St. Martin the first, also known as Martin the Confessor, was born near Todi, Umbria on June 21,598.He became a pope in the year 649. At the time, there was a strongly supported teaching in the East stating that Christ had no human will. St. Martin disagreed with this teaching and censured the documents with those teachings. In response, Emperor Constans II tried to turn bishops and people against the pope. Failing in this and attempting to kill the pope, the emperor sent troops to seize Martin and to bring him to Constantinople, where he was submitted to various hardships. Though he was saved from execution by the patriarch of Constantinople, he died from the sever tortures he endured on September 16, 655.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER St. Martin, you stood for what is right, even though everyone else believed what was wrong. Help us to do good, even when it's hard to do so. Please aid us in discerning the right from wrong, Amen.
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Today’s Saint of the Day is Saint Teresa of Los Andes. She was born as Juana Fernández Solar and was a pious child who dedicated her life from a young age to the service of God. When she was 19, Juana became a Carmelite nun, and inspired by the life of Saint Teresa of Avila, she took the name Teresa. The convent offered the simple lifestyle Teresa desired and she focused her days on prayer and sacrifice. However, when she was 20 she became ill. Even in the midst of extreme suffering, she offered herself to Jesus and prayed for the sanctification of priests and the repentance of sinners. She died a few weeks later on April 12, 1920. On March 21, 1993, Pope John Paul ll canonized as her as a saint. She’s the patron saint of those who are ill and is known as the Flower of Andes.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER God help us through the intercession of Saint Teresa of Andes to live a life dedicated to God and proclaim your love to the world through our words and actions. Amen Saint Stanislaus is the patron of Poland. He was born in Szczepanow near Krakow on July 26, 1030 and was ordained a priest after being educated in the cathedral schools of Gniezno, capital of Poland, and Paris. He became Bishop of Krakow in 1072. During an expedition, Stanislaus became involved in the political situation of Poland. Known for his outspokenness, he aimed his attacks at the evils of the peasantry and the king, especially the unjust wars and immoral acts of King Boleslaus II. Enraged, he ordered his soldiers to kill Stanislaus but they refused to. As a result, the King slaughtered the Bishop himself.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER Oh God, Bishop Saint Stanislaus fell beneath the swords of his persecutors for his preaching, we pray that was may persevere strong in faith until death. Amen Saint Magdalen of Canossa was born in northern Italy on March 1, 1774. By the age of 15, she proclaimed that she wanted to be a nun and began her vocation with the cloistered Carmelites. She then realized that she wanted to serve the needy. She worked in many hospitals and among young girls. By her mid 20s, Magdalen started offering housing to any poor girls who were in need. She opened a school where many other women joined her to start the Congregation of the Canossian Daughters of Charity (or Canossian Sisters). She also began smaller congregations for priests and brothers. Saint Magdalen of Canossa died on April 10, 1835. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER Oh God, through the example of Saint Magdalen of Canossa, please help us also become helpers of the poor and the sick. Guide us to show others our love just as Saint Magdalen did. Amen Today’s saint of the day is St Casilda of Toledo. She was born a daughter of a Muslim King of Toledo. She showed great compassion for Christian prisoners by frequently sneaking bread into the prison, hidden in her clothes, to feed them. One time she was stopped by a Muslim soldier who told her to reveal what she was carrying under her skirt, as she began to show him the bread but then it turned into a bouquet of roses. The rose was a privileged symbol for Mary, Queen of heaven and earth. One of her titles in Catholic Marian devotion is Rosa Mystica or Mystic Rose. During the Middle Ages, the rose became an attribute of many holy women, including Casilda of Toledo, and of martyrs in general. The rose is even a symbol for Christ himself, St Casilda became ill as a young woman and refused help from the local Arab doctors and traveled to northern Iberia to partake of the healing waters of the shrine of San Vicente, near Buezo, close to Briviesca. When she was cured, she was baptized at Burgos and lived a life in penance and prayer. She died in the year 1050 and was said to have lived for 100 years.St Casilda of Toledo was a Muslim princess who converted to Christianity. She was venerated in Burgos and her feast date is April 9th.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER pray for us that we will find peace in our hearts helping all of God’s children regardless of their culture, religion or status. St.Julie Billiart was born in France in 1751. Though the first years of her life were relatively peaceful, Julie had to take up manual work as a young woman when her family experienced poverty. However, by the age of seven, she knew the catechism by heart, and used it to gather her companions around her to hear her recite it and to explain it to them. Witnessing an attempt to wound or even kill her father, Julie was paralyzed at the age of 30. For the next two decades, she continued to teach catechism lessons from her bed, offered spiritual advice, and attracted visitors who had heard of her holiness. During the French revolution, Julie was at risk because of her allegiance to fugitive priests. She was smuggled out her hometown and spent years on the move and in hiding. Later she met an another woman who shared her interest in teaching the faith. In 1803, the two women began the Institute of Notre Dame, which was dedicated to the education of the poor, young Christian girls, and the training of catechists. The following year Julie recovered from the illness: She was able to walk for the first time in 22 years. Julie died in Namur, Belgium in1816. She was canonized in 1969.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER Saint Julie, through your great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, you were miraculously cured and favored by many graces. By your powerful intercession, obtain for us above all, a great trust in God in all difficulties in life, the strength to accomplish in all things the precious will of God, and special grace we now humbly ask for you. Amen Today’s Saint of the Day is Saint John Baptist de la Salle. He was born on April 30, 1651, in Reims, France and was the eldest of ten children. In 1678, John was ordained a priest and devoted himself to the education of the poor. In those days, only wealthy children could afford an education. However, a friend convinced John that he should establish schools for poor children in the area. He established many charity schools in Reims, including the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. In these schools, John devoted himself to teaching children about Christ and how to live their Christian faith in their daily lives. Additionally, he contributed significantly to the education field through his writings and new teaching methodology. Saint John Baptist de la Salle was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950 and is the patron of teachers.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER God, help us through the intercession of St. John Baptist de la Salle to live our Christian faith in our daily life. Help guide all the teachers to devote themselves to helping your children grow in their faith and devotion. Amen. Saint Crescentia Hoess is today’s commemorated saint. Saint Crescentia was born in 1682, in Kaufbeuren, Germany, a little town in the diocese of Augsburg. She was the daughter of a poor weaver. Saint Crescentia spent her time praying in the church and assisted people who were poorer than her. She mastered the truths of her religion and was permitted to take her first Holy Communion at the age of 7. She entered the convent of the Tertiaries of Saint Francis. She was considered a burden and assigned nothing other than menial tasks. Even her cheerful spirit was misinterpreted as flattery or hypocrisy. Her conditions improved four years later when a new superior was elected who realized her virtue. Crescentia was appointed mistress of novices. So she won the love and respect of the sisters that, upon the death of the superior, Crescentia was unanimously elected to that position. Under her, the financial state of the convent improved and her reputation in spiritual matters spread. She was soon being consulted by princes and princesses; bishops and cardinals too sought her advice. And yet, a true daughter of Francis, she remained ever humble. Bodily afflictions and pain were always with her. First, it was headaches and toothaches. Then she lost the ability to walk, her hands and feet gradually becoming so crippled that her body curled up into a fetal position. Despite her sufferings, she was filled with peace and joy as she died in 1744.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER Grant, O God, that love and suffering may grow hand in hand in me, so that I may love you more and more with the cheerful disposition which is the fruit of love. O Lord, only grant me love for you, and I shall be rich enough. I desire only that you leave me to my nothingness and that you alone, if I may say so, be all in all and loved and honored by everybody. I wish to take pleasure in nothing but only in you and your love. Amen St. Vincent Ferrer is the patron saint of builders because of his fame for "building up" and strengthening the Church: through his preaching, missionary work, in his teachings, as confessor and adviser. He was born on January 23, 1357, in Spain. In 1374, he entered the Order of St. Dominic in a monastery. Soon after his profession he was commissioned to deliver lectures on philosophy. Now began those labors that made him the famous missionary of the fourteenth century. He evangelized nearly every province of Spain, and preached everywhere in Europe. Numerous conversions followed his preaching. He lived to behold the end of the great schism and the election of Pope Martin V. Finally, crowned with labors, he died April 5, 1419. His feast day is April 5.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER Let us pray. O God, who didst vouchsafe to glorify Thy Church by the merits and preaching of Saint Vincent Ferrer, Thy Confessor: grant us Thy servants that we may be taught by his example, and be delivered by his patronage from all adversities. O Lord, make haste to help me. Thou hast redeemed me, O God of truth. Amen. St Isidore Seville was a Spanish bishop in 600 AD.
Isidore was actually born into a family of saints, with his older two brothers and sister also being revered as saints in Spain. However, things weren’t easy for Isidore growing up. His older brother Leander took it upon himself to educate Isidore, and his teaching sometimes became abusive. Isidore even ran away once out of frustration, but he returned home, realizing that he could succeed in his studies if he tried hard enough. Isidore eventually forgave his older brother for what was done to him. Later, during their adult life, when his brother Leander had become a bishop, Isidore traveled around the country establishing a seminary in every diocese in Spain, in order to promote education. Isidore was a big supporter of educating everyone on basic sciences( of that time of course) . At the age of 37, when succeed Leander and became bishop, where he instituted a more representative form of church government( the church had significant power over the government during the Middle Ages). At the time of his death, Isidore made sure to give all of his belongings to the poor. He died at the age of 80 in the year 636. In 1997, Pope John Paul II declares St Isidore if Seville the patron saint of the internet, because of how St Isidore tried to publish every piece of knowledge about everything in his very own encyclopedia that was published after his death. INTERCESSORY PRAYER Prayer of St Isidore of Seville Almighty and eternal God, who created us in Thy image and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful, especially in the divine person of Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,Grant we beseech Thee that through the intercession of Saint Isidore, bishop and doctor, during our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee, and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. |