St. Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 373.
by VP
Posted on Saturday May 02, 2026 at 12:00AM in Saints
"ST. ATHANASIUS governed the Church of Alexandria fortysix years, eminent for sanctity, and for his zeal in defence of the Catholic faith. Pray for all the prelates of Christ's Church, that in virtue and zeal they may follow the steps of this holy bishop, and not let vice or errors grow up, through their neglect. Pray likewise for that unhappy people of Alexandria, who having renounced their faith in Christ, have for so many ages been disciples of Mahomet. Pray for all Christian nations, that they may not draw down the like judgment on their heads, by their wickedness, and have their contempt of God's law punished with a general blindness.
St. Athanasius suffered the persecution of many years from the malice of the Arians, by whose false accusations he was often forced into banishment, and obliged to the confinement of caves for shelter against their wicked designs. It is almost impossible to conceive the storms that were raised against him, and with how many calamities he was oppressed: and it is difficult to apprehend that great constancy and truly Christian courage, with which he stood out to the end under such variety of evils; over all which he triumphed by zeal and patience, and at length ended his days in peace, dying in his bed at Alexandria, in the year 373, under the Emperor Valens.
Pray for a like courage under all trials; and remember that virtue is no security against persecution. Happy are you, if you have no other persecutions, but what virtue draws upon you. If you desire to be proof against the greatest storms, practice your courage in those lesser ones which daily happen. See that ordinary contradictions destroy not your inward peace, nor put you on making complaints, or unnecessary apologies in your own defence, much less on engaging in contentions on this account. It is much better to be unconcerned at these petty oppositions, than solicitous about them; for such solicitude is but the argument of your impatience and self-love. Thus prepare for greater trials, and call in God to your assistance." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother
Letter 19:
"6. Like these too, are the heretics, who, having fallen from true discernment, dare to invent to themselves atheism. "For the fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, and become abominable in their doings." Of such as are fools in their thoughts, the actions are wicked, as He says, "can you, being evil, speak good things (Matthew 12:34);" for they were evil, because they thought wickedness. Or how can those do just acts, whose minds are set upon fraud? Or how shall he love, who is prepared beforehand to hate? How shall he be merciful, who is bent upon the love of money? How shall he be chaste, who looks upon a woman to lust after her? "For from the heart proceed evil thoughts, fornications, adulteries, murders. "By them the fool is wrecked, as by the waves of the sea, being led away and enticed by his fleshly pleasures; for this stands written, "'All flesh of fools is greatly tempest-tossed." While he associates with folly, he is tossed by a tempest, and perishes, as Solomon says in the Proverbs, "The fool and he who lacks understanding shall perish together, and shall leave their wealth to strangers." Now they suffer such things, because there is not among them one sound of mind to guide them. For where there is sagacity, there the Word, who is the Pilot of souls, is with the vessel; "for he that has understanding shall possess guidance ;" but they who are without guidance fall like the leaves. Who has so completely fallen away as Hymenæus and Philetus, who held evil opinions respecting the resurrection, and concerning faith in it suffered shipwreck? And Judas being a traitor, fell away from the Pilot, and perished with the Jews. But the disciples since they were wise, and therefore remained with the Lord, although the sea was agitated, and the ship covered with the waves, for there was a storm, and the wind was contrary, yet fell not away. For they awoke the Word, Who was sailing with them , and immediately the sea became smooth at the command of its Lord, and they were saved. They became preachers and teachers at the same time; relating the miracles of our Saviour, and teaching us also to imitate their example. These things were written on our account and for our profit, so that through these signs we may acknowledge the Lord Who wrought them." Source: New Advent, Letter 19, St. Athanasius
Priest's First Saturday
by VP
Posted on Saturday May 02, 2026 at 12:00AM in Priests' Saturday
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
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
Month of May: Blessed Virgin Mary
by VP
Posted on Friday May 01, 2026 at 02:00AM in Monthly Devotion
May: Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Virtue: Meekness
Our Lady of North Carolina, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Downton Raleigh NC
Our
Lady of North Carolina, increase the ranks of our priests by inspiring
our young men to be more generous in their response to serve Our
Blessed Lord in the priesthood and in religious life. Amen.
First Friday: Prayer to the Sacred Heart for Priests
by VP
Posted on Friday May 01, 2026 at 12:00AM in Prayers
Sacred Heart Stained Glass, Raleigh NC
Remember, O most loving Heart of Jesus,
that they for whom I pray are those for whom You prayed so earnestly the
night before Your death. These are they to whom You look to continue
with You in Your sorrows when others forsake You, who share Your griefs
and have inherited your persecutions, according to Your word: That the
servant is not greater than his Lord.
Remember, O Heart of
Jesus, that they are the objects of the worldʼs hatred and Satanʼs
deadliest snares. Keep them then, 0 Jesus, in the safe citadel of Your
Sacred Heart and there let them be sanctified in truth.
May they
be one with you and one among themselves, and grant that multitudes may
be brought through their word to believe in You and love You. Amen.
Saint Joseph The Worker
by VP
Posted on Friday May 01, 2026 at 12:00AM in Tradition
Prayer to St. Joseph Patron and Protector of the Universal Church
Blessed be the Divine Providence of God,
who in this age of trials has appointed the great St. Joseph Patron of
the Universal Church. Infinite praise, honor, glory and thanksgiving, at
every moment, from every creature, and for all eternity, be to Jesus,
who is ever with His Church, and protects her in every trial and in
every necessity.
Foster-father Joseph, our guide, protect us and holy Church.
O most holy Patriarch St. Joseph, ever protect the holy Church of Jesus;
humble her enemies, confound their wisdom, and defeat their plots. O
great St. Joseph! obtain from Jesus, for His Church, holy Popes, holy
prelates, holy priests, and holy religious. Amen. Very Rev. Archdeacon Thomas Kinane
May 1, 1955 Pope Pius XII : "Yes, beloved workers, the Pope and the Church cannot withdraw from the divine mission of guiding, protecting, and loving especially the suffering, who are all the more dear the more they are in need of defence and help, whether they be workers or other children of the people.This duty and obligation We, the Vicar of Christ, desire to declare again clearly here on this first day of May, which the world of labor has claimed for itself as its own proper feast day. We intend that all may recognize the dignity of labor, and that this dignity may be the motive in founding the social order and the law founded on the equitable distribution of rights and duties. Acclaimed in this way by Christian workers and having received, as it were, Christian baptism, the first of May - far from being an incitation to discord, hate, and violence - is and will be a recurring invitation to modern society to accomplish what is still lacking for social peace; a Christian feast, therefore, that is a day of rejoicing for the concrete and progressive triumph of the Christian ideals of the great family of all who labor.
In order that this meaning may remain in your minds and that in some way We may make an immediate return for the many and precious gifts brought to Us from all parts of Italy, We are happy to announce to you Our determination to institute-as We in fact do now institute the liturgical feast of St. Joseph the Worker, assigning it to the first day of May. Are you pleased with this Our gift, beloved workers? We are certain that you are, because the humble workman of Nazareth not only personifies before God and the Church the dignity of the man who works with his hands, but he is always the provident guardian of you and your families."
"From the very Beginning, for great work, the Almighty has usually selected weak instruments to carry out His designs; and hence the candid observer must attribute the success, not to human wisdom or power, but to God alone. In this spirit the Redeemer chose for the first preachers of His Gospel twelve fishermen, without leaning, power, eloquence, or wealth; and their mission was to storm the citadel of paganism, to refute the most learned, eloquent, and subtle philosophers, and to proclaim to a sensual, selfish, and proud world the hard doctrines of chastity, self-denial, and humility. To set the world on fire with the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, God chose Margaret Mary, a weak, timid nun, hidden and buried in her cloister at Paray-le-Monial. To give examples would be to write the history of the Church; to narrate the spread of the Gospel in every country, to describe the origin and progress of every new Devotion; and to record the battles and victories of the Church in every age, over heresy, sin, and schism. In all great works, as St. Paul says, "the foolish things of the world hath God chosen that He may confound the wise, and the weak things of the world hath God chosen that He may confound the strong. And the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible hath God chosen, and things that are not, that He might bring to nought things that are. That no flesh should glory in His sight." (1 Cor. i.27).
Signal and speedy, no doubt, will be the victories of the Church in these her days of sore and bitter trials and persecutions; since God in His infinite wisdom has given her St. Joseph as a Protector and Patron.
As St.
Joseph guarded Jesus in His Divine Infancy, from the hands of His
enemies, so will our great Saint protect the Church, the Spouse of
Jesus, from her adversaries.
To an age in revolt against lawful
authority, and puffed up with a spirit of independence and inquiry, the
Church holds up St. Joseph as a model of perfect obedience and
resignation, without murmur or hesitation, to God's holy will. To an age
devoured by love of wealth and riches, St. Joseph is a model of holy
poverty, ministering with joy and happiness to the wants of Jesus and
Mary, by the labour of his hands. To an age corrupt and wallowing in
sensual pleasures, the Church presents St. Joseph as a model of perfect
continency and holy purity. To an age enslaved by ambition for honours,
applause, glory, and high station, the Church presents St. Joseph, the
noble descendant of the royal house of David, hidden and unknown, as well
as happy and contented, in his workshop at Nazareth. To all Christians
St. Joseph is a perfect model of simple faith in the most sublime
mysteries; of prompt obedience to the calls of Divine Providence; of
perfect resignation in all things to God's holy will; of immaculate
purity of souls and body; of a laborious and holy life; and of a happy
death in the arms of Jesus and Mary. "Foster-father Joseph, our guide, protect us and the holy Church." Source: St. Joseph : his life, his virtues, his privileges, his power : a month of March in his honour by Very Rev. Archdeacon Thomas Kinane, 1884.
Saint Peregrine of Laziosi, Servite (1265-1345)
by VP
Posted on Friday May 01, 2026 at 12:00AM in Saints
St. Peregrine by Giacomo Zampa
"St. Peregrine Laziosi was born at Forli, on the first of May, 1265. In his youth he proved a noble and valiant knight, but a fierce enemy of the Church and the Pope. As his townsmen rebelled against the Pope, he became one of the boldest leaders of the revolution. But the Blessed Virgin to whom, notwithstanding his evil-doing, he had ever preserved a special devotion, watched over him.
It happened that St. Philip Benizi, the fifth General of the Order of the Servants of Mary, came to Forli at the command of the Sovereign Pontiff, to bring back that city to the obedience of the Holy See. But this dutiful son of the Church was cruelly treated by the rebels. Peregrine, more daring than the rest, not only insulted St. Philip, but even went so far as to strike him. But this great Saint meekly bore the injury and, in imitation of St. Stephen the first holy martyr, prayed fervently for his persecutors.
At the sight of so genuine a humility and charity, Peregrine, overcome with grief, ran in search of the Saint whom he had offended and humbly asked his pardon. St. Philip received the lowly penitent and assured him of pardon. He then exhorted him to change his life and to place himself under the protection of the most holy Mother of God, the better to carry out his good resolutions.
Henceforth Peregrine was changed into another man; but as he did not know what state of life he ought to embrace, he prayed fervently to Our Lady that she would herself deign to direct his steps in the way that God willed. The divine Mother heard his entreaties, and one day, as he was praying before her statue, she said to him: "Go to Siena to my Servants and there thou shalt find the way of salvation." Peregrine obeyed and, going out of the city, he found a young man dressed as a traveler, who offered himself as guide. When they arrived in Siena at the door of the Servite monastery, the young man suddenly disappeared, and Peregrine knew that he was an angel sent to guide him on his way.
The penitent received the Servite habit from the hand of St. Philip himself. Together with this outward habit, he also appeared clothed with the spirit of religious perfection. So great was his penance, that for thirty years he was not seen to sit down. His patience also in bearing infirmities was truly extraordinary, so that never a word of complaint was heard to come from his lips. Finally he died full of merits on the first of May, 1345, at the advanced age of eighty years." The Fairest Flower of Paradise: Considerations on the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary By Abbé Alexis Henri Marie Lépicier 1922
From the Breviary
GREAT the virtues which he showed,
He whose brow with glory glowed
When God's Mother gave him grace
'Mid her own to find his place.
To the Cross he firmly clung,
Wept the wounds that Jesus wrung;
Mary's sorrows fired his heart
Till he shared her bitter smart.
Herald he of words that win
Hardened sinners back from sin;
Robber bands he drew by love,
Suppliants of Heaven above.
Did the poor his bounty crave?
Largess beyond hope he gave ;
For as once at Jesus' touch
Scanty food was turned to much.
He, whatever pains oppressed,
Never laid him down to rest;
Standing, fasting, worked for God,
Bruised his body with the rod.
When his limb in peril stood,
Christ in pity from the Rood
Reached His hand, and all the wound
Healed, the flesh grew sweet and sound.
Glory, laud, and honour be
To Three in One and One in Three :
May His Servant aid to bring
Us to heaven to see the King.
