“We cultivate a very small field for Christ, but we love it, knowing that God does not require great achievements but a heart that holds back nothing for self.”
Duchesne was born on August 29, 1769, died on November 18, 1852, beatified on May 12, 1940, and canonized on July 3, 1988.
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, Pray for Us!
“Saint Hugh’s primary emblem is a white swan, in reference to the story of the swan of Stowe which had a deep and lasting friendship with the saint, even guarding him while he slept. The swan would follow him about, and was his constant companion while he was at Lincoln. Hugh loved all the animals in the monastery gardens, especially a wild swan that would eat from his hand and follow him about and yet the swan would attack anyone else who came near Hugh.”
Hugh is a 12th century monk, priest and bishop of Lincoln. The monk-bishop is a reformer. One reform was that the priests needed to live at the parishes they were assigned and to minister to the sick and the needy. He is the patron saint of sick children, sick people, shoemakers, and swans. Hugh is the first Carthusian to be canonized.
Saint Joseph Moscati is known as the first modern physician to be canonized.
Seventh of nine children. Joseph’s family moved to Naples, Italy when the boy was four years old; he made his First Communion at age eight, Confirmation at ten. Friend of Blessed Bartolo Longo and Blessed Caterina Volpicelli. Received his doctorate from the University of Naples in 1903. Worked at and served as administrator of a hospital for the incurable while continuing to study and do medical research. Assisted in the preparation for and recovery from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on 8 April 1906, but refused any recognition for the work. Led the work to stop cholera in Naples. Member of the Royal Academy of Surgical Medicine in 1911, and received a doctorate in physiological chemistry. Directed several hospitals and medical societies, and was one of the first to experiment with the use of insulin for diabetes. Tried to enlist in the army in World War I, but was refused and instead ran a hospital for the wounded; personally treated almost 3,000 soldiers. He healed (sometimes miraculously), taught at numerous universities and hospitals, and supported the poor and outcast; could sometimes diagnose a patient‘s illness and prescribe for it without having seen the patient. Knew when and how to use a patient‘s faith and the sacraments to effect a cure.
“In the face of the endless cares and anxieties of life, she never let anything turn her aside from striving and aiming to please God and to work for his glory for which nothing, aided by God’s grace, seemed too laborious, or difficult, or beyond human strength.” (Pope Pius XII)
From a family of 13 living in Lombardy, Italy, Frances was born of a pious family in 1850. Having tried her vocation in another congregation, she eventually founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in 1880. Pope Leo XIII gave his approval of the new group of sisters who hoped to go to the missions in China. Instead, Leo suggested to her that she go to the United States to help the Italian immigrants who were flooding to that nation in that era, mostly in great poverty. “Not to the East, but to the West” was his advice.
She said: “I will go anywhere and do anything in order to communicate the love of Jesus to those who do not know Him or have forgotten Him.”
The Blessed Mother appeared to her in a dream, tending the sick. “I am doing the work you refuse to do,” she told Frances. Columbus Hospital then was ‘ next effort. In twenty-eight years Frances founded 67 schools, orphanages, convents, and hosptials in the United States. Mother Frances died in 1917; Mother became a United States citizen and she was the first US citizen to be canonized.
The feast of Saint Martin of Tours (+397) is always a very special for me. His hagiography inspires. Perhaps it is the similar for you. The words attributed to John Henry Cardinal Newman will orient your day.
O God, who are glorified in the Bishop Saint Martin
both by his life and death,
make new, we pray,
the wonders of your grace in our hearts,
that neither death nor life
may separate us from your love.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
May Christ support us all the day long,
till the shadows lengthen,
and the evening comes,
and the busy world is hushed,
and the fever of life is over
and our work is done.
Then in his mercy
may he give us a safe lodging,
and holy rest and peace at the last. Amen.
From a sermon by St. Charles Borromeo:
“My brothers, you must realize that for us churchmen nothing is more necessary than meditation. We must meditate before, during and after everything we do. The prophet says: I will pray, and then I will understand. When you administer the sacraments, meditate on what you are doing. When you celebrate Mass, reflect on the sacrifice you are offering. When you pray the office, think about the words you are saying and the Lord to whom you are speaking. When you take care of your people, meditate on how the Lord’s blood that has washed them clean so that all that you do becomes a work of love.
This is the way we can easily overcome the countless difficulties we have to face day after day, which, after all, are part of our work: in meditation we find the strength to bring Christ to birth in ourselves and in other men.”
Solemnity of All Saints
“I travel slowly, one step at a time, because I am carrying two big suitcases. One of them contains my sins, and in the other, which is much heavier, are the infinite merits of Jesus. When I reach heaven I will open the suitcases and say to God: ‘Eternal Father, now you can judge.’ And to St. Peter: ‘Close the door, because I’m staying.’”
― St. Josephine Bakhita
Saints are the fruits of the Holy Eucharist. Holy men and women extrovert the grace of Communion and say to us that living the Gospel is possible and reasonable. In Mane nobiscum, Domine, Pope Saint John Paul writes:
We have before us the example of the Saints, who in the Eucharist found nourishment on their journey towards perfection. How many times did they shed tears of profound emotion in the presence of this great mystery, or experience hours of inexpressible “spousal” joy before the sacrament of the altar!
Today is also the day on which Saint John Paul II was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ 69 (1 November 1946). In the twenty-six years of being the Roman Pontiff, John Paul gave us more than 1,300 blessed and 480 saints.
“I offer everything, my failures, my pains and joys to Him, starting again every time the Cross makes me feel all its weight. The important thing is to do God’s will. I might have had plans about myself but God came up with this. The sickness came to me at the right time… [and] now I feel like I am wrapped into a wonderful design that is slowly unfolding itself to me.”
A member of the Focolare ecclesial movement, she wrote to Chiara Lubich, the founder of the movement: “I’ve rediscovered the Gospel in a new light. Now I want this book to be the sole purpose of my life!”
(Blessed Chiara Badano, who died on October 7, 1990 at the age of 18 after a painful struggle with osteosarcoma. She was beatified in 2010; her feast day is today.)
Today the church remembers Saint Luke, the apostle and evangelist, “Scriba Mansuetudinis Christi” [writers of Christ’s gentleness] (Dante).
Known as the physician and evangelist of mercy.
History tells us that Saint Luke was a native of Syrian Antioch, and that he was a companion of the Apostle Paul (Phil.1:24, 2 Tim. 4:10-11). The Church historian and Father Eusebius (AD 260-340), described Luke in this manner: “Luke, who was by race an Antiochian and a physician by profession, was long a companion of Paul, and had careful conversation with the other Apostles, and in two books left us examples of the medicine for the souls which he had gained from them” (Eccl. Hist. 3.4.6; LCL 1:197)
One of the many key elements of Saint Luke’s Gospel and his Acts, is the reality of sacrifice that we all are forced to confront in our lives. No life has meaning without sacrifice. Hence, Saint Luke is also pictured with the symbol of the ox, a symbol of sacrifice connecting with the sacrifice of Jesus. Some scholars say the earliest date of Luke’s death is AD 84.