Feast Days, Our Lady, Saint of the Day, Suffering

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: Our Lady of Sorrows, Feast Day September 15

Baciccio Pieta 1667 Public Domain Image
Baciccio Pieta 1667

The Feast Day of Our Lady of Sorrows is celebrated on September 15. It dates back to the 12th century when it was promoted by the Cistercians and the Servites.

The focus of the devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows is the grief Mary felt during the suffering of her Son, Jesus. As His mother, her heart felt intense pain and sorrow.

Below are the seven sorrows of Mary:

  1. The prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35)
  2. The flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15)
  3. Loss of the Child Jesus for three days (Luke 2:41-50)
  4. Mary meets Jesus on his way to Calvary (Luke 23:27-31; John 19:17)
  5. Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (John 19:25-30)
  6. The body of Jesus being taken from the Cross (Psalm 130; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:31-37)
  7. The burial of Jesus (Isaiah 53:8; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42; Mark 15:40-47)

As we reflect on the sorrows and suffering Mary experienced as the Mother of God, we can remind ourselves of the human nature of both Jesus and Mary. They felt pain. They felt grief. They felt loss. They wept.

Jesus has two natures: Human and Divine. Mary is not Divine. She is human like you and me. We can only wonder at her strength and holiness as she drank from the bitter cup of suffering.

Giovanni bellini pieta martinengo Public Domain Image
Giovanni bellini pieta martinengo
Public Domain Image
Whoever you are who love the Mother of God, take note and reflect with all your innermost feelings upon her who wept for the Only Begotten as He died…The grief she felt in the Passion of her son goes beyond all understanding.
Quote of St. Amadeus of Lausanne; Feast Day January 28

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La Pieta Michelangelo

September is the Month of Our Lady of Sorrows

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Feast Days, Our Lady, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: Feast Day of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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Our Lady of Lourdes

The Feast Day of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on September 12.

On this day we reflect on the titles given to Mary.  Why has she become known by so many names?  Which name touches you the most when you think about the Blessed Virgin Mary?  Mary, Mother of God?  Mary, Queen of Saints?  The Immaculate Heart of Mary?

Each name tells us something about Mary, who loved and gave birth to Jesus.  Our Sorrowful Mother helps us to reflect on the suffering Mary experienced.    Some of her titles refer to the place in which she appeared to someone:  Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Other titles refer to her spirituality:  Our Lady of the Rosary,  Our Lady of Grace,  Mystical Rose, Star of the Sea.

The name we are given at birth is important.  We are called by that name throughout our life.  Each of us has been called to do something specific for God.  Perhaps it is prayer.  Perhaps it is raising a family with love.  Perhaps it is a profession like teaching or medicine, or farming.

Mary was called by God  for a very special purpose.  She was asked to love and raise Jesus, the Son of God.  She became the Mother of God and loved him in a way none of us can.

Today is a day to reflect on the role of Mary in the life of Jesus.  We can also reflect on our role in the world.  If we honor and imitate the mother of Jesus, we can be certain that we will come to know Jesus better.

Mary  is called Queen of Martyrs, for her martyrdom was the lengthiest, most intense, and most loving.
Quote of Bl. James Alberione

September is the Month of Our Lady of Sorrows

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Martyr, patron saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Regina, Feast Day September 7



 

St. Regina
St. Regina

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!

Quote of Ven. Solanus Casey

September is the Month of Our Lady of Sorrows
Faith, patron saints, Prayer, Quote, Spirituality

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Teresa of Calcutta, Feast Day September 5




Mother Teresa Public Domain Image
Mother Teresa

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.

 

Quote of St. Teresa of Calcutta
September is the Month of Our Lady of Sorrows
Franciscan Saints, Incorruptible, Saint of the Day, Visionary

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Rose of Viterbo, Feast Day September 4




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St. Rose of Viterbo

The Feast Day of St. Rose of Viterbo is celebrated on September 4.  Rose was born in Viterbo, Italy in 1234.  The city was in revolt against the pope.  Her family was exiled for supporting the Pope.  After the Pope won the dispute, Rose returned to the city.

St. Rose was pious from a very young age.  She practiced contemplative prayer by age 7.  She had the gift of miracles and visions.   While still a child she is credited with the healing of her Aunt who was believed to be dead.  At the age of ten, Mary instructed her to join the 3rd Order of St. Francis.  Shortly after, Our Lord appeared to her on a cross wearing a crown of thorns.  When Rose asked him why this had happened he told her his deep love for men was the reason.  Rose persisted asking him who had pierced him.  He told her:

The sins of men have done it.

This vision inspired young Rose to take to the streets preaching penance.  St. Rose tried and failed to join the Order of Poor Clare’s due to lack of a dowry.  She tried to  found a religious community of her own but it was not approved.    She lived a life of prayer and penance in her father’s home.  She died in 1251 at the age of 18.

The body of St. Rose was discovered to be incorrupt and lies in the monastery of St. Mary of the Roses which refused her entry.  St. Rose was canonized in 1457.

Rose’s dying words to her parents were:

“I die with joy, for I desire to be united to my God. Live so as not to fear death. For those who live well in the world, death is not frightening, but sweet and precious.“
Quote of St. Rose of Viterbo
September is the Month of Our Sorrowful Mother

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patron saints, Pope, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Gregory the Great, Feast Day Sept. 3




St. Gregory the Great Public Domain Image
St. Gregory the Great

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.
Quote of St. Gregory the Great
September is the Month of Our Lady of Sorrows

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

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




 

 

St. Edith Stein Public Domain Image
St. Edith Stein
Public Domain Image

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.

Apostle, Faith, Martyr, patron saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. James the Greater, Feast Day July 25




St. James the Greater Public Domain Image
St. James the Greater

On July 25, the Catholic Church will be celebrating the feast day of St. James the Greater. St. James was a fisherman and the brother of John. Peter was his partner. When they were called to become Apostles of  Jesus, they left everything to do so.  St. James the Greater is the patron saint of laborers and Spain.

There were two Apostles named James. James the Greater is the older of the two. He was also called “The Son of Thunder”.  James, John and Peter were honored to be the only Apostles present at the Transfiguration. They were also present in the Garden of Gethsemane while Jesus prayed before His death.

Tradition tells us he evangelized in Spain after the crucifixion for nine years. St. James the Greater was the first Apostle to be martyred. In the year 44, King Herod Agrippa killed him with a sword during the early persecutions of the Church.

Truly, matters in the world are in a bad state,
but if you and I begin in earnest to reform ourselves,
a really good beginning will have been made.
Quote of St. Peter Alcantara;                                   Feast day October 19

St. James the Greater in Art

  • St. James the Greater Public Domain Image
July is the Month of the Most Precious Blood.

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Faith, Martyr, Prayer, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. John Boste, Feast Day July 24




 
St. John Boste

St. John Boste is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.  Their feast day is celebrated together on October 25.   The Feast Day of St. John Boste is celebrated on July 24, the anniversary of his death.

St. John Boste was born in Dufton Westmoreland in 1544.  He attended Queen’s College, Oxford.  He became the first headmaster to serve under Queen Elizabeth l.  He converted to Catholicism and was received into the Church in 1576.  After leaving England he was ordained a priest in Rheims in 1581.

St. John Boste returned to England as a missionary priest.  He evaded arrest for ten years.  After a betrayal, he was finally arrested.  He was found hiding behind a fireplace after celebrating a forbidden Mass.  He was taken to the Tower of London and interrogated on the rack.  He was then hung, drawn and quartered while reciting the Angelus prayer.

My function is to invade souls, not to meddle in temporal invasions.

Quote of St. John Boste
July is the Month of the Most Precious Blood

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Saint of the Day, Spirituality

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Joseph Barsabas, Feast Day July 20




St. Joseph Barsabas
St. Joseph Barsabas

St. Joseph Barsabas was a follower and disciple of Christ.  In the Acts of the Apostles  St. Matthias was chosen over him to replace Judas after the crucifixion.

St. Joseph Barsabas, is also known as Barsabbas and Joseph the Just.  He is considered one of the 72 disciples sent out by Our Lord. (Luke 10:1)

He spread the good news of the resurrection after the crucifixion.

Why climb the mountains or go down into the valleys of the world looking for Him who dwells within us.
Quote of St. Augustine;  Feast Day August 28
July is the Month of the Most Precious Blood
Saint of the Day, Spirituality

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Camillus de Lellis, Feast Day July 18




St. Camillus Public Domain Image
St. Camillus

The Feast Day of St. Camillus de Lellis is July 18.

St. Camillus  was born on May 25, 1550 in Bucchianico, Abruzzo, Italy.  His mother died when he was a child and he received little attention.

As a teenager he was adventurous and a risk taker often losing his money and fighting.  During one fight he was wounded in his leg.  The wound did not heal but spread to his foot. It was during this time that his father also died.

Camillus continued to fight and gamble.  He became so destitute that he stopped at a church to request help.  Leaving the church, he met two monks.  He soon began working for a Capuchin monastery helping with construction projects.  After talking to a priest, he had a burning desire to become a Benedictine priest.  However, he was rejected due to lack of education.

At the age of 25, Camillus was admitted into a hospital for treatment of his leg.  To pay for the treatment he cared for the sick and dying in the hospital.  He was discharged form the hospital for gambling and fighting.  He decided to study to become a Benedictine, however his wound again needed treatment.  He returned to the hospital where he was hired to help reform the hospital.

At the age of 34 he became a priest and organized others to help.  They called themselves “Servants of the Sick.”

The Order of St. Camillus serves the sick and dying in 35 countries.  They care for both the physical and spiritual needs of the person in need.

It is always a feast where love is,

And where love is, God is.

Quote of Dorothy Day, Servant of God
July is the Month of the Most Precious Blood
Carmelite Saints, Martyr, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: Bl. Rose Chretien, Feast Day July 17




compeigne-holy-card
Martyrs of Compiegne

The Feast Day of Bl. Rose Chretien is celebrated on July 17.  It is also the Feast of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne.  She was born near Eureaux, France in 1741.

Bl. Rose married at a young age and soon became a widow.  She decided to join the Discalced Carmelite Order and became a choir nun.  At her profession in 1777 she took the religious name of  Sister Julia Louise of Jesus.

Bl. Rose is considered one of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne.  The sixteen Carmelites were imprisoned along with English Benedictine nuns.  The Carmelites were condemned as traitors and sentenced to death by guillotine.  As they were martyred, one by one, they renewed their vows and chanted the hymn Veni Creato Spiritus which was the hymn sung at their ceremony professing their vows.

Several days after their deaths, the persecution called the Reign of Terror led by Robespierre came to an end.  The English Benedictine Nuns credited the Carmelites with ending the bloodbath and saving their community.

The Carmelite Sisters were buried in a common grave at Picpus Cemetery with a single cross where 1306 other victims of the guillotine were buried.

Those who do something for the glory of God are not troubled by failure, because they have already achieved their pupose of pleasing God, by acting with a pure intention.
Quote of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Feast day August 1
July is the Month of the Most Precious Blood

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