SAINTS: February 5-11, 2005:

["Alfred de Tavares" <alfredtavares@hotmail.com>]

Pat, I posted this earlier but has'nt shown up. AT

SAINTS:  February 5-11,  2005: TOP-of-the WEEK:--9/2: ASH WEDNESDAY; 11/2: 
O.L. of LOURDES

Saturday, February 5, 2005: St. AGATHA, virgin and martyr. D. ca 251.

As in the case of Agnes, another virgin-martyr of the early Church, almost 
nothing is historically certain about this saint except that she was 
martyred in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Decius in 251.

Legend has it that Agatha, like Agnes, was arrested as a Christian, tortured 
and sent to a house of prostitution to be mistreated. She was preserved from 
being violated, and was later put to death. Among the barbarities to which 
St. Agatha was subjected was the cutting off of her breasts, and she is 
often represented in art carrying them on a dish, with curious consequences: 
For the resemblance in shape of breasts to bells led to the adoption of 
Agatha as patron saint of bell-founders; and their resemblance to round 
loaves apparently accounts for the custom observed in some places of 
blessing bread in church on her feast day.

She is claimed as the patroness of both Palermo and Catania. The year after 
her death, the stilling of an eruption of Mt. Etna was attributed to her 
intercession. As a result, apparently, people continued to ask her prayers 
for protection against fire.

Comment: The scientific modern mind winces at the thought of a volcano?s 
might being contained by God because of the prayers of a Sicilian girl. 
Still less welcome, probably, is the notion of that saint being the 
patroness of such varied professions as those of foundry workers, nurses, 
miners and Alpine guides. Yet, in our historical precision, have we lost an 
essential human quality of wonder and poetry, and even our belief that we 
come to God by helping each other, both in action and prayer?

Quote: When Agatha was arrested, the legend says, she prayed: ?Jesus Christ, 
Lord of all things! You see my heart, you know my desires. Possess all that 
I am?you alone. I am your sheep; make me worthy to overcome the devil.? And 
in prison: ?Lord, my creator, you have protected me since I was in the 
cradle. You have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience 
to suffer. Now receive my spirit.?
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Other Saints Today: ABRAHAM, ADELAIDE, AVITUS of VIENNE, LEO KARASUMA, LOUIS 
IBACHI, MODESTUS, PHILIP of JESUS, VODOALDUS.
================================================================================

Sunday, February 6, 2005: St PAUL MIKI & COMPANIONS, martyrs of Japan. D. 
1597.

Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second 
atomic bomb was dropped, killing hundreds of thousands. Three and a half 
centuries before, 26 martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as 
the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Among them were priests, brothers 
and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits and members of the Secular Franciscan 
Order; there were catechists, doctors, simple artisans and servants, old men 
and innocent children?all united in a common faith and love for Jesus and 
his Church.

Brother Paul Miki, a Jesuit and a native of Japan, has become the best known 
among the martyrs of Japan. While hanging upon a cross Paul Miki preached to 
the people gathered for the execution: ?The sentence of judgment says these 
men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other 
country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I 
have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of 
Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling 
only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you 
all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After 
Christ?s example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to 
have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a 
fruitful rain.?

When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no 
trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that 
thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and that they had secretly 
preserved the faith. Beatified in 1627, the martyrs of Japan were finally 
canonized in 1862.

Comment: Today a new era has come for the Church in Japan. Although the 
number of Catholics is not large, the Church is respected and has total 
religious freedom. The spread of Christianity in the Far East is slow and 
difficult. Faith such as that of the 26 martyrs is needed today as much as 
in 1597.

Quote: ?Since Jesus, the Son of God, showed his love by laying down his life 
for us, no one has greater love than they who lay down their lives for him 
and for their sisters and brothers (see 1 John 3:16; John 15:13). Some 
Christians have been called from the beginning, and will always be called, 
to give this greatest testimony of love to everyone, especially to 
persecutors. Martyrdom makes disciples like their master, who willingly 
accepted death for the salvation of the world, and through it they are made 
like him by the shedding of blood. Therefore, the Church considers it the 
highest gift and as the supreme test of love. And while it is given to few, 
all, however, must be prepared to confess Christ before humanity and to 
follow him along the way of the cross amid the persecutions which the Church 
never lacks? (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 42, Austin Flannery 
translation).
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Other Saints Today: AMAND of MAASTRICHT, ANTHOLIAN, ANTHONY DAINAN, 
BONAVENTURE of MIAKO, COSMAS, DOROTHY, FRANCIS NAGASAKI, FRANCIS of St. 
MICHAEL, JAMES KISAI, JOHN SOAN de GOTO,  MARTIN de AGUIRRE, MARTIN LOYNAZ 
of the ASCENSION, MATTHIS of MEAKO, MEL, MICHAEL KOZAKI, MUN, PETER 
SHUKESHIKO, PHOTIUS, RELINDIS, REVOCATA, SATURNINUS, TANCO, THEOPHILUS the 
LAWYER, THOMAS DANKI, THOMAS KOZAKI, TITUS; Bl. DIEGO de AVEZEDO.
================================================================================

Monday, February 7: St. COLETTE, Franciscan anchoress. B. 1381; d.1447.

Colette did not seek the limelight, but in doing God?s will she certainly 
attracted a lot of attention. She was born in Corbie, France. At 21 she 
began to follow the Third Order Rule and became an anchoress, a woman walled 
into a room whose only opening was a window into a church.

After four years of prayer and penance in this cell, she left it. With the 
approval and encouragement of the pope, she joined the Poor Clares and 
reintroduced the primitive Rule of St. Clare in the 17 monasteries she 
established. Her sisters were known for their poverty?they rejected any 
fixed income?and for their perpetual fast. Colette?s reform movement spread 
to other countries and is still thriving today. Colette was canonized in 
1807.

Comment: Colette began her reform during the time of the Great Western 
Schism (1378-1417) when three men claimed to be pope and thus divided 
Western Christianity. The 15th century in general was a very difficult one 
for the Western Church. Abuses long neglected cost the Church dearly in the 
following century; the prayers of Colette and her followers may have 
lessened the Church?s troubles in the 16th century. In any case, Colette?s 
reform indicated the entire Church?s need to follow Christ more closely.

Quote: In her spiritual testament, Colette told her sisters: "We must 
faithfully keep what we have promised. If through human weakness we fail, we 
must always without delay arise again by means of holy penance, and give our 
attention to leading a good life and to dying a holy death. May the Father 
of all mercy, the Son by his holy passion, and the Holy Spirit, source of 
peace, sweetness and love, fill us with their consolation. Amen."
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Other Saints Today: AUDACUS, AMULWINUS, ANATOLIUS, AUGULUS, CHRYSOLIUS, 
FIDELIS, JULIAN of BOLOGNA, LAWRENCE of SIPONTO, LUKE the YOUNGER, MELDON, 
MOSES, RICHARD, ROMUALD, TRESSAN, THODORE STRATELATES; Bl. RIZZERIO, Bl. 
WILLIAM RICHARDSON.
================================================================================

Tuesday, February 8: St JEROME EMILLIANI, founder. B. 1481; d. 1537.

A careless and irreligious soldier for the city-state of Venice, Jerome was 
captured in a skirmish at an outpost town and chained in a dungeon. In 
prison Jerome had a lot of time to think, and he gradually learned how to 
pray. When he escaped, he returned to Venice where he took charge of the 
education of his nephews?and began his own studies for the priesthood.

In the years after his ordination, events again called Jerome to a decision 
and a new lifestyle. Plague and famine swept northern Italy. Jerome began 
caring for the sick and feeding the hungry at his own expense. While serving 
the sick and the poor, he soon resolved to devote himself and his property 
solely to others, particularly to abandoned children. He founded three 
orphanages, a shelter for penitent prostitutes and a hospital.

Around 1532 Jerome and two other priests established a congregation 
dedicated to the care of orphans and the education of youth. Jerome died in 
1537 from a disease he caught while tending the sick. He was canonized in 
1767. In 1928 Pius Xl named him the patron of orphans and abandoned 
children.

Comment: Very often in our lives it seems to take some kind of 
?imprisonment? to free us from the shackles of our self-centeredness. When 
we?re ?caught? in some situation we don?t want to be in, we finally come to 
know the liberating power of Another. Only then can we become another for 
?the imprisoned? and ?the orphaned? all around us.

Quote: ??The father of orphans and the defender of widows is God in his holy 
dwelling. God gives a home to the forsaken; he leads forth prisoners to 
prosperity; only rebels remain in the parched land? (Psalm 68).... We should 
not forget the growing number of persons who are often abandoned by their 
families and by the community: the old, orphans, the sick and all kinds of 
people who are rejected?. We must be prepared to take on new functions and 
new duties in every sector of human activity and especially in the sector of 
world society, if justice is really to be put into practice. Our action is 
to be directed above all at those men and nations which, because of various 
forms of oppression and because of the present character of our society, are 
silent, indeed voiceless, victims of injustice? (Justice in the World, 1971 
World Synod of Bishops).
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Other Saints Today: COINTHA, CUTHMAN, CYRIACUS, DIONYSIUS, ELFLEDA, 
HONORATUS, JOHN of MATHA, KIGWE, LLIBIO, MEINGOLD, NICETIUS of BESANCON, 
ONCHO, PAUL LUCIUS, PAUL of VERDUN, PETER IGNEUS.
================================================================================

Ash Wednesday, February 9: St. JOSEPHINE BAKHITA, slave from Darfur, Sudan. 
B. ca 1868; d. 1947.

For many years, Josephine Bakhita was a slave but her spirit was always free 
and eventually that spirit prevailed. Born in Olgossa in the Darfur region 
of southern Sudan, Josephine was kidnapped at the age of seven, sold into 
slavery and given the name Bakhita, which means fortunate. She was re-sold 
several times, finally in 1883 to Callisto Legnani, Italian consul in 
Khartoum, Sudan.

Two years later he took Josephine to Italy and gave her to his friend 
Augusto Michieli. Bakhita became babysitter to Mimmina Michieli, whom she 
accompanied to Venice's Institute of the Catechumens, run by the Canossian 
Sisters. While Mimmina was being instructed, Josephine felt drawn to the 
Catholic Church. She was baptized and confirmed in 1890, taking the name 
Josephine.

When the Michielis returned from Africa and wanted to take Mimmina and 
Josephine back with them, the future saint refused to go. During the ensuing 
court case, the Canossian sisters and the patriarch of Venice intervened on 
Josephine's behalf. The judge concluded that since slavery was illegal in 
Italy, she had actually been free since 1885.

Josephine entered the Institute of St. Magdalene of Canossa in 1893 and made 
her profession three years later. In 1902, she was transferred to the city 
of Schio (northeast of Verona), where she assisted her religious community 
through cooking, sewing, embroidery and welcoming visitors at the door. She 
soon became well loved by the children attending the sisters' school and the 
local citizens. She once said, "Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who 
do not know Him. What a great grace it is to know God!" The first steps 
toward her beatification began in 1959. She was beatified in 1992 and 
canonized eight years later.

Comment: Josephine's body was mutilated by those who enslaved her, but they 
could not touch her inner spirit. Her Baptism set her on an eventual path 
toward asserting her civic freedom and then service to God's people as a 
Canossian sister. She who worked under many "masters" was finally happy to 
address God as "master" and carry out everything that she believed to be 
God's will for her.

Quote: During his homily at her canonization Mass in St. Peter's Square, 
Pope John Paul II said that in St. Josephine Bakhita, "We find a shining 
advocate of genuine emancipation. The history of her life inspires not 
passive acceptance but the firm resolve to work effectively to free girls 
and women from oppression and violence, and to return them to their dignity 
in the full exercise of their rights."
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Other Saints Today: APOLLONIA, ALEXANDER, ALTO, ALVAREZ of CORDOBA, AMMON, 
ANSBERT, CRONAN the WISE, CUARAN, CYRIL of ALEXANDRIA, EINGAN, MICHAEL 
CORDERO, NEBRIDIUS, NICEPHORUS of ANTIOCH, RAYNALD of NOCERA, TEILO.
================================================================================

Thursday, February 10: St SCHOLASTICA, foundress. B. 480; d. ca 542.

Twins often share the same interests and ideas with an equal intensity. 
Therefore, it is no surprise that Scholastica and her twin brother, 
Benedict, both established religious communities within a few miles from 
each other.

Born in 480 of wealthy parents, Scholastica and Benedict were brought up 
together until he left for Rome to continue his studies. Little is known of 
Scholastica?s early life. She founded a religious community for women near 
Monte Cassino at Plombariola, five miles from where her brother governed a 
monastery.

The twins visited each other once a year in a farmhouse because Scholastica 
was not permitted inside the monastery. They spent these times discussing 
spiritual matters.

According to the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, the brother and sister 
spent their last day together in prayer and conversation. Scholastica sensed 
her death was close at hand and she begged Benedict to stay with her until 
the next day.

He refused her request because he did not want to spend a night outside the 
monastery, thus breaking his own Rule. Scholastica asked God to let her 
brother remain and a severe thunderstorm broke out, preventing Benedict and 
his monks from returning to the abbey.

Benedict cried out, ?God forgive you, Sister. What have you done?? 
Scholastica replied, ?I asked a favor of you and you refused. I asked it of 
God and he granted it.?

Brother and sister parted the next morning after their long discussion. 
Three days later, Benedict was praying in his monastery and saw the soul of 
his sister rising heavenward in the form of a white dove. Benedict then 
announced the death of his sister to the monks and later buried her in the 
tomb he had prepared for himself. He was burried in the same tomb, with her: 
Thus the twins were re-united in death as they had been in birth.

Comment: Scholastica and Benedict gave themselves totally to God and gave 
top priority to deepening their friendship with him through prayer. They 
sacrificed some of the opportunities they would have had to be together as 
brother and sister in order better to fulfill their vocation to the 
religious life. In coming closer to Christ, however, they found they were 
also closer to each other. In joining a religious community, they did not 
forget or forsake their family but rather found more brothers and sisters.

Quote: ?All religious are under an obligation, in accordance with the 
particular vocation of each, to work zealously and diligently for the 
building up and growth of the whole mystical body of Christ and for the good 
of the particular churches. It is their duty to foster these objectives 
primarily by means of prayer, works of penance, and by the example of their 
own lives? (Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops, 33, Austin Flannery 
translation).
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Other Saints Today: ALEXANDER of LUGO, ANDREW, APONIUS, AUSTREBERTA, 
BALDEGUNDIS,  PAGANUS, PAUL & NINETY COMPANIONS, TRUMWIN, WILLIAM of 
MALEVAL.
================================================================================

February 11: OUR LADY OF LOURDES.

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate 
Conception in the apostolic constitution "Ineffabilis Deus". A little more 
than three years later, on February 11, 1858, a young lady appeared to 
Bernadette Soubirous. This began a series of visions. During the apparition 
on March 25, the lady identified herself with the words: ?I am the 
Immaculate Conception.?

Bernadette was a sickly child of poor parents. Their practice of the 
Catholic faith was scarcely more than lukewarm. Bernadette could pray the 
Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Creed. She also knew the prayer of the 
Miraculous Medal: ?O Mary conceived without sin.?

During interrogations Bernadette gave an account of what she saw. It was 
?something white in the shape of a girl.? She used the word aquero, a 
dialect term meaning ?this thing.? It was ?a pretty young girl with a rosary 
over her arm.? Her white robe was encircled by a blue girdle. She wore a 
white veil. There was a yellow rose on each foot. A rosary was in her hand. 
Bernadette was also impressed by the fact that the lady did not use the 
informal form of address (tu), but the polite form (vous). The humble virgin 
appeared to a humble girl and treated her with dignity.

Through that humble girl, Mary revitalized and continues to revitalize the 
faith of millions of people. People began to flock to Lourdes from other 
parts of France and from all over the world. In 1862 Church authorities 
confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions and authorized the cult of Our 
Lady of Lourdes for the diocese. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes became 
worldwide in 1907.

Comment: Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and healing, but even more 
of faith. Church authorities have recognized over 60 miraculous cures, 
although there have probably been many more. To people of faith this is not 
surprising. It is a continuation of Jesus? healing miracles?now performed at 
the intercession of his mother. Some would say that the greater miracles are 
hidden. Many who visit Lourdes return home with renewed faith and a 
readiness to serve God in their needy brothers and sisters. There still may 
be people who doubt the apparitions of Lourdes. Perhaps the best that can be 
said to them are the words that introduce the film Song of Bernadette: ?For 
those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not 
believe, no explanation is possible.?

Quote: ?Lo! Mary is exempt from stain of sin, Proclaims the Pontiff high; 
And earth applauding celebrates with joy Her triumph, far and high. Unto a 
lowly timid maid she shows Her form in beauty fair, And the Immaculate 
Conception truth Her sacred lips declare.? (Unattributed hymn from the Roman 
Breviary)
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Other Saints Today: ADOLF of  OSNABRUCK, ARDANUS, BENEDICT of ANIANE 
CALOCERUS, DESIDERIUS, JONAS, LUCIUS, PASCHAL, SEVERINUS.
=================================================


(SOURCES: An AmericanCatholic.org Web Site from the Franciscans and St. 
Anthony Messenger Press ?©1996-2004; The Penguin Dictionary of Saints and 
other.)

Alfred de Tavares,
Maltesholmsvagen 83,
SE-165 55 Hasselby, Sweden
Tel: 0046 8 759 6213; 0046 (0)70 295 4091

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