Category Archives: patron saints

Dominican Saints, patron saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Rose of Lima, Feast Day August 23

Quote August 23, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

St. Rose of Lima Public Domain Image — St. Rose of Lima

The feast day of St. Rose of Lima is celebrated on August 23. She is the first saint of the Americas and known as the First Flower of America and the Patroness of the New World. She is the patron saint of florists and gardeners.

St. Rose was born in April 1586 in Lima, Peru to Oliva and Gaspar Flores. She was the 7th of 11 children. Her birth name was Isabel. However, her mother and friends witnessed a mystical rose descend from the air and light on her face while she was just an infant. From then on she was called Rose.

Rose clearly had a religious calling from an early age. After reading about St. Catherine of Siena, she decided to imitate her. She fasted at least 3 times a week. She found ways to do penance and offer her suffering for the good of others. She understood redemptive suffering from an early age. When given praise for her beauty, she cut her hair and disfigured her face by rubbing it with pepper. She was also know for placing thorns under the garland of roses she wore in her hair to remind her of the crown of thorns Jesus wore.

St. Rose wished to enter the convent. However, her parents refused to let her. Finally, after ten years of struggle and refusal to marry she became a Third Order Dominican. She lived in her home just as St. Catherine of Siena did. St. Rose received the Blessed Sacrament daily and lived her life in silence and seclusion, enjoying the family garden.

St. Rose suffered from arthritis and asthma. She was also disturbed by spiritual dreams. Her friend Brother Martin de Porres reassured her that her visions were from God. During the last three years of her life, St. Rose began caring for the elderly and sick. she used a room in the house in which she lived.

During the inquisition, St. Rose faced an examination. They found her to be in God’s favor in the midst of suffering.

At the age of 31 St. Rose came down with a high fever. She died from the fever and paralysis. A multitude of people attended her funeral.

St. Rose was canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671.

Without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. The gift of grace increases as the struggle increases.

Quote of St. Rose of Lima

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

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Faith, Franciscan Saints, Martyr, patron saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Feast Day August 14

Quote August 13, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

St. Maximilian Kolbe Public Domain Image — St. Maximilian Kolbe

The feast day of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe is celebrated on August 14. He was born in Poland in 1894. His father ran a religious book store before enlisting in the army. His mother later became a Benedictine Nun. St. Maximilian is the patron saint of drug addicts, prisoners, families, and the pro life movement.

At the young age of 12, Maximilian experienced a vision from the Virgin Mary.

“That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.”

Maximilian entered the minor seminary of the Conventual Franciscans in Lviv (formerly Poland, now the Ukraine) becoming a novice at 16. He studied science as well as philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest at the age of 24. His mission was to fight against indifference towards God. He founded the Militia of the Immaculata which fought evil and promoted prayer, work and suffering. He became known as the Apostle of Consecration to Mary.

When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, Kolbe and his friars were arrested and then released after 3 months on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

He was arrested a second time in 1941. After three months a prisoner escaped and ten men were ordered to be executed. St. Maximilian Kolbe offered to take the place of a man about to be executed. When asked who he was he replied ” a priest”. The commandant allowed the exchange. He was stripped naked and given no food. The prisoners sang. On the eve of the Feast of the Assumption the jailer came to inject the remaining prisoners with a needle with carbolic acid. The bodies of the prisoners were burned.

Maximilian Kolbe was canonized in 1982.

No one in the world can alter the truth, all we can do is seek it and live it.

Quote of St. Maximilian Kolbe

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

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Benedictine Saints, patron saints, Saint of the Day, Spirituality

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Benedict, Feast Day July 11

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Lawrence, Feast Day August 10

Quote August 9, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

St. Lawrence of Rome Public Domain Image — St. Lawrence of Rome
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The feast day of St. Lawrence is celebrated on August 10. St. Lawrence is the patron saint of deacons, librarians, and the poor.

St. Lawrence served as a deacon in Rome in the third century. He was a disciple of Pope Sixtus II (251-258). The Pope chose him as one of seven deacons to serve in Rome. He eventually became an archdeacon. As archdeacon of Rome he served at the altar with the Pope and was his assistant serving the poor.

During the reign of Emperor Valerion in 258 he was arrested. While in prison it is believed that St. Lawrence cured a blind man named Lucillus and several other blind people. Because he refused to cooperate with his captors he was martyred. He was roasted alive on a gridiron. St. Lawrence died joyfully proclaiming his faith. He prayed for the conversion of the city of Rome and the world.

Before his death St. Lawrence remarked;

“At last I am finished; you may now take from me and eat!”

He then turned to God in prayer saying,

“I thank You, O Lord; that I am permitted to enter Your portals.”

My body is well done.

Turn it over;

it is roasted enough on that side.

Quote of St. Lawrence

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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Carmelite Saints, Martyr, patron saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Edith Stein, Feast Day August 9

August 8, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

St. Edith Stein Public Domain Image — St. Edith Stein
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The feast day of St. Edith Stein is celebrated on Aug. 9. St. Edith Stein was also known as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She is the patron saint of loss of parents and converts. Edith Stein was born in Breslav, Germany on Oct. 12, 1891. She was the youngest of a large Jewish family. Her father ran a timber business but he died when she was only two years old. Her mother was hard working and devout. Edith, however, lost her faith when she was in her teens.

Edith studied at the University of Breslav where she studied German and history as well as philosophy and women’s issues. She considered herself a radical suffragette. When World War I began she completed a course in nursing and served in an Austrian field hospital, caring for wounded soldiers. After the war she received her degree, writing her thesis on “The problem of Empathy.”

Witnessing a person kneeling for a brief prayer while holding a shopping basket in the Frankfurt Cathedral Edith had a great impact on her faith. In 1917, Edith visited a widow who had converted to Protestantism. It was during this visit that she was introduced to the cross of Christ. Edith began reading the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. She then read the Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. St. Teresa described God not as a God of knowledge but as a God of Love. Edith decided to study the Catholic Catechism. Soon after she decided to become Catholic. She was baptized on Jan. 1, 1922.

St. Edith felt called into the Carmelite way of life but decided to wait. She accepted a position teaching German and history at a Dominican Sister’s school. She also translated the letters and diaries of Cardinal Newman. Edith joined the Carmelite Convent of Cologne at the age of 42. She took the name Teresa, Benedicta Cruce; Teresa of the Cross. She believed it was her vocation to intercede for others through prayer. As a Carmelite she wrote several books, including The Science of the Cross.

Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was arrested by the Gestapo on Aug 2, 1931 while she was in the chapel. She was taken with other Jewish Christians to Amersfoort and then to Westerbork. They were then deported to Auschwitz. On Aug. 9, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross died in the gas chamber of Auschwitz at the age of 51. She was canonized as a martyr by Pope John Paul II.

If we place our hands of the divine Child,

if we say “Yes” to the “Follow me”,

then we are His, and the way is free

for His divine life to flow into us.

Quote of St. Edith Stein

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Dominican Saints, Faith, patron saints, Prayer, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Dominic, Feast Day August 8

Quote August 7, 2016 Vicki Scheenstra Leave a comment

The feast day of St. Dominic is celebrated on August 8th. He was born in 1170 to Felix Guzman and Blessed Joan of Aza in Caleruega, Spain. After studying at the University at Palencia he was ordained a priest at the age of 25. St. Dominic was known for self-denial, holiness, piety and apostolic zeal. He refused to eat meat or sleep on a bed. He also renounced wealth. Because of his love of learning and teaching, St. Dominic is known as the patron of astronomers.

In 1215. St. Dominic founded an order of Dominican Nuns. Their mission was to care for young girls. This was followed by the founding of the Order of Preachers, which became known as the Dominicans. The purpose of the order was to preach the Word of God. They were also known as the “Black Friars”. The rule followed the Rule of St. Augustine. Their focus was on liturgical prayer and lifelong study.

The primary heresy the Dominicans preached against was Albigensianism. This was the belief that there are two dueling principles, good and evil, and that all matter was regarded as evil. They also taught that the devil is the creator of the material world.

A devotion which St. Dominic helped to spread is the Rosary. a Marian devotion, which combines meditation on the life of Christ, with memorized prayer. Tradition tells us that when Dominic became discouraged with the slow progress of his work of preaching against the Abligensian heresy, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him with a beautiful wreath of roses. She asked him to say the Rosary every day and to teach the people to say the Rosary. Soon the heresy began to disappear. The devotion of the rosary continues today.

After forming his order Dominic had a dream vision in which he met another person, a beggar. The next day, Dominic recognized this man when he came into his church. It was St. Francis of Assisi the future founder of the Franciscan Order. Dominic embraced him saying,

“You are my companion and must walk with me. For if we hold together, no earthly power can withstand us.”

St. Dominic and St. Francis were lifelong friends. Their orders celebrate their meeting on the feast day of their saint.

The motto of St. Dominic is: “To praise, to bless, to preach”. St. Dominic once said;

“Arm yourself with prayer, rather than a sword; wear humility rather than fine clothes.”

St. Dominic died on August 6, 1221 from a fever. St. Dominic was canonized on July 13, 1234, by Pope Gregory IX, three years following his death. Pope Gregory said that he no more doubted the sanctity of St. Dominic, than he did that of St. Peter and St. Paul.

Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you

after my death and I shall help you then

more effectively than during my life.

Quote of St. Dominic

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

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The Mystery of Faith

Category Archives: patron saints

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Rose of Lima, Feast Day August 23

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Feast Day August 14

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Benedict, Feast Day July 11

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Lawrence, Feast Day August 10

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Edith Stein, Feast Day August 9

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Dominic, Feast Day August 8

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