The feast day of Bl. Herman the Cripple is celebrated on September 25. He is the patron saint of the unborn child and the disabled.
Bl. Herman was the son of the Earl of Altshausen in southern Germany. He was born with a cleft palate, cerebral palsy and possibly spina bifida. The doctors told his parents he would not live past five years of age. He lived to be 41.
Herman had trouble with both moving and speaking. His parents cared for him until the age of seven. He was then given to the Abbey of Reichenau to be cared for. The monks raised him in the Benedictine monastery where he became interested in theology and the spiritual world. In spite of his disabilities, Bl. Herman was very intelligent. He studied math, astronomy, theology, history, poetry , Arabic, Greek and Latin. He built musical instruments and was known for his poetry. At the age of 20 Herman became a Benedictine monk.
Towards the end of his life Herman suffered from blindness. He began writing hymns. The most famous are the Salve Regina, Hail Holy Queen and Redemptoris Mater. Bl. Herman used prayer and music to grow closer to God.
Bl. Herman died at the age of 41 in 1054. Because so many children with disabilities die because of abortion, Bl. Herman is the saint of the unborn child. He is also the patron saint of the disabled.
Hail Holy Queen
Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! Our life, our sweetness, and our hope!
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this, our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
The feast day of St. Joseph of Cupertino is celebrated on September 18. St. Joseph of Cupertino is the patron saint of air travelers, pilots, astronauts, and those with learning disabilities.
St. Joseph of Cupertino was born on June 17, 1603 in Puglia, Italy. His father died before he was born leaving his mother destitute. He was born in a stable. As a child he was a slow learner, probably having a learning disability. When he was 17 he was denied acceptance to the Order of the Friars Minor Conventuals due to lack of an education. He was however, accepted into the Capuchins at Martino near Cupertino. He gardened, tended the animals and worked in the kitchen.
Because of his learning disabilities St. Joseph could only study small amounts of material at a time. He then prayed to remember the material for the test. St. Joseph was ordained in 1628.
St. Joseph was a mystic with the gift of miraculous levitation and visions. Anything religious could cause him to levitate. During prayer he was known for his ecstasies and suddenly levitating. The first time levitation occurred was on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4 1630. During the procession he suddenly rose into the sky and hovered over the crowd. He was so embarrassed he fled and hid. The levitation happened so often he earned the title “The Flying Saint”.
The most famous act of levitation occurred while he was in the presence of Pope Urban VIII. He was filled with reverence and immediately was lifted into the air. During the Inquisition he was confined for several weeks but released. Crowds tried to meet him until he was place in seclusion…unable to speak to anyone other than the bishop the vicar general of the Order, his fellow friars and a doctor if needed.
After his death on Sept. 18, 1663, great crowds of people attended his funeral. Pope Clement XIII canonized St. Joseph of Cupertino on July 16, 1767.
A movie has been made of his life named A Reluctant Saint. St. Joseph of Cupertino is the patron saint of air travelers, pilots, astronauts, and those with learning disabilities.
“The fullness of joy is to behold God in everything.”
Quote of St. Catherine of Genoa; Feast day September 15
The feast day of St. John Chrysostom is celebrated on September 13.
St. John was born to Christian parents about the year 344. After studying law he became a deacon and was ordained a priest. He served as a priest in Syria for 12 years before becoming Bishop of Constantinople. St. John Chrysostom is the patron saint of preachers, speakers and epilepsy.
St. John was known for his powerful sermons. He believed in the need to help the poor and wanted the wealthy to be generous with their money. This was not appreciated by all who listened to him.
In 403 he was charged with heresy and sent into temporary exile. He was recalled and then exiled permanently. He died on Sept. 14, 407 while marching in the hot sun. His last words were:
“Glory to God for all things.”
St. John Chrysostom (which means golden mouthed) has been given the title of Doctor of the Eucharist for his preaching on the belief in the Real Presence. He is considered one of the four great doctors of the Eastern Church along with St. Athanasius, St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Basil
The feast day of St. Nicholas of Tolentino is celebrated on September 10. He is the patron saint of the souls in purgatory and the dying.
The parents of St. Nicholas were childless when they visited the Shrine of St. Nicholas of Myrna at Bari, Italy. The year after praying for a child they became parents. They named their child Nicholas in gratitude for their prayer being answered.
At the age of 18, Nicholas became an Augustinian monk. He was ordained a priest at 25. St. Nicholas was known for his visions and gift of miracles. He received a vision of angels reciting the phrase “to Tolentino”. He decided to move to Tolentino in 1274 where he lived the rest of his life.
St. Nicholas was a peacemaker during a time of war. He was also a miracle worker and healer. He often visited prisoners and was known for his kindness.
Once after becoming ill, he had a vision in which the Virgin Mary, St. Augustineand St. Monica appeared to him. They told him to eat a certain type of roll dipped in water. He was healed after doing so. He then began healing others by giving bread to them and reciting Marian prayers. The rolls become known as St. Nicholas Bread.
Many legends and miracles are credited to St. Nicholas. Over 300 miracles have been recognized.
After a long illness in which he became bedridden and suffered greatly, St. Nicholas died in 1245, surrounded by his community.
St. Nicholas of Tolentino was canonized by Pope Eugene IV in 1446.
There is no sin or wrong that gives a man a foretast of hell in this life as anger and impatience.
Quote of St. Catherine of Sienna; Feast day April 29
The feast day of St. Peter Claver is celebrated on September 9. He is the patron saint of African missions.
St. Peter Claver was born at Verdu, Catalonia, Spain in 1580. He entered the Jesuit college of Barcelona, becoming a Jesuit novitiate, taking his final vows on Aug 8, 1604.
St. Peter Claver left his homeland to become a missionary in the colonies of the new world. He ministered to the slaves arriving daily in Cartagena (now Columbia). Over a thousand slaves arrived in Cartagena every month. He brought them food, ministered to their medical needs and prayed with them. He followed them to the plantation they were taken to. St. Peter Claver declared himself to be the “slave of the Negroes forever.”
After instructing them in the faith, he baptized them. By 1651 he had baptized over 300,000 slaves into the faith.
After suffering from illness for four years, St. Peter Claver died on Sept. 8, 1654.
St. Peter Claver has been declared the patron saint of African Missions.
“Seek God in all things and you shall find God by your side.”
The feast day of St. Regina is celebrated on September 7. She was born in Alise, France. Her mother died at childbirth. Regina’s father was a prominent man who was a pagan. He hired a Christian nurse to raise Regina. While Regina was quite young the nurse secretly baptized Regina.
St. Regina became more and more religious as she grew older. When her father learned that she had been baptized, he disowned her. She lived with her nurse and worked in the fields to earn money. She also tended sheep. While working, she meditated on the love and mercy of God.
When Regina was 15 years old, the prefect of Gaul named Olybrius noticed Regina and became determined to marry her. He was unhappy that she was a Christian. Olybrius tried to convince her to deny her faith but she not only refused but proclaimed her faith even louder. Olybrius then had her imprisoned. She was chained to the walls of the cell with an iron belt. After she still refused to deny her faith, she was whipped and scourged. Finally she was beheaded. She died in the year 286. Many were converted after seeing a solitary dove hover over her during the torture.
The relics of St. Regina are enshrined in Flavigini Abbey where many miracles have since occurred.
St. Regina is honored as a martyr for the faith. She is the patron saint against poverty and for victims of abuse.
If the moon is beautiful as it reflects the light of the sun at so great a distance, what will be the beauty of the saints, who for all eternity and not at a distance, will reflect the divine image of God!
The feast day of St. Teresa of Calcutta is celebrated on September 5. On September 4, 2016 Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa, proclaiming her a saint.
Mother Teresa was beatified on October 19, 2003, after confirmation of her first miracle. The miracle was reported that a woman who had a large and very visible tumor, had stayed with the Missionaries of Charity. After she and the Sisters had prayed for Mother Teresa’s intercession, the growth, six to seven inches in length, had disappeared within several hours. Finding no other medical explanation for the sudden cure it was declared her first miracle. Over 3500 other reports are being investigated as possible miracles.
After accepting a second miracle, Pope Francis cleared the way for Mother Teresa to be declared a saint. Pope Francis signed a decree declaring that the inexplicable 2008 recovery of a Brazilian man who suddenly woke from a coma caused by a viral brain infection was due to the intercession of the Albanian nun, who died in 1997.
The Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator spearheading Mother Teresa’s canonization case, stated that the man fully recovered following his wife’s prayers and he has since returned to work as a mechanical engineer. The couple also have had two children.
Mother Teresa, as the world knows her, was born to parents Nikola and Drana Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1916 in Skopje of Macedonia and named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was baptized on August 17, 1910 in Macedonia. She was the third child in her family, following sister Aga and a brother, Lazar. Her father, Nikola died, when she was eight years old. Her father was a traveler, an extrovert, and a businessman who spoke five languages. Her mother, Drana, was extremely pious, adopting several orphans. She was known as Gonxha (pronounced gon’KHA) which means “flower bud”.
Gonxha desired early to become a missionary. At the age of eighteen, she joined the Sisters of Loreto. Here she took the name of Sister Mary Teresa after St. Therese of Lisieux. She was sent to Calcutta, India to teach at St. Mary’s High School for Girls, which was run by the Sisters of Loreto. On May 24, 1937, she took her final Profession of Vows to a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. She then became known as Mother Teresa. In 1944, she became principal of the school.
While on a train, she received a second calling. Christ spoke to her, asking her to work in the slums of Calcutta, caring for the sickest and poorest of the people. Pursuing this calling changed her life forever. In one year, she received approval to do the work she was being called to do. After six months of basic medical training she went to the slums to aid the needy and dying. Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity with 12 members, most of them students from St. Mary’s. She established a leper colony, an orphanage, a mission house, and several health clinics. In 1971, Mother Teresa visited New York City, where she opened a soup kitchen and a home to care for HIV/AIDS sufferers. In 1979, she received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1983, Mother Teresa suffered her first heart attack. After suffering from lung, kidney and heart problems for several years, she died on Sept. 5, 1997 at the age or 87. At the time of her death her Missionaries of Charity numbered over 4,000. She had 610 foundations in 123 countries.
In 2003, Mother Teresa’s private correspondence revealed she had experienced a “dark night of the soul”… feeling abandoned by God and lacking in faith. This lasted unusually long; for fifty years. Many saints have experienced such feelings, described by John of the Cross, in his book Dark Night of the Soul. She was filled with loneliness, and torture, due to this lack of consolation from God.
Mother Teresa is known for saying,
“The greatest poverty in the world, among the affluent, as well as the poorest of the poor, is to be unloved, unwanted, and uncared for.”
The world did not know that she spoke from her own experience.
There are many books written about Mother Teresa and her great love and service to the world. The following is one of my favorite quotes.
Suffering is a sign that we have come so close to Jesus on the cross that He can kiss us; that He can show that He is in love with us by giving us an opportunity to share in His Passion.
The feast day of St. Gregory the Great is celebrated on September 3.
St. Gregory the Great was born in Rome, Italy around the year 550. He was born into a wealthy family. By the age of 23, he had become the prefect of Rome. The following year his father died. He decided to leave office and to become a monk. St. Gregory is the patron saint of musicians, students, singer and teachers.
St. Gregory turned his family home into a monastery which he dedicated to St. Andrew. He built six other monasteries on family land in Sicily and gave the remainder of his inheritance to the poor. As a monk he devoted time to prayer, study and meditation. He studied the writings of the Latin fathers.
After four years of prayer as a monk, Pope Pelagius II ordained Gregory a deacon and sent him to Constantinople. He returned to Rome in 586 to serve Pope Pelagius until his death four years later.
Although Gregory was only a deacon he was elected Pope by popular acclaim. His first act was to organize a three day penitential procession asking God to end the plague. The plague ended after the procession reached the church of St. Mary Major.
As pope, Gregory negotiated for peace when the Lombards threatened Rome.
Over sixty of Pope Gregory’s sermons have survived, as well as over 80 letters he wrote. He organized the liturgy and is given credit for the Gregorian Chant becoming popular.
Pope Gregory was well known for his compassion. During a famine Pope Gregory ordered the church to use its assets to feed the poor. He also ordered the clergy to go into the streets to help the poor. If they did not they were replaced.
While Pope Gregory considered the Bishop of Rome to be the first among the bishops he also considered bishops to be equal. Pope Gregory considered the Bishop of Rome to be likened to a final court of appeal. He referred to himself as “the servant of the servants of God.”
Pope Gregory suffered from arthritis in his later years. Pope Gregory was acclaimed a saint by popular decree. St. Gregory the Great died on March 12, 604.
For it was not poverty that led Lazarus to heaven, but humility; nor was it wealth that prevented the rich man from attaining eternal rest, but rather his egoism and his infidelity.
The feast day of St. Giles the Abbot is celebrated on September 1. St. Giles is the patron saint of the mentally ill, the disabled, epileptics, childhood fears, and depression.
St. Giles was born into a noble family in Athens, Greece in the seventh century. After the death of his parents, he distributed his inheritance to the poor. He also became known for the gift of miracles and healing he had received. Giles longed to live a life of solitude, serving God as a recluse, away from all the praise and fame of the world.
He left Greece, sailing for France. Everywhere he lived he became known for his gift of miracles and healing. He would have to flee once again to find a place to live in peace and solitude. He first lived near the mouth of the Rhone River. Later he lived near the river Gard and finally he lived in the diocese of Nimes. His final dwelling place was deep in the forest in a cavern in a rock. He occupied his time in prayer, praising God and meditating. He was a vegetarian, living on herbs and roots. His only companion was a red deer, which provided him with milk to drink.
After several years of living in complete solitude, the King of France instituted a great hunt near where Giles lived. The hunters chased the deer which led them to the cave where Giles lived. They shot an arrow into the cave, wounding the holy hermit. They found him covered with blood with the deer lying at his feet. When the king was told what had happened, he ordered him taken care of. He came to see him offering him gifts. St. Giles refused the gifts and the King’s request to leave his solitude. Before leaving the king asked if there was anything he could do for him, St. Giles said he would like a monastery built where they were standing.
St. Giles became the Abbot of the monastery which was soon built. Several disciples joined him. His fame continued to spread because of his gift of miracles. The conversion of the King was one of these miracles.
St. Giles made a pilgrimage to Rome to see the Pope. He requested a blessing for his community which embraced the Rule of St. Benedict. Not only did he receive a blessing but he received the gift of two beautifully carved doors of cedar wood for his church.
Many sinners were converted because of the prayers and miracles of St. Giles. St. Giles died on September 1, 725. The miracles which took place near his tomb were so many that soon after his death a town began to grown and was named Giles.
The feast day of St. Raymond Nonnatus is celebrated on August 31. He was born in Catalonia, Spain in 1204. His mother died during childbirth prompting a delivery by caesarean section. The name Nonnatus means not born. St. Raymond is the patron saint of women in labor and the falsely accused.
Raymond felt great empathy for expectant mothers and is the patron saint of women in labor. His father wanted him to take over the family farm. He chose instead to become a priest, joining the religious order of Mercedarians. The Mercedarians were dedicated to ransoming Christian slaves from the Moors who occupied most of Spain.
St. Raymond was sent to Algeria where he used his inheritance to ransom slaves. When the money ran out, he traded his life for that of a slave. He was imprisoned but succeeded in converting several of his jailers. The Moors then bored holes in his lips and sealed his mouth shut with a padlock to prevent him from preaching!
St. Raymond was sentenced to death, however, the Mercedarians ransomed him home to Spain. He was then given the title of Cardinal by Pope Gregory IX in 1239. Soon after, he came down with a fever and died in Cardona. He is often shown in art in the company of angels. Many miracles were attributed to St. Raymond before and after his death in1240 at the age of 37.
You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.
The feast day of St. Monica is celebrated on August 27. She is the patron saint of mothers, alcoholism and difficult marriages.
St. Monica was born of a Christian family in Tagaste in Africa in 331. She was given in marriage by her parents to a non-Christian named Patricius. He was known to have a a bad temper and alcoholism. They had three children who survived infancy. One of them was Augustine.
Monica was known for her pious nature. She prayed without ceasing for her family. A year before his death Patricius converted to Catholicism and was baptized. Augustine was 17 at the time of his father’s death. He left the faith and led an immoral life. By eighteen he had a mistress and a son. He joined a group called the Manichees. Manicheeism teaches that the material world is part of the realm of evil. There are two gods one good and one evil.
Monica never ceased praying for the return of her son to the Catholic faith. After more than 15 years of prayer, Augustine heard St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, preach. He decided to study the faith, and eventually returned, being baptized in 387. Eventually Augustine became a priest and then a bishop. St. Augustine is now considered a Doctor of the Church.
Monica is the patron of mother’s because of her persistence in prayer.
“Nothing is far from God.”
Quote of St. Monica
August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The feast day of St. Genesius of Rome is celebrated on August 25. St. Genesius is the patron saint of actors, comedians and clowns.
St. Genesius was a legal clerk who also performed as an actor. He lived in the third century. St. Genesius performed for Emperor Diocletian.
One of the plays he performed in was about a catechumen (student of Christianity) who was about to be baptized. It was a satire which mocked the sacrament. However, it was influencing St. Genesius to desire baptism. During the play, he saw angels around him and requested baptism.
The emperor was so outraged, he had Genesius arrested and tortured. He was eventually beheaded.
