Tag Archives: August Feast Days

Benedictine Saints, Doctor of the Church, Faith, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Feast Day August 20

 

St. Bernard of Clairvaux Public Domain Image
St. Bernard of Clairvaux

The feast day of St. Bernard of Clairvaux is celebrated on August 20.  He was born in a family castle in Dijon, Burgundy in 1090.  The family included six sons and one daughter.  He was raised by a pious French mother.  Bernard was also pious as a child, however the death of his mother caused a prolonged depression.

St. Bernard was drawn towards the Benedictine monastery at Citeaux.  One day, at the age of 19, he knelt and asked God for guidance.  All doubts vanished and he decided to follow the Cistercian way of life.  Bernard was so persuasive that 31 nobles, including his five brothers and two uncles, were convinced to follow him to Citeaux.

When they arrived at the monastery , Stephen Harding was the abbot and they were instructed,

“If you desire to live in this house, leave your body behind; only spirits live here.”

After living a year at the monastery, he made his profession and continued living a cloistered life away from the world.

The monks lived a very simple life.  The land was poor and they ate barley bread, herbs and some vegetables.  The number of monks grew to 130.  Eventually the monastery became known as Clairvzux.

St. Bernard suffered stomach problems but never complained.  At one point he was near death because he became so ill.  He was ordered to live apart from the community to recover his strength.  He lived on a special diet under a doctor’s care and returned to the monastery with improved health.

St. Bernard received the gift of miracles.  The first witnessed miracle happened while singing at Mass.  He restored the speech to a relative named Josbert de la Forte who was near death.  Many miracles were witnessed where Bernard healed the sick by making a sign of the cross over a person and praying.

Because his health was frail, he was directed to preach and write rather than work in the field.  He was an eloquent preacher.  He fought for reform in the church clergy.  St. Bernard became well known as an arbitrator and counselor.  He settled many disputes including intervening during a church schism.

St. Bernard preached during the Second Crusade throughout Europe.  When the Crusade failed, St. Bernard attributed the failure to the sins of the Crusaders.

St. Bernard was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1830.

Remember, O most loving Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided.  Inspired by this confidence, we fly unto you, O virgin of virgins, our mother.  To you we come, before you we stand, sinful and sorrowful. 

O mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not our petitions, but in your mercy, hear and answer me.

Prayer of St. Bernard of Clairvaux

 

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 

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Faith, Jesuit Saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. John Eudes, Feast Day August 19




St. John Eudes Public Domain Image
St. John Eudes

The feast day of St. John Eudes is celebrated on August 19.  St. John Eudes was born in Ri, France on Nov. 14, 1601.  At the age of 14 he took a vow of chastity.  He was ordained a priest in 1625 after studying at a Jesuit college at Caen, France.

As a priest, St John Eudes ministered to the victims of the plague.  He cared for the sick while at the same time becoming well known as a preacher in France and Normandy.  In 1641 he founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge.  Their purpose was to give aid to prostitutes.  He also founded the Society of Jesus and Mary for the education of priests.

St. John Eudes encouraged devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Heart of Mary writing the first book about the devotion.

St. John Eudes died at Caen on August 219, 1680.  He was canonized in 1925.

 

Faith is a beam radiating from the face of God.

Quote of St. John Eudes

 

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 

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Faith, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Helena, Feast Day August 18

St. Helena Public Domain Image
St. Helena

The feast day of St. Helena is celebrated on August 18.  St. Helena was born in Asia Minor in 248.  She converted to Christianity at a young age.  She married and had one son named Constantine.  Constantine ascended to the throne and she was treated as Royalty.

At the age of 80, St. Helena went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  She and her group unearthed three crosses.  After a woman who was afflicted with an incurable disease was cured upon touching one of the crosses it was proclaimed The True Cross.  A church was built on the site it was found.

On the return trip to Rome, St. Helena performed many charitable works.  She built churches, helped the poor , consoled the sorrowful and visited prisons.  Many prisoners were freed because of her.  She assisted not only individuals but entire communities.

St. Helena presented her son with a gift of a piece of the Holy Cross at the reception given her by Constantine on her return to Rome.

St. Helena died in Rome of natural causes in the year 330.  She was surrounded by Constantine and princes.  Her final words advised Constantine to watch over the Church.  Her body is buried in the imperial vault of the Church of the Apostles.

 

We should throw ourselves into God as a little drop of water into the sea, and lose ourselves indeed, in the ocean of the divine goodness.

Quote of St. Jane Frances de Chantel; Feast Day August 12

 

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 

 

Dominican Saints, Faith, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Hyacinth of Poland, Feast Day August 17




St. Hyacinth of Poland Public Domain Image
St. Hyacinth of Poland

The feast day of St. Hyacinth of Poland is celebrated on August 17. 

St. Hyacinth was born in 1185 to noble parents in Odrowacz, Poland.  He was educated by his uncle who was a pious priest who eventually became the Bishop of Cracow.  He was a very happy and pious child with an early calling to the religious life.  He studied at Bologna earning the degree of Doctor of Canon Law and Divinity.

St. Hyacinth returned to Poland.  On a trip to Rome with his uncle he met St. Dominic.  He was one of the first to join the Order of Preachers, becoming a Dominican.  He returned to Poland to establish the Dominican Order.

St. Hyacinth was a wonderful preacher.  He converted many people and was able to build churches and convents.  He visited the sick and was a friend to the poor.  He became known for the many miracles which occurred.  The most famous happened during the Tartars siege of the city of Kiev.  Hyacinth had a tender devotion to the Mother of God.  After celebrating Mass unaware of the siege occurring, he retrieved the Blessed Sacrament and a statue of Mary and fled with the community to the river Dnieper.  Although the river was deep he led them across the river walking on the water.  His footprints could be seen on the water for centuries.

The last years of St. Hyacinth’s life were lived in a convent at Cracow.  On the feast of St. Dominic, he fell ill with a fever.  He celebrated Mass on the Feast of the Assumption in spite of his illness.  He was anointed at the Altar and died later that day on August 15, 1257.

St. Hyacinth was canonized by Pope Clement VIII in 1594.

 

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

 

Quote of Michelangelo

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 

Faith, Martyr, Saint of the Day, Visionary

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Stephen of Hungary, Feast Day August 16




St. Stephen of Hungary Public Domain Image
St. Stephen of Hungary

The feast day of St. Stephen of Hungary is celebrated on August 16. 

St. Stephen was born in the year 973.  His mother  was the Duchess Sarolt.  She had had a vision in which the first St. Stephen, the first martyr of the church had appeared to her.  She was told she would bear a son who would evangelize the land.

St. Stephen’s father was the Duke Geza.  Both his mother and father were converted to Christianity by Bishop St. Adalbert of Prague.  The Bishop baptized St. Stephen at the age of ten. St. Stephen married Gesela who was a sister to the Duke of Bavaria in 995.  Sadly, he survived all his children.  Only one child lived to be an adult.  This son, Emeric,  died in a hunting accident in 1031.

St. Stephen use their wealth to build a monastery and encouraged the people of the land to convert to Christianity.  The laws of the land which St. Stephen enacted favored Christianity over paganism.  He sent a request to Pope Sylvester II to proclaim him as King of Hungary.  Pope Sylvester II was happy to oblige.  He sent Stephen a crown and gold processional cross.

As King, St. Stephen was generous to the poor and sick.  He was devoted to the Virgin Mary, building several churches in her honor.  Mary is credited with preventing both a war and the assassination of King Stephen.  While he was king, St. Stephen also established a monastery in Jerusalem.

St. Stephen died on August 15, 1038 the Feast of the Assumption of Mary after suffering an illness.  He was buried next to his son Emerick.  They were both canonized saints in 1083.

 

It is a fact that people are always well aware of what is due them.  Unfortunately, they remain oblivious of what they owe to others.

Quote of St. Francis de Sales; Feast day January 24

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

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

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: The Assumption of Mary, Feast Day August 15




The Assumption of Mary by Palma il Vecchio Public Domain Image
The Assumption of Mary by Palma il Vecchio

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary will be celebrated on August 15. While this is a belief which goes back to the apostolic age, it was proclaimed dogma on Nov. 1, 1950 by Pope Pius XII.

The word assumption means “to take up.” It is believed that Mary was assumed into heaven by the power of God. This is not the same as the Ascension of Jesus. Jesus ascended into heaven by His own power. The assumption of Mary into heaven gives glory to God by whose power she was taken into heaven.

Pope Pius XII in the papal document, Munificentimus Deus gives four reasons why we believe in the dogma of Assumption of Mary. He explained that the uninterrupted tradition about Mary’s death and assumption began in the first century. The belief is expressed in all the ancient liturgies of the Church. He added that the negative evidence is the absence of veneration of a tomb of Mary while most of the apostles have tombs.

In the Old Testament there is the possibility of bodily assumption in the cases of Enoch (Gen. 5:24), Moses (Deut. 34:5) and Elijah (IIKg. 2:1)

The theological reasons for believing in the Assumption of Mary are twofold.

First; Mary was “immaculately conceived”.  This means she was born without the consequence of “original sin” and is exempted from the postmortem decay of the body.   She is sometimes referred to as “The Second Eve“.

Second; Mary received the fullness of grace and holiness as the mother of Jesus. Her place is with her son Jesus, the redeemer in heaven.

 

Good Lady, bearer of our good Lord,

watch over us…lead us to the safe harbor

of God’s will.

 

Quote of St. John Damascene; Feast day December 4The Assumption of Mary in Art

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



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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Faith, Martyr, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Maximus the Confessor, Feast Day August 13


The feast day of St. Maximus the Confessor is celebrated on August 13.  He was born in 580 in Constantinople to a noble family.

After serving as secretary to Emperor Heraclius, Maximus became a monk and abbot at Chrysopolis, which is now Turkey.

St. Maximus attended the Lateran Council which condemned Monotheism.  Monotheism believed Jesus Christ had a divine nature not a human nature.  After returning from the council St. Maximus refused to accept Monotheism which was a heresy prevalent at the time.  He was arrested and charged with treason.  After six years in prison he was brought back to Constantinople with two of his disciples to be tortured and mutilated.   Their tongues and right hands were cut off.  They were then sent to Skhemaris on the Black Sea where he died in the year 662

 

St. Maximus is considered a mystic and honored for his theology of the Incarnation and the two natures of Christ…human and divine.  He wrote over 90 works on the faith.

After his death miracles were reported to have occurred at this tomb.

Be on guard lest the vice that separated you from your brother be not found in your brother, but in you;  and hasten to be reconciled to him lest you fall away from the commandment of love.

Quote of St. Maximus the Confessor

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

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Saint of the Day, Spirituality

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Feast Day August 12

 



St. Jane Frances de Chantal Public Domain Image
St. Jane Frances de Chantal

The feast day of St. Jane Frances de Chantal is celebrated on August 12. Jane was born on Jan. 18 1572 in Dijon, France. She was born into a family of nobility. Her father was the president of the parliament of Burgundy. At the age of 29 she married Baron Christophe de Chantal. Their marriage lasted seven years during which they had three daughters and a son. Jane became a widow when Christophe died tragically in a hunting accident when Jane was 28 years old. Although her husband forgave the man who shot him, Jane struggled for a long time to forgive him. With time and God’s grace she was finally able to do so. Because she was able to forgive him, she became the godmother of his child.

To support her children, Jane moved home with her father in law. For seven years she managed his estate bearing patiently his abusive behavior. Jane turned to God for guidance. In a vision she saw the person who was meant to be her spiritual director. When she met St. Francis de Sales while he was preaching she recognized him as the person in her vision. He soon became her spiritual director. They corresponded by letter. Many of the letters have survived.

With the guidance of St. Francis de Sales, Jane opened the Congregation of the Visitation in 1610. They focused on uniting their will to the will of God; trusting in Him and seeking to please Him. After the death of St. Francis de Sales, St. Vincent de Paul became her spiritual director. By the time of her death 86 convents were opened. The Order welcomed women who had been rejected from entering other orders due to health and age. When St. Jane died at the age of 69 she was known for her sanctity. She was credited with miracles before and after her death. St. Jane was canonized in 1767.

We should throw ourselves into God as

a little drop of water into the sea,

and lose ourselves indeed,

in the ocean of the divine goodness.

Quote of St. Jane Frances de Chantal

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

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Faith, Franciscan Saints, Incorruptible, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Clare of Assisi, Feast Day August 11




St. Clare of Assisi Public Domain Image
St. Clare of Assisi

The feast day of St. Clare of Assisi is celebrated on August 11. St. Clare was born to a wealthy family in Assisi, Italy on July 16, 1194. At the age of 15 she refused to marry as her parents wished her to do. When she heard St. Francis speak on Palm Sunday, she left home to join him at San Damiano. She took a vow of poverty after which St. Francis cut off her long hair and gave her a brown habit to wear. She was later followed by her sister Agnes and her mother. The ladies who followed St. Francis became known as “The Poor Ladies.” After Clare eventually was named Abbess they became known as “The Poor Clares.”

The Poor Clares went barefoot, ate no meat and observed almost complete silence. They lived an enclosed life, away from the world. The Poor Clares actually predated the Franciscans which was later founded by St. Francis. St. Clare saw St. Francis as a spiritual father figure and cared for him during his illness and at the end of his life in 1226.

St. Clare died  in Assisi on August 11, 1253.  She was discovered to be incorrupt on September 23,1850 when her coffin was opened.  Her body can be viewed in the crypt at Santa Chiara, Italy.

St. Clare was canonized by Pope Alexander in 1255.

 

Love Him totally

who gave Himself totally

for your love.

 

Quote of St. Clare of Assisi

St. Clare of Assisi in Art

 

August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

 

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Martyr, patron saints, Saint of the Day

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




St. Lawrence of Rome Public Domain Image
St. Lawrence of Rome
Public Domain Image

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




 

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.