Tag Archives: April Feast Days

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: Bl. Marie of the Incarnation, Feast Day April 18

Bl. Marie of the Incarnation
Bl. Marie of the Incarnation

The feast day of Bl. Marie of the Incarnation is celebrated on April 18.

Bl. Marie of the Incarnation was born in 1566 in France. Her name at birth was Barbe Aurillot. She was the daughter of a French government official and educated at the Poor Clare Abbey at Longchamp. She married Pierre Acarie at the age of 16. They had six children; three became Carmelites and one became a priest.

Her husband supported the Catholic League which opposed Henry IV.  Barbe suffered greatly after their estate was seized when Henry became King. Barbe went to court reclaiming part of the family fortune. Barbe had a devotion to the writings of St. Teresa of Avila. She was instrumental in bringing the Discalced Carmelites into France.

Widowed at 47, Barbe became a Carmelite lay sister in 1613 taking the name Mary of the Incarnation. Her spiritual advisor was St. Francis de Sales and she was a friend to St. Vincent de Paul. She was known to have visions, ecstasies and the gift of reading hearts.

At the age of 27 Bl. Marie received the stigmata.
Bl. Marie died on April 18, 1618 of natural causes. Many miracles were reported after her death.

 

Put away all worry and anxiety and receive the holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ fervently…in memory of Him.

Quote of St. Francis of Assisi; Feast day Oct. 4

 

April is the Month of the Eucharist

Bl. Marie of the Incarnation in Art

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Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Stephen Harding, Feast Day April 17




St. Stephen Harding
St. Stephen Harding

The feast day of St. Stephen Harding is celebrated on April 17.

St. Stephen was born in the eleventh century in Dorset, England. He studied in Paris and Rome. He decided to join the Monastery of Molesme which was Benedictine. Stephen and two other established the Monastery in Citeaux which became the home of twenty monks.

St. Stephen Harding is considered the father of the Cistercian Order. The Cistercian Order sought an effective balance between prayer and serious work.  St. Stephen wrote the Charter of Charity which became the guide for the Cistercian monasticism. When St. Bernard joined the order, Stephen installed him as the abbot of the monastery in Clairvaux. With the help of St. Bernard the order flourished.

By the time of St. Stephen’s death thirteen monasteries had been established.

St. Stephen died in 1134. He was canonized in 1623.

 

O Jesus, make the fount of Your mercy gush forth more abundantly, for mankind is seriously ill and thus has more need than ever of Your compassion.

Quote of St. Faustina Kowalska; Feast day October 5

 

April is the Month of the Eucharist.

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Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Bernadette of Lourdes, Feast Day April 16




St. Bernadette 3The feast day of St. Bernadette of Lourdes is celebrated on April 16.

 

St. Bernadette was born in 1844 in France. Our lady first appeared to St. Bernadette in Lourdes, France on Feb. 11, 1858. Bernadette was a poor shepherdess who was only 14 years old. Our Lady actually appeared to her eighteen times.

During the first vision Bernadette saw a bright light and a beautiful lady dressed in a brilliant white dress adorned with a blue ribbon. A long veil covered her body from her head to her feet. Her hands were clasped as if praying and she carried a white and gold rosary with a gold cross in her hands. Bernadette took her rosary out of her pocket and guided by Our Lady they prayed the rosary. After praying, the vision ended.

Bernadette asked the girls with her if they had seen anything and they said no. She told them not to say anything but her sister told their mother who did not believe the story.

On Feb. 14, Bernadette returned to the Grotto where the vision had happened. She asked those with her to pray the rosary. When Our Lady appeared again, Bernadette’s face was transfigured. She sprinkled the holy water which had been given her and said, “If you come from God, come near us.” The holy water touched Our Lady and she smiled and came closer. They began to pray the rosary together.

On Feb.18, after Mass she was accompanied by a lady and a religious. When she began praying, Our Lady appeared again and they all prayed the rosary. Our Lady asked Bernadette to return for 15 consecutive days. Bernadette promised she would do so. Our Lady said;

 

“I also promise to make you happy, not in this world, but in the next.”

Bernadette went to the Grotto with a lit candle for the next 15 days. Hundreds of people began coming with her. On Feb. 21. Bernadette observed that Our Lady seemed sad. She asked her “What is wrong? What can I do?” Our Lady said’

 

“Pray for sinners.”

A doctor examined Bernadette and concluded there was nothing wrong with her. Bernadette was ridiculed nonetheless.

On Feb. 23, Our Lady requested that a Sanctuary be built on the site. She told Bernadette to talk to the priest. When the priest asked her the name of the lady Bernadette did not know. The priest told her he needed a miracle and she should ask the lady for the rose bush to blossom.

On Feb. 25, Our Lady told Bernadette to drink from the fountain. Puzzled, Bernadette looked around for water. She discovered water coming up from the ground which soon became a pool of water.

On Feb. 26 Our Lady revealed to Bernadette her name saying;

 

“I am the Immaculate Conception”.

During one apparition people witnessed Bernadette praying for fifteen minutes with the candle flame burning through her fingers. She remained unharmed. The last apparition occurred on the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Many miracles of healing have been attributed to he healing waters of Lourdes.

St. Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity seeking God in the silence of the convent. She died on April 16, 1879.

The message of Our Lady of Lourdes is timeless…Pray for sinners.

The incorrupt body of St. Bernadette of Lourdes may be viewed at St. Gildard Convent where it is kept under glass. This is the convent St. Bernadette spent the last nine years of her life in prayer with God.

 

Always stay very close to our Lord, present in the tabernacle. Be completely absorbed by devotion to Him there and never let go.

Quote of St. Bernadette

April is the Month of the Eucharist.

 

 

St. Bernadette of Lourdes in Art



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Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Paternus, Feast Day April 15




St. Paternus
St. Paternus

The feast day of St. Paternus is celebrated on April 15.

St. Paternus was born around 482 at Poetiers. His father died in Ireland as a holy recluse. Paternus decided to join the monks at the abbey of Ansion. Several years after joining the Abbey a monk named Scubilion joined him to live in a remote area where many Druids lived. There they were able to convert many of the people in the area. Paternus was able to convince the people there to tear down a pagan temple, which had been held in great veneration by the ancient Gauls.

St. Paternus  founded a monastery called Lian-petern-vaur.   He was chosen as bishop of the area and served for thirteen years before dying in 550.

 

If I have achieved anything in my life….it is because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God.

Quote of Dorothy Day; Servant of God

 

April is the Month of the Eucharist

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




 

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




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