to escape to France and Scotland.
Because Fr Forest did not expect to be long in prison, he sent his rosary to Queen Catherine. In a letter he had sent with the rosary, he had written: “I presume to make you a poor present of my beads, as I have been given only three more days to live on this earth.”He was now 63 years old and had been a monk for forty-three years.
But Fr Forest’s sufferings were just beginning, he was to be in prison for four years, (1534-1538). During this long time in prison, King Henry had sent men to question and torture Fr Forest, so that he would break down and follow Henry’s new law. But the good priest chose to suffer, rather than give up his faith. Catherine died a few years before Fr Forest did and during her life she did all she could to ease the sufferings of the good priest. After two more years of imprisonment, Fr. Forest was condemned to be hanged over a fire and slowly burned to death because he would not swear that the King was the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
On 22 May 1538, Fr Forest’s hands and feet were tied to a hurdle and he was dragged to the place of execution at Smithfield, near a Franciscan Monastery. Upon arrival, the poor priest was forced to listen to an hours talk on the glories of the Supreme Headship of King Henry, given by Bishop Latimer, who had become an apostate. Then Fr Forest’s tortures began, chains were wrapped around his waist and under his armpits and then he was suspended in the air above a fire. The fire was kept low so that it would burn his feet and cause the poor priest even more suffering. And all the while a bunch of apostates scoffed and jeered at the holy priest. Throughout the two long hours that Fr Forest swayed over the fire, he prayed: “In the shadow of Thy wings I will trust, O God, until iniquity pass away.”
John Forest was the only Catholic martyr to be burned at the stake. Extra fuel for the pyre is said to have been provided by an enormous statue of St Derfel, from the pilgrimage site of Llandderfel in north Wales and of which it was prophesied, would “one day set a forest on fire.” Fr Forest, together with fifty-three other English martyrs, was Beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 9 December 1886. His relics rest near the priory gate of at Smithfield.
The tough times are returning. We are fighting to keep the Catholic Faith, so be faithful in saying your Rosary, wearing the Brown Scapular and being a good Catholic and God will help you now and in the tough times. Blessed John Forest—Pray for Us!
Bl John Forest, nave statue – St Etheldreda, Ely Place, London
St Rita of Cascia (Optional Memorial)
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St Aigulf of Bourges
St Atto of Pistoia
St Aureliano of Pavia
St Ausonius of Angoulême
St Baoithin of Ennisboyne
St Basiliscus of Pontus
St Bobo of Provence
St Boethian of Pierrepont
St Castus the Martyr
St Conall of Inniscoel
Bl Diego de Baja
Bl Dionisio Senmartin
St Emilius the Martyr
St Faustinus the Martyr
St Francisco Salinas Sánchez
St Fulgencio of Otricoli
Bl Fulk of Castrofurli
Bl Giacomo Soler
Bl Giusto Samper
St Helen of Auxerre
St Humility of Faenza
Bl John Baptist Machado
Bl John Forest O.F.M. (1471-1538) Martyr of Oxford University
St John of Parma
St José Quintas Durán
St Julia of Corsica
St Lupo of Limoges
St Marcian of Ravenna
St Margaret of Hulme
Bl Maria Rita Lopes Pontes de Souza Brito
Bl Pedro of the Assumption
St Quiteria
St Romanus of Subiaco
St Timothy the Martyr
St Venustus the Martyr
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Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Francisco Salinas Sánchez
• Blessed José Quintas Durán
Quote/s of the Day – 21 May 2018 “Mary’s Month!” – The First Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church and the Memorial of St Eugene de Mazenod (1782-1861)
“…She is clearly the Mother of his members; that is, of ourselves, because she cooperated by her charity, so that faithful Christians, members of the Head, might be born in the Church. As for the body, she is the Mother of its Head… Mary gave birth to our Head; the Church gave birth to you. Indeed, the Church also, is both virgin and mother, mother, because of her womb of charity, virgin, because of the integrity of her faith and piety.”
St Augustine (354-430) Doctor of Grace
“This celebration will help us to remember. that growth in the Christian life, must be anchored to the Mystery of the Cross, to the oblation of Christ in the Eucharistic Banquet and to the Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the Redeemed, the Virgin who makes her offering to God.”
“As a caring guide to the emerging Church, Mary had already begun her mission in the Upper Room, praying with the Apostles, while awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit.”
Cardinal Robert Sarah
Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 11 February 2018, the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes. DECREE ON THE CELEBRATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCHIN THE GENERAL ROMAN CALENDAR
“We glorify God in the masterpiece of His power and love… it is the Son whom we honour in the person of His Mother.”
“To love the Church is to love Jesus Christ and vice versa.”
“Practice well among yourselves: charity, charity, charity and outside, zeal for the salvation of souls”
Our Morning Offering – 21 May 2018 “Mary’s Month!” – The First Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church
Prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of our Faith
By our Holy Father, Pope Francis
Mother, help our faith! Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognise His voice and call. Awaken in us a desire, to follow in His footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive His promise. Help us to be touched by His love, that we may touch Him in faith. Help us to entrust ourselves fully to Him and to believe in His love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature. Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One. Remind us that those who believe are never alone. Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that He may be light for our path. And may this light of faith, always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day, which is Christ Himself, your Son, our Lord! Amen
Prayer to Mary at the conclusion of the Encyclical Lumen Fidei (29 June 2013) Image of Mary – Our Lady of the Column in St Peter’s Basilica
Saint of the Day – 21 May – St Eugene de Mazenod O.M.I. (1782-1861) Priest, Bishop, Founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Evangeliser, Missionary Preacher, Apostle of the poor and marginalised – born Charles-Joseph-Eugène de Mazenod on 1 August 1782 at Aix-en-Provence, southern France and died on 21 May 1861 at Marseille, France of cancer. When his body was exhumed in 1936 it was found to be incorrupt. Patronages – refugees, missionaries, families.
Eugene de Mazenod was born into an aristocratic family, on 1 August 1782 and baptised the following day in the Église de la Madeleine in Aix-en-Provence. His father, Charles Antoine de Mazenod, was one of the Presidents of the Court of Finances and his mother was Marie Rose Joannis. Eugene began his schooling at the College Bourbon but this was interrupted by the events of the French Revolution. With the approach of the French revolutionary forces, the family was forced to flee to Italy.
St Eugene aged 5
He became a boarder at the College of Nobles in Turin but a move to Venice meant the end to formal schooling. With their money running out, Eugene’s father was forced to seek various employments, none of which were successful. His mother and sister returned to France – eventually seeking a divorce so as to be able to regain their property that had been seized. Eugene was fortunate to be welcomed by the Zinelli family in Venice. This is how it happened:
One day when Eugene was playing at the window of his house, Fr Bartolo Zinelli (1766-1803) appeared on the other side of the street and asked him, “Are you not afraid of wasting your time?” “Alas, responded Eugene, it is really awful, but what can I do? I am a foreigner here without any books available to me.” “Well, then”, replied Don Bartolo, “I am right in my library at the moment and here I have many books in Latin, Italian and French.” Having said this, he took up the stick that was used to bar the shutters and put a book on it and passed it over the narrow, approximately one and one half meter street.
After having read the book, Eugene, following the advice of his father, went to Don Bartolo’s house to thank him for this kind gesture. “Well,” said Don Bartolo, “do you see this lovely library? All of these books are available to you as well.” Then, Don Bartolo showed Eugene his study where he and his brother Don Pietro used to study and told him, “You can take the place here of my younger brother who has died.” Eugene could not contain his joy. “Well, then, you can begin tomorrow already.”
Fr Bartolo Zinelli took special care of Eugene and saw to his education in the well-provided family library where the young adolescent spent many hours each day and was a major influence in the human, academic and spiritual development of Eugene.
Once again the French army chased the émigrés from Venice, forcing Eugene and his father and two uncles to seek refuge in Naples for less than a year and, finally, to flee to Palermo in Sicily. Here Eugene was invited to become part of the household of the Duke and Duchess of Cannizaro as a companion to their two sons. Being part of the high society of Sicily became the opportunity for Eugene to rediscover his noble origins and to live a lavish style of life. He took to himself the title of ‘Comte’ (“Count”) de Mazenod, did all the courtly things and dreamed of a bright future.
Spiritual journey of conversion
At the age of twenty, Eugene returned to France and lived with his mother in Aix en Provence. Initially he enjoyed all the pleasures of Aix as a rich young nobleman, intent on the pursuit of pleasure and money – and a rich girl who would bring a good dowry. Gradually he became aware of how empty his life was and began to search for meaning in more regular church involvement, reading and personal study and charitable work among prisoners. His journey came to a climax on Good Friday, 1807 when he was 25 years old. Looking at the sight of the Cross, he had a religious experience. The sight of the oblation of Jesus on the Cross, with his arms outstretched in love, led Eugene to respond in love: “What more glorious occupation than to act in everything and for everything only for God, to love Him above all else, to love Him all the more as one who has loved Him too late.”
Priest
In 1808, he expressed his desire for dedication to Jesus the Saviour by beginning his studies for the priesthood at the Saint-Sulpice Seminary in Paris and was ordained a priest at Amiens (Picardy), on 21 December 1811. Since Napoleon had expelled the Sulpician priest from the seminary, Eugene stayed on as a formator for a semester. As a member of the Seminary, notwithstanding personal risk, Eugene committed himself to serve and assist Pope Pius VII, who at this time was a prisoner of emperor Napoleon I at Fontainebleau. In this way, he experienced at firsthand, the suffering of the post-Revolutionary Church.
On his return to Aix, Father de Mazenod asked not to be assigned to a parish but to dedicate himself fully to evangelising those who were not being touched by the structures of the local church: the poor who spoke only the Provençal language, prisoners, youth, the inhabitants of poor villages who were ignorant of their faith. His constant message was, to invite people to enter into the same experience of Jesus, that he had at his conversion. Looking at everyone and every situation through the eyes of the Saviour, he showed the poor the human and spiritual dignity that was theirs and taught them how to live in relationship with the Saviour. The goal of his priestly preaching and ministry was always to lead others to develop themselves fully as humans, then as Christians and finally to become saints.
Oblates of Mary Immaculate
On 25 January 1816, “impelled by a strong impulse from outside of himself” he invited other priests to join him in his life of total oblation to God and to the most abandoned of Provence. Initially called “Missionaries of Provence,” they dedicated themselves to evangelization through preaching parish missions in the poor villages, youth and prison ministry. In 181, a second community was established, at the Marian shrine of Notre Dame du Laus. This became the occasion for the missionaries to become a religious congregation, united through vows and the evangelical counsels. Changing their name to Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the group received papal approbation on 17 February 1826.
Foreign Missions
In 1841, Bishop Bourget of Montreal invited the Oblates to Canada. At the same time there was an outreach to the British Isles. This was the beginning of an inspiring history of missionary outreach to the most abandoned peoples in Canada, United States, Mexico, England and Ireland, Algeria, Southern Africa and Ceylon during the Founder’s lifetime. In 200 years this zeal spread and took root in the establishment of the Oblates in nearly 70 countries.
From 1837 to 1861, he was the Bishop of Marseille, in Provence (south-eastern France). During his episcopacy, he commissioned Notre-Dame de la Garde, an ornate Neo-Byzantine basilica on the south side of the old port of Marseille . He inspired local priest Joseph-Marie Timon-David to found the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Marseille in 1852.
Notre-Dame de la Garde, Marseilles
Towards the end of his life, Eugene had become very free. Faced with the prospect of the Cardinalate which had been promised and which slipped away from him because of political considerations, he had this to say: “After all, it is all the same whether one is buried in a red cassock or a purple one; the main thing is that the bishop gets to heaven”.
Shortly before his death on May 21, 1861, in keeping with his temperament, the elderly and seriously ill bishop said to those around him: “Should I happen to doze off, or if I appear to be getting worse, please wake me up! I want to die knowing that I am dying”.
His last words to the Oblates were a testament that summed up his life: “Practice well among yourselves charity, charity, charity and outside, zeal for the salvation of souls”. Saint Eugene died on Pentecost Sunday, to the prayer of the Salve Regina. It was his final salute on earth to the one he considered as the “Mother of the Mission”.
St Eugene was Beatified on 19 October 1975 by Blessed Pope Paul VI and Canonised on 3 December 1995 by Sr Pope John Paul II.
Martyrs of the Mexican Revolution (Optional Memorial): The 1917 Mexican constitution was pointedly anti-clerical and anti-Church, and its adoption instituted years of violent religious persecution including expulsion of foreign priests, closing of parochial schools, and the murders of several priests and lay leaders who work to minister to the faithful and support religious freedom. 25 of them who died at different times and places but all as a result of this persecution were celebrated together. They each have separate memorials but are also remembered as a group.
• Saint Agustin Caloca Cortes
• Saint Atilano Cruz Alvarado
• Saint Cristobal Magallanes Jara
• Saint David Galván-Bermúdez
• Saint David Roldán-Lara
• Saint David Uribe-Velasco
• Saint Jenaro Sánchez DelGadillo
• Saint Jesús Méndez-Montoya
• Saint Jose Isabel Flores Varela
• Saint José María Robles Hurtado
• Saint Julio álvarez Mendoza
• Saint Justino Orona Madrigal
• Saint Luis Batiz Sainz
• Saint Manuel Moralez
• Saint Margarito Flores-García
• Saint Mateo Correa-Magallanes
• Saint Miguel de la Mora
• Saint Pedro de Jesús Maldonado-Lucero
• Saint Pedro Esqueda Ramírez
• Saint Rodrigo Aguilar Alemán
• Saint Roman Adame Rosales
• Saint Sabas Reyes Salazar
• Saint Salvador Lara Puente
• Saint Toribio Romo González
• Saint Tranquilino Ubiarco Robles
Canonised: 21 May 2000 by Pope John Paul II
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St Adalric of Bèze
Bl Adilio Daronch
St Ageranus of Bèze
St Ansuinus of Bèze
St Antiochus of Caesarea Philippi
St Bairfhion of Killbarron
St Berard of Bèze
St Collen of Denbighshire
St Constantine the Great
St Donatus of Caesarea
St Eugene de Mazenod O.M.I. (1782-1861)
St Eutychius of Mauretania
Bl Franz Jägerstätter
St Genesius of Bèze
St Godric of Finchale
Bl Hemming of Åbo
St Hospitius of Cap-Saint-Hospice
Bl Hyacinth-Marie Cormier
St Isberga of Aire
Bl Jean Mopinot
Bl Lucio del Rio
St Mancio of Évora
Bl Manuel Gómez González
St Nicostratus of Caesarea Philippi
Bl Pietro Parenzo
St Polieuctus of Caesarea
St Polius of Mauretania
St Restituta of Corsica
St Rodron of Bèze
St Secundinus of Cordova
St Secundus of Alexandria
St Serapion the Sindonite
St Sifrard of Bèze
Bl Silao
St Synesius
St Theobald of Vienne
St Theopompus
St Timothy of Mauretania
St Valens of Auxerre
St Vales
St Victorius of Caesarea
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Martyrs of Egypt: Large number of bishops, priests, deacons and lay people banished when the Arian heretics seized the diocese of Alexandria, Egypt in 357 and drove out Saint Athanasius and other orthodox Christians. Many were old, many infirm and many, many died of abuse and privations while on the road and in the wilderness. Very few survived to return to their homes in 361 when Julian the Apostate recalled all Christians and then many of those later died in the persecutions of Julian.
Martyrs of Pentecost in Alexandria: An unspecified number of Christian clerics and lay people who, on Pentecost in 338, were rounded up by order of the Arian bishop and emperor Constantius and were either killed, or exiled, for refusing to accept Arian teachings. 339 in Alexandria, Egypt.
Quote/s of the Day – 20 May – The Solemnity of Pentecost, Alleluia!
“A fiery sword, barred of old, the gates of Paradise, a fiery tongue, which brought salvation, restored the gift.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem (315-387) Doctor of the Church (Catechetical Lectures: Lecture 17 no. 15)
“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there, Your cheerful beams.”
St Augustine (354-430) Doctor of Grace
“A soul, that possesses the Holy Spirit, tastes such sweetness, in prayer, that it finds the time, always too short, it never loses, the holy presence of God.”
“The Holy Spirit forms thoughts and suggests words, in the hearts of the just.”
“The Holy Spirit is like a gardener, cultivating our souls.”
St John Vianney (1786-1859)
“Pentecost is the moment when a heart of stone is shattered and a heart of flesh takes its place.”
Fr Raneiro Cantalamessa (Preacher to the Papal Household)
O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy creatures…Psalm 104:24
REFLECTION – “…the Holy Spirit who came down on the Apostles is the same Spirit who fashioned the world. Pentecost should also be for us a festival of thanksgiving for creation, a cause for reflection on the creative Reason, who is is also manifested in the beauty of the world, as a creative Love.”…Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) 1985
PRAYER – Lord God, pour out the gifts of the Holy Spirit on all mankind and fulfil now, in the hearts of Your faithful, what You accomplished at the beginning of the world, every second of every day and when the Gospel was first preached on earth. Come, O Holy Spirit, come! We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
St Bernadine of Siena O.F.M. (1380-1444) (Optional Memorial)
St Abercius
Bl Albert of Bologna
St Alexander of Edessa
St Althryda
St Anastasius of Brescia
St Aquila of Egypt
St Arcangelo Tadini
Bl Arnaldo Serra and Companions
St Asterius of Edessa
St Austregisilus of Bourges
St Basilla of Rome
St Baudelius of Nîmes
St Codrato
Bl Columba of Rieti
St Ethelbert of East Anglia
Bl Guy de Gherardesca
St Helena
St Hilary of Toulouse
St José Pérez Fernández
St Lucifer of Caglieri
St Marcello
Bl Maria Angelica Perez
St Plautilla of Rome
St Protasius Chong Kuk-bo
St Rafaél García Torres
St Talaleo of Egea
St Thalalaeus of Edessa
St Theodore of Pavia
St Tomás Valera González
Saint of the Day – 19 May – St Ivo of Kermartin T.O.S.F. (1253-1303) also known Yvo or Ives – Priest, Franciscan Tertiary, known as the “Advocate of the Poor”, Civil Lawyer – born on 17 October 1253 at Kermartin near Treguier, Brittany and died on 19 May 1303 at Louannec, Brittany of natural causes following a sermon on Ascension Eve. Patronages – abandoned people, advocates, attorneys, barristers, lawyers, bailiffs, Brittany, canon lawyers, canonists, judges, jurists, notaries, orphans, children. Attributes – lawyer enthroned between rich and poor litigants, lawyer holding a book, with an angel near his head and a lion at his feet, lawyer surrounded by suppliants, holding a parchment and pointing upwards, lawyer surrounded by symbols of the Holy Spirit such as doves.
Born at Kermartin, a manor near Tréguier in Brittany, on 17 October 1253, Ivo was the son of Helori, lord of Kermartin and Azo du Kenquis. In 1267 Ivo was sent to the University of Paris, where he graduated in civil law. While other students partied, Ivo studied, prayed and visited the sick. He also refused to eat meat or drink wine. Among his fellow-students were the scholars Blessed Duns Scotus (1266-1308 – Doctor Subtilis -Subtle Doctor) and Roger Bacon OFM (1219-1292 – Doctor Mirabilis – Miraculous Doctor). He went to Orléans in 1277 to study canon law under Peter de la Chapelle, a famous jurist who later became bishop of Toulouse and a cardinal. On his return to Brittany, having received minor orders he was appointed an “official”, the title given to an ecclesiastical judge, of the archdeanery of Rennes (1280). He protected orphans and widows, defended the poor and rendered fair and impartial verdicts. It’s said that even those on the losing side, respected his decisions. Ivo also represented the helpless in other courts, paid their expenses and visited them in prison. He earned the title “Advocate of the Poor.” Although it was common to give judges “gifts,” Ivo refused bribes. He often helped disputing parties settle out of court so they could save money.
Meanwhile, he studied Scripture and there are strong reasons for believing the tradition held among Franciscans, that he joined the Third Order of St Francis sometime later at Guingamp. Ivo was ordained to the priesthood in 1284. He continued to practice law and once, when a mother and son couldn’t resolve their differences, he offered a Mass for them. They immediately reached a settlement.
The Widow of Tours
Tours was near Orleans, the bishop held his court there and Ivo, while visiting the court, lodged with a certain widow. One day he found his widow-landlady in tears. Her tale was that next day she must go to court to answer to the suit of a travelling merchant who had tricked her. It seemed that two of them, Doe and Roe, lodging with her, had left in her charge a casket of valuables, while they went off on their business but with the strict injunction, that she was to deliver it up again, only to the two of them jointly demanding it. That day, Doe had come back and called for the casket, saying that his partner Roe was detained elsewhere and she in good faith in his story, had delivered the casket to Doe. But then later came Roe demanding it, charging his partner with wronging him, and holding the widow responsible for delivering up the casket to Doe, contrary to the terms of their directions. And if she had to pay for those valuables it would ruin her. “Have no fear,” said young Ivo, “I will go to court tomorrow, for you.”
When the case was called before the Judge and the merchant Roe charged the widow with breach of faith, “Not so,” pleaded Ivo, “My client need not yet make answer to this claim. The plaintiff has not proved his case. The terms of the bailment were that the casket should be demanded by the two merchants coming together. But here is only one of them making the demand. Where is the other? Let the plaintiff produce his partner.” The judge promptly approved his plea. Whereupon the merchant, required to produce his fellow, turned pale and would have retired. But the judge, suspecting something from his plight, ordered him to be arrested and questioned; the other merchant was also traced and brought in and the casket was recovered, which, when opened, was found to contain nothing but old junk. In short, they had conspired to plant the casket with the widow and then to coerce her to pay the value of the alleged contents. Thus the young advocate saved the widow from ruin and the fame of his clever defence of the widow soon went far and wide.
Legacy
On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the birth of St Ivo, St Pope John Paul II said, “The values proposed by St Ivo retain an astonishing timeliness. His concern to promote impartial justice and to defend the rights of the poorest persons invites the builders of Europe today to make every effort to ensure that the rights of all, especially the weakest, are recognised and defended.”
Saint Ivo is the patron of lawyers. As a result, many law schools and association of catholic lawyers have taken his names. For instance, the Society of St. Yves in Jerusalem (a Catholic Centre for Human Rights and Legal Aid, Resources and Development), the Conférence Saint Yves in Luxembourg (the Luxembourg Catholic Lawyers Association), or the Association de la Saint Yves Lyonnais.
Ivo was Canonised in June 1347 by Clement VI at the urging of Philip I, Duke of Burgundy. At the inquest into his sanctity in 1331, many of his parishioners testified as to his goodness, that he preached regularly in both chapel and field and that under him “the people of the land became twice as good as they had been before”. The connection between religion and good behaviour was especially stressed in his sermons and he is reported to have “chased immorality and sin from the village of Louannec”.
Shortly after 1362, the future saint Jeanne-Marie de Maillé reported a vision of St Ivo, during which he told her, “If you are willing to abandon the world, you will taste here on earth the joys of heaven.”
Ivo is often represented with a purse in his right hand (for all the money he gave to the poor during his life) and a rolled paper in the other hand (for his charge as a judge). Another popular representation of Ivo is between a rich man and a poor one. The churches of Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza and Sant’Ivo dei Bretoni in Rome are dedicated to him.
A 14th century engraving on St Ivo’s Shrine:
Sanctus Ivo erat Brito, Advocatus, et non latro Res miranda populo.
Saint Yvo was a Breton and a lawyer but not dishonest – An astonishing thing in people’s eyes.
St Ivo giving alms to the poor by Josse van der BarenThe relics of Saints Ivo and Tugdual in a procession at the gate of Tréguier’s cathedral in 2005. In the reliquary is the skull of Saint IvoRelic skull and reliquary of St Ivo in Tréguier, Brittany, France
St Alcuin of York
Bl Augustine Novello
St Calocerus of Rome
St Pope Celestine V
St Crispin of Viterbo
St Cyriaca of Nicomedia and Companions
St Cyril of Trèves
St Dunstan of Canterbury
St Evonio of Auvergne
St Hadulph of Saint-Vaast
Bl Humiliana de’ Cerchi
St Ivo Hélory of Kermartin (1253-1303)
Bl Jean-Baptiste-Xavier Loir
Bl Józef Czempiel
Bl Juan of Cetina
Bl Louis Rafiringa
Bl Lucinio Fontanil Medina
St Parthenius of Rome
Bl Peter de Duenas
Bl Peter Wright
St Philoterus of Nicomedia
St Pudens of Rome
St Pudentiana of Rome
St Theophilus of Corte
Bl Verena Bütler
Thought for the Day – 18 May – Friday of the Seventh Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Felix of Cantalice O.F.M. Cap.(1515-1587) “Brother Deo Gratias”
Saint Felix did not have what the world esteems; his education was lacking. But he knew five red letters — the wounds of the divine crucified One, Whom he worshipped daily in the Blessed Sacrament and one white one — the Virgin Mary, from whom he one day miraculously received the divine Child in his arms.
St Felix of Cantalice “Brother Deo Gratias”, Pray for us!
Quote of the Day – 18 May – Friday of the Seventh Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Felix of Cantalice O.F.M. Cap.(1515-1587) “Brother Deo Gratias”
“Deo Gratias” “Thank God”
St Felix of Cantalice (1515-1587)
“Brother Deo Gratias”
Saint of the Day – 18 May – St Felix of Cantalice O.F.M. Cap.(1515-1587) Capuchin Friar – (the first Capuchin to be Canonised), Confessor, Apostle of Charity, Preacher, Teacher, Writer. Born on 18 May 1515 at Cantalice, Abruzzi, Italy and died on 18 May 1587 at Rome, Italy of natural causes. Patronages – Cantalice, Italy, Spello, Italy. Attributes – Capuchin habit; holding the Baby Jesus, carrying a sack.
It was in a small village at the foot of Mount Appenine named Cantalice, that Saint Felix was born in 1513 of pious but poor parents, the third of four sons born to Santi and Santa Porri. It was not long before the little boy, when he approached the other children, was hailed by them: ‘Here comes Felix, the Saint!’ He showed a predilection for solitary prayer from his earliest youth and as a little shepherd used to retire to a quiet place to kneel there and meditate on the Passion of Jesus.
When he was a little older, he resolved to take the habit of the Capuchin Friars. The rigour of their rule could not deter him but his obligations could; he was employed as a labourer, to assist his family. When his life was spared in an accident, during which two runaway bulls and a trailing plough should have killed him, the man for whom he was working saw the hand of God in his preservation and permitted him to leave, to enter religion. He was at that time nearly thirty years old but the Superiors, observing his fervour, placed no obstacles.
In 1545 he pronounced his vows and was sent to Rome, where for forty years he begged for the community. His characteristic words to his companion were: “Let us go, my Brother, with rosary in hand, our eyes to the ground and our spirit in heaven.” He was of an exquisite politeness, extreme gentleness and great simplicity. It is said that his begging sack was as bottomless as his heart.Brother Felix blessed all benefactors and all those he met with a humble “Deo Gratias!” (thanks be to God!), causing many to refer to him as “Brother Deo Gratias”. Felix was so successful in his work that during the famine of 1580, the political leader of Rome asked the Capuchins if they would ‘lend’ Felix to them so he could collect food and provisions for the entire city. The Capuchins agreed and Felix embraced his new task with great success and love.
The sick persons he visited at night became attached to him and for his part, he sought them out everywhere in Rome, insofar as obedience permitted. He preached in the street, rebuked corrupt politicians and officials and exhorted young men to stop leading dissolute lives. He also composed simple teaching canticles and arranged for children to gather in groups to sing them as a way to teach them the catechism.
One day on the street he met two duelists with sword in hand. He begged them to repeat after him, Deo gratias! which finally they did and after taking him as arbiter of their quarrel, they separated as good friends. Saint Felix met Saint Philip Neri (1515-1595 – Memorial 26 May) in Rome and they became friends who wished one another all possible torments for the love of Jesus Christ. They sometimes remained together without speaking for considerable periods, seemingly transported with joy. He was also a friend of St Charles Borromeo (1538-1584 – Memorial 4 November).
Saint Felix had a great devotion to the most Blessed Virgin, reciting Her rosary with such tenderness that he could not continue at times. He loved the Holy Name of Jesus and invited the children he would meet, to say it with him. He slept only for about two hours, going afterwards to the church to visit the Blessed Sacrament, to be with the Lord and remaining there in prayer until the office of Prime; then he would serve the first Mass and receive Communion every day.
When he was sick and was given the last Sacraments, he saw the Blessed Virgin and a beautiful troop of Angels coming to fortify him in this last journey. He cried out in joy and gave up his soul peacefully to his Creator in 1587. So many attended his funeral that some were injured in the press to get into the church and an extra door had to be knocked through one wall so they could exit.
He was Beatified on 1 October 1625 by Pope Urban VIII and Canonised by Pope Clement XI on 22 May 1712.
His body is in the Capuchin Church of Rome – the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rome; a plenary indulgence is granted to those who, fulfilling the ordinary conditions, visit a church of his Order on his feast day.
St Pope John I (Optional Memorial)
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Bl Burchard of Beinwil
St Dioscorus of Kynopolis
St Elgiva of Shaftesbury
St Eric of Sweden
St Felix of Cantalice O.F.M. Cap.(1515-1587)
St Felix of Spoleto
St Feredarius of Iona
Bl Jan Oprzadek
St Merililaun
St Ortasio of Alexandria
St Potamon of Heraclea
St Serapione of Alexandria
Bl Stanislaw Kubski
St Venantius of Camerino
Bl William of Toulouse
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Martyrs of Ancyra – 8 saints: Seven nuns martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian and the innkeeper who was executed for giving them a Christian burial: Alexandria, Claudia, Euphrasia, Julitta, Matrona, Phaina, Thecusa and Theodatus. c.304 in Ancyra, Galatia (in modern Turkey)
Thought for the Day – 17 May – Thursday of the Seventh Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Paschal Baylon O.F.M. (1540-1592) “Seraph of the Eucharist”.
Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament occupied much of Saint Francis of Assisi’s energy. Most of his letters were to promote devotion to the Eucharist. Paschal shared that concern.
The life of Saint Paschal Baylon is one of simple adoration of the Lord and great devotion to His Mother. Saint Paschal recognised the importance of spending time before Our Saviour, in contemplation of His passion, love and sacrifice—in the earthly presence of God. Through his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, Saint Paschal was graced with wisdom beyond his education and obedience and charity, beyond measure. His life inspires us to greater communion with the Lord, leading us to His spiritual treasures.
An hour in prayer before our Lord in the Eucharist could teach all of us a great deal.
Go to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament with bended knee and acknowledge that He is truly present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity!
Go to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament with a silent tongue and confess “Jesus in The Most Blessed Sacrament, you are Lord!”
Go to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament with bowed head and say “lead me, Lord”.
Go to Jesus in The Most Blessed Sacrament with a humble heart and say “show me how to love as You love, Lord”.
Go to Jesus in The Most Blessed Sacrament with folded hands and say “take my hands, use them as Your hands Lord”
Go to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament with a closed mouth and listen to Him whispering to our soul, and responding with “Yes Lord”.
Go to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament with a meek spirit and say, “Not by my power and my might but by Your power and Your might Lord!”
Go to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament with a fiat and say, “Not my will but Your will be done Lord!”
Brother Felix blessed all benefactors and all those he met with a humble “Deo Gratias!” (thanks be to God!), causing many to refer to him as “Brother Deo Gratias”. Felix was so successful in his work that during the famine of 1580, the political leader of Rome asked the Capuchins if they would ‘lend’ Felix to them so he could collect food and provisions for the entire city. The Capuchins agreed and Felix embraced his new task with great success and love.
AnaStpaul 
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