ST. CATHERINE OF SIENNA

Dominican Tertiary, born at Siena, 25 March, 1347; died at Rome, 29 April, 1380.

She was the youngest but one of a very large family. Her father, Giacomo di Benincasa, was a dyer; her mother, Lapa, the daughter of a local poet. They belonged to the lower middle-class faction of tradesmen and petty notaries, known as “the Party of the Twelve”, which between one revolution and another ruled the Republic of Siena from 1355 to 1368. From her earliest childhood Catherine began to see visions and to practise extreme austerities. At the age of seven she consecrated her virginity to Christ; in her sixteenth year she took the habit of the Dominican Tertiaries, and renewed the life of the anchorites of the desert in a little room in her father’s house. After three years of celestial visitations and familiar conversation with Christ, she underwent the mystical experience known as the “spiritual espousals”, probably during the carnival of 1366. She now rejoined her family, began to tend the sick, especially those afflicted with the most repulsive diseases, to serve the poor, and to labour for the conversion of sinners. Though always suffering terrible physical pain, living for long intervals on practically no food save the Blessed Sacrament, she was ever radiantly happy and full of practical wisdom no less than the highest spiritual insight. All her contemporaries bear witness to her extraordinary personal charm, which prevailed over the continual persecution to which she was subjected even by the friars of her own order and by her sisters in religion. She began to gather disciples round her, both men and women, who formed a wonderful spiritual fellowship, united to her by the bonds of mystical love. During the summer of 1370 she received a series of special manifestations of Divine mysteries, which culminated in a prolonged trance, a kind of mystical death, in which she had a vision of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, and heard a Divine command to leave her cell and enter the public life of the world. She began to dispatch letters to men and women in every condition of life, entered into correspondence with the princes and republics of Italy, was consulted by the papal legates about the affairs of the Church, and set herself to heal the wounds of her native land by staying the fury of civil war and the ravages of faction. She implored the pope, Gregory XI, to leave Avignon, to reform the clergy and the administration of the Papal States, and ardently threw herself into his design for a crusade, in the hopes of uniting the powers of Christendom against the infidels, and restoring peace to Italy by delivering her from the wandering companies of mercenary soldiers. While at Pisa, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, 1375, she received the Stigmata, although, at her special prayer, the marks did not appear outwardly in her body while she lived.

Mainly through the misgovernment of the papal officials, war broke out between Florence and the Holy See, and almost the whole of the Papal States rose in insurrection. Catherine had already been sent on a mission from the pope to secure the neutrality of Pisa and Lucca. In June, 1376, she went to Avignon as ambassador of the Florentines, to make their peace; but, either through the bad faith of the republic or through a misunderstanding caused by the frequent changes in its government, she was unsuccessful. Nevertheless she made such a profound impression upon the mind of the pope, that, in spite of the opposition of the French king and almost the whole of the Sacred College, he returned to Rome (17 January, 1377). Catherine spent the greater part of 1377 in effecting a wonderful spiritual revival in the country districts subject to the Republic of Siena, and it was at this time that she miraculously learned to write, though she still seems to have chiefly relied upon her secretaries for her correspondence. Early in 1378 she was sent by Pope Gregory to Florence, to make a fresh effort for peace. Unfortunately, through the factious conduct of her Florentine associates, she became involved in the internal politics of the city, and during a popular tumult (22 June) an attempt was made upon her life. She was bitterly disappointed at her escape, declaring that her sins had deprived her of the red rose of martyrdom. Nevertheless, during the disastrous revolution known as “the tumult of the Ciompi”, she still remained at Florence or in its territory until, at the beginning of August, news reached the city that peace had been signed between the republic and the new pope. Catherine then instantly returned to Siena, where she passed a few months of comparative quiet, dictating her “Dialogue”, the book of her meditations and revelations.

In the meanwhile the Great Schism had broken out in the Church. From the outset Catherine enthusiastically adhered to the Roman claimant, Urban VI, who in November, 1378, summoned her to Rome. In the Eternal City she spent what remained of her life, working strenuously for the reformation of the Church, serving the destitute and afflicted, and dispatching eloquent letters in behalf of Urban to high and low in all directions. Her strength was rapidly being consumed; she besought her Divine Bridegroom to let her bear the punishment for all the sins of the world, and to receive the sacrifice of her body for the unity and renovation of the Church; at last it seemed to her that the Bark of Peter was laid upon her shoulders, and that it was crushing her to death with its weight. After a prolonged and mysterious agony of three months, endured by her with supreme exultation and delight, from Sexagesima Sunday until the Sunday before the Ascension, she died. Her last political work, accomplished practically from her death-bed, was the reconciliation of Pope Urban VI with the Roman Republic (1380).

Among Catherine’s principal followers were Fra Raimondo delle Vigne, of Capua (d. 1399), her confessor and biographer, afterwards General of the Dominicans, and Stefano di Corrado Maconi (d. 1424), who had been one of her secretaries, and became Prior General of the Carthusians. Raimondo’s book, the “Legend”, was finished in 1395. A second life of her, the “Supplement”, was written a few years later by another of her associates, Fra Tomaso Caffarini (d. 1434), who also composed the “Minor Legend”, which was translated into Italian by Stefano Maconi. Between 1411 and 1413 the depositions of the surviving witnesses of her life and work were collected at Venice, to form the famous “Process”. Catherine was canonized by Pius II in 1461. The emblems by which she is known in Christian art are the lily and book, the crown of thorns, or sometimes a heart–referring to the legend of her having changed hearts with Christ. Her principal feast is on the 30th of April, but it is popularly celebrated in Siena on the Sunday following. The feast of her Espousals is kept on the Thursday of the carnival.

The works of St. Catherine of Siena rank among the classics of the Italian language, written in the beautiful Tuscan vernacular of the fourteenth century. Notwithstanding the existence of many excellent manuscripts, the printed editions present the text in a frequently mutilated and most unsatisfactory condition. Her writings consist of

• the “Dialogue”, or “Treatise on Divine Providence“;
• a collection of nearly four hundred letters; and
• a series of “Prayers”.

The “Dialogue” especially, which treats of the whole spiritual life of man in the form of a series of colloquies between the Eternal Father and the human soul (represented by Catherine herself), is the mystical counterpart in prose of Dante’s “Divina Commedia”.

A smaller work in the dialogue form, the “Treatise on Consummate Perfection”, is also ascribed to her, but is probably spurious. It is impossible in a few words to give an adequate conception of the manifold character and contents of the “Letters”, which are the most complete expression of Catherine’s many-sided personality. While those addressed to popes and sovereigns, rulers of republics and leaders of armies, are documents of priceless value to students of history, many of those written to private citizens, men and women in the cloister or in the world, are as fresh and illuminating, as wise and practical in their advice and guidance for the devout Catholic today as they were for those who sought her counsel while she lived. Others, again, lead the reader to mystical heights of contemplation, a rarefied atmosphere of sanctity in which only the few privileged spirits can hope to dwell. The key-note to Catherine’s teaching is that man, whether in the cloister or in the world, must ever abide in the cell of self-knowledge, which is the stable in which the traveller through time to eternity must be born again.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia.

FROM THE LETTERS OF THE SERVANT OF GOD, LUISA PICCARRETA

…It seems to me that dear Jesus surrounds you with these pains in order to give you strength, and with tender and loving voice, He says to you:  “My daughter, give these pains to Me, that they may form my arms, my heart, my steps – my whole Life, to be able to live within you.”  My Mother, it is the crosses, the sufferings united to the Divine Volition, that form the raw material in order to receive in us the life of Jesus, Who calls our littleness to live in Him and to rise in Him.

Here is my wish, my Mother:  to rise not only on Easter, but continually in Jesus; so that every pain and each one of our acts, may be the means in order to rise in the One Who loves us so much.  I believe I could not send you a more beautiful wish; and I believe you will appreciate it, more so, under the rain of unheard-of crosses and of profound humiliations.  The storms give no sign of ceasing.  Pray that He will make peace rise again from the storms, otherwise one cannot live.

FEAST DAY OF ST. LOUIS-MARIE GRIGNION de MONTFORT

APRIL 28

click image for St. Louis de Montfort Consecration

Missionary in Brittany and Vendee; born at Montfort, 31 January, 1673; died at Saint Laurent sur Sevre, 28 April, 1716.

From his childhood, he was indefatigably devoted to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and, when from his twelfth year he was sent as a day pupil to the Jesuit college at Rennes, he never failed to visit the church before and after class. He joined a society of young men who during holidays ministered to the poor and to the incurables in the hospitals, and read for them edifying books during their meals. At the age of nineteen, he went on foot to Paris to follow the course in theology, gave away on the journey all his money to the poor, exchanged clothing with them, and made a vow to subsist thenceforth only on alms. He was ordained priest at the age of twenty-seven, and for some time fulfilled the duties of chaplain in a hospital. In 1705, when he was thirty-two, he found his true vocation, and thereafter devoted himself to preaching to the people. During seventeen years he preached the Gospel in countless towns and villages. As an orator he was highly gifted, his language being simple but replete with fire and divine love. His whole life was conspicuous for virtues difficult for modern degeneracy to comprehend: constant prayer, love of the poor, poverty carried to an unheard-of degree, joy in humiliations and persecutions.

The following two instances will illustrate his success. He once gave a mission for the soldiers of the garrison at La Rochelle, and moved by his words, the men wept, and cried aloud for the forgiveness of their sins. In the procession which terminated this mission, an officer walked at the head, barefooted and carrying a banner, and the soldiers, also barefooted, followed, carrying in one hand a crucifix, in the other a rosary, and singing hymns.

Grignion’s extraordinary influence was especially apparent in the matter of the calvary at Pontchateau. When he announced his determination of building a monumental calvary on a neighbouring hill, the idea was enthusiastically received by the inhabitants. For fifteen months between two and four hundred peasants worked daily without recompense, and the task had just been completed, when the king commanded that the whole should be demolished, and the land restored to its former condition. The Jansenists had convinced the Governor of Brittany that a fortress capable of affording aid to persons in revolt was being erected, and for several months five hundred peasants, watched by a company of soldiers, were compelled to carry out the work of destruction. Father de Montfort was not disturbed on receiving this humiliating news, exclaiming only: “Blessed be God!”

This was by no means the only trial to which Grignion was subjected. It often happened that the Jansenists, irritated by his success, secure by their intrigues his banishment form the district, in which he was giving a mission. At La Rochelle some wretches put poison into his cup of broth, and, despite the antidote which he swallowed, his health was always impaired. On another occasion, some malefactors hid in a narrow street with the intention of assassinating him, but he had a presentiment of danger and escaped by going by another street. A year before his death, Father de Montfort founded two congregations — the Sisters of Wisdom, who were to devote themselves to hospital work and the instruction of poor girls, and the Company of Mary, composed of missionaries. He had long cherished these projects but circumstances had hindered their execution, and, humanly speaking, the work appeared to have failed at his death, since these congregations numbered respectively only four sisters and two priests with a few brothers. But the blessed founder, who had on several occasions shown himself possessed of the gift of prophecy, knew that the tree would grow. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Sisters of Wisdom numbered five thousand, and were spread throughout every country; they possessed forty-four houses, and gave instruction to 60,000 children. After the death of its founder, the Company of Mary was governed for 39 years by Father Mulot. He had at first refused to join de Montfort in his missionary labours. “I cannot become a missionary”, said he, “for I have been paralysed on one side for years; I have an affection of the lungs which scarcely allows me to breathe, and am indeed so ill that I have no rest day or night.” But the holy man, impelled by a sudden inspiration, replied, “As soon as you begin to preach you will be completely cured.” And the event justified the prediction. Grignion de Montfort was beatified by Leo XIII in 1888.

Note: Louis de Montfort was canonized by Pius XII in 1947.

From:  Catholic Encyclopedia

Rome readies for canonizations of John XXIII, John Paul II

(Vatican Radio) The two banners of the two soon-to-be saints now hang on the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica, and the final countdown toward the highly anticipated canonizations has begun. With just one day to go before the canonizations of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, the stream of pilgrims into Rome continues.
Civil security forces are in position, city roads have been closed to traffic and the subway system will run nonstop this weekend to accommodate the influx of pilgrims.
Authorities expect about one million people to gather in the square and along the Via della Conciliazione, which leads up to St. Peter’s Basilica, for the Mass itself. Thousands of others instead will gather in about a dozen or so public squares around the city, where the Mass will be projected onto big screens.
Here at the Vatican, the last of the preparations are underway, as hundreds more journalists have swamped the city with their cameras and microphones.
At a press conference on Friday, the two cardinals who lived and worked for the future saints as their secretaries said they knew their bosses were saints because of their simple faith and goodness.
Cardinal Loris Capovilla, who served as Blessed John’s secretary for 10 years, told reporters via video link of John XXIII’s “smile, innocence and goodness.”
“Saints,” the 98-year-old cleric said, “are those who remain children”, maintaining always a youthful energy and enthusiasm as they follow the path God sets out for them.
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, who served as Blessed John Paul’s secretary for 39 years, told reporters John Paul “prayed with his life” and his holiness was also evident in his “holy suffering” throughout his life, never complaining and offering his suffering as a prayer for the world.

Pope Benedict XVI to Concelebrate Canonization Mass

Vatican City, Apr 26, 2014 / 06:09 am (CNA).- The Holy See’s press office has announced that retired pontiff Benedict XVI will be a concelebrant at Sunday’s mass and canonizations of John Paul II and John XXIII.

“Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has accepted the invitation of Pope Francis to attend the canonization. He will concelebrate the mass, but not at the altar,” announced Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi at a press conference on April 26.

The head of the Holy See’s press office went on to explain that due to his advanced age, the retired pontiff will be seated with the other cardinals under a special tent in case of inclement weather, rather than directly at the altar with Pope Francis.

The elderly former Pope resigned the papacy in February 2013 due to his age and deteriorating strength. He resides in a monastic setting behind St. Peter’s Basilica.

Sunday’s mass of canonization will be held in St. Peter’s square. Fr. Lombardi announced today that St. Peter’s basilica will be open after the mass until about 10 p.m.

Pilgrims will have the opportunity to visit the relics of the two saints in the basilica, and will see that the title written on altar where John Paul II is buried has been changed from “Blessed John Paul II” to “Saint John Paul II” in Latin.

During the mass, the reliquary of John XXIII will be carried by four of his nieces and nephews, while those carrying that of John Paul II include Floribeth Mora, a Costa Rican woman who was healed from a brain aneurysm through the intercession of the late Pope.

French Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, whose healing from Parkinson’s was acknowledged as miracle in the cause for John Paul II’s beatification, will read the prayers of intercession during the liturgy.

On Monday morning, Cardinal Angelo Comastri, who is in charge of St. Peter’s Basilica, will celebrate a mass of thanksgiving particularly for the sainthood of John Paul II. The mass is especially for Polish pilgrims, and the choir of Krakow will sing.

Another mass of thanksgiving, for John XXIII, will be held Monday at the church of San Carlo in central Rome. Pilgrims from Bergamo, Italy, the late Pontiff’s home town, will be in attendance.

FEAST OF OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL

APRIL 26

Prayer

O Mary of Good Counsel, inflame the hearts of all who are devoted to you, so that all of them have shelter in you, O great Mother of God. O most worthy Lady, let everyone choose you as teacher and wise counselor of their souls, since you are, as Saint Augustine says, the counsel of the Apostles and counsel of all peoples. Amen.

 Records dating from the reign of Paul II (1464-71) relate that the picture of Our Lady, at first called “La Madonna del Paradiso” and now better known as “Madonna del Buon Consiglio”, appeared at Genazzano, a town about twenty-five miles southeast of Rome, on St. Mark’s Day, 25 April, 1467, in the old church of Santa Maria, which had been under the care of Augustinians since 1356. The venerated icon itself, which is drawn on a thin scale of wall-plaster little thicker than a visiting-card, was observed to hang suspended in the air without the slightest apparent support; thus early tradition, which furthermore tells how one might have passed a thread around the image without touching it. At once devotion to Our Lady in Santa Maria sprang up; pilgrim-bands began to resort thither; while miracles in ever-increasing numbers, of which a register was opened two days after the event, were wrought, as they still continue to be, at the shrine. In July following, Pope Paul deputed two bishops to investigate the alleged wonder-working image. Their report, however, is not known to be extant. The cult of Our Lady increased. In 1630 Urban VIII himself went to Genazzano on a pilgrimage, as did Pius IX in 1864. On 17 November, 1682, Innocent XI had the picture crowned with gold by the Vatican Basilica. In 1727 Benedict XIII granted the clergy of Genazzano an Office and Mass of Our Lady for 25 April, anniversary of the apparition, elsewhere the feast being kept a day later so as not to conflict with that of St. Mark the Evangelist. On 2 July, 1753, Benedict XIV approved of the Pious Union of Our Lady of Good Counsel for the faithful at large, and was himself enrolled therein as its pioneer member; Pius IX was a member, and also Leo XIII. On 18 December, 1779, Pius VI, while re-approving the cult of Our Lady, granted all Augustinians an Office with hymns, lessons, prayer and Mass proper of double-major rite; with a plenary indulgence also for the faithful, to which Pius VIII added another for visitors to the shrine. On 18 December, 1884, Leo XIII approved of a new Office and Mass of second-class rite for all Augustinians, while on 17 March, 1903, he elevated the church of Santa Maria — one of the four parish churches at Genazzano — to the rank of minor basilica; and, on 22 April following, authorized the insertion in the Litany of Loreto of the invocation “Mater Boni Consillii” to follow that of “Mater Admirabilis”. The same pontiff, ten years earlier (21 December, 1893) had sanctioned the use of the White Scapular of Our Lady of Good Counsel for the faithful. In the United States there are many churches and institutions in honour of Our Lady of Good Counsel.

FOUNTAIN OF MERCY

By Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

J.M.J.

A woman wrote to me about her brother, saying that he was dying in a hospital and that he had been away from the sacraments for about thirty years. She said he led not just a bad life, but he was an evil man. He did much to corrupt youth and circulated all manner of evil pamphlets among the young to destroy both faith and morals.

His sister said that about twenty priests had called on him, and he threw them all out of the hospital room.

“So, will you please go to see my brother,” she asked me?

Last-resort Sheen, I visited him this particular night, and stayed about five seconds. I fared no better than anyone else.

But instead of making just one visit, I made forty. For forty straight nights, I went to see this man. The second night, I stayed ten or fifteen seconds. I increased my visits by several seconds every night. At the end of the month, I was spending ten to fifteen minutes with him.

I never once broached the subject of his soul until the fortieth night. That night I brought with me the Blessed Sacrament and the holy oils, and I said to him:

“William, you are going to die tonight.”

He said, “I know it.”

“I’m sure you want to make your peace with God tonight.”

He replied, “I do not. Get out!”

I said, “I’m not alone.”

“Who is with you?”

“I brought the good Lord along. Do you want him to get out, too?”

He said nothing. So, I knelt down alongside of his bed for about fifteen minutes because I had the Blessed Sacrament with me. After the prayer, I again said:

“William, I’m sure you want to make your peace with God before you die.”

He refused and started screaming for the nurse. So, in order to stop him, I ran to the door as if I were going to leave Then, I quickly came back. I put my head down alongside of his face on the pillow, and I said:

“Just one thing, William. Promise me, before you die tonight you will say, “My Jesus, mercy!”

“I will not! Get out.”

I had to leave. I told the nurse that if he wanted me during the night, I would come back. About four o’clock in the morning, the nurse called and said he had just died. I asked her how he died.

“Well…about a minute after you left, he began saying: ‘My Jesus, Mercy’ and he never stopped saying it until he died.”

There was nothing in me that influenced him. Here was a divine invasion upon someone who had the faith once and lost it.

“Oratio Sancti Abrosii ante Missam”

(Prayer of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church)

Lord Jesus Christ, I approach Thy banquet table in fear and trembling, for I am a sinner and dare not rely on my own worth but only on Thy goodness and mercy. I am defiled by my many sins in body and soul and by my unguarded thoughts and words. Gracious God of majesty and awe, I seek Thy protection, I look for Thy healing. Poor troubled sinner that I am, I appeal to Thee, the Fountain of all Mercy. I cannot bear Thy judgment, but I trust in Thy salvation. Lord, I show my wounds to Thee and uncover my shame before Thee. I know my sins are many and great, and they fill me with fear, but I hope in Thy mercies, for they cannot be numbered. Lord Jesus Christ, Eternal King, God and man, crucified for mankind, look upon me with mercy and hear my prayer, for I trust in Thee. Have mercy on me, full of sorrow and sin, for the depth of Thy compassion never ends. Praise to Thee, saving sacrifice, offered on the wood of the cross for me and for all mankind. Praise to the noble and precious Blood, flowing from the wounds of my crucified Lord Jesus Christ and washing away the sins of the whole world. Remember, Lord, Thy creature, whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy blood; I repent my sins, and I long to put right what I have done. Merciful Father, take away all my offenses and sins; purify me in, body and soul, and make me worthy to taste the Holy of Holies. May Thy Body and Blood, which I intend to receive, although I am unworthy, be for me the remission of my sins, the washing away of my guilt, the end of my evil thoughts, and the rebirth of my better instincts. May it incite me to do the works pleasing to Thee and profitable to my health in body and soul, and be a firm defense against the wiles of my enemies. Amen.