A poem on St. Philomena

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Here is one of the poems that I have
written.

St. Philomena, Virgin Martyr

Saint Philomena Virgin Martyr,
from your throne of grace
cast a look of pity
upon the human race.

Saint Philomena the Wonder Worker
please hear us when we pray
and guide us through the challenges
that come to us today.

Please hear our prayers
and calm our fears
and guide us through
this vale of tears.

Hear us when we cry out to you
in our time of need
and your heavenly assistance
to us please do concede.

By Mary Ann Matulis

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Wonderful poem. 👍 St. Philomena just so happens to be my patron.
 
Karenanna said:
Here is one of the poems that I have
written.

St. Philomena, Virgin Martyr

Saint Philomena Virgin Martyr,
from your throne of grace
cast a look of pity
upon the human race.

Saint Philomena the Wonder Worker
please hear us when we pray
and guide us through the challenges
that come to us today.

Please hear our prayers
and calm our fears
and guide us through
this vale of tears.

Hear us when we cry out to you
in our time of need
and your heavenly assistance
to us please do concede.

By Mary Ann Matulis

http://missionbell.homestead.com/StPhilomenaStatue2_op_800x533.jpg
Click to expand...
Lovely poem. Problem is that there is no evidence Philomena was a martyr.
 
A wonderful conversion
This story comes from Sydney, Australia. It is related by the mother of the boy, who is the recipient of the favour.

When one of our teenage sons began drinking heavily, smoking pot and being involved with a heavy metal rock band, my husband and I decided to give him over to the care of Saint Philomena, who we had heard was a patron saint of youth and a wonder worker.

We had heard her story and had been impressed by the many miracles which had been attributed to her intercession. We prayed a novena and went to our first Mass in her honour, (at Guildford.)

As the Saturday night binges progressed to the whole weekend and then to week nights we decided to pray the novena continuously, imploring Saint Philomena desperately as our son’s condition continued to worsen. By this stage he would come home from work and prowl around restlessly until the phone rang and then he was out again.

His pores oozed the sweet/stale smell of beer continuously. Usually he was very gentle – even when he was drunk, but he became more agitated, blaming us for filling him with all the “God stuff” as he was growing up.

This occurred on the Saturday night of the August Mass in honour of Saint Philomena. The week that followed was very distressing.

He went off to work on the Friday at 5am as usual and I was surprised when he came home at 1.15 p.m. – his usual home time on Fridays, but lately he had gone straight to the pub and we were lucky to see him all weekend.

My son came out of his room and put a broken CD into the bin. I was again surprised and so had a look at the title of the CD. He had dozens of heavy metal CDs. It was named “Diabolos Music.” I said, as I had often said, that means Devil’s music and that it was dangerous. Usually he would laugh it off, but this time he said “I know mum.”

He brought out the printed lyrics of the song and said that the words to this song kept going through his mind and that he felt that he was going mad, but that he was at peace now.

I was almost too scared to ask him why? how? when? I just asked if he had called on God and he said “Yes.” At work that morning he had experienced an overwhelming sense of peace and love. A feeling of great burden had lifted off him. He felt the presence of a woman. He looked around but there was no one there. My son still had the music filling his head – so I gave him a much better tape to listen to. When his mate rang that night, before he left, he asked us to pray for him and said that he would not be late. After a couple of Rosaries and Divine Mercy Chaplets, we were disappointed as the night wore on, because our son did not turn up.

Finally around 2 to 3am he came in. My husband hurried out and I started another Rosary – hoping that my husband wouldn’t ruin the obvious start that my son had made. When my husband finally came back to bed a few hours later, he said that they had been talking and praying the Rosary together. My son had waited back to make sure that his friends got home safely. He wanted to go and tell them about his experience. They were not interested and as he listened to them, all he would hear was “hate” in their talk.

That morning August the 15th was the feast of the Assumption. He went to the Sacrament of Confession and afterwards he shed many tears. Our eyes were also filled with tears of joy. He went to three of the four Masses that weekend and did so for many months after. He has never drunk alcohol, smoked pot, nor has he listened to heavy metal rock music since that time. He threw out all his CDs and heavy metal T-shirts.

His conversion was sudden. We felt that it was miraculous. He now has a great love for Jesus and Mary, for Saint Philomena, the Pope and for the Catholic Church. Looking back now we can see the strong spiritual battle that was going on for him in those last few weeks.

He even said a couple of times that he was tempted to go and kill someone. We continue to pray the novena to Saint Philomena for our son for his continuing conversion and thanksgiving and “with joy in our hearts, we will bless God who is admirable in His Saints.” Our son attended the World Youth Day in Rome. (This conversion took place in the late nineties and is still going strong today.)

St. Philomena also helps out in temporal matters as is attested by following account.

Employment and finances
This story comes from the U.S.A. Barbara made a novena to Saint Philomena for her husband. He needed to earn enough money to get their family out of debt and at the same time to eliminate the need for his second job delivering newspapers every morning.

He had been doing the newspaper run for five years. He would get out of bed every morning by 4.30 and deliver the papers, before going to his regular office job.

Barbara had heard of Saint Philomena from a friend, who gave her a prayer card. Another friend found a book on St Philomena at her father’s house and lent it to Barbara. She read it and felt like she knew more about this wonderful little saint.

A month after Barbara finished the novena, her husband got a call from a personnel officer about a vacancy for a Manager position. He interviewed with the company and was offered the job. He then went to resign from the company that he had worked with for the past ten years.

They said they could not afford to let him go and that they would beat the other offer to convince him to stay. They added to that higher salary a huge lump sum bonus of $40,000. That was what was needed to get their family out of debt; their second mortgage, car loans, and credit card were paid off in full. There was even enough left to get a new roof for the house.

From my free online book about answers to prayer
 
thistle said:
Lovely poem. Problem is that there is no evidence Philomena was a martyr.
Click to expand...
St. Philomena the Wonder Worker

First of all I am going to briefly review what we know for certain about St. Philomena. Her relics were found in the Catacomb of St. Priscilla in Rome on May 24, 1802.

The bones indicated that she was a girl of about 13 years of age. There was an inscription across the front of her tomb, on three terracotta tiles which read. Lumena Pax Tecum Filumena.

It was realized that the first tile should have been placed in the third position, when this was done the inscription now read. Pax tecum, filumena which is Latin for: “Peace be with thee, Philomena.”

There were also some painted symbols on the tiles: an anchor, an arrow pointing upwards, a palm, and under it a second anchor, a javelin pointing upwards, an arrow pointing downwards and a flower.

The anchor, the palm, the arrows and the javelin are symbols of martyrdom. There was also a vial of dried blood embedded in concrete. This also indicated martyrdom.
The flower which was probably a lily indicated virginity.

The relics were translated to the Church of Our Lady of Grace, at Mugnano del Cardinale, Italy, (which is inland from Naples) in August, 1805.

Many miracles of healing took place. Pope Gregory XVI authorized St. Philomena’s devotion in 1837, because of the healing of Pauline Marie Jaricot (the foundress of the Living Rosary.)

He **proclaimed **that this saint’s name is actually Philomena, and that she is a virgin, **a martyr **and a wonderworker.

St. John Vianney (the Cure of Ars), the patron saint of my parish church, made a chapel (which is still in existence)* in his church at Ars in France, where many miracles and conversions took place.

*I have visited this chapel in France and have also been lto the Sanctuary of St. Philomena at Mugnano del Cardinale, Italy. (The tiles from St. Philomena’s tomb are in the church in Italy.)
 
Catholic Encyclopedia:

Philomena, Saint.—On May 25, 1802, during the quest for the graves of Roman martyrs in the Catacomb of Priscilla, a tomb was discovered and opened; as it contained a glass vessel it was assumed to be the grave of a martyr. The view, then erroneously entertained in Rome, that the presence of such vessels (supposed to have contained the martyr’s blood) in a grave was a symbol of martyrdom, has been rejected in practice since the investigations of De Rossi (cf. Leclercq in “Dict. d’archeol. chret. et de liturg.”, s.v. Ampoules de sang). The remains found in the above-mentioned tomb were shown to be those of a young maiden, and, as the name Filumena was discovered on the earthenware slabs closing the grave, it was assumed that they were those of a virgin martyr named Philumena. On June 8, 1805, the relics were translated to the church of Mugnano, Diocese of Nola (near Naples), and enshrined under one of its altars. In 1827 Leo XII presented the church with the three earthen-ware tiles with the inscription, which may be seen in the church even today. On the basis of alleged revelations to a nun in Naples, and of an entirely fanciful and indefensible explanation of the allegorical paintings, which were found on the slabs beside the inscription, a canon of the church in Mugnano, named Di Lucia, composed a purely fictitious and romantic account of the supposed martyrdom of St. Philomena, who is not mentioned in any of the ancient sources. In consequence of the wonderful favors received in answer to prayer before the relics of the saint at Mugnano, devotion to them spread rapidly, and, after instituting investigations into the question, Gregory XVI appointed a special feast to be held on September 9, “in honorem s. Philumenae virginis et martyris” (cf. the lessons of this feast in the Roman Breviary). The earthenware plates were fixed in front of the grave as follows: LUMENA PAX TECUM FI. The plates were evidently inserted in the wrong order, and the inscription should doubtless read PAX TECUM FILUMENA. The letters are painted on the plates with red paint, and the inscription belongs to the primitive class of epigraphical memorials in the Catacomb of Priscilla, thus dating from about the middle or second half of the second century. The disarrangement of the inscription proves that it must have been completed before the plates were put in position, although in the numerous other examples of this kind in the same catacomb the inscription was added only after the grave had been closed. Consequently, since the disarrangement of the plates can scarcely be explained as arising from an error, Marucchi seems justified in concluding that the inscription and plates originally belonged to an earlier grave, and were later employed (now in the wrong order) to close another. Apart from the letters, the plates contain three arrows, either as a decoration or as punctuation, a leaf as decoration, two anchors, and a palm as the well known Christian symbols. Neither these signs nor the glass vessel discovered in the grave can be regarded as a proof of martyrdom.
 
robertdeweger said:
Its from Irish background.
Click to expand...
Thank you for telling me. I saw the name written like that in a book about St.Therese. There was a nun in her convent at lisieux (France) whose name was Sister
Philomene.

This website has the name listed, with some information on the name in various languages. The French version of the name is spelled Philomene. (It has an accent above the first e.)

babynamespedia.com/meaning/Philomene
 
thistle. Unfortunately, the Catholic Encyclopedia has been proven to be wrong.

Here is a document written by Dr. Mark Miravalle, professor at the Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio.

Additionally, I am one of the editors of Monsignor Giovanni Braschi’s English translation of his book which was just published in English last year. And twenty-first century researchers have proven most of the myth published in the Catholic Encyclopedia as false.

Monsignor Braschi has been the Rector of the Sanctuary of Saint Philomena in Mugnano del Cardinale Italy for the past 28 years and has devoted exhaustive research to verify or prove false many of the myths that have been created by, The Catholic Encyclopedia, and other sources as being baseless and not factual.
The document is too long to post here, so, please go to this page to read Dr. Miravalle’s paper - philomena.us/Present%20Ecclesial%20Status-St.%20Philomena%20Nov%204.htm
 
Part - II

Historical Origins of the Devotion
Code: 
        On May 24, 1802, an excavator in the Catacombs of Priscilla struck a tile and, as previously instructed by Msgr. Ponzetti, Custodian of the Holy Relics, immediately ceased the excavation. [3] Fr. Filippo Ludovici, Vatican overseer of the excavation was informed, and on the following day, May 25, 1802, Fr. Ludovici, accompanied by several observers, descended into the catacomb, and witnessed the full uncovering of the loculus,[4] whereby with the removal of soil, three brick funeral tiles were revealed which bore an epitaph painted in red. A vial was found broken in the process of unsealing the loculus, with a dust of blackish color indicating blood clinging to glass fragments, and with the lower portion of the vial still intact and firmly embedded in the cement.[5] An engraved palm branch, the other typical sign which designates the tomb of a martyr along with the blood vial, was observed on the second tile.[6] 

         The painted inscription on the three funeral tiles appeared as follows: tile one - LUMENA; tile two – PAXTE; tile three – CUM FI.[7]  The loculus was documented by Msgr. Ponzetti, Custodian of the Holy Relics, as bearing “FILUMENA,” an interpretation of the epitaph consistent with both the ancient custom of beginning inscriptions from the second tile and the logical etymological context. The result is a full reading of the epitaph as “PAX TECUM FILUMENA.”[8]

        The name of “Filumena” is officially granted to the sacred remains examined on May 25, 1802, as recorded in the document issued by Ponzetti as Custodian of the Sacred Relics which released the remains of this Christian martyr to the Diocese of Nola on June 8, 1805:

                                                                                            8 Iunii 1805
Dono dedi Ven. Ecclesiae Archipresbyterali terrae Mugnano Dioecesis Nolanae corpus Sanctae Christi Martyris
Code: 
                                FILUMENAE
Nominis proprii sic picti in tribus Tabulis laterariis cinabro
Code: 
                    LUMENA PAXTE CUM FI
in pulverem et in fragmina redactum per me infrascriptum Custodem extractum cum vasculo vitreo fracto ex Coemeterio Priscillae Via Salaria Nova die 25 maii 1802, quod collocavi in capsula lignea charta colorata cooperta et consignavi Illmo Dominico Caesari pro Illmo et Rmo D. Bartholomaeo de Caesare Epo Potentino.

HYACINTHUS PONZETTI, Custos.[9]
Code: 
        Fr. Francesco de Lucia, priest from the Church of Our Lady of Grace at Mugnano del Cardinale in the Diocese of Nola, received the assistance of Msgr. Bartolomeo de Caesare, Bishop-elect of Nola in obtaining permission from the Holy See to transfer the sacred remains of the Christian martyr, Filumena to his Mugnano parish for the purpose of fostering spiritual renewal amidst his faithful.  The remains of Filumena departed from Rome on July 1, 1805 and arrived at Mugnano on August 10, 1805 where they have remained since the transferal.[10]

        The exceptional quantity of miracles which resulted from the petitioning of the martyr invoked as “Philomena,” initially by the southern Italian faithful, and then shortly thereafter by peoples of various countries, has been officially documented in various ecclesiastical recordings. Both the extensive documentation from the St. Philomena
Shrine at Our Lady of Grace Church in Mugnano,[11] and the documentation for the beatification and canonization processes of John Vianney at Ars, record the remarkable quantity of miracles attributed to the intercession of St. Philomena, which included the miraculous cure of Vianney himself.[12]
Code: 
        In 1833, Bishop Anselmo Basilici of the Diocese of Nepi and Sutri requested a feast and office in honor of St. Philomena from the Holy See, with the local ordinary from Nola having prepared a lesson for the breviary in her honor.[13] The Basilici petition received the support of a significant number of Italian bishops, in spite of its unusual status due to the absence of reference to St. Philomena in any martyrology or in any other historical account. The loculus name, Filumena, and the ubiquitous miracles acquired through her intercession as testified by numerous Church authorities sufficed for many of the Italian hierarchy in substantiating the legitimacy of the petition.[14] On September 6, 1834, the Congregation of Rites submitted to Pope Gregory XVI the formal request for the approval of the office and mass in honor of St. Philomena, virgin and martyr, due to the repeated request for this liturgical cult and veneration by several prelates.[15]
On June 17, 1835, the Congregation of Rites also concluded positively to a documented miracle submitted by Bishop Basilici and other bishops and priests, which testified to a multiplication of bone dust derived from the sacred remains.[16] In the dossier submitted to the Congregation, several bishops and clergy testified to the inexplicable multiplication of bone dust originating from a few grams (“one pinch”), which then provided bone dust for hundreds of reliquaries without the original amount experiencing any decrease in quantity. Other experiments were conducted with numerous Church and civil witnesses, only to observe and testify to the same phenomenon of multiplication.[17]
 
Part III

The documented cure of Ven. Pauline Jaricot, foundress of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, which occurred at the Mugnano tomb of Philomena, took place with proximate involvement and knowledge of Pope Gregory XVI.[18] The pontiff met with Jaricot in Rome while she was gravely ill with heart disease and heard directly from Jaricot of her intention to travel to Mugnano, for the specific purpose of petitioning the martyr Philomena for a cure so as to serve as a supernatural manifestation of God’s desire to have the martyr raised to the liturgical veneration of the altar. The documented cure took place on August 10, 1835, with a complete and instantaneous healing of Jaricot with regard to her heart and overall health.[19] Jaricot immediately returned to Rome, during which Pope Gregory observed her for a year to verify the perdurance of the miraculous healing. This miracle constituted the final impetus for the Pontiff to sanction the raising of popular devotion of the martyr to the status of public liturgical veneration in this manifestation of ecclesiastically approved sanctity.[20]

On January 30, 1837, Gregory XVI issued a solemn pontifical decree confirming the rescript of the Congregation of Rites authorizing her public cultus and approving the office, Mass of the Common of a virgin and martyr with a proper fourth lesson at Matins in honor of St. Philomena, virgin and martyr on August 11.[21] This papal approval of public liturgical devotion was first granted to the clergy of the Diocese of Nola, and later extended to other dioceses, including Rome itself.[22] The fourth lesson officially inserted into the Breviary in liturgical honor of St. Philomena on August 11 acknowledges the finding of her remains in the Priscilla catacombs, her martyrdom status, the rapid spread of her extensive popular devotion amidst the faithful due to her miraculous intercession, and the permission of Gregory XVI to celebrate liturgically the office and mass in her honor (as here presented):

DIE XI AUGUSTI
Code: 
        IN FESTO S. PHILUMENAE
Virginis et Martyris

In II NOCTURNO – LECTIO IV

Inter cetera martyrum sepulcra, quae in coemeterio Priscillae ad viam Salariam reperiri solent, illud exstitit quo repositum fuerat sanctae Philumenae corpus, uti ex tumuli inscriptione, tribus laterculis apposita, perlegebatur. Licet vero inventa fuerit phiala sanguinis, et alia descripta conspicerentur martyrii insignia, dolendum tamen est res ab eadem gestas actaque ac genus martyrii quod ipsa fecit obscura perstitisse. Ceterum ubi primum sacrum hoc corpus, ex beneficentia Pii septimi initio pontificatus ejus acceptum, cultui fidelis populi propositum fuit Mugnani in Nolana dioecesi, ingens illico famae celebritas ac religio erga sanctam martyrem percrebuit, praesertim ob signa quae ejusdem praesidio accessisse undique ferebatur. Hinc factum est ut complurium antistitum cultorumque martyris postulationibus permotus Gregorius decimus sextus pontifex maximus,

universa rei ratione mature perpensa, festum ejusdem cum Officio et Missa in memorata Nolana dioecesi et alibi agendum benigne permiserit.

C.M Episcop. Praenest. Card. PEDICINIUS;

S. R. E. Vice- C. S.R.C. Praef.;

V. PESCETELLI S. Fidei Promotor.[23]

In sum, Pope Gregory XVI in a papal decree, granted official approbation of the liturgical cultus and, thereby, official ecclesiastical recognition of the sanctity of St. Philomena, virgin and martyr. The Pontiff, fully aware of the absence of any historical account of the martyr saint “Filumena,” granted to her the privileges of public liturgical veneration based upon the foundation of the great quantity of miracles ecclesiastically documented and recognized as having occurred through her direct intercession.
Code: 
        The official positive decree of Gregory XVI in papal recognition of St. Philomena’s status as deserving of liturgical cult reinforces the deeper truth that far more important than the historical account of Philomena’s earthly life is the historical and documented account of her powerful intercession for the Church as sanctioned by God himself. Whoever this early Christian martyr is and whatever constitutes the particular circumstances of her life and death, God is pleased with prayers of petition offered in the name of “St. Philomena,” to which He has responded generously to the Christian faithful in granting an abundance of heavenly favors.
The historical abundance of miracles attests to God’s desire to encourage devotion to the person behind the name of Filumena, regardless of the absence of a recorded history of her earthly life. This primacy of importance of her actual intercession for the People of God in our own times, over the details of her earthly life in ancient times, is what the Pope and the Church confirmed in the raising of St. Philomena to the level of public liturgical veneration, the beginning of the process of her public recognition as saint and martyr.
 
Karenanna said:
Here is one of the poems that I have
written.

St. Philomena, Virgin Martyr

Saint Philomena Virgin Martyr,
from your throne of grace
cast a look of pity
upon the human race.

Saint Philomena the Wonder Worker
please hear us when we pray
and guide us through the challenges
that come to us today.

Please hear our prayers
and calm our fears
and guide us through
this vale of tears.

Hear us when we cry out to you
in our time of need
and your heavenly assistance
to us please do concede.

By Mary Ann Matulis

http://missionbell.homestead.com/StPhilomenaStatue2_op_800x533.jpg
Click to expand...
So beautiful! Thank you or sharing this.
 
In response to their being no proof she was a martyr.

Well while I believe in the infallibility of the Pope, as any Catholic should, and thereby do acknowledge that her being made a saint (granted “informally”) and the Pope himself recognizing her devotion and her story does mean that the accounts of Saint Philomena are incomplete but accurate in many points. But even if I didn’t believe that, I want to point out that many saints are compilations from saints who existed namelessly. For instance, Saint Dennis is believed to be compiled from many nameless holy men who embodied the same spirit as we attribute to Saint Dennis. So Saint Philomena, being possibly the most exalted virgin saint, could just as easily be the name by which we ask the intercession of many/every saint who died for the preservation of their vow to give their lives solely to God. What difference does it really make if she wasn’t exactly what we think she was? I mean I believe she was! I hope no one else takes me wrong. I believe everything about the story of Saint Philomena, but that’s a matter of faith. If she didn’t really go through all she did, then it doesn’t change how powerful asking her intercession is. God bless!

However, to just add an additional, similar question to the original topic, does anyone know if there might be a song to Saint Philomena? Thanks guys!
 
Burn_For_Truth said:
In response to their being no proof she was a martyr.

Well while I believe in the infallibility of the Pope, as any Catholic should, and thereby do acknowledge that her being made a saint (granted “informally”) and the Pope himself recognizing her devotion and her story does mean that the accounts of Saint Philomena are incomplete but accurate in many points. But even if I didn’t believe that, I want to point out that many saints are compilations from saints who existed namelessly. For instance, Saint Dennis is believed to be compiled from many nameless holy men who embodied the same spirit as we attribute to Saint Dennis. So Saint Philomena, being possibly the most exalted virgin saint, could just as easily be the name by which we ask the intercession of many/every saint who died for the preservation of their vow to give their lives solely to God. What difference does it really make if she wasn’t exactly what we think she was? I mean I believe she was! I hope no one else takes me wrong. I believe everything about the story of Saint Philomena, but that’s a matter of faith. If she didn’t really go through all she did, then it doesn’t change how powerful asking her intercession is. God bless!

However, to just add an additional, similar question to the original topic, does anyone know if there might be a song to Saint Philomena? Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Hymn in Honour of St. Philomena

We praise thee, Philomena
Blest martyr and blest maid!
Since Christ through thee
works wonders
We come to thee for aid.
Red Rose of sweetest fragrance,
Glowing with charity,
Yet white with lily whiteness
Of angels’ purity.

(Refrain)
All Hail ! St. Philomena
Thou Virgin of the Lord
Help us to love and praise Him
and make His Name adored

Be thou the guide of pilgrims,
restore the steps that stray
bring health to those who suffer,
Be thou their gladsome ray.
Cheer those whose hope is waning,
and warm the hearts grown cold;
Console the sad and lonely,
Strengthen the weak and old.

(Refrain)

Thou well-beloved maiden,
All girt with Heaven’s might,
Help those who sit in darkness,
Thou daughter of the Light.
Make us who now implore Thee,
Loving and brave and wise.
May we one day behold thee,
Princess of paradise.

(Refrain)

This hymn is sung to the melody
of “O Lord I am not worthy.”
 
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