SAINTS OF THE DAY FRIDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER, 2025 SAINTS COSMAS AND DAMIAN SAINTS CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA SAINTS COSMAS AND DAMIAN MARTYRS (c. 3rd Century AD) The ancient walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem enclose the sacred ground where the life of Jesus Christ culminated in His death, burial, and resurrection. Both the modest hill of Calvary and the rock-cut tomb in which His corpse was laid are found under the roof of this venerable church. Calvary and the tomb have long been protected from relic hunters by slabs of marble and stone cladding that conceal the rough, first-century substrata resting just below. There is a custom, still common today, of allowing the faithful to sleep overnight inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. From the time the heavy wooden doors close at dusk until they creek open again at sunrise, the pilgrim must remain in the church. This pious custom of resting and watching in the dark, all night long, near a holy site in order to soak up its latent power is called “incubation.” The custom originated in an ancient church in Constantinople housing the remains of today's saints, Cosmas and Damian, where the faithful incubated themselves in the hope of a miraculous cure. Similar to Saint George, legends about Saints Cosmas and Damian far outrun any verifiable historical details about their lives. The devotion to today's saints across epochs and cultures is as broad as an ocean but as shallow as a lake. Upon a slender bed of long-lost documents is constructed the narrative that Cosmas and Damian were twins and natives of Saudi Arabia who studied medicine in Syria. They became known as the “moneyless ones” for refusing to accept payment for their healing services. Lysias, the governor of Celicia, heard about these two brothers and he summoned them before him. When Cosmas and Damian proclaimed they were Christians, Lysias sentenced the twins and their three brothers to death. The family were thrown into the sea but were saved by angels. The authorities then tried burning them at the stake but they remained unharmed. They were then stoned, crucified and shot with arrows but to no effect. They were finally beheaded and their bodies carried to the ancient Syrian city of Cyrrhus, the ruins of which lie very close to Aleppo. Later a basilica was erected over the tomb of the martyred twins and it became a site of pilgrimage. Devotion to these two brothers grew, and many cures were said to have been worked through their intercessions. They are most famous for the miracle of the black leg. The story goes that there lived a devout man, who served at the church dedicated to the saints in Rome and had a diseased leg. As he slept, the saints appeared to him carrying an ointment and an instrument. In his dream, the saints decided to remove his diseased leg surgically and grafted a healthy leg from a recently-deceased Ethiopian who was buried in another church. When this man awoke, he reached for his leg and felt no pain. He also apparently reached for a candle and observed that he now had two healthy legs although one was not his! When he was recovered enough, he was able to leap out from his bed and announce the happy news. The Wellcome Library in London holds a beautiful oil painting entitled ‘A verger's dream: St. Cosmas and Damian performing a miraculous cure by transplantation of a leg' in their collection and is available to view on request. When the Emperor Justinian was sick, he prayed to Saints Cosmas and Damian for a cure. Out of gratitude for receiving this favor, he enlarged the city of Cyrrhus and its church. In the fifth-century, a church was built to their memory in Constantinople and, in the sixth-century, a pagan temple in the Roman Forum was rededicated as a Basilica in their honor. The bright apse mosaic of Rome's Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian still shines and shows Saints Peter and Paul presenting the twins to the glorified Christ. Most of the wealth of miracles that have long been attributed to Saints Cosmas and Damian involve healing, in keeping with their medical profession. The fame of these miracles, together with their martyrdom, was so widespread in the early Church that they joined that elite class of martyrs, saints, virgins, and popes whose names were inserted into the Roman Canon, or Eucharistic Prayer I, where they are still read at Mass today. Their names also ring out in ancient litanies still sung at solemn Masses. PATRON: Pharmacy, Medicine, doctors, barbers, and pharmacists. PRAYER: Saints Cosmas and Damian, through your heroic witness of martyrdom, we ask your intercession to embolden the weak, to strengthen the hesitant, to give words to the meek, and to unleash the hidden power of the Gospel in all those who could do more. Amen. SAINTS CYPRIAN AND JUSTINA MARTYRS (3rd Century AD) St Cyprian was a pagan and a native of Antioch. From his early childhood his misguided parents dedicated him to the service of the pagan gods. From age seven until thirty, Cyprian studied at the most outstanding centers of paganism: on Mount Olympus, in the cities of Argos and Tauropolis, in the Egyptian city of Memphis, and at Babylon. Once he attained eminent wisdom in pagan philosophy and the sorcerer's craft, he was consecrated into the pagan priesthood on Mount Olympus. Having discovered great power by summoning unclean spirits, he beheld the Prince of Darkness himself, and spoke with him and received from him a host of demons in attendance. After returning to Antioch, Cyprian was revered by the pagans as a prominent pagan priest, amazing people by his ability to cast spells, to summon pestilence and plagues, and to conjure up the dead. He brought many people to ruin, teaching them to serve demons and how to cast magic spells. The holy virgin Justina lived in Antioch. After turning her own father and mother away from pagan error and leading them to the true faith in Christ, she dedicated herself to the Heavenly Bridegroom and spent her time in fasting and prayer. When the youth Aglaides proposed marriage to her, the saint refused, for she wished to remain a virgin. Agalides sought Cyprian's help and asked for a magic spell to charm Justina into marriage. But no matter what Cyprian tried, he could accomplish nothing, since the saint overcame all the wiles of the devil through her prayers and fasting. Cyprian sent demons to attack the holy virgin, trying to arouse fleshly passions in her, but she dispelled them by the power of the Sign of the Cross and by fervent prayer to the Lord. Even though one of the demonic princes and Cyprian himself, assumed various guises by the power of sorcery, they were not able to sway St Justina, who was guarded by her firm faith in Christ. All the spells dissipated, and the demons fled at the mere mention of the saint's name. Cyprian, in a rage, sent down pestilence and plague upon Justina's family and upon all the city, but this was thwarted by her prayer. Cyprian's soul, corrupted by its domination over people and by his incantations, was shown in all the depth of his downfall, and also the abyss of nothingness of the evil that he served. "If you take fright at even the mere shadow of the Cross and the Name of Christ makes you tremble," said Cyprian to Satan, "then what will you do when Christ Himself stands before you?" The devil then flung himself upon the pagan priest who had begun to repudiate him, and attempted to beat and strangle him. St Cyprian then first tested for himself the power of the Sign of the Cross and the Name of Christ, guarding himself from the fury of the enemy. Afterwards, with deep repentance he went to the local bishop Anthimus and threw all of his books into the flames. The very next day, he went into the church, and did not want to leave it, though he had not yet been baptized. By his efforts to follow a righteous manner of life, St Cyprian discerned the great power of fervent faith in Christ, and made up for more than thirty years of service to Satan. Seven days after Baptism he was ordained reader, on the twelfth day, sub-deacon, on the thirtieth, deacon. After a year, he was ordained priest. In a short time St Cyprian was elevated to the rank of bishop. He converted so many pagans to Christ that in his diocese there was no one left to offer evil sacrifices, and the pagan temples fell into disuse. St Justina withdrew to a monastery and there was chosen Abbess. During the persecution against Christians under the emperor Diocletian, Bishop Cyprian and Abbess Justina were arrested and brought to Nicomedia, where after fierce tortures they were beheaded with the sword. St Cyprian, fearful that the holy virgin's courage might falter if she saw him put to death, asked for time to pray. St Justina joyfully inclined her neck and was beheaded first. The soldier Theoctistus, seeing the guiltless sufferings of St Justina, fell at Cyprian's feet and declared himself a Christian, and was beheaded with them. Sts. Cyprian and Justina: Pray for us!
SAINT OF THE DAY SATURDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER, 2025 SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL CONFESSOR (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660) Saint Vincent was born near Dax, south of Bordeaux, of a poor family which survived by means of their labor. It seemed that mercy was born with him. When sent by his father to the mill to procure flour, if he met a poor man coming home, he would open the sack and give him handfuls of flour when he had nothing else. His Christian father was not angry; seeing his good dispositions, he was sure his son should become a priest, and placed him as a boarding student with a group of religious priests in Dax. Vincent made rapid progress, and after seven years of studying theology at Toulouse and in Saragossa, Spain, was ordained a priest in 1600. He always concealed his learning and followed the counsel of Saint Paul who said, I have wanted to know nothing in your midst but Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ crucified. Soon after his ordination, he was captured by corsairs and sold as a slave in Tunisia. He converted his renegade master, and escaped with him to France. Then, after a time of study in Rome, he returned to Paris and took for his spiritual director Abbé de Berulle, a famous director of souls. This servant of God saw in him a priest called to render outstanding service to the Church, and to found a community of priests who would labor for its benefit. He told Saint Vincent this, that he might prepare himself insofar as was humanly possible. When Saint Vincent was appointed chaplain-general of the galleys of France, his tender charity brought hope into those prisons where hitherto despair had reigned. When a mother mourned her imprisoned son, Vincent put on his chains and took his place at the oar, and gave him to his mother. His charity embraced the poor, the young and the aged, the provinces desolated by civil war, Christians enslaved by the infidels. The poor man, ignorant and degraded, was to him the image of Him who became as a leper and no man. Turn the medal, he said, and you will see Jesus Christ. He went through the streets of Paris at night, seeking the infants and children left there to die — three or four hundred every year. Once robbers rushed upon him, thinking he carried a treasure, but when he opened his cloak, they recognized him and his burden, an abandoned infant, and fell at his feet. Not only was Saint Vincent the providence of the poor, but also of the rich, for he taught them to undertake works of mercy. When in 1648 the work of the foundlings was in danger of failure for want of funds, he assembled the ladies of the Association of Charity, and said, Compassion and charity have made you adopt these little creatures as your children. You have been their mothers according to grace, when their own mothers abandoned them. Will you now cease to be their mothers? Their life and death are in your hands. I shall take your votes; it is time to pronounce sentence. The tears of the assembly were his only answer, and the work was continued. The Priests of the Mission or Lazarists, as they are called, and thousands of the Daughters of Charity still comfort the afflicted with the charity of their holy Founder. It has been said of him that no one has ever verified more perfectly than Saint Vincent, the words of Our Lord: He who humbles himself shall be exalted... The more he strove to abase himself in the eyes of all, the more God took pleasure in elevating him and bestowing His blessings on him and on all his works. He died in 1660, in an old age made truly golden by his unceasing good works. HIS MOTTO: "God sees you." "Let us love God; but at the price of our hands and sweat of our face." PATRON: Charitable societies; horses; hospitals; leprosy; lost articles; prisoners; volunteers; spiritual help; Saint Vincent de Paul Societies; Vincentian Service Corps; Madagascar; diocese of Richmond, Virginia. PRAYER: O God, who for the relief of the poor and the formation of the clergy endowed the Priest Saint Vincent de Paul with apostolic virtues, grant, we pray, that, afire with that same spirit, we may love what he loved and put into practice what he taught. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
We have a very active SVD Society in our parish. They provide food, help pay bills, drive people to doctors and so many other charitable works. Keeping all these wonderful people in prayer today asking St. Vincent to intercede on their behalf.
FEASTS OF THE DAY SUNDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER, 2025 MARY UNDOER OF KNOTS SAINT WENCESLAUS MARY UNDOER OF KNOTS The story of the Devotion to Mary, Untier of Knots begins with the German nobleman Wolfgang Langenmantel (1568-1637). For some years, he had been married to the noblewoman Sophie Imoff, but by the year 1612 the couple was on the verge of a divorce. To save their marriage, Wolfgang decided to pay a visit to Father Jakob Rem, a Jesuit priest who lived at the monastery and university of Ingolstadt, located seventy kilometers north of Augsburg. Over a period of 28 days, Wolfgang visited Father Rem four times and received advice from the holy priest, who was honored for his wisdom, piety and extraordinary intelligence. In fact, Father Rem was believed to have experienced an apparition of Mary in the course of which she appeared to him under the title of “Mother Thrice Admirable.” During their meetings, Wolfgang and Father Rem would pray together and venerate the Virgin Mary. On the day of their last visit together, September 28th, 1615, Father Rem had been praying in the chapel of the monastery before an image of the Virgin Mary under the title of “Our Lady of the Snows.” When the two men met, Wolfgang gave his wedding ribbon to Father Rem. (In the marriage ceremony of that time and place, the maid of honor joined together the arms of the bride and groom with a ribbon in order to represent their invisible union for the rest of their lives.) In a solemn ritual act, Father Rem took Wolfgang's wedding ribbon and lifted it up, while at the same time untying the knots of the ribbon one by one. As Father Rem smoothed out the ribbon, it became intensely white. Because of this happening, Wolfgang and Sophie were able to avoid a divorce and continue their marriage. Some years later, Wolfgang's grandson Hieronymus Ambrosius Langenmantel (Canon of St. Peter's 1666-1709), who was himself a priest and canon law doctor, decided to donate a family altar to the Church of St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg in commemoration of the turn of the century in the year 1700. Such donations were a common tradition at the time. The altar piece was dedicated to “the Blessed Virgin of Good Counsel” and Father Hieronymus wanted it to represent the history of the Langenmantel family. A painter, Johann Melchior Georg Schmittdner, was commissioned to provide a painting for the family altar. He decided to base his painting on the story of Wolfgang, Sophie and Father Rem. Therefore, Schmittdner depicts the Virgin Mary as she is untying the knots of the ribbon of married life. The crushing of the serpent illustrates that Mary is the Immaculate Conception, since she as the one exempt by special grace from all stain of original sin is the serpent's eternal opponent. The dove is a reference to Mary as the Bride of the Holy Spirit. Angels assist the Blessed Mother; one presents the knots of our lives to her, while another angel presents the ribbon, freed from knots, to us. Underneath Mary, the worried noble Wolfgang, accompanied by the Archangel Raphael, walks towards a monastery. Eventually, the story of the Langenmantel family disappeared from history. However, through the following centuries the painting remained as an antique in the Church of St. Peter am Perlach in Augsburg. For some years the painting was located in the Discalced Carmelite Convent of the same city of Augsburg. The painting, which has survived wars, revolutions and secular opposition, still adorns the St. Peter Church today. Although the reference to Mary as one who unites knots goes back to St. Irenaeus in the second century, the devotion to Mary Untier of Knots was not well known until recently. In the 1980's it was brought to Argentina by Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J. (now Pope Francis), where it remains particularly popular. The devotion has also spread through the efforts of Brother Mario H. Ibertis Rivera, according to whom the Vatican has authorized the use of the image for Vatican publishing. Because of the spread of the devotion, thousands of followers of the Virgin Mary Untier of Knots now come to the St. Peter am Perlach Church to ask for her intercession regarding all their problems (knots). Besides marriage difficulties, these so-called knots include a range of other problems of unusual diversity. People come to Mary for assistance regarding health, work, disputes, family complications, personal problems, and conflicts both in the community and internationally. Many government officials, business people, Catholic groups and individual pilgrims have already placed themselves under the protection of the Virgin Mary Untier of Knots. PRAYER TO MARY, UNTIER OF KNOTS Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love, Mother who never refuses to come to the aid of a child in need, Mother whose hands never cease to serve your beloved children because they are moved by the divine love and immense mercy that exists in your heart, cast your compassionate eyes upon me and see the snarl of knots that exist in my life. You know very well how desperate I am, my pain, and how I am bound by these knots. Mary, Mother to whom God entrusted the undoing of the knots in the lives of his children, I entrust into your hands the ribbon of my life. No one, not even the Evil One himself, can take it away from your precious care. In your hands there is no knot that cannot be undone. Powerful Mother, by your grace and intercessory power with your Son and My Liberator, Jesus, take into your hands today this knot. [Mention your request here] I beg you to undo it for the glory of God, once for all. You are my hope. O my Lady, you are the only consolation God gives me, the fortification of my feeble strength, the enrichment of my destitution, and, with Christ, the freedom from my chains. Hear my plea. Keep me, guide me, protect me, o safe refuge! Amen. Mary, Untier of Knots, pray for me. SAINT WENCESLAUS KING AND MARTYR (907 - 935) St. Wenceslaus, duke of Bohemia, was born about the year 907 at Prague, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic). His father was killed in battle when he was young, leaving the kingdom to be ruled by his pagan mother. Wenceslaus was educated by his grandmother, Ludmilla, also a saint. She taught him to be a Christian and to be a good king. She was killed by pagan nobles before she saw him king, but she left him with a deep committment to the Christian faith. Throughout his life he preserved his virginity unblemished. As duke he was a father to his subjects, generous toward orphans, widows, and the poor. On his own shoulders he frequently carried wood to the houses of the needy. He often attended the funerals of the poor, ransomed captives, and visited those suffering in prison. He was filled with a deep reverence toward the clergy; with his own hands he sowed the wheat for making altar breads and pressed the grapes for the wine used in the Mass. During winter he would visit the churches barefoot through snow and ice, frequently leaving behind bloody footprints. Wenceslaus was eighteen years old when he succeeded his father to the throne. Without regard for the opposition, he worked in close cooperation with the Church to convert his pagan country. He ended the persecution of Christians, built churches and brought back exiled priests. As king he gave an example of a devout life and of great Christian charity, with his people calling him "Good King" of Bohemia. His brother Boleslaus, however, turned to paganism. One day he invited Wenceslaus to his house for a banquet. The next morning, on September 28, 929, as Wenceslaus was on the way to Mass, Boleslaus struck him down at the door of the church. Before he died, Wenceslaus forgave his brother and asked God's mercy for his soul. Although he was killed for political reasons, he is listed as a martyr since the dispute arose over his faith. This king, martyred at the age of twenty-two, is the national hero and patron of the Czech Republic. He is the first Slav to be canonized. PATRON: Bohemia; brewers; Czech Republic; Moravia. PRAYER: O God, who taught the Martyr Saint Wenceslaus to place the heavenly Kingdom before an earthly one, grant through his prayers that, denying ourselves, we may hold fast to you with all our heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
There is a saying, 'Cold as Charity'. This makes me think of Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist. A nun told me that if I met someone on street begging that it was more important to talk to them than to give them money. Of course to give them money but much more to show love for them. Saint Vincent had a burning heart of love, he cared. I wish so much I was more like this. It is the opposite of the modern welfare states were people are forced to give money. This kills true charity, true love.
There are so many gorgeous Feast Days at this time of year, just as the Seasons change. I have a special love for these three angels because before I go to sleep at night and when I am under attack I place each angel at a corner of my room for protection. Just like the prayer we used to say as children, 'There are four corners above my bed there are four and angels above me spread...' These are three of the seven angels that stand in the presence of God, they don't get any higher. They are the only angels named in Scripture. Jewish literature however names loads of angels such as Uriel, the angle of death. But it is safer not to speculate. How beautiful, when we die and if we are going to heaven to actually open our eyes and see angels for the very first time. How terrible, when we die and if we are going to hell to open our eyes and see demons for the very first time.
SAINTS OF THE DAY MONDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER, 2025 SAINTS MICHAEL, GABRIEL & RAPHAEL THE ARCHANGELS SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL The name of the archangel Michael means, in Hebrew, who is like unto God? and he is also known as "the prince of the heavenly host." He is usually pictured as a strong warrior, dressed in armor and wearing sandals. His name appears in Scripture four times, twice in the Book of Daniel, and once each in the Epistle of St. Jude and the Book of Revelation. From Revelation we learn of the battle in heaven, with St. Michael and his angels combatting Lucifer and the other fallen angels (or devils). We invoke St. Michael to help us in our fight against Satan; to rescue souls from Satan, especially at the hour of death; to be the champion of the Jews in the Old Testament and now Christians; and to bring souls to judgment. This day is referred to as "Michaelmas" in many countries and is also one of the harvest feast days. In England this is one of the "quarter days", which was marked by hiring servants, electing magistrates, and beginning of legal and university terms. This day also marks the opening of the deer and other large game hunting season. In some parts of Europe, especially Germany, Denmark, and Austria, a special wine called "Saint Michael's Love" (Michelsminne) is drunk on this day. The foods for this day vary depending on nationality. In the British Isles, for example, goose was the traditional meal for Michaelmas, eaten for prosperity, France has waffles or Gaufres and the traditional fare in Scotland used to be St. Michael's Bannock (Struan Micheil) — a large, scone-like cake. In Italy, gnocchi is the traditional fare. PATRON: Against temptations; against powers of evil; artists; bakers; bankers; battle; boatmen; cemeteries; coopers; endangered children; dying; Emergency Medical Technicians; fencing; grocers; hatmakers; holy death; knights; mariners; mountaineers; paramedics; paratroopers; police officers; radiologists; sailors; the sick; security forces; soldiers; against storms at sea; swordsmiths; those in need of protection. SAINT GABRIEL THE ARCHANGEL St. Gabriel's name means "God is my strength". Biblically he appears three times as a messenger. He had been sent to Daniel to explain a vision concerning the Messiah. He appeared to Zachary when he was offering incense in the Temple, to foretell the birth of his son, St. John the Baptist. St. Gabriel is most known as the angel chosen by God to be the messenger of the Annunciation, to announce to mankind the mystery of the Incarnation. The angel's salutation to our Lady, so simple and yet so full of meaning, Hail Mary, full of grace, has become the constant and familiar prayer of all Christian people. PATRON: Ambassadors; broadcasting; childbirth; clergy; communications; diplomats; messengers; philatelists; postal workers; public relations; radio workers; secular clergy; stamp collectors; telecommunications. SAINT RAPHAEL THE ARCHANGEL Our knowledge of the Archangel Raphael comes to us from the book of Tobit. His mission as wonderful healer and fellow traveller with the youthful Tobias has caused him to be invoked for journeys and at critical moments in life. Tradition also holds that Raphael is the angel that stirred the waters at the healing sheep pool in Bethesda. His name means "God has healed". PATRON: Blind; bodily ills; counselors; druggists; eye problems; guardian angels; happy meetings; healers; health inspectors; health technicians; love; lovers; mental illness; nurses; pharmacists; physicians; shepherds; against sickness; therapists; travellers; young people; young people leaving home for the first time. PRAYER: O God, who dispose in marvelous order ministries both angelic and human, graciously grant that our life on earth may be defended by those who watch over us as they minister perpetually to you in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Does anyone else here celebrate under the Vetus Ordo? For us, today is the Feast of St. Michael, aka Michaelmas. (Not to detract from those who celebrate the Novus Ordo, but just wanted to point out this feast is still celebrated by some in the former manner, with separate dates for St. Gabriel (March 24, the day before the Annunciation) and St. Raphael (Oct. 24). Blessings to all!
SAINT OF THE DAY TUESDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER, 2025 SAINT JEROME PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (345 - 420) EARLY LIFE St. Jerome was born about the year 342 in a small town called Stridonium in Dalmatia (now part of Croatia), and he died in the year 420 in the town of Bethlehem, where Our Savior was born. St. Jerome received very good education and excellent moral principles from his father at home, after which he was sent to Rome for further studies. While a student in the great city, away from home, he became, as he was to accuse himself later in life, more of a pagan than a Christian. THE DREAM From this woeful condition, he was converted by a dramatic experience: He had a dream in which he found himself before the judgment seat of Christ. When asked by the Just Judge, Who knows every deed and thought of men, to declare what he was, Jerome replied that he was a Christian. “You lie,” answered the Judge, “you are rather a Ciceronian, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” He then received his due punishment in the dream, and woke up to find himself a changed man. After this conversion, he lived a life of extreme penance and mortification. HIS TRANSIT After that he began a life of travelling in pursuit of learning. He visited nearly every major center of learning in his time, Trier in Germany, Aquileia in Italy, Marseilles, Toulouse, Bourdeaux, Autun and Lyons in France etc. HIS AUSTERITY Jerome stayed for four years in the desert of Chalcis in Syria, which were passed in study and in the practice of austerity. He had many attacks of illness but suffered still more from temptation. "In the remotest part of a wild and stony desert," he wrote years afterwards to his friend Eustochium, "burnt up with the heat of the sun, so scorching that it frightens even the monks who live there, I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome.... In this exile and prison to which through fear of Hell I had voluntarily condemned myself, with no other company but scorpions and wild beasts, I many times imagined myself watching the dancing of Roman maidens as if I had been in the midst of them. My face was pallid with fasting, yet my will felt the assaults of desire. In my cold body and my parched flesh, which seemed dead before its death, passion was still able to live. Alone with the enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet of Jesus, watering them with my tears, and tamed my flesh by fasting whole weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, though I grieve that I am not now what I then was." THE VULGATE BIBLE Finally, Jerome moved to Constantinople. He studied Scripture under the Greek theologian Gregory Nazianzen. Pope Damasus summoned him to Rome and commissioned our saint to do the great work of his life, the Latin Bible (a 30-year task). His translation, called the Vulgate, became the official text of the Catholic Church. The saint was already versed in Greek and Latin. Most of the Old Testament was inspired in Hebrew, some books in Greek, and some parts in Aramaic. In the New Testament, Matthew was in Aramaic, and all the other books in Greek. That is why a mastery of these three languages was necessary for the work he was assigned to do by the Pope. The Vulgate version proved to be a great gift to the Church and to all succeeding generations. This achievement is not likely to be duplicated —never mind surpassed — because the saint had at his disposal texts and codices that do not exist today, and the means to be taught the sacred languages which were, at his time, still living languages. Besides having these texts, and his personal gifts of intellect and scholarship, Saint Jerome possessed in his person that intense holiness of life and great concern for orthodoxy indispensable to those who concern themselves with the study and interpretation of God's revelations. STRONG WILLED AND STRONG TEMPERAMENT Jerome was strong willed. His writings, especially those opposing what he considered heresy, were sometimes explosive. His temperament helped him do difficult tasks, but it also made him enemies. Jerome was named a Doctor of the Church for the Vulgate, his commentaries on Scripture, his writings on monastic life, and his belief that during a controversy on theological opinions, the See of Rome was where the matter should be settled.Jerome also guided a group of Christian widows who were practicing a semimonastic life. Gossip about his spending so much time with women led Jerome to move to Bethlehem. There, Jerome trained Paula and Eustochium to be Scripture scholars and to assist him. HERETIC ATTACKS Pelagian heretics, who, relying on the protection of Bishop John of Jerusalem, sent a troop of ruffians to Bethlehem to disperse the monks and nuns living there under the direction of Jerome, who had been opposing Pelagianism with his customary truculence. Some of the monks were beaten, a deacon was killed, and monasteries were set on fire. Jerome had to go into hiding for a time. DEATH The following year Paula's daughter Eustochium died. The aged Jerome soon fell ill, and after lingering for two years succumbed. Worn with penance and excessive labor, his sight and voice almost gone, his body like a shadow, he died peacefully on September 30, 420, and was buried under the church of the Nativity at Bethlehem. PATRON: Archeologists; archivists; Bible scholars; librarians; libraries; schoolchildren; students; translators. PRAYER: O God, who gave the Priest Saint Jerome a living and tender love for Sacred Scripture, grant that your people may be ever more fruitfully nourished by your Word and find in it the fount of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
St Michael ,as I have encountered him in prayer was has been a very great surprise. He comes as a very small child, a little boy. Very innocent and simple, the very opposite of what you might expect. But with the huge power or his total humility making him the perfect conduit for the power of the Almighty. He reminds me of what exorcists have said of Mary in exorcisms; that she only has to turn her eyes towards the demons to make them flee.
Saint Jerome makes me smile. He was the most bad tempered saint who ever lived, nor, on a human level did he ever overcome this. Even in his homilies he shouted in a fury at his poor congregations. Someone approached him about this and he admitted he had the most foul temper you could ever meet. However He said that God had used this temper for His own purposes. That in God it had been transformed to zeal for the Lord. This cheers me up when I consider bad faults, traits and sins in my own life. It reminds me of St Paul to the Romans, that for those who love God all things work together unto the good. All things even our sins. Our Lady said something beautiful to me about this one time when I was considering a sinful habit I have been trying hard but failing to overcome my entire life. She said to me, 'Thank you for your heroic efforts in this matter'. Sometimes ,as with all soldiers in spiritual warfare we do not seem to attain victory. But the hidden victory is that we are still trying and this perhaps may be the greatest victory of all.
SAINT OF THE DAY WEDNESDAY, 1 OCTOBER, 2025 SAINT THÉRÈSE OF THE CHILD JESUS VIRGIN AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (2 January 1873 - 30 September 1897) On October 1, Catholics around the world honor the life of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, or St. Thérèse of Lisieux, more popularly known as "the Little Flower", on her feast day. St. Thérèse was born on January 2, 1873 in Alençon, France to pious parents, Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin, both who have been declared saints by Pope Francis on October 18, 2015. Her mother died when she was four, leaving her father and elder sisters to raise her. On Christmas Day 1886 St. Thérèse had a profound experience of intimate union with God, which she described as a “complete conversion.” Almost a year later, in a papal audience during a pilgrimage to Rome, in 1887, she asked for and obtained permission from Pope Leo XIII to enter the Carmelite Monastery at the young age of 15. On entering, she devoted herself to living a life of holiness, doing all things with love and childlike trust in God. She struggled with life in the convent, but decided to make an effort to be charitable to all, especially those she didn't like. She performed little acts of charity always, and little sacrifices not caring how unimportant they seemed. These acts helped her come to a deeper understanding of her vocation. She wrote in her autobiography that she had always dreamed of being a missionary, an Apostle, a martyr – yet she was a nun in a quiet cloister in France. How could she fulfill these longings? “Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was burning with love. I knew that one love drove the members of the Church to action, that if this love were extinguished, the apostles would have proclaimed the Gospel no longer, the martyrs would have shed their blood no more. I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love was everything, that it embraced all times and places...in a word, that it was eternal! Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love...my vocation, at last I have found it...My vocation is Love!” Thérèse offered herself as a sacrificial victim to the merciful Love of God on June 9, 1895, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity and the following year, on the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday, she noticed the first symptoms of Tuberculosis, the illness which would lead to her death. Thérèse recognized in her illness the mysterious visitation of the divine Spouse and welcomed the suffering as an answer to her offering the previous year. She also began to undergo a terrible trial of faith which lasted until her death a year and a half later. “Her last words, ‘My God, I love you,' are the seal of her life,” said Pope John Paul II. Since her death, millions have been inspired by her ‘little way' of loving God and neighbor. Many miracles have been attributed to her intercession. She had predicted during her earthly life that “My Heaven will be spent doing good on Earth.” Saint Thérèse was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II in 1997 - 100 years after her death at the age of 24. She is only the third woman to be so proclaimed, after Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa of Avila. St. Thérèse wrote once, 'You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them." PATRON: Florists; foreign missions; missionaries; pilots; against tuberculosis; AIDS sufferers; illness; loss of parents; Australia; France; Russia; Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska; Diocese of Fresno, California; Diocese of Juneau, Alaska; Diocese of Pueblo, Colorado. MY NOVENA ROSE PRAYER O Little Therese of the Child Jesus, please pick for me a rose from the heavenly gardens and send it to me as a message of love. O Little Flower of Jesus, ask God to grant the favors I now place with confidence in your hands . . (State your intentions here...) St. Therese, help me to always believe as you did in God's great love for me, so that I might imitate your “Little Way” each day. Amen. MIRACULOUS INVOCATION TO ST. THERESE O Glorious St. Therese, whom Almighty God has raised up to aid and inspire the human family, I implore your Miraculous Intercession. You are so powerful in obtaining every need of body and spirit from the Heart of God. Holy Mother Church proclaims you “Prodigy of Miracles… the greatest saint of Modern Times.” Now I fervently beseech you to answer my petition (State your intentions here...) and to carry out your promises of spending heaven doing good on earth… of letting fall from Heaven a Shower of Roses. Little Flower, give me your childlike faith, to see the Face of God in the people and experiences of my life, and to love God with full confidence. St. Therese, my Carmelite Sister, I will fulfill your plea “to be made known everywhere” and I will continue to lead others to Jesus through you. Amen. FEAST DAY NOVENA PRAYER FOR PEACE (This prayer is used by the Carmelites during the Feast Day Novena) St. Therese, Flower of fervor and love, please intercede for us. Fill our hearts with your pure love of God. As we approach and celebrate your feast day, make us more aware of the goodness of God and how well He tends His garden. Instill in us your little way of doing ordinary things with extra-ordinary love. Give us the heart of a child who wonders at life and embraces everything with loving enthusiasm. Teach us your delight in God's ways so that divine charity may blossom in our hearts. Little Flower of Jesus, bring our petitions (State your intentions here...) before God, our Father. With your confidence, we come before Jesus as God's children, because you are our heavenly friend. As we celebrate the Feast Day of your homecoming in heaven, continue to shower roses and grace upon us. Amen.
Oh Saint Therese! How can we praise her highly enough! Yet in a human sense she appears to be a nothing. Locked away in an enclosed convent at 15 and died a very early death in the same place. A total nothing and a nobody. Yet one Pope called her the greatest Saint of the century and another named her a Doctor of the Church. She reminds me, buried away alone in a great forest in Spain that there is nothing at all wrong with being hidden and little as Mary herself was. "Love alone counts", "I understood that love comprises all vocations—that love is everything", and "When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens, I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth".
