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Saint Aloysius Gonzaga

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AGonzaga with an angel.jpg

O God, giver of heavenly gifts, who in Saint Aloysius Gonzaga joined penitence to a wonderful innocence of life, grant through his merits and intercession, that, though we have failed to follow him in innocence, we may imitate him in penitence.


From the Office of Readings:


The divine goodness, most honored lady [Gonzaga's Mother], is a fathomless and shoreless ocean, and I confess that when I plunge my mind into thought of this it is carried away by the immensity and feels quite lost and bewildered there. In return for my short and feeble labors, God is calling me to eternal rest; his voice from heaven invites me to the infinite bliss I have sought so languidly, and promises me this reward for the tears I have so seldom shed.


Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (March 9, 1568 - June 21, 1591) an Italian aristocrat, who entered the Society of Jesus. As a student at the Roman College, Gonzaga died as a result of caring for the victims of an epidemic. He was beatified in 1605, and canonized in 1726. Gonzaga is the patron saint for those living with chronic illnesses, particularly those living with HIV-AIDS.

Francis and Ignatius.jpeg

I read this narrative in one of the newsletters I receive. Very curious on these things work out, no?


When the parish priest of a beautiful village of Provence, South of France, asked in January for a new work of art for his parish, he couldn't imagine that his command would meet the joyful events of the whole church, and of the Society. As this diocesan priest was very close to the Franciscans, and to the Jesuits, he asked a parishioner to create a drawing of St Ignatius and St Francis, and another to transform it in a wood bas relief for his parish. The project was going on, when the new pope, a Jesuit, decided to call himself Francis. This drawing had suddenly a more universal signification, and the artist transformed it also into an icon. Every Jesuit will be able to read it and to appreciate its symbols.

Saint Claude la Colombière

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Claude de la Colombiere, S.J and  St. Margaret Mary.jpg

A pivotal saint for our time is the Jesuit Father Claude la Colombière (1641-82) known mostly for being spiritual director of Saint Margaret Mary. He died on the First Sunday of Lent.


Saint Claude was a great believer in Divine Providence, Love and Mercy as revealed by Christ Himself and pledged himself to this mission. Both of these saints were instrumental in the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Father Claude was devoted to working with the poor.


It is said that the day after his death, Saint Margaret Mary received supernatural assurance that Father Claude needed no prayers, as he was in already heaven.


Pope John Paul II, during the canonization of Saint Claude said, 


The past three centuries allow us to evaluate the importance of the message which was entrusted to Claude. In a period of contrasts between the fervor of some and the indifference or impiety of many, here is a devotion centered on the humility of Christ, on his presence, on his love of mercy and on forgiveness. Devotion to the Heart of Christ would be a source of balance and spiritual strengthening for Christian communities so often faced with increasing unbelief over the coming centuries.

Saint Francis Xavier

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francisco javier detail.jpgO God, who through the preaching of Saint Francis Xavier won many peoples to yourself, grant that the hearts of the faithful may burn with the same zeal for the faith and that Holy Church may everywhere rejoice in an abundance of offspring.

In Spanish he is known as Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta, from the Castillo de Javier, Navarra. The saint is known as Francis Xavier (1506-1552), canonized in 1622 and named patron of the missions.

Never satisfied with the status quo of living the faith and the rigid adherence of structuralism, Francis Xavier always knew that when faced with his own personal conversion and evangelization of those who had not heard of the saving name of Jesus Christ was the most important part of his life to remember. Ever since his first encounter with Saint Ignatius Francis knew what consistency of faith and the desires of the meant. Francis was the first Jesuit missionary sent by Ignatius opening a window of new world yet to be accepted as a grace, and not as a economic opportunity.

For the 500th anniversary Xavier's birth in 2006, the John J. Burns Library at Boston College pulled together an exhibition to honor the saint.

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Saint Ignatius of Loyola

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St Ignatius Loyola bryan bustard.jpgNothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in Love, stay in love, and it will decide everything."
Father Pedro Arrupe , SJ (1907-91)
28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus
image: Bryan Bustard
St Paul Miki.jpg

O God, strength of all the Saints, who through the Cross were pleased to call the Martyrs Saint Paul Miki and companions to life, grant, we pray, that by their intercession we may hold with courage even until death to the faith that we profess.


The question of who was Saint Paul Miki is dealt with on Rome Reports today. The video gives a brief intro the life of the martyr and his companions.

From the cross, Paul said: "The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ's example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain."

The 2011 post on Saint Paul Miki and his companions

The 2010 post on Nagasaki martyrs Paul Mike, et al.

Saint Francis Xavier

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St Francis Xavier in glory.jpgToday, we take inspiration from the life and work of a great missionary of the Church in the person of Saint Francis Xavier. He got of the classroom and did something for Christ and the Church. Let's take time today to pray for missionaries and a rejuvenation of the missionary work of the Church.

Xavier wrote...

Brethren, We cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory, in all patience and long suffering with joy; giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through the His Blood, the remission of sins

(Epistle for the Last Sunday after Pentecost, Col. i, 9-14)

North American Martyrs

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North American Jesuit Martyrs.jpg

Saint Isaac Jogues wrote, "My confidence is placed in God who does not need our help for accomplishing his designs. Our single endeavor should be to give ourselves to the work and to be faithful to him, and not to spoil his work by our shortcomings"



Saint John de Brébeuf, pray for us. 

Saint Isaac Jogues, pray for us. 

Saint Gabriel Lalemant, pray for us. 

Saint Anthony Daniel, pray for us 

Saint Charles Garnier, pray for us. 

Saint Noël Chabanel, pray for us. 

Saint René Goupil, pray for us. 

Saint John de la Lande, pray for us.

Saint Robert Bellarmine

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San Roberto Bellarmino.jpg

Today's saint is special to me for many personal reasons, one of which is the fact that he gave himself to the Lord for his total and unreserved use. One can claim to like Bellarmine for his intellect, or the way he worked with controversial Catholic preachers and theologians and Protestants, or with Galileo, or his service to several popes, but what about his capacity to love the Lord and his neighbor, and what about his ability to know his limitations and his gifts, or his capacity to live the Beatitudes? 


Each time I am in Rome I make a path to St Ignatius's Church where Bellarmine is buried in the third chapel on the right as you face the main altar, near to his dear friend, Saint Aloyius Gonzaga, to pray for several intentions, among them are: theologians, the pope, the Jesuits, +Avery Robert Dulles and of course, myself.


The Roman Martyrology (2005) has this entry for Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621): 


The feast of St. Robert Bellarmine, from the Society of Jesus, Doctor of the Church and bishop, who was outstanding at arguing the theological controversies of his day. He resigned his red hat, then gave himself wholeheartedly both to pastoral ministry in Capua, with great success, and took up very many challenges in defense of the doctrine of the faith at the Holy See in Rome.

Saint Peter Claver

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St Peter Claver sees Jesus Christ and the Virgin before death.jpgToday the Church liturgically remembers one of her missionary saints, Saint Peter Claver, (1580-1654) a Spainard who came from a very modest but known family heritage. Claver was influenced by what he heard and what he read in Jesuit houses of the missionaries. The brother porter-saint of Claver's Jesuit house of studies, Alphonsus Rodriquez, frequently spoke of the need great work he could do in sharing the Gospel in mission lands. So moved to serve the Divine Majesty in a distant land, he requested of his superiors to be sent on mission to the New World. In what is known today as Columbia, South America, Claver worked with the negro-slaves teaching them the faith, and attending to their human and spiritual needs. In Claver's eyes he took Saint Paul's teaching that there are no distinctions in the Kingdom between Jew and Greek, slave or free, man or woman: all are the adopted children of God. As one person put it, for 33 years Father Peter Claver lavished love on the slaves that transcended the natural order. It was a love that confounded his religious superiors and the leaders in civil society of his day. It is reported that the saint brought to Christ 300K souls.

Let us remember in prayer the missionaries and those who work to evangelize.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola

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Loyola.jpgToday's second reading for the 18th Sunday through the Year coheres with Saint Ignatius of Loyola's liturgical memorial we would have celebrated had it not been a Sunday. Saint Paul sets our sights on the fact that nothing can be a barrier to Christ's Love for us. But do we believe this? Do we live on the edge of Love or in Love's center? Listen again to the famous passage from the Apostle to the Gentiles and think of the spirituality of Loyola: 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution, or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? No, in these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:30-39)

Saint Aloysius Gongaga

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Luigi Gonzaga 2009.jpgO blessed Aloysius, adorned with angelic virtues, I thy most unworthy suppliant recommend specially to thee the chastity of my soul and body, praying thee by thy angelic purity to plead for me with Jesus Christ the Immaculate Lamb, and His most Holy Mother, Virgin of virgins, that they would vouchsafe to keep me from all grievous sin. Never suffer me to be defiled with any stain of impurity; but when thou dost see me in temptation, or in danger of falling, then remove far from my mind all evil thoughts and unclean desires, and awaken in me the memory of eternity to come, and of Jesus crucified; impress deeply in my heart a sense of the holy fear of God; and kindling in me the fire of Divine love, enable me so to follow thy footsteps here on earth, that in heaven I may be made worthy to enjoy with thee the vision of our God for ever.

Easter 470 years later

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Ignatius Loyola detail2.jpg470 years ago on this date, another Easter Sunday, Ignatius of Loyola and his first companions elected Ignatius as the first superior of the new group, a year following the Church's approval of the society. Just two days before his election, the companions went to the Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls to profess their vows.

With these events, Loyola had more concrete points in following God's will in forming a new society of priests aiming to reform Christian culture under the Roman Pontiff.

Japanese Martyrs.jpgThe Church observes the liturgical memorial of Saint Paul Miki and his companions, martyrs for believing in Jesus. The only thing a person of true faith in Christ can say is what the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Galatians: "I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me."


A beautiful for the feast


O Christ, the source of endless life,

We bring you thanks and praise today

That martyrs bold your name confessed

And, through their pain, held to your Way.

 

The gospel preached within Japan

Converted both adult and child,

And flourished there by your rich grace

Despite oppression fierce and wild.

 

When hatred for this infant church

Broke out in persecution's might,

Your martyrs knew you as their Lord

Who shined in darkness as their light.

 

O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,

To you all glory now is due.

As were the Martyrs of Japan,

May we to Christ be ever true!

 

J. Michael Thompson

Copyright © 2010, World Library Publications

LM; TALLIS' CANON, BRESLAU"

Saint Francis Xavier

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St Francis Xavier with cross.jpgWith eyes fixed squarely on the Lord, Francis Xavier left the companionship of the early founders of the Society of Jesus in Europe to go on mission, preaching the Gospel and bringing new life through the sacraments. Because of his zeal for the salvation of souls many came to know Jesus and thus were saved. Let us pray for missionaries and the work of evangelization through Saint Francis Xavier's intercession.

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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