September 9--Bl. Frédéric Ozanam, Holy Man

 

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam. Frontispiece from Complete Works of Frederic Ozanam, Lecoffre editions, Paris , 1862 ( second edition). PD-US-expired.

“What can I do? I am just one person.” We may ask ourselves that question and respond in the same manner, especially when we believe our efforts are few and far between. And yet, just one person bore the Son of God. As well, just one person IS the Savior of the world. Today’s blessed is just one person and he is the inspiration for about 800,000 persons worldwide in 140 countries. Bl. Frédéric Ozanam (1813-1853) co-founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in 1833 “for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor.” As a law student in Paris he saw the need to help others in their need. He promoted service to the poor by the laity following the model of St. Vincent de Paul and under the guidance of Bl. Rosalie Rendu, a sister of the Daughters of Charity. That model uses small “conferences” of laity to work to help the poor in their areas. There are about 4,400 conferences in the United States alone. Bl. Frédéric died in 1853 of tuberculosis and was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1997.

Pope John Paul said of him: “Frédéric Ozanam loved everyone who was deprived. From his youth, he became aware that it was not enough to speak about charity and the mission of the Church in the world: rather what was needed was an effective commitment of Christians in the service of the poor. … He observed the real situation of the poor and sought to be more and more effective in helping them in their human development. He understood that charity must lead to efforts to remedy injustice. Charity and justice go together.” Join the Vincentians and serve others! Bl. Frédéric Ozanam, pray for us!

September 4--Bl. Martyrs of the Holy Family, Maria Stella Mardosewicz and Ten Companions

 Feast of Blessed Mary Stella & 10 Companions.

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn. 15:12-13). The Church has venerated the martyrs from her very beginnings, starting with St. Stephen and continuing even to today. Today’s blesseds were sisters who started a convent in Nowogródek, Poland, modern Belarus. They started a school, looked after the local church, and did works of charity.

At the start of World War II, Nowogródek was occupied by Soviet, then later, Nazi forces. The Gestapo then came and arrested 120 men. The sisters prayed that they may be accepted as an offering for the men. “Mother Stella led their prayers, in which the nuns asked God: ‘If sacrifice is needed, accept it from us and spare those who have families.’” They were arrested on July 31, 1943 with the intent to execute them that night. The sisters then offered themselves in place of the men, but were denied. On August 1 they “were taken to a large pine forest where an open pit had been prepared for them. They were shot to death and immediately dumped into the mass grave.” Their bodies were exhumed in 1945.

In his beatification homily, Pope St. John Paul II stated: “We thank you, O blessed martyrs of Nowogródek, for your witness of love, for your example of Christian heroism and for your trust in the power of the Holy Spirit. ‘Christ chose and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit in your lives and that your fruit should abide’ (cf. Jn 15: 16). You are the greatest inheritance of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth. You are the inheritance of the whole Church of Christ for ever!” Blessed martyrs, pray for us!

August 30--St. Euphrasia Eluvathingal, Virgin

St. Euphrasia Eluvathingal

The Church is not only Catholic, but catholic. The word catholic means universal. It was mentioned by St. Ignatius of Antioch in AD 110 to distinguish the Church from heretical groups. This is worthwhile for today’s saint because she is from India. The Catholic Church is all over the world! St. Euphrasia Eluvanthingal (1877-1952) was born in Karal State, which is on the Malabar Coast of India, where tradition has it that the apostle Thomas evangelized the people. She joined the Carmelite Order of the Syro-Malabar Church, which is an Eastern Catholic Church in union with Rome. She was a novice mistress at her convent and then Mother Superior. She became known as the “Praying Mother” due to her life of prayer and devotion to the Sacred Heart. She was canonized by Pope Francis in 2014. It is written of her: “Mother Euphrasia grew in humility, poverty and holiness as she completely obeyed the will of God every moment. The whole life of this virgin was full of continuous prayer, penance and reparation. Mother Euphrasia who found contentment in loving Jesus, her divine spouse, was always in the forefront in receiving censure and abuses. All those who approached her she helped with motherly love, prayer and good advice.”

The Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. We are united as one through our faith and baptism. Sainthood is conferred on those who have demonstrated heroic virtue and holiness in their lives, giving us models to draw from. We are catholic in that we are all called to be with Jesus in community with the Catholic Church. We are apostolic because of the continuous succession of bishops and popes from Peter and the apostles. St. Euphrasia exemplified each of these marks through her life and holiness. St. Euphrasia, pray for us!

August 19–St. John Eudes, Priest and Founder

Anonymous, St. John Eudes, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.

Priests are the backbone of parish life. A good pastor can help his parish grow in love for God and each other, building parish life. But how does one become a good priest? That was the problem that today’s saint, St. John Eudes, faced when he decided to found the Congregation of Jesus and Mary. He founded and staffed three seminaries. St. John Eudes (1601-1680) was ordained in 1625 in France and eight years later became a parish missionary, going from parish to parish to preach renewal, giving 110 missions.

Pope Benedict XVI, in a general audience during the Year of the Priest in 2009, said, “Prompted by a lucid awareness of the grave need for spiritual assistance in which souls lay because of the inadequacy of the majority of the clergy, the Saint, who was a parish priest, founded a congregation specifically dedicated to the formation of priests. He founded his first seminary in the university town of Caen, a particularly appreciated experience which he very soon extended to other dioceses. The path of holiness, which he took himself and proposed to his followers, was founded on steadfast trust in the love that God had revealed to humanity in the priestly Heart of Christ and in the maternal Heart of Mary. In those times of cruelty, of the loss of interiority, he turned to the heart to speak to the heart, a saying of the Psalms very well interpreted by St Augustine. He wanted to recall people, men and women and especially future priests, to the heart by showing them the priestly Heart of Christ and the motherly Heart of Mary. Every priest must be a witness and an apostle of this love for Christ's Heart and Mary's Heart.” We need good priests! St. John Eudes, pray for us!

August 13--St. Radegund, Religious

St. Radegunda, Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Daughter of a king, kidnapped at age twelve, married to the King of France as his fifth wife and subsequently mistreated by him due to her life of prayer and service, today’s saint, St. Radegund (520-587), withstood such abuse. However, her husband had her brother murdered, which prompted her to go to the bishop to allow her to become a nun. When he hesitated in fear of the king, she demanded, “If you refuse to consecrate me a deaconess, you fear man more than God, and he will require you to account for my soul.” The bishop acquiesced. After this, St. Radegund wrote, “I asked myself, with all the ardor of which I am capable, how I could best forward the cause of other women, and know, if our Lord willed, my own personal desires might be of advantage to my sisters.” She founded a double monastery–for men and women–Holy Cross in Poitiers, France. She was known for her asceticism and her learning.

Some say that the Church does not respect women because women are not ordained. Wherein does power lie? Not in ordination. Look to St. Radegund as a model of power. She founded a double monastery and served others. True power is about humility, love, and service. Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:25-28). Love is power! St. Radegund, pray for us!

August 8--St. Mary MacKillop, Virgin, Religious, and Foundress

Australian Stamp of St. Mary MacKillop.

She is the first saint of Australia and, at one time, was excommunicated by her bishop. Now that’s a headline! The daughter of Scottish immigrants, St. Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne in 1842. As a teen she became a governess and eventually taught at a school and opened her own boarding school. In 1866 Fr. Julian Woods invited her and her sisters to open a Catholic school. That same year other women joined St. Mary and they became the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Josephites. The local bishop invited them to found a new school. The religious community developed a rule which “emphasized poverty, a dependence on divine providence, no ownership of personal belongings, faith that God would provide and willingness to go where needed.”

They expanded, but this sometimes caused issues about control of the schools. Bishops wanted episcopal control, while St. Mary MacKillop wanted control of the schools by the religious order. Two bishops told the sisters to leave their dioceses and another excommunicated her on grounds that she was insubordinate. Eventually, the excommunication was lifted. St. Mary persevered, her order was approved by Pope Leo XIII and their structure, living in the community and not in convents, along with the superior general being chosen by the congregation, was maintained. They primarily educated children, but also served the poor and those in need. St. Mary MacKillop died in 1909 and was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Today there are over 600 Josephites serving in six countries.

It takes a strong will as well as a loving, holy life to become a saint! Sometimes, our fallen brothers and sisters in the Church can be a source of suffering! Let us not be discouraged! St. Mary MacKillop, pray for us.

August 3--St. Lydia of Thyatira, Holy Woman

Dr. med. Detlef Bihn, CC BY-SA 4.0,via Wikimedia Commons

“We set sail from Troas, … and from there to Philippi.  On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer.  We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there.  One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.  After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,’ and she prevailed on us” (Acts 16:11a, 12a, 13-15).

This reading is from the Easter season, telling the story of the first convert of Europe–St. Lydia. This passage shows how Paul, like Jesus, received support from women. Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth, which meant that she was involved in an industry that involved great wealth. Only the rich or the royal could afford purple cloth. She was wealthy. Furthermore, she is the head of the household–her household is baptized. She offers the invitation. All these indicate that Lydia was a strong, independent, wealthy, businesswoman! Paul accepted her invitation and her house became a house church.

St. Lydia played a pivotal role in the evangelization of Europe. Women play pivotal roles in the evangelization of others: their families, their friends, their colleagues, their community. St. John Paul II wrote in his Letter to Women in 1995: “Thank you, every woman, for the simple fact of being a woman! Through the insight which is so much a part of your womanhood you enrich the world's understanding and help to make human relations more honest and authentic.” St. Lydia, pray for us!