Saints – Page 71

Pope says John Paul lived a life of heroic virtue & makes others saints

Pope Benedict recognized John Paul II as living a life of heroic virtue upon the recommendation of the Congregation for Saints. There are various steps the Church takes when she investigates someone for possible canonization. This is the second of four of the steps, next being “beatification.” The Church will now refer to John Paul as the “Venerable Servant of God …” but there is no public ceremonial for bestowing this title as there is when a person is beatified or canonized.

Also, in an extraordinary move, the Pope recognized the the heroic virtue of Pope Pius XII!

The Holy Father also acknowledged that God has made a new saint for the Church: Blessed Mary Mackillop. Blessed Mary was an Australian sister, foundress and educator born in 1842 and died in 1909. In the face of great hardship encountered as the result of a nasty bishop, she was excommunicated for about year but Mother Mary of the Cross was virtuous throughout the ordeal. The bishop, an alcoholic received Mother Mary back into full communion on his deathbed. John Paul beatified Mother Mary in 1995 and she has wide acclaim. She is Australia’s first saint.

A canonized saint in the Catholic Church is a declaration of moral certitude and therefore an infallible statement of the Church, that that person does enjoy, as far as it’s humanly possible to say, beatitude with the Blessed Trinity. Hence, a saint is “made.”

A Wiki article on Mary Mackillop is found here.

Also, made a saint is Blessed Andre Bessett!!!

Saint Lucy

While Saint Lucy prayed, there appeared unto her blessed Agatha, who comforted the handmaid of Christ.

Hear us, O God our Savior, that as we rejoice in the feast of blessed Lucy, Thy virgin and Martyr, so may we also be strengthened in the love of true piety.

About Saint Lucy

Since Saint Lucy is the patron saint of those diseases of the eyes, let us remember these people before God through the intercession of Saint Lucy. Also, let us pray for those women who live their lives in the Order of Consecrated Virgins that Saint Lucy will guide them.

Saint Juan Diego

Lord God, through Saint Juan Diego You made known the love of Our Lady of Guadalupe toward Your people. Grant by his intercession that we who follow the counsel of Mary, our Mother, may strive continually to do Your will.

The Vatican biography on Saint Juan Diego and Pope John Paul’s 2002 canonization homily. Also, there is a part of the beatification homily here.

The Pope said in part at the canonization:

Happy Juan Diego, true and faithful man! We entrust to you our lay brothers and sisters so that, feeling the call to holiness, they may imbue every area of social life with the spirit of the Gospel. Bless families, strengthen spouses in their marriage, sustain the efforts of parents to give their children a Christian upbringing. Look with favor upon the pain of those who are suffering in body or in spirit, on those afflicted by poverty, loneliness, marginalization or ignorance. May all people, civic leaders and ordinary citizens, always act in accordance with the demands of justice and with respect for the dignity of each person, so that in this way peace may be reinforced.

Beloved Juan Diego, “the talking eagle”! Show us the way that leads to the “Dark Virgin” of Tepeyac, that she may receive us in the depths of her heart, for she is the loving, compassionate Mother who guides us to the true God. Amen.

Saint Ambrose

O Ambrose, wonderworker and champion of the Church, Godbearing hierarch: thou did work miracles by thy faith and love for God; therefore we the earthborn glorify thee and cry out: Glory to Him Who has glorified tee; glory to Him Who has crowed thee; glory to Him Who through thee works healings for all. (Troparion, tone 1)

The Liturgy’s prayer for Saint Ambrose may be found here.

A biography for Saint Ambrose is found here and here.

Saint Ambrose on the Holy Spirit:

But lest perchance any one should speak against as it were
the littleness of the Spirit and from this should endeavour to establish a
difference in greatness, arguing that water seems to be but a small part of a
Fount, although examples taken from creatures seem by no means suitable for
application to the Godhead; yet lest they should judge anything injuriously
from this comparison taken from creatures, let them learn that not only is the Holy
Spirit called Water, but also a River, as we read: “From his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. But this He said of the Spirit, Whom they were
beginning to receive, who were about to believe in Him” (Jn 7:38-39).

So, then,
the Holy Spirit is the River, and the abundant River, which according to the
Hebrews flowed from Jesus in the lands, as we have received it prophesied by
the mouth of Isaiah (Is 66:12). This is the great River which flows always and
never fails. And not only a river, but also one of copious stream and
overflowing greatness, as also David said: “The stream of the river makes glad
the city of God.

For neither is that city, the heavenly Jerusalem, watered by
the channel of any earthly river, but that Holy Spirit proceeding from the
Fount of Life, by a short draught of Whom we are satiated, seems to flow more
abundantly among those celestial Thrones, Dominions and Powers, Angels and
Archangels, rushing in the full course of the seven virtues of the Spirit. For
if a river rising above its banks overflows, how much more does the Spirit, rising
above every creature, when He touches the as it were low-lying fields of our
minds, make glad that heavenly nature of the creatures with the larger
fertility of His sanctification. (St. Ambrose, On the Holy Spirit, Book One, 176-178)

Saint Nicholas, bishop

You have proved yourself to be a holy priest, O Nicholas; You served God in Myra and lived the Gospel of Christ. You offered your life for your people; You rescued the innocent from death, therefore God has glorified you as a trustworthy guide of things divine.

(St Nicholas Kontakion, Tone 3)

You were revealed to your flock as a measure of faith. You were an image of humility and a teacher of self-control. Because of your humble life, heaven was opened to you, because of your poverty, spiritual riches were granted to you. O holy bishop Nicholas, we cry out to you: Pray to Christ our Go that our souls may be saved.

The Liturgy’s prayer for Saint Nicholas may be found here.

A brief bio on Saint Nicholas is here.

Saint John of Damascus

Saint John of Damascus spent most of his life in the monastery of Saint Sabas, near Jerusalem, under Muslim rule, indeed, protected by it. Born in Damascus c. 676, John received a classical and theological education, and followed his father in a government position under the Muslims. He resigned after a few years so that he could go to the monastery of Saint Sabas. Saint John is considered the last of the Greek Church Fathers (his writings)

Three points to remember about the Damascene:

1. he is known for his opposition to the iconoclasts, who opposed the veneration of images. Paradoxically, it was the Eastern Christian emperor Leo who forbade the practice, and it was because John lived in Muslim territory that his enemies could not silence him.

2. he is famous for his treatise, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, a summary of the Greek Fathers. It is said that this book is the Eastern equivalent of Aquinas’ Summa.

3. he is known as a poet, one of the two greatest in the Eastern Church (the other being Romanus the Melodist). His devotion to the Theotokos (the Blessed Virgin Mary) and his sermons on her feasts are well known.

Saint Andrew, Apostle

Their sound goes forth to all the earth. And their speech to the end of the world.

We humbly beseech Thy majesty, O Lord, that as blessed Andrew the Apostle was both a preacher and ruler of Thy Church, so he may unceasingly interceded for us with Thee.

Pope Benedict’s General Audience of 14 June 2006 talks about Saint Andrew, the first called.

Today we particularly remember the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Istanbul) on their patronal feast day as well as the Christians of Scotland and the Rus peoples. Read the Pope’s message to Patriarch Bartholomew I.

Saint Andrew Dung Lac and companions

“Fear not those who kill the body;
Rather those who steal the soul;
On your head, each hair is numbered.
God himself will keep you whole.”

We give thanks for Andrew Dung-Lac,
Faithful priest, and for his friends,
Raised by God to preach and nurture
Vietnam to Christian ends.

When the days of persecution
Overtook the Church, they stood
Firm in faith against oppression,
Boasting in the cross’s good.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Three-in-One, our God and Lord,
From your church, with all your martyrs,
You are worshiped and adored.

Saint Clement of Rome, pope

While Saint Clement was praying there appeared unto him the Lamb of God.

Eternal Shepherd, graciously guard Thy flock, and through blessed Clement, Thy Martyr and Supreme Pontiff, whom Thou didst appoint pastor of the universal Church, keep it under Thy continual protection.

Blessed Frances Siedliska (Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd)

Come bride of Christ, and receive the crown, which the Lord has prepared for you for ever.

O God, You gave Blessed Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd the charism to model her life upon the example of the Holy Family of Nazareth; grant us the grace to imitate her and to inspire Christian families with the desire to lead a life worthy of their vocation for Your greater glory and for the extension of Your kingdom on earth.

The vocation of a professed sister of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth (CSFN) is to live the Trinitarian life of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in perfect love. The point of this blog, I might add with enthusiasm. Mother Foundress described the vocation of the sisters as following the hidden life of the Holy Family of Nazareth wherein the love reigned in relationship with God and neighbor. More concretely, Blessed Frances designed this congregation of sisters to live a life of prayer, community living and ministry; the work of the sisters is to witness the life of the Holy Family in the human families of today through the renewal of life known in moral and religious renewal. As a graduate of a CSFN school, I am happy that there is a liturgical memorial to praise God through the intercession of a great Beatus.

I’ve mentioned the sisters before on this blog (and here, too) and recommend the order to young women.