Bl. Francis Anthony of Lucera

Bl. Francis Anthony of Lucera – November 29th

This Saint, who was nicknamed Johnnie as a child, was the son of an Italian farmer. His father died before he was ten, but his mother’s second husband was good to him and sent him to be educated by the Franciscans.

When he was fifteen, the lad asked to be admitted to the Order. Brother Francis Anthony did very well in all his studies, and after becoming a priest, he became famous as a preacher and teacher. He also was elected Superior and he tried to make all the monks as holy as he was.

Bl. Francis Anthony had a special interest in prisoners. The prisons of his day were terrible places, and he did his best to help the poor prisoners in every way. His love went out to everyone in need. It was he who began the custom of collecting gifts at Christmas time for poor families. In Lucera, the city in which he spent his life, it was said: “If you want to see St. Francis of Assisi, just look at Father Francis Anthony!”

Bl. Francis Anthony had a great devotion to our Blessed Mother and he loved to pay special honor to her Immaculate Conception. It was at the beginning of the solemn novena for the Feast that he died. Some time before, when he was in good health, he had said he would die soon. He had even suggested to a priest-friend that he come along. This good priest replied a bit excitedly, “Listen, Father, if you want to die, that is your affair, but I’m in no hurry!” What did the Saint reply? “We must both make this journey,” he said, “I first and you afterwards.” And that is just what happened. The good priest lived only two months after Bl. Francis Anthony passed to his eternal reward.

The Saints were not afraid to die because they often thought of Heaven. Today I too will do everything for Heaven.

St. Catherine Laboure

St. Catherine Laboure – November 28th

Zoe Laboure was the daughter of a French farmer, and she was the only one of her large family who did not go to school. She could not read or write at all. Her mother died while she was still very young, and Zoe had to run the house when her older sister became a nun.

Zoe, too, would have liked to enter the convent when she was in her early teens, but had to wait until she was twenty-four. She became a Sister of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and took the name of Catherine.

Shortly after she finished her period of training as a postulant, Sister Catherine began to receive the special privilege of seeing the Blessed Mother. One night, she was awakened from sleep by a “shining child” who led her to the chapel. There Our Lady came to talk to her. The Blessed Mother, in another vision, showed herself standing on a globe with streams of light coming from her hands. Underneath were the words: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who turn to thee!” Sister Catherine was told that a medal was to be made of this picture of Our Lady and that all who wore it would receive many graces from God through His Mother’s prayers.

Sister Catherine told her confessor and he later told the bishop. So it was that the medal which we call the miraculous medal was made, and soon many, many people all over the world were wearing it. Yet no one in the convent knew that humble Sister Catherine was the one to whom Our Lady had appeared! She spent the remaining forty-five years of her life answering the door, looking after the hens that provided the nuns with eggs, and taking care of old and sick people. She was happy to keep her special privilege hidden, for she was only interested in serving God as best she could.

I will wear the Miraculous Medal and often repeat the ejaculation: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who turn to thee!”

St. James Intercisus

St. James Intercisus – November 27th

James was a Persian who was a great favorite of the King Yezdigerd I. When this king began to persecute Christians, James did not have the courage to confess his faith. He was too afraid to lose the King’s friendship. So he gave up his faith or at least pretended to.

James’ wife and mother were broken-hearted. When the King died, they wrote a strong letter warning him to change his ways. This letter had its effect on James. He had been a coward, but at heart, he was still good. Now he began to stay away from court and to blame himself openly for having given up his faith.

The new King sent for him, but this time, James hid nothing, “I am a Christian,” he said. The King accused him of being ungrateful for all the honors his father, King Yezdigerd, had given him. “And where is your father now?” St. James calmly answered.

The angry King threatened to put the Saint to a terrible death, but he replied, “May I die the death of the just!”

The King and his council condemned James to die only after all his limbs should be cut off. But his fears had gone, and he said, “This death which appears so dreadful is very little for the purchase of eternal life.” Then he told the executioners, “Begin your work.” Each time a finger was cut off, he rejoiced and thanked God, praying: “Savior of Christians, receive a branch of the tree.” He kept declaring his faith that his body would one day rise in glory.

This great saint martyr was called “Intercisus”, which means “hacked-to-pieces” in memory of his heroic death.

When we make mistakes and our parents or teachers correct us, let us listen to them. They correct us because they love us. This saint became a saint because when his mother corrected him strongly, he blamed himself and started a new life immediately.

St. John Berchmans

St. John Berchmans – Patron of Youth and Altar Boys – November 26th

This Belgian Saint once said, “If I do not become a saint when I am young, I shall become one.” In fact, he did indeed die at the early age of twenty-two-and he had, without any doubt, reached his goal of sanctity.

As a child, John stayed very close to his sick mother, but still, he liked to join with his playmates in putting on plays about stories from the Bible. He was especially good at playing the part of David defending the innocent Susanna. By the time he was thirteen, he wanted to begin studying for the priesthood, but his good father, a shoemaker, needed his help in supporting the family. However, he finally decided to let John become a servant in the household of a priest, from where he could go to classes in the seminary.

Three years later, John Berchmans entered the Society of Jesus. He studied hard, enthusiastically acted out parts in holy plays, and above all, prayed fervently. He made a motto: “Have great care for little things,” and he lived up to it. For St. John Berchmans never performed any great, heroic deeds. But he did every little thing well, from waiting on table to copying down notes on his studies.

When he fell sick, no doctor could discover what illness he had, yet he knew he was going to die. He was very cheerful as always. When the doctor ordered that his forehead be bathed with wine, John joked: “It’s lucky that such an expensive sickness is not going to last long!” Miracles took place at his funeral, and people at once began to call him a Saint.

This saint can be a model for every youngster. He was a good son, a diligent student, a modest and pure boy. To be all this, in fact, to become a saint, John worked hard and prayed, especially to the Blessed Mother.

St. Catherine of Alexandria

St. Catherine of Alexandria – Patroness of Philosophers, Jurists, Teachers, Students, and Wheel-Makers – November 25th

Catherine was the daughter of a wealthy pagan family of Alexandria, Egypt. She was a very beautiful girl whose great interest was in learning. She loved to study deep questions of philosophy and religion, and one day she began to read about Christianity. Soon she became a Christian herself.

St. Catherine was only eighteen when the Emperor Maxentius began persecuting the Christians. Fearlessly, the lovely young Christian maiden went to tell him what she thought of his cruelty. When he spoke of the pagan gods, she very plainly showed him that they were false. Maxentius could not answer her arguments, so, he sent for fifty of his best pagan philosophers. Once again, it was Catherine who proved the truth of her religion, and all fifty of those philosophers were convinced that she was right! In great fury, Maxentius had them all killed. Next, he himself tried to win her by offering her a queen’s crown. When Catherine absolutely refused it, he had her beaten and thrown into prison.

While Maxentius was away at camp, his wife and an officer were very curious to hear this amazing Christian girl speak. They went to her cell, and the result was that they and two hundred soldiers of the guard were converted. For this, they were all put to death, and Catherine was placed on a wheel full of spikes to be tortured to death. But the wheel snapped in two miraculously and the spikes flew off, killing many pagans.

Finally, St. Catherine was beheaded. She has always been the patroness of Christian philosophers.

To be able to resist the evil around us, we must know our Religion well.

St. John of the Cross

St. John of the Cross – November 24th

John was born in Spain and was the son of a poor weaver. He went to school for poor children and became a servant to the director of a hospital. For seven years, John worked as a servant while also studying at a Jesuit college. Even as a youth, he liked to do penance, and when he was twenty-one, his love of God prompted him to enter the Carmelite Order.

With St. Teresa of Avila, St. John was chosen by God to bring a new spirit of fervor among religious. But his life was full of trials. Although he succeeded in opening new monasteries where his holy way of life was practiced, he himself was criticized and even thrown into prison. He was beaten and made to suffer terribly by his enemies. At one time, too, he had fierce temptations. God seemed to have left him alone, and he suffered greatly.

Yet when these storms of trouble passed, the Lord rewarded his faithful servant by giving him deep peace and joy of heart. John was very close to his God. In fact, the Blessed Mother herself showed John how to escape from his prison cell!

St. John had a marvellous way with sinners. Once when a beautiful but sinful woman tried to make him do wrong, he talked to her so well that she was led to change her life. Another lady, instead, had such a sharp temper that she was nicknamed “the terrible.” Yet St. John knew how to calm her down by his kind manners.

Every time he could, this Saint chose what would bring him the most suffering. He prayed God to let him suffer every day for love of Jesus, and in reward, Our Lord revealed Himself to St. John in a special way.

St. John is famous for his spiritual books which show us how to grow close to God.

Today, if I have something to suffer, I will be patient.

St. Columban

St. Columban – November 23rd

Columban, the greatest of Irish missionary-monks, had a good education as a boy. But when he was a teenager, he was strongly tempted to sins of impurity by certain immodest girls. Columban felt a great inclination to give in, and in this terrible situation, he turned to a holy nun for advice.

“You must run away from this temptation,” she told him. “Turn from the river of impurity into which many fall!”

Columban decided not only to avoid those young women but to go off into the wilderness to become a monk. His mother could not bear the thought of him leaving her, but Columban felt he must serve God in solitude.

After many years as a monk in Ireland, Columban and twelve other monks set sail for France where good priests were badly needed. People saw their penance, devotion and charity, and many young men came to join them. Soon they had to build other monasteries to house all the disciples of St. Columban.

There were some people, however, who gave trouble because they thought the rules of these monks were too strict, and St. Columban also faced danger when he scolded the king for his sins. As a result, he and his Irish monks had to leave France. St. Columban, though fairly old, still tried to preach to unbelievers in Switzerland. When he was seventy, he went into Italy and defended the Faith against the Arian heretics.

In his letter to the Pope, St. Columban proclaims his great devotion to the Holy Father. “All we Irish, living in the furthest parts of the earth,” he says, “are bound to the Chair of St. Peter.” He calls the Pope the “leader of leaders,” and “the only hope, mighty through the honor of Peter the Apostle.”

In his last years, St. Columban built the great monastery of Bobbio in Italy, and after his death, both the Irish and the Italians were very devoted to this wonderful missionary.

If I find someone to be an occasion of sin, I will make sure to avoid that person.

Feast of All Saints

Feast of All Saints
November First
Taken from, “Divine Intimacy,” by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., pp. 1164-1166

PRESENCE OF GOD – Through the intercession of Your saints, O Lord, may I tread the way of holiness courageously.

MEDITATION

1. Holy Mother Church, always solicitous and anxious for our salvation, exults today with exceeding joy as she contemplates the glory of her children who, having reached their heavenly fatherland, are safe for all eternality, forever delivered from the snares of the evil one, and now numbered everlastingly among the elect, the people of God. Like a mother, proud of the triumph of her children, she presents them to the whole Christian world, inviting all the faithful to share her maternal joy: “Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a feast in honor of all the saints, at whose solemnity the angels rejoice and give praise to the Son of God” (Introit).

The Epistle (Ap 7, 2-12) offers us the apocalyptic vision of the glory of the saints: “I saw a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and in the sight of the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and with palms in their hands.” Ranks of martyrs, apostles, confessors, and virgins, luminous hosts who delight unceasingly in the vision of God, adore Him continually and praise Him as they repeat: “Benediction and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Who are these glorious saints? Men who have lived upon earth as we have, who have known our miseries, our difficulties, our struggles. Some of them we recognize easily, for the Church has raised them to the honors of the Altar, but the great majority are entirely unknown to us. They are humble people who lived obscurely in the accomplishment of duty, without display, without renown, whom no one here below remembers, but whom the heavenly Father looked upon, knew in secret, and, having proved their fidelity, called to His glory. The honorable positions occupied by some in this vast gathering, or the mighty deeds accomplished by others, no longer possess any value of themselves: eternal beatitude is not determined by the great things achieved here below. One thing only endures, for the humble and the great, the poor and the wealthy: the degree of glory which now renders them eternally happy.

2. While the Epistle gives us a glimpse of the life of the saints in heavenly glory, the Gospel (Mt 5, 1-12), citing a passage from the beatitudes, unveils the life which was theirs upon earth: “Blessed are the poor in spirit…Blessed are the meek…Blessed are they that mourn…Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice…Blessed are the merciful… Blessed are the clean of heart…Blessed are the peacemakers…Blessed are they who suffer persecution.” Poverty, humility, detachment from earthly goods; meekness of heart, resignation and patience in sorrow, uprightness, hunger for justice; kindness and understanding toward one’s neighbor; purity of mind and heart; peacefulness of spirit and bearer of peace; fortitude and generosity, which, for love of God, embrace every suffering and endure every injustice: such are the characteristics of the life led by the saints on earth, and such must be our program, too, if we wish to attain sanctity as they did.

We want to become saints, but in the easiest way possible, without effort, without fatigue or violence to ourselves; we should like to practice virtue, but only to a certain point, only when it does not ask for great sacrifice, or go too much against the grain. And so it happens that when faced with acts of virtue which exact greater self-renunciation, of the acceptance of difficult and repugnant things, such as quelling the resentments of self-love, renouncing an attempt to make our opinion prevail, submitting ourselves and meekly condescending to one who is opposed to us, very often-if not always-we refuse, thinking it unnecessary to go to such lengths.
Yet our progress in holiness depends precisely upon these acts which we hesitate to make; without them we shall always lead a mediocre life, we shall always remain on the same level, if indeed we do not lose ground. Let us the saints whom we honor today to help us overcome our laziness, our lassitude, our cowardice; let us ask those who have gone before us in the arduous way of sanctity to obtain for us the strength to follow them. “If such as these [have attained to sanctity], why not I?” (St. Augustine). God offers us the grace which He gave to the saints; but alas! what is lacking is our correspondence with it.

St. Cecilia

St. Cecilia – Patroness of Musicians, Poets, Singers and Organ-Builders – November 22nd

This famous Patroness of music was a Roman noblewoman, who had given her heart to Christ. Beneath the rich clothes worn by women of her class, Cecilia wore a rough shirt that caused her suffering; she wanted to be able to offer this suffering to Jesus, whose bride she intended to be.

But Cecilia’s father gave her in marriage to young pagan nobleman! During the celebration of the wedding, the lovely bride sat apart singing to God in her heart and praying for His help. When she and Valerian, her husband, were alone, she gathered up courage and said to him: “I have a secret to tell you. You must know that I have an angel of God watching over me. If you let me keep my promise to be Christ’s bride only, my angel will love you as he loves me.”

“Show me this angel,” answered Valerian. “If he comes from God, I will do as you wish.”

Cecilia said, “If you believe in the one true God and receive the waters of Baptism, then you shall see the angel.” Valerian went to the Bishop Urban and was received with joy. After he had professed his belief in the Christian religion, he was baptized and returned to St. Cecilia.

There by the Saint’s side, the young man saw the splendid angel! The angel raised his hand and placed a crown of roses and lilies on the heads of the young couple. What joy filled their pure, holy hearts at that moment!

Valerian’s brother, Tiburtius, learned of the Christian faith from Cecilia and she spoke so beautifully of Jesus that before long, he too was baptized. Together the two brothers performed many works of holy charity. When they were arrested for being Christians, they went bravely to death rather than give up their new faith in Jesus.

St. Cecilia lovingly buried their bodies, before she too was arrested. She converted the very officers who tried to make her sacrifice to false gods! When she was put into a fire, it did no harm her. At last, a man was sent to behead her. He struck her at the neck three times, but she did not die right away. She lay on the floor of her own home unable to move. Yet by holding out three fingers of one hand, and one of the other, she still professed her faith in the Blessed Trinity.

Today I will think often that I have a Guardian Angel watching over me.

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

– November 21st

When she was only three years old, the Blessed Virgin Mary was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem by her holy parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne. Mary’s whole life was to belong to God because He had chosen her to be the Mother of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.


The Blessed Virgin was happy to begin serving God in the Temple of Jerusalem, even though she had to leave her dear father and mother. And St. Joachim and St. Anne were content to offer their saintly little girl to God, for they knew that He had sent her to them.


In the Temple, the High Priest received the child Mary among the maidens who were dedicated to prayer and the service of the Temple. He kissed and blessed the holy child, seeing that the Lord had great plans for her. Then he set her down upon the altar step. Mary did not weep or turn back to her parents. She came so happily to the altar that everyone in the Temple loved her at once.


St. Joachim and St. Anne went back home, praising God for their blessed daughter. And Mary remained in the Temple, where she grew more beautiful and holy every year. She spent her days in loving God, reading the Bible, praying and serving the priests of the Temple. She made beautiful linens and splendid vestments, and was loved by all the other young girls because she was so kind. In doing each of her duties well, to please God, the Blessed Virgin Mary gained immense grace and gave great glory to the Lord.


Every morning I will offer myself to God with my whole heart.