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!

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

July 30--Bl. Solanus Casey, Religious

“It seems to me that were we only to correspond to God’s graces, continually being showered down on every one of us, we would be able to pass from being great sinners one day to be great saints the next.” These are the words of today’s saint, Bl. Solanus Casey. Bl. Solanus was born in Wisconsin in 1870 to Irish immigrant parents. He had many different jobs before he heard his calling: lumberjack, hospital orderly, guard in the Minnesota state prison, and street car operator. However, once he heard his call he tried to become a diocesan priest, but his academic limitations kept him from that. Instead, he was able to join the Capuchin Franciscans and become a “simplex” priest, or one who was not allowed to preach publicly or hear confessions.

Even with these limitations on his priesthood, he became known for his inspirational talks, which he was allowed to give, as well as his services for the sick. In Detroit he served as porter, a receptionist and doorkeeper, for his order. He died in 1957 and was beatified in 2017.

Limitations can hinder us, or they can free us. If we focus on our limitations as hindrances, then we get caught up in what we can’t do. We can descend into self-pity, “Oh woe is me. I can’t….” However, if we, like Bl. Solanus Casey, embrace our limitations, we can focus on what we can do. Bl. Solanus Case was “just” a porter, not a teacher, not an administrator, not a theologian. He embraced his limitations, which allowed him to serve in the unique way to which God was calling him. We are all called to serve God in our unique way, sometimes helped by our limitations.

January 5--St. John Neumann, C.S.S.R., Bishop

                                          

You may have heard of the phrase, "Jack of all trades, master of none." However, a better phrase describing our saint could be, "Jack of all trades, master of one--love." St. John Neumann was born in what is now the Czech Republic in 1811. He studied for the priesthood in Prague and then came over to the United States and was ordained when he was 25. He eventually joined the Redemptorist Order. His ability to speak seven languages, German, Czech, Italian, English, French, Spanish, and Gaelic, was helpful in his ministry to the immigrant Catholics. He became a naturalized citizen at the age of 37 and four years later was named Bishop of Philadelphia. 

As bishop he transformed the parochial school system into a diocesan school system, increasing student enrollment from 500 to 9000 in less than three years. He added 73 churches and chapels to the diocese. He also introduced Forty Hours Devotion, wrote two catechisms, in German, a Bible history, and a handbook for priests, founded a religious order for women, and establish the first Italian Catholic parish in America. He died at the age of 48 in 1860.

St. John Neumann was blessed with many talents and skills. He used them to build up the kingdom of God by serving his people. We all have numerous talents and skills. How well do we use them? What about the one thing that St. John Neumann was master of? Love is the one gift that will always keep giving. St. John Neumann loved God and his people. We are called to love God and the people that God introduces to us. We, too, can be masters of the one talent that matters to the most. St. John Neumann, pray for us.

November 13--St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Religious

Today's saint was the first American citizen to be canonized. She was born in Italy in 1850 and died in Chicago in 1917. In 1880 she and six other women founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They came to America in 1889 at the urging of Pope Leo XIII, who wanted her to serve the Italian immigrants. During her 38 years in America she lived a life of dedication to those poor immigrants from Italy who had found their way to America only to lose their faith. She bolstered their faith and founded 67 institutions "dedicated to caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick." She is the patron saint of immigrants.

We all came from somewhere. Our families originated in Europe, Africa, Asia, or the Americas. Our ancestors braved tragedies, wars, famine, drought, flood, economic hardships, and more so that they could raise their families in a new land with new opportunities for a better life. A better life also needs to be a holy life. But being immigrants means being aliens in a foreign land. Our ancestors needed help. Men and women like St. Frances Xavier Cabrini came to America as missionaries, serving all the poor they encountered, living the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In turn, we who have benefited from their sacrifice need to feed the hungry, heal the ill, teach the ignorant, shelter the homeless, warn the sinner, protect the vulnerable for all those who are still looking to America as a beacon for hope and opportunity. America is still a land of immigrants. We still need to be like Mother Cabrini.

January 4--St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious

                              

"All those who have gone to Catholic grade school raise your hands.  One, two, three, ... four hundred, ... five thousand....  Okay, so a lot of you went to Catholic grade school.  Your parents sacrificed much to send you to a Catholic grade school so that you could have a quality Catholic education.  But why is it that there are so many Catholic grade schools?"  We have today's saint and the American bishops to thank for the blessings that are Catholic parochial schools.

The third Council of Baltimore in 1886 decreed that parochial schools were absolutely necessary and that parents must send their children to those schools unless there was sufficient reason.  This was not about bishops dictating to parents how to raise their children, but rather, a means of helping insure the faith in a country that was hostile to Catholicism and was teaching Protestantism in the public schools.

But where does St. Elizabeth Ann Seton fit in?  She founded the first American women's religious order and established the first American parish (parochial) school.  She was raised Episcopalian and was married with five children when her husband died, leaving her family destitute.  While in Italy with her dying husband, she became attracted to Catholicism.  In 1805, a year after her husband died, she converted to Catholicism and started a school in Baltimore to support her family.  This became the foundation of parish schools throughout the country.  She once told her sisters, "The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it, and thirdly, to do it because it is his will."