Category: Benedictine saints & blesseds

Saint Gregory the Great

Gregory the GreatSaint Gregory the Great (540-604) is a Church father, founder of monasteries, and pastor of souls. The Church benefitted by Gregory’s vision of taking the Gospel to the margins. Gregory’s personal witness to the evangelical vows was demonstrated by his living as a simple monk who showed concern for those on the margins; he had a purity of heart in the midst of his new ministry’s numerous responsibilities as the Roman Pontiff. Pope Gregory set as his first priority the service of those who were considered the last in the diocese. Besides his significant contribution to the organization of sacred music Gregory is remembered for his writings, his commitment to the praying with Scripture in lectio divina and his love of Benedictine monasticism. What we know about Saint Benedict, for instance, comes from Saint Gregory.

Benedetto Calati has this reflection on Gregory who is great:

The community of faith is a hermeneutic criterion of the Word of God. “Often, many things in holy Scripture that I was not able to understand on my own,” Gregory said courageously to his brothers, “I understood when I found myself among my brothers. After I realized this, I also tried to understand by whose merit such knowledge had been given to me.” What is even more surprising is that, for Gregory, every member of God’s people who obeys the Word is “an organ of truth” for his or her brothers and sisters in the faith. “When we who are filled with faith try to make God resound for others, we are organs of truth, and truth has the power to reveal itself to other people through me, or to reach me through other people.” Gregory’s humble discretion with regard to the action of the Spirit, and the Word whom he obeys, generates a model of Church leadership that is expressed in the formula, “Gregory, servant of the servants of God.”

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Saint BernardThe great Saint Bernard of Clairvaux has his feast day today. The Cistercian abbot and priest, preacher and counselor has left a permanent mark on the Church. His teachings reveal the depth of his love for God, particularly the second person of the Trinity. Moreover, he spoke often of God’s gaze upon us, His mercy for creation. We know from experience that God alone can satisfy our human desire; nothing can replace our desire for God and if we try to replace God with something, it will always eave us frustrated and empty.

From the writings of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux we read: “I am myself a Cistercian; do I therefore condemn the Cluniacs? God forbid! On the contrary, I love them, praise them, extol them. . . .If you ask why . . . I did not choose Cluny from the first, I reply that, as the apostle says…: ‘All things are lawful for me, but all things are not profitable for me.’ It is not that Cluny is not holy and just. It is rather that I am an unspiritual man, sold as a slave to sin. I knew that my soul was so weak that a stronger remedy was necessary. Different diseases call for different remedies; the more serious the illness, the more drastic the remedy.”

Saint Benedict

San Benedetto da Norcia2

 

 

Blessed feast of Saint Benedict!

The father of many saints, and the father those who are serious about their spiritual life, community, study, and work.

Let us pray through the intercession of Saint Benedict for the monks, nuns, sisters, oblates and members of Communion and Liberation.

Servant of God Brother Bernardo Vaz Lobo Teixeira de Vasconcelos

Bernardo de VasconcelosBernardo Vaz Lobo Teixeira de Vasconcelos was a Benedictine monk, mystic, poet, and authored Cântico de Amor. Studied at the University of Coimbra and there was part of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society which did works of evangelization and charity especially with the poor. Likewise, he was devoted to regular eucharistic adoration. Professionally, he was an editor of the journal which studied democracy.

Bernardo was born in São Romão Corgo (Celorico de Basto), Portugal, on July 7, 1902.  He discerned a call to the monastic life and entered the Monastery of Singeverga on 16 August 1924 and professing vows in September 29, 1925. His name in religion was Brother Bernardo da Anunciada. The superior sent him to the Abbey of Mont-César in Beligium to study theology. He was back home in a year’s time due a diagnosis of TB.

Bernardo illness weakened his body and yet he was peaceful and trusting in Divine Providence. The hundredfold was very present in Brother Bernardo’s life. In a letter to a fellow patient Bernardo wrote:

“don’t get delivered to sadness that only serves to disable our best energies … it expands your heart and let him the life-giving Sun of joy. Joy, but with so many ordeals? I’m telling you: who did you see still no cross? The cross follows us wherever we go and we have to take; and, if we don’t want to raise our arms and generously to hugs, I mean: with all the ardor of our hearts-what do we have to take a challenge behind us, the drags.”

Brother Bernardo died in the early hours of July 4, 1932, after a long suffering caused by TB. He is buried in the parish church of São Romão do Corgo

Brother Bernardo Vaz Lobo Teixeira de Vasconcelos is now honored with the title of Servant of God.

In all things may God be glorified.

Saint Romuald

St Romuald of RavennaThe Church liturgically remembers the great 11th century Benedictine monk and abbot, Saint Romuald, who founded the Camaldolese remewal of Benedictine monasticism. This particular charism has a certain maturity new synthesis of the Rule of Benedict. In this country, the major hermitage of the the Camaldoese monks is in Big Sur, CA.

“The Camaldolese identity, now more than ever, is clearly a dynamic balance among various spiritual and structural elements united in fruitful tension; it is the awareness of the value of our own experience, linked with the cordial acceptance of others’ experience; it is a search for an inner disposition and an outward style that joins together men and women in an exceptional charism uniting solitude and communion, rootedness and universality, historical memory and openness to the present and the future, an essential spirit with a rich embodiment.” (Dom Emanuele Bargellini ,OSB Cam, former Prior General of the Camaldolese Congregation)

Itala Mela: Benedictine Oblate sainthood cause advances

Itala MelaToday, in Rome, the Congregation for Saints proposed to the Holy Father that after study and prayer, the Servant of God Itala Mela, laywoman and Benedictine Oblate of the Abbey of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls (Rome), did indeed, live a life of heroic virtue. Now her cause will study possible miracles attributed to her intercession before the Throne of Grace.

Itala Mela is known as the Mystic of the Holy Trinity. Mela was born to Pasquino and Luigia Bianchini on 24 August 1904 and died 29 April 1957.

Mela was well acquainted with the likes of Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Pope Paul VI, Blessed Idelfonse Cardinal Schuster, OSB, and Fathers Agostino Gemelli and Divo Barsotti. Schuster was the abbot of St Paul’s before his nomination as the archbishop of Milan.

On 4 January 1933, Itala Mela professed the promises of a Benedictine Oblate of Saint Paul Outside the Walls and on 9 June she made a fourth vow of consecration to the Holy Trinity which she considered as the center of her life and mission in the Church. How providential that this recognition of Mela happens on the weekend in 2014 that we liturgically recall the dogma of the Holy Trinity!

Itala Mela’s cause for sainthood was opened on 21 November 1976 and it has taken until now to advance –in God’s time– as she referred to as the Venerable Servant of God Itala Mela.

Much of Mela’s life is known in Italian, but you may want to look at this website nonetheless.

Saint Augustine of Canterbury

Augustine of CanterburyIn places like England the Christian origins of the country are keenly recalled and lived when the Church celebrates a feast day like that of Saint Augustine of Canterbury who is known as the apostle to England. Augustine, a Benedictine monk was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to re-evangelize south-eastern England, which had reverted to paganism in the fifth and sixth centuries. Like Paul and Silas in today’s reading at Mass, we can see the grace of conversion in the unexpected: I am sure Augustine had no idea what he was going to find in England –but we know the outcome: many came to know Jesus Christ as Savior. Perhaps today we can be surprised by the Lord working in our life and how he uses us to bring others to Him.

The Roman Missal for use in England has this prayer for Mass:

Almighty God, who by the mission of the Bishop Saint Augustine of Canterbury called the English people into the wondrous light of the Gospel, grant through his intercession, we pray, that faithful to that same Gospel proclaimed we may strive to make known your truth and build up your Church on the foundations he laid.

In the USA the two Benedictine communities that come to mind who have dedicated their oratories to the memory of Saint Augustine of Canterbury are the monks of Marmion Abbey (Aurora, IL) where they abbey church to Augustine and the monks of St Louis Abbey where the Latin Mass chapel is dedicated to both Sts Gregory AND Augustine. Blessings to both monastic communities.

Saint Frances of Rome

S Francesca RomanaThe Church gives us the liturgical memorial of Saint Frances Rome (1384-1440) today. However, her feast is obscured by the fact that it is the First Sunday of Lent. Yet, we cannot move from today without a mentioned of such a terrific witness to the Lord.

Saint Frances is the patroness of Benedictine Oblates and car drivers; and as one of the patrons of Rome along with Saints Peter and Paul and Philip Neri. She is proposed by Mother Church as a clear model of the tenderness of married life and motherhood, but also as a person who devoted her life to the poor and the sick (works of Mercy). Hence, her saintly example is much in need today.

In 1433, Frances founded the Benedictine Oblates of Mary as part of the Olivetan Benedictines. The Mass Collect for Saint Frances of Rome  gives us the lex credendi:

O God, Who in Saint Frances of Rome, has given us a model of holiness in married life and of monastic conversion, make us serve You perseveringly, so that in all circumstances we may set our gaze upon You and follow You.

Saint Frances’ congregation of Oblate sisters exist today in Rome, Le Bec-Hellouin, France, and at Abu-Gosh in Israel. In addition to the characteristic devotion to the Divine Office and the fraternal life, is the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Guardian Angels which gives rise to the service of the Church in Rome. Their habit remains the same as their Mother Foundress of a black habit and long white veil. The Roman monastery is open to the public once a year for Mass and interaction with the sisters. I was privileged to be in the monastery with two friends a few years ago.

It is interesting to see how God works in the lives of the unsuspecting. In the period in which Frances lived and in movement of her heart, the Holy Spirit identified a new form of life with some of the Roman widows. Frances discerned a new form of Benedictine life never previously proposed before: women living under the Rule of Saint Benedict, not as enclosed nuns, but as Oblate Sisters of the Roman monastery of the Olivetans at Santa Maria Nuova.

Frances’ followers left the monastery following prayer to serve the poor and sick; the foundress, though, did not limit the sisters to this form of ministry allowing for other skills and talents to give glory to God. Nevertheless, Frances was clearly inspired by Chapter Four of Benedict’s Rule, the Instruments of Good Works:

To relieve the poor, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, to bury the dead, to give help in trouble, to console the sorrowful, to avoid worldly behavior, and to set nothing before the love of Christ (RB 4:14-21).

The beauty of the vocation attracted the attention of the Roman people that  Frances, a widow, a servant of the poor, a mother to the sick, a spiritual daughter of Saint Benedict, and a mystic was an attractive witness. Frances has also been a favorite saint of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Her practical approach to the spiritual and apostolic life has been noted in her saying that “Devotion in a married woman is most praiseworthy, but she must never forget that she is a housewife. Sometimes she must leave God at the altar, to serve Him in her housekeeping.” Perhaps we all can find inspiration here.

Saints Maurus and Placid

Benedict giving habit to Maur and PlacidThe Benedictines liturgically honor the first companions of Saint Benedict, Saint Maurus and Saint Placid. They are the patron saints of Benedictine novices and oblates .

What we know of Maurus and Placid comes from the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great. More on their life may be found here, including a discussion on miracles and the blessing of Saint Maurus for the sick.

One of the strongest associations with Benedict, Maurus and Placid is their devotion to the Cross of Jesus as life-giving and life-saving.

Saint Maurus is credited in the Benedictine world with bringing the Rule of Benedict to France.

Saint Placid is credited with bringing the Rule of Benedict to Sicily.

What we gain by following the life of these two early companions of Saint Benedict is the resolve to follow the authority of another who is close to God, and to be familiar with God, as the Prophet Samuel was.

Here is a previous post on Saints Maurus and Placid.