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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171015
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171016
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T152900Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T152900Z
UID:5525-1508025600-1508111999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Teresa of Avila
DESCRIPTION:Image:The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa of Avila | Gian Lorenzo Bernini | photo by Tybo | flickr\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Teresa of Avila\nSaint of the Day for October 15\n(March 28\, 1515 – October 4\, 1582)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint Teresa of Avila’s Story\nTeresa lived in an age of exploration as well as political\, social\, and religious upheaval. It was the 16th century\, a time of turmoil and reform. She was born before the Protestant Reformation and died almost 20 years after the closing of the Council of Trent. \nThe gift of God to Teresa in and through which she became holy and left her mark on the Church and the world is threefold: She was a woman; she was a contemplative; she was an active reformer. \nAs a woman\, Teresa stood on her own two feet\, even in the man’s world of her time. She was “her own woman\,” entering the Carmelites despite strong opposition from her father. She is a person wrapped not so much in silence as in mystery. Beautiful\, talented\, outgoing\, adaptable\, affectionate\, courageous\, enthusiastic\, she was totally human. Like Jesus\, she was a mystery of paradoxes: wise\, yet practical; intelligent\, yet much in tune with her experience; a mystic\, yet an energetic reformer; a holy woman\, a womanly woman. \nTeresa was a woman “for God\,” a woman of prayer\, discipline\, and compassion. Her heart belonged to God. Her ongoing conversion was an arduous lifelong struggle\, involving ongoing purification and suffering. She was misunderstood\, misjudged\, and opposed in her efforts at reform. Yet she struggled on\, courageous and faithful; she struggled with her own mediocrity\, her illness\, her opposition. And in the midst of all this she clung to God in life and in prayer. Her writings on prayer and contemplation are drawn from her experience: powerful\, practical\, and graceful. She was a woman of prayer; a woman for God. \nTeresa was a woman “for others.” Though a contemplative\, she spent much of her time and energy seeking to reform herself and the Carmelites\, to lead them back to the full observance of the primitive Rule. She founded over a half-dozen new monasteries. She traveled\, wrote\, fought—always to renew\, to reform. In her self\, in her prayer\, in her life\, in her efforts to reform\, in all the people she touched\, she was a woman for others\, a woman who inspired and gave life. \nHer writings\, especially the Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle\, have helped generations of believers. \nIn 1970\, the Church gave her the title she had long held in the popular mind: Doctor of the Church. She and St. Catherine of Siena were the first women so honored. \n\nReflection\nOurs is a time of turmoil\, a time of reform\, and a time of liberation. Modern women have in Teresa a challenging example. Promoters of renewal\, promoters of prayer\, all have in Teresa a woman to reckon with\, one whom they can admire and imitate. \n\nSaint Teresa of Avila is the Patron Saint of:\nheadaches
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-teresa-of-avila/2017-10-15/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171014
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171015
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T152756Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T152756Z
UID:5522-1507939200-1508025599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Callistus I
DESCRIPTION:Image: Statue of Pope Callistus I on the Saints portal | Northern transept of Our Lady cathedral of Reims\, Marne\, France | photo by Fab5669\nSaint Callistus I\nSaint of the Day for October 14\n(d. 223)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint Callistus I’s Story\nThe most reliable information about this saint comes from his enemy Saint Hippolytus\, an early antipope\, later a martyr for the Church. A negative principle is used: If some worse things had happened\, Hippolytus would surely have mentioned them. \nCallistus was a slave in the imperial Roman household. Put in charge of the bank by his master\, he lost the money deposited\, fled\, and was caught. After serving time for a while\, he was released to make some attempt to recover the money. Apparently he carried his zeal too far\, being arrested for brawling in a Jewish synagogue. This time he was condemned to work in the mines of Sardinia. He was released through the influence of the emperor’s mistress and lived at Anzio. \nAfter winning his freedom\, Callistus was made superintendent of the public Christian burial ground in Rome (still called the cemetery of Saint Callistus)\, probably the first land owned by the Church. The pope ordained him a deacon and made him his friend and adviser. \nHe was elected pope by a majority vote of the clergy and laity of Rome\, and thereafter was bitterly attacked by the losing candidate\, Saint Hippolytus\, who let himself be set up as the first antipope in the history of the Church. The schism lasted about 18 years. \nHippolytus is venerated as a saint. He was banished during the persecution of 235 and was reconciled to the Church. He died from his sufferings in Sardinia. He attacked Callistus on two fronts—doctrine and discipline. Hippolytus seems to have exaggerated the distinction between Father and Son (almost making two gods) possibly because theological language had not yet been refined. He also accused Callistus of being too lenient\, for reasons we may find surprising: 1) Callistus admitted to Holy Communion those who had already done public penance for murder\, adultery\, and fornication; 2) he held marriages between free women and slaves to be valid—contrary to Roman law; 3) he authorized the ordination of men who had been married two or three times; 4) he held that mortal sin was not a sufficient reason to depose a bishop; 5) he held to a policy of leniency toward those who had temporarily denied their faith during persecution. \nCallistus was martyred during a local disturbance in Trastevere\, Rome\, and is the first pope (except for Peter) to be commemorated as a martyr in the earliest martyrology of the Church. \n\nReflection\nThe life of this man is another reminder that the course of Church history\, like that of true love\, never did run smooth. The Church had to (and still must) go through the agonizing struggle to state the mysteries of the faith in language that\, at the very least\, sets up definite barriers to error. On the disciplinary side\, the Church had to preserve the mercy of Christ against rigorism\, while still upholding the gospel ideal of radical conversion and self-discipline. Every pope—indeed every Christian—must walk the difficult path between “reasonable” indulgence and “reasonable” rigorism.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-callistus-i/2017-10-14/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171013
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171014
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T152617Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T152617Z
UID:5519-1507852800-1507939199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher
DESCRIPTION:Image: Blessed Marie Rose Durocher | Achona\, The Online Newspaper of Academy of the Holy Names\, Tampa | photo by Keri Kelly/Achona Online\nBlessed Marie-Rose Durocher\nSaint of the Day for October 13\n(October 6\, 1811 –  October 6\, 1849)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nBlessed Marie-Rose Durocher’s Story\nCanada was one diocese from coast to coast during the first eight years of Marie-Rose Durocher’s life. Its half-million Catholics had received civil and religious liberty from the English only 44 years before. When Marie-Rose was 29\, Bishop Ignace Bourget became bishop of Montreal. He would be a decisive influence in her life. \nHe faced a shortage of priests and sisters and a rural population that had been largely deprived of education. Like his counterparts in the United States\, Bishop Bourget scoured Europe for help and himself founded four communities\, one of which was the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. Its first sister and reluctant co-foundress was Marie-Rose. \nShe was born in a little village near Montreal in 1811\, the 10th of 11 children. She had a good education\, was something of a tomboy\, rode a horse named Caesar and could have married well. At 16\, she felt the desire to become a religious but was forced to abandon the idea because of her weak constitution. At 18\, when her mother died\, her priest brother invited her and her father to come to his parish in Beloeil\, not far from Montreal. \nFor 13 years\, she served as housekeeper\, hostess\, and parish worker. She became well known for her graciousness\, courtesy\, leadership\, and tact; she was\, in fact\, called “the saint of Beloeil.” Perhaps she was too tactful during two years when her brother treated her coldly. \nAs a young woman\, she had hoped there would someday be a community of teaching sisters in every parish\, never thinking she would found one. But her spiritual director\, Fr. Pierre Telmon\, O.M.I.\, after thoroughly (and severely) leading her in the spiritual life\, urged her to found a community herself. Bishop Bourget concurred\, but Marie-Rose shrank from the prospect. She was in poor health and her father and her brother needed her. \nShe finally agreed and\, with two friends\, Melodie Dufresne and Henriette Cere\, entered a little home in Longueuil\, across the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal. With them were 13 young girls already assembled for boarding school. Longueuil became her Bethlehem\, Nazareth\, and Gethsemani. She was 32 and would live only six more years—years filled with poverty\, trials\, sickness\, and slander. The qualities she had nurtured in her “hidden” life came forward—a strong will\, intelligence and common sense\, great inner courage\, and\, yet\, a great deference to directors. Thus was born an international congregation of women religious dedicated to education in the faith. \nShe was severe with herself and by today’s standards quite strict with her sisters. Beneath it all\, of course\, was an unshakable love of her crucified Savior. \nOn her deathbed\, the prayers most frequently on her lips were “Jesus\, Mary\, Joseph! Sweet Jesus\, I love you. Jesus\, be to me Jesus!” Before she died\, she smiled and said to the sister with her\, “Your prayers are keeping me here—let me go.” \nShe was beatified in 1982. \n\nReflection\nWe have seen a great burst of charity\, a genuine interest in the poor. Countless Christians have experienced a deep form of prayer. But penance? We squirm when we read of terrible physical penance done by people like Marie-Rose. That is not for most people\, of course. But the pull of a materialistic culture oriented to pleasure and entertainment is impossible to resist without some form of deliberate and Christ-conscious abstinence. That is part of the way to answer Jesus’ call to repent and turn completely to God. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Saint Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher is October 6.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/blessed-marie-rose-durocher/2017-10-13/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171012
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171013
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T152507Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T152507Z
UID:5515-1507766400-1507852799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos
DESCRIPTION:Image: Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos\, St Magn Basilica\, Füssen\, Germany | photo by Myke Rosenthal\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBlessed Francis Xavier Seelos\nSaint of the Day for October 12\n(January 11\, 1819 – October 4\, 1867)\n\n\nClick to hear audio clip ►\n\n\n  \nBlessed Francis Xavier Seelos’ Story\nZeal as a preacher and a confessor led Father Seelos to works of compassion as well. \nBorn in southern Bavaria\, he studied philosophy and theology in Munich. On hearing about the work of the Redemptorists among German-speaking Catholics in the United States\, he came to this country in 1843. Ordained at the end of 1844\, he was assigned for six years to St. Philomena’s Parish in Pittsburgh as an assistant to Saint John Neumann. The next three years Father Seelos was superior in the same community and began his service as novice master. \nSeveral years in parish ministry in Maryland followed\, along with responsibility for training Redemptorist students. During the Civil War\, he went to Washington\, D.C.\, and appealed to President Lincoln that those students not be drafted for military service\, although\, eventually\, some were. \nFor several years\, he preached in English and in German throughout the Midwest and in the Mid-Atlantic states. Assigned to St. Mary of the Assumption Church community in New Orleans\, he served his Redemptorist confreres and parishioners with great zeal. In 1867\, he died of yellow fever\, having contracted that disease while visiting the sick. He was beatified in 2000. \n\nReflection\nFather Seelos worked in many different places but always with the same zeal: to help people know God’s love and compassion. He preached about the works of mercy and then engaged in them\, even risking his own health. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos is October 5.\n\nAnother Saint of the Day for October 12 is Saint Seraphin of Montegranaro.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/blessed-francis-xavier-seelos/2017-10-12/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171011
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171012
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T152348Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T152348Z
UID:5512-1507680000-1507766399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint John XXIII
DESCRIPTION:Image: Pope John XXIII begins the Mass | Saint Peter’s Basilica\, October 11\, 1959 | photo by Medici con l’Africa Cuamm\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint John XXIII\nSaint of the Day for October 11\n(November 25\, 1881 – June 3\, 1963)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint John XXIII’s Story\nAlthough few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII\, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. Indeed\, one writer has noted that his “ordinariness” seems one of his most remarkable qualities. \nThe firstborn son of a farming family in Sotto il Monte\, near Bergamo in northern Italy\, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. In Bergamo’s diocesan seminary\, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order. \nAfter his ordination in 1904\, Angelo returned to Rome for canon law studies. He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary\, Church history teacher in the seminary\, and as publisher of the diocesan paper. \nHis service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I gave him a firsthand knowledge of war. In 1921\, he was made national director in Italy of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He also found time to teach patristics at a seminary in the Eternal City. \nIn 1925\, he became a papal diplomat\, serving first in Bulgaria\, then in Turkey\, and finally in France. During World War II\, he became well acquainted with Orthodox Church leaders. With the help of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey\, Archbishop Roncalli helped save an estimated 24\,000 Jewish people. \nNamed a cardinal and appointed patriarch of Venice in 1953\, he was finally a residential bishop. A month short of entering his 78th year\, he was elected pope\, taking the name John after his father and the two patrons of Rome’s cathedral\, St. John Lateran. He took his work very seriously but not himself. His wit soon became proverbial\, and he began meeting with political and religious leaders from around the world. In 1962\, he was deeply involved in efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis. \nHis most famous encyclicals were Mother and Teacher (1961) and Peace on Earth (1963). Pope John XXIII enlarged the membership in the College of Cardinals and made it more international. At his address at the opening of the Second Vatican Council\, he criticized the “prophets of doom” who “in these modern times see nothing but prevarication and ruin.” Pope John XXIII set a tone for the Council when he said\, “The Church has always opposed… errors. Nowadays\, however\, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.” \nOn his deathbed\, he said: “It is not that the gospel has changed; it is that we have begun to understand it better. Those who have lived as long as I have…were enabled to compare different cultures and traditions\, and know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times\, to seize the opportunity and to look far ahead.” \n“Good Pope John” died on June 3\, 1963. Saint John Paul II beatified him in 2000\, and Pope Francis canonized him in 2014. \n\nReflection\nThroughout his life\, Angelo Roncalli cooperated with God’s grace\, believing that the job at hand was worthy of his best efforts. His sense of God’s providence made him the ideal person to promote a new dialogue with Protestant and Orthodox Christians\, as well as with Jews and Muslims. In the sometimes noisy crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica\, many people became silent on seeing the simple tomb of Pope John XXIII\, grateful for the gift of his life and holiness. After the beatification\, his tomb was moved into the basilica itself.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-john-xxiii/2017-10-11/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171010
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171011
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T152227Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T152227Z
UID:5509-1507593600-1507679999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Francis Borgia
DESCRIPTION:Image: Carlos V receives a visit from Saint Francis Borgia in Yuste | Joaquín María Herrer y Rodríguez\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Francis Borgia\nSaint of the Day for October 10\n(October 28\, 1510 – September 30\, 1572)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint Francis Borgia’s Story\nToday’s saint grew up in an important family in 16th-century Spain\, serving in the imperial court and quickly advancing in his career. But a series of events—including the death of his beloved wife—made Francis Borgia rethink his priorities. He gave up public life\, gave away his possessions\, and joined the new and little-known Society of Jesus. \nReligious life proved to be the right choice. He felt drawn to spend time in seclusion and prayer\, but his administrative talents also made him a natural for other tasks. He helped in the establishment of what is now the Gregorian University in Rome. Not long after his ordination\, he served as political and spiritual adviser to the emperor. In Spain\, he founded a dozen colleges. \nAt 55\, Francis was elected head of the Jesuits. He focused on the growth of the Society of Jesus\, the spiritual preparation of its new members\, and spreading the faith in many parts of Europe. He was responsible for the founding of Jesuit missions in Florida\, Mexico\, and Peru. \nFrancis Borgia is often regarded as the second founder of the Jesuits. He died in 1572 and was canonized 100 years later. \n\nReflection\nSometimes the Lord reveals his will for us in stages. Many people hear a call in later life to serve in a different capacity. We never know what the Lord has in store for us. \n\nSaint Francis Borgia is the Patron Saint of:\nEarthquakes \n\nAnother Saint of the Day for October 10 is Saint Daniel and Companions.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-francis-borgia/2017-10-10/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171009
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171010
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T151757Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T151757Z
UID:5506-1507507200-1507593599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Denis and Companions
DESCRIPTION:Image: Detail | Louis XII of France Kneeling in Prayer | Jean Bourdichon\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Denis and Companions\nSaint of the Day for October 9\n(d. 258?)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint Denis and Companions’ Story\nThis martyr and patron of France is regarded as the first bishop of Paris. His popularity is due to a series of legends\, especially those connecting him with the great abbey church of St. Denis in Paris. He was for a time confused with the writer now called Pseudo-Dionysius. \nThe best hypothesis contends that Denis was sent to Gaul from Rome in the third century and beheaded in the persecution under Emperor Valerius in 258. \nAccording to one of the legends\, after he was martyred on Montmartre (literally\, “mountain of martyrs”) in Paris\, he carried his head to a village northeast of the city. Saint Genevieve built a basilica over his tomb at the beginning of the sixth century. \n\nReflection\nAgain\, we have the case of a saint about whom almost nothing is known\, yet one whose cult has been a vigorous part of the Church’s history for centuries. We can only conclude that the deep impression the saint made on the people of his day reflected a life of unusual holiness. In all such cases\, there are two fundamental facts: A great man gave his life for Christ\, and the Church has never forgotten him—a human symbol of God’s eternal mindfulness. \n\nSaint Denis is the Patron Saint of:\nFrance
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-denis-and-companions/2017-10-09/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171008
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171009
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T151614Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T151650Z
UID:5503-1507420800-1507507199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint John Leonardi
DESCRIPTION:Image: Body of Saint John Leonardi | Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli\, Rome\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint John Leonardi\nSaint of the Day for October 8\n(1541 – October 9\,1609)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint John Leonardi’ Story\n“I am only one person! Why should I do anything? What good would it do?” Today\, as in any age\, people seem plagued with the dilemma of getting involved. In his own way\, John Leonardi answered these questions. He chose to become a priest. \nAfter his ordination\, he became very active in the works of the ministry\, especially in hospitals and prisons. The example and dedication of his work attracted several young laymen who began to assist him. They later became priests themselves. \nJohn lived after the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent. He and his followers projected a new congregation of diocesan priests. For some reason the plan\, which was ultimately approved\, provoked great political opposition. John was exiled from his home town of Lucca\, Italy\, for almost the entire remainder of his life. He received encouragement and help from Saint Philip Neri\, who gave him his lodgings—along with the care of his cat! \nIn 1579\, John formed the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine\, and published a compendium of Christian doctrine that remained in use until the 19th century. \nFather Leonardi and his priests became a great power for good in Italy\, and their congregation was confirmed by Pope Clement in 1595. John died at the age of 68 from a disease caught when tending those stricken by the plague. \nBy the deliberate policy of the founder\, the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God have never had more than 15 churches and today form only a very small congregation. \n\nReflection\nWhat can one person do? The answer is plenty! In the life of each saint\, one thing stands clear: God and one person are a majority! What one individual\, following God’s will and plan for his or her life\, can do is more than our mind could ever hope for or imagine. Each of us\, like John Leonardi\, has a mission to fulfill in God’s plan for the world. Each one of us is unique and has been given talent to use for the service of our brothers and sisters for the building up of God’s kingdom. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Saint John Leonardi is October 9.\n\nSaint John Leonardi is the Patron Saint of:\nPharmacists
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/5503/2017-10-08/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171007
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171008
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T151505Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T151505Z
UID:5500-1507334400-1507420799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Our Lady of the Rosary
DESCRIPTION:Image: Our Lady of the Rosary | St. Nicholas Church\, Osgood\, Ohio\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOur Lady of the Rosary\nSaint of the Day for October 7\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nThe Story of Our Lady of the Rosary\nSaint Pius V established this feast in 1573. The purpose was to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto—a victory attributed to the praying of the rosary. Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716. \nThe development of the rosary has a long history. First\, a practice developed of praying 150 Our Fathers in imitation of the 150 Psalms. Then there was a parallel practice of praying 150 Hail Marys. Soon a mystery of Jesus’ life was attached to each Hail Mary. Though Mary’s giving the rosary to Saint Dominic is recognized as a legend\, the development of this prayer form owes much to the followers of Saint Dominic. One of them\, Alan de la Roche\, was known as “the apostle of the rosary.” He founded the first Confraternity of the Rosary in the 15th century. In the 16th century\, the rosary was developed to its present form—with the 15 mysteries (joyful\, sorrowful and glorious). In 2002\, Pope John Paul II added five Mysteries of Light to this devotion. \n\nReflection\nThe purpose of the rosary is to help us meditate on the great mysteries of our salvation. Pius XII called it a compendium of the gospel. The main focus is on Jesus—his birth\, life\, death\, and resurrection. The Our Fathers remind us that Jesus’ Father is the initiator of salvation. The Hail Marys remind us to join with Mary in contemplating these mysteries. They also make us aware that Mary was and is intimately joined with her Son in all the mysteries of his earthly and heavenly existence. The Glory Bes remind us that the purpose of all life is the glory of the Trinity. \nThe rosary appeals to many. It is simple. The constant repetition of words helps create an atmosphere in which to contemplate the mysteries of God. We sense that Jesus and Mary are with us in the joys and sorrows of life. We grow in hope that God will bring us to share in the glory of Jesus and Mary forever.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/our-lady-of-the-rosary/2017-10-07/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171006
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171007
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T151353Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T151353Z
UID:5497-1507248000-1507334399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Bruno
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Bruno | Girolamo Marchesi\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Bruno\nSaint of the Day for October 6\n(c. 1030 – October 6\, 1101)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint Bruno’s Story\nThis saint has the honor of having founded a religious order which\, as the saying goes\, has never had to be reformed because it was never deformed. No doubt both the founder and the members would reject such high praise\, but it is an indication of the saint’s intense love of a penitential life in solitude. \nBruno was born in Cologne\, Germany\, became a famous teacher at Rheims\, and was appointed chancellor of the archdiocese at the age of 45. He supported Pope Gregory VII in his fight against the decadence of the clergy\, and took part in the removal of his own scandalous archbishop\, Manasses. Bruno suffered the plundering of his house for his pains. \nHe had a dream of living in solitude and prayer\, and persuaded a few friends to join him in a hermitage. After a while he felt the place unsuitable and\, through a friend\, was given some land which was to become famous for his foundation “in the Chartreuse” (from which comes the word Carthusians). The climate\, desert\, mountainous terrain\, and inaccessibility guaranteed silence\, poverty\, and small numbers. \nBruno and his friends built an oratory with small individual cells at a distance from each other. They met for Matins and Vespers each day and spent the rest of the time in solitude\, eating together only on great feasts. Their chief work was copying manuscripts. \nThe pope\, hearing of Bruno’s holiness\, called for his assistance in Rome. When the pope had to flee Rome\, Bruno pulled up stakes again\, and spent his last years (after refusing a bishopric) in the wilderness of Calabria. \nBruno was never formally canonized\, because the Carthusians were averse to all occasions of publicity. However\, Pope Clement X extended his feast to the whole Church in 1674. \n\nReflection\nIf there is always a certain uneasy questioning of the contemplative life\, there is an even greater puzzlement about the extremely penitential combination of community and hermit life lived by the Carthusians.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-bruno/2017-10-06/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171005
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171006
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T151236Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T151236Z
UID:5494-1507161600-1507247999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Faustyna and Jesus\, I Trust in You sculpture | Piotrków Trybunalski\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Maria Faustina Kowalska\nSaint of the Day for October 5\n(August 25\, 1905 – October 5\, 1938)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint Maria Faustina Kowalska’s Story\nSaint Faustina’s name is forever linked to the annual feast of the Divine Mercy\, the Divine Mercy chaplet\, and the Divine Mercy prayer recited each day at 3 p.m. by many people. \nBorn in what is now west-central Poland\, Helena Kowalska was the third of 10 children. She worked as a housekeeper in three cities before joining the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925. She worked as a cook\, gardener and porter in three of their houses. \nIn addition to carrying out her work faithfully\, generously serving the needs of the sisters and the local people\, she also had a deep interior life. This included receiving revelations from the Lord Jesus\, messages that she recorded in her diary at the request of Christ and of her confessors. \nAt a time when some Catholics had an image of God as such a strict judge that they might be tempted to despair about the possibility of being forgiven\, Jesus chose to emphasize his mercy and forgiveness for sins acknowledged and confessed. “I do not want to punish aching mankind\,” he once told Saint Faustina\, “but I desire to heal it\, pressing it to my merciful heart.” The two rays emanating from Christ’s heart\, she said\, represent the blood and water poured out after Jesus’ death. \nBecause Sister Maria Faustina knew that the revelations she had already received did not constitute holiness itself\, she wrote in her diary: “Neither graces\, nor revelations\, nor raptures\, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect\, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul\, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection. My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God.” \nSister Maria Faustina died of tuberculosis in Krakow\, Poland\, on October 5\, 1938. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1993 and canonized her seven years later. \n\nReflection\nDevotion to God’s Divine Mercy bears some resemblance to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In both cases\, sinners are encouraged not to despair\, not to doubt God’s willingness to forgive them if they repent. As Psalm 136 says in each of its 26 verses\, “God’s love [mercy] endures forever.”
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-maria-faustina-kowalska/2017-10-05/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171004
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171005
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T151122Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T151122Z
UID:5491-1507075200-1507161599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Francis of Assisi
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy | Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio | photo by carulmare | flickr\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Francis of Assisi\nSaint of the Day for October 4\n(September 26\, 1182 – October 3\, 1226)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint Francis of Assisi’s Story\nFrancis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a narrow fundamentalist sense\, but by actually following all that Jesus said and did\, joyfully\, without limit\, and without a sense of self-importance. \nSerious illness brought the young Francis to see the emptiness of his frolicking life as leader of Assisi’s youth. Prayer—lengthy and difficult—led him to a self-emptying like that of Christ\, climaxed by embracing a leper he met on the road. It symbolized his complete obedience to what he had heard in prayer: “Francis! Everything you have loved and desired in the flesh it is your duty to despise and hate\, if you wish to know my will. And when you have begun this\, all that now seems sweet and lovely to you will become intolerable and bitter\, but all that you used to avoid will turn itself to great sweetness and exceeding joy.” \nFrom the cross in the neglected field-chapel of San Damiano\, Christ told him\, “Francis\, go out and build up my house\, for it is nearly falling down.” Francis became the totally poor and humble workman. \nHe must have suspected a deeper meaning to “build up my house.” But he would have been content to be for the rest of his life the poor “nothing” man actually putting brick on brick in abandoned chapels. He gave up all his possessions\, piling even his clothes before his earthly father (who was demanding restitution for Francis’ “gifts” to the poor) so that he would be totally free to say\, “Our Father in heaven.” He was\, for a time\, considered to be a religious fanatic\, begging from door to door when he could not get money for his work\, evoking sadness or disgust to the hearts of his former friends\, ridicule from the unthinking. \nBut genuineness will tell. A few people began to realize that this man was actually trying to be Christian. He really believed what Jesus said: “Announce the kingdom! Possess no gold or silver or copper in your purses\, no traveling bag\, no sandals\, no staff” (Luke 9:1-3). \nFrancis’ first rule for his followers was a collection of texts from the Gospels. He had no intention of founding an order\, but once it began he protected it and accepted all the legal structures needed to support it. His devotion and loyalty to the Church were absolute and highly exemplary at a time when various movements of reform tended to break the Church’s unity. \nHe was torn between a life devoted entirely to prayer and a life of active preaching of the Good News. He decided in favor of the latter\, but always returned to solitude when he could. He wanted to be a missionary in Syria or in Africa\, but was prevented by shipwreck and illness in both cases. He did try to convert the sultan of Egypt during the Fifth Crusade. \nDuring the last years of his relatively short life (he died at 44)\, he was half blind and seriously ill. Two years before his death\, he received the stigmata\, the real and painful wounds of Christ in his hands\, feet and side. \nOn his deathbed\, he said over and over again the last addition to his Canticle of the Sun\, “Be praised\, O Lord\, for our Sister Death.” He sang Psalm 141\, and at the end asked his superior to have his clothes removed when the last hour came and for permission to expire lying naked on the earth\, in imitation of his Lord. \n\nReflection\nFrancis of Assisi was poor only that he might be Christ-like. He recognized creation as another manifestation of the beauty of God. In 1979\, he was named patron of ecology. He did great penance (apologizing to “Brother Body” later in life) that he might be totally disciplined for the will of God. His poverty had a sister\, humility\, by which he meant total dependence on the good God. But all this was\, as it were\, preliminary to the heart of his spirituality: living the gospel life\, summed up in the charity of Jesus and perfectly expressed in the Eucharist. \n\nSaint Francis of Assisi is the Patron Saint of:\nAnimals\nArchaeologists\nEcology\nItaly\nMerchants\nMessengers\nMetal Workers
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-francis-of-assisi/2017-10-04/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171003
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171004
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T150934Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T150934Z
UID:5488-1506988800-1507075199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Theodora Guérin
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Theodora Guerin | Image courtesy and © Sisters of Providence\, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Theodora Guérin\nSaint of the Day for October 3\n(October 2\, 1798 – May 14\, 1856)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint Theodora Guérin’s Story\nTrust in God’s Providence enabled Mother Theodore to leave her homeland\, sail halfway around the world\, and found a new religious congregation. \nBorn in Etables\, France\, Anne-Thérèse Guerin’s life was shattered by her father’s murder when she was 15. For several years\, she cared for her mother and younger sister. She entered the Sisters of Providence in 1823\, taking the name Sister Saint Theodore. An illness during novitiate left her with lifelong fragile health\, but that did not keep her from becoming an accomplished teacher. \nAt the invitation of the bishop of Vincennes\, Indiana\, she and five sisters were sent in 1840 to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods\, Indiana\, to teach and to care for the sick poor. She was to establish a motherhouse and novitiate. Only later did she learn that her French superiors had already decided the sisters in the United States should form a new religious congregation under her leadership. \nShe and her community persevered despite fires\, crop failures\, prejudice against Catholic women religious\, misunderstandings\, and separation from their original religious congregation. She once told her sisters\, “Have confidence in the Providence that so far has never failed us. The way is not yet clear. Grope along slowly. Do not press matters; be patient\, be trustful.” Another time\, she asked\, “With Jesus\, what shall we have to fear?” \nShe is buried in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods\, Indiana\, and was beatified in 1998. Eight years later\, she was canonized. \n\nReflection\nGod’s work gets done by people ready to take risks and to work hard—always remembering what Saint Paul told the Corinthians\, “I planted\, Apollos watered\, but God caused the growth.” Every holy person has a strong sense of God’s Providence.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-theodora-guerin/2017-10-03/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171002
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171003
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T135749Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T135749Z
UID:5483-1506902400-1506988799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Feast of the Guardian Angels
DESCRIPTION:Image: Detail | The Guardian Angel | Marcantonio Franceschini\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFeast of the Guardian Angels\nSaint of the Day for October 2\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nThe Story of the Feast of the Guardian Angels\nPerhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the belief that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and imagined. Yet guardian angels are not only for children. Their role is to represent individuals before God\, to watch over them always\, to aid their prayer\, and to present their souls to God at death. \nThe concept of an angel assigned to guide and nurture each human being is a development of Catholic doctrine and piety based on Scripture but not directly drawn from it. Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:10 best support the belief: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones\, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” \nDevotion to the angels began to develop with the birth of the monastic tradition. Saint Benedict gave it impetus and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux\, the great 12th-century reformer\, was such an eloquent spokesman for the guardian angels that angelic devotion assumed its current form in his day. \nA feast in honor of the guardian angels was first observed in the 16th century. In 1615\, Pope Paul V added it to the Roman calendar. \n\nReflection\nDevotion to the angels is\, at base\, an expression of faith in God’s enduring love and providential care extended to each person day in and day out.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/feast-of-the-guardian-angels/2017-10-02/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171001
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171002
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170801T133138Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T133138Z
UID:5479-1506816000-1506902399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
DESCRIPTION:  \nImage: Saint Thérèse of Lisieux as a novice at age 16. | Carmelite Archives of Lisieux\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Thérèse of Lisieux\nSaint of the Day for October 1\n(January 2\, 1873 – September 30\, 1897)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint Thérèse of Lisieux’s Story\n“I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.” \nThese are the words of Thérèse of Lisieux\, a Carmelite nun called the “Little Flower\,” who lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux\, France. And her preference for hidden sacrifice did indeed convert souls. Few saints of God are more popular than this young nun. Her autobiography\, The Story of a Soul\, is read and loved throughout the world. Thérèse Martin entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the age of 24. \nLife in a Carmelite convent is indeed uneventful and consists mainly of prayer and hard domestic work. But Thérèse possessed that holy insight that redeems the time\, however dull that time may be. She saw in quiet suffering a redemptive suffering\, suffering that was indeed her apostolate. Thérèse said she came to the Carmel convent “to save souls and pray for priests.” And shortly before she died\, she wrote: “I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth.” \nThérèse was canonized in 1925. On October 19\, 1997\, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church\, the third woman to be so recognized in light of her holiness and the influence of her teaching on spirituality in the Church. \nHer parents\, Louis and Zélie\, were beatified in 2008\, and canonized in 2015. \n\nReflection\nThérèse has much to teach our age of the image\, the appearance\, the “sell.” We have become a dangerously self-conscious people\, painfully aware of the need to be fulfilled\, yet knowing we are not. Thérèse\, like so many saints\, sought to serve others\, to do something outside herself\, to forget herself in quiet acts of love. She is one of the great examples of the gospel paradox that we gain our life by losing it\, and that the seed that falls to the ground must die in order to live. \nPreoccupation with self separates modern men and women from God\, from their fellow human beings and ultimately from themselves. We must relearn to forget ourselves\, to contemplate a God who draws us out of ourselves\, and to serve others as the ultimate expression of selfhood. These are the insights of Saint Thérèse\, and they are more valid today than ever. \n\nSaint Thérèse is the Patron Saint of:\nFlorists\nMissionaries\nPilots\nPriests
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-therese-of-lisieux/2017-10-01/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170930
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171001
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180955Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T193952Z
UID:5344-1506729600-1506815999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Jerome
DESCRIPTION:Image: One side of a double-sided panel. Three saints in full figure – Saint Sylvester\, Saint Jerome\, and Saint Martin | anonymous\nSaint Jerome\nSaint of the Day for September 30\n(345 – 420)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Jerome’s Story\nMost of the saints are remembered for some outstanding virtue or devotion which they practiced\, but Jerome is frequently remembered for his bad temper! It is true that he had a very bad temper and could use a vitriolic pen\, but his love for God and his son Jesus Christ was extraordinarily intense; anyone who taught error was an enemy of God and truth\, and Saint Jerome went after him or her with his mighty and sometimes sarcastic pen. \nHe was above all a Scripture scholar\, translating most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. He also wrote commentaries which are a great source of scriptural inspiration for us today. He was an avid student\, a thorough scholar\, a prodigious letter-writer and a consultant to monk\, bishop\, and pope. Saint Augustine said of him\, “What Jerome is ignorant of\, no mortal has ever known.” \nSaint Jerome is particularly important for having made a translation of the Bible which came to be called the Vulgate. It is not the most critical edition of the Bible\, but its acceptance by the Church was fortunate. As a modern scholar says\, “No man before Jerome or among his contemporaries and very few men for many centuries afterwards were so well qualified to do the work.” The Council of Trent called for a new and corrected edition of the Vulgate\, and declared it the authentic text to be used in the Church. \nIn order to be able to do such work\, Jerome prepared himself well. He was a master of Latin\, Greek\, Hebrew\, and Chaldaic. He began his studies at his birthplace\, Stridon in Dalmatia. After his preliminary education\, he went to Rome\, the center of learning at that time\, and thence to Trier\, Germany\, where the scholar was very much in evidence. He spent several years in each place\, always trying to find the very best teachers. He once served as private secretary of Pope Damasus. \nAfter these preparatory studies\, he traveled extensively in Palestine\, marking each spot of Christ’s life with an outpouring of devotion. Mystic that he was\, he spent five years in the desert of Chalcis so that he might give himself up to prayer\, penance\, and study. Finally\, he settled in Bethlehem\, where he lived in the cave believed to have been the birthplace of Christ. Jerome died in Bethlehem\, and the remains of his body now lie buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. \n\nReflection\nJerome was a strong\, outspoken man. He had the virtues and the unpleasant fruits of being a fearless critic and all the usual moral problems of a man. He was\, as someone has said\, no admirer of moderation whether in virtue or against evil. He was swift to anger\, but also swift to feel remorse\, even more severe on his own shortcomings than on those of others. A pope is said to have remarked\, on seeing a picture of Jerome striking his breast with a stone\, “You do well to carry that stone\, for without it the Church would never have canonized you” (Butler’s Lives of the Saints). \n\nSaint Jerome is the patron Saint of:\nLibrarians\nTranslators\nScholars
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-jerome/2017-09-30/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170929
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170930
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180953Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T193835Z
UID:5343-1506643200-1506729599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saints Michael\, Gabriel\, and Raphael
DESCRIPTION:Image: Detail | East window behind the altar | St. Michael’s Church\, Ballinasloe\, County Galway\, Ireland | Frederick Settle Barff\n\nSaints Michael\, Gabriel\, and Raphael\nSaint of the Day for September 29\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaints Michael\, Gabriel\, and Raphael’s Story\nAngels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture\, but only Michael\, Gabriel and Raphael are named. \nMichael appears in Daniel’s vision as “the great prince” who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation\, he leads God’s armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion\, rising in the East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honoring Michael and the angels in the fifth century. \nGabriel also makes an appearance in Daniel’s visions\, announcing Michael’s role in God’s plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary\, who consents to bear the Messiah. \nRaphael’s activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit’s son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah’s marriage to Sarah\, the healing of Tobit’s blindness\, and the restoration of the family fortune. \nThe memorials of Gabriel and Raphael were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970 revision of the calendar joined their feasts to Michael’s. \n\nReflection\nEach of these archangels performs a different mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides. Earlier belief that inexplicable events were due to the actions of spiritual beings has given way to a scientific world-view and a different sense of cause and effect. Yet believers still experience God’s protection\, communication\, and guidance in ways which defy description. We cannot dismiss angels too lightly. \n\nSaints Michael\, Gabriel\, and Raphael are the Patron Saints of:\nDeath\nGermany\nGrocers\nPolice Officers\nRadiologists \nSaint Gabriel is the Patron Saint of:\nBroadcasters \nSaint Raphael is the Patron Saint of:\nThe Blind
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saints-michael-gabriel-and-raphael/2017-09-29/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170928
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170929
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180952Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T193736Z
UID:5342-1506556800-1506643199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Wenceslaus
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Wenceslaus statue on the Gothic Bridge in Kłodzko | photo by Jacek Halicki\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Wenceslaus\nSaint of the Day for September 28\n(c. 907 – 929)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Wenceslaus’ Story\nIf saints have been falsely characterized as “other worldly\,” the life of Wenceslaus stands as an example to the contrary: He stood for Christian values in the midst of the political intrigues which characterized 10th-century Bohemia. \nHe was born in 907 near Prague\, son of the Duke of Bohemia. His saintly grandmother\, Ludmilla\, raised him and sought to promote him as ruler of Bohemia in place of his mother\, who favored the anti-Christian factions. Ludmilla was eventually murdered\, but rival Christian forces enabled Wenceslaus to assume leadership of the government. \nHis rule was marked by efforts toward unification within Bohemia\, support of the Church\, and peace-making negotiations with Germany\, a policy which caused him trouble with the anti-Christian opposition. His brother Boleslav joined in the plotting\, and in September of 929 invited Wenceslaus to Alt Bunglou for the celebration of the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian. On the way to Mass\, Boleslav attacked his brother\, and in the struggle\, Wenceslaus was killed by supporters of Boleslav. \nAlthough his death resulted primarily from political upheaval\, Wenceslaus was hailed as a martyr for the faith\, and his tomb became a pilgrimage shrine. He is hailed as the patron of the Bohemian people and of former Czechoslovakia. \n\nReflection\n“Good King Wenceslaus” was able to incarnate his Christianity in a world filled with political unrest. While we are often victims of violence of a different sort\, we can easily identify with his struggle to bring harmony to society. The call to become involved in social change and in political activity is addressed to Christians; the values of the gospel are sorely needed today. \n\nSaint Wenceslaus is the Patron Saint of :\nBohemia
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-wenceslaus/2017-09-28/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170927
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170928
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180950Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T193552Z
UID:5341-1506470400-1506556799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Vincent de Paul
DESCRIPTION:Image: Detail | Saint Vincent de Paul | Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ\n\nSaint Vincent de Paul\nSaint of the Day for September 27\n(1580 – September 27\, 1660)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Vincent de Paul’s Story\nThe deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent’s eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony\, France\, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life. \nIt was the Countess de Gondi (whose servant he had helped) who persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first\, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley-slaves\, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission\, or the Vincentians. These priests\, with vows of poverty\, chastity\, obedience\, and stability\, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages. \nLater\, Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these\, with the help of Saint Louise de Marillac\, came the Daughters of Charity\, “whose convent is the sickroom\, whose chapel is the parish church\, whose cloister is the streets of the city.” He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects\, founded several hospitals\, collected relief funds for the victims of war\, and ransomed over 1\,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity\, abuse\, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries. \nMost remarkably\, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person—even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been “hard and repulsive\, rough and cross.” But he became a tender and affectionate man\, very sensitive to the needs of others. \nPope Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among these\, of course\, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul\, founded in 1833 by his admirer Blessed Frédéric Ozanam. \n\nReflection\nThe Church is for all God’s children\, rich and poor\, peasants and scholars\, the sophisticated and the simple. But obviously the greatest concern of the Church must be for those who need the most help—those made helpless by sickness\, poverty\, ignorance\, or cruelty. Vincent de Paul is a particularly appropriate patron for all Christians today\, when hunger has become starvation\, and the high living of the rich stands in more and more glaring contrast to the physical and moral degradation in which many of God’s children are forced to live. \n\nSaint Vincent de Paul is the Patron Saint of:\nCharitable Societies
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-vincent-de-paul/2017-09-27/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170926
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170927
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180948Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T193454Z
UID:5340-1506384000-1506470399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Blessed Paul VI
DESCRIPTION:Image: Pope Paul VI | photo by Ambrosius007\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBlessed Pope Paul VI\nSaint of the Day for September 26\n(September 26\, 1897 – August 6\, 1978)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nBlessed Paul VI’s Story\nBorn near Brescia in northern Italy\, Giovanni Battista Montini was the second of three sons. His father\, Giorgio\, was a lawyer\, editor\, and eventually a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. His mother\, Giuditta\, was very involved in Catholic Action. \nAfter ordination in 1920\, Giovanni did graduate studies in literature\, philosophy\, and canon law in Rome before he joined the Vatican Secretariat of State in 1924\, where he worked for 30 years. He was also chaplain to the Federation of Italian Catholic University Students\, where he met and became a very good friend of Aldo Moro\, who eventually became prime minister (1963-68 and 1974-76). Moro was kidnapped by the Red Brigade in March 1978\, and murdered two months later. A devastated Pope Paul VI presided at his funeral. \nIn 1954\, Montini was named archbishop of Milan\, where he sought to win disaffected workers back to the Catholic Church. He called himself the “archbishop of the workers” and visited factories regularly while overseeing the rebuilding of a local Church tremendously disrupted by World War II. \nIn 1958\, Montini was the first of 23 cardinals named by Pope John XXIII\, two months after the latter’s election as pope. Cardinal Montini helped in preparing Vatican II and participated enthusiastically in its first sessions. When he was elected pope in June 1963\, he immediately decided to continue that Council\, which had another three sessions before its conclusion on December 8\, 1965. The day before Vatican II concluded\, Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras revoked the excommunications that their predecessors had made in 1054. Pope Paul worked very hard to ensure that bishops would approve the Council’s 16 documents by overwhelming majorities. \nPaul VI had stunned the world by visiting the Holy Land in January 1964\, and meeting Athenagoras\, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in person. The pope made eight more international trips\, including one in 1965\, to visit New York City and speak on behalf of peace before the United Nations General Assembly. He also visited India\, Columbia\, Uganda\, and seven Asian countries during a 10-day visit in 1970. \nIn 1965\, he instituted the World Synod of Bishops and the next year decreed that bishops must offer their resignations on reaching age 75. In 1970\, he decided that cardinals over 80 would no longer vote in papal conclaves or head the Holy See’s major offices. He had increased the number of cardinals significantly\, giving many countries their first cardinal. Eventually establishing diplomatic relations between the Holy See and 40 countries\, he also instituted a permanent observer mission at the United Nations in 1964. Pope Paul wrote seven encyclicals; his last one in 1968\, on human life (Humanae Vitae) prohibited artificial birth control. \nHe died at Castel Gandolfo on August 6\, 1978\, and was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica. He was beatified on October 19\, 2014. \n\nReflection\nBlessed Pope Paul’s greatest accomplishment was the completion and implementation of Vatican II. Its decisions about liturgy were the first ones noticed by most Catholics\, but its other documents—especially the ones about ecumenism\, interfaith relations\, divine revelation\, religious liberty\, the Church’s self-understanding and the Church’s work with the entire human family—have become the Catholic Church’s road map since 1965. \n\nOther Saints of the Day for September 26 are Saint Cosmas and Damian and Saint Elzear and Blessed Delphina.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/blessed-paul-vi/2017-09-26/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170925
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170926
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180947Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T193357Z
UID:5339-1506297600-1506383999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saints Louis Martin and Zélie Guerin
DESCRIPTION:Image: Casket of Louis and Zélie Martin | crypt of the Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse\, Lisieux\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaints Louis Martin and Zélie Guerin\nSaint of the Day for September 25\n(August 22\, 1823 – July 29\, 1894; December 23\, 1831 – August 28\, 1877)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaints Louis Martin and Zélie Guerin’s Story\nBorn into a military family in Bordeaux\, Louis trained to become a watchmaker. His desire to join a religious community went unfulfilled because he didn’t know Latin. Moving to Normandy\, he met the highly-skilled lace maker\, Zélie Guerin\, who also had been disappointed in her attempts to enter religious life. They married in 1858\, and over the years were blessed with nine children\, though two sons and two daughters died in infancy. \nLouis managed the lace-making business that Zélie continued at home while raising their children. She died from breast cancer in 1877. \nLouis then moved the family to Lisieux to be near his brother and sister-in-law\, who helped with the education of his five surviving girls. His health began to fail after his 15-year-old daughter entered the Monastery of Mount Carmel at Lisieux in 1888. Louis died in 1894\, a few months after being committed to a sanitarium. \nThe home that Louis and Zélie created nurtured the sanctity of all their children\, but especially their youngest\, who is known to us as Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Louis and Zélie were beatified in 2008\, and canonized by Pope Francis on October 18\, 2015. \n\nReflection\nIn life\, Louis and Zélie knew great joy and excruciating sorrow. They firmly believed that God was with them throughout every challenge that married life\, parenting\, and their occupations presented. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Saints Louis Martin and Zélie Guerin is July 12.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saints-louis-martin-and-zelie-guerin/2017-09-25/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170924
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170925
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180945Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T193236Z
UID:5338-1506211200-1506297599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Blessed John Henry Newman
DESCRIPTION:Image: John Henry Newman | Sir John Everett Millais\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBlessed John Henry Newman\nSaint of the Day for September 24\n(February 21\, 1801 – August 11\, 1890)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nBlessed John Henry Newman’s Story\nJohn Henry Newman\, the 19th-century’s most important English-speaking Roman Catholic theologian\, spent the first half of his life as an Anglican and the second half as a Roman Catholic. He was a priest\, popular preacher\, writer\, and eminent theologian in both Churches. \nBorn in London\, England\, he studied at Oxford’s Trinity College\, was a tutor at Oriel College\, and for 17 years was vicar of the university church\, St. Mary the Virgin. He eventually published eight volumes of Parochial and Plain Sermons as well as two novels. His poem\, “Dream of Gerontius\,” was set to music by Sir Edward Elgar. \nAfter 1833\, Newman was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement\, which emphasized the Church’s debt to the Church Fathers and challenged any tendency to consider truth as completely subjective. \nHistorical research made Newman suspect that the Roman Catholic Church was in closest continuity with the Church that Jesus established. In 1845\, he was received into full communion as a Catholic. Two years later he was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome and joined the Congregation of the Oratory\, founded three centuries earlier by Saint Philip Neri. Returning to England\, Newman founded Oratory houses in Birmingham and London and for seven years served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. \nBefore Newman\, Catholic theology tended to ignore history\, preferring instead to draw deductions from first principles—much as plane geometry does. After Newman\, the lived experience of believers was recognized as a key part of theological reflection. \nNewman eventually wrote 40 books and 21\,000 letters that survive. Most famous are his book-length Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine\, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine\, Apologia Pro Vita Sua (his spiritual autobiography up to 1864). and Essay on the Grammar of Assent. He accepted Vatican I’s teaching on papal infallibility while noting its limits\, which many people who favored that definition were reluctant to do. \nWhen Newman was named a cardinal in 1879\, he took as his motto “Cor ad cor loquitur” (“Heart speaks to heart”). He was buried in Rednal 11 years later. After his grave was exhumed in 2008\, a new tomb was prepared at the Oratory church in Birmingham. \nThree years after Newman died\, a Newman Club for Catholic students began at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In time\, his name was linked to ministry centers at many public and private colleges and universities in the United States. \nPope Benedict XVI beatified Newman on September 19\, 2010\, at Crofton Park. Benedict noted Newman’s emphasis on the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society but also praised his pastoral zeal for the sick\, the poor\, the bereaved\, and those in prison. \n\nReflection\nJohn Henry Newman has been called the “absent Father of Vatican II” because his writings on conscience\, religious liberty\, Scripture\, the vocation of lay people\, the relation of Church and State\, and other topics were extremely influential in the shaping of the Council’s documents. Although Newman was not always understood or appreciated\, he steadfastly preached the Good News by word and example. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Blessed John Henry Newman is October 9.\n\nAnother Saint of the Day for September 24 is Saint Pacifico of San Severino.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/blessed-john-henry-newman/2017-09-24/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170923
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170924
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180943Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T193124Z
UID:5337-1506124800-1506211199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Pio of Pietrecina | San Sebastian Cathedral of Tarlac\, Philippines | photo by Ramon FVelasquez\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Pio of Pietrelcina\nSaint of the Day for September 23\n(May 25\, 1887 – September 23\, 1968)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Pio of Pietrelcina’s Story\nIn one of the largest such ceremonies in history\, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio of Pietrelcina on June 16\, 2002. It was the 45th canonization ceremony in Pope John Paul’s pontificate. More than 300\,000 people braved blistering heat as they filled St. Peter’s Square and nearby streets. They heard the Holy Father praise the new saint for his prayer and charity. “This is the most concrete synthesis of Padre Pio’s teaching\,” said the pope. He also stressed Padre Pio’s witness to the power of suffering. If accepted with love\, the Holy Father stressed\, such suffering can lead to “a privileged path of sanctity.” \nMany people have turned to the Italian Capuchin Franciscan to intercede with God on their behalf; among them was the future Pope John Paul II. In 1962\, when he was still an archbishop in Poland\, he wrote to Padre Pio and asked him to pray for a Polish woman with throat cancer. Within two weeks\, she had been cured of her life-threatening disease. \nBorn Francesco Forgione\, Padre Pio grew up in a family of farmers in southern Italy. Twice his father worked in Jamaica\, New York\, to provide the family income. \nAt the age of 15\, Francesco joined the Capuchins and took the name of Pio. He was ordained in 1910 and was drafted during World War I. After he was discovered to have tuberculosis\, he was discharged. In 1917\, he was assigned to the friary in San Giovanni Rotondo\, 75 miles from the city of Bari on the Adriatic. \nOn September 20\, 1918\, as he was making his thanksgiving after Mass\, Padre Pio had a vision of Jesus. When the vision ended\, he had the stigmata in his hands\, feet\, and side. \nLife became more complicated after that. Medical doctors\, Church authorities\, and curiosity seekers came to see Padre Pio. In 1924\, and again in 1931\, the authenticity of the stigmata was questioned; Padre Pio was not permitted to celebrate Mass publicly or to hear confessions. He did not complain of these decisions\, which were soon reversed. However\, he wrote no letters after 1924. His only other writing\, a pamphlet on the agony of Jesus\, was done before 1924. \nPadre Pio rarely left the friary after he received the stigmata\, but busloads of people soon began coming to see him. Each morning after a 5 a.m. Mass in a crowded church\, he heard confessions until noon. He took a mid-morning break to bless the sick and all who came to see him. Every afternoon he also heard confessions. In time his confessional ministry would take 10 hours a day; penitents had to take a number so that the situation could be handled. Many of them have said that Padre Pio knew details of their lives that they had never mentioned. \nPadre Pio saw Jesus in all the sick and suffering. At his urging\, a fine hospital was built on nearby Mount Gargano. The idea arose in 1940; a committee began to collect money. Ground was broken in 1946. Building the hospital was a technical wonder because of the difficulty of getting water there and of hauling up the building supplies. This “House for the Alleviation of Suffering” has 350 beds. \nA number of people have reported cures they believe were received through the intercession of Padre Pio. Those who assisted at his Masses came away edified; several curiosity seekers were deeply moved. Like Saint Francis\, Padre Pio sometimes had his habit torn or cut by souvenir hunters. \nOne of Padre Pio’s sufferings was that unscrupulous people several times circulated prophecies that they claimed originated from him. He never made prophecies about world events and never gave an opinion on matters that he felt belonged to Church authorities to decide. He died on September 23\, 1968\, and was beatified in 1999. \n\nReflection\nAt Padre Pio’s canonization Mass in 2002\, Saint John Paul II referred to that day’s Gospel (Matthew 11:25-30) and said: “The Gospel image of ‘yoke’ evokes the many trials that the humble Capuchin of San Giovanni Rotondo endured. Today we contemplate in him how sweet is the ‘yoke’ of Christ and indeed how light the burdens are whenever someone carries these with faithful love. The life and mission of Padre Pio testify that difficulties and sorrows\, if accepted with love\, transform themselves into a privileged journey of holiness\, which opens the person toward a greater good\, known only to the Lord.” \n\nAnother Saint of the Day for September 23 is Blessed Pica Bernardone.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-pio-of-pietrelcina/2017-09-23/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170922
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170923
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180942Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T193000Z
UID:5336-1506038400-1506124799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions
DESCRIPTION:Image: San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish Church | photo by Judgefloro\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions\nSaint of the Day for September 22\n(1600 – September 29 or 30\, 1637)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions’ Story\nLorenzo was born in Manila of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother\, both Christians. Thus he learned Chinese and Tagalog from them and Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. He became a professional calligrapher\, transcribing documents in beautiful penmanship. He was a full member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary under Dominican auspices. He married and had two sons and a daughter. \nHis life took an abrupt turn when he was accused of murder. Nothing further is known except the statement of two Dominicans that “he was sought by the authorities on account of a homicide to which he was present or which was attributed to him.” \nAt that time\, three Dominican priests\, Antonio Gonzalez\, Guillermo Courtet\, and Miguel de Aozaraza\, were about to sail to Japan in spite of a violent persecution there. With them was a Japanese priest\, Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz\, and a layman named Lazaro\, a leper. Lorenzo\, having taken asylum with them\, was allowed to accompany them. But only when they were at sea did he learn that they were going to Japan. \nThey landed at Okinawa. Lorenzo could have gone on to Formosa\, but\, he reported\, “I decided to stay with the Fathers\, because the Spaniards would hang me there.” In Japan\, they were soon found out\, arrested\, and taken to Nagasaki. The site of wholesale bloodshed when the atomic bomb was dropped had known tragedy before. The 50\,000 Catholics who once lived there were dispersed or killed by persecution. \nThey were subjected to an unspeakable kind of torture: After huge quantities of water were forced down their throats\, they were made to lie down. Long boards were placed on their stomachs and guards then stepped on the ends of the boards\, forcing the water to spurt violently from mouth\, nose and ears. \nThe superior\, Antonio\, died after some days. Both the Japanese priest and Lazaro broke under torture\, which included the insertion of bamboo needles under their fingernails. But both were brought back to courage by their companions. \nIn Lorenzo’s moment of crisis\, he asked the interpreter\, “I would like to know if\, by apostatizing\, they will spare my life.” The interpreter was noncommittal\, but Lorenzo\, in the ensuing hours\, felt his faith grow strong. He became bold\, even audacious\, with his interrogators. \nThe five were put to death by being hanged upside down in pits. Boards fitted with semicircular holes were fitted around their waists and stones put on top to increase the pressure. They were tightly bound\, to slow circulation and prevent a speedy death. They were allowed to hang for three days. By that time Lorenzo and Lazaro were dead. The three Dominican priests\, still alive\, were beheaded. \nIn 1987\, Pope John Paul II canonized these six and 10 others\, Asians and Europeans\, men and women\, who spread the faith in the Philippines\, Formosa\, and Japan. Lorenzo Ruiz is the first canonized Filipino martyr. \n\nReflection\nWe ordinary Christians of today—how would we stand up in the circumstances these martyrs faced? We sympathize with the two who temporarily denied the faith. We understand Lorenzo’s terrible moment of temptation. But we see also the courage—unexplainable in human terms—which surged from their store of faith. Martyrdom\, like ordinary life\, is a miracle of grace. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions is September 28.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-lorenzo-ruiz-and-companions/2017-09-22/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170921
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170922
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180940Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T192753Z
UID:5335-1505952000-1506038399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Matthew
DESCRIPTION:Image: St Matthew and the Angel | Guido Reni\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Matthew\nSaint of the Day for September 21\n(c. 1st Century)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Matthew’s Story\nMatthew was a Jew who worked for the occupying Roman forces\, collecting taxes from other Jews. The Romans were not scrupulous about what the “tax farmers” got for themselves. Hence the latter\, known as “publicans\,” were generally hated as traitors by their fellow Jews. The Pharisees lumped them with “sinners” (see Matthew 9:11-13). So it was shocking to them to hear Jesus call such a man to be one of his intimate followers. \nMatthew got Jesus in further trouble by having a sort of going-away party at his house. The Gospel tells us that many tax collectors and “those known as sinners” came to the dinner. The Pharisees were still more badly shocked. What business did the supposedly great teacher have associating with such immoral people? Jesus’ answer was\, “Those who are well do not need a physician\, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words\, ‘I desire mercy\, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:12b-13). Jesus is not setting aside ritual and worship; he is saying that loving others is even more important. \nNo other particular incidents about Matthew are found in the New Testament. \n\nReflection\nFrom such an unlikely situation\, Jesus chose one of the foundations of the Church\, a man others\, judging from his job\, thought was not holy enough for the position. But he was honest enough to admit that he was one of the sinners Jesus came to call. He was open enough to recognize truth when he saw him. “And he got up and followed him” (Matthew 9:9b). \n\nSaint Matthew is the Patron Saint of:\nAccountants\nActors\nBankers\nBookkeepers\nTax collectors\nTaxi Drivers
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-matthew/2017-09-21/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170920
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170921
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180938Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T192640Z
UID:5334-1505865600-1505951999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saints Andrew Kim Taegon\, Paul Chong Hasang\, and Companions
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Andrew Kim Taegon and Companions | CNS Photo\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaints Andrew Kim Taegon\, Paul Chong Hasang\, and Companions\nSaint of the Day for September 20\n(d. between 1839 – 1867)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaints Andrew Kim Taegon\, Paul Chong Hasang\, and Companions’ Story\nThis first native Korean priest was the son of Korean converts. His father\, Ignatius Kim\, was martyred during the persecution of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. After Baptism at the age of 15\, Andrew traveled 1\,300 miles to the seminary in Macao\, China. After six years\, he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again\, he was assigned to arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He was arrested\, tortured\, and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul\, the capital. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay apostle and married man\, aged 45. \nChristianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized\, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for taking taxes to Beijing annually. On one of these occasions\, around 1777\, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home Church began. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later\, he found 4\,000 Catholics\, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10\,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883. \nWhen Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984\, he canonized\, besides Andrew and Paul\, 98 Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867. Among them were bishops and priests\, but for the most part they were lay persons: 47 women\, 45 men. \nAmong the martyrs in 1839 was Columba Kim\, an unmarried woman of 26. She was put in prison\, pierced with hot tools and seared with burning coals. She and her sister Agnes were disrobed and kept for two days in a cell with condemned criminals\, but were not molested. After Columba complained about the indignity\, no more women were subjected to it. The two were beheaded. A boy of 13\, Peter Ryou\, had his flesh so badly torn that he could pull off pieces and throw them at the judges. He was killed by strangulation. Protase Chong\, a 41-year-old noble\, apostatized under torture and was freed. Later he came back\, confessed his faith and was tortured to death. \n\nReflection\nWe marvel at the fact that the Korean Church was strictly a lay Church for a dozen years after its birth. How did the people survive without the Eucharist? It is no belittling of this and other sacraments to realize that there must be a living faith before there can be a truly beneficial celebration of the Eucharist. The sacraments are signs of God’s initiative and response to faith already present. The sacraments increase grace and faith\, but only if there is something ready to be increased.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saints-andrew-kim-taegon-paul-chong-hasang-and-companions/2017-09-20/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170919
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170920
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180936Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T192115Z
UID:5333-1505779200-1505865599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Januarius
DESCRIPTION:Image: The Martyrdom of Saint Januarius | Neri di Bicci\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Januarius\nSaint of the Day for September 19\n(c. 300)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Januarius’ Story\nLittle is known about the life of Januarius. He is believed to have been martyred in the Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of 305. Legend has it that Januarius and his companions were thrown to the bears in the amphitheater of Pozzuoli\, but the animals failed to attack them. They were then beheaded\, and Januarius’ blood ultimately brought to Naples. \n\nReflection\nIt is defined Catholic doctrine that miracles can happen and are recognizable. Problems arise\, however\, when we must decide whether an occurrence is unexplainable in natural terms\, or merely unexplained. We do well to avoid an excessive credulity but\, on the other hand\, when even scientists speak about “probabilities” rather than “laws” of nature\, it is something less than imaginative for Christians to think that God is too “scientific” to work extraordinary miracles to wake us up to the everyday miracles of sparrows and dandelions\, raindrops and snowflakes. \n\nSaint Januarius is the Patron Saint of:\nBlood Banks\nNaples
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-januarius/2017-09-19/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170918
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170919
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180934Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T191957Z
UID:5332-1505692800-1505779199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Joseph of Cupertino
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Joseph of Cupertino. Engraving after F.A. Lorenzini | Wellcome Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Joseph of Cupertino\nSaint of the Day for September 18\n(June 17\, 1603 – September 18\, 1663)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Joseph of Cupertino’s Story\nJoseph is most famous for levitating at prayer. Already as a child\, Joseph showed a fondness for prayer. After a short career with the Capuchins\, he joined the Conventual Franciscans. Following a brief assignment caring for the friary mule\, Joseph began his studies for the priesthood. Though studies were very difficult for him\, Joseph gained a great deal of knowledge from prayer. He was ordained in 1628. \nJoseph’s tendency to levitate during prayer was sometimes a cross; some people came to see this much as they might have gone to a circus sideshow. Joseph’s gift led him to be humble\, patient\, and obedient\, even though at times he was greatly tempted and felt forsaken by God. He fasted and wore iron chains for much of his life. \nThe friars transferred Joseph several times for his own good and for the good of the rest of the community. He was reported to and investigated by the Inquisition; the examiners exonerated him. \nJoseph was canonized in 1767. In the investigation preceding the canonization\, 70 incidents of levitation are recorded. \n\nReflection\nWhile levitation is an extraordinary sign of holiness\, Joseph is also remembered for the ordinary signs he showed. He prayed even in times of inner darkness\, and he lived out the Sermon on the Mount. He used his “unique possession” (his free will) to praise God and to serve God’s creation. \n\nSaint Joseph of Cupertino is the Patron Saint of:\nAir Travelers\nAstronauts\nPilots
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-joseph-of-cupertino/2017-09-18/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170917
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170918
DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180932Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T191844Z
UID:5331-1505606400-1505692799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Robert Bellarmine
DESCRIPTION:Image: Detail | Stained glass window in Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church\, Dayton\, Ohio | photo by Nheyob\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Robert Bellarmine\nSaint of the Day for September 17\n(October 4\, 1542 – September 17\, 1621)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Robert Bellarmine’s Story\nWhen Robert Bellarmine was ordained in 1570\, the study of Church history and the fathers of the Church was in a sad state of neglect. A promising scholar from his youth in Tuscany\, he devoted his energy to these two subjects\, as well as to Scripture\, in order to systematize Church doctrine against the attacks of the Protestant Reformers. He was the first Jesuit to become a professor at Louvain. \nHis most famous work is his three-volume Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith. Particularly noteworthy are the sections on the temporal power of the pope and the role of the laity. He incurred the anger of monarchists in England and France by showing the divine-right-of-kings theory untenable. He developed the theory of the indirect power of the pope in temporal affairs; although he was defending the pope against the Scottish philosopher Barclay\, he also incurred the ire of Pope Sixtus V. \nBellarmine was made a cardinal by Pope Clement VIII on the grounds that “he had not his equal for learning.” While he occupied apartments in the Vatican\, Bellarmine relaxed none of his former austerities. He limited his household expenses to what was barely essential\, eating only the food available to the poor. He was known to have ransomed a soldier who had deserted from the army and he used the hangings of his rooms to clothe poor people\, remarking\, “The walls won’t catch cold.” \nAmong many activities\, he became theologian to Pope Clement VIII\, preparing two catechisms which have had great influence in the Church. \nThe last major controversy of Bellarmine’s life came in 1616 when he had to admonish his friend Galileo\, whom he admired. Bellarmine delivered the admonition on behalf of the Holy Office\, which had decided that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus was contrary to Scripture. The admonition amounted to a caution against putting forward—other than as a hypothesis—theories not yet fully proven. This shows that saints are not infallible. \nBellarmine died on September 17\, 1621. The process for his canonization was begun in 1627 but was delayed until 1930 for political reasons\, stemming from his writings. In 1930\, Pope Pius XI canonized him and the next year declared him a doctor of the Church. \n\nReflection\nThe renewal in the Church sought by Vatican II was difficult for many Catholics. In the course of change\, many felt a lack of firm guidance from those in authority. They yearned for the stone columns of orthodoxy and an iron command with clearly defined lines of authority. Vatican II assures us in The Church in the Modern World\, “There are many realities which do not change and which have their ultimate foundation in Christ\, who is the same yesterday and today\, yes\, and forever” (#10\, quoting Hebrews 13:8). \nRobert Bellarmine devoted his life to the study of Scripture and Catholic doctrine. His writings help us understand that the real source of our faith is not merely a set of doctrines\, but rather the person of Jesus still living in the Church today. \n\nSaint Robert Bellarmine is the Patron Saint of:\nCatechists\nCatechumens
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-robert-bellarmine/2017-09-17/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170916
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DTSTAMP:20260403T142415
CREATED:20170728T180931Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T191709Z
UID:5330-1505520000-1505606399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Cornelius
DESCRIPTION:Image: Stained glass window in Catholic Church of Saint-Corneille | photo by GFreihalter\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Cornelius\nSaint of the Day for September 16\n(d. 253)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Cornelius’ Story\nThere was no pope for 14 months after the martyrdom of Saint Fabian because of the intensity of the persecution of the Church. During the interval\, the Church was governed by a college of priests. Saint Cyprian\, a friend of Cornelius\, writes that Cornelius was elected pope “by the judgment of God and of Christ\, by the testimony of most of the clergy\, by the vote of the people\, with the consent of aged priests and of good men.” \nThe greatest problem of Cornelius’s two-year term as pope had to do with the Sacrament of Penance and centered on the readmission of Christians who had denied their faith during the time of persecution. Two extremes were finally both condemned. Cyprian\, primate of North Africa\, appealed to the pope to confirm his stand that the relapsed could be reconciled only by the decision of the bishop. \nIn Rome\, however\, Cornelius met with the opposite view. After his election\, a priest named Novatian (one of those who had governed the Church) had himself consecrated a rival bishop of Rome—one of the first antipopes. He denied that the Church had any power to reconcile not only the apostates\, but also those guilty of murder\, adultery\, fornication\, or second marriage! Cornelius had the support of most of the Church (especially of Cyprian of Africa) in condemning Novatianism\, though the sect persisted for several centuries. Cornelius held a synod at Rome in 251 and ordered the “relapsed” to be restored to the Church with the usual “medicines of repentance.” \nThe friendship of Cornelius and Cyprian was strained for a time when one of Cyprian’s rivals made accusations about him. But the problem was cleared up. \nA document from Cornelius shows the extent of organization in the Church of Rome in the mid-third century: 46 priests\, seven deacons\, seven subdeacons. It is estimated that the number of Christians totaled about 50\,000. \nCornelius died as a result of the hardships of his exile in what is now Civitavecchia. \n\nReflection\nIt seems fairly true to say that almost every possible false doctrine has been proposed at some time or other in the history of the Church. The third century saw the resolution of a problem we scarcely consider—the penance to be done before reconciliation with the Church after mortal sin. Men like Cornelius and Cyprian were God’s instruments in helping the Church find a prudent path between extremes of rigorism and laxity. They are part of the Church’s ever-living stream of tradition\, ensuring the continuance of what was begun by Christ\, and evaluating new experiences through the wisdom and experience of those who have gone before.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-cornelius/2017-09-16/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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