Saints Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin (Secular Franciscans)

Born into a military family in Bordeaux, Louis trained to become a watchmaker. His desire to join a religious community went unfulfilled because he didn’t know Latin. Moving to Normandy, he met the highly-skilled lace maker, Zélie Guérin, who also had been disappointed in her attempts to enter religious life. They married in 1858, and over the years were blessed with nine children, though two sons and two daughters died in infancy.

Louis managed the lace-making business that Zélie continued at home while raising their children. She died from breast cancer in 1877.

Louis then moved the family to Lisieux to be near his brother and sister-in-law, who helped with the education of his five surviving girls. His health began to fail after his 15-year-old daughter entered the Monastery of Mount Carmel at Lisieux in 1888. Louis died in 1894, a few months after being committed to a sanitarium.

The home that Louis and Zélie created nurtured the sanctity of all their children, but especially their youngest, who is known to us as Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Louis and Zélie were beatified in 2008, and canonized by Pope Francis on October 18, 2015. The liturgical feast of Saints Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin is celebrated on July 12.

- From Franciscan Media

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Endorsements!

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I'm not dead yet ...

I have posted little of late - and most of it has been reposts of articles about saints. 

My dental surgery. a haiku workshop I was to present, and the Transitus Mass have been on my mind. I've been caught up in too many political debates on social media. 

I've been feeling tired and drained, so I have not been very creative.  

Well, I guess I just have to get back on the saddle! 

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Saint Pio of Pietrelcina - Padre Pio

In one of the largest such ceremonies in history, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio of Pietrelcina on June 16, 2002. It was the 45th canonization ceremony in Pope John Paul’s pontificate. More than 300,000 people braved blistering heat as they filled St. Peter’s Square and nearby streets. They heard the Holy Father praise the new saint for his prayer and charity. “This is the most concrete synthesis of Padre Pio’s teaching,” said the pope. He also stressed Padre Pio’s witness to the power of suffering. If accepted with love, the Holy Father stressed, such suffering can lead to “a privileged path of sanctity.”

Many people have turned to the Italian Capuchin Franciscan to intercede with God on their behalf; among them was the future Pope John Paul II. In 1962, when he was still an archbishop in Poland, he wrote to Padre Pio and asked him to pray for a Polish woman with throat cancer. Within two weeks, she had been cured of her life-threatening disease.

Born Francesco Forgione, Padre Pio grew up in a family of farmers in southern Italy. Twice his father worked in Jamaica, New York, to provide the family income.

At the age of 15, Francesco joined the Capuchins and took the name of Pio. He was ordained in 1910 and was drafted during World War I. After he was discovered to have tuberculosis, he was discharged. In 1917, he was assigned to the friary in San Giovanni Rotondo, 75 miles from the city of Bari on the Adriatic.

On September 20, 1918, as he was making his thanksgiving after Mass, Padre Pio had a vision of Jesus. When the vision ended, he had the stigmata in his hands, feet, and side.

Life became more complicated after that. Medical doctors, Church authorities, and curiosity seekers came to see Padre Pio. In 1924, and again in 1931, the authenticity of the stigmata was questioned; Padre Pio was not permitted to celebrate Mass publicly or to hear confessions. He did not complain of these decisions, which were soon reversed. However, he wrote no letters after 1924. His only other writing, a pamphlet on the agony of Jesus, was done before 1924.

Padre Pio rarely left the friary after he received the stigmata, but busloads of people soon began coming to see him. Each morning after a 5 a.m. Mass in a crowded church, he heard confessions until noon. He took a mid-morning break to bless the sick and all who came to see him. Every afternoon he also heard confessions. In time his confessional ministry would take 10 hours a day; penitents had to take a number so that the situation could be handled. Many of them have said that Padre Pio knew details of their lives that they had never mentioned.

Padre Pio saw Jesus in all the sick and suffering. At his urging, a fine hospital was built on nearby Mount Gargano. The idea arose in 1940; a committee began to collect money. Ground was broken in 1946. Building the hospital was a technical wonder because of the difficulty of getting water there and of hauling up the building supplies. This “House for the Alleviation of Suffering” has 350 beds.

A number of people have reported cures they believe were received through the intercession of Padre Pio. Those who assisted at his Masses came away edified; several curiosity seekers were deeply moved. Like Saint Francis, Padre Pio sometimes had his habit torn or cut by souvenir hunters.

One of Padre Pio’s sufferings was that unscrupulous people several times circulated prophecies that they claimed originated from him. He never made prophecies about world events and never gave an opinion on matters that he felt belonged to Church authorities to decide. He died on September 23, 1968, and was beatified in 1999.

- From Franciscan Media
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Saint Joseph of Cupertino

St. Joseph of Cupertino is most famous for levitating at prayer. Already as a child, Joseph showed a fondness for prayer. After a short career with the Capuchins, he joined the Conventual Franciscans. Following a brief assignment caring for the friary mule, Joseph began his studies for the priesthood. Though studies were very difficult for him, Joseph gained a great deal of knowledge from prayer. He was ordained in 1628.

Joseph’s tendency to levitate during prayer was sometimes a cross; some people came to see this much as they might have gone to a circus sideshow. Joseph’s gift led him to be humble, patient, and obedient, even though at times he was greatly tempted and felt forsaken by God. He fasted and wore iron chains for much of his life.

The friars transferred Joseph several times for his own good and for the good of the rest of the community. He was reported to and investigated by the Inquisition; the examiners exonerated him.

Joseph was canonized in 1767. In the investigation preceding the canonization, 70 incidents of levitation are recorded.

- From Franciscan Media

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Going Biblical (family tree)

Inspired by a recent Scripture reading at Church, I did this with my family line - 

Guy le Strange begat Roland le Strange

Roland le Strange begat John le Strange 

John le Strange begat John le Strange II

John le Strange II begat John le Strange III

John le Strange III begat John Strange 1st Lord Strange of Knockin

John le Strange 1st Lord Strange of Knockin begat John le Strange 1st Baron Strange of Knokyn

John le Strange 1st Baron Strange of Knokyn begat Hamon le Strange

Hamon le Strange begat Hamon le Strange II 

Hamon leStrange II begat Sir John le Strange VIII

Sir John le Strange VIII begat John Le Strange

John Le Strange begat Sir Henry Beaumont Le Strange

Sir Henry Beaumont Le Strange begat Robert Strange

Robert Strange begat John Strong

John Strong begat George Strong

George Strong begat John Strong

John Strong begat “Elder” John Strong

“Elder” John Strong begat Jerijah Strong

Jerijah Strong begat Deacon Seth Strong Sr 

Deacon Seth Strong Sr begat Asher Strong

Asher Strong begat Alanson Strong 

Alanson Strong begat John A. Strong

John A. Strong begat Robert J. Strong

Robert J. Strong begat Roy Everett Strong

Roy Everett Strong begat Everett Leroy Strong

Everett Leroy Strong begat Lee Francis Strong

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National Day of Remembrance Memorial Service

On September 10 across the country pro-lifers staged a series of memorial services for unborn children as part of the National Day of Remembrance. We held one of the services in Rochester, gathering at a  shrine to aborted children that was built on the St. Thomas the Apostle Church property some 25 years ago thanks to a dedicated team of volunteers. 

Father William Endres led us in prayer and a Rosary, then later blessed the Shrine.

Music was provided by Transfiguration Music.

Kathy Cosgrove of Silent No More shared her own experience.

The last two surviving members of the group that raised funds and created the Shrine also spoke.

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Lepanto

Last year I bought an Ignatius Press edition of G. K. Chesterton's "Lepanto." This particular edition, edited by Dale Ahlquist, included explanatory notes and commentary.

I had read the poem before, but this book brought the poem to life.  

The wonderful notes explained references and context, and linked the poem to passages from Chesterton's other works. Brandon Rogers nicely explained the background for the poem, Colonel Melvin Kriesel offered a military analysis of the battle, William Cinfici describe the aftermath, and Dale provided some analysis of the poem. The edition also includes two of Chesterton's essays - "The True Romance" and "If Don John of Austria Had Married Mary Queen of Scots." 

A happy buy; a happy read.

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Saint Rose of Viterbo, Secular Franciscan

Even as a child, Rose had a great desire to pray and to aid the poor. While still very young, she began a life of penance in her parents’ house. She was as generous to the poor as she was strict with herself. At the age of 10, she became a Secular Franciscan and soon began preaching in the streets about sin and the sufferings of Jesus.

Viterbo, her native city, was then in revolt against the pope. When Rose took the pope’s side against the emperor, she and her family were exiled from the city. When the pope’s side won in Viterbo, Rose was allowed to return. Her attempt at age 15 to found a religious community failed, and she returned to a life of prayer and penance in her father’s home, where she died in 1251. Rose was canonized in 1457.

- From Franciscan Media

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Blessed John Francis Burté and Companions

These priests were victims of the French Revolution. Though their martyrdom spans a period of several years, they stand together in the Church’s memory because they all gave their lives for the same principle. In 1791, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy required all priests to take an oath which amounted to a denial of the faith. Each of these men refused and was executed.

John Francis Burté became a Franciscan at 16 and after ordination taught theology to the young friars. Later he was guardian of the large Conventual friary in Paris until he was arrested and held in the convent of the Carmelites.

Appolinaris of Posat was born in 1739 in Switzerland. He joined the Capuchins and acquired a reputation as an excellent preacher, confessor, and instructor of clerics. Preparing for his assignment to the East as a missionary, he was in Paris studying Oriental languages when the French Revolution began. Refusing the oath, he was swiftly arrested and detained in the Carmelite convent.

Severin Girault, a member of the Third Order Regular, was a chaplain for a group of sisters in Paris. Imprisoned with the others, he was the first to die in the slaughter at the convent.

These three plus 182 others—including several bishops and many religious and diocesan priests—were massacred at the Carmelite house in Paris on September 2, 1792. They were beatified in 1926.

Born in 1737, John Baptist Triquerie became a Conventual Franciscan. He was the chaplain and confessor of Poor Clare monasteries in three cities before he was arrested for refusing to take the oath. He and 13 diocesan priests were martyred in Laval on January 21, 1794. He was beatified in 1955.

- From Franciscan Media

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