SAN MARTIN DE PORRES: Cooperator Brother

SAN MARTIN DE PORRES

1579-1639

Cooperator Brother

           

Saint Martin was born at Lima in 1579, the son of Juan de Porres, a Spanish nobleman and Anna, a freed Panamanian.  At first the father abandoned his little family and Martin’s earliest years where spent in dire poverty.  Later, Juan de Porres’ conscience smote him and, taking the two children to himself and gave them at least the rudiments of an education.

At the age of 15, Martin presented himself at the Dominican Priory of the Holy Rosary in Lima, and was received as a Donado or Tertiary Servant.  In this capacity, he gave himself to the lowliest duties in the house.  It was only after several years that, seeing his evident goodwill and sanctity, his superiors invited him to make a solemn profession as a Cooperator Brother.  He served in various offices in the convent – barber, infirmarian and wardrobe keeper.  He founded an orphanage and a foundling hospital, was put in charge of the convent’s food distribution to the poor, and ministered to African slaves brought to Peru.

Saint Martin de Porres, who all his life cherished a deep devotion to Jesus crucified and longed to make return in some small manner for the immense blessings of the Redemption, died on November 5, 1639.  He was canonized by Pope John XXIII on May 5, 1962, the first Negro from the New World to attain the rank of Sainthood.

                   O God, you led Blessed Martin through humility to the eternal glory: grant that imitating his glorious examples now, we may deserve to be exalted with him in Heaven.  This we ask you through Christ our Lord.  Amen

FEASTDAY:  NOVEMBER 3

                        FEAST

SAN JUAN MACIAS: Cooperator Brother

SAN JUAN MACIAS

1585-1645

Cooperator Brother

            Saint John was born at Ribera, Spain , in 1585, of a noble but impoverished family.   In his youth he was a shepherd, but in response to a vision of his patron, Saint John the Evangelist, he abandoned his flock and emigrated to South America.  Unlike most of his contemporaries, he had no desire for gain; rather, he had been told that somewhere in that distant land his true vocation awaited him.

          Employed at first as a cowherd, he gradually worked his way down the Pacific Coast until he reached Lima, where the divine call at last manifested itself clearly.  John became a Cooperator Brother in the Dominican Priory of Saint Mary Magdalene in Lima, where he made profession on January 22, 1623.  Given the office of Porter, he set about at once serving the poor who came to the priory gate for alms.  Like his friend, Saint Martin de Porres, he often begged for them in the city and is said to have fed more than two hundred people daily.  Saint John was distinguished for his great devotion to the Holy Rosary, as well as for his marvelous humility, patience and integrity.

          Saint John Macias died on September 17, 1645 and was canonized by Pope Paul VI on September 28, 1975.

                   O God, make us carry the weight of our daily work by imitating faithfully the example of Blessed John, whom you granted innocence of life and the perfection of charity.  This we ask you through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

FEASTDAY:  SEPTEMBER 18

                        MEMORIAL

SANTA CATALINA DE SENA: Virgin and Doctor of the Church

SANTA CATALINA DE SENA

1347-1380

Virgin and Doctor of the Church

            Acclaimed as the greatest light of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, Catherine was born at Siena, Italy on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1347, one of the 25 children of Giacomo and Lapa Benincasa.  She began to have the mystical experiences she was to have all her life when she was only 6.  At the age of 7, she offered her virginity to Our Lord and at 17, received the habit of the Mantelate and increasingly experienced visions of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints.  She ministered to the ill in hospitals, devoting herself to caring for patients with particularly distressing illnesses and was famous for her great virtue and remarkable innocence of life.

                        Catherine is known to have delivered many from diabolical possession, to have performed many miracles of healing, to have levitated frequently during prayer, and to have experienced the Mystical Espousal in which Our Lord, in a vision, gave her a golden ring, set with four precious stones around a superb diamond, which was visible only to her.  Strengthened by Christ her spouse in frequent sweet conversation, she merited to become a sharer in His sufferings and wounds.  This sharing culminated in her reception of the Sacred Stigmata at Pies in 1375, invisible during her lifetime but clearly apparent at the time of her death.

                        At once humble and great, Catherine brought peace to hearts, to cities, to the Republic of Italy and to the Church.  As ambassadors of the Florentines, she went to Avignon, and while there persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy to Rome in 1376.  On her return to Siena, she devoted herself to recording her mystical experiences, which were published as the “Dialogue of Saint Catherine”.  During the Great Schism, she journeyed to Rome to pray, to give counsel and to immolate herself for the Church.  Her love for the Papacy and for the Pope, whom she called “IL DOLCE CHRISTO IN TERRA”, was unbounded.

                        Consumed by love and suffering, Catherine, one of the greatest Christian mystics, died in Rome on April 29, 1380.  Pope Pus II canonized her in 1461.  Saint Catherine was declared Co-Patroness of Rome in 1866.  In 1939, Pope Pius XII declared her and Saint Francis of Assisi, Principal Patrons of Italy.  He also named her Patroness of Italian Nurses on September 15, 1943.   Pope Paul VI declared her and Saint Teresa of Avila Doctors of the Church in 1970.

                                    O God, you made Saint Catherine burn with divine love through the contemplation of the Passion of the Lord and in the service of your Church; grant, through her intercession, that your people, associated to the mystery of Christ, may always rejoice in the contemplation of his glory.  This we ask you through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

FEASTDAY:  APRIL 29

                        FEAST

SANTA ROSA DE LIMA: Virgin and Tertiary

SANTA ROSA DE LIMA

1586-1645

Virgin & Tertiary

            Isabel de Santa Maria de Flores was born at Lima, Peru in 1586 of Spanish Indian parents and took the name of Rose at confirmation.  At a very early age, she made Saint Catherine of Siena her model and was particularly devoted to the Virgin Mary.  Noted for her beauty, she resisted her parents’ efforts to have her marry and at a very early age made a vow of virginity, a resolution in which she persevered until death, despite the misunderstanding and persecution of her family.

She inflicted on herself, terrifying penances and suffered long periods of dryness and desolation, which were, however, balanced by many extraordinary graces culminating in the Mystical Espousals.

                        At the age of 20, Saint Rose became a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic.  She continued to live at home, assisting her impoverished family by doing needlework and raising flowers for the market.  She likewise cared for the poor and sick of the area in an empty room of their house.  Her garden became the spiritual center of the city.

                   In ill health, she accepted the offer of Don Gonzalo de Massa and his wife to take care of her and she spent the last three years of her life in their home in Lima.  So widespread was her reputation for sanctity that when Saint Rose died, on August 24, 1617, the day which she herself has predicted, the throngs of devotees surrounding her bier made it almost impossible to bury her.

                        Pope Clement X canonized her on April 12, 1671, thus making her the first canonized saint of the Western hemisphere.  Saint Rose of Lima is the sworn patroness of Latin America.

                       

            O God, you made Saint Rose, inflamed in your love, abandon the world and dedicate herself entirely to you through the rigors of penance; grant , through her intercession, that following on the same way she did, we may come to enjoy in Heaven the torrents of your delights. This we ask you through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

           

            FEASTDAY:  AUGUST 23

                        MEMORIAL

SANTO PIO V: Pope

SANTO PIO V

1504-1572

Pope

          Antonio Michael Ghislieri or Pius V was born of noble but impoverished parents at Bosco in Piedmont, Italy, in 1504.  At the age of 14, he entered the Order of Preachers at Voghera and, as a young religious, was remarkable for his prudence and solid piety.  He was ordained in 1528 and taught theology and philosophy for sixteen years and was soon given offices of responsibility: as Master of Novices, then Prior of several Dominican houses, Inquisitor and, in 1551, Commissary of the Holy Office.  In 1556, Pope Pius IV appointed him Bishop of Nepi and Sutri and, two years later, he was elevated to the cardinalate.

          Elected Pope in 1566 under the title of Pius V, he at once set about putting into effect the decrees of the Council of Trent, thereby, accomplishing great reforms in the Church, notably among the clergy and in the Roman Missal.  Saint Pius V gave large sums to the poor, lived a life of great austerity and piety, and personally visited the sick in hospitals.  Throughout his entire pontificate, he fought Protestantism.  By his prayers, especially the Holy Rosary, he obtained from God the victory of the Christians over the Moslems in the celebrated battles of La Naval de Lepanto.

          After fulfilling the duty of the Pastor Bonus in a pontificate that was one of the most glorious in the 16^th century, he died on May 1, 1572.  Pope Clement XI enrolled him in the catalogue of the saints and canonized him on 1712.

                       

                   Lord, those who have practiced justice will live in your tabernacle and will rest in your holy mountain.  O God, in your providence you sent to your Church, for the defense of the faith and the dignity of worship, the pope Saint Pius; grant us, through his intercession, to participate in your mysteries with living faith and fruitful love.  This we ask you through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

FEASTDAY: APRIL 30

                       MEMORIAL

SAN ANTONIO DE FLORENCIA: Bishop

SAN ANTONIO DE FLORENCIA

1389-1459

Bishop

            Saint Antoninus was born at Florence in 1389 and entered the Order of Preachers in adolescence, after having memorized the entire Decretals to prove his ability.  He was soon promoted to positions of responsibility, becoming successively Prior at Cortona, Naples and Rome (the Minerva).  In these houses, he labored with great wisdom and firmness to raise the standard of regular observance.  While he was Prior in Rome, he had the incorrupt remains of Saint Catherine of Siena enshrined in a golden sarcophagus.

                        Returning to Florence, he founded the celebrated priory of San Marco.  The Saint made the library of this priory accessible to scholars, thus making it a center of  Renaissance spirituality and culture and the first public library in Europe.

                   Likened to Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Alphonsus Liguori because of his writings on Canon Law and moral and ascetical theology, he has also been widely acclaimed as a preacher, reformer, economist, sociologist and historian.

In 1446, Antoninus, although unwilling because of humility, was compelled to become Archbishop of  Florence.  As a bishop, he was noted for his mercy to the poor, as well as for his prudence and good counsel, which justly earned him the title “Antoninus the Counselor”.

                        “The People’s Prelate” and “Father of the Poor” passed to his eternal reward on May 2, 1459, in the seventieth year of his life.  His body within the eight days of his death was found to be very flexible and exuded an intense fragrance.  Perfectly entire, it remains to this day in the Dominican Church of San Marco.  Saint Antoninus was canonized by Pope Clement VII in 1524.

                                                  O God, you made the Bishop Saint Antoninus admirable with the gift of counsel; grant that, while pilgrims through the darkness of this life, we may learn, by the supernatural light given to us through his intercession, what we must do.  This we ask you through Christ our Lord.  Amen

FEASTDAY:  MAY 10

                        MEMORIAL

SAN JACINTO DE ODROWATZ: Priest

SAN JACINTO DE ODROWATZ

c.1183-1257

Priest

            Born near Wroclaw in upper Silesia, Poland around 1183, Saint Hyacinth came from the noble family of  Odrowatz.  He was ordained to the priesthood, becoming Canon of the Cathedral at Krakow.

                   In the course of a jouirney to Rome in 1221, he was attracted to the Order of Preachers by the holiness and preaching of Saint Dominic and received the habit from his hands.  That same year, the General Chapter held at Bologna commissioned him, along with his kinsman Celsius and two other companions, Henry of Moravia and Herman the Teutonic, to return to Poland, thus beginning the Dominican evangelization of Eastern Europe.

Saint Hyacinth is known to have preached and founded priories in Bohemia, Moravia, Russia and Prussia, at a time when the Tartar invasions were at their height, and when missionaries of other Orders who had arrived there first were jealously striving to protect their rights.  Through it all he maintained a reputation for gentleness, humility and courtesy.  He also had, in common with many other saints of the Order a tender devotion to Our Lady.  On every occasion of his life, the Virgin Mary was to lighten the load for him.

Venerated as an Apostle of Poland and credited with numerous miracles, Saint Hyacinth had a vision of the Mother of God and revealed to him that he would die on the Solemnity of the Assumption the 15^th of August, 1257.  Pope Clement VIII canonized him in 1594.

          Almighty and eternal God, you chose Saint Hyacinth so that through the assiduous preaching of your word, the peoples of many nations could be renewed and confirmed in the faith; we beseech that, through his intercession, our faith may be increased and work for the promotion of your glory and the salvation of men.  This we ask you through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

FEASTDAY:  AUGUST 17

                        MEMORIAL