Saint of the day and Feast days-Part 2

[The_Reginator]

Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko,
Pray for us!

odhiambo,
Most of the saints you share with us lived a relatively long time ago.
The events in Poland, however, all happened after I was an adult.
I found this story both riviting and inspirational. I pray that whenever I find myself being persicuted in any way because of our Lord Jesus that I will have the strength to follow in Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko’s footsteps.

• Reg.

 

[kelvinf]

Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko,
Pray for us!

odhiambo,
Most of the saints you share with us lived a relatively long time ago.
The events in Poland, however, all happened after I was an adult.
I found this story both riviting and inspirational. I pray that whenever I find myself being persicuted in any way because of our Lord Jesus that I will have the strength to follow in Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko’s footsteps.

• Reg.

Right, this story sounds very fresh

 

[odhiambo]

Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko,
Pray for us!

odhiambo,
Most of the saints you share with us lived a relatively long time ago.
The events in Poland, however, all happened after I was an adult.
I found this story both riviting and inspirational. I pray that whenever I find myself being persicuted in any way because of our Lord Jesus that I will have the strength to follow in Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko’s footsteps.

• Reg.

My prayer too Reginator, my prayer too!
I do hope that he will be canonized soon.

 

[odhiambo]

October 20

Today is the Feast Day of
Saint Adelina
Among many other Saints

 

[odhiambo]

Saint Adelina
Benedictine nun
Abbess of the convent of La Blanche
Adelina was a noblewoman of Normandy. She was reportedly the sister of Saint Vitalis and a granddaughter of William the Conqueror. She became a Benedictine nun and the abbess of the Benedictine Convent of La Blanche at Moriton, Normandy, a religious community which was founded by her brother Saint Vitalis.
Adelina died in 1125 .
Her canonization was Pre-Congregation
Saint Adelina,
Pray for us!

 

[odhiambo]

October 21
Today is the Feast day of
Saint Wendelin
Among many other Saints

 

[odhiambo]

Saint Wendelin
Prince of Scotland
Hermit
Abbot of Tholey
He is also known as Wendel, Wendolinus or Wendelinus.
Prince Wendelin was born in Scotland in 554. His father, Forchado, was the King of Scotland, making his mother, Irelina, the Queen. His parents wished for him to be well educated and so they entrusted him to the local bishop for his education. The Bishop must have really inspired the young prince because he decided to dedicate his life to God and lead a simple, humble life away from the Court. One night when everyone was sleeping, Wendelin dressed up as a pilgrim and walked out of the castle and his life as a prince.
He visited many holy places. In 574, he was in Rome and was able to visit the very many churches and shrines of holy people in the city. Before he left Rome, Wendelin was granted an audience with Pope Benedict I who blessed him and encouraged him to live his life as God’s tells him in his heart.
From Rome, Prince Wendelin went to Einsidel in Germany where he stayed for a while before his search for a desolate location, brought him to the wilderness of Westerich. Here, Wendelin made himself a hut of tree branches and a bed of reeds and leaves. He then settled down to a life of severe austerities; a penitential life.
After a period of time, duration of which is unknown, Wendelin left Westerich to go to the ancient city of Trier in order to pray at the many shrines there. Trier is said to be the oldest city in Germany.
Legend has it that while visiting a shrine in Trier, he met a wealthy highwayman who admonished him for begging when he was a young man who could earn his own food. The highwayman hired him as a swineherd. Looking after the herd of swine took up all his time and he did not have enough time to pray. He went to his master and requested a change of job. The master understood his dilemma and transferred him to tending cattle. At first all was well and he had time for his prayers. Then the herd of cattle increased very fast in numbers, so much so that he again found himself with very little time for prayer and approached his master for a second time. This time he was transferred to tending sheep. This was a job
traditionally reserved for children or older men because it was considered less physically demanding. This time, he was contented. He always had time for his prayers. Even when his flock increased, he found time to pray.
According to legend, Saint Wendelin and the entire flock frequently transmigrated making it possible for the Saint to always have time to say his prayers at his hermitage and be back with the sheep in time.
Wendel also performed many miracles as you will find out at the next post ….

 

[odhiambo]

Saint Wendelin
Wendel performed many miracles.
Following is an excerpt from the given link describing one such miracle.

“This is one of the outstanding incidents in Wendelin’s life: Wendelin’s master and a servant journeyed to the town of Strassburg on a business trip. On returning he traveled through the wilderness where Wendelin had taken his flock to graze. When they were still some distance away from the flock, the master said to his servant, “That shepherd resembles our Wendelin or else it is indeed he.”
The servant replied, “How could our Wendelin come here? It is too far from our home in Trier.” Going up to the shepherd, the nobleman found him to be Wendelin. The nobleman grew furious and cursed at Wendelin and said, among other things, “Wendelin, you scoundrel. Are you a fool or a lunatic that you drive my sheep such a long way away from home? Is there not enough pasture near Trier that you must go to this dreadful wilderness?”
Wendelin answered, “Dear master, be not angry. I find this pasture to be
better for the flock than the one near Trier.”
“Shall I not be angry?” asked the nobleman. “I have invited many guests for supper and wanted to kill a sheep for this special occasion.”
Wendelin responded, “Be not angry on that account for I want to be home on time.”
“How can you be home before night when I can hardly get home on time riding on a horse?” The master then abruptly galloped off murmuring and complaining all the way about Wendelin. As the master entered his courtyard he was dumbfounded to see that Wendelin was already there and was putting the sheep into the stable for the night. He could hardly believe what he had just seen with his own eyes. He knew then that this was a great miracle and realized that Wendelin was indeed a holy man to be revered. The master fell to his knees and filled with both humility and contrition he begged, "Forgive me, dear Wendelin and forgive the words of accusation that I hurled against you. Tell me who you really are. I can see that you are a holy man and that God works great miracles in you and through you.
With that, Wendelin threw himself at his master’s feet and said most humbly, “I beg of you master, rise to your feet and show me no honor, for I am not a holy man but a miserable being and a simple shepherd and farmhand servant.”
His master rose to his feet and said, “This I cannot believe, but I take you to be a great servant of God. Whoever you are, I will not any longer permit you to watch my herds. For I fear that God will punish me if I let His faithful servant watch my flock. Tell me what you want of me and I will fulfill your every wish.”
Wendelin replied, “This only do I ask of you master, that you change your godless life into a pious one so that the wrath of God may not come upon you unawares and cast you and your robbers into the depths of Hell.” Wendelin had so much to say to this nobleman and spoke so forcibly that this sinful man became very much frightened and wept over his sins and promised to amend his life. The master wanted to give Wendelin large sums of money in the form of alms, but Wendelin refused to take any money except what was due to him as wages. These wages he distributed among the poor and then in absolute poverty, he went his way into the wilderness”

Wendelin became known throughout Westerich, because of his miracles and many people came to his hermitage seeking for help and guidance. When in 590, the Abbot of the monastery at Tholey died, the monks went to Wendelin and begged him to become their new Abbot. He refused at first but eventually agreed and was duly consecrated as the Abbot of the monastery.
Wendelin fell ill in 617 and died. He was buried at Tholey .
His canonization was Pre-Congregation.
The Life and History of Saint Wendelin
Saint Wendelin,
Pray for us!

 

[odhiambo]

October 22
Today is the Memorial of
Saint Mary Salome
Among many other Saints.

 

[odhiambo]

Saint Mary Salome
She is also known as Irene which is the Greek equivalent of Salome. The name means peace and prosperity according to SQPN. Salome, also called Mary Salome, was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of saint John the Apostle, and Saint James the Greater. She was reportedly a relative of Our Lady, possibly even her sister.
Salome asked Jesus to allow her sons to sit next to him in his kingdom. Among the holy women who followed Jesus and served him as he went about his ministry, there were three called Mary. there was Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, then Mary, wife of Cleophas and Mary Salome, today’s saint. She was present at the Crucifixion and death of Jesus at Calvary.She was also one of the women who discovered the empty tomb on the day of the Resurrection.
After the Resurrection she reportedly went to Veroli, Italy and spent the rest of her life there spreading the Good News.
Canonized
Pre-Congregation
She is the Patron Saint of Veroli, Italy.

Saint Mary Salome,
Pray for us!

 

[kelvinf]

Today is also the feast day of Blessed John Paul II

“Open wide the doors to Christ,” urged John Paul II during the homily at the Mass when he was installed as pope in 1978.

Born in Wadowice, Poland, Karol Jozef Wojtyla had lost his mother, father and older brother before his 21st birthday. Karol’s promising academic career at Krakow’s Jagiellonian University was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. While working in a quarry and a chemical factory, he enrolled in an “underground” seminary in Kraków. Ordained in 1946, he was immediately sent to Rome where he earned a doctorate in theology.

Back in Poland, a short assignment as assistant pastor in a rural parish preceded his very fruitful chaplaincy for university students. Soon he earned a doctorate in philosophy and began teaching that subject at Poland’s University of Lublin.

Communist officials allowed him to be appointed auxiliary bishop of Krakow in 1958, considering him a relatively harmless intellectual. They could not have been more wrong!

He attended all four sessions of Vatican II and contributed especially to its Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Appointed as archbishop of Krakow in 1964, he was named a cardinal three years later.

Elected pope in October 1978, he took the name of his short-lived, immediate predecessor. Pope John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In time, he made pastoral visits to 124 countries, including several with small Christian populations.

He promoted ecumenical and interfaith initiatives, especially the 1986 Day of Prayer for World Peace in Assisi. He visited Rome’s Main Synagogue and the Western Wall in Jerusalem; he also established diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel. He improved Catholic-Muslim relations and in 2001 visited a mosque in Damascus, Syria.

The Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, a key event in John Paul’s ministry, was marked by special celebrations in Rome and elsewhere for Catholics and other Christians. Relations with the Orthodox Churches improved considerably during his ministry as pope.

“Christ is the center of the universe and of human history” was the opening line of his 1979 encyclical, Redeemer of the Human Race. In 1995, he described himself to the United Nations General Assembly as “a witness to hope.”

His 1979 visit to Poland encouraged the growth of the Solidarity movement there and the collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe 10 years later. He began World Youth Day and traveled to several countries for those celebrations. He very much wanted to visit China and the Soviet Union but the governments in those countries prevented that.

One of the most well-remembered photos of his pontificate was his one-on-one conversation in 1983 with Mehmet Ali Agca, who had attempted to assassinate him two years earlier.

In his 27 years of papal ministry, John Paul wrote 14 encyclicals and five books, canonized 482 saints and beatified 1,338 people.

In the last years of his life, he suffered from Parkinson’s disease and was forced to cut back on some of his activities.

Pope Benedict XVI beatified John Paul II on May 1, 2011, Divine Mercy Sunday.

Comment:

Before John Paul’s funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square, hundreds of thousands of people had waited patiently for a brief moment to pray before his body, which lay in state inside St. Peter’s for several days. The media coverage of his funeral was unprecedented.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then dean of the College of Cardinals and later Pope Benedict XVI, presided at the funeral Mass and concluded his homily by saying: “None of us can ever forget how, in that last Easter Sunday of his life, the Holy Father, marked by suffering, came once more to the window of the Apostolic Palace and one last time gave his blessing urbi et orbi ‘to the city and to the world’].

“We can be sure that our beloved pope is standing today at the window of the Father’s house, that sees us and blesses us. Yes, bless us, Holy Father. We entrust your dear soul to the Mother of God, your Mother, who guided you each day and who will guide you now to the glory of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Quote:

In his 1999 Letter to the Elderly, Pope John Paul II wrote: “Grant, O Lord of life,…when the moment of our definitive ‘passage’ comes, that we may face it with serenity, without regret for what we shall leave behind. For in meeting you, after having sought you for so long, we shall find once more every authentic good which we have known here on earth, in the company of all those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith and hope…Amen.”

americancatholic.org/features/saintofday/default.aspx

http://forums.catholic-questions.org/picture.php?albumid=1493&pictureid=10046

 

[odhiambo]

I clean forgot about him.
Thanks Kelvin for the reminder.
Blessed John Paul II
Pray for us!

 

[odhiambo]

October 23
Today is the Feast Day of
Blessed John Buoni
Among many other Saints

 

[odhiambo]

Blessed John Buoni
John Buoni was born in 1168 at Mantua, Italy. He belonged to the Buonomini family. John spent his youth as an entertainer, specifically a jester at various courts in Italy.He led a licentiously wild life for many years. In 1208 when he was 40 years old, he suffered a severe illness that jolted him. He changed his lifestyle completely, becoming a hermit near Cesena. He attracted many disciples for whom he built a church. He also organised them into communities, the Boniti. He became famous for his austerities and miracles.
He died at Mantua in 1249 and was beatified in 1483.
Blessed John Buoni,
Pray for us!

 

[odhiambo]

Today is also
World Mission Sunday

This is to the Message of
His Holiness Benedict XVI
for the World Mission Sundat 2011

 

[The_Reginator]

Oct. 23 …
What a day.

Today is also:

October 23
Saint John of Capistrano, Priest

Optional Memorial

Optional memorial, 1969 Calendar, celebration October 23
1955 Calendar, Feast of the Holy Redeemer (In Venice, Italy, this feast is celebrated with great solemnity for more than three centuries)

Today we celebrate a great Franciscan priest, preacher and theologian.

St. John of Capistrano was born in 1385, at Capistrano, Italy. His father was a German knight and died when John was still very young. His mother sent him to study low at the University of Perugia.

In 1412, he was appointed governor of Perugia and, when the war broke between Perugia and Malatesta, he was sent to make peace. His efforts were rewarded with incarceration but, wile in prison, St. Francis of Assisi appeared in his dream, warning him to enter the Franciscan Order.

After his release, he entered the Franciscan Order at Perugia. St. John of Capistrano and St. James of the March were students under St. Bernadine of Siena. He was permitted to preach while a deacon but his apostolate life began in 1425, after his ordination.

St. John traveled throughout Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Russia, preaching for the salvation of souls and he propagated devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. For his leading spirit and his exceptional gift as a preacher, the Holy See frequently employed him as an ambassador to the Christian cause.

At the age of seventy, St. John was commissioned by the Pope to lead the Christian army against the Turks. In the siege of Belgrade, he actually led his own contingent into battle and gained a historical victory. He died several months later at Illok, Hungary in 1456.

St. John was a reformer of the Franciscan Order and his life and work should inspire us to uphold and promote our spiritual values.

St. John of Capistrano is the patron saint of jurists.

The “Litany of the Most Holy Name of Jesus” was most likely composed in the 15th century by St. John Capistrano and by St. Bernadine of Siena.

The above is from Sunday of the 30th week of Ordinary Time at divineoffice.org.

 

[odhiambo]

Saint John of Capistrano
Pray for us!

 

[odhiambo]

October 24
Today is the Memorial of
Blessed John Angelo Porro
Among many other Saints and Blesseds

 

[odhiambo]

Blessed John Angelo Porro
John Angelo was born in 1451 at Milan, Italy. He joined the Servants of Mary ( the Servites). He was ordained a priest and sent to Monte Senario where he lived as a contemplative. After one year at Monte Senario, he was appointed master of novices at Florence. He also served at various other houses.
He died at the Servite priory, Milan in 1504 ( 1506 by other accounts.)
He was beatified on 15 July 1737.
Blessed John Angelo Porro,
Pray for us!

 

[The_Reginator]

I was reading about St. Anthony Claret at divineoffice.org. I thought I’d share this today:

October 24

ST. ANTHONY MARY CLARET (1807-1870)

Optional Memorial
Historic-Liturgical Note

The founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Anthony Mary Claret died in the Cistercian monastery at Fontfroide in France on this date in 1870. He was canonized in 1950 and listed in the Roman Calendar in 1960. Anthony was born at Salent in the Diocese of Vich in Catalonia, Spain, in the year in which Napoleon invaded Spain. He was trained for manual labor, since his father was a weaver, but in 1829 he entered the seminary at Vich. Ordained to the priesthood in 1835, he was assigned as pastor in his home parish. Later he went to Rome to work for the Propagation of the Faith. He also entered the novitiate of the Jesuits but had to leave because of ill health, so he returned to Spain and was assigned as pastor of a parish. His apostolate consisted of rural preaching, conferences for the clergy and publications (he wrote more than 150 books). Because of his successful apostolate he aroused the animosity of some of the clergy and as a result he left Catalonia for the Canary Islands (1848). After a year he returned to Catalonia and resumed his preaching apostolate.

In 1849 Anthony gathered together five priests who formed the basis of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (popularly known as Claretians). At the suggestion of the Queen of Spain, Isabella II, Anthony was named archbishop of Santiago, Cuba (1850). For the next seven years he made pastoral visitations, preached against the slavery of the Negroes, and regularized numerous marriages. As a result of his activity he was frequently threatened with death and on one occasion an attempt was actually made on his life. In 1857 he was recalled to Spain as confessor to the queen. In this way he was able to exert some influence in the naming of bishops, set up a center of ecclesiastical studies at the Escorial, and work towards the recognition of religious orders in Spain. In 1869 he was in Rome, preparing for the First Vatican Council. He followed Isabella II into exile and at the insistence of the Spanish ambassador, was placed under house arrest in the Cistercian monastery at FontFroide, where he died at the age of 63. His remains were ultimately returned to Vich.

Message And Relevance

In the new Opening Prayer of the Mass for this nineteenth-century apostle we pray: “Father, you endowed Anthony Claret with the strength of love and patience to preach the gospel to many nations.” From his earliest years in the priesthood Anthony had a zealous missionary spirit that took him to Rome, the Canary Islands, and eventually to Cuba. Not only did he serve as rector of the seminary at the Escorial in Madrid, but he promoted Catholic publications and founded an academy of St. Michael for artists and literary persons. In Cuba he worked for the general uplifting of the population but did not succeed in founding a school of agriculture, as he had wished. He did, however, establish the Apostolic Institute of Mary Immaculate.

The patience of St. Anthony Claret was tested in the political upheavals of the nineteenth century, both in his native Spain and in Cuba. His efforts at reform stirred up a great deal of hostility. Therefore, we ask in the Opening Prayer that we may “work generously for God’s kingdom and gain our brothers and sisters for Christ.” In the Office of Readings, an excerpt from the writings of St. Anthony Mary Claret states: “The zealous man desires and achieves all great things and he labors strenuously so that God may always be better known, loved and served in this world and in the life to come, for this holy love is without end.”

This great apostle, whose major work, , reached millions of people, promoted fidelity to the gospel among all classes of people, and especially among the laity and religious. In this way he anticipated the teaching of the Second Vatican Council concerning the vocation of all the faithful to the perfection of charity.

Opening Prayer Father, you endowed Anthony Claret with the strength of love and patience to preach the gospel to many nations. By the help of his prayers may we work generously for your kingdom and gain our brothers and sisters for Christ.

(Taken from “Saints of the Roman Calendar” by Enzo Lodi. Published by Alba House, Society of St. Paul, 2187 Victory Blvd., Staten Island, NY 10314.)