Dominican saints and blesseds – Page 4

Saint Thomas Aquinas

O God, who made Saint Thomas Aquinas outstanding in his zeal for holiness and his study of sacred doctrine, grant us, we pray, that we may understand what he taught one imitate what he accomplished.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, patron of Catholic school teacher and researchers, pray for us.

“Man’s good and what makes man good in God’s sight does not, principally, consist in external acts. But in the external actions we must use discretion and make charity the measure of our use of them”

St Albert the Great reminds us that there is
friendship between science and faith and that through their vocation to the
study of nature, scientists can take an authentic and fascinating path of
holiness.

His extraordinary openmindedness is also revealed in a cultural feat
which he carried out successfully, that is, the acceptance and appreciation of
Aristotle’s thought. In St Albert’s time, in fact, knowledge was spreading of
numerous works by this great Greek philosopher, who lived a quarter of a
century before Christ, especially in the sphere of ethics and metaphysics. They
showed the power of reason, explained lucidly and clearly the meaning and
structure of reality, its intelligibility and the value and purpose of human
actions. St Albert the Great opened the door to the complete acceptance in
medieval philosophy and theology of Aristotle’s philosophy, which was
subsequently given a definitive form by St Thomas. This reception of a pagan
pre-Christian philosophy, let us say, was an authentic cultural revolution in
that epoch. Yet many Christian thinkers feared Aristotle’s philosophy, a
non-Christian philosophy, especially because, presented by his Arab
commentators, it had been interpreted in such a way, at least in certain
points, as to appear completely irreconcilable with the Christian faith. Hence
a dilemma arose: are faith and reason in conflict with each other or not?

This
is one of the great merits of St Albert: with scientific rigour he studied
Aristotle’s works, convinced that all that is truly rational is compatible with
the faith revealed in the Sacred Scriptures. In other words, St Albert the
Great thus contributed to the formation of an autonomous philosophy, distinct
from theology and united with it only by the unity of the truth. So it was that
in the 13th century a clear distinction came into being between these two
branches of knowledge, philosophy and theology, which, in conversing with each
other, cooperate harmoniously in the discovery of the authentic vocation of
man, thirsting for truth and happiness: and it is above all theology, that St
Albert defined as “emotional knowledge”, which points out to human
beings their vocation to eternal joy, a joy that flows from full adherence to
the truth.

Pope Benedict XVI

March 2010

Saint Martin de Porres

Today’s the feast of the great Dominican saint, Martin de Porres (1579-1639). A native of Peru, he was the son of a slave mother and a Spanish father (who weren’t married).

Martin’s holiness and charitable work is beyond compare. For a man of no education he had the reputation for wisdom that people of civil and ecclesial government along with the common person sought his counsel. One Dominican Friar told me that he and Saint Rose of Lima are two of the most popular saints from the Order of Preachers surpassing Aquinas and others. He was what we call today, “a man of the people.” Martin was the first black person to be given the habit of the Order of Friars Preachers taking vows in 1603. Blessed John XXIII canonized Martin in 1962 who called him, “Martin of charity.”

Each day I pass Saint Martin’s altar sometimes aware of De Porres’ supreme affection for Jesus and intense love for his brother and sister; other days, not so aware. But aware or not, my love for Saint Martin has only grown in recent times because I recognize in him an authentic and recognizable model of Christian charity and the desire to seek the Face of God in prayer.

Do you desire to be Christ, to follow Christ more closely? Walk on the path that Saint Martin shows….

Saint Martin de Porres, pray for us!

Saint Louis Bertrand

O God, through mortification of the body and preaching of the faith, you raised the blessed Louis, your confessor, to the glory of the saints; grant that what we profess by faith we may ever fulfill by works of piety.

The preaching one hears from a member of the Order of Preachers ought to lead each person to a deeper relationship with God. Saint Louis Bertrand said, “If because of your preaching men lay aside enmities, forgive injuries, avoid occasions of sin and scandals, and reform their conduct, you may say that the seed has fallen on good ground. But to God alone give all the glory and acknowledge yourselves ever unprofitable servants.”

~Saint Louis Bertrand to the young Dominican students

Let us pray through Saint Louis Bertrand’s intercession for the Church in the Americas and the Islands.

Saint Dominic de Guzman

Speaking always with you or about you, O God, beginning all his actions in contemplation, he advanced in wisdom. He brought many to Christ by his life and teaching, he devoted himself without reserve to the building up the Church, the body of Christ.

(Preface for the Mass of Saint Dominic)

If you have time, you’ll want to read The Life of Saint Dominic from the Vitae Fratrum.

Also, there is last year’s post here.

Saint Dominic, model of the New Evangelization, pray for us!

Blessed Constantius of Fabriano

God of justice and truth, you made Blessed Constantius renowned for his unceasing prayer and his zeal for peace.
By the help of his prayers may we walk in the path of justice
and reach everlasting peace and glory.

Here the liturgical memorial of a Dominican friar, priest and prior, Constantius (Bernocchi) of Fabriano (1410-1481), is observed. He was a 15th century Italian Dominican whose reputation, even as a child, led sinners to reconciliation with Christ and the Church. His spiritual fathers included Blesseds John Dominici, Laurence of Ripafratta and Florence’s Saint Antoninus. Constantius was a man of many austerities, prayer and service to the least. Constantius’ work as the elected head of several priories was to restore the regular life of the Dominican friars. His first miracle was the cure of his sister but always a peacemaker.

Father Constantius was beatified in 1811 by Pope Pius VII.

Blessed Christopher of Milan

God of all truth, you made Blessed Christopher a
faithful herald of your word to the people. By his life and ministry may we
keep Christ ever in our thoughts and in the love of our hearts.

Christopher (early 15th-c.-1484) was known among his Dominican brothers as “holy and abstemious, humble and studious” and having all the ordinary virtues of a good Christian man. His apostolic work included the areas of Milan and Liguria where he drew many souls to Christ due his excellence in preaching.

Pope Pius IX beatified Christopher in 1875.

From an antiphon from First Vespers for Blessed Christopher we pray: Strengthen by holy intercession, O Christopher, confessor of the Lord, those here present, have we who are burdened with the weight of our offenses may be relieved by the glory of thy blessedness, and may by thy guidance attain eternal rewards.

Saint Raymond of Peñafort

O God of mercy, source of grace,

Who draws us all to seek your face,

We give you thanks for this, your saint,

Who served you long without complaint.

As lawyer for the Church, his light

For sinners shone forth, calm and bright,

Friar and Master Gen’ral, he

Sought in his life Christ-like to be.

O Father, Son, and Spirit blest,

Let all our hymns of praise addressed

To you, on this Saint Raymond’s day,

Give us all grace to walk your way.

J. Michael Thompson

LM; DUKE STREET

People joke that heaven has few lawyer saints. And we know that jokes sometimes betray some truth. We have not only a lawyer who’s a saint, but a nobleman, priest, religious, lawyer, editor, author, and a bishop who is a saint. Not bad. Today’s liturgical memorial is a Dominican priest of Spanish nobility with an earned doctorate in canon and civil law. At 41, Raymond of Peñafort entered the Order of Preachers and then called by Pope Gregory IX to Rome to be his confessor and to work on some crucial projects for the Church. He’s known as the editor of papal decrees, author of the famous Summa de casibus poenitentiæ and for 2 years was the archbishop of Tarragona, Spain, before being elected the Master of the Order of Preachers. It is said that he encouraged Saint Thomas Aquinas to write the Summa contra gentiles.

Saint Catherine of Siena: ambassador, woman of holiness & spiritual mother

Pope Benedict spoke in his General Audience today of the great 14th century Dominican sister, Saint Catherine of Siena, holy woman, ambassador, truth-speaker, Doctor of the Church and spiritual mother. His choice of saint could not have been better since the presence of many of the new cardinals were in attendance. Rome Reports provides a brief video clip on the papal address.

Today I would
like to speak to you about a woman who has had an eminent role in the history
of the Church. She is St. Catherine of Siena. The century in which she lived —
the 14th — was a troubled time for the life of the Church and for the
whole social fabric in Italy and Europe.

However, even in
the moments of greatest difficulty, the Lord does not cease to bless his
People, raising men and women saints who stir minds and hearts, bringing about
conversion and renewal. Catherine is one of these and still today she speaks to
us and pushes us to walk courageously toward sanctity to be disciples of
the Lord in an ever fuller sense.

Born in Siena in 1347 to a very numerous
family, she died in her native city in 1380. At 16, moved by a vision of St.
Dominic, she entered the Dominican Third Order, in the feminine branch called
the Mantellate. She stayed with her family and confirmed the vow of virginity
she made privately when she was still an adolescent; she dedicated herself to
prayer, penance, and works of charity, above all for the benefit of the sick.

When
her fame for sanctity spread, she became the protagonist in an intense activity
of spiritual counsel, dealing with all categories of persons: nobles and
politicians, artists and ordinary people, consecrated persons, ecclesiastics,
and including Pope Gregory XI, who at that time resided in Avignon and whom
Catherine exhorted energetically and effectively to return to Rome. She
traveled a lot to solicit the interior reform of the Church and to foster peace
between states. For this reason also the Venerable John Paul II declared her
co-patroness of Europe: so that the Old World would never forget its Christian
roots that are at the base of its journey and continue to draw from the Gospel
the fundamental values that ensure justice and concord.

Continue reading Saint Catherine of Siena: ambassador, woman of holiness & spiritual mother

Saint Albert the Great

The learned will shine like the brilliance of the firmament, and those who train many in the ways of justice will sparkle like the stars for all eternity. (ent. ant.)

God of truth, You endowed our brother Albert with the gift of combining human wisdom with divine faith. May the pursuit of all human knowledge lead to a greater knowledge and love of You.

History is a Catholic “thing”: the Middle Ages weren’t so intellectually dark as some people say. Proof of this thesis is the presence of the Dominican priest, bishop, natural scientist and philosopher Albert the Great (1200-80). He was a known authority on the sciences and he posited that the earth was a sphere 200 years before Columbus “discovered” America. He also theorized that weather is determined by a person’s latitude. All of this information is taken for granted today but in the 13th century this was truly new information, revolutionary, in fact.

He abandoned his family’s station in life, studied at the University of Padua, joined the brand new Order of Friars Preachers, studied at Paris, and was an interested party promoting Aristotle. Albert was the superior of one of the houses of studies where the young Thomas Aquinas lived and is credited for setting Thomas on his way to be an intellectual giant. In 1254, Albert was elected the Prior Provincial of the German Province of Dominicans and in 1260 Pope Alexander IV nominated Albert the Bishop of Regensburg. He was prodigious author (at least 40 volumes of thought) to the point that Albert’s contemporaries called him the universal doctor and the Church bestowed the title of Doctor of the Church.

Albert was canonized in 1931.