Blessed Osanna of Mantua

Blessed Osanna of Mantua - June 20th

This Italian Saint was the oldest child of a large family. Her father had wanted her to marry, but Osanna gave herself entirely to God.

When she was eighteen, Osanna received a wedding ring from Our Lord. Though no one else could see it, she always felt it on her finger. She also felt some of the sufferings Jesus suffered-the crown of thorns, the wound in His side, and the wounds in His hands and feet. She lived at home and served her family in every way, yet she belonged to the third order of St. Dominic and wore the habit of that order.

Strange as it may seem, Osanna was asked by the Duke of Mantua to run the affairs of his kingdom while he was away. She who had never been to school knew how to make the best decisions because she trusted completely in God. And she used her friendship with the Duke to help everyone in any kind of trouble.

A great many of Blessed Osanna prayers were for the church and for Italy. She feared God would send great punishments for the many sins being committed in her time. Yet she was not a gloomy soul. She loved her friends dearly, and people crowded her house to ask her advice and comfort.

A person living in the world can become a saint, if he prays, keeps away from sin and does good deeds. To learn how to live such a holy life, we should read inspiring books.

St. Juliana Falconieri

St. Juliana Falconieri - June 19th

Juliana was the only daughter of a very rich Italian couple. She came in answer to their prayers when they were already growing old. After her father died, her uncle, St. Alexis, helped for mother with her education. St. Alexis was one of the Founders of the Servite Order, the Servant of Mary. Juliana had such a devotion to Our Lady that she decided to become a Servite nun. She and other devout women spent their time in prayer and works of mercy. St. Juliana is considered the Foundress of the Nuns of the Servite Order because she wrote their rule of life.

Never did the Saint lose a chance to help someone. She especially worked to make peace between enemies and to win sinners back to Jesus. Though sick herself, she loved to take care of the sick and to make their sufferings easier to bear. In her own sufferings she was always cheerful. St. Juliana’s great love was Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Her heart was broken when she could not receive Holy Communion because of the stomach disease that led to her death. But Jesus worked an amazing miracle to reward her devotion. As she lay dying, she asked the priest to lay a Host on a linen over her heart. He did and at that moment she died. The Sacred Host disappeared at the same time, and an image of Jesus on the Cross was found on her skin at the spot where the Blessed Sacrament had disappeared.

St. Juliana wanted to receive Jesus in Holy Communion, even when she could not. And we? Do we go to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion as often as possible?

St. Ephrem

St. Ephrem - June 18th

Ephrem was born in Mesopotamia. He was not baptized until he was eighteen, but right afterwards he could think of nothing but leading a holy life. The thought of appearing before God after death to be judged made him tremble and he wanted to prepare for that judgment by living well. He was naturally quick to become angry, but he gained such a control over himself that people thought of him as a very calm man.

Ephrem became a hermit in a cave near the city of Edessa in Syria. His clothes were just patched rags and he ate only enough to keep alive. His chief work all this time was the writing of spiritual books. So holy and beautiful are these books that St. Ephrem is given the title of “Doctor of the Church.”

He often went to preach in Edessa, and people cried when he spoke about God’s judgment. Because he thought he was a great sinner, he wept all his life for the slight sins he had committed as a child. When St. Bazil met him and asked if he were Ephrem, the famous servant of Jesus, St. Ephrem said, “I am Ephrem who walks unworthily on the way of salvation.” Then he asked and received from St. Bazil much advice on how to live his spiritual life in the best way possible.

St. Ehprem is also called the “Harp of the Holy Ghost,” Because he wrote many beautiful hymns. These hymns were very popular and as people sang them, they learned much about the Faith. In this way, too, Ephrem saved them from falling into heresy.

So humble was this Saint that in his last sickness, he said to his friends: “When I die, treat my body without any respect, in order to show what I am.”

We, too, will be judged after our death. But if we think of our judgment now, we will prepare for it with a good life.

Sts. Teresa and Sanchia

Sts. Teresa and Sanchia - June 17th

These two sisters were daughters of the King of Portugal. Teresa was the older one. She married King Alfonso IX of Spain and became the mother of several children. But this marriage was not valid and it was wrong for Teresa to stay as his wife. Because she loved the king dearly, it was very hard for her to leave him. Yet, she did not want to disobey God’s law, and finally she went back to Portugal.

On her own land, Teresa built a large convent for Cistercian nuns. She herself shared their life fully, even though she did not stay there all the time, for she had to take care of her other property.

Her sister, St. Sanchia, never married. She, too, founded a convent on her land and devoted herself to good works. When she visited her beloved sister, Teresa, and saw what holy life the Cistercian nuns led, she changed her convent into a convent of the Cistercian Order and joined it herself. After Sanchia’s death, St. Teresa took her body back to her own convent. Then, when she had settled quarrels between her children and the Kind of Alfonso’s second wife, she took the veil of a nun in her convent. For almost twenty years, she lived as a very fervent sister. When she died, she was buried beside St. Sanchia.

If we ever make a promise to do something wrong, let us make sure we do not keep it. We cannot offend God to please someone else.

St. John Francis Regis

St. John Francis Regis - June 16th

When he was eighteen, this French Saint entered the Jesuit Order. In the seminary, his love for God and for souls showed in the way he prayed and in his eagerness to teach catechism in the parishes when he could. After he was ordained a priest, St. John Francis began his work as a missionary preacher. He gave very simple talks that came right from his heart. He especially spoke to the poor, ordinary folks, and they came in great crowds to hear him. He spent his mornings praying, hearing confessions, and preaching. In the afternoon, he would visit prisons and hosptials. To someone who said that the prisoners and bad women he converted would not stay good for long, the Saint answered: “If my efforts stop just one sin from being committed, I shall consider them worthwhile.”

Into wild mountain parishes he went in the coldest days of winter to preach his missions. “I have seen him stand all day on a heap of snow at the top of a mountain preaching,” said one priest, “and then spend the whole night hearing confessions.” Sometimes he would start off for a far-away town at three o’clock in the morning with a few apples in his pocket.

Once, on his way to a village, St. John Francis fell and broke his leg. Yet he kept on going, leaning on a stick and on his companion’s shoulder. When he reached the village, he went at once to hear confessions, without letting his leg be treated. At the end of the day, when the doctor looked at it, his leg was found to be completely healed!

St. John Francis died on one of his preaching missions, after falling sick while lost at night in the woods. Just before he died, he exclaimed: “I see Our Lord and His Mother opening Heaven for me!”

God would give us many more blessings and graces if we would forget our own wants and help our parents, family, and friends.

St. Germaine of Pibrac

St. Germaine of Pibrac - June 15th

Pibrac is the little village in France where Germaine was born and spent her life. In fact, her right hand was deformed and helpless. Her father paid little attention to her, and her stepmother did not want her around her own healthy children. So Germaine slept with the sheep in the barn, even in cold weather. She dressed in rags and was laughed at by other children. When she came home at night with the flock of sheep she had tended in the fields, her stepmother often screamed at her and beat her.

Yet this poor girl learned to talk with God and to remember that He was with her all the time. She always managed to get to Mass and she received Holy Communion as often as she could. Her sheep she would leave in care of her Guardian Angel, and never once did one wander away from the staff she planted in the ground.

Germaine often gathered young children around her to teach them their faith and fill their hearts with God’s love. She tried her best to help the poor, too. She shared with beggars the little bit of food she was given to eat. One winter day, her stepmother accused her of stealing bread and chased her with a stick. But what fell from Germaine’s apron was not the expected bread. It was summer flowers!

By now people no longer made fun of Germaine. In fact, they loved and admired her. She could have begun to live in her father’s house, but she chose to keep sleeping in the barn. Then, one morning, when she was twenty-two, she was found dead on her straw bed. Her life of great suffering was over and God worked miracles to show that she was a Saint.

The main virtue of this Saint was patience, she carried her big cross well, because she went to Holy Communion often. In our little sufferings, let us turn to Our Lord in Holy Communion and ask His help.

St. Basil the Great

St. Basil the Great - Patron of Hospital Administrators - June 14th

Basil was born in Asia Minor. His grandmother, father, mother, two brothers and a sister are all saints. He was an excellent student and then a teacher, but his sister, St. Macrina, advised him to give up his high place in the world to become a monk. He settled in a wild spot and there founded his first monastery. The rule he gave his monks was so wise that monasteries in the East have followed it down to our own times. Yet Basil himself was called from his monastery to become an archbishop and a great champion of the true Faith against the Arian heretics.

When the Emperor sent one of his officials, a prefect, to make Basil stop preaching against the Arian heresy, he found he could get nowhere with the Saint. “Are you crazy?” the prefect answered. “Are you not afraid of the Emperor’s anger, or exile, or death?” “No,” said St. Basil. “A man who has nothing does not have to be afraid of losing anything. And you cannot exile me, because the whole earth is my home. As for death, it would be a kindness. One blow would end my life and my sufferings together.” The prefect could not believe his ears. “Never before has anyone dared to talk to me like this,” he said. St. Basil answered, “Perhaps you have not had much to do with Christian bishops!”

The Emperor tried three times to write an order for the exile of the Saint, but each time the pen split in his hand.

Basil always found time to help the poor. He grew very angry with selfish people who refused to give to those in need. “You say you do not have enough for yourselves,” he once exclaimed. “Yet while your tongue makes excuses, your hand accuses you. That ring shinning on you finger declares you to be a liar!” He wanted poor people themselves to help those worse off. “Give your last loaf to the beggar at your door,” he urged, “and trust in God’s goodness.”

We will never be ashamed of being devout and showing our Faith with such actions as blessing ourselves every time we pass a Catholic Church.

St. Anthony of Padua

St. Anthony of Padua - Patron of Finding Articles and of the Poor - June 13th

This very popular saint was born in Portugal and the name given him at Baptism was Ferdinand. At the age of fifteen, he entered the Augustinian Order and spent all his time in prayer and study.

When he was twenty-five, he heard about some Franciscans who had been martyred by the Moors in China. From then on, Ferdinand felt a strong desire to die for Christ. He joined the Franciscans, who had been founded only a little while before, and took the name of Anthony. Then he went off to Africa to preach to the Moors. But he soon became so sick that he had to leave. No one in his new Order knew what a brilliant mind he had, because he kept his talents hidden. So he was sent to a lonely hermitage in Italy, and there he washed pots and pans and did other humble chores.

Our Lord, however, wanted St. Anthony to save many souls by preaching. One day, at a gathering of many priests, it was suddenly discovered that there was no preacher! Anthony was told to get up and give the sermon as best he could. How amazed everyone was when he preached a marvelous sermon, full of wise and holy thoughts! From then on, until he died nine years later, St. Anthony preached all over Italy. He was so popular that people even closed their stores to go to hear him. Often the churches could not hold the crowds and then he would preach out in the open. Heretics, criminals, and sinners of every kind were converted.

Anthony was short and rather plump, but he had such virtue and such a love for sinners that just the sight of him was enough to make many repent and confess their sins.

So many miracles have taken place and so many people have obtained favors by praying to him that St. Anthony is famous as the “Wonder-worker.”

The statue of St. Anthony shows him with Baby Jesus. This is because once the Holy Child appeared to the Saint. Other pictures show him holding a Bible because he knew and loved the Word of God very much.

Like St. Anthony, let us love to pray and work unseen. In this way, we shall not become proud, and God will reward every prayer we say and everything we do for love of Him.

St. John of Sahagun

St. John of Sahagun - June 12th

St. John was born in Sahagun, Spain. He received his education from the Benedictine Monks of his town, and then became a parish priest. He could have lived a very comfortable life in the cathedral parish or in other wealthy parishes, but John wanted to imitate Our Lord’s poverty. He chose to keep charge only of a small chapel, where he offered Mass, preached, and taught catechism. He began to be very hard on himself and to practice real poverty.

St. John next went to the great University of Salamanca, because he realized that he that he needed to know theology better. After four years of study, he became famous as a preacher. Nine years later, after a serious but successful operation, he joined a community of Augustinian Friars. There he was outstanding for his obedience and humility. His beautiful sermons brought about a change in the people of Salamanca. They were always quarreling violently among themselves and often the young noblemen fought each other in revenge. St. John succeeded in ending a great many of these bitter fights and persuading people to forgive. He was not afraid to correct evils, even when the sinners were important people who might take revenge. Once he corrected a powerful Duke for the way he was making the poor people suffer. In anger, the Duke sent two men to kill St. John. But when these two saw the Saint, so calm and holy, they were struck with sorrow and asked his pardon. Then the Duke fell sick, and through the prayers of St. John, he repented his sins and even got better.

It was the graces he received from prayer and from the Holy Mass that gave St. John his special power as a preacher. He said Mass so devoutly that sometimes he had the great privilege of seeing Jesus at the moment of the Consecration.

This Saint was so calm and inspiring because he was holy. If we keep our conscience clean, we, too, will have peace and be very happy.

St. Barnabas

St. Barnabas - Patron of Antioch - June 11th

Even though he was not one of Our Lord’s twelve Apostles, Barnabas is called an apostle by St. Luke because he received a special mission from God. He was a Jew and was born on the island of Cyprus. His name was Joseph, but the Apostles changed it to Barnabas, which means “son of consolation.”

As soon as he became a Christian, St. Barnabas sold all he owned and gave the money to the Apostles. He was a good, kind-hearted man, full of zeal to win souls to Christ. When he was sent to the city of Antioch to govern the new Christians there, he found that there were too many for only one man to guide. Then, because he was very humble, he asked St. Paul to come to share the government of the Church there with him. He was never interested in keeping honor for himself; he only wanted to give glory to God.

Sometime later, the Holy Ghost said through the prophets at Antioch: “Set apart for Me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them.” Not long afterwards, the two apostles set off on a daring missionary journey. They had many sufferings to bear and often risked their lives, but their preaching won many converts.

Later St. Barnabas went on another missionary journey, this time with his relative, John Mark. They went to St. Barnabas’ own country of Cyprus. So many convert did the Saint win there that he is called the Apostle of Cyprus.

When there is some good to be done, let us do it eagerly and only for God’s greater glory, not for praise.