From her youth, Elizabeth was a devout child who attended daily mass, prayed regularly, and fasted. These practices of piety and devotion equipped her with the strength and fortitude she would need when she was married at age 12 to Denis, King of Portugal. Though Denis was fond of his young wife, he did not share her piety and often strayed into sin, resulting in several illegitimate children. These children were lovingly cared for by Elizabeth along with her own two children, her daughter Constantia and son Affonso. This fact caused strife when Affonso felt slighted for the illegitimate children. Elizabeth served as peacemaker between her son and husband, resulting in their ultimate reconciliation.

This mediation was just one of many times Elizabeth was called upon for her ability to help feuding parties come to peace and resolution. The final time would be when her son, now king, headed for a battle he should not wage. The target of Affonso’s wrath this time was his own son-in-law. Elizabeth successfully reconciled the two parties, but as she was aged and suffering illness, the exertion took its toll on her physically. She died peacefully in 1336, urging her son to love holiness and peace.

Lessons

One miraculous event in St. Elizabeth’s life involved gossip and two pages. The first page was jealous of the second, so he lied to the king and accused the latter of having a relationship with the queen. King Denis was infuriated, and ordered the death of the innocent page. The king instructed the lime-burner to throw into his furnace the first page that came to him. The innocent page was sent to the lime-burner, but he regularly attended daily mass and stopped for mass along the way. However, he arrived late, so stayed on for the next mass. When the king sent the dishonest page to confirm the death of the innocent page, he was instead the first to arrive, and was thrown into the furnace. Denis realized the err in his judgment, sought his wife’s forgiveness, and began a new life of holiness before his death.

Both the page and St. Elizabeth attended daily mass, and their constant devotion to Our Lord protected and sustained them in their respective stations in life. We, too, should try to attend mass as frequently as possible, since closeness to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament will give us the strength we need in our stations in life.

Other Saints We Remember Today

Commemoration of All Holy Popes

Our Lady of Refuge

St. Theodore (310), Bishop, Martyr

In John’s Gospel, we learn more about Thomas’ character than we do about most of the other Twelve Apostles. Through Thomas’ outspoken nature, much is revealed about him, and about Our Lord. First, when Jesus announced His intention of returning to Judea to visit Lazarus, “Thomas” who is called Didymus [the twin], said to his fellow disciples: “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16).

During the conversation before the Last Supper, St. Thomas raised an objection: Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:5-7)

These words of Jesus, first directed to Thomas, are a major tenet of the Catholic Faith.

St. Thomas is most often associated with his skepticism when the other Apostles announced Christ’s Resurrection to him.

But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”

Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (John 20:24-29).

St. Thomas is also recognized as the apostle who baptized the Magi. After the Magi held the Holy Infant, the Blessed Mother gave them some of His baby clothes to bring back to the East as relics. The Magi returned to the East, to Persia, and in the year 40 A.D., were baptized there by Saint Thomas the Apostle. All three Magi, Saint Gaspar, Saint Melchior and Saint Balthasar, were martyred for the Catholic Faith.

St. Thomas, too, died as a martyr, stabbed with a spear in India, 72 A.D. He is the patron of architects; blind people; construction workers; Ceylon; East Indies; geometricians; India; masons; Pakistan; Sri Lanka; stone masons; stonecutters; surveyors; theologians; and against doubt.

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ,

Let our prayer today be that of St. Thomas, upon seeing you truly present in our midst in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, may we proclaim in our hearts and on our lips, “My Lord and my God.”

Amen.

Other Saints We Remember Today

St. Irenaeus (203), Bishop, Martyr

St. Leo II (683), Pope

While in Naples, Bernardino, now 34 years old, met some priests of the relatively new Society of Jesus and made an eight-day retreat with them. During this retreat he felt a strong call to the religious life and asked the Jesuits for admittance into their Society. He was accepted and ordained a priest in 1567.

From that time on Bernardino devoted his life to the care of the poor and sick, to teaching the Faith to young people, and to ministering to galley slaves. He was appointed novice master while in Naples and remained in that city for ten years until he was sent to the south of Italy to the town of Lecci where he had been requested to found a college. He spent the rest of his life in Lecci where he was hailed as a saint during his lifetime, not only because of his powerful example as a preacher, confessor, and teacher, but also because of the many miracles he performed by the power of God. One of the miracles attributed to Bernardino was in regard to a small pitcher of wine which did not give out until everyone present had had their fill.

Six years before his death at the age of 86, Bernardino fell and sustained two wounds which never healed. During his final illness, blood was taken from one of the leg wounds and placed in glass vials. After his death, the blood appeared to boil and foam and retained its liquid state until well into the mid-nineteenth century.

So devoted were the people of Lecci to their saint, the magistrates of the town visited Bernardino on his deathbed and formally requested that he take the city under his patronage after his death. Unable to speak, Bernardino nodded his head, dying soon afterwards with the names of Jesus and Mary on his lips. He was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1947 and is to this day considered the Patron of Lecci.

Lessons

1. In his late twenties, Bernardino Realino was already a mover and shaker of his time with everything going for him in the way of success. He gave it all up, however, the moment he heard the call from God to become a priest. Here we have an example of a rich young man who this time made the right decision, who gave it all up to follow Jesus, finding his treasure in heaven rather than in the world.

2. St. Bernardino Realino dedicated much of his life to teaching young people the Faith. Remembering that young people are the future of the Church, let us pray to St. Bernardino that all those who teach the young will do so under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit and so lead our youth to a true understanding and love of their Catholic faith.

Other Saints We Remember Today

Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth

Saints Processus and Matinian (67), Martyrs

St. Peter (304), Exorcist, Martyr

On his arrival in the New World, Fray Serra’s first assignment was to the rugged, mountainous region of Sierra Gorda. Here he remained for nine years, preaching to the Indians and strengthening the two missions already established in the area. His second assignment was to journey out from Mexico City into coastal villages and mining camps. In those eight years, despite severe asthma and a leg chronically infected and ulcerated after an insect bite, he walked over 6,000 miles on foot, preaching retreats and administering the sacraments.

In 1767 when the King of Spain banished the Jesuit Society from his dominions, the thirteen Jesuit missions in Baja California were suddenly left unstaffed. Junípero Serra, now 54, was appointed the new Superior of Baja California, and within several years he was requested to move into Alta California (the current State of California). Serra joined the expedition of Don Gaspar de Portola who had been ordered by the Spanish king to explore and occupy new territory. Fray Serra reached San Diego on June 27, 1769 and founded there the first mission, today known as Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá. In the next fifteen years, Junípero Serra established nine of the 21 missions of California, each a one-day walk apart (about 30 miles), and linked by a dirt road called El Camino Real (The King’s Road).

Junípero Serra personally oversaw the planning, construction, and staffing of each mission from his headquarters at Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Carmel. From Carmel he traveled on foot to the other missions along the California coast to supervise mission work and to confer the sacrament of Confirmation. Biographers estimate that, still bothered by his infected leg, Serra walked more than 24,000 miles in California alone — more than the journeys of Marco Polo and Lewis and Clark combined. He kept with determination to his motto, “Always to go forward and never to turn back.”

Fray Serra’s first concern was always for his missionary flock, California’s native Americans. He introduced them to efficient agricultural and irrigation systems as well as to a system of trade between the various missions; he pressed the Spanish government for a system of law to protect them against the abuses of Spanish soldiers; and he created a network of roads, making trade and transportation easier for them.

Junípero Serra’s devotion to his mission did not end with his death at Carmel, August 28, 1784. A few hours before he died, he said, “I promise that if the Lord in His Infinite mercy grants me eternal happiness — which I do not deserve because of my faults — that I shall pray for all and for the conversion of so many pagans whom I leave unconverted.”

Junípero Serra, who is known as the “Apostle of California” was beatified by Pope John Paul II in September 1988. A statue of his likeness stands in the Capitol Building in Washington D.C., and his body lies beneath the sanctuary at Mission San Carlos Borromeo, Carmel. Many of his letters and other writings have survived, and the diary of his travels was published in the early 20th century. He is also the namesake of the Serra Club, an international Catholic organization dedicated to the promotion of vocations.

Lessons

1. Despite the intense suffering he endured from his asthma and infected leg, Blessed Junípero still practiced mortifications and various forms of self-denial. In this day when we run from any kind of suffering, let us ask the Holy Spirit for an understanding of the great value of suffering both for our own souls and for the entire Body of Christ.

2. We live in an age of indifference in which Blessed Junípero’s missionary zeal must seem not only incomprehensible, but completely uncalled for. But it is this very lack of comprehension, this indifference, that makes it so necessary for every one of us to become missionaries, to spread the Word of God throughout this world that seems to have forgotten Him.

Other Saints We Remember Today

St. Oliver Plunket, Bishop and Martyr (1681)

In 64 a major fire devastated the city of Rome, and the rumor quickly spread that the Emperor Nero had himself ordered it so as to make room for the expansion of his palace. To divert attention from himself, Nero accused the Christians. According to the contemporary historian Tacitus, few Romans actually believed the Christians to be guilty of arson; nevertheless, large numbers of them were arrested, mocked, and cruelly tortured before being executed. Some were dressed as animals and then thrown to wild dogs for the entertainment of the crowd in the amphitheater; others were covered with flammable material, impaled on stakes, and set afire to provide light for the evening feasts Nero held in the imperial gardens; still others were crucified.

Lessons

1. Even when Christians are innocent of sin or illegality, they may still be subject to persecution or mistreatment by state authorities.

2. Those who, by following Christ, reject the ultimate authority and values of this world, may easily find themselves resented, misunderstood, and persecuted (Mt 24:9-10; Jn 15:18-19).

3. Innocence often brings out the worst in persons inclined toward evil; they may go out of their way to oppose true followers of Christ, treating them with extreme cruelty. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit will strengthen and sustain those who are committed to Christian discipleship.

Other Saints We Remember Today

Commemoration of St. Paul (65), Apostle

Peter was directly appointed by Christ in the presence of the other Apostles (Mt 16:18-19); Paul received his authority from Christ during a personal conversion and spiritual experience (Acts 22:6-10, 14-16). Both men considered themselves to be profoundly unworthy (Lk 5:8; 1 Cor 15:9). Each was capable of fulfilling his mission only through Christ’s grace (Lk 22:31-32; 2 Cor 12:7-10).

Peter and especially Paul helped the Church realize that the gospel was to be shared not only with the Jews, but with the whole world. According to legend, Peter was crucified upside-down in Rome during Nero’s persecution about the year 64; Paul, as a Roman citizen, was beheaded around the year 67.

After becoming Bishop of Lyons, Irenaeus was instrumental in leading the fight against the heresy of Gnosticism. The Gnostics claimed that only those who had secret knowledge, and who renounced all material things as evil (including the human body), could be saved. Irenaeus opposed them by developing the concept of apostolic succession (in which Church teaching is guaranteed to be authentic when Church leaders can trace their authority back to the Apostles), and by emphasizing the incarnational principle (which states that God’s creation is good, and that He can use physical or material items as a source of grace).

Though he vigorously opposed heresy, Irenaeus remained gentle and personally concerned for the spiritual well-being of his opponents. He is said to have been martyred during the persecution of the Emperor Septimus Severus, though details are unknown.

Lessons

1. As St. Irenaeus realized, submission to the legitimate authority of the Church is an important way of knowing the truth and conforming ourselves to God’s will.

2. According to Irenaeus, material and earthly things (money, power, authority, etc.) are not necessarily bad; they can be morally neutral, and even a source of blessing and grace when used for God’s glory.

3. Even as we oppose error by correcting those who practice it and limiting their power to promote it, we must remain personally concerned with our opponents’ spiritual well-being, seeking their conversion above all else, as St. Irenaeus did with the Gnostics of his day.

Other Saints We Remember Today

Vigil of Saints Peter and Paul

However, Cyril gradually learned to control his volatile but well-meaning temper, and as he modified his abrupt ways, he provided important leadership to the Church, particularly during the Nestorian controversy. The heretical teaching of Nestorianism claimed that Mary is not the Mother of God, but only the Mother of Christ.

At the Council of Ephesus in 431, Cyril presided as the pope’s representative; Nestorianism was condemned, and — because Jesus is equally God and man — Mary was solemnly declared to be the Mother of God. St. Cyril died in 444; he is best known for his many writings on scripture and theology, and it was in recognition of these that Pope Leo XIII in 1882 declared him to be a Doctor (an eminent and reliable teacher) of the Church.

Lessons

1. Even persons with great faults or weaknesses — such as a fierce temper — are called to holiness. St. Cyril had to change his harsh and overly-zealous style; once he did so, with the help of divine grace, he became a worthy and valuable servant of God and the Church.

2. Cyril recognized that honoring Mary is also a way of honoring her Son, and claiming Mary as the Mother of God acknowledges Jesus’ divinity; this insight has always been preserved by the Church.

Other Saints We Remember Today

Our Lady of Perpetual Help (13th Century)

St. Ladislaus (1095), King of Hungary

As he worked to carry out his apostolate to the laity, Fr. Escrivá continued his priestly ministry and was particularly active in caring for the poor and sick of Madrid. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he had to work clandestinely until he was finally able to escape across the Pyrenees. At the end of the war he returned to Madrid and received his doctorate in law, at the same preaching widely to the clergy, religious, and laity throughout Spain. He later founded the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, which is united to the work of Opus Dei. This society made possible the ordination of lay members of Opus Dei and also allowed priests to share in the spirituality of the Opus Dei movement.

In 1946 Fr. Escrivá moved to Rome where he obtained a doctorate in Theology from the Lateran University. From Rome, he traveled widely throughout the world to spur the growth of Opus Dei. When he died in Rome in 1975, thousands of lay people as well as numerous bishops requested that the Holy See open his cause for canonization, which it did in 1981. He was beatified by John Paul II on May 17, 1992 after the necessary miracles were approved by the Church. In his homily, the pope told the faithful, “With supernatural intuition, Blessed Josemaría untiringly preached the universal call to holiness and apostolate. Christ calls everyone to become holy in the realities of everyday life. Hence work too is a means of personal holiness and apostolate, when it is done in union with Jesus Christ.”

In the homily of his canonization Mass on October 6, 2003, Pope John Paul II said, “St. Josemaría was a master in the practice of prayer, which he considered to be an extraordinary ‘weapon’ to redeem the world. He always recommended: ‘in the first place prayer; then expiation; in the third place, but very much in third place, action’ (The Way, n. 82). It is not a paradox but a perennial truth: the fruitfulness of the apostolate lies above all in prayer and in intense and constant sacramental life. This, in essence, is the secret of the holiness and the true success of the saints.”

Lessons

1. For those of us who think sainthood is beyond the grasp of the ordinary person, consider the words of Saint Josemaría Escrivá: “Your duty is to become a saint. Yes, even you…. To everyone, without exception, our Lord has said, ‘Be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect’” (The Way, 291).

2. From the decree on the Cause of Canonization for Saint Josemaría we find these words: “His task was to open to the faithful of all walks of life a sure way of sanctification in the midst of the world, through the practice of one’s professional work or job and the fulfillment of the ordinary duties of every day, without changing one’s state in life, doing everything out of love for God.” Whether active members of Opus Dei or not, may we all endeavor to sanctify our daily lives in order to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.

Other Saints We Remember Today

Saints John and Paul (362), Martyrs

St. Pelagius (925), Martyr

St. Anthelm (1178), Bishop, Abbot

King Roger I of Naples greatly respected William and took him under his patronage, aiding him in founding many monasteries for both men and women in his kingdom. The king was so edified by William’s saintly life that he had a monastery built directly across from his palace in Salerno in order that William could serve as his advisor.

William, like so many saints, had a special premonition that his death was approaching, so he retired to his monastery at Guglietto where he died June 25, 1142. Although his other foundations did not survive, the monastery at Monte Vergine still exists today.

Lessons

1. William’s friend, St. John of Matera, served to warn William about two apparent mistakes he was making. First, William had wanted to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem after returning from Compostela. He set out despite his friend’s advice that God wanted him to serve in Italy and was promptly set upon by robbers, which forced him to turn back and reconsider. Second was the move to Monte Laceno, a harsh, barren place where nothing would grow and the monks could barely survive. Despite John’s counsels that they should move, William refused — until their hermitages burned down. Apparently, it took some time before William learned to hear the voice of the Lord in the counsel of his holy friend. Let us pray to the Holy Spirit for the wisdom to hear His voice in the advice and encouragement of the holy people He puts in our way.

2. From the time of his youth, William practiced severe mortifications, and it seemed that nothing was too difficult for him to bear in the name of Christ. When the monks of Monte Vergine found his way of life too taxing, rather than impose his will upon them, William appointed a prior over the monastery and then left to found a new one. In that same spirit of humility, may we not look with disdain on those who do not seem to do as much or accomplish as much as we do, but remember the story of the widow who, though it was only two small coins, gave all she had to give (Lk 21:1-4).

Other Saints We Remember Today

St. Prosper of Reggio (466), Bishop