#13 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 April 30, 2026 at 01:00AM in Thursday Reparation
13. We adore Thee, most tender and most amiable of all Fathers! And to make reparation for the errors and infidelities of Thy own children, we offer up to Thee the faith of the Apostles. 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
The Cross our Badge
by VP
Posted on Thursday April 30, 2026 at 12:00AM in Meditations
We Catholics have a great share in this Exaltation of the Cross. It is our special trust, our badge, our glory. Like the first Christians, it is ours to honor, to use, to be known by. Those who have fallen from the true faith have laid it aside as childish and not fit for the mature. But the Gospel was preached to the childlike, and the Kingdom of Heaven reserved for them. So we will keep our childlike ways, and loyally use the sacred sign. We will make it with reverence, with confidence, with joy. And the day will come when we who are signed with the Sign of the Cross upon our foreheads will go forth to meet our Redeemer, and He will acknowledge us to be His own. Like Constantine, by that sign we shall conquer.
Source: The Manual of the Holy Catholic Church, McGovern, James J. (James Joseph), 1906
Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin
by VP
Posted on Thursday April 30, 2026 at 12:00AM in Saints
St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, Wake Forest NC
“The sins of the clergy should not lessen your reverence for them.” -- Saint Catherine of Siena, (Dialogue 116)
"A HOLY virgin of Sienna, of the order of St. Dominic, who was wonderful for her religious fasting and great austerities. God was pleased to exercise this His servant with long and violent temptations, and painful sickness for many years. Under all these trials, she held out with admirable patience, humility and resignation, and had the reward of her labours even in this life, in many signal favours received from the hand of God. Pray for the spirit of this holy virgin; and first, that if you are not advised to extraordinary rigours, you may at least be faithful in those which the Church prescribes to all the faithful; not requiring unnecessary dispensations, nor by studied contrivances endeavouring to take off all self-denial from them; but willingly admitting some uneasiness in those institutions which are ordained for your punishment and humiliation.
Secondly, that you may be courageous and faithful under the violence of temptations. These can be no prejudice to your soul, if you yield not, though they were as lasting as life. Christ himself has taught you this in the temptations with which He was assaulted, and with which He has been pleased to exercise the best of His servants. They may be very troublesome to you, but patience under this trouble will render you more acceptable to God. It is self-love which puts you often upon desiring quiet and ease, and it has an effect of the same ill root to be fretful, impatient, and dejected under such disquiets.
"(...) At the age of fifteen Catherine entered the Third Order of Saint Dominic, but continued to reside in her father's shop, where she united a life of active charity with the prayer of a contemplative Saint. From this obscure home the seraphic virgin was summoned to defend the Church's cause. Armed with Papal authority, and accompanied by three confessors, she traveled through Italy, reducing rebellious cities to the obedience of the Holy See, and winning hardened souls to God. In the face well-nigh of the whole world she sought out Gregory XI. at Avignon, brought him back to Rome, and by her letters to the kings and queens of Europe made good the Papal cause. She was the counselor of Urban VI., and sternly rebuked the disloyal cardinals who had part in electing an antipope. Long had the holy virgin foretold the terrible schism which began before she died. Day and night she wept and prayed for the unity and peace. But the devil excited the Roman people against the Pope, so that some sought the life of Christ's vicar. With intense earnestness did St. Catherine beg our Lord to prevent this enormous crime. In spirit she saw the whole city full of demons tempting the people to resist and even slay the Pope. The seditious temper was subdued by Catherine's prayers; but the devils vented their malice by scourging the Saint herself, who gladly endured all for God and His Church. She died in Rome, in 1380, at the age of thirty-three.
Reflection: The seraphic St. Catherine willingly sacrificed the delights of contemplation to labor for the Church and the Apostolic See. How deeply do the troubles of the Church and the consequent loss of souls afflict us? How often do we pray for the Church and the Pope?" source: Little Pictorial lives of the Saints.
Prayer for the Church and Priests (St. Catherine of Siena)
My Lord, do not look upon my sins, but
hear Thy servant through the clemency of Thine inestimable charity. When
Thou left us Thou didst not leave us orphans, but Thou left us Thy
vicar and Thy ministers who give us the baptism of the Holy Ghost; and
not only once, but always, through Thy holy power they wash our souls
from sin.
O eternal Piety, may Thy vicar and all ministers be hungry for souls,
may they burn with holy desires for Thy honor, may they remain with
thee always, because Thou are the almighty and the eternal goodness.
Once again, eternal God, sanctify these Thy servants so that, with
simplicity of heart and a perfect will they may follow Thee and Thee
alone. Do not look upon my misery, but place them in the garden of Thy
will.
I know, eternal God, that Thy arm is so strong as to be able to free
the Church and Thy people, to pull them out of the devilʼs hands, and
to cease all persecutions against the Church. I know that the wisdom of
Thy Son, which is one with thine, can illuminate the eye of my
intellect, that of Thy people and lift the darkness from Thy spouse the
Church.
I thus supplicate Thy almighty power, O eternal Father, the wisdom of
Thine Only-begotten Son, the clemency of the Holy Ghost, fire and abyss
of charity, so that Thy mercy may be given to the world and that there
may be the warmth of charity with peace and union in the holy Church. I
pray that Thine infinite goodness will lead Thee not to close the eye of
Thy mercy upon Thy holy spouse. Sweet Jesus, loving Jesus.
Amen.
It is we, who are priests, who have been the cause of this desolation in the Church.
by VP
Posted on Wednesday April 29, 2026 at 12:00AM in Sermons
Rue du Bac, Paris.©VP
Saint Vincent de Paul to the Congregation of the Mission, serving the clergy by means of spiritual exercises for those about to be ordained, and by the direction of seminaries:
" To be employed in training good priests and to contribute thereto, as a second efficient instrumental cause, is to perform the work of Jesus Christ, Who, during His mortal life, seems to have assumed the task of making twelve good priests, who were the apostles; have deigned to live with them for years in order to instruct and form them in the Divine Ministry.
What is there in the world so grand as the ecclesiastical state? Principalities and kingdoms bear no comparison to it. Kings cannot, like the priests, change bread into the body of our Lord, forgive sins, or do the other wonders whereby priests surpass all temporal greatness."
It such be the greatness of the priest, judge of his action whether beneficent or fatal according as he is faithful or otherwise to his vocation. "As is the pastor, so will be the people. To the officers of the army is attributed the good or evil success of war. In like manner we can say that if the ministers of the Church are good, if they perform their duty, all will be well; but if, on the contrary, they are unfaithful, they are the cause of all disorders... Yes, we are the cause of the desolation that at present ravages the Church, of the deplorable diminution it has suffered in so many places....(...)
Yes, O Lord, we, it is, who have provoked Thy wrath; our sins have drawn down these calamities. Yes, it is the clerics and those who aspire to the ecclesiastical state, it is the sub-deacons, the deacons, the priests, it is we, who are priests, who have been the cause of this desolation in the Church."
O, my God, what a power! Oh, what a dignity! Is there anything greater or more admirable? Oh, gentlemen, how great a thing is a good priest! What can a good ecclesiastic not do? What conversions can he not procure? Upon the priests depends the happiness of Christendom. This consideration, then, obliges us to serve the ecclesiastical state which is so holy and so elevated, and still more the need the Church has of good priests to remedy the immense ignorance and the innumerable vices with which the earth is covered, and for which pious souls ought to shed tears of blood.
There is question whether all the disorders we witness be not attributable to the priests. This may scandalize some, but the subject requires that by the magnitude of the evil the importance of the remedy be shown. For sometime back, this question has been the subject of several conferences, and it has been thoroughly treated, in order to discover the sources of so many evils; and the conclusion arrived at was that the Church had not greater enemies than bad priests. Heresies sprang form them. We have the instance of the last heresies in those two great heresiarchs, Luther and Calvin. They were priests. It is by priests that heresy has prevailed, vice has reigned, and ignorance established its throne among the poor people; and this, because of their own disorders and their neglect to oppose with all their strength, as was their bounden duty, these three torrents that inundated the earth. What sacrifice, then, gentlemen, will you not make to God, in order to labor for their reformation so that they may live conformably to the sanctity of their state, and that the Church may rise from out her shame and desolation?"
Source: Virtues and spiritual doctrine of St. Vincent de Paul, by a priest of the Congregation of the Mission 1877; (Internet Archive)
Saint Peter Verona, Martyr A.D. 1252
by VP
Posted on Wednesday April 29, 2026 at 12:00AM in Saints
"In his youth he was singularly protected and preserved from heresy and licentiousness of morals. To fly more effectually from the danger of sin, he addressed himself to St. Dominic, and received from him the habit of his order. He practiced his rule with the most scrupulous exactness and fidelity, and even went beyond it. He was the admiration of his brethren for his profound humility, incessant prayer, exact silence, and general mortification of his senses and inclinations. He was a professed enemy of idleness, which he knew to be the bane of all virtues. After he was promoted to the holy order of priesthood, he entirely devoted himself to preaching. He converted an incredible number of heretics and sinners. He suffered much from false accusations; but after some months his innocence was cleared, and his humility drew on his labors an increase of graces and benedictions. He had ever been the terror of the Manichean heretics; who at length hired two assassins to murder him. They lay in ambush for him, and martyred him on the road to Milan, in the year 1252, he being forty-six years old.
Join with the charity of this holy man this day. Fail not to offer up your daily prayers for all that are engaged in sin or error. Their ill state demands your compassion; and if you had a true sense of it, you would never be wanting in this charity. To live in sin, in the displeasure of God, and in the way to eternal misery, and that this is the case of such numbers of your fellow-members and brethren, is a thought which, in as many as have one spark of Christian charity and faith, must be followed by prayers and tears. My soul fainted away, says David, because of sinners that forsake Thy law. Let your charitable compassion have the same effect on you, and oblige you to bewail their misery. Such daily fainting of your soul may be a means of giving them life, and the best security of your own." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
Prayer to St. Peter Verona, by Dom Gueranger:
"Obtain for us, O holy Martyr, a keen appreciation of the precious gift of Faith — that element which keeps us in the way of salvation. May we zealously do everything that lies in our power to preserve it, both in ourselves and in them that are under our care.
The love of this holy Faith has grown cold in so many hearts, and frequent intercourse with heretics or free-thinkers has made them think and speak of matters of Faith in a very loose way. Pray for them, O Peter, that they may recover that fearless love of the Truths of Religion which should be one of the chief traits of the Christian character. If they be living in a country where the modern system is introduced of treating all religions alike, that is, of giving equal rights to error and to truth, let them be all the more courageous in professing the truth and detesting the errors opposed to the truth.
Pray for us, O holy Martyr, that there may be kindled within us an ardent love of that Faith without which, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews xi. 6). Pray that we may become all earnestness in this duty which is of vital importance to salvation, that thus our Faith may daily gain strength within us, till at length we will merit to see in Heaven what we have believed unhesitatingly on Earth." Dom GuerangerNOVENA PRAYER FOR THE RETURN OF LAPSED CATHOLICS:
O
Good Shepherd, You never cease to seek out the lost, to call home the
stray, to comfort the frightened, and to bind up the wounded. I
ask You to bring (mention names)….. back to the practice of the Faith,
and to remove all obstacles that prevent them from receiving Your
abundant mercy, which flows sacramentally through the heart of Your Holy
Church.
Through the intercession of Mary, the Mother
of God, their Guardian Angel(s), their Patron Saint(s) and the
ever-prayerful Saint Monica, may You pardon their sins and unshackle
them from whatever hinders their freedom to come Home. For You, O Good
Shepherd, loved us to the end and offered Yourself to the Father For the
salvation of all. Amen
Severe or a lax morality
by VP
Posted on Tuesday April 28, 2026 at 12:00AM in Documents
Curses Against the Pharisees (Imprécations contre les pharisiens) - James Tissot
"What medium is to be observed by a priest between a severe and a lax morality?
There have been priests in every age who have decided this question according to their own fancy and inclination, and priests will continue to do so in the future. There will always be doctors and preachers and directors of souls who, yielding to the prejudices and tastes of the age, or desirous of gaining the good will of individuals, or ambitious to make a name, will change the teachings of the Church, making easy or burdensome the yoke of the Lord; as if it were their right to broaden or make narrow the way to heaven; as if it were their privilege to substitute the changing and fallible opinions of men for the infallible and changeless law of the Gospel of Christ.
(...)
A good priest is certainly not a man who follows the mode of the world and its fashions; he is a man who is loyal to truth and loves order. The truth, then, is this, that laxity and severity are two extremes, both equally bad and dangerous and both skirting along the edge of the precipice.
And first laxity. It is condemned in every page of Holy Writ. Did not our Lord say: Narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leads to life? and again: I came not to send peace upon earth, but the sword? And does not He command what is hard and a trial to flesh and blood? To cleanse the heart of whatever is a snare to it and defiles it, to submit to humiliations, to deny oneself in all things, to return good for evil, to carry the Cross daily- this, in short, is the morality taught by Jesus Christ. This is but saying that the life of a Christian is a life of mortification and self-denial, and that to be a Christian in any true sense one must be generous and courageous, ready to struggle and willing to make war upon oneself and conquer. For this reason the Holy Council of Trent warns ministers of the Sanctuary against that excessive indulgence which causes sinners to slumber on in their sins and against becoming accomplices in disorders which they should combat and correct.
To wish to adjust the teachings of the Gospel to the solicitations of human passion, instead of subjecting human passion to the teaching of the Gospel; to set up principles from which deductions can be drawn indulgent to human nature, ever averse to mortification and self-sacrifice, is to open wide the door to laxity, to create false consciences and to cause the loss of souls under pretext of tranquilizing them. Woe to you who deceive the people, scatter lies and call them oracles; Woe to you who lead them astray and allow them to slumber on in false security! My hand shall be heavy upon you; the corruption of your false maxims shall be visited upon your heads, and in the end you shall know that I am the Lord. ( Ezechiel vi. 13.)
Next, severity. Faith and a decent respect for one-self will be enough to restrain one from disseminating in public or teaching privately a lax morality which is clearly in opposition to the spirit of the Gospel. But this is not true in regard to severity. An excessive severity flatters vanity and gains a reputation for sanctity. A priest who openly parades himself as one of austere life is reputed mortified and a man of irreproachable morals. This was the artifice made use of by the Scribes and Pharisees to lead the people astray and poison their minds with error. A stately walk, and imperious tone of voice, a cold and mortified exterior, long prayers, ceaseless censure of the most innocent actions, a haughty scorn of publicans and sinners, all this but served as a mask for their hypocrisy and was a fitting expression of the severe maxims which they disseminated. Their teaching were an additional burden, and made almost unbearable the already weighty and galling yoke of the Hebrew law. They laid upon others burdens which they themselves were unwilling to bear, and which they would not so much as touch with a finger's tip.
This is why the Lamb of God, who was so gentle and tender to others, who pardoned the woman taken in adultery, who had not even a harsh word for Judas who betrayed Him, nor for the executioners who crucified Him, had for the Scribes and Pharisees only words of scorn and anathema: WOE TO YOU!
And why was our Lord so severe upon them? because God is essentially loving and the Father of mercy, and nothing is so injurious to Him as to represent Him as a gloomy and terrible Master, ever armed with thunderbolts to annihilate us. It is, therefore, beyond all question that nothing is more detrimental to souls than to exaggerate the difficulty of being saved, and to put on grace a higher estimate than that put upon it by our Savior Himself. And after all, His ministers are but the interpreters of His law. If, on the one had, they are forbidden to conceal or disguise its true import and meaning or make it ineffective by unwarranted indulgence, they are, on the other, equally forbidden to render it odious and intolerable by culpable exaggeration.
(...)
It is necessary to keep a middle course between these two rocks and while avoiding one not get wrecked on the other. But to do this an exact and precise knowledge of the doctrine of Jesus Christ is necessary, in order to transmit it to the people just as He brought it from heaven, and just as the Church transmits it to us, without adding to it or taking from it a single iota.
St. Louis Grignion de Montfort, missionary in Brittany and Vendée
by VP
Posted on Tuesday April 28, 2026 at 12:00AM in Saints
Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort, Saint Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, Wake Forest
"I believe that anyone who wishes to be devout and live piously in Jesus will suffer persecution and will have a daily cross to carry. But he will never manage to carry a heavy cross, or carry it joyfully and perseveringly, without a trusting devotion to our Lady, who is the very sweetness of the cross. It is obvious that a person could not keep on eating without great effort unripe fruit which has not been sweetened." -- St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin)
Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (b. at Montfort-sur-Meu, Brittany 31 January, 1673; d. at Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, Vendee 28 April, 1716.)
From his childhood, he was indefatigably devoted to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and, when from his twelfth year he was sent as a day pupil to the Jesuit college at Rennes, he never failed to visit the church before and after class. He joined a society of young men who during holidays ministered to the poor and to the incurables in the hospitals, and read for them edifying books during their meals. At the age of nineteen, he went on foot to Paris to follow the course in theology, gave away on the journey all his money to the poor, exchanged clothing with them, and made a vow to subsist thenceforth only on alms.
He was ordained priest at the age of twenty-seven, and for some time fulfilled the duties of chaplain in a hospital. In 1705, when he was thirty-two,
he found his true vocation, and thereafter devoted himself to preaching
to the people. During seventeen years he preached the Gospel in
countless towns and villages. As an orator he was highly gifted, his
language being simple but replete with fire and divine love. His whole life was conspicuous for virtues difficult for modern degeneracy to comprehend: constant prayer, love of the poor, poverty carried to an unheard-of degree, joy in humiliations and persecutions. The following two instances will illustrate his success. once gave a mission for the soldiers of the garrison at La Rochelle, and, moved by his words, the men wept, and cried aloud for the forgiveness of their
sins. In the procession which terminated this mission, an officer
walked at the head, barefooted and carrying a banner, and the soldiers,
also barefooted,
followed, carrying in one hand a crucifix, in the other a rosary, and
singing hymns.
Grignion's extraordinary influence was especially apparent in the matter of the Calvary at Pontchâteau. When he announced his determination of building a monumental Calvary on a neighboring hill, the idea was enthusiastically received by the inhabitants. For fifteen months between two and four hundred peasants worked daily without recompense, and the task had just been completed, when the king commanded that the whole should be demolished, and the land restored to its former condition. The Jansenists had convinced the Governor of Brittany that a fortress capable of affording aid to persons in revolt was being erected, and for several months five hundred peasants, watched by a company of soldiers, were compelled to carry out the work of destruction. Father de Montfort was not disturbed on receiving this humiliating news, exclaiming only: "Blessed be God!"
This was by no means the only trial to which Grignion was subjected. It often happened that the Jansenists, irritated by his success, secured by their intrigues his banishment from the district, in which he was giving a mission. At La Rochelle some wretches put poison into his cup of broth, and, despite the antidote which he swallowed, his health was always impaired. On another occasion, some malefactors hid in a narrow street with the intention of assassinating him, but he had a presentiment of danger and escaped by going by another street. A year before his death, Father de Montfort founded two congregations - the Sisters of Wisdom, who were to devote themselves to hospital work and the instruction of poor girls, and the Company of Mary, composed of missionaries. He had long cherished these projects but circumstances had hindered their execution, and, humanly speaking, the work appeared to have failed at his death, since these congregations numbered respectively only four sisters and two priests with a few brothers. But the blessed founder, who had on several occasions shown himself possessed of the gift of prophecy, knew that the tree would grow. At the beginning of the twentieth century the Sisters of Wisdom numbered five thousand, and were spread throughout every country; they possessed forty-four houses, and gave instruction to 60,000 children. After the death of its founder, the Company of Mary was governed for 39 years by Father Mulot. He had at first refused to join de Montfort in his missionary labors. "I cannot become a missionary ", said he, "for I have been paralyzed on one side for years; I have an affection of the lungs which scarcely allows me to breathe, and am indeed so ill that I have no rest day or night." But the holy man, impelled by a sudden inspiration, replied, “As soon as you begin to preach you will be completely cured.' And the event justified the prediction. Grignion de Montfort was beatified by Leo XIII in 1888." Catholic Encyclopedia 1910
Canonized: 20 July 1947 by Pope Pius XIISaint Paul of the Cross
by VP
Posted on Tuesday April 28, 2026 at 12:00AM in Saints
Statue of Saint Paul of the Cross, at the Vatican Basilica of S. Peter. By Ignazio Iacometti, 1876
"On the feast of the Holy Trinity, both said their first masses. Cold must be the heart, indeed, which is not moved with emotion at the first mass. It is that dread moment, when a man offers up in his own hands the Son of God to the Father for the first time. He sees his life, his hope, his all, in his hands, and that he has power to call Him, and that His honour whilst there is committed to his keeping. The smallest faith must realise these sensations to the newly ordained priest. What must be the measure of lively faith in that soul which had lived almost upon faith up to that very moment? A soul which seemed to touch and feel the very truths of our holy religion, so clearly did he apprehend them and so long could he remain absorbed in their mere contemplation. Paul said his first mass, of course, with that extra measure of delight which his perfection would lead us to anticipate. He is said to have received some special graces which made him ever look back to that event with, "Oh, what a sight!"
Custom or habit never brought F. Paul less fervour in celebrating mass. To the end of his life he had the gift of tears, and his humility made him continually repeat mentally to himself, as he approached the altar, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of a sinner." Often at the mysterious parts of the sacrifice was his face seen to glow with heavenly beauty. Often was he raised aloft in the air whilst contemplating his Incarnate God as he lay upon the corporal, and often again was he enveloped in a strange but lucid cloud. Such was the scene once witnessed and attested in the processes by an opulent and charitable man, named Dominico Costantini, who was serving the Saint's mass in the church of Sta. Lucia, in Corneto.
F. Paul was very particular with regard to the rubrics and ceremonies of the mass, and nothing offended him so much as to see the furniture of the altar either torn or stained. He considered it an offence in the whole congregation if their houses, and especially the pastor's, were like palaces, whilst the house of God was suffered to remain like a stable." (...)
"In the year 1733, they gave their first mission in Orbetello-this was what we should call the post-town of the place, and thus are we told of its fruits. This mission began in February. The attendance was very great; for besides the inhabitants of the town there was a new garrison quartered there, and the soldiers and officers with their wives swelled the audience. The influence of soldiers upon a country town is proverbial. They bring dissipation, amours, and open, or at least badly disguised immorality with them. In Orbetello this barefaced lewdness had gone so far that ladies made it a point to appear in church, in attire much more scanty than our fashionable full-dress. The Saint inveighed so strongly against this profanation that shoulders were moderately covered next night; he went a little further in his invectives, and the female portion of the audience were at length pretty modestly dressed. There was one Frenchwoman there who resented very much these restrictions upon the exhibition of female vanity, and determined to show her disapprobation of the whole business, at the same time resolving to defy the Saint and assert the right her sex lay claim to; namely, that of doing what they please, provided it be in the fashion. She planted herself just under the missionary's eyes, if possible, even more fully dressed than any of her companions had been. The Saint said not a word. He gave one severe reproving look at her, and in a moment her face, hands, arms, and shoulders, became as black as charcoal. All were horrified. She took out a handkerchief and tried to hide her deformity, but could not succeed-grace did its work, and at the conclusion of the sermon she was as demonstrative in the signs of her repentance as she had been at its beginning in those of her vanity and impudence. By the prayers of the Saint she recovered her former colour in a few days; but such was the effect of the incident, that about forty of the most respectable ladies in the town dressed henceforward almost in the garb of as many nuns."
"The Saint was so intent on God that he said one time,-"If anybody should ask me at any moment of the day, what are you thinking about? I think I should answer, of God." Everything reminded him of God, and set him a thinking on the divine perfections. He would be seen sometimes during his walks beating the flowers playfully with his stick, saying,— “Be silent, be silent." When somebody asked him why, he said it was because they were always preaching to him and speaking of God. It was remarked once that he went to say the Rosary in the woods, and after being there ever so long, absorbed in God, he had not got further than "Pater Noster" of the first decade. His faith was shown in everything which betokened its presence. The feasts of the Church, her rites and ceremonies, were observed by him with peculiar devotion and exactitude.
He reverenced priests from
the same principle of faith. Time, and his experience of all the
shortcomings and want of spirit which he was sure to discover, did not
lessen this respect. To the very end of his life he would rise before a
priest, if able. This is the more to be wondered at, as he was the
superior of priests so long himself, and had to administer correction to
them, as if they were pupils. No one could give him a greater offence
than by speaking ill of any priest, no matter how unworthy his life
might be. The hardest thing he was ever heard to say on this point, when
speaking of the great perfection to which priests might attain if they
would, was :— "Ah! how little faith is there in the world; if they
did but know how heavenly is their dignity, they would respect it more."
His devotion and attachment to the Church was equally wonderful. He could not endure the slightest word which, even by insinuation, threw a reflection on her practice. He would say in a stern tone to the author of any such remark, with S. Cyprian,—“ He who hath not the Church for a mother, cannot have God for a father. Would you treat your mother in that way?" When he heard of the evil machinations, which were then rife in Italy against the Church, he was inconsolable. Every book, pamphlet, or publication which touched the Church in any way he would burn if he could, and wished he could come across their authors, in order to reprove them publicly. On the other hand, those who wrote, or spoke, or acted on the side of the Church he could not honour or praise sufficiently. It was remarked that he was always very fond of the students of the Propaganda. He used to envy them their high and noble calling.
The Saint was very devout to the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. He bowed his head always at the gloria patri, and severely reproved any of the religious who failed to do the same according to the regulations; and it was remarked that his most frequent ejaculation was Sanctus! Sanctus! Sanctus! He said that came from heaven, and its sound brought him there in spirit. His devotion was remarkable also towards the Infant Jesus, because he then contemplated the mystery of the Incarnation. He used especially to love to see an image of the Infant wrapped up in a few rags, on Christmas night, because, he said, "Oh, is it not humiliating to see Omnipotence like that; and nothingness like this, moving about in conscious strength ?"
His devotion found full expression in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. There he could spend days and nights motionless in prayer. Until he had the Blessed Sacrament in a newly opened house he did not seem to be at all happy. Whenever he came near a town, as soon as he saw the church, he knelt down to adore the Blessed Sacrament kept there, and when he entered he went off straight to the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, as if by instinct. The fruit of his missions used to be seen principally in the crowds of labourers who turned into the church every evening to visit the Blessed Sacrament as they came home from their work. He introduced this beautiful custom wherever he went.
Only his devotion to the Passion, which was the all-absorbing one of his life, could equal the devotion he had to our Blessed Lady. He began everything with her blessing. Nearly all his greatest favours were received on her feasts, and he was blessed with many surprising visions of her glory. He said one day to the students (the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was not then defined),-" This doctrine (Immaculate Conception) has not been declared an article of faith by holy Church, but I would give my blood and sacrifice my life in torments in defence of it; and if by doing this I did not become a martyr, I am sure I should give great glory to this august Lady. Oh! happy me, if this might take place." In all his great troubles he used to say,-" These are times when the Blessed Virgin comes in to help." He never pronounced the name of Mary without bowing his head, or taking off his cap, after he began to wear one. Of course, the mystery of her life, which had the greatest attraction for him, was her sufferings at the foot of the cross."The Life of S. Paul of the Cross: Founder of the Congregation of Discalced Clerks of the Holy Cross and Passion of Our Lord, Usually Called Passionists 1867
St. Zita
by VP
Posted on Monday April 27, 2026 at 12:00AM in Saints
S.Zita (Michelangelo Pittatore)
THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY.-St. Zita, placed by reason of her lowly birth in a position obscure, or vile even, according to the views of the world, knew how to lift herself by faith to the sublime heights of sanctity. She passed her life in domestic work, the object of hatred and calumny: her humility was too great, it was said, to be real; it was sheer hypocrisy. Her submission was too prompt and perfect to be exempt from pride; and if the poor servant were any better than people of her condition, it was merely because she wished to appear so. Zita, however, accomplished all her duties with that perfection which those who wish to please God are wont to employ. She bore reproofs, injuries, bodily and moral sufferings, with that patience and submission which the love of God alone knows how to inspire. She was pious, cherished the poor, and forgave injuries. At last the general voice ended by rendering her full justice, which she by no means looked for. The world was struck with wonderment, and the Church has placed her on her altars. St. Zita died at Lucca in 1272, and was beatified in 1696.
MORAL REFLECTION.-All acts in themselves good become acts of holiness when accomplished with reference to God. "All things are turned into good in the hands of those that love God," saith the Apostle.-(Rom. viii. 28.). Pictorial half hours with the saints. By Abbe Auguste François Lecanu
Priestly Vestments
by VP
Posted on Monday April 27, 2026 at 12:00AM in Tradition
My Catholic Faith: Catholic Priest Vesting, 1949
"Historians may discuss and dispute the time and circumstances in which the Christian priesthood began to use an altogether distinctive dress at the altar; but they have to agree that what was so used was held as sacred. The cloak which St. Paul seemed so careful about was early reported to have been his sacrificing robe. The same character was attributed to Thomas the Apostle’s mantle, long venerated at Rome. The centuries of persecution were not a time for elaborating ceremony or dress, yet pontiffs of the period are on record for restrictions in the use of the same garments at the altar and away from it, or by one order of the clergy and by another. The first pope who enjoyed the freedom of peace, St. Sylvester, introduced an improvement that still holds its ground: our sleeved dalmatics were prescribed by him. St. Jerome mentions the white robes of all ministers within the Sanctuary, as ordinary and long-established. Thence down through the centuries there are adaptations to place, or rite, or monastic or secular garb; but the insistence on sacred vestments, on their sacred significance and sacred employment, goes on ever increasing. Holy to the Lord, is the more and more exclusive mark on them, as on those who are privileged to wear them.
And here, my brethren, I have to call your attention to a point that may somewhat escape your notice – though when well considered it is found most practical. The holiness of the priestly vestments is very much for the priest himself. In blessing them the Church asks that the wearer may be fit and apt for so sacred a ministry; but she also implores that he may be filled with the grace of the Holy Ghost, rendered perseveringly agreeable to God, clad with chastity here and with immortality hereafter. ‘Tis particularly in the words she puts on his lips as he takes each vestment that we divine her maternal solicitude for her priest in person. All scriptural sanctities are invoked on him.
The amice, with which you may have seen him first cover his head and then tuck out of view all trace of his secular dress, is to be to him an unfailing helmet of salvation. Made white like his alb, and, in the very Blood of the Lamb, he is to be fitted for joys eternal. With the binding of his cincture, concupiscence is extinguished. His manipule tells of the exultant harvesting that will follow his tearful sowing; for of him and his fellow-laborers is it prophetically true that “going they went and wept, casting their seeds. But coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves” (Ps. 125). His Stole, the special ensign of the priesthood that is forever, proclaims his right to Everlasting Life and its beatitude; while his Chasuble, though bearing a Cross before and behind, is but the sweet yoke and light burden of the Master who give both the merit and the crown. So it is with these and the other sacred vestures he may have to put on. Panoplied round with them, and with the dispositions they suppose, he is invulnerable to the assaults of every malign spirit. Even human malignity had often to refrain; for Law recognized a peculiarly punishable atrocity in assaults on the vested priest.
To the devout faithful there is an attractive sacredness in the robes which come in contact with the Altar of God; for they vividly recall that Garment, the touch of whose hem was health and holiness. And as far, my brethren, as holy vesture can announce and preserve the sanctity of the wearer, the same faithful have good reason to rejoice. Assuredly they may be said to need nothing, after the grace of God, more than they need the holiness of their priests. God’s ordination carries with it that sanction and consequence. ‘Tis markedly the races and nations most devotedly attached to the chaste sacredness of the priestly character who have best maintained the worship of the Son of the Virgin, the Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech." Source: By the Rev. G. Lee CSSP ( A Pulpit Commentary on Catholic Teaching: The liturgy of the ecclesiastical year, 1910)
