Today, we remember the memorial of St. Geltrude Comensoli, foundress of the Sacramentine Sisters of Bergamo. Their congregation is recognized in the Church for their charism of Eucharistic Adoration and of forming the young. We have an "ex corpore" relic (from the body) of the Saint, which was obtained immediately after her Canonization. GELTRUDE COMENSOLI was born in Bienno in Val Camonica, Brescia, on January 18, 1847, the fifth of ten children. On the same day of her birth, her parents, Carlo and Anna Maria Milesi, took her to the parish Church to be baptized and she was given the name of Caterina. During her childhood, Caterina experienced the joys of innocence and light-heartedness typical of that age. However, the Lord instilled within her the necessity of being intimately united to Him: she was often drawn by a strong desire to pray and meditate deeply. To those who asked her what she was doing she would answer: “I am thinking”. At the age of seven, unable to resist any longer the pressing invitation of Jesus, one day, in the very early morning, she wrapped herself in her mother’s black shawl and went to the nearby Saint Mary’s Church. Standing at the balustrade, she secretely made her First Communion. Caterina experienced a “heavenly” feeling and swore eternal love to Jesus. The child became more serious, meditative and more absorbed in the thought of Jesus present in the Eucharist who, she realized, was often left alone for many days. While still young, she became an Apostle of the Eucharist: she would have liked to take Jesus present in the Holy Sacrament onto the top of a high mountain so that everyone could see and adore Him. She chose some among the girls she knew to establish the Guard of Honour. Her ideal was Jesus. The motto: “Jesus, loving You and making others love You”, became the programme of her life. Attracted by a more perfect life, she left her family in 1862 and joined the convent of the Sisters of Charity, founded by St. Bartolomea Capitanio in Lovere, Brescia. Everyone had the highest hopes for her but the wonderful and mysterious ways of Providence were different. The Postulant became seriously ill and was dismissed from the Institute. After her recovery, she left her village due to the financial situation of her family and, surely not by chance, entered into domestic service, first with Rev. G. B. Rota, parish priest of Chiari, who a few years later was to become the Bishop of Lodi, and afterwards with the Countess Fé-Vitali. These meetings and experiences were to be very important to Caterina. During the Christmas season of 1876 she reaffirmed her dedication to Jesus and wrote a very demanding way of conducting her life, to which she remained faithful. On the Feast of Corpus Christi of 1878, with the permission of her confessor, she made the vow of chastity, which she had made on the morning of her secret Comunion, perpetual. Without neglecting her duties as a domestic servant, Caterina decided to educate the children of San Gervasio, Bergamo, guiding them towards an honest life of christian and social virtues. By means of assiduous prayer, mortification, an intense interior life and the practice of the deeds of charity, Caterina prepared herself to accept the will of the Lord. Freed from family responsibilities after her parents’ death, the young woman sought a way to achieve her Eucharistic ideal. She opened her heart to the Bishop of Bergamo Mgr Speranza, who was, at that time, in Bienno as a guest of the Fé-Vitali’s. He encouraged and assured her that her plans were the will of God. In 1880, while in Rome with the Fé-Vitali’s, she succeeded in speaking with Pope Leo XIII about her plans to establish a religious institute devoted to the adoration of the Eucharist. The Pope changed them by inviting her to include the education of young female factory workers as well. Supported by the new Bishop of Bergamo, Mgr Guindani, and by her “Father and Superior”, Rev. F. Spinelli, on December 15, 1882, Caterina, together with two of her friends began the Congregation of the Sacramentine Sisters of Bergamo with the first adoration hour of the Blessed Sacrament. On December 15, 1884 she took the name of Sister Geltrude of the Blessed Sacrament. The new Congregation revealed itself to be God’s work. In fact, like all God’s work, it endured many adversities which sorely tried the “tender little plant”. However, this plant had already spread its deep roots into the rich soil of prayer, mortification and humility. It mattered little that Sister Geltrude and her Sisters, advised by the Bishop of Bergamo, Mgr Camillo Guindani, successor to Mgr Speranza, had to abandon their first “nest” in order to take refuge in Lodi. Mgr Rota, Bishop of Lodi, welcomed them and generously gave them a house in Lavagna di Comazzo, which temporarily became the Mother House of the Institute. When innumerable difficulties had been overcome, Mgr Rota, with the Decree of September 8, 1891, gave canonical recognition to the Institute. On March 28, 1892, Mother Geltrude returned to Bergamo, the birthplace of the Congregation. There she gave it decisive and strong direction. God’s work was fulfilled! The Foundress had guaranteed by then the continuation of the perpetual and public adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and had instilled her precious ideas into her Sisters. Hers was a spirit of prayer, sacrifice, mortification, obedience, humility and charity mainly towards the poor. Therefore, she could approach her godly Bridegroom. On February 18, 1903, at midday, Mother Geltrude, bowing her head towards the Church of Adoration, began her eternal adoration. The news of her death quickly spread. Those who had known her, especially the poor and the humble, who were her favourite people, declared her a saint. On August 9, 1926, her venerable remains were taken from the cemetery of Bergamo to the Mother House of the Institute which she had established. There she lies in a special chapel next to the Church of Adoration. By request of numerous people, on February 18, 1928, the Ordinary Process on the reputation of Mother Geltrude’s sanctity, her virtuous life as well as miracles, granted by God through Mother Geltrude’s intercession, began. It ended in 1939. In the same year, Pius XII authorized the preliminary investigation of the Apostolic Process in the Cause of Mother Geltrude.On April 26, 1961, the General Congregation of the then Congregation of Sacred Rites was held in the presence of Pope John XXIII. His Holiness promulgated the Decree on the heroic virtuous life experienced by Mother Geltrude Comensoli, who was then given the title of “Venerable”.On October 1, 1989, Pope John Paul II declared her a Blessed. On April 26, 2009 Pope Benedict XVI entered her on the register of Saints. (Biography copied from the Vatican website.) Prayer to St. GeltrudeO God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
among the favorites of your love you chose Saint Geltrude Comensoli and, in her daily immolation of humility and charity, for the glory of your reign of love, you made her the apostle of the divine Eucharist, guide of the youth, comfort of the suffering: grant us, by her intercession, the grace that we humbly and confidently ask. (Mention the favor here.) Through the most sweet Heart of Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, our Mother, and your Saints, listen, o most amiable Trinity, to our prayer. Amen. (Loose translation of the Italian original) Today, we celebrate the memorial of Blessed Fr. Michael Sopocko, Priest of the Archdiocese of Bialystok and Confessor to St. Faustina Kowalska, known for being the visionary and secretary of the Divine Mercy Message. Our ministry has an "ex ossibus" (relic from his bones). He was an energetic, intensely spiritual priest who was happy in his pastoral duties. But Blessed Fr. Michael Sopocko — whose feast day is Feb. 15 — could never have imagined how in 1933, when he was appointed to be confessor to the convent of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Vilnius, in present-day Lithuania, his life would change. It was there, in a confessional, where he met Sr. Maria Faustina (1905-1938), a humble nun with a tremendous weight upon her. The Lord had begun revealing to her His message of Divine Mercy — an urgent message that He wanted her to share with the whole world. But who would believe her? At first, no one. Not her superiors in the convent and not her previous confessors. Sister Faustina had prayed for a spiritual director, someone to help guide her, someone who understood that what she was experiencing was real. Father Sopocko was the answer to her prayers, and eventually he became the main promoter of her revelations, the very linchpin in the Lord's call to spread Divine Mercy throughout the world. Blessed Michael Sopocko (1888-1975) was beatified Sunday, Sept. 28, 2008 in Bialystok, Poland. And with that, the world has begun to get to know the man on the other side of the confessional whom Jesus assured St. Faustina would be her "visible help ... on earth. He will help you to carry out My will on earth" (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 53). (Biography copied from this article) Prayer of Trust composed by Bl. Michael SopockoHoly Spirit, give me the grace of unwavering trust when I think of Our Lord’s merits, and of fearful trust when I think of my own weakness.
When poverty comes knocking at my door: Jesus, I Trust in You, when sickness lays me low, or injury cripples me. Jesus, I Trust in You, when the world pushes me aside, and pursues me with its hatred. Jesus, I Trust in You, when I am besmirched by calumny, and pierced through by bitterness. Jesus, I Trust in You, when my friends abandon me, and wound me by word and deed. Jesus, I Trust in You, Spirit of love and Mercy, be to me a refuge, a sweet consolation, a blessed hope, that in all the most trying circumstances of my life I may never cease to trust in You”. Amen. Since this website wasn't up on her memorial, we will make her as the "actual first post" of this website's section. The relic we have of her is a piece of cloth which was imbued with her blood. Mother Esperanza Alhama Valera was born on September 30, 1893 in Santomera, in the south of Spain, to a very poor family. She was guided personally by Jesus and Our Lady, since her childhood. In 1914, Speranza decided to embrace the religious life and entered the cloistered convent of the Daughters of Calvary. In 1921, that Congregation joined the Claretian Missionaries, where M. Espeanza remained until the December 6th, 1930 where she left the order to found a new institution. On Christmas Eve 1930, she gave a begining to the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Merciful Love On August 15, 1951 in Rome Mother Esperanza gave life to the Congregation of the Sons of the Merciful Love with the mission to announce the love and mercy of Jesus and to help the Diocesan clergy. Mother Esperanza died on February 8, 1983, at almost 90 years of age. Her remains are buried in the crypt of the Sanctuary of the Merciful Love in Collevalenza - Italy. On April 24, 1988 the process for her beatification was opened in the Diocese of Orvieto-Todi. On April 23, 2002 the Church declared Mother Esperanza “Venerable.” On July 5, 2013 Pope Francis declared Venerable Mother Esperanza "Blessed". Prayer to Blessed Esperanza“Father of Mercy and God of all consolation,
we thank you because, through the life and the word of the Mother Esperanza of Jesus, you call us to your Merciful Love. Give us the same confidence in your paternal love and, if it is in your plans to give her the glory that you offer to whoever is faithful to your Spirit and reveals Jesus’ goodness to the world, through her intercession, grant to us the grace… (ask for the grace you wish to obtain through the intercession of the Mother Esperanza). We ask this of you, trusting in the help of Mary, Mediatrix of the Mercy we will sing eternally." (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be)” Ecclesiastical Approval by Bishop Decio Lucio Grandoni, Diocese of Orvieto-Todi, February 8, 1984 |
![]() "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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