Saint Catherine of Siena

On the Extraordinary calendar, today is the feast of St. Catherine of Siena, virgin, mystic, and Doctor of the Church.  Hardly any known child of Christ is as great as she!

Blessed Villana de'Botti

Today is the feast of Blessed Villana de'Botti according to the Domincan Ordo. (It is Feb. 28 in the Ordinary calendar of the Roman Rite.) Bl. Villana tried to enter religious life by running away to a convent when she 13 years old.  Expectedly, she was turned away.  This prompted her father to arrange an early marriage for her to a wealthy man.  She gave into a worldly life of the idle rich.  Eventually, she saw the effects of how her turning away from God had sullied her soul.

She sought the help of the nearby Dominican Fathers of Santa Maria and made herself right with God.  She became a third-order/lay Dominican, living the rest of her short life in a holy marriage while also given to prayer, doing penance, and studying.  She was publically ridiculed but remained strong in her spiritual life and duties.  She was only 30 years old when died in AD 1361.  Beacause of the constant amounts of mourners, it was a month before the Dominican Fathers could bury her.      

Prayer

 

O God, our merciful Father, you called Blessed Villana back from the emptiness of the world and aroused in her a spirit of humility and true penitence. Recreate in our hearts the power of your love and, filled by that same spirit, may we serve you in newness of life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Tomb of Bl. Villana de'Botti

Saint Peter the Martyr

St. Peter the Martyr, also called St. Peter of Verona, is one of too many saints that no longer receive the remembrance that is greatly deserved. He is the Dominican protomartyr and the fastest papally canonized saint of the Church.

The Dominican Ordo for 2010 designates today as his memorial. His feast on the Extraordinary Calendar is 29 April. St. Catherine of Siena died on 29 April but was given the 30th because St. Peter the Martyr already had the 29th. In the “reformed” 1969 calendar, St. Peter the Martyr was bumped off the calendar by St. Catherine as she was moved back by one day.

St. Peter was born 1205 or 1206. The fact that he was born to parents that were heretical Cathars is proof of his divine love for truth and Orthodoxy. In such an atmosphere where his own family ridiculed his orthodoxy, his life was destined to be sacrificed for the faith!

He received the Dominican habit from St. Dominic, himself. He was a mystic that was visited by saints and angels, a gift for which he had to do penance for. On one occasion having celestial visitors in his cell, a passing monk heard female voices coming from his room. This led to his being accused of admitting females within the enclosure, to the great scandal of the house. The Saint said not a word in his own justification, but humbly accepted the severe penance imposed on him.

He became a very active and noted preacher in Northern Italy. His sermons were often complemented by miraculous signs of all kinds including casting out devils and healing the sick. Every day at the elevation of the Mass St. Peter prayed, Grant, Lord, that I may die for Thee, who for me didst die.

Pope Innocent IV made him inquisitor of Lombardy in 1232. It is said that wherever he appeared there was universal renunciation of errors and heresies. So great was his success to bringing those in error back to the Church that it’s no wonder the wrath of heretics was so violent towards him. He was attacked by assassins on the road between Milan and Como in 1252. His martyrdom had been mystically revealed to him and he approached happily. One of his assassins was so affected by the saint’s holy martyrdom that he entered the Order of Preachers, himself, and remained for forty years.

Saint Peter was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in the piazza outside the Dominican Church at Perugia, less than a year after his martyrdom.

Prayer

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we may imitate with due devotion the faith of Blessed Peter, Thy Martyr, who, for the extension of that same faith, was made worthy to obtain the palm of martyrdom. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Agnes of Montepulciano

SAINT AGNES was born in Montepulciano, a neighborhood in Tuscany, c.1268. Not uncommon among many saints, St. Agnes showed great piety since childhood. While still very young she succeeded in convincing her parents to grant permission to enter a very strict monastery. After a few years she was sent to assist in the foundation of another monastery for the education of young girls at Procena. She became Abbess by a special dispensation from the Holy See when only fifteen! She was at Procena for 20 years (some sources say 17). By her own self-discipline, she lived on bread and water for fifteen years and slept on the floor with a stone for a pillow. Her great piety resulted in many signs and wonders: visually beautiful and fragrant flowers would spring up on the spot where she had prayed; she was sometimes showered with manna in the shape of little white crosses, witnessed by crowds; she was a visionary and t received Holy Communion from an angel's hand 10 times.

After her years at Procena the people Montepulciano requested her to establish a monastery. St. Agnes was unsure which rule to adhere in starting the new monastery, so she prayed and received her answer in a vision. From her vision of St. Augustine, St. Francis and St. Dominic she knew she was to begin a new community of woman according to the rule of St. Dominic. St. Dominic made known to her she was to start a community of virgins at Montepulciano on a hill which previously had the site of brothels.

It is said she was granted a warning of her purgatory before going to Heaven and mystical experiences on many consecutive Sundays when, shortly afterwards, she began her painful terminal illness.

Her sisters took her to the medicinal baths at Chianciano but they did not help her. However, while she was there, a miraculous hot water spring gushed (later named for her) and she miraculously brought a child back to life that had drowned there.
St. Agnes died when she was 49.

Another great female Dominican saint, St. Catherine if Siena, made a famous pilgrimage to St. Agnes’ tomb. St. Agnes’ incorrupt body lifted her foot for St. Catherine to kiss. St. Agnes was canonized AD 1726.

Let us pray...

O God who was ofttimes pleased to shed a heavenly dew over Thy Holy Virgin, Blessed Agnes, and to deck the places of her prayer with divers fresh blown flowers, mercifully grant that we, through her prayers, may be sprinkled with the unfailing dew of Thy blessing, and made fit to receive the fruits of immortality.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The incorrupt body of St. Agnes

Blessed Lucy of Narni

Very many of the greatest of God's saints are lifetime examples of the lesson from Job. No matter the humiliation, false witness or wrong doing against them, these great examples of God's children retain a love that only grows as carry their crosses without complaint.

Today's Dominican blessed is one of these heavenly creatures. Blessed Lucy was born in Narni on 13 November 1476. Even as a baby inthe cradle, there were signs that she was no ordinary child; both her nurses and mother were used to seeing baby Lucy visited daily by an unknown religious dressed in the Dominican habit, taking her from her cradle, embracing her tenderly, and gaving Lucy her blessing. (It was said the visitor's majestic appearance seemed something more than human.

As a very young child she foreshadowed her holy life and devotion by being drawn to pious objects. When she was only four years old, her mother's brother, Don Simon, came on avisit to his sister's house, and brought with him from Rome various toys and presents for the children. Lucy immediately choose a rosary and a small statue of the Infant Jesus; she called it "Christarello" and it was a cherished object of her devotion.

Even at that young age, she preferred solitude during her personal devotions. Another uncle had a room in his house where the ceiling was painted with a picture of angels. It was in this room she received her life changing vision when she was only seven years old. She had the vision of Jesus, Mary, St. Dominic, St. Catherine of Siena and many other saints. It was during this vision that Jesus espoused her to Himself and St. Dominic bestowed the scapular of the Dominicans. She wore this scapular under her regular clothes secretly until she was old enough to assume it publically.

After the time of her childhood vision, she was granted many holy graces including the gift of prophesy. Later she had stigmata.

Her parents died when she was young and she was in the care of one of her uncles who wanted to "marry her off." She did not want to break her vow of virginity or betrothal to Jesus. She received a vision from Mary, St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena instructing her to marry Count Pietro of Milan but to live as Mary and Joseph did. Thus, she married and maintained a large household. The house was managed like a religious community with Lucy dressing as one of the servants as she performed the household chores with them and became a benefactress of the poor. While it appears her husband was very caring and patient, four years into the marriage saw friction and Lucy received a vision with divine instructions to pursue the life of a religious.

She returned to her mother's house and took the habit of a Dominican tertiary. In trying to help, her uncles procurred her admission in the monastery of St. Catherine of Sienna at Rome. Although she tried to hide her stigmata and other spiritual favors from even the other sisters, her piety became well known; she stayed there only a year. The General of the Dominican Order, Father Joachim Turriano, chose her as the prioress on the foundation of a new convent at Viterbo though she was only twenty years old. The General only sent five other women for the new convent but great crowds applied for admission when it became known she was the prioress of the new convent. It was during this time there was a last meeting of Blessed Lucy and her husband Count Pietro. Pietro became a Franciscan Friar Minor and lived out his life as such, becoming known for his piety.

It is from this point that the life of Blessed Lucy becomes one of constant trial and lonely burden. The accounts vary in many of the details and circumstances. To shorten some of the long details, the following is a very general summary of events most agreed upon in various accounts.

Lucy was held in universal esteem for her sanctity, miracles and prophesy. After three years at Viterbo, she was called upon to found a convent in Narni. The founding of the convent had Duke Hercules of Ferrara as its founding benefactor. Because of her fame, the Duke pursuaded the pope to order Lucy to Rome to be the convent's perpetual prioress. Pope Alexander VI granted the new convent many singular priviledges and declared Lucy to have followed the footsteps of St. Catherine of Sienna in all things. Lucy had prayed to found a convent that would observe only strict observance and it appeared at first her prayers had been answered. In this convent, her own mother received the habit from her along with many other noble ladies of Ferrara.

The first of the great disasterous situations happened because of the transfer of Lucy from Vieterbo to Narni. Vieterbo loved have a mystic celebrity to call their own and did not want Lucy to leave. The rivalry between Vieterbo and Narni over the Lucy lasted for two years in the form of bloody and lethal battles. This was a great trial for her as she had to endure the grief of the violence and loss of life done in her name while having no say.

A second burden for Lucy was the failure of many of the women to adhere to the strict holy observance she wanted greatly desired for the convent. She would call out her companions on their evils and they would later show their spitefulness toward her for their own failings.

The third great burden for Blessed Lucy was the widespread fame and attention drawn by her mystical gifts. Crowds flocked the gate of her convent. She had the extreme favor of the Duke and the Pope. The Duke of Ferrara often showed her off like a prize and insisted she expose her mystical gifts, like the wounds of her stigmata, on demand like a circus performer. Humiliated by people the likes of the Duke and embarrassed by the popular applause and fame the world was giving her, she begged Jesus to remove her stigmata since it was the cause of all her unworthy veneration. Jesus removed the wounds on her hands and feet but the wound in her side remained her entire life because it was hidden from the view of others. When her stigmata was no longer visible, unworthy and vindictive sisters in the convent claimed she had been faking her gifts all along.

The combinaton of the visibility of her stigmata with the death of the Duke of Ferrara (who was misguided but at least protected her) gave the revengeful members of her community the opportunity to conspire against her. They publicly accused her of fraud claiming they saw her trying to create stigmata wounds with a knife. They were so convincing in their false accusations that they persuaded the heads of the Dominican Order and the Pope of their lies. They demanded she be removed as prioress and a new one installed. Pope Alexander removed all priviledges formelly granted her. The Dominican provincial would not let any member of the Order see her. She was degraded from her office of prioress, deprived of everyright and voice in the community, and placed below the youngest novice in the house. She was forbidden to speak to any one (in or out of the convent, religiuos or secular) except the confessor - her regular confessor was taken from her and her new one was appointed and prejudiced against her. She was kept in a strict imprisonment and treated as if she was the one of the worst of criminals. Even when she was very ill, which was often, she was ignored by her community and left to suffer alone. Nuns in the convent who had been professed at her hands made their professions over again to the new prioress, as if their vows formerly made to her had been invalid.

She lived in this exteme state of desolation for the rest of her life, thirty nine years!

She bore her heavy cross without a murmur. She alone lived the strict observance of her convent to be a silent witness of the wickedness of her companions. Her life was a long prayer for her persecutors, and we are assured that no sorrow or regret ever seemed to shadow the deep tranquillity of her soul! The Lord at least did not let her be without consolation as she was often visited by Jesus and His saints. Her last wishes were for the well being and forgiveness of the community that has so wrongly foresaken her.

"Truth suffers, but never dies"

The title of the post is just one of the myriad of quotes by the incredible St. Teresa of Avila who is truly one of Christ's greatest saints! Today is the Church's memorial of this extraordinary Church doctor, mystic, reformer, founder, virgin and poet!




Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He lookscompassion on this world
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.



"Be gentle to all and stern with yourself."



"It is love alone that gives worth to all things."



Prayer to Redeem Lost Time

O my God! Source of all mercy! I acknowledge Your sovereign power. While recalling the wasted years that are past, I believe that You, Lord, can in an instant turn this loss to gain. Miserable as I am, yet I firmly believe that You can do all things. Please restore to me the time lost, giving me Your grace, both now and in the future, that I may appear before You in "wedding garments. Amen.




"Untilled soil, however fertile it may be, will bear thistles and thorns; and so it is with man's mind."

Blessed Magdalen dei Panattieri

On this day which is her memorial, Blessed Magdalen dei Panattieri still serves as an excellent model in aspects of the vocations of Lay Dominicans today.

Bl. Magdalen became a tertiary before she 20. She tried to model her life after St. Catherine of Sienna; she had a special devotion to the Most Holy Name of Jesus. Her tertiary chapter was mainly elderly women and widows but she thrived in their apostolate.

She was harsh in her self-discipline and mortification. She fasted frequently. She feed the poor as guests in her own house, serving them herself; she fed herself from their leftovers. She would spend all morning in Eucharistic adoration and then go out to tend to the sick in her town.

In her preaching it is said she had a great gift of influencing others and a sweet voice that people never tired of hearing. Others noted that she was also unaware of another gift where she had great powers of description and could make the truths of religion clear to simple people. It is well recorded she had a great love for children. She was given a large room in a church to use as a classroom. Her preaching and lessons there even drew other religious and priests!

As is sadly the case with many summaries of the saints in our time, her mystic experiences are rarely, if ever, mentioned. One older source gives us some insight into her deep spirituality:

She was favored with frequent rapture and apparitions; on every
festival she was granted a vision of the mystery or of the Saint honored by the
Church on that day. This was particularly the case in Holy Week when she
was admitted to a mysterious and visible participation in the sufferings of her
Divine Spouse, and in Easter Week, when her countenance appeared radiant with
celestial light. (Short Lives of the Dominican Saints, London, 1901)

Prayer

O God, who forsakest no man that trusteth in Thee, and mercifully hearest him that meekly beseecheth Thee, grant, we pray Thee, that what we cannot obtain by our own meritis, we may received throught the patronage of They Blessed Virgin, Magdalen. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.