Yesterday  I noticed  that the secondary feast is St. Apollonia.  She is the patron saint of teeth, dentists and toothache.  Many years ago I had a lot of dental work done at Marquette Dental School in Milwaukee.  In their waiting room, they have a HUGE oil painting of her.  I can't remember exactly what the painting looked like but her face was very similar to this.  It was a full length painting but beyond that my memory is fuzzy.  I did a LOT of praying to this old, very brave  saint!  Here is a short story about her:

Saint Apollonia’s Story

The persecution of Christians began in Alexandria during the reign of the Emperor Philip. The first victim of the pagan mob was an old man named Metrius, who was tortured and then stoned to death. The second person who refused to worship their false idols was a Christian woman named Quinta. Her words infuriated the mob and she was scourged and stoned.

While most of the Christians were fleeing the city, abandoning all their worldly possessions, an old deaconess, Apollonia, was seized. The crowds beat her, knocking out all of her teeth. Then they lit a large fire and threatened to throw her in it if she did not curse her God. She begged them to wait a moment, acting as if she was considering their requests. Instead, she jumped willingly into the flames and so suffered martyrdom.

There were many churches and altars dedicated to her. Apollonia is the patroness of dentists, and people suffering from toothache and other dental diseases often ask her intercession. She is pictured with a pair of pincers holding a tooth or with a golden tooth suspended from her necklace. Saint Augustine explained her voluntary martyrdom as a special inspiration of the Holy Spirit, since no one is allowed to cause his or her own death.

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Reflection

The Church has quite a sense of humor! Apollonia is honored as the patron saint of dentists, but this woman who had her teeth extracted without anesthetic surely ought to be the patron of those who dread the chair. She might also be the patron of the aging, for she attained glory in her old age, standing firm before her persecutors even as her fellow Christians fled the city. However we choose to honor her, she remains a model of courage for us.

 I have a daughter and a granddaughter born on this feast day which was yesterday January 30.  This saint's story is so relevant for today!  Enjoy!

Saint Hyacintha of Mariscotti’s Story

Hyacintha accepted God’s standards somewhat late in life. Born of a noble family near Viterbo, she entered a local convent of sisters who followed the Third Order Rule. However, she supplied herself with enough food, clothing, and other goods to live a very comfortable life amid these sisters pledged to mortification.

A serious illness required that Hyacintha’s confessor bring Holy Communion to her room. Scandalized on seeing how soft a life she had provided for herself, the confessor advised her to live more humbly. Hyacintha disposed of her fine clothes and special foods. She eventually became very penitential in food and clothing; she was ready to do the most humble work in the convent. She developed a special devotion to the sufferings of Christ and by her penances became an inspiration to the sisters in her convent. She was canonized in 1807.

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Reflection

How differently might Hyacintha’s life have ended if her confessor had been afraid to question her pursuit of a soft life! Or what if she had refused to accept any challenge to her comfortable pattern of life? Francis of Assisi expected give and take in fraternal correction among his followers. Humility is required both of the one giving it and of the one receiving the correction; their roles could easily be reversed in the future. Such correction is really an act of charity and should be viewed that way by all concerned.

  
Adoration of the Magi (1630-1635), Matthias Stom

Whosoever loves God, loves solitude. There the Lord communicates himself more familiarly to souls, because there He finds them less entangled in worldly affairs and more detached from earthly affections. Hence, St. Jerome exclaimed: "O solitude, in which God speaks and converses familiarly with His servants." ...

The Lord is not in the earthquake (3 Kg, 14:11). But where is He found? I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart (Osee 2:14). He is found in solitude and there He speaks to the heart in words that inflame it with holy love, as the sacred spouse attests: My soul melted when my Beloved spoke (Cant. 5:6).

St. Eucherius relates that a certain man, desirous of becoming a saint, asked a servant of God where he should find God. The servant of God conducted him to a solitary place, and said: "Behold where God is found!" By these words he meant to say that God is found not amid the tumult of the world, but in solitude.

Virtue is easily preserved in solitude. On the other hand, it is easily lost by intercourse with the world, where God is but little known and, therefore, His love and the treasures He gives to those who leave all things for His sake are but little esteemed. ...

The worldly shun solitude, and with good reason, for in solitude they feel more acutely the remorse of conscience. Thus they go in search of the conversations and bustle of the world, that the noise of these occupations may stifle the stings of remorse. It is true that man loves society, but what society is preferable to the society of God?

Ah! To withdraw from creatures and to converse in solitude with our Creator brings neither bitterness nor tediousness. Of this the Wise Man assures us: For her conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness, but joy and gladness (Wis 8:16). …

St. Jerome tells us that fleeing from Rome he went to shut himself up in the Cave of Bethlehem in order to enjoy solitude. Afterwards he wrote: "To me solitude is a paradise."

The Saints in solitude appear to be alone, but they are not alone. St. Bernard said: "I am never less alone than when I am alone for I am then in the company of my Lord, Who gives me more content than I could derive from the conversation of all creatures." …

In order to find this happy solitude, it is not necessary to hide yourself in a cave or in a desert. David found it, even amidst the great concerns of a kingdom and, therefore, he said: Lo, I have gone far off, flying away; and I abode in the wilderness (Ps 54: 8). St. Philip Neri desired to retire into a desert, but God gave him to understand that he should not leave Rome and that there he should live there as in a desert. ...

Hitherto we have spoken of the solitude of the body. We must now say something on the solitude of the heart, which is more necessary than the solitude of the body. "Of what use," says St. Gregory, "is the solitude of the body without the solitude of the heart?"

That is, of what use is it to live in the desert if the heart is attached to the world? A soul detached and free from earthly affections, says St. Peter Chrysologus, finds solitude even in the public streets and roads. On the other hand, of what use is it to observe silence if affections to creatures are entertained in the heart and their noise renders the soul unable to listen to the Divine inspirations?

I here repeat the words of our Lord to St. Teresa: "Oh, how gladly would I speak to many souls, but the world makes such a noise in their hearts that My voice cannot be heard. Oh, if they would retire a little from the world!"

Let us then understand what is meant by solitude of the heart. It consists in expelling from the soul every affection that is not for God, by seeking nothing in all our actions but to please His Divine Eyes. It consists in saying with David: What have I in heaven? And besides thee, what do I desire upon earth? ... Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever (Ps. 72: 25,26). ...

The light of the sun cannot enter a crystal vessel filled with earth; and in a heart occupied with attachment to pleasures and wealth and honors, the Divine light cannot shine. Hence the Lord says: Be still, and see that I am God (Ps. 45: 11). The soul, then, that wishes to see God must remove the world from her heart and keep it shut against all earthly affections.

This is precisely what Jesus Christ gave us to understand under the figure of a closed chamber, when He said: But when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret (Mt 6:6). That is, the soul, in order to unite itself with God in prayer, must retire into its heart, which, according to St. Augustine, is the chamber of which our Lord speaks, and shut the door against all earthly affections. St. Alphonsus de Liguori

Part III

Miss Bertha Moran remembered:

    Continuing the prayers, he led us to where the boats were being

lowered. Helping the women and children and he whispered to them words of

comfort and encouragement.

    After helping to load the lifeboats Fr. Byles was again asked to get

in. Again he refused. Miss Helen Mary Mocklare said:

    Fr. Byles could have been saved, but he would not leave while one was

left, and the sailor's entreaties were not heeded. After I got in the boat,

which was the last one to leave, and we were slowly going further away from

the ship, I could hear distinctly the voice of the priest and the responses

to his prayers.

    Another man who refused to leave was Thomas Andrews, the architect of

Titanic. He stood alone in the first class smoking room, ignoring requests

to put on a lifebelt. His eyes were fixed on a painting entitled "The

Approach of the New World." He was left alone with his thoughts, and went

down with the ship.

    So did Captain Smith, who was last seen at the bridge around 2am,

watching Titanic's bow disappear under the black water. The lifeboats were

all gone, and the remaining passengers ran uphill to the stern, which was

raising high out of the water as the bow sank further down. Fr. Thomas

Byles continued to hear confessions, and then began the Rosary again. There

was a tremendous crack as Titanic split in half. The front half of the ship

completely disappeared and the lights went out.

    The stern settled down in the water, and floated until its

compartments filled with water. Then the stern rose up from behind until it

was almost perpendicular to the water, the rudder pointing at the stars.

Most of the remaining passengers slid, fell, or jumped off. The stern

remained straight up for a minute or two, a silent salute from the

vanquished to the victor. Then it began sinking straight down, like an

elevator, picking up speed as it went down, down, more than two miles to

the bottom of the North Atlantic, off the coast of Newfoundland. It sits

there today, as nature continues its slow victory by eating away at the

remains of the "Ship of Dreams."

Aftermath

    After Titanic disappeared all was quiet except for the screams, which

one survivor likened to "the chanting of locusts." These died away after

half an hour, as those in the water succumbed to hypothermia in the 28°F

water. There were so many bodies that the lifeboats had trouble getting

through them to the rescue ship that arrived a few hours later.

    The iceberg that hit Titanic was seen later that morning. It had a

long red streak of paint across it. It was not a large berg, at least the

part above the water. For the next few days, as rescue operations

continued, other passenger ships heading for America passed by bodies

floating in the water. Preserved by the cold, they could be seen in all

their horrible detail, including the evening gowns and tuxedos. Many

passengers of Titanic, like Fr. Thomas Byles, were never found. Some sank,

others drifted hundreds of miles away.

    In New York, William went ahead with his wedding as scheduled. A

substitute priest performed the ceremony. After being married the bride and

groom went home, changed into black, and came back to St. Paul's Church

that afternoon for a Solemn High Requiem Mass for the soul of Fr. Thomas

Byles. Later that year William and his wife traveled to Rome and had an

audience with Pope Pius X, who called Fr. Byles a martyr for the Church. In

a letter to his mother-in-law, William recalled his brother leading the

Rosary on the doomed ship, writing:

Can you see all those poor people saying the Rosary, and Our Lady at the

other end of the Rosary pulling some of them into lifeboats, and others to

hear the happy command: "Enter thou into the Joy of the Lord"?

    If life can be likened to a shipwreck, eternally happy are those who

heed Fr. Byles's advice: do not abandon the spiritual life or the practice

of the true religion. They are more secure than lifebelts and lifeboats,

and safer than any "ship of dreams" we may have booked passage on. 

___________________________________

Mark Fellows is an itinerant Catholic writer who has appeared in several

Catholic publications. He lives in South St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife

and expanding family.

Sources

1. The main source for the life of Fr. Thomas Byles is from a [former]

website managed by Fr. Scott Archer.

2. Lynch, Don. Titanic: An Illustrated History. New York: Hyperion Press,

1992.

3. Wels, Susan. Titanic: Legacy of the World's Greatest Ocean Liner. Tehabi

Books and Time-Life Books, 1997.

4. Marcus, Geoffrey. The Maiden Voyage. New York: The Viking Press, 1969.

5. Geller, Judith B. Titanic: Women and Children First. New York: W.W.

Norton & Company, 1998.

(The above article is from "The Angelus" -- May 2004:

http://angeluspress.org/)

The Voyage

    Fr. Byles's letter was dated April 10, 1912. The next day Titanic set

sail from Southampton, and was immediately threatened with mishap. Upon

leaving her berth, the wake from the great ship broke the moorings holding

another ship at dock. This ship, the New York, headed straight for Titanic,

and only fast work by the crew averted a collision.

    The near accident was soon forgotten. The sun was shining and the

ocean was calm. "I enjoyed 

myself," wrote Colonel Gracie, "as if I were in a summer palace on the

seashore, surrounded with every comfort-there was nothing to indicate or

suggest that we were on the stormy Atlantic Ocean." So calm was the sea

that Captain Smith allowed the engines to open up, and for the next two

days Titanic cruised at 24 knots over the glass-like ocean.

    There was another reason for the increase in speed. Captain Smith was

being badgered by Bruce Ismay, the managing director of White Star Line, to

get Titanic to New York faster than her sister ship, Olympic. Crew and

passengers recalled a conversation in which an animated Ismay repeatedly

told Smith: "The machinery is bearing the test, the boilers are working

well. We will make a better run tomorrow. We will beat Olympic and get into

New York on Tuesday!" Smith nodded without comment.

    Fr. Byles strolled the boat deck in his cassock, reciting his

Breviarium Romanum. Sunday, April 14, was Low Sunday, the Sunday after

Easter. He said Mass for the second class passengers, and another Mass for

the third class. Speaking in English and French, he talked about being

spiritually prepared. He likened their lifebelts to prayer and the

sacraments, and warned them to be on guard against spiritual shipwreck. It

was a likely enough sermon to preach on an ocean liner; whether Fr. Byles's

words came from a premonition of danger about the lives of the passengers

on Titanic will never be known.

    Throughout that day Titanic had been receiving warnings from other

ships about large ice fields. The month of April was notorious for

icebergs, which broke off from Greenland and floated into shipping lanes in

the north Atlantic. The Titanic changed its course slightly southward, but

did not slow down. Sunday night was beautiful, a cloudless sky and

remarkably calm sea. As evening progressed the temperature fell to

freezing, and the air became hazy. Experienced seamen knew these were signs

that icebergs were nearby.

    More reports came in from other ships about icebergs directly in

Titanic's path. Generally, icebergs were hard to see, so the crew watched

for white foam created when water washed against a berg. Up in the crow's

nest the crew noted visibility was worsening, and the horizon was blurring

into the ocean. At ll:40pm a lookout rang the bridge: "Iceberg right

ahead."

    The Titanic turned the bow (front) of the ship away from the berg, but

an underwater spar jutting out from the ice berg scraped the starboard

(right) bow side of the ship under the waterline for about three hundred

feet. Fr. Byles was on deck reading his Breviary, and saw the berg pass by.

Like most passengers, he thought nothing of it. Some passengers in the

lower decks heard a grinding noise that quickly stopped. Later everyone

assumed the ice berg ripped a gaping hole in Titanic. In fact the berg made

several very small holes in the steel plating, and buckled other sections

of plating. The water pressure was so intense, however, that sea water

began shooting through the holes at 7 tons (almost 2000 gallons) a minute.

    The Titantic’s watertight design made it possible for her to survive

if four of the watertight compartments were flooded. The damage had flooded

five. The Titanic's bow began to lower. Captain Smith estimated Titanic

would sink within two hours. He ordered the lifeboats uncovered and

lifebelts distributed.

    This bemused most of the passengers. They did not know Titanic was

sinking and had no intention of leaving the safety of the "ship of dreams"

for a little wooden lifeboat in the cold, dark sea. The band played on, men

smoked, drank, and played cards, and the women refused orders to enter the

lifeboats. No general warning had been given, and many of the crew were not

as yet telling everyone the ship was sinking. When someone asked what was

wrong, a crew member joked: "We have only been cutting a whale in two."

Many passengers scoffed at the danger. "What do they need of lifeboats?"

one woman asked. "This ship could smash a hundred icebergs and not feel it.

Ridiculous!" Consequently, many of the lifeboats were launched only half

full.

    An hour after the collision Titanic launched distress rockets, and a

sense of unreality set in. Stewards were preparing dining tables for

breakfast, and the band was wearing lifebelts and playing lively tunes. The

ship's engines had stopped but the ship was still fully lighted. "There was

a sense of the whole thing being a dream," remembered a survivor. "That

those who walked the decks or tied one another's lifebelts on were actors

in a scene, that the dream would end soon and we would wake up."

  Part II

  Others began to take things more seriously, and willingly boarded

lifeboats. The original plans called for sixty-four wooden lifeboats, but

that was halved, then halved again to sixteen, partly to allow more room on

deck for passengers, and partly from the conviction that lifeboats would

not be needed. Even if the sixteen lifeboats had been filled to capacity,

less than half of the 3,547 passengers could have used them.

    When Fr. Byles realized the ship was sinking, he hurried down to the

third class rooms to calm the people,  bless them, and hear confessions. A

survivor recalled:

    We saw before us, coming down the passageway, with his hand uplifted,

Fr. Byles. We knew him because he had visited us several times on board and

celebrated Mass for us that very morning. "Be calm, my good people," he

said, and then he went about the steerage giving absolutions and blessings.

    A few around us became very excited and the priest again raised his

hand and instantly they were calm once more. The passengers were

immediately impressed by the absolute self-control of the priest. He began

the recitation of the Rosary. The prayers of all, regardless of creed, were

mingled, and all the responses, "Holy Mary," were loud and strong. One

sailor warned the priest of his danger and begged him to board a boat. Fr.

Byles refused.