St. Peter's Chains.
by VP
Posted on Friday August 01, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
"A DAY in memory and honor of St. Peter's sufferings for Christ; when to oblige the Jews, he was imprisoned by Herod, and bound in chains, as it is related in the 12th chapter of the Acts; and from which he was delivered by an angel. This festival was instituted in the year 438, when the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius the younger, having gone in pilgrimage to Jerusalem, had these chains presented to her by the Christians of that city. She afterwards sent them to Rome to her daughter Eudoxia, wife of the Emperor Valentinian. Two churches were afterwards erected in memory of them, one at Constantinople, the other at Rome; and many miracles were wrought by them.
Give thanks to God for the miraculous deliverance of his apostles, for the good of His Church. Pray for the relief of all those who suffer for their faith throughout the world, as the Christians then did for St. Peter. Pray for all in captivity and prison, that God would be their comforter, preserve them from the too common dangers and contagion of those places, and teach them by his grace to sanctify all their sufferings. Pray for all, who living in habitual sin, are slaves to the devil. Their misery is of all the greatest, and demands your compassion and prayers.
They have evil spirits to keep them in their
chains: beseech God to send his angels to disengage them. Pray for
yourself, to be delivered from all oppression, spiritual and temporal.
Remember not to be discouraged at any difficulties. For what is there
that you may not hope for, when you see both guards and gates of iron yield to the command of God If you are in the sleep and bonds of sin, beseech God to awaken you, and that his light may shine upon you. Pray for the present successor of St. Peter, and for all the pastors of God's Church; that as they are Christ's vicegerents, so they may be ever mindful of the charge which they have undertaken, and perform it with a holiness becoming Him, whose ministers they are." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
First Friday Devotion
by VP
Posted on Friday August 01, 2025 at 01:00AM in Tradition
Sacred Heart, Holy Name Cathedral, Raleigh NC ©CAPG
Prayer for Priests: O
Jesus, eternal High Priest, divine Sacrificer, Thou who in an
unspeakable burst of love for men, Thy Brethren, didst cause the
Christian Priesthood to spring forth from Thy Sacred Heart, vouchsafe to pour forth upon Thy priests continual living streams of infinite love. Live
in them, transform them in to Thee; make them, by Thy Grace, fit
instruments of Thy mercy; do Thou act in them and through them, and
grant, that they may become wholly one with Thee by their faithful
imitation of Thy Virtues; and, in Thy name and by the strength of Thy
spirit, may they do the works which Thou didst accomplish for the
salvation of the world.
Divine
Redeemer of souls, behold how great is the multitude of those who still
sleep in the darkness of error; reckon up the number of those
unfaithful sheep who stray to the edge of the precipice; consider the
throngs of the poor, the hungry, the ignorant and the feeble who groan
in their abandoned condition.
Return
to us in the person of Thy priests; truly live again in them; act
through them and pass once more through the world, teaching, forgiving,
comforting, sacrificing and renewing the sacred bonds of love between the Heart of God and the heart of man. Amen. St. Pius X (Raccolta 1907, Prayer 614. Rescript in his own hand. March 3, 1905 )
An Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
O adorable Heart of my God and Saviour, filled with a lively sorrow at the thought of the injuries which thou hast received, and art every day receiving, in the august Sacrament of the altar, I prostrate myself at thy feet, to make thee an act of humble reparation for all that thou hast suffered. Oh, that by my reverence, by my devotion, I could make amends to thy outraged majesty! Oh, that I could do so, even at the sacrifice of my life! Call to mind thy mercies, O Jesus! and grant me the pardon which I beg for so many impious, heretical, and slothful Christians who dishonour thee, and above all, for myself, who have so often offended thee. Remember not my ingratitude; but remember that thy divine Heart, bearing the burden of my sins, was afflicted even unto death. Let not thy sufferings and thy blood be in vain; destroy in me my sinful heart, and give me one according to thine own, a humble and a contrite heart; a heart that is pure, and full of horror for sin; a heart that henceforth may be as a victim wholly consecrated to thy glory, and inflamed with the sacred fire of thy love. And for my part, I promise thee, O most sweet Jesus, to endeavour for the future, as much as in me lies, by my devotion in church, by my diligence in visiting thee in the Sacrament of the altar, by my fervour in receiving thee in the holy Communion, to make reparation for the irreverences, the profanations, and the sacrileges which I deplore in the bitterness of my soul. Amen.
A Visit to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
O Heart of Jesus! who remainest day and night amongst us, inviting, expecting, receiving, all those who come to visit thee, I worship thee, and confess to thee my misery and my nothingness. I thank thee for all the mercies which thou hast bestowed upon me, especially for delivering me from the power of the devil; for restoring to me the dignity of a child of God, which I had lost by sin; for giving me blessed Mary for my advocate; and inspiring me with the desire to come into thy presence. I thank thee with all my heart, that thou vouchsafest to remain open for me; I desire to repair the injuries which I have had the misery to inflict upon thee, by my coldness and indifference to thy service. Oh, that I could honour thee as thou deservest to be honoured, in all places where now thou art the least honoured and the most neglected. Amen.
And thou, immaculate Mary, most holy and dear Mother of fair love, who so earnestly desirest that thy divine Son should be loved by all, obtain for me, by thy most powerful intercession, that he may receive and accept this solemn consecration, which I this day make of my whole self in thy presence; to the end that my name may be written indelibly in the number of those happy souls, who, faithful and constant in his service, shall never be separated from the most sweet love of thy dear and most amiable Son Jesus. Amen.
Source: The path to Heaven, a collection of all the devotions in general use, 1866
St. Ignatius of Loyola, CONFESSOR, A.D. 1556.
by VP
Posted on Thursday July 31, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
Peter Paul Rubens: Miracle of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
"It was now, during these last days of a glorious life, that the saint expressed his happiness that, by the holy thought of those Loreto fathers who were on a mission at Macerata, the people had been attracted from an immodest play acting at the theater to the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in a church which was magnificently decorated for the occasion. This was during the carnival, when mirth often degenerated into excess and sin; and this was the origin of the forty hours' exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, which is now commonly made during the last days of Shrovetide. The saint ordered the practice to be continued in all the houses of the Society. It was one of the last expressions of his will that was to be given to his children." The Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola By Gertrude Parsons
Souls detached from Earth: God takes special care to detach those whom He loves with special predilection from the passing pleasures of this world, by sending them desires after heavenly bliss, and by the Sorrows and bitterness of the present life. (Light from the Altar, p 268)
Patience in sufferings: If God causes you to suffer much, it is a sign that He has great designs for you, and that He certainly intends to make you a saint. And if you wish to become a great saint, entreat Him yourself to give you much opportunity for suffering; for these is no wood better to kindle the fire of holy love than the wood of the cross, which Christ used for His own great sacrifice of boundless charity. (Light from the Altar p 264)
"He was born at Loyola, of a noble family in Spain; and having for some time followed the court, and afterwards the camp, he received a fortunate wound in a siege, which obliged him to retirement. Here it was, that by reading pious books which Providence put into his hands, he began to entertain thoughts of engaging in a better cause. These he improved so far, that throwing up his arms he put on sackcloth, confined himself to bread and water, lay on the ground, and was even cruel to himself in the severity of most rigorous mortification: but these were all sweetened by the refreshment of heavenly comforts.
Pray for all who are engaged in a sinful and worldly life, that God would touch their hearts, and make them sensible of their errors. Accustom yourself to the reading of pious books, and be constant in this exercise. Recommend the same to all under your care; and pray that it may bring forth fruit. Learn from this saint the method of a true conversion. Trust to no signs of repentance, unless they be accompanied with a change of life. And how can this be changed, if you throw not by your arms, and renounce not all the occasions of your sins? Let some mortification follow your repentance: there cannot easily be a true sense of past crimes, if you do not think the offender deserving of punishment. How can your resolutions be sincere of keeping peace with God, if you do not take effectual means for overcoming your passions, and bringing the inward man into subjection? And how can this be without mortification? Rebellious tempers are not to be reduced but by force; first weaken them, and then you may command them.
Being now inflamed with a zeal of doing good to others, and having qualified himself with sufficient learning, beginning with the first rudiments in his riper years, he laid the foundation of the Society of Jesus, with nine companions, men of piety and learning. Thus he declared war against infidelity and error, and with wonderful charity studied by every means to do good to the faithful, in promoting all kinds of instruction, by preaching and catechizing, erecting schools, and making provision for orphans and all others, whose necessitous condition exposed them to danger. In these exercises he spent his life; and having seen his endeavors blessed with unspeakable success in the conversion of nations, and the reformation of great abuses among believers, he was called to the reward of his labors on the last day of July, 1556.
Give thanks to God for the apostolic spirit of this holy man, and pray for all his followers, that the same spirit may rest on them, and the blessing of heaven attend them in all their pious and charitable undertakings." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
#2 Acts of Adoration Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for all the offenses committed against Him by mankind
by VP
Posted on Thursday July 31, 2025 at 01:00AM in Thursday Reparation
2. O Jesus, true Sun, that enlightens the Church, and raises into a flame the hearts of thy servants! We adore Thee; And to repair the sloth, indifference and tepidity of so many religious persons, who, though favored with the aspect of so burning a luminary, remain cold, insensible, and inanimate, we offer up to Thee all the inflamed desires of the Seraphim. 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
Novena for Priests to St. John Vianney Day 6
by VP
Posted on Thursday July 31, 2025 at 01:00AM in Prayers
St. John Vianney, Model of Purity O holy Priest of Ars, your life was a
model of purity. Your life of
chastity was a source of edification to all. You said that when a soul
is pure all the court of heaven looks upon it with great joy. Today we
are experiencing a great disregard for the virtue of purity; it is
looked upon with ridicule by worldly standards.
O great St. John Vianney, more than ever before, we need your prayers
and help in avoiding sins
of impurity. I ask you to help Father ___ to keep pure in mind and in
body and give good example in his speech, conduct and in his faith.
Obtain for him the strength necessary to combat
temptations against the virtue of purity, which could lead him away from
God. Unite your prayers with
those of Mary Immaculate to implore God that Father ___ be pure in mind
and heart and preserve him from those sins which are so displeasing to
God.
Novena Prayer:
O holy Priest of Ars, St. John Marie Vianney, you loved God and served
Him faithfully as
His Priest. Now you see God face to face in heaven. You never despaired
but persevered in your faith
until you died. Remember now the dangers, fears and anxieties that
surround Father ___ and intercede for him in all his needs and troubles
especially console him in his most difficult moments, grant him serenity
in the midst of crisis, and protect him from evil. O St. John Vianney, I
have confidence in your intercession.
Pray for Father ___ in a special way during this novena.
SS. Abdon and Sennen, MARTYRS, A.D. 250.
by VP
Posted on Wednesday July 30, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
Pray for all in persecution and trouble,
that they may be supported with heavenly comforts. And since the suffering of the martyrs is a reproach of all
impatience, confess your weakness in this point, and pray for remedy.
But let your endeavours accompany your prayers, and forget not your duty
in the time of trial. Be watchful against all manner of anger and dejection. These are two mischievous passions, which enslave the mind, darken the understanding, and hinder all the effects of grace.
Make your first opposition against these; and let no deceitful
reasoning flatter you into them. Having gained ground here, you have in
this removed the greatest obstacles, and may hope by degrees to advance, so as to stand constant under the most oppressing evils. This is the constancy of the martyrs: pray for it daily, and on this day especially beseech these holy martyrs to procure it for you." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
Novena for Priests to St. John Vianney Day 5
by VP
Posted on Wednesday July 30, 2025 at 01:00AM in Prayers
St. John Vianney, Lover of Sinners O holy Priest of Ars, you spent many
long hours daily in the
confessional. People came to you for forgiveness of their sins from
far-off places. Although you despised sin, you always received the
sinner with much love and forgiveness.
O holy confessor of the
Lord, St. John Vianney, awaken in Father ___ a sense of his sinfulness
before the eyes of God. By your Priestly example, grant him a love of
the reception of the Sacrament of Penance. Obtain for him the
understanding that it is in confessing his sins that Godʼs mercy is
poured out upon him and he draws closer to Christ. Obtain for him a deep
hatred of sin and the grace to resist temptation. Teach him the value
of frequent confession, where he meets Jesus, our Savior, the source
of all mercy and consolation. Contrite and forgiven may all those with
whom he comes in contact act with that same mercy. Pray that Father ___
always love the Sacrament of Penance. Pray that he may call sinners to
repentance with his good example and lives in complete service to our
Lord.
Novena Prayer:
O holy Priest of Ars, St. John Marie Vianney, you loved God and served
Him faithfully as
His Priest. Now you see God face to face in heaven. You never despaired
but persevered in your faith
until you died. Remember now the dangers, fears and anxieties that
surround Father ___ and intercede for him in all his needs and troubles
especially console him in his most difficult moments, grant him serenity
in the midst of crisis, and protect him from evil. O St. John Vianney, I
have confidence in your intercession.
Pray for Father ___ in a special way during this novena.
Novena for Priests to St. John Vianney Day 4
by VP
Posted on Tuesday July 29, 2025 at 01:00AM in Prayers
St. John Vianney, Greatly Devoted to Our Blessed Mother O holy Priest of
Ars, your life was
consecrated to the Blessed Mother. You prayed earnestly to her,
entrusting your Priesthood to her care. You begged all the faithful to
pray the rosary, the favorite prayer of Mary, our Mother. You summed up
the reason for your great love of our Lady by saying: We have only to
turn to the Blessed Mother to be heard. Her heart is all love.
O
great John Vianney, I ask you with all my heart through the merits of
Jesus and the intercession of Mary, the Virgin Mother to make Father
___ʼs life patterned after that of our heavenly Mother, full of love for
God and his neighbor. Obtain for him a deeper love for our Lady and a
filial confidence in her. She is the person to whom he can turn in times
of distress when lonely or upset or in times of temptation. Inspire
Father ___ to consecrate his life to his Mother in heaven. May he know
the powerful protection of Maryʼs Mantle all the days of his life.
Novena Prayer:
O holy Priest of Ars, St. John Marie Vianney, you loved God and served
Him faithfully as
His Priest. Now you see God face to face in heaven. You never despaired
but persevered in your faith
until you died. Remember now the dangers, fears and anxieties that
surround Father ___ and intercede for him in all his needs and troubles
especially console him in his most difficult moments, grant him serenity
in the midst of crisis, and protect him from evil. O St. John Vianney, I
have confidence in your intercession.
Pray for Father ___ in a special way during this novena.
Saint Martha
by VP
Posted on Tuesday July 29, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
James Tissot: Mary Magdalene at the Feet of Jesus
"Active life, with all its labor and fatigues endured for the sake of Christ whom we serve in our neighbor, is very meritorious; "happy, however is the home where Mary causes the complaint of Martha" and refuses to take away from prayer a life which ordinary occupations might appear to claim.
God is indeed the author of all grace and wishes to be recognized as such; and contemplative life, which puts souls in direct contact with him, assures their personal sanctification more fully and obtains more efficaciously the graces by which a Christian apostleship becomes fruitful.
Let us esteem at its just value the position that Jesus reserves to Mary, and if He calls us to share in Martha's solicitude, let us endeavor like the Saints, to make up by the spirit of prayer, for what is wanting in active life." Source: Daily Missal with Vespers for Sundays & Feasts By Gaspar Lefebvre · 1925
"She was the sister of Mary Magdalen and Lazarus, who entertained Christ at her house at Bethania, and being busy in making preparation for him, asked that Mary, who sat at the feet of Christ, might be desired to help her. To whom Christ made answer: "Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary: Mary hath chosen the best part." After Christ's ascension, being seized by the Jews, as it is related in her life, she was forced on board a ship with all belonging to her, and having no other pilot but Providence, arrived at Marseilles, where she spent her days in prayer, and all the exercises of a holy life, and thus waited till death carried her to be his guest, whom, she had before entertained.
Pray for the spirit of Martha in all your labours; that whatever you do may be designed for the entertainment of Christ. This has been the practice of many servants of God,
who being obliged to an active and laborious life, have always
endeavoured to direct and offer all their labours to Christ, in the person of those whom they served, according to his own precept: "Whatsoever you do to any of these little ones, you do it to me." For this end, in all business avoid solicitude, as much as possible. Go on with peace and submission to the will of God, and often remember the one thing necessary. That is a happy family, where Martha calls in Mary to her help; where prayer and the love of retirement sanctify their labours and all exterior employments. For the mind is so easily taken up with these, either through desire of success, or the solicitude of giving satisfaction, or escaping reproof, or seeking the esteem of others,
that if it be not recalled by prayer and seasonable retreats, it will
be wholly dissipated, and so occupied with this world, as to lose the greater concern of the next. Be therefore watchful against this evil, and pray for remedy. Your time in this world is to be short, but your being in the next is to be eternal. Provision must be made for both; but let that which is the greater, be your greater concern: so that being busy about many things, you may still remember the one thing necessary." The Catholic Year, by Fr. John Gother
Novena Prayer to Saint Martha: O admirable Saint Martha, I have recourse to thee and I depend entirely on thy intercession in my trials. In thanksgiving, I promise to spread this devotion everywhere. I humbly beg thee to console me in all my worries and my difficulties. By the immense joy that filled thy soul when thou didst receive the Redeemer of the world at thy home in Bethany, be pleased to intercede for me and my family, in order that we may keep God in our hearts and therefore, deserve to obtain the remedy to our necessities, especially the present situation that overwhelms me. (mention request) I implore thee, O helper in all needs, help us to overcome our difficulties, thou who so victoriously fought the devil. Amen
Say one Our Father, one Hail Mary, one Glory Be and three times the invocation "Saint Martha, pray for us."
SS. Nazarius, Celsus, and Victor, MARTYRS, and Innocent, POPE AND CONFESSOR A.D. about 68, and 201, 417.
by VP
Posted on Monday July 28, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
"THE first two lived soon after the apostles. Nazarius having been baptized by St. Linus, who succeeded St. Peter, and taking with him Celsus, a youth whom he had instructed in the Christian faith, went to Treves, where in the persecution of Nero, they were both cast into the sea, But being miraculously delivered they came to Milan; where, for preaching the gospel,
they were beheaded. Their bodies were found many years after by St.
Ambrose, with their blood yet fresh as if they had been then taken out of the executioner's hands.
Pray for a like zeal for the faith of Christ. Let neither fear nor shame hinder you from doing good to others. To contribute to the salvation of your neighbour, is the most effectual way of securing your own. Be not sparing of your
pains in a cause for which so many have laid down their lives. And
remember, that whilst vice and liberty have so many abettors, you cannot
want opportunities of practising this charity. Others are bold in evil; why should not you be so in all that is good? The devil has many apostles; be you one of Jesus Christ.
Victor, bishop of Rome, was a prelate zealous in maintaining the faith received, and the discipline of the Church. He died in the year 201, after he had sat ten years. It is not certain that he died a martyr, though he is usually styled so; perhaps on account of the continual persecutions which he suffered.
"All Ecclesiastical matters throughout the world are, by divine right, to be referred to the apostolic see, that to St. Peter, the author of its name and honor" Pope Innocent I Source: The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Butler
Innocent was bishop of the same holy see in the time of St. Jerome and St. Augustin, who make mention of his great sanctity. Having faithfully discharged all the duties of a good pastor, he made a happy end in the year 417. Pray for the present head of the Church, that God would assist him with all grace necessary for his great charge. Pray for all the pastors in Christ's Church, that being animated with the spirit of the primitive times, they may spend their lives for the good of their flock." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
