SAINT OF THE DAY MONDAY, 2 MARCH, 2026 BLESSED CHARLES THE GOOD MARTYR (1083 - 1127) Charles was a son of Canute IV of Denmark and Adela of Flanders. When he was only five years old, his father was assassinated in St. Alban's Church, Odence. He was taken by his mother to the court of Robert, his maternal grandfather and Count of Flanders as a suitable place for him to grow up. Charles grew up in the court, learning the life of royalty, but also maintaining daily practice, prayer, and religious observance. When he reached the age of service, Charles became a Knight and accompanied his uncle on the Second Crusade. Upon his return, he was placed as leader of the county of Flanders. Count Charles led his people with a profound emphasis on justice, based upon the Holy Scriptures and teachings of Christ. Each night after dinner, he met with learned theologians who explained the Scriptures to him. He then used this knowledge to enact fair and just laws throughout the county. He forbade blasphemy, and paid special attention to those who were easily exploited, including widows, the poor, and orphans. Those who were convicted of exploiting these fragile groups, Charles punished swiftly, but fairly. He led by example, expecting nothing more from his subjects than he, himself, was prepared to do. He loved God's Name so much that he forbade any of his subjects to blaspheme or take the name of God in vain. The punishment for blaspheming was to lose a hand or foot. Charles became so well loved and respected that he was pressurized to assume the imperial throne when it was vacated. He, for his part, declined, preferring to spend his time caring for the people of Flanders. Charles proclaimed peace, citing “the Truce of God,” and putting to an end the frequent fighting and violence of the country. He lived without the typical pomp and luxury of royalty of the times, instead streamlining and downsizing his government to better provide for the poor. He decreased taxes on the poor and increased wages. When nobles, whose lifestyles were hurt by his decrees complained, he kindly answered them saying: "It is because I am so aware of the needs of the poor and the pride of the rich." Everyday, the poor and hungry in his kingdom were fed at his castles, especially when great famine fell across the counties in 1125. CHARLES' CASTLE AT BRUGES As a sign of his daily penance, Charles went barefoot and wore the clothing of peasants. He attended Mass each day, relying on the priests and clergy he encountered to correct his laws if they violated the teachings of the Scriptures. So convinced of the power of forgiveness, Charles established that all convicted criminals sentenced to death were to confess and receive communion on the day preceding the execution of the sentence. In favor of William of Ypres, the princess organized a league of principles that declared war to the young Charles. With God's help they managed to triumph over his enemies. As the Count of Amiens and vassal of the King of France, Charles was able to come to the aid of the latter when the Emperor Charles V invaded Champagne in 1123. All this helped to ensure that the name of Charles the Good became paradoxically more and more frightening to foreigners. Made by the many wars that had saddened the beginning of his reign, Charles worked to reign in peace and justice in their countries. Proclaiming the “Truce of God”, he sought to prohibit his from subjects use of weapons to put an end to frequent fights. Pointed along very simple and modest in his attitudes, it was usual practice of typical religious austerity. In 1125 a terrible famine fell on Flanders and Picardy. For Charles, this was a chance to express his concern and his love. He provided every day to feed one hundred very poor in Bruges and also wanted each of his castles to do the same. He also provided clothing daily to dress five poor people. After these generous distributions, he attended Mass in the church, sang psalms and sometimes gave money to beggars. The rest of his days were spent preparing new regulations to solve the ills afflicting the area and prevent their return. When the Holy Roman Emperor died without heirs, there was a proposal to elect Charles, Count of Flanders to the position. Therefore, he sought advice from some of his barons, but only a small part encouaged him to accept the imperial scepter, as the majority feared losing him as an acknowledged father of Flanders. Charles followed the advice of the latter. He also declined the crown of Jerusalem that was offered when Baldwin was imprisoned by the Turks. Therefore he preferred to dedicate himself wholly to the good of Flanders. But not everyone appreciated the work of Charles and when there was yet another dispute between soldiers, he tried with every effort to arrive as usual to a peaceful solution, excluding the use of arms. This led most of the plotters to agree on one point: they met one evening, joined their hands in token of alliance and spent the whole night organizing the execution of an attack in to Carlo. The next morning, March 2, 1127, as always, the count went to mass in the church of Saint-Donatian, adjacent to his palace. Here criminals were thus able to carry out their evil plan, obtaining for Charles, the crown of martyrdom. They found him at the Church and beheaded him while he knelt in prayer before the Altar of Our Lady. PATRON: Counts, Crusaders, Burges, diocese of Belgium. PRAYER: Father, you have given all peoples one common origin. It is your will that they be gathered together as one family in yourself. Fill the hearts of mankind with the fire of your love and with the desire to ensure justice for all. By sharing the good things you give us, may we secure an equality for all our brothers and sisters throughout the world. May there be an end to division, strife and war. May there be a dawning of a truly human society built on love and peace.We ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
SAINTS OF THE DAY TUESDAY, 3 MARCH, 2026 SAINT CUNEGUNDES SAINT KATHARINE DREXEL SAINT CUNEGUNDES EMPRESS (975 – 3rd March, 1040) Saint Cunegundes was the daughter of Siegfried, the first Count of Luxemburg, and Hadeswige, his pious wife. They instilled into her from her cradle the most tender sentiments of piety, and married her to St. Henry, Duke of Bavaria, who, upon the death of the Emperor Otho III, was chosen king of the Romans, and crowned on the 6th of June, 1002. She was crowned at Paderborn on St. Laurence's day. In the year 1014 she went with her husband to Rome, and received the imperial crown with him from the hands of Pope Benedict VIII. She had, by St. Henry's consent, before her marriage made a vow of virginity. Calumniators afterwards made vile accusations against her, and the holy empress, to remove the scandal of such a slander, trusting in God to prove her innocence, walked over red-hot ploughshares without being hurt. The emperor condemned his too scrupulous fears and credulity, and from that time they lived in the strictest union of hearts, conspiring to promote in everything God's honor and the advancement of piety. She visited the poor and the sick in the hospitals and also cared for lepers. Going once to make a retreat in Hesse, she fell dangerously ill, and made a vow to found a monastery, if she recovered, at Kaffungen, near Cassel, in the diocese of Paderborn, which she executed in a stately manner, and gave it to nuns of the Order of St. Benedict. Before it was finished St. Henry died, in 1024. She earnestly recommended his soul to the prayers of others, especially to her blear nuns, and expressed her longing desire of joining them. She had already exhausted her treasures in founding bishoprics and monasteries, and in relieving the poor, and she had therefore little left now to give. But still thirsting to embrace perfect evangelical poverty, and to renounce all to serve God without obstacle, she assembled a great number of prelates to the dedication of her church of Kaffungen on the anniversary day of her husband's death, 1025; and after the gospel was sung at Mass she offered on the altar a piece of the true cross, and then, putting off her imperial robes, clothed herself with a poor habit; her hair was cut off, and the bishop put on her a veil, and a ring as a pledge of her fidelity to her heavenly Spouse. After she was consecrated to God in religion, she seemed entirely to forget that she had been empress, and behaved as the last in the house, being persuaded that she was 30 before God. She prayed and read much, worked with her hands, and took a singular pleasure in visiting and comforting the sick. Thus she passed the last fifteen years of her life. Her mortifications at length reduced her to a very weak condition, and brought on her last sickness. Perceiving that they were preparing a cloth fringed with gold to cover her corpse after her death, she changed color and ordered it to be taken away; nor could she be at rest till she was promised she should be buried as a poor religious in her habit. She died on the 3rd of March, 1040. Her body was carried to Bamberg and buried near that of her husband. She was solemnly canonized by Innocent III. in 1200. St. Cunigunde was canonised by Pope Innocent III on 29 March 1200, 53 years after the canonization of her husband St. Henry II in July 1147. PATRON: Patroness of Luxembourg, Lithuania, Poland, and the Archdiocese of Bamberg, Germany. REFLECTION: Detachment of the mind, at least, is needful to those who cannot venture on an effectual renunciation. PRAYER: God, You inspired St. Cunegundes to strive for perfect charity and so attain Your Kingdom at the end of her pilgrimage on earth. Strengthen us through her intercession that we may advance rejoicing in the way of love. Amen. SAINT KATHARINE DREXEL ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN (November 26, 1858 – March 3, 1955) St. Katharine Drexel,was born born November 26, 1858, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. St. Katharine Drexel was the founder of the Blessed Sacrament Sisters for Indians and Colored People (now Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament), a congregation of missionary nuns dedicated to the welfare of American Indians and African Americans. She is the patron saint of racial justice and of philanthropists. Katharine was the daughter of the American financier and philanthropist Francis Anthony Drexel. Her mother, Hannah Langstroth, died five weeks after Katharine was born, and Katharine and her sister were cared for by their aunt and uncle until their father remarried in 1860. The family was active in charitable works and distributed food, clothing, and money from their home twice a week. As a young adult, Katharine was deeply impacted by her stepmother's long and painful battle with terminal cancer and marked that as a pivotal time in her life. In 1884 she traveled with her father and sisters to the western states, where they witnessed the poverty and destitution of Native Americans on reservation lands. When her father died in 1885, she and her sisters inherited a vast fortune. Believing that all people should have access to education, she continued the work earlier undertaken by the family of founding and endowing schools and churches for African Americans and Native Americans in the South and West. She later visited these establishments, touring by burro and stagecoach. While in Rome (January 1887), she had a private audience with Pope Leo XIII to indicate a need for nuns to staff her mission schools. The pope challenged her to devote her life as well as her fortune to the missions. In 1889 she became a novice with the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In February 1891 she took her final vows and, with a few companions, founded the Blessed Sacrament Sisters for Indians and Colored People, of which she was superior general. The community moved from the Drexel summer home in Torresdale, Pennsylvania, to the new St. Elizabeth's Convent in Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania, the next year. The community received final papal approval in May 1913. Mother Drexel began a vast building campaign with the founding of St. Catherine's Boarding School for Pueblo Indians in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1894, followed by another school, for African American girls at Rock Castle, Virginia, in 1899. She opened more schools in Arizona and Tennessee (1903) and in 1915 founded a school for African Americans that would in 1925 become Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana. By 1927 she had established convents for her congregation at Columbus (Ohio), Chicago, Boston, and New York City. She received high commendation from Pope Pius XII on her golden jubilee in 1941. At the time of her death, in March 3, 1955 at the age of 96 years she had used more than $12 million of her inheritance for her charitable and apostolic missions, working in conjunction with the U.S. Indian Office, through which she helped found the Society for the Preservation of the Faith Among Indian Children. By that time as well, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament had grown to some 500 members in 51 convents, and they had established 49 elementary schools, 12 high schools, and Xavier University. Drexel was beatified in 1988 after the Vatican confirmed her first miracle, restoring a boy's hearing. A second miracle was attributed to her in January 2000 after a young girl was cured of her deafness following prayers to Drexel and having her ears touched by some of Drexel's possessions. In March Pope John Paul II approved Drexel for sainthood, and she was canonized in October 2000, becoming the second U.S-born saint; the first was St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, canonized in 1975. She remains an ardent intercessor and inspiration for the Black Catholic community in the United States. PATRON: Racial justice and Philanthropists. PRAYER: Ever loving God, you called Saint Katharine Drexel to teach the message of the Gospel and to bring the life of the Eucharist to the Black and Native American peoples. By her prayers and example, enable us to work for justice among the poor and oppressed. Draw us all into the Eucharistic community of your Church, that we may be one in you. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
SAINT OF THE DAY WEDNESDAY, 4 MARCH, 2026 SAINT CASIMIR CONFESSOR (3 October, 1458 - 4 March, 1484) St. Casimir, to whom the Poles gave the title of "The Peace-maker," was the third of the thirteen children of Casimir IV, King of Poland, and of Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Albert II. Devout from his infancy, the boy gave himself up to devotion and penance, and had a horror of anything approaching softness or self-indulgence. His bed was often the ground, and he was wont to spend a great part of the night in prayer and meditation, chiefly on the passion of our Saviour. His clothes were plain, and under them he wore a hairshirt. Living always in the presence of God, he was invariably serene and cheerful, and pleasant to all. The saint's love of God showed itself in his love of the poor who are Christ's members, and for the relief of these the young prince gave all he possessed, using in their behalf the influence he had with his father and with his brother Ladislaus when he became king of Bohemia. In honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Casimir frequently recited the long Latin hymn "Omni die dic Mariae," a copy of which was by his desire buried with him. This hymn, part of which is familiar to us through Bittleston's version, "Daily, daily sing to Mary," is not uncommonly called the Hymn of St Casimir, but it was certainly not composed by him; it is three centuries older than his time. The nobles of Hungary, dissatisfied with their king, Matthias Corvinus, in 1471 begged the King of Poland to allow them to place his son Casimir on the throne. The saint, at that time not fifteen years old, was very unwilling to consent, but in obedience to his father he went to the frontier at the head of an army. There, hearing that Matthias had himself assembled a large body of troops, and finding that his own soldiers were deserting in large numbers because they could not get their pay, he decided upon the advice of his officers to return home. The knowledge that Pope Sixtus IV had sent an embassy to his father to deter him from the expedition made the young prince carry out his resolution with the firmer conviction that he was acting rightly. King Casimir, however, was greatly incensed at the failure of his ambitious projects and would not permit his son to return to Cracow, but relegated him to the castle of Dobzki. The young man obeyed and remained in confinement there for three months. Convinced of the injustice of the war upon which he had so nearly embarked, and determined to have no further part in these internecine conflicts which only facilitated the further progress into Europe of the Turks, St Casimir could never again be persuaded to take up arms though urged to do so by his father and invited once more by the disaffected Hungarian magnates. He returned to his studies and his prayers, though for a time he was viceroy in Poland during an absence of his father. An attempt was made to induce him to marry a daughter of the Emperor Frederick III, but he refused to relax the celibacy he had imposed on himself. St Casimir's austerities did nothing to help the lung trouble from which he suffered, and he died at the age of twenty-six in 1484 and was buried at Vilna, where his relics still rest in the church of St Stanislaus. Miracles were reported at his tomb, and he was canonized in 1521. PATRON: Poland, Lithuania, Russia, bachelors, youth, kings, princes. SYMBOLS: Lily (for purity). PRAYER: Almighty God, to serve you is to reign; grant that, with the help of Saint Casimir's intercession, we may constantly serve you in holiness and justice. 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.
It was Christianity, especially the Monasteries who saved Europe when the Roman Empire collapsed. Each monastery was like a little Noah's Ark. Each saint like a little Noah.
SAINT OF THE DAY THURSDAY, 5 MARCH, 2026 SAINT JOHN JOSEPH OF THE CROSS CONFESSOR AND PRIEST (5 August, 1654 – 5 March, 1734) Saint John Joseph of the Cross was born on the feast of the Assumption in 1654, on the island of Ischia in the kingdom of Naples. Even as a boy he practiced extraordinary virtue and self-denial. At the age of sixteen, he proved to be the first Italian to enter the reform movement of St Peter of Alcantara, a convent which had been established in Naples. In his novitiate Saint John Joseph of the Cross exercised himself in humility and poverty according to the example of their holy Father St Francis, and strove to nourish the spirit of mortification and prayer in imitation of St Peter of Alcantara. Saint John Joseph of the Cross attained to so high a degree of perfection that, even before he was ordained a preist, he was commissioned with the building of a new convent. Wherever there was hard work to perform during the construction, he was the first at hand to do it; he worked now as a hod-carrier, now as a mason. The building itself was arranged to the strictest poverty. Like St Francis, John Joseph preferred not to become a priest, but obedience compelled him to receive holy orders. Because he gave evidence of great theological knowledge and experience in the ways of spiritual life, he was entrusted with the direction of the novices, into whose youthful hearts he was able to inculcate so admirable a religious spirit that several of his novices became distinguished for their sanctity. Several times Father Joseph was obliged to accept the office of guardian. When the convents in Italy were no longer dependent on the Spanish houses, but were formed into a separate province, he was appointed provincial in spite of all the objections he raised. Just as every good work meets with many obstacles in the beginning, so it happened to the new province. In the spirit of humility Father Joseph had not put himself forward, but it was in this position that his humility had to contend with the severest tests. Nevertheless, he bore all with heroic patience and constancy, and thus drew down blessings and success on the holy work. When his term of office expired, Saint John Joseph of the Cross lived as a simple subject in the convent at Naples, where he devoted all his time to the care of souls and the practices of piety. Among them was Saint Mary Frances of the Five Wounds. His mortifications were exceptionally rigorous, so that no one may venture to imitate him without a special grace from God. He wore several iron crosses, studded with sharp points, on his shoulders, his back, and on his chest. Daily he scourged himself to the blood. He went either entirely barefoot or wore sandals in which small nails stood out. During the last thirty years of his life he abstained from drink of every sort in honor of the thirst of our Lord. But he was still more intent on interior mortification. In order to keep his soul recollected, he kept a strict guard over all his senses; he strove constantly to deny his own will in order to do only the will of his superiors and thus fulfill the will of God. He emphasized this point also when giving advice to those who came to him for guidance. An optician named Vincent Lainez was a penitent and a great admirer of our saint. He had a little son, five months old, who was very sick and near death. Full of grief Lainez came to Father Joseph and begged him to obtain the recovery os his child by his prayers. “But Vincent,” said Father John Joseph, “God calls him to Himself.” “No, no!” said the distressed father, “He must leave this child to me. Last year He took my daughter, that is enough; one for Him and the other for me.” Reluctantly Father Joseph answered: “You should submit to the will of God; but since you will not, very well! You will suffer the consequences.” The child recovered, but it ceased growing; it attained its third year, but gave no signs of intelligence. The unhappy father, whom Father Joseph evaded during this time, could stand it no longer; he went to the cell of the Father, cast himself contritely at his feet and acknowledged his sin. After praying a while, the saint turned to him with sincere compassion and said: “You deprived God of the honor, and the child of the happiness which it should have enjoyed in heaven during all this time in praising God. So God punished you, but now He sees your sorrow, and the punishment is at an end. Return to your home.” Arriving there, the father beheld his child in the throes of death. The boy turned his little face toward his father with a sweet smile, the first ever to be seen, and then a moment later his innocent soul took its flight to heaven. As an old man, Saint John Joseph of the Cross was severely troubled with ulcers on his legs, so that he could hardly make a step without the use of a cane. One day when he was in the cathedral, to venerate the blood of the holy martyr Januarius (which is miraculously liquefied each year when the vial containing the blood is placed near the head of the saint), Father Joseph's cane was lost in the crowd that pressed about him. He was obliged to support himself at the walls until he arrived at the church door. There he paused while he asked the saint to return his cane to him. A distinguished gentleman, who had come to the church in his carriage, asked Father Joseph what had happened. Raising his hand, Saint John Joseph of the Cross said: “My hobby-horse has run away, but St Januarius will bring him back.” At that moment the people in church began to cry aloud: “A miracle! A miracle!” The cane was seen passing through the air until it reached his hand. Later on, a cardinal asked the favor of possessing the object of so charming a miracle; he had it encased in a precious shrine. At the age of eighty, Saint John Joseph of the Cross died, like an innocent and beautiful child, his final glance resting on a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was on March 5, 1734. His grave at Naples is a constant object of great veneration; many miracles still occur there. Pope Pius VI beatified him, and Gregory XVI solemnly canonized Saint John Joseph of the Cross on Trinity Sunday in the year 1839. PATRON: of Ischia, Italy. PRAYER: St. John Joseph, we ask today for your mighty intercession, to pray for us that we learn humility and seek an attitude of service so we, too, may follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We make this prayer to Christ our Lord. Amen.
Naples is really the most extraordinary place. One of extreme holiness and of extreme evil. Their saints seem so extreme. They kind of climb up the rock face to God. The Naples Mafia, the Camorra, has been pretty well running the city since the 1600's. On the other hand there has been whole line of saints in the city. hey are like two trains , one of evil and one of sanctity running in different directions. Such a strange Italian thing, the Mafia in Naples venerate Our Lady of the Arc: https://mediaclip.ina.fr/en/i23151736-the-madonna-dell-arco-and-the-camorra.html
SAINT OF THE DAY FRIDAY, 6 MARCH, 2026 SAINT COLETTE OF CORBIE VIRGIN (January 13, 1381 – March 6, 1447) In the little town of Corbie, France, St Colette was born on January 13, 1381, of exemplary working people. She was a child of grace, an answer to her mother's incessant prayers, for the latter was already 60 years old then and had been childless up to that time. The little girl took great pleasure in prayer, in compassion for the poor, and in rigorous mortification, making of her soul and of her tender body a sacrifice to God. Up to her 14th year St. Colette de Corbie remained unusually small in stature; this was a great grief for her father. St. Colette begged God to console her father in this matter, and then she began to grow very rapidly to normal height. On the other hand, St. Colette de Corbie asked God to deprive her of the rare beauty she possessed, which she believed might be the occasion of danger to herself and others; that request, too, was granted. When both her parents had died, St. Colette de Corbie, at the age of 22, obtained the permission of the Church authorities to shut herself up in a small abode directly adjoining the church; from a small window in it she could see the Blessed Sacrament. There she expected to spend the remainder of her life as an anchoress. She had embraced the rule of the Third Order of St. Francis, in accordance with which she endeavored to live in perfect poverty, severe mortification, and constant prayer in order to become daily more and more like the Seraphic Father. She received many consolations from heaven, but on the other hand she also experienced severe temptations and even corporal abuse from the spirits of darkness. Almighty God had destined St. Colette for something extraordinary. He excited in her the desire to re-introduce the strict observance of the rule of St. Clare, which many convents of Poor Clares then observed in a modified form. The humble virgin recoiled at the thought, which she tried to persuade herself was an illusion of the proud spirit of darkness. But the inspiration returned again and again, and when St. Colette de Corbie continued to resist it, she was struck dumb and later on blind, until she finally resigned herself to the will of God, like Saul before Damascus. "Lord," St. Colette de Corbie sobbed in her heart, "what wilt Thou have me do? I am ready to do anything Thou desirest of me." At once her speech and her sight were restored. The Lord sent her a special director under whose guidance she was to perform extraordinary things. And so, after spending four years in her retreat, and with the authority and the blessing of the pope, she established one convent of Poor Clares after another, so that the number reached 17 during her lifetime. After her death similar foundations were established in countries other than France, in which the primitive rule of St. Clare began to flourish anew. St. Colette de Corbie endured untold hardships in fulfilling the task assigned to her, but heaven supported her even in visible ways; numerous miracles, including the raising to life of several dead persons, occurred in answer to her prayers and in confirmation of her work. So, the great foundress remained ever humble, regarding everything as the work of God, who often chooses the lowliest of people as His instruments. On this foundation of humility she endeavored to foster in her convents the spirit of prayer and simplicity of heart, she placed great value on the recitation of the Divine Office in choir, undoubtedly in remembrance of the practice existing in her native town, and infused this esteem into her fellow sisters. She was also filled with zeal for the salvation of souls, and once in a vision she saw souls falling into hell more swiftly than the snowflakes in a winter's storm. St. Colette reformed the Order of Poor Clare's and founded a branch of the Order that is still known as the Colettines. St. Colette had a special devotion to St. John the Apostle, who appeared to her on one occasion to place a miraculous ring on her finger. As he did so, he said: "by my own right and on behalf of the sovereign King and Prince of virginity and chastity." This ring was visible to all, and was a beautiful and very precious ring of gold. St. Colette had a great desire for a relic of the True Cross. One day when she was contemplating Our Lord's suffering in the midst of her community, she was drawn into an ecstasy. When her contemplation was over, she realized she was holding a small gold crucifix that had not been there before. It contained a small relic of the True Cross. Years later, upon preparing for her death, she gave away her few possessions. The abbess of Besancon received this cross as St. Colette told her: "Keep it and treasure it, for it is from Heaven." After laboring for 40 years, she was to receive her eternal reward. She died in her convent at Ghent on March 6, 1447. At the moment of her departure from this world she appeared to several sisters in different convents. Colette knew exactly when and where she was going to die. She died in one of her convents in Ghent, Flanders, in March 6, 1447. She was sixty-seven. St. Colette was beatified 23 January, 1740, and canonized 24 May, 1807. She was not only a woman of sincere piety, but also intelligent and energetic, and exercised a remarkable moral power over all her associates. She was very austere and mortified in her life, for which God rewarded her by supernatural favours and the gift of miracles. For the convents reformed by her she prescribed extreme poverty, to go barefooted, and the observance of perpetual fast and abstinence. The Colettine Sisters are found today, outside of France, in Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the United States. PATRONAGE: Women seeking to conceive, expectant mothers and sick children. PRAYER: Pray for us, dear Saint Colette, that we may learn the great benefits of sacrifice, especially through fasting, abstinence, and acts of penitence during this holy season of Lent. In Christ's Name we pray. Amen.
What a lovely penitential soul. It is said modern Catholics are just not able to perform such feats. Maybe so. I heard Fr Repperger talk recently about a man who had just completed a 40 day fast. That's 40 days totally without food. He said it only really hurt for the first three days. Apparently long periods of fasting don't harm people but actually make them more healthy.
SAINTS OF THE DAY SATURDAY, 7 MARCH, 2026 SAINTS PERPETUA AND FELICITY MARTYRS (Late 2nd Century - 203 A.D) Many centuries ago, in the desert lands of North Africa now populated by tens of millions of adherents of Islam, there was once a thriving Catholic Church. Dioceses, bishops, theologians, shrines, cemeteries, schools, monasteries, convents, and saints filled the towns hugging the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This vibrant Catholicism gave birth to, and was inspired by, the witness of numerous martyrs. Many of their names are known, among them today's saints, Felicity and Perpetua. Few documents in Church history can match the raw power of the first person, eye-witness account of the assassination of Perpetua and Felicity. It is a gripping narrative filled with breathtaking dramatic detail. The reader can almost feel the hot sand of the arena warming his feet, a gentle sea breeze caressing his cheeks, and the sweaty crowd pressing against him, their roar for bloodlust echoing through the dry air. Vivia Perpetua, twenty-two years old, was married, a noblewoman, and a new mother whose baby was still nursing. Her pagan father begged his favorite daughter to renounce her Christian faith, but to no avail. Felicity was a slave and pregnant when jailed. She gave birth a few days before her martyrdom. Her child would be raised by Christian women in Carthage. Perpetua, in her own hand, recorded the events leading up to her martyrdom, while an eye-witness to her death completed the text later. When they were first thrown into the arena, Perpetua and Felicity were attacked by a rabid heifer, which was chosen because it shared the same sex as its victims. The young women were grievously injured by the mad cow and then momentarily removed from the arena until gladiators were brought in to conclude the day's spectacle. The executioners carried out their duties quickly, though Perpetua had to guide the gladiator's sword to her throat after he first painfully struck a bone instead of a vein. As the narration states, “Perhaps such a woman…could not die unless she herself had willed it.” Perpetua and Felicity were imprisoned together, suffered together, and died together in 203 A.D. in Carthage, North Africa, along with other noble martyrs whose names are preserved in the same account. The vivid description of their deaths was so moving that it was faithfully preserved down through the centuries and has come to us largely intact. Apart from the New Testament writings themselves, only a few documents from the early Church pre-date the passion narrative of Perpetua and Felicity. It invites tantalizing reflection on how many similar first hand testimonies of famous martyrdoms from the early Church have been lost! What could have been known about the final moments of Saints Paul, Cecilia, Irenaeus, and so many apostles and popes! The accounts of Perpetua, Felicity, and Polycarp must fire our imagination for all the rest. The Church in North Africa so often read the account of Perpetua and Felicity in its public liturgies that Saint Augustine, a North African bishop living two hundred years after their martyrdoms, had to remind his faithful that the narrative was not on a par with Scripture itself. PATRON: Perpetua — Cattle, death of children, martyrs and Felicity — Death of children; martyrs; sterility; to have male children; widows. SYMBOLS: Perpetua — Wild cow; spiked ladder guarded by a dragon and Felicity — Seven swords; cauldron of oil and sword; sword with seven heads; eight palms. PRAYER: O God, at the urging of whose love the Martyrs Saints Perpetua and Felicity defied their persecutors and overcame the torment of earth, grant, we ask, by their prayers, that we may ever grow in your love. 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 the most lovely video of the life of Perpetua on utube. Perpetua is one of the earliest Christian witnesses to the reality of Purgatory as she saw her dead brother in purgatory in a dream.
SAINT OF THE DAY SUNDAY, 8 MARCH, 2026 SAINT JOHN OF GOD RELIGIOUS (March 8, 1495 – March 7, 1550) John was born in Portugal on March 8, 1495 to middle-class parents. Tragically, at the age of 8, he was kidnapped by a stranger and was later abandoned to homelessness in a remote part of Spain. He worked as a shepherd and the man he worked for wanted him to marry his daughter but John wanted to see the world, until age 22, when the opportunity came along for him to join the army of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. This apparent stroke of fortune, however, would eventually lead John into greater misery. For the next 18 years, John lived and fought among the emperor's foot soldiers, first against the French and later the Turks. His morals began to decline, as he completely abandoned the piety of his earliest youth for a greedy and brutal way of life. During his service, he was assigned to guard some captured clothing that went missing. John was accused of theft and condemned to death, but others intervened and he was released. John's conscience was occasionally troubled, particularly by the memories of his early years before he was taken from his parents. And despite falling into a lifestyle of violence and plundering, he had a certain weakness for those who were poor or in extreme distress, and would give alms to them. He was narrowly saved on two occasions from what seemed like certain death – once after instinctively uttering a prayer to the Virgin Mary after falling wounded in enemy territory; and again, when he was falsely suspected of theft and nearly executed but for another soldier's intervention. Events such as these weighed heavily upon him, and when his regiment was disbanded he decided to return to his home country in Montemor-o-Novo to learn what became of his parents. After much searching, he found one of his elderly uncles who informed him that his mother died of heartbreak after his abduction and that his father joined the Franciscans and advanced in holiness. John said to his uncle, “I no longer wish to stay in this country; but rather to go in search of a way to serve Our Lord beyond my native place, just as my father did. He gave me a good example by doing that. I have been so wicked and sinful and since the Lord has given me life, it is fitting that I should use it to serve him and do penance.” John began an interior search for the best way he could serve God and decided to journey to Africa, to ransom himself to the Muslims in exchange for their prisoners. On the journey, he met a knight and his family who were destitute and unable to care for themselves. The knight begged for John's help that John gladly gave by working and giving them his earnings. When one of John's fellow workers fled to Muslim territory and converted to Islam, John began to despair, thinking he should have done more for his friend. After seeking counsel from a Franciscan monastery, he decided to return to the mainland of Spain for the good of his soul. To amend his life – beginning with a pilgrimage to Spain's Santiago de Compostela Cathedral along the “Way of St. James.” He threw himself into a life of prayer, made a general confession, and tearfully went from church to church begging God for the forgiveness of his sins. To support himself, he began to buy and sell religious pictures and books as a traveling salesman. He found this to be spiritually rewarding and fruitful for the salvation of souls. Eventually, at the age of forty-six, he set up a small shop of religious items at Granada's city gate. Soon after, the great preacher Saint John of Ávila came to town to preach a mission. John was in attendance and was so moved by John of Ávila's sermons, and so keenly aware of his own sins, that he started running through the streets like a madman, shouting for mercy. He returned to his shop and destroyed every book that was not religious, gave every other religious book and picture away to those passing by, gave away the rest of his possessions, and continued crying out in the streets that he was a sinner. “Mercy! Mercy, Lord God, on this tremendous sinner who has so offended you!” Many thought John was a lunatic. Some good men brought him to Saint John of Ávila who heard his confession, counseled him, consoled him, and offered his continued guidance. But John was so deeply touched by the priest's holy help that he wanted everyone in the town to know how sinful he was, so he ran through the streets crying out again and rolled in mud as a sign of his sinfulness. Eventually, two compassionate men took John to the local insane asylum for treatment.The theory of the day was that those who were insane were best cured by locking them in a dungeon and torturing them continuously until they chose to abandon their insanity, and this is what happened to John. Saint John of Ávila heard of this and began communicating with John, encouraging him, and guiding him. He received every beating in the asylum with joy as penance and offered each sacrificially to God. Throughout, John exhorted the warden and other officers to treat the patients better. When John began to exude a peaceful disposition, the warden was pleased and permitted him to be freed of his shackles. John showed mercy and compassion to others, performing menial charitable tasks and spreading God's love. He thought to himself, “May Jesus Christ eventually give me the grace to run a hospice where the abandoned poor and those suffering from mental disorders might have refuge and that I may be able to serve them as I wish.” After receiving permission to leave the asylum, John made a pilgrimage and had a vision of the Blessed Mother who encouraged him to work for the poor and infirm. Upon his return to Granada, he moved forward with his desire to open a hospital. Through begging, he was able to rent a building, furnish it, and begin seeking out the sick. He worked tirelessly to care for them, begged for food, brought priests to hear their confessions, and nursed them back to health. In the years following, John extended his mission of mercy to the poor, the abandoned, widows, orphans, the unemployed, prostitutes, and all who suffered. Soon, others were so inspired by the work John was doing that they joined him. His companions in the work made up what would eventually become the Order of Hospitallers. The Bishop of Granada approved his work, and gave him the name “John of God.” A group of volunteers came to accompany him in his work, many of whom had first come to him while in dire need themselves. Others, who resented his work, assaulted John's reputation by focusing on his past sins – but John, unfazed in his humility, would acknowledge the truth of what was said, as a testament to God's grace in his life. He once offered to pay a woman to tell the entire city what she had been saying about him in private. John served the sick and poor for 15 years before meeting his death through an act of charity. He jumped into a freezing river and managed to save a drowning man, but came home shivering and weakened from the ordeal. He lay down in one of his own hospital beds, where his condition further declined. Among the many miracles that have been reported, the most notable was when John ran in and out of a burning hospital to rescue patients without being burned himself. The Bishop of Granada came to administer the last rites. As the bishop prepared him for death, John expressed a number of anxieties. “There are three things that make me uneasy,” he said. “The first is that I have received so many graces from God, and have not recognized them, and have repaid them with so little of my own.” “The second is that after I am dead, I fear lest the poor women I have rescued, and the poor sinners I have reclaimed, may be treated badly.” “The third is that those who have trusted me with money, and whom I have not fully repaid, may suffer loss on my account.” The bishop, however, assured him that he had nothing to fear. John then asked to be alone, and summoned his last strength to rise from bed and kneel before a crucifix. He died in prayer, with his face pressed against the figure of Christ, on the night of March 7, 1550. St. John of God was canonized in 1690, and has become the patron of hospitals and the dying. PATRON: Booksellers; heart patients; hospitals; nurses; the sick; the dying and firefighters. SYMBOLS: The pomegranate—the fruit which represents charity and love, in the Bible, is the coat of arms of the Hospitaller Order and its motto is “God is Love”. John is depicted in art washing the feet of Jesus. A famous painting by Gomez-Moreno 1880 depicts John rescuing the patients from the inferno at the Royal Hospital (where he himself had been a patient 10 years earlier) where not even one life was lost. PRAYED BY SAINT JOHN OF GOD AT THE TIME OF HIS FINAL CONVERSION Lord be blessed for in your great kindness to me who am such a great sinner having done so many wicked things, yet you see fit to set me free from such a tremendous temptation and deception which I fell into through my own sinfulness. You have brought me into a safe harbor where I shall endeavor to serve you with all my strength. My Lord, I beg you with all my might, give me the strength of your grace and always let me see your clemency. I want to be your slave, so kindly show me what I should do. Give peace and quiet to my soul which greatly desires this. O most worthy Lord, may this creature of yours serve and praise you. May I give my whole heart and mind to you. PRAYER: Saint John of God, you struggled in many ways throughout your life. Through it all, you never gave up your desire to serve God and others. Please pray for me, especially when I lose hope, that I may imitate your example and offer myself to God for His glory and the service of all. Saint John of God, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.
SAINT OF THE DAY MONDAY, 9 MARCH, 2026 SAINT FRANCES OF ROME RELIGIOUS (1384 – March 9, 1440) Frances was born in the city of Rome in 1384 to a wealthy, noble family. From her mother she inherited a quiet manner and a pious devotion to God. From her father, however, she inherited a strong will. She decided at eleven that she knew what God wanted for her - she was going to be a nun. And that's where her will ran right up against her father's. He told Frances she was far too young to know her mind - but not too young to be married. He had already promised her in marriage to the son of another wealthy family. In Rome at that time a father's word was law; a father could even sell his children into slavery or order them killed. Frances probably felt that's what he was doing by forcing her to marry. But just as he wouldn't listen to her, Frances wouldn't listen to him. She stubbornly prayed to God to prevent the marriage until her confessor pointed out, "Are you crying because you want to do God's will or because you want God to do your will?" She gave in to the marriage - reluctantly. It was difficult for people to understand her objection. Her future husband Lorenzo Ponziani was noble, wealthy, a good person and he really cared for her. An ideal match - except for someone who was determined to be a bride of Christ. Then her nightmare began. This quiet, shy thirteen year old was thrust into the whirl of parties and banquets that accompanied a wedding. Her mother-in-law Cecilia loved to entertain and expected her new daughter-in-law to enjoy the revelry of her social life too. Fasting and scourging were far easier than this torture God now asked her to face. Frances collapsed from the strain. For months she lay close to death, unable to eat or move or speak. At her worst, she had a vision of St. Alexis. The son of a noble family, Alexis had run away to beg rather than marry. After years of begging he was so unrecognizable that when he returned home his own father thought he was just another beggar and made him sleep under the stairs. In her own way, Frances must have felt unrecognized by her family - they couldn't see how she wanted to give up everything for Jesus. St. Alexis told her God was giving her an important choice: Did she want to recover or not? It's hard for us to understand why a thirteen-year-old would want to die but Frances was miserable. Finally, she whispered, "God's will is mine." The hardest words she could have said - but the right words to set her on the road to sanctity. St. Alexis replied, "Then you will live to glorify His Name." Her recovery was immediate and complete. Lorenzo became even more devoted to her after this - he was even a little in awe of her because of what she'd been through. But her problems did not disappear. Her mother-in-law still expected her to entertain and go on visits with her. Look at Frances' sister-in-law Vannozza --happily going through the rounds of parties, dressing up, playing cards. Why couldn't Frances be more like Vannozza? In a house where she lived with her husband, his parents, his brother and his brother's family, she felt all alone. And that's why Vannozza found her crying bitterly in the garden one day. When Frances poured out her heart to Vannozza and it turned out that this sister-in-law had wanted to live a life devoted to the Lord too. What Frances had written off as frivolity was just Vannozza's natural easy-going and joyful manner. They became close friends and worked out a program of devout practices and services to work together. They decided their obligations to their family came first. For Frances that meant dressing up to her rank, making visits and receiving visits - and most importantly doing it gladly. But the two spiritual friends went to mass together, visited prisons, served in hospitals and set up a secret chapel in an abandoned tower of their palace where they prayed together.But it wasn't fashionable for noblewomen to help the poor and people gossiped about two girls out alone on the streets. Cecilia suffered under the laughter of her friends and yelled at her daughters-in-law to stop theirs spiritual practices. When that didn't work Cecilia then appealed to her sons, but Lorenzo refused to interfere with Frances' charity. The beginning of the fifteenth century brought the birth of her first son, Battista, after John the Baptist. We might expect that the grief of losing her mother-in-law soon after might have been mixed with relief -- no more pressure to live in society. But a household as large as the Ponziani's needed someone to run it. Everyone thought that sixteen-year-old Frances was best qualified to take her mother-in-law's place. She was thrust even more deeply into society and worldly duties. Her family was right, though - she was an excellent administrator and a fair and pleasant employer. After two more children were born to her - a boy, Giovanni Evangelista, and a girl, Agnes -- a flood brought disease and famine to Rome. Frances gave orders that no one asking for alms would be turned away and she and Vannozza went out to the poor with corn, wine, oil and clothing. Her father-in-law, furious that she was giving away their supplies during a famine, took the keys of the granary and wine cellar away from her. Then just to make sure she wouldn't have a chance to give away more, he sold off their extra corn, leaving just enough for the family, and all but one cask of one. The two noblewomen went out to the streets to beg instead. Finally Frances was so desperate for food to give to the poor she went to the now empty corn loft and sifted through the straw searching for a few leftover kernels of corn. After she left Lorenzo came in and was stunned to find the previously empty granary filled with yellow corn. Frances drew wine out of their one cask until one day her father in law went down and found it empty. Everyone screamed at Frances. After saying a prayer, she led them to cellar, turned the spigot on the empty cask, and out flowed the most wonderful wine. These incidents completely converted Lorenzo and her father-in-law. Having her husband and father-in-law completely on her side meant she could do what she always wanted. She immediately sold her jewels and clothes and distributed money to needy. She started wearing a dress of coarse green cloth.
Civil war came to Rome - this was a time of popes and antipopes and Rome became a battleground. At one point there were three men claiming to be pope. One of them sent a cruel governor, Count Troja, to conquer Rome. Lorenzo was seriously wounded and his brother was arrested. Troja sent word that Lorenzo's brother would be executed unless he had Battista, Frances's son and heir of the family, as a hostage. As long as Troja had Battista he knew the Ponzianis would stop fighting. When Frances heard this she grabbed Battista by the hand and fled. On the street, she ran into her spiritual adviser Don Andrew who told her she was choosing the wrong way and ordered her to trust God. Slowly she turned around and made her way to Capitol Hill where Count Troja was waiting. As she and Battista walked the streets, crowds of people tried to block her way or grab Battista from her to save him. After giving him up, Frances ran to a church to weep and pray. As soon as she left, Troja had put Battista on a soldier's horse - but every horse they tried refused to move. Finally the governor gave in to God's wishes. Frances was still kneeling before the altar when she felt Battista's little arms around her. But the troubles were not over. Frances was left alone against the attackers when she sent Lorenzo out of Rome to avoid capture. Drunken invaders broke into her house, tortured and killed the servants, demolished the palace, literally tore it apart and smashed everything. And this time God did not intervene - Battista was taken to Naples. Yet this kidnapping probably saved Battista's life because soon a plague hit - a plague that took the lives of many including Frances' nine-year-old son Evangelista. At this point, her house in ruins, her husband gone, one son dead, one son a hostage, she could have given up. She looked around, cleared out the wreckage of the house and turned it into a makeshift hospital and a shelter for the homeless. One year after his death Evangelista came to her in a vision and told her that Agnes was going to die too. In return God was granting her a special grace by sending an archangel to be her guardian angel for the rest of her life. She would always been able to see him. A constant companion and spiritual adviser, he once commanded her to stop her severe penances (eating only bread and water and wearing a hair shirt). "You should understand by now," the angel told her, "that the God who made your body and gave it to your soul as a servant never intended that the spirit should ruin the flesh and return it to him despoiled." Finally the wars were over and Battista and her husband returned home. But though her son came back a charming young man her husband returned broken in mind and body. Probably the hardest work of healing Frances had to do in her life was to restore Lorenzo back to his old self.When Battista married a pretty young woman named Mabilia Frances expected to find someone to share in the management of the household. But Mabilia wanted none of it. She was as opposite of Frances and Frances had been of her mother-in- law. Mabilia wanted to party and ridiculed Frances in public for her shabby green dress, her habits, and her standards. One day in the middle of yelling at her, Mabilia suddenly turned pale and fainted, crying, "Oh my pride, my dreadful pride." Frances nursed her back to health and healed their differences as well. A converted Mabilia did her best to imitate Frances after that. With Lorenzo's support and respect, Frances started a lay order of women attached to the Benedictines called the Oblates of Mary. The women lived in the world but pledged to offer themselves to God and serve the poor. Eventually they bought a house where the widowed members could live in community. Frances nursed Lorenzo until he died. His last words to her were, "I feel as if my whole life has been one beautiful dream of purest happiness. God has given me so much in your love." After his death, Frances moved into the house with the other Oblates and was made superior. At 52 she had the life she dreamed of when she was eleven. She had been right in discerning her original vocation - she just had the timing wrong. God had had other plans for her in between. Frances died four years later. Her last words were "The angel has finished his task - he beckons me to follow him." PATRON: Motorists, Widows. PRAYER: Saint Frances of Rome, help us to see the difference between what we want to do and what God wants us to do. Help us to discern what comes from our will and what comes from God's desire. Amen.
A beautiful church is dedicated to her in Rome just a short walk from the forum where her relics are displayed. https://www.walksinrome.com/church-of-santa-francesca-romana-rome.html And on this day the monastery she founded opens its doors to the public. It is packed with people but it is so worth it. It is filled with stunning frescoes telling of the many miracles and visions Francesca had. There is one of hell which is quite terrible. https://www.umilta.net/francesca.html I know she is the patron of drivers but she always helps with parking too! Santa Francesca Romana, pray for us.
Prayer to St. Frances of Rome: Saint Frances of Rome, help us to see the difference between what we want to do and what God wants us to do. Help us to discern what comes from our will and what comes from God’s desire. Amen.
Again thank you for this thread. I have always admired Frances of Rome although I didn't know her whole story. I just remember her saying " sometimes I must leave Jesus at the altar so I can take care of Him at home" and as a young mother myself at the time, longing to spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament these words guided me. Now I know her full story i am even more attracted to her. St Frances pray for our families!!!
SAINT OF THE DAY TUESDAY, 10 MARCH, 2026 SAINT MARIE EUGENIE OF JESUS FOUNDRESS OF THE RELIGIOUS OF THE ASSUMPTION (25 August, 1817 - 10 March, 1898) Anne Marie Eugenie was born in 1817 in Metz after Napoleon's complete defeat and the restoration of the Monarchy. She belonged to a non-believing and financially comfortable family and it seemed unlikely that she would trace a new spiritual path across the Church of France. Her father, follower of Voltaire and a liberal, was making his fortune in the banking world and in politics. Eugenie's mother provided the sensitive Eugenie with an education, which strengthened her character and gave her a strong sense of duty. Family life developed her intellectual curiosity and a romantic spirit, an interest in social questions and a broad world view. Like her contemporary, George Sand, Anne Eugenie went to Mass on feast days and received the Sacraments of initiation, as was the custom but without any real commitment. However, her First Communion was a great mystical experience that foretold the secret of her future. She did not grasp its prophetic meaning until much later when she recognized it as her path towards total belonging to Jesus Christ and the Church. Her youth was happy but not without suffering. She was affected when still a child by the death of an elder brother and a baby sister. Her health was delicate and a fall from a horse left serious consequences. Eugenie was mature for her age and learnt how to hide her feelings and to face up to events. Later, after a prosperous period for her father, she experienced the failure of his banks, the misunderstanding and eventual separation of her parents and the loss of all security. She had to leave her family home and go to Paris while Louis, closest to her in age and faithful companion went to live with their father. Eugenie went to Paris with the mother she adored, only to see her die from cholera after a few hours of illness, leaving her alone at the age of fifteen in a society that was worldly and superficial. Searching in anguish and almost desperate for the truth, she arrived at her conversion thirsty for the Absolute and open to the Transcendent. When she was nineteen, Anne Eugenie attended the Lenten Conferences at Notre Dame in Paris, preached by the young Abbe Lacordaire, already well-known for his talent as orator. Lacordaire was a former disciple of Lamennais - haunted by the vision of a renewed Church with a special place in the world. He understood his time and wanted to change it. He understood young people, their questions and their desires, their idealism and their ignorance of both Christ and the Church. His words touched Eugenie's heart, answered her many questions, and aroused her generosity. Eugenie envisaged Christ as the universal liberator and his kingdom on earth established as a peaceful and just society. I was truly converted, she wrote, and I was seized by a longing to devote all my strength or rather all my weakness to the Church which, from that moment, I saw as alone holding the key to the knowledge and achievement of all that is good. Just at this time, another preacher, also a former disciple of Lamennais, appeared on the scene. In the confessional, Father Combalot recognized that he had encountered a chosen soul who was designated to be the foundress of the Congregation he had dreamt of for a long time. He persuaded Eugenie to undertake his work by insisting that this Congregation was willed by God who had chosen her to establish it. He convinced her that only by education could she evangelize minds, make families truly Christian and thus transform the society of her time. Anne Eugenie accepted the project as God's will for her and allowed herself to be guided by the Abbe Combalot.At twenty-two, Marie Eugenie became foundress of the Religious of the Assumption, dedicated to consecrate their whole life and strength to extending the Kingdom of Christ in themselves and in the world. In 1839, Mademoiselle Eugenie Milleret, with two other young women, began a life of prayer and study in a flat at rue Ferou near the church of St. Sulpice in Paris. In 1841, under the patronage of Madame de Chateaubriand, Lacordaire, Montalembert and their friends, the sisters opened their first school. In a relatively short time there were sixteen sisters of four nationalities in the community. Marie Eugenie and the first sisters wanted to link the ancient and the new - to unite the past treasures of the Church's spirituality and wisdom with a type of religious life and education able to satisfy the demands of modern minds. It was a matter of respecting the values of the period and at the same time, making the Gospel values penetrate the rising culture of a new industrial and scientific era. The spirituality of the Congregation, centered on Christ and the Incarnation, was both deeply contemplative and dedicated to apostolic action. It was a life given to the search for God and the love and service of others. Marie Eugenie's long life covered almost the whole of the 19th century. She loved her times passionately and took an active part in their history. Progressively, she channeled all her energy and gifts in tending and extending the Congregation, which became her life work. God gave her sisters and many friends. One of the first sisters was Irish, a mystic and her intimate friend whom she called at the end of her life, "half of myself." Kate O'Neill, called Mother Therese Emmanuel in religion, is considered as a co-foundress. Father Emmanuel d'Alzon, became Marie Eugenie's spiritual director soon after the foundation, was a father, brother or friend according to the seasons. In 1845, he founded the Augustinians of the Assumption and the two founders helped each other in a multitude of ways over a period of forty years. Both had a gift for friendship and they inspired many lay people to work with them and the Church. Together, as they followed Christ and labored with him, the religious and laity traced the path of the Assumption and took their place in the great cloud of witnesses. In the last years of her life, Mother Marie Eugenie experienced a progressive physical weakening, which she lived in silence and humility - a life totally centered on Christ. She received the Eucharist for the last time on March 9, 1898 and on the 10th, she gently passed over to the Lord. She was beatified by Pope Paul VI on February 9, 1975 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on June 3, 2007 in Rome. PATRON: Religious of the Assumption Students. A PRAYER FOR LENT FROM SAINT MARIE EUGENIE: O Jesus, give me the love which is most truly love, the love of the cross, not those grand heroic crosses which lift us above our ordinary selves, but the common, inglorious crosses, which, alas, we are so reluctant to bear: the everyday crosses life is so full of, the ones we stumble on in the middle of the road – forgetfulness, opposition, misjudgment, failure, physical illness, mental confusion, loss of heart – only then will you know that I love you, even though I may not know it myself, and that is enough for me. Amen.
Saint Frances of Rome was one of the few saints who had constant sight of her Guardian Angel. Not only that but her angel actually hit her and hit her hard when she went of the rails. Not for anything big really but for being inattentive in prayer. This makes me think of my own Guardian Angel , he must be tempted not only to hit me but to beat me to death with a baseball bat. All this reminds me that we are , all of us, called to different degrees of perfection and granted different amounts of grace to do so.
SAINT OF THE DAY WEDNESDAY, 11 MARCH, 2026 SAINT EULOGIUS OF CORDOVA (CORDOBA) PRIEST AND MARTYR (Died - 11 March, 859) St. Eulogius was of a senatorian family of Cordova, at that time the capital of the Moors in Spain. Our Saint was educated among the clergy of the Church of St. Zoilus, a martyr who suffered with nineteen others under Diocletian. Here he distinguished himself, by his virtue and learning, and, being made priest, was placed at the head of the chief ecclesiastical school at Cordova. He joined assiduous watching, fasting, and prayer to his studies, and his humility, mildness, and charity gained him the affection and respect of every one. During the persecution raised against the Christians in the year 850, St. Eulogius was thrown into prison and there wrote his Exhortation to Martyrdom, addressed to the virgins Flora and Mary, who were beheaded on 24th of November, 851. Six days after their death Eulogius was set at liberty. In the year 852 several others suffered martyrdom. St. Eulogius encouraged all these martyrs to their triumphs, and was the support of that distressed flock. The Archbishop of Toledo died in 858. St. Eulogius was elected to succeed him; but there was some obstacle that hindered him from being consecrated. A virgin, by name Leocritia, of a noble family among the Moors, had been instructed from her infancy in the Christian religion by one of her relatives, and privately baptized. Her father and mother abused her very much, and scourged her day and night to compel her to renounce the Faith. Having made her condition known to St. Eulogius and his sister Anulona, intimating that she desired to go where she might freely exercise her religion, they secretly procured her the means of getting away, and concealed her for some time among faithful friends. But the matter was at length discovered, and they were all brought before the cadi, who threatened to have Eulogius scourged to death. The Saint told him that his torments would be of no avail, for he would never change his religion. Whereupon the cadi gave orders that he should be carried to the palace and be presented before the king's council. Eulogius began boldly to propose the truths of the Gospel to them. But, to prevent their hearing him, the council condemned him immediately to lose his head. As they were leading him to execution, one of the guards gave him a blow on the face; he turned the other cheek, and patiently received a second. He received the stroke of death with great cheerfulness, on the 11th of March, 859. St. Leocritia was beheaded four days after him, and her body thrown into the river Guadalquivir, but taken out by the Christians. PATRONAGE: Carpenters and coppersmiths. REFLECTION: Beg of God, through the intercession of these holy martyrs, the gift of perseverance. Their example will supply you with an admirable rule for obtaining this crowning gift. Remember that you have renounced the world and the devil once for all at your Baptism. Do not hesitate; do not look back; do not listen to suggestions against faith or virtue; but advance, day by day, along the road which you have chosen, to God's Who is your portion forever. PRAYER: Saint Eulogius, pray for us, that we may be ever mindful that all our gifts come from God, that we not be proud, but willing always to follow His lead. Amen.
