"Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, make us saints!" (Prayer composed and frequently recited by the Saint) Joseph was the eldest of 12 children. Born in Piedmont, he was ordained for the Diocese of Turin in 1811. Frail health and difficulty in school were obstacles he overcame to reach ordination. During Joseph’s lifetime, Italy was torn by civil war while the poor and the sick suffered from neglect. Inspired by reading the life of Saint Vincent de Paul and moved by the human suffering all around him, Joseph rented some rooms to nurse the sick of his parish and recruited local young women to serve as staff. In 1832, at Valdocco, Joseph founded the House of Providence which served many different groups (the sick, the elderly, students, the mentally ill, the blind). All of this was financed by contributions. Popularly called “the University of Charity,” this testimonial to God’s goodness was serving 8,000 people by the time of Joseph’s beatification in 1917. To carry on his work, Joseph organized two religious communities, the Brothers of St. Vincent de Paul and the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. Joseph, who had joined the Secular Franciscans as a young man, was canonized in 1934. PRAYER to St. Joseph BenedictO God, who have taught your Church to keep all the heavenly commandments by love of you as God and love of neighbor; grant that, practicing the works of charity after the example of blessed Benedict Joseph, we may be worthy to be numbered among the blessed in your Kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (from The Roman Missal: Common of Holy Men and Women—For Those Who Practiced Works of Mercy) Turin is a land of Saints, and most of them have one thing in common- charity. Turning our attention from the famed Don Bosco, from St. Luigi Orione and St. Joseph Cafasso, we now turn our attention to a Saint which has inspired these later generations of Saints to flourish- St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo. Our ministry is blessed to have a relic of his bones, “ex ossibus”.
This Custody thanks God for the gift of a new relic which was handed to us directly from Spain. We are blessed to have been gifted two "ex ossibus" (bone) relics of St. Maria Bernarda Butler, virgin and foundress of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary, Help of Christians. Verena Bütler had a very happy childhood in Switzerland. She loved nature and learning. When she made her First Communion in 1860 at the age of 11, her family was pleased by her strong commitment to her faith and spirituality. She finished her formal schooling at the age of 14, and while working on her family farm, she fell in love with a young man. But the call to follow God was stronger; she called off her engagement and entered the convent at the age of 18. However, that convent wasn’t the right place for her. Verena felt drawn to a different kind of religious life, and finally she entered the Franciscan Monastery of Mary Help of Sinners. She took the name Sister Mary Bernard of the Heart of Mary. The Bishop of Portoviejo in the far-off land of Ecuador invited her to serve as a missionary there. She and six other sisters arrived in Ecuador in 1888, where they eventually founded a new congregation, the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Sinners. There were few priests, and the faith was practiced with poor education in Ecuador. Sister Mary Bernard and her sisters worked very hard to bring religious education to families. Her congregation grew quickly, but her sisters suffered. They were incredibly poor and there were many risks to their health and safety. In 1895, they were forced to flee from Ecuador. Not knowing where to go, they traveled to Colombia and were invited to work in a hospital for women in the Diocese of Cartagena. Sister Mary Bernard’s example led to growth of her congregation, with houses opening in Austria and Brazil. The order’s love for the poor was evident in all they did. In 1924, Sister Mary Bernard died at the age of 74. She had spent 38 years as a missionary and had never returned to her beloved homeland. Because of her missionary zeal and devotion, she was canonized a saint by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008. Pray with St. Maria BernardaWe bless you, Lord,
because you have chosen Saint María Bernarda, to make your merciful love present, through her cooperation for the spread of your kingdom. Grant us the graces that through her intercession we ask you; may her example of life help us to grow in goodness and love, as well as to be of service to our brothers. Affirm, Lord, in us faith, hope and charity. Amen. “We can think, for example, of Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu, who offered her life for the unity of Christians.” (Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate, 5) With these words, Pope Francis brings into our attention the example of Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu, who accepted the call of Christ to pray for the unity of Christians, something very difficult nowadays, as they not only persist in their own versions of the Faith, but also dabble in worldliness in varying degrees. Let us pray that we may also heed this call of Christ to pray for unity in the Church, beginning in the hearts and minds of everyone. Our ministry has been blessed to receive from her monastery a relic of her incorrupt flesh, “ex corpore”, through the good graces of their monastic foundation here in the Philippines. Maria Sagheddu was born to large family of modest means on the island of Sardinia in 1914. At the age of 21, she entered a Trappist convent and took the name Maria Gabriella. The extreme poverty suffered by the community only led them to foster a spirit of sacrifice and abandonment to divine providence, all for the love of God. One sister of the community had this final request on her deathbed: “Please wipe my lips. I’m going off to kiss the bridegroom.” A year after Maria entered the convent, her abbess announced that the sisters would take part in the “Prayer of Unity Octave,” eight days of prayer asking God to bring an end to divisions in Christianity. Immediately after the announcement, a 78-year-old sister named Mother Immacolata approached her abbess with the request to offer the remainder of her life as an oblation for Christian unity: “I’ve come to ask your permission to offer to the good Lord the little bit of time I have left. It’s truly a worthy cause!” Exactly one month after the octave concluded, Mother Immacolata died. With this example before her, Maria Gabriella followed suit. The next year when the octave was announced, Maria Gabriella asked for and received permission to offer her life for the cause of Christian unity. Almost immediately afterward, she feel ill and was eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis. Her suffering increased dramatically, but so did the joy she radiated. A year later Sr. Maria died, having revealed her sacrifice only to a handful of confidantes including her abbess and her spiritual director. At the time of her death, her Trappist sisters discovered that Maria Gabriella’s Bible was particularly worn at John 17 – which contains Christ’s prayer that “they may be one” (John 17:20 and 22). It’s pretty amazing that someone who did nothing but pray has become the Church’s patroness for ecumenism. What is even more amazing is that growing up in Sardinia she had never met a non-Catholic Christian. She only knew that some Christians were separated from the Catholic Church, and that this grieved the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Although Maria was a complete unknown in life, God chose to exalt this humble soul after her death. After many of her sisters at the convent reported receiving messages in their dreams from Sr. Maria Gabriella and witnessed other heavenly signs, her abbess took the unprecedented step of having a biography of Sr. Maria published. Within a few years, visitors of various denominations were making pilgrimages to Maria Gabriella’s grave. When her grave was opened in 1957, Maria’s body and clothing were found incorrupt — a naturally inexplicable state for someone who died of tuberculosis. PRAYER to Blessed Maria GabriellaO God, eternal Shepherd, who inspired Blessed Maria Gabriella, virgin, to offer her life for the unity of all Christians,
grant that through her intercession, the day may be hastened in which all believers in Christ, gathered around the table of Your word and of Your Bread, may praise you with one heart and one voice. Grant us also the favor of (state your intention) which we ask of You through her intercession. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. NOTE: Since April 18 falls on Holy Thursday, we have found it opportune to publish it at an earlier date. (The Custodian) When one adores the Eucharist, one will naturally find it easier to recognize His presence in the poor and the lowly. This is the example which today's commemoration of Blessed Savina Petrilli has shown us. Our ministry has a precious relic of her bones,”ex ossibus”, graciously given by the motherhouse of her congregation at Siena. At the age of ten, Savina Petrilli, of Siena, Italy, read a biography of Saint Catherine of Siena that instilled in her a lasting devotion to this saint. Savina thereafter aspired to imitate Catherine's devotion to the Eucharist, the Passion of Christ, and the Church. Following her First Holy Communion at the age of twelve, Savina became a frequent communicant. As a teenager, she was a very active member of a Marian sodality, the Children of Mary. At the age of eighteen, she had the opportunity to meet (Blessed) Pope Pius IX, who, upon learning that she was a native of Siena, commented that she should walk in Saint Catherine's footsteps. Savina saw in this remark a sign from heaven that inspired her to found a new religious congregation. She confided her plan to her dying sister Emilia, who in turn promised to assist in its accomplishment by her prayers in heaven. Savina's congregation received papal approbation in 1877 with the title, the Sisters of the Poor, devoted to the care of the needy. Mother Savina died of cancer on April 18, 1923. PRAYER to Blessed SavinaO Jesus, brother of the lowly,
you gave to Blessed Savina Petrilli a burning love for the Eucharist, an unshakable fidelity to the Gospel, and a motherly tenderness towards the little ones by giving life to the family of the Sisters of the Poor. Grant us her devotion to the Eucharist, her appreciation of the (common) priesthood of the faithful, and her apostolic zeal, a living mirror of the love for the Church by St. Catherine of Siena. Give us a meek and humble heart like Yours, so that we may be eternally a gift of grace to our brothers and sisters, and grant us by her intercession, what we ask for in faith and confidence. Amen. Oftentimes, one of the last things which we can describe a young person is that they are “holy”. We tend to attribute to the young an attitude of recklessness and carelessness which makes them easier to fall into sin. However, this isn't the case with many young saints: short though their lives may be, they have gained merits not only for themselves, but also for others in the spirit of victimhood and sacrifice, as seen in the example of St. Gemma Galgani. (NB: The Passionist Order celebrates her Feast on May 16, which is also the traditional feast of the Saint before the Second Vatican Council.) Our ministry is blessed to have a relic of her body "ex corpore" graciously granted by the Passionist Nuns of her Shrine at Lucca. “Do you desire to love me? Learn to suffer first. Suffering teaches one how to love.” (Jesus to St. Gemma in a vision) Beyond the appearances there is an extraordinary Saint: a mystic in continuous and affectionate dialogue with Jesus; a contemplative saint who prays simply like a child and deeply like a theologian. She withdraws the most terrible difficulties by making herself to be helped by her Guardian Angel. A young girl, she maintains her soul candid and she compelled herself to an immaculate life. Gemma is born in Borgonuovo of Camigliano (Lucca) on 12th March 1878. While he receives the Confirmation in the Church of Saint Michael in Foro, Jesus asks her for the sacrifice of her mother. At the age of eighteen she is submitted, without anaesthesia, to a painful operation to the foot and on Christmas of the same year she makes her vow of chastity. Soon Gemma remains orphaned, nearly abandoned, in the most terrible misery. When she is twenty, Gemma refuses a wedding proposal, for being "all of Jesus". During this year she recovers miraculously from a spinal disease and the mystical experiences begin. As she is healed miraculously, in the city she is called "a child of miracles". She talks with her Guardian Angel and also gives him delicate assignments, like taking post to Rome to her spiritual director. "I give the letter, I have just finished, to the Angel, she writes. It is here beside me waiting for him". And the letters mysteriously reached the addressee without being handled by the post of the Reign. In June 1899 Christ gives her the stigmata. In the same year, during the mission in Saint Martino, Gemma knows the Passionist fathers who introduce her to the Giannini’s. Received like a daughter in this wealthy and devout house she passes her life between house and Church. But the shocking manifestations of her holiness go beyond the walls of the bourgeois house. She produces conversions, foretells future events, and falls in ecstasy. When she prays, she sweats blood; on her body, beside the signs of the nail, the plagues of the flagellation appear. Here she knows Father Germano who will direct her spiritual life. Soon people know that her black gloves and her dark and high-neck dress hide the seals of the Passion. These stigmata opened, painful and bleeding, every week on Friday evening. In front of her the scientists cannot hide their embarrassment. Some spiritual directors, too cannot explain the extraordinary young girl: they suspect mystification, hysteria, they ask for tests, they want proofs of obedience. Gemma, although enduring extreme physical pains and moral tests, does not say anything, or better, she always says Yes. She does not ask for anything, or better, she asks Jesus for more pain for herself and conversion and salvation for the others. In 1901, at the age of 23, according to Father Germano’s will, Gemma writes the Autobiography, “the notebook of my sins”. In the following year she offers herself to God as victim for the salvation of the sinners. Jesus asks her to found a monastery of cloistered Passionists in Lucca. Gemma answers with enthusiasm. In the month of September of the same year she becomes ill seriously. Her life is marked deeply by pain. The darkest period of her life has started. The consequences of the sin weigh heavily on her body as well as on her soul. In 1903, on Saint Saturday, Gemma Galgani dies at 25 years, pressed by pain, but asking for more pain until the end. In 1903 Pope St. Pius X signs the Decree of foundation of the Passionist Monastery in Lucca. In 1905 the cloistered Passionists begin their presence in Lucca, and meet the ancient desire that Jesus expressed to Gemma. Father Germano, spiritual director of Gemma, wrote the first biography for Gemma in 1907. The canonical processes for the acknowledgment of her holiness start. In 1933 Pius XI includes Gemma Galgani into the Blessed souls of the Church. In 1940 Venerable Pius XII will raise Gemma Galgani to the glory of the Saints and to show her as model of the universal Church for her heroic practise of the Christian virtues. PRAYERSPrayer to Jesus for a specific favor written by St. Gemma
Behold me at Your most holy feet, O dear Jesus, to manifest to you my gratitude for the continual favors which You have bestowed upon me, and still wish to bestow upon me. As many times as I have invoked You, O Jesus, You have made me content; I have often had recourse to You and You have always consoled me. How shall I express myself to You, dear Jesus? I thank you! Yet one more grace I desire of you, O my God, if it would be pleasing to You (here mention your request). If you were not omnipotent, I would not make this request. O Jesus, have pity on me. May your most holy will be done in all things" Prayer to St. Gemma often recited by the Passionists Oh St. Gemma, how compassionate was your love for those in distress, and how great your desire to help them. Help me, also in my present necessity and obtain for me the favor I humbly implore, if it be profitable for my soul. The numerous miracles and the wonderful favors attributed to your intercession instill in me the confidence that you can help me. Pray to Jesus, your Spouse, for me. Show Him the stigmata which His love has given you. Remind Him of the blood which flowed from these same wounds, the excruciating pain which you have suffered and the tears which you have shed for the salvation of souls. Place all this as your precious treasure in a chalice of love and Jesus will hear you. Amen. Today, our Church remembers a Saint who is characterized by his love for the youth in society: his example is a clear reminder for all of us to put our energies and talents in forming the next generation of young people to be of greater service to God and to their society, to be leaven of the world which is already so broken by pride and self-interest. On 16 October 2016, Pope Francis added seven new witnesses to the catalogue of saints. Among them was St Lodovico Pavoni (1784-1849) from Brescia in Northern Italy. Lodovico Pavoni realized that the education of young people was the most urgent need of his time. The figure of Pavoni is of a saint who made a great impact by his work on behalf of youth and persons most in need of support (deaf, disabled, orphans, and the poor) while also contributing to the renewal of contemplative life. His story is very relevant in this jubilee year, because the founder of the Sons of Mary Immaculate was an authentic witness of God's mercy to the younger generation. LODOVICO PAVONI was born to a noble family, in Brescia, on September 11, 1784, in a time of profound political and social upheavals. Ordained a priest on February 21, 1807, he devoted himself to the education of the poor youth. For them, in 1812, he founded an oratory; and, for their sake, he gave up the possibility of an ecclesiastical career, which seemed paved for him when the Bishop Nava called him to be his Secretary (1812) and appointed him Canon of the Cathedral (1818). Feeling deeply questioned by the situation of many teenagers who, left to themselves and forced to work in morally dangerous environments, were losing the values and Christian principles learned in the Oratory, Lodovico Pavoni offered them a home, a family and a job, opening in 1821 the Institute of St. Barnabas. He wanted it as a “College of Arts” in which the welfare intervention was completed by an articulate educational project, based on the centrality of the person being educated and on tenderness, what later came to be called “preventive method.” He also understood that to offer his young people a decent future, it was necessary to teach them a profession that would make them autonomous and socially useful. That is why eleven craft workshops were opened at St. Barnabas, among those the Typography stand out as the first graphic school in Italy, which soon became a real Publishing House. He also received in the Institute deaf people, whom he loved with preference, because “being in greatest need, have more right to the concerns of charity.” For the peasant he projected an agricultural farm at Saiano in Franciacorta, twelve kilometers away from Brescia. In order to provide continuity and prosperity to his works, he founded, on December 8, 1847, the Congregation of the Sons of Mary Immaculate, whose members − priests and consecrated brothers − could be directly inserted into the same mission and share “a life perfectly in common.” Lodovico Pavoni died in Saiano, where he had gone to rescue his boys, on April 1, 1849, the last of the “Ten Days” of Brescia. Pius XII, recognizing his heroic virtues in 1947, called him “another precursor of St. Philip Neri ... a forerunner of St. John Bosco ... a perfect emulator of St. Joseph Cottolengo.” On April 14, 2002, in the solemn setting of St. Peter’s Square in Rome, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II, who also established his annual memorial on May 28. A miracle occurred in Brazil made it possible for Fr. Lodovico Pavoni to be declared saint by Pope Francis, on October 16, 2016, in a solemn celebration, also at St. Peter’s Square in Rome. Currently the Congregation of the Pavonians continues the charism of its founder in education, publishing apostolate (Àncora publishing house) and pastoral in Italy, Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Eritrea, Burkina Faso and Philippines. There are many reasons why Pavoni can be considered a precursor. Long before Don Bosco or Don Murialdo, Pavoni saw in the phenomenon of juvenile neglect one of the great dramas that characterized the age of transition between the old regime and industrialized society. He understood that the only way of redemption was through holistic education of the person. Religious education was his fundamental objective, but Pavoni saw professional training as the way that best covers all aspects of the person. The centrality of the Christian faith, love for each person, the importance of work as an instrument of human and social development, clear rules within an organization but implemented as in a family, attention to personal relationship and recourse to reason rather than imposition – these are the components of a plan that aims to equip young people with the necessary tools to develop a balanced personality and to recognize their social role before the impact of the social situation drives them inexorably to the margins. PRAYER to St. LodovicoWe implore you, Father, source of life and joy;
through the intercession of Saint Lodovico Pavoni, with confidence we ask for the grace of... (mention the grace you are praying for) May your all-powerful love grant our prayer and make us more like your faithful servant, who gave joy and hope to the young and the poor. May our dearest Mother Mary present You our petitions; she obtained the first miracle in Cana through Jesus, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. In what seemed to be a twist of circumstances, a relic of St. Andre Bessette arrived in our custody. Like his life, what seemed to be the end as a refusal actually turned out to be an occasion for blessing. The relic of his in our care is a piece of cloth with his blood. Put yourself in God's hands: he abandons no one... Alfred Bessette was born in Quebec on August 9, 1845, and he was orphaned by the time he was 12. He had to work to support himself and had little formal education, but from an early age he had a lively faith and a strong devotion to St. Joseph. After a few years trying to find work in the United States, he returned to Quebec. There, his childhood pastor encouraged him to consider a vocation to religious life. He sent Alfred to the Congregation with a note that said, “I am sending you a saint.” Initially, Holy Cross did not accept Alfred because of his poor health. He had been baptized right after birth because they had been afraid that he might not live more than a few days, and he was sickly all his life. Alfred, however, was not discouraged, with the assistance of the Archbishop of Montreal, received entrance into the Holy Cross Novitiate on December 27, 1870. Upon entering the Novitiate, Alfred took the name André, which was the name of his childhood pastor. Given his frail health and lack of a formal education, Brother André was assigned as doorkeeper of Notre Dame College in Montreal. He continued this assignment as a professed brother. Among his many duties, he greeted visitors and tended to their needs. Many people began to experience physical healings after praying with Brother André, and his reputation as a healer began to spread. So many people flocked to see him that the Congregation allowed him to see sick people at a trolley station across the street. Through it all, Brother André remained humble, often seeming confused that people would lavish such praise on him. He knew that the real source of these miraculous cures was St. Joseph’s intercession. His desire to increase devotion to St. Joseph inspired him to found a shrine to his favorite saint across the street from Notre Dame College. He saved the money he earned from giving haircuts at five cents apiece, eventually earning the $200 he needed to construct a simple structure. This shrine opened on October 19, 1904, and in 1909, Brother André was released from his duties as doorkeeper and assigned full-time as the caretaker of the Oratory of St. Joseph. The Oratory attracted large numbers of pilgrims, and plans were made to construct a large basilica. Brother André’s full-time ministry for the rest of his life was to receive the long lines of sick visitors who flocked to the Oratory to see him. He became known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal,” and thousands of miraculous healings were attributed to his intercession over the following decades. Brother André died on January 6, 1937 at the age of 91. During the week that his body lay in state outside of St. Joseph’s Oratory, an estimated one million people braved the bitter Montreal winter to pay their respects. The basilica was eventually completed and remains a major pilgrimage site, attracting over two million visitors a year. The side chapels are filled with the crutches of people healed through St. André’s prayers.On October 17, 2010, St. André Bessette became first saint of the Congregation of Holy Cross when he was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI. On this day, the Church recognized that God chose a very simple man for a remarkable life of service to the Church. He had previously been beatified by Saint John Paul II on May 23, 1982. Prayer to St. Brother Andre"When you pray, you talk to God the way you do a friend."
-Brother Andre Lord, you chose Brother André to spread devotion to Saint Joseph, and to dedicate his life to the poor and afflicted. Grant through his intercession the favour(s) that I now request… [State your intentions…] Grant me the grace to imitate his piety and charity, so that, with him, I may share the rewards promised to all who care for their neighbours out of love for you. I make this prayer in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen. Pray: 3x Our Father… 3x Hail Mary… 3x Glory Be… As the Church begins her Lenten journey through the celebration of Ash Wednesday, we are gladdened by the new arrival of an "ex ossibus" relic of a Discalced Carmelite who embodies love for the Crucified Jesus, as well as an deep imitation and love for the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints: Blessed Giuseppina of Jesus Crucified. "There is only one thing necessary in life: to know God, our supreme Good, in order to be able to love Him with all one's heart. This knowledge of God makes our spirit disappear like a drop of water in the ocean or like a spark in a fire. There is only one thing necessary in life: to know God, our supreme Good, in order to be able to love Him with all one's heart. This knowledge of God makes our spirit disappear like a drop of water in the ocean or like a spark in a fire." (From the writings of the Blessed) Contemplate this infinite God, one in essence but three in Persons. Try to see in the Trinity the unique principle, the wisdom existing in infinite love, and in the Trinity see the activity of tiny creatures that live in God and love Him. Giuseppina Catanea (Sr Maria Giuseppina of Jesus Crucified) was born on 18 February 1894 in Naples, Italy, into a noble family, the Marquises Grimaldi. Called "Pinella" by her family, as a young child she showed great affection for the poor and most needy, giving money to them. She helped to care for two lonely old women. Pinella's mother and grandmother set a good Christian example for her. She was especially devoted to Our Lord in the Eucharist and to Mary, praying the Rosary often. At an early age, Pinella was convinced that Jesus was calling her to Carmel. Having completed commercial studies, and overcoming the opposition of her mother and family members, on 10 March 1918 Giuseppina entered the Carmelite Community at St Maria ai Ponti Rossi. As a young religious, she learned to love Christ through suffering, offering herself as a victim for the good of priests. She accepted great physical pain as God's will for her. Giuseppina was afflicted with tuberculosis of the spine, which completely paralysed her. She owes her miraculous cure to the intercession of St Francis Xavier, whose relic was brought to her cell and who appeared to her in a dream. Although she would have been glad to live in solitude, when the news of her miraculous recovery became known outside the Community, priests, seminarians and persons of every social class came to Ponti Rossi to receive counsel and consolation from her. In 1932, the Holy See officially recognized the house at Ponti Rossi as a convent of the Discalced Carmelites with the name, "the Carmel of Sts Teresa and Joseph at Ponti Rossi". Pope Pius XI approved the house as a Carmel of the Second Order, with Papal enclosure, placing it under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Naples. Giuseppina received the Carmelite habit and took the name Sr Maria Giuseppina of Jesus Crucified. On 6 August 1932, she made her Solemn Profession according to the Carmelite Rule. On the day she took the habit, she said that she wished to offer herself to the Crucified Jesus so that she could be crucified with Him. She suffered silently but joyfully and abandoned herself to the will of God, who favoured her with mystical experiences. In 1934, Cardinal Alessio Ascalesi, the Archbishop of Naples, appointed Sr Maria Giuseppina the Sub-prioress of the Carmel, while in 1945 she became the Vicar. That same year, on 29 September, the first General Chapter of the Ponti Rossi Carmel elected Sr Maria Giuseppina the Prioress, an office that she held until her death. Already in 1943 she had begun to suffer various physical maladies, including the progressive loss of her sight. She considered her illnesses to be "a magnificent gift" that allowed her to be better conformed to the Crucified Christ. With a cheerful spirit, she offered her body as a sacrifice for souls. She died in Naples on 14 March 1948. In obedience to her spiritual director, Sr Maria Giuseppina of Jesus Crucified wrote her Autobiography (1894-1932) and her Diary (1925-45), as well as many letters and exhortations for her Sisters. The beatification ceremony took place on 1 June (2008) in the Cathedral of Naples, Italy, at which the Archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, presided. The Cardinal Archbishop read a message from Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, C.M.F., Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, for the event. Prayer composed by Bl. GiuseppinaO will of God, infinite love, take away my will in the flame of your love! I want to unite myself to you, my God who are my all. I want only to do whatever pleases you. I want my life to be a continuous adoration, a continuous hymn of love for you, O God who are One and Three.
Even if I were a seraphim of love, would I be worthy of the Lord? If I had consumed myself with sacrifices and penances for God and my life had been a holocaust, what would I have done for you, my God and my all? I desire to love God with the same ardour as His divine Spirit, with fervent unction of his love, to the point of living only for Him and becoming one with Him; one will, one desire and one spirit. Amen. On this day, the Church remembers the great Polish bishop St. Zygmunt Felinski, who always served his flock and stood for his faith in imitation of the Good Shepherd. Our ministry is blessed to have a relic of his body "ex corpore" encased in an ordinary medal. “Blessed are those who, will be found in their hour of trial with Mary under the cross” (St. Zygmunt, 1874) St Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski was born on 1 November 1822 to Gerard Felinski and Eva Wendorff, in Wojutyn, Volinia (present-day Ukraine), then Russian territory. He was the third of six children, of whom four survived. Felinski was raised with faith and trust in Divine Providence, love for the Church and for Polish culture. His father died when he was 11 and in 1838 the Russians exiled his mother to Siberia for "involvement in patriotic activity" that is, working for farmers' rights. Felinski studied mathematics at the University of Moscow (1840-44) and in 1847 went to the Sorbonne University and the Collège de France in Paris to study French literature. He was in touch with all the important Polish emigrants and took part in the unsuccessful Revolt of Poznan. In 1851 he returned to Poland. He entered the diocesan seminary at Zytomierz and studied at the Catholic Academy of St Petersburg. He was ordained a priest on 8 September 1855 and assigned to the Dominican Fathers' Parish of St Catherine of Siena in St Petersburg until 1857, when the Bishop appointed him spiritual director of the Ecclesiastical Academy and professor of philosophy. In 1856 he founded a charitable organization for the poor, and in 1857, the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary. On 6 January 1862, Pope Pius ix appointed Fr Felinski Archbishop of Warsaw and he was consecrated on 26 January 1862 in St Petersburg. He arrived in Warsaw on 9 February 1862. The Russians had brutally suppressed the Polish uprising in this city in 1861. On 13 February 1862, the new Archbishop reconsecrated the Cathedral of Warsaw, which had been desecrated by the Russian troops. Three days later he opened all the churches with the solemn celebration of the "Forty Hours" Devotion. Zygmunt Felinski was Archbishop of Warsaw in the turbulent period from 9 February 1862 to 14 June 1863. Unfortunately, he met with distrust on the part of some, even clergy, since the Russian Government had led people to believe that he was collaborating secretly with the Government. The Archbishop always showed clearly he was at the service of the Church alone and strove to eliminate government interference in the internal affairs of the Church. In reforming the diocese he regularly visited all the parishes and charitable organizations on order to address their needs better. He reformed the syllabus of the Ecclesiastical Academy of Warsaw and of the diocesan seminaries, giving a new impetus to the spiritual and intellectual development of the clergy. He took steps to obtain the release of priests in prison and he encouraged them to proclaim the Gospel publicly, to catechize their parishioners, to open parish schools and to educate a new generation that would be devout and honest. He also cared for the poor and opened an orphanage in Warsaw that he entrusted to the Sisters of the Family of Mary. Archbishop Felinski strove to prevent the nation from making rash moves and, as a protest against the Russians' bloody repression of the "January Uprising" in 1863, resigned from the Council of State and wrote to the Emperor Alexander ii, urging him to put an end to the violence. He likewise protested against the hanging of Fr Agrypin Konarski, a Capuchin and chaplain of the "rebels". His courageous actions soon led to his exile to Siberia. On 14 June 1863, he was deported to Jaroslavl, where he spent the next 20 years, deprived by the Tsar of all contact with Warsaw. Yet he managed to organize works of mercy for his fellow prisoners, especially the priests, and somehow succeeded in collecting enough funds to build a Catholic church. The people were impressed by his spirituality and nicknamed him the "holy Polish Bishop". Archbishop Felinski was released on 15 March 1883 and Leo XIII transferred him from the See of Warsaw to the titular See of Tarsus. For the last 12 years of his life he lived in semi-exile, serving as parish priest in south-eastern Galizia at Dzwiniaczka, among farmers of Polish and Ukrainian origin. As chaplain of the public chapel of the local manor, he undertook an intense pastoral work. He set up the first school and a kindergarten in the village at his own expense. He also built a church and convent for his Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, and found the time to prepare for publication the works he had written in exile. He died in Kraków on 17 September 1895 and was buried there on 20 September; the following month his mortal remains were translated to Dzwiniaczka, and in 1920, to Warsaw. Here, on 14 April 1921, they were solemnly interred in the crypt of St John's Cathedral where they are venerated today. John Paul II beatified him in Kraków, Poland, on 18 August 2002. Benedict XVI canonized him on 11 October 2009. (Official biography taken from the Vatican website) Prayer to St. ZygmuntToday, the Church remembers one of the great promoters of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of being a victim soul (one who offers their life as a reparation for their own sins and of others) especially for the clergy, Blessed Mary (Marie) of Jesus Deluil-Martiny. Our ministry is blessed to have a relic of her bones- "ex ossibus", which we reverently care for in our Custody. Marie Deluil-Martiny was born in Marseilles, France, on May 28, 1841, and was baptized the same day. The eldest of five children, she inherited from her father, a deeply Christian lawyer, the courage that allowed her to overcome the difficulties of life. From her mother she received an ardent faith combined with a great gentleness of heart. Nevertheless she had a proud and domineering temperament. When the time came for her first Communion, to ensure her proper preparation her parents sent her as a boarder to the Visitation Convent in Marseilles. One day during recreation, Marie all of a sudden stopped her playing and, taking a friend aside, said, «Imagine, Angelique, at this very moment the Blood of Jesus is flowing at the Altar for the world!» And for several moments she remained absorbed by this thought that had flashed across her mind. Marie made her first Communion on December 22, 1853, and received the sacrament of Confirmation on January 29, 1854 at the hands of Saint Eugene de Mazenod, the bishop of Marseilles. Around the age of 15, while still at school, she gathered together a group of students called the «Oblates of Mary,» that she thought of as a little religious order, complete with rule, novitiate, and profession. The group was discovered by the Superiors and dissolved. At the end of her studies, Marie made a retreat that was decisive for her vocation. «Jesus Christ is the only One to love,» she wrote in her journal. «At my death, I would like to have loved no one but Him. ... To live properly in the world, I must abhor sin and flee its occasions, hate the world and what is of the world ... Come and follow me, Jesus said. O God, how beautiful these words are! ... It is mine if I want it!» It was around this time that she had the grace of meeting the Curé d'Ars, Saint John-Marie Vianney, and of speaking to him about her vocation. She felt very clearly that Jesus was calling her to be entirely His, and so refused several proposals of marriage. The first Saturday of September, 1867, Marie was in prayer in a church when Jesus spoke to her: «I am not known, I am not loved... I wish to make souls for Myself who understand Me... I am a torrent that wants to overflow and whose waters can no longer be held back!... I wish to make Myself cups so as to fill them with the waters of My love... I am thirsty for hearts who appreciate Me and who enable Me to fulfill the goal for which I am here! I am insulted, I am desecrated. Before the end of time, I want to be compensated for all the insults I have received... I want to distribute all the graces that have been refused...!» Marie was deeply saddened by the world's refusal of Jesus. She wrote, «The world no longer wants Him. Today, some blush at Him, while others hate Him and scorn Him. They try to chase Him from hearts and from society. To these dishonors, scorn, and satanic profanities, let us answer loud and clear: He must reign!» On December 8, 1867, Marie made, with the permission of Father Calage, the vow of virginity. In September 1868, in front of a statue of the Virgin of La Salette in tears, she received this inspiration: «The Blessed Virgin wants victims who, in union with her pierced Heart and with Jesus sacrificed, interpose themselves between the crimes of men and the Justice of God...» The following month, she made this beautiful prayer: «O Jesus, receive me from the hands of the Most Blessed Virgin and offer me with You, sacrifice me with You... I offer myself for this sacrifice as much as You wish and my weakness allows... I will consider all the crosses, all the sufferings that Your Providence sends me as proofs that You have accepted my humble offering.» At the start of 1869, Marie put into writing a complete summary of her future work: «Just as Mary on Calvary, united to the Eternal Priest, offered her Divine Son, and then renewed this offering through the hands of Saint John, the Daughters of the Heart of Jesus, united with all the priests in the world, will offer the Eucharistic Jesus sacrificed on every altar. They will especially offer the Blood and Water that came forth from the divine wound of the Sacred Heart. They will be the adorers of the Eucharist solemnly exposed in the chapels of their convents, and will dedicate themselves to surrounding Him with the most profound signs of respect and love. This will be their life, their reason for being...» It took time for God's plans for Marie to unfold fully. Finally, the moment came for them to be realized. But the political situation made a foundation in France impossible. Therefore, with the help of a Belgian prelate, Monsignor Van den Berghe, she founded the Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Jesus in Berchem-lez-Anvers, Belgium, on June 20, 1873. Taking the name Mother Marie of Jesus, she took the veil and a white habit on which were embroidered two red hearts surrounded by thorns. In the spirit of Our Lord's message to Saint Margaret Mary, the goals of the new institute were the following: to make reparation for the sins committed against the Heart of Jesus, to offer Him a continual thanksgiving for all the graces He continues to lavish on the world, and to offer to the Most Holy Trinity the precious Blood of Jesus Christ so that His reign might come in the world. The best way to realize these aims would be the cloistered life, centered on the divine office and adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Every day, the nuns of the new institute would recite the seven last words of Jesus on the Cross, words of Redemption and a source of holiness for souls. To compensate for man's ingratitude for divine graces, they would recite the Magnificat several times a day. Wanting to open the doors of religious life to those whose health could not endure the austerities of older orders, Mother Marie of Jesus placed less emphasis on bodily penances than on interior mortification and renunciation through obedience. She preferred the mortifications that appear on their own: «The sufferings caused by heat or cold,» she wrote, «are good windfalls for a mortified soul. To say nothing on these occasions is a precious mortification, because no one sees or notices it; everything is for Jesus alone.» Our Lady had told her: «For the future institute, the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the celestial offering of the Divine Victim sacrificed on the Altar, will compensate most excellently for the corporal mortifications that some constitutions can no longer bear.» The constitutions of the new institute were approved in 1876 and, on August 22, 1878, the foundress and the first four Religious made their perpetual vows. Mother Marie of Jesus still had a desire to plant the institute in her native land. In June 1879, a foundation was established at «La Servianne,» the property she had inherited from her parents, close to Marseilles. From then on, Mother Marie of Jesus' life was divided between the administration of her convents and a voluminous correspondence. Her natural kindness was enriched with a mother's tenderness; her solicitude watched over every detail of her Daughters' lives. If one of them was sick, she would spend entire nights by her bedside, caring for her with her own hands, suggesting pious thoughts to her. She wrote to one of her Daughters: «Isn't it ridiculous for us to spend our time thinking about ourselves, admiring ourselves, or complaining, getting upset over our little troubles which seem so big to us, limiting ourselves by groaning over our misfortunes, when the great plans of God and the salvation of souls are calling us, when we have a God to love and serve, and souls to help and save? We are like a man who, in the middle of a terrible fire that is burning down his house, and that is going to kill his mother, his father, his children, instead of hurrying to put it out, is in a corner wailing that his clothes got soiled from carrying buckets of water, and is busy picking off, with lamentations, each bit of ash that got on his clothes. Oh! That is what we do when, in the midst of this unhappy world that is trying to burn down the Church and that insults Jesus Christ Our Lord, we spend our time complaining about our ills or our own trials, etc. We shrink in on ourselves when we could expand in embracing God, and become saints by serving His cause through our renunciations and sacrifices. A good flap of the wings and, with the aid of grace, let us rise up, let us leave the earth—above all, leave ourselves—and no longer see anything but Jesus!» In November 1883, Mother Marie of Jesus hired an assistant gardener, twenty-one year old Louis Chave, to pull him out of poverty. But soon, he showed himself to be lazy, rude, and demanding, and moreover, was involved with the anarchists. On February 27, 1884, Ash Wednesday, he waited in ambush on the grounds of La Servianne, in a spot the Religious passed during their recreation. He sprang out and, as the Superior spoke a kind word to him, grabbed her head and shot her twice at point-blank range with a revolver. Wounded in the carotid artery, Mother Marie of Jesus collapsed, murmuring, «I forgive him... for the Institute!» She died shortly thereafter. Buried in the family vault, then transferred to Berchem in 1899, her body was exhumed on March 4, 1989 for her beatification. It was found intact and flexible. Today, the Congregation of the Daughters of the Heart of Jesus has convents in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and a foundation in Croatia. After the foundress' death, the influence of her community led to the establishment of «the Association of Victim Souls,» which has had thousands of members, including Saints Pius X and Maximilian Kolbe, and Blesseds Charles de Foucauld, Columba Marmion, Edouard Poppe and Marie-Joseph Cassant. During the beatification of Marie Deluil-Martiny, on October 22, 1989, Pope John Paul II summarized her spiritual journey in these words: «At a very early age, she was moved by the world's offenses against Jesus' love and Society's all too frequent refusal of God. At the same time, she discovered the greatness of the gift Jesus gave the Father to save mankind, the abundance of love that radiates from His Heart, the fruitfulness of the blood and water that flow from His open side. She was convinced that she must participate in the redemptive suffering of the Crucified in a spirit of reparation for the sins of the world.» (Biography copied with permission from the Abbey of St. Joseph de Clairval, France) Prayer of Blessed Mary of Jesus"Allow me, my sweet Master,
to give myself to you and your adorable heart by your own hands. Receive and accept thus this gift of mine, the total and unconditional surrender that your Grace makes me offer You with all of myself: my heart, my soul, my mind, my will, my freedom, my thoughts my affections ... everything that interests me, belongs to me or is dear to me, for the present and the future, for time and eternity. Make me and all that you want. Use me, render me useless to a corner, console me, pardon me, I have nothing else to see, nothing to desire or prefer, but You. Here I am thrown today like a small drop of water in the ocean of love of the Sufferings of your Heart, O Jesus, to be rolled and carried by Your sacred waves according to the order of Your will, forever . In exchange for the acts of humility that I offer you, give me the grace to never take my offering back: to love you without reservation and without ceasing and to perfectly fulfill your holy will. " |
"All the Saints of God are there to protect me, to sustain me and to carry me. Indeed, the communion of Saints consists not only of the great men and women who went before us and whose names we know. All of us belong to the communion of Saints, we who have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we who draw life from the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood, through which he transforms us and makes us like himself. Yes, the Church is alive – this is the wonderful experience of these days. "
(Pope Benedict XVI, Homily on the Mass of Inauguration to the Petrine Ministry, 24 April 2005) NOTE:This ministry does not entertain requests nor for information to obtain the relics which appear in this website. Guide For Relic ClassificationWe strive to provide English translations of the terminology used to label relics. However, there may be a need to consult the original term to avoid confusion.
Please go to this page for a short guide to relic classification. Instagram Feed/BlogArchives
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