SAINT JUDE

First Century

Saint Jude, “Helper of the Hopeless”, is one of the most invoked saints of our century. He is the saint of the impossible, and it is said that he never fails to bring relief to those in desperate need. We turn to Saint Jude when all else fails. The flame of the Holy Spirit always burns over his head. He is a powerful presence, ever ready to step in and take control of a desperate situation. Because he was ever faithful to Christ and with him at the very beginning, he is in an especially exalted state of grace and can easily negate all common trials and tribulations.

 Jude Thaddeus was one of the original Twelve Apostles. Brother of James the Lesser and a cousin of Jesus, he grew up with Christ and played with him as a child. He is venerated in France and in Rome, where his relics are located; but devotion to Saint Jude all but disappeared in the Middle Ages. Because he was often confused with Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Christ, no one ever invoked Saint Jude for anything. This is why he became the saint of the impossible. In order to have people invoke him, he helped those in the most difficult circumstances. When a request is granted, the person praying must publish his thanks to Saint Jude. This way, more people will know to call on him. Daily and weekly newspapers are filled with small ads thanking him for his intercession.

 In his time, Saint Jude Thaddeus was known for his greatness of heart. It is said that he was so kindly and spiritual in nature, he glowed. He traveled through Edessa, Mesopotamia, and Pontus preaching Christianity. Abgar, the king of Edessa, was quite impressed with him. Since this king suffered from leprosy, he was anxious to meet Jesus so that he might be cured. He invited Jesus to come and share his kingdom. When he was told that this was not possible, he commissioned an artist to draw Christ’s portrait. The artist was so intimidated by the glow in Christ’s eyes, he could not draw. Christ took a linen cloth and impressed it on his own face. His image came off on it, perfectly rendered. Saint Jude took this portrait back to King Abgar, who rubbed it on his body and was cured of his leprosy. This is the large image that Saint Jude wears around his neck in art.

 Saint Jude is associated with Saint Simon, with whom he traveled to Persia. They were subjects of great curiosity and popularity among the people of the places they traveled. They frequently outwitted court magicians and priests, to the amusement of the local kings. Invited to have their losing antagonists executed, as was the custom of the day, the two apostles forbade this, saying they had been sent not to kill the living but to bring the dead back to life. Ultimately, Saint Simon and Saint Jude were martyred in the city of Samir after enraging the local priests. Saint Jude was beaten to death with a club. This is the staff he is always shown with in art.

 Feast Day shared with Saint Simon:  October 28

 Patron saint of: Impossible Causes

Novena Prayer to Saint Jude

Glorious apostle, Saint Jude Thaddeus, I salute you through the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Through his heart I praise and thank God for all the graces he has bestowed upon you. I implore you, through his love, to look upon me with compassion. Do not despise my poor prayer. Do not let my trust be confounded! God has granted to you the privilege of aiding mankind in the most desperate cases. Oh, come to my aid that I may praise the mercies of God! All my life I will be your grateful client until I can thank you in heaven. Amen.

(Mention your request.)

Saint Jude, pray for us, and for all who invoke your aid.

Say this novena nine times in a row for nine days in a row.

Your request will be granted by the eighth day. Publication of thanks to Saint Jude must be promised.

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

SAINT GERARD MAJELLA

1726 – 1755

 Saint Gerard Majella is an example of a hidden life revealed. Gardener, porter, tailor, and sacristan, he is known as the “Wonder Worker of the Eighteenth Century” due to the amazing mystical gifts he displayed in the last three years of his very short life. Always humble in his daily duties, Gerard was so intuitive that he could read into the hearts and souls of those around him. There are many novenas to Saint Gerard, but the most popular is the prayer for motherhood. His heightened sensitivity made his prayers for the health of pregnant women, women in labor, and those wanting to conceive children extremely successful. For this reason he is the patron saint of expectant mothers. He is invoked by women hoping to get pregnant as well as for a healthy pregnancy and safe delivery.

 Saint Gerard was born at Muro, south of Naples. According to his mother, he was the perfect child, always devout. His father was a tailor who died when Gerard was twelve. Supporting his mother and three sisters made him very sympathetic to the needs and sorrows of women. He was apprenticed to a tailor who constantly berated him. He then served as a house servant in the home of the bishop of Lacedogna. In poor health, Gerard asked for permission to enter the order of the Capuchin friars but was refused. He returned home, where he spent much of his day in prayer. Because of his mystical gifts and generosity, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, the founder of the Redemptorists, invited him into that order as a lay brother in 1752. Once, while visiting a family, he dropped his handkerchief as he was leaving. A woman picked it up and tried to hand it to him. He told her, “Keep it. One day it will be of service to you.” Although puzzled, she did keep it. A few years later, she faced life-threatening complications while giving birth. Remembering the handkerchief and Saint Gerard’s promise,  she had it brought to her and held it to her womb. Immediately all the complications ceased and she gave birth to a healthy baby. Thus, the miraculous bit of cloth was passed from mother to mother whenever someone was about to give birth. By the time Saint Gerard was canonized in 1904, only a shred was left. This relic is still used today to pass the miraculous grace of Saint Gerard onto other handkerchiefs.

 The greatest challenge of Saint Gerard’s life occurred when he was accused by a young girl of having an affair with another young woman. He never defended himself against the charges and quietly accepted the punishment meted out by his order. A few months later the girl recanted and admitted she made the story up. When asked why he never defended himself, Gerard said that silence is what he felt was required in the face of unjust accusations. He had always accepted his fate in life and saw no reason to change his behavior now.

 In art Gerard Majella is shown with lilies for purity. His charity, obedience, and selfless service also make him the patron saint of lay brothers. He was twenty-nine years old.

 Feast Day: October 16

 Patron Saint of: Expectant Mothers and Lay Brothers

Invoked Against: Infertility

Prayer for Motherhood

O good Saint Gerard, powerful intercessor before God and Wonder Worker of our day, I call upon you and seek your aid. You who on earth always fulfilled God’s design, help me to do the holy will of God. Beseech the Master of Life, from whom all paternity proceeds, to render me fruitful in offspring, that I may raise up children to God in this life and heirs to the Kingdom of His glory in the world to come.

 Amen.

Dear Mother Mary, speak to Jesus for me.

Say this novena nine times in a row for nine days in a row.

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

SAINT THERESE OF LISIEUX

Doctor of the Church

 Also Known as: Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, The Little Flower

 1873 – 1897

Feast Day: October 1

Patron of: France, Russia, Vietnam, aids patients, concerns of children, florists, foreign missions, pilots, religious freedom in Russia, tuberculosis patients,

Invoked: for a loving atmosphere

 “...My vocation is love! Yes I have found my place in the Church….in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be love.”

                           Therese of Lisiuex

            Considered the greatest saint of modern times, Therese of Lisieux lived and died in obscurity. A Carmelite nun who never rose above novice, she spent her days performing routine chores and dying just a few miles from where she was brought up. Hers was an interior life and she quietly developed a system of living that has since attracted hundreds of millions of devotees around the world.

            Born Therese Martin into an upper middle class family in Normandy, France, she was the youngest of five sisters. The Martin family were happy and pious as both parents had wanted religious vocations before they met and married. When Therese was four her mother died of breast cancer and the family moved to the town of Lisieux to be near extended family. Raised by her older sisters, Therese was outgoing and extremely spoiled. She later admitted that she refused to do any chores and the slightest rebuff of what she wanted would reduce her to hysterical fits and tears. When her eldest sister joined the local Carmelite convent, Therese, nine years old,  requested to follow her. She had decided that she wanted to become a saint. The Mother Superior advised her that the earliest she could enter would be at the age of 16. When a few months later, Therese fell gravely ill, her bedside was surrounded by concerned relatives.  According to her later writings she was instantly cured when she saw the statue of the Virgin Mary in her room smile at her. 

            The religious atmosphere of her home absorbed her three older sisters, by the time she was 14 years old they had all joined the convent. Her remaining sister, Celeste enjoyed babying Therese and made their father leave gifts in Therese’s shoes for Christmas, a custom enjoyed by only very young French children. As Therese raced home from church to receive her gifts, the girls overheard their father saying how glad he was that this would be the last year for something so silly. Instead of bursting into tears at this slight, Therese reported that her heart filled with an incredible warmth. She felt the presence of Jesus and suddenly was able to identify fully with her father’s feelings. Without acknowledging that she had heard the remark, she ran and received her gifts with enthusiasm. She declared that this was the point of her “conversion”. Shortly after she decided that she too would like to become a nun. Since she was far too young, the convent refused her. Steeling her resolve she petitioned the bishop. When he also refused her, her father decided to take his two remaining daughters on a pilgrimage to Rome to visit the Christian sites. This was one of the happiest experiences of her short life. Together with her sister, they saw where the early martyrs died and happily touched relics of the saints. While at an audience for Pope Leo XIII, Therese burst out of her seat and requested permission to join the Carmelites. She was told by him that it all depended on the will of God. Upon her family’s return to France, Therese was admitted to the Carmelite Order. Despite the fact that she was only fifteen years old, the Vicar General had seen in her the steely resolve needed to endure such a difficult life of sacrifice.

            According to Therese, all her romantic and pious notions of the sentimental holiness of convent life ended upon her admittance. For one thing, her beloved father had suffered a series of debilitating strokes and because she was a cloistered nun, she could not see him. For another, her daily routine consisted of hours of prayer interspersed with menial labor. She felt her prayers were not being heard and would often fall asleep grief stricken in a state of “spiritual dryness”.  She also knew that the life of a cloistered nun devoted to prayer was far from the active life of a great saint or martyr, instead, she came face to face with her personal failings and weaknesses. Feeling like a very little being she pictured herself as a small child being carried by Jesus. She later asked someone, “Why would I fear a God who made himself so small for me?”  She discovered that if she could not stand another nun, she would ask Jesus to become part of her and he would show her how to love that person. She began to apply this approach to everything in life, to food she could not stand, to chores she disliked, to being uncomfortable and cold in the convent. By accepting the reality of her own weaknesses and offering herself to God so that he could work through her, she began to see God as love personified and wrote,  “It is not so essential to think much as to love much.” Noting that everyone has their special talents and abilities, Therese decided that her special devotion would be to love. “…My vocation is love! Yes I have found my place in the Church….in the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be love.”

            Since the Carmelites had convents all over the world, Therese had the dream to travel to Viet Nam to be a missionary, welcoming possible martyrdom, she felt a strong desire to act as an apostle. Instead, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and forced to remain in her convent. Her sister had been elected Prioress of their house and then asked Therese to sacrifice her desire to being a full fledged nun in order to allay fears that the Martin sisters were taking over the convent. Therese never advanced above the role of novice and lacked the privileges of the other nuns. She insisted that God would not give her the desire to be a saint if it were an impossible achievement. She became obsessed with finding a way to holiness by living a small and hidden life.

            By 1896 her health was deteriorating and she was ordered by her sister to write  a book of memories detailing her spiritual life. This is a common Carmelite exercise of self examination. As she approached her own death doubts began to plague her. She worried that there was no after life, that all the future held for her was a “nothingness of being”. In this spiritual autobiography “The Story of A Soul”, Therese details the development of her “Little Way”.  She realized that since great deeds were forbidden to her due to her personal circumstances, she would scatter small loving deeds, a smile, a kind thought, like flowers. By the end of her life, her devotion to love and her willingness to make small daily sacrifices had reconciled her to looking forward to her death. She knew that no act, no matter how small, was insignificant. Her wish was to spiritually come back to earth, to work without rest until the end of the world. When one of her sisters visited her on her deathbed and cried about how much she would miss her, Therese said “I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses.”

            After her death in 1897, her memoir, “A Story of A Soul” was printed and sent out among the Carmelite sisters. This story had great appeal for Catholics struggling to find holiness while living everyday lives. It became a major best selling book all over France and has since been translated into over 60 languages. People everywhere felt an intense connection with Therese, her doubts and solution to accepting the life one is given made her a saint for modern times. Pilgrimages to Lisieux began and miraculous healings were reported. During World War I it was common for French infantrymen to carry her picture in their wallets. She was canonized in 1925 and declared a Doctor of the Church for her writings in 1997.  Devotion to her philosophies continue to grow. Her relics have visited the four corners of the world. Wherever they go, an outpouring of visitors numbering in the tens of millions come to be in their presence. These visits are used as opportunities to educate about the “Little Way”of Therese.   

            In art, Saint Therese is depicted holding a crucifix as roses, signifying graces fall from her hands. It is said that all who invoke her know their prayers will be answered when they see roses as a sign. She is the patron of foreign missions because of her interests in being a missionary and because of the fact her relics have visited so many countries of the world. The Carmelites have had a long time presence in Russia, their convent in Siberia has administered to exiled rulers from East Germany and Poland for centuries. Tensions with the Orthodox Church have made the advances of Roman Catholicism difficult there. It is thought that the Orthodox and Roman churches could be reconciled by enacting on Therese’s simple theories of divine love. Because of her dream to work in Viet Nam, she is patron of that country. She is also the secondary patron of France for her writings in French and for the love her countrymen have for her.  She is the patron of AIDS sufferers as well as tuberculosis, since she like many with these diseases have been cut off in the prime of life. Since it was her great dream to travel she is the patron of pilots.

Novena to Therese of the Child Jesus

O little Therese of the Child Jesus,

Please pick for me a rose from the heavenly

gardens and send it to me as a message of love.

O little flower of Jesus,

ask God today to grant favors

I now place with confidence in your hands…

(Mention specific request)

Saint Therese, help me to always believe as you did,

in God’s great love for me,

So that I might imitate your “Little Way” each day.

Amen

Say this novena nine times in a row for nine days in a row.

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

Saint Raphael

 Archangel

                       Because angels have never had a human existence, their attributes are in the purest forms. There are seven archangels that sit before the throne of God, exalted above all others. Of these, three are mentioned in the Bible as interacting the most with humanity: Raphael, Gabriel and Michael. While entire nations invoke Michael, and Gabriel has a very specific purpose, the archangel Raphael is most effectively invoked when we are at our most human. Raphael, whose name means “Remedy of god,” might also be known as the angel of everyday life. For example, we pray to Saint Raphael in hopes of meeting a life partner, before we take a trip, or to heal our illnesses. He is known for infusing even the smallest, most mundane daily events with peace and happiness.

             It was Raphael who healed the earth after the fallen angels who were cast out of heaven landed on it. In ancient times there was a small body of water akin to a pond, called Probatica. Those with devastating illnesses could go there and wait in the water as an angel of the Lord came down and, moving the water over the afflicted, healed them. That angel was Raphael. Raphael’s relationship with humankind is such that he also sees to it that scientific knowledge is brought to its highest level. It was Raphael who instructed Noah on how to build the ark and King Solomon on how to build the great temple.

             One of the most famous stories of Raphael’s intervention is told in the Bible Book of Tobit. The story is significant because in it, Rapahel is petitioned by disparate people, but in a wholly loving fashion he managed to bring them all together in the most joyous of outcomes. Tobit, having gone blind and thus unable to travel with his son Tobias across the desert, called on Raphael to accommodate his son. Meanwhile, on the other side of the desert was a woman named Sara who also had been praying to Raphael for relief, because she’d lost seven husbands, all of whom died on their wedding nights, victims of a demon. Raphael, disguising himself as a man named Azariah, guided Tobias in his travels. Upon reaching their destination, the angel, as Azariah, pointed Sara out to Tobias and suggested that she would make a wonderful wife. He further advised Tobias on how to defeat the demon by praying for three days, burning the innards of a fish they had caught, and thinking of God on his wedding night. Tobias and Sara were blessed with a most happy marriage, and the demon was expelled into the desert. Raphael even restored Tobit’s sight. In responding to their prayers to him, Raphael was able to guide them all to a higher level of life. For this reason, prayers are said to Raphael in order to find a life partner that is on an equal spiritual level.

             Saint Raphael is also the patron of travelers; we ask him not only for a safe journey, but for a more enlightened one. He is always depicted leading Tobias, who is carrying the fish. The original feast day of Raphael is October 24, but his day was changed to the Feast of the Archangel, which he shares with Gabriel and Michael, on September 29.

 Saint Raphael is the patron Saint of: Travelers, the Blind, the Sciences, Healing

He is invoked for: Happy Meetings

Novena to Saint Rapahael

Glorious archangel Saint Raphael, great prince of the heavenly court, you are illustrious for your gifts of wisdom and grace. You are a guide to those who journey by land or sea or air, consoler of the afflicted and refuge of sinners.

I beg you, assist me in all my needs and in all the sufferings of this life, as you once helped the young Tobias on his travels. Because you are the “medicine of God”, I humbly pray you to heal the many infirmities of my soul and the ills that afflict my body. I especially ask of you the favor (mention your request) and the great grace of purity to prepare me to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Say this novena nine times in a row for nine days in a row.

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

Saint Gabriel

Archangel

Communications of all kinds – in particular, consolation and guidance – are the basic attributes of the archangel Gabriel. His earthly visitations always portend a major change in human history. Islam credits the archangel Gabriel with dictating the Koran to the prophet Mohammed. Not only does the angel Gabriel, as a divine messenger, announce a coming event; he is also known to explain the meaning of the news, and to those who are frightened he offers consolation. It was Gabriel who remained with Christ on the eve of his crucifixion, giving him the fortitude to face his fate. The name Gabriel means “Strength from God” and thus he is invoked for courage.

The first mention of Gabriel the Archangel is in the Book of Daniel. In it, Gabriel visits the prophet Daniel, interpreting his dreams and explaining his visions to him. After Daniel prays for Israel, Gabriel goes to him and, by touching him, communicates the prophecy that “seventy weeks” of years would elapse before the coming of the Savior. The ancient Jews viewed the Archangel Gabriel as a judgmental figure, who meted out punishments. They believed that it was he who buried Moses, as well as leveled the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

It is assumed that it was the Archangel Gabriel who appeared to Saint Joachim to instruct him on the coming birth of his daughter, Mary. To the priest Zechariah he announced the coming birth of John the Baptist. When Zechariah scoffed at the angel because he and his wife were too old to be parents, Gabriel struck him dumb until the child was born. Gabriel is particularly devoted to Jesus and the Blessed Mother and his celestial intervention occurs throughout their earthly lives. The greatest visitation of Gabriel is known as the Annunciation. He visited the fourteen-year-old Mary and told her that she would soon give birth to the Divine Savior. When Mary asked how this could be possible, since she was still a virgin, he carefully explained the role of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s creation. It is said that the beauty expressed by Mary as she resigned herself to the will of God made the angel tremble. Saint Gabriel is known as the “Angel of the Incarnation” because he was present when “the Word was made flesh”. As he spoke to Mary, Jesus was created in her body. Gabriel then went on to comfort and reassure Joseph that this was indeed an act of God, so that he would stand by Mary. When the baby Jesus was born, it was Gabriel who spread the news of his birth to the shepherds in the surrounding region.

As Saint Raphael guides us on earth and Saint Michael meets us in death, Saint Gabrrl is the angel who selects souls from heaven to be given birth in the material world. He spends the nine months that the baby is forming instructing that soul on what he or she will need to know on earth. Because of his willingness to teach and to ensure that we understand the information he imparts, Saint Gabriel is the patron of parents and teachers. His role as a heavenly messenger also makes him the patron of postal workers and those in the communications industry. His feast has been changed from March 24 to the Feast of the Archangel, September 29.

Saint Gabriel, Archangel is the patron saint of: Communications Industry, Postal Employees, Parents, Teachers

NOVENA TO SAINT GABRIEL, ARCHANGEL

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, I venerate you as the Angel of the Incarnation, because God specially appointed you to bear the messages concerning the God-Man to Daniel, Zechariah, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Give me a very tender and devoted love for the Incarnate Word and his Blessed Mother, more like your own.

I venerate you also as the “Strength from God”, because you are the giver of God’s strength, consoler and comforter chosen to strengthen God’s faithful and teach them important truths. I ask for the grace of a special power of the will to strive for holiness of life. Steady my resolutions; renew my courage; comfort and console me in the problems, trials and sufferings of daily living, as you consoled our Savior in his agony and Mary in her sorrows and Joseph in his trials. I put my confidence in you.

Saint Gabriel, I ask you especially for this favor: (mention your request). Through your earnest love for the Son of God made man and for his Blessed Mother, I beg of you, intercede for me that my request may be granted, it it be God’s holy will.

Pray for us, Saint Gabriel the Archangel. That we may be worthy of the promises of Christ.

Say this novena nine times in a row for nine days in a row.

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

Novena App

SAINT PIO OF PIETRELCINA

 “Padre Pio”

1887 – 1969

Feast Day: September 23

Patronage: none official

Invoked For: forgiveness,  healing of all kind

Symbols: stigmata, crucifix

  “Pray, hope and don’t worry”

            Padre Pio

            With these words Padre Pio was able to make people who never thought of spiritual matters, religious. He is known as the saint of the common people, always consoling, always accessible to those who visited or wrote to him  A mystic who could bilocate and read hearts, he had assured his fellow monks that he would become even more prevalent a force after his death. Today, millions of people a year flock to the little monastery he never left in order to be in his spiritual presence.

            Named for Saint Francis of Assisi, Francesco Forgione was born in Pietrelcina, a small town north of Naples. As a child he experienced many spiritual visions of Christ and the Virgin Mary but never mentioned them to anyone as he thought all people had them. Coming from a devout Catholic family, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin Friars, an austere division of the Franciscans. He took the name Pio (Pious) and was ordained in 1910. Diagnosed with a form of tuberculosis, he was sent back to live with his family. Since he could not fulfill his duties as a priest he decided to offer himself as a conduit of suffering in the exchange of the salvation of others. While praying in his family’s home, wounds appeared on his hands, feet and side, similar to those inflicted on Christ. Embarrassed, he begged God to take these marks away. His prayers were answered and he was later conscripted into the army in 1916. While there, he fell ill with a fever that rose higher everyday. It is recorded that it broke the thermometer,  rising to 118 degrees, far higher than what would be considered fatal. Sent home to die, he recovered and his Father Superior ordered him to the remote monastery of Our Lady of Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo, Puglia, a province of Southern Italy. 

            While praying alone in the intense stillness of the church on September 20, 1918, he went into a trance like state of “waking sleep”.  He saw Christ standing before him, bleeding from his wounds. Pio was intensely moved and thought his own chest would burst in sympathy, but as he came out of this altered state he experienced excruciating pain. He was inflicted with the same stigmata as Christ and a fellow brother had to lead him away and bandage him up. Though he did what he could to heal his wounds, they never closed up until his death 50 years later. There are other mystical saints who have experienced the stigmata, starting with Saint Francis himself, but Padre Pio became the first ordained priest to have this condition.

            Since San Giovanni Rotondo is very near the Gargano shrine to Michael the Archangel, religious pilgrims began flocking to the monastery to hear Pio say mass. Wanting only to stay in the background and remain an anonymous friar, Pio suffered not only physical agony but psychological and spiritual pain as well. His life of constant prayer was greatly disturbed by the influx of curiosity seekers as well as those who considered him holy. Forced by his wounds to wear half gloves, many reported “the odor of sanctity” on his hands. His mysticism extended  to the confessional where penitents swore that Pio could read hearts. Many were sternly rebuked by him as he recited for them sins that they themselves had withheld or forgotten. After going to him for confession these same people reported feeling overwhelming joy and relief.

            All great mystics write about a period in their lives when they feel spiritually abandoned and God seems distant and unavailable. Saint John of the Cross has called this time in one’s life “the dark night of the soul”. Pio’s trials began in 1920 when Pope Benedict XV opened an investigation into the causes of his stigmata. Concerned about Pio’s cult following, doctors and archbishops were dispatched to interview him. Accusations of fraud and clerical misconduct would follow Padre Pio for the rest of his life as the Vatican launched over 12 future investigations into his conduct. In 1922, under Pope Pius XI, a specialist on stigmatic causes declared Padre Pio to be an hysteric who kept his wounds open with carbolic acid.. Padre Pio was ordered into seclusion and forbidden to say mass in public. A massive demonstration of 5000 people erupted in the village when it was rumored that their beloved friar was going to be moved. The Vatican agreed to leave him in Our Lady of the Angels but issued a decree warning against devotion to the priest as Padre Pio’s gifts were not to be considered of supernatural character. 

            While in seclusion, Pio calmly accepted his situation, he would spend hours of the day engulfed in prayer. Padre Pio has said that at this time he realized his true vocation was to suffer for the souls in purgatory so that they may win early release.  Though it deeply pained him to be under such intense suspicion, he obeyed the church authorities with humility and considered this time in his life a necessity for purging further imperfection from his soul.

             He never left his monastery at the same time people reported seeing him at the sick beds of hospital patrons hearing final confessions or comforting the fatally ill hundreds of miles away.  A fellow monk has written that he saw Pio shivering and murmuring in the middle of an intense heat wave. When he finally seemed to return to consciousness, the monk asked him where he was, “I was giving the last rites in the Alps,” he was told. “It’s very cold there.”

            In 1933 he was granted the privilege of saying mass in public again, but only at 5:30 in the morning. The little church would be filled to overflowing at this hour, people would begin lining up in the middle of the night to attend. Pio ate little and slept only three hours a night. Over his lifetime he heard over a million confessions. Though he could be gruff and angry with penitents he had a devout following. He began a small local prayer group which has since spread worldwide with 400,000 members. 

            During World War II, he promised the citizens of San Giovanni Rotondo that he would see to it that their town would be safe. The Germans had stored a depot of ammunition near the town which the Allies attempted to bomb, more than one officer reported seeing a monk in the sky with uplifted hands. Their bombs had fallen out of the planes into the woods and their planes had reversed course by themselves.  American soldiers, hearing about this “living saint” made the difficult trip up into the mountains to see Padre Pio. They too experienced his abilities, many thought he knew English when they went to his confessions, he was so successful at impressing his advice on their minds. On their return home, they spread his cult to every part of the United States. By 1947 Padre Pio was receiving more than 200 letters a day requesting advice and prayers from the United States, Europe and Australia.

            He used his growing popularity to found the House for the Relief of Suffering, a hospital for the hopelessly ill using only donations of the faithful. Today, it serves over 60,000 patients a year and is solely supported by charitable donations. Successful though he was, doubts about his real sanctity continued throughout his lifetime. Microphones were secretly planted in his confessional by Vatican investigators in attempts to find human flaws in his character. Though he never encouraged it, he developed a major cult following which was considered distracting and possibly dangerous by the Church.

            He died as he predicted he would, in 1968. His fellow monks heard him declaring that he saw two mothers at his bedside, then he murmured, “Jesus, Mary” before expiring. Over 100,000 devotees attended his funeral. The suspicions that many in the Church held of Padre Pio were dissolved in 2002 when he was canonized by Pope John Paul II in front of half a million people. This pope knew first hand, the mystical abilities of this obscure monk as he had traveled to San Giovanni Rotondo in 1947 when he was only a seminarian. While in confession with Padre Pio, he was given the astounding prediction that he would someday be pope. Years later, when he was the bishop of Cracow he wrote to Pio requesting prayers for a friend with cancer. Ten days later she was healed.

            . Today, a cathedral which holds 10,000 people at a time stands in the town where Padre Pio spent his life. San Giovanni Rotondo is second only to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe for religious pilgrims. Like Saint Therese of Lisieux and his patron, Francis of Assisi, Padre Pio  does as much after his death as he did in life to bring grace and consolation to those in need.

             As a contemporary saint, most images of Padre Pio are standard photographs. Because of his willingness to suffer like Christ, Padre Pio is usually depicted with a crucifix or with his stigmatized hands bandaged.

                                 Prayer Asking the Intercession of Padre Pio

                                       Oh Jesus, full of grace and charity, victim for sinners,

                             So impelled by your love of us that you willed to die on the cross,

                                     I humbly entreat Thee to glorify in heaven and on earth,

                                             the servant of God, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina,

                                          Who generously participated in Your sufferings,

                                     who loved Thee so much and who labored so faithfully

                               for the glory of Your heavenly Father and for the good of souls.

                                            With confidence, I beseech Thee to grant me,

                                 through his intercession, the grace of which I ardently desire.

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

SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

1696 – 1787

            Crippled by arthritis and ready to die at age seventy-two, Saint Alphonsus Liguori went on to live another nineteen years, publishing over sixty books and writing poetry and music. His disease made him so conscious of his own mortality that he assumed each day was his last and lived accordingly. He is the patron of those suffering from arthritis and the pains of old age. He sets the example of turning suffering to an advantage. In his case, his ill health made him use his earthly time in the most efficient manner. Saint Alphonsus Liguori is most frequently invoked for a cure to illness, and if that is not possible, for a way to bear illness productively. It is also thought that those who suffer physical torments on earth and offer those pains as reparations for the sins of mankind have more intercessionary power after death than others. Because he spent so many years of his life in chronic pain, unable even to lift his chin off his chest, Saint Alphonsus is thought to be an extremely effective intercessionary force.

             Born near Naples, Italy, in 1696, Alphonsus Liguori started out in life as a brilliant lawyer. A doctor of law by the age of sixteen, he practiced for eight years before losing his first case. He always attributed his success at law to his daily attendance of mass. His first loss in court – the result of an oversight on his part – came as a devastating blow to him. Humiliated, he fasted and prayed for three days. While doing charitable works in the Hospital for Incurables, he found himself surrounded by mysterious light. The building seemed to rock and an interior voice said, “Leave the world and give yourself to me.” This occurred twice. A few years later, in 1726, he was ordained a priest. He devoted himself to working in the poorest areas of Naples and developed a reputation as a popular preacher. Though a highly educated professional, able to argue the smallest nuance in law and theology, Saint Alphonsus said, “I have never preached a sermon that the poorest old woman in the congregation could not understand.”  His confessional was always crowded, and he is credited with healing a great number of hardened sinners. Saint Alphonsus founded the order of Redemptorist fathers, dedicated to going out among the poorest neighborhoods. He wanted his priests to preach practical sermons and act as missionaries, bringing the word of God to the forgotten. At the age of sixty-six, Saint Alphonsus was made the bishop of Saint Agata, a diocese of thirty thousand people. When ill health forced him to be bedridden, the pope refused to accept his resignation because he felt that the power of Alphonsus’ s prayers would help his constituents more than the actual good works of anyone else. Saint Alphonsus died in 1787 at the age of 91.

             In art he is always depicted with his chin on his chest due to his arthritic condition.

 He is the Patron of: Charity

He is Invoked against: Arthritis, the Pains of Old Age

 His Feast Day is August 1

NOVENA TO SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

Glorious Saint Alphonsus, loving father of the poor and sick, all your life you devoted yourself with a charity really heroic to lightening their spiritual and bodily miseries. Full of confidence in your tender pity for the sick, since you yourself have patiently borne the cross of illness, I come to you for help in my present need.

(Mention your request).

Loving father of the suffering, Saint Alphonsus, whom I invoke as the Arthritis Saint, since you suffered from this disease in your lifetime, look with compassion upon me in my suffering. Beg god to give me good health. If it is not God’s will to cure me, then give me strength to bear my cross patiently and to offer my sufferings in union with my crucified Savior and his Mother of Sorrows, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, in reparation for my sins and those of others, for the needs of this troubled world, and for the souls in purgatory.

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

Saint Alphonsus, patron of the sick, pray for me. Amen.

Say this novena nine times in a row for nine days in a row.

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

SAINT CLARE OF ASSISI

Abbess and Founder of the Poor Clares

1193-1254

Feast Day: August 11

Patron of: embroiderers, eye disease, gilders, goldsmiths, laundry workers, occulists, telephones, television

Invoked: against fever, against blindness, for good sight

Symbols: monstrance, cross, olive branch, lily, sometimes a lamp

 “Love God, serve God: Everything is in that.”

                                                Clare of Assisi

            Without ever leaving  her convent on the outskirts of Assisi, Saint Clare founded orders of nuns throughout Italy, France, and Germany. Though she maintained a vow of silence, Popes, Cardinals and royalty came to her for spiritual advice. Only twelve years younger than her mentor, Saint Francis of Assisi, she quietly helped him lead a movement of young people that confronted the church hierarchy for their material excesses and  revolutionized religious expression by embracing simplicity and poverty.

            Chiara Offreduccio was the daughter of a wealthy Count and Countess in Assisi, Italy and displayed little interest in the worldly advantages offered by her highborn state. She was eighteen and destined for an arranged, profitable marriage when she heard Saint Francis deliver the Lenten sermon at her church.  Inspired by his simple message of living with complete trust in God, she conspired to run away and live like this new order of mendicant friars, dependent solely on alms received from begging. The turning point for her occurred on Palm Sunday of 1212 . That day, Clare went to the Cathedral of Assisi in her finest clothes for the blessing of the palms. While others went to the altar rail to receive their palms, she sat in her seat, too shy to move. With the entire congregation as witnesses, the bishop stepped down from the altar and delivered the palms to her. She took this as a sign to act on her plan.

            Homes in Assisi were built with two doors, one for regular use and one called the Door of the Dead, opened only to remove a coffin from the house. That night, Clare secretly cleared the debris from the Door of the Dead and stepped through it, renouncing her former life and the material world forever. She slipped through the woods to the chapel of the Portiuncula, where Francis and his small community of men were at prayer. Clare exchanged her finery for a penitential tunic of coarse cloth tied with a rope, and  Francis cut off her luxurious hair in front of the Blessed Virgin’s altar. Having no separate living facility for women, he then took her to the local Benedictine convent.

            Clare’s family embarked  on a rescue mission, sparing no expense. During a violent struggle to drag Clare her from the convent, her clothing was torn off, and her shorn hair revealed. She declared to her shocked father, “The only spouse I will have is Christ, and further attempts to remove me from my chosen life will make me more steadfast!”  Her powerful father had to submit to her will and leave her behind. To his great anguish his younger daughter Agnes joined Clare two weeks later. Thus began a retreat of wealthy young women turning their backs on privilege and society in order to follow a higher spiritual path. Francis of Assisi had offered his peers a way of living that shook the foundations of society in the Middle Ages. Instead of becoming dependent behind the walls of staid, established religious orders, he encouraged his followers to exist in a day-to-day manner, experiencing nature and depending on the good will of others. The joy he and his band of friars exuded was infectious and he developed a following wherever he went. Clare was the first young woman with the courage to join him. 

            In 1215 when Clare was twenty two years old, Saint Francis installed her as the Abbess of the Order of Poor Ladies in a small house across from the Church of San Damiano. These women followed the Franciscan rule, forbidden to own property or material goods and entirely dependent on the alms the Friars Minor could beg for them. Upon the death of her father, Clare did not veer from Saint Francis’s teachings. She gave her vast inheritance to the poor rather than to her own religious community. This act of devotion caused much controversy – church authorities expected women to give their dowries to the religious orders they joined. This was to ensure that the nuns would be supported throughout their lives and would not serve as a burden to their parish communities.

            Despite this disagreement with church hierarchy, convents of “Poor Clares” as the order became known, were started in cities all over Italy, gradually spreading to France and Germany. These first convents attracted many educated and wealthy women who not only walked away from titles and estates but also lived in a state of self imposed austerity that was considered extreme for men and unheard of for women. They went barefoot, wore sackcloth, slept on the ground, ate no meat and maintained a vow of silence, speaking only out of necessity. Agnes, daughter of the King of Bohemia, broke her engagement to become Empress of the Holy Roman Empire to start an order of Poor Clares. The correspondence between Agnes and Clare leaves a lasting portrayal of the intellectual brilliance and good nature of the order’s founder.

            Because of her great mind,  Saint Clare was an invaluable advisor to Saint Francis. When he was wrestling with the choice of becoming a religious hermit or going out in the world to evangelize his movement, she encouraged him to go out to the people. It was Clare who nursed Francis through the last days of his life, and it was under her care that he composed one of his greatest works, “Canticle of the Sun.” After Francis’s death Clare could never be convinced to relax his strict rules of poverty remaining the most loyal adherent of his teachings.

            Though she was Abbess of her own order of nuns, Clare lived as humbly as possible. She served at the table, tended the sick and washed the feet of the lay sisters when they returned from begging. Because of the austere manner in which she lived, Clare’s health suffered, and  like Francis, she had the reputation for mystical powers. When she prayed she exuded a rainbow aura  and enjoyed a silent rapport  with animals. While bedridden, she would embroider altar cloths for neighboring churches and her cat would bring her whatever she needed..

            In 1234 the army of Frederick II was at war with the Papal States, and the convent of Poor Clares came under attack by a band of Saracen mercenaries. Clare rose from her sick bed and took a monstrance containing a host from the chapel. While ladders were being set up for the invaders to scale the walls, Clare calmly prayed, “Does it please Thee, O God, to deliver into the hands of these beasts the defenseless children whom I have nourished with Thy love? I beseech Thee good Lord, protect these whom now I am not able to protect.” She then heard the voice of a child saying, “I will have them always in my care.” In response, she turned to the terrified nuns and told them to have no fear but to trust in Jesus. In that instant, the attackers were seized with an incredible wave of dread and they fled the convent. The citizens of Assisi credit Clare with saving them from a later assault by the same army. Telling her nuns that they needed to support the city which had given them so much charity, she had them pray through a day and night until the attacking army inexplicably gave up and retreated.

            Two days before her death at the age of 59, Pope Innocent IV approved the rule for her order which she had formally written herself. As she lay on her death bed her sister and the early followers of Saint Francis were at her bedside, reciting the same prayers for her as they had said for him.

            In art, Saint Clare is usually depicted holding the monstrance which she held in driving out the Saracens. Those working in embroidery as Clare did, frequently suffer from eye problems, and so she is their patron as well as patron to those who treat the eyes. Because gold work requires intense use of the eyes, gilders are also under her patronage. Because her name ‘Chiara’ means “clear”, she is called upon for clarity of vision.  Since laundresses work at dawn and her name reminds one of the effects of the rising sun, they are also under her protection. Vision and clarity accompanied Clare throughout her life. When she was too ill to attend Christmas midnight mass, she was able to visualize it on her wall, amazing those who did attend by relaying exact information of the events. Because of this miracle she was named the patron of television, telegraph operators and the telephonein 1958.

Prayer of Saint Clare of Assisi

                                    Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road.

                             Go forth without fear, for he who created you has made you holy,

                                     Has always protected you, and loves you as a mother.

                                          Blessed be you, my God, for having created me.

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

SAINT MARIA GORETTI

1890 – 1902

        Because of her gentle nature, Saint Maria Goretti has been called the Saint Agnes of the twentieth century; but unlike the ancient girl martyrs before her, Maria Goretti was not a heroic victim of the state. Murdered for refusing to submit to rape, her tragic fate was transformed into a remarkable example of the healing power of forgiveness. It is the amazing work that she accomplished after her death that caused her to be canonized as a saint in 1950. Through her intercession, her unrepentant killer became living proof of the power of love and forgiveness to transform an individual. His visions of Maria offering him flowers so moved him that his testimony became crucial in her canonization. Saint Maria Goretti is the patroness of rape victims and young girls. She is called upon for comfort, strength and guidance. She is particularly sympathetic to the plight of young teenagers in the face of peer pressure. Her own story is an illustration of how great good can supplant evil.

      Maria Goretti was born in Ancona, Italy, in 1890. She was the third of six children. Her family moved to Nettuno, where her father worked as a field hand. His death of malaria in 1900 left the family destitute, forcing his wife to take his place in the fields while Maria stayed home and cared for the younger children. Alessandro Serenelli, the twenty-year-old son of a neighboring farmer, began pestering Maria while her mother was away at work. Not wanting to cause trouble for his family, she rebuffed him as best she could, without telling anyone. On the evening of July 5, 1902, as she sat mending a shirt and minding her baby sister, Alessandro burst in and dragged Maria into the bedroom. She refused his sexual advances and he stabbed her fourteen times, leaving her for dead. She was found by family members and rushed to a hospital, where she clung to life for another twenty hours, during which time she expressed great concern for the plight of her mother and also for the soul of Alessandro Serenelli. She said that she fully forgave him and that she wanted him to be with her in paradise. Maria Goretti died immediately after making this statement. She was just eleven and a half years old. Unrepentant, Serenelli was convicted and sentenced to thirty years in prison. In the eight year of his incarceration he had a vision of Maria standing in a garden, dressed in white with an armful of lilies. Smiling at him lovingly, she beckoned him and encouraged him to take the flowers. As he accepted them, each lily transformed into a still, white flame. Stricken with remourse, Alessandro became totally devoted to the memory of the girl he had murdered. When he was released from prison in 1930, the first thing he did was beg Maria Goretti’s mother for forgiveness.

      The story of Maria Goretti’s forgiving words became world famous. Soon after her death people began to pray to her for strength and guidance. Many, along with Serenelli, attested to her positive intervention. He cult became so popular that there were 250,00 people crowded into Vatican Square on the day of her canonization. Saint Maria Goretti is depicted with the martyr’s palms and her bouquet of lilies.

 Saint Maria Goretti is the Patron Saint of: Young Girls, Rape Victims

She is invoked against: Peer Pressure

 Feast Day: July 6

NOVENA TO SAINT MARIA GORETTI

Saint Maria Goretti, strengthened by God’s grace, you did not hesitate, even at the age of eleven, to sacrifice life itself to defend your virginal purity. Look graciously on the unhappy human race that has strayed far from the path of eternal salvation. Teach us all, and especially our youth, the courage and promptness that will help us avoid anything that could offend Jesus. Obtain for me a great horror of sin, so that I may live a holy life on earth and win eternal glory in heaven. Please intercede for me in obtaining the favor I now ask. Amen.

(Mention your request).

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

Say this novena nine times in a row for nine days in a row.

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

SAINT ANN AND SAINT JOACHIM

 First Century, BC

            Novenas to saints Joachim and Ann, as the parents of the Virgin Mary and the grandparents of Jesus Christ, are known for their intense power. Having suffered almost every trial a couple on earth may experience, they are approachable for the solving of any family crisis. Shamed by infertility, they were married for twenty years before they had their only child. They faced their daughter’s unexpected pregnancy and her near-desertion by her fiancé with great faith and tolerance. After Saint Joachim died, Saint Ann, in the throes of widowhood, watched as her beloved grandson became a prisoner and was crucified. Saints Joachim and Ann offer the loving acceptance and wisdom of grandparents, and one should never be ashamed to turn to them for any reason.

            Very little factual information is available about the parents of the Virgin Mary. Saint Ann is said to have been twenty years old when she married the forty-nine-year-old Joachim. Comfortable financially, they lived in Nazareth and were faithful followers of the Jewish religion. Each year they divided their income into thirds, offering the first part to the temple for the worship of God, distributing the second to the poor, and keeping the third to maintain their moderate lifestyle. Their great misfortune was their barrenness. At the time, this was considered a divine punishment, and it led ultimately to Joachim’s offering being refused at the temple. Their community began to snub them, considering them inferior. Both Ann and Joachim made a vow to the Lord that if they did have a child, they would consecrate it to his service. After twenty years of marriage and no children, and once again humiliated when his offering to the temple was rejected, Joachim, too ashamed to return home, went to live among his shepherds. There, an angel came to him, ordered him to return to his wife, and told him that she was pregnant, saying, “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 from infancy and filled with the Holy Spirit from her mother’s womb.”  Simultaneously, Saint Ann had been given the same news. She gave birth to the Virgin Mary at the age of forty. Saint Joachim was sixty-nine. Devoted to God, they raised Mary accordingly. True to their promise, they sent her to live in the temple to serve God when she was three years old. This was an extremely difficult act of faith on their part, surrendering the one thing they cherished most to God. So it was that Mary never lived among common people. She was given extraordinary parents and a sheltered, religious life in the service of God.

            Saint Ann is the better known of the two saints and her cult goes back to the beginning of the church. She is the patroness of housewives and women in labor. Because she kept her home in perfect order, she is the patron of cabinetmakers. In Brittany, Saint Ann has an exalted place. There were many sightings of her there in the 1600s. She is also the patroness of Canada.

Saint Ann is the patron Saint of : Housewives, Pregnancy, Family Crisis, Cabinetmakers, Brittany and Canada. She is invoked against: Infertility.

Together, Saints Ann and Joachim are the Patron Saints of Parents and Grandparents.

Their Feast Day is July 26.

Novena to Saints Joachim and Ann

Saints Joachim and Ann, grandparents of Jesus and parents of Mary, we seek your intercession. We beg you to direct all our actions to the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls. Strengthen us when we are tempted, console us during our trials, help us when we are in need, be with us in life and in death.

O divine Savior, we thank you for having chosen Saints Joachim and Ann to be parents of our Blessed Mother Mary and so to be your own beloved grandparents. We place ourselves under their patronage this day. We recommend to them our families, our children, and our grandchildren. Keep them from all spiritual and physical harm. Grant that they may ever grow in greater love of God and others.

Saint Joachim and Ann, we have many great needs. We beg you to intercede for us before the throne of your divine Grandson. All of us here have our own special intentions, our own special needs, and we pray that through your intercession, our prayers may be granted. Amen.

(Mention your request here).

Say this novena nine times in a row for nine days in a row.

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