October 31--All Hallow's Eve

From Shower of Roses.

Should we celebrate Halloween or condemn it as a manifestation of all that is evil since it was (supposedly) based on the Gaelic holiday Samhain? First, let’s get our origins straight. The word Halloween comes from “All Hallows’ Eve” which is another way of saying, “The Evening Before All Hallows’ Day.” What does “hallow” mean? It is from the Germanic word meaning a holy person or Saint! Thus Halloween is a shortening of “All Hallows’ E’en (Evening)”, the night before All Saints’ Day. Thus, it is NOT based on the Gaelic holiday of Samhain. November 1 was first celebrated as All Saints’ Day by Pope Gregory III (731-741) when he dedicated a chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica to all the saints and set it as a feast day. So Halloween is like Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas.

So should we celebrate it? Why shouldn’t we celebrate all the saints? We probably have many family members in heaven that the Church has not canonized as saints, but they are saints nonetheless! What about all the spooky and scary and yes, evil things associated with Halloween. Here is where prudence comes into play. We don’t celebrate and glorify evil! Evil can be associated with many things that are good and holy, such as Good Friday, when Christ was crucified. However, God’s grace can bring great good out of terrible evil. Christ’s death on the cross was the sacrifice that brought about our salvation. How we commemorate Halloween can be an expression of joy for the memory of all the saints. It is also a secular holiday that can be enjoyed for the pleasure of treating children. We can add our own Catholic twist to it by blessing the children who come to our doors. May all the Saints pray for us!

October 13--Bl. Maddalena Panattieri, Third Order Dominican

Portrait of Beata Maddalena Panattieri painted by Luigi Morgari, chiesa di San Domenico, Trino, Vercelli, Italy.

Child care, or babysitting as it is also known, is not seen as a glamorous job in our society. Taking care of little kids, who may be screaming and running and hitting and throwing temper tantrums, can be difficult. Nonetheless, today’s Blessed started her saintly career by teaching little ones the faith. As she was quite good at it, their mothers and then fathers and then the clergy, came to listen to her. Her teaching became preaching, which then drew crowds, and she became one of the most famous preachers in Italy at the time.

Bl. Maddalena Panattieri (1443-1503) lived in northern Italy and, at the age of twenty, became a Third Order Dominican, much like her hero, St. Catherine of Siena. That allowed her to be affiliated with the religious order while still living in the world. She received many spiritual gifts as well, including visions, transportation spiritually to the Holy Land, prophecy, and the stigmata, which she kept secret. She also served the poor and the sick and was known for her ascetic life. She was beatified by Pope Leo XII in 1827 after confirming her cultus, or the following of those who were devoted to her through the centuries.

The teaching of children in the faith, catechesis, is a noble endeavor and allows the Church to help the children grow in faith: “Train the young in the way they should go; even when old, they will not swerve from it” (Prv. 22:6). However, there is another grace-filled benefit to teaching children, teaching their parents. When we teach children the faith, they carry that home to connect with what their parents say and do. If parents do support the faith, they will grow in their own faith along with their children.

Bl. Maddalena Panattieri, pray for us!

October 12--Bl. Carlo Acutis, Holy Man

Photograph of Bl. Carlo Acutis, Copyrighted

He is a saint for the 21st century! Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991-2006) “was an Italian website designer who documented Eucharistic miracles and approved Marian apparitions, and catalogued both on a website he designed before his death from leukaemia. Acutis was noted for his cheerfulness, computer skills, and devotion to the Eucharist, which became a core theme of his life.” Even though he died at the age of 15, he was beatified in 2020 and has been approved for canonization, possibly in 2025.

Here are some of his inspiring quotations:

• “The Virgin Mary is the only woman in my life.”
• “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on earth we will have a foretaste of heaven.”
• “By standing before the Eucharistic Christ, we become holy.”
• “Continuously ask your guardian angel for help. Your guardian angel has to become your best friend.”
• All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies.”
• To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan”.
• “Sadness is looking at ourselves, happiness is looking towards God.”
• “Not me, but God.”
• “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven".
• “The only thing we have to ask God for, in prayer, is the desire to be holy.”
• “Our soul is like a hot air balloon. If by chance there is a mortal sin, the soul falls to the ground. Confession is like the fire underneath the balloon enabling the soul to rise again. . . It is important to go to confession often.”
• “Our goal must be infinite, not the finite. The infinite is our homeland. Heaven has been waiting for us forever.”
• “The Eucharist is the highway to heaven.”

Bl. Carlo Acutis, pray for us!

October 3–St. Mother Theodore Guerin, Religious

 

Official portrait of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin released by the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in their press kit as a promotional image.

The American frontier was served by many religious communities of women to educate and serve both Catholic immigrants and Indigenous Americans. These included saints such as St. Katherine Drexel, St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, and today’s saint, St. Mother Theodore Guérin. Born in France in 1798, she expressed a desire to become a religious sister at an early age. She entered religious life in 1825 and became a teacher and administrator at schools in France. In 1839 the bishop of Vincennes, Indiana requested help from women religious in France to send missionaries to help with the influx of Catholic immigrants. Sr. Theodore was recommended and accepted the call under the inspiration of the Rule of the congregation: "The Congregation being obliged to work with zeal for the sanctification of souls, the sisters will be disposed to go to whatsoever part of the world obedience calls them." She then founded a new order in Indiana establishing a women’s academy which became a college, parish schools and other schools, orphanages, and free pharmacies. She died in 1856 after an adulthood of poor health. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.

The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods quote St. Mother Theodore: “What have we to do in order to be saints? Nothing extraordinary; nothing more than what we do every day. Only do it for [God’s] love…” They write about her dependence on God’s Providence: “She’s a saint now, but during her life she was a real person who dealt with real problems. She didn’t want to take on the difficult mission of leaving France to start a congregation in the frontier of Indiana. However, her trust in Providence — the protective care of God — led her to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods where she accomplished amazing things.” St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!

October 9--St. John Henry Newman, Priest

John Henry Newman, by Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Bt (died 1896), licensed under Public Domain.

“God has created me to do him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission; I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I have a part in a great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.”

St. John Henry Newman was a late-comer to Catholicism. Born in 1801, he became an Anglican priest in 1825 and leader of the Oxford Movement, which tried to move the Church of England closer to Catholicism. Eventually, he saw that he could not be an Anglican and converted to Catholicism in 1845 and ordained a Catholic priest in 1847. He wrote extensively in theology, apologetics, education, and more. He is known today for his teachings on the development of doctrine, which were taken up in Vatican II in the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei verbum: ″[T]he understanding of the things and words handed down grows, through the contemplation and study of believers, [...] [which] tends continually towards the fullness of divine truth” (8). He was created cardinal in 1879 without becoming a bishop and died in 1890. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and canonized by Pope Francis in 2019.

St. John Henry Newman was a brilliant, humble, and holy man. Saints like him are models for us, so that we may “keep His commandments and serve Him in [our] calling.”

October 6--Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, Virgin and Foundress

 

A painting of Canadian nun Eulalie Durocher, also known by her religious name Marie-Rose Durocher. It replicates an earlier painting by Théophile Hamel licensed under Public Domain.

Pope St. John Paul II beatified today’s saint in 1982, stating: “Marie Rose Durocher acted with simplicity, prudence, humility, and serenity. She refused to be halted by her personal problems of health or the initial difficulties of her newborn work. Her secret lay in prayer and self-forgetfulness, which, according to her bishop, reached the point of real sanctity.” There you have it ladies and gentlemen, the secret to becoming a saint! For Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher died at the age of 38 in Quebec, Canada after living a full, if not healthy or easy, life.

At the age of 18 she tried to enter the convent, but her poor health prevented her from completing her education. Then her mother died and she took over her duties. Then she moved to her brother’s rectory as a housekeeper and secretary. It was there that she noted the lack of Catholic education for the children. In 1841 she heard that the bishop was arranging for an order of teaching sisters to come to Canada and tried to join. However, the plan fell through and instead the bishop asked her to start a teaching order. She agreed and in 1843, with two other women, founded the order of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. By 1849 demand for her girls’ schools had grown so much that she needed four convents and 30 teachers to educate 448 students! In some provinces her order was teaching boys as well. However, she faced conflict and poor health, which led to her death in 1849.

“Simplicity, prudence, humility, and serenity.” As they consecrated Bl. Marie-Rose, these virtues can help us become holy: simplicity instead of worldliness; prudence instead of rashness; humility instead of pride; and serenity instead of anxiety. Bl. Marie-Rose Durocher, pray for us!

October 27—St. Frumentius of Ethiopia, Bishop

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The Catholic Church was in Africa in ancient times. As a matter of Scripture, the first to evangelize Ethiopia was the court official in Acts (Acts 8:26-39) baptized by the Deacon Philip. However, today’s saint was the first bishop of Aksum, in the northern part of Ethiopia. Born in Tyre, Lebanon in the 4th century, St. Frumentius and his brother were taken as slaves to the King of Aksum from a Red Sea port. Freed shortly before the king’s death, the boys remained at court to educate his son. St. Frumentius later went to Alexandria, Egypt, and was consecrated bishop by St. Athanasius around 328 and returned to Aksum and spread Christianity throughout Ethiopia. Ethiopian tradition credits him with the first translation of the New Testament into the language of the people. He died in 383. 

Missionary efforts by the Church stretch all the way to the time of the apostles. According to tradition, St. Matthew originally evangelized in Ethiopia. Pope St. Paul VI stated in his encyclical Evangelii nuntiandi, that the Church exists to evangelize others: “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection” (EN, 14). Jesus commissioned his followers to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19). So what about us? We are called to spread the Word of God to others, especially those around us. Do they know our faith by the way we act and talk? We may not need to go to Ethiopia, but perhaps to our neighbor next door.

*https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/St_Frumentius.jpg

October 21—St. Ursula, Virgin and Martyr

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Wasn’t she removed from the Roman calendar along with St. Christopher and St. Barbara back in the late 60’s? There are some saints whose feast days are no longer promoted in the General Roman Calendar, including St. Ursula, because there is not enough historical information to corroborate their lives. However, she and her companions are still listed in the Roman Martyrology, which is the official list of saints recognized by the Catholic Church. It says: “At Cologne in Germany, commemoration of virgin saints who ended their life in martyrdom for Christ in the place where afterwards the city’s basilica was built, dedicated in honour of the innocent young girl Ursula who is looked on as their leader.” 

Therefore, let us honor the legend. According to legend, St. Ursula was from Britain who was sent to marry a pagan governor in Brittany, France. Before she would wed him, she declared she would take a pilgrimage throughout Europe. She set off for Cologne and she and her handmaidens were martyred by the Huns. St. Ursula was shot and killed with an arrow by the Huns’ leader on October 21, 383. 

So why is she recognized and honored? St. Angela Merici founded the Order of Ursulines in 1535 to teach young girls and thus St. Ursula became the patron saint of schoolgirls, spreading her name throughout the world. The Virgin Islands were named in her honor by Christopher Columbus. Even though she and her companions are legendary, what they stand for is not. They are portrayed as martyrs of the faith, who exist in every age and in every land. Martyrdom is the supreme sacrifice one can offer in witness to the love one has for God. St. Ursula and her companions, legendary or not, are symbols of faith. That works for me!

*https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/Grandes_Heures_Anne_de_Bretagne_-_Ursule_f199v.jpg/440px-Grandes_Heures_Anne_de_Bretagne_-_Ursule_f199v.jpg

October 14—St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr

 

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“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Mt. 5:7). Today’s saint lived a life that needed mercy and he gave mercy to others. St. Callistus I was born a slave in the late 2nd century, and as a young man was put in charge of donated funds to care for Christian widows and orphans. However, he lost the funds and fled the city. He was captured and given the chance to recover the money. However, he was arrested for getting into a fight trying to collect debts. Then he was denounced as a Christian and sent to the mines. He was eventually released and taken under the wing of the pope, eventually ordained as a deacon, and put in charge of a Christian cemetery, called the Catacombs of St. Callistus, which were rediscovered in 1849. He was elected pope in AD 217. 

During his papacy he was attacked for being merciful to Christians who had violated Church or civil law: 1. He admitted to Communion those who had done public penance for murder, adultery, and fornication; 2. He held as valid marriages between free women and slaves; 3. He ruled that mortal sin was insufficient to depose a bishop; 4. He allowed apostates who denied their faith during persecution back into the Church. He was martyred in AD 222.

We live in a time when mercy is hard to come by. If we do not follow the “proper” political, social, or moral standards we are cancelled and reviled. Jesus says: “But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, … then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Lk. 6:35-36).

*https://live.staticflickr.com/4129/5080579818_8a38769a52_b.jpg

October 5—St. Faustina Kowalska, Virgin

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“Lord, let your mercy by on us, as we place our trust in you” (Ps. 33: 22). “Mercy” is the watchword of today’s saint. St. Faustina Kowalska was born in the Russian Empire on August 25, 1905, in what is now Poland. As a child she loved prayer, work, obedience, and had a sensitivity to the poor. She received little formal education but wanted to enter the convent at an early age. She eventually joined the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925 and took the name Sr. Maria Faustina of the Most Blessed Sacrament. She lived in different convents and worked as a cook, gardener, and porter. She did not exhibit any extraordinary gifts or talents, but she was graced with an ongoing union with God that gave rise to her writings in her diary. 

“The Lord Jesus chose Sr. Maria Faustina as the Apostle and ‘Secretary’ of His Mercy, so that she could tell the world about His great message, which Sr. Faustina recorded in a diary she titled Divine Mercy in My Soul. In the Old Covenant He said to her: ‘I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart.’” (Diary, 1588) 

Through her, we have the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, a prayer that uses the five decades of the rosary to pray: “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.” She died in 1938 and was canonized by St. John Paul II in 2000. Divine Mercy Sunday is the Second Sunday of Easter. We are grateful for her. St. Faustina, pray for us.

*https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/200px-Faustina.jpg

October 30--St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, Religious

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Can a doorkeeper become a saint? In other words, can someone who spends his life receiving visitors, running errands, delivering messages, giving advice to the troubled, searching for others at the door of a college become a saint? Yes! St. Alphonsus Rodriguez did just that for 46 years! It seems an unlikely way to become a saint, but it was the way that God called him and the way he responded.

St. Alphonsus Rodriguez was born in Spain in 1532, left school at 14 when his father died to help his mother run the family business. He married at 26 but became a widower at 31 with one surviving child. His mother and child also died soon thereafter, and he sold the business. His life seemed to be one of failure and misery, but there was more to await him. He decided to enter the Jesuits at the age of 39, but they refused him because of his lack of education. One year later, after some remedial education in Latin, he was accepted as a lay brother, never to become a priest. He was assigned to be porter, or doorkeeper, at a Jesuit college on Majorca, where he served the rest of his life until he died in 1617 at the age of 85.  He was canonized in 1888.

A porter is a humble position, one also held by Bl. Solanus Casey of Detroit. However, it allows the person to be present to others at all times of day and in all cases of need. St. Alphonsus was a full-time minister to everyone he met. Every person he greeted was Jesus Christ! He became a spiritual advisor to the Jesuit students, including St. Peter Claver. When not at the door, he was in prayer. Humility is key to holiness, and so we pray:  St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, pray for us.

*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francisco_de_Zurbar%C3%A1n_069.jpg

October 20--St. Paul of the Cross, Priest

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Passionate—showing or caused by strong feelings or a strong belief. Passion—strong and barely controllable emotion. The Passion—the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. Passionist—member of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ founded by St. Paul of the Cross with special emphasis on and devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ. Our saint today is the founder of a religious congregation dedicated completely to preaching missions and the contemplative life; in other words, a combining of the best aspects of the Jesuits and the Trappist monks.

St. Paul of the Cross was born in 1694 in Italy of parents of modest means. At the age of 26 he had a vision of Our Lady appearing to him in a black habit with a white insignia in the shape of a heart bearing Jesus’ name and a cross. This became emblematic of his dedication to the Passion of Jesus. With his brother John Baptist, he founded the Passionists. He spent his life preaching parish missions, praying, writing letters, and leading a life of austerity, as if in perpetual retreat, which is what his houses were called. He had the ability to heal, prophesy, and read consciences. He wanted people to have a greater awareness of the meaning and the value of Passion of Christ for each person and for the world. He died in Rome in 1775 and was canonized in 1867.

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, released in 2004, is about the last hours of Jesus Christ. It is a two-hour bloody, torturous, excruciating meditation upon what we proclaim, the Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. Simply, Jesus suffered and died for us. We should not ever forget the sacrifice and mercy of God for us. St. Paul of the Cross, pray for us.

*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_de_la_croix.jpg

October 16--St. Hedwig, Religious

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For many people today, the name Hedwig summons images of a snowy owl from the Harry Potter movies. However, the name Hedwig has a more sacred connection, St. Hedwig. She was born in Bavaria around 1174, married Henry, Duke of Silesia and together they had seven children. They lived in Silesia, which is part of present-day Poland and founded religious houses and hospitals. She took an active role in serving the poor. She was a peacemaker in a time of war. She attempted to reconcile her sons so they would not fight. She succeeded in keeping her husband and another duke from going to war. Henry died in 1238, over 50 years after their marriage. St. Hedwig then moved into the convent she helped found, although she did not take religious vows so that she could share her property with the poor. She died in 1243 and was canonized in 1267.

St. Hedwig was wealthy by virtue of being a duchess. However, she was not attached to her wealth, giving to the poor, being a benefactor to religious communities as well as to her country. Most of us have more than what we need and far more than what our recent ancestors had to live on. How well do we share our wealth? Are we attached to the “things” we have? Bl. Charles de Foucald wrote: “If God allows some people to pile up riches instead of making themselves poor as Jesus did, it is so that they may use what he has entrusted to them as loyal servants, in accordance with the Master’s will, to do spiritual and temporal good to others.” Our riches need to be shared so that we may bring about good as a matter of charity and of justice. St. Hedwig, pray for us.

* https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MOs810_WG_2_2018_(Wloclawek_Lake)_(Saint_Hedwig_church_in_Stara_Bia%C5%82a)_(6).jpg

October 1--St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

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She died at the age of 24 of tuberculosis.  Her main work is The Story of a Soul, written at the behest of her superiors in order to share her life with others.  She became the patron saint of missionaries even though she lived her entire adult life in a cloistered convent in France.  Her “little way” of simplicity and practicality illuminates how each person can become a saint:  “I see that it is enough to recognize one's nothingness and to abandon oneself, like a child, into God's arms.”

St. Thérèse of Liseiux was born in 1873 to Zélie and Louis Martin, who have been since the only married couple canonized together by Pope Francis in 2015.  She was the sister of four surviving daughters, all of whom became nuns.  She asked Pope Leo XIII permission to enter the convent at 15.  He directed that she follow her superiors’ directions.  However, she was allowed to enter the Carmelite convent at Lisieux the following spring, when she was 15.  She spent nine years in the convent before she died.

Although her life in the convent was a hidden life, she desired nothing more than to be holy, to be a saint.  She served in the convent through prayer and obedience, offering herself and her suffering for others, especially priests.  She is called the Little Flower.  She wrote:  “I will scatter flowers, perfuming the Divine Throne, and I’ll sweetly sing my hymn of love.  These flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least of actions for love.”  St. Thérèse knew she could not do great or heroic acts, so she dedicated herself to doing little acts of love, everything for love.  So should we all!  St. Thérèse, pray for us.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Teresa-de-Lisieux.jpg#file

October 23--St. John of Capistrano, Priest and Religious

The Liturgy of the Hours has a brief life on all the saints we celebrate. For St. John of Capistrano it says: “Saint John was born in Capistrano in the Abruzzi (Italy) in 1386. He studied law in Perugia and for a time was governor of that city. He entered the Order of Friars Minor and, after ordination to the priesthood, he led an untiring apostolic life preaching throughout Europe both to strengthen Christian life and to refute heresy. He died at Villach in Austria in 1456.” It’s pretty cut and dried, but it doesn’t tell us…the rest of the story.

The people of Europe had just recovered from the plague, which had wiped out about one-third of the population. The Western Schism occurred, in which three men claimed to be pope! The Franciscans had a heretical group within them! The Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople in 1453 and were moving into central Europe. So, what was a body to do? Preach! He preached to great crowds who were either ambivalent or confused about the Church. He sparked great conversions in the people who heard him. He helped the Franciscans root out the heretical group in their midst. He then preached a crusade in central Europe to stop the Turks, leading an army into Belgrade, Hungary lifting the siege and stopping the Muslim advance into Europe.

Why is all this important for the life of St. John and for us? We are called to live our faith in the circumstances we encounter. If there is heresy, preach against it! If there is corruption, be a force for light and truth! If there is apathy, live with zeal! When there are forces of evil to face, do so with courage! And that’s the rest of the story! St. John of Capistrano, pray for us.

October 17--St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr

Imagine this: You are on your way to your execution, brutal at best and torturous at worst. But you write your friends to not try and stop it. Rather, you want to die as an example for others. This is what St. Ignatius of Antioch did when he was taken to the Circus Maximus in Rome. He was a second-generation Christian, having been taught by John the Apostle. As bishop of Antioch, he was a successor to Peter, who was bishop there before going to Rome. He was brought before the Emperor Trajan and refused to recant his faith, whereupon he was sentenced to death in the Circus, to be eaten by lions. In anticipation of the efforts of the Christians in Rome, he wrote: “The only thing I ask of you is to allow me to offer the libation of my blood to God. I am the wheat of the Lord; may I be ground by the teeth of the beasts to become the immaculate bread of Christ.” 

St. Ignatius wrote to various communities on his way to his martyrdom. He wrote about the importance of loyalty to the bishop. In this day we are seeing the bishops in a different light. Some have sinned grievously, while others have sinned in covering up grievous sins. Our bishops are successors to the apostles, but they are also men who need God’s grace in their own lives. We do need to be loyal to them, but we also need to help them in being accountable for the responsibilities they have. The laity has a co-responsibility, along with the clergy, to bring about the Kingdom of God. Let us never renege on our own baptismal promises to reject Satan and all his evil works! St. Ignatius, pray for us.

October 9—St. John Leonardi, Priest

The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, also known as CCD, was the brainchild of today’s saint. The Society for the Propagation of the Faith also owes its existence to St. John Leonardi. They are two immense programs dedicated to the growth of the faith in foreign lands as well as in our own parishes, yet their founder made sure that the religious order he founded, the Order of Clerics Regular of the Mother of God, remained a small congregation. Perhaps he knew that a religious order is not the sole responsibility of faith and missions, but rather the entire Church! 

St. John Leonardi was born in Tuscany, Italy in 1541. After studying to be a pharmacist he became a priest dedicating himself to teaching others about the faith. He founded his religious order in 1574. In 1603 he cofounded the seminary of the Propagation of the Faith for training of missionary priests. He also helped reform some other congregations. He died in Rome in 1609 from the plague while ministering to his brothers.

Obviously, St. John Leonardi had great energy and passion to do God’s work. But he also had the grace of God, without which no one can accomplish any good. All our good rests in God’s gracious love. He gives us the graces and virtues we need to accomplish his saving work in the world. He depends on us to love others in his name. That is why we strive to grow in holiness and perfection. Our lives need to be focused on his saving mission. Our relatives, our friends, our colleagues, and our fellow citizens need the grace that he has given to us for their benefit. Let us remember St. John Leonardi’s efforts and redouble our own, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

October 24--St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop and Religious

                                 

St. Anthony Mary Claret was a 19th century superpriest! He served the poor as a diocesan priest; practiced medicine in an area ravaged by war; sent as an Apostolic Missionary to his home region; preached parish missions; heard confessions; gave retreats; founded a religious library in Barcelona; established the Claretian missionary order; appointed archbishop of Santiago, Cuba; erected a hospital and schools in Cuba; founded a women’s religious order; stabbed in an attempted assassination; named confessor to the Queen of Spain, exiled to France, where he finally died in 1870 at the age of 62; wrote 144 books; and more!

A priest once remarked that when he became a priest he got to wear a cape, indicating his joy at being a priest and the supernatural powers that were given to him. The cape he was referring to is a cope, which priests and deacons wear when handling the monstrance at adoration or during processions. We should think of priests as superheroes! They get to minister in persona Christi, “in the person of Christ”. When we see the priest consecrating the bread and wine into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ at the Mass, it is Jesus working through him. He is “another Christ”, alter Christus. What a privilege and grace! Priests hear confessions and forgive us through Jesus. Priests baptize, anoint, receive marriage vows, preach, console, exhort, encourage, and guide; all in the name of Jesus; all for the sake of his Body, the Church, so that we may come to know, love, and serve Jesus more fruitfully. Priests aren’t perfect, but who is? Pray for them. St. Anthony Mary Claret, pray for our priests.

October 16--St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Religious

“From the depth of my nothingness, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, to pay Thee all the homage of love, praise and adoration in my power.  Amen.” 

 So prayed today’s saint of the day, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. She entered religious life near the age of 24 in 1671. She had visions of Jesus in her youth, which she thought was normal. But after her entrance into the convent, she had visions in which Jesus wanted her to establish devotion to His Sacred Heart. She maintained a Holy Hour from eleven till midnight on Thursday before the first Friday of every month. He appointed the Friday after the feast of Corpus Christi as the feast of His Sacred Heart. She died in 1690 and was canonized in 1920.

First Friday devotions, Holy Hours, Devotion to the Sacred Heart; all of these can be attributed to God’s work through St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Devotion to the Sacred Heart is devotion to the love of Christ. “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16). All the love God has for us has been fully revealed through Jesus, who suffered, died, rose, and ascended into Heaven. God calls us to love him in return. We love him in himself through adoration, prayer, and reception of the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist. But we also love him in one another through the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. We are called to pray and work for the coming of the Kingdom of God. We would do well to follow St. Margaret Mary in her devotion to Our Lord’s Most Sacred Heart.

October 10--St. Francis Borgia, S.J., Priest and Religious

One of his great-grandfathers was a pope, another great-grandfather was a king of Spain, a grandfather was a bishop, and his father was a duke in Spain. Quite a pedigree! And yet, he wanted to become a monk. Before he joined the Jesuits, St. Francis Borgia, also became a duke and viceroy in Spain, married, had eight children, was a member of the court of Emperor Charles V, and wrote Church music. Wow! After his wife died, he joined the Jesuits and eventually became the third Superior General of the order. He was an amazing administrator and founded the Gregorian University in Rome as well as advised popes and kings.

Each of us has many gifts that God has given to us. How do we use them? Do we improve them or waste them? If we have the gift of persuasion, do we use it to help people come to God and the truth? If we have the gift of wealth, do we contribute to the Church and the community? If we have the gift of business acumen, do we sell goods and services at a fair price for the benefit of the people who buy them? If we have the gift of intellect, do we use it to think clearly? If we have the gift of healing, do we use it to bring health to others? If we have the gift of athleticism, do we use it for building our team? “All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jas 1:17). St. Francis Borgia used his gifts; use yours, to the glory of God.