Blessed John of Vercelli: 6th Dominican Master

 

Blessed John of Vercelli: Dominican Friar, Priest, Master of the Order, pray for us!

Continuing my articles on the Masters of the Dominican Order, we arrive at the 6th Dominican Master: Blessed John of Vercelli.  Blessed John governed the order after Blessed Humbert of Romans resigned his position due to failing health.  Blessed John governed the Order of Preachers from 1264 - 1283 AD. 

For a quick recap on the previous Masters of the Order, please click here.

Concerning Blessed John, Fr. Gabriel Gillen wrote a concise yet inspiring overview of his life.  That summary is as follows:

John was a native of Vercelli and qualified at Paris as a doctor both of civil and canon law. While he was carrying out this office at Vercelli, encouraged by the Master General Jordan, he entered the Order of Preachers. Later he founded a convent there, which he also governed as prior. Afterwards, while most religiously ruling the Province of Lombardy, he was in the year 1264 elected as sixth Master General of the Order. Austere with himself, gentle towards others, he quickly visited nearly all the Order’s convents in Europe, and for almost twenty years labored fruitfully and attentively for the good of the whole Order. Furthermore, he made out an agenda for the Second Council of Lyons and at the request of Pope Gregory X zealously propagated the practice of showing reverence to the name of Jesus. John strenuously upheld the reputation and teaching of Thomas Aquinas. Averse to honors and unremitting in his work, he died peacefully at Montpellier. The devotion shown to him from time immemorial was confirmed by Pius X.

It should further be mentioned that Blessed John, when joining the Dominican Order, was received by Blessed Jordan of Saxony, the 2nd Master of the Order, early after the Order's formation.  After becoming a friar, he was transferred to Bologna, Italy where he studied History and the Theology of the Order before being ordained a priest in 1229.  He went on to be an exquisite preacher throughout Bologna.

It was upon his return to Vercelli in 1232 that he established a Dominican Priory and served as its Superior.  While in northern Italy, he fought many heresies and became the friend of King St. Louis IX of France and of St. Thomas Aquinas.  Reflecting on our Lord's words in the Beatitudes praising peacemakers, Blessed John shined as a brilliant peacemaker between Venice and the Papal States during this period.

It was then in 1264 he became the Master General of the illustrious Order founded by St. Dominic.  As Master General, he insured uniform liturgical celebrations throughout the Order and also served at the Papal Court of Pope Clement IV.  After the death of Pope Clement, and upon learning that he was being considered to fill the shoes of the Pope, Blessed John fled the city in humility.  Thus, Pope Gregory X was elected instead.

According to tradition, during the translation of the relics of Saint Dominic in 1267, when the body was exposed to view, the head was seen to turn towards Blessed John. Embarrassed, John moved to another part of the church, giving his place to a cardinal. The head of Saint Dominic was seen by all to turn again toward John.

While still Master of the Order of Preachers, in 1274, Blessed John founded what would eventually become the Confraternity of the Most Holy Name of God and Jesus (Holy Name Society).  In 1278, he was appointed the Archbishop of Jerusalem, but he was released from this responsibility after pleading for it on account of his ill health and advanced age. 

At last on November 30, 1283, Blessed John passed from this life to the next in Montpelier, France due to natural causes.  He was buried at the Dominican convent there but in 1562, the Calvinist heretics desecrated the Church and his body was lost.  It was in 1903 that Pope St. Pius X beatified him.

Prayer:    

God of power and mercy, you made Blessed John an outstanding promoter of the order of Preachers. By his remarkable zeal, his wonderful prudence and his courage, and with the help of his prayers may your family always and everywhere be governed by beneficial rule. 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. – General Calendar of the Order of Preachers 

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Pope St. Victor I

SemiDouble (1954 Calendar): July 28

Next in the continuing series of posts on the History of the Sovereign Pontiffs, we pick up after Pope St. Eleuterus and come to the 14th Sovereign Pontiff: Pope St. Victor I.

St. Victor, who reigned as the Supreme Pontiff from 189 until 199 AD, was born in Africa.  In fact, St. Victor is the first Pope to have been of African origin.  It was St. Victor who made Latin the official language of the Roman Catholic Church.

St. Victor was a favorite of the mistress of the Emperor Commodus, and his good relationship with her allowed him to present to her lists of imprisoned Christians.  Through her power, she was able to secure their releases.  Yet, his reign was not without its difficulties.  As stated online:

During his reign, he excommunicated several bishops for celebrating Easter on 14 Nisan.   Prior to his elevation, a difference in dating the celebration of the Christian Passover/Easter between Rome and the bishops of Asia Minor had been tolerated by both the Roman and Eastern churches. The churches in Asia Minor celebrated it on the 14th of the Jewish month of Nisan, the day before Jewish Passover, regardless of what day of the week it fell on, as the Crucifixion had occurred on the Friday before Passover, justifying this as the custom they had learned from the apostles; for this the Latins called them Quartodecimans.

Synods were held on the subject in various parts—in Palestine under Theophilus of Caesarea and Narcissus of Jerusalem, in Pontus under Palmas, in Gaul under Irenaeus, in Corinth under its bishop, Bachillus, at Osrhoene in Mesopotamia, and elsewhere—all of which disapproved of this practice and consequently issued by synodical letters declaring that "on the Lord's Day only the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord from the dead was accomplished, and that on that day only we keep the close of the paschal fast" (Eusebius H. E. v. 23). St. Irenaeus of Lyons criticized St. Victor's severity at times. 

Accounts also show that Victor excommunicated Theodotus of Byzantium for teaching that Christ was a mere man.  Yet, St. Victor remained steadfast and stern as he faced great threats to the True Faith from both Gnosticism and Monarchianism. 

In 199, St. Victor I ultimately suffered martyrdom under Septimus Severus.  All in all, St. Victor fought for the True Faith and strongly condemned heresies strongly for the uniformity of the Church.

St. Victor, pray for us!  All You Holy Popes, pray for us!

Collect:

Defend us, O Lord, through the blessed martyrdom of Your saints Nazarius, Celsus, Victor, and Innocent, and may their merits support us in our weakness. Through our Lord . . .

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Commemoration of St. Sabbas

Commemoration (1954 Calendar): December 5

Besides a feria day in Advent, today is the Commemoration of St. Sabbas the Abbot.

The website TRADITIONAL LATIN MASS PROPERS IN ENGLISH says of St. Sabbas: "When Sabbas (439-532), a native of Cappadocia, was twenty years old, he became a disciple of the great solitary, St. Euthymius, in the Judean wilderness. On the death of Euthymius, Sabbas was made leader of the solitaries by the appointment of the patriarch of Jerusalem. Several times he left his loved solitude to intervene with the Emperors of the East for the liberty and welfare of the Church. Venerated for his holiness, Sabbas died on December 5, 532 A.D., at the age of 93."

Collect:

Let the Blessed abbot Sabbas intercede for us, O Lord. May his prayers win us Your help, since our own actions cannot merit it. Through Our Lord . . .

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Spiritual Communion for the Divorced & Remarried: Is it Possible?

This relevant and timely article is taken from the website of the Society of St. Pius X:

Teaching of Trent

We begin with the Council of Trent, which explains the tri-fold distinction concerning reception of Holy Communion:

One may receive only sacramentally because they are sinners. Others receive it only spiritually; they are the ones who, receiving in desire the heavenly bread put before them, with a living faith ‘working through love’ (Gal. 5:6), experience its fruit and benefit from it. The third group receive it both sacramentally and spiritually (can. 8); they are the ones who examine and prepare themselves beforehand to approach this divine table, clothed in the wedding garment (cf. Matt. 22:11f ).”

The State of Grace is Needed for Communion

Like all Christians, the divorced and remarried must imperatively be in the state of grace in order to receive Communion both sacramentally and spiritually. If this is not the case, they must first recover the state of grace by going to confession with true contrition.

State of Mortal Sin

By establishing a life together and having intimate relations although at least one of them is bound by a valid sacramental marriage, the divorced and remarried enter into a counterfeit marriage. Not satisfied with sinning by adultery in act – which was already reproved by the Old Law (Ex. 20:14) – and in thought – which Jesus Christ sternly blamed (Matt. 5:28) –, they turn this sin into a stable and permanent condition of life. The state of mortal sin that results from this is the consequence that makes it impossible for them to receive the Eucharist worthily, unless they first purify their conscience through the sacrament of Penance.

Firm Purpose Not to Sin

Contrition – the necessary preliminary to a valid absolution – requires of the divorced and remarried not only sorrow for their past sins, but also the firm purpose to sin no more. Concretely, this means that they must, without delay, put an end to their life together and to their intimate relations, which ordinarily constitute near and free occasions of sin. If they do not accomplish these necessary changes, their contrition is only apparent, the absolution invalid, and the confession sacrilegious. Obviously, partaking of Holy Communion in such a condition would only make their situation worse.

Which Separation?

Per se, the divorced and remarried have an obligation to separate, for living together places them in a near and free occasion of sin.

Per accidens, their life together can and must be tolerated when they have grave obligations in justice towards the children born of their union. Although in a near and necessary occasion of sin due to the fact that they live together, they must nonetheless without delay put an end to all intimate relations. Separate bedrooms, which will allow them to live as brother and sister, are an indispensible condition for the absolution of their sins. Making this requirement concrete will appear to them as an unequivocal sign of their return to God and their effective ability to receive His pardon.

If their condition as divorced and remarried is unknown to the community to which they belong, there is nothing to hinder them from receiving Communion publicly. That is to say, their reception of the Eucharist will not cause a public scandal or appear as an affront to faith and morals. However, If this is not the case, the fact that the couple have children together may lead others to believe the couple continues to have intimate relations. In such circumstances, their public reception of Communion may cause scandal and they should therefore be encouraged to make frequent acts of Spiritual Communion. It should be up to the discretion of the couple's priest when and if they should be given Communion privately.

Same Requirements for Sacramental and Spiritual Communion

However, this counsel is not suitable for those who are not in the state of grace, either because they continue to live together when they can and must separate, or because they continue to have intimate relations when their life together is tolerated for serious reasons. Indeed, the dispositions of soul required to draw profit from Communion – faith and charity - are identical whether the Communion be spiritual or sacramental. This is confirmed by Fr. Felix Capello, S.J. in his Tractatus Canonico-Moralis: “[H]e who is in mortal sin” must at least “repent in his heart if he wishes to spiritually communicate profitably." This is further supported by Fr. Francis D. Costa, S.S.S., in his study, "Nature and Effects of Spiritual Communion," from the Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America in 1958: "The person [making an act of Spiritual Communion] must be in the state of grace, since this is a necessary condition for Holy Communion, and also because this desire is essentially an act of love of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament."

Conclusion

Even though divorced and remarried couples who have not repented would find no merit in acts of Spiritual Communion, it is still praiseworthy to instill in them an ardent desire for receiving the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. Such persons should be reminded in charity that they place their immortal souls in grave danger by continuing to live in sin. So long as they persist in their sin, they cannot properly partake of Communion; to do so would place their Salvation in even greater peril.

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St. Peter Chrysologus

Double (1954 Calendar): December 4

St. Peter Chrysologus (which means "The Man of Golden Speech) is an illustrious Doctor of the Church known for his eloquent sermons.  Two hundred of his sermons still remain.  St. Peter was the Archbishop of Ravenna, meaning made such after a miraculous intervention.  He worked to eradicate all remaining traces of paganism in his land as well as all abuses among the Christians.  He is famous for his phrase: "He who wants to laugh with the devil cannot rejoice with Christ."

The St. Benedict Center writes of him: "Saint Peter Chrysologus was only forty-four years old when he died. Yet he has been declared one of the thirty-two Doctors of the Catholic Church. His name Chrysologus means golden speech. All his sermons are in the clear, simple, authoritative style of Our Lord when He preached to the Apostles and told them how to preach to others. Saint Peter Chrysologus was the Archbishop of Ravenna in Italy. He was one of the great crusaders for frequent Holy Communion among the faithful."

Today is also the Commemoration of St. Barbara, the glorious virgin and martyr.

Traditional Matins Reading:

Peter, surnamed, for his golden eloquence, Chrysologus, was born at Forum Cornelii (Imola) in Æmilia, of respectable parents. Turning his mind to religion from his childhood, he put himself under Cornelius, the bishop of that city, who was a Roman, In a short while he made such progress in learning and holiness of life, that, in due time, the bishop ordained him deacon. Not long after, it happened that the archbishop of Ravenna having died, the inhabitants of that city sent, as usual, to Rome the successor they had elected, that this election might be confirmed by the holy Pope Sixtus III. Cornelius, who was also sent in company with the deputies of Ravenna, took with him the young deacon. Meanwhile, the apostle Saint Peter, and the holy martyr Apollinaris, appeared to the Roman Pontiff in his sleep. They stood with the young levite between them, and ordered the Pontiff to create him, and none other, archbishop of Ravenna. The Pontiff, therefore, no sooner saw Peter than he recognized him as the one chosen by God; and rejecting the one presented to him, he appointed Peter to the metropolitan Church of that city, in the year of our Lord 433. At first, the deputies from Ravenna were dissatisfied at this decision of the Pope; but, having been told of the vision, they readily acquiesced in the divine will, and received the new archbishop with the greatest reverence.

Peter, therefore, being, though reluctant, consecrated archbishop, was conducted to Ravenna, where he was received with the greatest joy by the emperor Valentinian, and Galla Placidia the emperor’s mother, and the whole people. On his part, he told them that he asked of them but this, that since he had not refused this great burden for their salvation’s sake, they would make it their study to follow his counsels, and to obey the commandments of God. He then buried in the city the bodies of two saints, after having embalmed them with the most precious perfumes; Barbatian, a priest, was one; and the other, Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, whose cowl and hair-shirt he claimed as his own inheritance. He ordained Projectus and Marcellinus bishops. In the town of Classis he erected a fountain of an incredible size, and built some magnificent churches in honour of several saints, of Saint Andrew among the rest. The people had a custom of assisting at certain games, on the first day of January, which consisted of theatrical performances and dances; the saint repressed these by the severity with which he preached against them. One of his expressions deserves to be handed down: He that would play with the devil, can never enjoy the company of Jesus. At the command of Pope St. Leo I., he wrote to the Council of Chalcedon against the heresy of Eutyches. He answered Eutyches himself by another epistle, which has been added to the acts of that same Council in the new editions, and has been inserted in the ecclesiastical annals.

In his sermons to the people he was so earnest, that at times his voice completely failed him, as in his sermon on the woman healed by our Lord, as mentioned in the ninth chapter of St. Matthew; on which occasion his people of Ravenna were so affected, and so moved to tears, that the whole church rang with their sobbings and prayers, and the saint afterwards thanked God that he had turned the failure of his speech into the gain of so much love. After having governed that Church, in a most holy manner, about eighteen years, and having received a divine warning that his labours were soon to end, he withdrew to his native town. There he visited the church of St Cassian, and presented an offering of a largo golden diadem, set with most precious stones, which he placed upon the high altar: he also gave a golden cup, and a silver paten, which imparts to water poured on it the virtue of healing the bites of mad dogs, and of assuaging fevers, as frequent instances have attested. He then took leave of those who had accompanied him from Ravenna, admonishing them to spare no pains in electing for their pastor him who was the most worthy. Immediately after this he turned in humble prayer to God, that, through the intercession of his patron St. Cassian, he would mercifully receive his soul; and calmly passed out of this life, on the third of the Nones of December (Dec. 3), about the year 450. His holy body was buried, amidst the tears and prayers of the whole city, near the body of the same St. Cassian: there it is venerated even at this day; though Ravenna possesses and venerates one of the arms, which was enshrined in gold and gems and placed in the basilica Ursicana.

Collect:

 O God, You miraculously chose the blessed and illustrious doctor Peter Chrysologus to rule and instruct Your Church. Grant that he who on earth was our guide along the way of supernatural life may be our intercessor in heaven. Through Our Lord . . .

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St. Francis Xavier: True Jesuit Missionary

Greater Double (1954 Calendar): December 3

St. Francis Xavier is truly the modern apostle.  He was born in Spanish Navarre in 1506 and in 1528, he met St. Ignatius of Loyola.  He became one of the seven in 1534 who founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order).  In 1536, he left the University of Paris and joined St. Ignatius in Venice.  He was ordained in 1537, and in 1540 after the Society was recognized by the Pope, he journeyed to the Far East.  Francis Xavier first evangelized the Portuguese colony of Goa in India, then Travancore, Ceylon, Malacca, and the surrounding islands. From there he journeyed to Japan, where he gave Christianity such deep roots that it survived centuries of violent persecution. He died on Sancian Island in 1552, while he was seeking to penetrate into the great forbidden land of China.

Despite language problems, lack of funds, resistance from the Europeans as well as the natives, he persevered.  St. Francis converted more people in his life than anyone since the Apostle St. Paul.  He baptized over 3 million people, converted the entire town of Goa in India, and he labored in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan. He is truly a missionary par excellence.

St. Francis Xavier, patron saint of missionaries, pray for our missionaries to succeed in winning souls.

Taken From THE LITURGICAL YEAR, by Dom Guéranger OSB:

The apostles being the heralds of the coming of the Messias, it was fitting that Advent should have in its calendar the name of some one among them. Divine Providence has provided for this;  . . . But God has not wished that the first apostolate should be the only one to appear on the first page of the liturgical calendar; great also, though in a lower degree, is the glory of that second apostolate, whereby the bride of Jesus Christ multiplies her children, even in her fruitful old age, as the psalmist expresses it. [Ps. xci. 15] There are Gentiles who have still to be evangelized; the coming of the Messias is far from having been announced to all nations. Now of all the valiant messengers of the Divine Word who have, during the last few hundred years, proclaimed the good tidings among infidel nations, there is not one whose glory is greater, who has worked greater wonders, or who has shown himself a closer imitator of the first Apostles, than the modern apostle of the Indies, St. Francis Xavier.

The life and apostolate of this wonderful man were a great triumph for our mother the holy Catholic Church; for St. Francis came just at a period when heresy, encouraged by false learning, by political intrigues, by covetousness, and by all the wicked passions of the human heart, seemed on the eve of victory. Emboldened by all these, this enemy of God spoke, with the deepest contempt, of that ancient Church which rested on the promises of Jesus Christ; it declared that she was unworthy of the confidence of men, and dared even to call her the harlot of Babylon, as though the vices of her children could taint the purity of the mother. God's time came at last, and He showed Himself in His power: the garden of the Church suddenly appeared rich in the most admirable fruits of sanctity. Heroes and heroines issued from that apparent barrenness; and whilst the pretended reformers showed themselves to be the most wicked of men, two countries, Italy and Spain, gave to the world the most magnificent Saints.

One of these is brought before us today, claiming our love and our praise. The calendar of the liturgical year will present to us, from time to time, his contemporaries and his companions in Divine grace and heroic sanctity. The sixteenth century is, therefore, worthy of comparison with any other age of the Church. The so-called reformers of those times gave little proof of their desire to convert infidel countries, when their only zeal was to bury Christianity beneath the ruin of her churches. But at that very time, a society of apostles was offering itself to the Roman Pontiff, that he might send them to plant the true faith among people who were sitting in the thickest shades of death. But, we repeat, not one of these holy men so closely imitated the first Apostles as did Francis, the disciple of Ignatius. He had all the marks and labours of an apostle: an immense world of people evangelized by his zeal, hundreds of thousands of infidels Baptized by his indefatigable ministration, and miracles of every kind, which proved him, to the infidel, to be marked with the sign which they received who, living in the flesh, planted the Church, as the Church speaks in her liturgy. So that, in the sixteenth century, the east received from the ever holy city of Rome an apostle, who, by his character and his works, resembled those earlier ones sent her by Jesus Himself. May our Lord Jesus be for ever praised for having vindicated the honour of the Church, His bride, by raising up Francis Xavier, and giving to men, in this His servant, a representation of what the first Apostles were, whom He sent to preach the Gospel when the whole world was pagan.

Tradtional Matins Reading:

Francis was born of noble parents, at Xavier, in the diocese of Pampelona. Having gone to Paris, he there became the companion and disciple of Saint Ignatius. Under such a master, he arrived at so high a contemplation of Divine things, as to be sometimes raised above the ground: which occasionally happened to him whilst saying Mass before crowds of people. He had merited these spiritual delights by his several mortifications of the body; for he never allowed himself either flesh meat, or wine, or even wheaten bread, and ate only the coarsest food; he not infrequently abstained, for the space of two or three days, from every sort of nourishment. He scourged himself so severely with disciplines, to which were fastened pieces of iron, as to be frequently covered with blood. His sleep, which he took on the ground, was extremely short.

Such austerity and holiness of life had fitted him for the labours of an apostle; so that when John III, king of Portugal, asked of Paul III that some of the newly-founded Society might be sent to the Indies, that Pontiff, by the advice of St. Ignatius, selected Francis for so important a work, and gave him the powers of apostolic nuncio. Having reached those parts, he was found to be, on a sudden, divinely gifted with the knowledge of the exceedingly difficult and varied languages of the several countries. It sometimes even happened, that whilst he was preaching in one language to the people of several nations, each heard him speaking in their own tongue. He traveled over innumerable provinces, always on foot, and not infrequently bare-footed. He carried the faith into Japan, and six other countries. He converted to Christ many hundred thousands in the Indies, and Baptized several princes and kings. And yet, though he was doing such great things for God, he was so humble, that he never wrote to St. Ignatius, then General of the Society [the Jesuits], but on his knees.

God blessed this zeal for the diffusion of the Gospel by many and extraordinary miracles. The Saint restored sight to a blind man. By the Sign of the Cross he changed sea-water into fresh, sufficient for many days, for a crew of five hundred men, who were dying from thirst. This water was afterwards taken into several countries, and being given to sick people, they were instantly cured. He raised several dead men to life; one of these had been buried on the previous day, so that the corpse had to be taken out of the grave; two others were being carried to the grave, when the Saint took him by the hand, and, raising them from the bier, restored them to their parents. Being continually gifted with the spirit of prophecy, he foretold many future events, or such as were happening in most distant parts. At length, full of merit, and worn out by his labours, he died on the second day of December, in Sancian, an island off the coast of China. His corpse was twice buried in unslaked lime, but was found, after several months, to be incorrupt: blood flowed from it, and it exhaled a pleasing fragrance: when it was brought to Malacca, it instantly arrested a raging pestilence. At length, fresh and extraordinary miracles being everywhere wrought through the intercession of the man of God, he was enrolled among the Saints by Gregory XV; and Pope Pius X declared him heavenly patron of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and its work.

Collect:

O God, Who wast pleased to gather into Thy Church the nations of the Indies by the preaching and miracles of blessed Francis, mercifully grant that we, who venerate his glorious merits, may also imitate the example of his virtues. Through our Lord...

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Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

 

The Sacred Medal of Mary Immaculate is a Sacramental in honor of the Virgin Mary often called as simply the "Miraculous" Medal for the many miracles associated with those that wear it.

St. Catherine Laboure was born in 1806 on a farm in northern France. In 1829 she entered a convent of the Sisters of Charity, an order of nuns who primarily work as hospital nurses. One day as she and her sisters were in the chapel doing their evening meditation, she saw a vision of a beautiful Lady standing upon a globe, with rings with gemstones upon her fingers that shed a bright light down upon the globe, and she knew it was Our Lady. The Blessed Virgin told her “these rays symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them. The gems from which rays do not fall are the graces for which souls forget to ask.” Catherine then saw written around her in letters of gold the words “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” Catherine was then told, “Have a Medal struck after this model. All who wear it will receive great graces; they should wear it around the neck. Graces will abound for persons who wear it with confidence.”

St. Catherine described the medal to her spiritual director and the first few were made under his direction, for she wished her own identity to remain secret. Although the Medal became instantly popular throughout the world, the identity of Sister Catherine was successfully hidden from the public for forty-six years, despite constant attempts to discover the visionary. Many miracles were soon reported by people who had worn the medal and recited the prayer, especially conversions and cures of those hopelessly sick, which led to its being named “The Miraculous Medal.” But during all this time, Catherine remained at her hospital, working as an obscure nurse. She died in 1876 and was canonized in 1947 by Pope Pius XII.

One of the most famous conversions due to the miraculous medal was that of Alphonse Ratisbonne, an anti-Catholic Jewish banker. He received a vision of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. After his conversion, he became a priest and worked for the conversion of the Jewish people.

Another famous conversion occurred in 1942 when Claude Newman, a poor African American man from Mississippi was sent to prison for murder. One night during a quarrel with his cellmates, a Miraculous Medal was thrown down by someone, and Claude picked it up. That night, he awoke to a touch on the wrist, and saw a beautiful Lady standing near, who said “If you would like me to be your mother, and you would like to be my child, send for a priest of the Catholic Church.” He awoke the prison shouting for a priest, and asked to take religious instruction when one came. The priest was amazed, in the course of this instruction, to find that this illiterate young man had already been instructed in many things by some unknown person. Claude reminded the priest of a secret vow that he had made to Our Lady while lying in a ditch during the Second World War that remained unfulfilled. Claude amazed everyone who knew him by the change that had come over him, desiring death so that he could be united with God, and offering his death for the conversion of another prisoner who hated him. He asked for a party with the other prisoners to celebrate his own execution, and went to his death “beaming with happiness.”

You may request free, already blessed Miraculous Medals from St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary. Besides providing much of the above information, their website also reminds us:

"The two main effects of a sacramental are to cleanse venial (lesser) sins by disposing the heart to sorrow for sin, and to help in overcoming temptations. A sacramental is not a good luck charm, or some kind of get-into-heaven free card. Rather, it is a link between earth and heaven, a physical manifestation of the spiritual reality of God’s love for us, and for the intercession of His Mother. Like a locket that contains the picture of our mother, the Miraculous Medal reminds us of her, and helps us to call on her and speak to her when we are in trouble. And because God wants us to use physical sacramentals to remind ourselves of spiritual realities, he grants his grace in a special way to those who use them in this way."

November 27th is the Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Some Places. The Catholic Encyclopedia states:

"On 23 July, 1894, Pope Leo XIII, after a careful examination of all the facts by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, instituted a feast, with a special Office and Mass, of the Manifestation of the Immaculate Virgin under the title of the Miraculous Medal, to be celebrated yearly on 27 November by the Priests of the Congregation of the Mission, under the rite of a double of the second class. For ordinaries and religious communities who may ask the privilege of celebrating the festival, its rank is to be that of a double major feast. A further decree, dated 7 September, 1894, permits any priest to say the Mass proper to the feast in any chapel attached to a house of the Sisters of Charity."

Traditional Propers:

INTROIT
Exodus 13:9
It shall be a sign in thy hand, and as a memorial before thine eyes, and that the law of the Lord be always in thy mouth. (Ps. 104: 1) O give thanks unto the Lord, and call upon His name: tell forth His deeds among the nations. v. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

COLLECT - O Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast willed that the most blessed Virgin Mary, Thy mother, sinless from the first moment of her conception, should be glorified by countless miracles: grant that we, who never cease from imploring her patronage, may attain in the end to eternal happiness. Who livest and reignest, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God,

EPISTLE
Apocalypse 12: 1, 5, 14-16
A great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And she brought forth a Man-Child, Who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her Son was taken up to God, and to His throne. And there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the desert unto her place. And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman, water as it were a river: that he might cause her to be carried away by the river. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river, which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

Gradual
Ps. 104: 5, 27
Remember the marvelous works which He hath done: His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth. V. He placed in them the words of His signs: and of His wonders in the land. Alleluia, alleluia. V. (Ps. 18, 7) His going forth is from the topmost Heaven: nor is there any that can hide from His heat. Alleluia.

GOSPEL
John 2: 1-11

At that time there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the Mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and His disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the Mother of Jesus saith to Him: "They have no wine." And Jesus saith to her: "Woman, what is that to Me or to thee? My hour is not yet come." His Mother saith to the waiters: "Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye." Now there were set there six water-pots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to them: "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus said to them: "Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast." And they carried it. And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water: the chief steward calleth the bridegroom, and saith to him: "Every man at first setteth forth good wine: and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now." This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

OFFERTORY
John 19: 27
Jesus said to the disciple, Behold thy Mother. And from that hour the disciple took her for his own.

SECRET -  Moved by the pleading of the blessed Virgin Mary, in answer to whose prayers Jesus Christ Thy Son wrought the first of His miracles: vouchsafe unto us, O Lord God, to minister in cleanness of heart unto the sacrament of the body and blood of the same Thy Son, so as to deserve to sit down to the everlasting banquet of eternity. Through the same Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God

PREFACE (Preface of the Blessed Virgin Mary) - It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God. That on the Festival of the blessed Virgin Mary, we should praise, bless and proclaim Thee. For she conceived Thine only-begotten Son by the over-shadowing of the Holy Ghost; and losing not the glory of her virginity, gave forth to the world the everlasting light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Through whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the Dominions worship it, and the powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the heavenly Hosts, and the blessed Seraphim join together in celebrating their joy. With these we pray Thee join our voices also, while we say with lowly praise:

COMMUNION
Ecclus. 36: 6, 7, 10
 Renew the signs, and work fresh marvels; glorify Thy hand and Thy right arm; hasten the time, and remember the end, and let them declare Thy wondrous works.

POST COMMUNION - O Lord God almighty, Who hast willed that all things should be given to us through the Immaculate Mother of Thy Son: grant that under the protection of this mighty Mother, we may escape all the dangers of these our times, and in the end may come to life everlasting. Through same Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God

BLESSING AND INVESTITURE WITH SACRED MEDAL OF MARY IMMACULATE
Commonly Known as the “Miraculous Medal”

(Formerly reserved to the Congregation of the Missions)

(Approved by the Congregation of Sacred Rites, April 19, 1895)

The priest who is to bless the sacred medal of the Immaculate Conception, vested in surplice and white stole, says:

P: Our help is in the name of the Lord.

All: Who made heaven and earth.

P: The Lord be with you.

All: May He also be with you.

Let us pray: Almighty and merciful God, who by the many appearances on earth of the Immaculate Virgin Mary were pleased to work miracles again and again for the salvation of souls; kindly pour out your blessing on this medal, so that all who devoutly wear it and reverence it may experience the patronage of Mary Immaculate and obtain mercy from you; through Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

The priest sprinkles the medal with holy water, and presents it to the person, saying:

Take this holy medal; wear it with faith, and handle it with due devotion, so that the holy and immaculate Queen of heaven may protect and defend you. And as she is ever ready to renew her wondrous acts of kindness, may she obtain for you in her mercy whatever you humbly ask of God, so that both in life and in death you may rest happily in her motherly embrace.

All: Amen.

The priest continues:

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Our Father (the rest inaudibly until:)

P: And lead us not into temptation.

All: But deliver us from evil.

P: Queen conceived without original sin.

All: Pray for us.

P: Lord, heed my prayer.

All: And let my cry be heard by you.

P: The Lord be with you.

All: May He also be with you.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, who willed that your Mother, the blessed Virgin Mary conceived without sin, should become illustrious through countless miracles; grant that we who ever seek her patronage may finally possess everlasting joys. We ask this of you who live and reign forever and ever.


All: Amen.

O Mary, conceived without sin, Pray for us who have recourse to you.

Daily Miraculous Medal Prayer of St. Maximilian Kolbe

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, and for all who do not have recourse to you, especially the enemies of the Church and those recommended to you.

An Act of Consecration to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

O Virgin Mother of God, Mary Immaculate, we dedicate and consecrate ourselves to you under the title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. May this Medal be for each one of us a sure sign of your affection for us and a constant reminder of our duties toward you. Ever while wearing it, may we be blessed by your loving protection and preserved in the grace of your Son. O most powerful Virgin, Mother of our Savior, keep us close to you every moment of our lives. Obtain for us, your children, the grace of a happy death; so that, in union with you, we may enjoy the bliss of heaven forever.

Amen.

More Information:

• English Translation of the Traditional Prayer Said by the Priest to Bless the Miraculous Medal
• Prayer of Devotion to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal
• How the Miraculous Medal Changed My Life by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

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Blessed Humbert of Romans: 5th Dominican Master

Continuing my articles on the Masters of the Dominican Order, we arrive at the 5th Dominican Master: Blessed Humbert of Romans.  Humbert governed the order from 1254 - 1263 AD.

To recap, the first four Masters of the Order of Preachers were:

1. Our Holy Father St. Dominic
2. Blessed Jordan of Saxony
3. St. Raymond of Penafort 
4. John of Wildeshausen 

Born in Romans-sur-lsere, France in 1190 AD, little is known with certainty of Blessed Humbert's early life.  Blessed Humbert studied canon law at the University of Paris.  On November 30, 1224, Blessed Humbert, known for his piety, joined the Dominican Order, although he had for some time considered following his brother into the Carthusian Order.

After entering the Order of Preachers, Blessed Humbert was appointed as a Lector of Theology at the Dominican Priory in Lyon in 1226, and in 1237 he became prior of that monastery.  Thereafter, in 1240, he was appointed as the Prior Provincial of Tuscany.  In 1244, he returned to France and served as Prior Provincial there succeeding Hugh of Saint-Cher.  Hugh left the position after he was made a Cardinal - the first Dominican Cardinal.

Then, in 1254, Blessed Humbert was elected as the Master General of the Order of Preachers.  His initial work was the re-organization of the Order's Liturgy.  He issued a new edition of the Order's Constitutions and he issued new Constitutions for all nuns.  Blessed Humbert also instituted the collection of information on both St. Dominic and St. Peter of Verona with the intention of using these materials to seek both of their canonizations.

In 1255, he adjudicated a dispute on the Constitution of the Carthusians, and he would in the next year become the godfather of one of the children of St. Louis IX of France.  Blessed Humbert further encouraged the missionary activities of his friars and he encouraged the schools in Spain to teach Oriental languages.

Under his period of rule, the Dominican Order flourished in Italy, Germany, Spain, France, and England. Humbert sent missionaries to the Greeks, Hungarians, Saracens, Armenians, Syrians, Ethiopians, and Tartars. He regulated the liturgy of the Divine Office, determined the suffrages of for the dead, commanded the history of the Order be recorded, and even issued minute decrees concerning the election of superiors, the reading of the Constitutions at meals, the transfer of friars from one house to another and other pertinent regulation.  On the reorgnization of the Liturgy, Fr. Joret writes:

At the Paris Chapter of 1256, Humbert issued to the Order his annual encyclical in which he announced the completion of the liturgical reform. A monumental volume, a masterpiece of Parisian book production in the middle of the thirteenth century, was composed to be the model to which all copies must conform. Deposited at first in the College of St. Jacques de Paris, the most important house of the Order, it is to-day in Rome amongst the general archives of the Friars Preachers. Finally, in 1267 Clement VII gave his approval to our liturgy. Since then it has undergone no important modification. When Pius V in 1570 imposed on the entire Church the breviary and Roman missal, he made an exception for the liturgies which were more than two hundred years old. The Dominican liturgy was one of these.

In 1263, largely on the account of his failing health, Blessed Humbert resigned his position as Master of the Order.  On July 14, 1277, the holy Dominican Master passed from this life to the next.  His feastday is July 14th.  May he soon be declared a saint!

The Dominican Order as it currently exists owes much to the leadership of Blessed Humbert.   One of the great hallmarks of the Dominican Order is its love and focus on studying.  Blessed Humbert was instrumental in the focus on studying as he said, 'Our Order is the first to have thus linked study to the religious life, prius habuit studium cum religione conjunction" (Humbert, Opera, t. II, p. 29). Speaking of the Blessed Virgin, Humbert said, "Our Preacher never cease praising her, blessing her and preaching her when they preach her Son" (Humbert de Romans, Opera, Vol. II, p. 71).

For your edification, please consider reading the "Treatise on Preaching" as written by Blessed Humbert.  The Text is available online by clicking here.

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Feast of St. John of the Cross

“At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.” (St. John of the Cross)

Double (1954 Calendar): November 24

St. John of the Cross was born in 1542 in Spain near the city of Avila.  At the age of 21, he entered the Carmelite Order.  The young St. John felt drawn to the Carthusian Order but he was asked by St. Teresa of Avila to help her in the restoration of the primitive Carmelite Rule of Life.

After John established several monasteries of Discalced Carmelites, those opposed to the reform had him imprisoned at Toledo. During the nine months of his imprisonment, he wrote many of the poems and prose works that have made him one of the foremost authorities on mysticism in the West.

St. John asked God for suffering, and he received an abundance of both physical and spiritual torment right up to his death in 1591. May he pray for us now!

For a complete summary of his life, see my Book Review of Saint John of the Cross by Father Paschasius Heriz.

For a summary of St. John of the Cross' masterpiece "Dark Night of the Soul" please click here. 

Collect:

O God, who blessed the holy confessor and doctor John with a spirit of complete self-denial and a deep love of the cross, grant that we may always follow his example and thus attain to eternal glory. Though Our Lord . . .

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Pope St. Eleuterus

Commemoration (1954 Calendar): May 26

Continuing my series of posts on the History of the Sovereign Pontiffs, I now pick up with the 13th Pope: St. Eleuterus. 

In the year 174, St. Eleuterus succeed Pope St. Soter as the Vicar of Christ after St. Soter suffered martyrdom.  Previously, he served as a Deacon under Pope St. Anicetus. Under his reign, the most notable occurrences included his declared opposition to Gnostics and the Montanists, the sending of Fugatius and Damjan to convert the Britons, and the abrogation of some Jewish dietary customs for Christians.

On St. Eleuterus, the New World Encyclopedia writes:

Eleuterus' most important contribution to church history seems to have been his manner of dealing the Montanism hereasy. At first disposed to tolerate the movement, he was eventually persuaded to condemn it, resulting in the Catholic Church's rejection of prophetic movements in general, as well as solidifying its doctrine that the true teaching authority of the Church resided with the bishops.

The Montanist movement, which originated in Asia Minor, made its way to Rome and Gaul in the second half of the second century, around the reign of Eleuterus. Its peculiar nature, affirming the continuation of Christian prophecy and urging a high standard a piety among its members, made it difficult for Christians to take a decisive stand against it.

According to Tertullian, who himself accepted Montanism in his later years, Eleuterus was at first favorably inclined to this movement, but in the end he rejected it. During the violent persecution of Christians by imperial authorities at Lyon in 177, local confessors wrote from their prison concerning the new movement to the Asiatic and Phrygian communities, and also to Eleuterus as the bishop of Rome. The bearer of the letter to Eleuterus was the presbyter Irenaeus, soon to become bishop of Lyon. It appears from statements of Eusebius concerning these letters that the Christians of Lyon, though opposed to the Montanist movement, advocated patience and pleaded for the preservation of ecclesiastical unity rather than the expulsion of the alleged heretics.

Exactly when the Roman Catholic Church took its definite stand against Montanism is not known with certainty. It would seem from Tertullian's account (adv. Praxeam, I) that a Roman bishop did send some conciliatory letters to the Montanists, but these letters, says Tertullian, were subsequently recalled. The bishop to whom he refers is probably Eleuterus, who long hesitated to anathematize Montanism but eventually declared against them.

Meanwhile, at Rome, the Gnostics and Marcionites continued to preach against the Catholic version of Christianity. The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Eleuterus a decree that no kind of food should be despised by Christians (Et hoc iterum firmavit ut nulla esca a Christianis repudiaretur, maxime fidelibus, quod Deus creavit, quæ tamen rationalis et humana est). Some believe the decree was directed against the Montanists, who often abstained from rich foods. It would also fit with the Church's position against those forms of Christian Gnosticism which practiced vegetarianism, as well as against Jewish Christians who refused to eat non-kosher foods, and even against otherwise orthodox Christians who adhered to the dictum of James in Acts 15:29: "You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals." Some scholars, however, suspect that the decree is anachronistic. In this theory, the writer of the Liber Pontificalis attributed Eleuterus a decree similar to one issued about the year 500.

It is worth remembering the error of Montanism that the Church has condemned:  "The fundamental flaw of Montanism, which it shared with Gnosticism as well as many other heretical movements, was its rejection of the notion of the clergy. Montanus taught 'the Priesthood of the People,' and this was a threat to the existing Church clergy. Much of the history of Christianity has been determined by this repetitive struggle between the clergy of the Church and those who would do away with it" (Early Christian History).  In fact, this same idea has caused the widespread errors of Protestantism in our world as these ideas reject our Divine Lord's establishment of an ordained priesthood.

St. Eleuterus served as the Vicar of Christ until his death in 189.  Pope Eleutherius died on 24 May and was buried on the Vatican Hill (in Vaticano) near the body of St. Peter. Later tradition has his body moved to the church of San Giovanni della Pigna, near the pantheon. In 1591, his remains were again moved to the church of Santa Susanna at the request of Camilla Peretti, the sister of Pope Sixtus V. His feast is celebrated on May 26th.

Like all of the Popes who preceded him, St. Eleuterus was martyred for the True Faith.  We should often call to mind the lives of all of these holy popes and pray for them to intercede for the Church today.  We should also not cease praying for their courage in the face of death and torture.

Collect:

Look forgivingly on thy flock, Eternal Shepherd, and keep it in thy constant protection, by the intercession of blessed Eleutherius thy Martyr and Sovereign Pontiff, whom thou didst constitute Shepherd of the whole Church. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.

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