Franciscan saints & blesseds: November 2009 Archives

Saint James of the Marsh

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As a fruitful olive tree in the house of God I have hoped in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

God our Father, You made Saint James an illustrious preacher of the gospel for the salvation of souls and for bringing sinners back to the path of virtue. Through his intercession grant us the grace to atone for all our sins and to attain to everlasting life.
 
Read his bio

Blessed Francis Anthony Fasani

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St Francis Anthony Fasani.jpgThe teaching of truth was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and justice and turned many away from wickedness.


God our Father, You have made blessed Francis Anthony a model of seraphic perfection and an illustrious minister of gospel preaching. Through his merits and prayers may we always be fervent in loving You, effective in action and thus attain eternal reward.

Saint Leonard of Port Maurice

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Almighty and merciful God, You made Saint Leonard an illustrious herald of the mystery of the cross. Through his prayers may we comes to know the riches of the cross on earth and attain to its reward in heaven.




Renown for his devotion to the Holy Eucharist, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Conception and Saint Francis, Saint Leonard joined the Franciscan Fraternity in 1697 and was ordained in 1703. One of his missions was to make known to the faithful the devotion of the Stations of the Cross. Saint Leonard was a popular preacher and writer. Read one of his sermons.

Saint Agnes of Assisi

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God, our Father, You made Saint Agnes an example of seraphic perfection for many virgins. Grant that we may imitate her virtues on earth and with her possess eternal joys.


Considered a co-foundress of the Poor Clares with Saint Clare, she died three months after Clare. And like Clare, Saint Agnes was an abbess but of a group of former Benedictine nuns. On some calendars Saint Agnes of Assisi is commemorated on November 16, but she is commemorated today on the current ordo of the Franciscans.
Almighty God, You called blessed Salome from the cares of earthly rule to the pursuit of perfect charity; and You caused blessed Cunegunda to excel in purity of life and in wondrous charity towards the poor. Grant that through their example and intercession we may serve You with chaste and humble hearts and go forward rejoicing in spirit along the way of charity leading to eternal glory.

Blessed Salome's bio can be read here.
St Nicholas Tavelic.jpgThe salvation of the just comes from the Lord. He is their strength in time of need.

Almighty God, You glorified Saint Nicholas and companions by their zeal in spreading the faith and their crown of martyrdom. Through their prayers and example help us to run the way of Your commandments and to receive the crown of eternal life.

More on Saint Nicholas Tavelic is found here.
DunsScotus.jpgThe second reading in the Office of Readings from today's liturgical memorial [even though it is Sunday in 2009 and Sunday takes precedence over saints' memorials] of Blessed John Duns Scotus bears posting here. What appears to be vague really is dead-on in thinking about charity and justice. Emphasis mine.

Charity is defined as the habit by which God becomes the object of our love. However, God could become the object of a kind of private love, such as that of a lover intolerant of any other lovers besides himself (as for example in the case of a jealous man in love with a woman). But a habit of this kind would be both inordinate and imperfect.

It would be inordinate because God, the good of all, does not want to be the private good of any one person, not does right reason allow one person to appropriate to himself this common good. It follows that a love that tends to regard this common good exclusively as its own property, neither to be loved nor possessed by any other, is an inordinate love.

It would also be imperfect because a person who loves perfectly wants his beloved to be loved. Therefore God, in infusing the habit of charity by which the soul tends towards Him in an orderly and perfect way, gives a habit by which He is loved as the common good to be co-loved by others as well. And thus this habit which is of God, leads an individual to want God to be held dear and to be loved also by others.

Therefore, just as this habit leads a person to love God in Himself in an orderly and perfect way, so also it leads him to want God to be loved not only by the person himself but also by anyone else whose friendship is pleasing to Him.

It is clear from this how the habit of charity must be single and undivided, because it does not concern itself in the first instance with a plurality of objects, but with God alone as the primary object and as the first good. Secondarily it then wants God to be loved and to possessed in love by everyone else to the utmost of his power, because it is in this that a perfect and orderly love of God consists. And in willing this, I love both myself and my neighbor in charity, willing, that is, for both of us the desire and the possession of God in Himself through love.

Hence it is evident that it is by one and the same act that I want God and that I want you to want God. And in this my love is a love of charity, because out this love I desire a good for you which is due to you in justice.

For this reason, my neighbor is not to be regarded as a second object of charity but rather as an object that is entirely incidental, because he is someone who is capable of co-loving the Beloved with me in a perfect and orderly way; and I love him precisely so that he can become a co-lover. In this I love him as it were incidentally, not for himself, but because of the object which I want to be co-loved by him. And in wanting that object to be co-loved by him, I implicitly want what is good for him because it is due to him in justice.

Blessed John Duns Scotus

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Thumbnail image for Bl John Duns Scotus.jpgThe learned will shine like the brilliance of the firmament, and those who train many in the way of justice will sparkle like the stars for all eternity. 

Heavenly Father, You filled John Duns Scotus with wisdom, and through his life and teaching gave us a witness of Your Incarnate love. May we come to understand more deeply what he taught so that we may live in ever growing charity.


Prayer for the Canonization of Blessed John Duns Scotus

O Most High, Almightily and gracious Lord, Who exalts the humble and confounds the proud of heart, grant us the great joy of seeing Blessed John Duns Scotus canonized. He honored Your Son with the most sublime praises; he was the first to successfully defend the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary; he lived in heroic obedience to the Holy Father, to the Church and to the Seraphic Order. O most holy Father, God of infinite love, hear, we beseech You, our humble prayer, thorough the merits of Your Only-Begotten Son and His Mother, the Gate of Heaven and Spouse of the Holy Spirit.
St Didacus Alcala.jpgHe humbled himself in all things and found favor with God. Great is the power of God; he is glorified by the humble.

Almighty, eternal God, in Your marvelous ordering of things You single out the weak of this world to shame the strong. Grant that by imitating the humility of Saint Didacus here on earth we may be raised up to eternal glory with him in heaven.


The liturgical memorial for Saint Didacus seems to have been moved around through the years for one reason or another. The Roman Martyrology indeed lists him on November 12. However, since I am following the Franciscan supplement to the Roman Missal, today his feast is observed on this blog in communion with the Capuchins.

Saint Didacus is the San Diego, for whom the city in California is named.

About the author

Paul A. Zalonski is from New Haven, CT. He is a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, a Catholic ecclesial movement and an Oblate of Saint Benedict. Contact Paul at paulzalonski[at]yahoo.com.

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This page is a archive of entries in the Franciscan saints & blesseds category from November 2009.

Franciscan saints & blesseds: October 2009 is the previous archive.

Franciscan saints & blesseds: December 2009 is the next archive.

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