May 25--St. Mary Magdalene dé Pazzi, Virgin

 

Ecstasy of St. Mary Magdalene dé Pazzi by Allesandro Rossi

Mystics are a special breed of saint. They receive amazing visions and ecstasies that most people cannot even imagine. Some famous mystics are St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, and in the 20th century, St. Faustina Kowalska and St. Pio of Pietralcina. Today’s saint, St. Mary Magdalene dé Pazzi, was blessed with ecstatic visions on a daily basis for numerous years. Her confessor required them to be transcribed and preserved as a safeguard against deception. For six years five volumes were transcribed. However, she not only experienced great love for God, but also great trials. One was five years long!

St. Mary Magdalene dé Pazzi was born to a noble and wealthy Florence family during the Italian Renaissance in 1566. She made her first communion at the early age of ten, vowed virginity that same year, and at the age of twelve experienced her first ecstasy. She was allowed to enter a Carmelite convent at seventeen. It was during her novitiate that she became critically ill and thus allowed to take religious vows, after which she went into ecstasy for about two hours and then the following 40 days after receiving communion. She died in 1607 at the age of 41 and canonized a saint in 1669.

“Intimate union, God’s gift to mystics, is a reminder to all of us of the eternal happiness of union he wishes to give us. The cause of mystical ecstasy in this life is the Holy Spirit, working through spiritual gifts.” We may not have the gift of ecstasy, but we can meet Jesus in every person as Jesus tells us: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt. 25:40). St. Mary Magdalene dé Pazzi, pray for us!

February 27--St. Gregory of Narek, Monk, Priest, and Doctor of the Church

St. Gregory of Narek Statue, Vatican City

“Lex orandi, lex credendi.” “The law of what is prayed is the law of what is believed.” This Latin phrase summarizes the impact and relationship of prayer and faith. As the Catechism states: “The law of prayer is the law of faith: the Church believes as she prays.” (1124).

Thus: Saint Gregory of Narek was a mystic, monk, priest, and, as declared by Pope Francis, Doctor of the Church. Living in the Kingdom of Armenia, modern Turkey (born about 951, died about 1003), Gregory and his brother were raised by their uncle in a monastery, which he eventually entered. He then taught there and wrote commentaries and prayers. His most famous work is The Book of Lamentations, a collection of ninety-five prayers, each beginning: “Speaking with God from the Depths of the Heart.” The prayers were expressions of love and dependency on God’s mercy. “He believed his book was written not only for himself, his monks, or the Armenian people, but for all people, for the entire world.” In other words, St. Gregory proclaimed the Gospel in the prayers he composed.

Here is the conclusion of his final prayer: Prepare the earth for the day of light and let the soil bloom and bring forth fruit, heavenly cup of life-giving blood, ever sacrificed, never running dry, all for the salvation and life of the souls in eternal rest. And though my body die in sin, with Your grace and compassion, may I be strengthened in You, cleansed of sin through You, and renewed by You with life everlasting, and at the resurrection of the righteous be deemed worthy of Your Father’s blessing. To Him together with You, all glory, and with the Holy Spirit, praise and resounding thanks, now, always and forever, Amen. St. Gregory of Narek, pray for us!

November 19–“Saint” Mechtild of Magdeburg, Beguine, Third Order Dominican, and Mystic

Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The language of love is one of complete self-gift of one to the other: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). Pope Benedict XVI wrote the encyclical Deus caritas est, wherein he wrote about love as eros in a way that transcends sexuality: “True, eros tends to rise ‘in ecstasy’ towards the Divine, to lead us beyond ourselves; yet for this very reason it calls for a path of ascent, renunciation, purification and healing” (5). It is this sense of ecstasy and transcendence that the mystics touch in their writings, as well as in their prayer lives with God.

Today’s “saint”, Mechtild of Magdeburg (born about 1210, died about 1282/1297), has not been officially canonized by the Catholic Church, although some have called her saint and blessed. Yet she experienced mystical revelations from the Holy Spirit from the age of twelve and continued to write about these throughout her life, published as The Flowing Light of the Godhead. There, she describes the union of her soul with God: “O Lord, love me excessively and love often and long; the oftener you love me, so much the purer do I become; the more excessively you love me, the more beautiful I become; the longer you love me, the more holy will I become upon earth.” And elsewhere: “And he, with great desire, shows her his divine heart. It glows like red gold in a great fire. And God lays the soul in his glowing heart so that he, the great God, and she, the humble maid, embrace and are one as water with wine. … Then she says, ‘Lord! You art my beloved! My desire! My flowing stream! My sun! and I am your reflection!’” This is the language of love beyond love!

September 17--Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Virgin, Abbess, and Doctor of the Church

St. Hildegard, photograph by Bobo Kubrak, licensed under CC0 1.0.

What would a “Renaissance woman” be? Perhaps a woman who was a writer, composer, philosopher, scholar, scientist, healer, consultant to popes and emperors, mystic, visionary, and saint! Perhaps, St. Hildegard of Bingen! She lived from 1098-1179 in Germany. She was placed in the convent at the age of seven after it was discovered that she experienced visions, which were known only to a few. After the abbess died she was unanimously elected the new abbess at the age of 38. “Hildegard's works include three great volumes of visionary theology; a variety of musical compositions for use in the liturgy, as well as the musical morality play Ordo Virtutum; one of the largest bodies of letters (nearly 400) to survive from the Middle Ages, addressed to correspondents ranging from popes to emperors to abbots and abbesses, and including records of many of the sermons she preached in the 1160s and 1170s; two volumes of material on natural medicine and cures; an invented language called the Lingua ignota (‘unknown language’); and various minor works, including a gospel commentary and two works of hagiography.” Finally, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed her a saint and Doctor of the Church in 2012, one of 37. “He called Hildegard ‘perennially relevant’ and ‘an authentic teacher of theology and a profound scholar of natural science and music.’”

St. Hildegard was a “Renaissance woman” and an amazing person in all regards! God raises special people to bring his message to the world. In the Church he sends saints, like St. Hildegard. She wrote, in the voice of God: “I am the breeze that nurtures all things green. I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits. I am the rain coming from the dew that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life.” St. Hildegard, pray for us!

April 29--St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

Mystic, mediator, counselor to popes, Doctor of the Church, third order Dominican, virgin, stigmatist, saint--St. Catherine of Siena had quite a resume!  She dedicated herself to God through the Dominican order as a lay member.  She was not a cloistered nun and could travel.  That was helpful, because as she became known as a holy woman, she gathered disciples and went around Italy to help resolve conflicts.  She was also sent to Avignon, France to convince the pope to return to Rome after the papacy was away for almost 70 years.  She received the stigmata, which are the wounds similar to Christ's wounds from the cross, but they were hidden from view.  

As a Doctor of the Church, St. Catherine is known for her book, The Dialogues, which came to her in a vision. In that vision God spoke to her about prayer and the importance of love and the necessity of charity and the joy of the Eucharist and how we can resist temptation.  She is one of 36 Doctors of the Church, four of whom are women.

St. Catherine's way of dealing with people was both blunt and sophisticated.  She would let popes know what she believed to be God's way and would challenge them to follow it.  But she also prayed extensively and advised people on how they could lead holy lives.  We need to adapt Jesus' message of love to those whom we are witnessing.  We may need to be forthright in some situations and subtle in others.  Prudential judgment needs to guide us to be the best fishers of men.  St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us.