Saint of the Day – 26 October – St Pope Evaristus (c 44 – c 108) – Martyr, Bishop of Rome – Pope Evaristus accounted as the fifth Bishop of Rome, holding office from c 99 to his death c 108. He was also known as Aristus.
He succeeded Saint Anacletus on the throne of Saint Peter, elected during the second general persecution, under the reign of Domitian. That emperor no doubt did not know that the Christian pontificate was being perpetuated in the shadows of the catacombs. The text of the Liber Pontificalis, says of the new pope:
“Evaristus, born in Greece of a Jewish father named Juda, originally from the city of Bethlehem, reigned for thirteen years, six months and two days, under the reigns of Domitian, Nerva and Trajan, from the Consulate of Valens and Veter (96) until that of Gallus and Bradua (108). This pontiff divided among the priests the titles of the city of Rome. By a constitution he established seven deacons who were to assist the bishop and serve as authentic witnesses for him. During the three ordinations which he conducted in the month of December, he promoted six priests, two deacons and five bishops, destined for various churches. Evaristus received the crown of martyrdom. He was buried near the body of Blessed Peter in the Vatican, on the sixth day of the Calends of November (25 October 108). The episcopal throne remained vacant for nineteen days.”
It was at the same time as Saint Ignatius, the illustrious bishop of Antioch, that Pope Saint Evaristus gave his life by martyrdom. The acts of his martyrdom are lost but we perceive that the same faith, heroism and devotion united the churches of the East and of the West. He is often represented with a sword because he was decapitated, or with a crib, because it is believed that he was born in Bethlehem, from which his father migrated.
St Adalgott of Einsiedeln
St St Alanus of Quimper
Albinus of Buraburg
St Alfred the Great
St Alorus of Quimper
St Amandus of Strasburg
St Amandus of Worms
St Aneurin
St Aptonius of Angouleme
St Arnold of Queralt
St Bean of Mortlach
St Bernard de Figuerols
Bl Bonaventura of Potenza
St Cedd
Bl Celina Chludzinska
St Cuthbert of Canterbury
Bl Damian dei Fulcheri
St Eadfrid
St Eata of Hexham
St Pope Evaristus – (c 44 – c 107) Martyr
St Felicissimus of Carthage
St Fulk of Piacenza
St Gaudiosus of Salerno
St Gibitrudis
St Gwinoc
St Humbert
St Lucian
St Marcian
St Quadragesimus of Policastro
St Rogatian of Carthage
St Rusticus of Narbonne
St Sigibald of Metz
—
Martyrs of Nicomedia – 5 saints
Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort’s Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary – Day Nine – 25 October
Readings and Prayers
12 Day Preparation
Day 9 of 33
Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis: Book 1, Chapter 13, cont.
Fire tries iron and temptation a just man.
We often know not what we are able to do but temptations discover what we are. Still, we must watch, especially in the beginning of temptation, for then the enemy is more easily overcome, if he be not suffered to enter the door of the mind but is withstood upon the threshold the very moment he knocks. Whence a certain one has said “Resist beginnings; all too late the cure.” When ills have gathered strength, by long delay, first there comes from the mind a simple thought, then a strong imagination, afterwards delight and the evil motion and consent and so, little by little the fiend does gain entrance, when he is not resisted in the beginning. The longer anyone has been slothful in resisting, so much the weaker he becomes, daily in himself and the enemy, so much the stronger in him.
Some suffer grievous temptations in the beginning of their conversion, others in the end and others are troubled nearly their whole life. Some are very lightly tempted, according to the wisdom and the equity of the ordinance of God who weighs man’s condition and merits and pre-ordains all things for the salvation of His elect.
We must not, therefore, despair when we are tempted but the more fervently pray to God to help us in every tribulation – Who, of a truth, according to the sayings of St Paul, will make such issue with the temptation, that we are able to sustain it.
Let us then humble our souls under the hand of God in every temptation and tribulation, for the humble in spirit, He will save and exalt. In temptation and tribulations, it is proved, what progress man has made and there also, is great merit and virtue made more manifest.
Thought for the Day – 25 October – The Memorial of Saints Crispin & St Crispinian – (†285 or 286) Martyrs
From the example of the saints, it appears how foolish the pretences of many Christians are, who imagine the care of a family, the business of a farm or a shop, the attention which they are obliged to give to their worldly profession, are impediments which excuse them from aiming at perfection. Such, indeed, they make them but this is altogether owing to their own sloth and malice. How many saints have made these very employments the means of their perfection! Saint Paul made tents; Saints Crispin and Crispinian were shoemakers,the Blessed Virgin was taken up in the care of her poor cottage, Christ Himself worked with His foster father and those saints who renounced all commerce with the world, to devote themselves totally to the contemplation of heavenly things, made mats, tilled the earth, or copied and bound good books.
The secret of the art of their sanctification was, that fulfilling the maxims of Christ, they studied to subdue their passions and die to themselves; they, with much earnestness and application, obtained of God and improved daily in their souls, a spirit of devotion and prayer; their temporal business they regarded as a duty which they owed to God and sanctified it by a pure and perfect intention, as Christ on earth directed everything He did to the glory of His Father.
In these very employments, they were careful to improve themselves in humility, meekness, resignation, divine charity and all other virtues, by the occasion which call them forth at every moment and in every action. Opportunities of every virtue and every kind of good work never fail in all circumstances and the chief means of our sanctification may be practised, in every state of life, which are self-denial and assiduous prayer, frequent aspirations and pious meditation or reflections on spiritual truths, which disengage the affections from earthly things and deeply imprint in the heart, those of piety and religion….by Father Alban Butler
Quote of the Day – 25 October – The Memorial of Saints Crisp in & St Crispinian – (†285 or 286) Martyrs
The feast day of Saints Crispin and Crispinian is 25 October. Although this feast was removed from the Roman Catholic Church’s universal liturgical calendar following the Second Vatican Council, the two saints are still commemorated on that day in the most recent edition of the Roman Martyrology. Sts Crispin and Crispinian were the first “band of brothers,” who fought bravely on the battlefield of the soul.
The historian and bishop, St Gregory of Tours (538-594) refers twice in his History of the Franks to a Basilica of Sts Crispin and Crispinian in the northern French city of Soissons, if the Church was already well-established at that time, the commemoration of the martyrs dates from much closer to their martyrdom.
The St Crispin’s Day speech was delivered on 25 October 1415 by King Henry V of England to rouse his soldiers on the morning of the Battle of Agincourt and later chronicled by William Shakespeare in his play, Henry V, in Act IV Scene iii 18–67. In the speech, which fell on Saint Crispin’s Day, Henry V urged his men — who were vastly outnumbered by the French — to recall how the English had previously inflicted great defeats upon the French.
The speech by Shakespeare has been famously portrayed by Sir Laurence Olivier to raise British spirits during the Second World War, and by Sir Kenneth Branagh in the 1989 film Henry V (see video below) and it made famous the phrase “band of brothers.” The play was written around 1600 and several later writers have used parts of it in their own texts.
Note: the text is Shakespeare’s, as the wording of Henry’s historical speech is not known.
WESTMORLAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!
KING. What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin, Westmorland? No, my fair cousin,
If we are mark’d to die, we are enough
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost,
It yearns me not if men my garments wear,
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart, his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse,
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words—
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester—
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son,
And Crispin, Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd— We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother, be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition,
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
One Minute Reflection – 25 October – Today’s Gospel: Luke 12:49–53 – Thursday of the Twenty Ninth week in Ordinary Time, Year B and the Memorial of Saints Crispin & St Crispinian – (†285 or 286) Martyrs
“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division…”…Luke 12:51
REFLECTION – “In all our affections, order is necessary. Love your father, love your mother, love your children after God. If it becomes inevitable to place love of one’s relatives and children in the balance with love of God, without it being possible to preserve them both, then not to prefer one’s own family, is piety towards God.”…St Jerome (343-420) Father & Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, You glorious Trinity are our lesson in love and unity. Grant us this day the grace of true love for You and true order in all our affections. May the intercession of Sts Crispin and Crispinian, strengthen us. Amen.
O Lord the House of My Soul is Narrow By St Augustine ((354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
O God, the Light of the heart that sees You,
The Life of the soul that loves You,
The Strength of the mind that seeks You,
May I ever continue to be steadfast in Your love.
Be the joy of my heart;
Take all of me to Yourself and abide therein.
The house of my soul is, I confess, too narrow for You.
Enlarge it that You may enter.
It is ruinous but do repair it.
It has within it what must offend Your eyes,
I confess and know it,
But whose help shall I seek in cleansing it but Yours alone?
To You, O God, I cry urgently.
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep me from false pride and sensuality
That they not get dominion over me.
Amen
Saints of the Day – 25 October – Sts Crispin & Crispinian (†285 or 286) Martyrs – twin brother cobblers – Patronages – cobblers; curriers; glove makers; lace makers; lace workers; leather workers; saddle makers; saddlers; shoemakers; tanners; weavers, San Crispin, San Pablo City, Philippines.
These two glorious martyrs came from Rome to preach the Faith in Gaul toward the middle of the third century. Fixing their residence at Soissons, they instructed many in the Faith of Christ, which they preached publicly in the day and at night they worked at making shoes, though they are said to have been nobly born and brothers.
The infidels listened to their instructions and were astonished at the example of their lives, especially of their charity, disinterestedness, heavenly piety and contempt of glory and all earthly things and the effect was the conversion of many to the Christian faith.
The brothers had continued their employment several years when a complaint was lodged against them. The emperor, to gratify their accusers and give way to his savage cruelty, gave orders that they should be convened before Biotin’s Varus, the most implacable enemy of the Christians.
The martyrs were patient and constant under the most cruel torments and finished their course by the sword about the year 286. A Christian brother and sister buried their bodies on their own terrain, where later a public oratory was constructed.
St Alfons Arimany Ferrer
St Bernard of Calvo
St Canna verch Tewdr Marw
St Chrysanthus
St Crispin & St Crispian – (†285 or 286) Martyrs
St Cyrinus of Rome
St Daria
St Dulcardus
Bl Edmund Daniel
St Fronto of Périgueux
St Fructus of Segovia
St Gaudentius of Brescia
St George of Périgueux
St Goeznoveus of Leon
St Guesnoveus
Bl Henry of Segusio
St Hilary of Javols
St Hilary of Mende
St Hildemarca of Fecamp
St Januarius of Sassari
St Lucius of Rome
St Lupus of Bayeux
St Mark of Rome
Bl Maurus of Pécs
St Miniato of Florence
St Peter of Rome
St Protus of Sassari
St Recaredo Centelles Abad
St Tabitha
Bl Thaddeus McCarthy
St Theodosius of Rome
—
Martyrs of Constantinople:
Marciano
Martirio
Martyrs of Cruz Cubierta – 5 beati: A mother, Blessed María Teresa Ferragud Roig de Masiá and her four daughters, Blessed María Joaquina Masiá Ferragud, Blessed María Vicenta Masiá Ferragud, Blessed María Felicidad Masiá Ferragud and Blessed Josefa Ramona Masiá Ferragud, all nuns, who were Martyred in the Spanish Civil War, on 25 October 1936 in Cruz Cubierta, Alzira, Valencia, Spain.
They were Beatified on 11 March 2001 by St Pope John Paul II.
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales – 40 saints: Following the dispute between the Pope and King Henry VIII in the 16th century, faith questions in the British Isles became entangled with political questions, with both often being settled by torture and murder of loyal Catholics. In 1970, the Vatican selected 40 martyrs, men and women, lay and religious, to represent the full group of perhaps 300 known to have died for their faith and allegiance to the Church between 1535 and 1679. They each have their own day of memorial, but are remembered as a group on 25 October.
• Alban Roe • Alexander Briant • Ambrose Edward Barlow • Anne Line • Augustine Webster • Cuthbert Mayne • David Lewis • Edmund Arrowsmith • Edmund Campion • Edmund Gennings • Eustace White • Henry Morse • Henry Walpole • John Almond • John Boste • John Houghton • John Jones • John Kemble • John Lloyd • John Pain • John Plesington • John Rigby • John Roberts • John Southworth • John Stone • John Wall • Luke Kirby • Margaret Clitherow • Margaret Ward • Nicholas Owen • Philip Evans • Philip Howard • Polydore Plasden • Ralph Sherwin • Richard Gwyn • Richard Reynolds • Robert Lawrence • Robert Southwell • Secular Clergy • Swithun Wells • Thomas Garnet.
Canonised on 25 October 1970 by St Pope Paul VI
Martyrs of Rome – 67 saints: A group of 46 soldiers and 21 civilians martyred together in the persecutions of Claudius II. 269 in Rome, Italy.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Alfons Arimany Ferrer
• Blessed Recaredo Centelles Abad
Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort’s Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary – Day Eight – 24 October
Readings and Prayers
12 Day Preparation
Day 8 of 33
Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis: Book 1, Chapter 13 Of Resisting Temptations
As long as we live in this world, we cannot be without temptations and tribulations. Hence it is written in Job “Man’s life on earth is a temptation.” Everyone, therefore, should be solicitous about his temptations and watch in prayer lest the devil find an opportunity to catch him – who never sleeps but goes about, seeking whom he can devour.
No-one is so perfect and holy as sometimes not to have temptations and we can never be wholly free from them. Nevertheless, temptations are very profitable to man, troublesome and grievous though they may be, for in them, a man is humbled, purified and instructed. All the Saints passed through many tribulations and temptations and were purified by them. And they that could not support temptations, became reprobate, and fell away.
Many seek to flee temptations and fall worse into them. We cannot conquer by flight alone but by patience and true humility we become stronger than all our enemies. He who only declines them outwardly and does not pluck out their root, will profit little, nay, temptations will sooner return and he will find himself in a worse condition.
By degrees and by patience you will, by God’s grace, better overcome them than by harshness and your own importunity. Take council the oftener in temptation and do not deal harshly with one who is tempted but pour in consolation, as thou would wish to be done unto yourself.
Inconstancy of mind and little confidence in God, is the beginning of all temptations. For as a ship without a helm is driven to and fro by the waves, so the man who neglects and gives up his resolutions is tempted in many ways.
Thought for the Day – 24 October – The Memorial of St Luigi Guanella (1842-1915)
St Luigi and St Joseph – “The Pious Union of St Joseph”
In his daily life, Fr Guanella had a great devotion to St Joseph, custodial father of Jesus and safeguard of the virginity of Mary, his wife, the Mother of God. He reminded his priests and nuns that St Joseph is the administrator of all their homes. All superiors must have the love and care of St Joseph, as well as the kindness and gentleness of Mary, in dealing with the residents.
His love and care had no limit. His dear impaired people were assisted to the very end. When he was home, it was his duty to give his blessing for the dying. His motto was, “Let us give them bread and paradise” and this was implanted in the hearts of all his nuns and priests.
In Rome, six years before his death and physically tired by his work, Fr Guanella was inspired to build a Church and start an Association in honour of St Joseph, patron of the dying. Pope Pius X, a very close friend, expressed a desire to have a church in Trionfale, a very poor area near the Vatican. The Pope’s desire strengthened Fr Guanella’sown ideas. Trusting to divine providence, he put a down payment on the land and the foundation was immediately begun. On the property, there was a barn which became the first Chapel of St Joseph. The people called it the ‘Basilichetta’ (small Basilica.) In 1912, Fr Guanella announced to the Pope that the Church was completed in honour of St Joseph and His Holiness, whose baptismal name was Joseph Sarto.
The Pope admired Fr Guanella for his courage and devotion to St Joseph and when he heard about the Pious Union Association of prayers for the dying, he said to Fr Luigi, “Please make me the first member.”
In 1913, Pope Pius X gave his approval, making the Church of the Pious Union the main centre for all the universal church. His beloved Pope Pius X died in 1914, one year before Fr Guanella’s own death. The two saints understood each other so well.
Quote/s of the Day – 24 October – The Memorial of St Luigi Guanella (1842-1915)
“The sun of our lives is the Eucharist.”
“The fountain of holy love is in Jesus Christ and we have Jesus with us, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. From that throne of love, how often He enlightens the minds of His children and how many again find their peace of heart.”
“The earth is filled with tabernacles – Praise Him!”
“Our union in heaven will depend upon our communion with God on earth.”
“Plant your heart in Jesus Crucified and all the thorns will seem like roses.”
“Whoever finds Mary, finds the way to Salvation.”
“Charity lights the path to divine love.”
“Imitate the Heart of Christ in love for the poor.”
One Minute Reflection – 24 October – Today’s Gospel: Luke 12:39–48 – Wednesday of the Twenty Ninth week in Ordinary Time. Year B and The Memorial of St Anthony Mary Claret CMF (1807-1870) and St Luigi Guanella (1842-1915)
“But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into…”…Luke 12:39
REFLECTION – “There is need of living well but, there is even more need of dying well. A good death is everything, especially today, where people think only of things and enjoyment here on earth, rejecting eternity.” … St Luigi Guanella (1842-1915)
“The disciple is one, who awaits the Lord and His Kingdom. May the Virgin Mary help us, not to be people and communities dulled by the present, or worse, nostalgic for the past but striving toward the future of God, toward the encounter with Him, our life and our hope.”...Pope Francis – Angelus, 7 August 2016
PRAYER – Heavenly Father, help me to keep my death constantly before my eyes, for this is my final account. I pray You for a holy life that my death may be holy and that I may come to You and live for all eternity with You. When my hour is come, bid me come to You, Lord. Hear the prayers of your Saints, Anthony Mary Claret and Luigi Guanella, who lived each moment of their lives for the glory of Your Kingdom. We ask this through Christ, our Lord with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 24 October – The Memorial of St Anthony Mary Claret CMF (1807-1870)
I Wish to Love Thee, My God By St Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870)
I wish to love Thee, my God, with all my heart, with all my being, with all my strength. I consecrate to Thee, my thoughts, desires, words and actions, whatever I have and whatever I can be. Let me use what I have for Thy greater honour and glory, according to Thy will. Amen
Saint of the Day – 24 October – St Luigi Guanella (1842-1915) – Priest, Founder, Apostle of Charity, Marian devotee, Eucharistic Adorer and passionate apostle – born Aloysius Guanella on 9 December 1842 in Fraciscio di Campodolcino, Sondrio, diocese of Como, Italy and died on 24 October 1915 (aged 72) in Como, Italy of complications from a stroke he suffered on 27 September 1915. Founder of the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence (1890) and the Servants of Charity (24 March 1908) alongside his friends Fr David Albertario (1846-1902) and Blessed Giuseppe Toniolo (1845-1918). Guanella also founded the Pious Union of Saint Joseph (1914) with his supporter and first member St Pope Pius X. These religious communities focused on the relief of the poor throughout the world. The Servants of Charity motto reads “In Omnibus Charitas” – “In all things Love”which became the cornerstone for Guanella’s own life. Patronages – Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence, Servants of Charity and the Pious Union of Saint Joseph.
Louis Guanella was born in Fraciscio di Campodolcino in Val San Giacomo (Sondrio) on 19 December 1842. The particular geographical location where he grew up, formed Louis into a solid character – firm, temperate and with a spirit of sacrifice. He was always distinguished for his great faith, strengthened by popular piety, a faith alive for its closeness to the poor and simple.
He studied at the Gallio College in Como and in various diocesan seminaries. In 1866 he was ordained priest and, soon after, appointed parish priest at Savogno. He dedicated himself zealously to young people busying himself with helping them in their schooling and revitalising Catholic Action.
He was in contact with St Don Bosco SDB (1815-1888) at the time. Fascinated by the Salesian charism, he tried opening a College for the young but the operation didn’t go ahead. However, he wanted to stay with Don Bosco and in 1875 became a Salesian. He was in charge of the “Saint Aloysius” Oratory in Turin and soon after was appointed Rector of the “Dupraz” College in Trinità (Cuneo). He remained in the Salesian Congregation for just three years, because the Lord had arranged otherwis -: the bishop in fact called him back to the diocese. Louis had no fear of defending young people and the poor even in front of the powerful and the politicians.
This was another reason why he had to close the school he had opened for poor children in Traona. Sent by the bishop to look after a hostel for poor elderly people, he founded a group of Ursulines there, whom he organised into a Congregation – the Daughters of Holy Mary of Providence. The new Congregation was dedicated to the education of youth, especially those who were poor and on the margins but also, to support and be with poor elderly folk. In Como he founded the House of Divine Providence, at the centre of which he built a Shrine to the Sacred Heart. With support from the bishop he also founded a male branch – The Servants of Charity, with the same aims.
His Congregations flourished in Italy, Switzerland and the United States. In support of the dying he founded the Pia Unione del Transito – Pious Union of Saint Joseph. He built various churches and works for emigrants and fringe-dwellers.
What he gained from his experience with Don Bosco was not only a love for the young that he carried with him all his life but in particular, blind obedience and sacrifice in his relationships with his superiors. Like Don Bosco he was obedient to the bishop even when it meant suffering and misunderstanding. He died at Como 24 October 1925.
Declared Venerable on 6 April 1962, Beatified on 25 October 1964 by Paul VI and Canonised on 23 October 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI.
His older sister was the Servant of God Caterina Guanella (25 March 1841 – 13 June 1891).
Bl Amado García Sánchez
St Audactus of Thibiuca
St Cadfarch
St Ciriacus of Hierapolis
St Claudian of Hierapolis
St Ebregislus of Cologne
St Felix of Thibiuca
St Fortunatus of Thibiuca
St Fromundus of Coutances
St Giuse Lê Dang Thi
Bl Giuseppe Baldo
St Januarius of Thibiuca
St Luigi Guanella
St Maglorius of Wales
St Marcius of Monte Cassino
St Martin of Vertou
St Proclus of Constantinople
St Senoch
St Senócus of Tours
St Septimus of Thibiuca
—
Martyrs of Ephesus – 3 saints: Three Christians martyred together. All we know about them are the names Mark, Sotericus and Valentina.
They were stoned to death near Ephesus, Asia Minor (in modern Turkey). Their relics are enshrined on the island of Tasos.
Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort’s Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary
Readings and Prayers
12 Day Preparation
Day 7 of 33
Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis: Book 1, Chapter 18, cont.
Outwardly they suffered want but within they were refreshed with grace and Divine consolation. They were aliens to the world, they seemed as nothing and the world despised them but they were precious and beloved in the sight of God.
They persevered in true humility, they lived in simple obedience, they walked in charity and patience and so every day they advanced in spirit and gained great favour with God. They were given for example to all religious and ought more to excite us to advance in good, than the number of lukewarm to induce us to grow remiss.
Oh! how great was the fervour of all religious in the beginning of their holy institute! Oh, how great was their devotion in prayer, how great was their zeal for virtue! How vigorous the discipline that was kept up, what reverence and obedience, under the rule of the superior, flourished in all! Their traces that remain still bear witness, that they were truly holy and perfect men who did battle so stoutly and trampled the world under their feet.
Now, he is thought great who is not a transgressor and who can, with patience, endure what he has undertaken. Ah, the lukewarmness and negligence of our state! that we soon fall away from our first fervour and are even now tired with life, from slothfulness and tepidity.
Oh that advancement in virtue be not quite asleep in thee, who has so often seen the manifold examples of the devout!
Thought for the Day – 23 October – The Memorial of St John of Capistrano OFM (1386-1456)
It has been said the Christian saints are the world’s greatest optimists. Not blind to the existence and consequences of evil, they base their confidence on the power of Christ’s redemption. The power of conversion through Christ extends not only to sinful people but also to calamitous events.
Imagine being born in the 14th century. One-third of the population and nearly 40 percent of the clergy were wiped out by the bubonic plague. The Western Schism split the Church with two or three claimants to the Holy See at one time. England and France were at war. The city-states of Italy were constantly in conflict. No wonder that gloom dominated the spirit of the culture and the times.
John Capistrano was born in 1386. His education was thorough. His talents and success were great. When he was 26 he was made governor of Perugia. Imprisoned after a battle against the Malatestas, he resolved to change his way of life completely. At the age of 30 he entered the Franciscan novitiate and was ordained a priest four years later.
John’s preaching attracted great throngs at a time of religious apathy and confusion. He and 12 Franciscan brethren were received in the countries of central Europe as angels of God. They were instrumental in reviving a dying faith and devotion.
The Franciscan Order itself was in turmoil over the interpretation and observance of the Rule of St Francis. Through John’s tireless efforts and his expertise in law, the heretical Fraticelli were suppressed and the “Spirituals” were freed from interference in their stricter observance.
John of Capistrano helped bring about a brief reunion with the Greek and Armenian Churches.
When the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, John was commissioned to preach a crusade for the defence of Europe. Gaining little response in Bavaria and Austria, he decided to concentrate his efforts in Hungary. He led the army to Belgrade. Under the great General John Hunyadi, they gained an overwhelming victory and the siege of Belgrade was lifted. Worn out by his superhuman efforts, Capistrano was an easy prey to an infection after the battle. He died on October 23, 1456.
John Hofer, a biographer of John Capistrano, recalls a Brussels organisation named after the saint. Seeking to solve life problems in a fully Christian spirit, its motto was: “Initiative, Organisation, Activity.” These three words characterised John’s life. He was not one to sit around. His deep Christian optimism drove him to battle problems at all levels with the confidence engendered by a deep faith in Christ. (Lives of the Saints – Franciscan Media)
Our Morning Offering – 23 October – The Memorial of Blessed Arnold Rèche FSC (1838-1890)
Father in Heaven, God of Love All I Have and Am is Yours La Sallian Morning Offering
Father in heaven, God of love,
all I have and am is Yours.
Grant that I may become a living sign
of Your compassion in this world.
Grant me the faith
to live my life,
always in the awareness
of Your loving presence.
Grant me zeal
to serve without thought of reward,
those to whom You send me.
Grant me charity,
to bear the burdens of my brothers and sisters.
Teach me to seek Your Son’s face,
in the last,
the lost
and the least.
In whatever I undertake,
may I seek above all things,
to procure Your glory,
as far as I am able
and as You will require of me.
Strengthen me by Your Holy Spirit,
to follow Jesus by living
the commitment I make this day.
Amen.
Saint of the Day – 23 October – Blessed Arnold Rèche FSC (1838-1890) – French Religious Brother of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian School (LaSallian Brothers) founded by St Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (1651-1719) in 1725 – he assumed the religious name of “Arnould” upon his profession into the congregation and became a noted Teacher, Catechist, Novice Master – born 2 September 1838 at Landroff, Lorraine, France as Nicholas-Jules Reche and died on 23 October 1890 following a cerebral hemorrhage. Also known as Arnold Jules-Nicolas Rèche, Jules Reche, Julian-Nicolas Rèche, Nicholas-Jules Reche. Patronage – Teachers.
Jules-Nicolas Rèche was born into a poor family living in Landroff in the province of Lorraine. He left school at an early age to work as a stable-boy, a coachman and finally as a teamster for a local construction company. Even as a young man he was known among his fellow workers for his piety and his self-discipline. He first met the De La Salle Brothers while attending evening classes in their school and asked to be admitted into the congregation.
He taught for fourteen years at the boarding school on the Rue de Venise in Reims. Despite the demands of a full teaching schedule he managed by private study to master theology, mathematics, science and agriculture, which he taught to small groups of advanced students.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he worked with other Brothers to care for the medical and spiritual needs of the wounded soldiers on both sides, for which he was awarded the Bronze Cross.
The intensity of his prayer life and his love for practices of penance soon led the superiors to appoint him Director of Novices at Thillois. He won the hearts of his young charges by his evident solicitude for their spiritual and professional development.
There are stories of little miracles and cures, as well as his uncanny ability to discern their inmost thoughts. Brother Arnold was known for his devotion to the Lord’s passion and for his docility to the Holy Spirit who, as he often remarked, “strengthens a person’s heart.”When the novitiate was moved to the new formation centre at Courlancy near Rheims in 1885, Brother Arnold was instrumental in having it dedicated to the Sacred Heart.
He died at age fifty-two with a reputation for sanctity, only a few months after his appointment as Director General of Sacré Coeur. He was buried in Rheims and his grave became known for being the site of miraculous healings.
He was Beatified on 1 November 1987 by St Pope John Paul II.
St Allucio of Campugliano
Bl Anne-Joseph Leroux
St Amo of Toul
St Arethas of Negran
Bl Arnold Reche FSC (1838-1890)
St Benedict of Sebaste
St Clether
St Domitius
St Elfleda
St Ethelfleda
St Gratien of Amiens
St Henry of Cologne
St Ignatius of Constantinople
Bl John Angelo Porro
Bl John Buoni
St John of Syracuse
Oda of Aquitaine
St Phaolô Tong Viet Buong
St Romanus of Rouen
Bl Severinus Boethius
St Severinus of Cologne
Syra of Faremoutiers
St Theodoret of Antioch
Bl Thomas Thwing
St Verus of Salerno
—
Martyrs of Cadiz – 2 saints
Germanus
Servandus
Martyrs of Hadrianopolis – 2 saints
Dorotheus
Severus
Martyrs of Nicaea – 3 saints
Euerotas
Socrates
Theodota
Martyrs of Valenciennes – 6 beati: A group of Urusuline and Briggittine nuns murdered together in the anti-Christian excesses of the French Revolution. They were guillotined on 23 October 1794 in Valenciennes, Nord, France and Beatified on 13 June 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
• Anne-Joseph Leroux
• Clotilde-Joseph Paillot
• Jeanne-Louise Barré
• Marie-Augustine Erraux
• Marie-Liévine Lacroix
• Marie-Marguerite-Joseph Leroux
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War including Martyrs of Manzanares (7 beati):
• Agapit Gorgues Manresa
• Agustín Nogal Tobar
• Andrés Navarro Sierra
• César Elexgaray Otazua
• Cristóbal González Carcedo
• Dorinda Sotelo Rodríguez
• Eduardo Valverde Rodríguez
• Felipe Basauri Altube
• José María Fernández Sánchez
• Juan Nuñez Orcajo
• Leonardo Olivera Buera
• Manuel Navarro Martínez
• Roque Guillén Garcés
• Toribia Marticorena Sola
Thought for the Day – 22 October – The Memorial of St Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)
St Peter’s Square had a special meaning for St John Paul. In earlier days he wrote a poem about it. Below is an excerpt from it:
Marble Floor
Marble floor our feet meet the earth in this place, there are so many walls, so many colonnades, yet we are not lost. If we find meaning and oneness, it is the floor that guides us…. Peter, you are the floor, that others may walk over you… You guide their steps… You want to serve their feet that pass as rock serves the hooves of sheep. The rock is a gigantic temple floor, the cross a pasture.
St Peter’s name means “a rock” and Christ said of him “on this Rock I will build my Church.” The poem is about the role of the Holy Father, who is a shepherd to his flock, a guide to the Church.
St John Paul, keep being our shepherd by your prayers!
Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort’s Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary – Day Six – 22 October
Readings and Prayers
12 Day Preparation
Day 6 of 33
Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis: Book 1, Chapter 18
On the examples of the Holy Fathers.
Look upon the lively examples of the holy Fathers in whom shone real perfection and the religious life and you will see how little it is and, almost nothing, that we do. Alas, what is our life when we compare it with theirs? Saints and friends of Christ, they served our Lord in hunger and in thirst, in cold, in nakedness, in labour and in weariness, in watching, in fasting, prayers and holy meditations and in frequent persecutions and reproaches.
Oh, how many grievous tribulations did the Apostles suffer and the Martyrs and Confessors and Virgins and all the rest who resolved to follow the steps of Christ! For they hated their lives in this world, that they might keep them in life everlasting. Oh what a strict and self-renouncing life the holy Fathers of the desert led! What long and grievous temptations did they bear! How often were they harassed by the enemy, what frequent and fervent prayers did they offer up to God, what rigorous abstinence did they practice!
What a valiant contest waged they to subdue their imperfections! What purity and straightforwardness of purpose kept they towards God! By day they laboured and much of the night they spent in prayer, though while they laboured, they were far from leaving off mental prayer. They spent all their time profitably. Every hour seemed short to spend with God and even their necessary bodily refreshment was forgotten in the great sweetness of contemplation. They renounced all riches, dignities, honours and kindreD, they hardly took what was necessary for life. It grieved them to serve the body even in its necessity.
Accordingly, they were poor in earthly things but very rich in grace and virtues.
Quote/s of the Day – 22 October – The Memorial of St Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)
“Freedom consists not in doing what we like but in having the right to do what we ought.”
“Darkness can only be scattered by light, hatred can only be conquered by love.”
“The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is extended to include yet another vast cemetery, that of the unborn.”
“The best, the surest and the most effective way of establishing PEACE on the face of the earth, is through the great power of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.”
One Minute Reflection – 22 October – Today’s Gospel: Luke 12:13–21 – Monday of the Twenty Ninth week in Ordinary Time, Year B and The Memorial of St Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)
“But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’“…Luke 12:20
REFLECTION – “The fool in the Bible, the one who does not want to learn from the experience of visible things, that nothing lasts forever but that all things pass away, youth and physical strength, amenities and important roles. Making one’s life depend on such an ephemeral reality is therefore foolishness. The person who trusts in the Lord, on the other hand, does not fear the adversities of life, nor the inevitable reality of death, he is the person who has acquired a wise heart, like the Saints.”…Pope Benedict XVI – Angelus 1 August 2010
“The rich man, clinging to his immense fortune, is convinced that he will succeed in overcoming death….Indeed, like all other men and women, rich and poor, wise and foolish alike, he is doomed to end in the grave, as happens likewise to the powerful and he will have to leave behind on earth that gold so dear to him and those material possessions he so idolised.” – St Pope John Paul II 20 October 2004
PRAYER – Almighty ever-living God, grant that we may always conform our will to Yours and serve Your majesty in sincerity of heart. Teach us to lay up riches in heaven and may the prayers of St John Paul assist us in our daily struggles against the idols of the world. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 22 October – The Memorial of St Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)
O Clement, O Loving, Sweet Mother of God By St Pope John Paul (1920-2005)
Mother of the Redeemer,
with great joy we call you blessed.
In order to carry out His plan of salvation,
God the Father chose you
before the creation of the world.
You believed in His love
and obeyed His word.
The Son of God desired you for His Mother
when He became man to save the human race.
You received Him with ready obedience
and undivided heart.
The Holy Spirit loved you
as His mystical spouse
and filled you with singular gifts.
You allowed yourself to be led
by His hidden powerful action.
We entrust to you the Church
which acknowledges you
and invokes you as Mother.
To you, Mother of human family
and of the nations,
we confidently entrust the whole humanity,
with its hopes and fears.
Do not let it lack the light of true wisdom.
Guide its steps in the ways of peace.
Enable all to meet Christ,
the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Sustain us, O Virgin Mary,
on our journey of faith
and obtain for us the grace
of eternal salvation.
O clement, O loving,
O sweet Mother of God
and our Mother, Mary!
Amen
Saint of the Day – 22 October – St Pope John Paul II ‘The Great’ (1920-2005) Holy Father from from 1978 to 2005 (27 years), the second longest-serving pope in modern history after Pope Pius IX, who served for nearly 32 years from 1846 to 1878.
“Open wide the doors to Christ,” urged John Paul II during the homily at the installation Mass as pope in 1978.
Born in Wadowice, Poland, Karol Jozef Wojtyla had lost his mother, father and older brother before his 21st birthday. Karol’s promising academic career at Krakow’s Jagiellonian University was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. While working in a quarry and a chemical factory, he enrolled in an “underground” seminary in Kraków. Ordained in 1946, he was immediately sent to Rome where he earned a doctorate in theology.
Back in Poland, a short assignment as assistant pastor in a rural parish preceded his very fruitful chaplaincy for university students. Soon Fr Wojtyla earned a doctorate in philosophy and began teaching that subject at Poland’s University of Lublin.
Communist officials allowed Wojtyla to be appointed auxiliary bishop of Kraków in 1958, considering him a relatively harmless intellectual. They could not have been more wrong!
Bishop Wojtyla attended all four sessions of Vatican II and contributed especially to its Gaudium et spes – Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Appointed as archbishop of Kraków in 1964, he was named a cardinal three years later.
Elected pope in October 1978, he took the name of his short-lived, immediate predecessor. Pope John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In time, he made pastoral visits to 124 countries, including several with small Christian populations.
John Paul II promoted ecumenical and interfaith initiatives, especially the 1986 Day of Prayer for World Peace in Assisi. He visited Rome’s main synagogue and the Western Wall in Jerusalem, he also established diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel. He improved Catholic-Muslim relations and in 2001 visited a mosque in Damascus, Syria.
The Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, a key event in John Paul’s ministry, was marked by special celebrations in Rome and elsewhere for Catholics and other Christians. Relations with the Orthodox Churches improved considerably during his papacy.
“Christ is the centre of the universe and of human history” was the opening line of John Paul II’s 1979 first encyclical, Redemptor hominis – Redeemer of the Human Race. In 1995, he described himself to the United Nations General Assembly as “a witness to hope.”
His 1979 visit to Poland encouraged the growth of the Solidarity movement there and the collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe 10 years later. John Paul II began World Youth Day and travelled to several countries for those celebrations. He very much wanted to visit China and the Soviet Union but the governments in those countries prevented that.
One of the most well-remembered photos of John Paul II’s pontificate was his one-on-one conversation in 1983, with Mehmet Ali Agca, who had attempted to assassinate him two years earlier.
In his 27 years of papal ministry, John Paul II wrote 14 encyclicals and five books, Canonised 482 saints and beatified 1,338 people. In the last years of his life, he suffered from Parkinson’s disease and was forced to reduce much of his many and varied activities.
Presiding at the funeral Mass, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger—then dean of the College of Cardinals and later Pope Benedict XVI—concluded his homily by saying:
“None of us can ever forget how, in that last Easter Sunday of his life, the Holy Father, marked by suffering, came once more to the window of the Apostolic Palace and one last time gave his blessing urbi et orbi (‘to the city and to the world’).
We can be sure that our beloved pope is standing today at the window of the Father’s house, that sees us and blesses us. Yes, bless us, Holy Father. We entrust your dear soul to the Mother of God, your Mother, who guided you each day and who will guide you now to the glory of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Pope Benedict XVI Beatified John Paul II in 2011 and Pope Francis Canonised him in 2014.
St Abericus Marcellus
St Alodia of Huesca
St Apollo of Bawit
St Benedict of Macerac
St Bertharius of Monte Cassino
St Cordula
St Donatus of Fiesoli
Bl Esclaramunda of Majorca
St Hermes of Adrianople
St Ingbert
St Leothade of Auch
St Lupenzius
St Mark of Jerusalem
St Maroveus of Precipiano
St Mellon
St Moderan of Rennes
St Nepotian of Clermont
St Nunctus of Mérida
St Nunilo of Huesca
St Philip of Adrianople
St Philip of Fermo
St Rufus of Egypt
St Symmachus of Capua
St Valerius of Langres
St Verecundus of Verona
—
Martyrs of Heraclea – 4 saints: A group of four clerics in Heraclea (modern Marmara Ereglisi, Turkey) who were arrested in the persecutions of Diocletian. They were imprisoned, abused and ordered to turn over all the scriptures that they had hidden from authorities; they refused and were executed together. Martyrs. – Eusebius, Hermes, Philip and Severus. They were burned at the stake in 304 in Adrianople (modern Edirne, Turkey).
Martyrs of Adianople:
• Blessed Alexander
• Blessed Anna
• Blessed Elisabeth
• Blessed Glyceria
• Blessed Heraclius
• Blessed Theodota
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Álvaro Ibáñez Lázaro
• Blessed Andrés Zarraquino Herrero
• Blessed Estanislao García Obeso
• Blessed Germán Caballero Atienza
• Blessed José Menéndez García
• Blessed Josep Casas Lluch
• Blessed Luis Minguel Ferrer
• Blessed Pedro Lorente Vicente
• Blessed Victoriano Ibañez Alonso
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