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"It is a fundamental maxim of the Christian morality, and a truth which Christ has established in the clearest terms and in innumerable passages of the Gospel, that the cross of sufferings and mortification are the road to eternal bliss. They, therefore, who lead not here a crucified and mortified like are unworthy ever to possess the unspeakable joys of His kingdom. Our Lord, Himself, our model and our head, walked in this path, and His great Apostle puts us in mind that He entered into bliss only by His blood and by the Cross."

Source: Little Pictorial lives of the Saints

Image source: Wikipedia

Fidelis was born at Sigmaringen (Germany) in 1577, of noble parents, In his youth he frequently approached the sacraments, visited the sick and the poor, and spent moreover many hours before the altar. For a time he followed the legal profession, and was remarkable for his advocacy of the poor and his respectful language towards his opponents. Finding it difficult to become both a rich lawyer and a good Christian, Fidelis entered the Capuchin Order, and embraced a life of austerity and prayer. Hair shirts, iron-pointed girdles, and disciplines were penances too light for his fervor; and being filled with a desire of martyrdom, he rejoiced at being sent to Switzerland by the newly-founded Congregation of Propaganda, and braved every peril to rescue souls from the diabolical heresy of Calvin. When preaching at Sevis he was fired at by a Calvinist, but the fear of death could not deter him from proclaiming divine truth. After his sermon he was waylaid by a body of Protestants headed by a minister, who attacked him and tried to force him to embrace their so called reform. But he said, " I came to refute your errors, not to embrace them; I will never renounce the Catholic doctrine, which is the truth of all ages, and I fear not death." On this they fell upon him with their poignards, and the first martyr of Propaganda went to receive his palm.

Reflection: We delight in decoration the altars of God with flowers, lights, and jewels, and it is right to do so; but if we wish to offer to God gifts of higher value, let us, in imitation of St. Fidelis, save the souls who but for us would be lost; for so we shall offer Him, as it were, the jewels of paradise.

Source: Little Pictorial, lives of the Saints, 1925

"Before his profession St. Fidelis wrote this testament: "In order to conform myself by perfect resignation to the charity of Jesus Christ, who when He was sweating blood and water in the Garden of Olives, and afterwards dying upon the Cross, resigned Himself into the hands of His Father; so by this my last will I offer my body and soul as a living and eternal sacrifice to the perpetual service of the Divine Majesty, and of the most holy and immaculate Virgin, and of the Seraphic Father St. Francis. And as I was born poor and naked, so, being stripped of all earthly goods, I abandon myself poor and naked into the hands of Jesus Christ my Savior." His perfect fulfillment of this resolve was seen in every act of his missionary life.

Source: Miniatures Lives of the Saints, for Every Day in the Year, Volume 1; Volumes 28-146

Saint Soter was raised to the papacy upon the death of Saint Anicetus, in 173. By the sweetness of his discourses he comforted all persons with the tenderness of a father, and assisted the indigent with liberal alms, especially those who suffered for the Faith. He liberally extended his charities, according to the custom of his predecessors, to remote churches, particularly to that of Corinth, to which he addressed an excellent letter, as Saint Dionysius of Corinth testifies in his letter of thanks, who adds that his letter was found worthy to be read for their edification on Sundays at their assemblies to celebrate the divine mysteries, together with the letter of Saint Clement, pope. Saint Soter vigorously opposed the heresy of Montanus, and governed the Church to the year 177.

  “From the beginning it has been your custom to do good to all the brethren in many ways and to send alms to many churches in every city, refreshing the poverty of those who sent requests, or giving aid to the brethren in the mines, by the alms which you have had the habit of giving from old, Romans keeping up the traditional custom of the Romans;  which your blessed Bishop Soter has not only preserved but has even increased, by providing the abundance which he has sent to the saints and by further consoling with blessed words with brethren who came to him, as a loving father his children… Today, therefore, we have kept the holy Lord’s day, on which we have read your letter, which we shall always have to read and be admonished, even as the former letter which was written to us by the ministry of Clement.”The Catholic Encyclopedia

Pope Saint Soter, Master of Charity, Pray for us!

Image source: Wikiquotes

"Anselm was a native of Piedmont. When a boy of fifteen, being forbidden to enter religion, he for a while host his fervor, left his home, and went to various schools in France. At length his vocation revived, and he became a monk at Bec in Normandy.. The fame of his sanctity in this cloister led William Rufus, when dangerously ill, to take him for his confessor, and to name him to the vacant see of Canterbury. Now began the strife of Anselm's life. With new health the king relapsed into his former sins, plundered the Church lands, scorned the archbishop's rebukes, and forbade him to go to Rome for the pallium.  Anselm went, and returned only to enter into a more bitter strife with William's successor, Henry I. This sovereign claimed the right of investing prelates with the ring and crozier, symbols of the spiritual jurisdiction which belongs to the Church alone, The worldly prelates did not scruple to call St. Anselm a traitor for his defense of the Pope's supremacy; on which the Saint rose, and with calm dignity exclaimed: " If any man pretends that I violate my faith to my king because I will not reject the authority of the Holy See of Rome, let him stand forth, and in the name of God I will answer him as I ought." No one took up the challenge; and to the disappointment of the king the barons sided with the Saint, for they respected his courage, and saw that his cause was their own. Sooner than yield, the archbishop went again into exile, till at last the king was obliged to submit to the feeble but inflexible old man. In the midst of his harassing cares, St. Anselm found time for writings which have made him celebrated as the father of scholastic theology; while in metaphysics and in science he had few equals. He is yet more famous for his devotion to our blessed Lady, whose Feast of the Immaculate Conception he was the first to establish in the West. He died a.d. 1109."

Reflection: Whoever, like St. Anselm, contends for the Church's rights, is fighting on the side of God against the tyranny of Satan."

Source: the Little Pictorial, 1925

"Saint Marcellinus was born in Africa, of a noble family; accompanied by Vincent and Domninus, he went over into Gaul, and there preached the Gospel, with great success, in the neighborhood of the Alps. He afterwards settled at Embrun, where he built a chapel in which he passed his nights in prayer, after laboring all the day in the exercise of his sacred calling. By his pious example, as well as by his earnest words, he converted any of the heathens among whom he lived. He was afterwards made bishop of the people whom he had won over to Christ, but the date of his consecration is not positively known. Burning with zeal for the glory of God, he sent Vincent and Domninus to preach the faith in those parts which he could not visit in person. He died at Embrun about the year 374, and was there interred. St. Gregory of Tours, who speaks of Marcellinus in terms of highest praise, mentions many miracles as happening at his tomb.

Reflection: Though you may not be called upon to preach, at least endeavor to set a good example, remembering that deeds often speak louder than words."

Source: The Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints

"St. Elphege was born in the 954, of a noble Saxon family. He first became a monk in the monastery of Deerhurst, near Tewkesbury, England, and afterwards lived as a hermit near Bath, where he founded a community under the rule of Saint Benedict, and became its first abbot. At thirty years of age he was chosen Bishop of Winchester, and twenty-two years later he became Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1011, when the Danes landed in Kent and took the city of Canterbury, putting all to fire and sword, Saint Elphege was captured and carried off in the expectation of a large ransom. He was unwilling that his ruined church and people should be put to such expense, and was kept in a loathsome prison at Greenwich for seven months. While so confined some friends came and urged him to lay a tax upon his tenants to raise the sum demanded for this ransom. "What reward can I hope for," said he, "If I spend upon myself what belongs to the poor? Better give up to the poor what is ours, than take from them the little which is their own." As he still refused to give ransom, the enraged Danes fell upon him in a fury, beat him with the blunt sides of their weapons, and bruised him with stones until one, who the Saint had baptized shortly before, put an end to his sufferings by the blow an axe. He died on Easter Saturday, April 19, 1012, his last words being a prayer for his murderers. His body was first buried in St. Paul's, London, but was afterwards translated to Canterbury by King Canute. A church dedicated to St. Elphege still stands upon the place of his martyrdom at Greenwich.

Reflection: Those who are in high positions would consider themselves as stewards rather than masters of the wealth or power entrusted to them for the benefit of the poor and weak. Saint Elphege died rather than extort his ransom from the poor tenants of the Church lands."

Source: Little Pictorial 1925

"St. Anicetus succeeded Saint Pius, and sat about eight years, from 165 to 173. if he did not shed his blood for the Faith, he at least purchased thee title of martyr by great sufferings and dangers. He received a visit from Saint Polycarp, and tolerated the custom of the Asiatics in celebrating Easter on the 14th day of the first moon after the vernal equinox, with the Jews. His vigilance protected is flock from the wiles of the heretics Valentine and Marcion, who sought to corrupt the faith in the capital of the world. The first thirty-six bishops of Rome, down to Liberius, and, this one excepted, all the popes to Symmachus, the fifty-second, in 498 are honored among the saints; and out of two hundred and forty-eight popes, from St. Peter to Clement XIII, seventy-eight are named in the Roman Martyrology. In the primitive ages, the spirit of fervor and perfect sanctity, which is nowadays so rarely to be found, was conspicuous in most of the faithful, and especially in their pastors. The whole tenor of their lives breathed it in such a manner as to render them the miracles of the world, angels on earth, living copies of their divine Redeemer, the odor of whose virtues and holy law and religion they spread on every side.

Reflection: If, after making the most solemn protestations of inviolable friendship and affection for a fellow-creature, we should the next moment revile and contemn him, without having received any provocation or affront, and this habitually, would not the whole world justly call our protestations hypocrisy, and our pretended friendship a mockery? Let us by this rule judge if our love of God be sovereign, so long as our inconstancy betrays the insincerity of our hearts."

Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints.

Image Source: Wikipedia

"When he returned home, Rolando did his best to continue his life as a seminarian. He continued to wear his cassock. This choice was dangerous in an area where bands of partisans, very active, were controlled by Communists. For followers of Marxism-Leninism, the Catholic Church would have no place in society after the war; the clergy were at the top of the list of enemies to be destroyed."

Source: Abbaye Saint Joseph de Clairval, Biography of Blessed Rolando Rivi – I belong to Jesus

From New Liturgical Movement:

"I make bold to suggest that Bl. Rolando is a good person to appeal to if you know any seminarians who need prayers, and especially those who are persecuted for their love of the Church’s traditions; and further, in preparation for next year’s symposium on the priesthood, that it would not be a bad idea to consider what it was about the Church that Rolando Rivi lived in that enabled him to face martyrdom so bravely at the age of only 14. Beate Rolande, ora pro nobis!" Gregory DiPippo

From the Official Italian site:

Prayer for the Intercession of Blessed Rolando Rivi

O God, merciful Father, who choose the small to confound the powerful of the world, I thank You for having given us, in the seminarian Rolando Rivi, a testimony of total love for Your Son, Jesus, and the Church, unto the sacrifice of his life.

Enlightened by this example,and through Rolando’s intercession, I ask You to give me the strength always to be a living sign of Your love in the world, and I beg You to grant me the grace of [here state your petition], which I ardently desire. Amen

Download the prayer card

"In one respect alone was Richard inexorable even to sternness, and that was when any one violated the dignity of the priesthood, or any priest polluted his holy office by sin. In one case he had deprived a priest of noble blood of his benefice, and was assailed on all sides by petitions for his re-installment. "But," says Bocking, "though king and queen, and many great nobles with prelates and bishops earnestly and often begged him to restore the offender to his benefice, he was immovable, and would not yield for all their prayers." To one bishop, who was especially urgent, he answered, "My lord Bishop, I commit my authority to thee in this case, at the peril of thy soul, as thou wouldest wish to have acted at the day of judgment before the Judge of all;" but the bishop would not accept the bargain."

Source: Lives of the English Saints.

As a brother, as chancellor, and as bishop, St. Richard faithfully performed each duty of his state without a thought of his own interests. Neglect of duty is the first sin of that self love which ends with the loss of grace."

Source: The Little Pictorial of the Lives of Saints

"Satisfaction consists in cutting off the causes of sin. Fasting is the proper antidote of gluttony and lust; Prayer is the cure for pride, envy, anger, and sloth; alms-giving against covetousness and avarice."

"The saint's devotion to the Holy Eucharist is shown by his minute and careful legislation regarding all things connected with the service of the altar. Everything surrounding it, and especially the linen used for Mass, must be of spotless cleanliness, and no priest may say Mass in torn or dirty vestments. The chalices must be of Gold or silver, and a crucifix must always be placed before the celebrant. When the Holy Viaticum is carried to the sick it must be taken with the utmost reverence, the priest in surplice and stole, accompanied by cross, lights, and holy water, and preceded by an acolyte with a bell to let the people know that their Lord is passing.

Only those who have passed a sufficient examination are to be admitted to the ranks of the clergy, and no one is to be ordained to sacred orders if he come with any other design than to serve God alone; ordination, therefore, should be refused to anyone for money, favor, or privilege, and all those in the least tainted with heresy or suspected of leading unholy lives must be rigorously excluded from the priesthood.

(...)

Finally, the clergy are reminded of the duty of instructing their flocks in the truths of the Faith, and they must teach them simple prayers according to their ability to learn.

Source: Richard of Wyche, labourer, Scholar, Bishop, and Saint. by Sister Mary Reginald OP 1913

Prayer to Saint Richard of Chichester

Most merciful Redeemer,
who gavest to thy Bishop Richard a love of learning,
a zeal for souls, and a devotion to the poor:
grant that, encouraged by his example,
and aided by his prayers,
we may know thee more clearly,
love thee more dearly,
and follow thee more nearly,
day by day;
who livest and reignest with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God,
world without end. Amen.

Prayer of Saint Richard of Chichester

Gratias tibi ego, Domine Jesu Christe, de omnibus beneficiis, quae mihi praestitisti; pro poenis & opprobiis, quae pro me pertulisti; propter quae plactus ille lamentablis vere tibim competebat. Non est dolor sicut dolor meus.
 

St. Jonas and barachisius by Jacques Callot

"King Sapor of Persia, in the eighteenth year of his reign, raised a bloody persecution against the Christians, and laid waste their churches and monasteries. Jonas and Barachisius, two brothers of the city Beth-Asa, hearing the several Christians lay under sentence of death at Hubaham, went thither to encourage and serve them. Nine of that number received the crown of martyrdom.
After their execution, Jonas and Barachisius were apprehended for having exhorted them to die. The president entreated the two brothers to obey the king of Persia, and to worship the sun, moon, fire, and water. Their answer was, that it was more reasonable to obey the immortal King of heaven and earth than a mortal prince. Jonas was beaten with knotty clubs and with rods, and next set in a frozen pond, with a cord tied to his foot. Barchisius had two read-hot iron places and two red-hot hammers applied under each arm, and melted lead dropped into his nostrils and eyes; after which he was carried to prison, and there hung up by one foot. Despite these cruel tortures, the two brothers remained steadfast in the Faith. New and more horrible torments were then devised under which at last they yielded up their lives, while their pure souls winged their flight to heaven there to gain the martyr's crown, which they had so faithfully won.

Reflection: Those powerful motives which supported the martyrs under the sharpest torments ought to inspire us with patience, resignation, and holy joy under sickness and all crosses or trials. Nothing is more heroic in the practice of Christian virtue, nothing more precious in the sight of God, than the sacrifice of patience, submission, constant fidelity, and charity in a state of suffering."

Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, edited by John Shea, 1894

Prayer of the Sick for Vocations

O God, Who through the sufferings and death of Thine Only Begotten Son, didst redeem the race of men, grant, we beseech Thee, that through the sufferings which I now humbly and patiently bear out of love for Thee and in union with Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Thou mayest be pleased to call to the sacred priesthood and the religious life generous youths who will dedicate themselves to the sublime vocation of bringing to souls the saving merits of the Passion and Death of the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who livest and reignest forever and ever. Amen.

Bishop Coleman F. Carroll (1962, Florida)