St. Philip, who was a native of Bethsaida in Galilee, was called by our LORD to follow Him the day after Sts. Peter and Andrew left their homes to follow Christ.
Tradition tells us that St. Philip was a married man with several daugthers. Like the other Apostles, St. Philip left all things to follow Christ. His name is mentioned frequently in the Holy Gospels.

After the Ascension of Our LORD Jesus, St. Philip preached the Gospel in Phrygia, whish was then a province of the Roman Empire.
It is believed that he was burned at the stake at Hierapolis in Phrygia.

LORD God, we enjoy celebrating the annual feast of Your Apostle St. Philip. Through his prayers let us share in the Passion and Resurrection of Your Son and help us merit Your eternal presence.
Amen.

In 319, he became a deacon, and even in this capacity he was called upon to take an active part against the rising heresy of Arius, a priest of the Alexandrian Church who denied the Divinity of Christ. This was to be the life struggle of St. Athanasius.

In 325, he assisted his Bishop at the Council of Nicaea, where his influence began to be felt. Five months later Alexander died. On his death bed he recommended St. Athanasiua as his successor. In consequence of this, Athanasius was unanimously elected Patriarch in 326.

His refusal to tolerate the Arian heresy was the cause of many trials and persecutions for St. Athanasius. He spent seventeen of the forty-six years of his episcopate in exile. After a life of virtue and suffering, this intrepid champion of the Catholic Faith, the greatest man of his time, died in peace on May 2, 373. Because her his both a Bishop and a doctor of the church, St. Athanasius is often depicted holding a scroll.

Father, You gave us St. Athanasius, Your Bishop, to defend the Divinity of Your Son. Grant that we may enjoy his teachinh and protection and grow continually in our knowledge and love of You.
Amen.

The Middle Ages were drawing to a close and the brave new world of the Renaissance was springing to life when Catherine Benincasa was born. The place was Siena, and the day was the feast of the Annunciation, 1347. Catherine and a twin sister who did not long survive were the youngest of twenty-five children. The father, Giacomo or Jacopo Benincasa, a prosperous wool dyer, lived with his wife Lapa and their family, sometimes comprising married couples and grandchildren, in a spacious house which the Sienese have preserved to the present day. As a child Catherine was so merry that the family gave her the pet name of Euphrosyne, which is Greek for Joy and also the name of an early Christian saint. At the age of six she had the remarkable experience which may be said to have determined her vocation. With her brother she was on the way home from a visit to a married sister, when suddenly she stopped still in the road, gazing up into the sky. She did not hear the repeated calls of the boy, who had walked on ahead. Only after he had gone back and seized her by the hand did she wake as from a dream. She burst into tears. Her vision of Christ seated in glory with the Apostles Peter, Paul, and John had faded. A year later the little girl made a secret vow to give her whole life to God. She loved prayer and solitude, and when she mingled with other children it was to teach them to do what gave her so much happiness.

When Catherine was twelve, her mother, with marriage in mind, began to urge her to pay more attention to her appearance. To please her mother and sister, she dressed in the bright gowns and jewels that were fashionable for young girls. Soon she repented of this vanity, and declared with finality that she would never marry. When her parents persisted in their talk about finding her a husband, she cut off the golden-brown hair that was her chief beauty As punishment, she was now made to do menial work in the household, and the family, knowing she craved solitude, never allowed her to be alone. Catherine bore all this with sweetness and patience Long afterwards, in <The Dialogue>, she wrote that God had shown her how to build in her soul a private cell where no tribulation could enter.

Catherine’s father at last came to the realization that further pressure was useless, and his daughter was permitted to do as she pleased. In the small, dimly-lighted room now set apart for her use, a cell nine feet by three, she gave herself up to prayers and fasting; she scourged herself three times daily with an iron chain, and slept on a board. At first she wore a hair shirt, subsequently replacing it by an iron-spiked girdle. Soon she obtained what she ardently desired, permission to assume the black habit of a Dominican tertiary, which was customarily granted only to matrons or widows. She now increased her asceticism, eating and sleeping very little. For three years she spoke only to her confessor and never went out except to the neighboring church of St. Dominic, where the pillar against which she used to lean is still pointed out to visitors.

At times now she was enraptured by celestial visions, but often too she was subjected to severe trials. Loathsome forms and enticing figures would present themselves to her imagination, and the most degrading temptations assailed her. There would be long intervals during which she felt abandoned by God. “O Lord, where wert Thou when my heart was so sorely vexed with foul and hateful temptations?” she asked, when after such a time of agonizing He had once more manifested Himself. She heard a voice saying, “Daughter, I was in thy heart, fortifying thee by grace,” and the voice then said that God would now be with her more openly, for the period of probation was nearing an end.

On Shrove Tuesday, 1366, while the citizens of Siena were keeping carnival, and Catherine was praying in her room, a vision of Christ appeared, accompanied by His mother and the heavenly host. Taking the girl’s hand, Our Lady held it up to Christ, who placed a ring upon it and espoused her to Himself, bidding her to be of good courage, for now she was armed with a faith that could overcome all temptations. To Catherine the ring was always visible, though invisible to others. The years of solitude and preparation were ended and soon afterwards she began to mix with her fellow men and learn to serve them. Like other Dominican tertiaries, she volunteered to nurse the sick in the city hospitals, choosing those afflicted with loathsome diseases—cases from which others were apt to shrink.

There gathered around this strong personality a band of earnest associates. Prominent among them were her two Dominican confessors, Thomas della Fonte and Bartholomew Dominici, the Augustinian Father Tantucci, Matthew Cenni, rector of the Misericordia Hospital, the artist Vanni, to whom we are indebted for a famous portrait of Catherine, the poet Neri di Landoccio dei Pagliaresi, her own sister-in-law Lisa, a noble young widow, Alessia Saracini, and William Flete, the English hermit. Father Santi, an aged hermit, abandoned his solitude to be near her, because, he said, he found greater peace of mind and progress in virtue by following her than he ever found in his cell. A warm affection bound her to these whom she called her spiritual family, children given her by God that she might help them along the way to perfection. She read their thoughts and frequently knew their temptations when they were away from her. Many of her early letters were written to one or another of them. At this time public opinion about Catherine was divided; many Sienese revered her as a saint, while others called her a fanatic or denounced her as a hypocrite. Perhaps as a result of charges made against her, she was summoned to Florence to appear before the general chapter of the Dominicans. Whatever the charges were, they were completely disproved, and shortly afterwards the new lector for the order in Siena, Raymund de Capua, was appointed her confessor. In this happy association, Father Raymund was in many things of the spirit her disciple. Later he became the saint’s biographer.

After Catherine’s return to Siena there was a terrible outbreak of the plague, during which she and her circle worked incessantly to relieve the sufferers. “Never did she appear more admirable than at this time,” wrote a priest who had known her from girlhood. “She was always with the plague-stricken; she prepared them for death and buried them with her own hands. I myself witnessed the joy with which she nursed them and the wonderful efficacy of her words, which brought about many conversions.” Among those who owed their recovery directly to her were Raymund of Capua himself, Matthew Cenni, Father Santi, and Father Bartholomew, all of whom contracted the disease through tending others. Her pity for dying men was not confined to those who were sick. She made it a practice to visit condemned persons in prison, hoping to persuade them to make their peace with God. On one occasion she walked to the scaffold with a young Perugian knight, sentenced to death for using seditious language against the government of Siena. His last words were: “Jesus and Catherine! ”

Her deeds of mercy, coupled with a growing reputation as a worker of miracles, now caused the Sienese to turn to Catherine in all kinds of difficulties. Three Dominican priests were especially deputed to hear the confessions of those whom she had prevailed on to amend their lives. In settling disputes and healing old feuds she was so successful that she was constantly called upon to arbitrate at a time when all through Italy every man’s hand seemed to be against his neighbor. It was partly, perhaps, with a view to turning the energies of Christendom away from civil wars that Catherine threw herself into Pope Gregory’s campaign for another crusade to wrest the Holy Sepulchre from the Turks. This brought her into correspondence with Gregory himself.

In February, 1375, she accepted an invitation to visit Pisa, where she was welcomed with enthusiasm. She had been there only a few days when she had another of the spiritual experiences which seem to have presaged each new step in her career. She had made her Communion in the little church of St. Christina, and had been gazing at the crucifix, when suddenly there descended from it five blood-red rays which pierced her hands, feet and heart, causing such acute pain that she swooned. The wounds remained as stigmata, visible to herself alone during her life, but clearly to be seen after her death.

She was still in Pisa when she received word that the people of Florence and Perugia had entered into a league against the Holy See and the French legates. The disturbance had begun in Florence, where the Guelphs and the Ghibellines[1] united to raise a large army under the banner of freedom from the Pope’s control, and Bologna, Viterbo, and Ancona, together with other strongholds in the papal domain, rallied to the insurgents. Through Catherine’s untiring efforts, the cities of Lucca, Pisa, and Siena held back. From Avignon, meanwhile, after an unsuccessful appeal to the Florentines, the Pope, Gregory XI, sent Cardinal Robert of Geneva with an army to put down the uprising, and laid Florence under an interdict. The effects of the ban on the life and prosperity of the city were so serious that its rulers sent to Siena, to ask Catherine to mediate with the Pope. Always ready to act as a peacemaker, she promptly set out for Florence. The city’s magistrates met her as she drew near the gates, and placed the negotiations entirely in her hands, saying that their ambassadors would follow her to Avignon and confirm whatever she did there. Catherine arrived in Avignon on June 18, 1376, and was graciously received by the Pope. “I desire nothing but peace,” he said; “I place the affair entirely in your hands, only I recommend to you the honor of the Church.” As it happened, the Florentines proved untrustworthy and continued their intrigues to draw the rest of Italy away from allegiance to the Holy See. When their ambassadors arrived, they disclaimed all connection with Catherine, making it clear by their demands that they did not desire a reconciliation.

Although she had failed in this matter, her efforts in another direction were successful. Many of the troubles which then afflicted Europe were, to some degree at least, due to the seventy-four-year residence of the popes at Avignon, where the Curia[2] was now largely French. Gregory had been ready to go back to Rome with his court, but the opposition of the French cardinals had deterred him. Since in her letters Catherine had urged his return so strongly, it was natural that they should discuss the subject now that they were face to face. “Fulfill what you have promised,” she said, reminding him of a vow he had once taken and had never disclosed to any human being. Greatly impressed by what he regarded as a supernatural sign, Gregory resolved to act upon it at once.

On September 13, 1376, he set out from Avignon to travel by water to Rome, while Catherine and her friends left the city on the same day to return overland to Siena. On reaching Genoa she was detained by the illness of two of her secretaries, Neri di Landoccio and Stephen Maconi. The latter was a young Sienese nobleman, recently converted, who had become an ardent follower. When Catherine got back to Siena, she kept on writing the Pope, entreating him to labor for peace. At his request she went again to Florence, still rent by factions, and stayed there for some time, frequently in danger of her life. She did finally establish peace between the city governors and the papacy, but this was in the reign of Gregory’s successor.

After Catherine returned to Siena, Raymund of Capua tells us, “she occupied herself actively in the composition of a book which she dictated under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.” This was the mystical work, in four treatises, called <The Dialogue of St. Catherine>.[3] Her health was now so impaired by austerities that she was never free from pain; yet her thin face was usually smiling. She was grieved by any sort of scandal in the Church, especially that of the Great Schism[4] which followed the death of Gregory XI. Urban VI was elected as his successor by the cardinals of Rome and Clement VII by the rebellious cardinals of Avignon. Western Christendom was divided; Clement was recognized by France, Spain, Scotland, and Naples; Urban by most of North Italy, England, Flanders, and Hungary. Catherine wore herself out trying to heal this terrible breach in Christian unity and to obtain for Urban the obedience due to the legitimate head. Letter after letter was dispatched to the princes and leaders of Europe. To Urban himself she wrote to warn him to control his harsh and arrogant temper. This was the second pope she had counseled, chided, even commanded. Far from resenting reproof, Urban summoned her to Rome that he might profit by her advice. Reluctantly she left Siena to live in the Holy City. She had achieved a remarkable position for a woman of her time. On various occasions at Siena, Avignon, and Genoa, learned theologians had questioned her and had been humbled by the wisdom of her replies.

Although Catherine was only thirty-three, her life was now nearing its close. On April 21, 1380, a paralytic stroke made her helpless from the waist downwards, and eight days later she passed away in the arms of her cherished friend, Alessia Saracini. The Dominicans at Rome still treasure the body of Catherine in the Minerva Church, but Siena has her head enshrined in St. Dominic’s Church. Pope Pius II canonized Catherine in 1461. The saint’s talents as a writer caused her to be compared with her countrymen, Dante and Petrarch. Among her literary remains are the <Dialogue> and some four hundred letters, many of them of great literary beauty, and showing warmth, insight, and aspiration. One of the important women of Europe, Catherine’s gifts of heart and mind were used in the furtherance of the Christian ideal.

God, You caused St. Catherine to shine with divine love in the contempation of the LORD’s Passion and in the service of Your church. By her help, grant that Your people, associated in the mystery of Christ, may ever exult in the revelation of His glory.
Amen.

At the age of twleve, Zita entered domestic service in the house of a well-to-do weaver in Lucca, Italy, eight miles from her native village of Monte Sagrati. As things turned out, she remained with that family for the last 48 years of her life. She found time every day to attend Mass and recite her plentiful prayers, as well as to carry out her household duties so punctiliously that she earned the resentment of the other servants.

At first, her employers were upset by her lavish gifts of food to the poor, but in time they were completly won over by her patience and goodness, and she became a confidential family friend.
St. Zita was given free reign over her working schedule and busied herself with visits to the sick and those in prison.

Word spread rapidly in Lucca of her good deeds and the supernatural manifestations that appeared top her. She was sought out by the prominent and at her death in 1278 the people acclaimed her as a saint.

LORD God, You showered heavenly gifts on St. Zita the Virgin. Help us to imitate her virtues during our earthly life and enjoy eternal happiness with her in heaven.
Amen.

Even though this Saint is known in virtully every catholic household, not much is known about him.

Among the greeks, St. George is known as “the Great Martyr”, and his feast day is a holy day of obligation. His intercession was said to be implored in battles, as he is said to have been a soldier.

St. George is generally represnted engaged in battle with a dragon. He died about the year 303.

LORD, we acclaim Your might and humbly pray. Just as St. George imitated the LORD’s Passion, so let him now come to the aid of our weakness.
Amen.

These two young men, living in Lyons, became friends through the love of God they shared. Alexander was Grecian by birth. Both young men studied together in the same school, and encouraged each other in their acts of spirituality. Neither married, deciding to live their lives devoted to God. It was during this time, in the prime of their lives, that the persecution of Christians began under reign of Marcus Aurelius.

They were aware of the Savior’s words that when the tribulations come to flee to the hills, so they endeavored to hide themselves. Leaving the city, they went to a neighboring town where, for a time, a Christian widow gave them shelter. However, knowing their persecutors were pursuing them, they fled from her house to seek another place to hide. While fleeing, one of the young men lost his shoe which was picked up by a Christian woman who kept it. But they were soon captured and imprisoned. Three days later they were brought before the governor’s tribunal with their hands bound behind their backs. When they professed their Christian faith, there was a great outcry from the people. The judge then announced, “What purpose have all the preceding tortures and executions served, if there still remain any who dare profess the name of Christ?” He then separated the two friends.

He called Epipodius, the younger of the two and the one he felt was the weakest, to be brought alone before him. Pretending to be compassionate and understanding, he proceeded to try to get the young man to deny his faith, but Epipodius did not waiver in his resolve. Instead he answered that he could not be fooled by the judge’s pretended and cruel compassion. “Are you so ignorant as not to know that man is composed of two substances, a soul and a body? With us the soul commands, and the body obeys. The abominations you are guilty of in honor of your pretended deities, afford pleasure to the body, but kill the soul. We are engaged in a war against the body for the advantage of the soul. You, after having defiled yourselves with pleasures like brute beasts, find nothing at last but a sorrowful death; whereas we, when you destroy us, enter into eternal life.” Upon hearing these words, the judge had Epipodius struck in the mouth causing him to lose teeth. But through bleeding lips he continued to proclaim his faith saying, “I confess that Jesus Christ is God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is but reasonable that I should resign my soul to Him who has created me and redeemed me. This is not losing my life, but changing it into a better.”

While he was still speaking, the judge ordered him to be stretched on the rack and his sides to be torn with iron hooks. The people watching were so enraged at his tranquility, that they pleaded for him to be handed over to them to crush him to death or tear him to pieces. The crowd became so frenzied, that the judge feared for his own life so he gave orders for the head of Epipodius to be immediately lopped off, which was done.

After two days, the judge had Alexander brought to the bar. He proceeded to tell him what had happened to his friend and others like him in hopes of frightening him into compliance. Instead, Alexander thanked the Lord for giving him the courageous examples of his friend and other Christians and then expressed to the judge his own desire to be put to death as well. The judge, truly enraged now, had the young man’s legs stretched as far apart as possible and then ordered him beaten by three executioners. This torture went on for quite a while but Alexander never uttered a word of complaint. He was then asked again if he still wanted to persist in his profession of Christianity to which he replied, “I do.”

The judge ordered Alexander to be crucified. He was already so horribly beaten that his entrails visible through his uncovered ribs and so as soon as he was nailed to the cross, he expired.

Today’s Prayer:

May the prayer of Sts. Epipodius and Alexander make us pleasing to You, LORD and strengthen us in professinr Your truth. Amen.

St. Anselm was born of noble parentage in Piedmont about the year 1033. At the age of 27, St. Anselm adopted the monastic state in the monastery of Bec, studied under Lanfranc, was made Prior in 1063, and Abbot in 1078.
In the year 1093, St. Anslem succeeded his old master, Lanfranc, as Archbishop of Canterbury. His resistance to the unjust measures of King William Rufus drew upon him the anger of that monarch.

In the years 1097-98, he made a voyage to Rome, and spent some time in a monastery of Calabria, where he composeda work on the Incarnation. In the same year he assisted at the Council of Bari, and by his prayers prevented the Pope from excommunicating the King of England.

St. Anselm continued traveling, not returning to his See until the death of King Rufus in 1100.
He returned peacefully to our LORD in the year 1109.

LORD God, You endowed St. Anselm with heavenly doctrine. Through his help, may we faithfully keep that teaching and profess it in our daily condect.
Amen.

During an expedition against the Grand Duchy of Kiev, St. Stanislaus became involved in the political situation of Poland. Known for his outspokenness, he aimed his attacks at the evils of the peasantry and the king, especially the unjust wars and immoral acts of King Boleslaus II.

The king first excused himself, then made a show of penance, then relapsed into his old ways. St. Stanislaus continued his open opposition in spite of charges of treason and threats of death, excommunicated the king in the year 1709. This decision cost the Saint his life.
When he learned of his excommunication, the king, enraged, ordered soldiers to kill the bishop. When they refused, the king killed him with his own hands.

God, for your honor the holy Bishop Stanislaus fell before the swords of his persecutors. Grant that we may be strong in the Faith and persevere until death.
Amen.

At this time, free from her illness, she sought to fufill her life-long wish of pursuing her religious vocation with the Passionist nuns, but her application was rejected.

From 1899 on, ths quiet un unexcitable girl who was endowed with a remarkably fervernt religious disposition underwent many extraordinary religious experiences — all of which were carefully investigated by her confessor and spiritual director, Father Germano.
Over the next eighteen months, St. Gemma was blessed with the stigmata. The marks appeared off and on her hands on feet, and she had frequent visions.

In the year 1902, she was again stricken with an illness, which she assumed to be tuberculocic, and she died peacefully in the night, on April 11th, 1903.

She was beatified by Pope Piux XI on March 14th, 1933, and canonized by Pius XII on Ascension Day, 1940.

God, You showeredheavenly gifts on St. Gemma. Help us to imitate her virtuues during our earthly life and enjoy ebternal happiness with her in heaven.
Amen.

 

PS – Happy Easter!

Born between 952 and 962 in Italy, probably at Rome.
He was of humble parentage and received his education at the school of Reims, where he had as teacher the famous Gerbert who in 999 ascended the papal throne as Sylvester II.
In 990 Fulbert opened a school at Chartres which soon became the most famous seat of learning in France and drew scholars not only from the remotest parts of France, but also from Italy, Germany, and England. Fulbert was also chancellor of the church of Chartres and treasurer of St. Hilary’s at Poitiers. So highly was he esteemed as a teacher that his pupils were wont to style him “venerable Socrates”. He was a strong opponent of the rationalistic tendencies which had infected some dialecticians of his times, and often warned his pupils against such as extol their dialectics above the teachings of the Church and the testimony of the Bible. Still it was one of Fulbert’s pupils, Berengarius of Tours, who went farthest in subjecting faith to reason. In 1007 Fulbert succeeded the deceased Rudolph as Bishop of Chartres and was consecrated by his metropolitan, Archbishop Leutheric of Sens. He owed the episcopal dignity chiefly to the influence of King Robert of France, who had been his fellow student at Reims. As bishop he continued to teach in his school and also retained the treasurership of St. Hilary.

When, about 1020, the cathedral of Chartres burned down, Fulbert at once began to rebuild it in greater splendour. In this undertaking he was financially assisted by King Canute of England, Duke William of Aquitaine, and other European sovereigns. Though Fulbert was neither abbot nor monk, as has been wrongly asserted by some historians, still he stood in friendly relation with Odilo of Cluny, Richard of St. Vannes, Abbo of Fleury, and other monastic celebrities of his times. He advocated a reform of the clergy, severely rebuked those bishops who spent much of their time in warlike expeditions, and inveighed against the practice of granting ecclesiastical benefices to laymen.
He  died April, 10 1029.