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

September 28—St. Wenceslaus, Martyr

 

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“Good King Wenceslaus looked out/On the Feast of Stephen,/When the snow lay round about/Deep and crisp and even;/Brightly shone the moon that night/Though the frost was cruel,/When a poor man came in sight,/Gathering winter fuel.” So why do we have a Christmas carol in September? The Christmas carol was penned in 1853 to show the piety and devotion that St. Wenceslaus had for the poor. That it was a Christmas carol is due to the setting of December 26 and to the statement of what Christianity is all about, love of God and love of neighbor for the sake of God. 

Wenceslaus was born in 907 near Prague. He was the son of the Duke of Bohemia and his grandmother, St. Ludmilla, became his regent at his father’s death. However, his mother had his grandmother murdered and worked against the Christians in Bohemia. At the age of 18, Christian nobles rebelled against his mother and Wenceslaus took over the government. Nonetheless, he was opposed by his brother, Boleslaus, who had him murdered in 935 after accepting an invitation to celebrate the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian. 

St. Wenceslaus was considered a martyr and saint immediately after his murder. One holy legend about him says, “But his deeds I think you know better than I could tell you; for, as is read in his Passion, no one doubts that, rising every night from his noble bed, with bare feet and only one chamberlain, he went around to God’s churches and gave alms generously to widows, orphans, those in prison and afflicted by every difficulty, so much so that he was considered, not a prince, but the father of all the wretched.” The last verse of the carol thus states: “Ye who now will bless the poor,/Shall yourselves find blessing.”

*https://angelusnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/wenceslas.jpg 

September 24—Bl. Anton Martin Slomšek, Bishop

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Can a Catholic be a patriot? Remembering that we are but travelers to our heavenly home, we are still members of civil society. True patriots love their country and work to make it a land of justice and truth, of service and compassion to all. Such was today’s saint, Bl. Anton Martin Slomšek, bishop of Lavant, in present-day Slovenia. In his day, Bl. Slomšek’s land was part of the Austrian Empire. Nonetheless, he was a patriot for the Slovenian people and culture. 

 Pope St. John Paul II, in his beatification homily, stated: “The new blessed was also motivated by deep sentiments of patriotism. He was concerned for the Slovenian language, called for appropriate social reforms, promoted a higher level of national culture and did all he could to have his people occupy an honorable place in the concert of other European nations. And he did this without ever yielding to sentiments of short-sighted nationalism or selfish opposition to the aspirations of neighboring peoples. 

“The new blessed is offered to you as a model of true patriotism. His projects left a decisive mark on your people's future and made an important contribution to the achievement of independence. In turning my gaze to the beloved region of the Balkans, unfortunately scarred in recent years by conflict and violence, extreme forms of nationalism, cruel ethnic cleansing and wars between peoples and cultures, I would like to call everyone's attention to the witness of this new blessed. He shows that it is possible to be sincere patriots and with equal sincerity to coexist and cooperate with people of other nationalities, other cultures and other religions. May his example and especially his intercession obtain solidarity and genuine peace for all the peoples of this vast area of Europe.” Bl. Anton, help us to be true patriots. Amen.

*Artist Joze Kramberger https://anastpaul.com/2018/09/24/saint-of-the-day-24-september-blessed-anton-martin-slomsek-1800-1862/

September 12—Servant of God Thomas Frederick Price: Priest and Missionary

 

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Until 1908, the United States Catholic Church was a missionary church, in other words, supervised by the Propagation of the Faith headquartered in the Vatican. Three years later, today’s saint-candidate, Fr. Price and three other men founded The Catholic Foreign Missionary Society of America, to spread the Good News to other people, notably in China. Today, Maryknoll consists of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, the Maryknoll Sisters, and the Maryknoll Lay Missioners. The Maryknoll Affiliates are men and women who do educational mission service and immersion experiences within the Maryknoll Movement. 

 Fr. Price was from North Carolina and met Fr. James Walsh of Boston in 1910, as both were trying to promote a missionary society. They presented their plans to the American bishops and traveled to Rome where Pope St. Pius X gave approval in 1911. The four Maryknoll priests then went to Hong Kong, China in 1918 and began their efforts in Yangjiang on the South China Coast. Fr. Price suffered from physical ailments and developed appendicitis in 1919, dying on the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, September 12, 1919. His body was exhumed and transferred to the cemetery at Maryknoll, New York. 

 Fr. Price had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He visited Lourdes, France and learned about the apparitions to St. Bernadette. He even renamed the location of the headquarters of the CFMSA from Sunset Hill to Mary’s Knoll, giving rise to the name Maryknoll Missioners. Our Blessed Mother guides us to her son, Jesus. She intercedes for us and gives us her motherly love and protection. Our Lord, Jesus gave her to us through his beloved disciple at the cross on Calvary when he said, “Woman, behold, your son” and “Behold, your mother” (Jn. 19:26-27). Let us pray for Fr. Price’s canonization.

*https://maryknollsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/mk-fr-thomas-price-adult-portrait-lores-scaled.jpg