Category: Saints

St Norbert of Xanten

St.Norbert MAnger.jpg

First a Benedictine monk then a founder of an order of canons to live under the Rule of St Augustine, the Order of Premontre, the noble Norbert sought to fight heresy, to promote true devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, to dispel spiritual, to defend the papacy, work for peace, to end human indifference and reconciliation among family.

One of the key features to Saint Norbert’s spiritual life and apostolic work was his total reliance on the Lord to direct everything. He realized that his own skill set was insufficient to do much with Christ. That’s why a true Norbertine vocation is lived with one’s face turn toward the Eucharistic Lord and his feet and hands sustaining the Church.

Norbert was also the archbishop of Magdeburg. As archbishop, Norbert collaborated with the likes of Saints Bernard and Hugh in the reformation of the clergy and effecting ecclesial unity. Norbert died on this date in 1134.

Through Saint Norbert’s inspiration and prayer may we be servants of the Church outstanding in prayer, pastoral zeal and love for the people of God.

Saint Lucy Filippini

St Lucy Filippini.jpgThis is the wise virgin who has chosen the better part; she listened to the word of the Lord and treasured it in her heart.

O God, giver of every gift, You kept Saint Lucy Filippini  faithful in proclaiming Christ and witnessing to Him, the one Teacher and light of the world. Grant that, illumined by divine grace, we may persevere in listening to Your word and preach it by good works, and so be living signs of holiness and apostolic zeal.
Saint Lucy Filippini, born in Corneto Tarquinia, Viterbo in 1672 was formed in the spiritual life at the Monastery of Saint Clare at the behest of her bishop, Mark Anthony Cardinal Barbarigo. After finishing her spiritual formation the cardinal put Lucy, in collaboration with Rose Venerini, in charge of the Schools of Christian Doctrine that he founded in 1692. By 1707, Lucy went to Rome at the request of Pope Clement XI to direct his schools. Lucy died on March 25, 1732. She was beatified in 1926 and canonized in 1930 by Pope Pius XI. 
Saint Lucy Filippini’s legacy as lived with the Filippini Sisters is “the mission of serving the Church with especially dedication to youth, in the manner of Jesus the Teacher and in the radicalness of the following of Christ.”

Saint Damien de Veuster of Molokai

St Damien reading.jpeg

In August 1873, to his Superior General:


Divine Providence, having compassion on the unfortunate, has thought fit to look upon your unworthy servant to care for the spiritual needs of a well-known leprosy hospital that our Government had to establish to preserve the whole archipelago from disease. Thus, it is in my role as pastor of an unusual parish of eight hundred lepers, nearly half of whom are now Catholics, that I take the liberty to write to you these lines.


November 9, 1887, to his brother, Father Pamphile:

As you know, it has been already quite a while that Divine Providence chose me to become a victim of this repugnant disease of ours. I hope to remain eternally grateful for this grace. It seems to me that this disease will shorten and narrow the way that will lead me to our dear homeland. In that hope accepted this disease as my particular cross; I try to bear it as did Simon of Cyrene, following in the footsteps of our Divine Master. Please assist me with your good prayers, so as to obtain for me the strength of perseverance, until I reach the summit of Calvary.

Saint Catherine of Siena

St Catherine receives new heart from Jesus diPaolo.jpgToday is a fitting day to pray for the Holy Father, Pope Benedict. Saint Catherine was a woman of great courage and vision who promoted unity with the Church. Her crusade was a crusade for souls, for the salvation of many to heart of Christ through the ministry of Christ’s vicar, the Pope. That today we are still in the Easter Octave, Siena’s feast is not being observed except in places of the Order of Preachers. We are doing so today the Church of Saint Catherine of Siena, NYC, with a Octave Mass of Easter with elements of Saint Catherine’s Mass parts intelligently placed; Holy Mass is being celebrated by the Most Rev’d Octavio Cisneros, an auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn.

One my favorite images of Saint Catherine is the one of her heart being exchanged with Christ’s. It what’s supposed to happen with all of us: to be recreated by Christ. An image for foreseen by the Prophet Ezekiel.

Here are few thoughts of Saint Catherine of Siena to Pope Gregory XI:

Continue reading Saint Catherine of Siena

Who is St George?

St George the Dragon slayer.jpg

How can anyone not like Saint George’s story? Whatever happened to the real cult of Saint George? Does the saint have contemporary relevance for us today? What witness does he offer the “post-modern” people we purport to be? Do we still struggle against Satan, the evil one, the great tempter? How do deal with the noontime devil that seeks to divide us from a filial relationship with God? Jesuit Father George Nedungatt, professor emeritus of the Pontifical Oriental Institute (Rome) wrote an essay “Saint George without the Dragon” explaining contemporary –at least since Vatican II– Church’s remembrance of and prayerful reliance on, the Lord’s dragon slayer. As the summary of the article says, “The post-conciliar reform has entered the liturgical celebration of St. George [on April 23] amidst the facultative memoirs, attributing the historical date of his martyrdom in Lydda circa 303. It follows the protest, both by those who have chosen St. George as patron and, and for opposing reasons, by those who deny the killing of the dragon by the saint. To shed light on the issue, the article distinguishes between the current liturgical (the cult certificated since ancient time on the saint’s tomb), and the literary tendency, (legends based on his figure as a symbol of the struggle against the forces of evil).” You can read about Saint George in La Civiltà Cattolica (3859, 2011, II, pp. 20-29).

What’s the difference between beatification and canonization?

Subtle
differences need certain light in a canonization process. Scholasticism
advocates that we always distinguish. Benedict XVI will be beatifying his
friend, colleague and boss, Pope John Paul II on May 1. So, the faithful are
asking what’s the difference between the ecclesial acts of beatification and
canonization?

The Holy See told us what’s considered to be the distinguishing
marks of any beatification. There are three differences:

  • location of dioceses
    that can hold annual public liturgical celebrations in the holy person’s honor;
  • who ceremonially requests the pope to act;
  • and the level of papal authority
    involved in the proclamation.

What Pope Benedict has worked hard to remind the
Church, “at a beatification ceremony, the bishop of the diocese where the
person dies asks that the candidate be declared blessed; at a canonization, the
prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes speaks in the name of the whole
church and asks that the candidate be declared a saint.”

But a central
difference between a beatification and canonization is that with a canonization
there is an act of declaring dogmatically, that God has revealed this person
with Him in beatitude. Essentially, it is a matter of papal infallibility.
Being a saint is a dogmatic statement; being a blessed is not. A saint can be
liturgically commemorated at the sacred Liturgy worldwide and remembered in
other circumstances like naming buildings after the person. When the Church
says a person is a blessed, it is an administrative act of the papal office; a
blessed can be liturgically commemorated is limited to certain circumstances,
like where the person lives or in the houses of the religious congregation
should the person be a religious.

Saint Benedict-Joseph Labre

Benedict-Joseph Labre ACavallucci.jpgBlessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven; Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. (MT 5:3,8)

Saint Benedict-Joseph Labre is one of the most endearing saints of the Church; some call him a misfit among the saints for his sensitivities, honesty and gentleness. There is so much about him that draws the heart: he was persistent in his pursuit of a religious vocation but never found a home among the Cistercian or the Carthusian monks, he was a perpetual pilgrim, a made of exactness in religious devotion, and a man known as the “saint of the Forty Hours” (the forty hours is a devotion of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament). The Scriptures were his constant companion and guide for life. He’s a great example of following the Pauline spirituality. Ultimately, his vocation was lived as a Third Order Franciscan.

Benedict-Joseph was born on March 26, 1748 in Amettes, France, the eldest child of 15. At 35, he died of malnutrition on this date in 1783 during Holy Week on the steps of the Church of Santa Maria dei Monti with the consolation of the sacraments. How interesting that his liturgical memorial falls on the very edge of the Lord’s triumphant journey into Jerusalem. Labre was canonized by Pope Leo in 1881.
Saint Benedict-Joseph is the patron of the homeless, those making pilgrimages, for those who make adoration of the Eucharistic Lord in the Blessed Sacrament a regular spiritual gesture, and for those who suffer from mental illness, depression, anxiety.

Read a brief biography of Saint Benedict-Joseph here.
The Guild of Saint Benedict-Joseph Labre has an old website and they’re promising a new one this spring.

Saint Martin I, pope

St Martin I, pope.jpgMerciful God, our Father, neither hardship, pain,nor the threat of death could weaken the faith of Saint Martin. Through our faith, give us courage to endure whatever sufferings the world may inflict upon us.

The Mass collect is appropriate today when prejudice and suffering is prevalent due to one’s adherence to the Church’s teaching.
Pope Saint Martin I was the 7th century pontiff who held firm to the orthodox teaching that Christ had a divine and a human natures and wills. Speaking of Christ’s nature is not commonly heard at the dinner table, never mind from the pulpit these days but at one point, there was significant dissent among the people of God. Every-now-and again you encounter monothelitism (a slightly different form of monophysitism which rejected the human nature of Christ) in university and parochial settings. Beware!

Continue reading Saint Martin I, pope

Saint Stanislaus, bishop & martyr

St Stanislaus, BM-2.jpgAs a child my sister, cousin and I were enrolled in St Stanislaus School (New Haven, CT) under the guidance of the Vincentians and the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. The great bishop and martyr has been in my consciousness for some time and it was a privilege to make deeper connections with the saint when I was in Krakow a number of years ago. We Poles regard the sainted bishop and martyr Stanislaus as Poland’s Saints Thomas Becket and Thomas More who took a stand against societal and governmental injustice. Today, we’d use the term “speak truth to power” to capture what Stanislaus did in his native Poland.

The Collect for today’s Mass reads, “Father, to honor you, Saint Stanislaus faced martyrdom with courage. Keep us strong and loyal in our faith until death.”

Stanislaus was born July 26, 1030, educated in Poland’s capital city Gniezno and at Paris. His skills were recognized by the bishop of Krakow as he was appointed the archdeacon and preacher. In 1072, Stanislaus was elected bishop of Krakow. J. Michael Thompson’s hymn captures the life of Stanislaus:

Continue reading Saint Stanislaus, bishop & martyr