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Saint Francis, Holy Name Cathedral Raleigh NC VP

"I also beseech in the Lord, all my brethren who are, or who shall be, or who desire to be priests of the Most High, that whenever they wish to celebrate Mass, they be pure, and offer with purity and reverence the true Sacrifice of the most holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ with a holy and perfect intention; not from any earthly motive, nor for the fear or love of any creature, as though desiring to please men; but let every will (according to the grace given) be directed solely to the most High God, and do you desire to please Him alone, for He alone works in this holy Sacrifice according to His good pleasure, as the Lord has Himself said: "Do this in remembrance of Me:" and he who does otherwise becomes a traitor like Judas.

Remember, O priests, my brothers, how it is written in the law of Moses, that those who transgressed even in corporal sacrifices were condemned by God to death, without any mercy. What a far more terrible punishment will he deserve, who tramples under foot the Son of God, and treats the Blood of the New Testament by which he is sanctified as a vile thing, and offers insult to the Holy Ghost! A man stained with sin despises and tramples on the Lamb of God, when, as the Apostle says, not discerning the sacred Bread, which is Christ, from other food, he eats unworthily by being guilty of unworthy actions; for the Lord has said by His Prophet: "Cursed it the man who does the work of God with negligence or fraud." And on account of those priests who will not lay these things seriously to heart, we are condemned, when Our Lord days: " I will curse your blessings."

Hearken, my brethren. If the Blessed Virgin Mary is honored, as she well deserves, for having borne our Savior in her most holy womb; if St. John the Baptist trembled, and did not dare to touch the forehead of his Lord; if the Holy Sepulcher in which this same Lord reposed for a short time is so venerated - how holy, how just, and how worthy ought not he to be who touches with his hands, receives into his mouth and heart, and gives to others, this God Who is now no more to die, but Who will live and be glorified for ever, on Whom the angels desire to gaze! Understand your dignity, O priests, my brothers, and " be ye holy, because He is holy." As God has honored you more than all others through this Mystery, do you love, reverence, and honor Him through this Mystery. It is a great misery, and a deplorable weakness, when you have Him thus present, that you should care for anything else in the whole world. Man should be seized with fear, the earth should tremble, and the heavens rejoice exceedingly, when Christ the Son of the living God descends upon the altar in the hands of the priest.

O admirable greatness! O stupendous condescension! O humble sublimity! the Lord of the universe, God, and the Son of God, so abases Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under the form of a morsel of bread! See, O my brethren, the lowliness of your God! pour out your hearts before Him and humble yourselves, that you may be worthy to be exalted by Him. Do not keep back anything of yourselves, that He Who gives Himself to you without reserve may receive your entire being."

"This saint was most nobly born, being the eldest son of William, Lord Cantelupe, and allied by his mother's side to the royal families of England and France. From his childhood he despised worldly pleasures, and walked in the lovely paths of innocence and truth. The fear and love of God grew up with him, and accompanied him to the universities, first of Oxford, then of Paris, where he made great progress in learning, but much more in the science of the saints.

St. Thomas resolved to consecrate himself to God in the ecclesiastical state; and was made chancellor of the university of Oxford. In this office he shone so brightly, that King Henry III. appointed him chancellor of the kingdom. In this eminent office his virtues shone with still greater lustre, to the benefit of the whole nation. After the king's death, however, he gladly resigned the seals of his office, and returned to Oxford, where he took the degree of doctor of divinity. He had always lived in the greatest purity of conscience, and was eminent in Christian simplicity, candor, and humility. He exhibited heavenly prudence in his whole conduct, and great devotion to the divine service, especially in celebrating Mass. He was remarkable for patience and meekness under sufferings and injuries, and great temperance and sobriety in eating and drinking; as also for daily mortification, watching, fasting, and perfect charity for every neighbor. His charity produced in him such an aversion for detraction, that he would sharply rebuke such as he found guilty of it.

Dear Saint John Vianney, your childhood dream was to be a Priest, to win souls for God. You endured years of toil and humiliation to attain the Priesthood. You became a Priest truly after Godʼs own heart, outstanding in humility and poverty; prayer and mortification. Totally devoted to the service of Godʼs people.

The Church has exalted you as model and patron saint of all Parish Priest, trusting that your example and prayers will help them to live up to the high dignity of their vocation to be faithful servants of Godʼs people, to be perfect imitators of Christ the Savior Who came not to be served but to serve, to give His Life in ransom for many.

Pray that God may give to His Church today many more Priests after His own Heart. Pray for all the Priests under your patronage, that they may be worthy representatives of Christ the Good Shepherd. May they wholeheartedly devote themselves to prayer and penance; be examples of humility and poverty; shining models of holiness; tireless and powerful preachers of the Word of God; zealous dispensers of Godʼs Grace in the Sacraments.

May their loving devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist and to Mary His Mother be the Twin Fountains of fruitfulness for their ministry. Amen

"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

French furniture patrimony of the French ministry of culture, under the reference PM35002875.

The Guardianship of God: There is no protection comparable with that of God and his Saints; the life of St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, is about to afford us an example thereof. Lupus had been raised, despite all opposition on his part, and by reason of his sanctity, to the see of Troyes. He had been directed by the bishop of Gaul to proceed in company with St. Germain of Auxerre to England, in order to combat the Pelagian heresy, and had the glory of entirely uprooting it there. Having returned to his diocese, he was surprised in the midst of his apostolic labors by the invasion of Attila. Thrace, Syria, and Greece, had been laid waste; Rheims, Cambrai, Besancon, Auxerre, and Langres were merely heaps of ruin; the turn of the town of Troyes had come. Lupus prayed himself, and got his people to pray during three days and three nights; he placed his flock under the protection of God, and went forward to meet the ferocious conqueror. "I am the scourge of God!" said the king of the Huns, "and am come to destroy you." "Beware!" replied the bishop; "God crushes the instruments He has made use of." Attila, astonished at such boldness, turned his army aside from its onward march, and was defeated in the plains of Mery. St. Lupus died in 478.

Moral reflection: "God is wonderful in His saints, and will give power and strength to His people." (Psalm LXVII. 36)

Source: Pictorial half hours with the saints, Abbe Auguste François Lecanu

St. Felicity and her Seven Sons

"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

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"The good fight of the Lord: St. Basil, bishop of Caesarea, maintained, single-handed, the combat of the faith against the emperor Valens, the ardent partisan of Arianism. Although deserted by a great number of his colleagues, he did not lose heart; and though but freely seconded by those who remained faithful to him, he put himself in the foremost rank, in order to shield them with his protection. Having been first solicited and afterwards threatened by Modestus, the praetorian prefect, "What would you have, and what are your expectations?" he asked, "to lure me by the enticements of riches and dignities? these I despise. To drive me into exile? What matters it? To consign me to death? So much the better; I shall the sooner be with God!" "Never have I been spoken to thus," exclaimed Modestus. "That is because you have never had to deal with a bishop," replied Basil. Modestus went to give in his report to Valens, saying, " We are conquered." The emperor signed the sentence of exile; but his eldest son having been struck with sudden illness, he forthwith sent for Basil, who prayed for the child and cured it. The struggle did not terminate here, for heresy is as tenacious as faith is unbending; there was no further question of exiling him, however, and Basil died in peace in 379.

Moral Reflection: The combat is painful, but it is consolatory to die, saying, with St. Paul, "I have fought the good fight, and now I await the crown. " (2 Tim. 4. 7.)
Pictorial half hours with the saints By Auguste François Lecanu

St. Anthony, St. Joseph Catholic Church, Raleigh, NC

Saint Anthony, glory of the Church and hammer of heretics, pray for our Holy Father, our bishops, our priests, our Religious Orders, that, through their pious zeal and apostolic labors, infidels, heretics, and all those outside the true Church of Christ may be converted and, united in faith, give greater glory to God. Amen.

Blessed Sacrament Book. Fr. Francis Xavier Lasance

"And I say that the priest doth more grievous wrong by giving bad example merely by scandalizing his neighbor by a wicked life, than if a layman where to go out to rob in the highway.

The reason is this: that he who standeth in the highway doth rob the man who passeth by, and doth take from him his money, his horse, his garments, and all that which he findeth, but the other with his evil example doth make away with both soul and body of the man whom he doth scandalize thereby, and leaveth him to say and to do evil and to commit sin."
Source: Sermons (iv backbiters are treated of with most beautiful examples, page 28) Saint Bernardine of Siena

"Whenever you hear sodomy mentioned, each and every one of you spit on the ground and clean your mouth out as well. If they don't want to change their ways by any other means, maybe they will change when they're made fools of. Spit hard! Maybe the water of your spit will extinguish their fire." Lenten sermon preached in Santa Croce, 1424

"Apostle of peace! Italy, whose factions were so often quelled by thee, may well number thee among her protectors. Behold her now a prey to the enemies of Jesus, rebellious against the Church of God, and abandoned to her fate. Oh! Forget not, that she is thy native land, that she was obedient to thy preaching, and that thy memory was long most dear to her. Intercede in her favor; deliver her from her oppressors; and show, that when earthly armies fail, the hosts of heaven can always save both cities and countries.

Illustrious son of the great Patriarch of Assisi! The seraphic Order venerates thee as one of its main supports. Thou didst re-animate it to its primitive observance; continue, now from heaven, to protect the work thou commenced here on earth. The Order of St. Francis is one of the grandest consolations of holy Mother Church; make this Order for ever flourish, protect it in its trials, give it increase in proportion to the necessities of the Faithful; for thou art the second Father of this venerable family, and thy prayers are powerful with the Redeemer, whose glorious Name thou confessed upon earth."

Source: Dom Gueranger