island life- in a monastery

Another child recently made venerable is SILVIO DISSEGNA an Italian child who died from bone cancer.

He was born in 1967 in Turin the first of two children to Ottavio Dissegna and Gabriella Martignon. His little brother was Carlo was just a year younger.

Silvio was a popular child known for his constant smile and deep love for Jesus and His Blessed Mother and was known for being full of life. He wanted to become a school teacher when he was older. His teachers perceived him to be clever in his class and his notebooks were full of descriptions about nature and games as well as his future aspirations.

With his Parents & Carlo

He developed bone cancer in 1978 just before he turned eleven when he began to suffer terrible and constant pain in his legs. He made several doctor visits who prescribed certain medications to him. But the pain grew more intense over time which led to several tests being performed.

Unlike his parents, he did not despair at the diagnosis but said to his distressed father: "Papa, have courage! Jesus will not abandon us". He said to his mother: "If I die it is not important. I will suffer to the end".

He asked his friends: "Tell Don Luigi to bring me Communion at home every day" (which the priest did). Silvio dedicated his time to reciting rosaries and offering his sufferings for missionaries and the conversion of sinners as well as for the three popes who reigned in his life.

With Carlo

He received his Confirmation in a wheelchair. He had seven hospitalizations in Pariswhere he went for treatment with his father remaining at his side on these trips. On one such trip the individual in the bed next to him was in pain and began cursing. This upset Silvio who wept at the person's obscenities.

Ottavio sent a touching letter to Pope Paul VI asking for "a prayer and a blessing for Silvio". Paul VI responded with a letter assuring Ottavio of his support while exhorting the Dissegna's "to trust in divine goodness".

Silvio lost his sight in 1979 following swelling which caused deteriation to the left pupil. A few months after this he lost his hearing. He suffered large sores across his body after his left leg broke due to the weakening bone.

Venerable Silvio died in his home with a smile on his face in the evening on 24 September 1979. He had received the Anointing of the Sick the morning of his death. His funeral was celebrated in the Poirino parish church on 26 September. Thirty priests and around a thousand people attended his funeral.

Here are on Shaw, we have always prided ourselves that we never saw a rat- field mice yes and they freely roam, never doing much damage, but rats??? Never, until this year and they seem to have invaded our small paradise, especially in the chicken feed shed! We have set out traps but they seem to be too wily for our schemes. So I am praying to ST. GERTRUDE of NIVELLES a 7th centuryBenedictineAbbess who lived in present day

Belgium

. She is not to be confused with another Benedictine, Gertrude who has the title of “the Great.”

St. Gertrude of Nivelles was born around 626 in present-day Belgium into a well-connected noble family. When she was 10, Gertrude reportedly refused to be married to the son of a duke. In fact, she insisted that she would never marry at all.

When her father died, Gertrude and her mother, Itta, moved to Nivelles to set up a monastery, where she became an abbess. She became known for her devotion to scholarly and charitable works, and for taking care of orphans, widows, and pilgrims. She was also visited by spiritual visions and was said to know most of the Bible by heart. But her ascetic lifestyle, which included long periods without food or sleep, took a toll on her health, and she resigned as abbess at the age of 30. She died three years later, and St. Patrick himself is said to have watched over her on her deathbed.

Creator Mundi

The connection between St. Gertrude and rodents became solidified as veneration of her spread throughout northern Europe, and little silver or gold statues of mice were left at a shrine to her in Cologneas late as 1822. By then, she had become the saint one asked to intercede in the case of a rodent infestation. It was said that the water from her abbey’s well would chase away rats and mice.

Her feast is March 17 also the feast day of St. Patrick, who seems to have overtaken her in popularity. St Gertrude is also the patron saint of cats, but I am not praying for cats at this point. We have several, and all but one seem to have lost their appetite for rodents.

As we prepare for the great feast of our patron St. Benedict, I present this possibly next Benedictine saint. SERVANT OF GOD BROTHER MARINUS LEONARD LaRUE, could be the latest Benedictine to be canonized, if not the first American Benedictine.

Brother Marinus Leonard LaRue, who as a merchant marine captain in the Korean War, evacuated 14,000 refugees from a besieged North Korean port.

Three days before Christmas 1950, Captain LaRue came upon what he likened to ''a scene of Dante's Inferno'' at the port. On Christmas Day, he delivered all 14,000 refugees to safety on a South Korean island some 500 miles away aboard a freighter designed to hold only 60 people. The United States Maritime Administration called his feat ''the greatest rescue by a single ship in the annals of the sea.''

Captain LaRue was the skipper of the 455-foot Meredith Victory, a Moore-McCormack Lines freighter that had been carrying supplies to American servicemen in Korea on behalf of the Navy.

In December 1950, the Meredith Victory was summoned to the North Korean port Hungnam, which was jammed with 105,000 American and South Korean marines and soldiers and more than 90,000 North Korean civilians retreating from a Chinese Communist onslaught at the Chosin Reservoir. About 200 American vessels had converged on Hungnam for evacuation while American ships and planes bombarded the perimeter to hold off Communist troops.

When Captain LaRue was peering through his binoculars, he surveyed the heartbreaking scene from the deck of his ship. Thousands upon thousands of Koreans, men, women and children, with their eyes filled with fear, were crammed onto the docks of the City of Hungnam, desperate to flee the invading Chinese and North Korean communist forces that were closing in quickly during those early months of the Korean War. Captain LaRue made the decision to unload nearly all of the arms and supplies on the ship in order to board as many refugees as possible, ordering the ship to be made ready to hold the refugees, so that they could evacuate as many as possible out of Hungnam.

Time was of the essence for Captain LaRue and the brave crew of his U.S. Merchant Marine cargo freighter, the SS Meredith Victory, to save as many of those ragged and frightened refugees as possible. Artillery fire roared above them, as they wasted no time in loading their new passengers, who took only what they could into the ship’s hold and on deck and then steamed out of port and imminent danger. Armed with courage and compassion, the captain and crew risked their lives to transport their new precious cargo, the last remaining 14,005 refugees, on a perilous 450-mile voyage through treacherous mine- and submarine-infested waters to the safety of GeojeIsland. The mission, undertaken against all odds, has been called a “Christmas Miracle” by historians, in fact, the largest humanitarian rescue operation by a single ship in world history.

Aboard the Meredith Victory

The refugees had little food or water and there were no blankets or sanitary facilities. The crewmen gave their coats to the women and children, but the misery was unrelieved. At one point, young men came topside seeking food, and a riot seemed imminent.

After a treacherous voyage though the Sea of Japan, the freighter arrived at Pusan on Christmas Eve, only to be turned away by South Korean officials, who were trying to cope with refugees already there. Captain LaRue was told to head for the island of Koje Do, 50 miles to the southwest.

The SS Meredith Victory had sailed south with no equipment for mine, no doctor or interpreter on board, no lighting or heat in the holds, no sanitation facilities, and no military escort. The only gun on the entire ship as it traveled south was the pistol in Captain LaRue’s pocket. In spite of the fact that the refugees were packed together tightly, with most people having to stand up, shoulder-to-shoulder silently and nearly motionless in freezing weather conditions during the entire voyage, there was not a single injury or casualty on board. Five babies were born during the rescue sailing.

The people were virtually unable to move, and there was very little food or water. The ship arrived in Busan on Christmas Eve and then headed to its final destination, GeojeIsland, arriving there on Christmas Day.

Not one refugee died in the evacuation; the number of Koreans aboard had, in fact, increased by five babies.

Captain LaRue, a Philadelphia native and a veteran of World War II merchant marine operations in the Atlantic, remained in command of the Meredith Victory until it was decommissioned in 1952. He received American and South Korean government citations for his rescue work, and the Meredith Victory was designated a Gallant Ship by Congress.

In 1954, Captain LaRue left the sea to join the Benedictine congregation of St. Ottilien at St. Paul’s Abbey in Newton, New Jersey. He made his first profession on Christmas Day, 1956, and took his final vows at the Christmas midnight Mass three years later. The name he chose, Marinus, was both a tribute to the Blessed Virgin Mary and an appropriate appellation for a man of the sea. He performed the menial tasks of washing dishes, working in the gift shop and ringing the abbey’s bell each morning. After having suffered for years from a lack of mobility and dementia, Brother Marinus died on 14 October 2001.

“He always had a soft spot for the downtrodden,” recalls his last abbot, Father Joel Macul, OSB. “If a poor person would come to the door, he always would want to help. Sometimes he would go to the kitchen after hours and maybe put a food bag or something together.”

Brother Marinus spent his days serving others at the monastery. Rarely did he speak of his heroic rescue of 14,000 people and preferred that others not ask about it.

''I was always somewhat religious,'' he reflected a decade after carrying out the Korean evacuation. ''All the things in my life helped to cement my determination to enter the monastery.''

But he looked back on the rescue as a turning point in his life. ''I think often of that voyage. I think of how such a small vessel was able to hold so many persons and surmount endless perils without harm to a soul. The clear, unmistakable message comes to me that on that Christmastide, in the bleak and bitter waters off the shores of Korea, God's own hand was at the helm of my ship.''

This statement is an example of Brother Marinus’ humbleness. I do not think it is a coincidence that Captain LaRue saved 14,000 Korean refugees and, decades later, Brother Marinus’ Abbey is saved from closing by the arrival of Korean monks,” Bishop Arthur Serratelli (Bishop of Paterson, NJ) wrote.

War Memorial in Geoje-HuengNam

VENERABLE PETAR BARBARIC born in 1874 was a Herzegovinian Roman Catholic novice who was in the midst of his studies for the priesthood before he died of tuberculosis. He made his solemn profession as a Jesuit prior to his death upon the realization of his condition. Venerable Petar was known for his devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ and for his charismatic nature among his peers.

He had eight brothers; one of whom was a Franciscan. Mate (religious name Marko) Barbarić-Lesko(1865-1945)** who was killed and whose cause for sainthood has begun. Venerable Petar spent his childhood on the farm with the sheep and was known for being an avid reader of religious texts. While in the fields he had his staff in one hand and recited rosaries in the other.

In school he studied Italian French and German as he believed that it would help him in the future for hearing confessions. He was appointed as the prefect of his class and he encouraged his peers to receive the Eucharist at the end of the first week of each month on the date of the Lord's Passion. In 1896 he made the decision not to become a diocesan priest but rather a Jesuit.

He demonstrated initial signs of influenza after he returned from an out-of-town trip with his friends on 7 April 1896. It was less than a week after Easter when the group spent their vacation on a picnic and were caught in a storm. However this transcended into tuberculosis unbeknownst to specialists who prescribed him to summer's rest at his home. Venerable Petar spent a serene summer at home but was unaware of his condition which grew worse when he returned for his studies. He didn't know he had contracted tuberculosis until he was re-examined once he returned to resume his studies. He had difficulties walking and had to use a cane to move about a room and was forced to drop his studies in order to recuperate.

On 11 March 1897 he said to his confessor: "I did a novena to St Francis Xavier to ask for healing and tomorrow we'll start a novena to St Joseph asking for a good death". He received the Anointing of the Sick on the following 10 April. A special dispensation was given for him to make his solemn profession as a Jesuit. He professed his solemn vows on the evening of 13 April 1897 at 9:00 pm and died on 15 April 1897 on the feast of the Last Supper. He could not speak much at this point and could not eat. In the first hours of the afternoon he asked for a crucifix in which he kissed it and said: "Jesus".

On 18 March 2015 the title of Venerable was conferred upon him once Pope Francis had signed a decree that recognized the fact that he had lived a model Christian life of heroic virtue.

** FRIAR MARKO BARBARICwas 80 when he was murdered. Devoted to Our Lady, he had a reputation for sanctity among the students and seminarians, who witnessed that while walking in the park, he often spoke with the birds. As soon as they saw him, they hastened to greet him, perching on the hand he extended to them. He had lost his memory and was unaware of the war. On February 7, 1945 he was in his cell, sick with typhus. The Communist officials ordered that he be brought out with his brothers, and so he was carried outside on a blanket. Then he was killed and thrown in the fire with the others.

The THIRTY FRANCISCAN MARTYRS of SIROKI BRIJEGis a well known site where thousands of pilgrims visit the Franciscan Monastery every year. It is about one hour distant from Međugorje. On 7th February 1945, Communist soldiers arrived and said “God is dead, there is no God, there is no Pope, there is no Church, there is no need of you, you also go out in the world and work.” The communists forgot that the Franciscans were working, teaching in the adjoining school. Some of the Franciscans were famous professors and had written books. The Communists asked them to remove their habits. The Franciscans refused. One angry soldier took the Crucifix and threw it on the floor. He said, “you can now choose either life or death.” Each of the Franciscans knelt down, embraced the Crucifix and said, “You are my God and my All.” The thirty Franciscans were taken out and slaughtered and their bodies burned in a nearby cave where their remains lay for many years. Today they are buried inside the Franciscan church.

One of the soldiers in the firing squad at Široki Brijeg later said, “Since I was a child, in my family, I had always heard from my mother that God exists. To the contrary, Stalin, Lenin, Tito had always asserted and taught each one of us: there is no God. God does not exist! But when I stood in front of the martyrs of Široki Brijeg and I saw how those friars faced death, praying and blessing their persecutors, asking God forgive the faults of their executioners, it was then that I recalled to my mind the words of my mother and I thought that my mother was right: God exists!” That soldier converted and now he has a son who is a priest and a daughter a nun.

In this day and age when so many priests are being slaughtered by mad men, I am reminded of this American martyr. Some things just never change!

SERVANT OF GOD FATHER LEO HEINRICHS served in various positions in the New York and New Jerseyarea including pastor at Holy Angels parish in Singac (Little Falls), New Jersey, at St. Stephen’s in Croghan, New York, and at St. Bonaventure’s between 1891 and 1907.

Father Leo (Joseph), born in

Germany

but under persecution from Otto von Bismarck's Kulturkampf, his Order Franciscan Chapter of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, fled their monastery in Fulda and settled at St. Bonaventure's Friary in Paterson, New Jersey. Although still studying in minor seminary, Joseph Heinrichs emigrated to

America

with them. In New Jersey, on December 4, 1886, he received the Franciscan habit and the monastic name Brother Leo. He took his final vows on December 8, 1890, and was ordained to the priesthood on July 26, 1891.

When he was pastor at Paterson, smallpox broke out and he was known to spend many hours at a nearby "pest house" tending to the sick and the dying. In September, 1907, the Provincial Chapter appointed him pastor of St. Elizabeth’s parish in Denver, Coloradowhere he arrived on September 23. He had but 5 months to live. He had received permission to leave for

Germany

to visit his family who had not seen him for over twenty years. But he had a class of children preparing for their first Holy Communion and he was determined to give them First Communion on June 7, 1908.

A week before his death, Father Leo told the Young Ladies’ Sodality "If I had my choice of a place where I would die, I would choose to die at the feet of the Blessed Virgin."

On February 23, 1908, this Proto-Martyr for the Faith was scheduled to offer the 8 AM Sunday Mass at St. Elizabeth of Hungary church but asked to switch to the earlier Mass so he could attend a meeting. Thus he was the priest there at 6 AM that morning. The early mass was known as the "Workingman's Mass".

Among those at Mass that morning was fifty year old Giuseppe Alia, who had recently immigrated from Italy. Alia arrived before Mass and seated himself in the third row, in front of the pulpit.

During Communion, Alia knelt at the Communion Rail and received the Host. Then, however, he spat it into his hand and flung it at Father Leo’s face. The Host fell to the floor as Alia drew his gun aiming at Father Heinrich's heart. As an altar boy screamed the man opened fire. The dying priest exclaimed, "My God, my God!," before falling to the floor. Before he died, he placed the ciborium on the step of Our Lady’s altar, and managed to place two fallen Hosts back into the ciborium and with his last bit of strength he pointed to the spilled Hosts that he was now too weak to pick up.

Rose Fisher, an eyewitness, reported that Father Leo died smiling, at the foot of the Blessed Virgin's altar just as he had always wanted. Father Wulstan who had switched with Father Leo for the later Mass, administered the Last Rites. Father Wulstan told the Denver Post, "I would have been killed and he would be alive now. There is one way to solve the affair that I can see, and that is that God chose the better man."

Father Leo's body was transported to New Jersey for burial in a Franciscan cemetery. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary still stands, and now serves both the Roman Catholic church and Denver's Russian Catholic community.

Guiseppe Alia attempted to flee the Church, but E.J. Quigley, a conductor for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, caught him. Then, Patrolman Daniel Cronin, an off-duty Denverpolice officer placed him under arrest and had him jailed.

At the police station, Alia boasted of his Anarchist beliefs, saying,

"I went over there because I have a grudge against all priests in general. They are all against the workingman. I went to the communion rail because I could get a better shot. I did not care whether he was a German priest or any other kind of priest. They are all in the same class ... I shot him, and my only regret is that I could not shoot the whole bunch of priests in the church."

Alia was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging within weeks of the shooting. Shortly before the execution, a Franciscan priest from St. Elizabeth’s visited Alia in prison. Infuriated, Alia cursed and swore at him. Alia never expressed any remorse, and, despite the pleas of the friars at St. Elizabeth’s, he was hanged at the Colorado State Penitentiary in CanonCity. Alia’s last words, reportedly, were "Death to the priests!"

The coroner discovered that Father Leo’s upper arms and waist were wrapped in leather straps. Each strap was studded with rows of pointed iron hooks, which pierced the skin. Around the priest’s waist the skin was calloused and scarred, but showed no sign of infection. Father Leo secretly practiced this extreme form of mortification, perhaps to help him master his quick temper. None of his confreres had any idea of his self-inflicted penances. When the friars entered Father Leo’s room after his death, they found that he slept on a wooden door."

The murder of Father Leo made headlines throughout the United States. After St. Elizabeth’s Church was re-consecrated, thousands of people attended his funeral, including the Governor of Colorado.

VENERABLE RAFAEL CORDEROwas a Puerto Rican teacher born in San Juan in October 1790, popularly known as Master Rafael. He was one of the first educators of the African community of Puerto Rico.

Painting by Francisco Oller- 1890

Raised in a colonial society of strong prejudice toward blacks, who remained in ignorance and slavery, Rafael Cordero did not have the opportunity to attend schools, but he received a cultural base thanks to his parents, Lucas and Rita, who were well educated and loved learning. They brought Rafael and his two sisters up as devout Catholics.

At the same time working in tobacco plantations, in 1810 he opened an elementary school with the main objective to teach literacy to black boys, while his sister Celestina opened a school for girls. He kept his school open for 58 years.

As his fame as an educator spread, the wealthy sent their children to him to learn the three R’s, as well as the catechism. Some of his students became well- known politicians as well as famed writers. He proved that racial and economic integration could be possible and accepted.

His humble and selfless character were legendary among those who received training at his school. He wrote: " I do not want to remember today the good I made yesterday. My wishes are that night delete deserving works that I've been able to do during the day."

Only at the end of his life did he received a general recognition, and awarded a small stipend, which he turned over to the poor.

Rafael remained celibate his whole life and had a great devotion to St. Anthony of Padua, and daily prayed the rosary.

He died in 1868, with the words, “ My God, receive me into Your bosom.” . His funeral procession was accompanied by a crowd of two thousand people.

Another important Catholic educator to the Caribbean area wasVENERABLE BROTHER VICTORINO ARNAUD PAGES.

Born in France in 1885,in Ozillon in the diocese of Puy-en-Velay, he joined the Brothers of Christian Schools at age 16. Soon after he joined to the Brothers of the ChristianSchools, due to the expulsion of the religious from France at the beginning of the 20th century, he was forced to go into exile in 1905 together with his brother Jean-Pierre, also a Christian Brother. He was assigned to Canada, but soon after, at age 20, offered to go and found new schools in Cuba.

This Caribbean island welcomed him and it was there that he worked from 1905 until 1961, when another persecution meant another bitter exile. He was the founder of the La Salle Association in 1919, of the male and female Catholic Action in 1928, of the Catholic University Hostel in 1946 and of the Catholic Family Movement in 1953.

Br. Victorino, received important awards for his efforts for better education andin 1951 he was awarded the doctorate "Honoris Causa" of the Santo Tomás de Aquino University in Havana. In 1953 he was given the "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" Cross and in 1955 the Légion d'honneur by the French Government.

Exiled a second time by the dictator Fidel Castro in 1961, he spent his remaining energy trying to reorganize the various associations he founded among Cubans scattered in New York, Miami and other Caribbean countries. He died in San Juan de Puerto Rico on April 16, 1966.

He said of himself that he was a "Cuban born in France”. Pope

Frances

declared him Venerable on April 6, 2019.

While I search for new saints across the globe, I am especially interested when I find new saints from the New World.

Beatified on October 27^th (2018) in the city of Morales, in the Apostolic Vicariate of Izabal, Guatemala were Venerable TULLIO MARUZZO, priest of the Order of Friars Minor, and LUIS OBDULIO ARROYO NAVARRO, layman of the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi and catechist.

Father Tullio (Lapio-Italy 1929) and his twin brother Lucio were from the Venetoregion in

Italy

; their parents were poor farmers. Father Tullio and his brother had received ordination to the priesthood by Cardinal Guiseppe Roncalli, the patriarch of Venice and future St. Pope John XXIII.

Father Lucio was sent to Guatemaladays after his ordination, but his brother had to wait seven years before he was sent in mission. Father Tullio was first assigned to Puerto Barrios, on the Atlantic coast, and helped in the construction of what is now the cathedral of the Vicariate of Izabal.

In this vast territory, amid difficulties of all kinds, he expanded his missionary action to reach the most remote villages. He had a calm and patient character as well as a profound piety and a caring charity towards the poor and the sick. He had the gift of being able to welcome everyone, and to take particular care of the formation of the area catechists, the Delegados de la Palabra, for the service of the various communities.

The conditions of the people were miserable, malaria was rife and the region was a hot-bed for the guerrilla insurgency in Guatemala, a conflict much more bloody and destructive than those of other countries in Central America, but hardly known in the U.S.

Father Tullio was not a great orator; he was reserved and peaceful, but he did an incredible amount of arduous work, traveling by foot and horseback to 72 different villages to celebrate the sacraments and give formation to the lay leaders in the communities. This made him suspect with the counter-insurgency, which viewed any leadership in the rural areas with alarm.

One year before he was killed, Father Tullio had written to his relatives in Italy, “The Church has to be with the poor. They need justice and understanding.”

Bl. Luis Obdulio Arroyo Navarro was born in Quiriguá (Guatemala) in 1950 from a modest family. Having worked for a while as a mechanic in Puerto Barrios, he accepted a job as driver at the town hall of Los Amates. At the age of twenty-six he joined the Franciscan Third Order, also becoming a catechist. Later, in deepening his own journey of faith, he participated in the Cursillos de Cristianidad movement, which Father Tullio had introduced into the parish of Quiriguá. He was a mild and helpful man, who willingly put his time and his abilities at the service of the parish community, acting as a free driver and helping out with manual work which he was particularly good at.

At the end of an intense day of apostolic work, Father Tullio decided to fulfill his last commitment by presiding at a meeting of the Cursillos de Cristianidad. The catechist Luis Obdulio offered to accompany him as driver. Both were conscious of being persecuted for the work of evangelization and promotion of human rights carried out by the Church on behalf of the poor, and had previously received explicit threats.

The preaching of truth and of evangelical justice was considered to be a subversive activity by the political regime. On the way back, the car in which Father Tullio and Luis Obdulio traveled was blocked near a banana plantation. At 10 p.m., they were passing the Mayan ruins of Quirigua, when a young boy stopped them asking for a ride. Their usual practice was not to pick up anyone, as there had been too many threats and attempts on the priest’s life, including a grenade attack at his former parish house. But a child was exceptional, and the priest decided to help.

As soon as they stopped, armed men jumped out of the bushes. They beat the priest and Luis Obdulio, and then shot them dead. That boy had been the bait for the deadly trap, set up by his father.

In the same month Bl.Father Tullio and Bl. Luis Obdulio died, Father Stanley Rother(Blog 3/15/2017), a missionary priest from what was then the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and the first U.S. citizen beatified as a martyr, was killed.

These new world martyrs should be an inspiration to us all as they bore witness to the suffering Body of Christ and of their giveness through His Love and Mercy to all.

Another Jesuit of note came unto my radar recently. BL. JOSE RUBIO y PERALTA was born in 1864 in a large farm family in Spain. He entered the seminary in 1876 when he was only 12 years old. After ordination in 1887, he worked as a parish priest and was a professor at the seminary in Madrid.

After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Father José asked his bishop for permission to join the Society of Jesus. Becoming a Jesuit was something he had always wanted, but he delayed this dream for many years because as a young priest he took on the responsibility of caring for an elderly priest.

Father José took his first vows as a Jesuit when he was 44. He became known as the “Apostle of Madrid.” People came from great distances to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation with him because of his compassion and healing words. He helped people to change their lives and to live for Christ.

He had a great love and concern for the poor, and he preached often about our responsibility for our brothers and sisters. Many lay people came to Father José to ask how they could help. He guided them to open tuition-free schools, to nurse the sick, to find housing for needy families and jobs for the unemployed. Father José also provided for the spiritual needs of the poor by making the Sacraments more available to them and by organizing missions where he preached about Jesus’ care for them.

At the center of the priest’s life and ministry was his love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. He told the people he ministered with, that prayer must always come first. He said that it is through prayer that we receive the strength to serve others.

He died in 1929, and the Church has honored Father José Rubio as a saint since 1985. Pope St. John Paul II praised him for following the example of Christ. Bl. José’s motto was, “Do what God wants and want what God does!”

A couple added to the rostrum as example of a holy marriage are VENERABLE SERGIO BERNARDINI and VENERABLE DOMENICA BEDONNI BERNARDINI Both from Modena, Italy, were Secular Franciscans and had ten children, eight of whom joined religious life.

Five daughters became Daughters of St. Paul, one daughter became a Franciscan, and two sons became Capuchins. One of these sons is today the Archbishop Emeritus of Smyrna, Turkey.

The Bernardinis are the third married couple in the history of the Church to receive this title (they were preceded by Blessed Luigi and Blessed Maria Beltrame and St. Louisand St. Zelie Martin.)

Born in 1882, Sergio Bernardini lost his father, mother, brother, first wife and their three young children over a period of a few months in 1912.

Hoping to avoid painful memories, he immigrated to the United States and found work as a miner. However, he returned to Italyafter just a year because, he said, he was afraid life in a mine was going to make him lose his faith in Christ.

He fell in love with Domenica and they married in 1914 and had 10 children. They were poor farmers, but generous to anyone who sought food or solace, especially during the difficulties of the First World War.

When Sergio retired, he and his wife “adopted” a Nigerian seminarian – paying for his priestly education in Romeout of their modest pension. That seminarian today is 76-year-old retired Archbishop Felix Alaba Job of Ibadan, Nigeria. Their son, Germano Bernardini, became Archbishop of İzmir in Turkey.

Sergio died in 1966 and Domenica in 1971. In her spiritual testimony, she said everything led her to God – even by “kissing a rose, I kiss the beauty of God”.

She said her children were “my crown and my treasure” and wished she could find a way to express what a great gift it was to have so many children and vocations in the family. She prayed they would become saints and “be a force for good in the world”.

Pope Francis said that the Bernardinis are an example to all Christians as to how to live the virtues to a heroic degree within the context of the married life and that they were above all models of how to educate one’s children in a Christian way.

The lives of Sergio and Domenica Bernardini, both well known throughout Italy, were characterized by hard work in the fields , the practice of the family virtues and above all the Christian education of their numerous offspring.

Sunday was the feast of St. John Marie Vianney, Cure of Ars, the patron of parish priests. Here in part is the speech of the Holy Father, thanking all priests who have remained faithful to the teaching of the Church.

Dear brother priests, I thank you for your fidelity to the commitments you have made. It is a sign that, in a society and culture that glorifies the ephemeral, there are still people unafraid to make lifelong promises. In effect, we show that we continue to believe in God, who has never broken his covenant, despite our having broken it countless times. In this way, we celebrate the fidelity of God, who continues to trust us, to believe in us and to count on us, for all our sins and failings, and who invites us to be faithful in turn. Realizing that we hold this treasure in earthen vessels (cf. 2 Cor 4:7), we know that the Lord triumphs through weakness (cf. 2 Cor12:9). He continues to sustain us and to renew his call, repaying us a hundredfold (cf. Mk 10:29-30). “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for the joy with which you have offered your lives, revealing a heart that over the years has refused to become closed and bitter, but has grown daily in love for God and his people. A heart that, like good wine, has not turned sour but become richer with age. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for working to strengthen the bonds of fraternity and friendship with your brother priests and your bishop, providing one another with support and encouragement, caring for those who are ill, seeking out those who keep apart, visiting the elderly and drawing from their wisdom, sharing with one another and learning to laugh and cry together. How much we need this! But thank you too for your faithfulness and perseverance in undertaking difficult missions, or for those times when you have had to call a brother priest to order. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for your witness of persistence and patient endurance (hypomoné) in pastoral ministry. Often, with the parrhesía of the shepherd, we find ourselves arguing with the Lord in prayer, as Moses did in courageously interceding for the people (cf. Num 14:13-19; Ex 32:30-32; Dt 9:18-21). “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for celebrating the Eucharist each day and for being merciful shepherds in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, neither rigorous nor lax, but deeply concerned for your people and accompanying them on their journey of conversion to the new life that the Lord bestows on us all. We know that on the ladder of mercy we can descend to the depths of our human condition – including weakness and sin – and at the same time experience the heights of divine perfection: “Be merciful as the Father is merciful”. In this way, we are “capable of warming people’s hearts, walking at their side in the dark, talking with them and even entering into their night and their darkness, without losing our way”. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for anointing and fervently proclaiming to all, “in season and out of season” (cf. 2 Tim 4:2) the Gospel of Jesus Christ, probing the heart of your community “in order to discover where its desire for God is alive and ardent, as well as where that dialogue, once loving, has been thwarted and is now barren”. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for the times when, with great emotion, you embraced sinners, healed wounds, warmed hearts and showed the tenderness and compassion of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:25-27). Nothing is more necessary than this: accessibility, closeness, readiness to draw near to the flesh of our suffering brothers and sisters. How powerful is the example of a priest who makes himself present and does not flee the wounds of his brothers and sisters! It mirrors the heart of a shepherd who has developed a spiritual taste for being one with his people, a pastor who never forgets that he has come from them and that by serving them he will find and express his most pure and complete identity. This in turn will lead to adopting a simple and austere way of life, rejecting privileges that have nothing to do with the Gospel. “For his mercy endures forever”.

SERVANT of GOD MONSIGNOR BERNARD JOHN QUINN a pioneer in what would today be considered “civil rights”, is being considered for canonization. Investigations into his saintly life have been collected the past nine years and sent to Rome.

Msgr. Bernard Quinn was born in Newark in 1888 on the same day that Pope Leo XIII canonized Peter Claver. (Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on that same day 41 years later.) As a newly ordained priest, he recognized that African American Catholics were neglected in the Diocese and he approached the late Bishop of Brooklyn, Charles Edward McDonnell, with his idea of starting an “apostolate to Blacks”.

The Bishop refused his request; at the time, the United Stateswas engaged in the First World War and the Bishop’s primary objective was to identify priests willing to serve as Chaplains in the Army. Father Quinn immediately volunteered and landed in France, shortly after his arrival the war concluded but Father Quinn stayed on to minister to the wounded.

He received permission from his army superior to visit the home of Thérèse, where he celebrated Mass on Jan. 2, 1919, the anniversary of her birth. He noted that the experience was ‘a very great privilege because I was the first priest to say Mass there.’” He would later name his children's services after her.

Upon his return from France, Father Quinn was granted permission to begin his apostolate to black Catholics. In 1922 he bought what was formerly a protestant church; the building was blessed and dedicated to St. Peter Claver on February 26, 1922. He would later go on to found Little Flower Children Services, to care for the increasing number of black children orphaned as a result of the Great Depression. Situated in WadingRiver, Long Island, Father Quinn and his collaborators heroically opposed the Ku Klux Klan who in two separate attacks had burned the orphanage to the ground.

Monsignor Bernard Quinn died on April 7, 1940 at the age of 52. He was buried from St. Peter Claver Church, where eight thousand people attended his funeral.

When his cause was officially opened in 2010 Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio the Canonical inquiry into the Cause of Canonization remarked, “Almighty God blessed the Diocese of Brooklyn by sending Father Quinn to minister among us. That ministry did not end upon his death but has continued to grow and take root in the hearts and souls of the faithful and clergy of this church in New York, which has continually ministered to the poor and oppressed

“As I was recovering from heart surgery last year” said Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, “Father Quinn seemed particularly present to me in prayer. I drew strength from his courage and resolved to redouble my efforts to participate in promoting his cause as a sign of the need for holy priests."

In spite of our country looking like the template of moral decay, more and more Americans are being considered for sainthood. The following man is an example of a seemingly ordinary life, which gives us pause to look around us for the next possible saint.

SERVANT OF GOD IRVING (FRANCIS) HOULEwas born December 27, 1925 at his family home in Wilson, Michigan. His parents were faithful Catholics who raised seven children, six boys and one girl. Irvingwas the sixth child.

As a young child Irvingrecalled his family praying the rosary together, especially during Lent. Even then he felt a calling to suffer for Jesus. He recalled that his family would remain after Mass to pray the Stations of the Cross. In addition to Mass, the Station of the Cross and the rosary, in later years the Divine Mercy Chaplet was part of his daily prayer.

At the age of 6, Irvingwas badly injured when he was thrown from the back of a galloping horse. He suffered a severe chest injury. He was taken to a hospital in Escanaba, Michigan, where x-rays revealed broken ribs and a punctured lung. He was also hemorrhaging through the nose and mouth. A local newspaper clipping reported the injuries appeared to be fatal.

Irving had an aunt who was a Franciscan Sister (Sister Speciosa). She and the sisters at the convent prayed an all-night vigil for his recovery. The next morning the doctor at the hospital was amazed to find that Irvinghad improved significantly and was no longer struggling to breathe. Irving related to his mother and the doctor that a “beautiful man in a white bathrobe” had stood at the foot of his bed during the night and raised his hand over him. Later in life, Irvingwould tell those close to him that he knows it was Jesus.

He married his wife Gail in 1948, and they were married for 60 years, raising five children. He was an active member of the Knights of Columbus,

On Good Friday, 1993, Irvingreceived the stigmata, at which point his healing ministry began. The wounds first appeared on the palms of his hands and he began to experience physical sufferings. He suffered The Passion every night between midnight and 3:00a.m. for the rest of his earthly life. He understood that these particular hours of the day were times of great sins of the flesh. Irvingheard the voice of Jesus asking Irvingto heal “my children.” Irvingspent the last 16 years of his life doing just that, praying over tens of thousands of people.

Many of the people he encountered have spoken of extraordinary physical and spiritual healing they experienced when Irvingprayed over them. He always made it clear that the healing came from God. He would simply say, “I don’t heal anybody” and “Jesus is the one who heals.”

Irving died at MarquetteGeneralHospitalin Marquette, Michigan, on Saturday, January 3, 2009. He will be remembered for his love of God, his closeness to Jesus and the Blessed Mother, his love for the Eucharist, the Church, prayer, and his care and concern for others.

In the life of Irving Houle, we see the extraordinary grace of God at work in an ordinary, simple man who offered his life in love for the Lord and others. Over the years, Irving’s generous response to simple sufferings disposed his heart to make of his life a generous outpouring of love expressed in prayer and suffering for the conversion of others. The effects of Irving’s ministry, clearly increased greatly the faith of the people with whom he came into contact, and devotion to him continues to grow more and more everyday throughout the Diocese of Marquette.
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He was a humble man who never wanted publicity and rarely spoke. He said Jesus never told him to speak but rather to heal His people. Jesus said to him, “I am taking away your hands and giving you mine … touch them.” .

He said that the Blessed Mother had come to him 19 times and during those visits told him that she would bring many people to him and him to many people.

It is estimated that Francis prayed individually over 100,000 people while he was still alive. People would wait for hours on end to see the elderly man who bore the stigmata and would lay his hands on them. People would be crying and would touch him and kiss his hands.

He is one of the few laymen in the history of the Church who has borne the stigmata.

Islanders, in our mini paradise, are up in arms, voicing their concerns toward the WashingtonState ferry system. As long as I have lived here, there have been complaints, but minor inconveniences have grown to the ridiculous. Unlike the islands to the south of us, we do not have bridges to get us home. This summer we have not been able to get reservations (part of the nightmare) weeks in advance, so we get to the ferry line 2-3 hours in advance of sailing and pray we get on.

Two weeks ago I was hospitalized (not planned!) and on Thursday of this week went to the doctor for the follow up. So with a car full of groceries & gas, we sat in a long line almost 2 hours early, with the assurance we would not even get on the last ferry at 9 PM. I walked on, while the driver stayed with the car for over 5 hours.

Our local businesses and government are pushing for tourism and ferry travelers have blossomed, but those of us who live here should be able to reach our homes.

The idiots (and believe me I am being polite) who run the system in Olympia do not understand our plight this far north. They send us “replacement” crews in the heat of summer who do not know how to load our ferries which sometimes go to all four islands (down south they go from A to B and back to A).

Periodically, the big shots from down south, send representatives to talk to islanders but our pleas for some understanding go on deaf ears! This has caused many residents to lose trust in the current ferry system and believe that WSF is failing to respond to criticism. Some residents have taken to social media to voice their concerns. Others write letters to our legislators (again deaf ears). I have written letters myself (and I am not a letter writer), giving some concrete steps which I feel could help. The system claims to be “running in the red”, yet we could charge tourists a bit more, charge bicyclers (at present free on the interisland ferry), even $5.00, as well as people who walk on (islanders would be given free passes).

As far as I can see the best solution (other than privatizing the system) is to "divorce" ourselves from our southern relatives and have a ferry system that is our own.

In spite of our efforts, it seems like whatever we do is a meaningless exercise, and the people in charge are not actually interested in making changes.

We have a new ferry, to the tune of $126 million, and yet it was in repair 3 months after it sailed. Again this summer it has been out of service AND JUST THIS MORNING BROKE DOWN AGAIN!

From what I understand, all WA state ferries have to be made in the state, so there is no competition. We need to look to other countries, like in Scandinavia, who produce better functioning vessels.

Residents and even ferry workers up here are UPSET with their experience when commuting. I am afraid we could have mutiny soon if something is not done to remedy our dire situation!

Very frightening statistics have recently come to light. A recent survey found that two-thirds of Catholics do not believe Church teaching about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

A recent Pew Research study found that just 31% of U.S. Catholics they surveyed believe that the bread and wine used in the Eucharist, through a process called transubstantiation, become the body and blood of Jesus. This is a fundamental teaching central to our Catholic faith.

I tell Catholics if you do not believe this you need to exit the Church and find another, that caters to your need for socials. My feeling is the “time is short and the waters are rising” and we need to take a stance to defend our faith and to teach this and future generations the truth!

Sixty-nine percent of Catholics surveyed reported their belief that the bread and wine used during the Eucharist “are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.”

“Overall, 43% of Catholics believe that the bread and wine are symbolic and also that this reflects the position of the church. Still, one-in-five Catholics (22%) reject the idea of transubstantiation, even though they know about the church’s teaching.”

Our friend, Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles, said the study made him angry because it showed poor formation for generations in the Church. The sad thing is those who never got it in the past are now teaching the present generation.

“This should be a wake-up call to all of us in the Church—priests, bishops, religious, laypeople, catechists, parents, everyone—that we need to pick up our game when it comes to communicating even the most basic doctrines of the Church,” Bishop Barron wrote on his blog Aug. 6.

Father Gerald Murray (on EWTN) says the purpose of Vatican II was to make the Liturgy more accessable to all, which meant making the doctrine more easily explained and understood. But we have the exact opposite. It is a free for all- the casual distribution of the Eucharist (in the hand, not genuflecting, etc). Not only is it not taught by teachers, but it is how the priest communicates the liturgy. Father Murray says it makes him sad (and other priests have told me the same thing) to see people receive with no sign of reverence. He says we need to return to liturgical order, not the liturgical chaos we have.

I think in a past Blog I wrote how moved I was to read the words of Blessed Charles de Foucauld, who used to sit under the tablernacle in his hut and pray with the knowledge that when we receive the Body of Jesus, we are as close to Him as His Mother was when she carried Him in her womb. Great food for thought! When I tell this to people, they always stop in amazement. If every priest got in the pulpit on Sunday and said just this and sat down, people would fall over!

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote: "Material food first of all turns itself into the person who eats it, and as a consequence, restores his losses and increases his vital energies. Spiritual food, on the other hand, turns the person who eats it into Itself, and thus the proper effect of this sacrament is the conversion of man into Christ, so that he may no longer live for himself, but that Christ may live in him.

We who receive the bread of angels, who have been invited to the Eucharistic Feast, now have His Divine life within us. This means we spiritually bring Christ into a world screaming for some new life. We are called to become living monstrances, repositories of the Bread of life for others and our Mother Mary is the model who shows us the way.

Emil Jacques- Cathedral Portland, OR

The English theologian Monsignor Ronald Knox said this about the Holy Eucharist: “We have never, as Christians, been truly faithful to Jesus, no matter our denomination. In the end none of us have truly followed those teachings which most characterize Jesus- We have not turned the other cheek. We have not forgiven our enemies. We have not purified our thoughts. We have not seen God in the poor. We have not kept our hearts pure and free from the things of this world. But we have been faithful in one very important way- we have kept the Eucharist going.”

“If music is carefully selected and beautifully offered, it can open up a space of silence which God can fill. For people who find it difficult to escape the noise both exterior and interior, your music can still the racing mind, relieve the daily stress, and invite us gently into a sacred moment where God can speak to our hearts and we can be in deeper communion with God and with one another”

Archbishop Eamonm Martin (Armagh, Ireland)

The Art of Silence- Odilon Redon

In July, the Archbishop of Armagh gave a talk to musicians on the importance of good music in the liturgy. The theme was how music opens space for God to fill. For me the most important part of this talk was on the silencethat is necessary in order to hear the voice of the Lord speaking to us.

“In the quiet, we can find him whom our heart seeks.” Pope Francis puts it this way. “The Lord speaks to us in a variety of ways, at work, through others and at every moment. Yet we simply cannot do without the silence of prolonged prayer, which enables us better to perceive God’s language, to interpret the real meaning of the inspirations we believe we have received, to calm our anxieties and to see the whole of our existence afresh in his own light”.

Amazingly enough, I recently gave a talk to teenagers on this various subject. In front the Blessed Sacrament exposed, how can there be prayer, if they drown out the sacred moment with the cacophony of inappropriate music?

The Archbishop continues: "The difficulty of course for all of us nowadays is finding any opportunity for deep silence and listening. Even when we do shut out much of the external noise and clamor that tends to fill every second of life nowadays, we often find there is an interior din – our minds and hearts and passions racing, distracted, restless. One wonders if in this “screen culture” with all social media that gate-crashes our every moment, are we are uncomfortable with silence and losing our capacity to sit still, to be at peace? We are sadly, therefore, missing out on so many opportunities to notice the “still small voice” of God, gently whispering in our hearts. Pope Francis in his recent letter to young people invites them to find and enter into these moments:

“Try to keep still for a moment and let yourself feel his love. Try to silence all the noise within, and rest for a second in his loving embrace”. Pope Francis realizes, of course, that Jesus himself sought those quiet moments in lonely places where he could be at peace in prayerful contact with the Father.

Rodon- Reflection

Pope Benedict XVI said that we should not be afraid to create silence both within, and outside ourselves, in order to become aware of God’s voice – and also the voice and needs of the person who sits beside us. On the Feast of Corpus Christi in 2012, he emphasized that ‘celebration’ and ‘silent adoration’ are not against each other. He said:

“To be all together in prolonged silence before the Lord present in his Sacrament is one of the most genuine experiences of our being Church, which is accompanied complementarily by the celebration of the Eucharist, by listening to the word of God, by singing and by approaching the table of the Bread of Life together. Communion and contemplation cannot be separated, they go hand in hand. If I am truly to communicate with another person I must know him, I must be able to be in silence close to him, to listen to him and look at him lovingly. True love and true friendship are always nourished by the reciprocity of looks, of intense, eloquent silences full of respect and veneration, so that the encounter may be lived profoundly and personally rather than superficially”.

VENERABLE MOTHER ANTONIETTA GIUGLIANO is another American who spent most of her life in another country. Her life is witness of a life given to God and the care of others and to her unshakable hope.

She was born in New Yorkon July 11,1909. Her parents had emigrated from Afragola, a town in the province of Naples, Italy, to the U.S. some years before. Her mother died when Antonietta was five years old so her father moved the family back to Italy.

Her father wanted his daughter to receive a religious education, so left her in the care of the Sisters of Charity of Regina Coeli in Naples where Antonietta spent her childhood and adolescence.

At sixteen years of age her inner life prayer life deepened and the seed of a religious vocation began to ripen in her.

Her widowed father had in the meantime remarried and the family had ambitious projects for the young girl. They wanted a marriage suited to her social and financial standing. She was also a beautiful girl with flowing black hair and big black eyes, which revealed her deep inner life and foreshadowed a radiant future.

But her heart longed for wider horizons. She started reading the Imitation of Christ, praying with the Bible and meditating on the life of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus. Her intelligence and her openness to the will of God made her soon realize that there was a special call in store for her.

One day Antonietta visited a cousin, a missionary Sister living in France but passing through Afragola. In that meeting Antonietta saw a sign from God. She was excited at the thought of the great deeds of charity that could be carried out in mission lands (At that time Pope Pius XI was giving great attention to missionary work). Perhaps, she thought, bringing the Good News to faraway lands was the answer to that need for total self-giving she felt so strongly in her heart.

Humility and the awareness of her limitations convinced her that she should seek advice from a priest, Giuseppe Romanucci, who was also her cousin.

Antonietta had recently lost her father and inherited a large patrimony, even though she was still too young to come into possession of it. She met Father Sosio Del Prete, the Superiorof the Franciscan Convent of Saint Anthony and opened her heart to him. He was struck by Antonietta's enthusiasm, her complete self-giving to God, her strong faith and by her progress on the road of perfection

He was able to perceive in Antonietta the spiritual strength and generosity needed to minister to the old and less fortunate people of Afragola. From this time on the lives of the two founders are intimately intertwined. Together they gave birth to the apostolate of the Little Servants of Christ the King.

Antonietta received the religious habit from Cardinal Alessio Assalesi in,1935. She took as her rule of life, the rule of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis. She gave herself totally to the growth and the strengthening of the new religious family, which she guided as first Superior General till her death. She was a wise Superior, protecting her religious family with courage and strength during difficult and stormy times.

She accepted with Christian faith and courage the sickness that cut her life short when she was barely fifty years of age in 1960 in Portici.

Venerable Mother Antonietta Giugliano was a contemplative in action.

Mother Dilecta with Lucina

As we are in the swing of things with our summer gardens, I am reminded of the Church’s place in farming throughout the ages. Pope Pius VII in 1802 wrote, “Agriculture is the first and most important of all arts; so it is also the first and true riches of states.” This common theme of agricultural wealth repeated throughout the social doctrine of the Church is preserved today.

Monastery garden

In 2011, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI reflected on the inestimable spiritual and economic value of small family farms, reminding lay Catholics and clergy of the importance of preserving rural communities, good stewardship principles and their rootedness in the faith.

In 1923, Bishop Edwin O’Hara broke ground with the founding of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (recently re-branded “Catholic Rural Life” or CRL), a leader in nurturing the interests of small farm ownership, rural life, and the rural church.

Produce from our monastery farm

Originally headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, the Catholic Rural Life’s mission is simple: to apply the teachings of Christ to rural lands and to be active in policy reforms aimed at benefiting farming culture. From its very foundation the organization’s aim was to bring “Christ to country, the country to Christ!” and anchor the spiritual life in the hearts of all who work the land.

Pope Benedict XVI recognized it too when he said:

“More than a few young people have already chosen this path; also many professionals are returning to dedicate themselves to the agricultural enterprise, feeling that they are responding not only to a personal and family need, but also to a ‘sign of the times,’ to a concrete sensibility for the ‘common good.”

We certainly see more and more young people in our area heading to the land, not only to raise their own food for their family, but their local community as well. Of course there is also the desire to raise their children in a more balanced life style.

As Benedictines we know that stewardship of the land puts us into a deeper relationship with our Creator, as we tend to the crops we sow and the animals we raise. Throughout the ages, in monasteries, those who work the land have an understanding that the earth itself is a gift, a gift that must be shared with all who come to partake in our life.

Feeding the cattle

Our new Seattle Archbishop, His Excellency Paul Etienne, was president of Catholic Rural Life in 2014 when he stated: “Society depends on the country and the farm for the produce that feeds the nation—the world,” he said. “Even more, it needs the wholesome vitality of the families produced by rural living. There is a sacramental nature to living and working in a rural setting. Farming provides a common purpose and a natural setting that helped pull and hold a family together.”

As Benedictines we understand that we have a great responsibility to care for all that has been given to us. The Church has repeatedly taught that the misuse of God’s creation betrays the gift God has given us for the good of all humanity. We know what it what it means to be called by God to a vocation of the land.

I am constantly telling people who come to visit us that the Church needs more holy lay people. Many seem to think that it is impossible to become holy in today’s world and that only nuns and good priests can be saints. I believe that the Holy Spirit is at work “cleaning house” and for the Church to be renewed, the entire body of Christ must strive to live the faith devoutly.

This was the recent message of Father Roger Landry, who works for the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, at the.Auckland Eucharistic Assembly at the Sacred HeartCollege in New Zealand.

“While in history, reforms have been championed by popes, bishops, founders of religious orders and their spiritual sons and daughters, the real reform of the Church happens when lay people assimilate it and live it,” he said.

“The Church is not made of marble, wood, bricks and glass, but of men, women, boys and girls, who build their lives firmly on Christ the cornerstone and Peter the rock on whom Jesus constructed the Church.”

Father Landry spoke of the laity being light to the world, especially in a world darkened so deeply by grief, despair, sin, physical pain, and emotional wounds. Like Christ, the Christian should warm people from the cold and dispel darkness.

“He has come and mercifully taught us in such a way that we may walk as children of the light and be true children of the light. So the Christian life is supposed to be luminescent, like the lights on a landing strip at an airport on a foggy night that help planes land,” he said.

“Similarly, light gives off warmth, and Christ has come into the world to warm us by his love, to burn away whatever in us is frigid or tepid, so that we in turn may warm others by the fire of divine love.”

The image of light is meaningful because it “speaks not only of the deep involvement and the full participation of the lay faithful in the affairs of the earth, the world and the human community, but also and above all, it tells of the radical newness and unique character of an involvement and participation which has as its purpose the spreading of the Gospel that brings salvation,” he said, quoting St. John Paul II.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, former head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in his book "The Layperson's Distinctive Role" writes: The essential feature of the layperson’s role is the vocation to bring the spirit of Christ into the arenas of secular life from within, i.e. into the family, work and profession, trade and commerce, politics and government, mass media, science and culture and national and international relations.

Matthew Good, St. Gabriel Church, Charlotte, NC

"Co-responsibility demands a change in mindset especially concerning the role of lay people in the Church. They should not be regarded as “collaborators” of the clergy, but, rather, as people who are really “co-responsible” for the Church’s being and acting. It is therefore important that a mature and committed laity be consolidated, which can make its own specific contribution to the ecclesial mission with respect for the ministries and tasks that each one has in the life of the Church and always in cordial communion with the bishops." Pope Benedict XVI (2012)

I have spoken in past Blogs of the youth group that comes in summer to take on building projects, bring in the hay and winter’s fire wood, etc. The adults who bring the youth are members of the Knights of Columbas. *

Recently, in the magazine they send us, I found martyrs from the revolution in Mexicowho had belonged to K of C in their areas.

The 1920s brought a revolution to Mexico, along with the widespread persecution of Catholics. Missionaries were expelled from the country, Catholic seminaries and schools were closed, and the Church was forbidden to own property. Priests and laymen were told to denounce Jesus and their faith in public. If they refused, they faced not just punishment but torture and death.

During this time of oppression and cruelty, the Knights of Columbus did not retreat in Mexicobut grew dramatically, from 400 members in 1918 to 43 councils and 6,000 members just five years later. In the United States at the time, the Knights handed out five million pamphlets that described the brutality of the Mexican government toward Catholics. As a result, the Mexican government greatly feared and eventually outlawed the Order.

Thousands of men, many of whom were Knights, would not bow to these threats or renounce their faith, and they often paid with their lives. They took a stand when that was the most difficult thing they could do. Six priests were members of the Knights, joining the ranks of the Mexican Martyrs, among the 25 victims of religious persecution canonized in 2000 by Pope (St.) John Paul II.

Father Pedro

Father Jose Maria

Father Pedro de Jesus Maldonado Lucero was forced to study for the priesthood in El Paso, Texas, because of the political situation in Mexico. He returned home after his ordination in 1918 despite the risk. Captured on Ash Wednesday,1937, while distributing ashes to the faithful, Father Pedro was so savagely beaten that one eye was forced from its socket. He died the next day at a local hospital. His tombstone aptly described this martyr in four words: "You are a priest."

Father Jose Maria Robles Hurtado was ordained in 1913, founding the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Guadalajara when he was only 25. On June 25, 1927, he was arrested while preparing to celebrate Mass. Early the next morning, he was hanged from an oak tree, but not before he had forgiven his murderers and offered a prayer for his parish. He went so far as to place the rope around his own neck, so that none of his captors would hold the title of murderer.

Father Rodrigo

Father RodrigoAguilar Alemán of Union de Tula in Jalisco was issued a warrant for his arrest, so took refuge a the Colegio de San Ignacio in Ejutla, celebrating Mass and administering the sacraments.

Rather than escape when soldiers arrived, Father Rodrigo remained at the seminary to burn the list of seminary students, and thus protect them from being known. When the soldiers demanded his identity, he told them only that he was a priest.

He was taken to the main square of Ejutla, where the seminary was located. He publicly forgave his killers, and then a soldier gave him the chance to save himself by giving the “right” answer to this question, “Who lives?”

But he replied, “Christ the King and Our Lady of Guadalupe.” The noose that had been secured to a mango tree was tightened, then relaxed twice. Each time it was relaxed, he was asked the same question and each time he gave the same response. The third time the noose was tightened, he died.

Father Miguel

Father Mateo

Father Miguelde la Mora de la Mora of Colima, along with several other priests, publicly signed a letter opposing the anti-religious laws imposed by the government. He was soon arrested and, with his brother Regino looking on, Father Miguel was executed Aug.7,1927 without a trial by a single shot from a military officer as he prayed his rosary.

Father Mateo Correa Magallanes, who was a member of Council 2140, was arrested and taken to Durango. While in prison, he was ordered by the commanding officer on Feb. 5, 1927, to hear the confessions of his fellow prisoners. Then the commander demanded to know what they had told him. Of course, Father Mateo wouldn't violate the seal of confession, and so, the next day, he was taken to a local cemetery and executed by the soldiers.

Father Luis

Father Luis Batiz Sainz was born in 1870. On Aug. 15, 1926, at Chalchihuites, Zacatecas, he and three layman were put before a firing squad for refusing to submit to anti-religious laws. When Father Luis asked the soldiers to free one of the captives, Manuel Morales, who had sons and daughters, Morales wouldn’t hear of it.

“I am dying for God," he declared,” and God will care for my children.” Smiling, Father Luis gave his friend absolution and said: “See you in heaven.”

* The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded in 1882 by Michael J. McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut, it was named in honor of the explorer Christopher Columbus. Originally serving as a mutual benefit society to working-class and immigrant Catholics in the United States, it developed into a fraternal benefit society dedicated to providing charitable services, including war and disaster relief, actively defending Catholicism in various nations, and promoting Catholic education The Knights also support the Catholic Church's positions on public policy issues, including various political causes, and are participants in the new evangelization. Pope St. John Paul II referred to the order as the "strong right arm of the Church" for their support of the church, as well as for their philanthropic and charitable efforts.

Being a native of Connecticut, our Prioress has a great devotion to Venerable McGivney. (see Blog.

10/29/12).

A CHILD WHO SUFFERED FOR JESUS

RATS IN PARADISE!

BENEDICTINE WAR HERO

HOLY FAMILY - A JESUIT & A MARTYR

AMERICAN PRIEST MARTYR

FATHER OF EDUCATION IN PUERTO RICO

EDUCATION IN CUBA

NEW MARTYRS of GUATEMALA

WANT WHAT GOD WANTS

THE FRUITS OF FAITH AND CHARITY

THANKFUL FOR OUR PARISH PRIESTS

BROOKLYN SAINT

A MODERN HEALER- STIGMATIC IN THE USA

UPSET IN THE SAN JUANS- POOR FERRY SERVICE

FOOD FOR THE SOUL

THE ART OF SILENCE

AMERICAN BORN VENERABLE

FARMING IN THE CHURCH

HOLINESS AMONG THE LAITY

MARTYRS FOR CHRIST- KNIGHT of COLUMBAS