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28th April ~ Optional memorial of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort, Priest. Born 31 January 1673, Montfort-sur-Meu, France Died 28 April 1716 (aged 43), Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre Beatified 1888 by Pope Leo XIII Canonized 20 July 1947 by Pope Pius XII Louis Grignion de Montfort was born in 1673 at Montfort in Brittany. Educated by the Jesuits at Rennes, in 1693 he went to Paris to start his studies for the priesthood and was ordained in 1700. He decided to devote himself to the spiritual care of the poor and the sick in a society where an immense gulf existed between the top and the bottom of society. He encountered opposition which resulted in him being banned from preaching in the diocese of Poitiers. However, armed with papal authority which made him a ‘missionary apostolic’ he spent the rest of his life preaching popular missions chiefly in Poitiers and Brittany. He composed verses and hymns, some of which are still sung today. Perhaps his greatest achievement was the reconciliation of numerous Calvinists at La Rochelle. In 1712 he founded the Company of Mary, an association of missionary priests who shared his ideals which, since its foundation has spread to other countries including the English-speaking world and is still active in the field of education. His principal writing is ‘True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin’. He died in 1716 and was canonised in 1947 by Pope Pius XII. Almighty and ever living God, through your will you directed the footsteps of your saint and priest Louis along the way of salvation and love of your Son Jesus Christ, in the company of the Blessed Virgin Mary, grant that we, through his example and by meditation on the mysteries of your love, may strive tirelessly for the building up of your Church. See also: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09384a.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_de_Montfort https://catholicsaints.info/saint-louis-marie-grignion-de-montfort/ |
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28th April ~ Optional memorial of St. Peter Chanel, Priest, Martyr. Born: 12 July 1803, Montrevel-en-Bresse, Ain, France Died: 28 April 1841 (aged 37), Futuna Island, New Hebrides Beatified: 17 November 1889, Rome by Pope Leo XIII Canonized: 12 June 1954, Rome by Pope Pius XII Major shrine: Futuna Attributes: Gentle, Kind, Encouraging Patronage: Oceania Peter Chanel was born in 1803 of peasant stock near Cras in France. He was chosen as a pupil by his parish priest, Abbé Trompier for his unusual intelligence and piety. After attending the local seminary, he was ordained to the priesthood and in 1831 he joined the Marist missionary organisation recently founded by Jean Colin at Lyons. Following a five year spell teaching at the seminary at Belly, in 1836 he was sent to preach the Catholic faith to the islands of the southern Pacific. With one companion, in 1837, he went to the Islands of Futuna. They were warmly welcomed by the people whose confidence they gained by their ministry to the sick. They learnt the local language and began to baptise the native islanders. However, in 1841, when the chief’s son asked to be baptised, this so incensed his father that he sent a group of warriors with orders to kill. One of them clubbed Peter to the ground and the others cut up his body with knives and axes. This, however, did not stop the movement that he had begun and within a year the whole island had become Christian. He was canonised in 1954 by Pope Pius XII. Almighty and ever living God, who, for the spreading of your Church and of knowledge of your Son, crowned your saint Peter Chanel as the first martyr of your Church in Oceania, grant that, we may so celebrate the mysteries of Christ's Death and Resurrection, and so bear witness to the newness of life. See also: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11769a.htm |
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29th April ~ Feast of St, Catherine of Siena, Virgin, Doctor of the Church, Patron of Europe. Born 25 March 1347, Siena, Republic of Siena Died 29 April 1380 (aged 33), Rome, Papal States Canonized 29 June 1461 by Pope Pius II Major shrine Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome and Shrine of Saint Catherine, Siena Attributes Dominican tertiaries' habit, lily, book, crucifix, cupid, heart, crown of thorns, stigmata, ring, dove, rose, skull, miniature church, miniature ship bearing Papal coat of arms Patronage against fire; bodily ills; Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA; Europe; illness; Italy; Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines; Samal, Bataan, Philippines; miscarriages; people ridiculed for their piety; sexual temptation; sick people; sickness; nurses The youngest of the twenty or so children of Giacomo Benincasa, a Sienese dyer from an early age Catherine was devoted to a life of prayer and penance. She steadfastly refused to consider marriage and became a Dominican tertiary. Following years of solitude and preparation she began ministering to the sick and, with a group of followers, which included Dominicans, Augustinians and an English Austin Friar, William Flete, she made frequent journeys with a call to reform and repentance through a renewal of total love for God. Catherine tried to express her ideals in her "Dialogue" and in her letters which she dictated - she never learnt how to write. In the last five years of her life she became increasingly involved in church politics and made attempts to make peace between Florence and the papacy, then based in Avignon. Later she added her voice to the many that urged Pope Gregory XI (1370 - 1378) to return to Rome from Avignon and so curb excessive French influence on the Curia. This he did in 1376 and met Catherine on the road at Genoa. In 1378, following the death of Pope Gregory XI there occurred the Great Schism. Urban VI was elected Pope in Rome and a rival set up in Avignon. Catherine sent frequent letters to Urban urging him to moderate his harshness and also to various European rulers and cardinals urging them to recognise Urban as the genuine pope. She died in 1380 and was canonized in 1461. She became Siena's principal saint and a figure of international importance through her work in bringing the papacy back to Rome. Almighty and ever living God, you set your saint, Catherine of Siena aflame in her contemplation of your Son's Passion and in the service of your Church; grant that through her intercession, we, your people, participating in the mystery of Christ, may one day exult in the revelation of his glory. See also: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03447a.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Siena http://www.catholictreasury.info/books/dialogue/index.php https://catholicsaints.info/saint-catherine-of-siena/ https://www.bartleby.com/210/4/301.html |
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30th April ~ Optional memorial of St. Pius V, Pope, Religious. Papacy began 7 January 1566 Papacy ended 1 May 1572 Predecessor Pius IV Successor Gregory XIII Ordination 1528 by Innocenzo Cybo Consecration 14 September 1556 by Giovanni Michele Saraceni Created cardinal 15 March 1557 by Pope Paul IV Birth name Antonio Ghislieri Born 17 January 1504, Bosco, Duchy of Milan Died 1 May 1572 (aged 68), Rome, Papal States Previous post Bishop of Sutri and Nepi (1556–1557) Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (1557–1561) Cardinal-Priest of Santa Sabina (1561–1566) Bishop of Mondovi (1560–1566) Secretary of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition (1564–1566) Motto Utinam dirigantur viæ meæ ad custodiendas justificationes tuas (O that my ways may be directed to keep thy justification) Pope St. Pius V was born Michele Ghislieri of a noble family at Bosco, Italy in the year 1504. Pius received the name Michael at his baptism and as a child received an excellent education in piety and holiness. As a youth, Michael received a scholastic education from a Dominican friar and by the time he was 15, he joined the order. Michael made great strides in his relationship with God and in his education. In the year 1528, Michael was ordained a priest and was appointed as a teacher of philosophy and divinity in Genoa. For the next sixteen years, Michael travelled to various Dominican houses and encouraged a stricter following of the Order's Rule with both words and example. In the year 1555, Michael was ordained Bishop of Nepi and Sutri against his will and in the year 1557 Michael was elevated to the College of Cardinals. In his time as bishop, Michael worked to lead his flock with words and example and served as a continual messenger encouraging personal piety and devotion to God, In the year 1566, Pope Paul IV (1555 - 1559) died and Michael was chosen to take his place. Michael took the name Pius V and almost immediately faced the task of enacting the reforms of the Council of Trent. During the papacy of Pius V, new seminaries were opened, a new breviary, a new missal, and a new catechism was published, and foundations were established to spread the Faith and preserve the doctrine of the Church. Pius did not allow the public life of being pope to stand in the way of his personal generosity and devotion to the Faithful. He spent much time giving of himself to the poor and personally providing for the needy. Pius built many hospitals and generously used the papal treasury to satisfy the needs of the poor. Pius faced many difficulties in the public forum, both in the implementation of the Tridentine reforms and interaction with other heads of state. Pius died in office in the year 1572. Almighty and ever living God, in your providence you raised up your humble servant Pius in your Church that the deposit of faith might be safe-guarded and more fitting worship be offered to you, grant that we, through his intercession, may fully participate in your sacred mysteries with a lively faith and in fruitful charity. See also: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12130a.htm |
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1st May ~ Optional memorial of St. Joseph the Worker. First century A.D. Prayer to St. Joseph.
(Proclaimed Patron of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX on the 8th of December 1870) Almost all that we know about the life of St. Joseph comes from the pages of Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels. He is not mentioned at all in Mark and only once in John. Mathew's and Luke’s Gospels contain the long list of the ancestors of Joseph going back to Abraham. He was descended from the House of David and his trade as a carpenter shows that he was impoverished. The apocryphal Protoevangelium of James makes him an old man at the time of his betrothal to Mary but his implied duties in protecting the Holy Family an in bringing up Jesus make this unlikely. A Greek document, the History of Joseph the Carpenter from the fifth or sixth century was influential in establishing a liturgical cult of St. Joseph that had its origins in the east but reached its full development in the west much later. The feast of St. Joseph was celebrated in England at Winchester, Worcester, Ely and other places before 1100 and various medieval saints such as Vincent Ferrer, Bridget of Sweden and Bernardino of Siena propagated devotion to St. Joseph partly as a reaction to the mystery plays of the time where he was shown as a comic figure. The diffusion and popularity of his feast was due in great part to Teresa of Avila who dedicated the mother-house of her reformed Carmelites to him. Pope Gregory XV made his feast a holyday of obligation, now no longer observed. In 18710 he was declared “Patron of the Universal Church” by Pope Pius IX who also encouraged his Patronage on the third Sunday after Easter. This was replaced by the feast of St. Joseph the Worker on the 1st of May by Pope Pius XII and Saint Pope John XXIII added his name to the Canon of the Mass. Almighty and ever living God, creator of all things, who laid down for the human race the law of work, grant that, by the example of Saint Joseph and through his patronage, we may complete the works that you set each of us to do, and thereby attain the rewards that you promise. See also: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08504a.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0805.htm https://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph/ |
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2nd May ~ Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop, Doctor of the Church Born - c. 296–298, Alexandria, Roman Egypt Died - 2 May 373 (aged 75–77), Alexandria, Roman Egypt Venerated in - Eastern Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Assyrian Church of the East, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism Attributes - Bishop arguing with a pagan; bishop holding an open book; bishop standing over a defeated heretic (Arius) Shrines - Church of San Zaccaria in Venice, Italy and St Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt Saint Athanasius was born in Alexandria, Egypt, towards the end of the third century, and from his youth was pious, learned, and deeply versed in the sacred writings. He left the paternal home to be raised by the bishop of Alexandria like a new Samuel in the Lord’s temple, as befitted one whom God had chosen to be the champion and defender of His Church against the Arian heresy, which denied the Divinity of Christ. While still a deacon, he was chosen by Saint Alexander, his bishop, to go with him to the Council of Nicea, A.D. 325. There he attracted the attention of all the prelates by the learning and ability with which he defended the Faith. Five months later, as Saint Alexander was dying, he recommended Athanasius for his successor as Patriarch of Alexandria, and in that office for forty-six years the new Patriarch bore the whole brunt of the Arian assault, often virtually alone and undefended. When the invincible Athanasius refused to restore Arius to Catholic communion, he was exiled to Treves in France, and the Emperor ordered the Catholic Patriarch of Constantinople to receive the heresiarch. The end of that man of error is very instructive. He took an oath that he had always believed as the Church believes, though he taught that there was a time when the Word of God WAS NOT. Thereupon the Catholic Patriarch of Constantinople, with Saint James of Nisibe, who was in Constantinople at that time, Saint Athanasius in France and the Catholics everywhere, had recourse to fasting and prayer, that God would avert from the Church the frightful sacrilege. The day came for the solemn entrance of Arius into the great church of Saint Sophia. The heresiarch and his party set out, elated, in triumph. But before he reached the church, death smote him in an exemplary, swift and terrible way, and the dreaded sacrilege was averted. Saint Athanasius stood unmoved against four Roman emperors, was banished five times, was the butt of every insult, calumny and wrong the Arians could devise, and lived in constant peril of death. Though strong as diamond in defence of the Faith, he was meek and humble, pleasant and winning in conversation, beloved by his flock, unwearied in labours, prayer and mortifications, eloquent in speech, and unsurpassed in zeal for souls. From his places of exile he wrote many great works for the instruction and strengthening of his flock, writings rich in thought and learning, clear, keen and stately in expression. He is honoured as one of the greatest of the Doctors of the Church. His admirers told the story of his response to a search party pursuing him downstream, as he retreated by boat. Knowing of their approach, he ordered the captain to change direction and return. When he crossed the search party on the river, they hailed him and asked whether he had seen the bishop of Alexandria pass by. He replied, “Continue; he is not far from here.” Restored to his see by the emperor Valens for fear of a popular uprising, the stormy life of the Saint closed in peace on May 2nd of the year 373. See also: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02035a.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_of_Alexandria https://catholicsaints.info/saint-athanasius-of-alexandria/ https://saintscatholic.blogspot.com/2012/05/st-athanasius.html |