St. Paul, Bishop of Constantinople, Martyr, A.D. 350.
by VP
Posted on Saturday June 07, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
"He was bishop of Constantinople, a faithful friend of St. Athanasius, and companion in all his labours for the defence of the Catholic faith against the Arians, who greatly feared him. By their false accusations, he was unjustly deposed, and took shelter in the West, where he was graciously received by the Emperor Constans. After two years he was reinstated in his dignity at Constantinople; but was still furiously persecuted by the Arians, and banished by the Emperor Constantius. He came back however to Constantinople; but his situation continued very uneasy, always suffering from the power and malice of the Arians. At their instigation, the emperor again drove him from his see, and sent him into banishment, to which the saint cheerfully submitted. He was loaded with chains, and sent into Mesopotamia; whence he was carried to a town in Syria; and afterwards to a small town on the confines of Cappadocia, notorious for its bad air and unhealthy situation. Here he was confined in a close, dark place, and left to starve to death. After he had passed six days without food, he was, to the great disappointment of his enemies, found alive. Upon which they strangled him, and gave out that he died after a short sickness. His martyrdom happened in 350 or 351.
The constancy of this prelate in the time of so powerful opposition and general confusion is easily admired; but how far can you go in the imitation of it? When we see how easily Christians fall under dejection, whether upon the experience of their own weakness, when their victory does not answer the haste of their impatient desires, or from sickness or surprising troubles; when we see how small provocations cause differences among Christians; how passion follows upon every ordinary occasion, and that peace is broken for mere humour and trifles; we cannot but think that all have reason enough to be earnest in their prayers for obtaining greater steadiness of mind. Examine yourself: and if your circumstances demand not your prayers, offer them for your neighbours: this charity will be your own advantage." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
Prayer for Persecuted Priests
All Powerful and Eternal God, through
the merits of Your Son Jesus, and Through Your love for Him, I implore
You, have pity on the priests of the Holy Church. In spite of their
sublime dignity, they are fearful and weak, like all created beings. In
your infinite mercy, inflame their hearts with the fire of Divine Love.
For the sake of Jesus, Your Son, bestow grace on the priests and uphold
them. Do not let them fall into temptation and tarnish their noble
vocation.
O Jesus, we implore you. Look with pity on the priests of the Holy
Church: those who are serving You faithfully and proclaiming Your glory;
those who are persecuted for tending your flock; those who are
abandoned, weary and sorrowful: those who are lukewarm, confused and who
have denied their faith; those who are sick, dying, or in Purgatory.
Lord Jesus, we entreat You. Listen to our supplication, have pity and
console them.
O Jesus, we entrust to You the priests of the whole world: the priests
who baptized me, absolved my sins, offered Holy Mass and consecrated the
Eucharist to nourish my soul. We entrust to You the priests that
instructed me when I was ignorant, gave me strength in my weakness,
showed me the Way and the Truth and comforted me in my sorrow and
affliction. For all the blessings they obtained for me, I implore You to
support them in Your Loving Kindness.
O Jesus, shelter our priests in Your Sacred Heart. Let them take refuge
in Your mercy and love, in this life, and to the hour of death. Amen.
By his Eminence the late Ignatius Cardinal Kung, Bishop of Shanghai.
Published 7/16/1953 during the early years of persecution of the Roman
Catholic Church in China by its communist government. He was imprisoned
from 1955 to 1988.
Priests' First Saturday
by VP
Posted on Saturday June 07, 2025 at 12:00AM in Tradition
Mary as Mother of Priests is in the Dominican Priory Church of the Holy Cross in Leicester. by Lawrence OP
"Listen to what our Holy Father, Pope Pius XI, says: " God in heaven and I on earth, we desire nothing more ardently than prayer and sacrifice for priests...Let us beg God that He may give holy priests! If we have this, all else will follow; but if this be wanting, all else will avail nothing." It was from this trend of thought that the idea of the Priest's Saturday" took its origin, which idea the Superior General of the Salvatorian Fathers placed before the Holy Father in special private audience on November 21, 1934. His Holiness was much pleased with the plan and said, in conclusion: "We heartily praise and bless the work....We repeat, the thing pleases Us, We praise and bless it heartily."
What is the plan?
The Priest's Saturday:
It is something quite simple and easy, yet immeasurable great in its results. You should make it a point to offer the Saturday after the First Friday of each month to your Savior, through the hands of Mary, the great mediatrix of all graces, for the sanctification of all the priests and students for the priesthood throughout the whole world. For this purpose you should give the Saturday wholly and entirely to Him, that is to say, Holy Mass, Holy Communion, all prayers, labors, sacrifices, joys and sorrows. Whatever you cannot do on this day (Holy Mass and Holy Communion) you ought to supply immediately on Sunday. So there is really nothing new for you to do. You merely offer up this Saturday (or even every Saturday or some other day) for the sanctification of priests. It is not a case of any sodality of fraternity or anything like that. Like the First Friday in honor of the Sacred Heart, the Priest's Saturday seeks to become something religiously observed by all the Catholics of the world.
(...) Concern about the holiness of priests is the concern of the Heart of the Divine Savior and of His blessed Mother. Therefore, you also should be sure to take part in this "apostolate to the apostles. " The Holy Father, all bishops, all priests, all students for the priesthood, and especially also your own pastor, earnestly beg of you thus to participate."
Source: Priest's Saturday Series, #2 Prayers and Devotions for Priest's Day. used with permission
Priests' First Saturday. Prayer:
Divine Savior, Jesus Christ, Who hast
entrusted the whole work of Thy redemption, the welfare and salvation of
the world, to priests as Thy representatives, through the hands of Thy
most holy Mother and for the sanctification of Thy priests and
candidates for the priesthood I offer Thee this present day wholly and
entirely, with all its prayers, works, sacrifices, joys, and sorrows.
Give truly holy priests who, inflamed with the fire of Thy divine love,
seek nothing but Thy greater glory and the salvation of our souls.
And thou, Mary, good Mother of priests, protect all priests in the
dangers of their holy vocation and, with the loving hand of a Mother,
also lead back to the Good Shepherd those poor priests who have become
unfaithful to their exalted vocation and have gone astray. Amen
In addition to the above make it a point also to recite frequently the following:
Divine Savior, Jesus Christ, Who Hast entrusted the weal and woes of
Thy Holy Church to priests, with all the fervor of my heart I recommend
to Thee the wants of my pastor and all priests. Enrich them more and
more with true priestly sanctity. Give them generous, all embracing,
apostolic hearts, full of love for Thee and for all Thy souls, so that
they, being themselves sanctified in Thee, may sanctify us who are
confided to their care, and may lead us safely to heaven. Bestow upon
them in rich abundance all Thy priestly graces!
Let them ever
give us a glowing example of love and fidelity towards Holy Mother
Church, towards the Pope, and bishops, and grant that by word and
example they may shine as models of every virtue.
Most loving
Jesus, bless all their priestly labors and sacrifices! Bless all their
prayers and words at the altar and in the confessional, in the pulpit,
and in school, in confraternities, and at the bedside of the sick!
Protect and preserve them in all dangers from within and from without.
Divine Savior, give to Thy Church priests who abound in true holiness!
Call many good boys and young men to the priestly and religious state!
Aid and sanctify all those who are to become Thy priests! And to the
souls of departed priests grant everlasting rest.
But to me
give a true spirit of faith and humble obedience, in order that in my
pastor I may ever behold the representative of God and willingly follow
all his teachings. Amen
Divinum Illud Munus, Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on the Holy Ghost
by VP
Posted on Saturday June 07, 2025 at 12:00AM in Documents
"The Holy Ghost and the Church
5. The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in His sleep on the Cross, first showed herself before the eyes of men on the great day of Pentecost. On that day the Holy Ghost began to manifest His gifts in the mystic body of Christ, by that miraculous outpouring already foreseen by the prophet Joel (ii., 28-29), for the Paraclete "sat upon the apostles as though new spiritual crowns were placed upon their heads in tongues of fire" (S. Cyril Hier. Catech. 17). Then the apostles "descended from the mountain," as St. John Chrysostom writes, "not bearing in their hands tables of stone like Moses, but carrying the Spirit in their mind, and pouring forth the treasure and the fountain of doctrines and graces" (In Matt. Hom. L, 2 Cor. iii., 3). Thus was fully accomplished that last promise of Christ to His apostles of sending the Holy Ghost, who was to complete and, as it were, to seal the deposit of doctrine committed to them under His inspiration. "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now; but when He, the Spirit of Truth, shall come, He will teach you all truth" ( John xvi., 12-13). For He who is the Spirit of Truth, inasmuch as He proceedeth both from the Father, who is the eternally True, and from the Son, who is the substantial Truth, receiveth from each both His essence and the fullness of all truth. This truth He communicates to His Church, guarding her by His all powerful help from ever falling into error, and aiding her to foster daily more and more the germs of divine doctrine and to make them fruitful for the welfare of the peoples. And since the welfare of the peoples, for which the Church was established, absolutely requires that this office should be continued for all time, the Holy Ghost perpetually supplies life and strength to preserve and increase the Church. "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever, the Spirit of Truth" (John xiv., 16, 17).
6. By Him the bishops are constituted, and by their ministry are multiplied not only the children, but also the fathers-that is to say, the priests-to rule and feed the Church by that Blood wherewith Christ has redeemed Her. "The Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops to rule the Church of God, which He bath purchased with His own Blood" (Acts xx., 28). And both bishops and priests, by the miraculous gift of the Spirit, have the power of absolving sins, according to those words of Christ to the Apostles: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose you shall retain they are retained" (John xx., 22, 23). That the Church is a divine institution is most clearly proved by the splendour and glory of those gifts and graces with which she is adorned, and whose author and giver is the Holy Ghost. Let it suffice to state that, as Christ is the Head of the Church, so is the Holy Ghost her soul. "What the soul is in our body, that is the Holy Ghost in Christ's body, the Church" (St. Aug., Serm. 187, de Temp.). This being so, no further and fuller "manifestation and revelation of the Divine Spirit" may be imagined or expected; for that which now takes place in the Church is the most perfect possible, and will last until that day when the Church herself, having passed through her militant career, shall be taken up into the joy of the saints triumphing in heaven. (...)
An Annual Novena Decreed
13. Wherefore, We decree and command that throughout the whole Catholic Church,this year and in every subsequent year, a Novena shall take place before Whit-Sunday, in all parish churches, and also, if the local Ordinaries think fit, in other churches and oratories. To all who take part in this Novena and duly pray for Our intention, We grant for each day an Indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines; moreover, a Plenary Indulgence on any one of the days of the Novena, or on Whit-Sunday itself, or on any day during the Octave; provided they shall have received the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist, and devoutly prayed for Our intention. We will that those who are legitimately prevented from attending the Novena, or who are in places where the devotions cannot, in the judgment of the Ordinary, be conveniently carried out in church, shall equally enjoy the same benefits, provided they make the Novena privately and observe the other conditions. Moreover We are pleased to grant, in perpetuity, from the Treasury of the Church, that whosoever, daily during the Octave of Pentecost up to Trinity Sunday inclusive, offer again publicly or privately any prayers, according to their devotion, to the Holy Ghost, and satisfy the above conditions, shall a second time gain each of the same Indulgences. All these Indulgences We also permit to be applied to the suffrage of the souls in Purgatory."
Source: Divinum Illud Munus, Pope Leo XIII May 9, 1897
