Friends in Christ,[i] today is the Feast of St. Andrew Dung-Lac and the 117 martyrs of Vietnam. The Catholic Faith came to Vietnam in 1615, by Jesuit missionaries, but soon the king banned all foreign missionaries; and tried to make the people deny their faith. Catholics had to survive secretly. Over the centuries, several persecutions were launched, but the Faith continued to grow.
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Dung An Trân was born in 1795 to a poor, pagan family in North Vietnam. When he was 12, his family moved to Hanoi where his parents could find work, and there he met a catechist and also received assistance. He was educated in the Faith for 3 years, and was baptized Andrew Dung.
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After more studies including learning Latin, he himself became a catechist. He was chosen to study theology, and then ordained a priest. As a parish priest, he was tireless in his preaching. He often fasted and lived a very simple life of sacrifice; he was a good example for the people, and many were baptized. In 1835 Fr. Andrew was imprisoned under emperor Minh-Mang’s persecutions, but his parish collected donations and bought his freedom.
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To avoid persecutions he changed his name to Andrew Lac and moved to another city to continue his work. Arrested for the 3rd time, he was taken to Hanoi, where he and another priest were brutally tortured and then beheaded.
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In 1988, Pope John Paul II canonized 117 martyrs of Vietnam, who gave their lives for Christ during this persecution. There were 8 bishops, 50 priests, and 59 lay Catholics who laid down their life for Christ.
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One of those martyrs of Vietnam[ii] wrote a letter from prison to encourage the others. He says this:
I wish to tell you of the trials besetting me daily, that you may be inflamed with love for God. The prison here is a true image of everlasting hell: cruel tortures of every kind—shackles, iron chains, manacles— also hatred, swearing and curses. In the midst of these torments by the grace of God I am full of joy, because I am not alone—Christ is with me.
Aid me with your prayers, that I may have the strength to fight the good fight and finish the race. We may not again see each other in this life, but we will see each other in the world to come, where at the throne of the Lamb, we will exult forever in the joy of our triumph.’
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Martyrs are the seeds for Faith; today there are over 5 million Catholics in Vietnam.
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[i] The write-up here borrows largely from Saints of the Roman Calendar by Enzo Lodi, provided by Catholicculture.com.
[ii] From a letter of Saint Paul Le-Bao-Tinh sent to students of the Seminary of Ke-Vinh in 1843
Friends in Christ, today is the feast of St. Cecilia.
Cecilia was born in Rome in the 3rd century to an important family, her father being a senator. She had secretly consecrated her virginity to Christ, but her parents thinking she should marry a successful man, arranged for her to marry Valerian, but Valerian was a pagan and not a Christian.
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So on their wedding night she told her husband: “There is a secret I wish to tell you Valerian. I have an angel that loves me, who jealously guards my body, and if he finds that you touch my body with polluted love, he will certainly slay you. But if you love me in holy love, he will love you as he loves me.’
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Valerian insisted on seeing this angel. But she told him that he had to be baptized first. After being baptized “He found Cecilia praying in her room, and next to her the angel of the Lord. The angel handed to them a bouquet of red roses and white lilies.
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Inspired by them, Valerian’s brother, Tiburtius, also became a Christian.
Now at that time, it was illegal to be a Christian, and when it was found out, these two brothers were given the sentence of death. Helped by Cecelia’s prayers, their courage held, and both became martyrs for the Faith. The executioner was so impressed by their faith, that he too became baptized, and his whole family.
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The morning of their execution, Cecilia roused them saying “Arise, soldiers of Christ, throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” She was quoting St. Paul.
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Soon, the officers came for her too, but she refused to give up the Faith, and so was given the sentence of death. Seeing this beautiful maiden’s great Faith, over 400 persons were baptized that day.
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In her own beautiful home, she was locked inside the steam room, and the heat was turned up to suffocate her, but she said, ‘ it is cool in here!’
She was therefore ordered to be beheaded. There, in her home, an executioner three times tried to decapitate her with his sword, but he could not get her head cut all the way off. He ran away in fear, leaving her to die 3 days later in her own blood.
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While she was dying, she asked that her large home be made into a chapel, which it is to this very day. She was martyred in the year 230. One can still visit the bath where St. Cecilia was martyred. Its walls are adorned with beautiful paintings. and one shows the executioner raising his sword above Cecilia.
She is such a great martyr of the Church, that her name is in the first Eucharistic prayer. Her body never decayed! It was found 1400 years later to be beautiful and perfectly incorrupt.
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St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music, and she is often pictured with musical instruments.
Friends in Christ, today we honor the two great Basilica’s in Rome of St. Peter and St. Paul. If you ever go to Rome, these are ‘must-sees:’ St. Peter’s, and St. Paul outside the walls.
St. Peter’s is sort of like ‘home’ for us. The heart of this great church is the tomb of St. Peter, below the main altar.
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As modern times approached, skeptics started to say that surely that was no tomb of Peter under there, how could the Church make that claim.
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So in the 1940’s, the Pope allowed excavations to be conducted under the Church. A surprising discovery was that the tomb of Peter contained various bones of various people, and even animal bones. The remains of Peter seemed to not be there. Was the Church wrong all these years? So more excavations began.
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We know that Peter was martyred in Nero’s Circus, near the present site of the Basilica. He was buried a short distance away in a small cemetery. In the course of the centuries monuments and chapels were built over his grave. In the excavations in the 1940’s, elements of these cemeteries were discovered under St. Peters basilica, but where were his bones?
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Now there was a significant wall in the area of the tomb of Peter, the famous ‘red wall’, as archeologists called it, dating back to the 3rd century. Covering the surface of the wall was an enormous amount of Christian writing, as if devoted faithful had passed here many times. The writings on the wall contain themes of victory, and there are the names of Christ, of Mary, and – many times, the name Petrus, Petrus, Petrus, on that wall. Inside the red wall was discovered a secret hiding place, lined with rich marble, hollowed out in the wall and hidden. There, wrapped in rich, purple cloth interwoven with gold – were bones! These unique bones were of a man, of sturdy build, 60 – 70 years old. The valuable purple cloth with gold, used to wrap them, shows that it was a person of high dignity.
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Finally, the bones of this particular man were intact, except – there were no feet. Missing feet, why? We remember from tradition, that Peter was crucified upside down. ‘I am not worthy to die like Christ, said Peter.’ So he was crucified upside down, and the removal of such a body in haste would probably involve cutting off the feet.
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The tomb with other bones was likely a diversion, so that enemies would not know the real location of the bones of St. Peter; only the Faithful knew that they were really there, in the ‘red wall.’
On June 26, 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that the relics of St. Peter had been found.
Friends in Christ, today is the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
Elizabeth lived in the early 1200’s; She was married at age 14 to prince Ludwig. He was a good husband, and they had a happy marriage. At night when they prayed, they would always kneel down together and hold hands.
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Her husband proved himself worthy of his wife. He approved of her many acts of charity and gave her his full support. He was a capable ruler and a brave soldier. In 1227 he went with the Emperor on a crusade to Palestine, but tragically, he died while on the crusade. The news did not reach Elizabeth until a month later, just after she gave birth to her third child. Hearing the news of her husband’s death, she said: ‘All the joys of life are no longer for me.’
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But in the coming years, she came to know the teachings of St. Francis. Elizabeth laid aside her royal dignities in order to serve God. She put on simple clothing and became a third order Franciscan. She had a hospital built, and devoted herself to the care of the sick, especially those who had the most horrible diseases.
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Living in only a small mud house, she put herself at the service of widows, orphans, and the needy. During a famine she distributed all the grain from her stocks. In her hospitals, she frequently cared for lepers, even kissing their hands and feet, because in them she saw Jesus.
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During the night she would rise from bed and spend long periods at prayer, and one night, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her to console and teach her.
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St. Elizabeth died at only the age of 24, pouring herself out to aid the destitute. Very soon after her death, miracles began to be worked at her grave and in the hospital chapel, especially miracles of healing.
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An ancient legend tells us, that while she was on an errand of mercy, she was miraculously met by her husband; the bread she was carrying in her apron suddenly turned into roses; and for this reason she is often portrayed holding roses on her lap.
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Many of the relatives of St. Elizabeth of Hungary were drawn to Christ, and led lives themselves of holiness, by her example. We too, should imitate her good works, and in this way draw many others to Christ.
Friends in Christ,[i] in 1921, a young nurse named Mae was making her last rounds checking the newborns at New York’s Columbus Hospital. Suddenly she shrieked at what she encountered: A baby: his face was like charred wood; cheeks and lips burned, with pus coming from the tiny nose; where eyes should be, were only two grotesque swellings.
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Trying not to pass out, her mind raced; how could this be? After his delivery, she herself had weighed the child and put eye drops in. The eye drops! She staggers across the nursery and picks up the bottle of 1-percent silver-nitrate solution, which by law was always put into newborn’s eyes.
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What Mae reads on the label makes her cry hysterically: “Doctor! Oh, get a doctor!” She had not used 1-percent silver nitrate, but 50-percent. A 50 percent solution was so strong, it could bore a hole through solid wood, and it had been in the child’s eyes for 2 hours.
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Dr. John Grimley is the first doctor to hear the nurse’s cries. Looking at the badly burnt face and the bottle label, the horrified doctor can only shake his head. A few minutes later he is reporting to the Mother Superior that the nurse has accidentally destroyed the child’s sight.
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A second doctor to see the infant was breathless. By now in those eye sockets there can be nothing left to treat. All he can do is call the doctor who delivered this perfect child less than 3 hours ago.
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As he is telephoning, the Mother Superior pleads with him to do something. He says to her: ‘Nothing short of a miracle can help this kid.’ In such sorrow, the nun says, ‘Then we will pray. “Oh do so! Please do so!” says the stricken doctor.
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He tried to break the news gently to the arriving doctor: saying, ‘a slightly stronger solution of silver nitrate was used in the eyes.’ He replies, “Anything stronger than 1-percent and that’s a blind baby.”
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A minute later as he bends over the crib, the eyes which are now beginning to exude pus are so swollen he cannot open them. Three doctors have already seen the baby; the eye specialist merely confirms the situation.
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That afternoon and evening as the spiritual daughters of Frances Cabrini, foundress of the hospital, go off duty, they gather one by one in the chapel. All the long night they remain there begging Mother Cabrini, dead only three years, to obtain from the heart of Jesus the healing of the Smiths’ child. And the nurse Mae, is praying with them too.
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At 9 the next morning, when the doctors arrive, to their astonishment they find the baby’s eyelids much less swollen. Gently the eye specialist opens the eyelids, his stomach tightening as he prepares to see the ravages of the deadly acid. Instead, looking back at him are two perfect eyes.
All 4 doctors are stunned, and the nurse can only sob with gratitude. But no smiles are as big as those of the Sisters. They knew Mother Cabrini’s holiness. Now she has proven it.
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Friends, today is the Feast of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini. Attending her beatification in 1938, was 17 year old Peter Smith; and everyone wanted to see his beautiful eyes that needed no glasses.
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That boy would become – Father Peter Smith – and all the way to his death he would love to talk about Mother Cabrini, whose prayers show that miracles still do happen.
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[i] Adapted from an article: Mother Cabrini’s First Miracle, by PATRICIA TREECE
Pope Leo and the Hun
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Leo the Great. Pope Leo lived about the year 450. In his days, he had many problems on his hands; not only did he have to deal with heretics, but at the same time, the city of Rome was a mess. No longer the seat of power, it was a small outpost in a dying Roman Empire, with poverty, violence, and plague.
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In Italy barbarians were invading – society was crumbling; the people of influence and culture, had long since fled to Constantinople, the new capital. So here was the Pope, with so many troubles and no help at all.
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It was at that time, that Attila the Hun, the famous barbarian king, invaded Italy. Attila was one of the most fearsome enemies of the west. Into Italy he brought his armies, sacking and looting city after city; and after three years of this, his army hurried on to take Rome.
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The people were afraid. There was nothing to defend them. So they turned to Pope Leo. ‘Holy Father, they cried. You must help us!’ Well, with no army at all, Pope Leo spent 3 days and nights in prayer, in the church of the apostles.
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Then, rising up, he asked his associates: ‘If any of you wish to follow, come along with me.’ Then he went out of the city, to personally meet Attila the Hun. We don’t know what conversation happened between Pope Leo and Attila the Hun, but we know this: after he and this fearsome barbarian had spoken, Attila knelt down at the popes feet promising to do whatever he asked.
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Leo asked him to withdraw his forces from Italy and to set his prisoners free, to which he agreed.
The chief guard of Attila, protested: ‘was the conqueror of the world to be defeated by a mere priest? Attila said to him: I acted for my own good and for yours, for as we spoke, I saw standing at his right side, a mighty warrior with his sword drawn, who said to me, ‘Unless you obey this man, you and your people will perish.’
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To this day it is unclear who was seen, standing next to Pope Leo, many believe it was St. Michael the Archangel.
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So it was, in the Year of Our Lord, 452, that Attila the Hun was mysteriously stopped in his tracks by St. Leo the Great. One of the greatest Popes the Church has ever had.
School Mass
Dear young people of St. John Vianney school, today is All Hallows Eve, also called Halloween. It means that it is the day we prepare for All Saints Day, tomorrow. That’s what All-Hallows-Eve, Halloween, really means.
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Tomorrow is All Saints Day and Sunday is All Souls Day. All Saints Day, we remember the great saints that have already succeeded in getting to heaven, such as St. Alphonsus, St. Bernadette, St. Francis, St. Maria Goretti, & St. John Vianney –
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But we also remember the not-so-famous saints who made it to heaven. People we love who have died, maybe grandparents or an uncle or a friend; if they are up in heaven by now, then they are also saints. A saint is anyone who makes it to heaven, so we all want to be saints.
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On Sunday we will have All Souls Day; that is the day that we pray especially for people who have died but who have not made it to heaven yet.
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If a person dies and is not fully in love with God, living a holy life, then they are purified before they go to heaven, and we call that Purgatory: the place to be purified. I imagine if a person’s soul is in Purgatory, they have to think about their sins and how they could have been a better Christian in this life.
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When my brother was bad, my mother told him to go to his room to think about what he had done, I don’t know if your parents say that. But I think Purgatory must be like going to your room; you have to think about your sins and be sorry for them, and you can come out and go to heaven when God says so.
When I was young, if I asked mom, ‘Mom, don’t you think Joe has been in his room long enough? Can’t he come out now?’ ‘Well, mom might say, ‘ok, since you asked, he can come out early.’
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If we pray to God, to allow someone we love to be finished with Purgatory, then God will let them out early! But Purgatory is not just like being punished, it’s a time to be healed from all the bad effects of sins.
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The great thing is, when a person is purified of their sins and gets to go to heaven, they are now called Saints, and that is what we want to be. We are having a saints party tonight downstairs; you have to dress up as a saint and be with a parent at the party.
But not only dress as saints, we are all supposed to become saints!
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St. Thomas Aquinas’ sister asked him one time, ‘Thomas, how can I become a saint?’ He said, ‘Just decide to do it.’
If we try to be very good, to love Jesus and pray – do God’s will all the time –
then we will be great, we will be happy, and we won’t even go to Purgatory, but straight to heaven.
Friends in Christ, today is the feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, who were of the original 12 apostles. St. Jude, the patron of hopeless causes, was also known as Thaddeus.
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A very old book tells us of a legend connected with St. Jude; according to this legend, in the days that Jesus walked the earth, there was a king who lived in the city of Edessa. This king sent a letter to Jesus, and in it he said:
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‘To Jesus the good Savior, greetings. I have heard about you and the cures you do, that you make people well without medicine or herbs, and that with a word you cause the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the dead to live again. Having heard all this, I have decided that you have come down from heaven; you are the Son of God. For this reason I ask you, to be kind enough to come and cure me. I have also learned that some are plotting to kill you. Then come here with me in this city, it is large enough for both of us. Sincerely, the King of Edessa.’
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Jesus is said to have written to the King saying that he was not able to come, but that after he had Ascended, he would send one of his disciples to cure him.
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Having received this news, the king decided to send a painter to paint a picture of Christ. But when the artist came to Jesus, his face was so bright, that he could not see clearly, to make the portrait. Therefore, Jesus took a cloth, and pressed it to his face to make an image for him.
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Ancient writers also tell us, that the letter written by our Lord to the king had such power, that if at any time a hostile tribe attacked Edessa, a child stood on top of the city gate and read the letter, and the enemy would flee.
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After Christ’ Ascension, St. Jude was that apostle sent to the King as the Lord had promised. The king saw in St. Jude’s face such a marvelous splendor, that he said: truly you are a disciple of the Son of God. St. Jude told him: If you believe in the Son of God, you will obtain all that your heart desires. He touched the king’s face with the letter from Christ, and he was completely cured.
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Now whether this legend is accurate, it IS true, that Simon and Jude did go on to preach the gospel in many lands, including Iran; there they confronted pagans and superstition and sin, and by dramatic miracles converted many to the Faith.
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Out of envy, they were martyred. St. Jude was killed with an axe, and St. Simon was sawed in two.
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Anthony Mary Claret. St. Anthony was born in Spain in 1807, and grew up doing manual labor with his father; but he decided to become a priest, and having worked as a pastor, he was sent to Rome and worked for the Propagation of the Faith. Here the importance of missionary work would get into his bones.
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Returning to his homeland, he spent a good deal of time as a priest in country life, giving talks in the small, rural towns. He was often giving conferences for the diocesan priests, and he wrote over 150 books.
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The Order he founded is called the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary; but it is more commonly known as the Claritians. Anthony Claret frequently visited the Missions he founded, and even became bishop of Santiago, in Cuba. He spoke out forcefully and often against slavery of the Africans which sadly, was beginning to take root.
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His zealous work stirred up much opposition in the anti-clerical mood of the period, as had happened previously in Spain. No fewer than 15 attempts were made on his life, and at Holguín his cheek was slashed from ear to chin by an assassin’s knife.
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In 1869 he was in Rome, preparing for the First Vatican Council. He was sent into exile at the insistence of the Spanish Ambassador, and died under house arrest at the age of 63
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Let us today read from his own writings. He says this:
Driven by the fire of the Holy Spirit, the apostles traveled throughout the earth. Inflamed with the same fire, missionaries today travel to the ends of the earth to proclaim the word of God.
And to us also, the love of Christ urges us to run and be lifted up on the wings of holy zeal for the gospel. I say this to you:
The one who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, And wherever he goes, he desires and works with all his strength to inflame people with the fire of God’s love. Such a person rejoices in poverty, welcomes hardships, laughs at false accusations, and rejoices in anguish.
The child of Mary thinks only of how he might follow Christ and imitate him in his prayers, his labors, and his sufferings. One who is such a child, cares always and only, for the glory of God, and the salvation of souls.
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– from the writings of St. Anthony Mary Claret –
Friends in Christ, today is the feast of St. John of Capistrano. St. John was born in 1386, he was destined to become one of the great lights of the Franciscan Order.
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From early on he was very intelligent; he studied law, and was appointed governor of Perugia in Italy, and he married the daughter of a leading citizen. When war broke out between Perugia and another city, St. John tried to negotiate peace, however he himself became a prisoner of war.
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There in prison, as if that were not trouble enough, he received news that his wife had died. It was during this time that John really began to think about his life: ‘Had he really been living for Christ?’ He thought of how his many sins had not brought glory to God, he resolved to change his life.
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Released from prison, he rode through Perugia on a donkey with his face to the tail, and with a huge paper hat on his head on which were written all of his worst sins. He was pelted by the children and humiliated; dirty and humbled, he presented himself to the Franciscans asking entry into their Order. After a difficult novitiate, he was a Franciscan. St. John had great admiration for Bernadine of Siena, the great preacher at that time; in the same way, this gifted preacher St. John went all about Italy seeking the salvation of souls.
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The world at that time was in a dark state. 30% of the population had been killed by the Bubonic Plague; if we think Ebola is bad, just think: 30% of the population had died. Also, the Church was split in schism.
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Yet here came this apostle of hope; wherever he went, St. John drew thousands of listeners. He actually preached in Latin, which was then translated to the people by an interpreter. Those who saw him described him as a small man, emaciated from fasting, nothing but skin and bones, but cheerful and strong. He slept in his habit, rose before dawn, prayed his Breviary and then offered Holy Mass. Then he preached.
Wherever he went, he made the rounds through the sick who waited for him to lay his hands upon each. They were often healed by his making the Sign of the Cross.
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St. John of Capistrano is often portrayed holding a cross, he is the patron saint of Judges and Chaplains.
