Saints – Page 61

Saint Andrew Dung Lac and companions

O God, source and origin of all fatherhood, who kept the
Martyrs Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions faithful to the Cross of your
Son, even to the shedding of their blood, grant, through their intercession
that, spreading your love among our brothers and sisters, we may be your
children both in name and in truth.

Saint Andrew and his 117 companions are known as the Martyrs of Vietnam, killed for their faith in Christ between 1745 and 1862, but these people are few in number compared with the vast number of people thought to have been persecuted. Saint Andrew was a secular priest who was killed in 1839. Among the companions there were 8 bishops, 50 priests, 59 lay faithful of Vietnamese, Spanish and French nationalities. Pope John Paul II canonized these saints in 1988.

Pope Saint Clement I

How blessed and wonderful, beloved, are the gifts of God. Life in immortality! Brightness in righteousness! Truth in full assurance! Faith in confidence! Temperance in holiness! And all this God has subjected to our understandings: What therefore will those things be which he has prepared for them that wait for him? Only the Creator and Father of spirits, the Most Holy, knows both the greatness and beauty of them. Let us therefore strive with all earnestness, that we may be found in the number of those that wait for him, and that we may receive the reward which he has promised. But how, beloved, shall we do this? We must fix our minds by faith towards God, and seek those things that are pleasing and acceptable to him. We must perform those things that are agreeable to his holy will and follow the way of truth, casting off from us all unrighteousness and iniquity, together with all covetousness, strife, evil manners, deceit, whispering, detractions, all hatred of God, pride and boasting, or vain-glory and ambition; For they that do these things are odious to God, and not only they that do them, but also all such as approve of
those that do them. (St Clement I to the Corinthians 17)

Saint Cecelia, Virgin & Martyr

On this feast of an early woman martyr, Saint Cecelia, it is good to reflect on music and its impact on the heart. As she lay dying for three days, Cecelia sang of the Lord’s glory and extolled the singular devotion of one dedicated to the Lord as a virgin. Saint Cecelia is the patron saint of musicians. Benedict XVI writes about beauty and contemplative nature of music:

The encounter with the beautiful can become the wound
of the arrow that strikes the heart and in this way opens our eyes, so that
later, from this experience, we take the criteria for judgment and can
correctly evaluate the arguments. For me an unforgettable experience was the
Bach concert that Leonard Bernstein conducted in Munich after the sudden death
of Karl Richter. I was sitting next to the Lutheran Bishop Hanselmann. When the
last note of one of the great Thomas-Kantor-Cantatas triumphantly faded away,
we looked at each other spontaneously and right then we said: “Anyone who
has heard this, knows that the faith is true.” The music had such an
extraordinary force of reality that we realized, no longer by deduction, but by
the impact on our hearts, that it could not have originated from nothingness,
but could only have come to be through the power of the Truth that became real in
the composer’s inspiration. (Message to Communion and Liberation, August 2002,
Rimini, Italy; text available May 2, 2005, Zenit.org)

Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd (Frances Siedliska)

The great foundress of the Congregation of Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth is liturgically remembered today. As she lay dying Mother Mary of Jesus spoke the word charity in five languages. One of the many reasons why I like Mother Foundress is her strong sense that “An interior life is essential for the active life.”

On July 4, 1885 the Nazareth Sisters arrived in the New York Harbor and eventually landed in Chicago where they made their first foundation in the USA. For 125 years they have served the Church in a variety of ministries, namely education, pastoral ministry in parishes, hospitals and and orphanages.

Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd’s liturgical prayers are here.

Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne

Saint Rose Philippine was called “the woman who is always praying.” Her singular focus on Christ and the mission won her esteem among those who found the Christian Gospel foreign. She is buried in St. Charles, MO, having died there on this date in 1852 at the age of 83. She lived the Lord’s parable of the Pearl of Great Price.
Beatified by Pope Pius XII in 1940 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988, Duchesne is the US founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart, an order of religious women who were first founded in France by Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat.

Saint Vladimir’s relics visit the USA

The privilege of having the relics of one’s patron coming to your home is a singular experience. Friends who are seminarians at Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary welcomed their patron’s relics in solemn ceremony this past weekend.

An 11th century saint, Saint Vladimir is known in the Orthodox Church as the Holy and Great Prince Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles who first experienced a dramatic conversion to Christ. He is credited with bringing Christianity to various places in Russia.

Saint Vladimir’s feast is commemorated in both the Orthodox and Latin Churches on July 15.

The press release of the veneration is here with yet another here.

Thanks to Deacon Dustin Lyon for the photos.

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, a great American saint

O Lord and Bridegroom of your Church,

We praise you for this virgin wise

Who, lighted lamp in hand, went forth

To preach her Groom and win his prize!

From early youth she heard your voice

And longed to work in Asian lands;

But “in the west you’ll find your east,”

The pope said, firm in his commands.

So from her home, Francesca came

That she might care for those who left

Italian homes to seek for work,

But in the New World were bereft.

She founded schools and hospitals

And orphan homes, and traveled wide;

Despite ill health and stature small

Her works became our Church’s pride.

She labored long with sisters brave,

And soon her congregation spread

From North to Southern hemisphere,

Although she sailed the seas with dread.

In labors long and hard, she worked

That Christ her Lord might be well served

In poor and sick and ignorant,

That they might feel God’s love deserved.

O Trinity of love most great,

O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,

With Frances and with all your saints

Bring us, at length, to heaven’s rest.

J. Michael Thompson

LM; DUKE STREET, ROCKINGHAM NEW, HAMBURG

Saint Josaphat of Polotsk, a martyr for unity

Striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit.

Lord, fill Your Church with the Spirit that gave Saint Josaphat
the courage to lay down his life for his people. By his prayers may Your Spirit
make us strong and willing to offer our lives for our brothers and sisters.

God, you are the martyrs’ crown!

Hear the hymn we raise in gladness,

Praising good Saint Josaphat,

Who in midst of earthly sadness

Followed Truth, and Way, and Life,

Braving trouble, scorn, and strife.

Josaphat, a preacher bold,

Was a bishop strong and fearless.

In his love for all his flock

And his ardor, he was peerless:

“That in Christ we one may be”

Was his earnest, heart-felt plea.

Strong defender of his Church,

Lover of the Eastern teaching,

Faithful priest and leader true

Urged his people through his preaching,

And, by God’s mysterious grace,

Took in heav’n a martyr’s place.

God the Father, God the Son,

God the Spirit, hear our praises

With our hymns on this glad day;

Which your Church in glory raises.

With Saint Josaphat, in song,

Echoing the ages long!

J. Michael Thompson

78
78 77; GROSSER GOTT, or JESU MEINE ZUVERSICHT

Saints in Verbum Domini

You may be curious to know the saints and blessed Pope Benedict references in Verbum Domini, or whose work he used.

The Pope said, “The interpretation of sacred Scripture would remain incomplete were it not to include listening to those who have truly lived the word of God: namely, the saints” (48).

And, “No sooner do I glance at the Gospel, but immediately I breathe in the fragrance of the life of Jesus and I know where to run. Every saint is like a ray of light streaming forth from the word of God…” (49).

Who are the saints in Verbum Domini?

Mary, the Mother of God

Saint Peter
Saint John the Evangelist
Saint Paul
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Saint Bonaventure
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint John of the Cross
Saint Irenaeus of Lyons
Saint John Chysostom
Saint Maximus the Confessor
Saint Jerome
Saint Gregory the Great

Saint Ambrose
Saint Augustine
Saint Anthony, Abbot
Saint Basil the Great
Saint Benedict
Saint Athanasius

Saint Francis of Assisi
Saint Clare of Assisi
Saint Dominic
Saint Teresa of Avila
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Saint John Bosco

Saint John Mary Vianney
Saint Pius of Pietrelcina
Saint Josemaría Escrivá
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Saint Gaetano Errico
Saint Maria Bernarda Bütler
Saint Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception

Saint Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán
Saint Ignatius of Antioch
Saint Elizabeth
Blessed Jordan of Saxony
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
Blessed Aloysius Stepinac
Blessed John XXIII

Plus, the Pope uses the works of Origen, Richard of Saint Victor and Hugh of Saint Victor, the last two are notable scholars and saintly men; Richard and Hugh are not saints but may be we can push their cause.

“Read the divine Scriptures frequently; indeed, the sacred book should never be out of your hands. Learn there what you must teach.”

Saint Martin of Tours

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.

Saint Martin, intercede before the Lord on our behalf, care for our poverty

and lead us closer to Christ.