Saint Denis, Bishop of Paris and Martyr
by VP
Posted on Wednesday October 09, 2024 at 01:00AM in Saints
St. Denis Carrying His Own Head, woodcut, 1826
"THE WORTH OF BLOOD.-The blood of the martyrs became the seed of Christians, according to the beautiful expression of one of the early Fathers. This truth is fully shown forth by the whole history of the establishment of Christianity. Denys, Rusticus, and Eleutherius, having been sent into Gaul by the Pope St. Fabian, towards the middle of the third century, to bear thither the light of the Gospel, founded the churches of Chartres, Senlis, Meaux, Cologne, and likewise that of Paris, whereof St. Denys became the first bishop. Being seized however by the prefect Sisinnius Fescenninus in the midst of their apostolic labors, they were thrown into prison and beheaded towards the year 280. Their bodies having been thrown into the Seine, were drawn out thence, and buried on the spot where the Basilica of St. Denys was subsequently erected. This martyrdom, far from arresting the progress of the Gospel, as the pagans had hoped, gave such great extension to the faith that the Christians were soon able to defy the efforts of the persecutors, and Christianity at last gained the upper hand, establishing itself on the ruins of paganism.
MORAL REFLECTION.-Take heart, then, all you that suffer for the faith "a long posterity being promised to Jesus Christ as the price of His blood."-(Isa. liii. 10.)
Saint John Leonardi, Priest founded the Order of Clerics Regular of the Mother of God
by VP
Posted on Wednesday October 09, 2024 at 01:00AM in Saints
Source: Orbis CatholicVs John Paul Sonnen
"Dear brothers and sisters, the luminous figure of this Saint invites priests in the first place, and all Christians, to strive constantly for "the high standard of Christian living", which means holiness, naturally each one in accordance with his own state. Indeed, authentic ecclesial renewal can only stem from faithfulness to Christ. In those years, on the cultural and social threshold between the 16th and 17th centuries, the premises of the contemporary culture of the future began to be outlined. It was characterized by an undue separation between faith and reason that produced, among its negative effects, the marginalization of God, with the illusion of the possible and total autonomy of man who chooses to live "as though God did not exist". This is the crisis of modern thought, which I have frequently had the opportunity to point out and which often leads to forms of relativism. John Leonardi perceived what the real medicine for these spiritual evils was and summed it up in the expression: "Christ first of all", Christ at the centre of the heart, at the center of history and of the cosmos. And, St John said forcefully, humanity stands in extreme need of Christ because he is our "measure". There is no area that cannot be touched by his power; there is no evil that cannot find a remedy in him, no problem that is not resolved in him. "Either Christ or nothing!". This was his recipe for every type of spiritual and social reform.
There is another aspect of St John Leonardi's spirituality that I would like to emphasize. On various occasions he reasserted that the living encounter with Christ takes place in his Church, holy but frail, rooted in history and in its sometimes obscure unfolding, where wheat and weeds grow side by side (cf. Mt 13: 30), yet always the sacrament of salvation. Since he was clearly aware that the Church is God's field (cf. Mt 13: 24), St John was not shocked at her human weaknesses. To combat the weeds he chose to be good wheat: that is, he decided to love Christ in the Church and to help make her, more and more, a transparent sign of Christ. He saw the Church very realistically, her human frailty, but he also saw her as being "God's field", the instrument of God for humanity's salvation. And this was not all. Out of love for Christ he worked tirelessly to purify the Church, to make her more beautiful and holy. He realized that every reform should be made within the Church and never against the Church. In this, St John Leonardi was truly extraordinary and his example is ever timely. Every reform, of course, concerns her structures, but in the first place must have an effect in believers' hearts. Only Saints, men and women who let themselves be guided by the divine Spirit, ready to make radical and courageous decisions in the light of the Gospel, renew the Church and make a crucial contribution to building a better world."
Source: Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, Oct. 7 2009
