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!
The feast day of Bl. Bertrand of Garrigua is celebrated on September 6. He was born in Garrigua, France in 1195. Bl. Bertrand was ordained a secular priest preaching with the Cistercians against the Albigenses. In the year 1216 he met St. Dominic. He soon joined St. Dominic helping him to found the Order of Preachers.
While St. Dominic was in Rome seeking approval of his new order he left Bertrand in charge. He was an important part in the founding of the Order of Preachers, becoming known as the “second Dominic”. He was known to be a traveling companion with St. Dominic.
Bl. Bertrand was known for continually weeping for his sins. St. Dominic convinced him that it would be better to pray for ht sins of others instead. Bertrand continued weeping, however, he was weeping for others sins instead of his own. After having a vision he also began to pray for the souls in purgatory.
Bl. Bertrand fell sick while preaching a mission in 1230 and died at the age of 35.
The body of Bl. Bertrand was found to be incorrupt in 1881, 23 years after his death.
Bl. Bertrand was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1881.
A person who governs his passions is master of the world. We must either rule them or be ruled by them. It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
St. Ingrid was born in Skanninge, Sweden in the 13th century. Her spiritual directer was Father Peter of Dacia, a Dominican priest.
Ingrid married young. However, she became a widow when her husband died. After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she gave all her possessions to God and became the first Dominican Nunin Sweden. She also founded the first Dominican cloister in Sweden.
St. Ingrid was known for her holiness. When she died in 1282, many miracles occurred, causing a cult to form calling for her to be named a saint. The canonization process was begun in 1405 but formal canonization never occurred. She is regarded a saint by many and has her feast day listed on the liturgical calendar.
Why should we mourn when those who have left us have suffered no loss, but have rather gained all? Instead of earthly life they have gained eternal life; they have exchanged a house on earth for a heavenly mansion; in place of the world they have found God.
The feast day of St. Raymond Nonnatus is celebrated on August 31. He was born in Catalonia, Spain in 1204. His mother died during childbirth prompting a delivery by caesarean section. The name Nonnatus means not born. St. Raymond is the patron saint of women in labor and the falsely accused.
Raymond felt great empathy for expectant mothers and is the patron saint of women in labor. His father wanted him to take over the family farm. He chose instead to become a priest, joining the religious order of Mercedarians. The Mercedarians were dedicated to ransoming Christian slaves from the Moors who occupied most of Spain.
St. Raymond was sent to Algeria where he used his inheritance to ransom slaves. When the money ran out, he traded his life for that of a slave. He was imprisoned but succeeded in converting several of his jailers. The Moors then bored holes in his lips and sealed his mouth shut with a padlock to prevent him from preaching!
St. Raymond was sentenced to death, however, the Mercedarians ransomed him home to Spain. He was then given the title of Cardinal by Pope Gregory IX in 1239. Soon after, he came down with a fever and died in Cardona. He is often shown in art in the company of angels. Many miracles were attributed to St. Raymond before and after his death in1240 at the age of 37.
You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.
The feast day of St. Jeanne Jugan is celebrated on August 30. She was born in 1792 in a small port town in the region of Brittany, France.
By the age of four her father had died at sea. Her mother struggled to support her and her siblings. She learned to knit and spin wool. Eventually, she worked as a kitchen maid for a wealthy family. Jeanne felt called to serve Christ while still in her teens. She began by working in a local hospital.
At age 25, Jeanne joined the Third Order ofSt. John Eudes. She worked as a nurse for six years but left for health issues. Her spirituality focused on her devotion to Mary, her desire to be one with the poor and trust in Divine Providence.
Jeanne was sharing an apartment with an older woman and an orphaned younger woman. One day, she met an elderly woman named Anne Chauvin. Anne was blind, partially paralized and had no one to care for her. She carried her home, up the flight of stairs to her apartment. She gave her bed to Anne, deciding to sleep in the Attic. By 1841, she had rented a room to provide housing for a dozen elderly people. The next year, she acquired an unused convent which was able to house 40. Many young women joined her to help. The Community which she formed became known as The Little Sisters of the Poor. Jeanne became known as Sister Mary of the Cross.
An ambitious priest eventually had her forced out of her leadership role and placed in retirement. In retirement, Sister Mary continued to pray for the order which had 2400 members. She was not known to be its foundress. The priest was eventually disciplined and St. Jeanne Jugan acknowledged as the foundress.
St. Jeanne was considered a true friend of the poor. She died in 1879 at the age of 86. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 11, 2009.
What happiness for us, to be a Little Sister of the Poor! Making the poor happy is everything!
Quote of St. Jeanne Jugan
August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The Feast day of the Beheading of John the Baptist is celebrated on August 29.
John the Baptist is the last prophet proclaiming the coming of the Lord. We actually meet John when Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry,
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.”( Luke1: 39)
John was actually about six months older than his cousin Jesus.
The next time we hear of John the Baptist he comes out of the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. John proclaimed:
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”(Matthew 3: 11)
In Matthew 3: 13, Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying,
“I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
But Jesus answered him,
“Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”
After Jesus had been baptized, the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of
Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist
God descending like a dove and a voice from heaven said,
“This is my Son, the Beloved,
with whom I am well pleased.”
We learn in Mark 1:14 that it is after the arrest of John the Baptist by King Herod, that Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news.”
Why was John arrested? The story is told in Mark 6: 17-29. John was arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so because Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. On Herod’s birthday Herodias’ own daughter came in and performed a dance that so delighted Herod and his guests that Herod promised her whatever she requested. She went to her mother asking “What shall I ask for?” Herodias replied,
“The head of John the Baptist.”
The girl hurried back to King Herod saying
“I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
King Herod was distressed at the request, but because of his oaths in front of guest he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back John the Baptists’ head. The head, on a silver platter, was given to the girl. In turn the girl gave it to her mother.
When the disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
John the Baptist is most remembered for his call to repentance and baptism. The following is one of his last statements before his death.
We are travelers, hastening to go back to our own country.
