Daily Saints

Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort, Priest

1673–1716; Patron Saint of preachers; Canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 20, 1947

Louis Grignion was the second of eighteen children born to Jean-Baptiste and Jeanne Robert Grignion in the small town of Montfort-sur-Meu, northwest France. Several of their children died in infancy, including the firstborn, leaving Louis as the oldest of the surviving siblings. He was given the name Louis at his baptism and later added Marie to his name at his confirmation, a fitting name for one who would later become the definitive source on total consecration to Jesus through Mary.

Louis’ parents were strong Catholics. Three of their sons became priests, and two of their daughters became nuns. However, the family was not without difficulties. Louis’ father had a fierce temper, and Louis was often the recipient of his outbursts. His father longed for wealth and prestige, yet he could not pull the family out of poverty, which often left him frustrated. His father’s outbursts affected Louis such that he himself was tempted with the same vice throughout his life. Nonetheless, those who knew Louis as a child saw him as an “angelic boy” whose spiritual depth was beyond his years. His deep compassion for his mother, who also suffered from her husband’s outbursts, was also well noted. Perhaps it was this compassion for his mother that later led him to a profound devotion to the Blessed Mother.

When he turned twelve, Louis-Marie was sent to the nearby town of Rennes, where he entered a large free school run by the Jesuits. He remained there for about eight years and completed his elementary education, as well as courses in philosophy and theology. During those years, Louis lived a virtuous life, had a strong love for the poor and sick, practiced severe penances, became devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the angels, and prayed often. His mother’s brother, a priest in Rennes, later remarked that Louis was so virtuous that he almost appeared “immune from Adam’s sin.” At that time, he also enjoyed listening to stories from a local priest about his missionary work as an itinerant preacher. This fueled a desire in Louis’ heart for the same.

In 1693, at the age of twenty, Louis’ dream of the priesthood moved forward. He received a scholarship from a benefactor to study in Paris at the famed Seminary of Saint-Sulpice. The school was about 200 miles away from his home, and his father wanted him to arrive in style. He offered Louis a horse, money, and new clothing. Louis, however, wanted to walk to Paris as penance and to do so in poverty, so he rejected the horse but reluctantly accepted the money and new clothing. On his journey, he gave away all his money to the poor, exchanged his new clothing for tattered rags, and begged for food. When he finally arrived in Paris, he discovered that the benefactor had not given enough money for him to enter and reside at Saint-Sulpice, so he obtained modest boarding elsewhere and instead attended school at Sorbonne University for the next two years. Though his meager accommodations and diet were penitential in and of themselves, he continued to add to these mortifications through his own acts of penance. Two years later, after recovering from a serious illness, he was able to move into the poorer accommodations offered at Saint-Sulpice and complete his studies while working at the school library.

As a librarian, Louis-Marie became very familiar with some of the greatest books of theology, especially on Mariology. His faith and devotional practices grew so strong that some of the worldly clergy ridiculed him, thinking him to be a fraud. His frequent visits to the chapel before and after every class, his profound devotion to Mary, his penances, and his loving devotion to the poor and infirm made him stand out. After completing his studies, he was ordained a priest but not given faculties to preach or hear confessions. Eventually, he was invited to assist a priest in Nantes, just south of where he grew up.

Over the next six years, Father Louis had a series of ups and downs. He was especially drawn to the poor and worked on and off as a chaplain at a hospital for the poor. On a spiritual level, his ministry was a great success and the people loved him, especially those who were poor. However, he continually met with opposition from some of the worldly clergy and the social elite, so he was forced to move over and over again, even being without an assignment for a year. Finally, in 1706, discouraged by his ministerial struggles, he decided to walk 1,000 miles to Rome to consult with the Holy Father. On June 6, he was granted an audience with Pope Clement XI who saw through the veneer of this impoverished beggar priest and perceived his God-given vocation. The Holy Father appointed him as Apostolic Missionary and sent him back to France.

Over the next ten years, Father Louis thrived in his new ministry. He began preaching missions from town to town, regularly performed miracles, encountered apparitions of our Blessed Mother, lived a life of extreme poverty and penance, constructed Calvary grottos to foster devotion, and won the hearts of countless people. He confronted the heresies of the day, rejoiced in every persecution he endured (even attempts on his life by heretics), and remained faithful to the commission he was given by our Lady through the pope. Though he continued to endure persecution from the local bishop and clergy, he pressed on. Toward the end of his life, Father Louis wrote a rule of life for a community of priests and brothers, but that community was never fully established before his death. In the years after his death, however, the seeds he planted evolved into two strong communities that continue to thrive today: the Daughters of Wisdom and the Company of Mary.

His most enduring legacy would not become known to the Church for more than a century after his death. During his life, Father Louis wrote several books and many hymns. His books remained unknown until April 22, 1842, when a priest of the community he founded discovered the manuscripts in an old trunk. Soon after, his writings on the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially True Devotion, Secrets of Mary, and Secrets of the Rosary, became among the most widely loved and influential Marian books ever written. Since then, six popes have honored Saint Louis de Montfort and praised his writings and virtues. Saint Pope John Paul II even took his papal motto from the saint’s writings: Totus Tuus, “totally yours.”

Saint Louis de Montfort lived for “God alone” by consecrating himself totally to God through the instrumentality of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was poor, penitential, devout, and fully committed to the salvation of souls and the care of the poor. Miracles accompanied his ministry, and, when the time was right, the Holy Spirit introduced the Blessed Virgin Mary more fully to the world through him.

As we ponder this great saint today, reflect upon your own devotion to our Blessed Mother. Saint Louis believed that the quickest and safest way to Jesus was through the Blessed Mother. Consider reading through his consecration found in his work, True Devotion, so that Saint Louis’ profound faith will also spark deep faith in your life.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/april-28-saint-louis-grignon-de-montfort-priest/

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Saints Philip and James

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Saint Philip: c. 4–c. 80; Patron Saint of hatmakers and pastry chefs

Saint James: First century BC–c. 62; Patron Saint of pharmacists and the dying; Pre-Congregation canonizations

In the sixth century, Pope Pelagius I traveled to Constantinople and brought the relics of the Apostles Philip and James back to Rome, placing them in what is today called the Church of the Holy Apostles. It is for this reason that we honor these two Apostles together with one feast.

Saint Philip was one of the Twelve Apostles. He was most likely a follower of Saint John the Baptist and was aware of John pointing to Jesus as the Messiah. Philip might have been a brother to Simon Peter and Andrew, making him a fisherman by trade. The day after Simon and Andrew were invited to follow Jesus, Jesus encountered Philip and said, “Follow me” (John 1:43). Philip obeyed. He was from the town of Bethsaida, just north of the Sea of Galilee. Philip’s first act of evangelization was to tell his friend, Nathanael, that they had found the Messiah. Nathanael was reluctant at first, stating to Philip, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip’s response was ideal. He said to his friend, “Come and see” (John 1: 46). When Nathanael came and saw, he immediately professed his faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Early Church theologians believe that Philip followed our Lord from that time forward, witnessing Jesus’ first miracle at Cana.

When Jesus established the Twelve, Philip was among them. He is mentioned in John’s Gospel during the feeding of the 5,000 when Jesus sees the large crowd and then turns to Philip and says, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” (John 6:6). Philip is also mentioned in connection with Greek-speaking Gentiles who want to see Jesus (see John 12:21), possibly indicating that Philip could speak Greek and was known to the Greek community. At the Last Supper, as Jesus was speaking about the Father, Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us”, to which Jesus gently responded, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:8–14).

After Pentecost, little is known about Philip’s missionary activity. Ancient traditions state he preached in Greece, Phrygia, and Syria, being martyred at an old age in Hierapolis, Phrygia, modern-day southwest Turkey, not far from Ephesus where Saint Paul established a church. Philip is believed to have died either by being crucified upside down or by beheading.

Saint James is also one of the Twelve. The traditional view, from as early as the second century, is that there are only two disciples of Christ in the New Testament with the name James. Some modern scholars identify three or more. If we stick with the traditional view, which was also held by Saint Jerome in the fourth century, then the two Jameses are James the Son of Zebedee and James the Less (also referred to as James the brother of the Lord, and James the Son of Alphaeus). Later authors call him James the Just. If James the Less is also the James who is the Lord’s brother, then James’ father was Alphaeus and his mother was Mary of Clopas, the sister of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This would make James the nephew of the Blessed Virgin and a first cousin to Jesus. He is referred to as Jesus’ “brother” because it was common at that time to refer to cousins and other relatives as brothers and sisters. In Mark’s Gospel, Levi (better known as Matthew) is also referred to as the son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14) which could make James and Matthew brothers.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul relates that the Lord appeared to James after His Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7). After Pentecost, James became the first bishop of the Church in Jerusalem. The Acts of the Apostles relates that it was James, as the head of the Jerusalem Church, who oversaw the First Council of Jerusalem and declared the final judgment on behalf of Peter (see Acts 15). Eusebius, a fourth-century bishop, writes that James spent long hours in the Temple of Jerusalem: “…he was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel.” Eusebius also wrote about James’ martyrdom, “…he was thrown from the pinnacle of the temple, and was beaten to death with a club.” Traditionally, the New Testament letter of James is believed to have been written by James the Less, although modern scholars question this fact. That letter was a general letter, most likely sent to all of the Jewish Christian communities. It begins, “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings” (James 1:1). The letter then goes on to give encouragement in trials and persecutions, exhortations and warnings, and concludes by speaking of the power of prayer.

What we know for certain about these two disciples is that they were among the Twelve Apostles. They were uniquely chosen by the Savior to continue His divine mission of evangelizing the world. They embraced their ministry heroically, establishing communities of believers, preaching the Gospel, offering the sacraments, performing miracles, and governing the early Church. Allow the apostolic zeal and the courageous martyrdom of these apostles to inspire you today with the same zeal and courage, so that God can also send you forth on mission.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/may-3—saints-philip-and-james-apostles/

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Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor

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c. 296–373; Patron Saint of theologians; Pre-Congregation canonization; Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Can something be 100% black and 100% white at the same time? Certainly not. It was logic similar to this that created a fierce controversy known as Arianism in the fourth-century Church. Among the greatest opponents of Arianism was Saint Athanasius, whom we honor today.

Arius was a priest from Alexandria, modern-day Egypt. The belief that Jesus was 100% human and 100% divine seemed logically incompatible to him. As a result, Arius taught that the Father created the Son, making the Son subordinate to the Father and neither co-eternal nor co-equal with Him. The debate would finally be resolved at a Church council in Nicaea, called by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. The answer came by way of the formulation of the Nicene Creed, which we continue to profess as a Church today. The Nicene Creed got it right, and today’s saint made sure of it.

Little is known about the early life of Saint Athanasius, but much is known about his unwavering leadership, courage, and depth of faith, due to the voluminous writings he left behind. One story relates that when Athanasius was only a child, he and two friends were playing on the beach when the Bishop of Alexandria noticed them. The bishop observed that young Athanasius was pretending to baptize the other boys, in imitation of the bishop himself. After examining Athanasius’ faith and understanding of the sacrament, the bishop declared that Athanasius’ baptisms of the other boys were truly valid. The bishop then took Athanasius under his wing and saw to it that he received the best education the flourishing Christian city of Alexandria could offer him. He became an excellent student and especially immersed himself in the Holy Scriptures.

At that time, Alexandria was an important trade center, with a mixture of Greek and Roman culture. The faith was strong and the city’s schools were renowned. What came out of Alexandria affected the entire Church. In 311, the Bishop of Alexandria was martyred in one of the final Roman persecutions of the faith. In 313, the Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, legalizing the practice of the Christian faith. Upon completing his education, Athanasius was ordained a deacon in Alexandria. As a deacon, his knowledge of Scripture would especially be made known through his first great work, On the Incarnation of the Word, in which he powerfully articulates that Jesus is the divine and eternal Word of the Father.

With the legalization of Christianity and the end of external persecutions of the Church, a new attack on the Church began—this time from within. Around the year 318, Arius, a priest in a wealthy parish in Alexandria, pronounced from the pulpit that his bishop was a heretic. He promoted his belief that the Son of God was subordinate to the Father, did not share in His divinity, and was, therefore, neither eternal nor co-eternal. The Bishop of Alexandria worked hard to reconcile Arius but to no avail. In 321 a synod of nearly 100 bishops was held in Alexandria, and they rejected the teachings of Arius. Arius subsequently rejected the bishops and fled to Palestine where he continued to spread his errors. With Christianity legal throughout the empire, Arius went on a preaching campaign, even going so far as to compose short hymns he taught the people with words such as, “there was a time when He was not…” Eventually, the Emperor Constantine heard about the controversy and wanted it resolved.

In 325, Constantine called the first ecumenical Church council in the city of Nicaea, near Constantinople, with the cooperation of Pope Sylvester. As the bishops gathered from across the empire, many of them bore the physical marks of persecution by the Roman emperors that had endured throughout their lives. Now, they faced a new enemy, one which sought to deny the divinity of Christ. At the council, Arius was given the freedom to make his case within the hearing of all. The Bishop of Alexandria also made his case. Later testimony also states that Deacon Athanasius was one of the clearest and most convincing voices in support of the divinity of Christ, basing his arguments upon his work On the Incarnation of the Word of God. Of the more than 300 bishops in attendance, only two refused to support the position articulated by the Bishop of Alexandria and Deacon Athanasius. A creed was formulated to clearly and concisely articulate the pure faith of the Church: the Nicene Creed. Those two bishops who refused to accept it, along with Arius, were exiled. Shortly after the council, the Bishop of Alexandria died and thirty-year-old Athanasius was chosen as his successor, to the delight of all of the people.

One might think that the Council of Nicaea, with its issuance of the Nicene Creed, would have ended the troubles, but it did not. Soon after, the exiled bishops who supported Arius gained the support of the Emperor Constantine and convinced him to exile Bishop Athanasius from Alexandria. This was the first of five exiles Bishop Athanasius would endure from four different Roman emperors. In fact, seventeen of his forty-eight years as Bishop of Alexandria were spent in exile.

Romans 8:28 states, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” This Scripture was certainly fulfilled in the life of Saint Athanasius. During his five exiles, he wrote over fifty letters that have survived, numerous works on the faith, and the first detailed biography of a saint, Saint Anthony of the Desert. His book on Saint Anthony was based on his firsthand knowledge of the life of this desert monk. It is believed that Athanasius spent at least a year with Anthony prior to Anthony’s death, and then spent five or six more years with the community of desert monks Anthony had helped to form. Athanasius’ knowledge of this unique vocation, as well as his participation in it, provided the early Church with a powerful witness of the vocation of solitude and prayer. His book became one of the most copied books of that time and remains very popular today. There is little doubt that that work alone contributed greatly to an understanding of the contemplative life not only of desert monks, but also for religious, clergy, and laity. Additionally, Athanasius’ other works not only eventually led to the complete repudiation of the Arian heresy but provided theologians since that time with treasured insights into the faith, especially into the Incarnation and divinity of Christ.

As we honor this great Doctor of the Church, ponder especially his unwavering devotion to the truth, despite enduring lifelong persecution for it. It would have been easier for him to remain silent, but he did not. If you find yourself compromising your faith at times, take inspiration from Saint Athanasius and seek his intercession today.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/may-2–st-athanasius-bishop/

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Saint Joseph the Worker

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Patron Saint of Workers

Every age has its challenges. Therefore, every age needs a role model to look up to and to help the faithful navigate the particular challenges of their day and age. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Saint Joseph was especially held up to the faithful who engaged in the daily toil of work to support themselves and their families with dignity and love.

Work was not part of God’s original plan for humanity. Recall that when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you! In toil you shall eat its yield…” Thus, working “by the sweat of your brow” is a consequence of Original Sin. However, we must not see this consequence as something evil, but as a means by which we now fulfill our human mission. Human labor has dignity because it is an act of obedience to the will of God and is a participation in the work of God, the work of creation.

The invitation to turn to Saint Joseph as the patron saint of workers emerged over the past two centuries as societies went through drastic social and economic changes. Through the eighteenth century, most societies remained the same as they had always been. The majority of people tilled the land and raised animals to provide food for their families. Some engaged in various trades: a carpenter, blacksmith, tailor, baker, or shoemaker. With the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, societies began to change. Machines were developed to perform tasks that had been performed by hand. Workers moved into cities to labor in factories of mass production, and many of the individual tradesmen were left behind. And though production increased, new abuses also arose. Child labor, long hours, unsafe work environments, and low wages were among the new problems. These problems especially affected family life. In response to these new societal problems, the Church held up Saint Joseph as a model for all to emulate.

In 1889, Pope Leo XIII pointed the faithful to Saint Joseph. Unchecked capitalism began to tear families apart as profit started to become the goal of work, rather than as a means of providing for one’s family. An even greater concern was the introduction of the philosophy of socialism, which was coupled with atheism. Socialism presented itself as a friend and ally to the worker, but it did so through objectively distorted means. It sought to eliminate religion, the family, and private ownership of property. Instead, each individual was to become a subject of the state, while the state took the place of God. Work was for the fatherland or motherland, not primarily to care for one’s family. In Saint Joseph, workers had someone to emulate. Saint Joseph did not work to get rich. He was not a servant of the state. He was not an oppressed laborer who needed liberating. He was a family man who found dignity in work as he provided for his family in a humble way.

On May 1, 1955, in an address to the Catholic Association of Italian Workers, Pope Pius XII took devotion to Saint Joseph one step further. He confronted the growing concerns posed by communism and its socialist philosophy on human labor and family life by instituting the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. “The humble craftsman of Nazareth not only personifies to God and the Holy Church the dignity of the laborer, but he is also always the provident guardian of you and your families.” May 1 (May Day) was chosen for the feast because socialist countries celebrated “International Workers’ Day” on that date. A Catholic feast, honoring the laborer in the person of Saint Joseph, was a fitting way of combating socialist ideology and restoring the dignity of labor to its proper place.

Though socialism and communism have faded in many parts of the world, they certainly have not gone away. Their philosophies continue to permeate many political systems. Unchecked capitalism also remains a threat to healthy human development and family life when the common good is overshadowed by selfish gain. The answer is simple: Go to Saint Joseph! We do not have to become intellectuals who comprehend all of the economic and political systems of our times. Instead, we must all turn to holy role models whom we can imitate. For the laborer and the family, Saint Joseph is a just man, a faithful spouse and father, a hard worker whose primary concern is for his family, a guardian and protector, an obedient servant of God, one who is humble and hidden from the spotlight, but faithful in all he does.

As we honor Saint Joseph the Worker, ponder your own call to engage in the dignity of work. As you do, put your work into proper perspective. What is the goal of your work? Do you work in an excessive way, seeking excessive gain? Do you grumble about your work and feel as though it is beneath you, holding you back from personal fulfillment? Strive for the virtuous way of Saint Joseph. Work hard to fulfill your vocation in life, and avoid excesses and extremes. We are made for love, for family, for faith, for charity, and for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. If your goals in life are anything other than these, then go to Saint Joseph the Worker and choose him as your model.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/may-1—saint-joseph-the-worker/

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Saint Pius V, Pope

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1504–1572; Patron Saint of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Invoked for the reform and defense of the Church; Canonized by Pope Clement XI on May 22, 1712

In 1517, when Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses in Germany, igniting the Protestant Reformation, European kingdoms faced many challenges, and the Church was greatly in need of reform. Relations between the Church and State were constantly strained. Some civil rulers fought to keep their territory Catholic, while others fought to eliminate the Catholic faith. Many of these kingdoms warred against each other, and they were all in constant threat of Muslim invaders. Within the Church, reform was needed to address financial abuses, nepotism, poorly formed clergy, poorly structured governance, theological debates, and a lack of uniform liturgical worship. It was into this historical situation that today’s saint was born.

Antonio Ghislieri was born in the town of Bosco Marengo in northwest Italy. As a child, Antonio was poor and worked to help support his family. At the age of fourteen, he took the name Michele when he joined the Dominican order and received his education from the friars in Vigevano, Bologna, and Genoa. Throughout his formation, he was an excellent and hardworking student who was especially drawn to the study of Sacred Scripture and the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas. At the age of twenty-four, he was ordained a priest, and over the next sixteen years he taught theology and philosophy, formed Dominican novices, and served as prior in various friaries. As a young priest, Father Michele continued to deepen his life of prayer, developed a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Rosary, made all-night vigils, embraced the Dominican charism, fasted, did penance, embraced poverty, and practiced interior silence by which he strove to remain continually recollected, refusing to engage in idle talk.

In 1542, as a way of addressing the ongoing threat posed by the errors introduced by the Protestant Reformation that was slowly finding its way into the Italian states, Pope Paul III reorganized the Italian Inquisition. Shortly afterwards, Father Michele was appointed to serve on several inquisitorial missions, which he did with unwavering determination. In 1556 Pope Paul IV made him Bishop of Sutri, a diocese just north of Rome, and one year later was made a cardinal. As a bishop and then cardinal, he continued to work with zeal, vigorously defending the true faith, weeding out heresy, correcting abuses, tightening Church structures, and personally living out the life of faith and morals to which he was called. He became so well respected, and his courage, clarity, and zeal were so beneficial to the Church, that the Holy Father made him the Grand Inquisitor to all of Christendom. In 1559, he was transferred further north to the Diocese of Mondovì but was regularly called to Rome to consult with the pope. In Mondovì, he vigorously sought to rebuild that diocese after it had been ravaged by wars, fueled by the theological confusion caused by the Protestant Reformation.

Bishop Michele was not a pushover, not even when it came to the pope. One of the ongoing abuses within the Church at that time was nepotism, the practice of bestowing ecclesiastical favors on one’s relatives. When Pope Paul IV announced to his court that he wanted to make his fourteen-year-old nephew a cardinal, Bishop Michele firmly opposed him and stopped that abuse. Though this led the pope to diminish some of Bishop Michele’s inquisitorial authority, it also led many of the cardinals to admire him. As a result, in 1566, Bishop Michele was elected as the new pope and took the name Pius V.

Just three years prior to Pius V’s papal election, the eighteen-year-long Council of Trent completed its final session. That council was the beginning of the Catholic Counter-Reformation that directly addressed theological and liturgical issues and sought to eliminate various abuses within the Church. All that was left to do was to implement the council’s decrees. That was no easy task, but Pope Pius V was unquestionably the man for the job.

From the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Pius V continued to be the holy, prayerful, conscientious, and determined man of God he had been since his youth. Rather than acting like royalty, he acted like a servant. He continued to wear his white Dominican habit (of which he kept only one), which is why the pope wears white today. He took the money set aside for extravagant papal banquets and distributed it to the poor. He visited the sick, built hospitals, prayed twice daily before the Blessed Sacrament, and resisted the entrapments that come with power and wealth. The Papal States, in particular, soon became more like a monastery rather than a kingdom.

To address the theological confusions dividing the Church, he promulgated a new catechism especially for parish priests, instituted catechetical classes for youth, introduced the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas in the universities, and continued the good work of the Holy Office of the Inquisition with pastoral zeal. To address ecclesiastical issues, he railed against immoralities within the clergy, more closely attached them to one diocese, mandated the seminary system, reaffirmed the practice of celibacy, exhorted bishops to remain in and serve their diocese as true shepherds, and renewed the weakening discipline within religious houses. To address the spiritual needs of the Church, he especially spread devotion to the holy Rosary, which he himself prayed in its entirety daily, and promulgated a new Breviary and Roman Missal. On a political level, he did not hesitate to chastise, or even penalize, wayward rulers. He defended Europe from Muslim invaders by working with various rulers to form the Holy League, a cooperative effort of Catholic kingdoms within Spain and Italy, that included the Order of Malta.

Throughout history, the Church has always been in need of internal reform. Though Christ never leaves His Church, those who are entrusted with its care are sinners. But among those sinners, God always raises up saints to redirect the Church and Her institutions down the correct path. In the sixteenth century, one of the most notable saints who God used for this purpose was Pope Saint Pius V.

As we honor this saintly pope, ponder your own calling to support the ongoing needs of reform within the Church. Those needs will always be there. Though you are not called to do so from the vantagepoint of the papacy, you are called to do so within the context of your own vocation. Ponder ways that you can reform your own life, your family, your local parish, and the community. Commit yourself to prayerful submission to the will of God, and seek the gift of courage so that God will use you in ways that are beyond your natural abilities.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/april-30-saint-pius-v-pope/

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Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

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1347–1380; Patron Saint of Europe, Italy, nurses, the sick, and those ridiculed for their piety; Invoked against fires, miscarriages, temptations; Canonized by Pope Pius II on June 29, 1461; Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI on October 4, 1970; Proclaimed Co-Patron of Europe by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 1999

Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa (Catherine) was the twenty-third or twenty-fourth child born to loving parents in the thriving city of Siena, Italy. Her twin, as well as half of her twenty-four siblings, did not survive infancy. As a child, Catherine stood out. She was given the nickname “Euphrosyne,” which means “joy,” because of her joyful disposition and deep devotion to God from an early age. At the age of five, she would climb the stairs in her home on her knees as she prayed the Hail Mary on each step. At the age of six, while she was out walking with her brother, she had the first of many visions. She saw Jesus, sitting on a throne, crowned as King, surrounded by Saints Peter, Paul, and John. This supernatural experience drew Catherine even more deeply into a life of childhood prayer, penance, and devotion. Within a year, she had made a personal vow to give her whole life to God. Her prayer life was so evident that her parents gave her a bedroom in the basement so that she could use it as her own personal place of prayer. This “cell” in which she lived and prayed was also in her soul. She would later relate to her spiritual director that when she was troubled or tempted, she would build a cell inside her mind, from which she could never flee. Her prayer life also increased her virtues, and she treated her father as Jesus, her mother as Mary, and her siblings as the Apostles.

When Catherine was a teenager, she firmly opposed her parents’ desire that she marry. She wanted to be devoted to God alone, so she began fasting and praying. She even went so far as to cut her hair short so that she would be less attractive to young men. Eventually, her parents accepted her vocation.

In 1363, just three days after her sixteenth birthday, Catherine joined the Third Order of Saint Dominic. The Third Order was made up of lay people who wore a religious habit but lived at home and worked in the world rather than in a cloister. They served the poor and sick and performed charitable works. For the first several years as a Third Order Dominican, Catherine lived mostly a life of seclusion and prayer. Around the age of twenty-one, she entered into what would later be described as “mystical marriage” with our Lord. While praying, Jesus appeared to her, along with the Virgin Mary and King David as a harpist. Jesus placed a ring on her finger and departed. The ring remained for the rest of her life, although Catherine was the only one who could see it.

Two centuries later, the Spanish Mystic, Saint Teresa of Ávila, would describe mystical marriage this way in her spiritual classic, Interior Castle:

When our Lord is pleased to take pity on the sufferings, both past and present, endured through her longing for Him by this soul which He has spiritually taken for His bride, He, before consummating the celestial marriage, brings her into this His mansion or presence chamber. This is the seventh Mansion, for as He has a dwelling-place in heaven, so has He in the soul, where none but He may abide and which may be termed a second heaven.

Saint Teresa went on to explain that this celestial marriage, this second heaven, is a permanent gift bestowed upon a soul. By His divine foreknowledge, when He is aware of the permanent sanctity of a soul, He bestows this gift of divine union upon the soul. Catherine was one of those who received this rare gift.

After receiving the gift of spiritual marriage, Catherine began a more active ministry to the poor, sick, and imprisoned of Siena. When the bubonic plague—“Black Death”—struck Siena, Catherine and her companions remained hard at work, caring for those affected. Catherine also began to get involved in controversies that were plaguing the Church and State. She wrote hundreds of letters to kings, queens, nobility, religious, priests, and even to the pope himself. At that time, the divisions in the Church were so profound that Catherine engaged in severe penance and prayer. For example, she no longer ate or drank, living only on the Holy Eucharist which she received every day. While in Pisa in 1375, Catherine learned of rebellions within the Church. She fell into ecstasy and received the gift of an invisible stigmata, which appeared physically on her body only after her death. She saw a vision of our crucified Lord and rays of light extended from Jesus’ body to hers, piercing her through.

A dominant focus of her letters to the pope was to urge him to return to Rome. At that time, the papacy had moved to Avignon, France, which became the cause of much internal Church conflict. Anti-popes were elected and confusion was widespread. Catherine knew that the Holy Father, “daddy” as she called him, needed to return to the Eternal City to end the chaos. Her letters, and later her face-to-face conversations, were not only directed to the Holy Father with the affection and sincerity of a loving spiritual daughter, they were also firm, direct, and challenging. In one letter to Pope Gregory XI, she wrote urging him to return to Rome: “I tell you, father in Christ Jesus, come swiftly like a gentle lamb. Respond to the Holy Spirit Who calls you. I tell you, Come, come, come, and do not wait for time, since time does not wait for you.” The pope listened and returned to Rome in 1377. The last few years of Catherine’s life were spent writing letters, visiting towns that were warring against the papacy, and consulting two popes, first Pope Gregory XI and then his successor Pope Urban VI. She rallied the people, gained many followers, addressed political, cultural, and moral abuses, and gave an ongoing witness to Christ crucified through her penitential life.

Her last, and perhaps greatest, gift to the Church was her book entitled, The Dialogue of Divine Providence. It is believed that this book was dictated by Catherine while she remained in ecstasy. It is a conversation between a soul and the Father in Heaven. In addition to this great spiritual masterpiece, 382 of her letters and twenty-six of her prayers have survived.

Saint Catherine was one of the greatest and most influential saints in the history of the Church. In her lifetime she had a powerful impact upon those she encountered, including the pope. In her death, she continues to have a profound impact upon the Church as a Doctor of the Church. None of that would have been possible had she not engaged in fervent prayer and penance throughout her life. Ponder your own prayer life as we honor Saint Catherine, and strive to imitate her burning love for her Lord, her Divine Spouse. That love, fueled by a unquenchable desire for God, is beautifully seen in the following prayer that she herself wrote:

Prayer: Eternal God, eternal Trinity, You have made the Blood of Christ so precious through His sharing in Your Divine nature. You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find, the more I search for You. But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When You fill my soul, I have an ever greater hunger, and I grow more famished for Your light. I desire above all to see You, the true Light, as You really are. Amen.

Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/april-29-saint-catherine-of-siena-virgin-and-doctor-of-the-church/

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Saint Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr

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1803–1841; Patron Saint of Oceania; Canonized by Pope Pius XII on June 12, 1954

Today’s saint, Saint Pierre Louis Marie Chanel (Peter), was the fifth of eight children. Peter’s father was later described as a good man, but also a man “more inclined to the bottle than to religion.” Peter’s uneducated mother was a strong Christian. As a youth, Peter worked as a shepherd on their sixty-five acre family farm. Their land had recently belonged to the Church but was confiscated by the state at the beginning of the French Revolution and sold to Peter’s father. Aware of this fact, Peter had a desire to make reparation for his family. By the end of his life he would do so, and more, by laying his life down as a priest-martyr on the tiny, remote, and barbaric island of Futuna, in the Pacific Ocean, Oceania.

In the neighboring village of Cras, the parish priest, Father Jean-Marie Trompier, ran a small school for boys that Peter entered. Father Trompier taught the boys throughout the day as he went about his own duties of visiting the sick, celebrating Mass, doing chores, and conversing at meals. Father Trompier had a profound effect upon Peter, instilling in him a desire for both the priesthood and the life of a foreign missionary. When Peter was about sixteen, he was sent to the diocesan minor seminary in Lyons and later to the major seminary in Brou. On July 15, 1827, Peter was ordained a diocesan priest at the age of twenty-four.

Father Peter was first assigned as an assistant parish priest in the town of Ambérieu. Only a few of his sermons from that assignment remain, but they show him to be a zealous and devoted preacher who carefully prepared his sermons. After a year, Father Peter approached the bishop about going on a foreign mission. Instead, the bishop assigned him to a remote parish as pastor, near the Swiss border, in the town of Crozet. The parish in Crozet was in need. Mass attendance was low, and the previous priest had left in frustration. Father Peter spent three years showing great devotion to the sick, preaching with zeal, and organizing Eucharistic processions. By the time of his departure, he had won the hearts of the people and revived the struggling parish.

Though Father Peter was an excellent parish priest, his heart was drawn to the missions. After serving in Crozet for three years, he sought and obtained permission to enter the Society of Mary (Marists). The Marists were a newly formed order whose mission was to live as Mary had—hidden, humble, and simple. Among their charisms was to be missionaries to remote and hidden lands, especially in Oceania.

Although he had hoped to be sent on mission, Father Peter spent the next five years in the minor seminary in Belley where he taught twelve-year-old boys before becoming the spiritual director and bursar. Two years later, he was made Vice-Superior and in 1833 traveled to Rome to assist the community’s founder in gaining final approval for the society. On February 10, 1836, the Marists were approved by Pope Gregory XVI as a Religious Congregation of the universal Church and given the responsibility of evangelizing the peoples of Western Oceania. At the age of thirty-three, Father Peter’s childhood desire came true when he was appointed as superior of a group of seven Marists (four priests and three brothers) and a newly ordained bishop who set out on a ten-month voyage by ship to Oceania. The journey was a brutal one, so much so that one of the priests died of illness along the way.

The group set sail from the port of La Havre, France, on December 24, 1836, and sailed to the Canary Islands; then south around Cape Horn to Valparaíso, Chile; west to the Gambier Islands; then to Fiji, Tongo; and eventually arrived at the small island of Futuna on November 12, 1837. Father Peter and Brother Marie-Nizier Delorme were chosen to disembark on that island.

Futuna and its neighboring island were small, being only about forty-five square miles between the two of them. The 1,000 inhabitants at the time were farmers and fishermen. The people were organized into smaller tribes who banded together into two larger kingdoms. These two kingdoms frequently went to war with each other, one emerging as the Victors and the others as the Vanquished. They were religious people, appeasing angry gods through pagan rituals and worshiping great spirits who often spoke through the chiefs and pagan priests. In earlier years, they had even practiced cannibalism.

King Niuliki, then of the Victor tribe, at first welcomed these visitors warmly. He fed them, invited them into his home, and kept them safe. The first year on the island bore the fruit of only about ten baptisms, mostly children who were dying. The missionaries worked tirelessly at learning the local language. Additionally, they offered Mass openly while intrigued islanders looked on, gave them farming tips, and simply showed them kindness, which was a language the Marists understood and appreciated. After a year and a half on the island, another ship carrying Marist missionaries arrived, to the delight of all.

Over the next year, the work of catechesis continued. When the king’s infant son became ill, Father Peter was given permission to baptize him. He hoped this would open the door to more converts, for he knew that if the king were to agree, everyone would be baptized and abandon their pagan rituals that Father Peter saw as demonic. However, by the end of 1840, the king began to turn on Father Peter because more islanders were becoming catechumens. The king feared the loss of his own power, especially his pagan spiritual authority, so he withdrew his kindnesses and started to become hostile toward the Marists and catechumens. When the king heard that all the inhabitants of the nearby island of Wallis were preparing for baptism, he decided something must be done to keep this from happening on his island. The final spark came when the king’s own son, Meitala, became a catechumen. On April 27, 1841, the king had a long talk with his son, trying to convince him to change his mind. His son refused, so King Niuliki called his son-in-law Musumusu and instructed him to kill both the catechumens and the missionaries. The next day, after unsuccessfully trying to kill the catechumens, Musumusu and some companions went to where Father Peter was staying. First they clubbed Father Peter; then Musumusu delivered a deadly blow to his head with a hatchet. But this brutal end was only the beginning of great things to come.

Soon after, the king regretted what he had done. Many of the islanders who had grown fond of Father Peter mourned his death. This mourning and regret was turned into joy when, over the next few years, all of the inhabitants were baptized. War between the two tribes eventually ceased and peace was established. Today, those islands live their Catholic faith well and rejoice in their martyr who did more for them in death than in life.

As we honor Saint Peter Chanel, ponder the mysterious fact that the Father uses suffering and death for His glory and the salvation of souls when that suffering and death are offered to Him, sacrificially, in union with the death of His divine Son. Ponder the incredible power of God who is able to bring good from evil, and salvation from death itself. Unite your own sufferings to Christ, and know that God wants the unyielding gift of the sacrifice of your life to be given to Him for His glory and for the salvation of souls.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/april-28-saint-peter-chanel-priest-and-martyr/

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Divine Mercy Sunday

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In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized Saint Maria Faustina Kowolska and added the Feast of Divine Mercy to the Church’s official calendar. Saint Faustina, who died in 1938, was a member of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Krakow, Poland. She came from a simple and poor family of farmers, had only three years of rudimentary education, and performed the humblest of tasks in her convent. But she also was a mystic who was privileged to have many private revelations from our Lord. In obedience to her superior and spiritual director, she recorded these private revelations in six notebooks. Those notebooks are known today under the title: Divine Mercy in My Soul: Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. The messages contained within her diary present profound communications from God for our day and age. Though the messages are many, there are several new ways that God is calling us to a new form of devotion.

A first way is through meditation on the image of Divine Mercy. Of this, Saint Faustina wrote:

In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, “paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You” (#47).
“The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous; the red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My most tender Mercy at that time when My agonizing Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross….Fortunate is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him” (#299).

A second way is through our participation in the Solemnity of Divine Mercy:

“On that day (the 8th day of Easter each year) the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity” (#699).

A third way is through the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy:

Once, as I was going down the hall to the kitchen, I heard these words in my soul: “Say unceasingly the chaplet that I have taught you. Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy. I desire that the whole world know My infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy” (#687).

A fourth way is by honoring Jesus’ passion at the 3 o’clock hour:

At three o’clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy for the whole world. I will allow you to enter into My mortal sorrow. In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of me in virtue of My Passion” (#1320).

A fifth way is through an apostolic movement to spread the message of Divine Mercy. During her lifetime, Sister Faustina believed Jesus was calling her to found a new congregation, but that never materialized. Jesus, nonetheless, spoke to her in ways that revealed His desire that this “new congregation” be established. Since a formal religious congregation was never founded in her lifetime, we must look to the founding of subsequent congregations and apostolic movements that seek to spread the messages of Divine Mercy. God is calling each of us not only to receive His mercy but to spread that mercy to others in personal and organized ways.

Though Saint Faustina died in 1938, we should see the messages in her Diary as messages God especially desires we learn and live today. God moves slowly and methodically. He first revealed these messages, then allowed them to be studied by the Church for decades, then led Pope John Paul to canonize her and establish the universal Feast of Mercy on the last day of the octave of Easter in the year 2000. For these reasons, we should see this as one of the newest and most relevant devotions in our lifetimes.

As we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, ponder the profound significance of this new form of devotion for the Church and world today. We need God’s abundant Divine Mercy to flow from the gates of Heaven upon us more than ever. Only in Heaven will we understand the full depths of God’s Mercy. For now, we must trust all that He has revealed through his humble servant Saint Faustina and respond to the requests He has given to us through her. Commit yourself to the various ways God has called us to call upon His Mercy and do so with as much vigor and devotion you can offer Him. The following is the 3 o’clock prayer Jesus gave to Saint Faustina:

Prayer: You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us (#1319). Jesus, I trust in You.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/triduum-and-easter-prayers/divine-mercy-sunday/

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Our Lady of Good Counsel

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Records dating from the reign of Paul II relate that the picture of Our Lady, at first called La Madonna del Paradiso and now better known as Madonna del Buon Consiglio, appeared at Genazzano, Italy on 25 April 1467. It was in the old church of Santa Maria, which had been under the care of Augustinians since 1356. The venerated icon itself, which is drawn on a scale of wall-plaster a little thicker than a business card, was observed to hang suspended in the air without support; early tradition says that one could pass a thread around the image without touching it. Devotion to Our Lady in Santa Maria sprang up at once. Pilgrims began to pour in, miracles began and continue at the shrine.

In July 1467, Pope Paul deputed two bishops to investigate the alleged wonder-working image; no copy of their report is known to have survived. Devotion to Our Lady increased. In 1630, Pope Urban VIII made a pilgrimage to Genazzano, as did Pope Blessed Pius IX in 1864. On 17 November 1682, Pope Blessed Innocent XI had the picture crowned with gold by the Vatican Basilica. In 1727, Pope Benedict XIII granted the clergy of Genazzano an Office and Mass of Our Lady for 25 April, the anniversary of the apparition, elsewhere the feast being kept a day later so as not to conflict with that of Saint Mark the Evangelist. On 2 July 1753, Pope Benedict XIV approved the Pious Union of Our Lady of Good Counsel for the faithful at large, and himself enrolled therein as its pioneer member; Pope Pius IX and Pope Leo XIII were both later members. On 18 December 1779, Pope Pius VI, while re-approving devotion to Our Lady, granted all Augustinians an Office with hymns, lessons, prayer and Mass proper of double-major rite; with a plenary indulgence also for the faithful, to which Pope Pius VIII added another for visitors to the shrine. On 18 December 1884, Pope Leo XIII approved of a new Office and Mass of second-class rite for all Augustinians, while on 17 March 1903, he elevated the church of Santa Maria – one of the four parish churches in tiny Genazzano – to the rank of minor basilica. On 22 April 1903, he authorized the insertion in the Litany of Loreto of the invocation Mater Boni Consillii to follow that of Mater Admirabilis. The same pontiff on 21 December 1893 had sanctioned the use of the White Scapular of Our Lady of Good Counsel for the faithful.

Patronage

for enlightenment
Catholic Women’s League of Canada
Missionary Sisters of Saint Peter Claver
—
Albania (proclaimed on 15 May 1915 by Pope Benedict XV)
Moldova
Amargosa, Brazil, diocese of
Essen, Germany, diocese of
Sandburst, Victoria, diocese of
—
Amargosa, Brazil
Serroni, Contursi Terme, Italy

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/our-lady-of-good-counsel/

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Saint Mark the Evangelist

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c. 12–c. 68; Patron Saint of attorneys, captives, shoemakers, lions, notaries, glass workers, Egypt, and Venice; Invoked against impenitence, insect bites, scrofulous & struma diseases; Pre-Congregation canonization

Though little is known for certain about Saint Mark’s life, the Gospel attributed to him is unquestionably one of the most important scripts ever written. In a nearly breathless way, Mark recounts Jesus’ public ministry in concise and vivid detail. The shortest of the four Gospels is packed with information. Mark’s Gospel was most likely written primarily for Roman Gentiles, rather than for Jews, which is why he often describes various Jewish customs to the reader.

The Acts of the Apostles and various Epistles speak of “Mark” as well as “John Mark.” Most scholars believe that Mark and John Mark are the same person and the Gospel writer. Saint Mark is believed to have been born in Cyrenaica, modern-day Libya, which was under Roman rule at the time. “John” is his Jewish name, and “Mark” his Roman name. His father might have died when he was young, and his mother, named Mary, most likely moved with Mark to Jerusalem. His mother’s home might have been the location of the Last Supper and also the place where Peter went after the angel released him from prison. “When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who is called Mark, where there were many people gathered in prayer” (Acts 12:12). As a teenager, Mark might have been nearby when Jesus was arrested. “Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked” (Mark 14:51–52). Many scholars believe that this young man is Mark. Saint Barnabas, the missionary companion of Saint Paul, was either Mark’s cousin or uncle (See Colossians 4:10).

Shortly after Peter escaped from prison and arrived at Mark’s home, Mark traveled north to Antioch in Syria with Barnabas and Paul. From Antioch, he accompanied Barnabas and Paul on a missionary journey to another Antioch in Pisidia, modern-day Turkey. Before completing their journey, Mark left Paul and Barnabas and returned to Jerusalem. It is unclear why Mark left, but Paul was not pleased and saw his departure as Mark abandoning them. Later, when Paul and Barnabas were going to set out on another missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take Mark with them. Paul was so opposed to the idea that Barnabas and Paul went their separate ways (see Acts 15:37–40). Barnabas took Mark with him to Cyprus, and Paul took another companion with him through Syria and Cilicia.

Mark appears to have been close to the Apostle Peter, because Peter refers to him as “Mark, my son” (1 Peter 5:13) in a letter addressed to several Christian communities. Peter sent greetings to them all from Mark, indicating that Mark was also well known to those communities. That letter from Peter was most likely written from Rome where Peter would later be martyred. It might be that, while Mark was with Peter in Rome, he wrote his Gospel at Peter’s request, basing it on Peter’s preaching.

Though Saint Paul and Mark initially had a difficult relationship as a result of Mark’s early departure from Paul and Barnabas’ missionary journey, they became close toward the end of Paul’s life. Paul refers to him affectionately in a few letters he wrote from prison, calling him his co-worker and indicating that Mark had been very helpful to him (see Philemon 1:24; Colossians 4:10–11; 2 Timothy 4:11).

According to later traditions, Mark was ordained a bishop and sent to Alexandria, Egypt, to preach the Gospel (that he himself wrote) and establish the first Church in Africa. He is therefore considered the first bishop of Alexandria. In Alexandria, Mark encountered the wrath of the local Alexandrians and was martyred after almost twenty years of ministering to them. In the eighth century, Saint Bede describes Mark’s death in this way:

Afterwards, being arrested for the faith, he was bound, dragged over stones and endured great afflictions. Finally he was confined to prison, where, being comforted by the visit of an angel, and even by an apparition of our Lord himself, he was called to the heavenly kingdom in the eighth year of the reign of Nero.

As a child, Saint Mark could never have imagined what would become of his life. Not only did he come to know the Messiah as a youth, he later became a bishop and the first to bring the Gospel to the continent of Africa. Most importantly, he became one of God’s most powerful evangelists by faithfully writing down the life of Christ for others to read. Since that time, countless people have read his words, meditated on their meaning, been converted in the depths of their hearts, and given their lives over to Christ.

Ponder the significance of this one man. It appears he began his life fearful of his mission. He ran when Jesus was arrested, left Barnabas and Paul on their missionary journey, but he didn’t give up. He turned back to the mission and ultimately died a martyr, bestowing on us one of the greatest treasures ever given. If you feel regret at any failure, or even numerous failures in your life, take inspiration from Saint Mark. Failures can be remedied. Recommit yourself to God’s mission, and know that, if you do, God will use you in unimaginable ways.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/april-25—saint-mark-the-evangelist/

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Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort, Priest

1673–1716; Patron Saint of preachers; Canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 20, 1947

Saints Philip and James

Saint Philip: c. 4–c. 80; Patron Saint of hatmakers and pastry chefs

Saint James: First century BC–c. 62; Patron Saint of pharmacists and the dying; Pre-Congregation canonizations

Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor

c. 296–373; Patron Saint of theologians; Pre-Congregation canonization; Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Saint Pius V in 1568

Saint Joseph the Worker

Patron Saint of Workers

Saint Pius V, Pope

1504–1572; Patron Saint of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Invoked for the reform and defense of the Church; Canonized by Pope Clement XI on May 22, 1712

Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

Saint Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr

1803–1841; Patron Saint of Oceania; Canonized by Pope Pius XII on June 12, 1954

Divine Mercy Sunday

Our Lady of Good Counsel

Saint Mark the Evangelist

c. 12–c. 68; Patron Saint of attorneys, captives, shoemakers, lions, notaries, glass workers, Egypt, and Venice; Invoked against impenitence, insect bites, scrofulous & struma diseases; Pre-Congregation canonization

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