Memorial Day: July 28th

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Antony was born into the nobility, the family of the Marquis della Chiesa, and a collateral ancestor of Pope Benedict XV. He was well educated. Showing a taste early in life for he things of God, he grew up with the hope of becoming a religious. His father, who was a man of some importance, opposed this wish. Not until Antony was 22 was he able to make the break with his family and enter the monastery at Vercelli.

Here he distinguished himself for both sanctity and learning. Being a good preacher, he was for some years the companion of Saint Bernardine of Siena, in his missionary journeys through Italy. Antony was prior at the friaries of Como, Savona, Florence, and Bologna.

Antony gives us a picture of one who followed the Dominican life perfectly, managing, most of the time, to escape public notice. There is in his life very little of the glamorous or the unusual. He kept the rule, was a good superior, and a just administrator. Shunning applause, he was always serene.

The legends mention that he was particularly devoted to Our Lady, which is something one takes for granted in a Dominican, and that he conversed with her, in ecstasy, several times. He had the gift of reading hearts and was a sought-after director of souls. He also healed many sick people with his blessing. However, if any miracles are ordinary ones, these may be so described; they could be given as typical of most of early Dominicans.

At one time, Antony was on a ship that was captured by pirates, but at his prayer, the pirates spared the passengers and brought them safely to land. One of the very few things of unusual nature that in Antony’s life is a legend told of him when he was prior of Savona. It makes a lovely ghost story, and it also provides food for thought.

According to the story, Antony was praying one night in the church. Disturbed by the sound of horses hooves clattering on the flagstones outside, he went to see who could possibly be there at such a late hour. There were several horsemen, all mounted on black horses. He addressed them, but received no answer. Thinking that they might be foreigners, he tried several languages, and still there was no response.

Aware, then, that something was wrong, he commanded them in the name of the Lord to tell him who they were and where they were going. They said that they were devils, and that they were on their way to meet the soul of a dying sinner, a usurer, and escort him to hell. “I will pray for him,” said Antony. The demons laughed and told him he was too late. “Then at least come back and tell me whether you succeed or not,” said the prior.

A short while later, the group returned, and they had succeeded. They held the unhappy usurer captive, and, while the prior watched in horror, they bore him off. The man was screaming. The next day, the usurer’s relatives came to arrange an elaborate funeral. “You would do much better to have Masses said for yourselves and other poor sinners,” he said.

Antony died at Como and was buried there in the Dominican church Miracles at his tomb led to his beatification.

Born: in San Germano, near Vercelli, the Piedmont, Italy, in 1395;

Died: Como, Italy, January 22, 1459;

Beatified: 1819 by Pope Pius VII

 

Memorial Day: July 24th

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Miracles around the tomb of Augustine of Biella led to his beatification in 1878, after he had long been forgotten by everyone, except the residents of the little town at the foot of the Alps where he lived. His is another example of a life noted for piety and regularity, but quite unremarkable for unusual events or venturesome projects.

Augustine’s father was a member of the Fangi family, who were wealthy and noble, and, because of this, he had planned a secular career for his son. But when the Dominicans came to Biella, his plans were changed, for Augustine was completely charmed by their way of life and begged to be admitted. He entered, while quite young, the new convent that the Dominicans had built at Biella.

Augustine’s had a reputation for penance, even at a time when people were not as squeamish as they are today. Not only did he inflict harsh penances upon himself, he also bore with patience whatever pain and annoyance life granted him gratuitously. At one time he was required to undergo a surgical operation without, of course, any anesthetic. He did so without making the slightest outcry. In fact, he said afterwards that his mind was so intensely focused on something else that he hardly noticed what was being done to him. His mind was on that “something else” most of the time, for he prayed continually.

In 1464, Augustine was made prior at Soncino. Several of his best known miracles were performed there. At one time, a deformed child, who had died without baptism, was restored to life, by Augustine’s prayer, long enough to be baptized. At another time, when he was passing down the street, he met a little boy who was crying bitterly, because he had broken a jug of wine. Augustine gathered up the shards and put them back together again. Then, with a prayer, he refilled the jug and handed it back to the startled child. Still another time, through his intercession, a woman was delivered from possession of five devils.

Augustine spent his last ten years in the convent in Venice, and he died there on the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene. He was buried in a damp place. Forty years later, on the occasion of some repairs to the church, his coffin, found floating on water, was opened. His body and habit were still intact. This did much to promote interest in his cause. Nevertheless, it was more than three centuries before he was finally beatified.

Born: at Biella, Italy, 1430

Died: feast of Saint Mary Magdalen 1493 at Venice, Italy; in the 1530s, workmen found his coffin floating in the water that had seeped into the burial chamber – when opened, Augustine’s body and clothing were found to be incorrupt

Cultus Confirmed: in 1872 by Pope Pius IX

Beatified: in 1878 by Pope Leo XIII

Memorial Day: July 23rd

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One of the stigmatists of the Order who deserves to be better known is Blessed Jane of Orvieto, whose marvel-filled life was the edification of Umbria in the latter half of the thirteenth century. Jane was born near Orvieto, in 1264, and both parents died when she was very small. Left to the care of casual neighbors, the little girl gre up with a special reliance of her guardian angel. She was a pious and intelligent child, , spending her time in prayer , even when very young.

Since it was necessary for her to earn her living , Jane studied dressmaking and became proficient at it. For several years she worked at this trade , prayerful and happy and undisturbed about her future. However, she had a number of unhappy experiences on the street on her way to work, for young men were attracted by her beauty. It became apparent to her that she must make some public declaration of her intentions if she wanted any peace. She decided to enter the Third Order of St. Dominic. Dressed in the habit of the mantellate, she would be safe from rude remarks and from any misunderstandings.

Jane’s friends opposed her plans, because they had already helpfully chosen a husband for her, and were trying to arrange a meeting of Jane and the man they had selected. Because of her youth, the Dominicans delayed in accepting her. Only after a long period of prayer and fasting was she able to win the privilege of putting on the Third Order habit and living with the other members of the Tertiary chapter. Once a member of the Order she so much desired , she set her goal at the highest sanctity and worked at attaining it. She prayed all morning and part of the afternoon, leaving herself only time to do enough work to care for her few needs and some alms to give the poor. She soon reached a remarkable state of prayer; she participated bodily in whatever she was contemplating. Her director learned not to say anything that would send her into ecstasy until he was through instructing her. Once he mentioned the martyrdom of Catherine of Alexandria and said piously, “Arise, O blessed Catherine,” and Jane arose, in ecstasy, and remained suspended in the air for an hour. If he talked about the Crucifixion her arms would go out in the form of a cross, and she would rise in the air like a figure on a crucifix. On Good Fridays she experienced the terrible agony of the Passion, and one could hear her bones cracking and see the bloody sweat. She received the stigmata, but it was not always visible.

Along with her remarkable life of prayer, Jane had to contend with physical pain. Once she was cured of a serious illness by a miraculous appearance of our Lord on the cross. He appeared to her in the midst of a bright light and gave her a cup of wine to drink. She obediently drank it, and she was instantly cured. Another time, when she was too ill to go to church to receive Communion , Our Lady came and brought the Holy Child to her.

One of Jane’s principal crosses was the lack of privacy. The whole town knew about her ecstasies. As soon as she fell into one, people came running to look. Jane tired to persuade the prioress to keep them out, but the prioress was interested herself, and saw no reason why anybody should object to being watched if they were not doing anything wrong. Jane wept with embarrassment when people asked for her blessing, and assured them over and over that she was not a saint but a wicked sinner, a diagnosis which nobody believed but herself.

Blessed Jane died, in 1306, and was buried in the Third Order cemetery in Orvieto. The following year her body was transferred to the chapel of the Three Kings, and many prodigies occurred at that time, giving impetus to the process for beatification, which, however, was not completed until more than 400 years later, in 1754.

Born: c.1264 at Carniola, near Orvieto

Died: 1306

Beatified: September 11, 1754 by Pope Benedict XIV (cultus confirmed)

Feast Day: July 22nd

Mary Magdalen is a model of contemplation, and is thus a suitable proctectress for an Order whose end is the salvation of souls by the preaching of the truths contemplated

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Mary Magdalen, a sister of Lazarus and of Martha, of Bethany, was a notorious sinner in Jerusalem. Moved by the preaching of Jesus, she did public penance. She went openly into the house of the Pharisee with whom Jesus was sitting at table, threw herself at His feet, anointed them with precious ointment, washed them with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. Jesus, knowing her contrite heart, forgave her her sins (Luke 7:37, 38), and from that time forward she became the most zealous and faithful of the women who were disciples of Our Lord. She followed Him, always ministered unto Him of her substance (Luke 8:3), and when He died was standing under the cross.
Epistle: Canticle 3:2-5; 8:6,7

I will rise and will go about the city; in the streets and the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth; I sought him and I found him not. The watchmen who keep the city found me: Have you seen him whom my soul loveth? When I had a little passed by them, I found him whom my soul loveth. I held him; and I will not let him go till I bring him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that bore me. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and the harts of the fields, that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved till she please. Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death; jealousy as hard as hell; the lamps thereof are fire and flame. Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it; if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing.

The soul that, following the direction of the watchmen, that is, the priests, teachers, and rulers of the Church, seeks Jesus, He goes to meet, gives Himself up to, takes up His abode in, with all His love, with all His treasures. The soul which has found Christ for delight forgets all outward things, and no longer has love or joy but for and in Christ. How should it be otherwise? What can be wanting to him who truly possesses Christ? This love for Him Who loved us unto death shows itself by outward acts that are heroic. So Mary Magdalen loved Jesus. Follow her example.

Gospel: Luke 7:36-50

At that time: One of the Pharisees desired Jesus to eat with him. And He went into the house of the Pharisee, and sat down to meat. And behold a woman that was in the city, a sinner, when she knew that He sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and standing behind, at His feet, she began to wash His feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And the Pharisee, who had invited Him, seeing it, spoke within himself, saying: This man, if He were a prophet, would know surely who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him, that she is a sinner. And Jesus answering, said to him: Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee. But he said: Master, say it. A certain creditor had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And whereas they had not wherewith to pay, he forgave them both. Which, therefore, of the two loveth him most? Simon answering, said: I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And He said to him: Thou hast judged rightly. And turning to the woman, He said unto Simon: Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet; but she with tears hath washed My feet, and with her hairs hath wiped them. Thou gavest Me no kiss; but she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss My feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but she with ointment hath anointed My feet. Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less. And He said to her: Thy sins are forgiven thee. And they that sat at meat with Him began to say within themselves: Who is this that forgiveth sins also? And He said to the woman: Thy faith hath made thee safe, go in peace.

Magdalen, who had sinned openly, openly did penance. In like manner, he who has given public scandal must seek to make amends for it by public good example.

Magdalen confessed her sins, says Saint Ambrose, not with words, but with abundant tears of penitence. To tell her sins to Christ, the All-knowing, was not necessary; but what a confession was there in the posture of humiliation, and in the tears that flowed from the contrite sinner. Would you obtain forgiveness? Confess with contrition, like Magdalen.

The words, “Thy faith hath made thee safe,” denote a faith active as love. Faith and love are in truth never separated, for he only truly believes who also loves; and he only loves according to God’s will who believes in Him. Therefore believe in truth, love, and show your love by earnest hatred of every sin, by flying from occasions of sin, by fighting against your passions, by change of your life, and by humble confession, and as true as God lives you will be saved, as was Magdalen; the peace of God will enter into your heart.

Memorial Day: July 17th

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Ceslaus Odrowatz was a near relative, probably a brother, of Saint Hyacinth, and shared with him the apostolate of Northern Europe. Little is known of his youth. He was born in the ancestral castle and educated with Saint Hyacinth, by his uncle, a priest of Cracow.

Both young men became priests and, being well-known for their holiness, were chosen to be canons in the cathedral chapter in Cracow. When their uncle received an appointment as bishop of Cracow, the two young priests accompanied him on his trip to Rome, where he would be consecrated.

It was in Rome that the two zealous young priests first heard of the work of Saint Dominic. The order was then only four years old, and its eager members had penetrated to almost all parts of Christendom and were pushing into the lands of the Tartars and the Mohammedans.

The new bishop strongly desired that some of the friars should come to Poland. Since Saint Dominic was then in Rome, they went to him for missionaries. Dominic was deeply regretful that he had no friars who were able to speak the languages of the North. However, he was much drawn to the bishop’s two young nephews, and promised to make them Dominican apostles if they would remain with him.

After their novitiate training, Hyacinth and Ceslaus went home. Ceslaus went to Prague, and other parts of Bohemia, where he founded convents of Friar Preachers and also established a group of nuns. Then he went to Silesia, where he founded the convent of Breslau that was to become his center of activities. He also acted as the spiritual director for duchess Saint Hedwig of Poland.

The life of Blessed Ceslaus, like that of Saint Hyacinth, is a record of almost countless miracles, of unbelievable distances travelled on foot through wild and warlike countries, and of miracles of grace. He cured the sick and the maimed, raised the dead to life, and accomplished wonders in building convents. His most remarkable miracle was the raising to life of a boy who had been dead for eight days.

In 1241 the Tartars swooped down upon the Christian kingdoms and laid waste the labor of centuries. Blessed Ceslaus was in Breslau at the time the Tartars laid siege to the city. He and his community fasted and prayed incessantly that the city would be saved, and when the cause looked darkest, Ceslaus mounted the ramparts with a crucifix in his hand. While the Tartars gazed in astonishment, a huge ball of fire descended from heaven and settled above him. Arrows of fire shot out from the heavenly weapon, and the Tartars fled in terror, leaving the city unmolested.

Our Lady came to receive the soul of Blessed Ceslaus, who had been tireless in preaching her glories.

Born: c.1180 at Cracow, Poland

Died: July 16, 1242

Beatified:August 27, 1712 by Pope Clement XI (cultus confirmed)