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Wikipedia: Hilarion the Great, by Basil II, c.1000 (Vatican Library)

Cursed be he who looks for the refreshment of the body before that of the soul. Let us pray, let us sing, let us do our duty to God, and then we will hasten to the vineyard." Saint Hilarion, Life of Saint Hilarion by Saint Jerome 

"After the era of martyrs to whom the Church had exclusively reserved the honors of public worship, she began to raise to the altars the servants of God who had distinguished themselves by their heroic virtues, although they had not won the glory of shedding their blood for Jesus Christ.
St. Hilarion in the East, and St. Martin in the West, are at the head of the list of saints known as 'Confessors". A native of Palestine, St. Hilarion studied at Alexandria, and desiring to embrace a more perfect life, he left all to follow Jesus. He heard of St. Anthony's holiness and went to see him in Egypt. The Saint kept him for two months in order to train him to a life of penance and contemplation. He then delivered to this boy of 15 years of age a hair-shirt and a garment made of skin, saying: "Persevere to the end, my son, and thy labor shall be rewarded by the delights of heaven."

Hilarion returned to Palestine and founded monastic life there. After having built several monasteries for which he made laws, as Moses had done of old for God's people, he retired to the island of Cyprus, so as to escape the crowd of admirers attracted by his brilliant virtues. He died a holy death at the age of 80 about A.D. 372." Daily Missal with Vespers, 1924

St. Luke, El Greco

" [1] And after these things the Lord appointed also other seventy-two: and he sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself was to come. [2] And he said to them: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send laborers into his harvest. [3] Go: Behold I send you as lambs among wolves. [4] Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way. [5] Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house."

Source: DouayRheims

Prayer for Vocations

V. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest.
R-. That He send laborers into His harvest. (St. Luke xi 2)

Let us pray:
O Holy Ghost, Spirit of Wisdom and Divine Love, impart Thy Knowledge, Understanding and Counsel to Youth that they may know the vocation wherein they can best serve God. Give them courage and strength to follow God’s Holy Will, guide their uncertain steps, strengthen their resolutions, shield their chastity, fashion their minds, conquer their hearts, and lead them to the vineyard where they will labor in God’s holy cause.

Mary, Queen of the Clergy and Mother of all Priests and Religious, turn a merciful ear to our petition that many will dedicate themselves to thy Divine Son. Prompt them to be zealous and self-sacrificing priests, Brothers and Sisters in our beloved country and in foreign missions. Help them to bring love and knowledge of the Most Holy Trinity to souls that otherwise might be lost for eternity. Amen.

Queen of Vocations, hear our prayer!
St. Joseph, pray for us!
St. Pius X, pray for us!
St. John Vianney, pray for us!

Source: Catholic Research Resources Alliance: The Catholic Standard and Times Volume 65, number 27, 25 March 1960

For more prayers for vocations, please visit this page:

Cure d'Ars Prayer Group page for Vocations

Source: Beautiful Pearls of the Catholic Truth, 1897 V2

"The power of the priest, My daughter, is very great; for he is the angel of the Lord, and mediator between God and man. His office is more sublime than even that of the angels, for he holds in his hand the God whose infinite Majesty it is not in any one's power to comprehend; a miserable creature is, when the priest pleases, united to all that is greatest in heaven."

Source: The Revelations of St. Bridget, Princess of Sweden published with the approval of Cardinal Manning 1874

"The holy man (Saint Bruno) thus expressed his faith of the sacrament of the altar: " I believe the sacraments which the church believeth, and in particular that the bread and wine consecrated on the altar are the true Body of our Lord, Jesus Christ; his true flesh, and his true Blood, which we receive for the remission of our sins, and in the hope of eternal life."

source: The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints By Alban Butler

"All true monks devote themselves to God; they separate themselves from the world, and do not entangle themselves in secular business, that they may more easily seek perfectly and with their whole hearts, not those things which are upon earth, but those which are in heaven. This is the duty of every Christian, as Origen elegantly observes, and as Saint Paul himself teaches, according to the divine lessons of our blessed Redeemer. For to be dead to the world, and to live for Christ, is the part of all who are truly his disciples. Those who live in the world must so behave as not to be of the world. They must be assiduously conversant in prayer and other exercises of religion. Their work itself must be sanctified and dedicated to God by the like motives with which the ancient monks applied themselves to penitential manual labor, or to eternal spiritual functions."

Source:The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints By Alban Butler

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."

Source: Works of the Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi By Saint Francis (of Assisi) 1882

"Showed great love to the sick, but desired no recompense, because they did it all out of love to God. To labor and to suffer for the love of God is the best intention, and one we should endeavor to cultivate. It is a good and holy intention, when I do or suffer anything to escape hell, but is is a still better one when I do or suffer anything to gain salvation. It is known that even great saints have made use of such intentions. The noblest and most excellent intention, however, is to do and suffer for the pure love of God only. Make this intention early in the morning, when you say your prayers, and renew it often during the day. Turn your thoughts frequently to the Almighty and say: " Lord, out of love to Thee! to Thy honor!" Especially ought you to do this when what you are about to do is tedious; for this intention will lighten it. Sick persons, who cannot pray much, ought to accustom themselves to repeat these words. Frequently ought they say or thing, while looking up to heaven or to the crucifix: "Lord, I bear this suffering for love to Thee! All out of love to Thee, O my God!" This will bring them consolation and prove very meritorious. I say very meritorious, yes, even in the highest degree. It will obtain great recompense in heaven; for, St. Chrysostom assures us: "Let us not believe that we shall have no reward when we endeavor to obtain none; for, our recompense will be so much sweeter in heaven."

Source:  Internet Archives: Lives of the Saints, compiled from authentic sources with a practical instruction on the life of each saint, for every day in the year. 1876

Carravagio, St. Matthew's Martyrdom, wikipedia

Saint Matthew was killed at the altar by the Ethiopian King Hirtacus, while offering the sacrifice of the Mass, for refusing consent to the king's marriage to the virgin Eugenia who was dedicated to God.

Source: Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holydays by Rev. Leonard Goffine  1880, Vol. 25, St. Matthew page 870

Our Lady of la Salette, Reconciler of sinners, pray without ceasing for us who have recourse to thee.

“If my people will not obey, I shall be compelled to loose my Son’s arm.  It is so heavy, so pressing that I can no longer restrain it.  How long I have suffered for you!  If my Son is not to cast you off, I am obliged to entreat Him without ceasing.  But you take not the least notice of that.  No matter how well you pray in the future, no matter how well you act, you will never be able to make up to me what I have endured for your sake.

I have appointed you six days for working.  The seventh I have reserved for myself.  And no one will give it to me.  This it is which causes the weight of my Son’s arm to be crushing.  The cart drivers cannot swear without bringing in my Son’s name.  These are the two things which make my Son’s arms so burdensome.

If the harvest is spoiled, it is your own fault.  I warned you last year by means of the potatoes.  You paid no heed.  Quite the reverse, when you discovered that the potatoes had rotted, you swore, you abused my Son’s name.  They will continue to rot, and by Christmas this year there will be none left.

If you have grain, it will do no good to sow it, for what you sow the beasts will devour, and any part of it that springs up will crumble into dust when you thresh it.

A great famine is coming.  But before that happens, the children under seven years of age will be seized with trembling and die in their parent’s arms.  The grownups will pay for their sins by hunger.  The grapes will rot, and the walnuts will turn bad.”

"Only a few rather old women go to Mass in the Summer.  All the rest work every Sunday throughout the Summer.  And in Winter, when they don’t know what to do with themselves, they go to Mass only to poke fun at religion.  During Lent they flock to the butcher shops, like dogs.”

Shrine of Salette, France

Under an allegorical image Hildegard condemns the sins and corruption of Church officials.

"In the year 1170 lying for a long time in my sickbed, fully awake in body and soul, I saw an exceedingly beautiful image of a woman. She was so delightful and so beautiful that the mind of man could never comprehend it, and in stature she reached from the earth to the heavens. She was clothed in a garment of dazzling white silk, over which was a cloak set with precious stones - with emeralds, sapphires, and pearls - and on her feet were shoes of onyx. But her face was smudged with dirt, and her dress was torn on the right side. Moreover, her cloak had lost its exquisite beauty, and the tops of her shoes were soiled.

She cried out in a loud, mournful voice to the heights of heaven: Give heed, O heavens, because my face has been smudged, and mourn, O earth because my garment has been torn, and tremble, O abyss, because my shoes have been soiled. "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests" (Matt. 8,20), but I have no one to help or console me, and no staff to lean on for support.

And again she said: I lay hidden in the heart of the Father until the Son of Man, who was virginally conceived and born, shed His blood. And I was betrothed to Him through that blood, and dowered, so that through a pure, unsullied regeneration of spirit and of water, I could give new life to those who had been diseased and contaminated by the venom of the serpent.

Those who nurtured me - the priests, that is to say - were supposed to make my face glow like the dawn, my clothes flash like lighting, my cloak gleam like precious stones and my shoes to shine brightly. Instead, they have smeared my face with dirt, they have torn my garment, they have blackened my cloak, and they have soiled my shoes. The very ones who were supposed to beautify me with adornments have all failed miserably. This is the way they soil my face: They take up and handle the body and blood of my Bridegroom while defiled by the uncleanliness of their lustful morals, poisoned by the deadly venom of fornication and adultery, and corrupted by the avaricious rapine of buying and selling improper things. (That is, Church Offices, the sin of simony) They encompass His body and blood with filth, like someone putting a child in the mud among swine. For just as man became flesh and blood when God created him  from the slime of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life (cf. Gen. 2,7), so too at the words of the priest, when he invokes the divinity over the altar, that same power of God turns the offering of bread, wine, and water into the real flesh and blood of Christ, that is, of my Bridegroom. But man cannot see this phenomenon with his physical eyes because he was blinded at Adam's fall.

As long as the wounds of man's sins gape open, my Bridegroom's wounds remain fresh and open. And the priests, who are supposed to make me resplendent, and serve me in the resplendence, are contaminating these wounds of Christ by running from church to church in their great avarice. They are tearing my garment because they are perverters of the law and the gospel and their own priesthood. In this way they are blackening my cloak because they are completely neglecting the precepts established for them. Moreover, they do not fulfill those precepts with good will and perfect work through abstinence (that is, the emerald), nor through generous distribution of alms (that is, the sapphire), nor with other good and upright works that brings honor to God (that is, the other kinds of gems). And they soil the tops of my shoes by not following the straight paths of righteousness, that is, those difficult and arduous ways. Furthermore, they do not set good examples for their subordinates, despite the fact that I preserve the splendor of truth below in my shoes, as in my secret place. False priests are self-deceived, because they want to have the honor of the priesthood without its work. This cannot be, because no one will receive the reward unless he has completed the work (cf. Cor 3.8) But when the grace of God touches a person, it causes him to perform his task so that he may receive his reward.

And so let heaven rain down all kinds of calamities upon mankind in the vengeance of God, and let a cloud cover the whole earth, so that its viridity withers and its beauty fades. And let the abyss tremble because, along with heaven and earth, it will be whipped into a frenzy in vengeance and grief. O you priests! you who have neglected me thus far, the princes of the earth and the rash mob will rise up against you, cast you out, and put you to flight. They will take your riches away from you, because you have not attended to your priestly office. And they will say about you: "Let us cast these adulterers and robbers of the Church, for they are full of every kind of wickedness." And in doing this, they believe that they have been obedient to God, for they say that the Church has been contaminated by you. This is why the Scripture says: " Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together" (Ps. 2.1-2). For with God's permission many nations will begin to rage in their judgments against you, and many people will devise vain things against you, and will count your priestly office and your consecration as worthless. Then, the kings of the earth will aid them in casting you out, because they are greedy for earthly things, and the princes who will be your lords will agree in casting you out of their territory, for by your wicked deeds, you have put the innocent Lamb to flight."

And I heard a voice from heaven saying: This figure represents the Church. Therefore, O man, you who see and hear these mournful words, convey them to the priests, who were established and ordained to rule and teach the people of God, for that which was said to the apostles applies also to them: "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature" ( Mark 16.15). For when God created mankind, he sealed every creature in him, just as on a single small piece of parchment, one can mark the time and reckoning of an entire year. For this reason God named all creation "mankind."

And again I, a poor little feminine form, saw an unsheathed sword hanging in the air, one edge of which was turned toward the heavens, the other toward the earth. And this sword was stretched out over the spiritual people, just as the prophet had long ago foreseen when he cried out in wonder: "Who are these, that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows:" ( Is. 60.8)? For these were those who were lifted up from the earth and separated from the common people, and they were expected to live saintly lives in simplicity of morals and their works. And I saw that that sword was cutting off certain monasteries of spiritual men, just as Jerusalem was cut off after the Passion of the Lord. But still I saw that in that adversity God will preserve for Himself many priests who are devout, pure and simple, just as He answered Elijah, saying that there remained to him "seven thousand men in Israel, whose knees have not been bowed before Baal" (I King 19.18)

Now may the unquenchable fire of the Holy Spirit so infuse you that you will turn to the better part. (St. Luke 10.42)"

Source: The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen. (149 r. Hildegard to Wener, 1170. Pages 92 to 94)

Vatican: Proclaiming Saint Hildegard of Bingen, professed nun of the Order of Saint Benedict, a Doctor of the Universal Church