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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171005
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171006
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171004
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171005
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171003
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171004
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171002
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171003
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20171001
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171002
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170930
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20171001
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
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:20260403T141237
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170928
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170929
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170927
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170928
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
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
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170926
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170927
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
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:20260403T141237
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:20260403T141237
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:20260403T141237
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:20260403T141237
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:20260403T141237
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:20260403T141237
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:20260403T141237
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:20260403T141237
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:20260403T141237
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170916
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170917
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
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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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170915
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170916
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
CREATED:20170728T180929Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T191559Z
UID:5329-1505433600-1505519999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Our Lady of Sorrows
DESCRIPTION:Image: Our Lady of Sorrows statue in Golgotha\, Holy Sepulchre Jerusalem | photo by creisor\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOur Lady of Sorrows\nSaint of the Day for September 15\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nThe Story of Our Lady of Sorrows\nFor a while there were two feasts in honor of the Sorrowful Mother: one going back to the 15th century\, the other to the 17th century. For a while both were celebrated by the universal Church: one on the Friday before Palm Sunday\, the other in September. \nThe principal biblical references to Mary’s sorrows are in Luke 2:35 and John 19:26-27. The Lucan passage is Simeon’s prediction about a sword piercing Mary’s soul; the Johannine passage relates Jesus’ words from the cross to Mary and to the beloved disciple. \nMany early Church writers interpret the sword as Mary’s sorrows\, especially as she saw Jesus die on the cross. Thus\, the two passages are brought together as prediction and fulfillment. \nSaint Ambrose in particular sees Mary as a sorrowful yet powerful figure at the cross. Mary stood fearlessly at the cross while others fled. Mary looked on her Son’s wounds with pity\, but saw in them the salvation of the world. As Jesus hung on the cross\, Mary did not fear to be killed\, but offered herself to her persecutors. \n\nReflection\nJohn’s account of Jesus’ death is highly symbolic. When Jesus gives the beloved disciple to Mary\, we are invited to appreciate Mary’s role in the Church: She symbolizes the Church; the beloved disciple represents all believers. As Mary mothered Jesus\, she is now mother to all his followers. Furthermore\, as Jesus died\, he handed over his Spirit. Mary and the Spirit cooperate in begetting new children of God—almost an echo of Luke’s account of Jesus’ conception. Christians can trust that they will continue to experience the caring presence of Mary and Jesus’ Spirit throughout their lives and throughout history.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/our-lady-of-sorrows/2017-09-15/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170914
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170915
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
CREATED:20170728T180928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T191447Z
UID:5328-1505347200-1505433599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Exaltation of the Holy Cross
DESCRIPTION:Image: The Exaltation of the True Cross | anonymous Russian icon painter\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nExaltation of the Holy Cross\nSaint of the Day for September 14\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nThe Story of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross\nEarly in the fourth century\, Saint Helena\, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine\, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ’s life. She razed the second-century Temple of Aphrodite\, which tradition held was built over the Savior’s tomb\, and her son built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher on that spot. During the excavation\, workers found three crosses. Legend has it that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch healed a dying woman. \nThe cross immediately became an object of veneration. At a Good Friday celebration in Jerusalem toward the end of the fourth century\, according to an eyewitness\, the wood was taken out of its silver container and placed on a table together with the inscription Pilate ordered placed above Jesus’ head: Then “all the people pass through one by one; all of them bow down\, touching the cross and the inscription\, first with their foreheads\, then with their eyes; and\, after kissing the cross\, they move on.” \nTo this day the Eastern Churches\, Catholic and Orthodox alike\, celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the September anniversary of the basilica’s dedication. The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians\, who had carried it off in 614\, 15 years earlier. According to the story\, the emperor intended to carry the cross back into Jerusalem himself\, but was unable to move forward until he took off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim. \n\nReflection\nThe cross is today the universal image of Christian belief. Countless generations of artists have turned it into a thing of beauty to be carried in procession or worn as jewelry. To the eyes of the first Christians\, it had no beauty. It stood outside too many city walls\, decorated only with decaying corpses\, as a threat to anyone who defied Rome’s authority—including Christians who refused sacrifice to Roman gods. Although believers spoke of the cross as the instrument of salvation\, it seldom appeared in Christian art unless disguised as an anchor or the Chi-Rho until after Constantine’s edict of toleration.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/exaltation-of-the-holy-cross/2017-09-14/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170913
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170914
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
CREATED:20170728T180926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T191346Z
UID:5327-1505260800-1505347199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint John Chrysostom
DESCRIPTION:Image: Chrysostemos | Carl Christian Peters\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint John Chrysostom\nSaint of the Day for September 13\n(c. 349 – September 14\, 407)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint John Chrysostom’s Story\nThe ambiguity and intrigue surrounding John\, the great preacher (his name means “golden-mouthed”) from Antioch\, are characteristic of the life of any great man in a capital city. Brought to Constantinople after a dozen years of priestly service in Syria\, John found himself the reluctant victim of an imperial ruse to make him bishop in the greatest city of the empire. Ascetic\, unimposing but dignified\, and troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a monk\, John became a bishop under the cloud of imperial politics. \nIf his body was weak\, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons\, his exegesis of Scripture\, were never without a point. Sometimes the point stung the high and mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours. \nHis lifestyle at the imperial court was not appreciated by many courtiers. He offered a modest table to episcopal sycophants hanging around for imperial and ecclesiastical favors. John deplored the court protocol that accorded him precedence before the highest state officials. He would not be a kept man. \nHis zeal led him to decisive action. Bishops who bribed their way into office were deposed. Many of his sermons called for concrete steps to share wealth with the poor. The rich did not appreciate hearing from John that private property existed because of Adam’s fall from grace any more than married men liked to hear that they were bound to marital fidelity just as much as their wives were. When it came to justice and charity\, John acknowledged no double standards. \nAloof\, energetic\, outspoken\, especially when he became excited in the pulpit\, John was a sure target for criticism and personal trouble. He was accused of gorging himself secretly on rich wines and fine foods. His faithfulness as spiritual director to the rich widow\, Olympia\, provoked much gossip attempting to prove him a hypocrite where wealth and chastity were concerned. His actions taken against unworthy bishops in Asia Minor were viewed by other ecclesiastics as a greedy\, uncanonical extension of his authority. \nTheophilus\, archbishop of Alexandria\, and Empress Eudoxia were determined to discredit John. Theophilus feared the growth in importance of the Bishop of Constantinople and took occasion to charge John with fostering heresy. Theophilus and other angered bishops were supported by Eudoxia. The empress resented his sermons contrasting gospel values with the excesses of imperial court life. Whether intended or not\, sermons mentioning the lurid Jezebel and impious Herodias were associated with the empress\, who finally did manage to have John exiled. He died in exile in 407. \n\nReflection\nJohn Chrysostom’s preaching\, by word and example\, exemplifies the role of the prophet to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. For his honesty and courage\, he paid the price of a turbulent ministry as bishop\, personal vilification\, and exile. \n\nSaint John Chrysostom is the Patron Saint of:\nOrators\nPreachers\nSpeakers
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-john-chrysostom/2017-09-13/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170912
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170913
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
CREATED:20170728T180924Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T191235Z
UID:5326-1505174400-1505260799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary
DESCRIPTION:Image: The Virgin and Child (The Madonna of the Rose) | Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMost Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary\nSaint of the Day for September 12\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nThe Story of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary\nThis feast is a counterpart to the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus; both have the possibility of uniting people easily divided on other matters. \nThe feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and in 1671 was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683\, John Sobieski\, king of Poland\, brought an army to the outskirts of Vienna to stop the advance of Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV of Constantinople. After Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary\, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims. Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the entire Church. \n\nReflection\nMary always points us to God\, reminding us of God’s infinite goodness. She helps us to open our hearts to God’s ways\, wherever those may lead us. Honored under the title “Queen of Peace\,” Mary encourages us to cooperate with Jesus in building a peace based on justice\, a peace that respects the fundamental human rights of all peoples.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/most-holy-name-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/2017-09-12/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170911
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170912
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
CREATED:20170728T180923Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T191134Z
UID:5325-1505088000-1505174399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Cyprian
DESCRIPTION:Image: Head Reliquary of Saint Cyprian in the St. Kornelius chapel of the abbey church of Kornelimünster Abbey in Kornelimünster | photo by ACBahn\nSaint Cyprian\nSaint of the Day for September 11\n(d. 258)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Cyprian’s Story\nCyprian is important in the development of Christian thought and practice in the third century\, especially in northern Africa. \nHighly educated\, a famous orator\, he became a Christian as an adult. He distributed his goods to the poor\, and amazed his fellow citizens by making a vow of chastity before his baptism. Within two years he had been ordained a priest and was chosen\, against his will\, as Bishop of Carthage. \nCyprian complained that the peace the Church had enjoyed had weakened the spirit of many Christians and had opened the door to converts who did not have the true spirit of faith. When the Decian persecution began\, many Christians easily abandoned the Church. It was their reinstatement that caused the great controversies of the third century\, and helped the Church progress in its understanding of the Sacrament of Penance. \nNovatus\, a priest who had opposed Cyprian’s election\, set himself up in Cyprian’s absence (he had fled to a hiding place from which to direct the Church—bringing criticism on himself) and received back all apostates without imposing any canonical penance. Ultimately he was condemned. Cyprian held a middle course\, holding that those who had actually sacrificed to idols could receive Communion only at death\, whereas those who had only bought certificates saying they had sacrificed could be admitted after a more or less lengthy period of penance. Even this was relaxed during a new persecution. \nDuring a plague in Carthage\, Cyprian urged Christians to help everyone\, including their enemies and persecutors. \nA friend of Pope Cornelius\, Cyprian opposed the following pope\, Stephen. He and the other African bishops would not recognize the validity of baptism conferred by heretics and schismatics. This was not the universal view of the Church\, but Cyprian was not intimidated even by Stephen’s threat of excommunication. \nHe was exiled by the emperor and then recalled for trial. He refused to leave the city\, insisting that his people should have the witness of his martyrdom. \nCyprian was a mixture of kindness and courage\, vigor and steadiness. He was cheerful and serious\, so that people did not know whether to love or respect him more. He waxed warm during the baptismal controversy; his feelings must have concerned him\, for it was at this time that he wrote his treatise on patience. Saint Augustine remarks that Cyprian atoned for his anger by his glorious martyrdom. \n\nReflection\nThe controversies about Baptism and Penance in the third century remind us that the early Church had no ready-made solutions from the Holy Spirit. The leaders and members of the Church of that day had to move painfully through the best series of judgments they could make in an attempt to follow the entire teaching of Christ and not be diverted by exaggerations to right or left. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Saint Cyprian is September 16.\n\nSaint Cyprian is the Patron Saint of:\nNorth Africa \n\nAnother Saint of the Day for September 11 is Saint Jean-Gabriel Perboyre.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-cyprian/2017-09-11/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170910
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170911
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
CREATED:20170728T180921Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T191036Z
UID:5324-1505001600-1505087999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Thomas of Villanova
DESCRIPTION:Image: Santo Tomás de Villanueva | Francisco Camilo\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Thomas of Villanova\nSaint of the Day for September 10\n(1488 – September 8\, 1555)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Thomas of Villanova’s Story\nSaint Thomas was from Castile in Spain and received his surname from the town where he was raised. He received a superior education at the University of Alcala and became a popular professor of philosophy there. \nAfter joining the Augustinian friars at Salamanca\, he was ordained and resumed his teaching–despite a continuing absentmindedness and poor memory. He became prior and then provincial of the friars\, sending the first Augustinians to the New World. He was nominated by the emperor to the archbishopric of Granada\, but refused. When the see again became vacant he was pressured to accept. The money his cathedral chapter gave him to furnish his house was given to a hospital instead. His explanation to them was that “our Lord will be better served by your money being spent on the poor in the hospital. What does a poor friar like myself want with furniture?” \nHe wore the same habit that he had received in the novitiate\, mending it himself. The canons and domestics were ashamed of him\, but they could not convince him to change. Several hundred poor came to Thomas’s door each morning and received a meal\, wine\, and money. When criticized because he was at times being taken advantage of\, he replied\, “If there are people who refuse to work\, that is for the governor and the police to deal with. My duty is to assist and relieve those who come to my door.” He took in orphans and paid his servants for every deserted child they brought to him. He encouraged the wealthy to imitate his example and be richer in mercy and charity than they were in earthly possessions. \nCriticized because he refused to be harsh or swift in correcting sinners\, he said\, “Let him (the complainer) inquire whether Saint Augustine and Saint John Chrysostom used anathemas and excommunication to stop the drunkenness and blasphemy which were so common among the people under their care.” \nAs he lay dying\, Thomas commanded that all the money he possessed be distributed to the poor. His material goods were to be given to the rector of his college. Mass was being celebrated in his presence when after Communion he breathed his last\, reciting the words: “Into your hands\, O Lord\, I commend my spirit.” \nThomas of Villanova was already called in his lifetime “the almsgiver” and “the father of the poor.” He was canonized in 1658. \n\nReflection\nThe absent-minded professor is a stock comic figure. Thomas of Villanova earned even more derisive laughs with his determined shabbiness and his willingness to let the poor who flocked to his door take advantage of him. He embarrassed his peers\, but Jesus was enormously pleased with him. We are often tempted to tend our image in others’ eyes without paying sufficient attention to how we look to Christ. Thomas still urges us to rethink our priorities. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Saint Thomas of Villanova is September 22.\n\nOther Saints of the Day for September 10 are Saint Pedro de Corpa and Companions.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-thomas-of-villanova/2017-09-10/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170909
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170910
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
CREATED:20170728T180919Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T190931Z
UID:5323-1504915200-1505001599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Peter Claver
DESCRIPTION:Image: Stained glass window in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene and St. Andrew in Dormagen in Rhein-Kreis Neuss (Nordrhein-Westfalen) | photo by GFreihalter\n\nSaint Peter Claver\nSaint of the Day for September 9\n(June 26\, 1581 – September 8\, 1654)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Peter Claver’s Story\nA native of Spain\, young Jesuit Peter Claver left his homeland forever in 1610 to be a missionary in the colonies of the New World. He sailed into Cartagena\, a rich port city washed by the Caribbean. He was ordained there in 1615. \nBy this time the slave trade had been established in the Americas for nearly 100 years\, and Cartagena was a chief center for it. Ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year after crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul and inhuman that an estimated one-third of the passengers died in transit. Although the practice of slave-trading was condemned by Pope Paul III and later labeled “supreme villainy” by Pius IX\, it continued to flourish. \nPeter Claver’s predecessor\, Jesuit Father Alfonso de Sandoval\, had devoted himself to the service of the slaves for 40 years before Claver arrived to continue his work\, declaring himself “the slave of the Negroes forever.” \nAs soon as a slave ship entered the port\, Peter Claver moved into its infested hold to minister to the ill-treated and exhausted passengers. After the slaves were herded out of the ship like chained animals and shut up in nearby yards to be gazed at by the crowds\, Claver plunged in among them with medicines\, food\, bread\, brandy\, lemons\, and tobacco. With the help of interpreters he gave basic instructions and assured his brothers and sisters of their human dignity and God’s love. During the 40 years of his ministry\, Claver instructed and baptized an estimated 300\,000 slaves. \nHis apostolate extended beyond his care for slaves. He became a moral force\, indeed\, the apostle of Cartagena. He preached in the city square\, gave missions to sailors and traders as well as country missions\, during which he avoided\, when possible\, the hospitality of the planters and owners and lodged in the slave quarters instead. \nAfter four years of sickness\, which forced the saint to remain inactive and largely neglected\, he died on September 8\, 1654. The city magistrates\, who had previously frowned at his solicitude for the black outcasts\, ordered that he should be buried at public expense and with great pomp. \nHe was canonized in 1888\, and Pope Leo XIII declared him the worldwide patron of missionary work among black slaves. \n\nReflection\nThe Holy Spirit’s might and power are manifested in the striking decisions and bold actions of Peter Claver. A decision to leave one’s homeland never to return reveals a gigantic act of will difficult for us to imagine. Peter’s determination to serve forever the most abused\, rejected\, and lowly of all people is stunningly heroic. When we measure our lives against such a man’s\, we become aware of our own barely used potential and of our need to open ourselves more to the jolting power of Jesus’ Spirit. \n\nSaint Peter Claver is the Patron Saint of:\nAfrican Americans\nAfrican Missions\nColombia\nComedians\nCommunication Workers\nInterracial Justice
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-peter-claver/2017-09-09/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170908
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170909
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
CREATED:20170728T180917Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T190739Z
UID:5322-1504828800-1504915199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
DESCRIPTION:Image: The Birth of the Virgin | fresco by Giotto\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary\nSaint of the Day for September 8\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nThe Story of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary\nThe Church has celebrated Mary’s birth since at least the sixth century. A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church begins its Church year with September. The September 8 date helped determine the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. \nScripture does not give an account of Mary’s birth. However\, the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This work has no historical value\, but it does reflect the development of Christian piety. According to this account\, Anna and Joachim are infertile but pray for a child. They receive the promise of a child that will advance God’s plan of salvation for the world. Such a story\, like many biblical counterparts\, stresses the special presence of God in Mary’s life from the beginning. \nSaint Augustine connects Mary’s birth with Jesus’ saving work. He tells the earth to rejoice and shine forth in the light of her birth. “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.” The opening prayer at Mass speaks of the birth of Mary’s Son as the dawn of our salvation and asks for an increase of peace. \n\nReflection\nWe can see every human birth as a call for new hope in the world. The love of two human beings has joined with God in his creative work. The loving parents have shown hope in a world filled with travail. The new child has the potential to be a channel of God’s love and peace to the world. \nThis is all true in a magnificent way in Mary. If Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s love\, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If Jesus has brought the fullness of salvation\, Mary is its dawning. \nBirthday celebrations bring happiness to the celebrant as well as to family and friends. Next to the birth of Jesus\, Mary’s birth offers the greatest possible happiness to the world. Each time we celebrate her birth\, we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts and in the world at large.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/nativity-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/2017-09-08/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170907
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170908
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
CREATED:20170728T180915Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170731T190825Z
UID:5321-1504742400-1504828799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Blessed Frédéric Ozanam
DESCRIPTION:Image: Blessed Frédéric Ozanam. Frontispiece from Complete Works of Frederic Ozanam\, Lecoffre editions\, Paris \, 1862 ( second edition ).\nBlessed Frédéric Ozanam\nSaint of the Day for September 7\n(April 23\, 1813 – September 8\, 1853)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nBlessed Frédéric Ozanam’s Story\nA man convinced of the inestimable worth of each human being\, Frédéric served the poor of Paris well and drew others into serving the poor of the world. Through the Saint Vincent de Paul Society\, which he founded\, his work continues to the present day. \nFrédéric was the fifth of Jean and Marie Ozanam’s 14 children\, one of only three to reach adulthood. As a teenager he began having doubts about his religion. Reading and prayer did not seem to help\, but long walking discussions with Father Noirot of the Lyons College clarified matters a great deal. \nFrédéric wanted to study literature\, although his father\, a doctor\, wanted him to become a lawyer. Frédéric yielded to his father’s wishes and in 1831 arrived in Paris to study law at the University of the Sorbonne. When certain professors there mocked Catholic teachings in their lectures\, Frédéric defended the Church. \nA discussion club which Frédéric organized sparked the turning point in his life. In this club\, Catholics\, atheists\, and agnostics debated the issues of the day. Once\, after Frédéric spoke about Christianity’s role in civilization\, a club member said: “Let us be frank\, Mr. Ozanam; let us also be very particular. What do you do besides talk to prove the faith you claim is in you?” \nFrédéric was stung by the question. He soon decided that his words needed a grounding in action. He and a friend began visiting Paris tenements and offering assistance as best they could. Soon a group dedicated to helping individuals in need under the patronage of Saint Vincent de Paul formed around Frédéric. \nFeeling that the Catholic faith needed an excellent speaker to explain its teachings\, Frédéric convinced the Archbishop of Paris to appoint Father Lacordaire\, the greatest preacher then in France\, to preach a Lenten series in Notre Dame Cathedral. It was well attended and became an annual tradition in Paris. \nAfter Frédéric earned his law degree at the Sorbonne\, he taught law at the University of Lyons. He also earned a doctorate in literature. Soon after marrying Amelie Soulacroix on June 23\, 1841\, he returned to the Sorbonne to teach literature. A well-respected lecturer\, Frédéric worked to bring out the best in each student. Meanwhile\, the Saint Vincent de Paul Society was growing throughout Europe. Paris alone counted 25 conferences. \nIn 1846\, Frédéric\, Amelie\, and their daughter Marie went to Italy; there he hoped to restore his poor health. They returned the next year. The revolution of 1848 left many Parisians in need of the services of the Saint Vincent de Paul conferences. The unemployed numbered 275\,000. The government asked Frédéric and his coworkers to supervise the government aid to the poor. Vincentians throughout Europe came to the aid of Paris. \nFrédéric then started a newspaper\, The New Era\, dedicated to securing justice for the poor and the working classes. Fellow Catholics were often unhappy with what Frédéric wrote. Referring to the poor man as “the nation’s priest\,” Frédéric said that the hunger and sweat of the poor formed a sacrifice that could redeem the people’s humanity \nIn 1852\, poor health again forced Frédéric to return to Italy with his wife and daughter. He died on September 8\, 1853. In his sermon at Frédéric’s funeral\, Lacordaire described his friend as “one of those privileged creatures who came direct from the hand of God in whom God joins tenderness to genius in order to enkindle the world.” \nFrédéric was beatified in 1997. Since Frédéric wrote an excellent book entitled Franciscan Poets of the Thirteenth Century and since his sense of the dignity of each poor person was so close to the thinking of Saint Francis\, it seemed appropriate to include him among Franciscan “greats.” \n\nReflection\nFrédéric Ozanam always respected the poor while offering whatever service he could. Each man\, woman\, and child was too precious to live in poverty. Serving the poor taught Frédéric something about God that he could not have learned elsewhere. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam is September 9.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/blessed-frederic-ozanam/2017-09-07/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170906
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170907
DTSTAMP:20260403T141237
CREATED:20170728T180914Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170825T171812Z
UID:5320-1504656000-1504742399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Blessed Claudio Granzotto
DESCRIPTION:Image: Blessed Claudio Granzotto | photo by Infovalli It | flickr\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBlessed Claudio Granzotto\nSaint of the Day for September 6\n(August 23\, 1900 – August 15\, 1947)\n\n\n\n\nClick to hear audio clip ►\n\n\n\n\nBlessed Claudio Granzotto’s Story\nBorn in Santa Lucia del Piave near Venice\, Claudio was the youngest of nine children and was accustomed to hard work in the fields. At the age of 9\, he lost his father. Six years later\, he was drafted into the Italian army\, where he served more than three years. \nHis artistic abilities\, especially in sculpture\, led to studies at Venice’s Academy of Fine Arts\, which awarded him a diploma with the highest marks in 1929. Even then he was especially interested in religious art. When Claudio entered the Friars Minor four years later\, his parish priest wrote\, “The Order is receiving not only an artist but a saint.” Prayer\, charity to the poor\, and artistic work characterized his life which was cut short by a brain tumor. He died on the feast of the Assumption\, August 15\, 1947 and was beatified in 1994. \n\nReflection\nClaudio developed into such an excellent sculptor that his work still turns people toward God. No stranger to adversity\, he met every obstacle courageously\, reflecting the generosity\, faith\, and joy that he learned from Francis of Assisi. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Blessed Claudio Granzotto is March 23.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/blessed-claudio-granzotto/2017-09-06/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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