Show Notes:
Notable June Saints:
- 1 July: St. Junípero Serra
- 3 July: St. Thomas the Apostle
- 4 July: St. Pier Giorgio Frassati
- 6 July: St. Maria Goretti
- 10 July: Blessed Pacificus
- 11 July: St. Benedict of Nursia
- 12 July: St. John Gualberto
- 14 July: St. Camillus de Lellis
- 15 July: St. Bonaventure
- 17 July: St. Hedwig, Queen of Poland
- 22 July: St. Mary Magdalen
- 23 July: St. Bridget of Sweden
- 25 July: St. James the Greater
- 26 July: Sts. Anne & Joachim
- 28 July: Blessed Stanley Francis Rother
- 29 July: Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus of Bethany
- 30 July: St. Peter Chrysologus
- 31 July: St. Ignatius of Loyola
Conversatio Sancta:
- 23 July: St. Bridget of Sweden
- Foundress of the Bridgettines (official name: Order of the Most Holy Savior)
- Monastic order that follows the Augustinian Rule
- Born in 1302, daughter of a Swedish governor
- Started having mystical visions by the age of 7.
- Bridgettine convent & retreat center in downtown Columbus… also… Motherhouse and guest house in Rome is a great place to stay while on pilgrimage
- 24 July: St. Christina the Astonishing
- Born in 1150 near Liége, Belgium; orphanaed as a teen
- About 21 had a seizure and died
- At her funeral she woke up and levitated to the ceiling of the church and that’s where things got… astonishing
- Said that she did die, but was given a tour of Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven; given the opportunity to return as a victim soul
- Lived homeless and poor, avoided people
- Could smell the stench of sin on people
- Took on extreme penances for the Holy Souls
- Would roll around in fire
- Jumped into boiling cauldrons
- Provoked dogs to attack her
- Ran into thickets of thorns
- Hung herself next to condemned criminals
- Allowed herself to be pummeled by water wheels of grain mills
- Threw herself into freezing rivers for hours or days on end
- Died at 74 years old
- Witnessed by a cardinal, other contemporaries who were saints (such as St. Lutgardis), and stories were verified by St. Albert the Great shortly after her death.
- Consider: St. Christina the Astonishing’s experience gave her a deep devotion to the Holy Souls. What devotion do you have? How can you imitate her in prayer and penance?
- 11 July: St. Benedict of Nursia
- Born in 480; twin sister Scholastica
- Well educated, disliked being around other people (especially Romans)
- left everything and went to the woods to live as a hermit
- A nearby monk brought him food, sought spiritual advice
- After 3 years he was asked by monks to be their abbot
- “You won’t like my rule”
- Monks tried to kill him… twice.
- Bilocated, made food appear out of nowhere, brought a dead boy back to life
- St. Benedict medal
- Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti
Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux
Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux
Vade Retro Satana!
Nunquam Suade Mihi Vana
Sunt Mala Quae Libas
Ipse Venena Bibas
- The Cross of Holy Father Benedict
May the Holy Cross Be My Light
Let Not the Dragon Be My Guide
Get Behind Me Satan!
Do not let me be tempted by vanity.
The cup you offer me is evil.
Drink the poison yourself!
- Ora Et Labora
- “Pray & Work” planner
- Consider: Do you have a rhythm of “prayer and work”?
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- 27 July: St. Titus Brandsma
- Dutch Carmelite priest, professor, spiritual director, and rector of the Catholic University of Nijmegen
- 1935, appointed spiritual director of the 30 Catholic Newspapers in Holland
- sent to the concentration camps for being a troublemaker. Which meant speaking out against the Nazis.
- “The Nazi movement is a black lie. It is pagan…. A sewer of falsehood.”
- Followed by the Gestapo
- Hand-delivered a letter from the bishops to all the Catholic newspapers in Holland:
- “We have reached our limit. We cannot serve them. It will be our duty to refuse.”
- Gestapo arrested him at his monastery on January 19, 1942. His interrogation began with the question: “Why have you disobeyed regulations?” Fr. Titus replied, “As a Catholic, I could have done nothing differently.” The interrogating officer continued, “You are a saboteur. Your church is trying to sabotage the orders of the occupying powers, to prevent the national socialistic philosophy of life from reaching the Dutch population.” Fr. Titus simply stated, “We must object to anything or any philosophy that is not in line with Catholic doctrine.”
- Overworked and daily beaten, given meager amounts of food. His kidneys were failing, he had infected sores on his feet, and other prisoners often had to help him walk.
- Forbidden from saying Mass, hearing confessions, or providing spiritual counseling, but he secretly heard confessions.
- Despite this, Fr. Titus remained serene and encouraged the other prisoners to pray for the people who so mistreated them.
- “They too are children of the kind God, and who knows if something won’t stick to them?”
- “Do not yield to hatred. Be patient. We are here in a dark tunnel but we have to go on. At the end, the eternal light is shining for us.”
- When he was no longer able to work used for medical experimentation. Didn’t offer any resistance.
- The nurse who tended to him was raised Catholic but embraced atheistic Naziism, said she was uneasy around him because he kept saying that he was praying for her.
- Just before she gave him the injection of carbolic acid that sent him to his eternal reward, he gave her his Rosary, insisting that she could still be saved, that she should pray to Mary as just say, “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”
- At the tribunal for the cause for his canonization, the nurse testified, saying that she credited his prayers for her after his death for her return to Catholicism.
- From his diary:
- On Thursday morning, January 29, it was the feast day of St. Francis de Sales, gentle patron saint of journalists. I had cleaned my pipe and had lighted it for my morning walk when a German soldier entered with a new order. I had to hand over tobacco and cigars, pipe and matches. I was not allowed to smoke any more. Luckily I happened to think of the mild Francis de Sales, otherwise, I might have said something unkind. I emptied my pipe and gave it up. The soldier said in pity that it was not his fault. I understood. To comfort me, he said that I could keep the other things—books, paper, and so on—which is very fortunate. They will profit me more, though I miss my pipe and cigar. I deleted “smoking” from the daily timetable and the day went on.
- Consider: “Those who want to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come into conflict with it.” When you hear the word “conflict” it immediately conjures up images or feelings of what? Fighting. Right? But how did St. Titus Brandsma come into conflict with the world? By boldly loving. By gently speaking the truth. By living what St. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” In his meekness and humility, St. Titus Brandsma endured every evil, and in the end he won the soul of the nurse who took his life. Christ’s power was made perfect in St. Titus’ weakness.
