May 14 Saint Maria Mazzarello

Patron Saint Against Sickness

I think she should also be the Patron Saint of Big Sisters. The oldest of ten children, she (according to one biographer) “learned the lessons typical of a big sister.” She worked first as a field hand then as a dress maker. When working as dressmaker, she met her  friend Petronilla. They both shared a love of working with small children. They started a school for girls that soon turned into a boarding school. Each Sunday they offered the local girls, whether students or not, the chance to come to the school for games and prayers.

Co-founder of the Daughters of Mary Auxiliatrix, which was under the spritual direction of Saint John Bosco. First Salesian Sister, and superior of the order.

April 23 Blessed Maria Gabriella

Patron Saint of Christian Unity

I think the following could be written about the majority of girls between the age of 12 and 18 (from SQPN.com ):

As a child she was described as obstinate, critical, protesting, and rebellious – but loyal, and obedient; she would say no to a request – but act on it at once. At 18 she became gentler, her temper abated, she became involved in prayer and charity, and joined “Azione Cattolic,” a Catholic youth movement.

At 21 she entered the Trappestine monastery of Grottaferrata. When she was accepted, her attitude finally became “Now do what You will.”

After joining the monastery she was asked to pray for Christian Unity. Maria Gabriella felt compelled to offer her young life to the cause. Though she’d never been sick before, she suddenly developed tuberculosis. In a mere 15 months spent in prayer for Unity, it took her to her death.

April 21 Blessed John Saziari

An Italian in the 14th century. What is known about him is that he was a bachelor farmer. Um, do all bachelor farmers become Blessed? If so, the Upper Midwest of the United Staes is quite the holy area.

April 13 Blessed Margaret of Castello

Patron Saint of Handicap People

From :sqpn.com

Born a blind, lame, deformed, hunchback midget. When she was six years old, her Italian noble parents walled her up beside a chapel; she could not get out, but could attend Mass and receive the Sacraments. After 14 years of imprisonment, her parents took her to a shrine to pray for a cure. When none occurred, they abandoned her. She became a Dominican, and spent her life in prayer and charity. When she died, the townspeople thronged her funeral, and demanded she be buried in a tomb inside the church. The priest protested, but a crippled girl was miraculously cured at the funeral, and he consented.

April 12 Saint Alferius of La Cava

St. Alferius lead the model life of a nobleman in tenth century Italy. He was learned, acted as an ambassador for the duke of Salerno, Italy, traveled all over southern Italy. When he became seriously ill in Chiusa, Italy  he was taken to the local monastery. Like many a sickly person, he made the  clichéd pact that if he recovers he will join religious life. He did recover and he followed through on his promise to God. He became a monk in France and then was sent to his hometown of Salerno to reform the monasteries and local priests. He met with little success so he became a hermit in the foothills of Salerno.

His gentle teachings and wisdom earned a rather large following. He chose twelve of his favorite students and started his own monastery. The abbey became the motherhouse for scores of others in the region; this network of houses became a powerful force for civilization and religion in Sicily and southern Italy. Alferius lived to be 120, governing the abbey until the day he died, on Holy Thursday. On that day, he celebrated mass, and washed the feet of his brothers, including the future Pope Blessed Victor III. Twelve of the abbots of his monastery have gone on to be beatified.

March 30 Saint Leonard Murialdo

After reading the news of various state governments restricting union rights, President Obama being called a socialist, and reduced funding (both private and public) for social services, today’s saint struck a chord in me.

St. Leonard was born in the early 1800s and educated in both Italy and France. Returning to his hometown of Turin, Italy  he worked to reestablish a floundering college, started a program for teenage boys that became the model for Boys Town,  supported the Catholic Workers Union, established a national federation to improve the level of Italian journalism and was an outspoken advocate for worker’s rights. He was labeled a socialist for lobbying for an eight hour work day and safe working conditions.

It is nice to know some of our public leaders (and some of their critics) are following in holy footsteps.

March 21 St. Enda of Arran and St. Fanchea of Rossory

These two are brother and sister Irish royalty in 500s. St. Facnchea was called early to religious life. She founded a convent in Rossery and was the first abbess. She was a bit if a big sister, knowing what was best for her little brother.

An Irish prince, St. Edna was the son of King Conall Derg of Ergall Ulster. Brother-in-law to King Oengus of Munster, Ireland. He trained as a soldier as a young man and took over the throne upon his father’s death, but gave up his dreams of conquest to marry and settle in as the next king. Big sister Franchea set him up with a beautiful young virgin, but she died after the pledge had been made but before St. Enda could lay eyes on her. Upon arriving at her deathbed, St. Fanchea  conducted her brother to her bedside. Uncovering the departed maiden’s features, Fanchea exclaimed, “Look now upon the face of her whom thou hast desired.” Enda, struck with horror, cried out, “It is at present sadly pale and ghastly.” “And so shall your features hereafter be,” replied the dead virgin. Then Fanchea spoke to him regarding the pains of Hell, and dwelt also on the joys of Heaven, until the young man burst into tears. The trauma and of the lecture by his older sister besides the talking corpse threw St. Edna into a period of despair.  His dear sister, not so gently, suggested maybe becoming a priest would cure him of his dark emotions. She sent him to her choice of seminaries – Rosnat Monastery in Britain. It is said that on the day that he would leave, a strange man came to him in a vision and told him of an isle where he would find peace, Innish. He made a pilgrimage to Rome and was finally ordained there. On a visit to see her baby brother in Britain, St. Fanchea decided it was time for St. Edna to move yet again. Big Sis advised that as God had gifted him with talents, he ought to exercise these among the people of his native land, and thus enhance doubly their value. St. Edna was a dutiful little brother (very hard to find amongst Irish families) and did as his sister wished.
Returning to Ireland, Enda built churches at Drogheda, and a monastery in the Boyne valley. Thereafter (about 484) he begged his brother-in-law, the King Oengus of Munster, to let him go to the wild and barren isle of Innish in Galway Bay. Oengus wanted to give him a fertile plot in the Golden Vale, but Innish suited Enda’s ideal for religious life. It was in the Aran Islands that St. Edna’s legacy came into being. St. Fanchea had recently died, so he was free to set up the monastery however he wanted.  Enda divided the island of Innish into 8 parts, in each of which he built a “place of refuge”, and under his rule the abbey of St. Enda became a burning light of sanctity for centuries in Western Europe.  These structures were the chosen home of a group of poor and devoted men under Saint Enda. He taught them to love the hard rock, the dripping cave, and the barren earth swept by the western gales. They were “men of the caves”, and “also men of the Cross”.

Some of the people who spent time in prayer living on Innish included Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, who came there first as a youth to grind corn, and would have remained there for life but for Enda’s insistence that his true work lay elsewhere, reluctant though he was to part with him; Saint Finnian, who left St Enda and founded the monastery of Moville (where Saint Columba spent part of his youth) and who afterwards became bishop of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy; Among them also was Saint Brendan the Voyager, Saint Columba of Iona, Jarlathof Tuam, and Carthach the Elder. These and many others formed a great and valiant company who spent time in the beehives and caves establish by St. Edna.

When Saint Brendan returned from his travels far to the West, his first stop was Innish.  He presented the only gift he bought back from his travels, a stone with an eye carved on one end and a rune on the other. Legend has it was given him by a dwarf far to the West. This stone floats if placed on water and the gem points to the Last Isle of the West. The rune is a variant of the Norse Reith rune which resembles the letter r. This is called the “Styrimathr” (STEE-ri-mah-thur) meaning in Norse “the Captain of the Seas path”. It has been continuously carried from then until today,  in a small silk purse by the Abbot of the Abbey of St. Enda.

The two siblings, so connected in life, both died on March 21, though in different years.

Sie Note #1: For those familiar with Irish history, Padraig Pearse named his National School after St. Edna. (Scoil Éanna in Gaelic)

Side Note #2: For those interested in modern hermits and monk on Innishmore today, it is worth reading the web page of Dara Mollow.

March 18 Saint Frigidian of Lucca

Son of the king of Ulster, Ireland, St. Frigidian is sometimes known as the Wayward Saint. After becoming a priest in the 500s, St. Frigidian went on a short pilgrimage to Rome. He stopped for a few days in the town of Lucca, Italy when he discovered a small, well tended cemetery of martyrs. While he was staying over in the town, hanging out at the cemetery, the local bishop died. The local clergy looked around for a worthy and devout candidate, chose the gregarious Irish monk lounging about the cemetery. Makes one wonder about the condition of all the local priests. While he preferred a life of solitude, he did his best as bishop. He managed to organize the local clergy into a coherent group with regular laws governing the wide flung churches. He still took regulars sojourns into the countryside to satisfy his monastic side. On one of these trips he realized the river that ran through the town of Lucca was rising rapidly. He borrowed a hoe, said a prayer, ordered the river to follow him, then dug a new, safe course for the river by dragging the tool through the dirt.

I pray for the intercessions of Saint Frigidian for all the people of Japan.

March 9 St. Frances of Rome

Patron Saint of Rome Taxi Drivers

This is a bad night to try to grab a cab in Rome. The cabs are all down at the Church of St. Frances of Rome having their engines sprinkled with holy water. Legend has that St. Frances, a nun in the 1400s , would often perform charitable works at night. She was accompanied by a glow provided by her guardian angel, lighting up the shadowy streets of Rome like a car’s headlights. That is a lot of cabs and drivers to bless. They might be awhile.

March 6 Blessed Jordan of Pisa

A Dominican in the 12th century, Blessed Jordan made a bold move as a preacher. He began reading the Gospels out loud in Italian, not Latin. He is said to have memorized the breviary, the missal, most of the Bible and the second half of the Summa Theologica. I am not sure what he had against the first half. He was able to use his memorization and ability to quickly translate to bring the Word of God to the people under his care. He even went so far as to use the modern notion of a scientific study to look at the results of various preaching methods. With all his intellectual power, he believed firmly that “learning alone can never make a preacher; it needed a holiness of life.”