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.