Saint Gerard Majella

Redemptorist Coadjutor Brother (1726-1755)

Feast – October 16

Saint Gerard Majella is known as a Thaumaturge, a Saint who works miracles not just occasionally, but consistently throughout his life. It has been said that God raises up not more than one every century.

St. Gerard, the youngest of the five children of Dominic and Benedetta Galella Majella, was born on April 6, 1726, in the small town of Muro, about fifty miles south of Naples, Italy. He was very sickly at birth and was immediately taken to the Cathedral church for Baptism.

When he was only five, he was accustomed to go to a small chapel near his home to pray. Often, he would return home from these visits with a loaf of bread. When asked about this, he would say that “a most beautiful boy” had given it to him. One day his sister, Elizabeth, followed him to the chapel and watched him while he knelt in prayer before a statue of the Blessed Mother holding the Child Jesus. Then she saw a strange thing happen. The Child Jesus left His Mother’s arms and came down to play with the little boy. After some time, the Child gave Gerard a loaf of bread and returned to His Mother’s arms. St. Gerard wanted very much to receive Holy Communion at the age of seven and went to the Communion railing one day with the others; but the priest, seeing his age, passed him up; and he went back to his place in tears. The following night, Saint Michael the Archangel brought him the Communion he so much desired. His only ambition was to be like Jesus Christ in his sufferings and humiliations.

When St. Gerard was twelve, the sudden death of his father made it necessary for him to leave school and to begin to work. His mother sent him to her brother so that he could teach Gerard to sew and follow in his father’s footsteps. However, the foreman was abusive. St. Gerard accepted the persecution as being permitted by God for his spiritual good. Once he was seen to smile even while enduring a beating, and when asked about this, he said: “I was smiling because I saw the hand of God striking me.” His uncle soon found out and the man who taught him resigned from the job.

After four years of apprenticeship, he took a job as a servant to work for the local Bishop of Lacedonia, who was recuperating in Muro. Again, he manifested the virtue of patience by silently bearing the irascible temper of this otherwise worthy man. During this time one of his early miracles took place. One day he accidentally dropped the key of the house in the well. With saintly simplicity he lowered a small statue of the Infant Jesus into the well. To the amazement of the onlookers, when St. Gerard raised the statue the lost key was held in its hand. Upon the bishop’s death, he returned to his trade, working first as a journeyman and then on his own account. He divided his earnings between his mother and the poor and in offerings for the souls in Purgatory. As he grew older, when anyone spoke to him about marriage, he would answer: “The Madonna has ravished my heart, and I have made Her a present of it.” He desired to enter religion, but his health was unstable as a result of the mortifications he had constantly practiced as a young man.

He tried to join the Capuchin Order, attempting to become a hermit. Was refused because of his frail health. He was still determined to become a lay brother, and the occasion of a mission conducted by the Redemptorist Fathers in Muro gave him new hope. He asked to be admitted as a candidate in their order, but again was refused because they felt that his health would not endure the rigors of monastic life. So persistent was the young man, however, that Father Paul Cafaro, the superior of the missionaries, advised his mother to lock him in his room on the night they were leaving Muro, lest he try to follow them. St. Gerard’s mother did so, but the next morning when she unlocked the door, she found an empty bed, an open window from which hung a sheet, and a note on the table that read: “I have gone to become a Saint.”

In 1749, he joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as Redemptorists. The order was founded in 1732 by Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) at Scala, near Naples. This was essentially a missionary order dedicated to “preaching the word of God to the poor.” The apostolate focuses on the giving of missions and retreats. Two years later, he made his profession.

In his work with the Redemptorist community, he was variously a gardener, sacristan, tailor, porter, cook, carpenter, and clerk of works on the new buildings at Caposele.

Although weak in body, he did the work of four, still finding time to take on himself that of others. He would say: “Let me do it, I am younger, take a rest”. He made the heroic vow of always choosing what appeared to him most perfect. As a model of every virtue, he was so drawn to Our Lord in the tabernacle that he had to do violence to himself to keep away. His great charity earned for him the title of Father of the Poor.

St. Gerard was perfectly obedient to his superior’s wishes, even when not expressed; and one day, to demonstrate this to a visiting authority who required a proof, his immediate Superior sent him out, saying: “I will tell him interiorly to return; he needs no other command than this”. Soon the Brother knocked on the door once more and said: “You sent for me to come back?” Saint Alphonsus considered him a miracle of obedience.

True sanctity must always be tested by the cross, and it was in 1754 that Gerard had to undergo a great trial, one that may well have merited for him the special power to assist mothers and their children. One of his works of zeal was that of encouraging and assisting girls who wanted to enter the convent. Often, he would even secure the necessary dowry for some poor girl who could not otherwise be admitted into a religious order.

Neria Caggiano was one of the girls thus assisted by Gerard. However, she found convent life distasteful and within three weeks had returned home. To explain her action, Neria began to circulate falsehoods about the lives of the nuns, and when the good people of Muro refused to believe such stories about a convent recommended by St. Gerard, she determined to save her reputation by destroying the good name of her benefactor. Accordingly, in a letter to St. Alphonsus, the superior of Gerard, she accused the latter of sins of impurity with the young daughter of a family at whose house Gerard often stayed on his missionary journeys.

St. Gerard was called by St. Alphonsus to answer the accusation. Instead of defending himself, however, he remained silent, following the example of his Divine Master. In the face of his silence, St. Alphonsus could do nothing but impose a severe penance on the young religious. St. Gerard was denied the privilege of receiving Holy Communion and forbidden all contact with outsiders.

It was not easy for St. Gerard to give up his labours in behalf of souls, but this was a small penance compared with being deprived of Holy Communion. He felt this so keenly that he even asked to be freed from the privilege of serving Mass for fear that the vehemence of his desire to receive would make him seize the consecrated Host from the very hands of the priest at the altar.

Sometime later Neria fell dangerously ill and wrote a letter to St. Alphonsus confessing that her charges against St. Gerard had been sheer fabrication and calumny. An angel in purity bore the calumny with such patience that Saint Alphonsus said: “Brother Gerard is a saint.”

Much of his life as a brother was spent in traveling with and assisting the missionaries. They deemed him an invaluable companion, because he had such remarkable success in bringing sinners to the Sacraments and in inducing many to repair their past bad Confessions. People followed him everywhere.

He was favored with infused knowledge of the highest order, prophecy, discernment of spirits, and penetration of hearts and with what seemed an unlimited power over nature, sickness, and the devils.

He frequently fell into ecstasy while meditating on God or His holy will and at such times his body was seen raised several feet above the ground. There are authentic records to prove that on more than one occasion he was granted the unusual miracle of being seen and spoken to in two places at the same time.

Once he conducted a group of students on a nine-day pilgrimage to Mount Gargano, where the Archangel Michael had appeared. They had very little money for the trip, and when they arrived at the site, there was none left. St. Gerard went before the tabernacle and told Our Lord that it was His responsibility to take care of the little group. He had been observed in the church by a religious, who invited the Saint and his companions to lodge in his residence. When the party was ready to start home again, he prayed once more, and immediately someone appeared and gave him a roll of bills.
Some of his reported miracles include restoring life to a boy who had fallen from a high cliff, blessing the scanty supply of wheat belonging to a poor family and making it last until the next harvest, and several times multiplying the bread that he was distributing to the poor.

One day, he walked across the water to lead a boatload of fishermen through stormy waves to the safety of the shore.

The most famous of St. Gerard’s miracles occurred when a mason fell from scaffolding during the construction of a building. St. Gerard had been forbidden by his Superior to work anymore miracles without permission. He stopped the man in mid-air, telling him to wait until he had obtained permission to save him. He received it, and the man descended gently to the ground.

One miracle in particular explains how St. Gerard became known as the special patron of mothers.

Once, as he was leaving the home of his friends, the Pirofalo family, one of the daughters called after him that he had forgotten his handkerchief. In a moment of prophetic insight Gerard said: “Keep it. It will be useful to you some day.” The handkerchief was treasured as a precious souvenir of Gerard. Years later the girl to whom he had given it was in danger of death in childbirth. She remembered the words of St. Gerard and called for the handkerchief. Almost immediately the danger passed, and she delivered a healthy child. That was no small feat in an era when only one out of three pregnancies resulted in a live birth, and word of the miracle spread quickly.
On another occasion he was asked for prayers by a mother when both she and her unborn child were in danger. Both mother and child came through the ordeal safely.

Because of the miracles that God worked through St. Gerard’s prayers with mothers, the mothers of Italy took St. Gerard to their hearts and made him their patron. At the process of his beatification, one witness testified that he was known as “il santo dei felice parti,” the saint of happy childbirths.
Always frail in health, it was evident that he was not to live long. In 1755, he was seized by violent hemorrhages and dysentery and his death was expected at any moment. However, he had yet to teach a great lesson on the power of obedience. His director commanded him to get well, if it were God’s will, and immediately his illness seemed to disappear, and he left his bed to rejoin the community. He knew, however, that this cure was only temporary and that he had only a little over a month to live.

Before long he did have to return to his bed, and he began to prepare himself for death. He was absolutely abandoned to the will of God and had this sign placed on his door: “The will of God is done here, as God wills it and as long as He wills it.”

He died in 1755 at the age of 29 years, was beatified in 1893 by Pope Leo XIII and canonized in 1904 by Saint Pius X.

References and Excerpts
[1] F. D. M. OFM, “Saint Gerard Majella,” Franciscan Media, 16-Aug-2016. .
[2] “Saint Gerard Majella, Redemptorist Coadjutor Brother.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_gerard_majella.html. [Accessed: 19-Oct-2019].
[3] “ST. GERARD MAJELLA.” [Online]. Available: http://www.catholictradition.org/Life/majella1.htm. [Accessed: 19-Oct-2019].
[4] “Gerard Majella,” Wikipedia. 16-Oct-2019.

Saint Lawrence Justinian

First Patriarch of Venice (1381-1455)

Feast – September 5

St. Lawrence, descendant of the noble house of Giustiniani, greatly famed at Genoa, Venice and Naples, and a family which includes several saints, was born 1381. Early on the Saint lost his father. The piety of his mother seems to have served as an inspiration for his own spirituality. From childhood he chose a life of prayer and service and longed to be a Saint. One day, his mother made him understand that she feared he harbored ambition or pride secretly in his heart; but he answered: “fear not, mother; I have only one ambition, and that is to become a great servant of the Lord, and to be more pious than my brothers.” His conduct in youth bore witness to his words; for though he lived at a period when the morals of the whole city were very corrupt, his edifying life was regarded by everyone with surprise and his piety produced admiration and respect. To escape the danger which threatened him, he prayed most fervently to God to give him the grace to know the vocation to which he was called. One day, when he was nineteen years of age, while kneeling before a crucifix and an image of the Blessed Virgin he was given a vision of the Eternal Wisdom, in the form of a beautiful and noble Lady who told him to seek the only repose he would ever know in Her, the Eternal Wisdom of God. All earthly things paled in his eyes before the ineffable beauty of this sight, and as it faded away a void was left in his heart which none, but God could fill.

Refusing the offer of a brilliant marriage, he fled from his home in Venice and joined the Order of the Canons of St. George on Alga Island, one mile from Venice where his uncle was a priest.

When St Lawrence first entered religion, a nobleman went to dissuade him from the folly of thus sacrificing every earthly prospect. The young monk listened patiently to his friend’s affectionate appeal, which soon changed into scorn and violent abuse. Calmly and kindly he then replied. He pointed out the shortness of life, the uncertainty of earthly happiness, and the incomparable superiority of the prize he sought, to any pleasures his friend had named. The latter could make no answer; he felt in truth that Lawrence was wise, and he himself was the fool. And he too left the world, became a fellow novice with the Saint, and eventually died a holy death.

St. Lawrence began his novitiate cheerfully; but he soon manifested in his conduct that he was no beginner in the science of holiness. His mortification was exemplary; he never drank outside of meals, and when urged to do so replied: If we cannot endure a little heat on earth, how will we bear that of Purgatory? Amongst other austerities which he practiced to mortify himself, it was specially noticed that, even on the coldest days, he never warmed himself by the fire, He used to go beg alms for the community, and often received sarcastic barbs instead of goods, for which he thanked God. He was never seen taking the air in the convent garden or enjoying the beauty and fragrance of the flowers. The only time when he visited his home was when he was called to see his dying mother. He underwent a very painful and dangerous operation on his throat for the removal of a great tumor. He himself encouraged the surgeon to begin fearlessly. “Cannot Christ,” said he, “give me as much fortitude as He gave to the three youths in the furnace?” Not even a sigh escaped him during the operation, he repeated only the names of Jesus and Mary. When those present uttered their profound astonishment at his self-control, he said: “How little is my suffering compared with that of the holy martyrs, who were tortured with burning torches and red-hot irons or roasted over a slow fire.”

He was admired by his fellows for his poverty, mortification, and fervency of prayer. His superiors had much more difficulty in moderating his zeal than in animating it.

After St. Lawrence had been ordained priest, he daily said Mass with great devotion and seldom without tears. Two years after his ordination to the Catholic priesthood in 1407, the community accepted the Rule of St. Augustine and he was chosen to be the first prior of the community. St. Lawrence promoted the Constitutions which was embraced by other communities of Canons in the region and shortly thereafter he became the Prior General of a Congregation. He was so zealous in spreading it and reformed it so profoundly that he is considered its second founder.

He encouraged frequent Communion, saying that the person who does not strive to become united with Jesus Christ as frequently as possible has very little love for Him.

Although he desired to remain free from all offices of honor, in 1433 he was named Bishop of Castello. He tried to refuse the dignity, but Pope Eugene IV obliged him to accept it. He found a diocese in shambles and his administration was marked by considerable growth and reform. He founded 15 new monasteries and added many new parishes in which he took a special care of the accuracy and beauty of the divine worship. His cathedral became a model for all of Christendom. His door was never closed to the poor, but he himself lived like a poor monk. In 1450, Pope Nicholas V united the Diocese of Castello with the Patriarchate of Grado, and the seat of the patriarchate was moved to Venice.

About 100 years before the explosion of Protestantism, the Church was already immersed in the great crisis of the Revolution. The humanist mentality was promoting pride and sensuality everywhere, and preparing the way for the acceptance of the bad ideas of Protestantism. St. Laurence Justinian reformed his Order, and instead of being persecuted and despised, in 1450 he was named Patriarch of Venice. The ecclesiastic reform he made in Venice is justly considered a precursor to what St. Charles Borromeo did in Milan after the Council of Trent.

It was during St. Lawrence’s rule that Constantinople fell to Muslim forces. Due to their centuries of close trading partnerships with Byzantine Empire, the people of Venice were in a state of panic as to their future. He took a leading role in helping the Republic deal with the crisis, working with the Senate to help chart its future, as well as with the clergy and people to calm them.

A hermit famous for his holiness, who, one day said to a Venetian noble who was visiting him: “The inhabitants of Venice have provoked God’s wrath, by despising His words, and had not the tears of your Patriarch cried to Him, you would all have long since gone to destruction like the inhabitants of Sodom.”

The first Patriarch of Venice, remained in heart and soul a humble priest, his income was used for the benefit of the Church and the relief of the poor, thirsting for the vision reserved for heaven.

While the holy Patriarch was assiduously occupied with the functions of his high station, his strength gradually gave way and he felt his end approaching.

On the feast of the Nativity of Christ, He had just finished writing his last work, The Degrees of Perfection. He felt during Holy Mass an intense desire to be admitted into the presence of his God. A fever seized him soon after Mass, and ended with his death within a few days. He lay on the bare floor when finally the eternal day began to dawn. Are you preparing a bed of feathers for me? he said, No, my Lord was stretched on a hard and painful tree. Laid upon straw, he exclaimed in rapture, Good Jesus, behold, I come. He died in 1455, at the age of seventy-four.

He was beatified in 1524 by Clement VII and canonized in 1690 by Alexander VIII. His feast day was established for September 5, the day of his episcopal consecration.

References and Excerpts

[1] “Saint Lawrence Justinian, First Patriarch of Venice.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_lawrence_justinian.html. [Accessed: 04-Sep-2019].

[2] “Lawrence Justinian – Wikipedia.” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Justinian. [Accessed: 04-Sep-2019].

[3] “St. Lawrence Justinian, Patriarch of Venice.” [Online]. Available: http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/St.%20Lawrence%20Justinian.html. [Accessed: 04-Sep-2019].

[4] “St. Laurence Justinian, saint of September 5.” [Online]. Available: https://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j089sdLaurenceJustinian_9-05.htm. [Accessed: 04-Sep-2019].

Saint Dominic

Founder (1170-1221)

Feast – August 4

Founder of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Order, Saint Dominic was born at in Caleruega, halfway between Osma and Aranda de Duero in Old Castile, Spain, c. 1170. His parents were members of the Spanish nobility, probably related to the ruling family. His father Felix Guzman an honored and wealthy man, the royal warden of the village was in every sense the worthy head of a family of saints. His mother, Bl. Joan of Aza, to the nobility of blood added a nobility of soul which so enshrined her in the popular veneration that in 1828 she was solemnly beatified by Pope Leo XII.

According to one legend, his mother made a pilgrimage to the Benedictine abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos which lies a few miles north of Caleruega. During the pilgrimage, Bl. Joan had a dream of a dog leaping from her womb with a torch in its mouth. The animal “seemed to set the earth on fire.” His parents named him Dominic, a play on the words Domini canis, meaning the Lord’s dog in Latin.

The example of such parents was not without its effect upon their children. Not only Saint Dominic but also his brothers, Antonio and Manes, were distinguished for their extraordinary sanctity. Antonio, the eldest, became a secular priest and, having distributed his patrimony to the poor, entered a hospital where he spent his life ministering to the sick. Manes, following in the footsteps of St. Dominic, became a Friar Preacher, and was beatified by Gregory XVI.

St. Dominic from his seventh year was educated under the tutelage of his uncle, the priest of Gumiel d’Izan, not far from Calaroga.

In 1184 he entered the University of Palencia where he remained for ten years pursuing his studies of theology and arts with such ardor and success that he was widely acclaimed as an exemplary student by his professors. Amid the frivolities and dissipations of a university city, the life of the future saint was characterized by seriousness of purpose and an austerity of manner which singled him out as one from whom great things might be expected in the future. According to the deposition of Brother Stephen, Prior Provincial of Lombardy, given in the process of canonization, Dominic was still a student at Palencia when Don Martin de Bazan, the Bishop of Osma, called him to membership in the cathedral chapter for the purpose of assisting in its reform. To enact these reforms, the bishop realized the importance of having the example of Dominic’s eminent holiness constantly before his canons.

In 1191, when Spain was desolated by famine, young Dominic gave away his money, sold his clothes, furniture and even precious manuscripts to feed the hungry. Dominic reportedly told his astonished fellow students, “Would you have me study off these dead skins, when men are dying of hunger?”

On two occasions, St. Dominic attempted to sell himself into slavery to the Moors to obtain the freedom of others.

In 1194, at the age of twenty-five, he joined a Benedictine order, the Canons Regular in Osma. In the year 1199, while he was still a Canon Regular of Saint Augustine and was preaching near the Spanish coasts, he was taken captive, with all his audience and a Brother in religion, by a band of pirates. They placed the prisoners in their galleys at the oars. When a furious storm broke, the young Saint exhorted the disciples of Mohammed to think seriously of their souls, to open their eyes to the truth of Christianity, and above all, to invoke the Mother of God. They did not listen until his third exhortation, at a moment when it was clear the ship and passengers could not be saved. They swore to him then that if the God of Christians preserved them by the intercession of His Holy Mother, they would dedicate themselves to their service. Immediately the storm ceased, and the pirates kept their word.

In 1201 he became the superior of the chapter and was soon offered an episcopal chair at Compostella. He gave the same answer he had already given many times: “God has not sent me to be a bishop, but to preach”. As a canon of Osma, he spent nine years of his life hidden in God and rapt in contemplation, scarcely passing beyond the confines of the chapter house.

In 1203 he accompanied Diego de Acebo, the Bishop of Osma, on a diplomatic mission for Alfonso VIII, King of Castile, to secure a bride in Denmark for crown prince Ferdinand.

In 1205 on a journey through France with his bishop, Dominic came face to face with the then virulent Albigensian heresy, a variant of ancient Manicheanism. The Albigensians–or Cathari, “the pure ones”–held to two principles—one good, one evil—in the world. All matter is evil—hence they denied the Incarnation and the sacraments. On the same principle, they abstained from procreation and took a minimum of food and drink.

If he hadn’t taken a trip with his bishop, St. Dominic would probably have remained within the structure of contemplative life; after the trip, he spent the rest of his life being a contemplative in active apostolic work.

Along with Diego de Acebo, St. Dominic began a program in the south of France, to convert the Cathars. As part of this, Catholic-Cathar public debates were held at Verfeil, Servian, Pamiers, Montréal and elsewhere.

In the beginning a conventional preaching crusade was not succeeding: the ordinary people admired and followed the ascetical heroes of the Albigenses. Understandably, they were not impressed by the Catholic preachers who traveled with horse and retinues, stayed at the best inns and had servants.

Therefore, with three Cistercians, he began itinerant preaching according to the gospel ideal. He continued this work for 10 years, being successful with the ordinary people but not with the leaders. Theological disputations played a prominent part in the propaganda of the heretics. Dominic and his companion, therefore, lost no time in engaging their opponents in this kind of theological exposition. Whenever the opportunity offered, they accepted the gage of battle. The thorough training that the saint had received at Palencia now proved of inestimable value to him in his encounters with the heretics. Unable to refute his arguments or counteract the influence of his preaching, they visited their hatred upon him by means of repeated insults and threats of physical violence.

St. Dominic and his fellow preachers gradually became a community. He saw the need for a new type of organization to address the spiritual needs of the growing cities of the era, one that would combine dedication and systematic education, with more organizational flexibility than either monastic orders or the secular clergy. In 1215, St. Dominic established himself, with six followers, in a house provided by Peter Seila, a rich resident of Toulouse beginning of the Order of Preaching Friars.

His ideal, and that of his Order, was to organically link a life with God, study, and prayer in all forms, with a ministry of salvation to people by the word of God. His ideal: contemplata tradere: “to pass on the fruits of contemplation” or “to speak only of God or with God.” He subjected himself and his companions to the monastic rules of prayer and penance; and meanwhile Bishop Foulques gave them written authority to preach throughout the territory of Toulouse. St.Dominic recognized the need for a physical institution in Southern France to preserve the gains he made against the Albigensian heresy. The nobility needed a place to educate their children and Catholic women needed a safe place away from hostile heretics. St. Dominic established a convent at Prouille in 1206, which would become the first Dominican house. Bishop Diego and St. Dominic established their headquarters there. The monastery remains to this day as the Notre-Dame-de-Prouille Monastery.

St. Dominic founded his Second Order for nuns for the education of Catholic girls, and his Third Order, or Tertiaries, for persons of both sexes living in the world. It was in the little chapel of Notre Dame de La Prouille in 1208, St. Dominic knelt, and implored the great Mother of God to save the Church, that Our Lady appeared to him and gave him the Rosary, bidding him to go forth and preach it. On 15 January of 1208 Pierre de Castelnau, one of the Cistercian legates, was assassinated. During the crusade that followed, famous battles in southern France against the Albigensians, St. Dominic with rosary in hand revived the courage of the Catholic armies and led them to victory against overwhelming numbers. Before the battle of Muret, 12 September 1213, the saint is again found in the council that preceded the battle. During the progress of the conflict, he knelt before the altar in the church of Saint-Jacques, praying for the triumph of the Catholic armies. So remarkable was the victory of the crusaders at Muret that Simon de Montfort regarded it as altogether miraculous, and piously attributed it to the prayers of St. Dominic. In gratitude to God for this decisive victory, the crusader erected a chapel in the church of Saint-Jacques, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. It would appear, therefore, that the devotion of the Rosary, which tradition says was revealed to Saint Dominic, had come into general use about this time.

It is said that 100,000 unbelievers were converted by the preaching and the miracles of the saint. According to Lacordaire and others, it was during his preaching in Lombardy that the saint instituted the Militia of Jesus Christ, or the third order, as it is commonly called, consisting of men and women living in the world, to protect the rights and property of the Church.

He consistently appealed for mercy for the heretics who were often the victims of atrocities. St. Dominic followed the armies and spent his time reconciling survivors to the Church. He became famous as a result of his mercy and his work, several other prominent religious figures of the time petitioned for him to be made bishop. He refused at least three attempts at promotion, saying he would rather run away with nothing than become a bishop. In November 1215, an ecumenical council was to meet at Rome “to deliberate on the improvement of morals, the extinction of heresy, and the strengthening of the faith.” This was identically the mission St. Dominic had determined on for his order. St. Dominic with Bishop Foulques went to Rome.

He appeared before the Pope in the month of August, 1216, and solicited the confirmation of his order and was finally granted written authority in December 1216 and January 1217 by the new pope, Honorius III for an order to be named “The Order of Preachers” (“Ordo Praedicatorum”, or “O.P.,” popularly known as the Dominican Order).

God abundantly blessed the new Order; France, Italy, Spain, and England welcomed the Preaching Friars. In the summer of 1217, St.Dominic decided it was time to send his followers out to grow the order. The band of seventeen men was ordered to depart Prouille and to go out across Europe. The decision was a fateful one which proved successful. New members began to appear in great numbers across the continent. Shortly afterwards, Pope Honorarius III elevated St. Dominic to the rank of “Master of the Sacred Palace.” The position has been occupied by Dominican preachers since 1218. Pope also issued a Bull, a papal decree, asking all clergy across Europe to support the Order of Preachers.

This Order with that of the Friars Minor, founded by his contemporary friend St. Francis of Assisi, was the chief means God employed to renew Christian fervor during the Middle Ages.

Although St. Dominic traveled extensively to maintain contact with his growing brotherhood of friars, he made his headquarters in Rome. In 1219, Pope Honorius III invited St. Dominic and his companions to take up residence at the ancient Roman basilica of Santa Sabina, which they did by early 1220. Before that time the friars had only a temporary residence in Rome at the convent of San Sisto Vecchio, which Honorius III had given to St. Dominic circa 1218, intending it to become a convent for a reformation of nuns at Rome under St. Dominic’s guidance. The official foundation of the Dominican convent at Santa Sabina with its studium conventuale, the first Dominican studium in Rome, occurred with the legal transfer of property from Pope Honorius III to the Order of Preachers on 5 June 1222.

In January, February, and March of 1221 three consecutive Bulls were issued commending the order to all the prelates of the Church. The thirtieth of May, 1221, found St. Dominic at Bologna presiding over the second general chapter of the order. At the close of the chapter he set out for Venice to visit Cardinal Ugolino, to whom he was especially indebted for many substantial acts of kindness. He had scarcely returned to Bologna when a fatal illness attacked him. He died at noon on 6 August 1221after three weeks of sickness; at the age of fifty-one, he gave up his soul to God.

According to Guiraud, St. Dominic abstained from meat, “observed stated fasts and periods of silence”, “selected the worst accommodations and the meanest clothes”, and “never allowed himself the luxury of a bed”. “When travelling, he beguiled the journey with spiritual instruction and prayers.” “Frequently traveled barefoot.” He constantly prayed or issued instruction as he walked and whenever he faced discomfort, he praised God. His only possessions were a small bundle and a staff. In his bundle he kept a copy of the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistles of St. Paul, which he would read over and over again”. His nights were spent in prayer; and, though all beheld him as an Angel of purity, before morning broke he would scourge himself to blood. His words rescued countless souls, and three times raised the dead to life.

In a Bull dated at Spoleto, 13 July 1234, Pope Gregory IX made his cult obligatory throughout the Church.

References and Excerpts

[1] “Saint Dominic, Founder.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_dominic.html. [Accessed: 16-Aug-2019].

[2] “Saint Dominic – Franciscan Media.” [Online]. Available: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-dominic/. [Accessed: 16-Aug-2019].

[3] “Saint Dominic – Wikipedia.” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Dominic. [Accessed: 16-Aug-2019].

[4] “St. Dominic – Saints & Angels – Catholic Online.” [Online]. Available: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=178. [Accessed: 16-Aug-2019].

[5] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Dominic.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05106a.htm. [Accessed: 16-Aug-2019].

Saint Bonaventura

Cardinal-Bishop, Doctor of the Church († 1274)

Feast – July 14

Born at Bagnoregio in Umbria, part of the Papal States in 1221, his parents were Giovanni di Fidanza and Maria di Ritella. It seems that his father was a physician and a man of means. This frail child was given the name of John at his baptism. He soon fell so ill that his cure was despaired of, and his sorrowing mother had recourse to Saint Francis, recognized everywhere in Italy as a Saint. She promised God she would endeavor to have the child take the habit of the Franciscan Order, if he were cured. Her prayer was granted, the child was cured, and Saint Francis himself gave him his new name. In reference to the miraculous cure, he prophetically exclaimed of the infant, O buona ventura!— O good fortune! Saint Francis died about five years later, not without foreseeing the future of this little one, destined to be a seraph of love like himself.

St. Bonaventura played an important role in both the medieval Church and the history of the Franciscan Order which he entered in 1243. Was sent from the Roman Province, to which he belonged, to complete his studies at the University of Paris under Alexander of Hales, the great founder of the Franciscan School and received in 1248 the “licentiate” which gave him the right to teach publicly as a Magister regens. In 1253 he held the Franciscan chair at Paris. Sanctity and learning raised St. Bonaventura to the Church’s highest honors, yet at heart he was ever the poor Franciscan friar, who practiced and taught humility and mortification. He was the friend of St. Thomas Aquinas; they received the Doctor’s cap together in Paris. St. Thomas asked him one day from what source he drew his great learning; he replied by pointing to his crucifix. Another time St. Thomas found him in ecstasy while writing the life of Saint Francis. The Angelic Doctor said, while retiring quietly, “Let us leave a Saint in peace, to write of a Saint!” A senior faculty member at the University of Paris, St. Bonaventura certainly captured the hearts of his students through his academic skills and insights, but more importantly, he captured their hearts through his Franciscan love for Jesus and the Church. Like his model, Saint Francis, Jesus was the center of everything—his teaching, his administration, his writing, and his life. So much so, that he was given the title “Seraphic Doctor.”

St. Bonaventura’s teaching career came to a halt when after having successfully defended his order against the reproaches of the anti-mendicant party, at the age of thirty-six, the Friars elected him to serve as Minister General of the Franciscan Order. On 24 November 1265, he was selected for the post of Archbishop of York, by the din of tears and entreaties to the Holy Father Clement IV he was never consecrated and resigned the appointment in October 1266.

His 17 years of service were not easy as the Order was embroiled in conflicts. As a man of prayer and a good administrator, Saint Bonaventura managed to structure the Order through effective legislation and offered the Friars an organized spirituality based on the vision and insights of Saint Francis. Always a Franciscan at heart and a mystical writer, Bonaventura managed to unite the pastoral, practical aspects of life with the doctrines of the Church. Thus, there is a noticeable warmth to his teachings and writings that make him very appealing. St. Bonaventura left behind a structured and renewed Franciscan Order and a body of work all of which glorifies his major love—Jesus.

Shortly before he ended his service as General Minister, Pope Gregory X created him a Cardinal and appointed him bishop of Albano. St. Bonaventura quietly made his escape from Italy, and in France began to compose a book, but Pope Gregory X sent him a summons to return to Rome. On his way, he stopped to rest at a convent of his Order near Florence; and there two Papal messengers, sent to meet him with the Cardinal’s hat, found him washing the dishes. The Saint asked them to hang the hat on a nearby bush, and take a walk in the garden until he had finished what he had begun. Then taking up the hat with unfeigned sorrow, he joined the messengers, and paid them the respect due to their character. The Pope insisted on his presence at the great Second Council of Lyon in 1274.

St. Bonaventura was a guest and adviser of Saint Louis, and the director of Saint Isabella, the king’s sister. He sat at the right hand of Pope Gregory X and presided at all sessions at the Council of Lyons, assembled to provide for the reform of morals and the needs of the Holy Land, and to cement the union of the Greeks with the Roman Church, the day after its closure he died on the 15th of July, 1274, and was buried by the assembly of the Council members, still in Lyons; he was mourned by the entire Christian world.

His theology was marked by an attempt to completely integrate faith and reason. He thought of Christ as the “one true master” who offers humans knowledge that begins in faith, is developed through rational understanding, and is perfected by mystical union with God.

St. Bonaventura was formally canonized in 1484 by the Franciscan Pope Sixtus IV, and ranked along with St. Thomas Aquinas as the greatest of the Doctors of the Church by another Franciscan, Pope Sixtus V, in 1587. He was regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the Middle Ages.

References and Excerpts

[1] F. Media, “Saint Bonaventure,” Franciscan Media, 15-Jul-2016. .

[2] “Saint Bonaventure, Cardinal-Bishop, Doctor of the Church.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_bonaventure.html. [Accessed: 12-Jul-2019].

[3] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Bonaventure.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02648c.htm. [Accessed: 12-Jul-2019].

[4] “Bonaventure,” Wikipedia. 01-Jul-2019.

Saint John of Sahagun or St. Fagondez

Confessor, Augustinian (1419-1479)

Feast – June 12

Saint John, one of the greatest preachers Spain has ever known, was born at Sahagún (or San Facondo) in the Province of Leon in Spain.
The son of pious and respected parents, John Gonzalez de Castrillo and Sancia Martinez, a wealthy family of the city. He was the fruit of the ardent prayers of his parents after sixteen years of sterility, the oldest of seven children. St. John received his early education from the monks of the Royal Monastery of St. Benedict in his native city, a leading religious and educational center in the region known as the Cluny of Spain, and received the tonsure while still a youth. According to the custom of the times, his father procured for him several benefices in the diocese of Burgos.

He was later introduced to Alfonso de Cartagena, the Bishop of Burgos(1435–1456), who was impressed by the bright, high-spirited boy. Cartagena had him educated at his own residence, gave him several prebends, ordained him a priest in the year 1445, and made him a canon at the Cathedral of Burgos. Unlike many of his class who took their vocation as a profession, St. John felt a true call to service and a holy life, out of conscientious respect for the laws of the Church, he resigned and gave most of the proceeds from his benefices to the poor and retained only the chaplaincy of St. Agatha, in a poor neighborhood of the city, where he said Mass, preached the faith to the poor. He then began to lead a life of strict poverty and mortification, laboring zealously for the salvation of souls.
He obtained from his bishop permission to study theology at the University of Salamanca. For four years he applied himself to the study. During this time he exercised the ministry at the chapel of the College of St. Bartholomew (in the Parish of St Sebastian), and held that position for nine years.

As a young priest he was already regarded as a Saint, so ardent was his devotion at Holy Mass.

Owing to illness, he was obliged to undergo an operation for the removal of kidney stones. Upon his recovery in the year 1463, he applied for admission to the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine.

He had bestowed on a poor man half of his clothing, and the following night St. John experienced so great an increase in the love of God, that he referred to this as his conversion. From that point on, being known simply as Friar John. In the following year, on August 28, 1464, John made his profession of solemn vows as a member of the Order.

By the command of his superiors, St. John gave himself wholeheartedly to the salvation of souls, and with the best results, to preaching the “Word of God.” He was a model religious, and soon was entrusted with important offices in his Order — master of novices, definitor for the province, and in 1471 prior of the convent of the city of Salamanca. He commanded well because he knew how to obey well. When he observed in himself a slight defect in his obedience, he repaired it with extraordinary penances.

Noted for his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament; during Mass, he often saw the Sacred Host resplendent in glory surrounded by light. Sometimes he had visions of the bodily form of Christ and held sweet colloquies with Him at the moment of consecration. His devotion, and his visions, often led to some very lengthy Masses. He was even reported to levitate during prayers. He could read hearts, which made him difficult to deceive, forcing sinners to make good confessions. This in turn made him a sought-after spiritual director.

The power of his personal holiness was seen in his preaching, which produced a complete reformation of morals in Salamanca. He had a special gift for reconciling differences and was able to put an end to the quarrels and feuds among noblemen, at that period very common and fatal.
In his sermons, like St. John the Baptist, he fearlessly preached the word of God and scourged the crimes and vices of the day. The boldness shown by St. John in reproving vice endangered his life.

A duke at Alba de Tormes, having been corrected by the Saint for oppressing his vassals, sent two assassins to slay him; but the remarkable holiness of the Saint’s aspect, a result of the peace constantly reigning in his soul, struck such awe into their minds that they lost courage, could not execute their purpose and humbly begged his forgiveness. The nobleman himself, falling sick, was brought to repentance, and recovered his health by the prayers of the Saint whom he had endeavored to murder.

Some women of Salamanca, embittered by the saint’s strong sermon against extravagance in dress, openly insulted him in the streets and pelted him with stones until stopped by a patrol of guards.

His scathing words on impurity produced salutary effects in a certain nobleman who had been living in open concubinage with a lady of noble birth but evil life. She contrived to administer a fatal poison to the Saint. After several months of terrible suffering, borne with unvarying patience, St. John went to his reward on June 11, 1479. His remains were buried in the Old Cathedral of the city. This painful death and the cause for which he suffered it, have caused several of his historians and panegyrists to say that he won a martyr’s crown.

Soon after St. John’s death, his “cult” spread throughout Spain. The process of beatification began in 1525 under Pope Clement VII, and in 1601 he was declared “Blessed” by Pope Clement VIII. New miracles were wrought through his intercession, and on 16 October 1690 Pope Alexander VIII canonized him. In 1729 Pope Benedict XIII inscribed his liturgical feast day in the Roman Calendar for 12 June, since 11 June, the anniversary of his death was occupied by the feast of Saint Barnabas.

References and Excerpts

[1] “Saint John of Sahagun or St. Fagondez, Confessor, Augustinian.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_john_of_sahagun_or_st_fagondez.html. [Accessed: 01-Jun-2019].

[2] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Saint John of Sahagun.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08478a.htm. [Accessed: 01-Jun-2019].

[3] “Saint Juan de Sahagún,” CatholicSaints.Info, 06-Jun-2013. .

[4] “John of Sahagún,” Wikipedia. 27-Jun-2017.

Saint John the Silent

Bishop, Monk of Saint Sabas (454-558)

Feast – May 13

Saint John the Silent also known as St John the Hesychast, named for his love of solitude was born around 454 in the city of Nicopolis, Armenia into the noble Christian family of mainly generals and governors, son of a military commander named Enkratius and his wife Euphemia.

His parents, good Christians gave their son a holy education. The boy study Holy Scripture and become to love solitude and prayer with all his heart. After their death in 471, St. John distributed part of inheritance among his relatives, with rest he built a church dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos (Mother of God) and a monastery. Here, with ten congenial companions, he began a life of hard work, mortification and self-denial.

Not only to shun the danger of sinning by the tongue, but also out of sincere humility and contempt for himself and love for interior recollection and prayer, Saint John very seldom spoke. When he was obliged to do so, it was always in very few words, and with discretion.

He obtained a reputation for leadership and sanctity. At the request of the citizens of Colonia, the Metropolitan of Sebaste consecrated the twenty-eight-year-old John as Bishop of Colonia (Taxara) in Armenia. He was greatly afflicted but obliged by the Archbishop of Sebaste to quit his retreat in 482.

Having assumed the episcopal throne, St. John always preserved the same spirit and continued his strict ascetic manner of life. Inspired by St. John, his brother Pergamios and nephew Theodore came to live in a Christian manner. In his tenth year as bishop, the governorship of Armenia was assumed by Pazinikos, the husband of the saint’s sister, Maria. The new governor began to interfere in spiritual and ecclesiastical matters, and there was unrest in the Church.

In 490, St. John went to Constantinople to secure the emperor’s Zeno intervention to quell a local persecution. As soon as matters had been properly arranged, uncertain of his future vocation, overwhelmed by worldly quarrels and desiring a secluded life, St. John secretly left his diocese and sailed to Jerusalem. St. John was praying one night, with tears he besought God to show him a place where he might live and find salvation, he saw a bright cross form in the air, and heard a voice say to him, “If thou desirest to be saved, follow this light.” He saw it move and point out to the Laura (monastery) of St. Sabas, not far away, which at that time contained one hundred and fifty fervent monks. St. John was then thirty-eight years old. St. John, concealing his episcopal rank, was accepted in the community as a simple novice. Under the guidance of St. Sabas, he toiled obediently for more than four years at every task he was assigned. When a guesthouse was built at the Laura, St. John served the workers, serving food and assisting in the construction of the building. When a cenobitic monastery for novices was being built, he was once again assigned to help the workers.

St. Sabas subjected his novice to tests of hard labor and service. Judging St. John to be a serious candidate for holiness, around 494 he finally allowed him to embrace the solitary life of uninterrupted contemplation, the life of a hermit. For five days a week he contemplated God, fasted, mortified his flesh, and never left his cell except on Saturdays and Sundays when he join the other hermits for public mass.

After living there unknown for several years, St. Sabas, judging his monk worthy to be promoted to the priesthood, presented him to the Patriarch Elias of Jerusalem.

They traveled to Calvary for the ordination but upon their arrival St. John requested a private audience with the patriarch. After having obtained a promise of secrecy, he said, “Holy Father, I have something to impart to you in private; after which, if you judge me worthy, I will receive holy orders.” They spoke in private after a promise of secrecy. “Father, I have been ordained bishop; but on account of the multitude of my sins have fled, and am come into this desert to wait the visit of the Lord.”

The patriarch was startled but promised not to reveal the matter and told St. Sabas that St. John could not be ordained. St. Sabas was afraid that he had committed a crime. However, through the ministry of an Angel, God revealed to St. Sabas while he was at prayer, that his monk was a bishop.
St. John, finding himself discovered, wished to leave the monastery but St. Sabas prevailed on him to remain, by a promise to never divulge the secret.
In 503 AD., certain turbulent disciples forced St. Sabas to leave his Laura. St. John, desiring ever greater solitude and increased abstinence, went into a neighboring wilderness where he spent six years in silence, conversing only with God and eating only the wild roots and herbs which the desert provided.

At that time John’s disciple, Rouba, lived with him. Rouba, expecting fine food, wanted to celebrate Easter at the monastery. St. John said, “Let us stay calm, brother, and have faith that he who nourished 600,000 in the desert for forty years will himself provide us with not only necessary nourishment but a surplus as well.” Unconvinced, the brother departed to the monastery. After his departure a man totally unknown came to St. John with hot white loaves, wine, oil, fresh cheeses and eggs, and a jar of honey. He unloaded and went away. St. John rejoiced in spirit at this divine visitation, while Rouba after losing his way returned on the third day hungry and exhausted. When he found such good things in the cave, he recognized his own lack of faith and stubbornness and prostrated himself shamefacedly before St. John begging to receive forgiveness. The elder, raised him up and admonished him, saying: “Recognize precisely that God is able to prepare a table in the desert.”

He survived a devastating incursion of the Saracens and did not perish, only because the Lord sent him a defender: a ferocious lion. When the enemy tried to harm the saint, the lion attacked them and they scattered in fright.
When St. Sabas was brought back to his community in 510 AD, he found St. John in the desert and convinced him to return to the monastery. St. John had become used to speaking only with God and found only bitterness and emptiness in anything else. He treasured obscurity and humility, so he wanted to live unknown to men but, he was unable to do so. When St. John reached age seventy, his holy spiritual Father St. Sabas died. St. Sabas appeared to him in a vision, and having consoled him, he foretold that there would be much toil ahead in the struggle against heresy. St. John even had to leave his solitude to strengthen the brethren in the struggle with the Origenists.

Cyril of Scythopolis who wrote about St. John’s life, first met St. John when he was ninety and Cyril was sixteen. Cyril had asked him what to do with his life. St. John recommended he join the Laura of St. Euthymius but Cyril did not listen. Instead, he went to a small monastery on the Jordan’s banks. He fell ill there and deeply regretted not listening to St. John. While there, St. John appeared to him in a dream and after scolding him for not obeying said that if he returned to St. Euthymius’ monastery, he would get well and find his salvation. The next day he did so and was well again.

Through his constant ascetic efforts, by his untiring prayer and humble wisdom, St. John acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit. At his prayers, many miracles took place, and he was able to discern the secret thoughts of people. He healed the sick and those possessed by demons. Even during his lifetime he saved those who invoked his name from certain destruction. Once, he scattered fig seeds on barren rock, and a beautiful and fruitful tree sprang up. In time, the tree grew so much that it overshadowed the saint’s cell.

By his example and counsels, he guided many fervent souls to God and continued to emulate, as much as this mortal state would allow, the glorious employment of the heavenly spirits in their uninterrupted exercise of love and praise. St. John died in 558 AD at the age of one hundred and four.

References and Excerpts

[1] C. Online, “St. John the Silent – Saints & Angels,” Catholic Online. [Online]. Available: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4055. [Accessed: 14-May-2019].

[2] “Saint John the Silent, Bishop, Monk of Saint Sabas.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_john_the_silent.html. [Accessed: 14-May-2019].

[3] “St. John the Silent of St. Sabbas Monastery.” [Online]. Available: https://oca.org/saints/lives/2019/12/03/103468-st-john-the-silent-of-st-sabbas-monastery. [Accessed: 14-May-2019].

[4] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: John the Silent.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08495a.htm. [Accessed: 14-May-2019].

[5] “Saint John the Silent.” [Online]. Available: https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/saints/saints-stories-for-all-ages/saint-john-the-silent. [Accessed: 14-May-2019].

[6] “Saint John the Silent,” CatholicSaints.Info, 01-Aug-2012.

[7] “John the Silent,” Wikipedia. 26-Apr-2019.

Saint Isidore of Seville

Archbishop and Doctor of the Church(c. 560 – April 4, 636)

Feast – April 4

The Roman Empire was quickly disappearing. In the sixth century, Spain was beginning to emerge from the blended racial elements that made up its population. Spain was split in two: the Catholic Romans struggled with the Arian Goths. For two centuries the Goths reigned over Spain, and their barbarous manners and contempt of learning threatened to greatly set back her development.

In c.560 St. Isidore was born in Cartagena, Spain, a former Carthaginian colony, to Severianus and Theodora. Both Severianus and Theodora belonged to notable Hispano-Roman families of high social rank. His parents were members of an influential family who were instrumental in the political-religious maneuvering that converted the Visigothic kings from Arianism to Catholicism. His two brothers, Leander, Archbishop of Seville, Fulgentius, Bishop of Ecija (Astigi), and his sister Florentina, a nun who lead over forty convents and one thousand religious, are recognized by the Church as Saints.

St. Isidore received his elementary education in the Cathedral school of Seville. In this institution, the first of its kind in Iberia, a body of learned men including Archbishop Saint Leander of Seville taught the trivium and quadrivium, the classic liberal arts. Despairing over his poor success in study St. Isidore ran away from school. Resting in his flight at a roadside spring, he observed a stone, which had been hollowed out by the slow but constant dripping of water. This lesson caused him to return. He went back to his master and with the help of God applied himself to study diligently. He quickly mastered Latin, acquired some Greek and Hebrew, rapidly becoming one of the most learned men of the time. At a time of rising barbarism, aristocratic violence and illiteracy, St. Isidore was involved in the conversion of the Arian Visigothic kings to Catholicism, both assisting his brother St. Leander of Seville, and continuing after his brother’s death. He was influential in the inner circle of Sisebut, king of Spain. Like St. Leander, he played a prominent role in the Councils of Toledo and Seville. The legislation that resulted from these councils influenced the beginnings of representative government.

Whether St. Isidore ever embraced monastic life or not is still an open question, but though he himself may never have been affiliated with any of the religious orders, he esteemed them highly. On the death of his brother St. Leander, on 13 March 600 or 601, he was called to fill the vacant see of Seville. On his elevation to the episcopate he immediately constituted himself protector of the monks. In 619 he pronounced anathema against any ecclesiastic who should in any way molest the monasteries. Beginning on November 13th, 619, he presided over the Second Council of Seville, during the reign of King Sisebut, a provincial council attended by eight other bishops, all from the ecclesiastical province of Baetica in southern Spain. The Acts of the Council fully set forth the nature of Christ, countering the conceptions of Gregory, a Syrian representing the heretical Acephali.

As a teacher, ruler, founder, and reformer, he labored not only in his own diocese, but throughout Spain, and his influence attained foreign countries. His long incumbency, more than 32 years to this office was spent in a period of disintegration and transition. The ancient institutions and classic learning lead to him realizing that the spiritual, as well as the material, well-being of the nation depended on the full assimilation of foreign elements. Thus St. Isidore set himself to the task of merging the various peoples who made up the Hispano-Gothic kingdom into a homogeneous nation. To this end he availed himself of all his resources of religion and education. St. Isidore is known to have presided over an additional provincial council around 624, but it was the Fourth National Council of Toledo that afforded him the greatest opportunity of service to his county. At this council, which began on the 5th of December 633, all the bishops of Spain were in attendance. St. Isidore, though far advanced in years, presided over its deliberations, and was the originator of most of its enactments. It was at this council and through his influence that a decree was promulgated commanding all bishops to establish seminaries in their Cathedral Cities, along the lines of the school already existing at Seville. Within his own jurisdiction he had availed himself of the resources of education to counteract the growing influence of Gothic barbarism. His was the quickening spirit that animated the educational movement at which Seville was the center. The study of Greek and Hebrew as well as the liberal arts was prescribed. Interest in law and medicine was also encouraged. Through the authority of the fourth council this policy of education was made obligatory upon all the bishops of the kingdom. Long before the Arabs had awakened to an appreciation of Greek Philosophy, he had introduced Aristotle to his countrymen.

His efforts were rewarded with complete success. Arianism, which had taken deep root among the Visigoths, was eradicated, and the heresy of Acephales was completely stifled at the very outset; religious discipline was strengthened everywhere. St. Isidore reunited Spain, making it a center of culture and learning. The country served as a teacher and guide for other European countries whose culture was also threatened by barbarian invaders.

An amazingly learned man, St. Isidore wrote numerous books, including a dictionary, a history of Goths, and a history of the world—beginning with creation! He completed the Mozarabic liturgy, which is still in use in Toledo, Spain. He was sometimes called “The Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages” because the encyclopedia (the first such Christian tome—formed from a huge compilation of 448 chapters in 20 volumes) he wrote was used as a textbook for nine centuries.

Following a call from God, he turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of his friends, and embraced a hermit’s life. Prince Recared and many of the nobles and clergy of Seville went to persuade him to come back, representing the needs of the times and the good he could do, and had already done, among the people. He refused, and, continued his austerities even as he approached age 80. During the last six months of his life, he increased his charities so much that his house was crowded from morning till night with the poor of the countryside.

He died in Seville on April 4, 639. The Eighth Council of Toledo (653) recorded its admiration of his character in these glowing terms: “The extraordinary doctor, the latest ornament of the Catholic Church, the most learned man of the latter ages, always to be named with reverence, Isidore.”

References and Excerpts:
[1] F. Media, “Saint Isidore of Seville,” Franciscan Media, 04-Apr-2016.

[2] “Saint Isidore, Archbishop and Doctor of the Church.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_isidore.html. [Accessed: 05-Apr-2019].

[3] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Isidore of Seville.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08186a.htm. [Accessed: 05-Apr-2019].

[4] “Isidore of Seville,” Wikipedia. 04-Apr-2019.

Saint John Damascene

Doctor of the Church (676- 749/780)
Feast – March 27
Saint John, the most remarkable of the writers of the 8th century, was born in Damascus in the third quarter of the 7th century AD to a prominent Damascene Christian family known as “Mansoūr.” The family was named after John’s grandfather, Mansour ibn Sarjun, who had been responsible for the taxes of the region during the reign of Emperor Heraclius.

According to Eutychius, a 10th-century Melkite patriarch, the Mansour played a role in securing favorable conditions of surrender in the capitulation of Damascus to the Muslim troops of Khalid ibn al-Walid in 635. They commanded the respect of the conqueror and were employed in judicial offices of trust and dignity, to administer, no doubt, the Christian law to the Christian subjects of the Sultan.

St. John’s father was Christian amid the Saracens of Damascus, whose caliph made him his minister. Besides this honorable rank, he had amassed great wealth; all this he devoted to the redemption of Christian slaves on whom he bestowed their freedom. St. John was the reward of these pious actions, baptized immediately on his birth, probably by Peter II, bishop of Damascus, afterwards a sufferer for the Faith.

The father was anxious to keep his son aloof from the savage habits of war and piracy, to which the youths of Damascus were addicted, and to devote him to the pursuit of knowledge. The Saracen pirates of the seashore neighboring to Damascus, swept the Mediterranean, and brought in Christian captives from all quarters.

An enlightened man was found in the public square one day, amid a group of sad Christian captives condemned to slavery. He was a monk of Italian origin named Cosmas and had the misfortune to fall into the hands of freebooters. He was set apart for death. When his executioner, a Christian slave, fell at his feet and entreated his intercession with the Redeemer, the Saracens enquired of Cosmas who he was. He replied that he had not the dignity of a priest: he was a simple monk and burst into tears. The father of John was standing by and expressed his surprise at this exhibition of timidity. Cosmas answered, “It is not for the loss of my life, but of my learning, that I weep.”

St. John’s father ransomed him and assigned him to tutor his young son. The pupil made extraordinary progress in grammar, dialectic, mathematics, music, poetry, astronomy, but above all in theology, the discipline imparting knowledge of God. In time he exhausted all the acquirements of his teacher, became famous for his encyclopedic knowledge and theological method, later a source of inspiration to Saint Thomas Aquinas. The monk obtained his dismissal, retired to the monastery of St. Sabas, where he would have closed his days in peace, had he not been compelled to take on himself the bishopric of Majuma, the port of Gaza.

When St. Johns father died, the caliph made of him his principal counselor, his Grand Vizier. Thus, it was through him that the advanced sciences made their apparition among the Arab Muslims. It was not the Muslims, who had burnt the library of Alexandria in Egypt, who instructed the Christians, but instead it was Christians teaching the Muslims.

As the Iconoclastic controversy became more violent, St. John of Damascus entered the field against the Emperor of Constantinople, Leo the Isaurian. He distinguished himself, with Saint Germain, Patriarch of Constantinople and wrote the first of his three treatises on the Veneration due to Images. This was probably composed immediately after the Emperors decree against images, in 730.

The Emperor, irritated, himself conjured up a plot against St. John. A letter was forged, signed with Saint’s name, and addressed to himself, the Emperor of Constantinople, offering to deliver up the city of Damascus to him. That letter was then transmitted by the Emperor to the Caliph of Damascus, advising him as a good neighbor should do, that he had a traitor for minister. Although St. John vigorously defended himself against the charge, he was condemned by the Caliph to have his right hand cut off. The severed hand, by order of the Caliph, was attached to a post in a public square. But St. John obtained the hand afterwards and invoked the Blessed Virgin in a prayer which has been preserved; he prayed to be able to continue to write the praises of Her Son and Herself. The next morning when he awoke, he found his hand joined again to the arm, leaving no trace of pain, but only a fine red line like a bracelet, marking the site of the miracle. In gratitude for this miraculous healing, he attached a silver hand to the icon, which thereafter became known as the “Three-handed”, or Tricheirousa.

The Saint was reinstated afterwards to the favor of the local prince, but he believed that heaven had made it clear he was destined to serve the Church by his writings. He therefore distributed his property and retired soon thereafter to the monastery of Saint Sabas near Jerusalem, where he was ordained as a priest in 735. As ordained priest he wrote the second and third treatises on the Veneration due to Images. The third treatise is a recapitulation of the arguments used in the other two. These three treatises were disseminated with the utmost activity throughout Christianity. St. John spent most of his remaining years in apologetic writings and prayer. He is known also for his religious poetry, which became the heritage of the Eastern Church, and to theological arguments in defense of the doctrines of the Church, and refutation of all heresies. His three great hymns or “canons,” are those on Easter, the Ascension, and Saint Thomas’s Sunday. It is likely that many of the “Idiomela an Stichera” which are scattered about his office – books under the title of “John” and “John the Hermit” are his. Occasionally he left to console the Christians of Syria and Palestine and strengthen them, even going to Constantinople in the hope of obtaining martyrdom there. However, he was able to return to his monastery. There he died in peace in the year 749, but some sources claim that he reached the age of 104 and was buried near the door of the monastery church, in the year 780.

Decades after his death, St. John’s writings would play an important role during the Second Council of Nicaea (787), which convened to settle the icon dispute.

In 1890 he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII, often referred to as the Doctor of the Assumption due to his writings on the Assumption of Mary.

References and Excerpts
[1] C. Online, “St. John of Damascus – Saints & Angels,” Catholic Online. [Online]. Available: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=66. [Accessed: 08-Mar-2019].
[2] “Saint John Damascene, Doctor of the Church.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_john_damascene.html. [Accessed: 08-Mar-2019].
[3] “John of Damascus,” Wikipedia. 11-Feb-2019.

Saint Dorothy

Virgin and Martyr(† 311)
Feast-February 6
St. Dorothy was a pious Christian girl, distinguished by her great beauty, humility, prudence, and God-given wisdom which astonished many. She lived in the city of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, Asia Minor. Her parents are believed to have been martyred before her in the Diocletian persecution.

Theophilus, a rich and handsome young man, fell in love with St. Dorothy and wished to marry her, but she refused because he was a pagan. If he would first learn about Jesus Christ and become a Christian, then she would marry him, if it is God’s Holy will. This angered Theophilus so much, that he reported to Sapricius the Governor of Caesarea that she will not marry him or sacrifice to the idols, because she is a Christian!”

Governor Sapricius called her to appear before him. Before long, The Governor’s guards were at Dorothy’s house. They seized her and almost dragged her, so rude were they, and they threw her into a dirty old dungeon. The next day he sent her to the eternal home where they were waiting for her.

She explained that the God she adored was majestic — above all emperors, who were mortal, and their gods, none of whom created either heaven or earth. She was stretched upon the rack, and offered honors if she would consent to sacrifice, or death if she refused; And they waited. She asked why they delayed torturing her; they were expecting she might cede out of fright. She said to them, “Do what you have to do, that I may see the One for whose love I fear neither death nor torments, Jesus Christ.” She was asked, “Where is this Christ?” and she replied: “As Almighty He is everywhere, but for weak human reason we say that the Son of God has ascended into heaven, to be seated at the right hand of the Almighty Father. It is He who invites us to the garden of His delights, where at all times the trees are covered with fruits, the lilies are perpetually white, the roses ever in their freshness. If you believe me, you too will search for the true liberty, and will labor to earn entry into the garden of God’s delights.” She was then placed in the custody of two women Calista and Christeta who had fallen away from the faith, in the hope that they might pervert her. Calista and Christeta resisted and argued at first, but Dorothy was kind and patient and she asked the Guardian Angels of the two women to help them come back to the Faith. Before long, the two women were weeping and begging God to forgive them for leaving the Faith. They realized what a terrible mistake they had made and asked St. Dorothy,” pray for us that our cowardly sin may be forgiven by God and that He will accept our penance.” Then the two sisters left the dungeon and cried, “We are Christians! We belong to Jesus Christ the true God, and we will follow Him to our death!” The Governor was furious at Calista and Christeta, he commanded guards to burn two women alive and to bring St. Dorothy to watch them burn, hoping that she may change her mind. St. Dorothy was again subjected to tortures. When she was set once more on the rack, Sapricius himself was amazed at the heavenly expression on her face and asked her the cause of her joy. “Because,” she said, “I have brought back two souls to Christ, and because I shall soon be in heaven rejoicing with the Angels.” Her joy grew as she was buffeted in the face and her sides were burned with plates of red-hot iron. “Blessed art Thou,” she cried, when she was sentenced to be beheaded, “Blessed art Thou, O Lover of souls, who calls me to paradise, and invite me to Thy nuptial chamber!”

As they led the saint to execution in mid-winter, Theophilus, one of the governor’s counselors, laughed and said to her, “Bride of Christ, send me an apple and some roses from the Paradise of your Bridegroom.” The martyr nodded and said, “I shall do that.”

At the place of execution, the saint requested a little time to pray. When she finished the prayer, an angel appeared before her in the form of a handsome child presenting her three apples and three roses on a pure linen cloth. She told him to take them to Theophilus, and to tell him it was the present he sought from the garden of her Spouse, after which she was beheaded by the sword.

Saint Dorothy had gone to heaven, and Theophilus was still making merry over his challenge to her, when the child entered his room. Having received the gracious gift, Theophilus was shaken, and he confessed Christ as the true God. His friends were astonished, and wondered whether he was joking, or perhaps mad. He assured them he was not. They then asked the reason for this sudden change. He asked what month it was. “February,” they replied. “In the winter, Cappadocia is covered with ice and frost, and the trees are bare of leaves. What do you think? From where these apples and flowers come?” After being subjected to cruel tortures, St. Theophilus was beheaded with a sword.

The relics of St. Dorothy are in Rome in the church dedicated to her, and her head is also at Rome, in a church of the Mother of God at Trastevero.
She is regarded as the patroness of gardeners, brewers, brides, florists, midwives and newlyweds.

References and Excerpts
[1] “Saint Dorothy, Virgin and Martyr.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_dorothy.html. [Accessed: 01-Feb-2019].
[2] “Dorothea of Caesarea – Wikipedia.” [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_of_Caesarea. [Accessed: 01-Feb-2019].
[3] “The Story of St. Dorothy.” [Online]. Available: http://fsspx.com/EucharisticCrusade/2006_November/St_Dorothy.htm. [Accessed: 01-Feb-2019].
[4] “St. Dorothy in Caesarea | Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese.” [Online]. Available: http://ww1.antiochian.org/node/17490. [Accessed: 01-Feb-2019].

Saint Fulgentius

Doctor of the Church, Bishop (462-533)
Fest January 1
Fabius Claudius Gordianus Fulgentius was born in the year 462 of illustrious and Catholic parents, at Telepte (modern-day Medinet-el-Kedima), Tunisia, in North Africa. His grandfather, Gordianus, a senator of Carthage, was despoiled of his possessions by the invader Genseric and banished to Italy; his two sons returned after his death, and though their house in Carthage had been made over to Arian priests, they recovered some property in Byzacene.

St.Fulgentius’s father, Claudius, died when he was still quite young. His mother, Mariana taught him to speak Greek and Latin. An excellent student of languages and of various other practical disciplines he became particularly fluent with Greek, speaking it like a native. His biographer says that at an early age he committed the entire works of Homer to memory.
As he grew older, he governed his house wisely in subjection to his mother. For the conduct of his family’s affairs he quickly gained wide public respect. This reputation helped him to acquire at an early age a post as a procurator of Byzacena, which gave him the duty of collecting taxes for the government of the Vandals in northern Africa.

His religious studies helped him to see the vanity of the world. He quickly grew tired of the material life and elevation in the world’s esteem was distasteful to him.

At the age of twenty-two, having read St. Augustine’s treatise on the Psalms, he resolved to embrace monastic life, and began to prepare for it by mental prayer, fasting, and other penances practiced in secret. Around the year 499 he set out to join the hermits of the Thebaid in Egypt but changed his mind once he learned of the influence of monophysitism on Egyptian monasticism from Eulalius, bishop of Syracuse. He applied to Faustus, a bishop who had been forced from his diocese by the Vandal king Huneric and later set up a monastery at Byzacena. The fervent appeal of the young man won his admission from Faustus, to whom he was already well known. When he was accepted into a monastery his mother hoped to change his mind, she clamored with tears at the door of the monastery to see her son, but he remained firm and did not accept to see her.
He renounced all his worldly goods on behalf of his mother and younger brother.

After six years of peace, his monastery was attacked by Arian heretics. Faustus, St. Fulgentius and the other monks were driven out, destitute, into the desert. He entered another monastery on his Superior’s advice. The abbot there, Felix, gave St. Fulgentius the duty of managing the temporal affairs of the monastery, while he managed the spiritual affairs.
The two of them worked well together, and so in 499, during another wave of persecution they were attacked by barbarians and both fled for Sicca Veneria. A local Arian priest had them arrested and tortured after learning the pair were preaching the catholic Chalcedonian teaching regarding the two natures of Jesus. He sought no vengeance when authorities offered him support if he would enter a complaint.

St. Fulgentius and his Superior, who was with him, decided to build another monastery; a new retreat was started at Idida in Mauretania.
He soon left Felix, having conceived an ardent desire to visit the monasteries of Egypt. He hoped to be no longer superior, and to be able to keep yet stricter abstinence, took ship at Carthage for Alexandria with a companion named Redemptus. On his arrival at Syracuse, the holy bishop of that city, Eulalius, told him: “The lands to which you wish to travel are separated from the communion of Peter by a heretical quarrel.”
St. Fulgentius therefore stopped a few months with Eulalius, and then sought further advice from an exiled bishop of his own province, who was living as a monk on a tiny island off the coast of Sicily. He was recommended to return to his own monastery, but “not to forget the Apostles.” In consequence, he made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he prayed at the tombs of the apostles. His visit coincided with a formal address to the people by king Theodoric, which confirmed St. Fulgentius in his low esteem for the earthly vanities of this world. In the year 500 he returned to Africa, where a nobleman of Byzacene gave him fertile land on which he established a new monastery to live in an isolated cell. Here he worked, read, and contemplated. He was an accomplished scribe and could make fans of palm leaves.

St. Fulgentius’s reputation quickly spread, and he was several times offered the post of bishop of one of the dioceses which had been vacated through the actions of the Arian king Thrasamund. King Thrasamund (496-523), though not so cruel a persecutor as his predecessors, allowed no Catholic bishops to be elected in Africa. It was decided in 508 by such bishops as could manage to meet together that it was necessary to brave this law, and it was decreed that elections should take place quietly and simultaneously in all the vacant sees, before the government had time to take preventive measures. St. Fulgentius was nominated in several cities; but he had fled into hiding and could not be found. When he thought all the appointments had been made, he reappeared, but the seaport of Ruspe in Tunisia, where the election had been delayed through the ambition of a deacon of the place, promptly elected him; and against his will in 508 he was consecrated bishop of a town he had never seen. His obvious virtues made a strong impression on the people of his new diocese, but he was summoned to face new dangers, and was shortly afterwards banished by the Arian king, with some sixty other Catholic prelates, to Sardinia. Pope Symmachus knew of their plight and sent them annual provisions of food and money.

Though the youngest of the exiles, he turned a house in Cagliari into a monastery and became the spokesman of his brethren and the support of their orphaned flocks. By his books and letters, which are still extant, he confounded both Pelagian and Arian heresiarchs, and strengthened the Catholics in Africa and Gaul.

In 515, he returned to Africa, having been summoned there by king Thrasamund for a public debate with his Arian replacement. Thrasamund issued a series of ten questions as a challenge to the Catholic bishops. The reputation of St. Fulgentius was now so great that the king choose him to speak in the name of the rest. He submitted to the king a small but able work which we still possess under the title of “Contra Arianos liber unus, ad decem objectiones decem responsiones continens” (Ten answers to ten objections of the Arians).

The king, impressed by St. Fulgentius’ knowledge and learning, fearing social discord if these persuasive arguments fell into the hands of his Arian subjects, proposed further objections. He took the unfair and tyrannical course of having the new questions, which were expressed at great length, read aloud once to St. Fulgentius, who was not allowed to have a copy of them, but was expected to give direct answers. When the bishop pointed out that he could not even recollect the questions after hearing them but once, the king declared that he showed a want of confidence in his own case. St. Fulgentius was therefore obliged to write a larger work. Thrasamund’s respect for St. Fulgentius grew, leading him to allow St. Fulgentius to stay in Carthage, but after renewed complaints from the local Arian clergy he banished him back to Sardinia in 520. He was put on board a ship at night so the people of Carthage might not know of his departure. However, contrary winds obliged the vessel to remain several days in port, and nearly all the city was able to take leave of the holy bishop, and to receive Holy Communion from his hand. To a religious man who was weeping he privately prophesied his speedy return and the liberty of the African Church.
On the death in 523 of the Arian king Thrasamund and the accession of his catholic son Hilderic the bishops returned to their flocks. St. Fulgentius was welcomed amid the greatest joy, after eighteen years of exile. He labored with his fellow bishops in the synods as their chosen leader, and re-established discipline. The power and effectiveness of his preaching was so profound that his archbishop, Boniface of Carthage, wept openly every time he heard St. Fulgentius preach, and publicly thanked God for giving such a preacher to his church.

When he felt his end was near, a year before his death he was moved to great compunction of heart; he suddenly quitted all his work, and even his monastery, and sailed with a few companions to the island of Circe, where he gave himself to reading, prayer, and fasting in a monastery which he had previously caused to be constructed on a small rock. There he mortified his members and wept in the presence of God alone, as though he anticipated a speedy death. But complaints were made of his absence, and he returned to his labors. He shortly fell into a grievous sickness. In his sufferings he said ceaselessly: “O Lord, give me patience here, and forgiveness hereafter.” He refused, as too luxurious, the warm bath which the physicians recommended. He summoned his clergy and in the presence of the monks asked pardon for any want of sympathy or any undue severity he might have shown. He was sick for seventy days, continuing in prayer and retaining all his faculties to the last. His possessions he gave to the poor, and to those of his clergy who were in need. He died on 1 January, 533.
References and Excerpts

[1] “St. Fulgentius,” Midwest Augustinians. [Online]. Available: https://www.midwestaugustinians.org/st-fulgentius/. [Accessed: 27-Dec-2018].
[2] “Saint Fulgentius, Doctor of the Church, Bishop.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_fulgentius.html. [Accessed: 27-Dec-2018].
[3] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Saint Fulgentius.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06316a.htm. [Accessed: 27-Dec-2018].
[4] “St. Fulgentius of Ruspe,” Catholic.net. [Online]. Available: http://catholic.net/op/articles/1225/st-fulgentius-of-ruspe.html. [Accessed: 27-Dec-2018].