All posts by Vicki Scheenstra

Vicki Scheenstra is a former Catholic Bookstore owner and has been active in Catholic Education.
Faith, patron saints, Saint of the Day, Visionary

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Lydwina, Feast Day April 14

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St. Lydwina
St. Lydwina

 

The feast day of St. Lydwina is celebrated on April 14.   St. Lydwina is the patron saint of ice skaters and the chronically ill.

 

St. Lydwina was born in Schiedam, Holland into a family of nine children in 1380. While still young she developed a devotion to Our Lady of Schiedam. While ice skating one day she injured herself, breaking several ribs. Gangrene set into the wounds she had received and spread throughout her body. She was bedridden for the rest of her life suffering from various illnesses.

St. Lydwina offered all of her suffering to Jesus on the cross. She experience mystical gifts including vision of heaven, hell and purgatory. She received apparitions of Christ and bore the stigmata. Many miracles occurred at her bedside.

In one vision she saw a rosebush with the words

“When this shall be in bloom your suffering will be at an end.”

In the spring of 1433 she exclaimed,

“I see the rose bush in full bloom!”

Easter morning, 1433, she had a vision of Christ giving her the Last Rites.

St. Lydwina died on April 14, 1433.  Her grave became a site for pilgrims to visit and a chapel was built there. She was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1890.

 

I commend myself to the prayers of yourself and your friends, so that Christ, the source of all pity, may design to wash me clean in the water of His mercy.

Quote of St. Bernard; Feast day August 20

 

April is the Month of the Eucharist

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Faith, Martyr, Pope, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Martin I, Feast Day April 13

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St. Martin I
St. Martin I

The feast day of St. Martin I is celebrated on April 13.

St. Martin was born in Tuscany, Italy in 316. He became a deacon serving in Rome. In the year 649 he was chosen as the 74th pope.

Pope Martin  called the Lateran Council which condemned the heresy of Monothelitism, which claims Christ had no human will. The Lateran Council explained the two natures of Christ: both human and divine. This position put him in opposition to Paul the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Pope Martin was kidnapped while he was sick from the Lateran Basilica. He was tortured and imprisoned. He was condemned to death but at the last moment he was saved from execution by the repentance of the Patriarch. He was imprisoned instead and then exiled to an island which was suffering from a famine.

Pope Martin  soon died in 655 from the effects of the torture and imprisonment. Pope Martin I is  last martyred Pope.

 

The trees stand as though dead, but these, though lifeless in the winter, are green in the spring, for God, knowing your disbelief, each year effects a resurrection in these visible things, that seeing what occurs in inanimate creatures, you may believe concerning the animate rational beings.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem; Feast day March 18

 

April is the Month of the Eucharist

Carmelite Saints, Faith, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Teresa of Los Andes, Feast Day April 12

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St. Teresa of Los Andes
St. Teresa of Los Andes

The feast day of St. Teresa of Los Andes is celebrated on April 12.

St. Teresa of Los Andes was born in Santiago, Chile in 1900. Her name at birth was Juana Enriqueta Josephina. She had three brothers and two sisters. As a child she was proud and strong willed. However, at the age of ten as she studied for her first communion she was transformed into a pious child.She acquired Apostolic zeal speaking out about her love of Christ.

At the age of 14, St. Teresa decided  to become a Carmelite nun. She entered into the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Los Andes on May 7, 1919, taking the name Teresa of Jesus. She was inspired by St. Therese of Lisieux.

St. Teresa of Los Andes

The Lord revealed to her that she would die at a young age. One month before her death she told her confessor that she would soon die. She contracted typhus at the age of twenty before taking her final vows. During her life she wrote many letters sharing her spiritual life with people. St. Theresa died in 1920 during Holy Week at the age of 10. She is Chile’s first saint.

St. Teresa was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.

 

We live for Jesus alone. Just as the angels in heaven incessantly sing His praises, so does a Carmelite echo those praises here on earth, whether near to the tabernacle where God who is Love lives imprisoned, or in the intimate depths of her soul’s heaven, where faith tells her God dwells. Our vocation’s objective is love, the greatest thing a human heart can possess. This love is a bonfire where the soul is consumed and made one with her God. That blazing fire permits nothing to stand in its path … How beautiful our vocation is!

Quote of St. Teresa of Los Andes

 

April is the Month of the Eucharist.

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Faith

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Marguerite d’Youville, Feast Day April 11

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St. Marguerite d'Youville
St. Marguerite d’Youville

The feast day of St. Marguerite d’Youville is celebrated on April 11.

St. Marguerite d’Youville was born in Quebec on October 15, 1701. She studied under the Ursulines and married Francois d’Youville in 1722. Her husband died in 1730 leaving her poor with six children. Four of her six children died in infancy. She educated her two sons to become priests. To pay off the debt her husband had left she opened a dry goods store.

In 1727, she and three other women founded the Sisters of Charity becoming known as the Grey Nuns. They fought for the rights of the poor, caring for the homeless, sick and destitute. She also became the Directress of General Hospital in Montreal.

St. Marguerite d’Youville died on Dec. 23. 1771. Pope John Paul II canonized her on Dec. 9, 1990 calling her the Mother of Universal Charity. Over 3000 women belong to the Grey Nuns today.

 

Sacrifices are the flowers Jesus and Mary chose.

Quote of St. Bernadette; Feast day April 16

 

April is the Month of the Eucharist.



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Faith, patron saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Michael de Sanctis, Feast Day April 10

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St. Michael de Sanctis
St. Michael de Sanctis

The feast day of St. Michael de Sanctis is celebrated on April 10.  He is the patron saint of cancer patients.

St. Michael was born in Catalina, Spain in 1591. At the age of six he declared to his parents that he would become a monk. In fact, he imitated St. Francis of Assisi with such zeal that his parents had to restrain him. His parents died, leaving him an orphan. He worked as an apprentice to a merchant.

In 1603 at the age of twelve, Michael joined the Trinitarian Friars of Barcelona. Soon after he was given permission to join the reformed group of Trinitarians which observed a stricter rule. He was ordained a priest and served as Superior of the house in Valladolid. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and was known for experiencing ecstasies during the consecration of the host during Mass.

St. Michael died at the age of 35 in 1625. Many miracles were attributed to him at the time of his death. He was known for his holiness and enthusiasm for a life of prayer. He is often shown in art as kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament.

St. Pope Pius IX canonized St. Michael de Sanctis on June 8, 1862.

 

Joy, with peace, is the sister of charity.  Serve the Lord with laughter.

St. Padre Pio; Feast day Sept. 23

 

April is the Month of the Eucharist.

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Faith, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Mary of Cleophas, Feast Day April 9

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St. Mary of Cleophas
St. Mary of Cleophas

The feast day of St. Mary of Cleophas is celebrated on April 9.

Three women stayed near Jesus on the day of the Crucifixion. St. Mary of Cleophas was one of these fearless women. She is believed to be the mother of St. James the Less and the wife of Cleophas. It is possible that she was the sister in law to the Bl. Virgin Mary, as Cleophas is believed to be the brother to St. Joseph.

Many legends surround St. Mary of Cleophas. One such legend says that Mary of Cleophas was put on a boat with others by the Jews in the year 47 and pushed out to sea without oars. She died in France. After her miraculously safe journey from Jerusalem she landed on an Island which is now named les Saintes-Maries- de-la-Mer (The Holy Marys of the Sea).   It was named after St. Mary of Cleophas, St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Mary Salome.

The Gospel of John 19:25 states: “meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

While it is uncertain how Mary of Cleophas is related to Jesus, there is no doubt that she was one of his disciples. She was present with the Virgin Mary at the time of his death. In a time of grave danger she showed great love and compassion for Our Lord. Each of us needs to have the courage of St. Mary of Cleophas as we try to be Christian disciples.

 

Let us meet at the foot of the cross, where we will find strength and courage.

Quote of St. Bernadette; Feast day April 16

 

April is the Month of the Eucharist.

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