June 30--Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Holy Man

 

Venerable Pierre Toussaint by Franck Louissant

The following is a sketch of Venerable Pierre Toussaint by the Archdiocese of New York Cultural Diversity Apostolate:

“Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853) was born a slave in Haiti and died a freeman in New York City. He is credited by many with being the father of Catholic Charities in New York. Pierre was instrumental in raising funds for the first Catholic orphanage and began the city’s first school for black children. He also helped to provide funds for the Oblate Sisters of Providence, a religious community of black nuns founded in Baltimore and played a vital role in providing resources to erect Old Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Lower Manhattan. During a Yellow Fever epidemic when many of the city’s political leaders fled the city in search of healthier rural climates, Pierre Toussaint cared for the sick and the dying. He was a successful entrepreneur, who did not hesitate to share the fruits of his labor with others.

“In recognition of Pierre Toussaint’s virtuous life, the late Cardinal Cooke introduced Pierre’s cause for canonization at the Vatican in 1968. In December 1989, the late Cardinal O’Connor had the remains of Pierre Toussaint transferred from Lower Manhattan to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in midtown Manhattan where he is buried as the only lay person, alongside the former Cardinal-Archbishops of New York City. On December 17, 1997, Pope John Paul II declared Pierre Toussaint, Venerable, thus placing him firmly on the road to becoming North America’s first black saint. Venerable Pierre Toussaint was a man who was proud of his faith, proud of his culture and committed to serving others.”

We need saints to remind us that God is calling us to sainthood in our own time and in our own situation. We pray for Venerable Pierre Toussaint so he may pray for us.

June 25--St. Maximus of Turin, Bishop

 

English: Maximus of Turin, medieval book painting

“It is obvious that we preach willingly and do the work of God joyfully. But when we see many of the brethren coming to church sluggishly and particularly on Sundays not taking part in the heavenly mysteries, we preach reluctantly–not because we dislike speaking but because our preaching oppresses the negligent rather than changes them. Therefore we preach reluctantly and cannot be silent. For our preaching brings either the kingdom or punishment to our congregation–the kingdom to believers but punishment to the faithless. For when a brother does not participate in the sacraments of the Lord, he is, before God, necessarily a deserter from the divine camp. And how can one excuse himself who, on the day of the sacraments, scorns the heavenly meal while preparing a meal at home for himself and, in seeing to his stomach’s needs, neglects his soul’s medicine?”

These blunt words are from a homily from today’s saint, St. Maximus of Turin. St. Maximus was bishop of an outlying town subject to barbarian incursions in the late fifth century. He is known for his sermons and homilies that have survived through the ages. He did not water down his message. He knew his flock and preached to their needs. He spoke about almsgiving: “Giving alms promises refreshment to people withered near to death by sin, like moisture revives what has been dried up.” He spoke about sin: “I indignantly press upon you your wrongdoing, first correcting you with spiritual blows and then enriching you with gifts of the pearl. I have chosen, I say, to lay blame on your sin with bitter accusation rather than to foster it with kindling dissimulation. For whoever does not reprove his brother when he sins is encouraging him, in a certain way, to sin.” St. Maximus, pray for us!

June 20--Martyrs of Ireland, Bishops, Priests, and Laity

 

Singhson67, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1992 Pope John Paul II beatified seventeen martyrs killed under English rulers, including Elizabeth I and Oliver Cromwell, between 1584 and 1654. They included three bishops, seven priests, one brother, five laymen and one laywoman. The pope proclaimed:

“And how can we fail to sing the praises of the seventeen Irish Martyrs being beatified today?…

“We admire them for their personal courage. We thank them for the example of their fidelity in difficult circumstances, a fidelity which is more than an example: it is a heritage of the Irish people and a responsibility to be lived up to in every age.

“In a decisive hour, a whole people chose to stand firmly by its covenant with God: ‘All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do’.… The religious and political turmoil through which these witnesses lived was marked by grave intolerance on every side. Their victory lay precisely in going to death with no hatred in their hearts. They lived and died for Love. Many of them publicly forgave all those who had contributed in any way to their martyrdom.

“The Martyrs' significance for today lies in the fact that their testimony shatters the vain claim to live one's life or to build a model of society without an integral vision of our human destiny, without reference to our eternal calling, without transcendence.…

“To the Martyrs' intercession I commend the whole people of Ireland: their hopes and joys, their needs and difficulties. May everyone rejoice in the honor paid to these witnesses to the faith. God sustained them in their trials. He comforted them and granted them the crown of victory. May he also support those who work for reconciliation and peace in Ireland today!

“Blessed Irish Martyrs, intercede for the beloved Irish people!”

June 15–St. Vitus, Martyr

 

https://www.saintforaminute.com/saints/saint_vitus

Many early martyrs of the Church were legendary, meaning that they may have had a life that was not historical by modern standards, but did have some basis in fact. That is probably the case with today’s saint. St. Vitus, according to legend, lived and died during the worst persecutions of the early Church under the reign of Emperor Diocletian in the early 300s. He was said to be about twelve years old and was taken to Rome to drive out a demon that had possessed the son of Diocletian. He was successful in the exorcism but was still tortured and died a martyr. One version has him being boiled in oil.

Given this legend it seems a wonder that he is still listed in the Roman Martyrology, the official book of saints in the Catholic Church. Nonetheless, there were quite a few martyrs under Diocletian’s rule and St. Vitus is one of them. Veneration spread very early and fast with a shrine dedicated to him by the fifth century spreading especially to Slavic lands, including Bohemia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Croatia. He is the patron saint of actors, comedians, and dancers due to the tradition from 16th century Germany that by dancing before a statue of St. Vitus on his feast day people could gain a year’s good health.

Does this mean the Catholic Church made up martyrs to take advantage of people? No! Persecution of Christians was, and is, quite real. A December 2023 National Catholic Register article stated: “A report from the watchdog group Open Doors found that the persecution of Christians is at the highest point in three decades. It found that some of the worst locations for Christians were North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan and India.” St. Vitus, pray for us!

May 19--Pentecost

 

El Greco, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Happy Birthday to our dear Mother Church! It was on Pentecost thousands of years ago when the Church was born to continue Jesus’ mission in the world; to help bring about forgiveness and offer salvation to humanity through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples so they could share the love of God with everyone they met. They were bestowed the gifts of the Holy Spirit so those gifts could enable others to come to God’s love.

Jesus commissioned them to spread the Good News: "Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn. 20: 21). But first he said to wait for the Advocate, the Holy Spirit who would come upon them: “‘When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning’” (Jn. 15:26-27).

So now we have been commissioned and anointed. We have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. We use them when we are called to testify to our faith. We have been given the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. We live lives that demonstrate our commitment to Christ and his bride, the Church.

We trust in God to love us, to guide us, and to grace us so that we may be his witnesses and ambassadors to the world:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created,
and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.

May 17--St. Paschal Baylon, Religious

 

Art Credit: Saint Paschal Baylon Adoring the Blessed Sacrament (Detail) by Claude Francois (1615-1685); Metropolitan Museum of Art (Open Access)

The 10th National Eucharistic Congress is scheduled to take place July 17-21 in Indianapolis. One of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes is through the Omaha Archdiocese with a Mass at St. Cecilia’s Cathedral June 23. We are in the midst of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival to help Catholics “revive our understanding of and devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist!” It is exactly what our saint of the day, St. Paschal Baylon, would have approved because he is the patron saint of Eucharistic Congresses.

St. Paschal lived in Spain from 1540-1592 during the Golden Age of the Church in Spain. He was a shepherd during his youth and became a Franciscan friar at the age of 24. As such he was a cook, gardener, beggar, and porter. “He is best remembered, however, as a contemplative and a mystic who experienced ecstatic visions during extended periods of prayer before the Holy Eucharist. It was the joy of his life to pray in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.” Pope Leo XIII proclaimed him the patron saint of Eucharistic Congresses, calling him the “seraph of the Eucharist”: “Now, in the glorious ranks of those, the ardor of whose piety towards the great Mystery of the faith was more evident and overflowing, Paschal Baylon holds a most prominent place; for, being gifted with a soul which aspired above all things to Heaven, he embraced a severer mode of life, entering the Order of Minors of the Strict Observance, and from the contemplation of the Holy Eucharist he derived that science and wisdom which placed him, though formerly an unpolished and illiterate man, in a position to solve the most difficult questions of the faith.”

Let us pray before the tabernacle and adore Our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. St. Paschal Baylon, pray for us!

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

 

Ascension by Giotto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“When they had gathered together they asked him,
‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’
He answered them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.’
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, ‘Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven’” (Acts 1:6-11).

“Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Go into the whole world
and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.’
So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs” (Mk. 16:15-16, 19-20).

There we have it! Jesus’ mission is completed, but it is still ongoing. We are called to continue his mission; to go forth and evangelize and love and serve as he has done for us. We are called to participate in his mission so that we will also receive glory and honor as members of his body.