St. Benedict Joseph Labre - 16th April 2009

Benedict Joseph Labre was born 26 March 1748 at Amettes, near Boulogne, the son and eldest child of a shopkeeper. After a private education with an uncle, the parish priest at Erin (who died heroically, ministering to, and himself infected by the victims of a cholera epidemic), he tried his vocation unsuccessfully with a number of strict monastic communities: Carthusians (Val-Sainte-Aldegonde, Neuville), Trappists (La Trappe, twice), and Cistercians (Sept-Fonts). His modern namesake, the Capuchin Father Benedict Groeschel, counts eleven attempts at monastic life!

By 1770, when he was twenty-two, it was clear that Benedict Joseph had no vocation to any religious community, and thenceforth he lived as a destitute pilgrim -- walking to shrines all over Europe. His only possessions, besides the single set of clothes he wore, were two rosaries, and three books: a New Testament, a Breviary, and The Imitation of Christ.

He settled permanently in Rome in 1774 (except for an annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Holy House at Loreto), sleeping at night in the Colosseum, and spending his days in the churches of Rome, especially those where the Forty Hours' Devotion was being observed. Santa Maria dei Monti became his favorite Roman church, where he was devoted to a fresco of the Madonna and Child with Saints Stephen, Lawrence, Augustine and Francis. Toward the end of his life, when he had grown severely ill, he did accept shelter sometimes at a hospice for poor men.

By Holy Week of 1783 he was near death, and on Wednesday he collapsed just outside Santa Maria dei Monti after attending Mass. A passerby, a local butcher, picked him up off the street and carried Benedict Joseph to his own nearby home, where, that evening at about eight o'clock, 16 April 1783, Benedict Joseph died after receiving Extreme Unction, aged thirty-five. So great was the crowd thronging his funeral that troops had to be called in to maintain public order.

Within a few months of his death, more than 130 miracles ascribed to the Saint had been carefully recorded. That year, G. L. Marconi, a priest who had been his confessor, published a biography. Benedict Joseph Labre was canonized by Pope Leo XIII, 8 December 1881.

Part of the butcher's house where he died (near Santa Maria dei Monti) was converted into a chapel with an altar, two cupboards containing the scanty relics he left, and a life-size recumbent statue of the Saint, marking the spot where he died, over which hangs a painting of the Madonna. He was buried beneath an altar in a chapel of Santa Maria dei Monti, where there is another life-size marble effigy. The death mask that was made before his burial is extant. Also preserved is one portrait made during his life. While the saint was in an ecstasy before an image of our Lady, he was painted by Antonio Cavallucci, and this portrait hangs in the National Gallery, Rome (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica).

For More about this saint and his writing refer to this link

St. Maro - 15th April 2009

St. Maro chose a solitary abode not far from the city of Cyrrhus in Syria, and there in a spirit of mortification, he lived mainly in the open air. He had indeed a little hut covered with goatskins to shelter him in case of need, but he very seldom made use of it. Finding the ruins of the heathen temple, he dedicated it to the true God, and made it his house of prayer. St. John Chrysostom, who had a great regard for him, wrote to him from Cucusus, the place of his banishment, and, recommending himself to his prayers, begged to hear from him as often as possible. Maro was a disciple of St. Zebinus. He drew great crowds by his spiritual wisdom. He trained many hermits and monks and founded three monasteries. It is believed the Maronites take their name from Bait-Marun monastery near the source of the Orantes river, where a church was erected over his tomb. His feast day is April 15th.

Saint Lidwina - 14th April 2009

Saint Lidwina (Lydwine) lived in Schiedam (Holland). We know a lot about her thanks to many books, including a book about her written by J.K. Huysmans (translated by Agnes Hastings. into English) and reprinted by Tan Books and Publishers of Rockford, IL., in 1979).

The original work is dated 1923 and was published in French.The preface of this work reveals that Jan Gerlac, the sacristan of the Augustinian Monastery of Windesem, was a relation of
hers and he lived a number of years near Lidwina (later in the same house as Lidwina) and thus writes from personal observation and was quoted by Huysmans.

Two other gentlemen are quoted his book. One of these is Thomas à Kempis who was subprior of the Augustinians of Mount Agnes near Zwolle. We know à Kempis as the author of the Imitation of Christ. Lidwina lived in Holland at the time of the Great Schism when the Church was split due to two anti-popes.

At the age of 15 Lidwina broke a rib while ice skating and remained bedridden for the rest of her life. She put her illness to a supernatural purpose. She was suffering voluntarily for the welfare of the Church. She fasted during this entire time when she was bedridden and was found often in ecstacy. She is one of the most heroic victim-souls of all time.

During her lifetime, there was a school of ascetics in Deventer that followed the teachings of Blessed Jan van Ruysbroeck, who preached at Campen, Zwolle, Amsterdam, Leiden, Zutphen, Utrecht, Gouda, Haarlem and Delft. He and his pupil, Florent Radewyns, a Deventer priest, founded the aforementioned Institute of Brothers and Sisters of Communal Life. This order, although it never bore that name, were really oblates of Saint Augustine.

It is interesting to note that the name Lidwina a formalization of Lidie comes from the Dutch word "lijden" which means to suffer. The aid of physicians were enlisted by Lidwina's parents to seek a cure for her disease. She was in intense pain, sobbed on her bed in a state of terrible abandonment, was given to constant vomiting, suffered burning fevers and could not hold down food of any kind. This situation lasted for three years.

Then followed a relatively blissful period but she was still confined to bed and could not get up. In the following years she still suffered greatly from abscesses, inflamed sores, and
it was said she was near death twenty-two times. At the age of 28, the coldest winter ever experienced in Holland set in, when even the fish froze in the rivers, the tears she shed at night froze to her face.

From the Third Order of Saint Francis in Schiedam she received a woolen shirt to wear, however she was not a member of that lay order. Historically, at that time William VI, a duke, was the Count of Holland. As he traveled with his wife, the Countess Marguerite through Schiedam, he granted Lidwina's father, who had fallen on bad times free rent on the premises they occupied. In the 13th and 14th Century, Holland began to see some economic development and William was proclaimed German king in 1247.

There was yet another war, the 100-Year War, but also during that time a number of cities obtained municipal rights, as Hecht already mentioned but also Middelburg, Dortrecht, Delft, Leiden, Haarlem, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Zutphen, Deventer and Kampen obtained municipal privileges. According the Encyclopediae Britannica: "The rise of the towns was accompanied by their struggle for political influence in their respective territories, in which they co-operated with the nobility and the clergy. This led to the growth of representative assemblies which were to become essential political institutions."

Returning to the story of Saint Lidwina, she continued to suffer and the more she suffered, apparently, the more she was given God's Gift of contemplation and bilocation. She was given to be in two places at once, when Jesus asked her to be with him at Golgotha. In answer to His request, Lidwina replied: "O Saviour, I am ready to accompany you to that mountain and to suffer and die there with you!" (Huysmans, 1923)

"He took her with Him, and when she returned to her bed, which corporeally she had never left, they saw ulcers on her lips, wounds on her arms, the marks of thorns on her forehead and splinters on her limbs, which exhaled a very pronounced perfume of spices." A number of miraculous healings were reported. For example, Lidwina prayed for a woman, a friend of hers, who had a frightful toothache. The woman's pain ceased immediately. Also, another woman came to her to ask for her intercession for her child who was screaming with pain. When the child was placed on Lidwina's bed his troubles disappeared. When the child grew up, he became a priest in memory of Lidwina.

Additional miracles continued after her death and she is not forgotten. Her feast day occurs on April 14th.

St. Martin I - 13th April 2009

Today is the feast of St Martin I, let us read what Dr. Plinio has to say about this great Pope and saint.

Biographical selection:

St. Martin was named successor of Pope Theodore I in the year 649. The soul of the new Pope had to be great to face the great difficulties of the times. To save the Church in the East, he condemned Monothelism, which claimed Christ had only one will.

Shortly after, Emperor Constans II, who was a Monothelist, ordered his agents to kidnap the Pope. They took Pope Martin and brought him by ship to stand before the Emperor at Constantinople. The Pope suffered enormously during the voyage and arrived in Constantinople very weak. There he was held in a filthy, freezing cell in a prison for three months. Finally, in handcuffs, he was dragged before a tribunal, and under the depositions of false witnesses he was condemned to death as a traitor and heretic. After the sentence was read, he was taken to a terrace of the palace near the imperial stables where a multitude was gathered.

The judge who had presided at the tribunal approached St. Martin and mocked him: “You see how God delivered you into our hands. You were against the Emperor, and thus has God abandoned you.”

Then the soldiers slashed his clothing and took away his shoes. He was delivered to the prefect of the city with the order of execution. The judge tried to incite the populace to anathematize St. Martin, but the mob remained silent gazing at the ground, with the exception of some 20 people who followed the order. After a while, the crowd dispersed.

The soldiers stripped the Pope of his shredded clothes and dressed him in a grotesque tunic, open on both sides, to humiliate him. They put an iron ring around his neck with a rope attached to it, and dragged him to a prison of common criminals. In the freezing cold, St. Martin trembled and awaited death. But at the last moment his death was commuted to life imprisonment.

In Crimea, where he was exiled, his suffering increased daily until the Creator called his soul in 655. Pope Martin left praiseworthy letters, full of wisdom, as well as his answers to the tribunal, written in a noble and sublime style, worthy of the majesty of the Apostolic See.


Comments of Prof. Plinio:

There are various aspects of this martyrdom that are very instructive to us.

First, the extreme respectability of Pope St. Martin and the special form of torment to which he was subjected. He was a saint and, therefore, aware of the supreme dignity of the Pontifical Throne. He knew it was the highest dignity on earth. The dignity of any King or Emperor cannot be compared to the dignity of the Vicar of Christ, to whom Our Lord gave the keys of Heaven and Earth.

Further St. Martin was a man of noble spirit. The selection allows us to see that he was very intelligent and highly educated. His letters reflected a noble and elevated spirit. He loved what is high and sublime.

Second, he was exposed to one of the worst humiliations a Pope had to suffer since the beginning of the Church. We know that St. Peter was crucified, but few Popes suffered a martyrdom as terrible as that of St. Martin. The Roman Pontiff who knew he was the legitimate representative of Our Lord was badly treated during his trip; when he arrived in Constantinople, he was kept in cruel confinement for three months before he was dragged before a court of Monothelist heretics. The tribunal was already prepared to condemn him.

After the condemnation, he was dressed in ridiculous apparel with an iron ring placed on his neck, as if he were an animal to be pulled here and there by a rope at their pleasure. He was mocked by the judge, who far from being an impartial man, instigated the multitude to laugh at and condemn the Sovereign Pontiff. Next, he was dragged barefoot to a prison of common criminals.

We can see the humiliation this represented for a man who respected himself. Further, it was intensely cold and he was trembling. Some bystanders could possibly interpret his trembling as a symptom of fear and have laughed at him. Finally, he was condemned to exile in the Crimea. He died there as a consequence of such bad treatment. For this reason the Church considers him a martyr.

He faced the worst public ordeals, such as the questioning before the Emperor and the judge, with panache and gave the answers that should be given. To the end he did not compromise. It is a noble example of fortitude.

Third, the cruelty of Emperor Constans II and the Monothelist heretics who surrounded him is notable. The Emperor committed an unspeakable crime practiced in the presence of all the people. An Emperor who exposes the Pope to public humiliation commits a sacrilege and brings the curse of God over the Empire. He and his sycophant, the judge, had planned that the people should laugh at the Pope and anathematize him. Even though they were a bad people, they did not do this.

The people remained silent and walked away. If they had been faithful, they would have risen in indignation and liberated the Pope from that outrage. The fact that they did not do this reveals the stage of decadence into which they had fallen.

Fourth, this episode also points to the centuries of rivalry that existed between Constantinople and Rome, the two largest cities in the world. This rivalry would lead to the Schism in the 11th century and the establishment of the Schismatic Church, which is called schismatic by a kind of historical condescendence, since it had always been heretical.

I read the report of a witness present in Constantinople when it was taken by the Turks in the 15th century. This man observed that the heretical people of Constantinople were literally terrified by the bloody invasion of the Turks. He noted, however, that if that people were to be given the alternative of returning to the Catholic Faith in order to stop the invasion, they would prefer to continue in the heresy and be destroyed by the Turks. That is, among them there was such a blind hatred toward the truth that nothing else mattered.

We see the fanaticism that the enemies of the Church can have.

How can we explain it? I remember a phrase of Donoso Cortes, a great Spanish thinker. He said that, without the grace of God, men normally like only partial truths; they do not like the whole truth, the universal truth. Normally men hate the whole truth more than anything else.

The Catholic Church offers the total truth. This is why she is hatred by so many people. They prefer any error to the whole truth. This explains why those schismatics and heretics of the 15th century hatred the Church; this also explains why Modernists, Progressivists, Communists and others hate the universal truth. For this they will be punished by the justice of God.

These are the comments that the edifying martyrdom of Pope St. Martin suggests. Let us ask him to give us his fortitute and the love for the whole truth.

St. Julie Billiart - 8th April 2009

Born in Cuvilly, France, into a family of well-to-do farmers, young Marie Rose Julia Billiart showed an early interest in religion and in helping the sick and poor. Though the first years of her life were relatively peaceful and uncomplicated, Julie had to take up manual work as a young teen when her family lost its money. However, she spent her spare time teaching catechism to young people and to the farm laborers.

A mysterious illness overtook her when she was about 30. Witnessing an attempt to wound or even kill her father, Julie was paralyzed and became a complete invalid. For the next two decades she continued to teach catechism lessons from her bed, offered spiritual advice and attracted visitors who had heard of her holiness.

When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, revolutionary forces became aware of her allegiance to fugitive priests. With the help of friends she was smuggled out of Cuvilly in a haycart; she spent several years hiding in Compiegne, being moved from house to house despite her growing physical pain. She even lost the power of speech for a time.

But this period also proved to be a fruitful spiritual time for Julie. It was at this time she had a vision in which she saw Calvary surrounded by women in religious habits and heard a voice saying, "Behold these spiritual daughters whom I give you in an Institute marked by the cross." As time passed and Julie continued her mobile life, she made the acquaintance of an aristocratic woman, Francoise Blin de Bourdon, who shared Julie's interest in teaching the faith. In 1803 the two women began the Institute of Notre Dame, which was dedicated to the education of the poor as well as young Christian girls and the training of catechists. The following year the first Sisters of Notre Dame made their vows. That was the same year that Julie recovered from the illness: She was able to walk for the first time in 22 years.

Though Julie had always been attentive to the special needs of the poor and that always remained her priority, she also became aware that other classes in society needed Christian instruction. From the founding of the Sisters of Notre Dame until her death, Julie was on the road, opening a variety of schools in France and Belgium that served the poor and the wealthy, vocational groups, teachers. Ultimately, Julie and Francoise moved the motherhouse to Namur, Belgium.

Julie died there in 1816. She was canonized in 1969.

St Isidore of Seville - 4th April 2009

Today is the feast of St Isidore of Seville. Let us read what Dr. Plinio has to say about this great saint.

Biographical selection:

Bishop and Doctor of the Church, illustrious for his doctrine and sanctity, St. Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636) illuminated Spain with his zeal, Catholic Faith, and observance of ecclesiastical discipline. Born in Cartegena, Spain, he was considered the most learned man of his times. He was a prolific writer, and fought tenaciously against the Arians.

His name shines in a family of saints: His elder brother St. Leander was his immediate predecessor in the See of Seville; while a younger brother St. Fulgentius presided over the Bishopric of Astigi. His sister Florentina was a nun, and ruled over forty convents and one thousand religious.

In his Chosen Works, there is a text titled “Lamentations of a Sinner.” In it, St. Isidore advises:

“In all your acts, in all your works, in all your behavior, imitate the good; be a competitor of the saints, keep your eye on the heroism of the martyrs, follow the example of the just. It is my wish that the life and teachings of the saints be for you an encouragement to virtue.

“Have a good spirit, maintain your good reputation and do not diminish it with any bad action; do not let it fall into dishonor.

“Demonstrate what you think by your bearing and your walk. Have simplicity in the way you present yourself, purity in your walk, gravity in your gestures, honesty in your step. Do not display lasciviousness, arrogance, and superficiality. The stance of the body is the indicator of the mind. Your walk, therefore, should not represent superficiality; your step should not affront yourself or your neighbor.

“Do not permit yourself to be a spectacle for the gossip of others; do not allow your honor to be degraded. Do not associate with vain people. Avoid the bad; rebuff the indolent. Flee overmuch association with men, especially those who are more inclined to vice.

“Seek the good, desire their company. Look for the company of the saints. If you will share their way of acting, you will share their virtue. If you walk with wise men, you will be wise; if you walk with idiots, you will be an idiot, for persons seek those of similar stripe.

“It is dangerous to live among bad persons; it is harmful to be surrounded by those with perverse wills. You will feed yourself on their infamy if you associate with the undignified. It is better to suffer the hatred of evil persons than their company. Analogously, just as much good comes from the lives of the saints, much evil comes from the lives of bad persons, for those who touch what is filthy become contaminated.”


Comments of Prof. Plinio:

To comment on this beautiful excerpt of St. Isidore, let me highlight two points.

First, he establishes a profound link between the moral conduct of a man and his exterior behavior, that is, how the man presents himself and the way he appears before others. The basic idea is that everyone should appear before others in accordance with a Catholic moral ideal. In other words, no one should be entirely spontaneous and follow his first uncontrolled instincts. That is revolutionary. By his external way of being, his bearing, his gaze, his walking, his behavior, every man should symbolize the moral ideal he follows.

The presupposition of St. Isidore is that, since we have original sin, it is not true that our virtue will always appear when we deal with others. Many times virtue is not apparent, but rather our bad side shows. So, we should be careful to express what is good and repress what is bad. We have the obligation to suppress our bad side in our external behavior. This is not hypocrisy or vanity. It is an obligation of respect to others and principally to God. It is an implicit affirmation that the vice that lives in us has no right to appear in the light of day.

Hence, we have to discipline ourselves and follow an exterior way of conduct that will reflect the best of that we are interiorly. If man were free of original sin, this would not be necessary. But since original sin exists, we must discipline ourselves and control our bad impulses.

This is why in any civilization that achieves a certain degree of perfection, parents teach their children to have good posture and fine manners in order to reflect their ideal.

Second, when St. Isidore speaks of how one should seek out the good and avoid bad company, he implicitly refutes the progressivist mentality that affirms that the good should mix with the bad in order to “do apostolate.” This is an error. If we start to associate with those who are bad, we will become bad also.

These words of St. Isidore frontally oppose the progressivist method of “apostolate of conquest,” which preaches that Catholics should “bring Christ to the world.” This was the mentality of the student and worker social movements that have inundated the Church since the 1930s. Their partisans preach that Catholics should seek out worldly men and women in their own circles – in factories, football stadiums, or nightclubs. The practical result of such experiences was that the worker-priests who went to the factories became communists; those who went to nightclubs became morally relaxed and increasingly compromised in their Catholic principles. Large sectors of the Church became infected with this permissive mentality.

An analogous thing is happening with Vatican II’s aggiornamento, that is, the adaptation of the Catholic Church to the modern world. Instead of changing the world and converting it to Catholicism, what is happening is precisely the opposite: The world is conquering the Church. Everywhere we see priests and Bishops abandoning their respectable habits and cassocks and wearing worldly clothes; we see churches built in the modern art styles and imitating theaters, the Mass becoming a show for the public, popular music invading the sanctuaries, and revolutionary customs and clothes being admitted everywhere to accomodate the youth.

St. Isidore of Seville thinks otherwise. He advises us to contain our bad spontaneity, to always be dignified. His words of advice also explain the failure of the aggiornamento: “Analogously, just as much good comes from the lives of the saints, much evil comes from the lives of bad persons, for those who touch what is filthy become contaminated.”

Let us ask the great St. Isidore of Seville to give us both the self-discipline to present only the dignified aspects of our souls in our external behavior and the discernment to know what is good and bad. Then we should foster in ourselves an admiration for the good and the desire to follow it, and a rejection for the evil and the resolve to resist it.

St. Benedict the African - 3rd April 2009

Benedict held important posts in the Franciscan Order and gracefully adjusted to other work when his terms of office were up.

His parents were slaves brought from Africa to Messina, Sicily. Freed at 18, Benedict did farm work for a wage and soon saved enough to buy a pair of oxen. He was very proud of those animals. In time he joined a group of hermits around Palermo and was eventually recognized as their leader. Because these hermits followed the Rule of St. Francis, Pope Pius IV ordered them to join the First Order.

Benedict was eventually novice master and then guardian of the friars in Palermo— positions rarely held in those days by a brother. In fact, Benedict was forced to accept his election as guardian. And when his term ended he happily returned to his work in the friary kitchen.

Benedict corrected the friars with humility and charity. Once he corrected a novice and assigned him a penance only to learn that the novice was not the guilty party. Benedict immediately knelt down before the novice and asked his pardon.

In later life Benedict was not possessive of the few things he used. He never referred to them as "mine" but always called them "ours." His gifts for prayer and the guidance of souls earned him throughout Sicily a reputation for holiness. Following the example of St. Francis, Benedict kept seven 40-day fasts throughout the year; he also slept only a few hours each night.

After Benedict’s death, King Philip III of Spain paid for a special tomb for this holy friar. Canonized in 1807, he is honored as a patron saint by African-Americans.

St. Francis Of Paula - 2ns April 2009

Saint Francis Of Paula, founder of the order of Minims, born at Paula or Paola, Calabria, in 1416, died at Plessis-les-Tours, France, April 2, 1507. His family name has been variously given as Martorello, Martotillo, and Re-tortillo. Commines, who gives all the details of his stay in France, constantly calls him Frere Robert. This may have been his first name, to which that of Francis was added at a later date. He was devoted by his parents to St. Francis of Assisi, to whose intercession they ascribed his birth, after their marriage had been long childless.

He was early placed in an unreformed convent of Franciscans in Calabria, where he surpassed all the monks in the strict observance of the rule. In 1428 he returned to Paula, resigned his right of inheritance, and retired to a grotto to lead the life of a hermit. He was hardly 20 years old when he found many followers, who built themselves cells near his grotto. He received from the archbishop of Cosenza permission to build a church and convent, which were completed in 1436. From this year dates the establishment of the order of Minims, which adopted the name of hermits of St. Francis. To the usual three monastic vows (poverty, chastity, obedience) St. Francis added as a fourth perpetual abstinence, not only from meat, but also from eggs and milk, except in sickness.

He himself was still more ascetic. He slept on the bare ground, took no food before sunset, often contented himself with bread and water, and sometimes ate only every other day. The fame of miracles reported of him induced Pope Paul II. in 1469 to send his chamberlain to investigate the facts. The report was very favorable. Pope Sixtus IV. confirmed the new order, appointed the founder superior general, and permitted him to establish as many convents as he could. King Louis XL of France, attacked by a fatal disease, sent for him in the hope of being cured; but Francis waited until, in 1482, the pope ordered him to go. He met the sick king in Tours, and exhorted him to leave the issue of his sickness to the will of God, and to prepare himself for death. The successor of Louis, Charles VIII, retained the saint in France, and consulted him in cases of conscience as well as in state affairs, and built for him two convents in France and one in Rome. Francis was canonized by Pope Leo X. in 1519.

St. Hugh of Grenoble - 1st April 2009

St. Hugh was born on in 1052, at Châteauneuf, France near Valence in the Dauphiné. St. Hugh was born to a pious family. His father, Odilo, was a soldier and he had been married twice. Odilo later became a Carthusian; as a religious order of great austerity dedicated exclusively to the contemplative life, the Carthusians were founded by St. Bruno in 1084 in the Chartreuse Mountains, a lonely branch of the French Alps.

Odilo died at the age of 100, receiving viaticum from his son in whose arms he passed away. After education begun in Valence and completed with distinction in foreign centres of learning, Hugh was presented to a canonry (the office of a canon) in the cathedral of Valence through still a layman - such benefices at that period being often conferred on young students without orders. At the time when Hugh was very young, good-looking, and extremely bashful, he won all hearts by his courtesy and by the modesty which led him to conceal and underrate his talents and learning.

The bishop of Die, another Hugh, was so charmed by his namesake when he came to Valence that he insisted upon attaching him to his household. The prelate soon proved the young canon's worth by entrusting him with some difficult negotiations in the campaign then directed against simony; and in 1080 he took him to a synod at Avignon, called to consider, amongst other matters, the disorders which had crept into the vacant see of Grenoble. The council and the delegates from Grenoble severally and collectively appear to have looked on Canon Hugh as the one man who was capable of dealing with the disorders complained of; but through unanimously elected it was with the greatest reluctance that he consented to accept the office. The legate himself conferred on him holy orders up to the priesthood, and took him to Rome that he might receive consecration as bishop from the pope. Immediately after consecration, St. Hugh hurried off to his diocese, but he was appalled by the state of his flock. St. Hugh had the ability in dealing with both the immorality and wickedness that were predominant and common in Grenoble. St. Hugh was elected bishop at the age of twenty-five.

For two years, Hugh laboured unremittingly. The excellent results he was obtaining were clear to all but to himself: he only saw his failures and blamed his own incompetence. It had been two years of preaching, denunciations, rigorous fasts and continuous praying. Because Hugh was discouraged, he quietly withdrew to the Cluniac Abbey of Chaise-Dieu, where he received the Benedictine habit. He did not remain there long, for Pope Gregory commanded him to resume his pastoral charge and return to Grenoble.

It was to St. Hugh of Grenoble that St. Bruno and his companions addressed themselves when they decided to forsake the world, and it was he who granted to them the desert called the Chartreuse, that gave its name to their order. The bishop became greatly attached to the monks; it was his delight to visit them in their solitude, joining in their exercises and performing the most menial offices. Sometimes he would linger so long in these congenial surroundings that St. Bruno was constrained to remind him of his flock and of his episcopal duties. St. Hugh's preaching with greater intensity and passion than earlier times at Grenoble, drove several people into the state of sadness and sorrow; St. Hugh was so effective that some would make confessions in the public. Despite his achievements, St. Hugh would frequently ask one Pope after another to be transferred; however, the Popes of his time felt he was needed in Grenoble.

A generous almsgiver, St. Hugh in a time of famine sold a gold chalice as well as rings and precious stones from his church treasury; and rich men were stirred by his example to give liberally to feed the hungry and supply the needs of the diocese. His actions were perfect examples in helping the needy, avoiding unimportant money and belongings, and living a true Christian life. St. Hugh's charitable actions and way of living helped influence, teach and persuade other rich people into giving generously to the hungry and needy.

Although at the end of life his soul was further purified by a lingering illness of a very painful character, Hugh never uttered a word of complaint, nor would he speak of what he endured. St. Hugh had suffered drastic health problems in the last forty years of his life. A short time before his death he lost his memory for everything but prayer, and he would recite the psalter or the Lord's Prayer without intermission. St. Hugh died on 1 April 1132, having been a bishop for fifty-two years. Pope Innocent II canonized him two years later.

St. Stephen of Mar Saba - 31st March 2009

I do apologize for not updating sooner. I have been busy writing up some articles for a magazine and taking care of some other personal issues.

Stephen of Mar Saba was the nephew of St. John Damascene, who introduced the young boy to monastic life beginning at age 10. When he reached 24, Stephen served the community in a variety of ways, including guest master. After some time he asked permission to live a hermit's life. The answer from the abbot was yes and no: Stephen could follow his preferred lifestyle during the week, but on weekends he was to offer his skills as a counselor. Stephen placed a note on the door of his cell: "Forgive me, Fathers, in the name of the Lord, but please do not disturb me except on Saturdays and Sundays."

Despite his calling to prayer and quiet, Stephen displayed uncanny skills with people and was a valued spiritual guide.

His biographer and disciple wrote about Stephen: "Whatever help, spiritual or material, he was asked to give, he gave. He received and honored all with the same kindness. He possessed nothing and lacked nothing. In total poverty he possessed all things."

Stephen died in 794.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem - 18th March 2009

We are lucky to have commentaries of Dr. Plinio for 3 days in a row. Let us read his comments on St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

Biographical selection:

Cyril was born in Jerusalem in 315. From his youth he dedicated himself to the study of the Holy Scriptures and acquired a great knowledge of Church doctrine by reading the Fathers who came before him. When St. Maximus died, Cyril succeeded him in the See of Jerusalem in 349.

At the beginning of his episcopacy, he became famous for a dispute with Acacius, Archbishop of Caesarea, an ardent follower of Arianism who abhorred Cyril and his orthodoxy. Because of the plots of Acacius, he was exiled twice from Jerusalem. But after Julian the Apostate was raised to the throne of the Empire, a general amnesty was granted for Prelates who had been exiled; therefore, he entered the city and re-assumed his see.

From there, he witnessed the miraculous obstacles sent by God that made it impossible to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. Julian, who took the side of the Jews against the Catholics, tried to rebuild the Temple two times. The first time the recently laid foundation was destroyed by an earthquake; the second time the groundwork was destroyed by flames of fire that burst forth from the ground. During these attempts of reconstruction, St. Cyril calmly affirmed that the prophecy of Christ would remain true, and that not one stone of the Temple would be left standing upon another.

He was exiled for a third time when Emperor Valens, a follower of Arianism, decreed the expulsion of all Prelates recalled by Julian. Under Theodosius, he returned from this exile to find his flock torn by heresies and schisms. He made great efforts to achieve doctrinal unity and peace.

In 381 he took part in the Council of Constantinople and signed the condemnation of semi-Arianism. He died in 386. His great work, The Catecheses, or Catechetical Lectures, is turned toward the preparation of catechumens and neophytes.

Comments of Prof. Plinio:

Parallel to Bishops who were founders of nations, like St. Patrick, whose life we have already commented on, there were also Bishops whom we can call pillars of the Church. They existed primarily in the East, and St. Cyril of Jerusalem was one of them.

When the Church left the Catacombs, many of her members were contaminated by a spirit of tepidness and spiritual decadence that propitiated the infiltration of paganism into Catholic milieus. It was a subtle penetration that stimulated them to accept diverse heresies. It was an attempt of the Devil to make them shake off the easy yoke of Our Lord placed by Constantine over the entire Empire.

In the West heresies popped up, one more harmful than the other, until the fall of the Roman Empire. In the East those heresies would continue. Such heresies, however, gave rise to numerous heroic and saintly Bishops who fought like lions against them. These heroes often ended by being defeated, but they filled the Church with splendor. They wrote works; they took positions that later would be admired and serve as a base to build the magnificent edifice of the Middle Ages.

Considering the example of St. Cyril of Jerusalem and so many other Saints, we understand what the fight for the Church should be. One must fight expending all his strength and resources. At times, he will die in the battle without fully realizing the effect of his effort, for often only the immediate defeat is apparent. But afterwards, that effort is remembered and treasured by others as a precious legacy, and it gives great fruits.

The Fathers and the Doctors of the Church – St. Cyril is one of them – played an enormous role in setting the foundations for Scholasticism and establishing the Catholic State in the Middle Ages. They were received with ingratitude by their contemporaries, but they formed the basis for the great triumph of Catholic Civilization.

From such examples, we can understand that we should fight for the cause of the Church by assuming a similar state of spirit that can appear paradoxical:

First, we must fight with the certainty that we are defeating the Revolution, which will fall under the blows we are giving it. We feel an appeal of Divine Providence calling us to do this and a promise that Our Lady wants to use us to accomplish this work.

Second, we must have such a great dedication to this fight that, even if we were to die without having defeated the Revolution and seeing the Reign of Mary, we would close our eyes in peace knowing that our effort will have an effect.

Third, even if this effort were not to have any effect in the future and would never be known to future generations, even if it would be lost in anonymity, we should be at peace because we will know that in the Book of Life, our fight was written for the Day of Judgment. It will be recognized that at the moment in History when Our Lady was prisoner there were some few who came to fight for her. In a world where truth was no longer welcome, there were some who proclaimed it. In this epoch of darkness, there were some who glorified God.

Therefore, our fight - which is motivated by these three certainties - is always a work that gives fruit. And if it is an incessant, indomitable fight in which we use every legitimate means, it will be an invincible one.

Let us pray to the great St. Cyril of Jerusalem to obtain for us the spirit of Faith he showed and left as an example so that we might destroy the Revolution in our days.

St. Patrick - 17th March 2009

Today is the feast of St Patrick of Ireland. Today is the day a lot of people will get drunk on gree beer. I don't think St Patrick would approve at all. Let us read what Dr. Plino has to say about the patron saint of Ireland.

Biographical selection:

Patrick was the Apostle of a people, the light of Ireland, the father of this nation whose martyrdom will endure for ages. In him the gift of the apostolate shone. Christ put this gift in His Church and it will remain in her to the end times.

Some apostles were given the mission of working with a small part of the Gentiles and planting a seed among a certain group of people. It germinates to a greater or lesser degree according to the maliciousness or docility of men. But other apostles have the mission of making rapid conquests and submitting entire nations to the Gospel. Patrick belongs to this latter type of apostles. We should honor him as one of the most outstanding monuments of Divine Mercy toward men. His work was admirably solid.

In the 5th century, Great Britain was unaware that the Messiah had come. All the northern nations slept in the darkness of faithlessness. Before the successive awaking of many of those peoples, Ireland received the news of salvation. The word of God brought by the Apostle Patrick grew on that emerald Island, more fertile in fruits of grace than of nature. Its saints were abundant and spread throughout Europe.

The Irish missionaries spread the evangelization they received from their Founding Saint to other countries. When the hour of the great apostasy of the 16th century sounded, Germany, England, Scotland and the Scandinavian nations fell to Protestantism. But Ireland remained faithful. No persecution, subtle or atrocious as it might be, was able to take it from the Catholic Faith as taught by St. Patrick.


Comments of Prof. Plinio:

These beautiful words of Dom Guéranger bring before our eyes one of those figures of evangelizers of entire peoples. Dom Guéranger makes a distinction that is very true and shows us what we often call a man of the right hand of God.

There are certain men chosen by God to make limited, small apostolates. For this work they are efficient and powerful. God gives them the graces for those efforts, but their works do not spread further. In Europe there are many Saints who are famous in their Dioceses, in the places they professed their vows or made various foundations. They sowed the seeds of Christendom in those specific places, where they are venerated. They are chosen as Patron Saints of a region, and local pilgrimages are made to their tombs. They constitute part of the rich multitude of facets that regional life brings to the ensemble of the Church and society.

There are other men, however, who play roles in the life of the Church on an international scale. Such apostles can be called men of the right hand of God in a more marked way. Obstacles are insignificant before them. They realize things no one would imagine possible to do. In this way they rapidly accelerate the march of History and the progress of the Church. We can say that St. Patrick was one of those men.

What is said about St. Patrick could also be said regarding Ireland. We normally stress the influence of Cluny in the Middle Ages. It is a correct point. But it is also important to stress the role played by the Irish people. Ireland was a true starting point for the irradiation of the Catholic Faith into nations that gave much glory to God, although centuries later they would become Protestant.

As the Catholic Faith established itself in Ireland, monasteries were founded throughout the country. By means of these monasteries, the Irish participated in the missionary action of the Carolingian Empire. In this sense they played a role in evangelizing England, Scotland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and the nations of the Northern Sea. In that time Ireland played a role similar to that which the Iberian Peninsula would play in the 16th century, when Spain and Portugal were the point of evangelization of Latin America, as well as parts of Africa and Asia. Analogously, after a period of irradiation, the glory of Ireland - like the glory of Spain and Portugal - faded.

The Revolution and the Secret Forces employed every effort to make Spain and Portugal apostatize from the Catholic Faith. The world glory of those countries faded, and in many points they denied the Catholic position, although some of the old fidelity still remains. Ireland, however, never apostatized. It received this prize because it was the apostolic nation of the North. Ireland remains firm, very firm for the glory of God.

This fact is very beautiful and should raise our hearts to God in thanksgiving. But it is also true that Ireland was infiltrated by Socialism and other forms of the Revolution. Irish Catholicism became in large measure liberal and progressivist. As a result the Irish immigration to the United States was largely made up of leftists and liberal Catholics. That is to say, that magnificent Catholic Ireland became rotten in great part through the maneuvers of the Revolution even though it remained inside the Church.

Let us pray to St. Patrick to obtain from Our Lady an end to this situation so that everything will not be corrupted. If things continue the way they are going, this is what will happen in a short time. It is why it is necessary that God intervene soon.

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer - 16th March 2009

Let us read what Dr. Plino has to comment about the life of St. Clement Mary Hofbauer

Biographical selection:

Apostle of Vienna, born in Tasswitz, Austria on December 26, 1751, died on March 15, 1821.

After his course in theology, Clement entered the University of Vienna for seminary training. It was not long before he realized that some of his teachers were not rejecting the Rationalism of the 18th century. They were looking for a strange reconciliation between Catholic doctrine and Enlightenment thinking.

From the time he was very young, Clement had been gifted with a secure Catholic sense that permitted him to distinguish with certainty what was true Catholic doctrine. He was anguished, therefore, to hear these falsified doctrines.

One day after class, he went to the teacher to present objections to the adaptation to Enlightenment thinking that the professor had made in his lecture. The teacher tried to explain to him that it would be very difficult in the climate of the epoch to follow the traditional doctrine of the Church, since only the language of reason was accepted, either from the pulpit or the university chairs. He concluded: “We have to swim with the tide if we don’t want to be left behind.”

The simple son of a laborer responded: “To swim with the tide in this case is cowardice, since we have to fight and swim against the tide of this ocean. Whosoever wants to shine the light upon the road for this century must ignite his torch in the light of Revelation.”

The professor replied: “Hofbauer, you will preach to empty pews. Our epoch no longer supports that kind of talk.”

Clement made this reply: “If what you say is true, then we are already in the end times announced by St. Paul, who said that times would come that would no longer tolerate sound doctrine. What would St. Paul say about your thinking, professor?”

On another occasion a professor stated in class that the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin was just a pious legend, and that it should no longer be spoken of in public. Clement stood up indignantly and said: “Professor, this doctrine is not Catholic!” And he left the room.

“Perhaps one day a little more light will enter the mind of this peasant!” the professor shouted to his retreating back. But he was obliged to end the class then, since the room had emptied. All the students had followed Hofbauer.

Comments of Prof. Plinio:

It is interesting to note and identify here the methods of the Revolution. The 18th century seems very remote to us. It was the time of litters, hoop skirts and tricorne hats. The 19th century also seems far away to us today. Perhaps some of you would not distinguish the century of Ramses II from the century of Queen Victoria. Almost everything from the past seems immersed in the same cloudy historical background.

Well, in that time that seems so ancient to us, men already imagined themselves to be very modern. They already defended the idea that one has to cede a little in face of the Revolution in order not to give up everything. This motto was already being adopted: “Cede to not lose.” The same modernist current that we see today was already using the same methods and assuming the same type of cowardice.

Notice, for example, the threat the professor made to St. Clement Marie Hofbauer: “When you leave here, you will preach to empty pews.” It is the same thing they say to us: The doctrine you defend is no longer able to attract men today.

But in reality what happened was that St. Clement spoke out, and the whole class followed him. Therefore, the situation was not so lost as they presented it. It is a fact that the Enlightenment exerted great influence on the leadership and some among the grassroots. But there were still persons who were disposed to follow one who would courageously act and take up the complete Catholic position. Yesterday – as well as today – the right thing to do is to speak the whole truth.

It is also interesting to see how counter-revolutionary the position of St. Clement Marie Hofbauer was. He fought against the motto: “Cede to not lose.” He did not cede an inch in face of the threat that he would be preaching to empty pews. If this, in fact, would happen, his conclusion was that the end times had arrived. His professor didn’t want to think about such a thing. Like almost all the progressivists today, the liberals of that time didn’t want to consider that possibility – for them there is no end of time. On the contrary, what they want is more time to enjoy life. The same spirit that opposed St. Clement Hofbauer in the 18th and 19th centuries is combating us today.

In the similarities you find in this episode from the life of St. Clement Hofbauer and in what happens in our fight today, you can see one of the principle laws of History. That is, that there is a continuity in the same good spirit and the same bad spirit fighting one another through the centuries.

For this reason we should not consider ourselves as a small group that is separated from everyone in the past and the future, like something that suddenly appeared out of nowhere separated from everything, like a cork floating on the ocean. No, we are not alone, we are those who are united with a whole current of Catholics, those who continue and maintain a state of spirit that has existed since the beginning of History and will last until the end. We are a link in the most magnificent and majestic of chains, the chain of the slaves of Our Lady who will crush the head of the serpent.

From the example of St. Clement Marie Hofbauer, we can see that the enemies he combated are the same as the enemies we combat. Our fight did not start today. It is a fight that began long ago and will last much longer. It is part of a golden chain that started in the Old Testament and will continue until the final days of tribulation when the last Catholics will still be fighting even if they consider everything to be lost.

At that moment the Son of the Man, Our Lord Jesus Christ, will come in great pomp and majesty to conquer, to judge and to close History. And then, this chain will be complete and all of its member will join together, by the favor of Our Lady, in Heaven.

St. Louise de Marillac - 15 March 2009

(St Louise de Marillac in St Peter's Basilica)

Louise, born near Meux, France, lost her mother when she was still a child, her beloved father when she was but 15. Her desire to become a nun was discouraged by her confessor, and a marriage was arranged. One son was born of this union. But she soon found herself nursing her beloved husband through a long illness that finally led to his death.

Louise was fortunate to have a wise and sympathetic counselor, St. Francis de Sales, and then his friend, the Bishop of Belley, France. Both of these men were available to her only periodically. But from an interior illumination she understood that she was to undertake a great work under the guidance of another person she had not yet met. This was the holy priest M. Vincent, later to be known as St. Vincent de Paul.

At first he was reluctant to be her confessor, busy as he was with his "Confraternities of Charity." Members were aristocratic ladies of charity who were helping him nurse the poor and look after neglected children, a real need of the day. But the ladies were busy with many of their own concerns and duties. His work needed many more helpers, especially ones who were peasants themselves and therefore close to the poor and could win their hearts. He also needed someone who could teach them and organize them.

Only over a long period of time, as Vincent de Paul became more acquainted with Louise, did he come to realize that she was the answer to his prayers. She was intelligent, self-effacing and had physical strength and endurance that belied her continuing feeble health. The missions he sent her on eventually led to four simple young women joining her. Her rented home in Paris became the training center for those accepted for the service of the sick and poor. Growth was rapid and soon there was need of a so-called rule of life, which Louise herself, under the guidance of Vincent, drew up for the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (though he preferred "Daughters" of Charity).

He had always been slow and prudent in his dealings with Louise and the new group. He said that he had never had any idea of starting a new community, that it was God who did everything. "Your convent," he said, "will be the house of the sick; your cell, a hired room; your chapel, the parish church; your cloister, the streets of the city or the wards of the hospital." Their dress was to be that of the peasant women. It was not until years later that Vincent de Paul would finally permit four of the women to take annual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. It was still more years before the company would be formally approved by Rome and placed under the direction of Vincent's own congregation of priests.

Many of the young women were illiterate and it was with reluctance that the new community undertook the care of neglected children. Louise was busy helping wherever needed despite her poor health. She traveled throughout France, establishing her community members in hospitals, orphanages and other institutions. At her death on March 15, 1660, the congregation had more than 40 houses in France. Six months later St. Vincent de Paul followed her in death.

Louise de Marillac was canonized in 1934 and declared patroness of social workers in 1960.

St. Maximilian - 14th March 2009

We have an early, precious, almost unembellished account of the martyrdom of St. Maximilian in modern-day Algeria.

Brought before the proconsul Dion, Maximilian refused enlistment in the Roman army saying, "I cannot serve, I cannot do evil. I am a Christian."

Dion replied: "You must serve or die."

Maximilian: "I will never serve. You can cut off my head, but I will not be a soldier of this world, for I am a soldier of Christ. My army is the army of God, and I cannot fight for this world. I tell you I am a Christian."

Dion: "There are Christian soldiers serving our rulers Diocletian and Maximian, Constantius and Galerius."

Maximilian: "That is their business. I also am a Christian, and I cannot serve."

Dion: "But what harm do soldiers do?"

Maximilian: "You know well enough."

Dion: "If you will not do your service I shall condemn you to death for contempt of the army."

Maximilian: "I shall not die. If I go from this earth my soul will live with Christ my Lord."

Maximilian was 21 years old when he gladly offered his life to God. His father went home from the execution site joyful, thanking God that he had been able to offer heaven such a gift.

St. Leander of Seville - 13 March 2009

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Leander of Seville. Let us read what Dr. Plinio has to say about this saint.

Biographical selection:

St. Leander, a close friend of St. Gregory the Great, was born in Carthagena to a family of high nobility. He was the eldest brother of several saints. His brother, St. Isidore, succeeded him as Bishop of Seville. Another brother, St. Fulgentius, became Bishop of Carthagena, and his sister, St. Florentina, became an Abbess in Carthagena.

When he was still young, Leander retired to a Benedictine monastery where he became a model of learning and piety. In 579 he was raised to the episcopal see of Seville, where he continued to practice his customary austerities and penances.

At that time, a part of the territory of Spain was dominated by the Visigoths. Those barbarians were Arians and had spread their errors in the cities they had conquered. The Iberian Peninsula had been infected by that heresy for 170 years when St. Leander was chosen Bishop of Seville. He began to combat it immediately. With the help of God, to Whom he had recourse, his efforts were successful and the heresy began to lose hold on its followers. He also played an important role in the conversion of Hermenegild, the eldest son of the Visigoth King.

King Leovigild, however, became angry over his son’s conversion and St. Leander’s activity. He exiled the Saint, and condemned his son to death. Later, he repented, recalled the Saint to Spain and asked him to educate and form his other son and successor, Reccared, who became a Catholic and helped the Saint to convert the rest of his subjects.

St. Leander played a central role at two councils, the Council of Seville and the Third Council of Toledo, where Visigothic Spain abjured Arianism in all its forms. He also wrote an influential Rule for his sister with instructions on prayer and renunciation of the world. He reformed the liturgy in Spain, adding the Nicene Creed to the Mass in order to make an express profession of the Faith against Arianism. Later, this practice passed to other Catholic countries. He died in 596.

Comments of Prof. Plinio:

This is a very rich selection that allows many comments.

First, one’s attention is caught by the extraordinary blossoming of saints in that period. In a family of high nobility, there were at the same time St. Isidore of Seville, who was one of the greatest saints of Spanish history, St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Carthagena, St. Florentina, an Abbess, and St. Leander. That is, four saints from the same house, coming from a single noble family of that time. You can see how beautiful it is that all were from the same lineage. It is a way God shows how a family line is useful for His plans.

Second, the vitality of sanctity in that epoch is also remarkable. That puissance of sanctity did not come from this or that religious order, but straight from the Holy Ghost. There was no apparent connection between St. Gregory the Great in Italy, these saintly brothers and sister in Spain, and other holy figures in Gaul, Germany, England, etc. These were Saints who often did not even know each other. It does not seem that they were the fruit of a particular movement, but rather, issued from a general and universal action of the Holy Ghost.

This blossoming of saints which inaugurated the Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Middle Ages is one of the most beautiful phenomena in History. That such a marvelous harvest of saints took place in the past leads us to think that there will be another similar blooming of saints that will inaugurate the Reign of Mary.

Third, St. Leander had to face a difficult problem: the heretical barbarians had dominated Spain for 170 years. Those barbarians were not pagans, as many people think. Before the barbarians invaded the Western Roman Empire, a reprobate bishop named Ulfilas had taught among the Germanic tribes in various lands and perverted them to Arianism. So when these tribes invaded Europe, they spread Arianism everywhere. This is what had happened in Spain.

The Catholics in Spain were the descendents of the old citizens of the Roman Empire. They had been defeated and submitted to the Visigoths, who represented the new people full of energy ready to replace the old Romans. The Catholics were oppressed under the yoke of those Arian Visigoths. From a historic perspective, 170 years can appear a short time, but in reality it is not. It represented almost two centuries of consolidated Arian dominion in Spain.

St. Leander was called to overthrow that dominion. How did he carry out his mission? In an admirable way. First of all, by praying to God through the mediation of Our Lady, asking for the necessary supernatural help, aware that without grace, no man relying on only his own means can be successful in his apostolate. Assisted by special graces, he began to preach against Arianism, and the conversions came in colossal numbers. The power of Arianism began to weaken.

The King, furious over such an attack, exiled St. Leander and killed his own son, who became a martyr. Then the King repented, brought back St. Leander and asked him to educate his other son. When Reccared rose to the throne, he helped consolidate the work of St. Leander. It is an admirable example of collaboration between Church and State. The Church, by the voice of a Saint, prepared the situation; the State entered to fully resolve the problem with the cooperation of a faithful King. With this, Arianism disappeared from Spain forever.

These are several aspects of the historic reality that we can discern reading the life of St. Leander of Seville, one of the greatest figures of Spanish history.

Let us ask him to give us his unrelenting spirit to fight against the heresy that resides in Progressivism, a synthesis of all the heresies, which is oppressing Catholics everywhere today.

Blessed Angela Salawa - 12 March 2009

Angela served Christ and Christ’s little ones with all her strength.

Born in Siepraw, near Kraków, Poland, she was the 11th child of Bartlomiej and Ewa Salawa. In 1897, she moved to Kraków where her older sister Therese lived. Angela immediately began to gather together and instruct young women domestic workers. During World War I, she helped prisoners of war without regard for their nationality or religion. The writings of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross were a great comfort to her.

Angela gave great service in caring for soldiers wounded in World War I. After 1918 her health did not permit her to exercise her customary apostolate. Addressing herself to Christ, she wrote in her diary, "I want you to be adored as much as you were destroyed." In another place, she wrote, "Lord, I live by your will. I shall die when you desire; save me because you can."

At her 1991 beatification in Kraków, Pope John Paul II said: "It is in this city that she worked, that she suffered and that her holiness came to maturity. While connected to the spirituality of St. Francis, she showed an extraordinary responsiveness to the action of the Holy Spirit" (L'Osservatore Romano, volume 34, number 4, 1991).

St. John Ogilvie - 11 March 2009

John Ogilvie's noble Scottish family was partly Catholic and partly Presbyterian. His father raised him as a Calvinist, sending him to the continent to be educated. There John became interested in the popular debates going on between Catholic and Calvinist scholars. Confused by the arguments of Catholic scholars whom he sought out, he turned to Scripture. Two texts particularly struck him: "God wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth," and "Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you."

Slowly, John came to see that the Catholic Church could embrace all kinds of people. Among these, he noted, were many martyrs. He decided to become Catholic and was received into the Church at Louvain, Belgium, in 1596 at the age of 17.

John continued his studies, first with the Benedictines, then as a student at the Jesuit College at Olmutz. He joined the Jesuits and for the next 10 years underwent their rigorous intellectual and spiritual training. Ordained a priest in France in 1610, he met two Jesuits who had just returned from Scotland after suffering arrest and imprisonment. They saw little hope for any successful work there in view of the tightening of the penal laws. But a fire had been lit within John. For the next two and a half years he pleaded to be missioned there.

Sent by his superiors, he secretly entered Scotland posing as a horse trader or a soldier returning from the wars in Europe. Unable to do significant work among the relatively few Catholics in Scotland, John made his way back to Paris to consult his superiors. Rebuked for having left his assignment in Scotland, he was sent back. He warmed to the task before him and had some success in making converts and in secretly serving Scottish Catholics. But he was soon betrayed, arrested and brought before the court. His trial dragged on until he had been without food for 26 hours. He was imprisoned and deprived of sleep. For eight days and nights he was dragged around, prodded with sharp sticks, his hair pulled out. Still, he refused to reveal the names of Catholics or to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the king in spiritual affairs. He underwent a second and third trial but held firm. At his final trial he assured his judges: "In all that concerns the king, I will be slavishly obedient; if any attack his temporal power, I will shed my last drop of blood for him. But in the things of spiritual jurisdiction which a king unjustly seizes I cannot and must not obey."

Condemned to death as a traitor, he was faithful to the end, even when on the scaffold he was offered his freedom and a fine living if he would deny his faith. His courage in prison and in his martyrdom was reported throughout Scotland.

John Ogilvie was canonized in 1976, becoming the first Scottish saint since 1250.

St. Dominic Savio - 10 March 2009

So many holy persons seem to die young. Among them was Dominic Savio, the patron of choirboys.

Born into a peasant family at Riva, Italy, young Dominic joined St. John Bosco as a student at the Oratory in Turin at the age of 12. He impressed John with his desire to be a priest and to help him in his work with neglected boys. A peacemaker and an organizer, young Dominic founded a group he called the Company of the Immaculate Conception which, besides being devotional, aided John Bosco with the boys and with manual work. All the members save one, Dominic, would in 1859 join John in the beginnings of his Salesian congregation. By that time, Dominic had been called home to heaven.

For all that, Dominic was a normal, high-spirited boy who sometimes got into trouble with his teachers because he would often break out laughing. However, he was generally well disciplined and gradually gained the respect of the tougher boys in Don Bosco's school.

In other circumstances, Dominic might have become a little self-righteous snob, but Don Bosco showed him the heroism of the ordinary and the sanctity of common sense. "Religion must be about us as the air we breathe," Don Bosco would say, and Dominic Savio wore holiness like the clothes on his back.

He called his long hours of prayer "his distractions." In 1857, at the age of fifteen, he caught tuberculosis and was sent home to recover. On the evening of March 9, he asked his father to say the prayers for the dying. His face lit up with an intense joy and he said to his father: "I am seeing most wonderful things!" These were his last words.

Thought for the Day: "I can't do big things," St. Dominic Savio once said, "but I want everything to be for the glory of God." His was the way of the ordinary: cheerfulness, fidelity in little things, helping others, playing games, obeying his superiors. This heroism in little things is the stuff of holiness.

Dominic's health, always frail, led to lung problems and he was sent home to recuperate. As was the custom of the day, he was bled in the thought that this would help, but it only worsened his condition. He died on March 9, 1857, after receiving the Last Sacraments. St. John Bosco himself wrote the account of his life.

Some thought that Dominic was too young to be considered a saint. St. Pius X declared that just the opposite was true, and went ahead with his cause. Dominic was canonized in 1954.

St. Frances of Rome - 9 March 2009

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. France of Rome. Let us read what Dr. Plinio has to teach us about this saint.

Biographical selection:

Born 1384 in Rome, died 1440 in Rome. St. Frances of Rome received a supernatural gift of visions from God. She is famous for her visions about Hell. Perhaps throughout the History of the Church no other mystic has had so many descriptive visions of Hell as St. Frances.

The following text is taken from Rohrbaher, Universal History of the Catholic Church. The author reproduces words of the Saint regarding one of her visions on Hell:

While one-third of the angels sinned, the other two-thirds persevered in grace. One-third of the fallen angels is in Hell tormenting the condemned souls. These devils are the ones who freely followed Lucifer and deliberately revolted against God. They cannot leave the abyss except with the special acquiescence of God, when He decides to punish the sins of men with a great calamity. These are the worst among the devils.

The other two-thirds of the fallen angels inhabit the air and the earth. They are the ones who did not take a side in the battle between Lucifer and God, but remained silent.

The devils of the air often instigate storms, winds and thunders to frighten souls, causing their wills to weaken and cede to inconstancy, thus preparing them to falter in the Faith and to doubt Divine Providence. The devils who live on earth among men to tempt us are the fallen angels of the lowest choir. The faithful angels of this choir are our guardian angels.

The prince and chief of all devils is Lucifer, who is confined at the bottom of the abyss, where he punishes the other devils and the condemned men and women. Since he fell from the highest place among the angels, the Seraphic choir, he became the worst devil. His characteristic vice is pride.

Below him and under his power are three other princes: First, Asmodeu, who represents the vice of impurity and was the head of the Cherubim; second, Mammon, who represents the vice of avarice and was the first among the Thrones; third, Belzebuth, who represents idolatry, sorcery and spells and was the chief of the Dominations. He is over everything that is dark and that diffuses darkness over rational creatures.

Comments of Prof. Plinio:

St. Frances of Rome describes Lucifer as the highest Seraphim, and for this reason his sin was very grave. You know that the Seraphim constitute the highest of the nine choirs of angels. Since he was the highest angel in Heaven who revolted, he was thrown into the deepest part of Hell.

There were angels who made the decision to follow Lucifer with a special malice and by their own initiative. These went to Hell with him and are being tormented by him since he is more powerful than they, and because Divine Justice delegated him the task of punishing for all eternity those whom he had convinced to follow him in the rebellion.

After that, St. Frances tells us, there are three principal demons who follow Lucifer’s commands. The first is Asmodeu, who represents the vice of the flesh; the second is Mammon, head of the vice of avarice, and then Belzebuth, chief of all idolatries and dark works.

You are seeing that the two principal rebellious angels – Lucifer and Asmodeu – are the angels of pride and sensuality. According to our conception of History, pride and sensuality are the two driving forces of the Revolution. In a certain sense, this description of St. Frances confirms it. These angels are in Hell and only rarely does God permit them to leave the abyss to punish humanity. I have the impression that in our times Hell was opened and these worst of devils are on earth trying to accomplish the special task of destroying the Church, just as they were also on earth to kill Our Lord Jesus Christ. I know that the Catholic Church is immortal, but I think that in our days they are here to try to destroy her.

Then there are the other fallen angels. In the first battle they did not want to choose between God and Lucifer. They did not revolt outright against God nor did they clearly support His cause. At the same time, they did not give straightforward support to the cause of Lucifer. They remained in the middle of the road, in a neutral position, which at depth meant they had sympathy for Satan. It was for this reason that God condemned them. But Divine Justice made their chastisement less terrible than that of the other angels. Instead of being hurled into Hell, they are in the air and on the earth. After the Final Judgment they will go to Hell for all eternity. Therefore, during this time between their sin and the Final Judgment, they escape the suffering of Hell.

These “middle-of-the-road” angels are divided into two kinds. First, there are the angels who inhabit the air and produce climatic turmoil to frighten men on earth. Second, there are the angels on earth who belong to the same choir as our guardian angels. They normally do the opposite of the guardian angels, that is, instead of protecting persons, they try to lead them into the danger of sin. There is a constant battle between these two kinds of angels.

From this, we can learn an important lesson. It is to realize how small man is. How minute we are compared to the magnitude of the angelical nature. There was a Saint who often saw her guardian angel, that is, an angel from the lowest choir in the celestial hierarchy. Well, the first time she saw him she was so impressed with the appearance of the angel that she thought he was God Himself. She fell prostrate to the ground to adore him. He had to stop her and explain who he was. This shows us the splendor of a simple guardian angel. Can you imagine, then, the splendor of an Archangel, and even more, of a Cherubim or a Seraphim?

How small we are in face of this battle among the angels that is taking place around us everywhere and all the time! There are angels who come down from Heaven with this or that mission. There are devils who come out of Hell to cause a great damage. There are demons who infest the air, demons who are working among men. Really we are very small in face of this angelic struggle.

What is our defense against all the plots and evil instigated by these devils? We need to apply the warning of Our Lord: be vigilant and pray in order not to fall into temptation. And the beginning of this vigilance is to believe in the angelical presence, its power, and its continual action.

A Bishop once taught me a principle that is currently admitted among theologians. It is that in any natural temptation a man has, the devil adds his action to the natural cause to make the temptation more intense. For instance, suppose that one of you feels irritated by someone who is bothering you in this crowded meeting. This small temptation toward irritation receives a new impulse from the devil, who tries to increase the natural irritation and induce one to sin.

The devil is always acting against us; the guardian angels are always protecting us. We should try to discern the action of the devils and ask the protection of our guardian angels more often. We should also pray to Our Lady more often. This is to be vigilant against the action of the devils.

This is the lesson I suggest to you from this revelation of St. Frances of Rome.