Author Topic: Saint of the day (Read 499779 times)

Miseremini · « **Reply #160 on:** July 25, 2025, 08:55:51 PM »

Feast of St. James the Greater

Let us, today, hail the bright star which once made Compostella so resplendent with its rays that the obscure town became, like Jerusalem and Rome, a center of attraction to the piety of the whole world.
Among the saints of God, there is not one who manifested more evidently how the elect keep up after death an interest in the works confided to them by our Lord.

The life of St. James after his call to the apostolate was but short; and the result of his labors in Spain, his allotted portion, appeared to be a failure. Scarcely had he, in his rapid course, taken possession of the land of Iberia, when, impatient to drink the chalice which would satisfy his continual desire to be close to his Lord, he opened by martyrdom the heavenward procession of the twelve, which was to be closed by the other son of Zebedee. [...]
Let it not be thought that the sword of any Herod could frustrate the designs of the most High upon the men of His choice. The life of the saints is never cut short; their death, ever precious, is still more so when in the cause of God it seems to come before the time. [...]
Full article here>>

Miseremini · « **Reply #161 on:** July 31, 2025, 01:52:35 PM »

Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola

St. Ignatius was born at Loyola in Spain, in the year 1491. He served his king as a courtier and a soldier till his thirtieth year. At that age, being laid low by a wound, he received the call of divine grace to leave the world. He embraced poverty and humiliation, that he might become more like to Christ, and won others to join him in the service of God. Prompted by their love for Jesus Christ, Ignatius and his companions made a vow to go to the Holy Land, but war broke out, and prevented the execution of their project. Then they turned to the Vicar of Jesus Christ, and placed themselves under his obedience. This was the beginning of the Society of Jesus. Our Lord promised St. Ignatius that the precious heritage of His Passion should never fail his Society, a heritage of contradictions and persecutions. St. Ignatius was cast into prison at Salamanca, on a suspicion of heresy. To a friend who expressed sympathy with him on account of his imprisonment, he replied, "It is a sign that you have but little love of Christ in your heart, or you would not deem it so hard a fate to be in chains for His sake. I declare to you that all Salamanca does not contain as many fetters, manacles, and chains as I long to wear for the love of Jesus Christ." St. Ignatius went to his crown on the 31st July, 1556.
Reflection: Ask St. Ignatius to obtain for you the grace to desire ardently the greater glory of God, even though it may cost you much suffering and humiliation.

Taken from Butler's Lives of the Saints

Miseremini · « **Reply #162 on:** August 04, 2025, 11:08:53 AM »

Saint John Vianney

Featured image: Lawrence OP, Flickr; Main: unknown

August 4: Saint John Vianney (the Curé of Ars), Priest—Memorial

1786–1859
Patron Saint of parish priests, all priests, and confessors
Canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925
Liturgical Color: White
Version: Full – Short

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…I think, brethren, that you would like to know what is the state of the lukewarm soul. Well, this is it. A lukewarm soul is not yet quite dead in the eyes of God because the faith, the hope, and the charity that are its spiritual life are not altogether extinct. But it is a faith without zeal, a hope without resolution, a charity without ardor. Nothing touches this soul: it hears the word of God, yes, that is true; but often it just bores it…Who can dare assure himself that he is neither a great sinner nor a tepid soul but that he is one of the elect? Alas, my brethren, how many seem to be good Christians in the eyes of the world who are really tepid souls in the eyes of God, Who knows our inmost hearts. Let us ask God with all our hearts, if we are in this state, to give us the grace to get out of it, so that we may take the route that all the saints have taken and arrive at the happiness that they are enjoying. That is what I desire for you. ~Homily, Saint John Vianney

Reflection: John Mary Baptiste Vianney was the fourth of six children born to devout Catholic parents in Dardilly, a rural village located near Lyon in the eastern part of France. John was born just three years before the start of the French Revolution, during which the Catholic Church came under ferocious attack. Public worship was suppressed, churches were closed or repurposed, and many priests either swore allegiance to the new state under duress, went into hiding, or were killed. During the Reign of Terror, from 1793-1794, thousands of clergy in France were executed by the guillotine. It was a chaotic time in France and an even more chaotic time to be a priest.
During this time, the Vianney family often hid priests and attended their clandestine Masses at nearby farms. The witness of the priests who risked their lives to offer the Sacraments was a powerful source of inspiration for young John, and later motivated him to become a priest. Given the chaos of the time, John spent most of his childhood helping on the family farm and tending to the flocks, rather than attending school. He received a simple education from his mother but was functionally illiterate through his teenage years. He secretly received catechetical instruction from two nuns to prepare him for his First Holy Communion, which he received at the age of thirteen in a neighbor’s house.
In 1799, Napoleon seized power in France and, in 1801, he and Pope Pius VII signed an agreement called the Concordat. This agreement did not fully restore the Catholic Church to its former rights but did recognize Catholicism as the faith of the majority of French citizens and permitted public worship, albeit worship that was regulated by the state. In 1806, the parish priest of John’s neighboring village of Écully, Father Balley, opened a school for prospective seminarians. At the age of twenty, John began his formal education there. Although he struggled, especially with Latin, his faith was manifest and his humility profound.
In 1809, John’s education was interrupted when he was drafted into Napoleon’s army to help fight the Spanish during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Prior to this, seminary students were exempt from the draft, but Napoleon, facing heavy losses, abolished the exemption. After joining his regiment, John fell ill, was hospitalized, and was left behind. He was then appointed to another regiment and this time, was so immersed in prayer at a nearby church that he missed their departure. He was sent after the troops but couldn’t find them and was instead misdirected to the village of Noes where a number of deserters were hiding. He was convinced to stay with them, change his name, hide, and teach in the school. He did this for more than a year. Eventually, he was granted amnesty and was able to return to Écully to continue his education under Father Balley.
Though John continued to struggle with his studies, Father Balley supported him, seeing in John a true vocation, a deep love for the Blessed Mother, and a profound prayer life. After John completed his studies in Écully, Father Balley convinced the Vicar General of the diocese to permit John into the diocesan seminary. John struggled but persevered. When he was up for ordination, the diocesan authorities questioned his suitability. When the bishop asked about John’s piety, he was told that John prayed the rosary like an angel. That was all the bishop needed to know. John was ordained a priest on August 12, 1815, and was sent to serve as an assistant priest in Écully, under the supervision of Father Balley, where he served for two years until Father Balley’s death.
In 1817, Father Vianney was sent to be a chaplain at the church of Saint Sixtus, in Ars, a farming community of just over 200 people. He would remain there for the next forty-one years. As Father Vianney walked to Ars, one story relates that he came upon a young boy tending sheep. He asked the boy how far away Ars was and the boy pointed him in the right direction, accompanying him on the way. When he saw the steeple in the distance, Father Vianney knelt in prayer for a long time, rose, and continued on. When he and the boy arrived, Father Vianney said to the boy, “You have shown me the way to Ars, I will show you the way to Heaven!”
Ars was known as a community that enjoyed its dancing, drunkenness, and swearing. Although the church was in disrepair, morals were lacking, and church attendance was scarce, Father Vianney went straight to work. The townspeople did not know they were receiving a chaplain, so no one attended Father’s first Masses. But as word spread, people became curious. When some stopped by the church, they saw Father Vianney kneeling in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Then others saw the same. And others. Eventually, people started to attend Mass. They were touched by Father Vianney’s simple homilies that presented the basic Gospel message. Sin must be avoided; those who remain in sin will go to hell. Those who turn to God will be saved and welcomed into Heaven. He often conveyed these messages by preaching on the love of God, prayer, the sacraments (especially Confession and the Eucharist), and the duty to live a life of charity and virtue.
Within the first three years of Father Vianney’s priestly ministry, Ars was being transformed. Father Vianney not only spent hours in prayer every day, endured severe penances and fasting (mainly eating boiled potatoes), and restored the church building, but he also made many home visits to his parishioners and even to the surrounding villages. This impressed many and drew them to the church. In 1823, things were going so well that the bishop raised Saint Sixtus Church to the level of a parish, appointing Father Vianney as pastor. In 1827, Father Vianney said from the pulpit, “Ars, my brothers and sisters, is no longer Ars!” Ars had been converted, people were flocking to confession and Mass, praying, overcoming sin, and turning to the love of God. But Ars was not the only place being affected; Father Vianney’s reputation had traveled far and wide. As a result, thousands of people were traveling to Ars every year to attend his Masses and confess their sins. On many days, Father Vianney spent up to sixteen hours in the confessional. By the 1850s, tens of thousands, or according to some estimates, hundreds of thousands of people were coming to Ars. A new and larger church had to be built, and a new railroad was even constructed to help people get to this small village.
Father Vianney’s method of being a priest was simple. He allowed God to consume him, live in him, and minister to the people through him. It was God who did the absolving, preaching, and loving. Father Vianney was just the human instrument. It is said that the devil appeared to Father Vianney many times, harassing him and trying to intimidate him. One time the devil spoke the truth when he said, “If there were only three like you in France, I would not be able to set foot there.”
As we honor this holy priest of God, reflect upon the importance of the priesthood. Saint John Vianney once said, “If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I would greet the priest first and then the angel…. If there were no priest, the Passion and death of Jesus would serve no purpose. What use is a treasure chest full of gold if there is no one who can unlock it? The priest has the key to the treasures of Heaven.” Though few priests live up to the dignity and responsibility they are given, every priest carries within him the sacred power of dispensing the mercy of God, absolving sins, and making the Passion of Christ present in the Eucharist. Call to mind your own priest today and pray for him, that he will become a holy and humble instrument of Christ.
Prayer: Saint John Mary Vianney, you loved God with all your heart and introduced God to your people. Through you, Ars and much of France were converted. Please pray for me, that I will be open to the ministry of priests, receiving God’s Word and grace through them, offering them the love, support and respect due to them. I especially pray for the priests in my life, that they become holy shepherds in imitation of Christ. Saint John Vianney, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.

Miseremini · « **Reply #163 on:** August 22, 2025, 11:40:21 AM »

On the octave of the feast of the Assumption, the Church celebrates the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

This liturgical cult was associated with that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by St. John Eudes in the 17th century. Two centuries later, Popes Pius VII and Pius IX established a feast in the calendar of the universal Church with a proper Mass and Office.

On October 31 and December 8, 1942, Pope Pius XII consecrated the human race to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Two years later, he established a new office for the Immaculate Heart for the octave day of the Assumption of the Mother of God, August 22.

The Spirit of the Liturgy

Ever since her entry into Heaven, the Heart of Mary continues to intercede for us. The love of her heart is directed first and foremost to God and her Son Jesus, but it also reaches out with motherly solicitude to the entire human race that Jesus entrusted to her during His agony on the Cross.

We therefore praise her for the sublime sanctity of her Immaculate Heart, begging her to obtain for us “the peace of nations, the liberty of the Church, the conversion of sinners, the love of purity and the practice of virtues” (decree May 4, 1944).

The following psalm can be attributed most fittingly to the Heart of Mary:

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My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation: I will sing to the Lord, who giveth me good things: yea I will sing to the name of the Lord the Most High.

This canticle is the Magnificat, in which the Immaculate Virgin glorified the Lord and exulted with joy in God her Savior.

Miseremini · « **Reply #164 on:** September 03, 2025, 11:31:44 AM »

Of Thorough Papal Sanctity: St. Pius X

On May 29, Pope Pius XII canonized Pope Pius X in the presence of an innumerable crowd. This canonization seemed extraordinary to everyone, because it was necessary to go back to 1712—the year in which Clement XVI enrolled among the saints Pius V, the Pope of the Rosary, Lepanto and the Mass—to find the figure of a Supreme Pontiff exalted in that way.
Through the canonization of St. Pius X, who reigned as pope from 1903 to 1914, Pius XII intended to give the whole Church, as an example, the sanctity of a leader, a “thoroughly papal sanctity” capable of guiding the flock in difficult times.
In the brief of beatification (June 3, 1951), Pius XII lists the chief traits deserving the attention and the admiration of the crowds:

His concern about the sanctity of the clergy, the key to renewing all things in Christ, according to his sublime motto.
The renewal of ecclesiastical studies. Pius X exhorts Christian philosophers to defend the truth under the banner of St. Thomas Aquinas. He founds in Rome the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and encourages the theological sciences, inspired exegesis and carefully prepared preaching on the part of the clergy.
His preoccupation with the eternal salvation of souls. If Pius X desired a holy clergy, it was with a view to the instruction of the faithful, to whom he gave a catechism designed for both adults and children. To the latter he would forever remain the Pope of the Eucharist, promoting Communion at an early age, but also—and for everyone—frequent and even daily Communion.
The defense of the Faith in its fullness and purity. The false teachings that recycled a compendium of errors were unmasked, labeled as Modernism, and wisely repressed (Encyclical Pascendi, September 8, 1907). In these circuмstances, as well as in his battle against anticlerical laws and the secularist separation of Church and State, St. Pius X was, in the words of the Angelic Pastor, an “infallible teacher of the Faith”, the “fearless avenger of religion” and the “guardian of the Church’s liberty”.
His love of the liturgy. The initiator of an authentic liturgical movement, Pius X renewed sacred music, but also the breviary and the calendar of feast days, so as to orient the Church decisively “toward a liturgical life that is thoroughly imbued with traditional piety, sacramental grace and inspired beauty”.

These are chief traits of the sanctity of Pius X, the sanctity of a reign that was thoroughly imbued with the grandeurs and the supernatural riches that are the Church’s treasure.

CathInfo.com

Author Topic: Saint of the day (Read 499779 times)

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