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Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. John of the Cross, Feast Day December 14

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St. John of the CrossPrayers, Quips and Quotes: St. John of the Cross, Feast Day December 14

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. John of the Cross,

Feast Day December 14

The feast day of St. John of the Cross is celebrated on December 14.  Because of his mystical writing, he is called the Mystical Doctor. He is one of the 35 Doctors of the Church. He is the patron of mystics.

Juan de Yepes Alvarez was born in Spain in 1542. His father was disowned by the family when he married a weavers’ daughter. His father died soon after his birth. Most of Juan’s childhood was spent in poverty. As a teenager, Juan worked in a hospital caring for the terminally ill and mental patients.

At the age of 21, Juan became a brother in the Carmelite Order. He went for higher studies in Slamanca and was ordained a priest, taking the name of John of the Cross at age 25. He soon met St. Teresa of Avila, a Carmelite nun, who convinced him to help her in the work of reforming the Carmelite Order. There was great resistance to the reforming of the order to a more prayerful life. Those against the reform actually kidnapped him. They held him prisoner for over nine months in a small cell, six by ten feet wide. He was beaten often. During this time of trial, St. John of the Cross became very close to God, spending his time writing his mystical poetry. He eventually escaped using a rope made of strips of blankets to climb out the window. The only thing he took with him was his writings. John hid in a convent infirmary where he read his poetry to the nuns. From this period on he shared his experience of God’s love.

St. John of the Cross wrote many books including:

St. John of the Cross
  • Ascent of Mount Carmel,
  • Dark Night of the Soul
  • A Spiritual Canticle
  • Living Flame of Love

 

 

 

 

In 1579, he became Rector of Colegio de San Basilio, continuing his writing ministry. He is known for a spirituality which believes in the prayer of detachment. His spirituality also focused on joining our suffering to the Paschal Mystery  (the death and suffering of Jesus Christ).   He taught that the Cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial of self to union with God.

St. John of the Cross died of fever caused by cellulitus. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. His feast day is Dec. 14, the day of his death and entry into heaven.

 

“Live in the world as if only God

and your soul were in it;

then your heart will never be made

captive by any earthly thing.”

Quote of St. John of the Cross

St. John of the Cross

December is the Month of the Divine Infancy

 

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Faith, Incorruptible, Jesuit Saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Francis Xavier, Feast Day Dec. 3

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Preaching St. Francis Xavier By Carlone Gesu Public Domain Image
Preaching St. Francis Xavier
By Carlone Gesu

The feast day of St. Francis Xavier is celebrated on December 3.  He is the patron saint of foreign missions and the co-founder of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits.

St. Francis Xavier was born in the Kingdom of Navarre (now part of Spain). He was born in the Basque area, on April 7, 1506. He studied at the University of Paris.

When he met Ignatius of Loyola, they became friends and Francis became a student of St. Ignatius. He then became a co- founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), with Ignatius. With St. Ignatius, he was ordained a priest in 1537. In 1956 Francis left Paris to join Ignatius in Venice. The Society was recognized by the Pope in 1540.

Francis preached in India, Japan, Borneo, and Moluccas. Over a period of ten years, he baptized roughly 30,000 people to Christianity. He is said to have converted more people to Christianity than anyone other than St. Paul.

In 1552 he set out for China landing on the Island of Shangchuan.. He died from a fever before he reached the mainland while waiting to be taken to China. He was first buried on a beach at Shangchuan Island. His incorrupt body was taken from the island in 1553 and temporarily buried in St. Paul’s Church in Portuguese, Malacca.

St. Francis Xavier was known as the “Apostle of the Indias.”

The Novena of Grace was a popular devotion to Francis Xavier and typically prayed for nine days before Dec. 3.

 

 

“I love You, not because You have the power to give heaven or hell,

but simply because You are You…my kin and my God.”

Quote of St. Francis Xavier

St. Francis Xavier in Art

 

December is the Month of the Divine Infancy

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Jesuit Saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Alphonsus Rodriguez, Feast Day October 30

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St. Alphonsus Rodriguez
St. Alphonsus Rodriguez

 

The feast day of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez is celebrated on October 30.  He was born in Segovia, Spain on July 25, 1532.   His father was a wealthy merchant.

At the age of 14 Alphonsus’ father died.  He left school to help his mother run the family business.  When he was 23 he married.  However, three years later his wife died during childbirth.  Within the next several years his mother died as well as his three children.  He also found it necessary to sell his failing business.

In response to his grief and suffering, Alphonsus turned to a life of prayer.  He applied  to become a Jesuit, (The Society of Jesus).  He was denied entry due to lack of education.  He returned to school and reapplied.  In 1571 he was accepted as a lay Jesuit brother.  He was sent to Montesione College on Majorca.  He served as a doorkeeper for 45 years.

As doorkeeper,  St. Alphonsus believed Christ was in every person at the door.    He ministered to both the visitors and the students.  He became friends with St. Peter Claver who was a champion of slaves rights.

St. Alphonsus developed a method for finding joy in his hardships which followed him throughout his life into old age.  He became a contemplative who meditated on the crucifix and the suffering of Christ.  He stated that by bearing his suffering  with prayer.

“I felt the grandeur of the Lord”. 

“This I encourage myself to endure for love of the Lord who is before me, until I make what is bitter sweet.  In this way, learning from Christ Our Lord, I take and convert the sweet into bitter, renouncing myself and all earthly and carnal pleasures, delights and honors of this life so that my whole heart is centered solely on God. 

St. Alphonsus Rodriguez was canonized on September 6, 1887.

 

“Whenever you do anything, you must offer it to God, at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end.”

Quote of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez

 

October is the Month of the Most Holy Rosary

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patron saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Anthony Mary Claret, Feast Day October 24

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St. Anthony Mary Claret Public Domain Image
St. Anthony Mary Claret

 

The feast day of St. Anthony Mary Claret is celebrated on October 24.  He is the patron saint of educators, the Catholic Press and weavers.

St. Anthony Mary Claret was the Archbishop of the Diocese of the Canary Islands. With a group of five other priests he was the Founder of the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, also known as the Claretians.

 

St. Anthony Mary Claret was born in Catalonia, Spain in 1807. At the age of twelve he became a weaver. He entered the seminary at Vic in 1829 and was ordained to the priesthood on June 13, 1835 on the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua, whom he was named after. He entered the Jesuit novitiate but had to leave due to his ill health.

St. Anthony Mary Claret was assigned to missionary work throughout Catalonia. In 1848 he was sent to the Canary Islands where he gave retreats for fifteen months. When he returned to Spain, he established the Congregation the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (The Claretians) on the feast of “Our Lady of Mt. Carmel“ (July 16, 1848).

He also founded the religious library at Barcelona called “Libreria Religiosa”. It is now known as “Libreria Claret). He was appointed Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba in 1849. Over 9,000 marriages were validated within two years of his arrival. He began a hospital and several schools. The first women’s religious institute in Cuba was begun by St. Anthony. It was known as the Religious of Mary Institute.

In 1857 he was recalled to Spain and he became the Confessor to Queen Isabella II. He became a resident of an Italian Hospice. Preaching everywhere he went, he also distributed books. Eventually, his life in danger, he went to France where he preached in Paris.

In 1869, he participated in the First Vatican Council. He had to withdraw due to poor health. He died on Oct. 24, 1870, at the age of 62 in a Cistercian monastery in France.

 

“The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame. He desires and works with all his strength to inflame all men with the fire of God’s love. Nothing deters him, he rejoices in poverty, he labors strenuously, he welcomes hardships, he laughs off false accusations, he rejoices in anguish. He thinks only of how he might follow Jesus Christ and imitate him by his prayers, his labors, his sufferings, and be caring always and only for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.”

Quote of St. Anthony Mary Claret

 

October is the Month of the Most Holy Rosary

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Faith, Martyr, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Laura of Cordoba, Feast Day October 19

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St. Laura of Cordoba
St. Laura of Cordoba

 

The feast day of St. Laura of Cordoba is celebrated on October 19.  She was a widow and martyr.

St. Laura lived in Spain in the ninth century.   It’s culture was primarily Muslim.  After her husband died she became a nun at Cuteclara .  She eventually became the abbess.

St. Laura is one of the 48 Martyrs of Cordoba.  She was captured and scalded to death by being placed in a vat of boiling lead.

It is You Jesus, stretched out on the cross, who gives me strength and are always close to the suffering soul.  Creatures will abandon a person in  his suffering, but You, O Lord, are  faithful.

Quote of St. Faustina

 

October is the Month of the Most Holy Rosary

 

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Carmelite Saints, Doctor of the Church, patron saints, Saint of the Day

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Teresa of Avila, Feast Day October 15

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St. Teresa of Avila Public Domain Image
St. Teresa of Avila

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Teresa of Avila,

Feast Day October 15

St. Teresa of Avila’s feast day will be celebrated on October 15th. She is known as being the patron saint of writers and headache sufferers.

Born in Avila, Spain in 1515, she was sent to a convent at the age of 16, because her father believed her to be “out of control”. At first she hated it, later she came to enjoy it, in part because they were less strict than her father.

Eventually, she decided to become a Carmelite nun. She practiced meditation and mental prayer. She fell ill with malaria and almost died. She awoke paralyzed, which lasted for three years. She found it very difficult to pray during this time. However at the age of 41 a priest convinced her to go back to prayer. She suffered many distractions and found it very difficult. As she began her prayer life anew, God gave her spiritual delights including ecstasies, and the prayer of union. She eventually became known as a mystic.

At the age of 43 she decided to form a new convent which met with much resistance. Her confessor St. John of the Cross helped to begin the reformed order of the Discalced (barefoot) Carmelites.

St. Teresa was known for her honest dialogue with God.    She wanted the nuns in her order to have the proper attitude and discipline in their prayer life.  But she too could be frustrated with life.   Every moment of her life was a prayer,  even the difficult ones.  She is known for the following exclamation.

“If this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few!”

St. Teresa has written many books. These include: The Interior Castle, The Life of Teresa of Jesus, and The Way of Perfection.  Her spirituality has led many to a much deeper prayer life.  She has been proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.

St. Teresa died on October 4 at the age of 67.

The following prayer is attributed to St. Teresa of Avila:

 

Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing make you afraid.
All things are passing.
God alone never changes.
Patience gains all things.
If you have God you will want for nothing.
God alone suffices.

 

October is the Month of the Most Holy Rosary

 

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