“Being
more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church
more firmly in holiness. . . . They do not cease to intercede
with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on
earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ
Jesus. . . . So by their fraternal concern is our weakness
greatly helped. . . .
“It is not merely by the title
of example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven; we seek, rather,
that by this devotion to the exercise of fraternal charity the union of the
whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened. Exactly as Christian communion
among our fellow pilgrims brings us closer to Christ, so our communion with
the saints joins us to Christ, from whom as from its fountain and head issues
all grace, and the life of the People of God itself.”
Catechism of the Catholic
Church, §§ 956–957
A sermon about
the veneration of saints, by St.
bernard
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Saints
Ann and Mary
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Saint
Francis, of course, even in his own church, would not have placed himself
first. And so this page begins with the new Eve, and her beginning.
“Joachim and Ann,
how chaste a couple! While safeguarding the chastity prescribed by the law
of nature, you achieved with God’s help something which transcends nature
in giving the world the Virgin Mother of God as your daughter. While leading
a devout and holy life in your human nature, you gave birth to a daughter
nobler than the angels, whose Queen she now is.”
From a sermon by Saint
John Damascene, bishop
(Office of Readings, July 26:
Joachim and Ann, Parents of Mary)
And so we pray:
O
Mary, conceived without sin,
pray for us who have recourse to thee! Amen.
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Our
Lady of the Immaculate Conception
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In
her purity, and to the wonderment of nature, Mary was called to bear her
own Creator.
In the sixth month,
the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the
virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored
one! The Lord is with you . . . ” (Luke
1:26–28).
Hail
Mary, full of grace!
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!
Holy Mary, mother of God,
pray for us sinners
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
“Let us love our loving
Father with all our heart. Let our obedience increase that love, above all
when it requires us to surrender our own will. . . . We will
learn this lesson more quickly through the Immaculate Virgin, whom God has
made the dispenser of his mercy. It is beyond all doubt that Mary’s
will represents to us the will of God himself. By dedicating ourselves to
her, we become in her hands instruments of God’s mercy even as she was
such an instrument in God’s hands. We should let ourselves be guided
and led by Mary and rest quiet and secure in her hands. She will watch out
for us, provide for us, answer our needs of body and spirit; she will dissolve
all our difficulties and worries.”
From the letters of
Maximilian Mary Kolbe (OFM Conv)
(Office of Readings, August 14:
Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest and Martyr)
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Our
Lady of the Miracle
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This image is temporarily at the National
Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi through the kindness of the Sisters of
the Perpetual Adoration, 771 Ashbury Street, San Francisco, CA, USA.
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Prayer to Our Lady of
the Miracle
Oración a la Santísima Virgen del
Milagro
Most Holy Lady, today I
place myself under Your motherly protection. I beg You, please protect me
from every evil, spiritual or temporal.
Since You are the Mother of Jesus and Spouse of the Holy Spirit, I beg You
to pray for me and obtain for me the particular favors I now request.
I offer You my heart, dear Mother. Grant that I may be of sincere and humble
service to Your Son, Jesus, and then come at last to the everlasting joy
of heaven.
+
Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are You among women,
and blessed is the fruit of Your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen!
The story of Our
Lady of the
Miracle
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Saint
Joseph and the Child Jesus
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Unto
you, O blessed Joseph, do we fly in our tribulation, and having implored
the help of your most holy Spouse, we confidently invoke your patronage also.
By that affection that unites you to the immaculate Virgin Mother of God
and by your fatherly love with which you embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly
beg you to graciously regard the inheritance which Jesus Christ has purchased
by his Blood, and with your power and labor to aid us in our
necessities.
O most watchful Guardian
of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ; O most loving
father, ward off from us every contagion of error and corrupting influence;
O our most mighty protector, be propitious to us and from heaven assist us
in our struggle with the power of darkness; and, as once you rescued the
Child Jesus from deadly peril, so now protect God’s Holy Church from
the snares of the enemy and from all adversity; shield, too, each one of
us by your constant protection, so that, supported by your example and your
aid, we may be able to live in holiness, to die piously, and to obtain
everlasting joy in heaven. Amen.
A Prayer to St. Joseph
Prescribed by
Quamquam
pluries
Pope Leo XIII |
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The
Pietà
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Simeon
blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be
contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts
of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:34–35).
We
thank You, for as through Your Son You created us, so through Your holy love
with which You loved us You brought about His birth as true God and true
man by the glorious, ever-virgin, most blessed, holy Mary, and You willed
to redeem us captives through His cross and blood and death.
Regula Non
Bullata
Saint Francis of Assisi
Acts
7:54–60
Stabat
Mater, in Latin and
English |
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Saint
Francis of Assisi
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Relics of Saints Francis and Clare
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Brother
Leo, if it were to please God that the Friars Minor should give, in all lands,
a great example of holiness and edification, write down, and note carefully,
that this would not be perfect joy. . . . if the Friars Minor
were to make the lame to walk, if they should make straight the crooked,
chase away demons, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to
the dumb, and, what is even a far greater work, if they should raise the
dead after four days, write that this would not be perfect
joy. . . . if the Friars Minor knew all languages; if they
were versed in all science; if they could explain all Scripture; if they
had the gift of prophecy, and could reveal, not only all future things, but
likewise the secrets of all consciences and all souls, write that this would
not be perfect joy. . . . if the Friars Minor could speak
with the tongues of angels; if they could explain the course of the stars;
if they knew the virtues of all plants; if all the treasures of the earth
were revealed to them; if they were acquainted with the various qualities
of all birds, of all fish, of all animals, of men, of trees, of stones, of
roots, and of waters—write that this would not be perfect joy.
. . . If, when we shall arrive at St. Mary of the Angels, all drenched
with rain and trembling with cold, all covered with mud and exhausted from
hunger; if, when we knock at the convent-gate, the porter . . .
refuse to open to us, and leave us outside, exposed to the snow and rain,
suffering from cold and hunger till nightfall—then, if we accept such
injustice, such cruelty and such contempt with patience, without being ruffled
and without murmuring . . . write down, O Brother Leo, that this
is perfect joy. And if . . . taking a knotted stick, he seize us
by the hood, throwing us on the ground, rolling us in the snow, and shall
beat and wound us with the knots in the stick—if we bear all these injuries
with patience and joy, thinking of the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which
we would share out of love for him, write, O Brother Leo, that here, finally,
is perfect joy.
And now, brother, listen to the conclusion. Above all the graces and all
the gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ grants to his friends, is the grace
of overcoming oneself, and accepting willingly, out of love for Christ, all
suffering, injury, discomfort and contempt; for in all other gifts of God
we cannot glory, seeing they proceed not from ourselves but from God, according
to the words of the Apostle, “What hast thou that thou hast not received
from God? and if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst
not received it?” But in the cross of tribulation and affliction we
may glory, because, as the Apostle says again, “I will not glory save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen.
The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi
Chapter VII
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Saint
Clare
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The Tavola of Saint Clare
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For
Christ is the splendor of eternal glory, the brightness of eternal light,
and the mirror without cloud.
Queen and bride of Jesus Christ, look into that mirror daily and study well
your reflection, that you may adorn yourself, mind and body, with an enveloping
garment of every virtue, and thus find yourself attired in flowers and gowns
befitting the daughter and most chaste bride of king on high. In this mirror
blessed poverty, holy humility, and ineffable love are also reflected. With
the grace of God the whole mirror will be your source of contemplation.
Behold, I say, the birth of this mirror. Behold Christ’s poverty even
as he was laid in the manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes. What wondrous
humility, what marvelous poverty! The King of angels, the Lord of heaven
and earth resting in a manger! Look more deeply into the mirror and meditate
on his humility, or simply on his poverty. Behold the many labors and sufferings
he endured to redeem the human race. Then, in the depths of this very mirror,
ponder his unspeakable love which caused him to suffer on the wood of the
cross and to endure the most shameful kind of death. The mirror himself,
from his position on the cross, warned passers-by to weigh carefully this
act, as he said: All of you who pass by this way, behold and see if there
is any sorrow like mine. Let us answer his cries and lamentations with
one voice and one spirit: I will be mindful and remember, and my soul
will be consumed within me.
From a letter to Blessed
Agnes of Prague by Saint Clare
(Office of Readings, August 11:
Clare, Virgin)
Details about
the Tavola of Saint
Clare
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Saint
Anthony of Padua
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The
man who is filled with the Holy Spirit speaks in different languages. These
different languages are different ways of witnessing to Christ, such as humility,
poverty, patience, and obedience; we speak in those languages when we reveal
in ourselves these virtues to others. Actions speak louder than words; let
your words teach, and your actions speak. We are full of words but empty
of actions, and therefore are cursed by the Lord, since he himself cursed
the fig tree when he found no fruit but only leaves. Gregory says, “A
law is laid upon the preacher to practice what he preaches.” It is useless
for a man to flaunt his knowledge of the law if he undermines its teaching
with his actions.
From a sermon by Saint
Anthony of Padua
(Office of Readings, June 13:
Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor)
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Saint
Thérèse of Lisieux
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Set
your desires on the greater gifts. And I will now show you the way which
surpasses all others. For the Apostle insists that the greater gifts
are nothing at all without love and that this same love is surely the best
path leading directly to God. At length I had found peace of
mind. . . . Then, nearly ecstatic with the supreme joy in
my soul, I proclaimed: O Jesus, my love, at last I have found my calling:
my call is love. Certainly I have found my proper place in the Church, and
you gave me that very place, my God. In the heart of the Church, my mother,
I will be love, and thus I will be all things, as my desire finds its
direction.
From the autobiography
of Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus
(Office of Readings, October 1:
Theresa of the Child Jesus, Virgin)
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Saint
Rita of Cascia
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Hymn to Saint Rita of
Cascia
Come, virgins chaste;
pure brides, draw near:
Let Earth exult and Heaven hear
The Hymn that grateful accents raise,
Our song of joy in Rita’s praise.
By fast her sinless frame is weak;
Her livid flesh the scourges streak.
In pity for her Savior’s woes,
Her days and even nights are closed.
The thorn-wound on her brow is shown,
The crimson rose in winter blown,
And full-ripe figs on frozen tree
At Rita’s wish the wonders see.
The widowed spouse and wedded wife
The way to heaven see in her life;
The way secure our Rita trod,
In life’s dim day, through pain, O God.
Praise to the Father and the Son,
Praise to the Spirit, Three in One;
O grant us grace in heaven to reign
Through Rita’s prayer and life-long pain.
Thou hast signed thy servant Rita
With the sign of thy Love and Passion.
O God! who didst deign to confer on St. Rita for imitating Thee in love of
her enemies, the favor of bearing her heart and brow the marks of Thy Love
and Passion, grant we beseech Thee, that through her intercession and merit,
we may, pierced by the thorns of compunction, ever contemplate the sufferings
of Thy Passion, who livest and reignest forever and ever. Amen.
This is the translation
of the hymn of Lauds, office of Saint Rita, approved by Decree of S.C.R.
24 November 1900.
How to pray
the Chaplet of Saint
Rita
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All photographs on this
page (except statue of Saint Clare) Copyright © 2002 by Paul
Flores
Used with permission.
Museum quality prints are available from the photographer.
Post cards of many images on this page are available in the Shrine’s
Franciscan Centre Gift Shop.
E-mail:
paulflores@stjoephoto.com
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