Novena To Saint Monica

Exemplary Mother of the Great Augustine,
You perserveringly pursued your wayward son
Not with wild threats
But with prayerful cries to heaven.

Intercede for all mothers in our day
So that they may learn
To draw their children to God.

Teach them how to remain
Close to their children,
Even the prodigal sons and daughters
Who have sadly gone astray.

Dear St Monica, troubled wife and mother,
Many sorrows pierced your heart
During your lifetime.
Yet you never despaired or lost faith.
With confidence, persistence and profound faith,
You prayed daily for the conversion
Of your beloved husband, Patricius
And your beloved son, Augustine.

Grant me that same fortitude,
Patience and trust in the Lord.
Intercede for me, dear St. Monica,
That God may favorably hear my plea
For

(mention your petition here)

And grant me the grace
To accept his will in all things,
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,

SAINT ANNE

 First Century

Feast Day: July 26

Patron of: Canada, Brittany, Broommakers, Cabinetmakers, Childless people, Grandparents, Miners, Lacemakers, Pregnancy, Housewives, Seafarers, Rain

Invoked for: protection in pregnancy and childbirth, help in raising children, for a good death, finding a husband, protection in thunder storms, protection in sea storms

Symbols: Book, throne, golden gate

             Saint Anne is beloved for being the mother of the Virgin Mary, and grandmother to Jesus and many of his Apostles.  Her story was first told in the second century as part of The Protevangelium of James, a gospel written about the early life of Jesus Christ. Though widely read by early Christians, it was never accepted as part of the New Testament canon. According to that text, Anne and her husband Joachim had a childless marriage for nearly 20 years. During Joachim’s presentation of an offering for the dedication of a new temple, he was shunned by the priest who declared his childlessness a curse from God.  In humiliation, Joachim fled to the wilderness for forty days of prayer. When Anne heard the disturbing news, she begged the Lord to allow her to conceive, promising to dedicate any child she might have to the service of the Lord. An angel appeared to Joachim in the hinterland and said, “Delayed conceptions and infertile childbearing are all the more wonderful! Your wife will bear you a daughter and you will call her Mary. As you have vowed, she will be consecrated to the Lord at infancy and filled with the Holy Spirit from her mother’s womb.  Return to the city and meet your wife at the golden gate of Jerusalem.”  A distraught Anne, with no knowledge of where her husband had gone, was visited by the same angel.  “You will meet your husband at the city gate, and this will be a sign that your prayers are answered.”

            Anne and Joachim were overjoyed to see each other. Mary was conceived. When their precious only child reached the age of three, they honored their pledge to dedicate her to God. Not without tears, they left Mary at the temple to be raised in religious service.

            According to an early account of her life, when Joachim died, Anne married his brother Cleophas with whom she had another daughter named Mary. When he died, she married for a third time and had a third daughter named Mary. The first Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ, the second Mary gave birth to James the Lesser, Joseph the Just, Simon and Jude. The third gave birth to James the Greater and John the Evangelist.

            Saint Anne did not live to see the torment and execution of Christ. Because she was spared this sorrow she is invoked for an easy death. Sometime after the resurrection of Christ, Mary Magdalene, her brother Lazarus, and other apostles, were driven from Jerusalem because of their faith. They journeyed by boat carrying the remains of Saint Anne, setting ashore in Marseille, France. Her remains were taken deeper inland to what is now Apt, France, where they were subsequently concealed in a crypt. These events were transcribed in the Martyrology of Apt, dating from the Second Century, which Charlemagne consulted in a vain attempt to locate her remains nearly 700 years later. During a ceremony to re-consecrate the Cathedral of Apt, a 14 year old deaf mute began striking the main altar with his staff, greatly disturbing those in attendance which included the Emperor. Charlemagne was so impressed with the determination of the boy to draw attention to the altar that he gave orders to open its stairs after the mass. An underground door sealed with stones was uncovered. When these were removed an ancient catacomb was revealed. The boy led the group through the underground of the church to a wall which he also struck with his staff. The company eagerly broke through the wall to find a crypt containing a casket of cypress wood. Inscribed on it were the words “Here lies the body of Blessed Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary.” Charlemagne had the recollection of these events recorded, notarized and sent to the pope in Rome. The original papers of this correspondence are still in existence today.

            The Cathedral of Apt became an important pilgrimage site. The cult of Saint Anne spread throughout France becoming particularly strong in Brittany. There are many Breton legends claiming Saint Anne as a Breton queen who had to escape a brutal husband, was led by Angels to a ship which landed in Jerusalem where she gave birth to the Virgin Mary. In the East, her feast was celebrated from the beginning of Christianity. As it spread through Western Europe, her patronage of fertility was extended to farm land. In Italy, agricultural workers referred to rain as “Saint Anne’s gift” and in Germany rain was referred to as “Saint Anne’s dowry”. Martin Luther wrote that he became a monk because of a promise he made to Saint Anne while he was caught in a terrifying thunder storm.  In 1650 a group of sailors were caught in a storm on the Saint Lawrence River. Soon to perish they invoked Saint Anne for help, promising to build a shrine to her wherever they first landed. They washed ashore on the north bank of the river at Beaupre. Today, the Cathedral of Saint Anne de Beaupre, which now stands on that site, attracts millions of pilgrims from around the world. The chapel is filled with ex-votos donated to the church by people who have received miraculous healings.

             Though not a biblical figure, Saint Anne was considered second only to Saint Joseph in importance by the early Eastern Church. Her role as a powerful matriarch and grandmother to Jesus Christ served as a strong example in Western Europe where many communities depended on the wisdom and advice of the aged. Because of her three marriages, young women ask her aid in finding a husband with the prayer, “Saint Anne, find me a man.”  Her patronage of the sea and storms stem from the ocean voyage her remains made with Lazarus and Mary Magdalene. Because her womb held Mary she is the patron of miners who unearth secret treasures. Her womb was also revered as a sort of human tabernacle, normally made only of wood, so she is also the patron of carpenters and cabinet makers.

            The Hebrew name for Anne is Hannah, which means “grace”. A common saying is, “All Anne’s are beautiful” and because of this the name “Anne” became the most popular girl’s name in Central Europe during the 19^th Century. Adding “Anne” after a girl’s name is still common practice, particularly the combination of Mary Anne. Canada and Brittany hold major celebrations in Saint Anne’s honor on her feast day and Canada is still known as the “Land of Saint Anne”.

           As the grandmother of Jesus and many of his Apostles, Saint Anne was a crucial branch on the family tree of Christ and is often depicted as the largest figure seated on a throne holding a miniature Mary who holds an even smaller young Jesus. As the mother of the Virgin Mary, Saint Anne is frequently depicted with her husband Joachim who shares her feast day, or with an open book, instructing her daughter. 

                                                             Prayer to Saint Anne

                        O glorious Saint Anne, you are filled with compassion for

                        those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer!

                        Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles,

                        I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take

                        the present intention which I recommend to you in your

                        special care (state intention).

                        Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary,

                        and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it

                        to a happy issue.

                        Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted.

                        But, above all, obtain for me the grace one-day to see my

                        God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints

                        to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.

                        O Jesus, Holy Mary, Saint Anne, help me now and at the hour

                        of my death.

                         Good Saint Anne, intercede for me.

Excerpted from the book “Saints: Ancient and Modern” by Barbara Calamari and Saandra DiPasqua.

SAINT BENEDICT OF NORCIA

Abbot and Founder of the Benedictine Order

 480 – 547

Feast Day: July 11

Patronage: Europe, Chemists, Farmers, Engineers, Architects, Monks, People in Religious Orders, Schoolchildren, Speliologists, Coppersmiths, the Dying

Invoked Against: Poisoning, Gall Stones, Kidney Diseases, Inflammatory Diseases, Gossip, Temptation

Symbols: Pastoral Staff, Miter, Book of the Rule, Raven with bread in its beak, Cup with two serpents, Broken sieve

“Pray and Work.”  A summation of the Rule of Saint Benedict

             Though his sole intention was the moral and spiritual training of individuals seeking a holy life, the followers of Saint Benedict are credited with saving Western Civilization during the dark ages. Benedictine builders and architects created cathedrals, abbeys, castles and churches in every country of Europe. Regions scattered throughout the continent owe their agricultural prosperity to the skills of Benedictine monks in reviving lost farming practices. Because of this Order, ancient literature was preserved, pioneering strides in medicine were made and schools and universities were created that still exist today. After 1500 years, the Benedictine Rule is the basis of all Western Monastic Rules and for this reason Benedict is considered the patriarch of Western religious orders.

            Most of what is known about the life of Saint Benedict comes from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great. Written within a generation of Benedict’s death, among those consulted for these writings were Benedict’s first followers and eyewitnesses to his life. Benedict and his twin sister Scholastica were born in Nursia ( today’s Norcia), a prosperous town in Umbria. His family sent him to Rome along with his servant to complete his higher education. Equipped with enough money to fully enjoy himself, he was instead, appalled at the loose morals of his fellow students. The study of rhetoric had replaced the search for truth and they seemed to squander every one of their advantages in the pursuit of pleasure. Disgusted by the corruption in the government and the schisms in the church, he gave up his inheritance and went off to live 40 miles away in the city of Affile. There he began studying the bible with a small group of like minded young men. When his servant accidentally broke a wheat-sifter, Benedict picked up the pieces to examine them and it was miraculously made whole. The notoriety of his first miracle forced him to go into hiding, this time he moved into a cave on the ridge of Mount Subiaco. Another hermit living nearby, advised him and brought him food. Benedict spent three years there, praying and studying. The devil appeared to him as a blackbird that constantly circled his face. When Benedict made the sign of the cross it disappeared but he was instantly sieged with an attack of lust for a woman he had previously known. He threw off his tunic and rolled himself in the sharp nettles and brambles to stop his thoughts, healing himself of further temptation.

            Benedict’s reputation for holiness spread and the monks of Viscovo asked him to be their leader. He warned them that he would be too strict for them. When this proved true, they tried to put poison in his wine to get rid of him. When he made the sign of the cross over the cup, it shattered and forgiving the monks, he returned to his cave. As his fame spread, many came to Subiaco asking for guidance in living a monastic life. At that time, the first monastic communities had been formed in the East and they included harsh ascetic deprivations that Benedict felt served to hinder a true study of scripture. He set up 12 religious houses of 12 men each, with their own patriarch. He lived in a 13th house, with several other monks in training. When he realized that it was a major problem for his monks to bring fresh water up the mountains on a daily basis, he spent the night in prayer. When dawn came a natural spring appeared which from then on supplied water to all 13 communities. Because of their reputation for higher learning, local people entreated the monks to start a school. While Benedict was meeting with a monk named Maurus he had a vision of one of the students drowning in a lake. He ordered Maurus to save the child. Only after he had safely gotten the boy ashore, did Maurus realize that he had actually ran across the surface of the lake to do so. Benedict’s ability to see multiple things happening at one time would continue over his lifetime. Because of the success of his religious community of laymen, the local priest was overcome with jealousy. As a legitimate member of the clergy it infuriated him that he did not warrant half the respect of Benedict and his followers. When he tried to poison Benedict with a loaf of bread, a raven snatched it out of Benedict’s hands and flew off with it. This raven frequently appears in Benedict’s iconography, along with the cup of poisoned wine wrapped in serpents which symbolize the devil.

            Placidus, the child that Maurus saved came from a wealthy family. In gratitude to Benedict, his father gave the saint the citadel of Monte Cassino. An area high up on a mountain ridge which in earlier times had stood as a shrine to the gods Apollo and Jove, in recent times it had been destroyed by an invasion of the Goths. When the little group of monks moved there in 525, these ancient cults had been revived. After spending 40 days in prayer, Benedict cut down the grove of trees sacred to the gods. On the place of the temple to Jupiter he built a church named for Saint Martin and another named for Saint John the Baptiste, considered the ideal hermit. Instead of having many small houses of monks, Benedict decided to have one large one and in 530 the building of the most famous monastery in the world began.

            The monastery at Monte Cassino was built as a city of God. In order to properly run it Benedict wrote out a Rule which every Western monastery since has based its founding principles on.  It is important to note that Benedict was not a priest and his followers were not educated clergymen but laymen who wanted to live good lives as proscribed in the Gospel. In his belief that idleness was ruin, Benedict defied the prejudices against manual labor. All monks had to work, either in the fields or in the construction of buildings. All monks were equal regardless of what social level they were born into. All monks would spend hours a day reading. Prayer was to consist of the Psalms and Canticles, with the entire Psalter being recited within a week. He did not legislate private prayer, but advised it be short and heartfelt. He did not approve of excessive self deprivation, thinking it to be a form of vanity. His order of monks were encouraged to have enough food and wine as they needed as well as warm blankets and clothing. They ate no meat from four legged creatures and remained celebate. Hospitality was to be granted to all travelers who needed it and as long as any visitor was willing to follow the laws of the monastery, they were welcome to stay as long as they wanted. Included in his Rule is the responsibility of the monastery to help the surrounding community in any way possible. This included sharing food, crops and helping in debt repayment. As his original order of monks transformed the swampy area of Monte Cassino into fertile farms, a community sprang up around them. By having a Rule to follow it became possible for other religious orders to model their communities after the great monastery at Monte Cassino.  Though the Rule is written for men, it proved to be an equally effective model for women’s convents.

            Near the end of his life, Benedict was outdoors in the middle of the night when a single ray of the sun appeared, illuminating the entire universe. He believed he had actually seen God. When his sister Scholastica met him in the little house she kept outside the gates of the monastery for their yearly visit, she asked him to stay the night. He told her it was impossible to leave his duties. She bowed her head in prayer as he was leaving and a fierce thunderstorm erupted forcing Benedict to stay. She later told him that she asked God for that which Benedict refused and God granted her prayer. They spent the night talking and reminiscing and three days later Benedict saw a dove fly into the sky. He realized it was the soul of Scholastica on its way to heaven and knew his own death would soon follow. Having the gift of prophecy, he had his  tomb opened and spent six days in prayer. He fell into a high fever and died surrounded by his followers.

            Though Benedict never traveled out of Monte Cassino, at one time there were over 40,000 monasteries following his rule. His system of constant work and study created great prosperity in the areas surrounding monasteries that employed it. While chaos and instability plunged Europe into the dark ages, the Benedictine monasteries were enlightened places where knowledge was preserved and shared. The immense monastery of Monte Cassino was completely destroyed in one of the fiercest battles of the second world war and the only parts of it not obliterated were the underground cell of Benedict and the tomb of he and his sister.

             In art Benedict is traditionally depicted with an open book of his Rule, usually inscrbed with “Pray and Work”.  At times a cup is near him wrapped in two serpents, symbolizing the attempts to poison him. In many instances the raven who saved him is also with him. The raven is also a symbol of the hermit, since they were credited with dropping food to the original desert fathers. His patronage extends to engineers, architects and farmers because of the advances made in those fields by the early Benedictines. His early schools make him the patron of schoolchildren. He is invoked against kidney ailments and stones because of his powers to heal them and because he was a victim of diabolic temptations, gossip mongers and poisoners he is also called on for protection against these situations. Because he could predict the time of his own and other’s deaths, he is invoked by the dying for a good death.

                                                             Prayer to Saint Benedict

                O glorious Saint Benedict, sublime model of all virtues, pure vessel of God’s grace!

                                                Behold me, humbly kneeling at they feet.

                            I implore they loving heart to pray for me before the throne of God.

                               To thee I have recourse in all dangers which daily surround me.

                           Shield me against my enemies, inspire me to imitate thee in all things.

                   May thy blessing be with thee always, so that I may shun whatever God forbids

                                               and avo  id the occasions of sin.

        Graciously obtain for me from God those favors and graces of which I stand so much in need,

                                               in the trials, miseries and afflictions of life.

                                 Thy heart was always so full of love. compassion and mercy

                                                                      towards those who were afflicted or troubled in any way.

       Thou didst never dismiss without consolation and assistance anyone who had recourse to thee.

                                            I therefore invoke they powerful intercession,

                                      in the confident hope that thou will hear my prayers

                   and obtain for me the special grace and favor I so earnestly implore (mention),

                            and if it be for the greater glory of God and the welfare of my soul.   

                       Help me, O great Saint Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child of God,

                to be ever submissive to His holy will, and to attain the eternal happiness of heaven.

                                                                       Amen.

Excerpted from the book: “Saints: Ancient and Modern” by Barbara Calamari and Sandra DiPasqua.

.

Saint Anthony of Padua

1195-1231

Always depicted with the baby Jesus, Saint Anthony of Padua is the most popular saint in the world. The unconditional love and kindness that are the essence of Saint Anthony’s nature are best represented by this story. While walking through his garden, an older relative heard the giggling and laughing of a baby. He looked up to see Anthony with the baby Jesus in his arms, happily carrying him and talking to him. The baby kissed Anthony and disappeared. In his novena, we beg Saint Anthony to whisper our request to the infant. Since babies are not judgmental, this incarnation of Christ will surely grant our petitions. Because of this special relationship, Saint Anthony is approachable by all, for large and small favors alike.

Born in Lisbon, Portugal, to noble parents, he was baptized Fernando. He took the name Anthony upon entering the Franciscan order. He intended to preach in Morocco and, if necessary die a martyr for his faith. Instead, after arriving there, he became very ill and was sent home. His ship was blown off course and he ended up in Messina, Sicily. He then attended the great meeting of all Franciscans, where he was very moved to be seated next to the order’s founder, Saint Francis of Assisi.

Saint Anthony was magnetic and charismatic. Sent by the Franciscans to be a traveling preacher around Lombardy and southern France, and with only prayer as preparation, he gave powerful speeches, overwhelming his audiences with his love for a more spiritual life. Saint Anthony was based in Padua, Italy, but he attracted huge crowds wherever he went. Many swore he radiated a holy aura.

Saint Anthony spent the last few years of his life working to help relieve the burden of debt from the poor of Padua. Saint Anthony’s Bread, devoted to feeding the hungry, is a charity that he started that is still in existence. After their novena prayers are answered, many people make donations to this organization in thanks.

Worn out by his travels, Saint Anthony died at the age of thirty-six. His reputation for compassion was so legendary, that even a few weeks after his death, when a child drowned in the river and his mother cried out to Saint Anthony in anguish, the child miraculously came back to life. Due to the many other miracles and answered prayers that followed his death, his consecration as a saint is the quickest on record, taking only one year.

Saint Anthony, credited with an extraordinary range of intercessionary powers and known as “The Wonder Worker”, is most famous as the saint of lost articles. After a novice borrowed his psalter and failed to return it, Saint Anthony prayed to get the book back. The novice then had a terrifying heavenly vision that forced him to return it. In 1263, when Saint Anthony’s tomb was reopened, it was found that his tongue had never decomposed. His tongue, jawbones, and vocal chords are on display in the cathedral at Padua. He is the patron saint of lost articles, the patron saint of the poor, and the patron saint of Portugal. Saint Anthony is usually depicted with the Infant Jesus, his returned psalter, and lilies to represent his purity.

Feast Day: June 13

Patron Saint of: Lost Articles, the Poor, Portugal

Invoked: against debt, to find what is lost

Novena to Saint Anthony of Padua

O holy Saint Anthony, gentlest of saints, your love for God and charity for his creatures made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on your word, which were ever ready to speak for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore of you to obtain for me (mention your request here). The answer to my prayer may require a miracle; even so, you are the saint of miracles. O gentle and loving Saint Anthony, whose heart was ever filled with human sympathy. whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms, and the gratitude of my heart will be ever yours.

(Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be).

This novena can be said nine times in a row for nine days in a row.

It can also be said every Tuesday in church. Say this novena nine times in a row in front of a lit votive candle to Saint Anthony, for nine weeks in a row.

Excerpted from the book: “Novena: The Power of Prayer” by Barbara Calamari and Sandra DiPasqua.

SAINT JOAN OF ARC

 1412-1431

Feast Day: May 30

Patron of: France, Orleans, Rouen, captives, opposition of Church Authorities, radio workers, rape victims, shepherds, wireless telegraph workers, women in the military,

Invoked: against fires in woodpiles, for strength in face of opposition

Symbols: armor, standard, sword

 “I place trust in God, my creator, in all things; I love Him with all my heart.”

            Joan of Arc

            Saint Joan of Arc (or Jehanne d’Arc ) is both a secular heroine and a Roman Catholic saint. Known as La Pucelle, or “The Maid” to her countrymen, she is credited with being the galvanizing force who returned French rule to France.

              Joan D’Arc was from a comfortable peasant family of five children. Already known in the village as a pious child, the adolescent Joan was at work in a garden when she heard a disembodied voice in a blaze of light. The voice gave her a simple task :pray often and attend church.  After time it revealed itself to be Michael the Archangel. The angel told her that she would soon be visited by Saint Margaret of Antioch and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, two ancient martyrs whose statues were ensconced in her village church. In her later testimony, she said the martyr’s voices began visiting her frequently, eventually allowing her to gaze upon them as well. Fearing disapproval from her father, Joan never told anyone about these visits. And she vowed to retain her virginity for as long as God wanted it.

            After two years the three saints revealed Joan’s true task: she was to save her countryby first taking Charles to Rheims to be crowned king and then by driving the English out of France completely. She had no idea how an ignorant peasant girl was to accomplish this. By the time she was 16, the voices grew more insistent and ordered Joan to travel to the next town to see the commander of Charles’ forces, Robert de Baudricourt and tell him that she was appointed to lead the future king to his coronation.

            Chaperoned by an uncle, she did as she was told. The commander laughed, Your father should give you a good whipping.” He also ignored Joan’s prediction that Orleans, the last remaining city in French hands on the Loire, would fall to the English if he did not listen to her. She returned home in  defeat, her voices  hounding her to complete her mission. When she told them,  “I am a mere girl who knows not even how to ride a horse.” They answered, “It is God who commands it.” She secretly returned to Baudricourt who was unnerved by the fulfillment of her prediction. Orleans was ready to fall. Desperate for any help at all, and troubled by the girl’s otherworldly confidence, he recommended that the future king, known as the Dauphin, grant her an audience. Because the eleven day journey to Chinon was through enemy territory, Joan was disguised in man’s clothing.

            Tales of Joan’s seemingly supernatural abilities preceded her. As a test, Charles dressed a member of his entourage in royal robes while he stood among the throng of his courtiers. All were stunned when the girl walked in and immediately advanced towards the real Charles saying, “Most illustrious lord Dauphin I have come and am sent in the name of God to bring aid to yourself and to the kingdom.” Privately, she related to him a secret prayer he had made the previous All Saints Day asking God to restore his kingdom if he was the true heir to the throne and if not, to punish only him for his impudence and let his supporters live in peace. Unnerved, but not ready to accept this proof of her calling, Charles arranged for Joan to be interviewed by a group of theologians in Poitiers. They questioned her for three weeks before they granted their enthusiastic approval, amazed at how such an uneducated person could hold her own against learned scholars. They recommended that Charles recognize the girl’s divine gift and grant her titular command of the army.

            A small suit of armor was made for Joan and she designed a banner for herself with the  words “Jesus Maria”. Her voices told her to carry an ancient sword that would be found buried in the altar of the church of Saint Catherine-de-Fierbois. When it was easily found, Joan’s reputation as a messenger from God began to spread in the general population. Allegedly this sword was used by Charles Martel in the 7^th century in his defense of France against the invading Saracens. Men who would normally not be inclined to join the army, enlisted. Joan insisted that all soldiers go to confession and receive communion. She banished the prostitutes that routinely followed troops. There are many written accounts of men who served with Joan of Arc who declared that despite her physical beauty, they never “had the will to sin while in her company”.            

 After unsuccessfully calling on the English to leave French soil, the military campaign to lift the siege of Orleans began on April 30. Charles’ commanders considered Joan a mere mascot and thus refused to take her strategic advice. After four days of witnessing their floundering efforts, Joan charged into battle waving her banner. The vision of this fearless young girl on a mission from God turned the tide of the battle turned for the French army. By May 8^th the English were forced to retreat and the siege of Orleans was lifted. Just as her voices had predicted, Joan endured a wound during the fighting. They also warned that she had very little time and had much to accomplish within the next year.

            At her insistence, all English positions were cleared on the way to Reims. During these battles through one town and another, Joan took the lead inspiring many common citizens to follow the troops. The English were routed completely suffering a loss of 2200 men, while the French army lost only three.   With Joan organizing troop and artillery placement, the French army easily accomplished a feat which had seemed impossible to them – they drove the English out of Reims so that Charles VII could be crowned there, as all French kings had been before him. Joan held her banner as she stood next to Charles during his coronation on July 16^{, 1429.}   Part of her mission was complete.

            Though she was in a great hurry to accomplish the rest, Charles VII became cautious and followed his advisor’s recommendation to marginalize the seer. Against Joan’s wishes he signed a truce with the Burgundians, which gave the British time to regroup. He refused to support his army in an assault on Paris, a fight in which Joan was wounded and forcibly removed from the battlefield.  By the Spring of 1430 Joan’s voices told her that she would be captured before the Feast of John the Baptist. This occurred in Burgundy on May 24^th . At that time, it was common practice to ransom off important captives. Charles VII could have offered to pay her ransom but instead  ignored her plight. The inner circle of his court were discomfited by Joan’s strangeness. They convinced Charles that she had fallen out of favor with God. She was sold to the English who imprisoned her in Rouen.

            Since there were no rational explanations for her overwhelming successes, the English vowed revenge on Joan, considering her a witch with satanic powers. In order to destroy her reputation as a religious visionary sent by God, they wanted Joan tried in an Ecclesiastical Court for witchcraft and heresy. Once this was proven, they could then charge that Charles VII was made king by diabolical means and reassert their claims on the French throne. Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais willingly adopted this plot in order to realize his own political ambitions.

            Joan was illegally held in a secular prison guarded by men who repeatedly threatened her with rape. When her virginity was proven, she could not be charged with witchcraft. She was  interrogated from February 21 to March 17 by a relentless  panel of 47 judges, a majority of whom came from the pro-English University of Paris. After an attempted escape, Joan was imprisoned in a cage, chained by the neck, hands and feet and she was forbidden to partake in any of the sacraments. Despite their avid attempts to brow beat her and put words in her mouth, she calmly deflected the panel. These trial transcripts exist today, and are a remarkable testament to the  brilliance of her simple answers. Many times, she instructed the judges to look up testimony she had previously given – exact to the day and hour. On March1 she further infuriated the court by stating that “Within seven years’ space the English would have to forfeit a bigger prize than Orleans.” (Within six years and eight months the English would abandon French soil entirely).

            By May, the judges had written up their verdict, 42 of them agreeing that if Joan did not retract her statements, she would be handed over to the civil powers to be burnt at the stake. Filled with fear, Joan signed a two line retraction. A document detailing her acts as works of the devil was substituted in the official record. Because she had done as they ordered, they could not execute her and the British were furious. It is not known if Joan was so afraid of the threat of rape by her guards or if the dress she had been wearing during her trial was taken away and her male costume the only thing left to her, but when she appeared before the court on May 29^th dressed as a man, she was declared a relapsed heretic. Her masculine attire served as proof of her crime and she was burned at the stake in the town square the next day. On the morning of her execution she was visited by the judges. She solemnly warned Cauchon that he would be charged by God for the responsibility of her death. She insisted her voices came from God and had not deceived her. Her last word, as she was consumed by flames was, “Jesus”. In order to discourage the collection of relics, her ashes were thrown into the Seine.

            A reversal of her sentence was granted by the Pope in 1456, twenty five years after her death citing of the unfairness of her judges and the fact that the court illegally denied her right to appeal to the Holy See. 

             Joan D’Arc remains one of the most popular historical figures in the world. Poets, Painters, Writers and Filmmakers have ensured her role in popular culture. She is the only person in written history, male or female,  to command a nation’s army at the age of 17. As a French patriot, she was a propaganda figure in both World Wars. She was finally declared a saint in 1920.      

                       In art, Joan D’Arc wears her suit of armor and carries her “Jesus Mary” banner. Because of her voices she is the patron of radio and telegraph workers. She is patron of  women in the military and shepherds because these were her occupations. She dressed in men’s clothing to avoid the threat of rape so she is the patron of rape victims. Most importantly she is the patron of the nation she saved, France.

                         Novena to Saint Joan of Arc

             Glorious Saint Joan of Arc, filled with compassion for those who

            invoke you, with love for those who suffer,

            heavily laden with the weight of my troubles,

            I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you to take my present need

            under your special protection (intention here).

            Vouchsafe to recommend it to the Blessed Virgin Mary,

            and lay it before the throne of Jesus.

            Cease not to intercede for me until my request is granted.

            Above all, obtain for me the grace to one day meet God face to face

            and with you and Mary and all the angels and saints praise Him

            through all eternity.

            O most powerful Saint Joan, do not let me lose my soul,

            but obtain for me the grace of winning my way to heaven,

            forever and ever. Amen

Excerpted from the book: “Saints: Ancient and Modern” by Barbara Calamari and Sandra DiPasqua.

Saint Rita of Cascia

 1386-1457

Feast Day: May 22

Patronage: Impossible Causes, Bad Marriages, Victims of Spousal Abuse, Widows

Invoked Against: Sterility, Loneliness, Bodily ills, Smallpox

Symbols: Roses, Bees, Figs, Nun with cross receiving wound, Crown of thorns, Crucifix

       Margarita Lotti was the answer to the prayers of a devoutly Catholic older couple in Roccaporena, Italy. During the pregnancy, her mother had a vision of an angel telling her “You will give birth to a daughter marked with the seal of sanctity, gifted with every virtue, a helper to the helpless and an advocate of the afflicted.” Her father named the child Rita, as the Angel had called her.  After the baby’s baptism, bees would hover over her while she slept.  A symbol of divine presence, they never harmed nor woke her.

       Rita came of age at the time of a deep schism in the Church – the Pope had fled to Avignon and the future of many religious communities was uncertain. Her true wish was to become a nun but she obeyed her parents and married instead, to support them in their old age. The husband chosen for her, Paolo Mancini, was a good provider though gradually revealed a violent, volatile nature. He was unfaithful, abusive and domineering. Heavily involved in the factional infighting that gripped the Italian landscape, he made many enemies.

        Rita prayed fervently that her husband would have a change of heart and become a better husband and father to their twin sons.  Paolo experienced a conversion when he was sent a vision of himself as he was seen by others. He begged Rita’s forgiveness for the difficult life he had subjected her to and vowed to change. They had been married for 18 years when Paolo was ambushed on his way to work and murdered, his mutilated body dumped on the family’s doorstep. Their enraged teenaged sons vowed a vendetta. Entreaties by their mother to turn the other cheek were scoffed at.  Rita begged God to stop her boys before they also committed murder. Within that year, before they could act on their anger, both boys contracted an illness and died. Rita was distraught at the loss of her entire family, but took some comfort in the fact that her sons died in a state of grace.  

            Devoting herself to charity, Rita decided to pursue her early wishes of joining a convent. It is said that the local order of Augustinian nuns refused her on the grounds that she was not a virgin. A more probable reason for rejection, several of the nuns came from families of Paolo’s declared enemies and they did not want to inflame the convent with tensions brought in from the outside world. Rita implored her patron saints for help, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino. Three times she requested admission to the convent and three times she was denied. One tale of how she was eventually accepted has Rita hearing a knock at her door during her prays to her three patrons. Though no one was there, a voice called to her, “Rita! Rita! Fear not, God will admit you into the cloister as His spouse.”  When she resumed praying, John the Baptist appeared to her and told her to follow him to the Convent of Mary Magdalene. Along the way, they were joined by Saints Augustine and Nicholas of Tolentino, radiant in light.  The saints blessed her at the convent door then disappeared. Rita was found the next day by the astonished nuns, inside their convent! After she recounted the story of her miraculous entrance, it was decided that she should remain with them. The other tale explains that through prayer and meditation Rita was able to create such an atmosphere of serenity about her that it enabled her to affect a signed truce between her husband’s family and the family of his enemies. Impressed by her dedication and sincerity, the prioress of the convent admitted her.

       As a nun, Rita tended the elderly and sick sisters and devoted much time to prayer, and meditation, allegedly sleeping only two hours a night. When she had lived in the convent for 25 years, she heard a sermon on the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ which focused on his crown of thorns. While later meditating on this in her cell she felt an intense pain in her head. A wound opened on her forehead.  Never healing, it grew foul smelling with infection and eventually filled with little worms.  Rita was shunned as repulsive by the rest of the nuns and remained isolated in her cell, praying and meditating with a mystical fervor. In 1450 the Pope declared a Jubilee Year and Rita requested permission to travel to Rome with the other nuns. She was told she could not leave until her wound healed. After a day of prayer all trace of the wound vanished and Rita made the pilgrimage. Upon walking over the convent’s threshold on her return, the festering wound instantly reappeared.

       Rita’s parents were known for their ability to make peace between the warring factions of Guelphs and Ghibellines, and she too had a gift for peacemaking. Citizens of Cascia sought her out to mediate arguments and disagreements that seemed impossible to settle. She gained a reputation for the powers of her prayers, healing those beyond the help of medical science. While Rita was dying of tuberculosis, a cousin came to visit her the winter before her death. When asked if there was anything at all that she wanted, she replied, “Bring me a rose from my childhood garden in Roccaporrena.”  The cousin assumed that being January, this request was impossible to fill.  Yet there in the garden she found two roses in bloom and brought them to Rita. “Would you like anything else?” asked the cousin.  Rita requested two figs from the same garden. There they were found, hanging from a tree in the dead of winter.

       Upon Rita’s death in May of 1457, the bells of every church in the surrounding villages began to ring of their own accord. Rita’s body exuded the odor of roses and her cell was filled with light. As the town gathered to pay their last respects, spontaneous healing occurred among the mourners. Many reported intense joy and feelings of love, the burdens of life lifted. Her body was preserved and is still on view at the Sanctuary of Saint Rita in Cascia. Because so many women identify with her difficult life, her cult quickly spread throughout Europe and is particularly strong in Italy, Spain and South America, where girls are frequently given the name of Rita. Her feast day brings thousands of pilgrims to Cascia as she is one of the most popular saints in the world.

  Though she died in the mid 15th century, Saint Rita of Cascia was the first female saint of the 20^th Century. By that time, devotion to this woman who had been an abused wife, a mother who lost her children, a widow of a murdered husband, and finally, a nun, had spread throughout the world. Roses are an important part of the imagery of Saint Rita and on her feast day there is a procession when roses are blessed and their petals distributed. Six centuries after her death a swarm of bees still live in the wall of her cell. Occasionally Rita is depicted with her twin sons, but generally, she is shown as a nun in a black habit with a crown of thorns, a crucifix and a wound in her head.

 Novena to Saint Rita

                        O glorious Saint Rita, your pleadings before the divine

                        crucifix have been known to grant favors

                        that many would call the impossible.

                        Lovely Saint Rita, so humble, so pure, so devoted in your

                        love for thy crucified Jesus,

                        Speak on my behalf for my petition which seems so impossible

                        from my humbled position. (Mention your request).

                        Be propitious, O glorious Saint Rita, to my petition,

                        showing thy power with God on behalf of thy supplicant.

                        Be lavish to me, as thou has been in so many wonderful cases

                        for the greater glory of God.

                        I promise, dear Saint Rita, if my petition is granted, to glorify thee,

                        by making known thy favor, to bless and sing thy praises forever.

                        Relying then upon thy merits and power before the Sacred Heart

                        of Jesus I pray. Amen

Excerpted from the book: “Saints: Ancient and Modern” ny Barbara Calamari and Sandra DiPasqua.

Italy / Catherine of Siena, 1347–1380,
Feast Day: April 29

Other patronages: Europe; fire prevention, nursing services; firefighters, laundresses; sick people

Invoked: against burns, miscarriage, temptation

Novena to Saint Catherine of Siena

SAINT JOSEPH

First Century

Feast Day: March 19

Patron of: Austria, Belgium, Bohemia, Canada, China, Croatia, Korea, Mexico, Peru, Vietnam,  carpenters,  Catholic Church, families, fathers, homeless, pregnant women, workers

Invoked: for family protection, to find work, for a happy death, to sell a home, against doubt, against hesitation, Symbols: Lily, Baby Jesus, Flowering branch, Carpenter’s tools

  “I know by experience that the glorious Saint Joseph assists us generally in all necessities. I never asked him for anything which he did not obtain for me.” 

            Saint Teresa of Avila

          A working man descended from royal lineage, Joseph is said to have been chosen by God to protect His greatest treasures, Jesus and Mary. In the few descriptions of him in the Gospels, Joseph never speaks. He displays the depth of his faith by listening and quietly doing what he is told. In the face of possible public scandal he marries Mary when she is pregnant with a child that is not his. When an angel tells him that the child she has conceived is of the Holy Spirit, he accepts it.

         When all citizens were required to register on the tax rolls Joseph dutifully takes a very pregnant Mary with him to Bethlehem. As the city is severely overcrowded, they cannot find a proper place to sleep and Mary is forced to give birth in a stable. The holy family settles back into Nazareth until an angel warns Joseph in a dream of the impending slaughter of the innocents, and instructs him to flee with Mary and Jesus to Egypt. Without hesitation Joseph relinquishes his business and home to take his wife and young son on a perilous journey to an unknown land. Following the angel’s order, they stay in Egypt for seven years, with Joseph caring for both the financial and spiritual needs of the holy family.

            The final mention of Joseph is in the story of the twelve year old Jesus straying from his family during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It is believed that Joseph died well before Jesus began his public life and his patronage for a good death stems from the probability that he was surrounded by Jesus and Mary as he lay on his death bed.

            While the gospels concern Joseph only in regard to his relationship to Jesus, other histories of Joseph passed down from the fifth century state that Joseph was a widower who had been married 49 years and had six children before his first wife died. When the priests announced that all unmarried men from the tribe of Juda were to be candidates to marry Mary, Joseph went to Jerusalem with great reluctance. He was elderly and did not think he should be seriously considered. While the other men presented themselves by putting their walking sticks on the altar, Joseph held back and did not participate.  To everyone’s amazement the tip of his staff burst into a bloom of flowers, a sign from God that he was to be named the fiancee of Mary.           This tale is where the early visual depictions of Joseph as an elderly man with a flowering branch come from.  It was also thought that since Joseph had to respect Mary’s virginity throughout their marriage, that in all probability he would have been older.

            During the beginnings of the church, only martyrs were recognized as saints. Despite the importance of Joseph in the life of Christ, his cult was only found in the East. It did not arrive in the West until the ninth century when he was honored in church as the Foster Father of Our Lord.  The Carmelite order brought his cult to Europe when they were driven out of Jerusalem during the Crusades and the first church dedicated to him was in 1129 in Bologna, Italy.             

European Evangelists recognized Joseph’s reputation as the perfect father figure as useful in gaining conversions.  Common people forced to put the needs of their family before personal ambition saw Joseph’s life mirror their own. Church mystics and scholars Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas Aquinas and Bridget of Sweden all stressed the importance of Saint Joseph in their religious devotions. While reforming the Carmelite order in Spain, Teresa of Avila chose him to be the patron of her Discalced Carmelite order.  She did much to spread his public devotion spread throughout the Spanish Kingdom. During the Middle Ages when drought and famine struck Sicily, residents throughout that island prayed to Saint Joseph for help. At midnight on March 19^th rain began pouring and good weather immediately followed. Sicilians have venerated Saint Joseph ever since, by setting up altars, cooking special food and sweets which are given to friends and to the poor. These festivities were adapted by the rest of Italy where Saint Joseph is greatly revered. It is said that Saint Joseph has the power to overturn natural law, because Jesus had to obey his earthly father while he was a boy, that he would still do whatever Saint Joseph asked of him.

            With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, and the new class of laborers it produced, patronage to Saint Joseph became universal. By the end of the 19^th Century he was named patron of the Catholic Church out of gratitude for the care he took of Jesus. Because Joseph had to move on a moment’s notice with the flight into Egypt and was responsible for providing shelter for his family, he is invoked for buying or selling a home.  The tradition of burying a Saint Joseph’s statue on the grounds of a home to initiate a quick sale goes back to the 17^th Century. When Teresa of Avila was in need of more land to set up her religious houses, she had her nuns bury their Saint Joseph’s medals in the ground. Gradually, these medals evolved into a statue of Saint Joseph that would be buried upside down until the house was sold, then dug up and taken to the new home. Today, even nonCatholics do this as a superstitious rite, buying Saint Joseph’s Home Sale Kits off the internet.

            In art, Saint Joseph is always depicted with the infant Jesus. He sometimes has carpenter tools and because of his chastity he carries a lily for purity. The flowering staff became a popular attribute for him because it is also the emblem of shepherd kings who forcefully defended their flock. This staff is also the ancestor of the Bishop’s crook. An additional feast day was declared for Saint Joseph as May 1^st.  May Day to the rest of the world, the church in its attempt to combat Communism dedicated this day set aside for the working man to the Patron of Workers.

Prayer for Saint Joseph’s Intercession

                                     Remember, O most chaste spouse of the Virgin Mary,

                                That never was it known that anyone who implored your help

                                          and sought your intercession was left unassisted.

                                                     Full of confidence in your power,

                                                 I fly unto you and beg your protection.

                                            Despise not, O foster father of the Redeemer,

                                                 My humble supplication, (request here)

                                             but in your bounty, hear and answer me. 

            Amen

Excerpted from the book “Saints:Ancient and Modern” by Barbara Calamari and Sandra DiPasqua.

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