I sometimes wonder about these hermits who wandered into some wild place in the middle of nowhere. How on Earth did they manage? Especially in the Winter? I don;t think they could have managed without some kind of preparation. I mean you could simply turn up on a mountain or in a deep wood and hope to survive. Even if we are only going to camp for a few days we have to pack a big haversack full of stuff. There are still hermits all over the World. I read about one recently who lives in really wild woods in Romania. She has been there for many, many years. A local Forest Ranger has befriended her and helps her out as do one of two other and bring her stuff to help her out. She seems to be truly like something out of the books of the saints. Like Saint Giles. It reminds me of the Prophet Elijah to whom God caused the ravens to bring meat. Apart from anything else it shows immense trust in the Providence of God and a deep, deep spirit of detachment. Other hermits seem to live in the most lovely really comfortable places. They are very good at working with their hands and their homes are much better, for example, than my own very comfortable little place. Usually in order to make it hermits have some connection to a monastery to make things happen. It is lovely and romantic to think of people like Saint Giles; but there is also something terrible and scary about it too. There are hermits living like St Giles in the World today. I find them awesome. 1 Kings 17:4-6 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
SAINT OF THE DAY WEDNESDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER, 2026 SAINT AGRICOLUS BISHOP (c. 630 AD - c. 700 AD) Saint Agricolus, also known as Agricola, was born around the year 630 in Avignon. His father, Saint Magnus, a Gallo-Roman senator of the gens Albina, who, after the death of his wife, became first a monk at Lérins and then bishop of Avignon. When he was 14 years old, Agricolus himself went to Lérins and acquired a great reputation for piety and learning, was advanced to the priesthood. After sixteen years as a monk, his father summoned him to the episcopal city. Here he was appointed archdeacon and distinguished himself by his preaching, by his powers of administration, and by his care for the poor, the oppressed and the sick. He became the Bishop of Avignon after the death of his father in 660. As bishop of Avignon, St. Agricolus worked all the harder for the sake of his flock. He was named Patron of Avignon in 1647. He built a church in Avignon to be served by the monks of Lerins and also a convent for Benedictine nuns. He is considered to have battle with the devil–not utilizing his own weak human will, but shielded with a crucifix, much prayer, fasting and faith in his Redeemer. One of the great miracles attributed was when there was an infestation of storks, a simple blessing of his drove away the giant birds. Another miracle was during a great plague of terrible storms, St. Agricolus's intercession resulted in good weather. Saint Agricolus died in 700 at the age of 70. PATRON: Avignon, storks, good weather, fine harvests, rain, against the bubonic plague and misfortune of all kinds. SYMBOL: St. Agricolus, is sometimes depicted with a dragon, like Saints George, Arsacius and Margaret of Antioch. He is also represented in art by a stork. PRAYER: Loving God, today we remember St. Agricolus who devoted his life to the service of the poor, the sick and the down-trodden. Let us remember all those who live in poverty, who are in need of our assistance and who are considered the outcasts of our society. May we care for them and provide what they need to live a healthy life. We ask 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 THURSDAY, 3 SEPTEMBER, 2026 SAINT GREGORY THE GREAT POPE AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH (c.540 - 604) St. Gregory was born at Rome in 540. He was successively senator and prefect of Rome before the age of 30. After five years he resigned and became a monk, transforming his own house into a Benedictine monastery, and founding six others. At the age of 50 he was elected pope, serving from 590 to 604. In 14 years he accomplished much for the Mystical Body of Christ. After seeing English children being sold as slaves in Rome, he sent 40 monks, including St. Augustine of Canterbury, from his own monastery to make "the Angles angels." England owes her conversion to him. At a period when the invasion of the barbarian Lombards created a new situation in Europe, he played a great part in winning them for Christ. When Rome itself was under attack, he personally went to interview the Lombard King. At the same time he watched equally over the holiness of the clergy and the maintenance of Church discipline, the temporal interests of his people of Rome and the spiritual interests of all Christendom. He removed unworthy priests from office, forbade taking money for many services, and emptied the papal treasury to ransom prisoners of the Lombards and to care for persecuted Jews and victims of plague and famine. These deeds and others made him, in the words of an antiphon in his office, "the Father of the City, the joy of the World." Gregory reformed the liturgy, and it still contains several of his most beautiful prayers. The name "Gregorian chant" recalls this great Pope's work in the development of the Church's music. His commentaries on Holy Scripture exercised a considerable influence on Christian thought in the Middle Ages. St. Gregory died on March 12, 604. His body lies at St. Peter's in Rome. PATRON: Choir boys; educators; gout; masons; music; musicians; choirs; singers; stonecutters; teachers; popes; students; scholars; against plague; against gout; against fever; England; West Indies. PRAYER: O God, who care for your people with gentleness and rule them in love, through the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory, endow, we pray, with a spirit of wisdom those to whom you have given authority to govern, that the flourishing of a holy flock may become the eternal joy of the shepherds. 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.
SAINT OF THE DAY FRIDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER, 2026 SAINT ROSE OF VITERBO VIRGIN (1235 - 1252) Saint Rose was born in the spring of 1235 at Viterbo, capital of the patrimony of Saint Peter. In those days the emperor Frederick II was oppressing the Church, and many were faithless to the Holy See. But this infant at once seemed filled with grace; she never cried; with tottering steps she sought Jesus in His tabernacle; she knelt before sacred images and listened to sermons and pious conversation, retaining all she heard, and this when she was scarcely three years old. One coarse habit covered her flesh; fasts and disciplines were her delight. At the age of seven she wished to enter a monastery of nuns; but God had other designs for her, and she resolved to create a solitude in her father's house, where she would forever spend all her days. Her mortifications there seem incredible to our time of laxity; she gave herself the discipline three times a day until she fainted from fatigue and loss of blood, and she scarcely ate at all. To those who urged her to mitigate her austerities, she explained so perfectly that happiness consists in suffering for God, that no one could doubt this was so for her. Nonetheless she fell ill and nearly died of consumption. She was close to the final agony when suddenly she beheld the Mother of God, and said to those attending her: “All of you here, why do you not greet the Queen of the world? Do you not see Mary, the August Mother of my God, coming forward? Let us go to meet Her, and prostrate ourselves before Her majesty!” Everyone turned toward the door and knelt down, and the Mother of God spoke to Rose, telling her she must enter the Third Order of Saint Francis, then go out to “reprove, convince, exhort and bring back the erring to the paths of salvation. If your endeavors bring upon you sarcasm and mockery, persecution and labor, you must bear them patiently... Those who assist you will be enriched with all the graces of the Lord.” To defend the Church's rights was already Rose's burning wish. When hardly ten years old, she arose after her reception into the Franciscan habit, went down to the public square at Viterbo, called upon the inhabitants to be faithful to the Sovereign Pontiff, and vehemently denounced all his opponents. She returned to her house only to redouble her flagellations and macerations; she saw her Saviour on the Cross and nothing could arrest her ardor thereafter. So great was the power of her word and of the miracles which accompanied it, that at the end of several months the Imperial party, after threatening her in vain to stop her preaching, in fear and anger drove her from the city. Saint Rose and her parents moved to Soriano, a fortified city, where she continued to do as she had been told by the Mother of God. Then Rose went on by herself to Vitorchiano, where she had understood there was need for her, and continued to win souls by her aspect as much as by her words. She went barefoot and wore a poor tunic at all times, until after some eighteen months, when the emperor had died, she and her parents returned to Viterbo. Innocent IV was brought back in triumph to Rome and the cause of God was won. A number of young girls came to her for instruction at Viterbo, and she taught them the principles of modest prudence and faithful love of God. Rose fell ill again and recognized that her end was approaching; she prepared, rejoicing, in solitude for her glorious destiny, and died in her eighteenth year. Not long afterward, she appeared in glory to Alexander IV, and bade him to translate her intact body. He found it fragrant and beautiful, as if still in life. For more than 700 years it has remained supple and unchanged, save for its color, darkened after a fire in the chapel where it reposed. PATRON: people in exile; people rejected by religious orders; Franciscan youth; Viterbo, Italy. PRAYER: God our Father, for love of you Saint Rose gave up everything to devote herself to a life of penance. By the help of her prayers may we imitate her selfless way of life on earth and enjoy the fullness of your blessings in heaven. 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.
Wow! 18 year old and already a saint! She reminds me of Saint Teresa of the Andes another young saint. One of the signs of the times is child and teen saints who died young already very saintly. Victim souls. I suspect that many of them like St Carlo Acutis seem to have offered themselves up for the sake of the Church; "I offer all the suffering I will have to suffer for the Lord, for the Pope, and for the Church."
SAINT OF THE DAY SATURDAY, 5 SEPTEMBER, 2026 SAINT TERESA OF KOLKATA (CALCUTTA) INDIA. RELIGIOUS AND FOUNDER (26 August 1910 - 5 September 1997) “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.” Small of stature, rocklike in faith, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was entrusted with the mission of proclaiming God's thirsting love for humanity, especially for the poorest of the poor. “God still loves the world and He sends you and me to be His love and His compassion to the poor.” She was a soul filled with the light of Christ, on fire with love for Him and burning with one desire: “to quench His thirst for love and for souls.” This luminous messenger of God's love was born on 26 August 1910 in Skopje, a city situated at the crossroads of Balkan history. The youngest of the children born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu, she was baptised Gonxha Agnes, received her First Communion at the age of five and a half and was confirmed in November 1916. From the day of her First Holy Communion, a love for souls was within her. Her father's sudden death when Gonxha was about eight years old left the family in financial straits. Drane raised her children firmly and lovingly, greatly influencing her daughter's character and vocation. Gonxha's religious formation was further assisted by the vibrant Jesuit parish of the Sacred Heart in which she was much involved. At the age of eighteen, moved by a desire to become a missionary, Gonxha left her home in September 1928 to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto, in Ireland. There she received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In December, she departed for India, arriving in Calcutta on 6 January 1929. After making her First Profession of Vows in May 1931, Sister Teresa was assigned to the Loreto Entally community in Calcutta and taught at St. Mary's School for girls. On 24 May 1937, Sister Teresa made her Final Profession of Vows, becoming, as she said, the “spouse of Jesus” for “all eternity.” From that time on she was called Mother Teresa. She continued teaching at St. Mary's and in 1944 became the school's principal. A person of profound prayer and deep love for her religious sisters and her students, Mother Teresa's twenty years in Loreto were filled with profound happiness. Noted for her charity, unselfishness and courage, her capacity for hard work and a natural talent for organization, she lived out her consecration to Jesus, in the midst of her companions, with fidelity and joy. On 10 September 1946 during the train ride from Calcutta to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, Mother Teresa received her “inspiration," her “call within a call.” On that day, in a way she would never explain, Jesus' thirst for love and for souls took hold of her heart and the desire to satiate His thirst became the driving force of her life. Over the course of the next weeks and months, by means of interior locutions and visions, Jesus revealed to her the desire of His heart for “victims of love” who would “radiate His love on souls.” “Come be My light,” He begged her. “I cannot go alone.” He revealed His pain at the neglect of the poor, His sorrow at their ignorance of Him and His longing for their love. He asked Mother Teresa to establish a religious community, Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor. Nearly two years of testing and discernment passed before Mother Teresa received permission to begin. On August 17, 1948, she dressed for the first time in a white, blue-bordered sari and passed through the gates of her beloved Loreto convent to enter the world of the poor.After a short course with the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta and found temporary lodging with the Little Sisters of the Poor. On 21 December she went for the first time to the slums. She visited families, washed the sores of some children, cared for an old man lying sick on the road and nursed a woman dying of hunger and TB. She started each day in communion with Jesus in the Eucharist and then went out, rosary in her hand, to find and serve Him in “the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for.” After some months, she was joined, one by one, by her former students. On 7 October 1950 the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established in the Archdiocese of Calcutta. By the early 1960s, Mother Teresa began to send her Sisters to other parts of India. The Decree of Praise granted to the Congregation by Pope Paul VI in February 1965 encouraged her to open a house in Venezuela. It was soon followed by foundations in Rome and Tanzania and, eventually, on every continent. Starting in 1980 and continuing through the 1990s, Mother Teresa opened houses in almost all of the communist countries, including the former Soviet Union, Albania and Cuba. In order to respond better to both the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity Brothers in 1963, in 1976 the contemplative branch of the Sisters, in 1979 the Contemplative Brothers, and in 1984 the Missionaries of Charity Fathers. Yet her inspiration was not limited to those with religious vocations. She formed the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa and the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, people of many faiths and nationalities with whom she shared her spirit of prayer, simplicity, sacrifice and her apostolate of humble works of love. This spirit later inspired the Lay Missionaries of Charity. In answer to the requests of many priests, in 1981 Mother Teresa also began the Corpus Christi Movement for Priests as a “little way of holiness” for those who desire to share in her charism and spirit. During the years of rapid growth the world began to turn its eyes towards Mother Teresa and the work she had started. Numerous awards, beginning with the Indian Padmashri Award in 1962 and notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, honoured her work, while an increasingly interested media began to follow her activities. She received both prizes and attention “for the glory of God and in the name of the poor.” The whole of Mother Teresa's life and labour bore witness to the joy of loving, the greatness and dignity of every human person, the value of little things done faithfully and with love, and the surpassing worth of friendship with God. But there was another heroic side of this great woman that was revealed only after her death. Hidden from all eyes, hidden even from those closest to her, was her interior life marked by an experience of a deep, painful and abiding feeling of being separated from God, even rejected by Him, along with an ever-increasing longing for His love. She called her inner experience, “the darkness.” The “painful night” of her soul, which began around the time she started her work for the poor and continued to the end of her life, led Mother Teresa to an ever more profound union with God. Through the darkness she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus, in His painful and burning longing for love, and she shared in the interior desolation of the poor.During the last years of her life, despite increasingly severe health problems, Mother Teresa continued to govern her Society and respond to the needs of the poor and the Church. By 1997, Mother Teresa's Sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members and were established in 610 foundations in 123 countries of the world. In March 1997 she blessed her newly-elected successor as Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity and then made one more trip abroad. After meeting Pope John Paul II for the last time, she returned to Calcutta and spent her final weeks receiving visitors and instructing her Sisters. On 5 September Mother Teresa's earthly life came to an end. She was given the honour of a state funeral by the Government of India and her body was buried in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity. Her tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage and prayer for people of all faiths, rich and poor alike. Mother Teresa left a testament of unshakable faith, invincible hope and extraordinary charity. Her response to Jesus' plea, “Come be My light,” made her a Missionary of Charity, a “mother to the poor,” a symbol of compassion to the world, and a living witness to the thirsting love of God. Less than two years after her death, in view of Mother Teresa's widespread reputation of holiness and the favours being reported, Pope John Paul II permitted the opening of her Cause of Canonization. On 20 December 2002 he approved the decrees of her heroic virtues and miracles. PATRON: World Youth Day, Missionaries of Charity. PRAYER: O God, who called St. Teresa, virgin to respond to the love of your Son thirsting on the cross with outstanding charity to the poorest of the poor, grant us, we beseech you, by her intercession, to minister to Christ in his suffering brothers. 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.
SAINT OF THE DAY SUNDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER, 2026 SAINT ELEUTHERIUS OF SPOLETO ABBOT (DIED 585 A.D.) A wonderful simplicity and spirit of compunction were the distinguishing virtues of this holy man. He was chosen abbot of St. Mark's near Spoleto, and favored by God with the gift of miracles. A child who was possessed by the devil, being delivered by being educated in his monastery, the Abbot said one day: "Since the child is among the servants of God, the devil dares not approach him." These words seemed to savor of vanity, and thereupon the devil again entered and tormented the child. The Abbot humbly confessed his fault, and fasted and prayed with his whole community till the child was again freed from the tyranny of the fiend. St. Gregory, the Great, not being able to fast on Easter-eve on account of extreme weakness, engaged this Saint to go with him to the church of St. Andrew's and offer up his prayers to God for his health, that he might join the faithful in that solemn practice of penance. Eleutherius prayed with many tears, and the Pope, coming out of the church, found that he was enabled to perform the fast as he desired. It is also said that St. Eleutherius raised a dead man to life. Resigning his abbacy, he died in St. Andrew's monastery in Rome about the year 585. PRAYER: O God of mercy and love, grant we pray through the intercession of your holy abbot St. Eleutherius the deliverance from the slavery of the devil that we may serve You with sincerity and love through Christ our Lord. Amen.
We all get things wrong. Even saints. But St Eleutherius got something wrong badly and fixed it by admitting he was wrong. I heard one Catholic layman who used to assist exorcists say the devil used to point out one particular sin to him. It was that when he was a child he had stolen a plastic Dinosaur. I wish if the devil pointed out by faults all I had to worry about like something like this. I heard a story about a Catholic Doctor who went to see Padre Pio who refused him absolution several times in confession. Everyone was puzzled by this as the Doctor seemed to be the ideal Catholic layperson, But what this poor man was doing wrong was earning his way to heaven by ticking all the boxes. We all have faults, but worst of all are the hidden faults we don't even see ; may God protest us from the hidden faults that may lead to hell. Spiritual Pride. A priest told me one time that some people come to confession, spend a minute telling their sins and then half an hour explaining how they were not really sins in the first place.
SAINT OF THE DAY MONDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER, 2026 SAINT CLOUD CONFESSOR (522 - c.560) Saint Cloud is the most illustrious Saint among the princes of the royal family of the first French dynasty, the Merovingians (499-752). Born in 522, he was the son of Chlodomir, King of Orleans and eldest son of Clovis and Saint Clotilda. He was not yet three years old when his father was killed during a war. His grandmother, Saint Clotilda, brought him and his two brothers to Paris to be educated, and loved them dearly. Their ambitious uncles, however, desiring to divide the kingdom of Orleans between themselves, slew with their own hands the two young brothers of Cloud. He, by a special dispensation of Providence, was saved from the massacre. Later, renouncing the world, he privately consecrated himself to the service of God. After distributing to the poor what he could salvage of his heritage, he retired to a hermitage to be under the discipline of a holy recluse named Severinus, who dwelt near the gates of Paris and who clothed him with the monastic habit. His uncles left him alone, seeing his inalterable decision to live as a religious, and conceded certain heritages to him. When he became famous through an act of charity rewarded by a miracle, he withdrew secretly to Provence. There again, his hermitage was sought out by petitioners. He decided to return to Paris, where he was received with the greatest joy. At the earnest request of the people, he was ordained a priest in 551 by Eusebius, Bishop of Paris, and served the Church of that city for some time in the functions of the sacred ministry. Again he found himself in great honor; he therefore retired to Nogent, a place now known as Saint Cloud, two leagues south of Paris, where he built a monastery. There he was joined by many pious men, who fled from the world for fear of losing their souls in its midst. Saint Cloud was chosen by them to be their Superior, and he animated them to virtue both by word and example. He was also indefatigable in instructing and exhorting the faithful of the neighboring regions. He died at Nogent in 560, and the major part of his relics remain still in the parochial church of the village. PATRON: Against carbuncles; nail makers; Diocese of Saint Cloud, Minnesota. PRAYER TO ST. CLOUD: Lord God, you alone are holy, and you holiness is seen in the lives of the saints. You called St. Cloud to serve your people in the priesthood and he, in turn, humbled himself in the world for your sake. May his prayers and example encourage us to serve you as priestly people. Through his intercession, may we follow Jesus more faithfully and live as a people holy in your sight. 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 is lovely and kind of funny to see these hermit saints fly deeper and deeper into the wilderness but the deeper they go the more people chased after them. Then at some point these saints realise that God does not want them to flee anymore but to stay still and feed the poor sheep who chased after them. Than after a while great monasteries often spring up at the site of their hermitage. It reminds me of the Mother of God at Ephesus. At John took Mary and fled there to escape the great persecution of the Church in Jerusalem by King Herod which for instance led to the martyrdom of St James. The Holy House of Mary is just over a little hill from Ephesus which was the Financial centre of the World at the time and a real hub of Pagan Worship. A kind of New York of its day. But with the coming of Mary it became perhaps the holiest and best little Christian Church in the World. We can see this in the Letter to the Ephesians; so moving and mystical. So here we have Mary living in this little house in the country and an entire city moving and shaking with grace nearby. It reminds us that the community of Saints is a reality. So too with St Cloud. He moved to be alone but his holiness changed the fate of an entire country.
FEASTS OF THE DAY TUESDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER, 2026 NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY OUR LADY OF VELANKANNI (GOOD HEALTH), INDIA. NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Many days passed before God finally completed the masterpiece of His creation. For nine months, the soul of Mary had given form to her virginal body, and the hour of her happy birth approached. As the suffocating Palestinian summer neared its end, the mellowing sun poured abundant torrents of golden light on the opulent plain of Samaria, ripening the rich orchards of autumn fruit. On a magnificent September day, with nature adorned in radiant beauty, the most Holy Virgin came into the world in the white-walled city of Nazareth. She was probably born in the same house where the great mystery of the Incarnation later took place and where Jesus spent most of His childhood and youth in work and prayer. The angels did not acclaim the coming of the glorious Queen with hymns of joy as they later did the birth of the Savior. Invisible to the eyes of mortal men, the angels considered it an honor to mount guard around the humble crib over which Saints Joachim and Anne lovingly watched. The prophecy of Isaias had come to pass. The root of Jesse, ten centuries removed, had sprouted a new branch. On this same branch in but a few years more would blossom the eternal Flower, the Incarnate Word. Her divine Son would soon appear representing a new dawn of hope upon a world plunged for four thousand years into the darkness of pain and death. The day the Queen of Heaven was born ranks as one of the most beautiful in history since it announced to condemned mankind the long-awaited time of liberation. In commemorating this great event, the Church bursts forth in its enthusiasm: "Thy nativity, O Virgin Mother of God," sings the Church in its liturgy, "has announced joy to the whole world" Indeed, we seem to forget in what horrible distress the world lay prostrate before the coming of Christ. The sin of our first parents had borne the fruit of death. Until the coming of the Savior, the curse of the Almighty lay heavily upon sinful humanity. Adam had eaten of the forbidden fruit in the wild hope of becoming like God. With terrible irony, God stripped him of his magnificent privileges and reduced him to extreme misery. Thus, the ancient world was founded upon oppression of the weak and disregard for human dignity. The greater part of mankind was subject to the torments of slavery. Even Rome, the proud bearer of civilization, considered the multitude of its slaves as but an immense herd destined for slaughter. Indeed, masters had the power to send their slaves to their deaths solely to amuse themselves. The refined patricians of the Imperial City would sometimes use these poor souls as fodder for the salt-water eels they raised. Nothing satisfied their gluttony more than these delicious marine eels, fattened on human blood. The distress of souls was even more acute. Adam had supposed that he could do without God. He unappreciatively spurned his Sovereign Benefactor. God, in return, withdrew from His creature. He did not abandon mankind altogether, however, but spoke to him at rare intervals, announcing the future coming of a virgin who would crush the head of the serpent under her immaculate heel. He raised up prophets from among the people, yet He hid Himself within His inaccessible light. Moreover, the Lord had not allowed the source of grace to cease entirely. He did not refuse His pardon to the repentant sinner, granting it under the sole condition of a perfect contrition. Even so, amid the temptations of the flesh and deprived of the abundant spiritual help now available to us, the weakest souls fell by the thousands into the infernal pit.Poor men of ancient times! They keenly sensed their weakness and vulnerability, and they searched in intense anguish for some way to gain supernatural assistance in their necessity. God, a spiritual Being, escapes man's rude senses, so men made idols in which to place their utmost hope. Alas, these statues were deaf and did not hear the heartrending cries arising from forty centuries of distress. Yet, this terrible nightmare wherein mankind struggles dissipates like a dense nocturnal fog before the sweet morning light. The quadrant of eternity marks the hour of its infinite mercy. The birth of Mary begins the work of Redemption. In her crib, the mother of the Savior illuminates the desolate earth with the grace of her first smiles. Jesus will soon appear and, with His precious blood, will erase the sentence of our condemnation. The world which has suffered so, will finally delight in the joy of liberty and peace. Slavery will everywhere be abolished, and human dignity will henceforth be respected. Like a flowing stream, graces will spring forth in abundance from the sacraments. We have but to approach and draw from them—without limit—pardon, courage, and life everlasting. The God who hid in Paradise will descend to earth and never abandon mankind. After His Ascension, Our Lord will remain among us under the Eucharistic veil until the end of time, when the Real Presence will leave the destroyed tabernacles. Christ will then visibly reign over the glorious souls of the resurrected elect. Such are the great joys the birth of Mary announces. "Thy nativity, O Virgin Mother of God has announced joy to the whole world." The birth of the Blessed Virgin was, then, one of the foremost events of history. Let us now examine how the birth was received and draw lessons from this meditation that will benefit our interior lives. The holy Fathers of the Church express the impact of the birth of the Immaculate Virgin on the invisible world by describing the heavens overwhelmed with wondrous admiration. The angels were at a loss to find adequate praises for acclaiming the adorable Trinity for having created her who was the beloved Daughter of the Father, and who would become the Mother of the Word Incarnate and the Spouse of the Holy Ghost. Nor did they weary of admiring the beauties of their queen. The blessed spirits, who rejoice at the conversion of a single soul, rejoiced upon seeing the appearance of the sure Refuge of sinners. They knew that Mary would one day be the Gate of Heaven who would never refuse entry into the eternal kingdom to those who invoked her with confidence. The Fathers also note the immense sigh of relief of the just in limbo, those who had died since the beginnings of the world, as well as the furor of the demons in Hell, who saw the approaching end of their tyrannical reign.How was the birth of Mary, which delighted heaven and terrified the fallen angels, received on earth? The birth of Saint John the Baptist several years later was accompanied by miracles that vividly impressed the popular imagination. The inhabitants of Judea asked themselves with admiration: "What will become of this child whose arrival in this world is hailed by so many prodigies? What, then, will this child be?" The sublime mission of Mary far surpassed that of the Precursor. Yet, nothing extraordinary indicated to the multitudes that she who was promised to sinful man immediately after the fall and whom the prophets had announced throughout the centuries was born. In fact, the Immaculate Virgin was born amid universal indifference. According to certain traditions, no one in the small town of Nazareth where Saints Joachim and Anne lived paid heed to the new arrival. Although the blood of David flowed in her veins, her family had fallen from its ancient splendor. Who noticed these impoverished people? Anne and Joachim had been childless for many years, but the Lord had at last answered their prayers. They saw their daughter Mary as the measure of His celestial goodness to them. Little did th- By Fr. Thomas de Saint-Laurent - www.americaneedsfatima.orgey suspect, however, the veritable treasures the Most High had instilled in the soul of their child. They could not have imagined the wonder of her Immaculate Conception. They did not realize that the Mother of the Redeemer lay in their loving arms. The Jews of the time were plunged in discouragement. The voice of the prophets had not been heard for years. Having lost their political freedom, they believed Providence had abandoned them. It was then that the hidden work of infinite Mercy began to be accomplished in their midst. These facts speak for themselves and teach us an obvious lesson. Would that the obscurity of Our Lady's birth teaches us to make little of human greatness! Let us keep a Christian perspective of indifference toward the fleeting vanities that Christ Himself shunned in His Mother's birth. Were these important, surely He would not have refused them to His mother.
This great mystery also teaches us never to lose heart. The Immaculate Mother came into the world at a time when the Jews had lost hope. Indeed, they thought all was lost. Let us reap the benefit of this lesson. We often become discouraged when, calling on heaven to assist us, our request is not immediately granted. Sometimes God waits until we are on the brink of the abyss before extending His hand of mercy. So, let us not become discouraged and cease praying! The Almighty will intervene at the very moment when we believe ourselves completely abandoned. If we have confidence—an unlimited supply of confidence—we will be greatly rewarded! Saint Thomas of Villanova explained in a sermon that Mary is the heavenly dawn, not only for the world, but especially for each individual soul. He recalled the great truth taught by Catholic tradition that a soul imbued with devotion to the Blessed Virgin carries within it the sign of predestination. Do you firmly desire to be saved from final damnation? Then faithfully honor Mary. Do you wish to guarantee the salvation of those who are dear to you? Obtain from them the promise that they not fail to recite some prayer to Mary every day. Catholic Tradition states that a servant of Our Lady cannot perish: Servus Mariae non peribit. He will forever sing the mercy of Jesus and of His holy Mother. PATRON: All people named Mary, in any form. PRAYER: Impart to your servants, we pray, O Lord, the gift of heavenly grace, that the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin may bring deeper peace to those for whom the birth of her Son was the dawning of salvation. 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. OUR LADY OF VELANKANNI (GOOD HEALTH) Annai Velangkanni is from the Tamil language where “Annai” means Mother and “Velangkanni” comes from the name of a village in coastal Tamil Nadu (South India), namely Velankanni (the British colonial masters spelled it as Vailankanni), a village that is believed to be where the Virgin Mary appeared in the 16th century. The Indonesians pronounced “Velankanni” as in “Velangkanni” and hence was adopted as the official spelling of the Shrine to distinguished it from the shrine in Tamil Nadu, India. So in Indonesia Annai Velankanni Arokia Matha (Lady of Good Health) is known as Bunda Velangkanni Bunda Penyembuh Orang Sakit. Although the devotion to Annai Velangkanni has its origin in the village of Velangkanni, Indonesians are now beginning to called her as the Annai Velangkanni of Tanjung Selamat (the Bay of Salvation). The Basilica of Annai Velankanni in Tamilnadu (India) is built in the Gothic style and its founding is attributed to the two apparitions of Our Lady in the 16th century and the saving of the Portuguese sailors from a tempest in the Bay of Bengal in the later 17th century. THE FIRST APPARITION first apparitionThe first apparition is said to have occurred in the mid-sixteen century, when a local Hindu shepherd boy was performing his usual duty of carrying milk from Vailankanni to his master at Nagapattinam. Despite the morning freshness, fatigue overcame him as he was passing by a water pond at the Anna Pillai street at Vailankanni. Placing the milk-pot under a Banyan tree by the water pond, the boy fell into an unusual slumber, only to be startled to his feet by the sweet vision of a beautiful Lady holding in her hand a most charming child of divine appearance. As the boy was still taken by surprise, the Lady asked for some milk for her child which the boy then reverently offered. On reaching the master's home, the boy apologized for his lateness and the reduced amount of milk by relating the incident that occurred on his way. The impatient master did not believe the story of the boy. But to the greater astonishment of all present, the milk began to surge over the pot and flow out. Realizing that something miraculous had happened, the master, wanting to see the place where the apparition occurred, accompanied the boy to the place. When they reached the place, Our Lady appeared once again to the boy, but the master could only see a bright glittering light. The master and others began to believe in her appearance and the place where the apparition took place began to be called Matha Kulam (Our Lady's Tank).THE SECOND APPARITION second apparitionThe construction of a chapel in honour of Our Blessed mother is attributed to the second apparition, not the first. The second apparition is said to have happened a couple of years later, where a poor widow and her lame son lived in Vailankanni. Every day the lame boy used to sit under a banyan tree at a place called Nadu Thittu (central mound) and sell buttermilk to the thirsty wayfarers. One day, a very bright light appeared in front of him and from amidst the light, a Lady of peerless grace with a divine Child in her arms, asked the boy for a cup of buttermilk and the boy complied. Then She directed him to go and inform a certain wealthy Catholic man in the nearby town of Nagapattinam of her appearance and put up a Chapel in her name on the spot of her apparition. The boy realized that his legs had become normal upon the word from the Lady. With great joy, he ran to Nagapattinam to carry out the errand. On reaching Nagapattinam, the boy narrated to the gentleman of the apparition. He informed the gentleman that she had sent him as her emissary to ask him to build a chapel in her honor in Vailankanni. The gentleman had little doubt in believing the lad as he himself had a similar vision of Our Lady in his sleep the previous night, bidding him build a chapel in her honor. With the willing cooperation of the people of that locality whose enthusiasm had been kindled by the miraculous healing of the widow's crippled son, the Catholic gentleman of Nagapattinam soon put up a small thatched chapel at Vailankanni. An altar was erected in the chapel and a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Vailankanni holding the Infant Jesus in her arms, was placed on the altar. This Nadu Thittu chapel marked the humble beginning of the Shrine of Our Lady of Vailankanni and became a holy place of veneration to Our Blessed mother and She was called henceforth Arokia Matha (Mother of Good Health). THE THIRD INCIDENT The third incident occurred in the 17th century, when a Portuguese merchant vessel was caught in a giant storm in the Bay of Bengal as it was sailing from Macao in China to Colombo in Ceylon. The helpless sailors, then at the point of desolation, prayed fervently and invoked the help of the Blessed Virgin under her title Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) to save them. They vowed to build a Church in her name, wherever they could land on. The stormy sea became calm. Their ship landed near the shore of Vailankanni on the 8th September, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady. Fulfilling their vow, the Portuguese sailors transformed the thatched Chapel erected by the catholic gentleman of Nagapattinam into a beautiful stone-built Chapel. On their next visit, they decorated the Altar with porcelain plates, illustrating biblical themes. These plates giving testimony to their thanksgiving to Our Lady, are seen even today around the throne of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Health, over the main altar of the Shrine Basilica. From that time the Feast of Our Lady of Good Health is celebrated every year preceded by hoisting of the flag on August 29th. Although all three apparitions ultimately resulted in the erection of a shrine to our Lady, it was the promise of the Portuguese sailors that was the proximate cause of a permanent edifice being built at Vailankanni.
A PILGRIMAGE CENTER More than 400 years later, the eleven-day festival and celebration from 29 August to 8 September with the culmination on the Feast Day of September 8th is still observed and draws nearly 3 million pilgrims each year. The Shrine of Our Lady of Vailankanni is one of the most frequented religious sites in India, where Hindus, Muslims and Christian from all over India congregate in large numbers and worship in harmony. Hundreds of miraculous cures are reported every year. Centuries of devotion to Mother Mary both by Hindus and Christians have evolved an amalgamation of practices borrowing elements from both religions. Amongst these include the practice of tonsuring their heads as an offering and also perform ear-boring ceremony, bathing in the sea, walking on knees or rolling in the shrine as a ritual. It is also common to find traditions of offering a candle in the shape of the respective ailment – a heart in case of cardiac complications, a liver in case of jaundice, lungs in case of tuberculosis and so on. In case of the ailment getting cured, many bring with them small gold and silver replicas of parts of the body that has been cured to donate to the church. LOURDES OF THE EAST The apparitions of the Blessed Mother Mary in the 16th century in Vailankanni, India and in course of time God had sanctified the place through innumerable miracles through Mary's powerful intercession to become a national and international center of pilgrimage for the past three centuries. True to the immortal wisdom and the persuasive words of Gamaliel, a Jewish expert in Law to the Sanhedrin, which wanted to nip Christianity in its bud, ” …. If this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourself fighting against God… (Acts. 5:38) “, devotions to Annai Velangkanni have proved it to be of divine origin. His Holiness Pope John the XXIII, raised the Shrine to the status of ‘Basilica' on the 3rd November 1962 and called it the “Lourdes of the East”. The apparitions of Our Lady, the Miraculous statue of Our Lady, the countless miracles, the magnificent architecture and beauty of the Shrine, were the motives for this Shrine to become a Basilica. PRAYER: O Mary! Our Mother of Health and Our Heavenly Queen, seated on your throne of mercy and compassion in your Holy Shrine at Vailankanni, we praise and honor you to be our refuge and our relief. Numerous are the sick who through you have recovered health. Relying on your power and goodness, we fly to you and implore you to heal our infirmities and to obtain for us perfect health of body and soul, that we may better be able to serve you and your Divine Son. At all times you have been the help and consolation of the sick. You obtain for them health, when it is conducive to their salvation. You assist them at time of their death. Help them O Most amiable Mother and obtain for us cure from all our sufferings, or patience to endure them in the spirit of resignation agreeable to God's Holy Will, so that all our trials and sufferings may help to purify our souls and help us to detach ourselves from earthly ties. Amen.
