St. John Gaulbert. Abbot, A.D. 1073
by VP
Posted on Saturday July 12, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
"He was born at Florence, and for some time a soldier; but upon showing mercy to the murderer of his brother, God rewarded this his charity in forgiving an enemy, by inspiring him with holy resolutions of changing his life. Entering into a religious house, where he became an example of all virtues, he afterwards instituted a new order, under the rule of St. Benedict, which from the valley where the saint built the first monastery, was called the order of Vallis Umbrosa, or the shady valley. St. John was chosen the first abbot; and, with other religious men who followed him, wholly applied himself to make war against error, and all the practices of simony. In this undertaking, he met with great opposition, and suffered much : but God blessed his endeavours with great success. Being at length exhausted with labour, fasting, watching, prayer, mortification, and old age, he died in the year 1073.
Pray for all the religious of this order, that they may keep up the spirit of their holy founder. Pray for his charity, that you may learn that gospel-lesson of forgiving and loving your enemies. Great blessings are entailed upon it; and so you are to expect pardon of God
for your own sins, as you forgive others, who have offended you. But
then see that you be sincere in this. It is easy to say that you forgive
them; but this must be from your heart; and the charity of your
heart must manifest itself in your behaviour, in your words and
actions. If you cannot come up to this, remember that your profession of charity
is to be suspected as false and counterfeit ; and you cannot have true
peace, till you have gained this point. Pray for grace, that you may be
no ways wanting in this essential duty. Join likewise your prayers this
day for rooting out all practices of simony from among the faithful; they are very provoking to God, who manifested his early anger against them in Simon Magus. Let no kind of temporal advantage influence you in spiritual affairs." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
St. Pius I. POPE AND MARTYR, A.D. 157.
by VP
Posted on Friday July 11, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints

"ST. PIUS was a native of Aquileia. He had served the church among the clergy at Rome many years under the Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, when he succeeded St. Hyginus in the pontifical throne in the year 142. He condemned the heresiarch Valentinus, and rejected Marcion, who came from Pontus to Rome after the death of St Hyginus. He appears to have died by the sword, and thus obtained the crown of martrydom; though some suppose that he is styled a martyr merely on account of the severe conflicts which he sustained. He passed to a better life in the year 157.
Pray for the present bishop of that holy see; that God would assist him for the faithful discharge of all duties. Pray for all pastors and for all the faithful. Pray for yourself, that your life may be answerable to your faith. Pray for all that are out of the church; that God would shew mercy to them, and bring them into the fold of Christ. Study to obtain the spirit of the martyrs; that the love of God and the faith of the life to come may make all that welcome, which may any way help to secure to you the possession of what you desire. How are you to think yourself unhappy under the afflictions of this life, when an humble submission to them is of so great value in the purchase of heaven? Comfort and relieve, as far as you can, such as are persecuted for truth or justice. If you know any, whom the iniquity of men
has made miserable, show your compassion; for thus you will oblige God
to your assistance, and lay up treasures in heaven. Be not one of those who court such as are in prosperity; but if the world has frowned upon them, then know them not; for this is a baseness of spirit unworthy of a Christian. Let your conduct be regulated by duty, and not by human respects or worldly considerations." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
St. Laurence, MARTYR, A.D. 258.
by VP
Posted on Thursday July 10, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
O Glorious Saint Lawrence, Martyr and Deacon, who, being subjected to the most bitter torments, didst not lose thy faith nor thy constancy in confessing Jesus Christ, obtain in like manner for us such an active and solid faith, that we shall never be ashamed to be true followers of Jesus Christ, and fervent Christians in word and in deed.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.
V. Pray for us, O holy Lawrence,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, the grace to quench the flames of our vices, Thou who didst enable blessed Lawrence to overcome his fiery torments. Through Christ our Lord Amen. The Raccolta, 1957
"St. Lawrence was a holy deacon at Rome; who, envying the glory of the martyrs, desired to lay down his life for Christ. Pray for this spirit, and beg of God that in all your troubles you may suffer with the patience of a martyr. He was seized by the persecutors, and after many torments, his torn body was laid on a gridiron, where he expired, giving praise and thanks to God. Pray for the love of God, which sweetened all the torments of this martyr. It is for want of this, that your troubles banish all content from your breast. Pray for remedy.
The spirit of this holy deacon is no where more manifest than in the address which he made to the holy Pope St. Xystus, who was going to martyrdom. He had often assisted him at the altar, as his deacon; and seeing him led by the executioners to give his life for Christ, he hastily made up to him with this complaint: "Father, whither art thou going without thy son? Whither goest thou, O holy priest, without thy deacon? Thou wert never wont to offer sacrifice without me thy minister. Wherein have I now displeased thee? Hast thou found me wanting to my duty? Try me now and see, whether thou hast made choice of an unfit minister for dispensing the blood of our Lord." This was his complaint to his bishop going to suffer without him. And who cannot imagine here the spirit, that moved him to this complaint? To see himself at liberty, and desire to be in chains; to see himself at liberty, and importune for the rack and the axe; to judge himself ill-treated, because he is not to die with his bishop: whence can all this proceed, but from the love of God, and the earnest desire to be with Christ? For this, he contemned liberty and life; for this, he thought of no other honor, but that of suffering for his Lord; for this, he reputed the world to be nothing, and that his happiness was in leaving it, that so he might come to the enjoyment of his God. How much do we see here to raise our admiration, and oblige us to praise the goodness of God, who in so weak vessels shewed the wonderful power of his grace? And how much do we see here to reproach ourselves with the perverse indispositions of our own hearts, who place all our comforts in the things of this life; who think nothing honorable, but what carries with it the applause of this world; and who are so far from desiring to suffer, that we dread it as a misfortune, and then only think ourselves unhappy, when we are under the trials of divine appointment? O God, what can we do, but humble ourselves at the consideration of this our misery, beg for thy mercy, and beseech thee to mould over again this unhappy clay, and quicken it with a more lively faith, and a more perfect love of thee!
It is for want of this faith and love, that we are thus miserable: for did we truly believe, as we profess, that the next life is eternal, that the goods of it are unspeakable, that the evils of this life bear no proportion with them, and that it is by patience and humility under these evils that we are to come to the possession of those eternal goods; this faith would change all the sentiments of our soul, and oblige us to frame our judgments of all the things of this world, not from their agreeableness to sense or inclination, but only from the consideration of their being helpful or prejudicial in regard of our future happiness. And, therefore, though the judgment of persecution, violent death, and all manner of troubles, as it is framed from their disagreeableness to sense, and the aversion which nature has to them, has something terrible in it, and condemns them all as real evils, which are to be avoided; yet when faith comes in and assures us, that going through all these evils is the way to eternal happiness, and the most effectual means of obtaining it, this shews their value, and that to the spiritual and Christian man, they are not evils, but real and desirable goods." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
THE TREASURES OF THE CHURCH. The holy Pope Sixtus was being dragged to martyrdom; Lawrence, his disciple and friend, the first of the Seven Deacons of Rome, followed him with streaming eyes. "Whither art thou going, O my father," he said, "whither without thy son? Priest of God, wherefore dost thou abandon thy deacon?" "Take heart, my son!" replied the martyr, "thou art reserved for a still greater combat, yet three days and thou shalt follow me." The emperor, having imagined that the Christians had amassed great treasures, despatched the Prefect of Rome with orders to take possession of them. “We have indeed great treasures!" said Lawrence to him; " but allow me sufficient time to get them together." On the following day he showed to the prefect all the suffering and infirm poor, the orphans and old people whom the Church maintained by means of alms. "Behold!" he said, " our treasures; take them into your keeping." The prefect, deeply enraged, caused his body to be lacerated by scourgings with rods and with hooks of iron, and then to be stretched on live coals. The face of the martyr was all radiant with happiness and joy. In the midst of his torture he said to his executioners, "Now turn me to the other side!" He expired, while praying for Rome, on the 10th August, 258.
MORAL REFLECTION.-“ Religion clean and undefiled is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation, and to keep one's self unspotted from the world." -(Jas. i. 27.) Pictorial Half Hours with the Saints, by Abbe Lacanu
Saint Lawrence, Martyr
By Parochial hymn book, 1881 Hymn 482
Holy Deacon! By the yearning
For the Martyr’s glorious crowns;
By thy tortures, by they burning,
By thy death of bright renown;
When the world and flesh and devil
Tempt our souls to sin and evil,
Dear Saint Lawrence, pray for us!
By the love that thou didst ever
To thy Pontiff-Father bear,
Pray that no base act may sever
Us from Peter’s loving care!
But when men would once more lead us
Into bonds from which Christ freed us,
Dear Saint Lawrence, pray for us!
By the Pontiff’s words of warning,
Bidding all thy sorrows cease,
Words foretelling bitter mourning
Leading unto lasting peace!
That to Jesus in our sadness
We may look for help and gladness,
Dear Saint Lawrence, pray for us!
By thy love, which knew no measure,
For the needy and the old,
Giving them the Church’s treasure -
Teaching us that alms well given
Are but treasures stored in heaven,
Dear Saint Lawrence, pray for us!
By thy fervent love for Jesus,
By thy strong and constant faith,
Or our sinful burdens ease us!
Help us at the hour of death!
When the fears of death confound us,
When the cleansing fires surround us,
Dear Saint Lawrence, pray for us.
#24 Acts of Adoration Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for all the offenses committed against Him by mankind [Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament]
by VP
Posted on Thursday July 10, 2025 at 12:00AM in Thursday Reparation
24. We adore Thee, Son of the ever-glorious Virgin! And to make a general reparation, as much as lies in our power, for all the indignities Thou hast suffered from men, since the institution of this Adorable Mystery, we have recourse to Thy Holy Mother, looking upon her, as, under Thee, the greatest and most secure refuge of sinners. Eternal praise and thanksgiving be to the Most Holy and Most Divine Sacrament.
O Queen of heaven and earth, hope of mankind, who adores thy Divine Son incessantly! We entreat thee, that, since we have the honor to be of the number of thy children, thou would interest thyself in our behalf and make satisfaction for us, and in our name, to our Eternal Judge, by rendering to Him the duties which we ourselves are incapable of performing. Amen.
CAPGSeven Brothers, Felicitas their mother and Ss. Rufina and Secunda, Virgins, Martyrs second century
by VP
Posted on Thursday July 10, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints

St. Felicitas and her Seven Sons
"The seven brothers were the sons of St. Felicitas, a noble pious Christian widow in Rome, who brought them up in the most perfect sentiments and practice of heroic virtue. The mother and sons were apprehended, and brought before Publius, the prefect of Rome. He used the strongest inducements to bring them to sacrifice to the pagan gods; but despairing of overcoming their resolution, the prefect laid the whole process of the examination before the Emperor Antoninus. He, having read the interrogatory, gave orders that they should be condemned to different deaths. One of the brothers was scourged to death; two were beaten with clubs till they expired. Another was thrown headlong down a steep precipice. The three youngest were beheaded; and the same sentence was executed upon the mother four months after.
SS. Rufina and Secunda were sisters, who having consecrated their virginity to God, and resolutely refused all offers of marriage made by their parents, were accused for their faith in Christ; and after many torments of scourges and fire, were beheaded at Rome under Valerian. Pray for all those who are dejected in troubles; that God would give them the patience of the martyrs.
Consider what it is to want comfort; have compassion on those who stand in need of it, and pray for their relief. Humble yourself under your present troubles, and beseech God to sanctify them to you. All your disquiets avail you nothing; but a patient submission may save your soul. Pray for all those who have consecrated their virginity to God, and for those who live in that state in the world. The devil and the world are so much their enemies, and so many snares are before them, that all good Christians have reason to stand on their side. Be ever cautious in making vows; and never do it but with good advice. But if you have obliged yourself, see that you be faithful in the performance." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
"The Christian Mother: A mother has not done her entire
duty when she has trained for the world, and according to the spirit
prevailing in the world, her children as honorable citizens. A Roman
matron, name Felicitas, has inspired her seven sons with sentiments of
the purest Christianity, and the example of this excellent family
exercised so great an influence, that many pagans, at the sight thereof,
became Christians. The pagan priests denounced her to the emperor
Antoninus, and Felicitas and her sons were soon cited to appear before
the prefect Publius. No manner of remonstrance, threat, or promise did
he refrain from making to each one separately, but all in vain; and when
the generous mother beheld the moment of their sentence approaching,
she thus addressed her sons: "Look heavenward, my children, behold Jesus
Christ stretching forth His arms and battling for your souls!" They
were condemned to difference kinds of torture, and martyred at
intervals. Felicitas died with the last of her children, four months
after the death of the first who had suffered martyrdom. This glorious
event occurred in the year 164 of the Christian era.
Moral reflection:
A Christian mother should ever keep before her eyes this example, as
also that of the mother of the Maccabees, ever "to be admired above
measure, and worthy to be remembered by good men." (2 Mach.7.20) Pictorial half hours with the saints by Auguste François Lecanu
A Motherʼs Prayer
O God, grant that one of my sons may become a priest!
I myself want to live as a good Christian
and want to guide my children always to do what is right,
so that I may receive the grace, O God,
to be allowed to give you a holy priest! Amen.
Mothers of Lu (Italy)
A Mother’s Prayer for a Seminarian
O Jesus, eternal High Priest, Who hast
entrusted to priests the important work of saving souls, and Who has
deigned to inspire my child, my own flesh and blood, to strive after the
high office of the Priesthood, I pray Thee most fervently to bless and
assist him, and to make him more worthy day by day.
Give him success and perseverance in his studies and constant growth in
virtue and holiness. Help him, O Jesus, overcome all temptations arising
from the world, the flesh and the devil, which seek to frustrate his
holy vocation. Fill his heart with burning love for God and for souls
redeemed by Thy most Precious Blood.
Grant me, O Lord, the unmerited grace one day to behold my own child in
priestly garb ascending the holy altar of God, and to receive from his
consecrated hands the priestly blessing and the Bread of Life Eternal.
As long as I live, O Jesus, I shall every day offer Thee, through the
hands of Mary, the Mother of priests, all my prayers, works and
sacrifices, to call down God’s blessing upon the work of priests, and
especially upon my son.
The Catholic Standard and Times, Volume 61, Number 32, 4 May 1956
St. Cyril, Bishop and Martyr, A.D. 200
by VP
Posted on Wednesday July 09, 2025 at 12:00AM in Poetry
"He was bishop of Gortina in Candia. He had faithfully observed the divine law from his childhood, and governed the church of Gortina fifty-four years. Not content with preserving those of his flock in the purity of their faith, he laboured so effectually to increase the fold, that he converted a great number of pagans, and at the end of his life had the consolation to see almost the whole city submit to the true religion. He was apprehended at the age of eighty-eight, and upon his refusal to sacrifice to idols, was threatened with death, and exhorted to have pity on his venerable old age. "Do not regard my old age," he replied: "the God whom I serve has promised to renew my youth as that of an eagle.” The judge seeing him resolute, condemned him to the fire. This sentence filled the holy prelate with joy. Being cast into the flames, they left him untouched, and upon the surprise of the miracle, he was set at liberty. But the governor, being again provoked by new information of his zeal in the conversion of heathens, ordered him to die by the sword.
It is an ill sign, if you find all in peace about you. For the malice of the devil is so great against those, who live up to their duty, and give example of good to all who are witnesses of their conversation, that he seldom fails of giving those disturbance by an inward war, or by raising enemies against them. If you experience this his perverseness; to be dejected with the thoughts of your being unhappy, or to be impatient under the trouble, is that which will give him matter of triumph. For it is a part of his victory, to cast those into discouragement, whom he cannot draw into sin. But if you can keep up your spirits in the midst of his attempts, and learn to rejoice in what you suffer in the cause of virtue, and for being faithful to your God, the victory
will be yours, and though encompassed with flames, you will escape
without hurt. Therefore never yield to dejection, if you desire to
overcome." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
St. Elizabeth Queen of Portugal, Widow, A.D. 1336
by VP
Posted on Tuesday July 08, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints

"THIS saint was queen of Portugal; and in the several states of virgin, wife, and widow, was a religious example of humility, charity, piety, and mortification. She was of a most sweet and mild disposition; and from her tender years had no relish for anything, but what was conducive to piety and devotion. Esteeming virtue her only advantage and delight, she abhorred romances and idle entertainments, and was an enemy to all the vanities of the world. Being married to the king of Portugal, she found no temptation to pride in the dazzling splendour of a crown. She was abstemious in her diet, mean in her attire, humble, meek, affable in conversation, and wholly bent upon the service of God in all her actions. Charity to the poor was a distinguishing part of her character. She visited the sick, served them, and dressed their most loathsome sores. She made it her principal study to pay to her husband the most dutiful respect, love, and obedience; and bore his injuries with invincible meekness and patience. After his death, St. Elizabeth consecrated herself to the divine service in the third order of St. Francis; and continued to support a great number of poor people by her alms and protection. In her last sickness, she received the Holy Viaticum on her knees, and shortly after, Extreme Unction; from which time she continued in fervent prayer, often invoking the Blessed Virgin. She appeared overflowing with heavenly joy, and gave up her happy soul to God in the year 1336, of her age sixty-five.
Consider her life, and you will find it the reproach of your own. If you cannot submit to those humiliations which she sought; if you think happiness to be in such vanities as she despised; if you spend in these, what she distributed to the poor;
if her solitude, frequent prayer and fasting seem an aggrievance; you
have reason to blush at yourself, pray for grace and amend." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
St. Pantaenus, Father of the Church
by VP
Posted on Monday July 07, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
St. Pantaenus, PD
"Philosophy and religion: St. Pantaenus, gifted with the nobles qualities of mind and heart, had devoted himself to the study and practice of the Stoic philosophy, which was held in high esteem amongst the ancients. But when he had arrived at the knowledge of Christianity, he at once understood that philosophy was as naught in comparison with the Gospel. Having become a Christian, he was charged with the direction of the school of Christian philosophy, instituted at Alexandria by the disciples of St. Mark. He was directing it with as much talent as true learning, when the bishop of Alexandria sent him to the Indies in order to combat the doctrines of the Brahmins, and revivify the faith. With the result of his labors we are unacquainted; it is only known that he returned after an interval of some years, bringing back with him a copy, in Hebrew, of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, which must have been taken thither by St. Bartholomew. The illustrious St. Cyril, of Alexandria, is to be reckoned among his disciples. St. Pantaenus died the death of the saints at Alexandria about the year 215, after having taught his followers to sanctify their lives rather than to indulge in subtle discussions.
Moral Reflection: "Have a care that none lead you astray by a vain philosophy," says the Apostle; for philosophy, indeed, apart from religion, is a vain thing. ( Colos. 2. 8.) Pictorial half hours with the saints By Abbe Auguste François Lecanu 1865
Refusing to Share in the Priesthood of Christ
by VP
Posted on Sunday July 06, 2025 at 12:00AM in Quotes
Source: The Priest in Union with Christ, Father Reginal Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
HEARING MASS.
by VP
Posted on Sunday July 06, 2025 at 12:00AM in Sunday Sermons
The Catholic Mass Fyodor Bronnikov 1869
Yet Mass on Sunday is something we should set apart as of the gravest obligation all the year round. Of course there are reasons which excuse, but they must be serious ones. For the Sacrifice of the Mass is not only to be assisted at by a strict law of the Church, but it is the greatest act of our religion. It is Christ on Calvary, and nothing less. What if Calvary be so many thousands of miles distant from your church-does that make any difference to God? God is equally present in every part of the world. Does it even make any difference to you? Is your love for some dear relation or friend any different whether you are in the same quarter of the world with him or not? Some places are more sacred to you than others, to be sure, and so are they to God; but distance, although it divides loving hearts, does not divide their love. So our Lord is present, really and personally, in His humanity and in His divinity, on this altar, just as truly as He was on Calvary. Nor does the lapse of time alter the case. Christ our Lord died for you just as well as for any of the Jews or Gentiles of His own day. A thousand years are to God but as a day that is passed, yea or even a million of years passed or yet to come; for to the eternal God there is no passage of time, but only an everlasting present.
The difference of time and place, therefore, has little to do with the identity of the act, for the spirit of man is superior to both, and the power and love of God are supremely so. It is the identity of the great Act of Redemption and its perpetuity and its universality which bring us to our Lord's cross in Holy Mass. Here, upon our altars, that atonement for our sins is continually renewed, that divine merit is continually made our own.
It was first done with pain and in sorrow; it is now perpetuated with joy. It was for once and for all the literal shedding of blood in mortal agony; it is now the mystical pouring forth of all the treasures of grace purchased by that loving sacrifice. The man-God who died on Calvary is the same who comes down upon our altars; He comes with the very same intention; He appeases the very same divine justice for the very same culprits as on the first Good Friday.
In wishing you, therefore, all the relaxation of the pleasant summer weather, I also insist that you shall enjoy it in union with our Lord, and if Sunday shall be the chief day of rest for your body, I sincerely trust that it shall not the less be your soul's day of purification. There is no tree in all the woods whose shade is so grateful as that of the cross, under which your soul rests at Holy Mass. Of all the cool streams in which you may bathe and cleanse your body there is none to compare, for the welfare of either soul or body, with those copious floods of happiness which flow into the four quarters of the world from Calvary. There is no true joy with a bad conscience, and the Sunday on which you hurry off to your pleasure without attending at Mass cannot be really happy. ( Five-minute Sermons for Low Masses on All Sundays of the Year, 4th Sunday after Pentecost, 1893)