October 1 – St. Therese, the Little Flower
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October 1 – St. Therese, the Little Flower Therese died when she was 24, after having lived as cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was an brief edited version of her journal called "Story of a Soul." But within 28 years of her death, the public demand was so great that she was canonized. Therese was born in France in 1873, the pampered daughter of a mother who had wanted to be a saint and a father who had wanted to be monk. The two had gotten married but determined they would be celibate until a priest told them that was not how God wanted a marriage to work! They later had nine children, the five who lived were all daughters. At the age of 11, Therese became so ill with a fever it was thought she was dying. When Therese saw her sisters praying to statue of Mary in her room, Therese also prayed. She saw Mary smile at her and suddenly she was cured. Some people thought she made the whole thing up. At the same time she had developed the habit of mental prayer. She would find a place between her bed and the wall and in that solitude think about God, life, eternity. Her life was never hard as she did little to help at home often times with outbursts of tears and tantrums. Therese wanted to enter the Carmelite convent to join two of her sisters but she was uncertain of handling the rigors of Carmelite life. Even at the age of 14, she was still being treated as a child by her family. During one incident at home, Jesus had come into her heart and done what she could not do herself. He had made her more sensitive to her father's feelings than her own. Shortly after, she entered the convent. In her autobiography she referred to a difficult Christmas as her "conversion." Therese was known as the “Little Flower” but she had a will of steel. When the superior of the Carmelite convent refused to take Therese because she was so young, she went to the bishop. When the bishop also said no, she and her father went onto the Pope. They had been forbidden to speak to him but that didn't stop Therese. As soon as she got near him, she begged that he let her enter the Carmelite convent. The Vicar General who had seen her courage was impressed and soon Therese was admitted to the Carmelite convent. She worried about her vocation: " I feel in me the vocation of the Priest. I have the vocation of the Apostle. Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me. Considering the mystical body of the Church, I desired to see myself in them all. Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was burning with love. I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love was everything, that it embraced all times and places...in a word, that it was eternal! Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love...my vocation, at last I have found it...My vocation is Love!" At the age of 23 she took quite ill. Her pain was so great that she said that if she had not had faith she would have taken her own life without hesitation. One of her sisters in the same convent, journaled her final days. Her sister, Pauline put together Therese's writings and sent numerous copies to other convents. But Therese's "little way" of trusting in Jesus to make her holy and relying on small daily sacrifices instead of great deeds appealed to the thousands of Catholics and others who were trying to find holiness in ordinary lives. Within two years, Catholics move because her notoriety worked tirelessly toward gaining her canonization in 1925. October 2 – St. Leger St. Leger led a volatile life with questions on his blessed life. Leger was raised at the court of King Clotaire II and by his uncle, Bishop Didon of Poitiers. Leger was made archdeacon by his uncle, was ordained, and in about 651, became abbot of Maxentius Abbey, where he introduced the Rule of St. Benedict. He served the Queen and helped her govern when Clovis II died in 656, being named bishop of Autun in 663. He was able to reconcile the differing factions that had torn the See apart, introduced reforms, fortified the town, and was known for his concern for the poor. On the death of Clotaire III, he supported young Childeric II for King against his brother Thierry, who had been backed by Ebroin, mayor of the palace. Ebroin was exiled to Luxeuil and became a bitter enemy of Leger. Leger became Childeric's adviser. When Leger denounced the marriage of Childeric to his uncle's daughter, he also incurred the enmity of Childeric, and in 675 Leger was arrested at Autun and banished. When Childeric was murdered, his successor restored Leger to his See. Ebroin was also restored as mayor of the palace after he had had the incumbent murdered and persuaded the Duke of Champagne and the bishops of Chalons and Valence to attack Autun. To save the town, Leger surrendered. Ebroin had him blinded, his lips cut off, and his tongue pulled out. Not satisfied, he convinced the King that Childeric had been murdered by Leger and his brother Gerinus. Gerinus was stoned to death, and Leger was tortured and imprisoned at Fecamp Monastery in Normandy. After two years Leger was summoned to court by Ebroin, deposed, and executed protesting his innocence to the end. Though the Roman Martyrology calls him Blessed and a martyr, there is doubt among many scholars that he is entitled to those honors. October 3 – St. Ewald the Fair & the Dark Martyred Northumbrian English brothers, one called "the Fair" and one called "the Dark,” were educated in Ireland. They were given the same name, known by the difference in the color of their hair and complexions. These priests of the Benedictine Order. They were martyred together at Aplerbeke, near Dortmund, Germany, by local pagans about 692. Ewald the Black was the more learned of the two, but both were equally renowned for holiness of life. They were apparently acquainted with St. Willibrord, the Apostle of Friesland, and were taken with his zeal for the conversion of the Germans. They entered upon their mission about 690. The scene of their labours was the country of the ancient Saxons. The pagan Saxons, witnessing the activities of the Christian priests and missionaries, began to suspect that the Ewalds planned to convert their over-lord, destroy their temples and supplant their religion. Inflamed with jealousy and anger, they resolved that the Ewalds should die. An uprising followed and both priests were quickly seized. Ewald the Fair was killed quickly by sword; Ewald the Black was tortured and torn limb from limb, after which both their bodies were cast into the Rhine. This is understood to have happened on 3 October at a place called Aplerbeck, today a district of Dortmund, where a chapel still stands. Christian sources describe various miracles after the priests' deaths, including their martyred bodies being miraculously carried against the stream for the space of forty miles to the place in which the companions of the Ewalds were residing. As they floated along, says the Catholic Encyclopedia, "a heavenly light, like a column of fire, was seen to shine above them." One of the martyrs appeared in vision to a monk (a companion of the Ewalds), and told him where the bodies would be found: "that the spot would be there where he should see a pillar of light reaching from earth to heaven". A spring of water is said to have gushed forth in the place of the martyrdom. Monument of the Ewalds standing in Dortmund-Aplerbeck, Germany October 4 – St. Francis of Assisi In 1882 St. Francis was baptized Giovanni after John the Baptist. But his father wanted his son to be a cloth merchant. So he renamed his son Francesco. Francis had a life of wealth and permissiveness. He loved to party. Francis himself said, "I lived in sin" during that time. Even as a dreamer, Francis was good at business, but not holiness! Francis wanted to be a noble, a knight. Battle was the best place to win the glory and prestige he longed for. He got his first chance when Assisi declared war on their longtime enemy, the nearby town of Perugia. Most of the troops from Assisi were butchered in the fight. He spent a year in captivity and he was ransomed. Strangely, the experience didn't seem to change him. He continued to party with as much joy and abandon as he had before the battle. Francis' conversion did not happen overnight. God had waited for him for twenty-five years and now it was Francis' turn to wait. Francis started to spend time in prayer. Sometimes God's grace overwhelmed him with joy. But life couldn't just stop for God. There was a business to run, customers to wait on. His search for conversion led him to the ancient church at San Damiano. While he was praying there, he heard Christ on the crucifix speak to him, "Francis, repair my church." Francis assumed this meant church with a small c -- the crumbling building he was in.