Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => Catholic Living in the Modern World => Topic started by: poche on May 07, 2014, 03:37:21 AM
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Blessed Rose was born at Viterbo in 1656, the daughter of Godfrey Venerini, a physician. Upon the death of a young man who had been paying court to her, she entered a convent, but after a few months had to return home to look after her widowed mother. Rose use to gather the women and girls of the neighborhood to say the rosary together in the evenings, and when she found how ignorant many of them were of their religion, she began to instruct them. She was directed by Father Ignatius Martinelli, a Jesuit, who convinced her that her vocation was as a teacher "in the world" rather than as a contemplative in a convent; whereupon in 1685, with two helpers, Rose opened a preschool for girls in Viterbo: it soon became a success. Blessed Rose had the gift of ready and persuasive speech, and a real ability to teach and to teach others to teach, and was not daunted by any difficulty when the service of God was in question. Her reputation spread, and in 1692, she was invited by Cardinal Barbarigo to advise and help in the training of teachers and organizing of schools in his diocese of Montefiascone. Here she was the mentor and friend of Lucy Filippini, who became foundress of an institute of maestre pie and was canonized in 1930. Rose organized a number of schools in various places, sometimes in the face of opposition that resorted to force in unbelievable fashion - the teachers were shot at with bows and their house fired. Her patience and trust overcame all obstacles, and in 1713 she made a foundation in Rome that received the praise of Pope Clement XI himself. It was in Rome that she died, on May 7, 1728; her reputation of holiness was confirmed by miracles and in 1952, she was beatified. It was not until sometime after her death that Blessed Rose's lay school teachers were organized as a religious congregation: they are found in America as well as in Italy, for the Venerini Sisters have worked among Italian immigrants since early in the twentieth century. Her feast day is May 7.
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=136
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L’Osservatore Romano has published an essay by Sister Sara Butler, an American nun who serves on the International Theological Commission, defending the notion of the complementarity of men and women in the face of various feminist critiques.
“Creation in two sexes belongs to God’s revelation,” writes Sister Butler, a Mundelein theologian known for her defense of Catholic teaching on the ordination of women. “It is Catholic doctrine, not simply one theory among many (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church , §§ 369-72). To overcome sexism, it is not necessary to eradicate the difference between the sexes, but only to end the opposition between them that results from sin.”
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21384
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St. Pudentiana
According to an ancient tradition, St. Peter was the guest of the senator Pudens during his stay in Rome. Pudens had two daughters, Pudentiana and Praxedes, virgins who dedicated themselves wholly to acts of charity. After the death of their parents, Pudentiana and her sister Praxedes distributed their patrimony to the poor. The fact that Puden's entire household of some 96 persons were baptized by Pope Pius I (d. 154) is ascribed to their zealous activities. When Christian services were forbidden by the Emperor Antoninus Pius, Pius I celebrated Mass in their home. The saints were buried next to their father in the catacomb of St. Priscilla. One of Rome's most ancient stational churches is dedicated to St. Pudentiana.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-05-19
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Julia Maria Ledóchowska was born in Austria in 1865, the daughter of a Polish count and a Swiss noblewoman. Her large family was a school of saints. Her uncle, Cardinal Mieczyslaw Ledóchowski, the Primate of Poland, was persecuted and imprisoned for his opposition to the policies of the Prussian Kulturkampf [“culture war”]. Her older sister, Blessed Maria Teresa Ledóchowska, founded the Missionary Sisters of S. Peter Claver and is affectionately known as the “Mother of Black Africa”.
Julia Maria moved with her family to Poland when her father became ill in 1883. He died soon after, having given his blessing to her plans to enter the Convent of the Ursuline Sisters in Krakow. Julia took the religious name of “Maria Ursula of Jesus” and devoted herself to the care and education of youth. She organized the first residence in Poland for female university students.
As prioress of the convent after the turn of the century, she received a request to found a boarding school for Polish girls in St. Petersburg, Russia, then a cosmopolitan, industrial city. The pastor of St. Catherine’s Church, Msgr. Constantine Budkiewicz (a Polish nobleman), extended the invitation, and Pope St. Pius X gave his approval. So in 1907 Mother Ursula went with another sister to Russia to found a new convent and work among the Catholic immigrants. Although the nuns wore lay clothing, they were under constant surveillance by the secret police.
At the beginning of World War I, Mother Ursula was expelled from Russia as an Austrian national. The Monsignor would be martyred by the Bolsheviks, and St. Petersburg would eventually be renamed “Leningrad”.
Mother Ursula fled to neutral Sweden. She organized relief efforts for war victims and charitable programs for Polish people living in exile, founded a monthly Catholic newspaper, and made extensive ecuмenical contacts with Lutherans in Scandinavia.
In 1920 M. Ursula, her sisters, and dozens of orphans (the children of immigrants) made their way back to Poland. During the tumultuous years that they had spent abroad, the growing Ursuline community had developed a distinctive charism and apostolate. Therefore Mother Ursula founded her own Congregation, the Ursuline Sisters of the Heart of Jesus in Agony. Her brother Vladimir, who had become Superior General of the Jesuits, helped to obtain Vatican approval of the new institute, which was to be devoted to “the education and training of children and youth, and service to the poorest and the oppressed among our brethren” (from the Constitutions).
Between the two world wars, M. Ursula and her nuns taught catechism in the enormous factory town of Lodz. She organized a “Eucharistic Crusade” among the working-class children, encouraging those little “Knights of the Crusade” to write to Pope Pius XI in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of his priestly ordination. Some children wrote that they loved the Holy Father as much as their own parents. Others spoke of receiving Our Lord in their First Holy Communion, of wanting to be His apostles and missionaries. One child wrote: “How beautiful it would be if the Holy Father were to come to Poland.” Mother Ursula Ledóchowska died on May 29, 1939 at the general house of her community in Rome.
Pope John Paul II beatified her during his second pastoral visit to Poland, in 1983, the Holy Year of Redemption and the sixth centenary of Our Lady of Jasna Gora, in the city of Poznan, with schoolchildren from Lodz in attendance.
While visiting his homeland in June 1983, the Holy Father spoke the following words: “It is the Saints and the Blessed who show us the path to the victory that God achieves in human history. Every individual is called to a similar victory. Every son and daughter of Poland who follows the example of her saints and beati. Their elevation to the altars in their homeland is the sign of that strength which is more powerful than any human weakness and more powerful than any situation, even the most difficult, not excluding the arrogant use of power.”
Less than a decade later, in 1991, when Pope John Paul II returned to Poland to beatify Bishop Pelczar, Solidarity had prevailed, the Berlin Wall had fallen, and the Catholic hierarchy had been restored in most Eastern European nations.
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5609
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St. Blandina lived as a slave at Lyons, Gaul, in the 2nd century after Christ. She was one of the illustrious company of those martyred under the emperor Marcus Aurelius. She was apprehended together with her master, who was also a Christian. She endured every torment imaginable, to the extent that the tormentors confessed that they could not think of anything else to do to her. And to every question put to her, she gave the same answer: "I am a Christian, and we commit no wrong." Brought to the arena for fresh torments, Blandina was bound to a stake and wild beasts were released upon her but refused to harm her. She witnessed the podvigs (struggles) of all her fellows, and was the last to suffer martyrdom, by being placed on a red hot grate, enclosed in a net, and thrown before a wild steer, who tossed her into the air with his horns. In this manner the great martyr of Christ received her crown.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-06-02
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St. Juliana of Falconieri
Juliana was born in 1270 of the illustrious Florentine family of the Falconieri when her parents were already well advanced in years. Her uncle, the saintly Alexius Falconieri, declared to her mother that she had given birth "not to a girl but to an angel." At the age of fifteen she renounced her inheritance and was the first to receive from the hand of St. Philip Benizi the habit of a Mantellate nun. Many women followed her example; even her mother placed herself under Juliana's spiritual direction.
St. Philip Benizi commended to her care and protection the Servite Order over which he had charge. So severe were her mortifications and fastings that a grave stomach ailment developed; she could take no food, not even the sacred Host. At the point of death she asked that a consecrated Host be placed against her heart. Then occurred a miracle — the Host vanished, and Juliana died with a radiant face. After her death the picture of the Crucified, as it had been on the sacred Host, was found impressed upon her breast.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-06-19
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St. Ethelreda
Etheldreda was the daughter of Anna, King of East Anglia and the sister of Erconwald, Ethelburga, Sexburga and Withburga, all saints. Etheldreda was born in Exining, Suffolk, and was married at an early age to Tonbert, Prince of the Gyrwe, but they agreed to live in perfect chastity. As part of the marriage settlement she received from her husband an estate called Ely.
Three years after her marriage, the Prince died, and Etheldreda retired from court and went to live in seclusion on the island of Ely, practicing penance and prayer. For reasons of State she was married again to Egfried, the young son of King Oswiu of Northumbria, who was only 15-years-old. He agreed she should remain a virgin, but 12 years later, demanded his conjugal rights. She refused, saying that she had dedicated herself to God.
She asked the advice of St. Wilfrid, Bishop of Northumbria, who supported her claim and told her to go to a convent. With the consent of Egfried, she became a nun at Codingham Convent. Later, she returned to Ely and built a large double monastery there. She was Abbess of the convent for the rest of her life, and died there on June 23, 695.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-06-23
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St. Maria Goretti
St. Maria Goretti was born of a poor family in Corinaldi, Italy, in 1890. Near Nettuno she spent a difficult childhood assisting her mother in domestic duties. She was of a pious nature and often at prayer. In 1902 she was stabbed to death, preferring to die rather than be raped. (Office of Readings)
"It is well known how this young girl had to face a bitter struggle with no way to defend herself. Without warning a vicious stranger (actually Alessandro Serenelli who lived with his father in the same house as the Goretti's.) burst upon her, bent on raping her and destroying her childlike purity. In that moment of crisis she could have spoken to her Redeemer in the words of that classic, The Imitation of Christ: "Though tested and plagued by a host of misfortunes, I have no fear so long as your grace is with me. It is my strength, stronger than any adversary; it helps me and gives me guidance." With splendid courage she surrendered herself to God and his grace and so gave her life to protect her virginity.
"The life of this simple girl—I shall concern myself only with highlights—we can see as worthy of heaven. Even today people can look upon it with admiration and respect. Parents can learn from her story how to raise their God-given children in virtue, courage and holiness; they can learn to train them in the Catholic faith so that, when put to the test, God's grace will support them and they will come through undefeated, unscathed and untarnished.
"From Maria's story carefree children and young people with their zest for life can learn not to be led astray by attractive pleasures which are not only ephemeral and empty but also sinful. Instead they can fix their sights on achieving Christian moral perfection, however difficult and hazardous that course may prove. With determination and God's help all of us can attain that goal by persistent effort and prayer.
"Not all of us are expected to die a martyr's death, but we are all called to the pursuit of Christian virtue. This demands strength of character though it may not match that of this innocent girl. Still, a constant, persistent and relentless effort is asked of us right up to the moment of our death. This may be conceived as a slow steady martyrdom which Christ urged upon us when he said: The kingdom of heaven is set upon and laid waste by violent forces.
"So let us all, with God's grace, strive to reach the goal that the example of the virgin martyr, Saint Maria Goretti, sets before us. Through her prayers to the Redeemer may all of us, each in his own way, joyfully try to follow the inspiring example of Maria Goretti who now enjoys eternal happiness in heaven."
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2013-07-06
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Sts. Rufina and Secunda
Rufina and Secunda were sisters and virgins of Rome. Their parents had betrothed them to Armentarius and Verinus, but they refused to marry, saying that they had consecrated their virginity to Jesus Christ. They were, therefore, apprehended during the reign of the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. When Junius, the prefect, saw he could not shake their resolution either by promises or by threats, he first ordered Rufina to be beaten with rods. While she was being scourged, Secunda thus addressed the judge: "Why do you treat my sister thus honorably, but me dishonorably? Order us both to be scourged, since we both confess Christ to be God." Enraged by these words, the judge ordered them both to be cast into a dark and fetid dungeon; immediately a bright light and a most sweet odor filled the prison. They were then shut up in a bath, the floor of which was made red-hot; but from this also they emerged unhurt. Next they were thrown into the Tiber with stones laid to their necks, but an angel saved them from the water, and they were finally beheaded ten miles out of the city on the Aurelian Way. Their bodies were buried by a matron named Plautilla, on her estate, and were afterwards translated into Rome, where they now repose in the Basilica of Constantine near the baptistery.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-07-10
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St. Kateri Tekakwitha
[Pronounce: Gah-deh-lee Deh-gah-quee-tah]
The blood of martyrs is the seed of saints. Nine years after the Jesuits Isaac Jogues and John de Brebeuf were tortured to death by Huron and Iroquois Native American nations, a baby girl was born near the place of their martyrdom, Auriesville, New York. She was to be the first person born in North America to be beatified. Her mother was a Christian Algonquin, taken captive by the Iroquois and given as wife to the chief of the Mohawk clan, the boldest and fiercest of the Five Nations. When she was four, Kateri lost her parents and little brother in a smallpox epidemic that left her disfigured and half blind. She was adopted by an uncle, who succeeded her father as chief. He hated the coming of the Blackrobes (missionaries), but could do nothing to them because a peace treaty with the French required their presence in villages with Christian captives. She was moved by the words of three Blackrobes who lodged with her uncle, but fear of him kept her from seeking instruction. She refused to marry a Mohawk man and at nineteen finally got the courage to take the step of converting. She was baptized with the name Kateri (Catherine) on Easter Sunday.
Now she would be treated as a slave. Because she would not work on Sunday, she received no food that day. Her life in grace grew rapidly. She told a missionary that she often meditated on the great dignity of being baptized. She was powerfully moved by God's love for human beings and saw the dignity of each of her people. She was always in danger, for her conversion and holy life created great opposition. On the advice of a priest, she stole away one night and began a two-hundred-mile walking journey to a Christian Native American village at Sault St. Louis, near Montreal.
For three years she grew in holiness under the direction of a priest and an older Iroquois woman, giving herself totally to God in long hours of prayer, in charity and in strenuous penance. At twenty three she took a vow of virginity, an unprecedented act for a Native American woman, whose future depended on being married. She found a place in the woods where she could pray an hour a day and was accused of meeting a man there! Her dedication to virginity was instinctive: She did not know about religious life for women until she visited Montreal. Inspired by this, she and two friends wanted to start a community, but the local priest dissuaded her. She humbly accepted an "ordinary" life. She practiced extremely severe fasting as penance for the conversion of her nation. She died the afternoon before Holy Thursday. Witnesses said that her emaciated face changed color and became like that of a healthy child. The lines of suffering, even the pockmarks, disappeared and the touch of a smile came upon her lips. She was beatified in 1980.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-07-14
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St. Praxedes
A virgin saint from the earliest Christian times who placed her goods and her services at the disposal of the Church! The life of this saint, like that of most other early Christian saints, remains concealed in the obscurities of legend.
Praxedes, it is said, was the sister of St. Pudentiana; she was devoted to the practice of works of mercy, particularly towards martyrs, during the reign of Emperor Antoninus (138-161). "Some she kept in hiding in her house, others she encouraged to profess the faith heroically, and the dead she buried. To those languishing in prison she brought needed assistance. When she no longer could endure the sight of the cruel oppression to which Christians were subjected, she implored the Lord to take her from this vale of tears if such were His holy will. It was. On July 21 the Lord called and gave her heaven as the reward for her piety and love of neighbor. Her body was placed in the catacomb of Priscilla in the tomb of her father Pudens and her sister Pudentiana".
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-07-21
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catholicculture.org says:
St. Praxedes
A virgin saint from the earliest Christian times who placed her goods and her services at the disposal of the Church! The life of this saint, like that of most other early Christian saints, remains concealed in the obscurities of legend.
Well, not really that obscured:
Rome! Every place in Italy has its own history and story to tell, but Rome is truly superlative!
Our hotel was just a short walk from the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which in turn is just a stone’s throw from my very favourite church in the whole wide world – the Church of Santa Praxedes *. Just cross the road in front of the Basilica, take the road on your far right, and turn first right into via Santa Praxedes, at the end of which is access from the side, though most often used, door. I would happily spend a good deal of my time in Rome in this rather hidden church.
Praxedes’ father, Pudens, was the Roman senator, mentioned by St Paul in his Second Letter to Timothy (4:21): “Make haste to come before winter. Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brethren salute thee”. He, his wife Sabina, Praxedes, and her sister, Pudentiana, hosted St Peter in their home right there where the church now stands.
Now when a Roman senator fraternised with and gave hospitality to the likes of Sts Peter and Paul, he was more than likely to meet an early and violent death; and that is precisely what happened to Pudens and Sabina.
After her parents’ death, Praxedes had a baptistery built in her home. She gave refuge to many Christians whose lives were at risk, and she had the habit to go out under cover of darkness and scoop up the precious blood of her martyr friends which stained the earth of the Coliseum. She reverenced the blood of these martyrs with all her being.
It was only a matter of time before she too would die a martyr’s death, meet her Redeemer and receive the reward of her great love. You can visit the tomb where her body still lies if you take the steps that lead down to the rustic crypt under the main altar. It seems as though she, along with Pudentiana, is still “at home” and welcoming visitors. This church contains the remains of no fewer that 2,300 saints and martyrs.
To the right of the sanctuary is the chapel dedicated to, and containing the column at which our Lord was scourged. This column has been here since 1699. Brought to Rome in 1223, during the 5th Crusade, it is an object of special devotion, and greatly reverenced by believers. It is truly uplifting to spend time in the presence of such an awesome treasure of faith. The beauty of the mosaics, frescoes, sculptures and other works of sacred art is awe-inspiring.
St Charles Borromeo had been the titular Cardinal of Santa Praxedes from 1564 to 1584 and a special chapel dedicated to him contained the table from which he used to feed the poor, along with more magnificent and exquisite paintings featuring events in his life.
For more than 800 years the Church of Santa Praxedes has been in the custody of the Vallombrosan monks, founded by St John Gualbert in 1073, and of course he too is honoured by wonderful paintings of events in his life.
And that is merely touching the surface of only one church, exceptionally amazing though it is. In Santa Praxedes you may relive 2,000 years of Roman history; not only history, not only art, but the lifeblood of a living faith still flows in such a place. It is not a museum as many churches seem to have become, though even these are redeemed by the Blessed Sacrament chapels where the peace is palpable.
We spent 3 nights and 2 days in Rome. As I said, Rome is superlative in every way – that is, in the delightful and the disagreeable. It is a crowded place visited by millions of tourists. It is a chaotic place, especially during the summer months of July and August when, as well as foreign tourists and other adventurers, swarms of Italians take their annual holidays.
* http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-santa-prassede
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An educated woman can do whatever she wants and if she is vain, well, it's not going to be a good ending.
I think women should embrace Traditional Catholicism with all their heart, all their soul and all their mind.
A woman has to choose if she will belong to the world and it's prince or if she will belong to Our Lord Jesus Christ. She can't do both at the same time and she's fooling herself if she thinks she is.
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An educated woman can do whatever she wants and if she is vain, well, it's not going to be a good ending.
I think women should embrace Traditional Catholicism with all their heart, all their soul and all their mind.
A woman has to choose if she will belong to the world and it's prince or if she will belong to Our Lord Jesus Christ. She can't do both at the same time and she's fooling herself if she thinks she is.
That is what this thread is all about, the real holiness that women are capable of.
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St. Bridget
Bridget was born in Sweden of noble and pious parents, and led a most holy life. While she was yet unborn, her mother was saved from shipwreck for her sake. At ten years of age, Bridget heard a sermon on the Passion of our Lord; and the next night she saw Jesus on the cross, covered with fresh blood, and speaking to her about his Passion. Thenceforward meditation on that subject affected her to such a degree, that she could never think of our Lord's sufferings without tears.
She was given in marriage to Ulfo prince of Nericia; and won him, by example and persuasion, to a life of piety. She devoted herself with maternal love to the education of her children. She was most zealous in serving the poor, especially the sick; and set apart a house for their reception, where she would often wash and kiss their feet. Together with her husband, she went on pilgrimage to Compostella, to visit the tomb of the apostle St. James. On their return journey, Ulfo fell dangerously ill at Arras; but St. Dionysius, appearing to Bridget at night, foretold the restoration of her husband's health, and other future events.
Ulfo became a Cistercian monk, but died soon afterwards. Whereupon Bridget, having heard the voice of Christ calling her in a dream, embraced a more austere manner of life. Many secrets were then revealed to her by God. She founded the monastery of Vadstena under the rule of our Savior, which was given her by our Lord himself. At his command, she went to Rome, where she kindled the love of God in very many hearts. She made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; but on her return to Rome she was attacked by fever, and suffered severely from sickness during a whole year. On the day she had foretold, she passed to heaven, laden with merits. Her body was translated to her monastery of Vadstena; and becoming illustrious for miracles, she was enrolled among the saints by Boniface IX.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-07-23
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St. Christina of Bolsena
Saint Christina was the daughter of a rich and powerful magistrate named Urban. Her father, who was deep in the practices of paganism, had a number of golden idols. His young daughter broke them, then distributed the pieces among the poor. Infuriated by this act, Urban became the persecutor of his own daughter. He had her whipped with rods and thrown into a dungeon. Christina remained unshaken in her faith. Her tormentor brought her forth to have her body torn by iron hooks, then fastened to a rack beneath which a fire was kindled. But God watched over His servant and turned the flames back toward the onlookers, several of whom perished.
The torments to which this young girl was subjected would seem as difficult to devise as to imagine; but God was beside her at all times. After a heavy stone was attached to her neck, Saint Christina was thrown into the lake of Bolsena, but was rescued by an Angel and seen wearing a stole and walking on the water, accompanied by several Angels. Her father, hearing she was still alive, died suddenly amid atrocious sufferings. A new judge succeeded him, a cruel pagan experienced in persecuting the Christians. He tried to win her by reminding her of her nobility, suggesting she was in serious error. Her reply infuriated him: “Christ, whom you despise, will tear me out of your hands!” Then Saint Christina suffered the most inhuman torments. The second judge also was struck down by divine justice. A third one named Julian, succeeded him. “Magician!” he cried, “adore the gods, or I will put you to death!” She survived a raging furnace, after remaining in it for five days. Serpents and vipers thrown into her prison did not touch her, but killed the magician who had brought them there. She sent them away in the name of Christ, after restoring the unfortunate magician to life; he was converted and thanked the God of Christina and the Saint. Then her tongue was cut out.
The Saint prayed to be allowed to finish her course. When she was pierced with arrows, she gained the martyr’s crown at Tyro, a city which formerly stood on an island in the lake of Bolsena in Italy, but has since been swallowed up by the waters. Her relics are now at Palermo in Sicily. Her tomb was discovered in the 19th century at Bolsena, marked with an inscription dating from the 10th century.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-07-24
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This Class of 1956, most of these women graduates were not looking for
a career in big money making because it is a few years until the advent
of Feminism. This was the time of great Faith.
The majority of these women graduates are looking for a career of
being happily married, being wives, mothers and looking foreword
of having lots if children. A nice home and stable and holy environment.
We only wish that 1956 could have been the beginning of great things
for the church. instead after 1959, the church started to go downhill
especially with the election of the anti pope John XXIII.
Photos tell a story in time. We can only wished that 1958 would have
been a great beginning of great things for the Church.
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A Catholic religious sister working in a hospital in Liberia has died of the Ebola virus, the Fides news service reports.
Sister Pascaline Chantale, a native of Congo and member of the Hospitaler Order of St. John of God, died on August 9 after contracting the deadly virus, apparently through her work with victims at a hospital in Monrovia.
Another woman religious at the same institution, Sister Paciencia Melgar, from Guinea, is also reported as seriously ill.
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=22262
She gave her life to Christ once when she made her religous profession and then again when she cared for the ebola patients.
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How come now we hear of this disease Ebola? New experimental drug.
Then there will be vaccine here for everyone. It will be mandatory for school children to get these shots.
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St. Radegund
St. Radegund's father was a king; when he was conquered by King Theodoric of Austrasia and King Clotaire I of Neustria, Radegund was taken captive at the age of twelve by Clotaire, son of Clovis, the first Christian King of the Franks. She lived at Athies until she was 18, when Clotaire brought her to Vitry and married her. Clotaire was "a man of shocking character." As queen, Radegund spent her time doing charitable work with the poor and the captives. She ministered to lepers and founded a hospital for them. Radegund had been married to Clotaire for six years when he killed her brother. Unable to bear his cruelties any longer, she became a nun, with his permission. Radegund had a double monastery built in Poitiers called Holy Cross. When Clotaire decided to bring her back to court, St. Germanus interceded on her behalf, and the repentant Clotaire sent Germanus back to Radeund to ask her forgiveness and prayers. After her death, Radegund's face shone "with a brightness surpassing the beauty of lilies and roses."
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-08-13
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St. Helena
It was the pious boast of the city of Colchester, England, for many ages, that St. Helena was born within its walls; and though this honor has been disputed, it is certain that she was a British princess. She embraced Christianity late in life; but her incomparable faith and piety greatly influenced her son Constantine, the first Christian emperor, and served to kindle a holy zeal in the hearts of the Roman people. Forgetful of her high dignity, she delighted to assist at the Divine Office amid the poor; and by her alms-deeds showed herself a mother to the indigent and distressed.
In her eightieth year she made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with the ardent desire of discovering the cross on which our blessed Redeemer suffered. After many labors, three crosses were found on Mount Calvary, together with the nails and the inscription recorded by the Evangelists. It still remained to identify the true cross of Our Lord. By the advice of the bishop, Macarius, the three were applied successively to a woman afflicted with an incurable disease, and no sooner had the third touched her than she arose, perfectly healed. The pious empress, transported with joy, built a, most glorious church on Mount Calvary to receive the precious relic, sending portions of it to Rome and Constantinople, where they were solemnly exposed to the adoration of the faithful.
In the year 312 Constantine found himself attacked by Maxentius with vastly superior forces, and the very existence of his empire threatened. In this crisis he bethought him of the crucified Christian God Whom his mother Helena worshiped, and kneeling down, prayed God to reveal Himself and give him the victory. Suddenly, at noonday, a cross of fire was seen by his army in the calm and cloudless sky, and beneath it the words, In hoc signo vinces—"Through this sign thou shalt conquer." By divine command, Constantine made a standard like the cross he had seen, which was borne at the head of his troops; and under this Christian ensign they marched against the enemy, and obtained a complete victory. Shortly after, Helena herself returned to Rome, where she expired, 328.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-08-18
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St. Monica
St. Monica is an example of those holy matrons of the ancient Church who proved very influential in their own quiet way. Through prayer and tears she gave the great Augustine to the Church of God, and thereby earned for herself a place of honor in the history of God's kingdom on earth.
The Confessions of St. Augustine provide certain biographical details. Born of Christian parents about the year 331 at Tagaste in Africa, Monica was reared under the strict supervision of an elderly nurse who had likewise reared her father. In the course of time she was given in marriage to a pagan named Patricius. Besides other faults, he possessed a very irascible nature; it was in this school of suffering that Monica learned patience. It was her custom to wait until his anger had cooled; only then did she give a kindly remonstrance. Evil-minded servants had prejudiced her mother-in-law against her, but Monica mastered the situation by kindness and sympathy.
Her marriage was blessed with three children: Navigius, Perpetua, who later became a nun, and Augustine, her problem child. According to the custom of the day, baptism was not administered to infants soon after birth. It was as an adolescent that Augustine became a catechumen, but possibly through a premonition of his future sinful life, Monica postponed his baptism even when her son desired it during a severe illness.
When Augustine was nineteen years old, his father Patricius died; by patience and prayer Monica had obtained the conversion of her husband.
The youthful Augustine caused his mother untold worry by indulging in every type of sin and dissipation. As a last resort after all her tears and entreaties had proved fruitless, she forbade him entrance to her home; but after a vision she received him back again. In her sorrow a certain bishop consoled her: "Don't worry, it is impossible that a son of so many tears should be lost."
When Augustine was planning his journey to Rome, Monica wished to accompany him. He outwitted her, however, and had already embarked when she arrived at the docks. Later she followed him to Milan, ever growing in her attachment to God. St. Ambrose held her in high esteem, and congratulated Augustine on having such a mother. At Milan she prepared the way for her son's conversion. Finally the moment came when her tears of sorrow changed to tears of joy. Augustine was baptized. And her lifework was completed. She died in her fifty-sixth year, as she was returning to Africa. The description of her death is one of the most beautiful passages in her son's famous Confessions.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-08-27
Because of St Monica, Augustine is the saint he is. Which just foes to show you, we don't go to Heaven alone.
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St. Rose of Viterbo
Saint Rose was born in the spring of 1235 at Viterbo, capital of the patrimony of Saint Peter. In those days the emperor Frederick II was oppressing the Church, and many were faithless to the Holy See. But this infant at once seemed filled with grace; she never cried; with tottering steps she sought Jesus in His tabernacle; she knelt before sacred images and listened to sermons and pious conversation, retaining all she heard, and this when she was scarcely three years old. One coarse habit covered her flesh; fasts and disciplines were her delight.
At the age of seven she wished to enter a monastery of nuns; but God had other designs for her, and she resolved to create a solitude in her father’s house, where she would forever spend all her days. Her mortifications there seem incredible to our time of laxity; she gave herself the discipline three times a day until she fainted from fatigue and loss of blood, and she scarcely ate at all. To those who urged her to mitigate her austerities, she explained so perfectly that happiness consists in suffering for God, that no one could doubt this was so for her.
Nonetheless she fell ill and nearly died of consumption. She was close to the final agony when suddenly she beheld the Mother of God, and said to those attending her: “All of you here, why do you not greet the Queen of the world? Do you not see Mary, the August Mother of my God, coming forward? Let us go to meet Her, and prostrate ourselves before Her majesty!” Everyone turned toward the door and knelt down, and the Mother of God spoke to Rose, telling her she must enter the Third Order of Saint Francis, then go out to “reprove, convince, exhort and bring back the erring to the paths of salvation. If your endeavors bring upon you sarcasm and mockery, persecution and labor, you must bear them patiently... Those who assist you will be enriched with all the graces of the Lord.”
To defend the Church’s rights was already Rose’s burning wish. When hardly ten years old, she arose after her reception into the Franciscan habit, went down to the public square at Viterbo, called upon the inhabitants to be faithful to the Sovereign Pontiff, and vehemently denounced all his opponents. She returned to her house only to redouble her flagellations and macerations; she saw her Saviour on the Cross and nothing could arrest her ardor thereafter. So great was the power of her word and of the miracles which accompanied it, that at the end of several months the Imperial party, after threatening her in vain to stop her preaching, in fear and anger drove her from the city.
Saint Rose and her parents moved to Soriano, a fortified city, where she continued to do as she had been told by the Mother of God. Then Rose went on by herself to Vitorchiano, where she had understood there was need for her, and continued to win souls by her aspect as much as by her words. She went barefoot and wore a poor tunic at all times, until after some eighteen months, when the emperor had died, she and her parents returned to Viterbo. Innocent IV was brought back in triumph to Rome and the cause of God was won.
A number of young girls came to her for instruction at Viterbo, and she taught them the principles of modest prudence and faithful love of God. Rose fell ill again and recognized that her end was approaching; she prepared, rejoicing, in solitude for her glorious destiny, and died in her eighteenth year. Not long afterward, she appeared in glory to Alexander IV, and bade him to translate her intact body. He found it fragrant and beautiful, as if still in life. For more than 700 years it has remained supple and unchanged, save for its color, darkened after a fire in the chapel where it reposed.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-09-04
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St. Thecla
This child of St. Paul is honored by the Fathers of the Eastern Church as proto-martyr and "near apostle." Already during the second century legends concerning her were current and her grave was much visited by pilgrims. It is historically certain that she lived, but the Acts of her life are largely legendary. According to these she was born at Iconium, where she was converted to Christianity by the preaching of St. Paul. It is related that she was "accused of being a Christian by her own parents after she had refused to marry Thamiris, in order to give herself wholly to Christ. But the pyre enkindled for her burning was extinguished by a sudden downpour of rain as she threw herself into it, making the sign of the Cross. Then she fled to Antioch, where the ferocious beasts and bulls to which she was tied would do her no harm. Nor did she suffer injury during confinement in a snake pit. Because of these marvels many pagans accepted the faith. Thereafter Thecla returned to her native land, where she lived in solitude upon a hill. At the age of ninety she died a peaceful death."
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-09-23
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Blessed Marie Rose
Born October 6, 1811 at St. Antoine in Quebec, Canada, Eulalie Durocher was the tenth of eleven children. She was drawn to the religious life, but turned away because of her frail health. For 12 years she assisted her brother, a parish priest, as a housekeeper. With encouragement of the bishop, in 1843 she founded the Sisters of the Holy Name of Jesus and Mary, taking the name Marie-Rose. Her religious order was dedicated to Christian education, especially for the poor. She died on October 6, 1849 of natural causes. This Order first came to the U.S. in 1859. Marie-Rose was beatified on May 23, 1982 by Pope John Paul II.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-10-06
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Your thread title seems to indicate that you encourage women to get "educated." Do you think most women should go to college? Do you think it is acceptable for Catholic women to attend public universities? What do you think about Catholics attending protestant colleges?
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Your thread title seems to indicate that you encourage women to get "educated." Do you think most women should go to college? Do you think it is acceptable for Catholic women to attend public universities? What do you think about Catholics attending protestant colleges?
(Back again after break!)
We're having this struggle, my H and I (and our children). I was/am a mathematician/coder (comp sci). My parents basically didn't know what to do with me, as I didn't have an attraction to men, and though we visited lots of convents (mainly NOrdos), the general "rule of thumb" and recommendation was for me to get a degree that would "glorify God", both to better discern any vocation, and to better help a future convent if that were indeed to be my vocation. Turns out that while I was going for my Masters, I met/married H (wait on Our Lord!), and I dropped the Masters program ($$$ was a concern, and H didn't want me to work outside the home, anyway).
But I've got to admit, I loved continuing my education. It strengthened my Faith (studying theoretical mathematics was, to me, like studying God's Creation from a different angle, one which wouldn't be offensive to all that is Holy). I learned music, art history, history, and Latin, as well as the sciences; enjoyed it very much; studied abroad; and really felt like the Host of Heaven was with me all along (admittedly it didn't always feel like that, at the time, but in retrospect I can see it).
My dad (jokingly) bewailed spending all that cash to have me be a stay-at-home mom, lol, but my H paid off the remainder of the loans (grad costs were huge), and he told Daddy recently that my education has allowed me to better teach our children, be effective at parishes in ways women usually aren't (I do some bookkeeping, email lists, talk to the city board, or whatever our priest needs). But mostly, college gave me a heaping helping of empathy for the plight of others (because I had been pretty much sheltered, and "the world" was a shocker. (Shoot, the NO was a shocker.)
Plus, I'm able to assist my H in my free time to the glory of God, so there's no personal pride involved, I pray: Heaven had its plan for me to benefit the Church and local Cats and my family in ways I could never have imagined; studying mathematics was exciting and seriously strengthened my Faith (the more you know, the more you learn humans don't know, and the more you understand academia's "game", the more you can prepare future college students for what's to come).
Just had to testify on behalf of my H, and how I can look back to those horrible days of leaving a convent knowing I wasn't being called there, and wondering if I should just acquiesce and marry whatever guy after I was of age. (Again, graduated h.s. at 15; not ready for Marriage at all).
So I don't think it's "wrong" for young women to become the most educated they can be, in whichever way they're prayerfully led. Educated girls [can] glorify our husbands, and God and Church, when we use the "talents" from God while discerning our vocation in today's strange world.
We (my parents, and now me/H as parents, and our friends) hardly know what to do in this matter, but since half the population is female, I think this is a great conversation to have. Also, OT a bit, now I'm actively looking for part-time work that doesn't take from my duties at home, mainly to keep me busy, but also to help with the financials. That's also a struggle, because for a woman you want to do your very best at your every undertaking, but you can't serve "two gods" (for women, work and family/Church/God). We're praying very hard about this step.
O Dominus, Fiat mihi secúndum verbum tuum. :pray:
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StCeceliasGirl,
In your case it worked out well. And from what you describe, I will go so far as to say that you, your family, community, and ultimately the world are better off by your education. But why did it work in your case? Proper disposition, state of grace, you kept your eye on doing God's will, you kept any curiosity of the world's vices in check (smothered out by prayer and the sacraments, I suppose), and you had proper raising. Plus, I expect you went to a school with about as conducive environment for safeguarding morals as you could find. I know that I'm making some assumptions. But am I close? Now think about what MOST young women are like today. Are they sufficiently strong in each of those areas that you had going for you such that it would be advisable that they enter the cesspools that are the universities? I think not.
Great care, as you reference, must be taken with these decisions. I won't say that you would have been "wronged" had you not been supported in seeking education. But I do acknowledge that overall in your particular case, that it's preferable that you did obtain the education that you did. However, a misstep of sending the wrong girl to college (which I believe is probably most these days) presents grave danger to souls.
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L’Osservatore Romano has published an essay by Sister Sara Butler, an American nun who serves on the International Theological Commission, defending the notion of the complementarity of men and women in the face of various feminist critiques.
“Creation in two sexes belongs to God’s revelation,” writes Sister Butler, a Mundelein theologian known for her defense of Catholic teaching on the ordination of women. “It is Catholic doctrine, not simply one theory among many (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church , §§ 369-72). To overcome sexism, it is not necessary to eradicate the difference between the sexes, but only to end the opposition between them that results from sin.”
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21384
Then why didn't Christ choose any female Apostles? Why have there never been any female Apostles or Priests since then?
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L’Osservatore Romano has published an essay by Sister Sara Butler, an American nun who serves on the International Theological Commission, defending the notion of the complementarity of men and women in the face of various feminist critiques.
“Creation in two sexes belongs to God’s revelation,” writes Sister Butler, a Mundelein theologian known for her defense of Catholic teaching on the ordination of women. “It is Catholic doctrine, not simply one theory among many (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church , §§ 369-72). To overcome sexism, it is not necessary to eradicate the difference between the sexes, but only to end the opposition between them that results from sin.”
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=21384
Then why didn't Christ choose any female Apostles? Why have there never been any female Apostles or Priests since then?
This sister is agreeing with your propositioin
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Your thread title seems to indicate that you encourage women to get "educated." Do you think most women should go to college? Do you think it is acceptable for Catholic women to attend public universities? What do you think about Catholics attending protestant colleges?
I use this thread to encourage women to be educated, but not only to be educated but to be educated in the holiness that God calls them to.
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Your thread title seems to indicate that you encourage women to get "educated." Do you think most women should go to college? Do you think it is acceptable for Catholic women to attend public universities? What do you think about Catholics attending protestant colleges?
I use this thread to encourage women to be educated, but not only to be educated but to be educated in the holiness that God calls them to.
Poche,
I think you have the bobbing and weaving down good enough to run for office.
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Your thread title seems to indicate that you encourage women to get "educated." Do you think most women should go to college? Do you think it is acceptable for Catholic women to attend public universities? What do you think about Catholics attending protestant colleges?
I use this thread to encourage women to be educated, but not only to be educated but to be educated in the holiness that God calls them to.
Poche,
I think you have the bobbing and weaving down good enough to run for office.
Would you vote for me if I did?
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Your thread title seems to indicate that you encourage women to get "educated." Do you think most women should go to college? Do you think it is acceptable for Catholic women to attend public universities? What do you think about Catholics attending protestant colleges?
I use this thread to encourage women to be educated, but not only to be educated but to be educated in the holiness that God calls them to.
Poche,
I think you have the bobbing and weaving down good enough to run for office.
Would you vote for me if I did?
I'm one of these knuckleheads who still thinks there is some benefit for voting for the lesser of evils. Thus, I likely would vote for you, Poche. In fact, I would have voted for you for president over the two main-party infidels had you been on the ballot in 2012.
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St. Teresa of Jesus
St. Teresa of Jesus, honored by the Church as the "seraphic virgin," virgo seraphica, and reformer of the Carmelite Order, ranks first among women for wisdom and learning. She is called doctrix mystica, doctor of mystical theology; in a report to Pope Paul V the Roman Rota declared: "Teresa has been given to the Church by God as a teacher of the spiritual life. The mysteries of the inner mystical life which the holy Fathers propounded unsystematically and without orderly sequence, she has presented with unparalleled clarity." Her writings are still the classic works on mysticism, and from her all later teachers have drawn, e.g., Francis de Sales, Alphonsus Liguori. Characteristic of her mysticism is the subjective-individualistic approach; there is little integration with the liturgy and social piety, and thus she reflects the spirit of the sixteenth and following centuries.
Teresa was born at Avila, Spain, in the year 1515. At the age of seven she set out for Africa to die for Christ, but was brought back by her uncle. When she lost her mother at twelve, she implored Mary for her maternal protection. In 1533 she entered the Carmelite Order; for eighteen years she suffered physical pain and spiritual dryness. Under divine inspiration and with the approval of Pope Pius IV, she began the work of reforming the Carmelite Order. In spite of heavy opposition and constant difficulties, she founded thirty-two reformed convents.
Truly wonderful were the exterior and interior manifestations of her mystical union with God, especially during the last decade of her life. These graces reached a climax when her heart was transfixed (transverberatio cordis), an event that is commemorated in the Carmelite Order by a special feast on August 27. She practiced great devotion to the foster-father of Jesus, whose cult was greatly furthered throughout the Church through her efforts. When dying she often repeated the words: "Lord, I am a daughter of the Church!" Her holy body rests upon the high altar of the Carmelite church in Alba, Spain; her heart with its mysterious wound is reserved in a precious reliquary on the Epistle side of the altar.
St. Teresa composed the following well-known lines:
Let nothing affright thee,
Nothing dismay thee.
All is passing,
God ever remains.
Patience obtains all.
Whoever possesses God
Cannot lack anything
God alone suffices.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-10-15
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St. Hedwig
Hedwig was born in 1174 in Bavaria, the daughter of the Duke of Croatia. She was the maternal aunt of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. She married Duke Henry of Silesia and raised seven children, with the boys being quite a handful. She outlived all but one of her children, Gertrude. Hedwig persuaded her husband to use her dowry to found a Cisterian monastery for nuns at Trebnitz. Their daughter Gertrude later became abbess of the monastery.
Hedwig led a life of piety and solicitude for the sick and poor, including their religious education. She lived a life of poverty and humility, despite her prominent position. Every day, even in winter, she would walk barefooted, so her feet were in bad shape. A story tells us her husband sent her a pair of shoes, insisting that she not be without them — so she kept them under her arm. After the death of her husband Hedwig completely renounced the world and entered the monastery of Trebnitz which she had founded. She died on October 15, 1243 and is venerated as patroness of Poland. She is not to be confused with St. Hedwig, Queen of Poland (1371-1399), canonized by John Paul II. (Her feast day is February 28.)
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-10-16
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A self-effacing nun in the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial, France, was inspired by the Lord Jesus to establish the devotion of the Holy Hour. Her name was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, and from the age of seven, when she received her first Holy Communion, she had always manifested an intense love of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Our Lord appeared to her often, usually as the Crucified Christ. Her simplicity caused her to feel that these apparitions were also granted to others who had recourse to Jesus in the sacrament of His love. Once the Master appeared to the young girl as she was returning from a dance and reproached her for not espousing Him.
When twenty-four years of age, Margaret entered the cloister, choosing the most menial tasks. Gifted with intelligence and common sense, she made great progress in holiness. Our Lord entrusted to her the mission of establishing the reign of the Sacred Heart among the children of men. Criticism did not hamper her zeal, and her charity toward her opponents won them over to the cause of the Master.
In the first revelation of the Sacred Heart to the nun, Our Lord made known His burning desire to be loved by all men, and His design of manifesting to them His Sacred Heart with its treasures of mercy. Margaret Mary communicated Our Lord's wish that the faithful receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month and observe the Feast of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi.
After nineteen years in the convent, St. Margaret Mary died October 17, 1690. Many pilgrims to her tomb have sought and obtained favors. Through her apostolate of devotion to the Sacred Heart many sinners have repented and found grace with God.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-10-16
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St. Mary Salome
Saint Mary Salome was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the apostles John and James the Greater. Known as the "Sons of Thunder", these two great men were among the first to be chosen by Jesus to follow Him. Mary Salome, their mother, would be one of the "three Marys" to follow Jesus and minister to Him and His disciples. Thought to be the financial source for their travels, Mary Salome, along with Mary Magdalene and others, would give all they had to further the works of Jesus and His followers.
Mary Salome was a witness to the crucifixion, entombment and was mentioned by St Mark as one of the women who went to anoint the Lord's body, finding Him to be resurrected. In the Gospel, Mary Salome asks what place her sons will have in the Kingdom. Jesus tells her that it is the Father who decides and that they will have to follow His example and earn their place in paradise. Legend says that after Pentecost, Mary Salome would travel to Veroli, Italy where she would preach the Gospel for the rest of her life. She would become the patron saint of this historic city.
Many women of this day and age can relate to a women of such faith as Mary Salome. She watched her sons drop what they were doing, leave the family business and follow a man they knew little about. At first, this must have been frightening. But, just as many mothers have watched their sons leave, maybe to go off to war, great faith carried her through and even led her to take up the same cause as her sons. May we all have the faith and love of Mary Salome.
This Wednesday, October 22nd, we celebrate the feast day of St Mary Salome, mother of the apostles John and James.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-10-22
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St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
This saint, the first United States citizen to be canonized, was born in Italy of parents who were farmers. She was the thirteenth child, born when her mother was fifty-two years old. The missionary spirit was awakened in her as a little girl when her father read stories of the missions to his children. She received a good education, and at eighteen was awarded the normal school certificate.
For a while she helped the pastor teach catechism and visited the sick and the poor. She also taught school in a nearby town, and for six years supervised an orphanage assisted by a group of young women. The bishop of Lodi heard of this group and asked Frances to establish a missionary institute to work in his diocese. Frances did so, calling the community the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. An academy for girls was opened and new houses quickly sprang up.
One day Bishop Scalabrini, founder of the Missionaries of Emigration, described to Mother Cabrini the wretched economical and spiritual conditions of the many Italian immigrants in the United States, and she was deeply moved. An audience with Pope Leo XIII changed her plans to go to the missions of the East. "Not to the East, but to the West," the Pope said to her. "Go to the United States." Mother Cabrini no longer hesitated. She landed in New York in 1889, established an orphanage, and then set out on a lifework that comprised the alleviation of every human need. For the children she erected schools, kindergartens, clinics, orphanages, and foundling homes, and numbers of hospitals for the needy sick. At her death over five thousand children were receiving care in her charitable institutions, and at the same time her community had grown to five hundred members in seventy houses in North and South America, France, Spain, and England.
The saint, frail and diminutive of stature, showed such energy and enterprise that everyone marveled. She crossed the Atlantic twenty-five times to visit the various houses and institutions. In 1909 she adopted the United States as her country and became a citizen. After thirty-seven years of unflagging labor and heroic charity she died alone in a chair in Columbus Hospital at Chicago, Illinois, while making dolls for orphans in preparation for a Christmas party. Cardinal Mundelein of Chicago officiated at her funeral and in 1938 also presided at her beatification by Pius XI. She was canonized by Pius XII in 1946. She lies buried under the altar of the chapel of Mother Cabrini High School in New York City. — A Saint A Day, Berchmans Bittle, O.F.M.Cap.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-11-13
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St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
Philippine was the daughter of a prominent French lawyer and was educated by the Visitation nuns, whom she later joined. During the French Revolution the Order was dispersed and for some years she served the sick and the poor as well as fugitive priests.
In 1804 she joined the Religious of the Sacred Heart, founded by St. Madeline Sophie Barat. When Bishop Dubourg of New Orleans asked for nuns for his young American diocese, Philippine begged for permission to go with him. She was forty-nine years old when she arrived at St. Louis, Missouri, with four companions, and established the first convent of the Society at St. Charles.
Cold, hunger, illness, poverty, and opposition were the lot of the young community, but the indomitable courage of the holy foundress overcame all obstacles. She opened a school for Indians and whites at Florissant, the first free school west of the Mississippi. She established houses at various places which were the beginnings of noted schools and colleges conducted today by the Society. Her one ambition, however, was to work among the Indians. She was seventy-one years old when she obtained the coveted permission from Mother Barat, who wrote: "Don't try to stop her; it was for the Indians that she went to America."
With three companions she traveled by boat and oxcart to Sugar Creek, Kansas, to labor there among the Potawatomi's. Their convent was a wigwam, they slept on the bare ground, and the food was coarse. They opened a school for Indian girls and taught them sewing, weaving, and other household arts. Philippine thought herself a failure because she could not master English, much less the Indian language, but her holiness made a deep impression on the Indians who called her "the woman who always prays," because she spent so much time in the chapel. A priest said of her: "The Indians used her kindness as one uses water — without thinking of it, for they were sure of finding it always fresh and pure."
The severe winters and the lack of proper food sapped her health and she was sent back to St. Charles. Here she spent the last decade of her life, praying "for her Indians" and for the Society which she had established and which was growing rapidly. She died at St. Charles, thinking herself a failure, yet she was the first missionary nun among the Indians, blazing the trail for a host of valiant women who were to follow her.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-11-18
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St. Catherine of Alexandria
The account of her martyrdom is legendary and defies every attempt to cull out the historical kernel. Old Oriental sources make no mention of her. In the West her cult does not appear before the eleventh century, when the crusaders made it popular. She became the patroness of philosophical faculties; she is one of the "Fourteen Holy Helpers." The breviary offers the following:
Catherine, virgin of Alexandria, devoted herself to the pursuit of knowledge; at the age of eighteen, she surpassed all her contemporaries in science. Upon seeing how the Christians were being tortured, she went before Emperor Maximin (311-313), upbraided him for his cruelty, and with convincing reasons demonstrated the need of Christian faith in order to be saved. Astounded by her wisdom, the Emperor ordered her to be kept confined, and having summoned the most learned philosophers, promised them magnificent rewards if they could confound the virgin and turn her from belief in Christ. Far from being successful, a considerable number of the philosophers were inflamed by the sound reasons and persuasiveness of Catherine's speech with such a love for Jesus Christ that they declared themselves willing to offer their lives for the Gospel
Then the Emperor attempted to win her by flattery and by promises, but his efforts proved equally fruitless. He ordered her whipped with rods, scourged with leaden nodules, and then left to languish eleven days without food in prison. The Emperor's wife and Porphyrius, general of the army, visited Catherine in prison; her words brought both to Christ and later they too proved their love in blood. Catherine's next torture consisted of being placed upon a wheel with sharp and pointed knives; from her lacerated body prayers ascended to heaven and the infernal machine fell to pieces. Many who witnessed the miracle embraced the faith. Finally, on November 25 Christ's servant was beheaded (307 or 312). By the hands of angels her body was carried to Mt. Sinai, where it was interred in the convent which bears her name.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-11-25
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St. Adelaide was a truly remarkable woman. She was the daughter of the king of Burgundy, and was married to the son of the ruler of Provence as a means of ending a feud. When her husband was murdered by a rival prince, she was shut up in captivity until freed by Otto I, who became Holy Roman Emperor and Adelaide, his Empress. She ruled with her husband until his death, at which time her jealous daughter-in-law had her banished from the court twice! Yet she remained steadfast and faithful, known for her liberality in giving and her piety; and eventually she was restored to court as the regent for her grandson Otto III. She was active in the reforms of the great abbey at Cluny, and reposed in 999. Despite her exalted status, she was a wife and mother, and lived both hard times and good, always faithful to her Lord, and always ready to give generously to those in need. She never took revenge on her political enemies once she gained the regency and it was said that her court was much like a monastery itself in its piety. She is a reminder to me that regardless of how much or how little I may have, my work remains the same.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2014-12-16
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Despite her exalted status, she was a wife and mother, and lived both hard times and good, always faithful to her Lord, and always ready to give generously to those in need.
Given her position, this is very confusing. It should say "Our Lord" or "her Saviour" or something if referring to Our Lord. If it's referring to the German emperor, however, it should be more clear. Perhaps it's written by somebody who is so out of touch with the old order that his referent seems obvious to him. When you really think about it, that's quite strange, no ? One would think that we would know our own history better such that we are better acquainted with basic usages in Christendom. It's a sad thought that most Catholics are so far removed from their own heritage that we speak like the enemy without thinking.
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Despite her exalted status, she was a wife and mother, and lived both hard times and good, always faithful to her Lord, and always ready to give generously to those in need.
Given her position, this is very confusing. It should say "Our Lord" or "her Saviour" or something if referring to Our Lord. If it's referring to the German emperor, however, it should be more clear. Perhaps it's written by somebody who is so out of touch with the old order that his referent seems obvious to him. When you really think about it, that's quite strange, no ? One would think that we would know our own history better such that we are better acquainted with basic usages in Christendom. It's a sad thought that most Catholics are so far removed from their own heritage that we speak like the enemy without thinking.
We know which Lord the author is talking about. There is only one Lord, Jesus Christ.
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Despite her exalted status, she was a wife and mother, and lived both hard times and good, always faithful to her Lord, and always ready to give generously to those in need.
Given her position, this is very confusing. It should say "Our Lord" or "her Saviour" or something if referring to Our Lord. If it's referring to the German emperor, however, it should be more clear. Perhaps it's written by somebody who is so out of touch with the old order that his referent seems obvious to him. When you really think about it, that's quite strange, no ? One would think that we would know our own history better such that we are better acquainted with basic usages in Christendom. It's a sad thought that most Catholics are so far removed from their own heritage that we speak like the enemy without thinking.
We know which Lord the author is talking about. There is only one Lord, Jesus Christ.
How do you reason ? There are many lords; there have been since creation and there always will be. But Jesus Christ is the one Lord of all through His divinity and by virtue of conquering death through His sacrifice on the cross. In the post in question, it says that she is always faithful to her Lord, which I assume means Our Lord because of "lord" being capitalised. But the author could also make a point about her fulfillment of her duty of state by saying that St Adelaide was always faithful to her lord, the emperor. Such a meaning would also make an edifying point. So we can see that there is a certain ambiguity in usage. It would have been better on the part of the author if this ambiguity were avoided.
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St. Agnes
Agnes is one of the most glorious saints in the calendar of the Roman Church. The greatest Church Fathers vie with one another in sounding her praise and glory. St. Jerome writes: "All nations, especially their Christian communities, praise in word and writing the life of St. Agnes. She triumphed over her tender age as well as over the merciless tyrant. To the crown of spotless innocence she added the glory of martyrdom."
Our saint's name should be traced to the Greek hagne - the pure, rather than to the Latin agna - lamb. But the Latin derivation prevailed in the early Church. The reason may have been that eight days after her death Agnes appeared to her parents with a train of virgins, and a lamb at her side. St. Augustine knew both derivations. "Agnes", he writes, "means 'lamb' in Latin, but in Greek it denotes 'the pure one'". The Latin interpretation occasioned the yearly blessing of the St. Agnes lambs; it takes place on this day in the Church of which she is patron, and the wool is used in weaving the palliums worn by archbishops and, through privilege, by some bishops. In the church built by the Emperor Constantine over the saint's grave, Pope Gregory the Great preached a number of homilies. Reliable details concerning the life of St. Agnes are very few. The oldest material occurs in St. Ambrose's De Virginibus, parts of which are read today at Matins. The value of the later (definitely unauthentic) "Passion" of the saint is enhanced by the fact that various antiphons and responsories in the Office are derived from it.
From such liturgical sources we may construct the following "life of St. Agnes". One day when Agnes, then thirteen years old, was returning home from school, she happened to meet Symphronius, a son of the city prefect. At once he became passionately attracted to her and tried to win her by precious gifts. Agnes repelled him, saying: "Away from me, food of death, for I have already found another lover" (r. Ant.). "With His ring my Lord Jesus Christ has betrothed me, and He has adorned me with the bridal crown" (3. Ant., Lauds). "My right hand and my neck He has encircled with precious stones, and has given me earrings with priceless pearls; He has decked me with lovely, glittering gems" (2. Ant.). "The Lord has clothed me with a robe of gold, He has adorned me with priceless jewels" (4. Ant.). "Honey and milk have I received from His mouth, and His blood has reddened my cheeks" (5. Ant.). "I love Christ, into whose chamber I shall enter, whose Mother is a virgin, whose Father knows not woman, whose music and melody are sweet to my ears. When I love Him, I remain chaste; when I touch Him, I remain pure; when I possess Him, I remain a virgin" (2. Resp.). "I am betrothed to Him whom the angels serve, whose beauty the sun and moon admire" (9. Ant.). "For Him alone I keep my troth, to Him I surrender with all my heart" (6. Ant.).
Incensed by her rebuff, Symphronius denounced Agnes to his father, the city prefect. When he threatened her with commitment to a house of ill fame, Agnes replied: "At my side I have a protector of my body, an angel of the Lord" (2. Ant., Lauds). "When Agnes entered the house of shame, she found an angel of the Lord ready to protect her" (1. Ant., Lauds). A light enveloped her and blinded all who tried to approach. Then another judge condemned her to the stake because the pagan priests accused her of sorcery.
Surrounded by flames she prayed with outstretched arms: "I beseech You, Father almighty, most worthy of awe and adoration. Through Your most holy Son I escaped the threats of the impious tyrant and passed through Satan's filth with feet unsullied. Behold, I now come to You, whom I have loved, whom I have sought, whom I have always desired." She gave thanks as follows: "O You, the almighty One, who must be adored, worshipped, feared - I praise You because through Your only begotten Son I have escaped the threats of wicked men and have walked through the filth of sin with feet unsullied. I extol You with my lips, and I desire You with all my heart and strength."
After the flames died out, she continued: "I praise You, Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, because by Your Son the fire around me was extinguished" (4. Ant., Lauds). And now she longed for union with Christ: "Behold, what I yearned for, I already see; what I hoped for, I already hold in embrace; with Him I am united in heaven whom on earth I loved with all my heart" (Ben. Ant.). Her wish was granted; the judge ordered her beheaded. —The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2015-01-21
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St. Angela Merici
The saint was born in 1474 in the diocese of Verona. Early in life she dedicated herself to Christ as His bride. After the death of her parents, she desired to live solely for God in quiet and solitude, but her uncle insisted that she manage his household. She renounced her patrimony in order to observe most perfectly the rule for Franciscan Tertiaries.
During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1524, she lost her eyesight temporarily. Pope Clement VII, whom she visited in Rome, desired her to remain in the Holy City. Later she founded a society for girls, under the protection of St. Ursula; this was the beginning of the Ursuline Order. St. Angela was almost seventy when she died; her body remained incorrupt for thirty days. Remarkable phenomena occurred at her burial in the Church of St. Afra.
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2015-01-27
Wha tis important about St Angela is the trememdoud influence the Ursulans have had on the United States. They came to Louisianna in 1727. The first religous profession, first in women's education, they brought Catholic education to this continent before there was a United States.