Thought for the Day – 7 August – The Memorial of St Cajetan
St Cajetan sought first and foremost, the will of the Lord in his life.
Dedicated not only to Church reform but to also reform of the evils of the world he encountered on a daily basis, this humble saint gave all that he had to service of those around him.
He worked with the poorest of the poor, the sickest of the sick, the most undesirable souls he could find—nursing them physically back to help, assisting with their finances and most of all, he worked hard to save and convert their souls.
The greatest need of the time was the reformation of a Church that was “sick in head and members.”
Cajetan and three friends decided that the best road to reformation lay in reviving the spirit and zeal of the clergy.
Together they founded a congregation known as the Theatines–from Teate [Chieti] where their first superior-bishop had his see. One of these friends later became Pope Paul IV.
Saint Cajetan is a model of obedience, service and Christian charity—three virtues we can all ascribe to.
We pray for the intercession of St Cajetan, that we, too, may turn our gaze from our own lives to those around us in greater need.
Quotes of the Day – 7 August – The Memorial of St Cajetan
“Do not receive Christ in the Blessed Sacrament
so that you may use Him as you judge best
but give yourself to Him
and let Him receive you in this Sacrament,
so that He Himself, God your Saviour,
may do to you and through you whatever He wills.”
“I am a sinner and do not think much of myself;
I have recourse to the greatest servants of the Lord,
that they may pray for me to the blessed Christ and his Mother.
But do not forget that all the saints cannot endear you to Christ
as much as you can yourself.
It is entirely up to you!”
Though my father and my mother forsake me, yet will the Lord receive me….Psalm 27:10
REFLECTION – “If you want Christ to love you and help you, you must love Him and always make every endeavour to please Him.
Do not waver in your purpose because even if all the saints and every single creature were to abandon you, He will always be near you, no matter what your needs may be.”….St Cajetan
PRAYER – Lord God, You inspired St Cajetan to live and work like the Apostles. Help us, by his example and prayers, to trust in You at all times and continually to seek Your Kingdom. St Cajetan pray for us, amen.
Prayer for Peace to the Immaculate Virgin By Pope Paul IV
Look down with maternal clemency,
most Blessed Immaculate Virgin,
upon all your children.
Consider the anxiety of bishops
who fear that their flocks
will be tormented by a terrible storm of evils.
Heed the anguish of so many people,
fathers and mothers of families
who are uncertain about their future
and beset by hardships and cares.
Soothe the minds of those at war
and inspire them with “thoughts of peace.”
Through your intercession,
may God, the avenger of injuries,
turn to mercy.
May He give back to nations
the tranquility they seek
and bring them to a lasting age
of genuine prosperity. Amen
(Juan Pedro Carrafa, Bishop of Chieti, who became Pope Paul IV,
was a friend of and one of the Founders with, our Saint today,
St Cajetan of the Theatine Clerics Regular)
Saint of the Day – 7 August – St Cajetan – Founder of the Theatine Order – Priest, Confessor, Reformer, Doctor of Civil and Canon Law, Diplomat, Mystic, Miracle Worker, Apostle of the sick and the poor. Known as the “Father of Providence” and the “Huntsman of Souls” – (Born in October 1480 at Vicenza, Italy as Gaetano dei Conti di Tiene -and died in1547 at Naples, Italy of natural causes) – Beatified on 8 October 1629 by Pope Urban VIII and Canonised on 12 April 1671 by Pope Clement X. Patronages – bankers, gamblers;,unemployed, workers, document controllers, job seekers, Albania, Naples and Italy, Ħamrun (Malta), Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala.
Cajetan and Luther| by Francesco de’ Rossi
St Cajetan was born of a noble family in Vicenza, Italy. He was the youngest of three sons born to Don Gaspar di Thiene and Dona Maria di Porto.
He studied civil and Canon Law at the University of Padua and moved to Rome where he worked in the Court of Julian II. He assisted at the fifth Council of the Lateran. He was ordained a priest and became part of the “company of Divine Love.” In 1518 he returned to Vicenza. After the death of his mother, he dedicated himself to the founding and directing of hospitals to treat the syphiletics in Vicenza, Verona and Venice. With his own hands he cared for the sick. Such zeal did he show for the salvation of his fellowmen that he was surnamed the “huntsman for souls.”
In 1524, with Juan Pedro Carrafa, Bishop of Chieti, he founded the Clerics Regular who later would be called the Theatines. One of the four men who joined him in his new order, Juan Pedro mentioned above, went on to become the pope (Pope Paul IV). The Theatines, as they were later to become, were to bea community of priests who were to lead an apostolic life. They were to look with disdain all earthly belongings, to accept no salaries from the faithful; only from that which was freely donated were they allowed to retain the means of livelihood. St Cajetan was tortured during the plunder of Rome in 1527 (the torturers hoping to obtain his inheritance which had long before been spent on the poor and sick), Cajetan later returned to Venice where for three years he directed the Religious Institute he had founded. In 1533, where he established a centre for opposing the spread of Lutheranism in Naples. He eventually extended that mission to the city of Verona where he would die fourteen years later in 1547. It was in this city that he planted the yeast of reform that made him worthy of the devotion with which the Neopolitans have always awarded him. He founded a bank to help the poor and offer an alternative to usurers (loan sharks). It later became the Bank of Naples. His concern for the unemployed, giving them the necessary financial help in their time of need, made him their patron. Later in his life, Saint Cajetan would introduce the Forty Hours’ Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, as an antidote to the heresy of Calvin. In 1629, Urban VIII authorised public worship to Cajetan and on April 12, 1671, Clement X inscribed him in the catalogue of Saints.
St Cajetan often prayed eight hours daily. On Christmas Eve at the Church of Saint Mary Major he was greeted with his first vision of Our Blessed mother. When he entered the church he saw the Mary, radiant with light, who came to him and placed Her divine Infant in his arms. These are the words he used to describe his vision: “….I boldly found myself, at the time of the Holy Nativity, in this crib; to give me courage I had with me Saint Jerome my father, who had the crib so close to his heart and whose remains were placed at the entrance of the same crib; and with a little bit of encouragement from the old man (St. Joseph), from the hands of the Virgin Mary, I took into my arms that little Baby: the Eternal Word Who became flesh. My heart was really hard, you must believe me, because if it were not as hard as a diamond, it was sure to liquefy at that moment… patience…”
St Cajetan is the “Heart” of the Catholic reformation, the founder of the Clerics Regular (Theatines) and the “Great Man and Great Saint” that Christians acclaim as “The Father of Providence” for he aids those who invoke him in their needs with great miracles.
Founder Statue at St Peters Rome
Prayer of Saint Cajetan before a Crucifix
Look down, O Lord, from Your sanctuary, from Your dwelling in heaven on high and behold this sacred Victim which our great High Priest, Your Holy Son our Lord Jesus Christ, offers up to You for the sins of His brethren and be appeased despite the multitude of our sins. Behold, the voice of the Blood of Jesus, our Brother, cries to You from the cross. Listen, O Lord. Be appeased, O Lord. Hearken and do not delay for Your own sake, O my God; for Your Name is invoked upon this city and upon Your people and deal with us according to Your mercy. Amen.
St Pope Sixtus II (Optional Memorial)
St Cajetan (Optional Memorial) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt3yvKwxgJU
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St Afra of Augsburg
Bl Agathangelus Nourry
St Albert of Sicily
Bl Cassian Vaz Lopez-Neto
St Claudia of Rome
St Donat
St Donatian of Chalons-sur-Marne
St Donatus of Arezzo
St Donatus of Besancon
Bl Edmund Bojanowski
Bl Edward Bamber
St Faustus of Milan
St Hilarinus of Ostia
St Hyperechios
Bl John Woodcock
Bl Jordan Forzatei
St Julian of Rome
St Miguel de la Mora
Bl Nicholas Postgate
St Peter of Rome
Bl Thomas Whitaker
St Victricius of Rouen
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Martyred Deacons of Rome – 6 saints: A group of deacons who were martyred with Pope Saint Sixtus II. We know nothing about them but their names and their deaths – Agapitus, Felicissimus, Januarius, Magnus, Stephen and Vincent. They were
beheaded on 6 August 258 in a cemetery on the Appian Way, Rome, Italy.
Martyrs of Como – 6 saints: A group of Christian soldiers in the imperial Roman army. Martyred in the persecutions of Maximian. We know little else but the names – Carpophorus, Cassius, Exanthus, Licinius, Secundus and Severinus. c.295 on the north side of Lake Como, near Samolaco, Italy. Their relics in the church of San Carpoforo, Como, Italy.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: 10 Beati
Dalmacio Bellota Perez
Diodorus Hernando Lopez
Francisco Gargallo Gascón
Joan Baptista Urgell Coma
Luis Villanueva Montoya
María del Carmen Zaragoza y Zaragoza
María Rosa Adrover Martí
Rafaél Severiano Rodríguez Navarro
Tomás Carbonell Miquel
Isabel Remiñán Carracedo
Thought for the Day – 6 August – The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
Commenting on the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor, St Leo contrasts the law, symbolised by Moses, with the grace of the gospel brought by Jesus Christ. He notes how this glimpse of the glory of His divinity and risen humanity was given to Peter, James & John to prepare them for the shock and scandal of the cross.
“The Lord reveals his glory in the presence of chosen witnesses. His body is like that of the rest of mankind but He makes it shine with such splendour that His face becomes like the sun in glory and his garments as white as snow.
TWO WITNESSES
This marvel of the transfiguration contains another lesson for the apostles, to strengthen them and lead them into the fullness of knowledge. Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, appeared with the Lord in conversation with him. This was in order to fulfill exactly, through the presence of these five men, the text which says: Before two or three witnesses every word is ratified.
What word could be more firmly established, more securely based, than the word which is proclaimed by the trumpets of both old and new testaments, sounding in harmony and by the utterances of ancient prophecy and the teaching of the Gospel, in full agreement with each other?
The writings of the two testaments support each other. The radiance of the transfiguration reveals clearly and unmistakably the one who had been promised by signs foretelling Him under the veils of mystery. As Saint John says: The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. In him the promise made through the shadows of prophecy stands revealed, along with the full meaning of the precepts of the law. He is the one who teaches the truth of the prophecy through His presence and makes obedience to the commandments possible through grace.
In the preaching of the holy Gospel all should receive a strengthening of their faith. No one should be ashamed of the cross of Christ, through which the world has been redeemed.”
St Pope Leo the Great (400-461) Doctor of the Church
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”……John 8:12
Quote of the Day – 6 August – The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
“No one should fear to suffer for the sake of justice; no one should lose confidence in the reward that has been promised. The way to rest is through toil, the way to life is through death. Christ has taken on Himself the whole weakness of our lowly human nature. If then we are steadfast in our faith in Him and in our love for Him, we win the victory that He has won, we receive what He has promised.”
St Pope Leo the Great (400-461) Doctor of the Church
‘Master, it is good that we are here; . . . ‘” Luke 9:28-33
REFLECTION – “Jesus goes before us to show us the way, both up the mountain and into heaven and — I speak boldly — it is for us now to follow him with all speed, . . .Let us run with confidence and joy to enter into the cloud like Moses and Elijah, or like James and John. Let us be caught up like Peter to behold the divine vision and to be transfigured by that glorious transfiguration. Let us retire from the world, stand aloof from the earth, rise above the body, detach ourselves from creatures and turn to the Creator, to whom Peter in ecstasy exclaimed: ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here.'”…St Anastasius (died 628)
PRAYER – Father, at the Transfiguration in glory of your Only-begotten Son, You confirmed the mysteries of faith by the witness to Jesus of the prophets Moses and Elijah. You foreshadowed there what we shall be when You bring our sonship to its perfection. Grant that by listening to the voice of Jesus, we may become heirs with Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever, amen.
6 August – The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
This feast became widespread in the West in the 11th century and was introduced into the Roman calendar in 1457 to commemorate the victory over Islam in Belgrade. Before that, the Transfiguration of the Lord was celebrated in the Syrian, Byzantine and Coptic rites. The Transfiguration foretells the glory of the Lord as God and His Ascension into heaven. It anticipates the glory of heaven, where we shall see God face to face. Through grace, we already share in the divine promise of eternal life.
Zuccarelli
Titian
Our divine Redeemer, being in Galilee about a year before His sacred Passion, took with him St Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, Sts James and John and led them to a high mountain. Tradition assures us that this was Mount Tabor, which is exceedingly high and beautiful and was anciently covered with green trees and shrubs and was very fruitful. It rises something like a sugar-loaf, in a vast plain in the middle of Galilee. This was the place in which the Man-God appeared in His glory.
Whilst Jesus prayed, He suffered that glory which was always due to His sacred humility and of which, for our sake, He deprived it, to diffuse a ray over His whole body. His face was altered and shone as the sun and His garments became white as snow. Moses and Elias were seen by the three apostles in His company on this occasion and were heard discoursing with Him of the death which He was to suffer in Jerusalem.
The three apostles were wonderfully delighted with this glorious vision and St Peter cried out to Christ, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tents: one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias” Whilst St. Peter was speaking, there came, on a sudden, a bright shining cloud from heaven, an emblem of the presence of God’s majesty and from out of this cloud was heard a voice which said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” The apostles that were present, upon hearing this voice, were seized with a sudden fear and fell upon the ground; but Jesus, going to them, touched them and bade them to rise. They immediately did so and saw no one but Jesus standing in His ordinary state.
This vision happened in the night. As they went down the mountain early the next morning, Jesus bade them not to tell any one what they had seen till He should be risen from the dead.
Excerpted from Butler’s Lives of the Saints, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
“In the Transfiguration Christ enjoyed for a short while that glorified state which was to be permanently His after His Resurrection on Easter Sunday. The splendour of His inward Divinity and of the Beatific Vision of His soul overflowed in His body and permeated His garments so that Christ stood before Peter, James and John in a snow-white brightness. The purpose of the Transfiguration was to encourage and strengthen the Apostles who were depressed by their Master’s prediction of His own Passion and Death. The Apostles were made to understand that His redeeming work has two phases: The Cross, and glory—that we shall be glorified with Him only if we first suffer with Him.”
Transfiguration of Our Lord (Feast)
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Bl Gezelin of Schlebusch
St Gislain of Luxemburg
St Glisente of Brescia
Bl Goderanno
Bl Guillermo Sanz
St Hardulf of Breedon
St Pope Hormisdas
St James the Syrian
St Justus of Alcala
Bl Maria Francesca Rubatto
Bl Octavian of Savona
St Pastor of Alcala
St Stephen of Cardeña
BlTadeusz Dulny
Bl William of Altavilla
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Martyrs of Cardeña: Two hundred Benedictine monks at the Saint Peter of Cardegna monastery, Burgos, Spain who were martyred in the 8th century by invading Saracens. They were buried by local Christians in a nearby churchyard in Burgos, Spain and Beatified in 1603 by Pope Clement VIII (cultus confirmed).
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: 10 Beati
Alejandro Casare Menéndez
Andrés Soto Carrera
Antoni Serra Hortal
Bl Carlos López Vidal
Francesc Vives Antich
José González Ramos Campos
José María Recalde Magúregui
Juan Silverio Pérez Ruano
Pau Bertrán Mercadé
Saturnino Ortega Montealegre
Theological debate over Christ’s nature as God and man reached fever pitch in Constantinople in the early fifth century. The chaplain of Bishop Nestorius began preaching against the title Theotokos, “Mother of God,” insisting that the Virgin was mother only of the human Jesus. Nestorius agreed, decreeing that Mary would henceforth be named “Mother of Christ” in his see. The people of Constantinople virtually revolted against their bishop’s refutation of a cherished belief. When the Council of Ephesus refuted Nestorius, believers took to the streets, enthusiastically chanting, “Theotokos! Theotokos!”….. ( Fr Don Miller, OFM)
“Mary is the Divine Page on which the Father wrote the Word of God, His Son.” … St Albert the Great (1206-1280) German; scientist, philosopher, theologian and Doctor of the Church
” What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ and what it teaches about Mary, illumines in turn, its faith in Christ” (CCC#487).
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!
Prayer to Our Lady of the Snows
Mary, Mother of God,
it is our Christian belief that all who fashion their lives in imitation of your Son, Jesus Christ
and have placed their hope in Him,
are gathered together in a communion of saints.
Those who have gone before us live in intimate communion with Christ.
You are the most eminent of them, for you were drawn into His life and being as no other.
You who gave Him human life followed Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Mary, look at us.
Look at all who are centred on your Son.
At the present time some of His disciples are pilgrims on earth.
Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory,
contemplating ‘in full light, God Himself Triune and One, exactly as He is.
All of God’s people hunger to be intimately one with Him.
Mary, we are the wayfarers
and we hunger for this exchange of spiritual goods with you
who were so intimately close to Jesus Christ.
Your image, as protectress of the Roman people,
reminds us that you invite us to live in Christ.
Your arms embrace Jesus fully, effortlessly.
Jesus, whose burden is light and yoke is easy,
wishes to be as close to every individual as He is to you.
You are both wayfarer and guide to us wayfarers on our pilgrimage of faith.
Teach us, Mary, to embrace Christ fully, to make Him our Way, our Truth, our Life.
Teach us, Mary, to carry Christ to the world,
and, each in our own way, to give Him birth in the hearts of many.
Protect your people, Mary – protect your Church.
We ask this, as we ask all things, through Jesus Christ Our Lord,
in union with God our Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God forever and ever. Amen
“Jesus honoured her before all ages and will honour her for all ages. No one comes to Him, nor even near Him, no one is saved or sanctified, if he too will not honour her. This is the lot of angels and of men.”
Rejoice, O highly favoured daughter! The Lord is with you………..Luke 1:28
REFLECTION – “The salvation of the whole world began with the “Hail Mary.”
Hence, the salvation of each person is also attached to this prayer.”…St Louise Marie Grignion de Montfort
PRAYER – Lord Jesus, let the great prayer to Your holy Mother be on my lps, morning, noon and night. Enable me to say it especially at the hour of my death – for she will come to me! Mary, Mother of our God, pray for us, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 5 August The Feast of the Dedication of Mary Major
O glorious Maid, exalted far
Beyond the light of burning star,
From Him who made thee thou hast won
Grace to be Mother of his Son.
That which was lost in hapless Eve
Thy holy Scion did retrieve;
The tear-worn sons of Adam’s race
Through thee have seen the heavenly place.
Thou wast the gate of heaven’s high Lord,
The door through which the light hath poured.
Christians rejoice, for through a Maid
To all mankind is life conveyed!
All honour, laud and glory be,
O Jesus, Virgin-born to thee!
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete. Amen
5 August – Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major: Our Lady of the Snows – Patronage – Italy, Reno, Nevada, diocese of, Conco, Italy, Rovereto, Italy, San Marco in Lamis, Italy, Susa, Italy, Torre Annunziata, Italy, Utah.
Today, 5 August, we celebrate the feast (optional memorial) of the Dedication of the Papal Basilica of Mary Major (Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore) in Rome. This grand basilica is also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Snow (Santa Maria ad Nives ) due to a miraculous snowfall occurring there during the hot summer months and the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Crib (Santa Maria ad Præsepe), from the relics of the holy crib or manger of Bethlehem, in which Christ was laid at His birth, housed within.
Saint Mary Major takes it’s name from two references to greatness (“major”): first, it is the largest church in the world dedicated to Our Blessed Mother; second, that it is one of four Papal (or major) basilicas. Together with Saint Lawrence outside the Walls, these four basilicas were formerly referred to as the five “patriarchal basilicas” of Rome, associated with the five ancient patriarchal sees of Christendom.
Saint John Lateran: represents Rome, the See of Peter Saint Paul outside the Walls: represents the See of Alexandria Saint Peter: represents the See of Constantinople Saint Lawrence outside the Walls: represents the See of Jerusalem Saint Mary Major: represents the See of Antioch, where Mary spent the majority of her life.
Also known as the Liberian Basilica, as it was presided over by Pope Liberius, this Basilica housed one of the earliest Christian congregations of Rome. It is also the only Roman basilica that retained the core of its original structure(432-440), left intact despite several construction projects and damage from the great earthquake of 1348.
The beginnings of Saint Mary Major date to the Constantinian period (300s AD), under the direction of Pope Liberius. According to Holy Legend, as recounted in the Breviary:
“Liberius was on the chair of Peter (352-366) when the Roman patrician John and his wife, who was of like nobility, vowed to bequeath their estate to the most Holy Virgin and Mother of God, for they had no children to whom their property could go. The couple gave themselves to assiduous prayer, beseeching Mary to make known to them in some way what pious work they should subsidizse in her honour. Mary answered their petition and confirmed her reply by means of the following miracle. On the fifth of August — a time when it is unbearably hot in the city of Rome — a portion of the Esquiline would be covered with snow during the night. During that same night the Mother of God directed John and his wife in separate dreams to build a church to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary on the site where they would see snow lying. For it was in this manner that she wanted her inheritance to be used. John immediately reported the whole matter to Pope Liberius and he declared that a similar dream had come to him. Accompanied by clergy and people, Liberius proceeded on the following morning in solemn procession to the snow-covered hill and there marked off the area on which the church in Mary’s honour was to be constructed.”
Each year on August fifth, a solemn Mass is offered to celebrate the Miracle of the Snows. During the Mass, white rose petals are dropped from the coffered ceiling, covering the floor, celebrating and re-creating the miraculous snowfall of the fourth century. At sunset on the same day, an artificial “snowfall” is staged as a tourist attraction in the square outside the basilica.
Following construction of the grand basilica, Pope Liberius presided over Masses for the congregation. Under Pope Sixtus III (432-440) the basilica was rebuilt. Following the Council of Ephesus, led by St Cyril of Alexandria, Mary was definitively declared the Theotokos —the Divine Mother of God—and the basilica was consecrated in her honour. The basilica was decorated with mosaics from the lives of Christ and Our Blessed Mother, which have survived until today. Also present is the oldest surviving image of the Blessed Virgin. Known as the Salus Populi Romani, (The Health of the Roman People), this icon is credited with saving Rome from the plague. Thought to have been painted by John the Evangelist, radiocarbon dating has placed the age of this icon at approximately two thousand years old.
As early as the end of the fourth century a replica of the Bethlehem nativity grotto had been added, including relics of the manger of Christ. On this account the edifice became known as “St. Mary of the Crib.” The crib resembles an ordinary manger but is kept in a case of silver and in it lies an image of a little child, also of silver. On Christmas day the holy manger is taken out of the case and exposed. It is kept in a subterraneous chapel in this church and throughout history, saints, including Saint Jerome, have written about this holy relic—both when it resided in Bethlehem and after its relocation to Rome.
The Basilica of Saint Mary Major – (no Catholic church can be honoured with the title of “basilica” unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial custom. St Mary Major is one of the only four that hold the title of “major basilica) is important to Christendom for three important reasons:
1) The basilica stands as a venerable monument to the Council of Ephesus (431), during which the dogma of Mary’s divine Motherhood was solemnly defined. The definition of the Council occasioned a most notable increase in the veneration paid to Mary.
2) The basilica is Rome’s “church of the crib,” a Bethlehem within the Eternal City. It also is a celebrated station church, serving, for instance, as the center for Rome’s liturgy for the first Mass on Christmas. In some measure every picture of Mary with the divine Child is traceable to this church due to the surviving Salus Populi Romani.
3) Saint Mary Major is Christendom’s first Marian shrine for pilgrims. It set the precedent for the countless shrines where pilgrims gather to honour Our Blessed Mother throughout the world. Here was introduced an authentic expression of popular piety that has been the source of untold blessings and graces for Christianity in the past as in the present.
Our Lady of Copacabana: A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary standing four feet tall, made of plaster and maguey fiber, and created by Francisco Tito Yupanqui. Except for the face and hands, it is covered in gold leaf, dressed like an Inca princess, and has jewels on neck, hands and ears. There is no record of what the image looks like under the robes, the carved hair has been covered by a wig, and the image never leaves the basilica. On 21 February 1583 it was enthroned in an adobe church on the peninsula of Copacabana, which juts into Lake Titicaca nearly 3 miles above sea level. In 1669 the viceroy of Peru added a straw basket and baton to the statue, which she still holds today. The present shrine dates from 1805. The image was crowned during the reign of Pope Pius XI, and its sanctuary was promoted to a basilica in 1949. It has been the recipient of many expensive gifts over the years, most of which were looted by civil authorities in need of quick cash.
Patronage – Bolivia, Bolivian navy.
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St Abel of Rheims
St Addai
St Aggai of Edessa
Bl Arnaldo Pons
St Cantidianus
St Cantidius
St Cassian of Autun
St Casto of Teano
Bl Corrado of Laodicea
St Emidius of Ascoli Piceno
St Eusignius
St Gormeal of Ardoilen
Bl James Gerius
St Margaret the Barefooted
St Mari
St Memmius of Châlons-sur-Marne
St Nonna
St Oswald of Northumbria
St Paris of Teano
Bl Pierre-Michel Noël
St Sobel
St Theodoric of Cambrai-Arras
St Venantius of Viviers
St Viator
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Martyrs of Fuente la Higuera: A group of Augustinian priests and clerics who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. 5 August 1936 in Fuente la Higuera, Valencia, Spain. They were Beatified on 28 October 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI.
10 Beati:
• Anastasio Díez García
• Ángel Pérez Santos
• Cipriano Polo García
• Emilio Camino Noval
• Felipe Barba Chamorro
• Gabino Olaso Zabala
• Luciano Ramos Villafruela
• Luis Blanco Álvarez
• Ubaldo Revilla Rodríguez
• Victor Gaitero González
Martyrs of the Salarian Way: Twenty-three Christians who were martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian.
303 on the Salarian Way in Rome, Italy.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
Bl Eduardo González Santo Domingo
Bl Jaume Codina Casellas
Bl Joan Gibert Galofré
Bl José Trallero Lou
Bl Lluís Domingo Mariné
Bl Manuel Moreno Martínez
Maximino Fernández Marinas
Bl Pau Virgili Monfá
Bl Pere Massó Llagostera
Bl Salvi Huix Miralpeix
Bl Victor García Ceballos
When Pope Benedict XVI announced a special Year for Priests to be observed in the Church (June 19, 2009 — June 19, 2010), he noted that the timing was not arbitrary. The year coincides, he said, with the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, “a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ’s flock.”
It is, therefore, appropriate that we pray for all our priests today:
Gracious and loving God, we thank your for the gift of our priests. Through them, we experience your presence in the sacraments.
Help our priests to be strong in their vocation. Set their souls on fire with love for your people.
Grant them the wisdom, understanding, and strength they need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Inspire them with the vision of your Kingdom.
Give them the words they need to spread the Gospel. Allow them to experience joy in their ministry.
Help them to become instruments of your divine grace.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns as our Eternal Priest.
The people were careless about practicing their faith, so they were not happy with this priest who was eager to draw them back to God and Christian living. Some caused trouble by lying about John, by acting violently against him and by refusing to cooperate with him. They hoped that he would give up and leave. Instead, Father Vianney increased his prayers, fasting, and penances.
Gradually, people came to celebrate the sacraments and listen to his homilies. Within a few years, Father Vianney was spending 10–16 hours a day in the confessional. People from all over France and other countries came to consult him. The government built a railroad line to Ars to accommodate all the pilgrims. Father Vianney just continued his hard, yet simple, way of prayer, fasting and penance. He was strict with his parishioners but a hundred times stricter with himself. John gave away his furnishings, his belongings and the gifts of clothes and food that the neighbours brought him. Once he received a black velvet cape as an award and sold it to buy food for those who were poor.
Indifference toward religion, coupled with a love for material comfort, seem to be common signs of our times. A person from another planet observing us would not likely judge us to be pilgrim people, on our way to somewhere else. St John Vianney on the other hand, was a man on a journey, with his goal before him at all times – if he could overcome all obstacles, so can we!
“You must accept your cross. If you bear it courageously, it will carry you to heaven.”
“Here is the rule for everyday life. Do not do anything which you cannot offer to God.”
“The priest is not a priest for himself – he is for you. After God, the priest is everything.”
“It is by battles against hell and by resistance to temptations, that we give God proofs of our love.”
“His look rests on you alone.”
“The sign of the cross is the most terrible weapon against the devil. Thus the Church wishes not only, that we have it continually in front of our minds, to recall to us just what our souls are worth and what they cost Jesus Christ but also that we should make it at every juncture ourselves: when we go to bed, when we awaken during the night, when we get up, when we begin any action, and, above all, when we are tempted.”
“The Devil writes down our sins – our Guardian Angel all our merits. Labour that the Guardian Angel’s book may be full and the Devil’s empty.”
Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you…..James 4:10
REFLECTION – “Humility is like a pair of scales: the lower one side falls, the higher rises the other. Let us humble ourselves like the Blessed Virgin and we shall be exalted.”………St John Vianney
PRAYER – Lord God, light of the faithful and shepherd of souls, who gave blessed John Vianney to Your Church to feed Your flock by his teaching and form them by his example, grant that by his intercession, we may keep the faith which he taught and follow in the way he walked, through our Lord Jesus Christ, in union with the Holy Spirit. St John Vianney, pray for us, amen.
I love You, O my God.
My only desire is to love You, until the last breath of my life.
I love You, O infinitely loveable God
and I prefer to die loving You,
rather than to live for an instant without You.
I love You, O my God
and I desire only to go to heaven,
to have the happiness of loving You perfectly.
I love You, O my God
and my only fear is to go to hell
because one will never have the sweet solace of loving You there.
O my God, if my tongue cannot say at all times that I love You,
at least I want my heart to repeat it to You as many times as I breathe.
Ah! Do me the grace: to suffer while loving You,
to love You while suffering.
And, that when I die: I not only will love You
but experience it in my heart.
I beg You that the closer I come to my final end,
You will increase and perfect my love for You. Amen
Saint of the Day – 9 August – St Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney TOSF (1786-1859) – The Curé of Ars (Parish Priest of Ars) – Confessor Priest and Tertiary – (8 May 1786 at Dardilly, Lyons, France – 4 August 1859 at Ars, France of natural causes) His body is interred in the Basilica of Ars. He was Canonised on 31 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI. Patronages – Confessors, Priests (proclaimed on 23 April 1929 by Pope Pius XI), Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney, Dubuque, Iowa, Archdiocese of, Kamloops, British Columbia, Diocese of, Kansas City, Kansas, Archdiocese of, Lafayette, Louisiana, Diocese of, Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, Archdiocese of. St John Vianney’s body is incorrupt.
St John Vianney was born on 8 May 1786, in the French town of Dardilly, France (near Lyon) and was baptised the same day. His parents, Matthieu Vianney and his wife Marie (Belize), had six children, of whom John was the fourth. The Vianneys were devout Catholics, who helped the poor and gave hospitality to St Benedict Joseph Labre, the patron saint of tramps, who passed through Dardilly on his pilgrimage to Rome.
St Benedict Joseph Labre
By 1790, the anticlerical Terror phase of the French Revolution forced many loyal priests to hide from the regime in order to carry out the sacraments in their parish. Even though to do so had been declared illegal, the Vianneys traveled to distant farms to attend Masses celebrated by priests on the run. Realising that such priests risked their lives day by day, Vianney began to look upon them as heroes. He received his First Communion catechism instructions in a private home by two nuns whose communities had been dissolved during the Revolution. He made his first communion at the age of 13 (normal in those times). During the Mass, the windows were covered so that the light of the candles could not be seen from the outside. His practice of the Faith continued in secret, especially during his preparation for confirmation.
The Catholic Church was re-established in France in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, resulting in religious peace throughout the country, culminating in a Concordat. By this time, Vianney was concerned about his future vocation and longed for an education. He was 20 when his father allowed him to leave the farm to be taught at a “presbytery-school” in the neighbouring village of Écully, conducted by the Abbé Balley. The school taught arithmetic, history, geography and Latin. Vianney struggled with school, especially with Latin, since his past education had been interrupted by the French Revolution. Only because of Vianney’s deepest desire to be a priest—and Balley’s patience—did he persevere.
St Vianney’s studies were interrupted in 1809 when he was drafted into Napoleon’s armies. He would have been exempt, as an ecclesiastical student but Napoleon had withdrawn the exemption in certain dioceses because of his need for soldiers in his fight against Spain. Two days after he had to report at Lyons, he became ill and was hospitalised, during which time his draft left without him. Once released from the hospital, on 5 January, he was sent to Roanne for another draft. He went into a church to pray and fell behind the group. He met a young man who volunteered to guide him back to his group but instead led him deep into the mountains of Le Forez, to the village of Les Noes, where deserters had gathered. St Vianney lived there for fourteen months, hidden in the byre attached to a farmhouse and under the care of Claudine Fayot, a widow with four children. He assumed the name Jerome Vincent and under that name, he opened a school for village children. Since the harsh weather isolated the town during the winter, the deserters were safe from gendarmes. However, after the snow melted, gendarmes came to the town constantly, searching for deserters. During these searches, Vianney hid inside stacks of fermenting hay in Fayot’s barn.
An imperial decree proclaimed in March 1810 granted amnesty to all deserters, which enabled Vianney to go back legally to Ecully, where he resumed his studies. He was tonsured in 1811 and in 1812 he went to the minor seminary at Verrières-en-Forez. In autumn of 1813, he was sent to the major seminary at Lyons. Considered too slow, he was returned to Abbe Balley. However, Balley persuaded the Vicar general that Vianney’s piety was great enough to compensate for his ignorance and the seminarian received minor orders and the subdiaconate on 2 July 1814, was ordained a deacon in June 1815 and was ordained priest on 12 August 1815 in the Couvent des Minimes de Grenoble. He said his first Mass the next day and was appointed the assistant to Balley in Écully.
Curé of Ars
In 1818, shortly after the death of Balley, Jean-Marie Vianney was appointed parish priest of the parish of Ars, a town of 230 inhabitants. As parish priest, he realised that the Revolution’s aftermath had resulted in religious ignorance and indifference, due to the devastation wrought on the Catholic Church in France. At the time, Sundays in rural areas were spent working in the fields, or dancing and drinking in taverns. He spent time in the confessional and gave homilies against blasphemy and paganic dancing. If his parishioners did not give up this dancing, he refused them absolution. Abbe Balley had been St Vianney’s greatest inspiration, since he was a priest who remained loyal to his faith, despite the Revolution. He felt compelled to fulfill the duties of a curé, just as did Balley, even when it was illegal. With Catherine Lassagne and Benedicta Lardet, he established La Providence, a home for girls. Only a man of vision could have such trust that God would provide for the spiritual and material needs of all those who came to make La Providence their home.
Later years
Fr Vianney came to be known internationally and people from distant places began travelling to consult him as early as 1827. “By 1855, the number of pilgrims had reached 20,000 a year. During the last ten years of his life, he spent 16 to 18 hours a day in the confessional. Even the bishop forbade him to attend the annual retreats of the diocesan clergy because of the souls awaiting him yonder”. His work as a confessor is John Vianney’s most remarkable accomplishment. In the winter months he was to spend 11 to 12 hours daily reconciling people with God. In the summer months this time was increased to 16 hours. Unless a man was dedicated to his vision of a priestly vocation, he could not have endured this giving of self day after day.
Many people look forward to retirement and taking it easy, doing the things they always wanted to do but never had the time. But John Vianney had no thoughts of retirement. As his fame spread, more hours were consumed in serving God’s people. Even the few hours he would allow himself for sleep were disturbed frequently by the devil, who physically attacked and tormented St John and kept him from sleeping.
St Vianney had a great devotion to St. Philomena. He regarded her as his guardian and erected a chapel and shrine in honor of the saint. During May 1843, he fell so ill he thought that his life was coming to its end. St John Vianney attributed his cure to her intercession.
He yearned for the contemplative life of a monk and four times ran away from Ars, the last time in 1853. St John Vianney read much and often the lives of the saints, and became so impressed by their holy lives that he wanted for himself and others to follow their wonderful examples. The ideal of holiness enchanted him. This was the theme which underlay his sermons. “We must practice mortification. For this is the path which all the Saints have followed,” he said from the pulpit. He placed himself in that great tradition which leads the way to holiness through personal sacrifice. “If we are not now saints, it is a great misfortune for us: therefore we must be so. As long as we have no love in our hearts, we shall never be Saints.” The Saint, to him, was not an exceptional man before whom we should marvel but a possibility which was open to all Catholics. Unmistakably did he declare in his sermons that “to be a Christian and to live in sin is a monstrous contradiction. A Christian must be holy.” With his Christian simplicity he had clearly thought much on these things and understood them by divine inspiration, while they are usually denied to the understanding of educated men. He was a champion of the poor as a Franciscan tertiary and was a recipient of the coveted French Legion of Honour.
On 4 August 1859, Vianney died at the age of 73. The bishop presided over his funeral with 300 priests and more than 6,000 people in attendance. Before he was buried, Vianney’s body was fitted with a wax mask.
On 3 October 1874 Pope Pius IX proclaimed him “venerable”; on 8 January 1905, Pope Pius X declared him Blessed and proposed him as a model to the parochial clergy. In 1925 John Mary Vianney was canonized by Pope Pius XI, who in 1929 made him patron saint of parish priests.
In 1959, to commemorate the centenary of John Vianney’s death, Pope John XXIII issued the encyclical letter Sacerdotii nostri primordia. St Pope John Paul II visited Ars in person in 1986 in connection with the anniversary of Vianney’s birth and referred to the great saint as a “rare example of a pastor acutely aware of his responsibilities … and a sign of courage for those who today experience the grace of being called to the priesthood.”
In honour of the 150th anniversary of Vianney’s death, Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year of the Priest, running from the Feast of the Sacred Heart 2009–2010. The Vatican Postal Service issued a set of stamps to commemorate the 150th Anniversary. With the following words on 16 June 2009, Benedict XVI officially marked the beginning of the year dedicated to priests, “…On the forthcoming Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Friday 19 June 2009 – a day traditionally devoted to prayer for the sanctification of the clergy –, I have decided to inaugurate a ‘Year of the Priest’ in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the dies natalis of John Mary Vianney, the Patron Saint of parish priests worldwide…” In the Holy Father’s words the Curé d’Ars is “a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ’s flock.”
There are statues and stained glass windows of St John Vianney in many French churches and in Catholic churches throughout the world. Also, many parishes founded in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are named after him. Some relics are kept in the Church of Notre-Dame de la Salette in Paris.
St John Mary Vianney (Memorial) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc3kd25BqeY
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St Agabius of Verona
St Aristarchus of Thessalonica
St Crescentio of Rome
St Eleutherius of Bithynia
St Epiphanes of Besançon
St Euphronius of Tours
St Francesc Mercader Rendé
Bl Frédéric Janssone
St Hyacinth of Rome
St Ia of Persia
St Isidore of Besançon
St Justin of Rome
St Lua of Limerick
St Onofrio of Panaia
St Perpetua of Rome
St Protasius of Cologne
St Rainerio of Split
St Sithney
St Tertullinus of Rome
Bl William Horne
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Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
Bl Gil Rodicio y Rodicio
Bl Gonzalo Gonzalo y Gonzalo
Bl Josep Batalla Parramon
Bl Josep Colom Alsina
Bl Josep Rabasa Betanachs
Bl Luis Quintas Durán
Bl Antonio Arrue Peirano
Bl Riccardo Gil Barcelon
Saints of the Day – 3 August – The Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War 1931-1939
Fifty thousand Spanish people attended the Beatification ceremony of 498 Martyrs, victims of religious persecution in 1930’s Spain. These 498 people were killed only for their faith in Jesus Christ and their ideals, their killing being part of the anti-Catholic plan of the Republican government in power since 1931. The figures of this persecution are beyond comprehension and a complete and hate-filled attack on all Catholics whilst the world watched the violence: 13 Bishops, 4,154 Priests and Seminarians, 2,365 Religious, 283 Nuns and about 4,000 Laymen killed for helping or hiding Nuns or Priests.
As Monsignor Vicente Carcel Orti, the Spanish historian who has been living in Rome for forty years and who worked for the Curia, points out, the Spanish Church did not seek any confrontation with the Republic, but was persecuted in spite of her neutrality. The government persecuted the Church in legislative terms, while Republican extremists used violence against people and things. Anti-clerical violence was unleashed by Freemasons and Communists. Persecution started long before the civil war. According to Monsignor Carcel Orti, the shameful history of the Spanish Republic, a puppet in the hands of the Stalinist regime, has been concealed on account of its follow-up: the long winter of Franco’s dictatorship has, in a way, justified a distorted and mythicized reading of those tragic years.
This not too-long and highly informative interview with the Spanish historian is meant to throw light on this dramatic period in the history of the Spanish Church in order to achieve a better understanding of what is going on in present-day Spain.
Twentieth-century Spain was a nation of Martyrs. What was the political and ideological context in which the persecution of the Church and the martyrdom of believers occurred?
MONSIGNOR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: It was a slow process which began with a great anticlerical movement in the 19th century. In 19th century Spain the Church was closely linked to the monarchy by means of concordats. Catholicism was, in practice, the state religion, like the Orthodox religion in Greece and Romania and Anglicanism in England. In the 1920’s King Alphonse XIII handed power over to Primo de Rivera, who set up a military dictatorship (we are talking about the age of dictatorships: there was Mussolini in Italy, Stalin in Russia and Hitler in Germany). The military regime, on the one hand, dissolved parliament, trade unions and political parties; on the other hand it ushered in a period of security and economic growth, through public works amongst other things. Unfortunately economic growth came to a sudden halt with the 1929 world crisis. The following year the Republicans won the municipal elections. Thus General Primo de Rivera relinquished his power while the king left the country, though without abdicating. It was under these circumstances that the Republicans seized power on April 14th, 1931, and proclaimed the Republic.
Why did the Republic persecute the Church and Catholic believers?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: The Republicans had built up so much hatred for the monarchy and everything relating to it, the Church included, that, once they seized power, they began to hit their enemies. Their first and easiest target was the Church, being defenseless. The new regime made laws against the Church; in the meantime anarchists, socialists and Communists began to use violence against people and things.
What was the role of Freemasonry in this anti-Catholic campaign?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Freemasonry played a key role in the anti-Catholic campaign since Freemasons were present in political institutions, in the government and the “Cortes” (the Spanish parliament), where they had at least 183 deputies. Spanish Freemasonry, therefore, played a major role in the making of anti-Catholic laws and in the defamatory campaign against the Church.
What kind of persecution was the Church faced with from 1931 to 1936?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: As historians have ascertained, a growing number of measures against the Catholic Church and religious practice were taken between 1931 and 1936. These oppressive laws aimed at a radical and antidemocratic conception of the separation between Church and State. Numberless examples could be quoted: the Jesuits were dissolved in January 1932; in May 1933 a law against ecclesiastical property deprived the Church of all her possessions, which were handed over to civil authorities; a law was passed against the teaching of religion in schools, and the clergy was forbidden to teach. Violent persecution proper began in 1934 with the “Turon martyrs,” who have already been canonised and many other believers murdered during the Communist Revolution of the Asturias, when priests, religious and seminarians, 37 in all, were killed and 58 churches were burned. After 1936 in all the main cities, cathedrals, religious communities and parish churches were attacked, ransacked and burned. These persecutions aimed at erasing all traces of Catholic tradition in Spain. Hatred for the faith went even beyond murders and found expression in thousands of sacrilegious acts:tabernacles were emptied, consecrated particles were eaten, shot at, strewn in the streets and trodden on; churches were used as stables, altars were demolished, priests and nuns were held at gunpoint in the attempt to force them to recant their faith. Let us remember that persecutions started years before the beginning of the civil war, and the Church could be accused of supporting Franco’s Falangists, referred to as “rebels.”
But wasn’t the Church hostile to the Republican government?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Spanish bishops recognised the legitimate Republican government from the start. The problem, however, was that the Republican authorities had always been openly hostile to Catholics. After the events of the Asturias, in the summer of 1936, socialists, Communists and anarchists started the most violent persecution in the history of Spain, aimed at the physical elimination of the Church, of both people and things; this persecution lasted until 1939.
Could you quote any figures?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Albeit incomplete, the figures are impressive: 18 bishops, 4,184 between priests and seminarians, 283 nuns and about 4,000 laymen were killed for helping or hiding priests or nuns. It must be emphasized that in the part of the country occupied by Franco’s troops, no harm was done to the clergy nor were the churches destroyed.
Some critics of Franco say that he had 16 Basque Priests executed?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: It is true that when the nationalist troops entered Bilbao, 16 priests were shot, not because they were priests but for political reasons with other people. I have found the documentary evidence of this along with the witness of the bishop who had asked those priests to refrain from being involved in political activities. Such political activities triggered off Franco’s repression, which also involved 16 priests. When the Pope learned about this, he immediately sent a telegram to Franco, who promised that events like that would never happen again. The martyrdom of priests, however, only occurred in the “red” areas. In addition, the Republicans destroyed churches and monasteries (in my diocese, the diocese of Valencia, over 1000 churches and other sacred buildings were destroyed).
When did the Beatification causes of the Spanish Martyrs begin?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: At the end of the civil war in 1939, the Holy See demanded that all information about the persecution available to parishes and dioceses be collected. Once all the necessary material had been collected, bishops gradually started the diocesan phase of the beatification cases. These cases began in the 1940’s and continued into the 1950’s. At the end of the diocesan phase, all documents were sent to Rome for the “Roman” phase, to be held by the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. Yet Paul VI stopped the cases, as he thought it would be best to wait until fifty years had passed from those dramatic events. Also, he posed a condition: Spain was to have a democratic government (the military regime was still in power in 1960’s Spain). At the beginning of John Paul II’s pontificate Spain was already a democracy; the Spaniards therefore asked the Pope to proceed with the beatification cases but he did not comply with their request, since fewer than fifty years had passed since the end of the civil war. John Paul II waited until 1987 to celebrate the first beatification case of martyrs who were victims of religious persecution (three Carmelite nuns from Guadalajara). This marked the beginning of the beatifications of our martyrs. On October 18th we celebrated sixteen beatifications, raising 979 martyrs to the altars. As far as I know, the Congregation is now examining another 2000 cases so that 2000 martyrs will probably be beatified in six or seven years’ time.
The Church has sometimes been accused of opening up an old sore with the Beatification of the Martyrs of the civil wa?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: It is a specious dispute with a strong ideological and political orientation. The victims beatified and canoniSed have never been referred to as “martyrs of the civil war,” but victims of religious persecution; the Church has always paid tribute to martyrs of faith and always will. Civil and military institutions commemorate “soldiers killed in war” or “victims of political repression,” both on the Republican and on the Nationalist sides but this doesn’t mean opening up an old sore, even though political parties sometimes clearly exploit past events.
How can these Martyrs become a mark of reconciliation?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Nowadays the word “martyr” is abused; in common speech it is used in several senses, but its original and most proper use refers to someone suffering or dying for God’s sake, bearing witness to their faith, forgiving and praying for their executioners, as Jesus Christ did on the cross. Others can be called “heroes” or “victims” for various causes, sometimes questionable, but are referred to as “martyrs,” since this word is abused, being extended to those suffering for somebody or something.
“Christian martyrs” have no ideological or political motivation except their faith in God and love of their neighbors. These martyrs never waged or fomented any war; they were never involved in party strife. They brought an everlasting message of peace and love, which lightens our faith and feeds our hope.
The Beatification of these martyrs coincides with the Spanish Parliament’s decision to commemorate the victims of Franco’s regime. Who were they?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: They were people killed in the civil war and in the ensuing wave of repression. This involved the winners’ ideological enemies. Franco’s reaction was violent but did not last too long. Republicans were tried, though by court-martials and documents of these trials have come down to us.
A point must be made: those who fought for the Republic at that time did not fight for freedom or democracy but to set up a regime like the one in power in the Soviet Union. Franco was therefore right when he said that he was making war on Communism. If he had not won, there would have been the Spanish Soviet Union.
All over the world left-wing parties have always idealised the Spanish Republicans and depicted Franco as the incarnation of evil.
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: Franco saved the Church from total destruction. Without his intervention the Church would probably have been blotted out. Yet no one knew at the time that he would become a dictator.
Franco also saved Spain from the Second World War.
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: This is another very important element. At the end of the civil war, Hitler paid a visit to Franco and asked his permission for the German army to cross Spain as far as Gibraltar (he intended to conquer North Africa and occupy the whole Mediterranean). Franco did not give his consent on the grounds that the country had been devastated by the civil war and could not afford to be involved in another conflict.
Pius XI, who was in contact with Franco, warned him against Hitler (Franco declared himself a Catholic, Hitler was a pagan).
At the end of the Second World War Franco established relations with the U.S.A. and brought his country into the U.N. Spain was recognised by all states. When certain circles demand that the Spanish Church apologise for her relations with Franco’s regime,I therefore ask myself: “What do we have to apologize for? For having ten thousand martyrs?” Such requests are made by the ideological heirs of those who persecuted the Church. They do everything to erase all memories of her martyrdom.
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI:These requests are only demagogical. In addition, the Spanish Church produced a document many years ago, recognising that mistakes had been made and forgiving her persecutors. In this document it was also pointed out that no other course of action was possible under those circumstances.
Why is the struggle against Franco still a myth to the whole of the Left, a symbol of the fight for democracy against dictatorship?
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI:Most of the European Left was and is Communist. Since Franco was the only one to defeat Communists on the battlefield, these have reacted by presenting the fight of the International Brigades as the fight for freedom against dictatorship. Unfortunately Communist organizations are the most backward and the most conservative ones nowadays; they are unable to revise their past or make any self-criticism.
Socialist, Communist and Masonic parties are in power in Spain nowadays. They see the Church in the same way as the Republicans who tried to destroy her 70 years ago. Needless to say, nobody kills priests and nuns or burns religious buildings but the Church is perceived as a hindrance to the real progress of Spain and the whole of mankind, as an institution to marginalize and reduce to silence, being the holder of a conservative vision of man, an ideological adversary. Zapatero seems to be willing to create a new world, a new man in Spain.
MSGR VICENTE CARCEL ORTI: This is typical of all left-wing totalitarian regimes. Stalin too intended to create a new man; so did Pol Pot. Freedom is at risk in Spain, as the state is trying to interfere with people’s private lives, to impose a given way of life, to decide how they must bring up their children, etc. It is not enough for laws to be passed by a parliament to be right. As there is only one voice to defend man’s good, attempts are being made to hush it. Yet, whilst politicians are voted into and out of power, the Church remains.
Martyrs Born Various Died 1934, 1936-1939 Venerated in Roman Catholicism Beatified 29 March 1987 1 October 1989 29 April 1990 25 October 1992 10 October 1993 1 October 1995 4 May 1997 10 May 1998 7 March 1999 11 March 2001 by Pope John Paul II 29 October 2005 28 October 2007 23 January 2010 17 December 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI[1] 13 October 2013 1 November 2014 5 September 2015 3 October 2015 21 November 2015 23 April 2016 8 October 2016 29 October 2016 25 March 2017 6 May 2017 21 October 2017 11 November 2017 by Pope Francis Canonised 4 May 2003 in Madrid by Pope John Paul II Feasts – Various
St Abibas
St Anthony the Roman
St Aspren of Naples
Bl Augustine Gazotich
Bl Benno of Metz
St Dalmatius
St Euphronius of Autun
St Gamaliel
St Gaudentia
Bl Godfrey of Le Mans
Bl Gregory of Nonantula
St Hermellus
St Nicodemus
St Senach of Clonard
St Trea of Ardtree
St Waltheof of Melrose
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Martyrs of Vercelli – 4 saints (below)
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAioTwJ0BMA
BlAndrés Avelino Gutiérrez Moral
Bl Antonio Isidoro Arrué Peiró
Bl Eleuterio Mancho López
Bl Eugenio Remón Salvador
Bl Federico López y López
Bl Francisco Bandrés Sánchez
Bl Geronimo Limón Márquez
Bl Jose Guardiet y Pujol
Bl Patricio Beobide Cendoya
Bl Ricardo Gil Barcelón
Bl Salvador Ferrandis Seguí
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is one of the best ways to spend time with Jesus. There is so much noise around us these days. Spending a quiet hour with Jesus in humble adoration will bring many graces and blessings to you. Things that you have never even considered before will now be made present to you. Bad things that would have happened to you will now not happen. Here are some thoughts about what Jesus is asking you during this time. As He told Peter, “Could you not spend one hour with me?”St. Peter Julian Eymard tells us all how to spend an hour in Adoration!
“MY CHILD, you need not know much in order to please Me; only love Me dearly. Speak to Me as you would talk to your mother, if she had taken…
Thought for the Day – 2 August – The Memorial of St Peter Julian Eymard “Apostle of the Eucharist”
“I can remember very clearly that afternoon when I ran out of this room, down the stairs and out the front door. I ran into the church with all the energy of a five-year-old. It was empty. I did something so out of place. I climbed and sat on the table of the altar and I just leaned my head against the tabernacle. My sister, Marianne, asked me, “What are you doing there?” I quickly answered, ‘I am near Jesus and I’m listening to him.’”
Anticipating the renewal brought about by the Second Vatican Council, Saint Peter Julian Eymard had a vision of Eucharistic communities of priests, deacons, brothers, sisters and lay people living lives of total dedication to the spiritual values that are inspired by the celebration of the Eucharist and deepened through prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
His life was a true journey to Christ in the Eucharist, a journey begun intuitively on that day when a small boy wandered away from his family home to go to church―to listen to Jesus in the tabernacle.
Prayer to Saint Peter Julian Eymard
St Peter Julian,
the Lord has given you,
as he once did to Jacob, His servant,
an ever-searching faith.
All your life long, you have sought the way
to deepen your union with God
and to satisfy the hungers of humanity.
In the Eucharist, you have discovered the answer to your searching:
God’s love was there for you and for all humanity.
Answering this gift of love,
you made the gift of yourself to God
and you have given of yourself to the service of His people.
Your life, modeled on that of the Cenacle,
where Mary and the apostles were united in prayer,
inspired your disciples to live in an atmosphere of prayer.
Their apostolic zeal caused them to build Christian communities
where the Eucharist is the center and source of life.
Saint Peter Julian,
accompany us on our journey of faith.
May our ardent prayer and our generous service
help us to contribute to the establishing of a world
where there is justice and peace.
May our celebrations of the Eucharist
proclaim the liberating love of God
for the renewal of His church
and the coming of His kingdom.
Amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 2 August – The Memorial of St Peter Julian Eymard “Apostle of the Eucharist”
“During the days of His mortal life, Jesus was present in one place only. He dwelt in one house only. Few persons were privileged enough to enjoy His presence and listen to His words. But today in the Blessed Sacrament, He is, we may say, everywhere at one and the same time. In a way, His humanity shares the prerogative of His divine immensity which fills all things. Jesus is present in His entirety in an infinite number of temples and in each one of them. Since all the Christians scattered throughout the world are members of His Mystical Body, it does seem necessary that He, as the soul of it, should be everywhere present throughout the whole body, giving it life, and sustaining it in each one of His members.”
“Have a great love for Jesus in His divine Sacrament of Love; that is the divine oasis of the desert. It is the heavenly manna of the traveller. It is the Holy Ark. It is the Life and Paradise of love on earth.”
“When we work hard, we must eat well. What a joy, that you can receive Holy Communion often! It’s our life and support in this life – receive Communion often and Jesus will change you into Himself.”
“Eucharistic adoration is the greatest of actions. To adore is to share the life of Mary on earth when she adored the Word Incarnate in her virginal womb, when she adored Him in the Crib, on Calvary, in the divine Eucharist.”
…..At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love…1 Corinthians 12-13
REFLECTION – “We believe in the love of God for us. To believe in love is everything. It is not enough to believe in the Truth. We must believe in Love and Love is our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. That is the faith that makes our Lord loved. Ask for this pure and simple faith in the Eucharist. Men will teach you; but only Jesus will give you the grace to believe in Him. You have the Eucharist. What more do you want?”… St Peter Julian Eymund
PRAYER – Lord our God, help us to imitate the constancy and love of St Peter Julian in proclaiming the Real Presence and Love of Jesus Christ, who remains waiting for us all in the Holy Eucharist. By living the love and faith in the Holy Eucharist as St Peter Julian did, may we come to share the life of our Lord Jesus, Your Son, who waits and loves and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. St Peter Julian Eymard, pray for us, amen.
AnaStpaul 
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