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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270302
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270303
DTSTAMP:20170828T152829Z
CREATED:20170828T152829Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170828T152829Z
UID:51464-1803945600-1804031999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Agnes of Bohemia
DESCRIPTION:Saint Agnes of Bohemia\nSaint of the Day for March 2\n(1205 – March 6\, 1282)\n\n\n\nhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar02.mp3\n  \n\nSaint Agnes of Bohemia’s Story\nAgnes had no children of her own but was certainly life-giving for all who knew her. \nAgnes was the daughter of Queen Constance and King Ottokar I of Bohemia. She was betrothed to the Duke of Silesia\, who died three years later. As she grew up\, she decided she wanted to enter the religious life. \nAfter declining marriages to King Henry VII of Germany and King Henry III of England\, Agnes was faced with a proposal from Frederick II\, the Holy Roman Emperor. She appealed to Pope Gregory IX for help. The pope was persuasive; Frederick magnanimously said that he could not be offended if Agnes preferred the King of Heaven to him. \nAfter Agnes built a hospital for the poor and a residence for the friars\, she financed the construction of a Poor Clare monastery in Prague. In 1236\, she and seven other noblewomen entered this monastery. Saint Clare sent five sisters from San Damiano to join them\, and wrote Agnes four letters advising her on the beauty of her vocation and her duties as abbess. \nAgnes became known for prayer\, obedience and mortification. Papal pressure forced her to accept her election as abbess\, nevertheless\, the title she preferred was “senior sister.” Her position did not prevent her from cooking for the other sisters and mending the clothes of lepers. The sisters found her kind but very strict regarding the observance of poverty; she declined her royal brother’s offer to set up an endowment for the monastery. \nDevotion to Agnes arose soon after her death on March 6\, 1282. She was canonized in 1989. \n\nReflection\nAgnes spent at least 45 years in a Poor Clare monastery. Such a life requires a great deal of patience and charity. The temptation to selfishness certainly didn’t vanish when Agnes walked into the monastery. It is perhaps easy for us to think that cloistered nuns “have it made” regarding holiness. Their route is the same as ours: gradual exchange of our standards–inclinations to selfishness–for God’s standard of generosity.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-agnes-of-bohemia/2027-03-02/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270303
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270304
DTSTAMP:20170828T153200Z
CREATED:20170828T153200Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170828T153200Z
UID:51477-1804032000-1804118399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Katharine Drexel
DESCRIPTION: \nSaint Katharine Drexel\nSaint of the Day for March 3\n(November 26\, 1858 -March 3\, 1955 )\nhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar03.mp3\n\nKatharine Drexel’s Story\nIf your father is an international banker and you ride in a private railroad car\, you are not likely to be drawn into a life of voluntary poverty. But if your mother opens your home to the poor three days each week and your father spends half an hour each evening in prayer\, it is not impossible that you will devote your life to the poor and give away millions of dollars. Katharine Drexel did that. \nBorn in Philadelphia in 1858\, she had an excellent education and traveled widely. As a rich girl\, Katharine also had a grand debut into society. But when she nursed her stepmother through a three-year terminal illness\, she saw that all the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain or death\, and her life took a profound turn. \nKatharine had always been interested in the plight of the Indians\, having been appalled by what she read in Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor. While on a European tour\, she met Pope Leo XIII and asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming for her friend Bishop James O’Connor. The pope replied\, “Why don’t you become a missionary?” His answer shocked her into considering new possibilities. \nBack home\, Katharine visited the Dakotas\, met the Sioux leader Red Cloud and began her systematic aid to Indian missions. \nKatharine Drexel could easily have married. But after much discussion with Bishop O’Connor\, she wrote in 1889\, “The feast of St. Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored.” Newspaper headlines screamed “Gives Up Seven Million!” \nAfter three and a half years of training\, Mother Drexel and her first band of nuns–Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored–opened a boarding school in Santa Fe. A string of foundations followed. By 1942\, she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states\, plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools. Segregationists harassed her work\, even burning a school in Pennsylvania. In all\, she established 50 missions for Indians in 16 states. \nTwo saints met when Mother Drexel was advised by Mother Cabrini about the “politics” of getting her order’s Rule approved in Rome. Her crowning achievement was the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans\, the first Catholic university in the United States for African Americans. \nAt 77\, Mother Drexel suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire. Apparently her life was over. But now came almost 20 years of quiet\, intense prayer from a small room overlooking the sanctuary. Small notebooks and slips of paper record her various prayers\, ceaseless aspirations and meditation. She died at 96 and was canonized in 2000. \n\nReflection\nSaints have always said the same thing: Pray\, be humble\, accept the cross\, love and forgive. But it is good to hear these things in the American idiom from one who\, for instance\, had her ears pierced as a teenager\, who resolved to have “no cake\, no preserves\,” who wore a watch\, was interviewed by the press\, traveled by train\, and could concern herself with the proper size of pipe for a new mission. These are obvious reminders that holiness can be lived in today’s culture as well as in that of Jerusalem or Rome. \n\nAnother Sant of the Day for March 3 is Blessed Innocent of Berzo.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/6395/2027-03-03/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270304
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270305
DTSTAMP:20170828T154559Z
CREATED:20170828T154559Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170828T154559Z
UID:51478-1804118400-1804204799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Casimir
DESCRIPTION:Saint Casimir\nSaint of the Day for March 4\n(1458 – 1483)\nhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar04.mp3\n\nSaint Casimir’s Story\nCasimir\, born of kings and in line to be a king himself\, was filled with exceptional values and learning by a great teacher\, John Dlugosz. Even his critics could not say that his conscientious objection indicated softness. As a teenager\, Casimir lived a highly disciplined\, even severe life\, sleeping on the ground\, spending a great part of the night in prayer and dedicating himself to lifelong celibacy. \nWhen nobles in Hungary became dissatisfied with their king\, they prevailed upon Casimir’s father\, the king of Poland\, to send his son to take over the country. Casimir obeyed his father\, as many young men over the centuries have obeyed their governments. The army he was supposed to lead was clearly outnumbered by the “enemy”; some of his troops were deserting because they were not paid. At the advice of his officers\, Casimir decided to return home. \nHis father was irked at the failure of his plans\, and confined his 15-year-old son for three months. The lad made up his mind never again to become involved in the wars of his day\, and no amount of persuasion could change his mind. He returned to prayer and study\, maintaining his decision to remain celibate even under pressure to marry the emperor’s daughter. \nHe reigned briefly as king of Poland during his father’s absence. He died of lung trouble at 25 while visiting Lithuania\, of which he was also Grand Duke. He was buried in Vilnius\, Lithuania. \n\nReflection\nFor many years\, Poland and Lithuania faded into the gray prison on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Despite repression\, the Poles and Lithuanians remained firm in the faith which has become synonymous with their name. Their youthful patron reminds us: Peace is not won by war; sometimes a comfortable peace is not even won by virtue\, but Christ’s peace can penetrate every government repression of religion. \n\nSaint Casimir is the Patron Saint of:\nLithuania\nPoland\nRussia \n\nAnother Saint of the Day for March 4 is Servant of God Sylvester of Assisi.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-casimir/2027-03-04/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270305
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270306
DTSTAMP:20170828T174106Z
CREATED:20170828T174106Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170828T174106Z
UID:51481-1804204800-1804291199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint John Joseph of the Cross
DESCRIPTION:Saint John Joseph of the Cross\nSaint of the Day for March 5\n(August 15\, 1654 – March 5\, 1734)\nhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar05.mp3\nSaint John Joseph of the Cross’ Story\nSelf-denial is never an end in itself but is only a help toward greater charity—as the life of Saint John Joseph shows. \nJohn Joseph was very ascetic even as a young man. At 16\, he joined the Franciscans in Naples; he was the first Italian to follow the reform movement of Saint Peter Alcantara. John Joseph’s reputation for holiness prompted his superiors to put him in charge of establishing a new friary even before he was ordained. \nObedience moved John Joseph to accept appointments as novice master\, guardian and\, finally\, provincial. His years of mortification enabled him to offer these services to the friars with great charity. As guardian he was not above working in the kitchen or carrying the wood and water needed by the friars. \nWhen his term as provincial expired\, John Joseph dedicated himself to hearing confessions and practicing mortification\, two concerns contrary to the spirit of the dawning Age of Enlightenment. John Joseph of the Cross was canonized in 1839. \n\nReflection\nJohn Joseph’s mortification allowed him to be the kind of forgiving superior intended by Saint Francis. Self-denial should lead us to charity—not to bitterness; it should help us clarify our priorities and make us more loving. John Joseph is living proof of Chesterton’s observation: “It is always easy to let the age have its head; the difficult thing is to keep one’s own” (G. K. Chesterton\, Orthodoxy\, page 101).
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-john-joseph-of-the-cross/2027-03-05/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270306
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270307
DTSTAMP:20170828T174254Z
CREATED:20170828T174254Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170828T174254Z
UID:51485-1804291200-1804377599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Mary Ann of Jesus of Paredes
DESCRIPTION:Saint Mary Ann of Jesus of Paredes\nSaint of the Day for March 6\n(October 31\, 1618 – May 26\, 1645)\nhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar06.mp3\nSaint Mary Ann of Jesus of Paredes’ Story\nMary Ann grew close to God and his people during her short life. \nThe youngest of eight\, Mary Ann was born in Quito\, Ecuador\, which had been brought under Spanish control in 1534. She joined the Secular Franciscans and led a life of prayer and penance at home\, leaving her parents’ house only to go to church and to perform some work of charity. She established in Quito a clinic and a school for Africans and indigenous Americans. When a plague broke out\, she nursed the sick and died shortly thereafter. \nShe was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950. \n\nReflection\nFrancis of Assisi overcame himself and his upbringing when he kissed the man afflicted with leprosy. If our self-denial does not lead to charity\, the penance is being practiced for the wrong reason. The penances of Mary Ann made her more sensitive to the needs of others and more courageous in trying to serve those needs. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast Day of Saint Mary Ann of Jesus of Paredes is May 28.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-mary-ann-of-jesus-of-paredes/2027-03-06/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270307
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270308
DTSTAMP:20170828T174548Z
CREATED:20170828T174548Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170828T174548Z
UID:51487-1804377600-1804463999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saints Perpetua and Felicity
DESCRIPTION:Saints Perpetua and Felicity\nSaint of the Day for March 7\n(d. 203)\nhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar07.mp3\n\nSaints Perpetua and Felicity’s Story\n“When my father in his affection for me was trying to turn me from my purpose by arguments and thus weaken my faith\, I said to him\, ‘Do you see this vessel—waterpot or whatever it may be? Can it be called by any other name than what it is?’ ‘No\,’ he replied. ‘So also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am—a Christian.’” \nSo writes Perpetua: young\, beautiful\, well-educated\, a noblewoman of Carthage in North Africa\, mother of an infant son and chronicler of the persecution of the Christians by Emperor Septimius Severus. \nPerpetua’s mother was a Christian and her father a pagan. He continually pleaded with her to deny her faith. She refused and was imprisoned at 22. \nIn her diary\, Perpetua describes her period of captivity: “What a day of horror! Terrible heat\, owing to the crowds! Rough treatment by the soldiers! To crown all\, I was tormented with anxiety for my baby…. Such anxieties I suffered for many days\, but I obtained leave for my baby to remain in the prison with me\, and being relieved of my trouble and anxiety for him\, I at once recovered my health\, and my prison became a palace to me and I would rather have been there than anywhere else.” \nDespite threats of persecution and death\, Perpetua\, Felicity–a slavewoman and expectant mother–and three companions\, Revocatus\, Secundulus and Saturninus\, refused to renounce their Christian faith. For their unwillingness\, all were sent to the public games in the amphitheater. There Perpetua and Felicity were beheaded\, and the others killed by beasts. \nFelicity gave birth to a girl a few days before the games commenced. \nPerpetua’s record of her trial and imprisonment ends the day before the games. “Of what was done in the games themselves\, let him write who will.” The diary was finished by an eyewitness. \n\nReflection\nPersecution for religious beliefs is not confined to Christians in ancient times. Consider Anne Frank\, the Jewish girl who with her family\, was forced into hiding and later died in Bergen-Belsen\, one of Hitler’s death camps during World War II. Anne\, like Perpetua and Felicity\, endured hardship and suffering and finally death because she committed herself to God. In her diary\, Anne writes\, “It’s twice as hard for us young ones to hold our ground\, and maintain our opinions\, in a time when all ideals are being shattered and destroyed\, when people are showing their worst side\, and do not know whether to believe in truth and right and God.” \n\nSaint Felicity is the Patron Saint of:\nWidows\nMothers of Deceased Sons
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saints-perpetua-and-felicity/2027-03-07/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270308
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270309
DTSTAMP:20170828T174840Z
CREATED:20170828T174840Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170828T174840Z
UID:51489-1804464000-1804550399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint John of God
DESCRIPTION:Saint John of God\nSaint of the Day for March 8\n( March 8\, 1495 – March 8\, 1550)\nhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar08.mp3\n  \nSaint John of God’s Story\nHaving given up active Christian belief while a soldier\, John was 40 before the depth of his sinfulness began to dawn on him. He decided to give the rest of his life to God’s service\, and headed at once for Africa where he hoped to free captive Christians and\, possibly\, be martyred. \nHe was soon advised that his desire for martyrdom was not spiritually well based\, and returned to Spain and the relatively prosaic activity of a religious goods store. Yet he was still not settled. Moved initially by a sermon of Saint John of Avila\, he one day engaged in a public beating of himself\, begging mercy and wildly repenting for his past life. \nCommitted to a mental hospital for these actions\, John was visited by Saint John\, who advised him to be more actively involved in tending to the needs of others rather than in enduring personal hardships. John gained peace of heart\, and shortly after left the hospital to begin work among the poor. \nHe established a house where he wisely tended to the needs of the sick poor\, at first doing his own begging. But\, excited by the saint’s great work and inspired by his devotion\, many people began to back him up with money and provisions. Among them were the archbishop and marquis of Tarifa. \nBehind John’s outward acts of total concern and love for Christ’s sick poor was a deep interior prayer life which was reflected in his spirit of humility. These qualities attracted helpers who\, 20 years after John’s death\, formed the Brothers Hospitallers\, now a worldwide religious order. \nJohn became ill after 10 years of service\, but tried to disguise his ill health. He began to put the hospital’s administrative work into order and appointed a leader for his helpers. He died under the care of a spiritual friend and admirer\, Lady Ana Ossorio. \n\nReflection\nThe utter humility of John of God\, which led to a totally selfless dedication to others\, is most impressive. Here is a man who realized his nothingness in the face of God. The Lord blessed him with the gifts of prudence\, patience\, courage\, enthusiasm\, and the ability to influence and inspire others. He saw that in his early life he had turned away from the Lord\, and\, moved to receive his mercy\, John began his new commitment to love others in openness to God’s love. \n\nSaint John of God is the Patron Saint of:\nBooksellers\nFirefighters\nHeart Patients\nHospitals\nNurses\nPrinters\nSick
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/6418/2027-03-08/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270309
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270310
DTSTAMP:20170828T175115Z
CREATED:20170828T175115Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170828T175115Z
UID:51491-1804550400-1804636799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Frances of Rome
DESCRIPTION:Saint Frances of Rome\nSaint of the Day for March 9\n(1384 – March 9\, 1440)\nhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar09.mp3\n  \nSaint Frances of Rome’s Story\nFrances’ life combines aspects of secular and religious life. A devoted and loving wife\, she longed for a lifestyle of prayer and service\, so she organized a group of women to minister to the needs of Rome’s poor. \nBorn of wealthy parents\, Frances found herself attracted to the religious life during her youth. But her parents objected and a young nobleman was selected to be her husband. \nAs she became acquainted with her new relatives\, Frances soon discovered that the wife of her husband’s brother also wished to live a life of service and prayer. So the two\, Frances and Vannozza\, set out together—with their husbands’ blessings—to help the poor. \nFrances fell ill for a time\, but this apparently only deepened her commitment to the suffering people she met. The years passed\, and Frances gave birth to two sons and a daughter. With the new responsibilities of family life\, the young mother turned her attention more to the needs of her own household. \nThe family flourished under Frances’ care\, but within a few years a great plague began to sweep across Italy. It struck Rome with devastating cruelty and left Frances’ second son dead. In an effort to help alleviate some of the suffering\, Frances used all her money and sold her possessions to buy whatever the sick might possibly need. When all the resources had been exhausted\, Frances and Vannozza went door to door begging. Later\, Frances’ daughter died\, and the saint opened a section of her house as a hospital. \nFrances became more and more convinced that this way of life was so necessary for the world\, and it was not long before she requested and was given permission to found a society of women bound by no vows. They simply offered themselves to God and to the service of the poor. Once the society was established\, Frances chose not to live at the community residence\, but rather at home with her husband. She did this for seven years\, until her husband passed away\, and then came to live the remainder of her life with the society—serving the poorest of the poor. \n\nReflection\nLooking at the exemplary life of fidelity to God and devotion to her fellow human beings which Frances of Rome was blessed to lead\, one cannot help but be reminded of Saint Teresa of Calcutta\, who loved Jesus Christ in prayer and also in the poor. The life of Frances of Rome calls each of us not only to look deeply for God in prayer\, but also to carry our devotion to Jesus living in the suffering of our world. Frances shows us that this life need not be restricted to those bound by vows. \n\nSaint Frances of Rome is the Patron Saint of:\nMotorists\nWidows
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-frances-of-rome/2027-03-09/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270310
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270311
DTSTAMP:20170828T175432Z
CREATED:20170828T175432Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170828T175432Z
UID:51493-1804636800-1804723199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Dominic Savio
DESCRIPTION:Saint Dominic Savio\nSaint of the Day for March 10\n(April 2\, 1842 – March 9\, 1857)\nhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar10.mp3\nSaint Dominic Savio’s Story\nSo many holy persons seem to die young. Among them was Dominic Savio\, the patron of choirboys. \nBorn into a peasant family at Riva\, Italy\, young Dominic joined Saint John Bosco as a student at the Oratory in Turin at the age of 12. He impressed Don Bosco with his desire to be a priest and to help him in his work with neglected boys. A peacemaker and an organizer\, young Dominic founded a group he called the Company of the Immaculate Conception which\, besides being devotional\, aided John Bosco with the boys and with manual work. All the members save one\, Dominic\, would\, in 1859\, join Don Bosco in the beginnings of his Salesian congregation. By that time\, Dominic had been called home to heaven. \nAs a youth\, Dominic spent hours rapt in prayer. His raptures he called “my distractions.” Even in play\, he said that at times “It seems heaven is opening just above me. I am afraid I may say or do something that will make the other boys laugh.” Dominic would say\, “I can’t do big things. But I want all I do\, even the smallest thing\, to be for the greater glory of God.” \nDominic’s health\, always frail\, led to lung problems and he was sent home to recuperate. As was the custom of the day\, he was bled in the thought that this would help\, but it only worsened his condition. He died on March 9\, 1857\, after receiving the Last Sacraments. Saint John Bosco himself wrote the account of his life. \nSome thought that Dominic was too young to be considered a saint. Saint Pius X declared that just the opposite was true\, and went ahead with his cause. Dominic was canonized in 1954. \n\nReflection\nLike many a youngster\, Dominic was painfully aware that he was different from his peers. He tried to keep his piety from his friends lest he have to endure their laughter. Even after his death\, his youth marked him as a misfit among the saints and some argued that he was too young to be canonized. Pope Pius X wisely disagreed. For no one is too young—or too old or too anything else—to achieve the holiness to which we all are called. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Saint Dominic Savio is October 9.\n\nSaint Dominic Savio is the Patron Saint of:\nChoirboys\nJuvenile delinquents
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-dominic-savio/2027-03-10/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270311
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270312
DTSTAMP:20170828T175635Z
CREATED:20170828T175635Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170828T175635Z
UID:51494-1804723200-1804809599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint John Ogilvie
DESCRIPTION:Saint John Ogilvie\nSaint of the Day for March 11\n(1579 –  March 10\, 1615)\nhttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar11.mp3\nSaint John Ogilvie’s Story\nJohn Ogilvie’s noble Scottish family was partly Catholic and partly Presbyterian. His father raised him as a Calvinist\, sending him to the continent to be educated. There\, John became interested in the popular debates going on between Catholic and Calvinist scholars. Confused by the arguments of Catholic scholars whom he sought out\, he turned to Scripture. Two texts particularly struck him: “God wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth\,” and “Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome\, and I will refresh you.” \nSlowly\, John came to see that the Catholic Church could embrace all kinds of people. Among these\, he noted\, were many martyrs. He decided to become Catholic and was received into the Church at Louvain\, Belgium\, in 1596 at the age of 17. \nJohn continued his studies\, first with the Benedictines\, then as a student at the Jesuit College at Olmutz. He joined the Jesuits and for the next 10 years underwent their rigorous intellectual and spiritual training. At his ordination to the priesthood in France in 1610\, John met two Jesuits who had just returned from Scotland after suffering arrest and imprisonment. They saw little hope for any successful work there in view of the tightening of the penal laws. But a fire had been lit within John. For the next two and a half years he pleaded to be placed there as a missionary. \nSent by his superiors\, he secretly entered Scotland posing as a horse trader or a soldier returning from the wars in Europe. Unable to do significant work among the relatively few Catholics in Scotland\, John made his way back to Paris to consult his superiors. Rebuked for having left his assignment in Scotland\, he was sent back. He warmed to the task before him and had some success in making converts and in secretly serving Scottish Catholics. But he was soon betrayed\, arrested and brought before the court. \nHis trial dragged on until he had been without food for 26 hours. He was imprisoned and deprived of sleep. For eight days and nights he was dragged around\, prodded with sharp sticks\, his hair pulled out. Still\, he refused to reveal the names of Catholics or to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the king in spiritual affairs. He underwent a second and third trial but held firm. \nAt his final trial\, he assured his judges: “In all that concerns the king\, I will be slavishly obedient; if any attack his temporal power\, I will shed my last drop of blood for him. But in the things of spiritual jurisdiction which a king unjustly seizes I cannot and must not obey.” \nCondemned to death as a traitor\, he was faithful to the end\, even when on the scaffold he was offered his freedom and a fine living if he would deny his faith. His courage in prison and in his martyrdom was reported throughout Scotland. \nJohn Ogilvie was canonized in 1976\, becoming the first Scottish saint since 1250. \n\nReflection\nJohn came of age when neither Catholics nor Protestants were willing to tolerate one another. Turning to Scripture\, he found words that enlarged his vision. Although he became a Catholic and died for his faith\, he understood the meaning of “small-c catholic\,” the wide range of believers who embrace Christianity. Even now he undoubtedly rejoices in the ecumenical spirit fostered by the Second Vatican Council and joins us in our prayer for unity with all believers. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Saint John Ogilvie is March 10.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-john-ogilvie/2027-03-11/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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