The feast day of St. Francis Caracciolo is celebrated on June 4.
St. Francis Caracciolo was born at Villa Santa Maria, Italy in 673. He was born into a noble family. While still young he came down with a skin disease that resembled leprosy. Already a very pious child, he vowed to devote his life to God if he was cured. After making the vow the skin disease was cured. At the age of 22, he began studying for the priesthood at Naples. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament spending many hours in prayer before Our Lord. He also visited those in prisons and hospitals.
St. Francis was ordained in 1587. He soon joined a confraternity known as “The White Robes of Justice”. They visited the criminals sentenced to die. Together with two other devout men he started a religious order called the Minor Clerks Regular. They were very strict. They fasted and did penitential acts. Two years later Francis became the Superior of the Order.
St. Francis spent many hours in the confession. He was known for his gift of discerning hearts and prophecy, foretelling the date of his own death. St. Francis died surrounded by his community on the Vigil of Corpus Christi, June 4, 1608 after coming down with a fever.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is not only the temple and the altar,
but also the censer of divine love….In that precious censer
all the worship, praise, prayers, desires, and affections
of all the saints are placed, like so many grains of incense
The feast day of St. Erasmus (also known as St. Elmo), is celebrated on June 2. He is the patron saint of sailors and against intestinal troubles.
St. Erasmus lived in Italy. He is also known as St. Elmo. He served as the Bishop of Formiae, Campagna, Italy and was martyred during the persecutions of Christians by Diocletan.
Trying to flee the persecutions St. Elmo fled to Mt. Lebanon and lived in solitude for a time. When he was found, he was tortured and imprisoned. Because he refused to deny his faith he was scourged and cast into boiling oil, sulfur and pitch. He was miraculously saved from harm. According to legend and angel led him to freedom.
After escaping prison he converted many with his preaching and miracles. A second time he was captured, imprisoned and tortured. Again, an angel led him to freedom. During his torture he had hot iron hooks struck into his intestines. He survived these wounds which is why he is invoked for intestinal problems.
St. Elmo is also the patron saint of sailors. A blue light appears at mastheads before and after a storm; the seamen took it as a sign of St. Erasmus’s protection. This became known as St. Elmo’s Fire.
St. Elmo died was martyred in 303. He was tortured and disemboweled.
St. Elmo is considered one of the 14 Helpers. These fourteen saints are considered very effective in their ability to intercede in times of trouble, especially matters of health.
The feast day of St. Bona of Pisa is celebrated on May 29. She is the patron saint of flight attendants, travelers, pilgrims and travel guides.
St. Bona of Pisa was born in 1156 in Pisa, Italy. She was the child of a single mother. She was told that her father had vanished during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. As a child she was very pious. In a vision while praying before the crucifix, Jesus reached out his hand and touched her. By the age of ten she had become an Augustiniantertiary. (A tertiary is a lay member of a monastic order).
In another vision she learned that her father was still alive and fighting in the Crusades in Jerusalem. St. Bona decided to make a trip to Jerusalem to find her father. After finding him she returned home, only to be captured by pirates on the Mediterranean Sea! Countrymen came to her rescue and she eventually arrived home safely.
St. Bona was appointed the official pilgrimage guide by the Knights of St. James. She made nine trips to Spain and Santiago de Compostella, always leading a group of pilgrims. On her final trip she became very ill. She died at the age of 51 after returning home from the pilgrimage.
Pope John XXIII named her the patron saint of flight attendants, travel guides, couriers and travelers.
The greatest method of prayer is to have none.
If in going to prayer one can form in oneself a pure capacity
for receiving the spirit of God, that will suffice all method.
The feast day of St. Philip Neri is celebrated on May 26.
He is known as the Apostle of Joy because of his cheerful nature. St. Philip was born in Florence, Italy in 1515. After having a conversion experience when he was 18, his life changed radically. He went to Rome with no plan, totally trusting in God’s guidance.
For two years, he was a tutor for small boys. Eventually he took courses in philosophy and theology at the Sapienza and at St. Augustine’s Monastery. After three years he quite suddenly sold his books and began a mission to the people of Rome. He engaged in conversations with people on the street corners, often asking, “Well brothers, when shall we begin to do good?” He served the sick in the hospitals and prayed for them in the churches. His favorite place of prayer was at the Catacomb of St. Sebastian.
St. Philip had a special devotion to the third person in the Trinity. He prayed daily to the Holy Spirit. At night he was called to solitude and prayer. Ten years after beginning his ministry, with the help of his confessor, Father Rossa, a confraternity of laymen began meeting to pray together. He encouraged the devotion of the Forty Hours. Father Rossa finally convinced him that he should become a priest. He was ordained in 1551. The Congregation of the Priests of the Oratory was founded several years later by St. Philip. They had simple rules. They shared a common table and performed spiritual exercises together. They were not bound by any vows.
St. Philip died from a hemorrhage on the Feast of Corpus Christi after hearing confessions.
St. Philip Neri Public Domain
Many of the following short sayings of St. Philip Neri are still remembered today.
Do not grieve over temptations you suffer. When the Lord intends to bestow a particular virtue on us, He often permits us first to be tempted by the opposite vice. Therefore, look upon every temptation as an invitation to grow in a particular virtue and promise God that you will be successful, if only you stand fast.
Let us strive for purity of heart for the Holy Spirit dwells in candid and simple minds.
Bear the cross and do not make the cross bear you.
There is no purgatory in this world. Nothing but heaven or hell.
Sufferings are a kind of paradise to him who suffers with patience, while they are a hell to him who has no patience.
Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life. Therefore the servant of God ought always be in good spirits.
Watch me, O Lord, this day, for abandoned to myself, I shall surely betray thee.
My children, if you desire perseverance, be devout to our Blessed Lady.
It is an old custom with the servants of God always to have some little prayers ready, and to be darting them up to heaven frequently during the day lifting our minds to God out of the filth of this world. He who adopts this plan will get great fruit with little pains.
We are not saints yet, but we too, should beware. Uprightness and virtue do have their rewards in self-respect and in respect from others, and it is easy to find ourselves aiming for result rather than the cause. Let us aim for joy, rather than respectability. Let us make fools of ourselves from time to time, and thus see ourselves, for a moment as the all-wise God sees us.
Never say “What great things the Saints do”, but “What great things God does in His Saints.” Cast yourself in the arms of God and be very sure that if He wants anything of you, He will fit you for the work and give you strength.
Believe me, there is no more powerful means to obtain God’s grace than to employ the intercessions of the Holy Virgin.
The true way to advance in holy virtues is to persevere in a holy cheerfulness.
The cheerful are much easier to guide in the spiritual life than the melancholy.
Excessive sadness seldom springs from any other source than pride.
If a man finds it very hard to forgive injuries, let him look at a crucifix, and think that Christ shed His Blood for him, and not only forgave his enemies, but prayed the Eternal Father forgive them also.
The fruit we ought to get from prayer is to do what is pleasing to the Lord.
He who runs away from one cross, will meet a bigger one on his road.
St. Philip Neri with Cross
The best way to prepare for death is to spend every day of life as though it were the last.
The devil, who is a most haughty spirit, is never more completely mastered than by humility of heart and a simple clear undisguised manifestation of our sins and temptations to our confessor. Christ died for sinners; we must take heart therefore, and hope that paradise will be ours provided only we repent of our sins, and do good.
He who continues in anger, strife, and a bitter spirit, has a taste of hell.
Humility is the true guardian of chastity.
If you wish to go to extremes, let it be in sweetness, patience, humility and charity.
O Jesus, watch over me always, especially today, or I shall betray you like Judas.
The feast day of St. John Baptist Rossi is celebrated on May 23.
St. John Baptist Rossi was born in Voltaggio, Italy in 1698. He was one of four children. He studied in Rome. Suffering from epilepsy, he was forced to leave college. However, he eventually finished his studies. He was ordained a priest at the age of 23.
St. John Baptist Rossi worked in Rome for 40 years. He served the sick, homeless and prisoners. He earned a reputation for being a good confessor. He especially supported the hospice of Saint Gala which gave overnight shelter to the poor. It was founded by Pope Celestine III.
In 1764, St. John died from a stroke. The papal choir sang at his choir and 260 priests attended his funeral. He was canonized by Pope Leo XII in 1881.
From silly devotions and sour faced saints, good Lord, deliver us!
The feast day of St. Rita of Cascia is celebrated on May 22. She is the patron saint of impossible causes, abuse victims and widows.
St. Rita was born in 1386 in Cascia, Italy. She was known to be very spiritual even as a young child. She enjoyed visiting shrines and wished to become a nun. Her parents were opposed to the idea and arranged for her to be married. Her husband turned out to have a bad temper and was very difficult for her to live with. She dealt with his abuse with prayer, patience and kindness. They had twin sons. Their difficult marriage lasted 22 years.
One day while returning home from work her husband was ambushed and killed. St. Rita’s sons were now teenagers and began to talk of revenging their father’s death. St. Rita turned to prayer. She prayed that her sons would not be able to go through with the revenge. Her prayer was soon answered. Both her sons died from a deadly illness soon after without taking revenge on their father’s killer.
After the death of her husband and sons, Rita applied to enter the Augustinian Convent. Her first attempt was denied because of the ongoing feud. Rita persisted however. She convinced her husband’s family to put aside their hostility. The two rival families embraced peace. Rita turned to St. John the Baptist, St. Nicholas of Tolentino and St. Augustine, requesting their intercession. The convent changed their decision and allowed her entry. She was 36 when she entered the monastery.
St. Rita had a great devotion for the passion of Christ. She meditated often on the crucifix. On Good Friday, 1442, St. Rita meditated on the suffering of Jesus on the crucifix. She offered to relieve Christ’s suffering by sharing even the smallest part of his pain. As she was meditating, a small wound on her forehead appeared. It appeared to be a thorn from the crown that Jesus wore. St. Rita had this stigmata for 15 years.
St. Rita was confined to bed for the last four years of her life. She ate very little. The Eucharist sustained her and she remained joyful during her suffering. Before her death St. Rita requested a rose be brought to her from her parents’ garden even though it was January. Surprisingly, a rose was discovered to be blooming on the rosebush and it was presented to her. St. Rita gave thanks to God for this sign of God’s love.
Because this impossible request of St. Rita for a rose in January was answered she became the patron of impossible causes. It was also known that her prayers were known to obtain remarkable cures.
St. Rita died on May 29, 1456. Many miracles were recorded after her death . She was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1900.
