November 28—St. Catherine Labouré, Religious

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Many Catholics have a profound devotion to the Blessed Mother. We say rosaries, Memorares, and so forth, beseeching her intercession. One of those devotions is the Miraculous Medal, developed and promoted by today’s saint, St. Catherine Labouré. St. Catherine was born May 2, 1806 in the Burgundy region of France as the ninth of eleven children. She entered the novitiate of the Daughters of Charity, a religious order founded by St. Vincent de Paul in 1830.

Very soon after entering the convent, “she woke up after hearing the voice of a child calling her to the chapel, where she heard the Virgin Mary say to her, ‘God wishes to charge you with a mission. You will be contradicted, but do not fear; you will have the grace to do what is necessary. Tell your spiritual director all that passes within you. Times are evil in France and in the world.’” Later that year, she reported that Mary “displayed herself inside an oval frame, standing upon a globe; rays of light came out of her hands in the direction of a globe. Around the margin of the frame appeared the words ‘O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.’” She was told to take the images she saw to her confessor so they could be imprinted on medallions and given to the faithful. The medal became popular and is worn by millions of faithful Catholics. It became an important role in the declaration of the Immaculate Conception of Mary because of its declaration about Mary, “conceived without sin”. She died in 1876 and was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1947. Let us wear this medal as a sign of our devotion to our Blessed Mother and her efforts to bring the world to her Son.

*https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Catherine_Laboure.jpg  Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

November 23—Bl. Miguel Augustín Pro, Priest and Martyr

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Martyrdom is the supreme sacrifice a person can offer to God, the sacrifice of one’s own life in witness to the love of God for humanity. Today’s saint was a witness to the love of God in Mexico. Bl. Miguel Pro was born in 1891 and joined the Jesuits, being ordained in 1925 in Belgium. He was in Europe for his training because the Mexican government had oppressed religious orders causing the Jesuits to flee Mexico. When he returned to Mexico in 1926, he had to go underground to serve faithful Catholics. He was arrested and released in October 1926 but kept under watch by the government. In November 1927, an assassination attempt on a Mexican government official gave the state an opportunity to arrest Bl. Miguel and his brothers. The President of Mexico gave orders that Bl. Miguel be executed without trial. 

On November 23, 1927 he was led to a courtyard and faced a firing squad. “He blessed the soldiers, knelt, and briefly prayed quietly. Declining a blindfold, he faced his executioners with a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other and held his arms out in imitation of the crucified Christ and shouted out, ‘May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! Lord, Thou knowest that I am innocent! With all my heart I forgive my enemies!’ Before the firing squad was ordered to shoot, Pro raised his arms in imitation of Christ and shouted, … ‘Viva Cristo Rey!’ – ‘Long live Christ the King!’. When the initial shots of the firing squad failed to kill him, a soldier shot him at point-blank range.” Bl. Miguel was beatified in 1988 by Pope John Paul II. Martyrdom may not be required of us yet, but we need to be ready to witness for Christ.

*https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Miguel_Pro%27s_execution_%281927%29.jpg  Grentidez, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

November 17—St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Holy Woman

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For someone to be canonized within five years of death is amazing! That means the person not only lived a life of great holiness but was also an example of God’s love to a great multitude of faithful Catholics. St. Teresa of Calcutta was canonized nineteen years after her death; St. John Paul II, nine years after his. Today’s saint, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, was canonized in 1235, less than four years after her death in 1231. She is the patron of Catholic Charities and the Third Order of St. Francis. 

So who was she and why was she so beloved? St. Elizabeth was born in 1207, the daughter of the king of Hungary. She was married to the ruler of the Thuringia, in present-day Germany, at the age of fourteen, and had three children. In 1223, the Franciscans arrived, and she learned and lived by the ideals of St. Francis of Assisi, distributing alms to the poor. Her husband died on his way to the Sixth Crusade, when she was only 20. After this, her life became very difficult on account of her brother-in-law, who was regent for her five-year-old son. She took vows like those of a nun, which made her a political liability for her family, being unwilling to marry again. Her dowry was returned to her, and she built a hospital for the poor and the sick, where she and her companions cared for them. She died at the age of twenty-four. Soon after her death miracles were reported at her grave, which helped her cause for canonization in 1235. 

St. Elizabeth of Hungary is esteemed for her holiness and charity and dedication to serving others. Hers was the life of a saint in the world doing the will of God. St. Elizabeth, pray for us.

*https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Marianne_Stokes_St_Elizabeth_of_Hungary_Spinning_for_the_Poor.jpg

November 8—Bl. John Duns Scotus, Priest and Religious

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It only took 685 years for today’s saint to be beatified after his death! John Duns was a Franciscan priest and friar born about 1265/66 and died in 1308. He is called Duns Scotus meaning Duns the Scot because he was from Scotland. He was a philosopher and theologian graduating from Oxford University. He is called “the Subtle Doctor” because of his complex and nuanced thought. He taught a metaphysical argument for the existence of God through the concepts of cause and effect. He also advocated for free will by stating that a person cannot stop what the person is doing if there is no free will; and yet people can stop what they are doing! 

He also defended the teaching of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, following St. Anselm of Canterbury’s principle: “God could do it, it was appropriate, therefore he did it!” In other words, according to Bl. Pope Pius IX, who infallibly defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854: “At the moment of her conception, Mary was preserved free from the stain of original sin, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ.” 

Philosophy is the handmaiden of theology! What this means is that the Church uses philosophy to help us understand what God supernaturally reveals to us by using our natural reasoning ability, which God gave to us! We are not fideists, meaning, all we do is believe blindly and not think. Nor are we rationalists, meaning, all we do is use our own unaided reason as the ultimate basis of truth or falsehood and thus not believe. We believe and we think! One is a supernatural gift, faith, and the other is a natural gift, reason. By using both we can share what we believe in a rational manner. Bl. Duns Scotus, pray for us!

*https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/JohnDunsScotus_-_full.jpg 

Justus van Gent, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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