Feast of St Francis de Sales

"God looks at the intention of the heart rather than gifts He is offered (The Spirit of St Francis de Sales XV:9)" after 365 days with St Francis

St Francis, the founder of Salesian Order, achieved remarkable success in converting Calvinists to Catholicism. Soon after being ordained to the priesthood, he was sent for his first appointment as a priest to Geneva, Calvinist's stronghold, and manage single-handedly to convert over seventy thousands of them. He was appointed later on the Bishop of Geneva. I always remember his famous words of advice on converting poor souls - he said it is certainly much much easier to catch plenty of flies with the thimble full of honey than with the bucket filled with vinegar. How true it is!

In Traditional Liturgical calendar, the Feast of St Francis is on 29th of January.

Link to previous posts

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St Francis Xavier - Apostle of Indies

Rm 10:10-18.
For, with the heart, we believe unto justice: but, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith: Whosoever believeth in him shall not be confounded. For there is no distinction of the Jew and the Greek: for the same is Lord over all, rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they be sent, as it is written: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things? But all do not obey the gospel. For Isaias saith: Lord, who hath believed our report? Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say: Have they not heard? Yes, verily: Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the whole world.

A charge to go and preach to all nations was given by Christ to his apostles. This commission the pastors of the church have faithfully executed down to this present time; and in every age men have been raised by God and filled with His Holy Spirit for the discharge of this important function who, being sent by the authority of Christ and His Name by those who have succeeded the apostles in the government of His church,have brought new nations to the fold of Christ for the advancement of the divine honor and filling up the number of the saints. This conversion of nations according to the divine commission is the prerogative of the Catholic Church, in which it has never had any rival.

Of all the valiant messengers of the divine Word who have, during the last few hundred years, proclaimed the good tidings among infidel nations, there is not one whose glory is greater, who has worked greater wonders or who has shown himself a closer imitator of the first apostles than the modern apostle of the Indies, St. Francis Xavier. He labored only ten years in the missions before he was taken to heaven. And what years they were! In so brief a time, this one man, animated by God in a most extraordinary way, won for Christ over a million souls.

The life and apostolate of this wonderful man were a great triumph for our mother the holy Catholic Church; for St. Francis came just at a period when heresy, encouraged by false learning, by political intrigues, by covetousness and by all the wicked passions of the human heart, seemed on the eve of victory. Emboldened by all these, this enemy of God spoke, with the deepest contempt, of that ancient Church which rested on the promises of Jesus Christ; it declared that she was unworthy of the confidence of men, and dared even to call her the harlot of Babylon, as though the vices of her children could taint the purity of the mother. God's time came at last, and He showed Himself in His power: the garden of the Church suddenly appeared rich in the most admirable fruits of sanctity. Heroes and heroines issued from that apparent barrenness; and while the pretended reformers showed themselves to be the most wicked of men, two countries, Italy and Spain, gave to the world the most magnificent saints.

The sixteenth century is worthy of comparison with any other age of the Church. The so-called reformers of those times gave little proof of their desire to convert infidel countries, when their only zeal was to bury Christianity beneath the ruin of her churches. But at that very time, a society of apostles was offering itself to the Roman Pontiff, that he might send them to plant the true faith among people who were sitting in the thickest shades of death. But, we repeat, not one of these holy men
so closely imitated the first apostles as did Francis, the disciple of Ignatius. He had all the marks and labors of an apostle: an immense world of people evangelized by his zeal, hundred of thousands of infidels baptized by his indefatigable ministration, and miracles of every kind, which proved him, to the infidel, to be marked with the sign which they received who, living in the flesh, planted the Church, as the Church speaks in her liturgy. So that, in the sixteenth century, the east received from the ever holy city of Rome an apostle, who, by his character and his works, resembled those earlier ones sent her by Jesus Himself. May our Lord Jesus be forever praised for having vindicated the honor of the Church, His bride, by raising up Francis Xavier, and giving to men, in this His servant, a representation of what the first apostles were, whom He sent to preach the Gospel when the whole world was pagan.

St. Francis Xavier was born in 1506 in Navarre, Spain not far from the present French border. Incredible were the labors of the saint. His food was the same as that of the poorest people, rice and water. His sleep was but three hours a night at most and that in a fisherman's cabin on the ground. The remainder of the night he passed with God or with his neighbor. In the midst of the hurry of his external employments, he ceased not to converse interiorly with God, who bestowed on him such an excess of interior spiritual delights that he was often obliged to desire the divine goodness to moderate them.

His day began on his knees praying for guidance for the day lying ahead. Prayer was followed by offering of the Mass. The intensity of his preoccupation with the mysteries of the altar filled with the awe the little group of the faithful who came for the Holy Sacrifice at dawn. "Frequently," one learns, "the Father seemed transfigured at his Mass. Especially at the elevation when he was seen raised in the air, and a radiant light streamed about his head." Reference is made in all his
biographies to this matter of levitation. It happened during his Mass and occasionally when he was distributing Holy Communion upon his knees, his usual posture for giving the Bread of Life to his people.

Miracles, the likes of which the world has never before witnessed, began to follow the servant of God wherever he ventured. In Travancore, God, for the first time, bestowed upon His servant the gift of tongues. It happened suddenly, before an immense crowd of people who had gathered in some remote area to hear the man whose name had been echoed up and down the coast as far north as Calcutta. As the holy priest opened his mouth to give word to the interpreter, he began to speak in the very Tamilese dialect proper to the audience before him. Moreover, at other times, as the crowds grew even larger, many different tribes, composed of as many varying dialects, all simultaneously heard the foreigner speak as if he had been raised among them. But hear even more! If the glory of God were not manifest enough in these prodigies, an even greater one occurred. For as the crowds continued to swell, often reaching as many as ten thousand, the missionary inevitably would be bombarded with a deluge of questions, too many for him to have satisfied even one percent of the inquiries. The
generosity of our heavenly Father, however, was not to be outdone. As the wonder worker opened his mouth to answer a question (in a tongue he had never spoken) the very waves of his voice were transformed in mid-air so as to bring home to the ears of his listeners as many answers to as many different questions as had been hurled at him. Indeed "the Lord is good to them that seek him!" (Lam:3:25) This phenomenon, as well as so many others, drew forth converts by the droves. Whole villages, en masse, together with their rajah, vied with one another to be the first to receive the saving
waters of Baptism.

As the saint was preaching one day at Coulon, a village in Travancore near Cape Comorin, perceiving that few were converted by his discourse, he made a short prayer that God would honor the blood and name of His beloved Son by softening the hearts of the most obdurate. Then he bade some of the people open the grave of a man who was buried the day before, near the place where he preached; and the body was beginning to putrefy with a noisome scent, which he desired the bystanders to observe. Then falling on his knees, after a short prayer, he commanded the dead man in the Name of the living God to arise. At these words the dead man arose and appeared not only living but vigorous and in perfect health. All who were present were so struck with this evidence that, throwing themselves at the saint's feet, they demanded baptism. The holy man also raised to life, on the same coast, a young man who was a Christian, whose corpse he met as it was being carried to the grave. To preserve the memory of this wonderful action, the parents of the deceased, who were present, erected a great cross on the place where the miracle was wrought. These miracles made so great impressions on the people, that the whole kingdom of Travancore was subjected to Christ in a few months, except the king and some of his courtiers.

Our saint raised about 25 people from the dead. He built over 100 churches. He destroyed forty thousand idols in the pagan East. After ten and a half years of tremendously successful work in the Indies and Japan, St. Francis wished to continue his missionary work in China. He took passage on a Portuguese ship to the island of Sancian on the coast of China; but Almighty God was pleased to accept his will in this good work and took him to Himself. A fever seized the saint on the 20th of November, and at the same he had a clear knowledge of the day and hour of his death, which he
openly declared to a friend, who afterwards made an authentic deposition of it by a solemn oath. On the 2nd of December, having his eyes all bathed in tears and fixed with great tenderness of soul upon his crucifix, he pronounced these words, "In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped; I shall not be confounded for ever"; and at the same instant, transported with celestial joy which appeared upon his countenance, he sweetly gave up the ghost in 1552.

In what remains of the story of St. Francis Xavier, the world catches a glimpse of what Our Dear Lord thought of the saint. Truly the hand of God is here. The burial of Francis' body took place upon the day he died. His face after death stayed beautiful with such red coloring that he seemed yet alive. The Portuguese Captain and two others carried the corpse to a hastily dug grave. Two bags of quicklime were poured about the body. It was with the purpose of bringing the bones of the saint back to India later when convenient that the quicklime was used so that all would be decomposed except the bones. In mid February, when it was time for the ship to return
to Malacca, the coffin was exhumed and opened with the covering of lime removed. Now we see the finger of God begins to write the record of divine approval of Francis Xavier. His body is found unaffected by the lime. It is fresh and with the red glow of health which gives the appearance, not of death, but of sleep. The flesh is soft and blood still stands in the veins. An incision made near the left knee bleeds freely. Late in the evening of March 22nd, the vessel reached Malacca. The plague which for some weeks had laid waste to the town, all of a sudden ceased. The body was interred in a damp church yard; yet in August, was found entire, fresh and still exhaling a sweet odor and being honorably put into a ship, was transported to Goa,
where it was received and placed in the church in the college of St. Paul on the 15th of March in 1554; upon which occasion several blind persons recovered their sight and others, sick of palsies and other diseases, recovered their health and the use of their limbs. The body of our Saint is still incorrupt residing in a glass coffin in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, India.

Holy zeal may properly be said to have formed the character of St. Francis Xavier. Consumed with an insatiable thirst for the salvation of souls and of the expansion of the honor and kingdom of Christ on earth, he ceased not with tears and prayers to conjure the Father of all men not to suffer those to perish whom He had created in His own divine image, made capable of knowing and loving Him and redeemed with the adorable blood of His Son.

St. Francis was a model for missionaries, formed upon the spirit of the apostles. So absolute a master he was of his passions that he knew not what it was to have the least notion of anger or impatience and in all events was perfectly resigned to the Divine Will; from whence proceeded an admirable tranquility of soul, a perpetual cheerfulness and equality of countenance. He rejoiced in afflictions and sufferings and said that one who had once experienced the sweetness of suffering for Christ, will ever after find it worse than death to live without a cross. By humility the saint was always ready to follow the advice of others and attributed all blessings to their prayers which he most earnestly implored. St. Francis Xavier was canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 12, 1622, and was proclaimed "Patron of Missions", a title he shares with St. Theresa of Lisieux.

ou will find a more extensive article on the life of St. Francis Xavier, which you are welcome to print and distribute, at Our Lady of the Rosary Library.

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Feast of St Andrew the Apostle - click for link

As in the case of all the apostles except Peter and John, the Gospels give us little about the holiness of Andrew. He was an apostle. That is enough. He was called personally by Jesus to proclaim the Good News, to heal with Jesus' power and to share his life and death. Holiness today is no different. It is a gift that includes a call to be concerned about the Kingdom, an outgoing attitude that wants nothing more than to share the riches of Christ with all people.

“The Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word’” (Acts 6:2-4).

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Our Lady of Miraculous Medal and St Catherine Laboure - click to visit website of the Chapel and shrine at rue du Bac in Paris

Story of St Catherine and Miraculous Medal - by Fr Joseph Dirvin

alternatively for 'busy-busy' or 'lazy bones' - Youtube short movie by Bob and Penny Lord

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St Edmund, King and Martyr - click for EWTN link

Today is memorial of St Edmund, King of England and martyr. St Edmund pray for England!

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St Frances Xavier CABRINI (1850-1917)

Extraordinary woman born in Italy, she was the first US citizen to be canonized. She traveled thousands of miles to work for Italian immigrants in New York.

She encountered a lot of disappointments and difficulties but her deep trust in God helped her doing the work of Christ. In 35 years Frances Xavier Cabrini founded 67 institutions dedicated to caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick. Seeing great need among Italian immigrants who were losing their faith, she organized schools and adult education classes.

At her canonization on July 7, 1946, Pius XII said, "Although her constitution was very frail, her spirit was endowed with such singular strength that, knowing the will of God in her regard, she permitted nothing to impede her from accomplishing what seemed beyond the strength of a woman."

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Feast of St Hedwig, the Queen

Hedwig was the youngest daughter of King Louis I of Hungary. She was a member of Capetian of House of Anjou.

Because she was great-niece to King Casimir III of Poland, she became Queen of Poland in 1382 upon her father's death. She was engaged to William, Duke of Austria, whom she loved, but broke off the relationship in order to marry Jagiello, non-Christian Prince of Lithuania, at age 13 for political reasons. She offered her misery in this marriage to Christ, and she eventually converted her husband; Jagiello was later known as King Ladislaus II of Poland after the unification of the kingdoms of Lithuania and Poland, a union that lasted over 400 years. She was exceptional for her charity to all, but especially the sick and poor, and for a revision of the laws to help the poor.

More info on the life of this prominent woman and saint.

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Blessed Angela Truszkowska

Today we honour extraordinary woman who submitted to God's will throughout her life—a life filled with pain and suffering.

Angela was the eldest daughter of Joseph and Josephine Truszkowski, Polish nobles. Well educated, pious, and lively youth with a frail constitution. Moved to Warsaw in 1837, and attended the Academy of Madame Guerin. Due to respiratory illness, she and her tutor Anastasia moved to Switzerland in 1841 at age 16. On 26 June 1848, at age 23, she had a moment of extraordinary grace that she considered a conversion experience, and which led her to the religious life. She became spiritual daughter of Capuchin Father Honorat Kozminski in 1854. Joined the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul in 1855 to help the poor, aged and homeless of Warsaw. Housed homeless children into her own home. In November 1854, she and her cousin Clothilde rented a two-room apartment at 10 Church Street, Nowe Miasto, in Warsaw, Poland. There homeless children spent their days in class and Mass, and then stayed the night; it was known as the Institute of Miss Truszkowska. Sophia prayed with the children at the Shrine of Saint Felix of Cantalice in a nearby Capuchin church. People call the kids the "children of Saint Felix" and the women the Sisters of Saint Felix, the Felicians. Thus was founded the Felician Sisters who are devoted to service to the poor, orphaned, sick and elderly. Mother Angela served as superior of the new Order for many years until ill health forced her to resign at the age of 44. She watched the order grow and expand, including missions to the United States among the sons and daughters of Polish immigrants.

Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1993.

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Feast of St John M. Vianney, Confessor (1786-1859).
Patron Saint of Parish Priests.

Today we have an opportunity to read testimonies of many pious people, including devout Chanoine Gardette, chaplain to the Carmel of Chalon-sur-Saone, describing the Cure of Ars prayer life, his ability of recollection and union with God amidst extremely busy life and duties of parish priest. All testimonies were taken during process of Beatification and are cited and commented upon in the well known and beloved book by Abbe Francis Trochu "The Cure of Ars":

"M. Vianney once expressed himself thus in my presence: 'Oh, how I wish I could lose myself, never again to find myself except in God!'. Well, watching him at work, one could see that his wish had been fulfilled. Indeed, he knew so well how to abandon himself to God's good pleasure that amid the manifold and laborious activities of his ministry he appeared as when engaged in his religious exercises. He always seemed but one thing to do - viz. the duty of the present moment. The keenness he displayed was that of apostolic zeal, never that of merely natural love of activity. Thus, whether one watched him on the morning, at noon, or at night, he invariably exhibited true liberty of spirit, meekness of disposition, and interior peace. It seems to me that here we have the realization of the ideal union with God - that is, the fullest possible development of perfect love." (said Chaplain Gardette.) We further read the comment made by Abbe Trochu: A soul united to God as to its centre may indeed perform a series of holy actions and yet not itself be holy. To avoid such a danger the Cure d'Ars constantly lifted up his heart to God - in the pulpit, in the confessional, in the midst of conversations and the most varied occupations. "He had acquired the habit of the saints, which consists in leaving God for active work, when this was required of him, and returning to God by prayer at the earliest possible moment." Prayer was the greatest joy of his soul and his habitual refuge. "Prayer is a fragrant dew," he used to say; "the more we pray, the more we love to pray." In fact, if all his life he longed so earnestly for solitude, it was that he might give himself up wholly to prayer and the contemplation of the things of God. Alas! the time had come when he could no longer give himself, as did his brother priests, even to the refreshing exercises of the annual retreat. On the very last occasion when he thus hoped to quicken his spirit - it was in 1835, at the Seminary of Brou - Mgr. Devie sent him back to his parish even before the opening exercise. "You have no need of a retreat," the prelate declared, "whereas over there sinners want you." And he went home without a word. There were times, however, when he was heard to groan as he remembered the far-off days when he lived in the solitude of the fields. "Oh, how happy I was then! Then my head was not racked as it is to-day; it was so easy to pray!" And he would add with a smile: " I believe my vocation was to remain a shepherd all my life." Yet when he became a priest - a shepherd of souls - he was able, at least during the first years, to indulge his holy passion for prayer. At that time he had assuredly attained to that exalted degree of prayer which is called "the prayer of simplicity," "where intuition replaces, for the most part, discourse or reasoning, where affections and resolutions vary but little and are expressed in but few words." "Before the great work of the pilgrimage began," says the Abbe Claude Rougement, vicaire of Ars, "according to the testimony of the old inhabitants, M.Vianney was for ever to be seen in church, on his knees, and praying without using a book." "His prayer was affective," says the Baronne de Belvey, " rather than made up of reflections and reasonings." He gazed at the tabernacle and never ceased from assuring our Lord that he loved him. In this he followed no other method than that of Pere Chaffangeon: "I look at the good God, and the good God looks at me." Frere Jerome declares in his turn that "when the influx of pilgrims put an end to his long hours of prayer, M. le Cure accustomed himself to choosing, in the morning, a subject of meditation to which he referred all the actions of the day." "I once asked him for advice on mental prayer," says the Abbe Dufour. "'I no longer have time for regular prayer,' was his answer 'but at the very first moment of the day I endeavour to unite myself closely to Jesus Christ, and I then perform my task with the thought of this union in mind.'" "From which I infer," adds M.Dufour, "that his life was one long prayer." In this way he concentrated the attention of his heart upon some scene of the life of our Lord, our Blessed Lady, or upon one of his favourite saints. His preferences were, however, for the sorrowful mysteries, and he usually accompanied our Lord throughout the divers phases of His Passion. That he might the more readily recall them to mind, he asked Catherine Lassagne to write them down in the margin of his Breviary, in this way, whilst reciting his Office, he lived over again, with tearful emotion, every one of the stages of the work of our redemption. As he walked among the crowds he frequently bore the appearance of one who feels quite alone, so deeply was he absorbed in holy considerations. Hence, whilst living a most active life, he ever remained the contemplative that he had wished to be. "That is real faith," he used to say, "when we speak to God as we would converse with a man." This ideal was fully realized in his own life.

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Eleven Martyrs of Novogrodek

The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth arrived in Novogrodek in 1929 at the behest of Bishop Zygmunt Lozinski. The Sisters became an integral part of the life of the town. During the Nazi and Soviet occupation of Poland, the Sisters invested great effort in preparing for the religious services - for the residents of the town, liturgical prayer became a beacon of hope amid the hopelessness of the occupation.

The Nazi terror in Novogrodek began with the 1942 extermination of the Jews, and was followed by a surge in Polish arrests, then the slaughter of 60 people, including two priests. This situation was repeated on 18 July 1943, when more than 120 people were arrested and slated for execution.

The Sisters unanimously expressed their desire to offer their lives in sacrifice for the imprisoned. Sister Maria Stella shared the Sisters' decision with their chaplain Father Zienkiewicz and rector, saying, "My God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us and spare those who have families. We are even praying for this intention." Almost immediately, the plans for the prisoners were changed - they were deported to work camps in Germany, and some of them were even released. When the life of Father Zienkiewicz was threatened, the Sisters renewed their offer, saying, "There is a greater need for a priest on this earth than for us. We pray that God will take us in his place, if sacrifice of life is needed."

Martyrdom
Without warning or provocation, on 31 July 1943, eleven of the sisters were imprisoned, loaded into a van and driven beyond the town limits. The eleven nuns were killed on 1 August 1943 in the woods 3 miles beyond Novogrodek, and buried in a common grave. After the execution, Sister M. Malgorzata Banas, the community's sole surviving member, located the place of the martyrdom, and remained the guardian of their common grave until her own death in 1966. The Church of the Transfiguration, known as Biala Fara, or "White Church", now contains the relics of the eleven martyrs.

Martyrs
The eleven martyrs are listed below, along with their birth names and years of birth.

1. Sister M. Stella, Superior (Adela Mardosewicz), born 1888
2. Sister M. Imelda (Jadwiga Karolina Żak), b. 1892
3. Sister M. Rajmunda (Anna Kokołowicz), b. 1892
4. Sister M. Daniela (Eleonora Aniela Jóźwik), b. 1895
5. Sister M. Kanuta (Józefa Chrobot), b. 1896
6. Sister M. Gwidona (Helena Cierpka), b. 1900
7. Sister M. Sergia (Julia Rapiej), b. 1900
8. Sister M. Kanizja (Eugenia Mackiewicz), b. 1904
9. Sister M. Felicyta (Paulina Borowik), b. 1905
10. Sister M. Heliodora (Leokadia Matuszewska), b. 1906
11. Sister M. Boromea (Weronika Narmontowicz), b. 1916

Beatification
On 18 September 1991, the canonization process for the eleven nuns was officially opened and, on 28 June 1999, the Zenit News Agency announced that Pope John Paul II had confirmed that they were martyrs. Pope John Paul II beatified them with a group of thirty-three others on Sunday, 5 March 2000. Feast day - 1st August

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Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola

Inigo de Loyola was born in 1491 in Azpeitia in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa in northern Spain. He was the youngest of thirteen children. At the age of sixteen years he was sent to serve as a page to Juan Velazquez, the treasurer of the kingdom of Castile. As a member of the Velazquez household, he was frequently at court and developed a taste for all it presented, especially the ladies. He was much addicted to gambling, very contentious, and not above engaging in swordplay on occasion. For a number of years he went about in the dress of a fighting man, wearing a coat of mail and breastplate, and carrying a sword and other sorts of arms. Eventually he found himself at the age of 30 in May of 1521 as an officer defending the fortress of the town of Pamplona against the French, who claimed the territory as their own against Spain. The Spaniards were terribly outnumbered and the commander of the Spanish forces wanted to surrender, but Ignatius convinced him to fight on for the honor of Spain, if not for victory. During the battle a cannon ball struck Ignatius, wounding one leg and breaking the other. Because they admired his courage, the French soldiers carried him back to recuperate at his home, the castle of Loyola, rather than to prison. His leg was set but did not heal, so it was necessary to break it again and reset it, all without anesthesia. Although he was told to prepare for death, on the fest of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29) he took an unexpected turn for the better. The leg healed, but he was left with one leg shorter than the other. For the rest of his life he walked with a limp.

Conversion of St. Ignatius
During the long weeks of his recuperation, he was extremely bored and asked for some romance novels to pass the time. Luckily there were none in the castle of Loyola, but there was a copy of the life of Christ and a book on the saints. Desperate, Ignatius began to read them. The more he read, the more he considered the exploits of the saints worth imitating. However, at the same time, he continued to have daydreams of fame and glory, along with fantasies of winning the love of a certain noble lady of the court. The identity of this lady has never been discovered but she seems to have been of royal blood. He noticed, however, that after reading and thinking of the saints and Christ he was at peace and satisfied. Yet when he finished his long daydreams of his noble lady, he would feel restless and unsatisfied. Not only was this experience the beginning of his conversion, it was also the beginning of spiritual discernment, or discernment of spirits, which is associated with Ignatius and described in his Spiritual Exercises. The Exercises recognize that not only the intellect but also the emotions and feelings can help us to come to a knowledge of the action of the Spirit in our lives. Eventually, completely converted from his old desires and plans of romance and worldly conquests, and recovered from his wounds enough to travel, he left the castle in March of 1522. He had decided that he wanted to go to Jerusalem to live where our Lord had spent his life on earth. As a first step he began his journey to Barcelona. He first proceeded to the Benedictine shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, made a general confession, and knelt all night in vigil before Our Lady's altar, following the rites of chivalry. He left his sword and knife at the altar, went out and gave away all his fine clothes to a poor man, and dressed himself in rough clothes with sandals and a staff.

The Experience of Manresa
He continued towards Barcelona but stopped along the river Cardoner at a town called Manresa. He stayed in a cave outside the town, intending to linger only a few days, but he remained for ten months. He spent hours each day in prayer and also worked in a hospice. It was while here that the ideas for what are now known as the Spiritual Exercises began to take shape. It was also on the banks of this river that he had a vision which is regarded as the most significant in his life. The vision was more of an enlightenment, about which he later said that he learned more on that one occasion that he did in the rest of his life. Ignatius never revealed exactly what the vision was, but it seems to have been an encounter with God as He really is so that all creation was seen in a new light and acquired a new meaning and relevance, and experience that enabled Ignatius to find God in all things. This grace, finding God in all things, is one of the central characteristics of Jesuit spirituality. Ignatius himself never wrote in the rules of the Jesuits that there should be any fixed time for prayer. Actually, by finding God in all things, all times are times of prayer. He did not, of course, exclude formal prayer, but he differed from other founders regarding the imposition of definite times or duration of prayer. One of the reasons some opposed the formation of the Society of Jesus was that Ignatius proposed doing away with the chanting of the Divine Office in choir. This was a radical departure from custom, because until this time, every religious order was held to the recitation of the office in common. For Ignatius, such recitation meant that the type of activity envisioned for the Society would be hindered. He finally arrived at Barcelona, took a boat to Italy, and ended up in Rome where he met Pope Adrian VI and requested permission to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Once he arrived in the Holy Land he wanted to remain, but was told by the Franciscan superior who had authority over Catholics there that the situation was too dangerous. (At the time, the Turks were the rulers of the Holy Land.) The superior ordered Ignatius to leave. He refused, but when threatened with excommunication, he obediently departed.

The Return to School
By now he was 33 years old and determined to study for the priesthood. However, he was ignorant of Latin, a necessary preliminary to university studies in those days. So he started back to school studying Latin grammar with young boys in a school in Barcelona. After two years he moved on to the University of Alcala. There his zeal got him in trouble, a problem that continued throughout his life. He would gather students and adults to explain the Gospels to them and teach them how to pray. His efforts attracted the attention of the Inquisition and he was thrown into jail for 42 days. When he was released he was told to avoid teaching others. (In the eyes of Inquisitors, anyone who was teaching and was not ordained was suspect.) Because he could not live without helping souls, Ignatius moved on to the University of Salamanca. There, within two weeks, the Dominicans had thrown him back into prison again. Though they could find no heresy in what he taught, he was told that he could only teach children and then only simple religious truths. Once more he took to the road, this time for Paris. At the University of Paris he began school again, studying Latin grammar and literature, philosophy, and theology. It was also in Paris that he began sharing a room with Francis Xavier and Peter Faber. He greatly influenced a few other fellow students directing them all at one time or another in what we now call the Spiritual Exercises. Eventually six of them plus Ignatius decided to take vows of chastity and poverty and to go to the Holy Land. If going to the Holy Land became impossible, they would go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope for whatever he would want them to do. They did not think of doing this as a religious order or congregation, but as individual priests. For a year they waited, however no ship was able to take them to the Holy Land because of the conflict between the Christians and Muslims. It was during this time of waiting that Ignatius was ordained a priest, but he did not say Mass for another year. It is thought that he wanted to say his first Mass in Jerusalem in the land where Jesus himself had lived.

The Company of Jesus
Ignatius, along with two of his companions, Peter Faber and James Lainez, decided to go to Rome and place themselves at the disposal of the Pope. It was a few miles outside of the city that Ignatius had the second most significant of his mystical experiences. At a chapel at La Storta where they had stopped to pray, God the Father told Ignatius, "I will be favorable to you in Rome" and that he would place him (Ignatius) with His Son. Ignatius did not know what this experience meant, for it could mean persecution as well as success since Jesus experienced both. When they met with the Pope, he very happily put them to work teaching scripture and theology and preaching. It was here on Christmas morning, 1538, that Ignatius celebrated his first Mass at the church of St. Mary Major in the Chapel of the Manger. It was thought this chapel had the actual manger of Bethlehem, so, if Ignatius was not going to be able to say his first Mass at Jesus' birthplace in the Holy Land, then this would be the best substitute. During the Lent of 1539, Ignatius asked all of his companions to come to Rome to discuss their future. They had never thought of founding a religious order, but now that going to Jerusalem was out, they had to think about their future--whether they would spend it together. After many weeks of prayer and discussion, they decided to form a community, with the Pope's approval, in which they would vow obedience to a superior general who would hold office for life. They would place themselves at the disposal of the Holy Father to travel wherever he should wish to send them for whatever duties. A vow to this effect was added to the ordinary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Formal approval of this new order was given by Pope Paul III the following year on September 27, 1540. Since they had referred to themselves as the Company of Jesus (in Latin Societas Jesu), in English their order became known as the Society of Jesus. Ignatius was elected on the first ballot of the group to be the superior, but he begged them to reconsider, pray and vote again a few days later. The second ballot came out as the first, unanimous for Ignatius, except for his own vote. He was still reluctant to accept, but his Franciscan confessor told him it was God's will, so he acquiesced. On the Friday of Easter week, April 22, 1541, at the Church of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, the friends pronounced their vows in the newly formed Order.

The Years As Superior General
Ignatius, whose love it was to be actively involved in teaching catechism to children, directing adults in the Spiritual Exercises, and working among the poor and in hospitals, would for the most part sacrifice this love for the next fifteen years. From his election as superior general until his death he would work out of two small rooms, his bedroom and next to it his office, directing this new society throughout the world. He would spend years composing the Constitutions of the Society and would write thousands of letters to all corners of the globe to his fellow Jesuits dealing with the affairs of the Society and to lay men and women directing them in the spiritual life. From his tiny quarters in Rome he would live to see in his lifetime the Society of Jesus grow from eight to a thousand members. The Jesuits would found colleges and houses all over Europe and as far away as Brazil and Japan. Some of the original companions were to become the Pope's theologians at the Council of Trent, an event which played an important role in the Catholic Counter Reformation.

The Jesuits and Schools
Perhaps the work of the Society of Jesus begun by Ignatius that is best known is that of education. It is interesting that he had no intention of including teaching among the Jesuits' works at the beginning. As already mentioned, the purpose of the first members was to be at the disposal of the Pope to go where they would be most needed. Before 1548 Ignatius had opened schools in Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and India. These schools, however, were intended primarily for the education of the new young Jesuit recruits. Ten such colleges built within six years indicated the rapid growth of the Jesuits. But in 1548 at the request of the magistrates of Messina in Sicily, Ignatius sent five men to open a school for lay as well as Jesuit students. It soon became clear by requests from rulers, bishops and cities for schools that this work was truly one of the most effective ways to correct ignorance and corruption among the clergy and the faithful, to stem the decline of the Church in the face of the Reformation, and to fulfill the motto of the Society of Jesus, "Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam,"--to the greater glory of God. This was clearly in keeping with one of Ignatius' first principles in choosing apostolates: all other things being equal, choose those apostolates that will influence those who have the most influence on others. Maybe the best expression of this idea was in a letter he wrote about the founding of colleges in December of 1551: From among those who are now merely students, in time some will depart to play diverse roles--one to preach and carry on the care of souls, another to government of the land and the administration of justice, and others to other callings. Finally, since young boys become grown men, their good education in life and doctrine will be beneficial to many others, with the fruit expanding more widely every day. From then on, Ignatius helped to establish Jesuit schools and universities all over Europe and the world.

Ignatius the Person
It is probably true that the picture of Ignatius that most people have is that of a soldier: stern, iron-willed, practical, showing little emotion -- not a very attractive or warm personality. Yet if this picture is exact, it is hard to see how he could have had such a strong influence on those who knew him. Luis Goncalves de Camara, one of his closest associates wrote: He (Ignatius) was always rather inclined toward love; moreover, he seemed all love, and because of that he was universally loved by all. There was no one in the Society who did not have much great love for him and did not consider himself much loved by him. We regard a number of saints as great mystics but never think of Ignatius as one of them. We have recounted a few of the many visions and mystical experiences in his life. His holiness, however, did not consist in such, but in the great love that directed his life to do everything A.M.D.G., for the greater glory of God.

Last Illness
Ever since his student days in Paris, Ignatius had suffered from stomach ailments and they became increasingly troublesome in Rome. In the summer of 1556 his health grew worse, but his physician thought he would survive this summer as he had done others. Ignatius, however, thought that the end was near. On the afternoon of July 30th he asked Polanco, his secretary, to go and get the Pope's blessing for him, suggesting by this to Polanco that he was dying. Polanco, however, trusted the physician more than Ignatius and told him he had a lot of letters to write and mail that day. He would go for the Pope's blessing the next day. Shortly after midnight Ignatius took a turn for the worse. Polanco rushed off to the Vatican to get the papal blessing, but it was too late. The former worldly courtier and soldier who had turned his gaze to another court and a different type of battle had rendered his soul into the hands of God. Ignatius was beatified on July 27, 1609 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 12, 1622 together with St. Francis Xavier. Ignatius' feast day is celebrated by the universal Church and the Jesuits on July 31, the day he died.

This material is extracted from essay by Rev. Norman O'Neal, S.J., The Life of St Ignatius

For more information on the life of St Ignatius, click for link to read, 1900 illustrated edition - The autobiography of St Ignatius of Loyola, ed. by Joseph o'Conor, SJ. In the preface we read that to fully understand Ignatian spiritual exercises, we should knwo something about the man who wrote them. We discern the Saint's natural disposition, which was the foundation of his spiritual character. We learn of his conversion, his trials, the obstacles in his way, the heroism with which he accomplished his great mission. Wow, it is worth to read!

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St Mary Magdalen, Penitent

St. Mary was given the name 'Magdalen' because, though a Jewish girl, she lived in a Gentile town called Magdale, in northern Galilee, and her culture and manners were those of a Gentile. St. Luke records that she was a notorious sinner, and had seven devils removed from her. She was present at Our Lords' Crucifixion, and with Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, at Jesus' empty tomb. Fourteen years after Our Lord's death, St. Mary was put in a boat by the Jews without sails or oars - along with Sts. Lazarus and Martha, St. Maximin (who baptized her), St. Sidonius ("the man born blind"), her maid Sera, and the body of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were sent drifting out to sea and landed on the shores of Southern France, where St. Mary spent the rest of her life as a contemplative in a cave known as Sainte-Baume. She was given the Holy Eucharist daily by angels as her only food, and died when she was 72. St. Mary was transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St. Maximin, where she received the last sacraments.

When Mary Magdalen first saw Our Lord she was very beautiful and very proud sinner, but after she met Jesus, she felt great sorrow for her evil life. When Jesus went to supper at the home of a rich man named Simon, Mary came to weep at His feet. Then with her long beautiful hair, she wiped His feet dry and anointed them with expensive perfume. Some people were surprised that Jesus let such a sinner touch Him, but Our Lord could see into Mary's heart, and He said: "Many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved very much." Then to Mary He said kindly, "Your faith has made you safe; go in peace." From then on, with the other holy women, Mary humbly served Jesus and His Apostles. When Our Lord was crucified, she was there at the foot of His cross, unafraid for herself, and thinking only of His sufferings. No wonder Jesus said of her: "She has loved much." After Jesus' body had been placed in the tomb, Mary went to anoint it with spices early Easter Sunday morning. Not finding the Sacred Body, she began to weep, and seeing someone whom she thought was the gardener, she asked him if he knew where the Body of her beloved Master had been taken. But then the person spoke in a voice she knew so well: "Mary!" It was Jesus, risen from the dead! He had chosen to show Himself first to Mary Magdalen, the repentent sinner.

Image by Giovanni Cima da Conegliano

Text based on Catholic Online

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St Joseph, Protector of the Carmelite Order - pray for us!

St Teresa devotion to St Joseph in her own words - taken from 'Autobiography' chapter 6

I took for my advocate and lord the glorious Saint Joseph and commended myself earnestly to him; and I found that this my father and lord delivered me both from this trouble and also from other and greater troubles concerning my honour and the loss of my soul, and that he gave me greater blessings than I could ask of him. I do not remember even now that I have ever asked anything of him which he has failed to grant. I am astonished at the great favours which God has bestowed on me through this blessed saint, and at the perils from which He has freed me, both in body and in soul. To other saints the Lord seems to have given grace to succour us in some of our necessities but of this glorious saint my experience is that he succours us in them all and that the Lord wishes to teach us that as He was Himself subject to him on earth (for, being His guardian and being called His father, he could command Him) just so in Heaven He still does all that he asks. This has also been the experience of other persons whom I have advised to commend themselves to him; and even to-day there are many who have great devotion to him through having newly experienced this truth.I used to try to keep his feast with the greatest possible solemnity; but, though my intentions were good, I would observe it with more vanity than spirituality, for I always wanted things to be done very meticulously and well. I had this unfortunate characteristic that, if the Lord gave me grace to do anything good, the way I did it was full of imperfections and extremely faulty. I was very assiduous and skilful in wrongdoing and in my meticulousness and vanity. May the Lord forgive me. I wish I could persuade everyone to be devoted to this glorious saint, for I have great experience of the blessings which he can obtain from God. I have never known anyone to be truly devoted to him and render him particular services who did not notably advance in virtue, for he gives very real help to souls who commend themselves to him. For some years now, I think, I have made some request of him every year on his festival and I have always had it granted. If my petition is in any way ill directed, he directs it aright for my greater good.
If I were a person writing with authority, I would gladly describe, at greater length and in the minutest detail, the favours which this glorious saint has granted to me and to others. But in order not to do more than I have been commanded I shall have to write about many things briefly, much more so than I should wish, and at unnecessarily great length about others: in short, I must act like one who has little discretion in all that is good. I only beg, for the love of God, that anyone who does not believe me will put what I say to the test, and he will see by experience what great advantages come from his commending himself to this glorious patriarch and having devotion to him. Those who practise prayer should have a special affection for him always. I do not know how anyone can think of the Queen of the Angels, during the time that she suffered so much with the Child Jesus, without giving thanks to Saint Joseph for the way he helped them. If anyone cannot find a master to teach him how to pray, let him take this glorious saint as his master and he will not go astray. May the Lord grant that I have not erred in venturing to speak of him; for though I make public acknowledgment of my devotion to him, in serving and imitating him I have always failed. He was true to his own nature when he cured my paralysis and gave me the power to rise and walk; and I am following my own nature in using this favour so ill.Who would have said that I should fall so soon, after receiving so many favours from God, and after His Majesty had begun to grant me virtues which themselves aroused me to serve Him; after I had seen myself at death's door and in such great peril of damnation; after He had raised me up, in soul and in body, so that all who saw me were amazed to see me alive? What it is, my Lord, to have to live a life so full of perils! For here I am writing this, and it seems to me that with Thy favour and through Thy mercy I might say with Saint Paul, though not so perfectly as he: For it is not I now who live, but Thou, my Creator, livest in me. For some years, so far as I can see, Thou hast held me by Thy hand, and I find I have desires and resolutions -- tested to a certain extent, during these years, in many ways, by experience -- to do nothing contrary to Thy will, however trifling it may be, though I must often have caused Thy Majesty numerous offences without knowing it. It seems to me, too, that nothing can present itself to me which I would not with great resolution undertake for love of Thee, and some of these things Thou hast helped me successfully to accomplish. I desire neither the world nor anything that is worldly, and nothing seems to give me pleasure unless it comes from Thee: everything else seems to me a heavy cross. I may well be mistaken and it may be that I have not the desire that I have described; but Thou seest, my Lord, that, so far as I can understand, I am not lying. I am afraid, and with good reason, that Thou mayest once more forsake me; for I know well how little my strength and insufficiency of virtue can achieve if Thou be not ever granting me Thy grace and helping me not to forsake Thee. May it please Thy Majesty that I be not forsaken by Thee even now, while I am thinking all this about myself. I do not know why we wish to live, when everything is so uncertain. I used to think, my Lord, that it was impossible to forsake Thee wholly; yet how many times have I forsaken Thee! I cannot but fear; for, when Thou didst withdraw from me but a little, I fell utterly to the ground. Blessed be Thou for ever! For, though I have forsaken Thee, Thou hast not so completely forsaken me as not to raise me up again by continually giving me Thy hand. Often, Lord, I would not take it, and often when Thou didst call me a second time I would not listen, as I shall now relate.

Today's image is by F. de Herrera the Elder

CARMELITE MEDITATION ON ST. JOSEPH, SPOUSE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, PATRON OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH.

PRESENCE OF GOD
O glorious St. Joseph, under your patronage may my interior life grow and develop.

MEDITATION
1. Today the Church presents St. Joseph, the great Patriarchs, to whose care God willed to entrust the most chosen portion of His flock, Mary and Jesus. Because Joseph was selected by God to be the guardian of the family of the Nazareth, the nucleus of the great Christian family, the Church recognizes in him the Guardian and patron of all Christendom. Herein lies the significance of today's Feast, which invites us to fix our attention on the mission entrusted to this great Saint in relation to Jesus and to the Church. Aware of the great mystery of the Incarnation, Joseph's whole life gravitated about that of the Incarnate Word: for Him he endured worry, suffering, fatigue, labour. To Him he consecrated all his solicitude, his energy, his resources, his time. He reserved nothing for himself, but completely oblivious of any personal needs, desires, or views, he devoted himself entirely to the interests and the needs of Jesus. Nothing existed for Joseph except Jesus and Mary, and he felt that his life on earth had no other raison d'etre than his care of them. In this way he participated fully, as a humble, hidden collaborator, in this work of the Redemption; if he did not accompany Jesus in His apostolic life and to His death on the Cross - as Mary did - nevertheless, he worked for the same end as the Saviour. Having been the faithful guardian of the Holy Family, it is impossible that from the heights of heaven St. Joseph should not continue to protect the great Christian family, the Universal Church, which , confident of his protection, and relying on his assistance, prays thus: "Sustained, O Lord, by the protection of the spouse of Your holy Mother, we beseech Your clemency....that by his merits and intercession You will guide us to eternal glory" (Roman Missal).

2. St. Joseph's vocation to become the guardian of the Holy Family was also an invitation to divine intimacy. We must not forget that he stood at the dividing line between Old and New Testament. The first part of his life belonged to the Old Testament, the second, to the New. Before the coming of Jesus, he, like all the patriarchs of the Old Law, would certainly have followed the trend of his time, and his relations with God would have been especially influenced by the sentiment of reverent fear. But as soon as the Angel revealed to him the mystery of Incarnation, and he learned that Mary his Spouse was to be the Mother of the Redeemer , everything in his life changed. God, whom he had always honoured as the Most High, the Inaccessible, the Thrice Holy, had now come near to him, so near that He had taken flesh in the womb of his Spouse, and had chosen him, Joseph, as His foster father. As soon as Jesus was born, He was placed in Joseph's arms and entrusted to his care; later He would grow in his sight, be fed at his table, and sleep under his roof. What a life of intimacy! And it was not only an intimacy of external relations, but also one of profoundly interior, spiritual relations, for Joseph knew by faith that Jesus was his God. Thus, together with Mary, this great Saint was the first one to enter into that life of love and intimacy with God, to which Jesus opened the door. Let us, then, watch Joseph fulfill his mission, not only with complete exterior dedication, but also with a heart filled with Jesus, a heart in which a glorious life of divine intimacy flourishes. While he is devoting himself to the work required by his position as foster father, he lives, in the secrecy of his heart, in continual relations of love with his God, the Incarnate Word.
In the Church, each one of us has his mission to fulfill for the good of souls and the glory of God. This mission requires work - often fatiguing work - and much sacrifice and intense activity. Like St. Joseph, we must give ourselves generously and totally, without sparing, without reserve, but, at the same time, we must also give ourselves to the works of God with a heart filled with God, with a heart which lives with Him in an intimacy nourished by the assiduous exercise of prayer. St. Joseph teaches us the blessed secret of a life of combined activity and contemplation, so that, following his example, we may give ourselves to the active life without neglecting our life of intimate union with God.

COLLOQUY
........O glorious Saint, it is a thing which truly astonishes me, the great favours which God has bestowed on me and the perils from which He has freed me, both in body and in soul, through your intercession. To other saints the Lord seems to have given grace to succour us in some of our necessities, but you succour us in them all...... If anyone cannot find a master to teach him how to pray, let him take you as his master and he will not go astray" (T.J. Life, 6).
May the life of the whole Church, as well as the interior life of every Christian, grow and prosper under your patronage, O Saint Joseph. I place my spiritual life under your protection. You, who lived so close to Jesus, bring me to intimacy with Him with a heart full of love.

credit: "Divine Intimacy" by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen OCD

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Feast of St Blaise, Bishop and Martyr

We know more about the devotion to St. Blaise by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. His feast is observed as a holy day in some Eastern Churches. The Council of Oxford, in 1222, prohibited servile labor in England on Blaise’s feast day. The Germans and Slavs hold him in special honor and for decades many United States Catholics have sought the annual St. Blase blessing for their throats

We know that Bishop Blaise was martyred in his episcopal city of Sebastea, Armenia, in 316. The legendary Acts of St. Blaise were written 400 years later. According to them Blaise was a good bishop, working hard to encourage the spiritual and physical health of his people. Although the Edict of Toleration (311), granting freedom of worship in the Roman Empire, was already five years old, persecution still raged in Armenia. Blaise was apparently forced to flee to the back country. There he lived as a hermit in solitude and prayer, but made friends with the wild animals. One day a group of hunters seeking wild animals for the amphitheater stumbled upon Blaise’s cave. They were first surprised and then frightened. The bishop was kneeling in prayer surrounded by patiently waiting wolves, lions and bears. As the hunters hauled Blaise off to prison, the legend has it, a mother came with her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat. At Blaise’s command the child was able to cough up the bone. Agricolaus, governor of Cappadocia, tried to persuade Blaise to sacrifice to pagan idols. The first time Blase refused, he was beaten. The next time he was suspended from a tree and his flesh torn with iron combs or rakes. (English wool combers, who used similar iron combs, took Blaise as their patron. They could easily appreciate the agony the saint underwent.) Finally he was beheaded.

Comment:
Four centuries give ample opportunity for fiction to creep in with fact. Who can be sure how accurate Blaise’s biographer was? But biographical details are not essential. Blaise is seen as one more example of the power those have who give themselves entirely to Jesus. As Jesus told his apostles at the Last Supper, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). With faith we can follow the lead of the Church in asking for Blaise’s protection.

Quote:
“Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from ailments of the throat and from every other evil. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Blessing of St. Blaise).

Credits: text from American Catholic Saint of the day, whereas St Blaise sculpture picture is taken in the Church of St Blaise where the incorrupt body of St Silvanus, martyred in 350 is also kept.

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“Hence we must say that for the knowledge of any truth whatsoever man needs divine help, that the intellect may be moved by God to its act. But he does not need a new light added to his natural light, in order to know the truth in all things, but only in some that surpasses his natural knowledge” (Summa Theologiae, I-II, 109, 1). St Thomas Aquinas

credit: The quote is from American Catholic

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St Thomas Becket, Martyr

I am a good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. St John 10:11.
Christ [also] loved the Church, and delivered himself up for it. Ephesians 5:25
Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. St Matthew 5:11,12.

St. Thomas Becket, bishop of Canterbury, died in 1170 A.D, and his feast day is on the day of his death, just four days after Christmas. That very Christmas morning, he delivered a homily mentioning St. Stephen and the nature of martyrdom, seeing what was to come for his own life. Following some brief introductory remarks about Christmas and the fact that both Christ's birth and death were being celebrated on the same day in the Mass, he concluded this way:

"Consider also one thing of which you have probably never thought. Not only do we at the feast of Christmas celebrate at once Our Lord's Birth and His Death: but on the next day we celebrate the martyrdom of His First martyr: the blessed Stephen. Is it an accident, do you think, that the day of the first martyr follows immediately the date of the Birth of Christ? By no means. Just as we rejoice and mourn at once, in the Birth and in the Passion of Our Lord; so also, in a smaller figure, we both rejoice and mourn in the death of martyrs. We mourn, for the sins of the world that has martyred them; we rejoice, that another soul is numbered among the Saints in Heaven for the glory of God and for the salvation of men. Beloved, we do not think of a martyr simply as a good Christian who has been killed because he is a Christian: for that would be solely to mourn. We do not think of him simply as a good Christian who has been elevated to the company of the Saints: for that would be simply to rejoice: and neither our mourning nor our rejoicing is as the world's is. A Christian martyrdom is no accident. Saints are not made by accident. Still less is a Christian martyrdom the effect of a man's will to become a Saint, as a man by willing and contriving may become a ruler of men. Ambition fortifies the will of man to become ruler over other men: it operates with deception, cajolery, and violence; it is the action of impurity upon impurity. Not so in Heaven. A martyr, a saint, is always made by the design of God, for His love of men, to warn them and to lead them, to bring them back to His ways. A martyrdom is never the design of man; for the true martyr is he who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, not lost it but found it, for he has found freedom in submission to God. The martyr no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of martyrdom. So thus as on earth the Church mourns and rejoices at once, in a fashion that the world cannot understand; so in Heaven the Saints are most high, having made themselves most low, seeing themselves not as we see them, but in the light of the Godhead from which they draw their being. I have spoken to you today, dear children of God, of the martyrs of the past, asking you to remember especially our martyr of Canterbury, the blessed Archbishop Elphege;* because it is fitting, on Christ's birth day, to remember what is that Peace which He brought; and because, dear children, I do not think I shall ever preach to you again; and because it is possible that in a short time you may have yet another martyr, and that one perhaps not the last. I would have you keep in your hearts these words that I say, and think of them at another time. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

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St John Apostle and Evangelist

To celebrate the feast of St John, we can read today the chapter of the book entitled "Golden Legend or Lives of Saints" and written by Jacobus Voragine. The fragment describes the life of St John, his work and miracles he wrought for credibility of his faith. The portrait of St John above is by 17th century artist A. Cano and depicts St John blessing the cup of poison given to him. The whole story can be read below.

St. John the apostle and evangelist was son of Zebedee, which had married the third sister of our Lady to wife, and that was brother to St. James of Galicia. This said “John” signifieth as much as “the grace of God,” and well might he have such a name, for he had of our Lord four graces above the other apostles. The first is that he was beloved of our Lord. The second was, that our Lord kept to him his virginity like as St. Jerome saith, for he was at his wedding, and he abode a clean virgin. The third is that our Lord made him to have much great revelation and knowledge of his divinity, and of the finishing of the world, like as it appeareth in the beginnings of his evangel, and in the Apocalypse. The fourth grace is that our Lord committed to him in especial the keeping of his sweet mother. He was, after the ascension of our Lord, in Jerusalem with the apostles and others, and after that they were, by the ordinance of the Holy Ghost, confirmed in the Christian faith by the universal world, St. John came into Greece where he conversed and converted much people and founded many churches in the Christian faith as well by miracles as by doctrine.

Persecuted for His Faith by Domitian
In this time Domitian was Emperor of Rome, which made right great persecutions unto Christian men, and did do take St. John, and did him to be brought to Rome and made him to be cast into a vat or a ton full of hot oil in the presence of the senators, of which he issued out, by the help of God, more pure and more fair, without feeling of any more heat or chauffing, than he entered in. After this that emperor saw that he ceased not to preach the Christian faith, he sent him into exile unto an isle called Patmos. There was St. John alone, and was visited of angels and governed; there wrote he by the revelation of our Lord the Apocalypse, which contained the secrets of holy church and of the world to come.

The Raising of Drusiana
In this same year was Domitian the emperor, for his evils, put to death, and all that he had done was revoked by the senators and defeated, and thus was St. John brought again from his exile with great honour into Ephesus; and all the people of Ephesus came against him singing and saying: Blessed be he that cometh in the name of our Lord. In that way he raised a woman which was named Drusiana, which had much loved St. John and well kept his commandments. And her friends brought her tofore St. John all weeping and saving to him: Lo! here is Drusiana which much loved thee and did thy commandments, and is dead, and desired nothing so much as thy return, and that she might see thee tofore her death. Now thou art come hither and she may not see thee. St. John had great pity on her that was dead, and of the people that wept for her, and commanded that they should set down the bier, and unbind and take away the clothes from her. And when they had so done he said, hearing all, with a loud voice, Drusiana, my Lord God Jesu Christ ariseth thee; Drusiana arise, and go into thy house, and make ready for me some refection. Anon she arose and went in to her house for to do the commandment of St. John, and the people made three hours long a great noise and cry, saying there is but one God, and that is he whom St. John preacheth.

St. John’s Sermons Against Material Wealth

The Sermon to Crato
It happed on another day that Crato the philosopher made a great assembly of people in the midst of the city, for to show to them how they ought to despise the world. And he had ordained two young men brethren which were much rich, and had made them to sell their patrimony and therewith to buy precious stones, the which these two young men brake in the presence of the people, for to show how these precious and great riches of the world be soon destroyed. That same time St. John passed by, and said to Crato the philosopher: This manner for to despise the world that thou showest is vain and foolish demonstrance, for it seeketh to have the praising of the world, and God reproveth it. My good master Jesu Christ said to a man that demanded of him how he might come to everlasting life, that he should go and sell his goods and give it, and great dread to lose that which he hath so dear and with great pain gotten. . . .

The Sermon to the Two Backsliders
In Voragine, after John concludes the example of the rich man in the Gospel, he puts the gems back together again. The philosopher and the young men thereupon become believers, sell the gems, and give the proceeds to the poor. Their example leads two other rich young men to do the same with their own wealth, but later they regret having done so, because their former slaves are now wearing rich garments while they themselves are in rags. St. John responds to their attitude by turning some sticks and stones into gold and gems and he bids the young men to restore themselves to their former status: “since you have lost the treasures of heaven, flourish, but only to wither.” Then he gives a second sermon against riches, with six reasons we should eschew them.
. . . “Sixthly, avaunting and praising: for the riches give occasion to be vainglorious and to praise and glorify himself. And by this it appeareth that presently is lost the weal of humility, without which the grace of God may not be had, and thus is gotten, for the world to come, pain and torment by over-great pride. “Scripture then, nature, creature, fortune, business and care, avaunting and praising, ought to make us withdraw for to love riches.” St. John approved to these two men his doctrine, with his miracles, to be true, [continuing with these words:] “And ye in the name of him did miracles tofore that ye were sorry and repented you of that ye had given your riches to poor people. Now is that grace from you departed and ye become meschant [wicked] and wretches, which were in the faith strong and mighty. And tofore, the evil spirits had fear and dread of you, and by your commandment they issued out of bodies human, now have ye fear and dread of them and be become their servants. “For whoso loveth the riches of this world, he is servant unto a devil named Mammon, and is bond and serf in keeping the riches in which he setteth his affiance. And hereof saith the Holy Ghost by the prophet David: In imagine pertransit homo, etc.: “Vainly is the man distroubled which assembleth treasure in this world, and knoweth not for whom it is,” [Ps. 38:6] for when he shall die he shall bear nothing with him, and he wotteth not who shall dispend it, for naked we came upon the earth and all naked shall we re-enter into it. “And to a meschant [wicked] man it sufficeth not when he hath enough, but he is busy day and night to get more without rest. For the riches make him fearful to lose that he hath gotten, and bringeth to him many businesses and evil rest in making worldly delights. And he, dispurveyed [rendered destitute], death cometh which taketh all from him, and beareth nothing with him save his proper sins.”

St. John Raises Satheus, Who Affirms the Truth of What He Has Said
When St. John had said all this there was brought tofore him a young man dead, which only had been in marriage thirty days. And his mother and friends wept sore, which tofore St. John kneeled down on their knees, praying him that he would raise him to life. St. John had great pity, and when he had long wept he bade to loose and unbind the body and said: O Satheus, which wert blinded with fleshly love, soon thou hast lost thy soul, and because thou knewest not thy maker Jesu Christ, thou art fallen ignorantly into the leash of the right evil fiends, wherefore I weep and pray that thou mayst be releved from death to life, and show thou to these twain, Actius and Eugenius, what great glory they have lost and what pain they have deserved. Anon Satheus releved him in yielding thankings to St. John, and blamed much the two disciples in saying: I saw your two angels weep and the devils demene joy of your perdition, also I saw the realm of heaven made ready for you and full of all delights, and ye have follily gotten for you the place of hell, dark and tenebrous [full of darkness], full of dragons and of all pains, and therefore it behoveth you to pray to the apostle of God that he remise [restore] and bring you again to your salvation, like as he hath revived me goodly. And among all other pains, this Satheus reciteth these that be contained in two verses following: Vermes et umbrae, flagellum, frigus et ignis, Dæmonis aspectus, scelerum confusio, luctus – that is to say: worms, darkness, scourges, cold, heat, sight of devil, confusion of sins, and wailing.

The Repentance of the Young Backsliders
Anon then these two men by right great repentance prayed St. John that he would pray for them, to whom St. John answered that they should do penance thirty days long, and pray to God that the rods of gold and the precious stones might return to their first proper natures. After these thirty days they came to St. John and said to him: Fair father, ye have always preached misericord [mercy] and mercy, and commanded that one should pardon another his trespass, we be contrite and repentant of our sins and weep with our eyes for this evil worldly covetise, the which we have by them received, and therefore we pray you that ye have mercy on us. And St. John answered: Our Lord God when he made mention of the sinner he said, “I will not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live, for great joy is in Heaven of a sinner repentant.” And therefore know ye that he hath received your repentance, go ye forth and bear the rods and stones thither where ye took them, for they be returned to their first nature. Thus received they the grace that they had lost, so that after they did great miracles in the name of our Lord Jesu Christ.

The Destruction of Diana’s Temple
And then after this when the blessed apostle St. John had preached through all Asia [i.e., Asia Minor], and sown the word of Christ, they that worshipped idols moved the people against St. John, and came and drove him into the temple of Diana for to constrain him to do sacrifice unto that idol. To whom St. John said: Sith ye believe that your goddess Diana hath so great power, call ye upon her and require her by her power she subvert and overthrow the Church of Christ, and if she so do, I shall do sacrifice to her, and if she do it not, then let me pray unto my God Jesu Christ that he overthrow her temple, and if he so do then believe ye in him.

The Cup of Poison
[Another lacuna.The temple does collapse, and Diana’s statue resolves to dust. Next, the high priest Aristodemus puts a proposal to St. John: Aristodemus will convert if St. John will drink poison and survive. First, to prove the poison is real, John has two criminals drink it; they die. John then drinks the poison himself, lives, and revives the two criminals. Caxton’s text continues with what John then said to Aristodemus:]. . . for I shall yield account for thee to Jesu Christ, and truly I shall gladly die for thee like as Jesu Christ died for us. Turn again my son, turn again, Jesu Christ hath sent me to thee. And when he [Aristodemus] heard him thus speak he abode with a heavy cheer and wept, repenting him bitterly, and fell down to the feet of the apostle, and for penance kissed his hand. And the apostle fasted and prayed to God for him, and gat for him remission of his sins and forgiveness, and he lived so virtuously after, that St. John ordained him to be a bishop.

The Bath House
Also it is read in the same history that St. John on a time entered into a bath for to wash him, and there he found Cerinthus an heretic, whom as soon as he saw he eschewed [avoided], and went out of it saying: Let us flee and go hence lest the bath fall upon us in which Cerinthus the enemy of truth washeth him, and as soon as he was out the bath fell down.

The Partridge
Cassiodorus saith that a man had given to St. John a partridge living, and he held it in his hand stroking and playing with it otherwhile for his recreation. And on a time a young man passed by with his fellowship and saw him play with his bird, which said to his fellows, laughing: See how the yonder old man playeth with a bird like a child. Which St. John knew anon, by the Holy Ghost, what he had said, and called the young man to him and demanded him what he held in his hand, and he said “a bow.” What dost thou withal? said St. John. And the young man said: We shoot birds and beasts therewith. To whom the apostle demanded how and in what manner. Then the young man bent his bow and held it in his hand bent, and when the apostle said no more to him he unbent his bow again. Then said the apostle to him: Why hast thou unbent thy bow? And he said: Because if it should be long bent it should be the weaker for to shoot with it. Then said the apostle, So son, it fareth by mankind and by frailty in contemplation, if it should alway be bent it should be too weak, and therefor otherwhile it is expedient to have recreation. The eagle is the bird that flyeth highest, and most clearly beholdeth the sun, and yet by necessity of nature him behoveth to descend low. Right so when mankind withdraweth him a little from contemplation, he after putteth himself higher by a renewed strength, and he burneth then more fervently in heavenly things.

The Gospel of John
St. John wrote his gospels after the other Evangelists, the year after the ascension of our Lord sixty-six, after this that the venerable Bede saith. And when he was required and prayed of the bishops of the country of Ephesus to write them, St. John prayed also to them, that they should fast and pray in their dioceses three days for him to the end that he might truly write them.

His Death
St. Jerome saith of this glorious apostle St. John, that, when he was so old, so feeble and so unmighty that his disciples sustained and bare him in going to church, and as of times he rested, he said to his disciples: Fair children, love ye together, and each of you love other. And then his disciples demanded why and wherefore he said to them so oft such words. He answered to them and said: Our Lord had so commanded, and whosomever accomplished well this commandment it should suffice him for to be saved. And finally after that he had founded many churches and had ordained bishops and priests in them, and confirmed them by his predication [preaching] in the Christian faith, the year sixty-eight after the resurrection of Jesu Christ (for he was thirty-one years old when our Lord was crucified, and lived after sixty-eight years, and thus was all his age ninety-nine years), then came our Lord with his disciples to him and said: Come my friend to me, for it is time that thou come, eat and be fed at my table with thy brethren. Then St. John arose up and said to our Lord Jesu Christ that he had desired it long time, and began to go. Then said our Lord to him: On Sunday next coming thou shalt come to me. That Sunday the people came all to the church, which was founded in his name and consecrate on that one side of Ephesus, and from midnight forth he ceased not to preach to the people that they should establish them and be stedfast in the Christian faith and obeissant [obedient] to the commandments of God. And after this he said the mass, and houseled and communed [administered Holy Communion to] the people. And after that the mass was finished he bade and did do make a pit or a sepulture [sepulchre] tofore the altar; and after that he had taken his leave and commended the people to God, he descended down into the pit or sepulture tofore the altar, and held up his hands to heaven and said: Sweet Lord Jesu Christ, I yield me unto thy desire, and thank thee that thou hast vouchsafed to call me to thee. If it please thee, receive me for to be with my brethren, with whom thou hast summoned me; open to me the gate of the life permanable [eternal], and lead me to the feast of thy well and best dressed meats. Thou art Christ the son of the living God, which by the commandment of the father hast saved the world. To thee I render and yield grace and thankings, world without end, thou knowest well that I have desired thee with all my heart. After that he had made his prayer much amorously [lovingly] and piteously, anon came upon him great clearness and light, and so great brightness that none might see him, and when this light and brightness was gone and departed, there was nothing found in the pit or grave but manna, which came springing from under upward, like as sand in a fountain or springing well, where much people have been delivered of many diseases and sicknesses by the merits and prayers of this glorious saint. Some say and affirm that he died without pain of death, and that he was in that clearness borne into heaven body and soul, whereof God knoweth the certainty. And we, that be yet here beneath in this misery, ought to pray devoutly to him that he would impetre [request] and get to us the grace of our Lord which is blessed in secula seculorum [forever and ever]. Amen.

A Miracle of St. John and St. Edward the Confessor
There was a king, a holy confessor and virgin, named St. Edward, which had a special devotion unto St. John Evangelist, and it happed that this holy king was at the hallowing of a church dedicate in the honour of God and of this holy apostle; and it was that St. John in likeness of a pilgrim came to this king and demanded his alms in the name of St. John, and the king not having his almoner by him, ne his chamberlain, of whom he might have somewhat to give him, took his ring which he bare on his finger and gave it to the pilgrim. After these many days, it happened two pilgrims of England for to be in the Holy Land, and St. John appeared to them and bade them to bear this ring to their king and to greet him well in his name, and to tell him that he gave it to St. John in likeness of a pilgrim, and that he should make him ready to depart out of this world, for he should not long abide here but come into everlasting bliss, and so vanished from them. And anon as he was gone they had great lust [desire] to sleep, and laid them down and slept, and this was in the Holy Land, and when they awoke they looked about them and knew not where they were. And they saw flocks of sheep and shepherds keeping them, to whom they went to know the way, and to demand where they were, and when they asked them they spake English and said that they were in England, in Kent on Barham Down. And then they thanked God and St. John for their good speed, and came to this holy king St. Edward on Christmas day, and delivered to him the ring and did their errand, whereof the king was abashed [surprised], and thanked God and the holy saint that he had warning for to depart. And on the vigil of the Epiphany next after he died and departed holily out of this world, and is buried in the Abbey of Westminster by London where is yet to this day the same ring.

Isidore’s Remark on St. John
Isidore, in the book of the life and death of holy saints and fathers, saith this: St. John the Evangelist transformed and turned rods of trees into fine gold, the stones and gravel of the sea into precious gems and ouches [brooches], the small broken pieces of gems he reformed into their first nature, he raised a widow from death, and brought again the soul a young man into his body, he drank venom without hurt or peril, and them that had been dead by the same he recovered into the state of life.

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