We should all realize that no matter where or how a man dies, if he is in the state of mortal sin and does not repent, when he could have done so and did not, the Devil tears his soul from his body with such anguish and distress that only a person who has experienced it can appreciate it.      
St. Francis of Assisi

PRAYER TO THE INFANT JESUS

Come to me, O Divine Savior, vouchsafe to be born in my heart.

Grant that, taught by Thine example, and assisted by Thy grace, I may

be poor in spirit and humble of heart. Keep me chaste and obedient.

I wish to live but for Thee. O Mary, my Advocate and Mother, obtain

by thy prayers forgiveness of my past offenses and holy perseverance

unto death. St. Joseph, do thou also pray for me, that I may become

daily more pleasing to Jesus. Amen.

THE STORY OF THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL
In 1830, one of the apparitions sanctioned by Holy Mother Church occurred in the chapel of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the Rue de Bac, Paris. There were three visions given to Saint Catherine Laboure who, at the time of the first one, was a novice in the order. 

She was awakened at 11:30 PM on the eve of the Feast of St. Vincent de Paul, by a "shining child" who led her to the chapel where she saw Our Lady, who spoke to her for two hours about the difficult task that lay ahead. Four months later, on November 27 Catherine had the second vision wherein she saw a three-dimensional scene of the Blessed Virgin standing on a white globe with dazzling rays of light streaming from her fingers and she heard a voice say:

"These are the symbols of grace I shed upon those who ask for them." A frame formed around the Mother of God and within it was written in gold letters, O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

The voice then told her to have a medal struck after this model. Then the vision turned and on the reverse side was a large M with a bar through it and a cross over it. Beneath this M were the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, one crowned with thorns and the other pierced by a sword.

THE MEDAL: GOLD

This second vision occurred periodically until 1831. Because she wanted to remain unknown, Catherine told them only to her confessor. Msgr. Aladel, who received permission from the Archbishop of Paris to have the medal struck. The first 1500 were issued in June of 1832, and almost at once there were reported healings, conversions and miraculous events. The Saint could not be convinced to appear at any of the canonical hearings, but eventually the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary was sanctioned on the overwhelming evidence of the miracles obtained by those wearing the medal. Saint Catherine Laboure only revealed herself as the visionary eight months before her death, in 1876. Like St. Therese of Lisieux, this came as a surprise to the other nuns as they considered her quite ordinary. She was canonized in 1947 by Ven. Pope Pius XII. Her Feast is November 27 as is the Feast of the Miraculous Medal, although in some places it is celebrated on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception because of its relation to it.

We have related that this medal is the impetus to conversion for those who wear it or have it in their possession. Here is just one:

THE CONVERSION OF AN UNBAPTIZED PATIENT IN ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

A patient brought to the hospital in a hopeless condition, openly manifested his hatred of Catholicity. Yet, as he was in imminent danger of death, the Sister, profiting by a moment in which he seemed a little better disposed than usual, ventured to ask him if he would be Baptized. He answered roughly, No, that he scarcely believed in Baptism, and not at all in Catholic Baptism, that in case of his recovery, perhaps he would receive Baptism by immersion, and become a member of some church, but that would never be the Catholic Church. At any rate, added he, I am not going to torment myself now about such things. 

The poor Sister having no other recourse than the Blessed Virgin, and seeing that the young man approached his end, stealthily slipped a medal under his pillow. Next morning it was picked up by the infirmarian, who, thinking the Sister had dropped it accidentally, was about to return it, but the patient opposed him. The little image pleased his fancy, and he wanted to keep it himself. To quiet him, the infirmarian was obliged to ask Sister if the patient might have it. The request was granted. 

Towards evening someone came to the Sister with a message from the patient. He wished to see her. Sister, said he, as soon as she approached, you have told me I could not be saved without Baptism. 

Filled with joy at this news she began to instruct and prepare him for the ceremony. It took place next morning, and during the course of the day this soul, now the child of God, went to repose in the bosom of its celestial Father to bless and thank Him for all eternity for His mercies.

Taken from the book "Purgatory Explained" by Fr. Schouppe, S.J. - Part II,
Chapter XXXIII (TAN Books).

Father Ravignan, an illustrious and holy preacher of the Society of Jesus,
also cherished great hope for the welfare of sinners carried away by a
sudden death, when otherwise they had borne no hatred in the heart for the
things of God. He lived to speak of the supreme moment, and it seems to
have been his opinion that many sinners are converted in their last
moments, and are reconciled to God without being able to give any exterior
sign thereof. In certain deaths there are mysteries of Mercy where the eye
of man sees nothing but strokes of Justice. As a last glimmer of light, God
sometimes reveals Himself to those souls whose greatest misfortune has been
to ignore Him ; and the last sigh, understood by Him who penetrates hearts,
may be a groan that calls for pardon ; that is to say, an act of perfect
contrition. General Exelmans, a relative of this good father, was suddenly
carried to the tomb by an accident, and unfortunately he had not been
faithful in the practice of his religion. He had promised that he would one
day make his confession, but had not had the opportunity to do so. Father
Ravignan, who, for a long time had prayed and procured prayers for him, was
filled with consternation when he heard of such a death. The same day, a
person accustomed to receive supernatural communications thought he heard
an interior voice, which said to him, "Who then knows the extent of God's
mercy? Who knows the depth of the ocean, or how much water is contained
therein? Much will be forgiven to those who have sinned through ignorance."

”When we have to reply to anyone who has insulted us, we should be careful to do it always with meekness. A soft answer extinguishes the fire of wrath. If we feel ourselves angry, it is better for us to be silent, because we should speak amiss; when we become tranquil, we shall see that all our words were culpable.”
-Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church

“But nothing causes such exceeding grief as when anyone, lying under the captivity of sin, calls to mind from where he has fallen, because he turned aside to carnal and earthly things, instead of directing his mind in the beautiful ways of the knowledge of God. So you find Adam concealing himself, when he knew that God was present and wishing to be hidden when called by God with that voice which wounded the soul of him yourself? Why are you concealed? Why do you avoid Him Whom you once longed to see? A guilty conscience is so burdensome that it punishes itself without a judge, and wishes for covering, and yet is bare before God.”

+ St. Ambrose Milan, Concerning Repentance, Book II

THE WEIGHT OF THE ROSARY AT THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF GOD
An excerpt from Saint Louis de Montfort's "The Secret of the Rosary"
(Published by TAN Books)

"Whatever you do, do not be like a certain pious but stubborn lady in
Rome, so often mentioned when speaking about the Rosary.

She was so devout and so fervent that she put to shame by her holy
life even the strictest religious in the Church.

"Having decided to ask Saint Dominic's advice about her spiritual
life, she asked him to hear her confession.

For penance he gave her one whole Rosary to say and advised her to say
it every day. She said that she had no time to say it, excusing
herself on the grounds that she made the Stations of Rome every day,
that she wore sackcloth and a hair shirt, that she carried out so many
other penances and fasted so much.

Saint Dominic urged her repeatedly to take his advice and say the
Rosary, but she would not hear of it. She left the confessional,
horrified at the tactics of this new spiritual director who had tried
so hard to persuade her to take on a devotion that was not at all to
her liking.

"Later on, when she was in prayer, she fell into ecstasy and had a
vision of her soul appearing before Our Lord's Judgment Seat. Saint
Michael put all her penances and other prayers onto one tray of the
scales and all her sins and imperfections onto the other tray. The
tray of her good works was greatly outweighed by the tray with her
sins and imperfections.

"Filled with terror she cried for mercy, imploring the Blessed Virgin
Mary's help. Her gracious Advocate took the one and only Rosary that
she had said for her penance and dropped it onto the tray of her good
works. This one Rosary was so heavy that it weighed more than all her
sins as well as all her good works. Our Lady then reproved her for
refusing to follow the counsel of her servant Dominic and for not
saying the Rosary every day.

"As soon as she came to she rushed and threw herself at Saint
Dominic's feet, and told him all that had happened. She begged his
forgiveness for her unbelief and promised to say the Rosary faithfully
every day. By this means she arose to Christian perfection and finally
to the glory of everlasting life.

"You who are people of prayer -- learn from this how tremendous is the
power, the value and the importance of this devotion of the Most Holy
Rosary when it is said together with meditation on the mysteries."

This song was on the back of the all night vigil prayer book.  I never took the time to actually read it but for some reason I did today.  It's absolutely breathtakingly beautiful!

 


Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest.

Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find
A sweeter sound than Thy blest Name,
O Savior of mankind!

O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this
Nor tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus, what it is,
None but His loved ones know.

The Feast of the Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel
(September 29)

ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

"AND THERE WAS a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with
the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels; and they prevailed not,
neither was their place found any more in heaven, and that great dragon was
cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth
the whole world; and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown
down with him."         
-- Apocalypse 12:7-9

DEVOTION TO ST. MICHAEL
Most Suitable for Our Times

    Lucifer has placed his stamp upon the present age. Open and secret
revolt against God and His Church, the spirit of criticism, unbelief and
immorality are spreading. The arrogant boast of Lucifer, "I will be like
the Most High!" re-echoes everywhere. Puffed up with their discoveries and
the progress in material science, men loudly proclaim their
self-sufficiency and deny the existence of a Supreme Being. Governments and
secret societies, plotting against God and striving to blot out from homes
and schools, from offices and factories, all traces of Christianity, show
plainly whose standard they follow. Never before in the world's history
were God's rights so blasphemously mocked and denied, or the rights of man
so arrogantly asserted, as they are today.

    These frightful evils must convince us that we must turn to St.
Michael, the Archangel, that glorious prince of Heaven who rendered all
glory to God, conquering Lucifer and casting him into the abyss.

    Already three centuries ago, St. Francis de Sales wrote: "Veneration
of St. Michael is the great remedy against despising the rights of God,
against insubordination, skepticism and infidelity" - vices which are
perhaps more prevalent now than ever before.

    Surely, it is time for Christians to "rise from sleep" and to offer
vigorous resistance to the enemies of salvation. The weapons in this
conflict are not the arms of civil warfare, but the spiritual weapons of
prayer and penance, increased fidelity to the Commandments of God, and
frequent reception of the Sacraments. And surely we can choose no better
leader in this conflict than the powerful captain who led the faithful
Angels to victory.

    Let us, then, with confident trust invoke the aid and the protection
of this mighty Archangel whose shield bears the inscription: "MI-CHA-EL" -
"Quis ut Deus" - "Who is like unto God?"

---------------------------------------------------

The above is taken from the excellent booklet "St. Michael the Archangel"
published by TAN Books (www.tanbooks.com).

We see the vast number of non-Christians lost; we see the vast number of sects separated from the Catholic Church is likewise lost. The Holy Ghost only dwells in the Catholic Church. Outside of Her there is no salvation. But, how many who are within the Church will be saved? How many can truly say that they love Christ, and they can attest to it by their actions (keeping His word)?

Bishop Giles OFM

Pope St. Sergius I

(Reigned 687-701), date of birth unknown; consecrated probably on 15 Dec., 687; died 8 Sept., 701.

While Pope Conon lay dying, the archdeacon Pascal offered the exarch a large sum to bring about his election as his successor. Through the exarch’s influence the archdeacon was accordingly elected by a number of people; about the same time another faction elected the archpriest Theodore. The mass of clergy and people, however, set them both aside and chose Sergius, who was duly consecrated.

Dream of Pope St. Sergius, painting by Rogier van der Weyden

Sergius, the son of Tiberius, was a native of Antioch; he was educated in Sicily, and ordained by [St.] Leo II. The new pope had numerous relations with England and the English. He received [St.] Caedwalla, King of the West Saxons, and baptized him (689); and, as he died in Rome, caused him to be buried in St. Peter’s. He ordered St. Wilfrid to be restored to his see, greatly favoured St. Aldhelm, Abbot of Malmesbury, and is credited with endeavouring to secure the Venerable Bede as his adviser. Finally he consecrated the Englishman [St.] Willibrord bishop, and sent him to preach Christianity to the Frisians.

St Hubert of Liège is consecrated bishop by Pope St. Sergius.

The cruel Emperor Justinian wanted him to sign the decrees of the so- called Quinisext or Trullan Council of 692, in which the Greeks allowed priests and deacons to keep the wives they had married before their ordination, and which aimed at placing the Patriarch of Constantinople on a level with the Pope of Rome. When Sergius refused to acknowledge this synod, the emperor sent an officer to bring him to Constantinople. But the people protected the pope, and Justinian himself was soon afterwards deposed (695).

Sergius succeeded in extinguishing the last remnants of the Schism of the Three Chapters in Aquileia. He repaired and adorned many basilicas, added the Agnus Dei to the Mass, and instituted processions to various churches.

Liber Pontificalis, ed. DUCHESNE, I (Paris, 1886), 371 sqq.; HEFELE, Hist. of the Councils, V (tr., Edinburgh, 1894), 221 sqq.; BEDE, Hist. eccles., V; PAULUS DIACONUS, De gest. Langob., VI; HODGKIN, Italy and Her Invaders, VI (Oxford, 1895), 352 sqq.; MANN, Lives of the Popes, I (London, 1902), ii, 77 sqq.
Horace K. Mann (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Mary is the queen of Martyrs, for her Martyrdom was longer and greater than
that of all the Martyrs.



Who can ever have a heart so hard that it will not melt on hearing the most
lamentable event that once occurred in the world? There was a noble and
holy mother who had an only son. This son was the most amiable that can be
imagined - innocent,  virtuous, beautiful, who loved his mother most
tenderly; so much so that he had never caused her  the least displeasure,
but had ever shown her all  respect, obedience, and affection; hence this
mother had placed her affections on earth in this son. Hear, then, what
happened. This son, through envy, was falsely accused by his enemies; and
though the judge knew, and himself confessed, that he was innocent, yet,
that he might not offend his enemies, he condemned him to the ignominious
death that they demanded. This poor mother had to suffer the grief of
seeing that amiable and beloved son unjustly snatched from her in the
flower of his age by a barbarous death; for, by dint of torments and
drained of all his blood, he was made to die on an infamous gibbet in a
public place of execution, and this before her own eyes. Devout souls, what
say you? Is not this event, and is not this unhappy mother, worthy of
compassion? You already understand of whom I speak. This son, so cruelly
executed, was our loving Redeemer Jesus; and this mother was the Blessed
Virgin Mary; who, for the love she bore us, was willing to see him
sacrificed to divine justice by the barbarity of men. This great torment
which Mary endured for us - a torment that was more than a thousand deaths
- deserves both our compassion and our gratitude. If we can make no other
return for so much love, at least let us give a few moments this day to
consider the greatness of the sufferings by which Mary became the Queen of
martyrs; for the sufferings of her great martyrdom exceeded those of all
the martyrs; being, in the first place, the longest in point of duration;
and in the second place, the greatest in point of intensity.

 From "Victories of the Martyrs"
By St. Alphonsus Liguori

Mary adorns her clients with her merits, assists them with her power, enlightens them with her light, and kindles them with her love. She imparts her virtues to them and becomes their security, their intercessor, and their all with Jesus.
St. Louis Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716AD)

 

Human beings will never comprehend sufficiently the anguish and immensity of Mary's sorrows. Very few Christians partake of those sufferings and even fewer offer any consolation to her.

St. Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373AD)

Faith without works is dead James 2:24

 
True religion consists of these two elements: pious doctrines and virtuous actions. God does not accept doctrines apart from good works, nor are works, when divorced from godly doctrines, accepted by God. What does it profit a man to be an expert theologian if he is a shameless fornicator; or to be nobly self-controlled, but an impious blasphemer?
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386AD) on Faith and Works


How can a man say he believes in Christ if he doesn't do what Christ commanded him to do?St. Cyprian of Carthage (200-258AD) on Faith and Works

70th Anniversary of the Amazing Hiroshima Eight

August 6, 2015

Hiroshima before the bombing.

Early on August 6, 1945, a lone American B-29 Superfortress bomber circled in a vividly blue sky over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The unsuspecting inhabitants on the ground barely glanced at the plane. They were unaware of the deadly payload it was about to unleash on them, ushering in the atomic age with unimaginable death and destruction.
As one single bomb neared the ground, a city died in an instant. Houses crumbled, people evaporated, an immense ball of fire shot skywards, and a terrible wave of super-heated gas bulged out from ground zero, flattening buildings for miles.

Atomic cloud over Hiroshima. The cloud rose to over 60,000 feet in about ten minutes, while smoke from the burst of the first atomic bomb had spread over 10,000 feet at the base of the rising column.

Amongst the unsuspecting inhabitants of Hiroshima was Fr. Schiffer, a Jesuit missionary assisting the many Catholics of that city. On the morning of August 6, 1945, he had just finished Mass and sat down at the breakfast table. As he plunged his spoon into a freshly sliced grapefruit, there was a bright flash of light. His first thought was that a fuel tanker had exploded in the harbor, as Hiroshima was a major port where the Japanese refueled their submarines. Then, in the words of Fr. Schiffer: “Suddenly, a terrible explosion filled the air with one bursting thunder stroke. An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me round and round like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind.” Next thing he remembered was that he opened his eyes and found himself on the ground. He looked around, and saw there was nothing left in any direction: the railroad station and buildings in all directions were gone. Yet, the only harm to him was a few slight cuts in the back of his neck from shards of grass. As far as he could tell, there was nothing else physically wrong with him.

Father John Seimes, S.J., one of the eight Jesuit Fathers that miraculously survived the atomic bombing.

The small community of Jesuits to which Fr. Schiffer belonged lived in a house near the parish church, situated only eight blocks from the center of the blast. When Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb, all eight members of the small Jesuit community escaped unscathed, while every other person within a radius of one-and-a-half kilometers from ground zero died immediately. The house where the Jesuits lived was still standing, while buildings in every direction from it were leveled. Father Hubert Schiffer was 30 years old when the atomic bomb exploded right over his head at Hiroshima. He not only survived, but also lived a healthy life for another 33 years!

Our Lady of the Assumption Church and the Jesuit Rectory.

How did this group of men survive a nuclear blast that killed everyone else, even people over ten times further away from the blast? It is absolutely unexplainable by scientific means. An interesting detail is that this group of Catholic clergy was made up of ardent enthusiasts of the Message of Fatima. They lived the Message. Was their fidelity to Our Lady rewarded by this stupendous miracle of their survival?

Atomic cloud over Nagasaki from Koyagi-jima on August 9, 1945.

Even more astonishing is that the story was to be repeated a few days later at Nagasaki, the second Japanese city to be hit by an atomic bomb. In both Hiroshima and Nagasaki the survivors were Catholic religious. Most other buildings were leveled to the ground, even at 3 times the distance, but in both cases their houses stood – even with some windows intact! All other people, bar a handful of scattered mutilated survivors, even at thrice the distance from the explosion, died instantly. Those within a radius ten times the distance of the Jesuits from the explosion were exposed to fierce radiation and died within days.
After the American conquest of Japan, U.S. army doctors explained to Fr. Schiffer that his body would soon begin to deteriorate because of the radiation. To the doctors’ amazement, Fr. Schiffer’s body showed no radiation or ill effects from the bomb. All who were at this range from the epicenter should have received enough radiation to be dead within a matter of minutes. Scientists examined the group of Hiroshima Jesuits over 200 times during the next 30 years and no ill effects were ever found.

Hiroshima after the bombing

Could it have been a fluke? Could the bomb’s makers have designed it to avoid killing U.S. citizens? There is no known way to design a uranium-235 atomic bomb so it could leave such a large discrete area intact while destroying everything around it. The Jesuits say: “We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that house.” Fr. Schiffer feels that he received a protective shield from the Blessed Virgin, which protected him from all radiation and ill effects. Fr. Schiffer attributes this to his devotion to Our Lady, and his daily Fatima Rosary: “In that house the Holy Rosary was recited together every day.” Secular scientists are dumbfounded and incredulous at his explanation. They are sure there is some ‘real’ explanation. However, over 60 years later the scientists still have not been able to explain it.
From a scientific standpoint, what happened to those Jesuits at Hiroshima still defies all the laws of physics. It must be concluded that some other force was present, whose power to transform energy and matter as it relates to humans is beyond our comprehension.

Urakami Cathedral after the bomb. Only 500 feet from the hypocenter of the blast stood the original Urakami Cathedral, a center for Nagasaki’s Catholic community. Catholic missionaries first came to Nagasaki in the 16th century, and within several decades hundreds of thousands of people in Southwestern Japan were practicing Catholics.

Dr. Stephen Rinehart of the U.S. Department of Defense is widely recognized as an international expert in the field of atomic blasts. Says Rinehart: “A quick calculation says that at one kilometer the bulk temperature was in excess of 20,000 to 30,000 degrees F, and the blast wave would have hit at sonic velocity with pressures on buildings greater than 600 PSI. If the Jesuits, at one kilometer from the geometric epicenter, were outside the atomic bomb’s “plasma” their residence should still have been utterly destroyed. Un-reinforced masonry or brick walls, representative of commercial construction, are destroyed at 3 PSI, which will also cause ear damage and burst windows. At 10 PSI, a human being will experience severe lung and heart damage, burst eardrums and at 20 PSI limbs can be blown off. All the cotton clothing would be on fire at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and your lungs would be inoperative within a minute of breathing even one lungful of air at these temperatures.

Hypocenter of the blast in Hiroshima was Shima Hospital.

“No way could any human have survived nor should anything have been left standing at one kilometer. At ten times the distance, about ten to fifteen kilometers, I saw the brick walls standing from an elementary school and there were a few badly burned survivors; all died within fifteen years of some form of cancer. Reconnaissance pictures taken of a panoramic view from epicenter of the blast, at Shima Hospital looking towards the Jesuits’ house, did show some kind of two-story building totally intact, at least from what I could make out, and it looked to me the windows were in place. Also there was a church with walls still standing a few hundred yards away, but the roof was gone.
“The Department of Defense never commented officially on this and I suspect it was classified and never discussed in open literature. I think it is possible the Jesuits were asked not to say anything either at the time.”

For God, who made all matter and energy, it is simply a matter of willing it and the laws that govern them are suspended. This is what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It also happened in ancient times, to the loyal servants of God Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, as is related in the Book of Daniel (3:19-24):

“Then was Nebuchodonosor filled with fury: and the countenance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it had been accustomed to be heated. And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the furnace of burning fire. And immediately these men were bound and were cast into the furnace of burning fire, with their coasts, and their caps, and their shoes, and their garments. For the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace was heated exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago. But these three men, that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, fell down bound in the midst of the furnance of burning fire. And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God and blessing the Lord.”

Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 486

This is holy Church, the one Church, the true Church, the Catholic Church, fighting against all heresies; she can fight, but she cannot be conquered. All heresies are expelled from her as if they were dead branches pruned from the vine; she herself, however, remains fixed in her root, in her vine, in her charity. The gates of hell shall not prevail against her.

St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430AD) on the permanence of the Catholic Church

July 17 – Martyred in the Name of Equality

The Sixteen Blessed Teresian Martyrs of Compiègne

Guillotined at the Place du Trône Renversé (now called Place de la Nation), Paris, 17 July, 1794. They are the first sufferers under the French Revolution on whom the Holy See has passed judgment, and were solemnly beatified 27 May, 1906. Before their execution they knelt and chanted the “Veni Creator”, as at a profession, after which they all renewed aloud their baptismal and religious vows. The novice was executed first and the prioress last. Absolute silence prevailed the whole time that the executions were proceeding. The heads and bodies of the martyrs were interred in a deep sand-pit about thirty feet square in a cemetery at Picpus. As this sand-pit was the receptacle of the bodies of 1298 victims of the Revolution, there seems to be no hope of their relics being recovered. Their names are as follows:

Plaque at the Picpus Cemetery in Paris in memory of the 16 Martyrs of Compiègne, guillotined on July 17, 1794 and beatified by Pope Pius X on May 27, 1906. Photo by Mu

• Madeleine-Claudine Ledoine (Mother Teresa of St. Augustine), prioress, b. in Paris, 22 Sept., 1752, professed 16 or 17 May, 1775;

• Marie-Anne (or Antoinette) Brideau (Mother St. Louis), sub-prioress, b. at Belfort, 7 Dec., 1752, professed 3 Sept, 1771;

• Marie-Anne Piedcourt (Sister of Jesus Crucified), choir-nun, b. 1715, professed 1737; on mounting the scaffold she said “I forgive you as heartily as I wish God to forgive me”;

• Anne-Marie-Madeleine Thouret (Sister Charlotte of the Resurrection), sacristan, b. at Mouy, 16 Sept., 1715, professed 19 Aug., 1740, twice sub-prioress in 1764 and 1778. Her portrait is reproduced opposite p. 2 of Miss Willson’s work cited below;

• Marie-Antoniette or Anne Hanisset (Sister Teresa of the Holy Heart of Mary), b. at Rheims in 1740 or 1742, professed in 1764;

• Marie-Françoise Gabrielle de Croissy (Mother Henriette of Jesus), b. in Paris, 18 June, 1745, professed 22 Feb., 1764, prioress from 1779 to 1785;

• Marie-Gabrielle Trézel (Sister Teresa of St. Ignatius), choir-nun, b. at Compiègne, 4 April, 1743, professed 12 Dec., 1771;

• Rose-Chrétien de la Neuville, widow, choir-nun (Sister Julia Louisa of Jesus), b. at Loreau (or Evreux), in 1741, professed probably in 1777;

• Anne Petras (Sister Mary Henrietta of Providence), choir-nun, b. at Cajarc (Lot), 17 June, 1760, professed 22 Oct., 1786.

• Concerning Sister Euphrasia of the Immaculate Conception accounts vary. Miss Willson says that her name was Marie Claude Cyprienne Brard, and that she was born 12 May, 1736; Pierre, that her name was Catherine Charlotte Brard, and that she was born 7 Sept., 1736. She was born at Bourth, and professed in 1757;

• Marie-Geneviève Meunier (Sister Constance), novice, b. 28 May, 1765, or 1766, at St. Denis, received the habit 16 Dec., 1788. She mounted the scaffold singing “Laudate Dominum”. In addition to the above, three lay sisters suffered and two tourières. The lay sisters are:

• Angélique Roussel (Sister Mary of the Holy Ghost), lay sister, b. at Fresnes, 4 August, 1742, professed 14 May, 1769;

• Marie Dufour (Sister St. Martha), lay sister, b. at Beaune, 1 or 2 Oct., 1742, entered the community in 1772;

• Julie or Juliette Vérolot (Sister St. Francis Xavier), lay sister, b. at Laignes or Lignières, 11 Jan., 1764, professed 12 Jan., 1789.

The two tourières, who were not Carmelites at all, but merely servants of the nunnery were: Catherine and Teresa Soiron, b. respectively on 2 Feb., 1742 and 23 Jan., 1748 at Compiègne, both of whom had been in the service of the community since 1772.
The miracles proved during the process of beatification were

• The cure of Sister Clare of St. Joseph, a Carmelite lay sister of New Orleans, when on the point of death from cancer, in June, 1897;

• The cure of the Abbé Roussarie, of the seminary at Brive, when at the point of death, 7 March, 1897;

• The cure of Sister St. Martha of St. Joseph, a Carmelite lay Sister of Vans, of tuberculosis and an abcess in the right leg, 1 Dec., 1897;

• The cure of Sister St. Michael, a Franciscan of Montmorillon, 9 April, 1898.

Five secondary relics are in the possession of the Benedictines of Stanbrook, Worcestershire.



PIERRE, Les Seize Carmélites de Compiègne (Paris, 1906); WILLSON, The Martyrs of Compiègne (Westminster, 1907).
JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT (Catholic Encyclopedia)
_________________________

July 10 – Seven Holy Noble Brethren

St. Felicitas, Martyr

The earliest list of the Roman feasts of martyrs, known as the “Depositio Martyrum” and dating from the time of Pope Liberius, i.e. about the middle of the fourth century (Ruinart, Acta sincera, Ratisbon, p. 631), mentions seven martyrs whose feast was kept on 10 July. Their remains had been deposited in four different catacombs, viz. in three cemeteries on the Via Salaria and in one on the Via Appia. Two of the martyrs, Felix and Philip, reposed in the catacomb of Priscilla; Martial, Vitalis and Alexander, in the Coemeterium Jordanorum; Silanus (or Silvanus) in the catacomb of Maximus, and Januarius in that of Prætextatus. To the name of Silanus is added the statement that his body was stolen by the Novatians (hunc Silanum martyrem Novatiani furati sunt).
In the Acts of these martyrs, that certainly existed in the sixth century, since Gregory the Great refers to them in his “Homiliæ super Evangelia” (Lib. I, hom. iii, in P.L., LXXVI, 1087), it is stated that all seven were sons of Felicitas, a noble Roman lady. According to these Acts Felicitas and her seven sons were imprisoned because of their Christian Faith, at the instigation of pagan priests, during the reign of Emperor Antoninus. Before the prefect Publius they adhered firmly to their religion, and were delivered over to four judges, who condemned them to various modes of death. The division of the martyrs among four judges corresponds to the four places of their burial. St. Felicitas herself was buried in the catacomb of Maximus on the Via Salaria, beside Silanus.

Martyrdom of St. Felicitas’s seven sons, painting by Francesco Coghetti.

These Acts were regarded as genuine by Ruinart (op. cit., 72-74), and even distinguished modern archæologists have considered them, though not in their present form corresponding entirely to the original, yet in substance based on genuine contemporary records. Recent investigations of Führer, however (see below), have shown this opinion to be hardly tenable. The earliest recension of these Acts, edited by Ruinart, does not antedate the sixth century, and appears to be based not on a Roman, but on a Greek original. Moreover, apart from the present form of the Acts, various details have been called in question. Thus, if Felicitas were really the mother of the seven martyrs honoured on 10 July, it is strange that her name does not appear in the well-known fourth-century Roman calendar. Her feast is first mentioned in the “Martyrologium Hieronymianum”, but on a different day (23 Nov.). It is, however, historically certain that she, as well as the seven martyrs called her sons in the Acts suffered for the Christian Faith. From a very early date her feast was solemnly celebrated in the Roman Church on 23 November, for on that day Gregory the Great delivered a homily in the basilica that rose above her tomb. Her body then rested in the catacomb of Maximus; in that cemetery on the Via Salaria all Roman itineraries, or guides to the burial-places of martyrs, locate her burial-place, specifying that her tomb was in a church above this catacomb (De Rossi, Roma sotterranea, I, 176-77), and that the body of her son Silanus was also there. The crypt where Felicitas was laid to rest was later enlarged into a subterranean chapel, and was rediscovered in 1885. A seventh-century fresco is yet visible on the rear wall of this chapel, representing in a group Felicitas and her seven sons, and overhead the figure of Christ bestowing upon them the eternal crown.

Fresco by Paris Noggia of Saint Felicity, who having witnessed the death of her seven sons, during the persecution of Diocletian, is about to be put death as the Emperor watches.

If St. Felicitas did not suffer martyrdom on the same occasion we have no means of determining the time of her death. In an ancient Roman edifice near the ruins of the Baths of Titus there stood in early medieval times a chapel in honour of St. Felicitas. A faded painting in this chapel represents her with her sons just as in the above-mentioned fresco in her crypt.

Santa Susanna in Rome

J.P. KIRSCH (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Nobility.org Editorial comment: —

Like St. Cecilia and many others, St. Felicitas and her seven sons share in the glory of the Roman Christian nobility that embraced martyrdom, shedding their blood, rather than renouncing the Catholic faith and their baptismal vows.
In martyrdom, these Roman nobles led by example. By faithfully following themselves in the footsteps of the Redeemer, they showed other Christians that neither life nor money are our supreme values. In baptism we acquire a special bond with Our Lord and this bond of faith is our greatest supernatural good. It is more precious than life, our greatest natural good.

"When we call the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God, we assert our belief in two things: First - That her Son, Jesus Christ, is true man, else she were not a mother. Second - That He is true God, else she were not the Mother of God.

In other words, we affirm that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word of God, who in His divine nature is from all eternity begotten of the Father, consubstantial with Him, was in the fulness of time again begotten, by being born of the Virgin, thus taking to Himself, from her maternal womb, a human nature of the same substance with hers.

But it may be said the Blessed Virgin is not the Mother of the Divinity. She had not, and she could not have, any part in the generation of the Word of God, for that generation is eternal; her maternity is temporal. He is her Creator; she is His creature. Style her, if you will, the Mother of the man Jesus or even of the human nature of the Son of God, but not the Mother of God.

I shall answer this objection by putting a question. Did the mother who bore us have any part in the production of our soul? Was not this nobler part of our being the work of God alone? and yet who would for a moment dream of saying "the mother of my body," and not "my mother"?

The comparison teaches us that the terms parent and child, mother and son, refer to the persons and not to the parts or elements of which the persons are composed. Hence no one says: "The mother of my body", the "mother of my soul;" but in all propriety "my mother", the mother of me who live and breathe, think and act, one in my personality, though uniting in it a soul directly created by God and a material body directly derived from the maternal womb.

In like manner, as far as the sublime mystery of the Incarnation can be reflected in the natural order, the Blessed Virgin, under the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, by communicating to the Second Person of the Adorable Trinity, as mothers do, a true human nature of the same substance with her own, is thereby really and truly His Mother.

(p. 137-138: Faith of Our Fathers)

Seek refuge in Mary because she is the city of refuge. We know that Moses set up three cities of refuge for anyone who inadvertently killed his neighbor. Now the Lord has established a refuge of mercy. Mary, even for those who deliberately commit evil. Mary provides shelter and strength for the sinner.
St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231AD)

The Church has ever proved indestructible. Her persecutors have failed to destroy her; in fact, it was during times of persecution that the Church grew more and more; while the persecutors themselves, and those whom the Church would destroy, are the very ones who came to nothing…. Again, errors have assailed her; but in fact, the greater the number of errors that have arisen, the more has the truth been made manifest…. Nor has the Church failed before the assaults of demons: for she is like a tower of refuge to all who fight against the Devil.

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274AD) on the permanence of the Catholic Church

St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans [ca. A.D. 110.], Chapter 7: “They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. But it were better for them to treat it with respect, that they also might rise again. It is fitting, therefore, that you should keep aloof from such persons, and not to speak of them either in private or in public, but to give heed to the prophets, and above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion [of Christ] has been revealed to us, and the resurrection has been fully proved. But avoid all divisions, as the beginning of evils.”

 

 
We owe God a deep debt of gratitude for the purely gratuitous gift of the true faith with which he has favored us.  How many are the infidels, heretics and schismatic who do not enjoy comparable happiness?  The earth is full of them and they are all lost!

St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Here are some thoughts to ponder with the 4th of July right around the corner:

"When a nation wishes to celebrate the memory of its distinguished men its admiration is not confined to words, but vents itself in a thousand different shapes. See in how many ways we honor the memory of Washington.

Monuments on which his good deeds are recorded are erected to his name. The grounds in which his remains repose on the banks of the Potomac are kept in order by a volunteer band of devoted ladies, who adorn the place with flowers. And this cherished spot is annually visited by thousands of pilgrims from the most remote sections of the country. These visitors will eagerly snatch a flower or a leaf from a shrub growing near Washington's tomb, or will strive even to clip off a little shred from one of his garments, still preserved in the old mansion, to bear home with them as precious relics........

The 22nd of February, Washington's birthday, is kept as a national holiday, at least in certain portions of the country....As the citizens of the United States manifest in divers ways their admiration for Washington, so do the citizens of the republic of the Church love to exhibit in corresponding forms their veneration for the Mother of Jesus.

Monuments and statues are erected to her. Thrice each day - at morn, noon and even - the Angelus bells are rung, to recall to our mind the Incarnation of Our Lord, and the participation of Mary in this great mystery of love.

Her shrines are tastefully adorned by pious hands and visited by devoted children, who wear her relics or any object which bears her image, or which is associated with her name.....

As no one was ever suspected of loving his country and her institutions less because of his revering Washington, so no one can reasonably suppose that our homage to God is diminished by our fostering reverence for Mary. As our object in eulogizing Washington is not so much to honor the man as to vindicate those principles of which he was the champion and exponent, and to express our gratitude to God for the blessings bestowed on our country through him, even so our motive in commemorating Mary's name is not merely to praise her, but still more to keep us in perpetual remembrance of Our Lord's Incarnation, and to show our thankfulness to Him for the blessings wrought through that great mystery in which she was so prominent a figure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O Christ Jesus, when all is darkness and we feel our weakness and helplessness, give us the sense of Your presence, Your love, and Your strength. Help us to have perfect trust in Your protecting love and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us, for, living close to You, we shall see Your hand, Your purpose, Your will through all things.

- St. Ignatius of Loyola

 


Here is the entire copy of the letter that Father Bernard read from the pulpit today. I'm not ashamed to say that I was crying in the cry room (with Lucy and David). Hopefully this will help someone to make the right decision to choose life!

Necessity of Prayer

In the first place the necessity of prayer should be insisted upon. Prayer
is a duty not only recommended by way of counsel, but also commanded by
obligatory precept. Christ the Lord declared this when He said: "We should
pray always." This necessity of prayer the Church points out in the
prelude, if we may so call it, which she prefixes to the Lord's Prayer:
"Admonished by salutary precepts, and taught by divine instruction, we
presume to say," etc.

Therefore, since prayer is necessary to the Christian, the Son of God,
yielding to the request of the disciples, "Lord, teach us to pray," gave
them a prescribed form of prayer, and encouraged them to hope that the
objects of their petitions would be granted. He Himself was to them a model
of prayer; He not only prayed assiduously, but watched whole nights in
prayer.

The Apostles, also, did not omit to recommend this duty to those who had
been converted to the faith of Jesus Christ. St. Peter and St. John are
most diligent in their admonitions to the devout; and the Apostle, mindful
of its nature, frequently admonishes Christians of the salutary necessity
of prayer.

Besides, so various are our temporal and spiritual necessities, that we
must have recourse to prayer as the best means for communicating our wants
and receiving whatever we need. For since God owes nothing to anyone, we
must ask of Him in prayer those things we need, seeing that He has
constituted prayer as a necessary means for the accomplishment of our
desires, particularly since it is clear that there are blessings which we
cannot hope to obtain otherwise than through prayer. Thus devout prayer has
such efficacy that it is a most powerful means of casting out demons; for
there is a certain kind of demon which is not cast out but by prayer and
fasting.

Those, therefore, who do not practice assiduous and regular prayer deprive
themselves of a powerful means of obtaining gifts of singular value. To
succeed in obtaining the object of your desires, it is not enough that you
ask that which is good; your entreaties must also be assiduous. "Every one
that asketh", says St. Jerome, "receiveth, as it is written. If, therefore,
it is not given you, this is because you do not ask. Ask, therefore, and
you shall receive".

Catechism of the Council of Trent

Now the Catholic is the only Church whose children, generation after generation, from the first to the present century, have pronounced her blessed; of all Christians in this land, they alone contribute to the fulfillment of the prophecy.

Therefore, it is only Catholics that earn the approval of Heaven by fulfilling the prediction of the Holy Ghost.

Protestants not only concede that we bless the name of Mary, but they even reproach us with being too lavish in our praises of her.

On the other hand, they are careful to exclude themselves from the "generations" that were destined to call her blessed, for, in speaking of her, they almost invariably withhold from her the title of blessed preferring to call her the Virgin, or Mary the Virgin, or the Mother of Jesus.

And while Protestant churches will resound with the praises of Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel, of Miriam and Ruth, of Esther and Judith of the Old Testament, and of Elizabeth and Anna, of Magdalen and Martha of the New, the name of Mary the Mother of Jesus is uttered with bated breath, lest the sound of her name should make the preacher liable to the charge of superstition.

The piety of a mother usually sheds additional lustre on the son, and the halo that encircles her brow is reflected upon his. The more the mother is extolled, the greater honor redounds to the son. And if this is true of all men who do not choose their mothers, how much more strictly may it be affirmed of Him who chose His own Mother, and made her Himself such as He would have her, so that all the glories of His Mother are essentially His own.

And yet daily we see ministers of the Gospel ignoring Mary's exalted virtues and unexampled privileges and parading her alleged imperfections; nay, sinfulness, as if her Son were dishonored by the piety, and took delight in the defamation of His Mother.

 Cardinal Gibbons

 

"Why should we defend ourselves when we are misunderstood and misjudged? Let us leave that aside. Let us not say anything. It is so sweet to let others judge us in any way they like. O blessed silence, which gives so much peace to the soul!"

 

Today begin the Holy Ghost Novena:

May 13 – “Can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die?”

May 12, 2014

Blessed Imelda Lambertini (1322 – May 13, 1333) is the patroness of First Holy Communicants.

Imelda was born in 1322 in Bologna, the only child of Count Egano Lambertini and Castora Galuzzi. Her parents were devout Catholics and were known for their charity and generosity to the underprivileged of Bologna. As a very young girl, Imelda had a burning desire to receive Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. On her fifth birthday, she requested this privilege.

However, Church custom at the time was that a person did not receive his or her First Holy Communion until age 12. Imelda was sorely disappointed but knew the time would come soon enough. She would sometimes exclaim: “Tell me, can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die?”

As time went by, her desire for the Blessed Sacrament grew, and she loved Christ more than ever. To show this love, she joined a cloistered Dominican community at age nine in Valdipietra, near Bologna . (It was unusual at the time for a girl her age to enter the convent). There it would be easier to wait for her First Communion, in deep prayer and conversation with God.

The Incorrupt body of Bl. Imelda in the Church of San Sigismondo in Bologna, Italy.

On May 13, the day of the vigil of the Ascension, in 1333, she finally got her wish. As she knelt in prayer the “Light of the Host” was witnessed above her head by the Sacristan, who then fetched the Priest so he could see. After seeing this miracle, the Priest felt he had to give Blessed Imelda her Holy Communion. Immediately after receiving the Holy Eucharist, Imelda fell to the floor and died in complete ecstasy. Her remains are in Bologna, Italy, at the Church of San Sigismondo, beneath the wax effigy of her likeness. There still remains some controversy as to whether Blessed Imelda can be classified as incorrupt. Many argue that contrary to popular belief, she is not truly incorrupt. Many other sources, including the Church of San Sigismondo, steadfastly claim that she is incorrupt.
She was beatified by Pope Leo XII in 1826.