Saint Angela of Foligno

Widow (1249-1309)

Feast – January 4

4th Duke of Gandía, Francisco in 1539 convoyed the corpse of the beautiful Isabella, Empress of the Carnation of Portugal, wife of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to her burial place in Granada. On arrival Francisco opened the casket for final examination before burial. When he saw the decaying body, he was shaken so deeply that after his wife Eleanor died in 1546 and making adequate provisions for his children, he renounced his titles and enter the newly formed Society of Jesus. Today he is venerated as Saint Francis Borgia.

The Last Things – Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell, struck fear into many in the past, and the hope granted by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ motivated them to radically change their ways. Death and the life thereafter became their priority and many of them gained reverence for the Catholic Church.

St. Angela of Foligno the “great medieval mystic,” known as “Mistress of Theologians” was one whose fear of damnation led her to the confessional.

Born in 1249 in the small Umbrian town of Foligno, Italy, where she lived most of her life. There was nothing remarkable about her early years. Like the most youths born into a wealthy family she reveled in luxury and sensuality. Married perhaps at an early age to a rich man of Foligno she ruled a large household of children and servants. There was nothing scandalous about her life, but she loved the world and its pleasures. She used her husband’s wealth to indulge herself in possessions, proud and lacking in patience she lived, according to her own admission, for over thirty years a mortally sinful life.

Around 1285, she had a vision of St. Francis of Assisi and recognized the emptiness of her life. Moved by the vision she confessed to a friar, but afraid to tell her most serious sins she made a bad confession and then a sacrilegious Communion. Only greater remorse followed. Tormented in soul, she prayed to Saint Francis for help. The next day she made a complete and sincere confession. From that time, St. Angela began to lead a life devoted to higher perfection. Three years later her mother, husband, and sons died of a plague. From this point on, her life completely changed. As a widow, she was free to concentrate on her pursuit of holiness. With one serving woman, Masazuola, as her companion, she began to divest herself of her possessions. The thought of her sins gave her a desire for penance, suffering, and reparation. She modeled herself on St. Francis of Assisi and joined the Franciscan Third Order in 1291. St. Angela expected to meet Christ in the poor and lived like St. Francis, as a mendicant, a poor beggar, completely dependent upon the charity of others. She placed herself under the direction of a Franciscan friar named Arnoldo (Arnold), who would serve as her confessor. God chose her to fulfill the role of a mystic. At the drop of a hat, she could fall into a trance. Her confessor recorded from her own lips the visions and ecstasies that were granted to her with startling frequency. He recorded 30 steps of her tortured spiritual journey, which always seemed to blend awareness and absence of God, certitude and doubt, joy and agony.

For St. Angela the whole world was filled with God, and she was in almost constant communion with Him. She herself tells us that at times she was overcome with grief because she could see nothing but the extraordinary goodness of God, and in contrast, the vanity of earthly things and the ingratitude of creatures. The sight of a crucifix produced in her torrents of tears. At one period of her life the intimacy she enjoyed with God was entirely withheld from her.

The fame of St. Angela’s sanctity gathered around her a small band of disciples who strove under her direction to advance in holiness.

She instructed her followers: “No one can be saved without divine light. Divine light causes us to begin and to make progress, and it leads us to the summit of perfection. Therefore if you want to begin and to receive this divine light, pray. If you have begun to make progress, pray. And if you have reached the summit of perfection and want to be super-illumined so as to remain in that state, pray. If you want faith, pray. If you want hope, pray. If you want charity, pray. If you want poverty, pray. If you want obedience, pray. If you want chastity, pray. If you want humility, pray. If you want meekness, pray. If you want fortitude, pray. If you want any virtue, pray.”

“And pray in this fashion: always reading the Book of Life, that is, the life of the God-man, Jesus Christ, whose life consisted of poverty, pain, contempt and true obedience.”

For St. Angela prayer was followed by action, that why she established at Foligno a religious community of women which refused to become an enclosed religious order so that it might continue her vision of caring for those in need. “I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works” (James 2:18)

St. Angela and her community were caring for lepers at the hospital in Foligno. On Holy Thursday, 1292 after they had washed a man who was badly decomposed, they drank some of the bathwater. The experience so moved Angela that she says all the way home she felt “as if we had received Holy Communion.”

At Christmas 1308, ST. Angela told her companions she would die shortly. A few days later, she had a vision of Christ appearing to her and promising to come personally to take her to heaven. She died surrounded by her community of disciples on 3 January 1309.

Her remains repose in the Church of St. Francis at Foligno. Many people attributed miracles to her, which were accomplished at her tomb.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Saint Angela of Foligno, Widow.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_angela_of_foligno.html (accessed Dec. 31, 2021).

[2]          “Saint Angela of Foligno,” Loyola Press. https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/saints/saints-stories-for-all-ages/saint-angela-of-foligno/ (accessed Dec. 31, 2021).

[3]          “Angela of Foligno,” Wikipedia. Oct. 26, 2021. Accessed: Dec. 31, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Angela_of_Foligno&oldid=1052012582

 

Saint Finnian

Bishop in Ireland († 552)

Feast Day – December 12

Recorded Irish history begins with the introduction of Christianity and Latin literacy, beginning in the 5th century or possibly slightly before. The population was entirely rural and dispersed, with small ring fortresses. In this environment, the task of making Ireland Christian was placed upon St. Patrick’s shoulders, but to continue his work St. Finnian was called.

St. Finnian was born around the year 470 at Myshal in County Carlow, on the slopes of Mount Leinster. His father was Rudraigh, an Ulsterman of noble lineage. His mother was a woman called Telach. Finnian was first educated by Bishop Fortchernn, the local bishop. Having an ardent desire to make greater progress, he went to Wales, where he met and conversed with Saint David, Saint Gildas and Saint Cathmael, three eminent British Saints. He also travelled to France where he studied for a time at the Abbey of Marmoutier, just outside the present-day city of Tours. After spending thirty years in Britain, he may have intended to go to Rome, but instead returned to Ireland about the year 520, excellently qualified by his sanctity and sacred learning to cultivate the spirit of religion among his countrymen. Like a loud trumpet sounding from heaven, he roused the insensibility and inactivity of the lukewarm, and softened the most hardened hearts, long immersed in worldly business and pleasures.

His first stop was at Aghowle near Shillelagh in the County of Wicklow, where King Oengus of Leinster gave him a site to build a church. From there he went north to Dunmanogue on the river Barrow, in the County of Kildare, and established another church. Then he travelled to the town of Kildare, studying and teaching at St Brigid’s monastery.

To propagate the work of God, Saint Finnian established several monasteries and schools, chief among which was the monastery of Clonard, where he built a little cell and a church of clay and wattle, a monastery modelled on the practices of Welsh monasteries and based on the traditions of the Desert Fathers. From this school came several of the principal Saints and Doctors of Ireland: Kiaran the Younger, Columkille, Columba son of Crimthain, the two Brendans, Laserian, Canicus or Kenny, Ruadan, and others. The great monastery of Clonard was a famous seminary of sacred learning.

St. Finnian’s gift for teaching and his absolute dedication to the ascetic ideal drew students from various parts of Europe. It is estimated that at one time there were no fewer than 3,000 pupils getting instruction in the school situated in the green fields of Clonard. The master excelled in exposition of the Sacred Scriptures, and this fact explains the extraordinary popularity of his lectures. Many others took seeds of knowledge from St. Finnian’s monastery at Clonard and planted them abroad with great success. St. Finnian was eventually chosen and consecrated Bishop of Clonard. Out of love for his flock and by his zeal for their salvation, he became infirm with the infirm and wept with those that wept. He healed souls as well as the physical infirmities of those who came to him for assistance. His food was bread and herbs, his drink, water, and his bed, the ground, with a stone for his pillow. He departed to Our Lord on the 12th of December in 552.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Saint Finnian or Finan, Bishop in Ireland.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_finnian_or_finan.html (accessed Dec. 03, 2021).

[2]          “Dec 12 – St Finnian (d. 539) abbot of Clonard,” Catholicireland.net. https://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/st-finnian-d-539-abbot-of-clonard/ (accessed Dec. 03, 2021).

[3]          “Finnian of Clonard,” Wikipedia. Oct. 06, 2021. Accessed: Dec. 03, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Finnian_of_Clonard&oldid=1048467139

 

Saint Charles Borromeo

Archbishop of Milan (1538-1584)

Feast – November 4

The Villa d’Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli near Rome built by Ippolito (II) d’Este. It is famous for its terraced hillside Italian, renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains, and is listed by the UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as a World Heritage Site.

Ippolito was born in 1509 in Ferrara, Italy, the second son of Duke Alfonso I d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia. In 1519, at the age of 10, he inherited the archbishopric of Milan from his uncle cardinal Ippolito d’Este. He is best known for his despoliation of Hadrian’s Villa built c. AD 120 by Roman Emperor Hadrian, removing marbles and statues from it to decorate his own. Milan had been the largest archdiocese in Italy, with more than 3,000 clergy and 800,000 people, but under the leadership of Cardinal Ippolito and previous archbishops it had deteriorated. Both its clergy and laity had drifted from church teachings. The selling of indulgences and ecclesiastical positions was widespread. Ignorance and corruption among the religious and disorder in monasteries was accumulating. On the 7^th of February, 1560, Pope Pius IV appointed St. Charles Borromeo an administrator of the Archdiocese of Milan. On the 7^th of December, 1563, he was consecrated bishop in the Sistine Chapel by Cardinal Giovanni Serbelloni, formally appointed archbishop of Milan on the 12^th of May, 1564, after the former archbishop Ippolito II d’Este waived his claims on that archbishopric and made his formal entry into Milan on the 23^rd of September, 1565.

St. Charles Borromeo, the third in a family of six children was born on the 2^nd of October, 1538, in the castle of Arona on the edge of Lake Major, about forty miles from Milan. The Borromeo family was one of the most ancient and wealthy in Lombardy, made famous by several notable men, both in the church and state. The family coat of arms included the Borromean rings, which are sometimes taken to symbolize the Holy Trinity. His father Gilbert, Count of Arona was known for his almsgiving and rigorous fasts. His exceptionally virtuous mother Margaret was a member of the Milan branch of the House of Medici which produced four popes, Leo X, Clement VII, Pius IV and Leo XI, and two queens of France, Catherine de’ Medici and Marie de’ Medici.

St. Charles’s preferences in study made clear that he was destined for the ecclesiastical vocation. He received the tonsure when he was about twelve years old. His paternal uncle Giulio Cesare Borromeo, an abbot of Benedictine abbey of Sts. Gratinian and Felin turned over to him the revenues from the abbey to prepare him for a career in the church. Young St. Charles made plain to his father that all beyond what was required belonged to the poor and could not be applied to secular use. His father shed tears of joy, seeing his son’s kindness. He attended the University of Pavia, about 20 miles from Milan, where he applied himself to the study of civil and canon law. A slight speech impediment he compensated for with thoroughness, in effect he was able to make remarkable progress in a short time. In 1554 when his father died, sixteen-year-old St. Charles was requested by the family to take the management of their affairs. He resumed his studies, and on the 6^th of December, 1559, twenty-one-year-old Charles earned a doctorate in canon and civil law. Nineteen days later his uncle Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Medici was elected as Pope Pius IV. The newly elected pope required his nephew to come to Rome. Shortly thereafter, on the 31^st of January, 1560, the pope made him a cardinal, entrusted with both the public and the privy seal of the ecclesiastical state and appointed a supervisor of the Franciscans, Carmelites, Knights of Malta and on the 7^th of February, 1560, he was assigned as an administrator of the Archdiocese of Milan. In the meantime, he was put in charge of maintaining delicate papal relations with other nations as the protector of Portugal and the Low Countries. All of these duties ordinarily require the prudence of mature years, but no one was disappointed by his services.

In Rome St. Charles was busy making reforms. He obliged the Roman Curia to wear black, established an academy of learned persons, clergy, and laymen, and published their memoirs as the Noctes Vaticanae. In 1561 he founded and endowed a college at Pavia, today known as Almo Collegio Borromeo, which he dedicated to St. Justina of Padua. He organized the third and last 1562–63 session of the Council of Trent, participated with authority in many of its twenty-five sessions and had a large share in the making of the Tridentine Catechism. Working for the splendor of God St. Borromeo lived in self-denial. His contacts with the Jesuits and the Theatines caused his faith towards a stricter and operative Christian life, eating only once a day and limiting himself often to bread and water. In 1562 his older brother, Federico, suddenly died. His family urged him to seek permission to return to the lay state, to marry and have children so that the family name would not become extinct, but he decided not to leave the ecclesiastic state.

On 7 December 1563 St. Charles was consecrated bishop and formally appointed archbishop of Milan. The urgency of the situation there persuaded the Pope to consent regretfully to his departure. The new Archbishop made his formal entry into Milan on the 23^rd of September, 1565.

His aim was to put into practice the dignity and duties of the bishop as drafted by the recent Council of Trent. Believing that abuses in the church arose from ignorant clergy, he created seminaries to prepare future “saintly shepherds,” established schools and in general restored discipline in the Church of Milan.

He made numerous pastoral visits, and returned dignity to the divine service. He urged churches to be designed in conformity with the decrees of the Council of Trent, which stated that sacred art and architecture lacking adequate scriptural foundation was in effect prohibited, as was any inclusion of classical pagan elements in religious art. When someone suggested he should have a garden at Milan to get some fresh air, he replied that the Holy Scriptures should be the garden of a bishop. He divided the nave of the church into two compartments to separate the sexes at worship. He extended his reforms to the collegiate churches and monasteries.

Opposition to reforms grew among those who were seeking Milan as a place to enjoy oneself, to make money, and become clergy lacking discipline.

1576 was the year of crop failures in Milan, famine, and later an outbreak of the plague, a third of its citizens lost their lives. The Governor and many members of the nobility fled the city. The bishop remained to organize the care of those affected and to minister to the dying.

The magistrates governing the city placed their trust in human measures rather than divine ones and prohibited all the pious gatherings and processions. St. Charles was convinced that the epidemic was like the Roman Plague of 590, “a scourge sent by Heaven” as chastisement for the sins of the people, and saw spiritual measures, prayer, and penitence as most necessary to fight the plague.

Guided by the Divine Spirit he dedicated himself completely to assisting the sick and ordering public and private prayers. In the absence of local authorities, he organized the health services, founded or renewed hospitals, sought money and provisions, and decreed preventive measures. Unafraid of being infected, he in person would visit hospitals and lead penitential processions, being everything to everyone, like a father and true shepherd. While the pestilence spread, the St. Charles ordered three general processions to take place in Milan on the 3rd, 5th and 6th of October.

On the first day, he placed ashes on the heads of the thousands gathered, exhorting them to penitence, then the procession went to the Basilica of St. Ambrose. St. Charles led the people, dressed in purple, barefoot with penitential cord at his neck and large cross in his hand. In the church, he preached on the first lament of the prophet Jeremiah affirming that the sins of the people had provoked the just indignation of God. The second procession headed towards the Basilica of San Lorenzo. In his sermon, he applied the dream of Nebuchadnezzar indicating that the vengeance of God had come upon the city of Milan. The third day the procession went to the Basilica of Santa Maria at San Celso with St. Charles carrying a relic of Our Lord’s Holy Nail, which had been given by the Emperor Theodosius to St. Ambrose.

Then he ordered about twenty stone columns with a cross at the top to be erected in the main squares and city crossroads, allowing the inhabitants from every quarter to take part in the Masses and public prayers – from the windows of their homes.

At the end he persuaded the magistrates of Milan to reconstruct a crumbling sanctuary dedicated to the martyr and protector of Milan St. Sebastian and to celebrate a solemn feast in his honor for ten years. In July 1577, the plague and opposition to St. Charles’s reforms ceased. He wrote to the Governor, and successfully persuaded him to return. In September the founding stone was laid in the civic temple of St. Sebastian, where on January 20th every year, Mass is offered to recall the end of the scourge.

The holy Archbishop established schools of Christian doctrine, numbering in all seven hundred and forty, in which over three thousand catechists were employed, presiding over forty thousand students. In addition, he founded the fraternity of Oblates of St. Ambrose, a society of secular men who did not take orders but devoted themselves to the church and followed a discipline of monastic prayers and study while providing assistance to parishes at the same time.

Inflexible in maintaining discipline, to his flock he was a most tender father. He would sit by the roadside to teach a poor man the Pater and Ave Maria.

The sermons of Saint Charles produced great fruits among all ranks of the people. A man who admired him said that he always forgot the orator himself when he preached, so transported was he by the great truths he heard explained, and the longest sermons of Saint Charles seemed short to him.

As he lived, so he died on the 3^rd of November, 1584, having governed his church for twenty-four years and eight months. To the heroic sanctity of this faithful copy of the Good Shepherd, many miracles came to testify, through his relics and his intercession. In 1602 Pope Clement VIII beatified him and in 1610 he was canonized by Pope Paul V.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          F. Romana, “RORATE CÆLI: De Mattei: How St. Charles Borromeo braved the epidemic of his time,” RORATE CÆLI. https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2020/03/de-mattei-how-st-charles-borromeo.html (accessed Nov. 19, 2021).

[2]          “Saint Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_charles_borromeo.html (accessed Nov. 19, 2021).

[3]          “Charles Borromeo,” Wikipedia. Nov. 15, 2021. Accessed: Nov. 19, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Borromeo&oldid=1055380180

[4]          “Ippolito II d’Este,” Wikipedia. Feb. 14, 2021. Accessed: Nov. 19, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ippolito_II_d%27Este&oldid=1006790841

Saint Bruno

Founder of the Order of the Chartreuse, Also known as the Carthusian Order (1030-1101)

Feast – October 6

Powerful people often attempt to influence the guardian of morality, the Catholic Church. Today the US government uses the nonprofit tax exemption status while in Germany and France the government is in charge of maintaining churches and paying priests’ salaries.

In 1069 a simple cleric Manasses I, known as Manasses de Gournay, the son of Hugh II of Gournay-en-Bray succeeded Gervase of Chateau-du-Loir as Archbishop of Reims and Primate of France. He was known to be enterprising and liberal and was addressed in a letter by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, as “one of the columns of the church” so Pope Gregory VII entrusted Manasses with several delicate missions. He presided over one of the most intellectually and artistically vibrant episcopal courts of northern Europe. At the same time, he was tyrannical, violent, impatient, insolent to his former colleagues and the lower clergy, corrupt and disregarded ecclesiastical regulations.

Born in Cologne to the Hartenfaust, or Hardebüst, one of the principal families of the city, about the year 1030, the confessor, ecclesiastical writer, and founder of the Carthusian Order, St. Bruno was called to take down the tyrant. As a native of Cologne, he studied at the city college, or collegial of St. Cunibert. St. Bruno was endowed with rare natural gifts, which soon shone with outstanding brilliance. While still quite young, he was attracted by the reputation of the episcopal school and of its director, Heriman, which led him to complete his education at Reims. There he finished his classical studies and perfected himself in the sacred sciences which at that time consisted principally of the study of Holy Scripture and of the Fathers. According to the testimony of his contemporaries, there he became learned in both human and Divine science. St. Bruno returned to Cologne, was ordained a priest around 1055, and was provided with a canonry at St. Cunibert’s. He already had a very strong distaste for honors, and a great desire for the life of contemplation. In 1056 Bishop Gervais recalled him to Reims, to aid his former master Heriman in the direction of the school. The following year St. Bruno found himself head of the Episcopal school, which at the time included the direction of the schools and the oversight of all the educational establishments of the diocese. For eighteen years, from 1057 to 1075, he maintained the prestige which the school of Reims had attained under its former master, Remi of Auxerre. Among his students were Eudes of Châtillon, afterwards Pope Urban II, Rangier the future Cardinal and Bishop of Reggio, Robert who became Bishop of Langres, and a large number of prelates and abbots.

In 1069 on the death of the Gervais, Manasses de Gournay was appointed as the new Archbishop and quickly became odious for his impiety and violence. In 1075, St. Bruno became chancellor of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rheims, which involved him in the daily administration of the diocese. He resisted the religion decay of the region and found himself the object of a persecution. The chancellor and two other canons were commissioned to bear to the papal legate Hugh, Bishop of Die, the complaints of the indignant clergy. At the Council of Autun, 1077, they obtained the suspension of the unworthy prelate, Manasses. The latter’s reply was to raze the houses of his accusers, confiscate their goods, sell their benefices, and appeal to the Pope. St. Bruno discreetly avoided the cathedral city until in 1080 when a definite sentence, confirmed by popular riot, compelled Manasses to withdraw and take refuge with Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor and fierce opponent of Pope Gregory VII. After Manasses departure all desired that St. Bruno assume the charge of the see, but he could not bring himself to accept this honor. On the verge of being made bishop with two of his friends, Raoul and Fulcius, who were also canons, he retired from Rheims, and resolved to forsake the world definitively. He place himself and his companions under the direction of an eminent solitary, Robert of Molesme, who in 1075 had settled at Sèche-Fontaine, near Molesme in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Langres, together with a band of other hermits, who in 1098 were recognized as the Cistercians order, but he soon found that this was not his vocation.

After a short stay he went with six of his companions: Landuin, Stephen of Bourg, Stephen of Die, Hugh the Chaplain and two laymen, Andrew and Guerin, to St. Hugh of Châteauneuf, Bishop of Grenoble. The bishop, according to the pious legend, had a vision of these men, under a chaplet of seven stars, and he installed them himself in 1084 in a mountainous and uninhabited spot in the lower Alps of the Dauphiné, in a place named Chartreuse, not far from Grenoble. There they lived in poverty, self-denial, and silence, each apart in his own cell, meeting only for the worship of God, and employing themselves in copying books. Entirely occupied in prayer and study had a reputation for learning and were frequently honored by the visits of St. Hugh who became like one of themselves. Based on their location of solitude, the Order was called the Carthusian Order. In 1088 St. Bruno’s pupil, Eudes of Châtillon, became Pope Urban II. Resolved to continue the work of reform commenced by Pope Gregory VII and being obliged to struggle against Antipope Clement III who was supported by Emperor Henry IV, he was in dire need of competent and devoted allies and called his former master to Rome in 1090. St. Bruno tried to live there as he had lived in the desert; but the echoes of the great city disturbed his solitude, and after refusing high dignities, he finally obtained, by force of persuasion, the permission of the Pope to resume his monastic life. However, the will of Urban II kept him in Italy, near the papal court, to which he could be called at need. With only a few companions he settled in a small forested high valley in the Diocese of Squillace in Calabria where they constructed a little wooden chapel and cabins, establishing a hermitage dedicated to the Virgin Mary. His patron there was Roger I Count of Sicily and Calabria who granted them the lands they occupied. Roger erected a simple house for himself there and would regularly visit the retreat with his friends. Through his generosity, the monastery of St. Stephen was built in 1095, near the original hermitage. There St. Bruno lived, in humility, mortification and great peace until his blessed death in 1101, in the arms of his faithful monks.

St. Bruno was known for his knowledge, while his disciples praised three chief virtues of his fruitful instruction: his great spirit of prayer, extreme mortification, and devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Saint Bruno, Founder of the Order of the Chartreuse or Carthusian Order.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_bruno.html (accessed Oct. 06, 2021).

[2]          “Bruno of Cologne,” Wikipedia. Jun. 24, 2021. Accessed: Oct. 06, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bruno_of_Cologne&oldid=1030135983

[3]          “Manasses I (archbishop of Reims),” Wikipedia. Jun. 25, 2021. Accessed: Oct. 06, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Manasses_I_(archbishop_of_Reims)&oldid=1030423027

Saint Omer

Bishop of Therouanne France († 670)

Feast – September 9

On February 27, 380, in Thessaloniki, the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius I signed a decree in the presence of the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian II that made Christianity the religion of the state and punished the practice of pagan rituals. The entire Roman empire from Egypt and North Africa, to Britain; from Asia minor to Spain; the entire civilized world worshipped the same, one true God. However, the Roman Empire was in decline. Germanic tribes of Goths had invaded the Roman Empire on and off since 238. In the second half of the fourth century this invasion in the form of illegal immigration intensified. This created animosity towards them among the Roman population. The Goths began looting and pillaging throughout the eastern Balkans. At the Battle of Adrianople in 378, they defeated the Roman army and killed emperor Valens. The new Eastern emperor, Theodosius I, signed a treaty which made them subjects of the empire as foederati (autonomous mercenary troops of the Roman Army) known as the Visigoths.

They were allotted the northern part of the dioceses of Dacia and Thrace. In 410 they sacked the heart and largest city of the Western Empire, Rome. Slowly acquiring an independent and perpetual inheritance in Gaul, Spain, and Africa they were weakening the Western Roman Empire in the process. In 476 under the leadership of Flavius Odoacer, who went by the name of Herulians foederati, started a revolt. They insisted that a third part of the lands of Italy should be immediately divided among them. Their demand was rejected by Orestes, the father of Emperor. The decisive battle was fought on September 2nd, 476 at Ravenna, the capital of the Western Roman Empire. Foederati defeated the largely depleted Roman garrison, capturing the city swiftly and easily. Two days later, the sixteen-year-old Emperor Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate by Odoacer, ending twelve-hundred years of Roman rule in Italy. In 554 the Emperor Justinian formally dissolved the Western imperial court. This created tension and led to power struggles in different regions of the former Western Roman Empire. Christianity was no longer protected by the government. One of the affected regions was the county of Artois. In 1180 it was annexed by the county of Flanders and became of part of the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. Today it is split between France, Netherlands and Belgium.

In the 7^th century the majority of inhabitants in the Artois region, regularly ravaged by the Saxons (Germanic coastal raiders), were still pagans. The lack of stability and shortage of priests even led to some of the remaining Christians to lapse in the faith.

Saint Omer was born toward the close of the sixth century in the territory of Constance, southwestern Germany where the Rhine River flows out of Lake Constance. His parents, who were noble and wealthy, paid great attention to his education, but, above all, strove to inspire him with a love for virtue. Upon the death of his mother, he entered the monastery of Luxeuil. Luxeuil Abbey, which was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, was founded in 585 by the great Irish monk, St. Columbanus. Located in what is now the department of Haute-Saone in France, it quickly became the best-known, flourishing and most influential monastery in Burgundy.

Soon his father, after selling their worldly goods and distributing the proceeds among the poor accompanied him. The father and son made their religious profession together.

The extraordinary humility, obedience, mildness, and devotion, together with the admirable purity of intention which shone forth in every action of St. Omer, distinguished him among his brethren. The opinion of his sanctity and intellectual abilities left the walls of the abbey, and he was chosen to establish the diocese Therouanne around the year 639.

While facing pagans as the Bishop of his Therouanne, St. Omer understood the enormous responsibility laid upon him and applied himself to the task with such efficacious zeal that the diocese became the most flourishing in France at the time. A pagan overlord who had persecuted the Christians could not resist the exhortations of the holy bishop and after his baptism gave large grants to the church; on one of those terrains the bishop built a monastery in honor of the Blessed Virgin. After governing his church for nearly thirty years, St. Omer in his old age became blind, but that affliction did not lessen his pastoral concern for his flock. He died in the odor of sanctity while on a pastoral visit, in the year 670. Twelve centuries lather St. John Vianney said “In heaven the saints are happy, but they are like capitalists who worked diligently, and now live on their earnings.” St. Omer serving God to his last breath is a perfect example of one.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Saint Omer, Bishop of Therouanne.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_omer.html (accessed Aug. 31, 2021).

[2]          “Ancient Diocese of Thérouanne,” Wikipedia. Jan. 16, 2021. Accessed: Aug. 31, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ancient_Diocese_of_Th%C3%A9rouanne&oldid=1000716110

[3]          “Battle of Ravenna (476),” Wikipedia. Aug. 30, 2021. Accessed: Aug. 31, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Ravenna_(476)&oldid=1041374209

Saint Bernard

Abbot of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

Feast – August 20

The Old Testament often mentions the blessings and prosperity faithful Jews enjoyed throughout Israel’s history. Sadly, for many of them this prosperity, fame, and position of power became the goal of their lives. They would work hard to achieve those goods as proof of being in favor with God. For them prosperity and power became a new god. For example, the grandfather of Karl Marx was a Dutch Rabbi, his father was a lawyer who converted and join the state Evangelical Church of Prussia to reach upper middle-class income. Karl Marx the author of The Communist Manifesto created an international organization named the Communist League which was behind numerous uprisings across Europe in 1848 with the goal of taking over the world.

In twelfth century, a similar figure to Karl Marx was Pietro Pierleoni, great-great grandson of Benedictus, (Baruch in Hebrew) a Jew who converted to Catholicism and was the son of consul Pier Leoni. The Pierleoni were conceded to be one of the wealthiest and most powerful senatorial families of Rome, risen to that position by usury. The Pierleoni family staunchly supported the Popes throughout the fifty years’ war for reform and freedom. Pietro’s grandfather was baptized by Pope Leo IX and named after him. Leo was also a faithful adherent of Pope Gregory VII.

Leo’s son Peter, from whom the family acquired the appellation of Pierleoni, became leader of the faction of the Roman nobility which was at enmity with the Frangipani clan. He attempted to install his son as Prefect of Rome in 1116. Though favored by the Pope, the attempt was resisted by the opposite party with riot and bloodshed. His second son, Pietro was destined for an ecclesiastical career. He studied in Paris and after finishing education, he became a monk in the monastery of Cluny, but before long he was summoned to Rome by Pope Paschal II and created Cardinal-Deacon of SS. Cosmas and Damian. He accompanied Pope Gelasius on his trip to France, and was employed by successive pontiffs in important affairs, including legations to France and England.

When in 1130, Pope Honorius lay on his deathbed Pietro Pierleoni was determined to buy or force his way into the Papal Chair. He could count upon the votes of thirty cardinals, backed by the support of the mercenary populace and of almost every noble family in Rome.

The Cardinals following a Pope’s Nicholas II bull In nomine Domini, (In nomine Domini was codification of the resolutions of the 1059 synod of Rome, to avoid future controversy in papal elections and to curb the outside influence exerted by non-ecclesiastical parties) decided to entrust the election to a commission of eight men led by papal chancellor Haymaric. They elected and compelled, under threat of excommunication, the reluctant Cardinal of San Giorgio, Gregory Papareschi to accept the pontifical mantle. He took the name of Innocent II.

Later in the day the party of Pierleone assembled in the Church of St. Mark and proclaimed him Pope, with the name of Anacletus II. Both claimants were consecrated on the same day the day after Pope Honorius’ death, 14 February.

Supporters of Anacletus II were powerful enough to take control of Rome. His victory seemed complete; he became the most powerful man in the world.

Pope Innocent II was forced to flee north to France where the last Father of the Holy Church and one of its most famous Doctors, St. Bernard came to his rescue.

St. Bernard was born at the castle of Fontaines, in Burgundy near Dijon, in 1090. His parents were Tescelin de Fontaine, lord of Fontaine-les-Dijon, and Alethe de Montbard, both members of the highest nobility of Burgundy. Bernard was the third of seven children, six of whom were sons.

Under the care of his pious parents at age nine, he was sent to a school at Chatillon-sur-Seine

Notable for his remarkable piety, spirit of recollection and the vigor of his intellect he had an interest in literature and rhetoric. At the same place he entered upon the studies of theology and Holy Scripture.

After the death of his mother, fearing the snares and temptations of the world, in the year 1111, at the age of 21, St. Bernard left his home to join the monastic community of the Cistercian Order of Citeaux. His five brothers, two uncles, and some 30 young friends followed him into the monastery. Within four years, a dying community had recovered enough vitality to establish a new house. The Holy Abbot, St. Stephen, seeing the great progress St. Bernard had made in the spiritual life, sent him with twelve monks to establish a new monastery in the nearby valley of Wormwoods, soon renamed Clairvaux, the valley of light, with St. Bernard as abbot. During the absence of the Bishop of Langres, St. Bernard was blessed as abbot by William of Champeaux, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne. From that moment a strong friendship sprang up between the abbot and the bishop, who was professor of theology at Notre Dame of Paris, and the founder of the Abbey of St. Victor in Paris. Once appointed Abbot he began active life which has rendered him the most conspicuous figure in the history of the 12th century.

St. Bernard’s holy example attracted so many novices that many other monasteries had to be built. In 1118 Trois-Fontaines Abbey was founded in the diocese of Châlons; in 1119 Fontenay Abbey in the Diocese of Autun; and in 1121 Foigny Abbey near Vervins, in the diocese of Laon. Unsparing for himself, he at first expected too much of his monks, who were disheartened by his severity. Soon perceiving his error, he led them forward to wonderful perfection by the sweetness of his correction and the mildness of his government. His aged father exchanging wealth and honor for the poverty of a monk, joining him in the monastery of Clairvaux. From all family one sister alone remained behind; she was married and loved the world and its pleasures. Splendidly clothed, one day she came to visit St. Bernard, and he refused to see her. He finally consented to do so, not as her brother but as the minister of Christ. The words he then spoke moved her so deeply that two years later with her husband’s consent retired to a Benedictine convent of Jully-les-Nonnains, dying later in the reputation of sanctity.

In spite of his desire to remain secluded, the fame of his sanctity spread far and wide.

The monks of the powerful Benedictine abbey of Cluny were unhappy to see Cistercians take the lead role among the monastic orders, they attempted to make it appear that the rules of the new order were impracticable. At the solicitation of William of St.-Thierry, St. Bernard defended the Cistercians with his Apology. He proved himself and his order innocent of the charges, Cluny established a reform, the minister of Louis VI of France, Abbot Sugar, was persuaded and Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny assured him of his admiration and friendship.

In provincial affairs he defended the rights of the Church against the encroachments of kings and princes, and recalled to their duty Henri Sanglier, archbishop of Sens and Stephen of Senlis, bishop of Paris.

In the year 1128, St. Bernard attended the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, a Catholic, military order founded in 1119 who carried mission: to protect European travelers visiting sites in the Holy Land.

When in 1130 Pope Innocent II took refuge in France, King Louis VI convened a national council of the French bishops at Etampes. St. Bernard by consent of the bishops, was chosen to judge between the rival popes. He decided in favor of Pope Innocent II and became his staunch supporter.

The Saint states his reasons for deciding in favor of Innocent in a letter to the Bishops of Aquitaine (Op. cxxvi). “The life and character of our Pope Innocent are above any attack, even of his rival; while the others are not safe even from his friends. In the second place, if you compare the elections, that of our candidate at once has the advantage over the other as being purer in motive, more regular in form, and earlier in time. The last point is out of all doubt; the other two are proved by the merit and the dignity of the electors. You will find, if I mistake not, that this election was made by the more discreet part of those to whom the election of the Supreme Pontiff belongs. There were cardinals, bishops, priests, and deacons, in sufficient number, according to the decrees of the Fathers, to make a valid election. The consecration was performed by the Bishop of Ostia, to whom that function specially belongs.”

After the council of Etampes, St. Bernard persuaded King Henry I of England to support Pope Innocent.

Then he went into Italy and reconciled Pisa, Genoa and Milan with the Pope. The same year Bernard was again at the Council of Reims at the side of Pope Innocent II. He then went to Aquitaine where he succeeded for the time in detaching William X, Duke of Aquitaine, from the cause of Anacletus.

Germany had decided to support Innocent through Norbert of Xanten, who was a friend of St. Bernard’s. Holy Roman Emperor Lothair II became Innocent’s strongest ally among the nobility. This caused the pope to be recognized by all the great powers in Europe.

Meanwhile Anacletus maintained his popularity in Rome by the lavish expenditure of his accumulated wealth and the plundered treasures of the churches.

Although the councils of Etampes, Würzburg, Clermont, and Rheims all supported Innocent, large portions of the Christian world still supported Anacletus.

After that, St. Bernard spent most of his time in Italy persuading the Italians to pledge allegiance to Innocent. He traveled to Sicily in 1137 to convince the king of Sicily to follow Innocent. When Anacletus died on 25 January 1138 the preference of the Romans for Innocent was so pronounced that the antipope, Victor IV, whom the party chose as his successor, soon came as a penitent to St. Bernard and by him was led to the feet of the Pope. Thus ended eight years of schism which threatened serious disaster to the Church.

In 1139, the Tenth Ecumenical Council was called. The Council assembled at the Lateran Palace and nearly a thousand prelates attended among them St. Bernard. In his opening statement Pope Innocent II deposed those who had been ordained and instituted by Anacletus or any of his adherents. King Roger II of Sicily was excommunicated for maintaining a schismatic attitude.

The council drew up measures for the amendment of ecclesiastical morals and discipline which the council fathers considered had grown lax and condemned the teachings of the Peter of Bruys and Henry of Lausanne.

In June 1145, at the invitation of Cardinal Alberic of Ostia, St. Bernard traveled in southern France to confront followers of Peter of Bruys known as Henricians, led by Henry of Lausanne. His preaching, aided by his ascetic looks and simple attire, helped doom the new sects. Both the Henrician and the Petrobrusian faiths began to die out by the end of that year.

In 1144 news came from the Holy Land that alarmed Christendom. Siege took place from November 28 to December 24, 1144, resulting in the fall of the capital of the crusader County of Edessa to Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo. The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the other Crusader states were threatened with similar disaster. Deputations of the bishops of Armenia solicited aid from the pope.

Pope Eugene III commissioned St. Bernard to preach the Second Crusade and granted the same indulgences for it which Pope Urban II had accorded to the First Crusade. By his fervor, eloquence, and miracles he attracted many royalties, but an even greater show of support came from the common people. St.  Bernard wrote to the pope a few days afterwards, “Cities and castles are now empty. There is not left one man to seven women, and everywhere there are widows to still-living husbands.” Two large armies were organized.

The last years of his life were saddened by the failure of the Second Crusade, the entire responsibility for which was thrown upon him.  St. Bernard considered it his duty to send an apology to the Pope and it is inserted in the second part of his “Book of Considerations.” There he explains how the sins of the crusaders were the cause of their misfortune and failures.

Many dioceses asked for him as their bishop. Through the help of Pope Eugenius III, his former subject, he escaped this dignity. Nonetheless, his retirement was continually invaded. The poor and weak sought his protection; bishops, kings, and popes applied to him for advice.

St. Bernard had a deep love of the Virgin Mary. According to various medieval stories in 1146 at Speyer Cathedral the Holy Virgin had appeared to him and he received milk from Her breast. He wrote several works about the Queen of Heaven and his name is often connected to the Memorare, one of the most popular Marian prayers of all time.

He died at age sixty-three on 20 August 1153, after forty years of monastic life and was buried at Clairvaux Abbey. Just 21 years after his death he was canonized by Pope Alexander III.

His very precious writings have earned for him the title of The Last Father of the Holy Church.

In 1830 Pope Pius VIII declared him a Doctor of the Church.

 

References and Excerpts:

[1]          F. Media, “Saint Bernard of Clairvaux | Franciscan Media.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-bernard-of-clairvaux (accessed Aug. 07, 2021).

[2]          C. Online, “St. Bernard of Clairvaux – Saints & Angels,” Catholic Online. https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=559 (accessed Aug. 07, 2021).

[3]          “Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_bernard.html (accessed Aug. 07, 2021).

[4]          “Bernard of Clairvaux,” Wikipedia. Jul. 05, 2021. Accessed: Aug. 07, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bernard_of_Clairvaux&oldid=1032116509

[5]          “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Anacletus II.” https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01447a.htm (accessed Aug. 07, 2021).

Saint Pius I

Pope and Martyr († 157)

St. Justin Martyr, also known as Justin the Philosopher, an early Christian apologist, through his passionate defense of the morality of the Christian life, and by using various ethical and philosophical arguments was able to convince Emperor Antoninus Pius to abandon the persecution of the Church. Emperor Antoninus became known as one of the “5 Good Emperors” and his reign in Rome (from 138 to 161), was the most peaceful reign in the entire history of the Principate.

Once the immediate danger from civil authority was lifted the Church started to flourish, but not all was well. Numerous heresies attempted to infiltrate the Church.  Gnosticism was perhaps the most dangerous heresy during the first three centuries. Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis which means “to know.” Gnostics influenced by such philosophers as Plato claimed to possess a higher knowledge acquired not from the Bible, but on some mystical higher plane of existence. They see themselves as a privileged class elevated above everybody else by their higher, deeper knowledge of God which is a principal element of salvation.

Gnosticism espouses a dualism regarding spirit and matter. Matter is inherently evil, and spirit is good. As a result of this presupposition, they believe anything done in the body, even the grossest sin, has no meaning because real life exists in the spirit realm only.

In such an environment, in 142 AD, St. Pius I was called to succeed Pope St. Hyginus and was in charge of growing the Church and protecting the purity of Her teachings as the ninth successor to St. Peter.

Pius is believed to have been born at Aquileia in Northern Italy, during the late first century. His father was called Rufinus, and he was the brother of St. Hermas, author of the apocalyptic text known as The Shepherd, which urged the church to purify itself in preparation for the imminent Second Coming of Christ. Since St. Hermas identifies himself as a former slave, it is presumed that both St. Hermas and St. Pius I were freedmen.

Throughout his pontificate he took great care to make the religion of Christ flourish, and published many beautiful ordinances for the utility of the universal Church. He ordained that Easter be celebrated on a Sunday; in this way the custom which the Apostles had already observed became an inviolable law of the Church. He was welcoming to heretics if they renounced their heresy, but was severe towards blasphemers and with clergy who showed negligence for the divine Mysteries of the altar.

During St. Pius’ time the heretics Valentinus, Cerdon, and Marcion were actively teaching the Gnostic doctrine in Rome. Marcion, a wealthy shipbuilder, founder of a heretical group which bears his name, was excommunicated after proclaiming that Old Testament scriptures were not valid because the Jewish deity who inspired them was an inferior, wrathful being, very different from the True God who was the Heavenly Father of Jesus. By excommunicating Marcion, St. Pius I established the Christian tradition to recognize the Jewish and Christian deities as one and the same God and created the foundation for accepting the Old Testament into the later Christian canon of scripture. In his time, the Roman church appears to have begun to assume a defining role in establishing Christian doctrine, not only by later reputation, but also in actual practice.

As an administrator St. Pius I set the foundation of two major Roman churches, the Santa Pudenziana and the Titulus Praxedis, which were replaced by current one in fourth century.

After having governed the Church for fifteen years Saint Pius I obtained the crown of martyrdom by the sword, in the year of Our Lord 150.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Saint Pius I, Pope and Martyr.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_pius_i.html (accessed Jul. 01, 2021).

[2]          “Pope Pius I – New World Encyclopedia.” https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pope_Pius_I (accessed Jul. 01, 2021).

Saint John Francis Regis

Jesuit missionary (1597-1640)

Feast – June 16

“For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the high places.” (Ephesians 6, 12)

Our enemy, the devil, knows that he can cause the most damage by influencing people in positions of power and authority. The Church and government are his first targets. In 1517 Martin Luther (an Augustinian monk and university lecturer in Wittenberg) sponsored by local German rulers, who were seeking annexation of Catholic Church property, started the Protestant Reformation. Similarly in France a significant number of provincial aristocrats seeking to enlarge their influence and take control of the country, and with them thousands of their subjects, left the Catholic Church, rejected Her teachings, and became followers of the French theologian, pastor and reformer John Calvin, a principal figure in the development of the system of theology later called Calvinism. This system is based on the doctrine of predestination which holds that God works through the Holy Spirit to bring about the salvation of an individual through spiritual regeneration, regardless of the individual’s cooperation. French Calvinists adopted the name Huguenot, some say, after Hugues Capet, king of the Franks from 987 to 996, who through crafty political maneuvers worked his way to the throne.

In 1560 the Huguenots under the leadership of Godefroy de Barry, seigneur de La Renaudie, with the support of many aristocrats among them the Admiral of France Gaspard de Coligny, decided to take power over France by abducting the young king Francis II and arresting Francis, Duke of Guise and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine. The Amboise conspiracy, also called the Tumult of Amboise failed and became the event directly leading up to the Wars of Religion from 1562 to 1598, after which in 1593 king Henry IV officially converted to Catholicism and in April 1598 signed the Edict of Nantes establishing France as essentially a Catholic country.

The wars were over but the consequences of the Huguenots’ failed power grab, especially in southern France where they destroyed Catholic churches and murdered the priests, had not faded. Hundreds of thousands of confused citizens of the first daughter of the Church had to be brought back home.

St. John Francis Regis was one of those whom God called to fulfill this task.

He was born on the 31st of January, in 1597, at Foncouverte (department of Aude), a village in the diocese of Narbonne in Languedoc southern France, of a noble Catholic family. His father, Jean Régis, had recently been ennobled as a result of service rendered during the Wars of the Holy League. His mother, Marguerite de Cugunhan, was of a noble family. They were distinguished amongst the nobility of Lower Languedoc by their virtue. Their eldest son was killed in the siege of Villemur, in a rally made by the Huguenot garrison. St. Francis was the youngest one. From his tenderest years he showed evidence of uncommon sanctity by his innocence of life, modesty, and love of prayer. At five years of age, he fainted away while hearing his mother speak of the horrible misfortune of being eternally damned, which left a lasting impression on his tender heart.

His parents watched with Christian solicitude over the early education of their son.

When he reached the age of fourteen, he was sent to continue his studies in the newly opened Jesuit college at Beziers. His conduct there was exemplary. Avaricious of his time, he scarcely allowed himself any for necessary relaxation. Sundays and holidays were a most precious time to him, and he divided them entirely between pious reading and devotions at home and in the church. He was often seen on those days retired in a chapel and bathed in tears in the presence of Jesus Christ. His good humor, frankness, and eagerness to oblige everybody soon won for him the good-will of his comrades. But St. John did not love the world, and even during the vacations lived in retirement, occupied in study and prayer.

At the end of his five years’ study of the humanities, grace and his ascetic inclinations led him to embrace the religious life under the standard of St. Ignatius Loyola.

On 8 December 1616, in his nineteenth year, with the approbation of confessor, he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Toulouse. After two years of probation, he made his religious vows in 1618, and was then sent to Cahors. After finishing his course in rhetoric at Cahors, St. John was sent to teach grammar at several colleges: Billom (1619–22), Puy-en-Velay (1625–27), and Auch (1627–28). He followed the traditional Jesuit path of teaching and studying, while teaching, he studied philosophy at the scholasticate at Tournon. Despite his rigorous academic schedule, he spent many hours in chapel, and viewed as a model of every virtue was called the Angel of the College.

During this time, he made his first attempts as a preacher. On feast-days he loved to visit the towns and villages of the neighborhood, and there give an informal instruction, which never failed–as attested by those who heard him–to produce a profound impression on those present.

As he burned with the desire to devote himself entirely to the salvation of his neighbor, he aspired with all his heart to the priesthood. In this spirit he began in October 1628, his theological studies at Toulouse. The four years he was supposed to devote to them seemed to him so very long that he finally begged his superiors to shorten the term. This request was granted, and in consequence St. John said his first Mass on Trinity Sunday, June 15, 1631. His first assignment was teaching at the Jesuit school at Pamiers to supply the place of a master who had fallen sick. After pleading successfully to his superiors, he spent the rest of that year caring for victims of a plague outbreak in Toulouse.

From May 1632 his headquarters was at the Jesuit College of Montpellier. In 1633, he went to the Diocese of Viviers at the invitation of the bishop, Louis-François de la Baume de Suze.

Here he labored for the conversion of the Huguenots. While the formal sermons of the day tended toward the poetic, his discourses were plain, inflamed with the love of God and filled with fervor which attracted people of all classes. His own example: visiting the hospitals, assisting the needy, withdrawing wayward girls and women from vice, and holy ascetic life made them even more powerful. During two years as a home missioner there, he had outstanding results. He succeeded in converting many people and in bringing many others back to religious observances. His Superiors decided to assign their young Saint to the mission lands of France. He took up the pattern of constant travel that marked the rest of his brief life. He walked from town to town, in rough mountainous area where travel was difficult, especially in the winter. He would remain in a parish several days giving sermons that were simple but sincere and flowed from a heart close to God. A witness at his beatification testified that St. John often preached outdoors all day, then heard confessions throughout the night then celebrated Mass and catechized in the morning.

St. John especially made himself available to the poor. He established safe houses for at-risk women and orphans and found jobs for them. Established the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, which organized charitable collections of money and food from the wealthy. He also established several hostels for prostitutes, and helped many become trained lace makers, which provided them with a stable income and an opportunity to avoid the threat of exploitation. He established an association of women to procure aid for prisoners. Soon he earned a reputation as a saint.

The winters he spent in the missions of the mountainous districts, where the people were seen to travel long miles on foot through the snows and across ice, to hear the servant of God and make their confessions. Many of them accompanied him on his journeys from one place to another, leaving all things to hear him. During the summer he preached in Le Puy, which soon changed its aspect by his catechisms. Up to five thousand listeners crowded in to hear him at the church of the Benedictines of Saint-Pierre-le-Moustiers. From 1633 to 1640 he evangelized more than fifty districts in le Vivarais, le Forez, and le Velay.

His work led to many conversions, but not everyone appreciated the transports of his zeal, which some perceived as arrogance, impetuous and meddlesome, some jealous priests accused him of preaching not evangelical sermons, and troubling the peace of families by an indiscreet charity. This created a period of tension with the local bishop, and even threats.

Patience, humility, the reputation of the sanctity following our saint succeeded in confounding the calumny and caused the discreet and enlightened ardor of his life to shine forth with renewed splendor.

Numerous miracles happened through his intercession. In 1635 in Marlhes a boy had fallen from the top of a high pair of stairs to the bottom near the holy man, then after his prayer in a corner, was found without injury.

A woman who mended his tapered cloak, kept two rags as relics and by applying them to two of her children, cured one of a fever and the other of formed dropsy.

Under the intercession of St. John in times of need God miraculously multiplied the corn on several occasions. Several cures occurred on the spot by his prayers.

The Curé of Ars obtained a famous miracle with a medal of our Saint. The orphanage of Ars had no more grain for bread, and the harvest had been so scanty the people could not be asked for any more aid. The Curé of Ars put a medal of Saint John Francis behind the door of the empty storeroom, and the next day they could scarcely open that door, so full had the room become overnight.

In 1636 Claudius Sourdon, the fourteen year old son of Hugh Sourdon who was hosting St. John at the time, had been entirely deprived of all sight for the past six months, and after the saint’s prayer recovered his sight. Another man forty years of age who had been blind for eight years, was brought to the saint, and after making the sign of the cross over him, was healed immediately.

In November of 1637 the Saint set out for his second mission at Marthes in the mountains. His road lay across valleys filled with snow and over frozen and precipitous peaks. In climbing one of the highest, a bush to which he was clinging gave way, and he broke his leg in the fall; nonetheless, with the help of his companion and a staff, he managed to continue his journey for the remaining six miles. Then, instead of seeing a surgeon, he insisted on being taken straight to the confessional. After several hours, the parish priest found him still seated, and when his leg was finally examined the fracture was found to be miraculously healed.

A young man enraged that the saint had converted and drawn from him the object of his impure passion, resolved to kill him. The man of God discovered by a divine light his wicked intention, and said to him: “Dear brother, why do you bear this ill-will to one that would hazard his life to procure you the greatest of blessings, eternal salvation?” The sinner, overcome by his sweetness, fell at his feet, begged his pardon, and became a sincere convert. These are only a few examples of many miracles assigned to our saint.

In mid-December 1640 St. John and his companion, Brother Claude Bideau, went to Montregard. After finishing the mission there, on December 23rd the two set out for Lalouvesc, the site of the next mission, but a winter storm blew in and they lost their way in the snow and had to spend the night in a battered shack. The next day they were able to reach Lalouvesc where they found people waiting for them. Rather than taking a few minutes to eat and rest, Regis immediately began preaching, then heard confessions and celebrated Mass. So many people came for confession that Regis did not stop until it was time for Midnight Mass. Both Christmas day and the following day were also spent in the confessional. Because of the crush of people, by late afternoon he felt weak and suddenly collapsed. He was put in the pastor’s bed but people followed him even there, seeking to confess. He lapsed into unconsciousness, and the physician who attended him confirmed that pneumonia had set in. Nothing could be done. Regis lingered on until Dec. 31, praying constantly. His final words were: “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

St. John Francis Regis was beatified in 1716 by Pope Clement XI and canonized by Pope Clement XII in 1737. He is hailed as a confessor of the faith and a model for Jesuit missionaries. Although his feast day was established on June 16, the Jesuits celebrate St. John on July 2.

St. John’s tomb at La Louvesc became the site of many miracles. Was visited by Curé of Ars St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney in 1804 and remains to this day a popular site of pilgrimage.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          F. Media, “Saint John Francis Regis | Franciscan Media.” https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-john-francis-regis (accessed Jun. 04, 2021).

[2]          C. Online, “St. John Francis Regis – Saints & Angels,” Catholic Online. https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=689 (accessed Jun. 04, 2021).

[3]          “Saint John Francis Regis, Jesuit missionary.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_john_francis_regis.html (accessed Jun. 04, 2021).

[4]          “Saint John Francis Regis | The Society of Jesus.” https://www.jesuits.global/saint-blessed/saint-john-francis-regis/ (accessed Jun. 04, 2021).

[5]          “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. John Francis Regis.” https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08464a.htm (accessed Jun. 04, 2021).

[6]          “Saint of the day: John Francis Regis | Angelus News,” Jun. 16, 2020. https://angelusnews.com/faith/saint-of-the-day/saint-of-the-day-john-francis-regis/ (accessed Jun. 04, 2021).

[7]          “John Francis Regis,” Wikipedia. Jan. 31, 2021. Accessed: Jun. 04, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Francis_Regis&oldid=1004035516

Saint Pius V

Pope (1504-1572)

Feast – May 5

From the beginning the Catholic Church has been under attack, persecuted two thousand years ago and throughout Her entire history.

Continuous warfare to stop the Ottoman Empire from taking over the world, corruption in the Church, the Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther in 1517 which under the name of “Lutheranism” spread from Germany to Denmark, then Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Iceland.

Other Protestant leaders such as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli and John Knox formed churches and spread to Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France. In England though Acts of Parliament passed between 1532 and 1534, among them the 1534 Act of Supremacy which declared King Henry VIII “Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England” brought England and Wales into this Reformation movement. Those were the challenges faced by the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century.

One year before Luther started his revolution, in 1516 near Bosco in the Duchy of Milan, Italy, two Dominicans came along the road and fell into conversation with a 12-year-old boy who was minding his father’s small flock. This little boy seemed to them far too talented to be a shepherd. Recognizing immediately that he was both virtuous and intelligent, they obtained permission from his parents to take Antonio with them and educate him. Two years later the same Antonio, a son of poor parents of the noble lineage of Ghislieri, after a preliminary course of studies entered the Dominican Order at the priory of Voghera, taking the name Michael, after the prince of the heavenly host. As a novice he was sent to Lombardy where, for the first time, he met the well-organized forces of heresy which he was to combat so successfully for rest of his life.

After his ordination at Genoa in 1528, he went home to say his first Mass and found that Bosco had been razed by the French. There was nothing left to tell him if his parents were alive or dead. He eventually found them in a nearby town.

Sent out by his order to Pavia, he taught philosophy and theology for 16 years. He became the master of novices and was elected Prior of several Dominican houses in which, during a time of great moral laxity, he strove to restore the practice of the monastic virtues and spread the spirit of the holy founder. He himself was an example to all. He fasted, did penance, passed long hours of the night in meditation and prayer, traveled on foot without a cloak in deep silence, or only speaking to his companions of the things of God. Michael proved to be a wise and charitable administrator.

He was made inquisitor at Como, Italy, where many of his religious brethren had died as martyrs to the heretics. By the time of Michael’s appointment there, the heretics’ chief weapon was the printed word; they smuggled books in from Switzerland, causing untold harm by spreading them in northern Italy. The new inquisitor set himself to fight this wicked traffic, and it was not the fault of the heretics that he did not follow his brethren to martyrdom. They ambushed him several times and laid a number of complicated plots to kill him, but only succeeded in making him determined to explain the situation more fully to the pope in Rome. He returned to Rome in 1550, where he was employed in several inquisitorial missions. In 1556 he was made Bishop of Sutri by Pope Paul IV. His zeal against heresy caused him to be selected as inquisitor of the faith in Milan and Lombardy. In 1557 he was made a cardinal and named inquisitor general for all Christendom.

Known in this capacity as an able, yet unflinching man who rigorously fought heresy and corruption wherever he encountered it, in 1559 he was made bishop of the war-depleted Piedmont see of Mondovi, to which he soon brought order and restored the purity of faith and discipline.

Famous both for the spotless purity of his own life and for his intrepid defense of the Church’s faith and discipline, he was frequently called to Rome. Surrounded in his time by great men and great Saints, in apostolic virtue he was surpassed by none. He opposed Pius IV’s attempt to make 13-year-old Ferdinand de’Medici a cardinal and defeated the attempt of Emperor Maximilian II of Germany to abolish clerical celibacy. His opposition to the pontiff procured his dismissal from the palace and the abridgment of his authority as inquisitor. Before Michael could return to his episcopate, Pope Pius IV died.

In the afternoon of 8 January 1565, the cardinals, chiefly through the influence of St. Charles Borromeo and trusting that he would act as a much-needed reformer, elected Cardinal Ghislieri to become Pope. With great grief, he accepted the office and chose the name Pius V.

St. Charles’ judgment proved true: on Pius’s coronation, the money usually distributed to the crowds was given to the hospitals and the poor, and money for a banquet for the cardinals and other dignitaries was given to poor convents. When someone criticized this, he observed that God would judge us more on our charity to the poor than on our good manners to the rich.

His pontificate saw him dealing with internal reform of the Church, the spread of Protestant doctrines in the West, and Turkish armies advancing from the East.

St. Pius V as pontiff practiced the virtues he had displayed as a monk and a bishop. His piety was not diminished, and in spite of the heavy labors and anxieties of his office, he made at least two meditations a day on knees in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

He immediately put into action his vast program of reform by getting rid of many of the extravagant luxuries then prevalent in his court. He gave the money usually invested in these luxuries to the poor whom he personally cared for, washing their feet, consoling those near death, and tending to lepers and the very sick. It is claimed that an English nobleman was converted upon seeing him kiss the feet of a beggar covered with ulcers. He also brought in shipments of corn during a famine at his own expense.

He expected clergy to follow the decrees of the Council of Trent, two of which he strictly enforced: the obligatory residence of bishops in their sees, parish priests in their parishes and the establishment of diocesan seminaries. He strongly supported foreign missions, consecrating three Jesuit bishops for India and helping finance missionaries to China and Japan.

 

The Catechism of the Council of Trent was completed during his reign, and he revised the Roman Breviary and Missal, which remained in use until the reforms of Vatican II.

St. Pius V also commissioned the best edition to date of the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas; it was he who had declared St. Thomas Aquinas the fifth Latin Doctor of the Church in 1567.

His efforts at raising the standard of morality and reforming the clergy embraced issues ranging from the abolition of bullfighting, bearbaiting, and prostitution, to cleaning out the Roman curia. He insisted that Sunday must be hallowed. Once a month he held a special court for anyone who felt they had been treated unjustly.

In the Bull “In Coena Domini” he proclaimed the traditional principles of the Roman Church and the supremacy of the Holy See over civil power.

St. Pius V was not less active in protecting the Church outside Italy. He made full use of the Inquisition and his methods of combating Protestantism which he recognized as an attack on the Papacy and Catholic Church. At the same time, he encouraged efforts to battle Protestantism through education, preaching and supporting the newly formed Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola. In Germany he supported the Catholics oppressed by the heretical princes, in France he cooperated with the Catholic King against the Huguenot rebels and strenuously opposed all compromise with the Huguenot nobility.

He had hoped to convert Queen Elizabeth of England and after giving her every possible chance of repentance, in 1570 excommunicated her and declared an ipso facto excommunication on anyone who did not deny allegiance to her. In an attempt to save the souls of his flock he absolved her subjects of loyalty to her as queen.

At the same time, he embraced the cause of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots in the bitterness of her captivity. He sent reassuring letters to her, and once, at a time when no priest was allowed to go near her, he granted her special permission to receive Holy Communion by sending her a tiny pyx that contained consecrated Hosts.

Such an attitude was bound to make enemies in high places. The holy Pope was accustomed to kiss the feet of the crucifix on leaving or entering his room. One day the feet moved away from his lips. Sorrow filled his heart, and he made acts of contrition, fearing that he must have committed some secret offense, yet he still could not kiss the feet. It was afterwards discovered that they had been poisoned by an enemy.

St. Pius V from the beginning worked relentlessly to unite Christians against the aggression of the Ottoman Empire. In the first year of his pontificate on May 18th, 1565, the Turks under Suleiman the Magnificent made a second attempt to take Malta.

After the loss of Acre, the last Crusader stronghold in Palestine, in 1291 the Knights of St. John, or Knights Hospitaller harassed the Turkish fleet from the Greek island of Rhodes, preventing them from taking control over the eastern Mediterranean. After being driven out of Rhodes by the Ottomans in 1522 they continued their mission, and in 1530 established their headquarters in Malta. The Ottomans first attempted to take Malta in 1551 but failed. In 1565, the Knights who numbered around 500 together with approximately 6,000 foot-soldiers faced army of 40,000 Turks. In response Pope St. Pius V exhorted the faithful to penance and almsgiving to obtain victory from God. The Knights of Saint John lost nearly every fighting man, but they withstood the siege and repelled the invaders. It was the Pope who sent encouragement and money with which to rebuild their battered fortress.

St. Pius V worked hard to unite the Christian armies against the Turks, he sent money for the fortification of the free towns of Italy, and furnished monthly contributions to the Christians of Hungary. In 1567 he collected from all convents one-tenth of their revenues together for the defense of Christendom.

In 1570 Solyman II attacked Cyprus threatening all Christianity in the West. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Lala Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on July 2, and laid siege to Nicosia. The city fell on September 9. Twenty thousand citizens of Nicosia were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted.

On the 25^th of May 1571, Pope St. Pius V formed the Holy League, a coalition between the Papal States, Malta, Habsburg Spain (Spain of the 16th and 17th centuries ruled by kings from the House of Habsburg), the Republic of Venice, the Republic of Genoa, and several other Italian states.

Four months later, in October, when the naval forces of the League, composed mainly of Venetian, Spanish, and Papal ships under the command of Don John of Austria, small, and numerically no match for the Turkish fleet, which so far had never met defeat, were about to cast off when St. Pius V sent his blessing to Don John of Austria with the recommendation to leave behind all soldiers of evil life. He requested that each man on board pray the Rosary and receive Holy Communion. Meanwhile, he called on all of Europe to recite the Rosary and ordered a 40-hour devotion in Rome and increased his own supplications to heaven.

Two fleets met in the Bay of Lepanto on Sunday morning, October 7th, 1571. After a day of bitter fighting the Christians miraculously defeated the Turks. The Battle of Lepanto was one of the decisive battles of world history. The Ottoman fleet fled in disgrace, broken, defeated; its power crushed forever, and Christendom was saved from the Turks.

On the day of the battle, St. Pius V was working with the cardinals, when, suddenly, interrupting his work he opened the window and looking at the sky, cried out, “A truce to business; our great task at present is to thank God for the victory which He has just given the Christian army” and he burst into tears. In memory of the triumph, he declared October 7^th the Feast of The Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary.

He was hoping to put an end to the power of Islam by forming a general alliance of the Italian cities, Poland, France, and all Christian Europe, and had begun negotiations for this purpose when he died of gravel (a disease of the kidneys), repeating “O Lord, increase my sufferings and my patience!” He left the memory of a rare virtue and an unfailing and inflexible integrity. He was beatified by Clement X in 1672 and canonized by Clement XI in 1712.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          CNA, “Saint Pius V, Pope,” Catholic News Agency. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-pius-v-pope-452 (accessed May 12, 2021).

[2]          “Saint Pius V, Pope.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_pius_v.html (accessed May 12, 2021).

[3]          “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pope St. Pius V.” https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12130a.htm (accessed May 12, 2021).

[4]          “Pope Saint Pius V,” The Order of Preachers, Independent, May 05, 2015. https://orderofpreachersindependent.org/2015/05/05/pope-saint-pius-v/ (accessed May 12, 2021).

[5]          “Pope Pius V,” Wikipedia. Feb. 12, 2021. Accessed: May 12, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pope_Pius_V&oldid=1006427367