St. Felix of Valois, Confessor, A.D. 1212.
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 20, 2025 at 05:00AM in Saints
"He was of the blood royal of France, educated in great piety, and while as yet a child, accustomed to give alms to the poor, This charity grew up with him; so that being now a youth. He several times stripped himself to cover the naked, and sent from his table the choicest dishes to feed the hungry. Being come to maturity, he made the study of heaven his chief business; and having received holy orders, so to prevent his succession to the crown, he retired into a desert, where he lived in prayer and penance. After some time, being found by St. John of Matha, he with him laid the foundation of the Order of Trinitarians, for the redemption of captives, which by his zeal and good example was very much advanced. In this method of holiness and charity, he lived to the year 1212, when he gave up his soul to God.
If children are under your care, accustom them to good; that the seed
sown in their tender years may bring forth good fruit, for your comfort
and their salvation. Children brought up too nicely, make nice men; and
in this have a double difficulty in coming up to the mortification required by the Gospel. If your lot be in the higher ranks, learn how to employ your money and time. This saint now enjoys the reward of what he employed so well. If you abuse all to serve your vanity and corruption, is there not in this an intolerable misuse of blessings? And what recompense can you then expect, but to be cast forth into the exterior
darkness? It is a reproach to Christianity, that among such numbers,
who are blessed with plenty, there are so few who make a christian use of it,
by referring it to the Giver.
Pray for all in captivity and prison. You have no compassion, if you refuse them this charity; but do more, if you can. Pray for all who are slaves to sin. Help them by your advice and good example: you save your own soul by delivering theirs. But if by your discourse or ill example, you draw any into snares, or chains, you act the part of an infidel, and can have no hopes of salvation." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
"Felix, happy lover of charity, teach us the worth, and also the nature, of this queen of virtues. It was she that attracted thee into solitude in pursuit of her divine Object; and when thou hadst learnt to find God in himself, she showed him to thee and taught thee to love Him in thy brethren. Is not this the secret which makes love become strong as death, and daring enough, as in the case of thy sons, to defy hell itself? May this love inspire us with every sort of devotedness; may it ever remain the excellent portion of thy holy Order, leading it to adapt itself to every new requirement, in a society where the worst kind of slavery, under a thousand forms, reigns supreme." By Dom Prosper Guéranger
Twentieth Day: Love of the Blessed Virgin Towards the Souls in Purgatory
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 20, 2025 at 04:00AM in Purgatory Month Meditations
"Since our Divine Redeemer gave us Mary as our Mother, when, dying upon the cross, He said to His disciple, "Behold thy Mother," the Blessed Virgin regards us all as her beloved children. But she maintains most tender feelings of maternal love towards the suffering souls in Purgatory. Let us then, please this Mother of Love by offering abundant suffrages for the souls in Purgatory. Taking into consideration the great prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin, and the infinite love of the Holy Trinity towards her, we cannot doubt that by her merits and intercession every penitent suffering soul would be delivered at once from Purgatory, were such according to the inscrutable ways of God.
But God has His own designs founded on His infinite wisdom, justice and mercy. The Blessed Virgin does not pray to have all the suffering souls delivered at once, for her will is in perfect conformity to the Will of God, and she exercises her dominion over the souls in Purgatory in perfect union with this Divine Will.
St. Bernardin of Siena applies to Mary the text of Holy Writ, "I have walked in the waves of the sea," (Eccl. XXIV.8), and adds: "She descends into the sea of fire, quenching the flames for the suffering souls." St. Dionysius, the Carthusian, at tests that the souls in Purgatory experience the same joy and relief, at the mere mention of her name, that consoling words bring to the bedridden sick."
Prayer: O most holy and glorious Virgin Mary, Blessed Mother of our Lord, we place our petitions for the suffering souls in thy hands. Cleanse these souls from all imperfections, and, by thy intercession, obtain for them eternal rest. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.
Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen
Special Intercession: Pray for the souls who were most zealous in their devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907Saint Edmund Arbishop of Canterbury, confessor, A.D. 1242
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 20, 2025 at 01:00AM in Saints
"ST. EDMUND was born of pious parents at Abingdon in Berkshire. Of his devout mother he learnt from a child, to fast on all Fridays on bread and water. He grew up under her care in all Christian virtues: and was so dutiful to her, as never by word or look to contradicted her inclinations. He performed the first part of his studies at Oxford, in which he gave early indications of great genius. Retirement and prayer were his delight, and he sought no companions, but those of the like inclinations. From Oxford he was sent to study at Paris, whence he was recalled by the sickness of his mother, who gave him her blessing on her deathbed, and recommended to him the care of his brother and two sisters. Edmund neglected nothing that might benefit his own soul: he shunned the vanities of youth, dreaded pleasures, waged a perpetual war with idleness, frequented churches, and wholly addicted himself to prayer, fasting, and study. His chief care was to preserve his purity without spot or stain; which by the counsel of a holy priest he dedicated by vow to God, under the patronage of the most Blessed Virgin Mary. Her intercession, he declared at his death that he had experienced to be so powerful, that he had never called on her without finding assistance in his temptations, comfort in his afflictions, and relief in his necessities.
Returning to Paris he there finished his studies, and was ordained priest. He came back to England, and taught for some years at Oxford. He preached with great zeal and fruit, converted many sinners, and formed many excellent men of prayer. Being chosen to fill the see of Canterbury, he submitted after much resistance, and received the episcopal consecration. This dignity, however, made no alteration in his humble sentiments or behavior. His chief employment was to inquire into and relieve the necessities of his flock, and he soon acquired the reputation of a primitive pastor. His zeal raised him many adversaries, and finding it impossible to remedy great abuses, he retired into France, where he soon after died the death of the just, on the sixteenth of November, 1242.
St. Edmund was a great proficient in divine love, because he learned perfectly to die to himself. Pray for the like spirit of self-denial. Pray for your country: and let the many disorders you observe in it, oblige you to importune heaven for remedy. Can you be silent, when so many souls are carried away by vice and error? This is the punishment of sin. Pray for mercy; and be careful not to add to the scourge by your own disorders and sins." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
#17 Acts of Adoration Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in reparation for all the offenses committed against Him by mankind [Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament]
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 20, 2025 at 01:00AM in Thursday Reparation
17. We adore Thee, O God of infinite majesty, whom we can never sufficiently adore and reverence! And to make reparation for all the impious oaths pronounced against Thee, we offer up to Thee the pious discourses made in Thy honor by the holy doctors of the Church. 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.
