Benedictine saints & blesseds – Page 17

Blessing of Lilies on the Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua

The Spirit of God is upon me; he has anointed me. He sent me to bring good news to the poor, and to heal the broken hearted.

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with your spirit.

O God, the Creator and Preserver of mankind, thou Who art the lover of holy purity, the giver of spiritual grace, the dispenser of eternal salvation, bless + these lilies we bring on this day in thanksgiving to thee and in honor of Saint Anthony, thy Confessor. Pour out on them heavenly dew by the saving + sign of the most holy cross, O God of love! Thou hast endowed these lilies with delicious fragrance to be a comfort and help to those on their sickbeds. Wherefore, imbue them with so great strength that whether they are used in a home, in a sickroom, or carried about one’s person, they may have power, through the intercession of Saint Anthony, to drive out evil spirits, to safeguard chastity, to turn away illness, and to bestow on thy servants peace and grace.

V. Pray for us, blessed Anthony.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

May the devout and constant intercession of Blessed Anthony, thy Confessor, come to our aid, we beseech thee, O Lord, that we may become of thy grace in this life, and merit everlasting joys in the next.

Saint Augustine of Canterbury

Father, by the preaching of Saint Augustine of Canterbury, You led the people of England to the gospel. May the fruits of his work continue in Your Church.

One of the benefits of being in Rome these days is to be where things began. In this case, seeing where we believe Pope Saint Gregory the Great sent Augustine from to Canterbury, England as a monk, bishop and missionary. Augustine died in 604.

It was also fitting that the Mass I attended today was celebrated by the English monk and professor of Liturgy at Sant’Anselmo, Father Paul Gunter. The Mass prayers came alive with the English accent!

See last year’s post here.

Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu: Apostle for Spiritual Ecumenism

Lord God, eternal Shepherd, You inspired the blessed virgin, Maria Gabriella, generously to offer up her life for the sake of Christian unity. At her intercession, hasten, we pray, the coming of the day when, gathered around the table of Your word and of Your Bread from heaven, all who believe in Christ may sing Your praises with a single heart, a single voice.

Blessed Maria Gabriella, Sardinian by birth in 1914, she died a Trappistine nun in 1939 at Grottaferrata, having entered the monastery four years earlier. Taking up the invitation to work for spiritual ecumenism among Christians from Father Paul Couturier who stressed that all Christians must learn to pray together for unity in union with Jesus’ own prayer for the same (Jn 17). Couturier advocated a spiritual unity founded on common prayer, charity, friendship, mutual forgiveness and humility which precedes doctrinal and hierarchical unity.

Father Couturier’s work found a natural habitat in the monastic life which then became fruitful among the wider church (he called the latter the invisible monastery). As a side note, Couturier was greatly influenced by the his work in Lyon, France and by Dom Lambert Beaudoin and the monks of the Belgian abbey of Amay-sur-Meuse (now at Chevetogne).

Blessed Maria Gabriella’s offering of self in 1938 for the spiritual ecumenism made known by Father Paul Couturier was a renewal of the same offering made on the day of her monastic profession of vows: not only to give her early life for Christian unity also to die for unity. This self-gift was closely connected to the notion that the profession of monastic vows is not isolated from the Church universal but deeply at the center of it because of the desire to totally give oneself to God. It is THE reversal of the sin of disunity that is based on ego and not on personal conversion.

Pope John Paul II beatified her on January 25, 1983. Blessed Maria Gabriella is buried at the Trappistine abbey of Our Lady of Saint Joseph at Vitorchiano (near to Viterbo) where her original community moved. She is known as the Apostle for Spiritual Ecumenism.

I recommend to you Sister Martha Driscoll, OCSO’s A Silent Herald of Unity: The Life of Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu (Cistercian Publications, 1990).

Saint Anselm: beauty as as order

Saint Anselm is a towering figure in monastic, theological and philosophical circles whose works take diligence in getting your mind around. Even centuries later he speaks with precision. Saint Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033-1109) an Italian by birth, Anselm held various academic and ecclesial titles; he was the archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 until his death in 1109. The Church tells us he is the father of scholasticism and famous for the ontological argument for God’s existence. Though never formally canonized –the process was not developed then– Anselm was acknowledged a saint by Clement XI and named a Doctor of the Church (1 of 33). One point I noticed recently about Saint Anselm and the promotion of truth is this…

…when each single creature keeps, either by nature or by reason, its proper place [in the order of things] –it is said to obey God and to honor him. … When a rational nature wills what it ought to, it honors God –not because it confers anything on Him but because it willingly submits itself to His will and governance. And, as best it can, it stays in its proper place in the universe and preserves the beauty of the universe.

–Cur Deus Homo, 1:15

So what Saint Anselm is saying, the premise from which order and beauty is deduced is Saint Benedict’s intention that the monk [and today, all Christians] seek the glory of God in all things. For Anselm and therefore us, beauty in keeping the proper order of things is obediential in front of God; that is, it is about keeping a fitting sense of friendship with the Trinitarian God. On this feast of Saint Anselm, let us prefer nothing to Christ seeking God’s glory above all.

You may be interested in reading Pope Saint Pius X’s encyclical for the 800th anniversary of Saint Anselm’s birth, Communium rerum (1909).

Cistercian Martyrs of England

We beseech Thee, almighty God, grant that we who celebrate the heavenly birth of the blessed English Cistercian Martyrs, may be strengthened by their intercession in the love of Thy Name.

Under King Henry VIIIs order, many Cistercian monks were cruelly
put to death for Catholic faith, the some may argue about pretexts. In the
months of March and May 1537, died for the Catholic faith

Dom John Harrison,
Abbot of Kirkstead, with Dom Richard Wade, Dom William Small and Dom Henry
Jenkinson;

Dom John Paslew, Abbot of Whalley, with Dom William Haydock and Dom
Richard Eastgate.

The Abbot of Fountains
and a monk of Louth Park.

In 1538, these Cistercians were martyred:

Dom Robert
Hobbes, Abbot of Woburn,
with Dom Rudolph Barnes and Dom Laurence Blunham.

The Church also acknowledges
as authentic confessors of the faith: Dom Thomas Mudd, monk of Jervaulx,
who died on September 7, 1583;

Dom John Almond, who died on April 18, 1585;

Dom
Gilbert Browne, the last Abbot of Sweetheart, who died on March 14, 1612.

Saint Aelred of Rievaulx

2010 marks the ninth centenary of the birth of Saint
Aelred of Rievaulx, an extraordinary English monk of the twelfth-century. At Ampleforth Abbey, a noted English Benedictine abbey, today marks the saint’s birthday; and since I like Aelred and have a friend at Ampleforth, I am mentioning the saint again this year to mark his anniversary. (As an aside, his year of birth is variously noted as 1109 or 1110.) In Saint Aelred’s time and location priestly was not universal, even if some scholars try to
posit such a thought. Aelred’s father and grandfather were both proprietary
priests of Hexham in Northumberland. Aelred joined the newly founded abbey of
Rievaulx, and because of his many gifts and influential friends (St Bernard of
Clairvaulx and King David of Scotland and England whose mother was St Margaret, starters), he became the
abbey’s third abbot in 1147 after serving as abbot of Revesby Abbey. He was abbot for twenty years. Rievaulx became the mother
house of other Cistercian monastic houses which fostered the Benedictine reform
in England and Scotland. As abbot, Aelred was responsible for vast holdings of
property and an abbey with 600 lay brothers and choir monks. In the Cistercian system
of governance, abbots are required to be the Father-Immediate (an official
visitor) to other communities in order to maintain the monastic way of life as established in the Charter of Charity (their constitution). The amazing
part of Aelred’s life became even more amazing when you consider that he was an
author many works, most notably Christian Friendship (also called On Spiritual Friendship, which some say is a Christianized version of Cicero’s De Amicita) and The Mirror of Charity
written at the command of St Bernard and in-print today. Father David Knowles, OSB, called Aelred the “St Bernard of the North.” Rievaulx Abbey no
longer exists except in magnificent ruins located not far from Ampleforth
Abbey.

Saint Aelred died on January 12, 1167. His feast day is January 12.

Saint Walburga

Prayer to Saint Walburga

Saint Walburga, by your blessed life of love, God blessed you with the power to heal, to make whole the soul as well as the body. Beg for us what we cannot obtain for ourselves, and heal our world of sickness and sorrow. May God hear you, who lived so graciously for His glory, and send us the healing grace we need through your powerful intercession. Amen.

More on Saint Wlaburga, read this blog post.

Saint Scholastica

The Church uses biblical imagery to center our worship of the Blessed Trinity. On this feast of Saint Scholastica, virgin, the Church prays the Office and Mass of Virgins and a recurring theme is taken from Psalm 44, a nuptial hymn. There we meet Christ as the bridegroom and the Church, with Saint Scholastica as the model of bride. Baptized and adopted sons and daughters of God, we walk as brides to the altar of our salvation in the proclamation of the Word and Eucharist. As Scholastica is the virgin bride of Christ, we too enter into the mystery of our salvation as Christ’s brides according to the grace given to us and are addressed as such by the sacred Liturgy of the Church.

Today the Church observes Saint Scholastica’s liturgical memorial, the twin sister of the Patriarch of Western Monasticism, Saint Benedict. Not often can we say that in the canon of saints that one’s twin is also enrolled. Tradition has her being born in Norcia c. 480 and dying in 543. The bodies of Saint Scholastica and Saint Benedict share a common tomb at Monte Cassino, a fitting place of rest for twins. Monte Cassino is a beautiful place of pilgrimage if you get a chance: I’ve done it twice.

Saint Scholastica is the patron saint against rain, storms, convulsive children, and nuns. And so, we ask Saint Scholastica to look after these things today. Of course, we in NY are engaged in a snow storm which I hope counts in the general idea of being against storms. Pray for us!

The 2009 post is noted here with the liturgical prayer for Saint Scholastica and a link to the Saint Gregory’s Dialogues.

St Maurus’ Blessing of the Sick

Today is the feast of the first companions of Saint Benedict of Norcia, Saints Maurus and Placid. The traditional blessing of the sick calling upon Saint Maurus’ intercession follows. You may not have a relic of the True Cross or relic of Saint Benedict to you available to you, so the priest should use a crucifix and the Saint Benedict Medal.

Before the blessing is imparted, the relic of the true Cross of our Lord or the medal of Saint Benedict is exposed, at least two candles having been lit. The Act of Contrition and firm confidence should then be excited in the sick person, so that through the merits and intercession of Saint Benedict and Saint Maurus, if it should please God, health may be obtained. Three Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory be’s are recited in honor of the Blessed Trinity.

Then a priest or deacon, having put on a stole, and with his right hand holding up the relic or the medal of Saint Benedict before the sick person, says the following prayers:

V. Benediction and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honor and power and strength to our God forever and ever.
R. Amen.

V. My foot has stood in the direct way.
R. In the churches I will bless You, O Lord.

Invocation

Through the invocation of the most holy name of the Lord may that faith, in which St. Maurus, by employing the words of this blessing, healed the sick, and in which I, though an unworthy sinner, utter the selfsame words, restore your health as you desire:

In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity and supported by the merits of the most holy Father Benedict, I bid you, N., to rise, stand upon your feet and be cured, in the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

R. Amen.

Antiphon

Surely He has borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: by His bruises we are healed.

V. He that forgives the iniquities of his creatures.
R. May He heal your infirmities.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come to You.

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with your spirit.

Let us pray

O God, the Creator, of all things, You ordained that Your only Son should take flesh of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit for the restoration of your people and You deigned to heal the wounds and infirmities of our souls by the redemption accomplished upon the sacred and glorious wood of the life-giving Cross: do You also vouchsafe through this powerful sign to restore health to Your servant N.

Through the same Christ our Lord.

R. Amen.

Let us pray

Lord Jesus Christ, You conferred upon the master, blessed Benedict, the privilege of obtaining from You whatsoever he might ask in Your name: vouchsafe, through his intercession, to heal all the infirmities of this Your servant: in order that, being restored to health, he (she) may give thanks to Your holy name.

You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

R. Amen.

The Blessing

Through the invocation of the Immaculate Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, and the intercession of Saints Benedict and Maurus, may the Power + of God the Father, the Wisdom + of God the Son, and the Strength + of the Holy Spirit free you from your infirmities. Amen.

May God’s holy will be done, and may it be done to you as you wish and pray, for the praise and honor of the most holy Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The priest then blesses the sick person with the relic of the Cross or the medal of St. Benedict saying:

May the blessing of Almighty God, of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit descend upon you and abide with you forever.

R. Amen.

The sick person then kisses the relic or the medal of St. Benedict.

This blessing, if need be, may be repeated three times; also three votive Masses may be celebrated, namely in honor of the Passion, of St. Maurus, Abbot, and for the Poor Souls; otherwise the fifteen decades of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary are to be prayed according to the aforesaid intentions by the sick person, or by others in the person’s name.

Saint Aelred of Rievaulx

Pour into our hearts, O God, the Holy Spirit’s
gift of love, that we, clasping each the other’s hand, may share the joy of
friendship, human and divine, and with Your servant Aelred draw many to Your
communion of love; through Jesus Christ the Righteous, who lives and reigns
with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

On friendship

There are four qualities which characterize a friend: loyalty, right intention, discretion and patience. Right intention seeks for nothing other than God and natural good. Discretion brings understanding of what is done on a friend’s behalf, and ability when to know when to correct faults. Patience enables one to be justly rebuked, or to bear adversity on another’s behalf. Loyalty guards and protects friendship, in good or bitter times.

Saint Aelred of Rievaulx

Another note on Saint Aelred may be found here.