To remind souls of eternity

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Today, 18 May 2012, is the memorial of Blessed William of Toulouse (a.k.a. William of Naurose) , a priestly preacher, spiritual director and exorcist who brought many souls back to God in 14th century France. His spiritual effectiveness seems to stem from his deep prayer life and his willingness to remind souls of the things of eternity : heaven, hell and purgatory.

Blessed William of Toulouse was born around 1297. Why Naurose is linked to his name, I haven’t been able to find out. It doesn’t seem to be a current place name, nor a word easily translate-able from French to English. As with many saints, the interesting details about how he came to enter religious life have not come down to us. What we do know is that by the age of 19 William had entered the Order of Hermits of St Augustine at Toulouse. His superiors must have thought highly of him and of the intellectual gifts God had given him, because after his ordination they sent him to do further studies at the University of Paris.   

When William returned to Toulouse he devoted himself to the ministry of preaching, having his base at the Augustinian monastery of St Stephen at Toulouse. It seems that he was quite eloquent when it came to preaching about religious life, speaking of obedience to the Father, poverty to the Son who became poor for us, and chastity to the Holy Spirit the spouse of Our Lady and all holy souls.

Apparently a written work entitled ” Vision of the Punishments in Purgatory and Hell” remains extant, but not online. To write something like this either he gathered together accounts of private revelation OR he was given a special revelation from God or perhaps both. People only bother to write about things that are close to their hearts or because they have been put under obedience. In his preaching William must have often reminded his listeners of the horrors of hell and the sufferings of the Holy Souls in Purgatory. With ardour he invited souls to seek the intercession of Our Lady of Sorrows and to pray sincerely for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Both these devotions are well known for the holiness they grow in souls.

When it came to preparing to preach, William used the motto, ‘Pray, look, speak of God’. Without prayer a person cannot receive God’s messages and inspirations. Without looking for the action of God’s grace, how will you be able to find it and cooperate with it? Without speaking of God all preaching is worthless, so speak only of Him.

Following a fruitful life as an instrument of God’s grace for souls, William entered into his eternal reward on 18th May 1369. Numerous miracles and answers to pray were received by those who visited his grave, so his body was exhumed and interred within the local church. Even when the devastations of the French Revolution rumbled through Toulouse, the people never lost their devotion to St William – which is high praise indeed for the enduring power of his intercession before the throne of God.

May the good Lord grant to modern preachers the courage and strength to remind souls of the eternal realities, heaven and hell and of the needs of those in Purgatory.

Blessed William of Toulouse, pray for us.

Tested many times, he stayed true to God

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Today, 17 May 2012, is the 60th anniversary of the martyrdom of Blessed Ivan Ziatyk (a.k.a. John Zyatyk), a priest of the Ukranian Greek Catholic Church and a member of the Redemptorist Order. While some of us might be able to remain true to our Faith after two or three torture sessions, it takes a whole lot more tenacity, courage and heroism to undergo over 38 interrogations with their associated beatings and deprivations and remain true to God. This is what Blessed Ivan did.

Only someone already far advanced along the road of holiness would be able to do that. So Blessed Ivan’s life must be remarkable for holiness, despite the trials of his long martyrdom. 

Blessed Ivan Ziatyk was born towards the end of 1899 into a peasant family of Odrekhova, which is now found in south eastern Poland. During his early teenage years Ivan’s father died, and his elder brother Mykhalio saw to the rest of his upbringing. Quiet, prayerful and obedient, Ivan proved to be a very able student. At the age of 20 he entered the local Ukranian Catholic seminary in Przemysl, and so excelled at his studies that soon after his ordination in 1923 he was called upon to teach at the same seminary and give spiritual direction to students.

There is something about teaching a subject that helps you grasp it at greater depth than any student. So it seems the more Ivan taught catechetics and theology the deeper conviction he felt about God and the more he desired to grow closer to God. By 1935 this desire had matured into a religious vocation with the Redemptorists. As soon as Ivan had completed his notivitate, this gifted teacher was assigned to the Redemptorist seminary at Holosko. His kindness, obedience and closeness to God made Ivan as easy choice for increasingly more important roles of service within the monastery, firstly looking after the temporal needs of the monastery and later as superior.

By the end of WW2 a terrible persecution by the Soviet secret police broke out against the Church. Initially only bishops were targeted. This persecution soon spread to religious orders. Ivan was one of those rounded up from several places in 1946, taken to Holosko, and imprisoned in a wing of a monastery without any heating. That area of the world is bitterly cold for most of the year. All of them suffered the intense cold as well as constant surveillance and many interrogations. In October of 1948 all of the Redemptorists in that place were moved to another guarded monastery in Univ.

How Ivan handled himself under these conditions must have been exemplary, because when the Provincial was forcibly deported to Belgium this man chose Ivan to take his place as both provincial of the Redemptorists and vicar general of that region of the Church. Naturally this choice made the communist authorities take a closer look at Ivan. Extraordinary spiritual leaders like Ivan couldn’t be tolerated for long, and so in early 1950 he was arrested and charged with spreading the Catholic faith. For two years he endured the prisons of Lviv and Zolochiv, together with the interrogations, tortures and appeals to forsake his faith that went with it.

On 21 November 1951, Ivan was given an official sentence of 10 years imprisonment and he was sent to a prison camp near Bratsk in the Irkutsk region of Russia to serve it. At this new prison Ivan attracted particular brutality from the overseers. On Good Friday according to the Ukranian liturgical calendar Ivan was viciously beaten and then soaked in water before being left outside in the Siberian cold. When at last Ivan was found in this condition, he was taken to the prison hospital where he died soon after on Easter Sunday, 17 May 1952.

The life and death of Ivan made a deep impression on everybody. In 2001, Ivan was declared Blessed by Blessed John Paul the Great on a papal visit to the Ukraine. May the Lord God grant that he may soon be declared a Saint. We have need of witnesses like Ivan who were willing to say Yes to God continuously in conditions of great hardship and suffering.

Blessed Ivan Ziatyk, pray for us.

 

Unconquered Athlete of Christ

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Today, 16 May 2012, is the 355th anniversary of the death of St Andrew Bobola (a.k.a. Andreas, Andrzej), a Polish martyr and priest of the Society of Jesus. By God’s grace he conquered his own temperament, conquered souls with the love of Jesus and conquered the tortures of one of the most brutal martyrdoms on record.

St Andrew Bobola was born in 1591 in the Polish district of Sandomira, into a family with noble roots. From them he received excellent Christian example and a thorough education. He was sent to the Jesuit school near Vilnius. The holiness of the lives of the Jesuits who taught there must have made a good impression upon Andrew, because by the time he was 20 he had entered the novitiate. Interested not only in the studies for the priesthood, but also in attaining holiness, Andrew sought to grow closer to God through prayer and the acquisition of humility. Growing in humility wasn’t an easy task for Andrew because naturally he was inclined to pride, impatience and obstinacy.

Step by step he grew closer to the Heart of Jesus, through long hours before the tabernacle and generous service to the needy. In 1622 Andrew was ordained to the priesthood and with increasing ardour sought to bring as many souls as possible back to the Divine Redeemer. The closer his union with Jesus, the more effective his ministry was to souls. To which ever parish or Jesuit centre he was send, Andrew brought about spiritual renewal and called forth the laity to prayer and fellowship in the sodalities of the time and to service as catechists and as visitors to the poor and sick. Thus when plagues hit the region in 1624 and 1629 Andrew had a ready army of holy helpers to lead in ministering to those struck by these sicknesses.

By 1630 Andrew’s thirst to bring souls back into full communion with the Catholic Church was gathering pace. At the parish of Bobruisk he got stuck into building a church, because the lack of one was drawing people over to the Orthodox Church. From 1636 he was released from parish work and started missionary work, with the prime focus of helping people return to the Catholic faith. Often whole villages returned to the Catholic faith through his zeal and preaching. 

Around the age of 52, Andrew’s health deserted him, and he wasn’t able to minister to as many souls. For someone as on fire for the salvation of souls as he was, this would have been a great trial. By the age of 58, (1649), Andrew was healthy enough to return to preaching. Not only did he get them to reconcile with God, but also with each other – thus diffusing disputes and healing divisions.

Meanwhile the Cossacks were mustering on the borders and eager to wipe out Jews and Catholics. When the Cossacks came, the Jesuits had to leave all their buildings and retreat into swampy districts. Andrew didn’t go with them, but returned to places he had visited urging the people to keep the fullness of faith that they had embraced. Where ever he went souls returned to God, and this earned him hostility from several quarters.

With the Cossacks working hard to eradicate Catholicism and Russian troops invading, it was inevitable that Andrew would one day be arrested. It happened at Pinsk  in 1657 that he was taken into custody shortly before the Ascension. He was 76 yeas old and about to undergo a long and savage martyrdom. To his torturers he witnessed his faith in Jesus and his immense desire that their souls be saved from hell. Reading the lives of the early martyrs of Christianity, modern ears tend to discount the extent of the tortures they went through. This cannot be the case for Andrew because God decided to preserve his body incorrupt as a witness to the horrible things done to him and as a witness to His own almighty power to suspend the normal laws of decomposition. Andrew was burned, half- strangled, mutilated, partly skinned alive, an eye torn out, stabbed in the chest and finally dispatched with the sword.

It was 40 years after Andrew’s death that God permitted him to appear to the rector of a school for the purpose of showing the rector where his body was. From then on his incorrupt body was several times moved from place to place and now resides in a Jesuit church at Cracow, Poland. Over 400 miracles have been attested through Andrew’s intercession. May his prayers help us to conquer our weaknesses and to draw many souls back to Holy Mother Church and the successor of St Peter.

Prayer

Saint Andrew Bobola, in this Hour of Darkness – Pray for us. We pray for your intercession before our Most Glorious Lord Jesus Christ that we may have the strength to endure the unendurable…the protection of the Great God Almighty in the midst of persecution and the grace to accept His will.. whatever that may be. St Andrew stand with me, give me fortitude and peace of soul, let not my faith waiver. Let me stand faithfully in union with the Sacred Heart of Christ, under the protection of His Immaculate Mother, always trusting in the Infinite Mercy and Love of God – Our Father. Amen

 

A well lived short life

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Today, 15 May 2012, is the memorial of St Rupert of Bingen, one of the important Patron Saints in the life of - soon to be officially recognised as a saint – Hildegard of Bingen. To find out how an 8th century Saint, who only lived to the age of 20, had a major impact upon a 12th century holy abbess and her followers Saint, read on…

St Rupert was born in 712 into a noble German family with a pagan father and a Christian mother. When Rupert was still young, perhaps 3 years old, his father died. Diligently his mother undertook to educate her son, particularly in those things necessary for a thorough Christian education: prayer, the practice of Christian virtue, the celebration of the Sacraments, and knowledge of the Bible and Church teachings.

At the age of 15 the question, ‘God, what do you want me to do with my life? How do you want me to serve You?’ looms large. It’s also the age when a parent is looking to expose her child to the wonders of the wider world, before the child takes on the burdens of adulthood. Long before the ‘Grand Tour’ became a fashionable way to conclude the education of young nobles, Rupert and his mother Bertha began a pilgrimage to Rome. As the Eternal City of the Apostles, Rome is the perfect place to go to complete a Christian education. It gives the pilgrim the opportunity to visit the relics of the Apostles and to see the sites where the early Christian martyrs died. A pilgrimage like this makes the reality of the Apostles and Martyrs concrete in a way that nothing else can. So it is not surprising that Rupert and Bertha were drawn to dedicate themselves more completely to God’s service, being surrounded by the reminders of these great heroic witnesses of Faith.

When they returned home, Rupert and Bertha set about divesting themselves of their inherited wealth and putting it to Godly use via the building of churches, the establishment of hospices and the alleviation of the sufferings of the poor. Bertha embraced a life devoid of the trappings of wealth and served God with fasting, vigils, prayer and almsgiving. Rupert felt the additional call to seek God for Himself alone as a hermit.

The place he settled upon was a hill to the west of the Nahe River near where it joins the Rhine River in west-central Germany. Because Rupert attained such holiness there the locals renamed the hill Rupertsberg in his honour. The good God decided to shorten the time of Rupert’s earthly sojourn to 20 years so that their mutual longings to be united forever could be satisfied. A fever was the cause of death. Successfully, Rupert had used the few years given him to attain the true goal of life’s labours - sanctity. On the same hill Bertha asked to be buried some 25 yeas later. 

As with all Saints, the story doesn’t end with death. Believers find that when they seek the intercession of this deceased youth who was on fire with the love of God, that wonderful explosions of grace and healing occur.

Fast forward 400 years and God decides to honour the zeal of St Rupert even further by directing Hildegard of Bingen to settle on the site previously sanctified by St Ruperts prayers and mortifications. There the women religious under the Rule of St Benedict who gather around Hildegard become known as the sisters of St Rupert. For her part Hildegard does her best to keep the memory of the holy life of Rupert alive in the Church, she writes about him and she composes music in his honour. The sequence, “O Jerusalem city of gold” she sees the holy life of St Rupert as the true foundation of the building of the convent, just as the Apostles were the the true foundation of the Church universal.

Let us follow her example and find out for ourselves just how powerful St Rupert’s intercession is before the throne of the good God.

St Rupert of Bingen, pray for us.

 

 

 

 

Early Martyrs of Sardinia

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Today, 14 May 2012, is the memorial of three early martyrs whom we know extremely little about, St Justa, St Justina and St Henedina. They died witnessing to Jesus on the island of Sardinia, off the west coast of Italy in the second century.

Because their names end in ‘a’, we know that they were all women, but nothing is known of their ages or status in life. They were martyred around the year 130 AD, in the reign of the Emperor Hardian. Either they entered eternity from the city of Cagliari on the south of the island or from the city of Sassari in the north of the island.

Given that the protomartyrs of Sardinia, St Gabinus and Crispulus, are also supposed to have died around 130 AD, it makes these three valiant women close to protomartyrs themselves.

Perhaps these three women were related, or one was noble and the rest were servants. It is entirely possible that they came to the attention of the local authorities for refusing to marry and being generous with family wealth on behalf of the poor. Other women saints of this era were martyred for these reasons or for doing remarkable acts of charity which upset the status quo – ministering to prisoners, giving a dishonoured slave’s remains honourable burial. In this era, it was normally men who were martyred, so we can presume that the lives of Justa, Justina and Henedina must have been conspicuous for Christian virtue.

The greatest testimony to these three holy women martyrs is the township of Santa Giusta in Sardinia, (about half-way up the western side of the island), named after St Justa and containing a Cathedral of the same name together with the popularity of Enedina ( a derivative of Henedina) as a woman’s name in Spanish speaking lands. You only name towns, cathedrals and daughters after Saints with impressive intercessory power before God. 

May these three holy women, St Justa, St Justina and St Hendina of Sardinia, pray for us that we may become worthy of the promises of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

With a heart aflame for Jesus

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Today, 13 May 2012, is the feast day of St Peter Regalatus (a.k.a. Pedro Regalado) according to the anniversary of the translation of his relics. From an early age this Spanish saint of the 15th century desired to give his life to God as a Franciscan monk. Several aspects of his life are comparable to St Padre Pio’s, but St Peter Regalatus is not well known.

St Peter Regalatus was born in 1390 at Valladolid, in north-western Spain. At a young age his wealthy father died, leaving his devout wife to raise Peter in faith and virtue. By the age of 10 he was begging his mother to let him enter the Conventual Franciscan Order. Since youngsters tend to change their minds a lot at that age, his mother listened to him and asked him to wait. Patiently Peter waited, and when his vocational desire hadn’t altered in three years, his mother permitted him to seek admission to this Order.

It happened that God arranged for Peter to come into relationship with Pedro de Villacreces, who was vigorously promoting a return to greater austerity in the Franciscan life. Young Peter was an ardent youngster with high ideals, and the holy challenge of this austerity attracted him. Taking Peter under his wing, Pedro took him off to the convent at Aguilar in southern Spain. There Peter grew in Franciscan spirituality and studied for the priesthood in its quiet surrounds. Once he had settled into the graces of ordination, Pedro appointed Peter as the superior at Aguilar – a role which he fulfilled admirably.

The good God was pleased to lead Peter along the path of the extraordinary. Our Saviour cannot resist loading with graces all those who generously seek Him in prayer, meditation upon the Passion, fasting, poverty and humility. Peter was no exception. Each time he responded with swift fidelity to the Will of God expressed in the Rule, Peter’s heart grew in resemblance to the Heart of Jesus. In order to reach more souls with the love of Jesus, God gave to Peter charisms of bi-location, levitation, prophecy and miracle working.

Peter’s love expressed itself particularly in caring for the religious souls entrusted to him and for the poor and the sick. At times God multiplied bread to feed the hungry poor when Peter interceded. To obtain graces of conversion for souls Peter went on long fasts of bread and water, used instruments of bodily penance and kept night vigils of prayer. As far as possible Peter kept himself in silence and recollection and celebrated Holy Mass with intense devotion.  

When Pedro passed to his eternal reward (around 1422), Peter was entrusted with the additional oversight of the convent at Tribulos. Often it was the necessary duties at both convents which prompted the bilocation. After a lifetime of closely imitating the divine Master, Peter entered into his eternal reward on 30 March 1456. Miracles happened at his tomb and when his body was exhumed decades later it was found to be incorrupt.  

When we need help to follow Jesus more closely along the roads of prayer and penance, let us turn to St Peter Regalatus for aid. With his prayers our hearts will begin to reflect more of burning love of the Heart of Jesus.

St Peter Regalatus, pray for us.

On this day, 13 May 2012, we also offer our heart felt thanks to God for the gift of the start of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima 95 years ago. May He help us take Our Lady’s requests for prayer, penance and the Rosary more seriously.

 

 

The Saints are not inactive in Heaven

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Today, 12 May 2012, is the memorial of St Gemma of Goriano Sicoli, the patron Saint of that Italian township in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The memory of her holy life has been kept alive over many centuries due to the annual festival in her honour and the accompanying rituals.

St Gemma was born around 1372-1375 at San Sebastiano dei Marsi, and lived there until an epidemic of some kind made her an orphan. From her home town she went to seek out her godmother at Goriano Sicoli, and lived there for the rest of her days. She grows into a beautiful young woman, not just on the outside but also on the inside due to her ardent love for God. To earn a living, Gemma works as a shepherdess.

It was while pasturing the sheep that the next part of Gemma’s story starts. Attracted by her beauty, a local nobleman – Count Roger of Celano – tries in vain to win her interest. Given her beauty, he was probably not the first to try, but he was the one who had the boldness to attempt to seduce her. He failed, but something dramatic and Godly must have happened for him to do what he did next. Whatever happened in those moments gave Gemma the courage to ask Count Roger to build her an anchoress’ cell attached to the church of St John the Baptist. He complies.

Gemma may have already had this deep desire for solitude and prayer. There again, she might also have realised that the only way to prevent her beauty from inflaming other men with desire was to seek a holy enclosure like this. Perhaps both things happened, and more. When the cell is built, with its little window to receive the necessities of life from the street side and its window that looks directly towards the altar of the church, Gemma enters and spends the next 40 or so years of her life there in penance and prayer.

As Gemma’s holiness grows, the locals begin to realise what a treasure of grace God has given them in her. They begin to bring to her their troubles and concerns, and she prays for them. Whatever bread is given to her, she shares with the poor who also come to her window seeking the solace that only people close to God can give. When Gemma dies around 1426 -1439 the bells of the whole region are rung to tell everyone of the news. Miracles begin to happen when people seek St Gemma’s intercession.

In the years that follow the local Bishop investigates and finds that Gemma’s body is incorrupt. Over the centuries that follow the locals have recourse to Gemma in their needs, and in thanksgiving for graces received they develop the yearly festival in her honour. The festival has two major elements: A pilgrimage from San Sebastian to Goriano Sicoli with a young woman in traditional dress (representing Gemma) to replicate Gemma’s journet and the welcome of the town. The baking of bread by the local women in vigil during the night, which is then blessed by the priests and distributed to everyone.

During WW2 St Gemma came to the aid of Goriano Sicoli more than once. When a soldier decided to use the church building as a weapons depot, St Gemma appeared to him and told him to go away. A little later in the War, the town was about to become the location for the front line of the war. With confidence the locals prayed to St Gemma, asking that the town be spared, and 2 metres of snow fell causing the front line to go into a different direction. As late as 2009, a rather big earthquake hit the region and only the church and the place where the fiesta bread is baked were damaged. Those with faith believe that St Gemma did a deal with God, and offered these buildings in exchange for the preservation of the rest of the town.

St Gemma takes her patronage of this township seriously, and shows that her love for its people remains active even almost 600 years later. We, too, seek the prayers of this woman of great intercessory prayer and generous love.

St Gemma of Gorano Sicoli, pray for us.  

 

 

 

Fruitful ministry of a Franciscan begger

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Today, 11 May 2012, is the feast day of St Ignatius of Laconi, an 18th century Capuchin Franciscan friar who lived in Sardinia. Due to a difficult pregnancy while he was still in the womb his mother dedicated him to St Francis of Assisi. Eventually this little one entered the Capuchins and edified everyone with his humble holiness.

St Ignatius of Laconi was born in 1701 as Vincent Peis into a loving, faithful but very poor family. Growing up, Vincent never enjoyed good health and these times of solitude and sickness led him deeper and deeper into prayer. During a serious bout of illness Vincent promised God that he would become a Franciscan if he was healed. Healed he was, but his father depended upon his labour to keep food on the family’s table, so Vincent wasn’t permitted to leave. Later on, Vincent recalled the promise he had made to God when he was spared from death after a horse bolted, and delayed no longer. Some convincing was needed to get Vincent – now aged 20 – accepted into the Capuchins because of his frail health.

The friary at Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, received him, and when the time came for him to receive a name in Religion, they gave him the name Ignatius. Without much education, Ignatius became a lay brother of the Order, and set out to keep the Rule as perfectly as possible. Those who worked with him in the various menial tasks of the friary soon came to appreciate the holiness growing and glowing within him. For many of these early years of religious life Ingatius worked in the weaving shed, one of those places which appreciates order, patience and attendtion to detail.

In 1741, now aged around 40, Ignatius began the ministry for which he is now famous. Whenever a Franciscan friary could not support itself from its own labour, they would send out members to seek alms from the locals. Ignatius now became one of these questors. With his Rosary beads in one hand and his eyes downcast, Ignatius would walk the local streets and docks questing for alms. As he did his rounds Ignatius loved to speak to the people he came in contact with about God, about Our Lady and about the Passion of Jesus.

When poor children came up to him, he welcomed them warmly, shared some bread with them and helped them to learn the catechism. Sometimes he was insulted on his way, but this did not disturb him because he knew his faults. Because his heart was so close to God’s, Ignatius had a kindly knack of consoling people, giving advice, converting sinners and helpng people reconcile their differences. Ingatius proved to be a good listener, so people readily confided their troubles to him. He encouraged them to trust in God and then he spent long hours of prayer in the chapel praying for all those he had encountered. In time people began to notice that after they had been with brother Ignatius that their troubles eased. Around 121 pages of miracles are attributed to him during his lifetime and 86 miracles after his death. 

Ignatius lived with his eyes and heart fixed on the goal of Heaven, and gave good example to others through his obedience to the Rule and to the superiors, his mortification (he knew how to make sacrifices within the Rule for the conversion of sinners), his love for poverty and his thirst for prayer. One of the hardest things he had to do under obedience was to go to a wealthy man (whom he had previously avoided) and to seek alms from him. Ignatius knew that this money resulted from the man’s oppression of the poor. When he arrived back at the friary God permitted that instead of coins, blood flowed out of the begging sack because it was money obtained through the blood and tears of the poor. Now that the friars realised why Ignatius ignored that place, they joined together to pray for the wealthy man’s conversion.

Even when his eyesight began to fail, and when he went blind, Ingatius continued upon his rounds – only now with greater confidence in Gods care and providence. Following two years of blindness and a short final agony, Ignatius passed into his eternal reward on 11 May 1781, aged around 80.

The virtues of St Ignatius of Laconi still speak strongly to us today, and encourage us to make the most of the interactions with people that come our way, so that those we encounter might leave us closer to God than when re arrived.

St Ignatius of Laconi, pray for us. 

 

Spiritual guide to extraordinary Saints

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Today, 10 May 2012, is the feast day of St John of Avila, a 16th century Spanish priest who was instrumental in the lives of St Teresa of Avila, St Ignatius Loyola, St Francis Borgia, St Peter of Alcantara and St John of God, to name a few. Since August 2011 the Church has been eagerly awaiting the proclamation by Pope Benedict XVI of St John of Avila as the 34th Doctor of the Church, but a date has yet to be set.

Over the years I have often wanted to learn more about St John of Avila, but have never done anything about it. So today I am going to have a look at some excerpts from his book ‘Audi, Filia – Listen, O Daughter’ and from his Letters, in order to gain a greater appreciation for this Saint who guided so many to holiness.

The first excerpt, comes from Chapter 26 of ‘Audi, Filia’, and is of immense consolation to those who don’t experience much in prayer and who find the lyric beauty of St Therese of Lisieux’s prayers wonderful but well beyond their ability to emulate:

“If you are lacking tenderness in devotion, do not be troubled, for our service is measured only by love. Love does not consist in tender devotion but in a free offering and intention of the will to do what God and His Church want us to do, and to suffer what He wills that we suffer, in order to please Him. If those who seem to have left what they have in the world to serve God were also to leave the disordered desire for sweet feelings in the soul, they would live more happily than they do. The devil would not find certain hairs of appetites by which to take hold of their heads and turn them about, thereby harming and even deceiving them. Jesus Christ died naked on the Cross; naked, we have to offer ourselves to Him. Our only clothing is to be doing His holy will according to the commandments of God and of His Church, receiving with loving obedience whatever He wills to send us, no matter how hard. Likewise, we are to receive from His hand temptation and consolation and to give Him thanks for the one and the other.”

The second excerpt also comes from ‘Audi, Filia’, but from Chapter 76, and is a reminder that our purpose is to grow in charity, and that prayer should help us to this end and not not be seen as an end in itself:

“So that you may profit from the exercise of prayer, I must tell you that the end of meditation on the Passion must be to imitate it and to fulfill the law of the Lord. I say this because some take much account of the hours spent in prayer and the sense of sweetness in it, but not of the benefit they derive from it. They think wrongly that one who experiences greater sweetness and spends more hours in prayer is the greater saint. But, in reality, the greatest is the one who, with profound contempt for himself, has the greatest charity. The perfection of the Christian life and the fulfillment of the whole law consist in this. Whoever lives well and prays well has to do it with this end and not content himself with having spent well a period of time in confessing or receiving communion or devout prayer or similar things.”

This third excerpt comes from Letter IV which contains advice to a priest who asked how to prepare well for Holy Mass. This advice is useful for laity as well. :

“…it would be best for you to practice yourself in considerations proper to excite in you fervent love and reverence. For this purpose , I know of nothing better than to meditate on the fact that our Lord, with Whom we are to treat, is both God and man, and to think over the reasons for which He comes down upon the altar. Surely such a stroke of love should be enough to awaken anyone from the slumber of indifference. Let such a one reflect upon this Mystery and say to himself : ‘It is God Almighty Who will come down upon the altar at the words of Consecration: I shall hold in my hands, and converse with Him, and receive Him into my breast.” If only we remember this, and if, by the help of God’s Holy Spirit, it penetrate our soul, it will suffice, and more than suffice, to enable us, frail mortals as we are, to perform this sacred duty as we ought.”

Our final excerpt comes from Letter VIII, which was St John of Avila’s response to a person who asked him how best to prepare for death – Advice which is still salutory whatever our age:

“This preparation (for death) consists not only in setting ourselves free from both debts and mortal sin, but in doing penance for our past faults, so that when our good and evil deeds are put into the balance of Justice, with the Divine Mercy added to the right side of the scale, our attachment to God’s service may weigh as much as our former attachment to the world. We ought to give alms, to be charitable, devout, patient and humble, in order to compensate for our former defects in these virtues. Busy like a honey-making bee, with a holy fervour, we should seek to get nearer and nearer to God ; for at our time of life the hour approaches when we shall appear before Him. How shall we answer our Sovereign Judge, if we have spent carelessly those later years He has most mercifully given us, in which to amend the past and prepare ourselves for Heaven?”

If you would like to read more from these wonderful letters of St John of Avila, some of which deal with vocations, grief, illness and other questions, go to www.archive.org/stream/lettersofblessed00davirich#page/n9/mode/2up

I’m sure that the more we read of St John of Avila, the greater will be our rejoicing when the Pope proclaims him a Doctor of the Church, and the more our souls will benefit. 

St John of Avila, pray for us.

What God can do with a holy diplomat…

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Today, 9 May 2012, is the anniversary of the translation of the relics of Blessed Nicholas Albergati (a.k.a. Blessed Niccolo Albergati). During the 15th century he led an amazing life of law student, Carthusian monk, Bishop, Cardinal and Papal diplomat. God used each and every one of his gifts and talents to further the kingdom of God.

Even though most of us outside Europe have rarely heard of Blessed Nicholas Albergati, he has been highly honoured. On the facade of the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome among the statues of saintly Popes there is a statue of Blessed Nicholas Albergati as well as one of St Charles Borromeo. Not long after his death, Blessed Nicholas appeared to his assistant – one Tommaso da Sarzano – and told him that he would soon serve as Pope. Obviously Tommaso had enormous regard for Blessed Nicholas because when he was elected Pope in 1447 he chose the name Nicholas V. Another one of his secretaries, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, became Pope Pius II.

Blessed Nicholas Albergati was born around 1373 in Bologna, Italy. At the age of 20 when he had recently completed a law degree at Bologna University and on the point of beginning a brilliant legal career Nicholas paid a visit to the Carthusian charterhouse in Bologna. The visit was intended to be a short one, but while he was there a storm hit which made travel impossible. To pass the time Nicholas went to the chapel and experienced the monks praying the Divine Office. In those moments he heard the call of God to become a Carthusian monk and responded to it wholeheartedly.

The next few years passed gently full of silence and prayer in the Carthusian charterhouse while Nicholas prepared to become a full member of the order and to be ordained a priest. When the time came to elect a new Prior his fellow monks found the choice of Nicholas very easy to make, even though he was still in his early thirties. This role enabled him to play a part in reuniting the Order which had split during the Schism in the Church of 1378-1417.

Someone must have noticed how well those delicate negotiations went, because that same year he was chosen to become the next bishop of Bologna. Can you imagine how daunting it was for him to leave, under obedience, this haven of prayer, silence and intercession and to enter into the busy, noisy and highly political life of a bishop? Nevertheless Nicholas made an excellent bishop. As far as possible he kept up the Carthusian habits of penance and fasting and remained in his Carthusian habit. Nicholas chose to live in a very simple dwelling rather than a grand one, and to make a point of visiting the people of his diocese, particularly the poor. Under his episcopal leadership many reforms were begun, especially in the areas of education and meeting the needs of the poor. Patronage of scholars and writers was another area he generously gave his time to.

These years were rather turbulent ones for the Church. So when Bologna rebelled against the papacy, Nicholas went in exile to Florence until such time as the people repented and welcomed him back. People outside Bologna soon recognized Nicholas’ special talents for diplomacy and he was sent on important missions to Florence, Venice, Milan and France. By 1426 he had been appointed Cardinal. As his reputation for peace making grew Nicholas became involved in mediating between popes and monarchs, and was appointed as papal legate to the Council of Basel-Ferara-Florence. For a short time his efforts brought about a reunion of the Greek Church with the Latin Church.

As he aged, it was Nicholas’ dearest wish to return to the life of a Carthusian monk. That was not to be. The need for holy and effective diplomats never fades, and it was on a papal diplomatic mission that he died in Siena in 1443. How many lives were saved due to his diplomatic efforts we will only know in heaven. Nicholas had an enormous ‘behind the scenes’ influence for good. May the good Lord grant that his cause for canonisation may soon be taken up again with gusto and brought to a happy conclusion.

Blessed Nicholas Abergati, pray for us.

Blessed Nicholas Abergati, please pray, too, for all scholars and diplomats.