June 12--108 Blessed Martyrs of Poland

Today, we remember the men and women of Poland who offered their lives in witness to their faith. Between 1939 and 1945, 108 bishops, priests, brothers, sisters, and laity were martyred due to the hatred of the faith, odium fidei, the Nazis held toward Catholics. In 1999, when Pope St. John Paul II beatified these faithful, he said:

“Today we are celebrating the victory of those who, in our time, gave their lives for Christ, in order to possess life forever in his glory. This victory has a special character, since it was shared by clergy and laity alike, by young people and old, by people from different classes and states. Among them are Archbishop Antoni Julian Nowowiejski, Pastor of the Diocese of Plock, tortured to death at Dzialdowo; Bishop Wladyslaw Goral of Lublin, tortured with particular hatred simply because he was a Catholic Bishop. There are diocesan and religious priests who died because they chose not to abandon their ministry and because they continued to serve their fellow prisoners who were sick with typhus; some were tortured to death because they defended Jews. In the group of Blessed there are religious brothers and sisters who persevered in the service of charity and in offering their torments for their neighbor. Among the blessed martyrs there are also lay people. There are five young people formed in the Salesian oratory; a zealous activist of Catholic Action, a lay catechist tortured to death for his service and an heroic woman, who give up her own life in exchange for that of her daughter-in-law who was with child. These blessed martyrs are today inscribed in the history of holiness of the People of God on pilgrimage for over a thousand years in the land of Poland.

“If we rejoice today for the beatification of one hundred and eight martyrs, clergy and lay people, we do so above all because they bear witness to the victory of Christ, the gift which restores hope. As we carry out this solemn act, there is in a way rekindled in us the certainty that, independently of the circumstances, we can achieve complete victory in all things through the One who has loved us (cf. Rom 8:37). The blessed martyrs cry to our hearts: Believe in God who is love! Believe in him in good times and bad! Awaken hope! May it produce in you the fruit of fidelity to God in every trial!”

May 27—St. Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop and Missionary

Our country is tilted toward England more than the other European countries that colonized this land. So, in many respects our culture leans toward the British. We follow English common law, the Magna Carta is a basis for the Constitution, and we speak English, allowing us to enjoy the great literature of our common tongue. So, it is worth considering the saint that brought the Church back to England in 597, St. Augustine of Canterbury.

England was Christian when the Roman empire was Christianized. But with the withdrawal of Roman legions from England in the 5th century, the island was overrun by Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from Germany. The king of Kent in southeastern England was Æthelbehrt, who married a Frankish princess, who was Catholic. This allowed St. Gregory the Great to send St. Augustine and a number of monks to Canterbury to convert the king and his kingdom. St. Augustine, not the great philosopher from Africa, was a Benedictine monk from Rome. Although his group of 40 companions were daunted by their task, St. Gregory encouraged them onward. Soon after his arrival they met with the king who converted that same year. Large-scale conversions of the people occurred quickly, although King Æthelbehrt never coerced his subjects to do so. He died in 604. St. Augustine of Canterbury is called the “Apostle to the English”.

Some say that King Æthelbehrt was predisposed to receive the Gospel by virtue of his marriage to a Catholic princess. It gives us a chance to keep in mind how we can predispose others to a deepening of their faith. WE MUST PRACTICE OUR FAITH! We are disciples called to spread the Good News. Our actions and our words show the depth of our discipleship.

May 25--St. Bede the Venerable, Monk and Doctor of the Church

“History is more or less bunk,” according to Henry Ford. On the other hand, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” said George Santayana. So, which is it? Do we need history, or can we skip it? St. Bede the Venerable would probably disagree with both statements. St. Bede was the author of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a book about how the Church was established in England. This work established his claim to the title, “The Father of English History”. 

St. Bede, who became known as the Venerable Bede for his holiness, was educated in a monastery in the north of England, in the 7th century. He became a monk and then a deacon and priest. He wrote volumes on theology, including commentaries on the Old and New Testaments, as well as educational works and poetry. He knew science, philosophy, astronomy, arithmetic, and more. He is patron of scholars. He died in 735 and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII.

History is more than just a remembrance of things past. For Christians, history is about remembering where we came from and why. We came from men and women who followed Jesus. During the Mass, we respond to the Mystery of Faith: “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.” Or, “When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.” Or finally, “Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection, you have set us free.” Each of these is an “anamnesis”, which means “remembering” of the mystery of our faith. History is a good thing. We remember that Jesus saved us and continues to save us each day because he loves us.

April 28--St. Gianna Beretta Molla, Holy Woman

We often hear about how our mothers have sacrificed so much for us. They carried us for nine months, bore us, loved us, raised us, prayed for us. All this is true. However, today’s saint sacrificed her life for her child. St. Gianna Beretta Molla was a wife, a mother, a pediatrician, and above all, a saint. She had four children, but it was while she was pregnant with her youngest child that she offered her life. She had a uterine tumor, which was removed during the second month of her pregnancy. For the next seven months she prayed for the life of her child. Her plea was: “If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child – I insist on it. Save him.” Her daughter, Gianna Emanuela, was born safely, but one week later, the mother, St. Gianna, died after much pain and exclamations of “Jesus I love you. Jesus, I love you.” She was 39 years old.

Heroic virtue is what the saints live and offer to us as a witness of their love for God. But their love never ends there. St. Gianna shows us how much true love is given by mothers to their children, even to the point of dying. St. Gianna is not the only one who has consciously chosen to sacrifice her life for her child. It happens every day when a mother with cancer or some other illness heroically chooses to bear her child, knowing that her own life might be at risk. But that is what love is about, giving ourselves completely for others. Bl. Pope Paul VI remembered St. Gianna as: “A young mother from the diocese of Milan, who, to give life to her daughter, sacrificed her own, with conscious immolation.” St. Gianna, pray for us.

March 26--St. Margaret Clitherow, Holy Woman and Martyr

“You must return from whence you came, and there, in the lowest part of the prison, be stripped naked, laid down, your back on the ground, and as much weight laid upon you as you are able to bear, and so to continue for three days without meat or drink, and on the third day to be pressed to death, your hands and feet tied to posts, and a sharp stone under your back.”

This was the penalty for harboring a priest in Elizabethan England as pronounced by the judge. St. Margaret Clitherow knew this and, to avoid having her children testify in court, refused to plea whatsoever to any crime. Thus, her martyrdom came within fifteen minutes of the execution of the penalty. This occurred even though she was pregnant with her fourth child.

Hiding a priest, who could celebrate the Mass and the sacraments, was a capital crime because it was considered high treason. Priests were “traitors and seducers of the queen’s subjects.” But to St. Margaret Clitherow, whose two sons became priests, priests were men of God who brought people the Body of Christ.

We need to honor and respect the priests who bring us the Eucharist, who baptize us, who forgive our sins in the name of Christ, who preach the Word of God, who bring us together in community, who sacrifice themselves for our salvation. Priests act in personal Christi, in the person of Christ in their ministry. When we are forgiven, it is through their words that Christ absolves us. St. Margaret Clitherow died for the chance for priests to share Christ with her community. Would that we live for the chance to have priests share Christ with our community.

March 22--St. Nicholas Owen, Religious and Martyr

During the persecution of the Church in England under Elizabeth I and James I, English Jesuits were smuggled into the country to fill the sacramental needs of recusant and hidden Catholics. They often hid in houses that had “priest holes” designed and built by St. Nicholas Owen. St. Nicholas Owen was a carpenter and mason, and became a Jesuit lay brother in 1577. We don’t know how many of these priest holes he built, but they saved many priests’ lives. Eventually he was hunted down after the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, captured, and tortured on the rack for information on his projects. However, he never revealed any information and was abused to the point that his stomach split open and his intestines spilled out. He died the next day, March 2, 1606, and is listed as one of the Forty Martyrs of England canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970. 

Called “Little John” because of his small size, St. Nicholas Owen was a man of huge accomplishments. He used his skills as a mason and carpenter to save lives and allow the sacraments to be celebrated. And yet, in the United States about 20% of those who call themselves Catholic attend weekly Mass. We have the greatest gift that God can give us, Jesus Christ, in the presence of the Eucharist for our worship and spiritual nourishment. There is an old phrase that is apropos here: “Seven days without prayer makes one weak.” Our very lives depend on the food we eat. Our very souls depend on the Eucharist we eat! Invite someone you know to Mass. Take your children to Mass. Go to Mass on weekdays. We thank St. Nicholas Owen for his witness to the necessity of the Eucharist.

March 12--Bl. Angela Salawa, Virgin and Third Order Franciscan

When we are scrubbing the kitchen floor or cleaning the toilet or making the beds or preparing food or vacuuming the living room, do we pray? Bl. Angela Salawa did. She was a domestic servant from the time she was fifteen till her death in 1922 at the age of 41 in Cracow, Poland. She helped other women who sought domestic work to live authentic Christian lives through their work and prayer. She said: “I love my work because it enables me to endure suffering, work harder and pray often; other than that I have no other desire in the world.” In 1900 she became a member of the Association of St. Zita, who is the patron of domestic workers. She joined the Third Order Franciscans in 1912 and during World War I assisted in the hospitals of Cracow and shared her rations with others. She was fired in 1916 from her job because of false accusations. She was often in poor health and, after being fired, homeless. She was discharged from the hospital and lived the last five years of her life in a basement room, abandoned by family, friends, and neighbors.

God allows us to suffer to bring us closer to him. Bl. Angela Salawa accepted her sufferings, her loneliness, her state in life, and her opportunities to strive for holiness. She had a great devotion to the Eucharist and prayed before the Blessed Sacrament. Her occupation as a maid allowed her to serve similar to how Jesus served the apostles when he washed their feet at the Last Supper. We are all called to know, love, and serve God in this life. But even the menial tasks we are called to do can be opportunities to love, as Bl. Angela Salawa knew.