12 Tuesday 13th October, 2009

by Commodore Shemal -Meen during the upheaval of the and then left home for Saint Servan the Little Sisters of the Poor since 1856. hospitality”, by which the service of the Fernando, RSP, USP, Msc French Revolution. She died on August where she worked as a nurse’s aide at Le At the time of her death, on August Aged poor is raised to the dignity of an 29, 1879 at Pern in France, aged 86. She Rosais Hospital. When a young sailor 29, 1879, a few Little Sisters knew that act of the virtue of religion. is Holiness Pope Benedict XVI was beatified on October 3, 1982 by Pope asked her to marry him, she replied, she was the foundress, but her influence These two great spiritual currents, canonized Blessed Jeanne Jugan John Paul II in . “God wants me for himself. He is keep- on the young postulants and novices, meeting and merging – by God’s design – Has one of the newest of the Her father, a sailor like most men ing me for a work which is not yet found- whose life she shared during those 27 in the soul of Jeanne Jugan, created on October 11, 2009 in from that area was away in ed.” years, proved to be decisive. During this within it a capacity for universal open- Rome. St. Jeanne Jugan also known as Newfoundland for the fishing season. Jeanne desired only to serve God and prolonged contact, the initial charism ness. The very rapid expansion of her ‘Sister Mary of the Cross’ was the Four years later, he was lost at sea. Her the poor – especially the weakest and the was passed on, the spirit of the begin- work showed her that God was destining Foundress of the Congregation of the mother remained alone to raise her 4 most destitute – faithful to the ideal of nings was transmitted. her to a vocation of charity which could Little Sisters of the Poor. children (4 others died as infants). At the configuration to Jesus through Mary, Little by little, light was shed on the only be attained by an indefectible Time and again they say and show age of 16, Jeanne began helping her fam- that Saint taught to the situation. In 1902, the truth began to attachment to the Church. Her earthly that faith and hope have to find expres- ily by working as a kitchen maid in a members of the Third Order of the emerge: Jeanne, Sister Mary of the mission ended when she saw her small sion in love for other people, especially manor near Cancale. Admirable Mother, an association that Cross, who died in oblivion a quarter of bark firmly attached to that of the for those most despised and neglected by She stayed there until the age of 25, she joined around the age of 25. a century earlier, was not the third Little Church. The spirit of the Congregation is the evangelical spirit expressed by Jesus in the Beatitudes. Jeanne, faithful to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, radiated particularly in her life gentleness and Foundress of the Little Sisters humility of heart, which enabled her to surrender herself, in simplicity, to the joy of hospitality. of the Poor Canonized To be a Little Sister of the Poor, reminds the Little Sisters of those to whom they have vowed their lives, and of their desire to go always to the poor- est, to create a flow of apostolic collabo- ration and fraternal charity, in order to assist Christ in the Poor. For each one St. Jeanne personally, it is an invitation to share in the beatitude of spiritual poverty, lead- ing us towards that radical disposses- sion which surrenders a soul to God.

Miracle of Jeanne Jugan Jugan – Across Dr. Edward Gatz is a retired anesthe- siologist who lives in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States of America. He was born on April 19, 1937 in O’Neil, Nebraska. At the age of 51, he began to feel dyspeptic (digestive) problems with the Shores of a loss of weight and the appearance of growths on his hands. The diagnosis was interpreted as a paraneoplastic syn- drome due to an occult cancer. An endoscopy on January 9, 1989 revealed the presence of a cancerous Misery lesion in the lower part of the esopha- gus. The patient was hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the world. If the saints share one over- Sister, as everyone had been led to and had surgery on January 18, 1989 for arching characteristic, it is to have put Founding of the Congregation believe, but the first, the Foundress! a partial esophago-gastrectomy. The their love of God to work for their fellow One winter’s evening in 1839, she biopsy showed a 3rd degree adenocarci- men and women through their chosen opened her door and her heart to a Spirituality of the Congregation noma, and the examination specified way of life. She stayed there blind, semi-paralyzed eld- To the eagerness for progress and lib- that there was an aneuploid tumor. Dr. is declaration of a per- erly woman who had suddenly found erty of her contemporaries, Jeanne Gatz was advised to have chemotherapy, son’s holiness and entitlement to venera- until the age of 25, herself alone. Jeanne gave up her own brought the transparent witness of the but he refused. He also refused to have tion. It is the final stage in the process, bed. This act committed her forever. A revelation of God’s mysteries to “little radiotherapy. reserved to the papacy since about 1200. and then left home second elderly woman followed, then a ones.” She always lived her faith with On the day that Dr. Gatz cancer was Saints are those recognized by the for Saint Servan third. In 1843, they numbered 40 around the simplicity of the “little ones” and diagnosed (January 9, 1989), his wife Church as having gained the reward of Jeanne and her 3 young companions. advanced resolutely, looking on events spoke with a priest, Fr. Richard D. heaven and suitable to be venerated and where she worked as These later had chosen her as superior and persons with a living faith which McGloin, S.J., to tell him about her hus- followed as examples on earth. It is the of their small association which would arouses hope and works through charity. band’s illness and to seek some consola- title given after the four-stage process a nurse’s aide at Le gradually develop into a true religious 20 years of belonging to the Third tion. This priest encouraged Mrs. Gatz leading to canonization - ‘Servant of life. Order of the Admirable Mother had to pray, and gave her the Novena Prayer God’, ‘Venerable’, ‘Blessed’ and ‘Saint’. Rosais Hospital. However, Jeanne would soon be oust- already simplified her soul through the to Blessed Jeanne Jugan, whom he knew Today, the Congregation of the Little When a young sailor ed from this responsibility and reduced contemplation of the mystery of Jesus through the Little Sisters of the Poor, Sisters of the Poor founded by St. to the simple activity of the collecting, a and Mary. The spirituality of Saint and whom he held in veneration. Along Jeanne Jugan is serving throughout the asked her to marry hard task which she herself had begun. John Eudes thus prepared her to pene- with him, Mrs. Gatz began to pray to world from 202 Homes and the She had been encouraged in this act of trate the supernatural richness of hospi- Jeanne Jugan every day. Congregation includes 2710 Little him, she replied, charity and sharing by the Brothers of tality for the accomplishment of her In fact, the first endoscopic examina- Sisters, 60 Novices and 2065 Lay Saint John of God. Jeanne replied to own hospitaller mission with simplicity, tion took place on March 8, 1989. The Associates. In Sri Lanka, the Little “God wants me for injustice with silence, gentleness and humility and union with God in prayer biopsy showed the presence of chronic Sisters of the Poor serve the needy himself. He is keep- abandonment. Her faith and love helped and charity. gastritis, but no signs of recurrence of through their Home for the Elderly her to discern God’s will for her and for Divine Providence gave a very power- the tumor. All the doctors therefore located at 204, T. B. Jayah Mawatha, ing me for a work her religious family. ful support to the work of Jeanne in the agreed that Dr. Gatz would not live more Colombo 10. As the years passed by, Jeanne was tradition of charity of the Hospitaller than 6 to 13 months. Yet he is still alive which is not yet more and more shrouded in obscurity. Order of Saint John of God. This latter and well today at the age of 72. Life of Jeanne Jugan founded.” The beginnings of her work were falsi- communicated its living spirit of hospi- The promulgation of the decree of Jeanne Jugan was the sixth of the fied. She was kept in the background for taller charity to her work without hin- the Congregation for the Causes of eight children of Joseph and Marie 27 years (1852 to 1879), four at the Home dering the development of this work Saints, authorized by Pope Benedict Jugan. She was born on October 25, 1792 in Rennes, and the last 23 years of her according to its own charisma and spe- XVI, acknowledging the miracle through at in France and baptized on long life at La Tour Saint Joseph, the cific character. To the Order of Saint the intercession of Blessed Jeanne the same day in the Church of Mother House of the Congregation of John of God, she also owes the “vow of Jugan was signed on December 6, 2008.

Priest who lived with leprosy now a saint

VATICAN CITY (AP) - A 19th-centu- Chang, joined in one basilica procession, from Auburn Hills, Michigan. ry priest whose courageous work with and two leprosy patients participated in Damien, said Benedict, “not without leprosy patients in Hawaii has been another. fear and repugnance,” chose to go to likened to the efforts of those battling The new saints had heeded Jesus’ Molokai and risked his health to serve the stigma of AIDS was elevated to saint- call to “the heroism of sanctity,”sacrific- the leprosy patients “who were there, hood Sunday by Pope Benedict XVI, ing themselves for others without “cal- abandoned by all,” and went on to feel along with four other Catholics he hailed culation or personal gain,” the pope “at home with them.” as heroes of holiness. said. Damien’s image, vividly showing Among the 10,000 pilgrims packing “Their perfection, in the logic of a lesions of leprosy on his face, was St. Peter’s Basilica was Hawaii resident faith that is humanly incomprehensible draped from the basilica’s facade. Audrey Toguchi, an 80-year-old retired at times, consists in no longer placing Mills’ pastor, the Rev. James Kean, school teacher whose recovery from lung themselves at the center, but choosing to said their parish, St. Damien of cancer a decade ago stunned her doctor go against the flow and live according to Molokai, in Pontiac, Michigan, is the and was ruled a miracle by the Vatican. the Gospel,” Benedict said in his homily. first U.S. church to be named in the Toguchi has credited her survival to Official delegations included King saint’s honor. He said a relic of St. praying to Belgium-born Jozef De Albert II and Queen Paolo of Belgium; Damien, a fragment of a heel bone, will Veuster, also known as , U.S. President Barack Obama’s new be brought to their parish from Rome for who himself died from leprosy in 1889 envoy to the Vatican, Miguel H. Diaz; a day before being taken to Hawaii. after contracting the disease while work- and Hawaii Sen. Daniel Kahikina Later greeting the pilgrims in the ing with ostracized patients living on Akaka. Poland’s president, France’s square, Benedict urged those to help in Molokai island. prime minister and Spain’s foreign min- the battle against leprosy as well as what Some 40,000 faithful who couldn’t fit ister also attended. he called “other forms of leprosy caused inside the vast church filled St. Peter’s Obama, born and partially raised in by lack of love or cowardliness,” appar- Square on a warm, sunny morning. Hawaii, said in a message to mark the Pilgrims from Hawaii, in yellow clothes with floral patterns, take communion during ent reference to those who psychologi- Many women from Hawaii wore head- canonization that he remembers stories a canonization ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, led by Pope Benedict XVI at the cally isolate themselves from others. pieces made of roses and large beaded about Damien’s care for people with lep- Vatican Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009. The pontiff gave the Roman Catholic church five new Also becoming a saint was Zygmunt necklaces over floral-print loose gowns. rosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, saints Sunday, including Father Damien, born as Jozef De Veuster in 1840, a Roman Szcezesny Felinski, a 19th-century Among the five Benedict added to the and its stigma. Catholic priest from Belgium who cared for leprosy victims on the Hawaiian island Polish bishop who defended the Catholic church’s roll call of saints is French nun The U.S. leader, noting that millions of Molokai from 1873 to 1889, when the disease killed him. The other new Saints are faith during the years of the Russian Jeanne Jugan, who helped the elderly, worldwide suffer from disease, especial- 19th century Polish bishop Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski; Spanish faithful Francisco annexation, which had led to the shut- including some abandoned by their fami- ly HIV/AIDS, urged people to follow Coll y Guitart and Rafael Arniaz Baron, and Jeanne Jugan, a Frenchwoman down of Polish churches. lies. Jugan, also known as Marie de la Damien’s example by “answering the described by Vatican Radio as an “authentic Mother Teresa ahead of her time.” (AP) Two Spaniards, Francisco Coll y Croix, was “an authentic Mother Teresa urgent call to heal and care for the sick.” Guitart, who founded an order of ahead of her time,” Vatican Radio said. Honolulu pilgrim Gloria Rodrigues do as he did,” said Rodrigues, who added disfigurement, had been ostracized for Dominicans in the 19th century, and Her Little Sisters of the Poor order of said she saw a link between Damien and she had relatives with leprosy who had centuries by societies and even families. Rafael Arniaz Baron, who renounced an nuns today runs homes for impoverished AIDS. been cared for on Molokai, although “The way leprosy was perceived affluent life at age 22 to live humbly in a old people worldwide. She died in 1879. “He was a servant of the outcast and years after Damien’s work there. then is how AIDS is perceived today” by strict monastery in the last century, also Toguchi and her doctor, Walter should be an inspiration for us today to Those with leprosy, which can cause many people, said Gail Miller, a pilgrim were raised to sainthood.