https://www.youtube.com/@TheBlessedOne-jq3cy
Saint of the Day – November 7 – Saint Didacus
Saint Didacus’ Story (c. 1400 – November 12, 1463)
Didacus is living proof that God “chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”
As a young man in Spain, Didacus joined the Secular Franciscan Order and lived for some time as a hermit. After Didacus became a Franciscan brother, he developed a reputation for great insight into God’s ways. His penances were heroic. He was so generous with the poor that the friars sometimes grew uneasy about his charity.
Didacus volunteered for the missions in the Canary Islands and labored there energetically and profitably. He was also the superior of a friary there.
In 1450, he was sent to Rome to attend the canonization of Saint Bernardine of Siena. When many of the friars gathered for that celebration fell ill, Didacus stayed in Rome for three months to nurse them. After he returned to Spain, he pursued a life of contemplation full-time. He showed the friars the wisdom of God’s ways.
As he was dying, Didacus looked at a crucifix and said: “O faithful wood, O precious nails! You have borne an exceedingly sweet burden, for you have been judged worthy to bear the Lord and King of heaven” (Marion A. Habig, OFM, The Franciscan Book of Saints, p. 834).
San Diego, California, is named for this Franciscan, who was canonized in 1588.
Reflection
We cannot be neutral about genuinely holy people. We either admire them or we consider them foolish. Didacus is a saint because he used his life to serve God and God’s people. Can we say the same for ourselves?
Saint of the Day – October 25 – Saint Antônio de Sant’Anna Galvão
Saint Antônio de Sant’Anna Galvão’s Story (1739 – December 23, 1822)
God’s plan in a person’s life often takes unexpected turns which become life-giving through cooperation with God’s grace.
Born in Guarantingueta near São Paulo, Antônio attended the Jesuit seminary in Belem, but later decided to become a Franciscan friar. Invested in 1760, he made final profession the following year and was ordained in 1762.
In São Paulo, he served as preacher, confessor, and porter. Within a few years, Antônio was appointed confessor to the Recollects of Saint Teresa, a group of nuns in that city. He and Sister Helena Maria of the Holy Spirit founded a new community of sisters under the patronage of Our Lady of the Conception of Divine Providence. Sister Helena Maria’s premature death the next year left Father Antônio responsible for the new congregation, especially for building a convent and church adequate for their growing numbers.
He served as novice master for the friars in Macacu and as guardian of St. Francis Friary in São Paulo. He founded St. Clare Friary in Sorocaba. With the permission of his provincial and the bishop, Antônio spent his last days at the Recolhimento de Nossa Senhora da Luz, the convent of the sisters’ congregation he had helped establish.
Antônio de Sant’Anna Galvão was beatified in Rome on October 25, 1998, and canonized in 2007.
Reflection
Holy women and men cannot help calling our attention to God, to God’s creation, and to all the people whom God loves. The lives of holy people are so oriented toward God that this has become their definition of “normal.” Do people see my life or yours as a living sign of God’s steadfast love? What might have to change for that to happen?
Saint of the Day – September 18 – Saint Joseph of Cupertino
Saint Joseph of Cupertino’s Story (June 17, 1603 – September 18, 1663)
Joseph of Cupertino is most famous for levitating at prayer. Already as a child, Joseph showed a fondness for prayer. After a short career with the Capuchins, he joined the Conventual Franciscans. Following a brief assignment caring for the friary mule, Joseph began his studies for the priesthood. Though studies were very difficult for him, Joseph gained a great deal of knowledge from prayer. He was ordained in 1628.
Joseph’s tendency to levitate during prayer was sometimes a cross; some people came to see this much as they might have gone to a circus sideshow. Joseph’s gift led him to be humble, patient, and obedient, even though at times he was greatly tempted and felt forsaken by God. He fasted and wore iron chains for much of his life.
The friars transferred Joseph several times for his own good and for the good of the rest of the community. He was reported to and investigated by the Inquisition; the examiners exonerated him.
Joseph was canonized in 1767. In the investigation preceding the canonization, 70 incidents of levitation are recorded.
Reflection
While levitation is an extraordinary sign of holiness, Joseph is also remembered for the ordinary signs he showed. He prayed even in times of inner darkness, and he lived out the Sermon on the Mount. He used his “unique possession”–his free will–to praise God and to serve God’s creation.
Saint Joseph of Cupertino is the Patron Saint of:
Air Travelers
Astronauts
Pilots
Saint of the Day – July 12 – Saint John Jones and Saint John Wall
Saint John Jones (c.1530 – 1598) and Saint John Wall (1620 – 1679)
These two friars were martyred in England in the 16th and 17th centuries for refusing to deny their faith.
John Jones was Welsh. He was ordained a diocesan priest and was twice imprisoned for administering the sacraments before leaving England in 1590. He joined the Franciscans at the age of 60 and returned to England three years later while Queen Elizabeth I was at the height of her power. John ministered to Catholics in the English countryside until his imprisonment in 1596. He was condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. John was executed on July 12, 1598.
John Wall was born in England but was educated at the English College of Douai, Belgium. Ordained in Rome in 1648, he entered the Franciscans in Douai several years later. In 1656 he returned to work secretly in England.
In 1678, Titus Oates worked many English people into a frenzy over an alleged papal plot to murder the king and restore Catholicism in that country. In that year Catholics were legally excluded from Parliament, a law which was not repealed until 1829. John Wall was arrested and imprisoned in 1678, and was executed the following year.
John Jones and John Wall were canonized in 1970.
Reflection
Every martyr knows how to save his/her life and yet refuses to do so. A public repudiation of the faith would save any of them. But some things are more precious than life itself. These martyrs prove that their 20th-century countryman, C. S. Lewis, was correct in saying that courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, that is, at the point of highest reality.
Saint of the Day – May 19 – Saint Theophilus of Corte
Saint Theophilus of Corte’s Story (October 30, 1676 – June 17, 1740)
If we expect saints to do marvelous things continually and to leave us many memorable quotes, we are bound to be disappointed with Saint Theophilus. The mystery of God’s grace in a person’s life, however, has a beauty all its own.
Theophilus was born in Corsica of rich and noble parents. As a young man, he entered the Franciscans and soon showed his love for solitude and prayer. After admirably completing his studies, he was ordained and assigned to a retreat house near Subiaco. Inspired by the austere life of the Franciscans there, he founded other such houses in Corsica and Tuscany. Over the years, he became famous for his preaching as well as his missionary efforts.
Though he was always somewhat sickly, Theophilus generously served the needs of God’s people in the confessional, in the sickroom, and at the graveside. Worn out by his labors, he died on June 17, 1740. He was canonized in 1930.
Reflection
There is a certain dynamism in all the saints that prompts them to find ever more selfless ways of responding to God’s grace. As time went on, Theophilus gave more and more single-hearted service to God and to God’s sons and daughters. Honoring the saints will make no sense unless we are thus drawn to live as generously as they did. Their holiness can never substitute for our own.
Saint of the Day – July 1 – Saint Junipero Serra
Saint of the Day – September 23 – Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (1887–1968) was born to peasant farmers in southern Italy. By the time he was 5 years old he practiced a life of penance and made the decision to give himself completely to God. He grew up working in the fields, and at the age of 19 joined the Capuchin Franciscan friars. His Franciscan spirituality was characterized by a life of poverty, love of nature, and charity to those in need, especially to those who were his “spiritual children.” St. Padre Pio had many spiritual gifts and was a great miracle-worker. These were well-documented from multiple reliable sources and included bilocation, levitation, reading souls, and physical healing by touch. Word of his holiness spread and people both pious and curious flocked to see him, especially to have him hear their confession. He is the first priest known to have received the stigmata, for which he suffered suspicion and investigation. Because of the unusual supernatural phenomena surrounding his life, he is considered one of the great visionaries and mystics of the Church. Padre Pio died in 1968 at the age of 81. He was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 2002. Because of the many miracles he performed during his life, he is commonly invoked as a healing saint for various ailments. His feast day is September 23rd.
//Franciscan Media//
Saint of the Day – September 22 – Saint Ignatius of Santhia
St. Ignatius of Santhia (1686-1770) was born in Italy to an upper-class family. He received his early education from a devout priest, a relative of his mother, who inspired him to join the priesthood. He studied philosophy and theology, and after his ordination served as a diocesan priest for six years. St. Ignatius earned a reputation as an excellent preacher of retreats and missions, and he had a promising future within the diocese. His family and parishioners were surprised and disappointed when he decided to join the Capuchin Franciscans in Turin as a poor, humble friar. However, St. Ignatius flourished in the poverty and simplicity of the Franciscan way of life. He became well-known for his wisdom and sanctity, and many people from all walks of life came to him for confession and spiritual direction. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and prayed the rosary faithfully. He served God with humble obedience and inspired this virtue in the Franciscan novices over whom he had charge. He spent his last years on a sickbed where he continued to hear confessions and give direction to his visitors. St. Ignatius of Santhia’s feast day is September 22nd.
//Catholic Company//
Saint of the Day – August 18 – Saint Louis of Toulouse
Saint Louis of Toulouse’s Story
When he died at the age of 23, Louis was already a Franciscan, a bishop, and a saint!
Louis’s parents were Charles II of Naples and Sicily, and Mary, daughter of the King of Hungary. Louis was related to Saint Louis IX on his father’s side and to Elizabeth of Hungary on his mother’s side.
Louis showed early signs of attachment to prayer and to the corporal works of mercy. As a child he used to take food from the castle to feed the poor. When he was 14, Louis and two of his brothers were taken as hostages to the king of Aragon’s court as part of a political deal involving Louis’s father. At the court, Louis was tutored by Franciscan friars under whom he made great progress both in his studies and in the spiritual life. Like Saint Francis he developed a special love for those afflicted with leprosy.
While he was still a hostage, Louis decided to renounce his royal title and become a priest. When he was 20, he was allowed to leave the king of Aragon’s court. He renounced his title in favor of his brother Robert and was ordained the next year. Very shortly after, he was appointed bishop of Toulouse, but the pope agreed to Louis’s request to become a Franciscan first.
The Franciscan spirit pervaded Louis. “Jesus Christ is all my riches; he alone is sufficient for me,” Louis kept repeating. Even as a bishop he wore the Franciscan habit and sometimes begged. He assigned a friar to offer him correction—in public if necessary—and the friar did his job.
Louis’s service to the Diocese of Toulouse was richly blessed. In no time he was considered a saint. Louis set aside 75 percent of his income as bishop to feed the poor and maintain churches. Each day he fed 25 poor people at his table.
Louis was canonized in 1317 by Pope John XXII, one of his former teachers. His liturgical feast is celebrated on August 19.
Reflection
When Cardinal Hugolino, the future Pope Gregory IX, suggested to Francis that some of the friars would make fine bishops, Francis protested that they might lose some of their humility and simplicity if appointed to those positions. Those two virtues are needed everywhere in the Church, and Louis shows us how they can be lived out by bishops.
//Franciscan Media//