January 23--St. Marianne Cope (St. Marianne of Moloka’i), Virgin and Religious

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Today’s saint went to minister to people who were infected with a highly contagious disease, knowing she could contract it and die. It wasn’t Covid, but rather, Hansen’s disease, leprosy. When she received the plea from King Kalākaua of Hawai’i, she responded: “I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen Ones, whose privilege it will be, to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders... I am not afraid of any disease, hence it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned ‘lepers.’” 

Born in Germany in 1838, her family emigrated to Utica, New York where her father worked in a factory. When her father died in 1862, she joined the Sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. She became a teacher, principal, and hospital administrator. By 1883 she was Superior General of the congregation and answered the call to go to Hawai’i with six sisters. Her first responsibility was to manage a hospital on Oahu to process leprosy patients. Then she opened a general hospital, reformed government abuse of lepers, opened a home for homeless female children of leprosy patients, opened a home for leprous women and girls on Moloka’i, cared for St. Damien of Moloka’i, and took over his ministry when he died. She stayed in Hawai’i until her death in 1918, due to natural causes. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

St. Marianne Cope rejoiced when she found she would not return to New York: “We will cheerfully accept the work….” We are also thrown into difficult circumstances at times; the current pandemic is one of them. Let us maintain our cheerfulness in ministering to our brothers and sisters. St. Marianne Cope, pray for us.

* https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Mother_Marianne_Cope_statue.jpg billsoPHOTO, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

January 19—Sts. Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum, Parents and Sons—Martyrs

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Today we celebrate a family of martyrs! They were martyred in A.D. 270 in Rome. They buried other martyrs and then became the object of persecution and torture. Maris and his sons were beheaded, and their bodies burnt. Martha was drowned outside of Rome at a place now called Santa Ninfa. According to tradition, a Roman woman gathered the remains of the family and had them buried on her estate, which became a place of pilgrimage. They are inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, which is the official list of saints recognized by the Church. They are not on the General Roman Calendar because we only know with certainty their names and their place of burial.

How is it that a whole family could be martyred? They were willing to die for what they believed in. They were witnesses to their faith in Jesus Christ and the hope of the Resurrection. Are our families prepared to do the same? Do we believe to the point of witnessing to our faith in Jesus Christ? Are we willing to live lives of heroic virtue? Do people see in us what others saw in our saints—a love of God which can’t be denied or suppressed?

Do we live the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy so that others cannot but see our faith? We need to clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and the imprisoned, give food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, bury the dead, instruct the ignorant, comfort the afflicted, warn the sinner, counsel the doubtful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive offenses patiently, and pray for the living and the dead. This is Jesus’ command! Then everyone will know we are Christians, by our love! May Sts. Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum guide us and pray for us!

*https://www.akg-images.co.uk/archive/Fresco---Saints-Marius-Martha-Audifax-Abachum.-(Christian-Martyrs-)---Basilica-Santo-Stefano-Rotondo---Rome-2UMEBM5IHTJLT.html

January 13—St. Hilary of Poitiers, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

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Is Jesus God or not? That was key question of the fourth century and beyond that faced the Church. Some, with Arius, said that since Jesus was “begotten of the Father,” that meant he was a creature, albeit the first creature of God. Others, with St. Athanasius, said that Jesus is “begotten, not made” and thus consubstantial with the God the Father. Today’s saint helped hammer home the truth of who Jesus is by his opposition to the Arians and support of St. Athanasius, so much so he was called “Hammer of the Arians” and “Athanasius of the West.”

Born about A.D. 310 in Poitiers, France to pagan parents, St. Hilary received a good pagan education, later studying Scripture, thus resulting in his conversion to Christianity, along with his wife and daughter. He was elected bishop of Poitiers around A.D 350. Even though Arianism was condemned at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 it was still in force throughout the empire, much due to the efforts of different emperors. So St. Hilary attempted to get Arian bishops turned back to the true faith. He also wrote Emperor Constantius II to stop Arians persecuting orthodox Christians, which resulted in his exile in 356. After his exile in 361, he returned in Poitiers and continued to fight for the true understanding of the Trinity against the Arians. He died in 367.

Falsehoods and lies take a long time to die. They are like a many-headed hydra, which keeps sprouting new variations on lies that are condemned and refuted. We need to endure and persevere in living the Truth. St. Paul wrote: “No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37). We must remain faithful to the Truth of Jesus Christ. St. Hilary, pray for us.

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

Richard de Montbaston et collaborateurs., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons