Monday, February 18, 2008

st. josef freinademetz, svd: video (silent)

http://mysvd.multiply.com/video/item/14/Life_of_St._Joseph_Freinademetz

Monday, February 11, 2008

St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879)

Re: Virtues, Humility; St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879); Feast: April 16 (death); Canonized 1933 by Pope Pius XI
Fr: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0416.htm, accessed 2008 Feb 11 (highlight mine)

-- oldest of 6 children to the impoverished miller Francois
-- lived in the basement of a damp building
-- contracted cholera in 1854 and had asthma
-- at age 14: ailing, undersized, of pleasant disposition, sensitive, and a SLOW STUDENT – even stupid – but was a kind, helpful and obedient child
-- for some years, suffered greatly from suspicious disbelief of some and the tactless enthusiasm and insensitive attention of others; these TRIALS she bore with impressive patience and dignity
-- prevented by bad health to enter convent for 2 years
-- health remained fragile in convent
-- worked as infirmarian, then sacristan

“Here [convent] she was more sheltered from trying publicity, but not from the 'stuffiness' of the convent superiors nor from the tightening grip of asthma. "I am getting on with my joy," she would say. "What is that?" someone asked. "Being ill," was the reply.

“The nuns, disappointed by the simplicity of this child of nature, in whom they had expected to find a second Teresa of Ávila or another Catherine of Siena, made the peasant girl feel bitterly the scant esteem in which they held her; and even her superiors, with the aim of protecting the visionary of Lourdes from the sin of pride, were not sparing in humiliations.

“With the excuse that she was a "stupid, good-for-nothing little thing," her profession was continually delayed. God gave to the despised creature, who was punished for 13 years because of her visions, the strength to say: "You see, my story is quite simple. The Virgin made use of me, then I was put into a corner. That is now my place. There I am happy and there I remain."

“Thus, she lived out her self-effacing life, dying at the age of 35 …. The events of 1858 resulted in Lourdes becoming one of the most important pilgrim shrines in the history of Christendom, ending with the consecration of the basilica in 1876. But Saint Bernadette took no part in these developments; nor was it for her visions that she was canonized, but for the humble simplicity and religious trust that characterized her whole life (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Sandhurst, Schamoni, Trochu, Walsh, White).
Saint Bernadette is the patron saint of shepherds (White).

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Our Lady of Lourdes

Re: OUR LADY of LOURDES (1858), Feast: Feb 11
Fr: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894) as quoted in http://magnificat.ca/cal/engl/02-11.htm, accessed 2008 Feb 11

"The first of the eighteen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the humble Bernadette Soubirous took place at Lourdes on February 11, 1858. On March 25th, when Bernadette asked the beautiful Lady Her name, She replied: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” The Church for long centuries had believed in Her Immaculate Conception, Her exemption from every trace of the original sin which through Adam, our first and common father, separated man from his God. It was never proclaimed a dogma, however, until 1854. Mary Herself, in 1830, had asked of a Vincentian Sister at the Rue du Bac in Paris, that a medal be struck bearing Her likeness and the inscription: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.” Our Lady by Her apparitions at Lourdes in 1858 seems to convey Her appreciation for the formal proclamation of Her great privilege, by Pius IX, in 1854. Countless and magnificent miracles of healing have occurred at Lourdes, confirmed by physicians and recorded in the Lourdes shrine “Book of Life.” To name but one: a doctor wrote a book describing the great miracle he had witnessed for a dying girl, whom he had observed on the train that was carrying handicapped persons from Paris to Lourdes. He had not expected her to survive and return home from the sanctuary.

"Through the Lourdes Apparitions, the devotion of persons in all parts of the world to the Immaculate Mother of God has been wonderfully spread, and countless miracles have been wrought everywhere through Her intercession. The Virgin Mother of God is truly the chosen Messenger of God to these latter times, which are entrusted to Her, the chosen vessel of the unique privilege of exemption from original sin. Only with Her assistance will the dangers of the present world situation be averted. As She has done since 1858 in many places, at Lourdes, too, She gave us Her peace plan for the world, through Saint Bernadette: Prayer and Penance, to save souls."

St. Onesimus

Re: Saint Onesimus, Bishop of Ephesus and Martyr (+95), Feast: Feb 16
Fr: Kerygma Family (2008 Feb 11) adapted from http://magnificat.ca/cal/engl/02-16.htm
and www.catholic-forum.com

From the first century A.D. came Onesimus, slave to the Colossian Christians Philemon and Apphia.

Onesimus committed theft from Philemon and in order to escape punishment, fled to Rome where he sought the help of St. Paul . The apostle converted Onesimus and sent him back to his master with the canonical Epistle to Philemon. In the letter, Paul asked Philemon for Onesimus’ freedom so he could have him as one of his assistants. Because of the apostle’s request, Philemon granted Onesimus pardon and gave him his freedom.

Onesimus became a faithful servant of St. Paul . And with Tychicus, he became bearer of the Epistle to the Colossians. Onesimus continued his service, until he became a preacher of the Gospel then a successor of St. Timothy as bishop of Ephesus.

Because of Onesimus’ merit of celibacy, the governor of Rome had him tortured for 18 days. His legs and thighs were broken with bludgeons, then Onesimus was stoned to death.