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 remember the memorial of Blessed Joseph Allamano. Our ministry has relics of him in the form of a piece of his burial cassock, as well as several pieces of his coffin. His story is a reminder that sanctity always runs in the family, and that our families must be places where holiness and virtue are fostered. Joseph Allamano, the fourth of five children, was born on January 21, 1851, at Castelnuovo d’Asti (now Castelnuovo Don Bosco), in Italy, the hometown of St. Joseph Cafasso and St. John Bosco. His father died when he was not yet three years old, and his mother, Maria Anna Cafasso (the sister of the Saint), was the major influence on his life. Joseph Allamano followed in the footsteps of his uncle, St. Joseph, and devoted himself to the training of clergy. He was a holy man, like his uncle; it was often said that he was “Fr. Cafasso returned to life” and “an almost perfect copy of his great uncle and predecessor”. With Don Bosco. Joseph Allamano finished elementary school in 1862 and that autumn entered the Salesian “Oratorio” at Valdocco, where his regular confessor was Don Bosco himself. After completing four years of intermediate school at the “Oratorio”, he felt called to the diocesan priesthood, and left Valdocco for the diocesan seminary in Torino. Don Bosco perhaps had thought that Allamano would enter his own Congregation, and gently reproved him: “You hurt my feelings — you left without even saying ‘goodbye’.” Allamano responded timidly, “I didn’t have the nerve …” He felt great affection for Don Bosco all his life long, and did not want to displease him. On September 20, 1873, Joseph Allamano was ordained to the priesthood. He wanted very much to be involved in pastoral ministry but, instead, he was assigned to the seminary, first as an assistant (1873-1876) and then as spiritual director (1876-1880). Fr. Allamano had very different plans, so that, when Archbishop Lorenzo Gastaldi gave him this assignment, he objected respectfully, “I had hoped to be an assistant parish priest, and later maybe a parish priest in some little village…” The Archbishop responded kindly, “You wanted to be a parish priest? If this is all that’s bothering you…, I am giving you the most important parish in the diocese: the seminary!” As a formator of candidates for the priesthood, he was distinguished by the firmness of his principles and the gentleness with which he put these principles into action. Everyone recognized his excellence as an educator: he was a genuine “master of clergy formation”. At the same time he continued his own studies, and on July 30, 1876, the Torino Theological Faculty awarded him a doctorate in Theology, and on June 12, 1977, university teaching credentials. He was later appointed as associate member of the Canon and Civil Law Faculty; subsequently he became the chairman in both of these faculties. In October 1880 he was appointed Rector of the Consolata Shrine in Torino and, from that time until his death, all his work took place at that Archdiocese’s Marian Shrine. This new assignment was not an easy one for the 29-year old priest. He later told of his conversation with the Archbishop: “My Lord, I am too young for this job”, he said with filial trust. The Archbishop’s response was both fatherly and encouraging: “You will see that they will like you even so. It is good that you are young: if you make any mistakes, you will have time to correct them.” Fr. Giacomo (James) Camisassa, a priest Fr. Allamano had known and respected when he was the seminary spiritual director, was his first associate at the Shrine. Fr. Allamano invited Fr. Camisassa to the Shrine, and the letter reveals something of Fr. Allamano’s pastoral plans: “You see, my friend, together we can accomplish some good and honour Mary, our Mother and Consolation, with our sacred worship.” Their fraternal and priestly collaboration lasted their entire lives. Each respected the other’s work and shared the same ideals. Their work together is a magnificent witness to and example of two priests’ friendship and pastoral collaboration. Shortly after Fr. Camisassa’s death, Fr. Allamano said, “He was always ready to sacrifice himself to spare me”. “With his death I have lost my two hands”. “We were together as one for 42 years”. “Every evening we spent long hours together in my study…”. “We have promised to tell each other the truth, and we kept this promise.” The Shrine was physically run down and in spiritual decline. Fr. Allamano’s leadership initiated a revival. With Fr. Camisassa’s active assistance, the shrine became the artistic, marble and gold jewel we see today. Fr. Allamano took charge of the shrine’s pastoral, liturgical and social activity; gradually it became a centre of Marian spirituality and Christian renewal in the city and in the region. Fr. Allamano’s special gift for counselling and comfort contributed to this rebirth. People of all classes benefitted from his insight and heart-felt concern. Cardinal Jean-Marie Villot remarked, “Fr. Allamano was an exemplar of what a genuine priest should be; his was a providential mission for a diocese like Torino. It was a mission of counselling, direction, encouragement, admonition, and reviving souls through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He brought the joy and peace of God’s friendship to many, and encouraged people to work in the apostolate.” Fired by his intense apostolic zeal and a vivid understanding of the Church’s mission, Fr. Allamano’s concerns reached out to the whole world. He felt the urgency of Christ’s command to take the Gospel to all peoples. He thought it unnatural that the Church in Torino, that flowered with so many institutions devoted to charity, should not have one solely dedicated to the missions. He sought to remedy this situation, thus helping those who felt the missionary call to carry out their vocation and encouraging this call in other people. Founding a missionary Institute was not a sudden impulse; Fr. Allamano conceived this idea after prolonged spiritual preparation and in the face of considerable obstacles and contradictions. Undoubtedly the work of founding the Institute was one of trial and fatigue for Fr. Allamano, who was already deeply involved in Fr. Cafasso’s cause and the work at the “Convitto” and Shrine, as well as at St. Ignatius’ House. In 1891 he believed the right moment had arrived to found his missionary Institute of priests and brothers, but he was only able to carry out this project when his friend and classmate, Cardinal Agostino Richelmy, became the Archbishop of Torino. In Card. Richelmy Fr. Allamano found someone who supported him and shared his ideals. Delay came to a sudden end through the intervention of Divine Providence. In January 1900, Fr. Allamano was close to death; he had contracted a disease while assisting an old woman in an icy attic. He always believed that his recovery was a miracle of Our Lady Consolata. He never doubted that this was a sign that the Institute was to be founded. The following year, on January 29, 1901, the Institute of the Consolata Missionaries (priests and brothers) was born. The underlying motivation of this foundation was the deep-rooted spirit of Fr. Allamano himself. Fr. L. Sales, his loving disciple and first biographer, claims that the root cause of this missionary endeavour is Fr. Allamano’s sanctity. He himself once said: “Since I could not be a missionary myself, I wanted to make it possible for those with this vocation to follow it.” There were also other circumstantial reasons for starting this work: a desire to continue Cardinal Massaia’s work, and the missionary spirit and urgings of some of the priests living in the “Convitto”. Fr. Allamano himself says as much in a letter to Card. Richelmy on April 6, 1900: “During my many years of training clergy, I must confess that I have often encountered genuine missionary vocations.” The final decision to found an Institute of missionaries was taken only at the explicit command of the Archbishop. Fr. Allamano responded to this command with Peter’s words to Jesus on the occasion of the miraculous catch: “In your name I will cast out the nets”. On May 8, 1902, the first four missionaries left for Kenya: two priests and two brothers. Others followed shortly afterwards. Soon becoming aware of the need for female collaborators, Fr. Allamano obtained from the Superiors of the Cottolengo Institute some Vincentian Sisters to go to Kenya and work alongside the Consolata Missionaries. This collaboration began in 1903 and lasted more than twenty-two years. However, because of difficulties arisen between the newly elected Apostolic Vicar, Bishop Filippo Perlo, and the Cottolengo Superiors, no more Sisters were sent after 1909. Those who were working in Kenya quite gradually returned to Italy. Fr. Allamano suffered because of the difficulties, but was unable to forestall their consequences. He felt forced to intervene to assure the necessary presence of Sisters in the missions. At the urging of Bishop F. Perlo, with the permission of his Archbishop, and on the advice of Card. Girolamo Gotti, prefect of “Propaganda Fide” and especially because of Pope St. Pius X’s support, Fr. Allamano founded the Institute of the Consolata Missionary Sisters on January 29, 1910. He later told the Sisters how their Institute came to be founded. He was asking them to pray for Card. Gotti who was very sick at the time and he said, “It was Card. Gotti who encouraged me to found the Sisters. He told me ‘It is God’s will that there be Sisters.’ And I responded, ‘But there are already so many Sisters’. ‘Yes’, he said, ‘many Sisters, but few missionary ones’.” Fr. Allamano also revealed the Pope’s involvement: “It was Pope Pius X who wanted your foundation; he is the one who gave me the vocation of providing women missionaries”. He would continue with pleasure, and recount his conversation with Pope Pius X, to whom he had spoken about his problems in finding female personnel for the missions. The Pope said, “You yourself must found an Institute of missionary Sisters, as you have founded one for men missionaries.” “But, Your Holiness”, Fr. Allamano respectfully objected, “there are already so many Institute of Sisters”. “Yes”, the Pope responded, “but they are not exclusively missionary”. “But, Holy Father,” Fr. Allamano continued, “I do not feel I have a vocation to found an Institute of Sisters!” “If you do not have it,” the Pope said, “I give it to you”. Logically Fr. Allamano would then tell the Sisters, “You see, it was the Pope, not me, who wanted your foundation. Therefore you must be ‘Papaline’ (faithful to the Pope)”. In later years, other mission fields were entrusted to the men and women Consolata Missionaries, in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Somalia, and Mozambique. Today the Consolata Missionaries are working in twenty-four Countries of the continents of Africa, America, Europe and Asia. Through personal contacts, letters, and formation meetings, Fr. Allamano lavished his most loving care on his sons and daughters. Convinced that the missions deserved the best we have to offer, he was more concerned with quality than quantity. He looked for well-prepared evangelizers, “saint in a superlative way”, and willing to give their lives for the missions. He had as a motto: “First saints and then missionaries”. For him this “first” was not a matter of time but of priority. Fr. Allamano died on February 16, 1926, at the Consolata Shrine. Today his remains are preserved in the church of the Mother-House of his Missionaries in Corso Ferrucci, in Torino. Missionaries, friends of the missions, and many pilgrims visit his resting place. Bd. Allamano’s sarcophagus is not just a tomb; it is an altar on which Mass is celebrated. Bd. Allamano’s sons and daughters have placed the remains of his close collaborator and co-founder, Fr. Camisassa, next to his body. Fr. Allamano was beatified on October 7, 1990, by Pope John Paul II. The Pope confirmed the tributes the new Blessed had received during his life and after his death: “The Consolata Saint”, “Provident Father”, “Formator and Teacher of the Clergy”, “A priest for the whole world”. During the homily he delivered at the beatification, the Pope said, “At this moment when his name is added to the list of the Blessed, Joseph Allamano reminds us that, in order to be faithful to our Christian vocation, we must share the gifts we have received from God with brothers and sisters from every race and culture. We must proclaim Christ with courage and coherence to everyone we encounter, and especially to those who do not yet know Him”. Bd. Allamano left a written last will and testament to his missionaries. It included words of encouragement which can certainly be seen as addressed to all people who intend to embrace his missionary spirituality: “I have lived my many years for your sake; I have given my possessions, my health and my life for you; I hope that, after my death, I will be your protector in heaven”. Prayer to Blessed JosephGod our Father,
we thank you for having numbered Joseph Allamano among the Blessed of the Church. He has made your fatherly tenderness shine among us; he has honoured Mary Consolata as a mother full of love and an inspiration of the Mission among the peoples. We request you to give to the church the joy of venerating him among the saints as an exemplary witness of announcing Jesus and His gospel. We humble implore you through his intercession to grant us what our heart requests you with confidence. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 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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