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Prayer for Inclusion
Creator God, we are your people. We look to the future with optimism and with faith in You, as we pursue our call to provide justice and fullness of life for all people with disabilities.
We pray that every man, woman and child may develop their potential and meet You in themselves and in one another.
May we enjoy a totally welcoming community, with You as our center, joined hand in hand with our sisters and brothers. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen
Creator God, we are your people. We look to the future with optimism and with faith in You, as we pursue our call to provide justice and fullness of life for all people with disabilities.
We pray that every man, woman and child may develop their potential and meet You in themselves and in one another.
May we enjoy a totally welcoming community, with You as our center, joined hand in hand with our sisters and brothers. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen
THE SAINTS
Click on the image to learn about the Saint.
Saint André Bessette
Patron of the sick, the afflicted, the poor of all kinds, those who are handicapped, and those who are wounded by life.
Feast Day - January 6 
Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen
Patron of Those About to Die by Euthanasia
Feast Day - March 22 |
St. Francis de Sales
Bishop and Doctor of the Church Patron of Persons who are Deaf and Persons who are Hard of Hearing.
Feast Day: January 24 
Blessed Margaret of Castello, Virgin
Patroness of Persons with Developmental Disabilities, of the Unwanted, of the Disfigured, and of those about to die by abortion.
Feast Day - April 13 |
St. Joseph,
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Saint André Bessette
(Patron of the sick, the afflicted, the poor of all kinds, those who are handicapped, and those who are wounded by life.)
Feast Day - January 6 Alfred Bessette (1845 – 1937) was born near Montreal, Canada. Although illiterate, he entered the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1870 and was given the name Brother André. His first assignment, which was to last him 40 years, was as the doorman (porter) of the community’s Notre Dame College in Montreal. Brother André developed a deep devotion to St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus and the patron saint of the Brothers of Holy Cross.
As people came to the school, burdened by their own struggles and suffering, Brother André directed them to pray to St. Joseph. When an epidemic broke out at a nearby college, André volunteered to nurse. Not one person died. The trickle of sick people to his door became a flood. His superiors were uneasy; diocesan authorities were suspicious; doctors called him a quack. “I do not cure,” he said again and again. “St. Joseph cures.” In the end he needed four secretaries to handle the 80,000 letters he received each year. Through Brother André’s healing touch, thousands of people were cured and he became known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal.” One of his greatest material contributions during his lifetime was the building of St. Joseph’s Oratory.
Brother André Bessette’s hope for a substantial shrine to Saint Joseph, located on Mount Royal above the city of Montreal, stimulated large and small donations from many of the people whose lives had been touched by the holy man.
The Congregation of Holy Cross already owned the very property that would be suitable. Construction began in 1914. A crypt church seating 1,000 was completed in 1917. By 1931 there were gleaming walls, but money ran out. “Put a statue of St. Joseph in the middle. If he wants a roof over his head, he’ll get it.” The magnificent Oratory on Mount Royal took 50 years to build, and Brother André died in 1937 without seeing that completion.
Brother André Bessette, C.S.C. was entombed at the Oratory, and, with his body lying in state, more than a million people climbed the slope of Mount Royal to honor him. Today, the Oratory is a world-famous pilgrimage destination, attracting more than 2 million visitors a year. Those visitors have included Pope John Paul II. It is the world’s largest shrine dedicated to Saint Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.
Saint Bessette’s incorrupt body is still at the Oratory of St. Joseph. Recognizing the saintly life of this humble man, Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1982. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI, on October 17, 2010.
Quotes of Saint Andre: "It is St. Joseph who cures. I am only his little dog."
"God chose the most ignorant one. If there was anyone more ignorant than I am, God would have chosen him instead of me."
"It is surprising that I am frequently asked for cures, but rarely for humility and the spirit of faith. Yet, they are so important...."
"If the soul is sick, one must begin by treating the soul. Do you have faith?
Do you believe that God can do something for you?
Go confess yourself to the priest...then go to communion..."
"God is love and he loves us; that is the heart of the Christian faith.”
“Practice charity with your neighbor—and this doesn’t mean only to give money to the poor. There are many ways to practice charity. We could, for example, keep ourselves from examining our neighbor’s conscience.”
Thanks to the Congregation of Holy Cross for the basis of this narrative.
St. Francis de Sales,
Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Patron of Persons who are Deaf and Persons who are Hard of Hearing)
Feast Day: January 24 Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622) was a key figure in the Counter Reformation in France. He was a member of an aristocratic family of Savoy and was trained for the law, but he entered (1593) the priesthood against his father's wishes. His first years in the priesthood were spent in the district of Chablais preaching to its Protestant inhabitants. Credited with many conversions, he was made coadjutor bishop of Geneva in 1599 and bishop in 1602; he resided at Annecy in nearby Savoy. His fame as a preacher spread abroad, and from 1600 until his death he delivered Lent and Advent sermons in many of the great cities of France. In his diocese he set up schools and paid special attention to the poorer parishes. Francis is credited with bringing some 40,000 Protestants back to the Roman Catholic Faith following his motto, “He who preaches with love, preaches effectively.”
In 1605, an indigent young man named Martin, a deaf and mute from birth, came almost daily to a house in Roche, France, where Bishop de Sales was staying, to ask for alms. He was a strong young man fit for all kinds of work, and the Bishop’s housekeeper often allowed him to help her in payment for the Bishop’s generosity. One day a servant introduced Martin to the Bishop.
As a result of his handicap, Martin, who was about 25 years old, had never received any kind of education – or instruction in the Catholic faith. (It was presumed by all of the educated people of that age (the 17th century) that a deaf-mute was a mentally handicapped person and that trying to educate or trying to communicate religious truths to such a person would be a waste of time.)
At the time of their meeting, St Francis de Sales was visibly disturbed and touched with pity for the unfortunate Martin. St Francis realized that the poor man would remain forever ignorant of God and the rich mysteries of the Faith and that his lack of instruction would forever keep him from receiving the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.
After considering young Martin’s condition for a time, St. Francis determined that he would undertake the instruction of the young man. By using signs that he formed with his hands and fingers, St Francis personally began to teach Martin about the Catholic Faith. Martin, as was soon clear, was highly intelligent and a very good pupil. After a period of time, through his gentle patience and persistence and with the signs and gestures he had invented for the purpose, St. Francis succeeded in instructing Martin about God and His love for all men. All went so well that eventually Martin was able to receive the Holy Eucharist for the first time in 1606. Two years later, Martin was confirmed.
St Francis eventually hired Martin as his gardener and brought him along with him when he returned to his episcopal household in Annecy, France.
For this reason, St. Francis de Sales became the Patron Saint for persons who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Francis de Sales body is entombed at the Cathedral in Annecy.
Thanks to the National Catholic Office for the Deaf for the basis of this narrative.
St. Joseph, Guardian of the Redeemer
(Model of Righteousness, Protector of Children, Solace of the Afflicted, Hope of the Sick, Consolation of the Poor, and Patron of a Happy Death)
Feast Day – March 19 Among his virtues these were outstanding: humility; hidden life and poverty accompanied by a fervent devotion to his spouse the Immaculate Virgin and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. No one, in fact, more than Saint Joseph, knew and appreciated the privileges of Mary, and no one more than he, after Mary, penetrated into the secrets of God’s love for mankind.
As for his works and life, we learn from St. Joseph the laborious life, zeal for the souls, mainly those of the youth, and generosity in sacrifice.
Thanks to the Congregation of St. Joseph (Murialdo) for the basis of this Narrative
Artwork by Christopher Santer
Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen,
Bishop of Münster, and Cardinal –
(Patron of Those About to Die by Euthanasia)
Feast Day - March 22 Clemens August Count von Galen (1878 – 1946) belonged to one of the oldest and most distinguished noble families of Westphalia. He was the son of Count Ferdinand Heribert von Galen, who was a member of the Imperial German parliament (Reichstag) for the Catholic Center Party.
Von Galen received his early schooling at the elite Jesuit boarding school, Stella Matutina, in Austria, where only Latin was allowed to be spoken. He spent the college years of his education in the Antonianum in Germany. Upon graduation, his fellow students wrote in his yearbook: Clemens doesn't make love or go drinking. He does not like worldly deceit.
In 1899 he met Pope Leo VIII in a private audience, and after that decided to join the priesthood. He studied in Innsbruck and Münster and was ordained in 1904. He was moved to Berlin, where he was assigned as parish priest at St. Matthias Parish working among the poor. In 1920 he was called back to Münster to serve as parish priest of the Church of St. Lambert.
Von Galen was appointed bishop of Münster, at age of 55, during the critical year for Germany of 1933.
Immediately after his consecration in November, he began to campaign against the totalitarian and pagan approach of Adolph Hitler in national education. In a pastoral letter during Lent 1934, Bishop von Galen forcibly denounced the Nazi ideology as being heathen and offensive to God. He further declared it completely unacceptable for German Catholics when the Nazis refused the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament because of its “Jewish authorship”.
In 1938 von Galen was registered by the Nazi Chancellery of the Reich as one of most dangerous adversaries of the regime because of his “attacks on the foundations and feelings of National Socialism”. In the summer of 1941 he preached three public sermons against the Nazis that stunned Germany and made his name a household world around the globe. Designated “The Lion of Munster” for his courage. his sermons were copied by any means possible and distributed by both Catholics and Jews throughout Germany and its occupied lands.
The third of those sermons concerned the 5th commandment. It was judged by the Nazi Office of Propaganda to be “the fiercest frontal attack unleashed on Nazism in all the years of its existence”. The bishop had learned directly of the plan to exterminate the invalids, old people, mental patients, and handicapped children of Westphalia.
His language was strong: “A curse on men and on the German people if we break the holy Commandment ‘You shall not kill’”. Woe to us German people if we not only license this heinous offense but allow it to be committed with impunity.” “Now defenseless innocents are killed, barbarously killed; people also of a different race, of different origins are suppressed... We are faced with a homicidal folly without equal... With people like this, with these assassins who are proudly trampling our lives, I can no more share belonging to the same people!” And he threw at the Nazi authorities the words of the apostle Paul: “Their God is their stomach.” Of everything he said during this sermon, perhaps the most effective was when he asked whether the returning permanently injured German soldiers and sailors would fall under the euthanasia program as well. “Woe betide our soldiers who return home wounded, disabled, or sick.”
Despite public protests in 1941, the Nazi leadership continued this program of euthanasia in secret. About 200,000 disabled people were murdered between 1940 and 1945.
Cemetery where the victims of euthanasia killing were buried.
Hadamar, Germany, April 1945.
The Nazis pondered what to do about the Cardinal. They eventually retaliated by arresting and then beheading three parish priests who had distributed his sermon, but left the Cardinal unharmed to avoid making him into a martyr. Von Galen continued to be the foremost domestic foe of the Third Reich.
The bishop was placed under house arrest, and later only the Nazis’ fear of a major uprising in very Catholic Westphalia prevented his being taken to Dachau. Twenty-four priests from Bishop von Galen’s own diocese were arrested and deported, and he knew that it was because of his activities rather than just their own that they had been made victims.
After the end of the war, the bishop was honored by the Church by being made a cardinal. The Holy Father imposed the red hat, and, as he leaned forward to embrace von Galen, said, “I bless you. I bless your country”. When von Galen turned to face the vast crowd he was greeted with a storm of applause, led by the other cardinals, which lasted several minutes. The press, then, reported what was at that moment evident to all: von Galen was the symbol of “the other Germany” that had refused to conform, and recognized in the conferment of the dignity of cardinal “an honoring of the manly defender of the Christian truth and of the inalienable rights of man that the totalitarian State had not eradicated.”
Tragically, he died on March 22, 1946 of a perforation of the appendix diagnosed too late, only a month after going to Rome to receive the honor from Pope Pius XII.
The process for the beatification of Clemens August Count von Galen was opened by his successor, Bishop Michael Keller of Münster in October 1956. He was beatified on October 9, 2005, at Saint Peter's Plaza, Vatican, by Pope Benedict XVI.
Thanks to Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and of Malta for the basis of this narrative.
Blessed Margaret of Castello, Virgin -
(Patroness of Persons with Developmental Disabilities, of the Unwanted, of the Disfigured, and of those about to die by abortion.)
Feast Day - April 13 Blessed Margaret (B. Margherita) of Castello (1287 -1320) was born to noble parents in Metola, Italy. She was born totally blind, crippled (one leg considerably shorter than the other), and her face was very deformed. She also had severe spinal curvature (hunchback) and dwarfism. Determined to keep her out of the public eye, her father had a room without a door built onto the side of the parish church and walled Margaret inside this room when she was six. Here she lived for years, never being allowed to come out. Her food and other necessities were passed in to her through a window. Another window into the church allowed her to hear Mass and receive Holy Communion. The parish priest became a good friend, and took upon himself the duty to educate her. He was amazed at her docility and the depth of her spiritual wisdom.
After these years of imprisonment, her parents took her to a shrine in Citta-di-Castello to pray for a cure. When none occurred, they abandoned her in a street nearby the shrine, and left for home, never to see her again. At the mercy of the passersby, Margaret had to beg her food and eventually sought shelter with some Dominican nuns.
At the age of fifteen, Margaret received the habit of a tertiary from the Dominicans, and thence forth, she lived a life entirely devoted to God. She spent the next 18 years tending the sick, visiting prisoners, and praying. People for whom she cared sometimes recovered miraculously—gaining her a reputation for sanctity.
When one of Margaret's friends expressed sympathy for her bodily afflictions, Margaret reassured her: "If you only knew what I have in my heart!"
Bl. Margaret lived a life of hope and faith, practicing heroic charity, though little was shown her in return. She came from a home where she was deprived, not because her parents had no wealth, but because they valued their material wealth and status more than their spiritual treasures.
Deprived of all human companionship, Margaret learned to embrace her Lord in solitude. Instead of becoming bitter, she forgave her parents for their ill treatment of her, and treated others as well as she could. Her cheerfulness stemmed from her conviction that God loves each person infinitely, for He has made each person in His own image and likeness. This same cheerfulness won the hearts of the poor of Castello, and they took her into their homes for as long as their purses could afford. She passed from huse to house in this way, “a homeless beggar being practically adopted by the poor of a city” (Bonniwell, 1955).
She died in 1320 at the age of 33 amidst the companions who loved her, and was buried by their wish in the parish church. Her incorrupt body can be seen under the main altar in St. Dominic Church, Castello, Italy.
More than 200 miracles have been credited to her intercession since her death. She was beatified in 1609. Thus, the daughter that no one wanted is now one of the glories of the Church.
Blessed Margaret is also the patroness of The Disabilities Ministry, Archdiocese of Atlanta.
Thanks to the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia (Nashville) for the basis of this narrative.
St. Peregrine –
(Patron of Persons with Cancer and Persons who have AIDS) Feast Day - May 1 St. Peregrine Laziosi 1260-1345 was born in Forlì, Italy to an affluent family. He lived a comfortable life as a youth, and was politically very opposed to the papacy. When the pope sent Philip Benizi - who was destined to become a saint himself - to Forli to quell political problems, the impulsive Peregrine punched him on the side of his face. Philip, though, didn't react as Peregrine had expected. For all the pope's envoy did was to literally turn the other cheek, offering that one to be hit as well. After he experienced this forgiveness of St. Philip Benizi, St. Peregrine changed his life and joined the Servite order. Upon completion of his training, the priest who came to hear his vows to become a friar was Philip Benizi. Yes, it was the same priest who the young Peregrine had struck that initiated his spiritual journey. So overcome with remorse, Peregrine performed self-imposed penance.
He decided that whenever possible - and when there was a choice - he would stand instead of sit. So for the next 30 years, Peregrine was continually standing and rarely ever sitting down. He was ordained a priest, and later returned to his home to establish a Servite community. There he was widely known for his preaching, penances, and wise counsel in the confessional. St. Peregrine developed cancer, and his left leg was scheduled for amputation just below the knee. On the eve of the operation, Peregrine visited a large statue of the crucifix - the figure of Christ hanging on the cross - and prayed . . . and prayed…and prayed. As he fell into a trance-like state, Peregrine saw Christ come down from the cross and touch his affected leg. When Peregrine came out of the trance, his cancer had disappeared, and the amputation was not necessary. St. Peregrine Laziosi makes the perfect patron saint of cancer patients. His steadfast devotion to Christ, not only before his illness, but all during that time, is a vivid example of a life we should all try. He died in 1345 and was canonized in 1726.
Thanks to the Friar Servants of Mary (USA Province) for the basis of this narrative.
St. Matthias, Apostle - (Patron of Persons with Alcohol Addictions) - Feast Day - May 14 St. Clement of Alexandria says that, according to tradition, St. Matthias was one of the seventy-two disciples whom our Lord had sent out, two by two, during His ministry. This is also asserted by Eusebius and by St. Jerome. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that Matthias was constantly with the Savior from the time of His baptism until His ascension.
St. Matthias was not one of the original Apostles, but was chosen by the other Apostles when Judas left their rank. According to Act 1:15-26, during the days after the Ascension, Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers Now that Judas had betrayed his ministry, it was necessary, Peter said, to fulfill the scriptural recommendation: "May another take his office."
They nominated two men: Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. They prayed and drew lots. The choice fell upon Matthias, who was added to the eleven others.
Matthias is not mentioned by name ever again in the New Testament. Lacking more precise and detailed information, legends could only conjecture and suggest that this silence was due to the fact that Matthias may have died early. However, the Church venerates St. Matthias on an equal footing with the other Apostles, and his name is included in the Canon of the Mass.
Sometimes the link between a saint and the area of patronage is tenuous. Such is the case with St. Matthias as the Patron against Alcoholism. The answer lies in a letter of St. Clement of Alexandria (died 217). He quotes St. Matthias as saying: “It behooves us to combat the flesh, and make use of it, without pampering it by unlawful gratifications. As to the soul, we must develop her power by faith and knowledge.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
St. Dymphna, Virgin and Martyr - (Patroness of Princesses, those with mental illnesses, mental health professionals, incest victims, and runaways) - Feast Day - May 15 The story of St. Dymphna has been preserved in a thirteenth century life written by a canon of the Church of St. Aubert at Cambrai and commissioned by the Bishop of Cambrai, Guy I (1238-1247). The author expressly states that his work is based upon oral tradition and a persuasive history of inexplicable and miraculous healings.
Dymphna (died c. 650) was the daughter of a pagan Irish king named Damon, and a beautiful Christian woman whose name has not come down to us. Her mother died when Dymphna was barely into her teens. As Dymphna grew into a young woman, her uncanny resemblance to her dead mother aroused an incestuous passion in her father. Ultimately, he proposed marriage. A horrified Dymphna asked for forty days to consider.
Distraught at what her father proposed, Dymphna, together with her elderly confessor, Father Gerebran and a few attendants, fled to the continent, boarding a ship which brought them to the city of Antwerp in Belgium. One tradition states that they settled in the town of Gheel near an oratory dedicated to St. Martin of Tours Here they built small hermitages planning to live as solitaires.
Another tradition elaborates the "hermit" theory and claims that once settled in Gheel, St. Dymphna built a hospice for the poor and sick of the region. Since she was a wealthy young maiden, it is not improbable to suppose that she could have used her wealth to secure her new life in the village and its environs.
Ironically, it is through the use of her wealth that her father would eventually ascertain her whereabouts. Unfortunately, some of the coins they used enabled her father to trace them to Belgium.
Following this trail of coins, the king’s envoys arrived in Gheel from Ireland and paid their inn fees with coins similar to those Dymphna had handed to the innkeeper. Unaware that the men were spies, he innocently revealed to them where she lived.
Immediately, King Damon came to Gheel for a final, tragic encounter. Again he coaxed, pleaded, and made glowing promises of money and prestige if Dymphna would consent to his demands for an incestuous marriage. Father Gerebran sternly rebuked him for his wicked intentions, whereupon the king gave orders that Father Gerebran should be put to death.
Once again, Damon demanded that Dymphna marry him -- or die. Faced with a choice of incest or death, the young woman did not submit to her father’s madness and, near the Shrine of St. Martin, Dymphna was beheaded. It was the king, himself, using his own sword, and insane with fury, who beheaded his daughter. Dymphna, barely aged 15, fell at his feet. The day of her death, May 15, has been assigned as the feast day for both her and St. Gerebran.
The records of Dymphna's life and death say that the bodies of the two martyrs were left by the king lying on the ground where they fell, and the inhabitants of Gheel removed them to a cave. This was the customary manner of temporary internment in that part of the world at that time.
After some years had elapsed, the villagers, recalling their holy deaths, decided to give the bodies a more suitable burial. When the workmen removed the heap of black earth at the cave's entrance, they found two sarcophagi, each carved from a snow-white marble only found hundreds of miles from Gheel. Upon one of the sarcophagus lay a red tile with the name Dymphna engraved upon it. Taking all that as the sign of a miracle, the remains of St. Dymphna were placed in a church nearby. The bones of St. Gerebran were taken to a chapel in Sonsbeck close to the City of Xanten in Germany where they may be found to this day.
A cult soon arose to the virgin martyr who symbolized the triumph of wisdom and chastity over insanity and lust. Also, an amazing phenomenon is said to have occurred immediately after the finding of the tombs. A number of people with epilepsy, mental illnesses and persons under evil influences who had visited at the tomb of Dymphna were cured. Ever since that time, she has been invoked on behalf of such people.
During the late 15th century the original St. Dymphna’s Church in Gheel burned, and necessity obliged the erection of the magnificent "Church of St. Dymphna," which was consecrated in 1532 and now still stands on the site where her body was first buried. St. Dymphna's body reposes there in a beautiful silver reliquary.
Gradually St. Dymphna's fame as patroness of victims of nervous diseases and mental disorders was spread from country to country. By the eleventh century, more and more mentally ill persons were brought to Gheel by relatives and friends, many coming in pilgrimages from far-distant places. By the fifteenth century, people came from all over the western world to receive psychic healing in Gheel.
At first the patients were lodged in a small annex built onto the church. From this beginning Gheel developed into a town world-famed for its care of the mentally ill. An institution, called the "Infirmary of St. Elizabeth," which was conducted by the Sisters of St. Augustine was later built for the hospital care of the patients. Then gradually it came about that the patients were placed in the homes of the families living in Gheel.
This practice is based on the positive effects that placement in a host family gives the patient, most importantly access to family life that would otherwise have been denied. Saint Dymphna is usually credited for initiating this type of care. However, the earliest Gheel infirmary and the model where patients went into town, interacted with the community during the day, and (originally) returned to the hospital at night to sleep, date from the 13th century.
Many homes in Gheel are proud to welcome to its inmost family circle such patients as are ready to return to the environment of family life. Besides the traditional kindness of the populace there is the more recent incentive of a stipend from the government for caring for the patients. The home may have no more than two patients of the same sex, each with his or her own room. The patients are free to go about town as they wish. They become members of the family, often staying over fifty years in the same home.
Children grow up, marry, and inherit the patients they have known and loved since childhood. Most patients at Geel change their legal residence to Geel no matter where they come from and chose to be buried in the local churchyard. Geel has become their home. Generations of experience have given to the people of Gheel an intimate and tender skill in dealing with their charges, and their remarkable spirit of charity and Christ like love for these afflicted members of society gives to our modern-day world, so prone to put its whole reliance on science and to forge the principles of true Christian charity, a lesson the practice of which would do much to restore certain types of mentally afflicted individuals to an almost normal outlook on life.
Renowned psychiatrists are in full agreement with this approach, and testify that a surprisingly large number of patients could leave mental institutions if they could be assured of a sympathetic reception in the world, such as the people of Gheel take pride in showing. In fact, psychiatrists state that institutions and medications can help certain cases only to a given extent, and when that point is reached, they must have help from persons outside the institution if the progress made in the institution is to have fruition and the medication is to be continued.
Today in Gheel, there are over 700 families hosting over 800 individuals in their homes. For over eight Centuries Gheel has maintained a history of compassionate loving care for those society often ignores or shuns. Gheel remains this small town in Belgium where an hallucinating psychotic person can get served in a cafe without a raised eyebrow, and where a woman with bells and ribbons all over her dress can walk down the street without gathering a crowd of mocking children.
The symbol of the town of Geel's outreach is a clock with no hands. This means that you have care for as long as you need!
Thanks to Deacon Tom Lambert and The National Catholic Partnership on Disability for the basis of this narrative.
St. Maximilian Kolbe,
Priest and Martyr - (Patron of Persons with Chemical Addictions) - Feast Day - August 14 Maximilian Mary Kolbe (1894-1941), a member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, is famous as the saint of Auschwitz who volunteered to die of starvation and thirst in place of another prisoner. He was beatified in 1973 by Venerable Pope Paul VI and canonized in 1982 by Pope John Paul II.
St. Maximilian was born in Poland and studied for the priesthood as a Conventual Franciscan in Rome, Italy. While in Rome, he was inspired to found the Militia of the Immaculate, a public association of the faithful for the conversion and sanctification of all souls by means of devotion to and service of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Upon returning to Poland St. Maximilian promoted this movement among the friars of his own religious institute as well as among the diocesan clergy and laity. In 1923, with the financial assistance of an American priest, he began a monthly magazine for the members of the Militia known as the Knight of the Immaculate.
St. Maximilian’s own devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as Mediatrix of All Grace, overflowed upon all he met. By 1928 He obtained permission of his superiors to found a new friary, entirely devoted to Her service. This was and is known as Niepokalanow. It lies about 60 miles outside of Warsaw, Poland.
In this friary St. Maximilian anticipated by divine grace the authentic reforms of the Second Council of the Vatican as they regard religious life. There the Marian spirit of St. Francis of Assisi was lived once again by all the friars. They bound themselves to the Blessed Virgin by vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and total consecration.
By 1939 Niepokalanow had almost 1,000 friars, and published several million copies of newspapers and magazines, books, periodicals, pamphlets to promote the knowledge and love of the Blessed Virgin. The Militia of the Immaculate had grown to over 1,000,000 members in nearly all the nations of the globe.
During the Second World War, St. Maximilian was imprisoned by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. On August 14, 1941, his life was ended with a fatal injection of carbolic acid. In 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a "Martyr of Charity" and “Patron Saint of our difficult century”.
Thanks to the Franciscans of the Immaculate (Bloomington, IN) for the basis of this narrative
St. Roch of Montpellier, Confessor - (Patron Saint of the Sick) St. Roch is especially invoked against infectious diseases. He is also the patron of invalids and of those who care for invalids, and, of course, he is the beloved patron saint of dogs (especially service dogs) and those who love the dogs. However, primarily, he is known as the patron saint of the sick.
St. Roch, Also known as St. Roque or Rock, St. Roche, and San Rocco, (1295 – 1327) was a Frenchman who went on a pilgrimage to Rome. He was born in Montpellier, France to a wealthy and noble family. He gave away all his earthly possessions to the poor at age 20 after both his parents died. He then traveled to Rome. Along the way, he stopped at Aquapendente, which was stricken by the plague, and devoted himself to the plague victims, curing them with prayer and the sign of the cross. He next visited Cesena and other neighboring cities, and then finally Rome. Legend has it that everywhere he visited; the terrible scourge disappeared before his miraculous power. He visited Mantua, Modena, Parma, and other cities, all with the same results. Soon he became known for miraculously curing people who had the plague by making the sign of the cross over them. The sign of the cross had personal meaning since he was born with a large red birthmark on the left side of his chest. The birthmark was in the form of a cross.
During his travels, he too contracted the plague which was evident by open sores on his legs. St. Roch was banished from the city of Piacenza. In order not to spread the disease, St. Roch went into a nearby forest to die. He took refuge in a cave. There he slept on leaves and drank water from a small stream. Miraculously, a dog faithfully brought him bread as a means of sustenance. That dog belonged to a nobleman named Gothard Palastrelli and it brought him bread every day for weeks. Also, the dog licked the plague wounds on his legs, eventually healing them. One day, the nobleman followed his bread-carrying dog, and discovered Saint Roch. From that day forward Count Palastrelli became a follower of St. Roch, and the dog remained with St. Roch always.
After his death St. Roch continued to perform many miracles of healing. He became known as the patron saint of the sick. The statues of Saint Roach are considered unique among theologians because of his pose. It is most unusual because it depicts him with his left hand pointing to open sores on his left leg. Few images of saints expose any afflictions or handicapping conditions. His incorrupt body is enclosed in a glass tomb in the church of San Rocco in Venice, Italy.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.
St. Giles, Abbot (Patron of Persons with Physical Disabilities)
Feast Day - September 1 St. Giles was born in the early seventh century and died c.710. He is said to have been an Athenian of noble birth, and his Latin name was Aegidius. His piety and learning made him so conspicuous and an object of such admiration in his own country that, dreading praise and longing for a hidden life, he left his home and sailed for Gaul (France).
There he first established himself in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone and later by the River Gard. But here again the fame of his sanctity drew multitudes to him, so he withdrew once again to a cave in a dense forest near Nîmes, where he lived in the greatest solitude, his sole companion being a hind (a female red deer). This last retreat was finally discovered by the king's hunting party, which had pursued the hind to its place of refuge. Legend also relates that King Flavius himself chased the hind to the edge of a thicket, into which the king shot an arrow.
Upon investigating, the king found that Giles had been wounded by the arrow while protecting the hind. The king, who knew of Giles reputation, was overcome with embarrassment. He would have heaped every honor upon St. Giles. But it was all refused. However, King Flavius insisted on a meeting between Giles and the Bishop of Nimes. Soon after that meeting, the bishop began building a monastery in the valley near Giles' cave.
So St. Giles consented to receive disciples, establish the monastery, (which he placed under the rule of St. Benedict), and become the abbot. There he died in the early part of the eighth century, with the highest repute for sanctity and miracles.
In 808 Charlemagne placed the Abbey of St. Giles under his protection, and it was recorded among the monasteries which were exempt from taxes and from which only prayers for the prince and the state were due. By the beginning of the 12th century the pilgrimages to the Abby of St. Giles are cited as among the most celebrated of the time.
His fame spread rapidly far and wide throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by the countless churches, hospitals, and monasteries dedicated to him in France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the British Isles (more than 150 parishes still exist in England alone), and by the numerous manuscripts in prose and verse commemorating his virtues and miracles. In medieval art he is a frequent subject, being always depicted with his symbol, the hind.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909.
St. Joseph of Cupertino, Confessor – (Patron of Paratroopers, Astronauts, and Persons with Severe Intellectual Developmental Disabilities)
Feast Day - September 18 St. Joseph (San Giuseppe) of Cupertino (1603 – 1663) was an Italian mystic whose life is a wonderful combination of a complete lack of natural capacity and an extraordinary supernatural efficiency. He lacked every natural gift. He was incapable of passing a test, maintaining a conversation, taking care of a house, or even eating a meal without making a mess or breaking a dish. Joseph was “remarkably unclever” and also profoundly absent-minded. He would wander around, going nowhere, with his mouth gaping open. Joseph was called “Brother Ass” and “The Gaper” by his companions in the Franciscan monastery. Joseph worked diligently at his studies for the priesthood with little apparent success. However, when he faced his professors for the required examination, he received the special grace of being asked the few questions he could actually answer.
After ordination, the love that Joseph expressed for Christ's real presence in the Eucharist, and for the Virgin Mary, caused him to levitate in ecstasy. The fame of this "Flying Friar" quickly spread and soon he became a counselor and confessor to many humble folk and nobility
There were also witness confirmations during an audience he had with Pope Urban VIII. After kissing the pope’s ring, Joseph went floating around the ceiling of St. Peter’s Basilica. They actually sent for his abbot to order him down.
Afterwards, Pope Urban personally began tovouch for Joseph's rare and obviously holy talent. This patronage saved Joseph when he was arrested during the Inquisition. He was under the suspicion that his gift was brought about by demonic forces. He was eventually released by the Inquisitors under the condition that he spent the remainder of his life in monastic exile.
Joseph even lifted others while in ecstatic trances. During a festival in Cupertino, while holding his father confessor's hands, Joseph was gripped by a rapture, and the two were lifted into the air. There were witnesses to these manifestations that had to be revived with smelling salts.
During his ecstatic states Joseph was in a complete trance. His garments were never disarranged, his legs and feet were always covered by his robe, and his neck was covered by his cowl. In addition to his amazing ability to levitate, Joseph was also clairvoyant. He could read the thoughts of people for whom he acted as a confessor. He was known to remind sinners of their confessional omissions. And he healed the sick, found lost articles, and could multiply food.
As Joseph's reputation grew, so did the number of visitors hoping to witness one of his miraculous flights. A crowd at Pietra Rubea tried to remove the tiles from the church roof in order to see what he would do during Mass. He was visited by many noted people. Among the most prestigious guests was Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick, who also was the patron of the great German philosopher Leibniz. In February, 1651, the duke went to Cupertino. Unbeknown to Joseph, the duke observed him from a private staircase in the church. In the middle of saying Mass, Joseph shrieked and rose into the air in a kneeling position, slowly moving backward and forward. The following day the skeptical duke again witnessed this phenomenon and was so overawed he renounced Lutheranism and became a Catholic.
In August, 1663, Joseph was stricken by a fever. The day before he died, he passed into an ecstatic state and floated from his deathbed to the steps of the chapel. He murmured, "The Ass is beginning to ascend the mountain." On the following day, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 1663, he died.
In 1758 a church was built in Cupertino, Italy to honor its most famous son. The church of St. Giuseppe da Cupertino still stands in the Via Vittoria. Just over 100 years after Joseph's death, on July 16, 1767, it was formally announced that the Flying Friar had been made a saint. His incorrupt body can be seen at the Basilica of St. Joseph of Cupertino in Osimo, Italy.
Thanks to the Order of Friars Minor Conventual for the basis of this narrative.
Blessed Herman the Cripple, Monk (Also known as Hermannus Contractus or Herman von Reichenau)
Feast Day - September 25 Herman (1013 – 1054) was the son of Count Wolverad II von Altshausen. Born in Swabia, Germany, he had a cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida. Herman was cared for from age seven by the Benedictine monks of the Reichenau abbey of Switzerland. He was professed as a monk there at the age of twenty.
Although he was bedridden and had a speech impediment that made him nearly impossible to understand, Herman had enormous intellect. He was an expert on, and wrote about, astronomy, theology, math, history, and poetry, using Arabic, Greek, German, and Latin. He designed and fashioned musical instruments, and built tools to study the stars. In the secular world he is known as the author of one of the earliest chronicles of world history from Christ to his own time period. Within the Roman Catholic Church, he is known as the great author of two of her most beloved hymns, Alma Redemptoris Mater and Salve Regina (the Hail, Holy Queen, which is recited at the end of a rosary.). The ancient popularity of Alma Redemptoris Mater is demonstrated by the fact that it is found in the "The Prioress' Tale" in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. At the time, Herman was considered throughout the western world as the wonder of his age.
As if he had some foreknowledge of his eventual blindness, Herman produced enough literature and academic writings to fill a small library. Blessed Herman died at the age of 40 in 1054. He was beatified in 1863. Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy. Hail my life, my sweetness and my hope! To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve! To you do we send up our sighs; mourning and weeping in this vale of tears! Turn, most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy toward me, and after this, our exile, show to us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus Christ! Clement, loving, sweet Virgin Mary! Amen.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.
Raphael the Archangel (Patron of Persons who are Blind and Persons with Emotional Difficulties)
Feast Day - September 29 Raphael is a Hebrew name & means "God has healed".
The angel Raphael, one of the seven, “who stand before the Lord" (Tobit 12:15. Cf. Revelation 8:2). Of these seven archangels, only three, Gabriel, Michael and Raphael, are mentioned in the canonical Scriptures.)
Regarding the functions attributed to Raphael we have little more than his declaration to Tobit (Tobit 12) that when the latter was occupied in his works of mercy and charity, he (Raphael) presented a record of Tobit’s prayers to the Glory of the Lord, and that he was then sent by the Lord to heal Tobit of his cataracts and to deliver Sarah, the wife of Tobit’s son Tobiah, from the wicked demon Asmodeus.
The Jewish category of the archangels is recognized in the New Testament (1 Thessalonians 4:15; Jude 9), but only Gabriel and Michael are mentioned by name. Many commentators, however, identify Raphael with the "angel of the Lord" mentioned in. John 5:1-4. This conjecture is based both on the significance of the name and on the healing role attributed to Raphael in the Book of Tobit.
The beautiful story of Raphael the Archangel can be read in the Book of Tobit in the Catholic Bible. Raphael is the Archangel of healing, joy, love, prayer, truth, creativity, and travel. He is also the patron of persons who are blind and persons with emotional difficulties.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
Guardian Angels
Feast Day - October 2 That every individual soul has a guardian angel has never been defined by the Church, and is, consequently, not an article of faith; but it is the "mind of the Church", as St. Jerome expressed it: "how great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it."
It is clear that the Old Testament conceived of God's angels as His ministers who carried out his behests, and who were at times given special commissions, regarding men and mundane affairs.
But in the New Testament the doctrine is stated with greater precision. Angels are everywhere the intermediaries between God and man; and Christ set a seal upon the Old Testament teaching: "See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 18:10). A twofold aspect of the doctrine is here put before us: even little children have guardian angels, and these same angels lose not the vision of God by the fact that they have a mission to fulfill on earth.
Angel of God, my guardian dear,
To whom God's love commits me here,
Ever this day be at my side,
To light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.
Saint André Bessette
(Patron of the sick, the afflicted, the poor of all kinds, those who are handicapped, and those who are wounded by life.)
Feast Day - January 6 Alfred Bessette (1845 – 1937) was born near Montreal, Canada. Although illiterate, he entered the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1870 and was given the name Brother André. His first assignment, which was to last him 40 years, was as the doorman (porter) of the community’s Notre Dame College in Montreal. Brother André developed a deep devotion to St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus and the patron saint of the Brothers of Holy Cross.
As people came to the school, burdened by their own struggles and suffering, Brother André directed them to pray to St. Joseph. When an epidemic broke out at a nearby college, André volunteered to nurse. Not one person died. The trickle of sick people to his door became a flood. His superiors were uneasy; diocesan authorities were suspicious; doctors called him a quack. “I do not cure,” he said again and again. “St. Joseph cures.” In the end he needed four secretaries to handle the 80,000 letters he received each year. Through Brother André’s healing touch, thousands of people were cured and he became known as the “Miracle Man of Montreal.” One of his greatest material contributions during his lifetime was the building of St. Joseph’s Oratory.
Brother André Bessette’s hope for a substantial shrine to Saint Joseph, located on Mount Royal above the city of Montreal, stimulated large and small donations from many of the people whose lives had been touched by the holy man.
The Congregation of Holy Cross already owned the very property that would be suitable. Construction began in 1914. A crypt church seating 1,000 was completed in 1917. By 1931 there were gleaming walls, but money ran out. “Put a statue of St. Joseph in the middle. If he wants a roof over his head, he’ll get it.” The magnificent Oratory on Mount Royal took 50 years to build, and Brother André died in 1937 without seeing that completion.
Brother André Bessette, C.S.C. was entombed at the Oratory, and, with his body lying in state, more than a million people climbed the slope of Mount Royal to honor him. Today, the Oratory is a world-famous pilgrimage destination, attracting more than 2 million visitors a year. Those visitors have included Pope John Paul II. It is the world’s largest shrine dedicated to Saint Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.
Saint Bessette’s incorrupt body is still at the Oratory of St. Joseph. Recognizing the saintly life of this humble man, Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1982. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI, on October 17, 2010.
Quotes of Saint Andre: "It is St. Joseph who cures. I am only his little dog."
"God chose the most ignorant one. If there was anyone more ignorant than I am, God would have chosen him instead of me."
"It is surprising that I am frequently asked for cures, but rarely for humility and the spirit of faith. Yet, they are so important...."
"If the soul is sick, one must begin by treating the soul. Do you have faith?
Do you believe that God can do something for you?
Go confess yourself to the priest...then go to communion..."
"God is love and he loves us; that is the heart of the Christian faith.”
“Practice charity with your neighbor—and this doesn’t mean only to give money to the poor. There are many ways to practice charity. We could, for example, keep ourselves from examining our neighbor’s conscience.”
Thanks to the Congregation of Holy Cross for the basis of this narrative.
St. Francis de Sales,
Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Patron of Persons who are Deaf and Persons who are Hard of Hearing)
Feast Day: January 24 Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622) was a key figure in the Counter Reformation in France. He was a member of an aristocratic family of Savoy and was trained for the law, but he entered (1593) the priesthood against his father's wishes. His first years in the priesthood were spent in the district of Chablais preaching to its Protestant inhabitants. Credited with many conversions, he was made coadjutor bishop of Geneva in 1599 and bishop in 1602; he resided at Annecy in nearby Savoy. His fame as a preacher spread abroad, and from 1600 until his death he delivered Lent and Advent sermons in many of the great cities of France. In his diocese he set up schools and paid special attention to the poorer parishes. Francis is credited with bringing some 40,000 Protestants back to the Roman Catholic Faith following his motto, “He who preaches with love, preaches effectively.”
In 1605, an indigent young man named Martin, a deaf and mute from birth, came almost daily to a house in Roche, France, where Bishop de Sales was staying, to ask for alms. He was a strong young man fit for all kinds of work, and the Bishop’s housekeeper often allowed him to help her in payment for the Bishop’s generosity. One day a servant introduced Martin to the Bishop.
As a result of his handicap, Martin, who was about 25 years old, had never received any kind of education – or instruction in the Catholic faith. (It was presumed by all of the educated people of that age (the 17th century) that a deaf-mute was a mentally handicapped person and that trying to educate or trying to communicate religious truths to such a person would be a waste of time.)
At the time of their meeting, St Francis de Sales was visibly disturbed and touched with pity for the unfortunate Martin. St Francis realized that the poor man would remain forever ignorant of God and the rich mysteries of the Faith and that his lack of instruction would forever keep him from receiving the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.
After considering young Martin’s condition for a time, St. Francis determined that he would undertake the instruction of the young man. By using signs that he formed with his hands and fingers, St Francis personally began to teach Martin about the Catholic Faith. Martin, as was soon clear, was highly intelligent and a very good pupil. After a period of time, through his gentle patience and persistence and with the signs and gestures he had invented for the purpose, St. Francis succeeded in instructing Martin about God and His love for all men. All went so well that eventually Martin was able to receive the Holy Eucharist for the first time in 1606. Two years later, Martin was confirmed.
St Francis eventually hired Martin as his gardener and brought him along with him when he returned to his episcopal household in Annecy, France.
For this reason, St. Francis de Sales became the Patron Saint for persons who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Francis de Sales body is entombed at the Cathedral in Annecy.
Thanks to the National Catholic Office for the Deaf for the basis of this narrative.
St. Joseph, Guardian of the Redeemer
(Model of Righteousness, Protector of Children, Solace of the Afflicted, Hope of the Sick, Consolation of the Poor, and Patron of a Happy Death)
Feast Day – March 19 Among his virtues these were outstanding: humility; hidden life and poverty accompanied by a fervent devotion to his spouse the Immaculate Virgin and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. No one, in fact, more than Saint Joseph, knew and appreciated the privileges of Mary, and no one more than he, after Mary, penetrated into the secrets of God’s love for mankind.
As for his works and life, we learn from St. Joseph the laborious life, zeal for the souls, mainly those of the youth, and generosity in sacrifice.
Thanks to the Congregation of St. Joseph (Murialdo) for the basis of this Narrative
Artwork by Christopher Santer
Blessed Clemens August Count von Galen,
Bishop of Münster, and Cardinal –
(Patron of Those About to Die by Euthanasia)
Feast Day - March 22 Clemens August Count von Galen (1878 – 1946) belonged to one of the oldest and most distinguished noble families of Westphalia. He was the son of Count Ferdinand Heribert von Galen, who was a member of the Imperial German parliament (Reichstag) for the Catholic Center Party.
Von Galen received his early schooling at the elite Jesuit boarding school, Stella Matutina, in Austria, where only Latin was allowed to be spoken. He spent the college years of his education in the Antonianum in Germany. Upon graduation, his fellow students wrote in his yearbook: Clemens doesn't make love or go drinking. He does not like worldly deceit.
In 1899 he met Pope Leo VIII in a private audience, and after that decided to join the priesthood. He studied in Innsbruck and Münster and was ordained in 1904. He was moved to Berlin, where he was assigned as parish priest at St. Matthias Parish working among the poor. In 1920 he was called back to Münster to serve as parish priest of the Church of St. Lambert.
Von Galen was appointed bishop of Münster, at age of 55, during the critical year for Germany of 1933.
Immediately after his consecration in November, he began to campaign against the totalitarian and pagan approach of Adolph Hitler in national education. In a pastoral letter during Lent 1934, Bishop von Galen forcibly denounced the Nazi ideology as being heathen and offensive to God. He further declared it completely unacceptable for German Catholics when the Nazis refused the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament because of its “Jewish authorship”.
In 1938 von Galen was registered by the Nazi Chancellery of the Reich as one of most dangerous adversaries of the regime because of his “attacks on the foundations and feelings of National Socialism”. In the summer of 1941 he preached three public sermons against the Nazis that stunned Germany and made his name a household world around the globe. Designated “The Lion of Munster” for his courage. his sermons were copied by any means possible and distributed by both Catholics and Jews throughout Germany and its occupied lands.
The third of those sermons concerned the 5th commandment. It was judged by the Nazi Office of Propaganda to be “the fiercest frontal attack unleashed on Nazism in all the years of its existence”. The bishop had learned directly of the plan to exterminate the invalids, old people, mental patients, and handicapped children of Westphalia.
His language was strong: “A curse on men and on the German people if we break the holy Commandment ‘You shall not kill’”. Woe to us German people if we not only license this heinous offense but allow it to be committed with impunity.” “Now defenseless innocents are killed, barbarously killed; people also of a different race, of different origins are suppressed... We are faced with a homicidal folly without equal... With people like this, with these assassins who are proudly trampling our lives, I can no more share belonging to the same people!” And he threw at the Nazi authorities the words of the apostle Paul: “Their God is their stomach.” Of everything he said during this sermon, perhaps the most effective was when he asked whether the returning permanently injured German soldiers and sailors would fall under the euthanasia program as well. “Woe betide our soldiers who return home wounded, disabled, or sick.”
Despite public protests in 1941, the Nazi leadership continued this program of euthanasia in secret. About 200,000 disabled people were murdered between 1940 and 1945.
Cemetery where the victims of euthanasia killing were buried.
Hadamar, Germany, April 1945.
The Nazis pondered what to do about the Cardinal. They eventually retaliated by arresting and then beheading three parish priests who had distributed his sermon, but left the Cardinal unharmed to avoid making him into a martyr. Von Galen continued to be the foremost domestic foe of the Third Reich.
The bishop was placed under house arrest, and later only the Nazis’ fear of a major uprising in very Catholic Westphalia prevented his being taken to Dachau. Twenty-four priests from Bishop von Galen’s own diocese were arrested and deported, and he knew that it was because of his activities rather than just their own that they had been made victims.
After the end of the war, the bishop was honored by the Church by being made a cardinal. The Holy Father imposed the red hat, and, as he leaned forward to embrace von Galen, said, “I bless you. I bless your country”. When von Galen turned to face the vast crowd he was greeted with a storm of applause, led by the other cardinals, which lasted several minutes. The press, then, reported what was at that moment evident to all: von Galen was the symbol of “the other Germany” that had refused to conform, and recognized in the conferment of the dignity of cardinal “an honoring of the manly defender of the Christian truth and of the inalienable rights of man that the totalitarian State had not eradicated.”
Tragically, he died on March 22, 1946 of a perforation of the appendix diagnosed too late, only a month after going to Rome to receive the honor from Pope Pius XII.
The process for the beatification of Clemens August Count von Galen was opened by his successor, Bishop Michael Keller of Münster in October 1956. He was beatified on October 9, 2005, at Saint Peter's Plaza, Vatican, by Pope Benedict XVI.
Thanks to Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and of Malta for the basis of this narrative.
Blessed Margaret of Castello, Virgin -
(Patroness of Persons with Developmental Disabilities, of the Unwanted, of the Disfigured, and of those about to die by abortion.)
Feast Day - April 13 Blessed Margaret (B. Margherita) of Castello (1287 -1320) was born to noble parents in Metola, Italy. She was born totally blind, crippled (one leg considerably shorter than the other), and her face was very deformed. She also had severe spinal curvature (hunchback) and dwarfism. Determined to keep her out of the public eye, her father had a room without a door built onto the side of the parish church and walled Margaret inside this room when she was six. Here she lived for years, never being allowed to come out. Her food and other necessities were passed in to her through a window. Another window into the church allowed her to hear Mass and receive Holy Communion. The parish priest became a good friend, and took upon himself the duty to educate her. He was amazed at her docility and the depth of her spiritual wisdom.
After these years of imprisonment, her parents took her to a shrine in Citta-di-Castello to pray for a cure. When none occurred, they abandoned her in a street nearby the shrine, and left for home, never to see her again. At the mercy of the passersby, Margaret had to beg her food and eventually sought shelter with some Dominican nuns.
At the age of fifteen, Margaret received the habit of a tertiary from the Dominicans, and thence forth, she lived a life entirely devoted to God. She spent the next 18 years tending the sick, visiting prisoners, and praying. People for whom she cared sometimes recovered miraculously—gaining her a reputation for sanctity.
When one of Margaret's friends expressed sympathy for her bodily afflictions, Margaret reassured her: "If you only knew what I have in my heart!"
Bl. Margaret lived a life of hope and faith, practicing heroic charity, though little was shown her in return. She came from a home where she was deprived, not because her parents had no wealth, but because they valued their material wealth and status more than their spiritual treasures.
Deprived of all human companionship, Margaret learned to embrace her Lord in solitude. Instead of becoming bitter, she forgave her parents for their ill treatment of her, and treated others as well as she could. Her cheerfulness stemmed from her conviction that God loves each person infinitely, for He has made each person in His own image and likeness. This same cheerfulness won the hearts of the poor of Castello, and they took her into their homes for as long as their purses could afford. She passed from huse to house in this way, “a homeless beggar being practically adopted by the poor of a city” (Bonniwell, 1955).
She died in 1320 at the age of 33 amidst the companions who loved her, and was buried by their wish in the parish church. Her incorrupt body can be seen under the main altar in St. Dominic Church, Castello, Italy.
More than 200 miracles have been credited to her intercession since her death. She was beatified in 1609. Thus, the daughter that no one wanted is now one of the glories of the Church.
Blessed Margaret is also the patroness of The Disabilities Ministry, Archdiocese of Atlanta.
Thanks to the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia (Nashville) for the basis of this narrative.
St. Peregrine –
(Patron of Persons with Cancer and Persons who have AIDS) Feast Day - May 1 St. Peregrine Laziosi 1260-1345 was born in Forlì, Italy to an affluent family. He lived a comfortable life as a youth, and was politically very opposed to the papacy. When the pope sent Philip Benizi - who was destined to become a saint himself - to Forli to quell political problems, the impulsive Peregrine punched him on the side of his face. Philip, though, didn't react as Peregrine had expected. For all the pope's envoy did was to literally turn the other cheek, offering that one to be hit as well. After he experienced this forgiveness of St. Philip Benizi, St. Peregrine changed his life and joined the Servite order. Upon completion of his training, the priest who came to hear his vows to become a friar was Philip Benizi. Yes, it was the same priest who the young Peregrine had struck that initiated his spiritual journey. So overcome with remorse, Peregrine performed self-imposed penance.
He decided that whenever possible - and when there was a choice - he would stand instead of sit. So for the next 30 years, Peregrine was continually standing and rarely ever sitting down. He was ordained a priest, and later returned to his home to establish a Servite community. There he was widely known for his preaching, penances, and wise counsel in the confessional. St. Peregrine developed cancer, and his left leg was scheduled for amputation just below the knee. On the eve of the operation, Peregrine visited a large statue of the crucifix - the figure of Christ hanging on the cross - and prayed . . . and prayed…and prayed. As he fell into a trance-like state, Peregrine saw Christ come down from the cross and touch his affected leg. When Peregrine came out of the trance, his cancer had disappeared, and the amputation was not necessary. St. Peregrine Laziosi makes the perfect patron saint of cancer patients. His steadfast devotion to Christ, not only before his illness, but all during that time, is a vivid example of a life we should all try. He died in 1345 and was canonized in 1726.
Thanks to the Friar Servants of Mary (USA Province) for the basis of this narrative.
St. Matthias, Apostle - (Patron of Persons with Alcohol Addictions) - Feast Day - May 14 St. Clement of Alexandria says that, according to tradition, St. Matthias was one of the seventy-two disciples whom our Lord had sent out, two by two, during His ministry. This is also asserted by Eusebius and by St. Jerome. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that Matthias was constantly with the Savior from the time of His baptism until His ascension.
St. Matthias was not one of the original Apostles, but was chosen by the other Apostles when Judas left their rank. According to Act 1:15-26, during the days after the Ascension, Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers Now that Judas had betrayed his ministry, it was necessary, Peter said, to fulfill the scriptural recommendation: "May another take his office."
They nominated two men: Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. They prayed and drew lots. The choice fell upon Matthias, who was added to the eleven others.
Matthias is not mentioned by name ever again in the New Testament. Lacking more precise and detailed information, legends could only conjecture and suggest that this silence was due to the fact that Matthias may have died early. However, the Church venerates St. Matthias on an equal footing with the other Apostles, and his name is included in the Canon of the Mass.
Sometimes the link between a saint and the area of patronage is tenuous. Such is the case with St. Matthias as the Patron against Alcoholism. The answer lies in a letter of St. Clement of Alexandria (died 217). He quotes St. Matthias as saying: “It behooves us to combat the flesh, and make use of it, without pampering it by unlawful gratifications. As to the soul, we must develop her power by faith and knowledge.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
St. Dymphna, Virgin and Martyr - (Patroness of Princesses, those with mental illnesses, mental health professionals, incest victims, and runaways) - Feast Day - May 15 The story of St. Dymphna has been preserved in a thirteenth century life written by a canon of the Church of St. Aubert at Cambrai and commissioned by the Bishop of Cambrai, Guy I (1238-1247). The author expressly states that his work is based upon oral tradition and a persuasive history of inexplicable and miraculous healings.
Dymphna (died c. 650) was the daughter of a pagan Irish king named Damon, and a beautiful Christian woman whose name has not come down to us. Her mother died when Dymphna was barely into her teens. As Dymphna grew into a young woman, her uncanny resemblance to her dead mother aroused an incestuous passion in her father. Ultimately, he proposed marriage. A horrified Dymphna asked for forty days to consider.
Distraught at what her father proposed, Dymphna, together with her elderly confessor, Father Gerebran and a few attendants, fled to the continent, boarding a ship which brought them to the city of Antwerp in Belgium. One tradition states that they settled in the town of Gheel near an oratory dedicated to St. Martin of Tours Here they built small hermitages planning to live as solitaires.
Another tradition elaborates the "hermit" theory and claims that once settled in Gheel, St. Dymphna built a hospice for the poor and sick of the region. Since she was a wealthy young maiden, it is not improbable to suppose that she could have used her wealth to secure her new life in the village and its environs.
Ironically, it is through the use of her wealth that her father would eventually ascertain her whereabouts. Unfortunately, some of the coins they used enabled her father to trace them to Belgium.
Following this trail of coins, the king’s envoys arrived in Gheel from Ireland and paid their inn fees with coins similar to those Dymphna had handed to the innkeeper. Unaware that the men were spies, he innocently revealed to them where she lived.
Immediately, King Damon came to Gheel for a final, tragic encounter. Again he coaxed, pleaded, and made glowing promises of money and prestige if Dymphna would consent to his demands for an incestuous marriage. Father Gerebran sternly rebuked him for his wicked intentions, whereupon the king gave orders that Father Gerebran should be put to death.
Once again, Damon demanded that Dymphna marry him -- or die. Faced with a choice of incest or death, the young woman did not submit to her father’s madness and, near the Shrine of St. Martin, Dymphna was beheaded. It was the king, himself, using his own sword, and insane with fury, who beheaded his daughter. Dymphna, barely aged 15, fell at his feet. The day of her death, May 15, has been assigned as the feast day for both her and St. Gerebran.
The records of Dymphna's life and death say that the bodies of the two martyrs were left by the king lying on the ground where they fell, and the inhabitants of Gheel removed them to a cave. This was the customary manner of temporary internment in that part of the world at that time.
After some years had elapsed, the villagers, recalling their holy deaths, decided to give the bodies a more suitable burial. When the workmen removed the heap of black earth at the cave's entrance, they found two sarcophagi, each carved from a snow-white marble only found hundreds of miles from Gheel. Upon one of the sarcophagus lay a red tile with the name Dymphna engraved upon it. Taking all that as the sign of a miracle, the remains of St. Dymphna were placed in a church nearby. The bones of St. Gerebran were taken to a chapel in Sonsbeck close to the City of Xanten in Germany where they may be found to this day.
A cult soon arose to the virgin martyr who symbolized the triumph of wisdom and chastity over insanity and lust. Also, an amazing phenomenon is said to have occurred immediately after the finding of the tombs. A number of people with epilepsy, mental illnesses and persons under evil influences who had visited at the tomb of Dymphna were cured. Ever since that time, she has been invoked on behalf of such people.
During the late 15th century the original St. Dymphna’s Church in Gheel burned, and necessity obliged the erection of the magnificent "Church of St. Dymphna," which was consecrated in 1532 and now still stands on the site where her body was first buried. St. Dymphna's body reposes there in a beautiful silver reliquary.
Gradually St. Dymphna's fame as patroness of victims of nervous diseases and mental disorders was spread from country to country. By the eleventh century, more and more mentally ill persons were brought to Gheel by relatives and friends, many coming in pilgrimages from far-distant places. By the fifteenth century, people came from all over the western world to receive psychic healing in Gheel.
At first the patients were lodged in a small annex built onto the church. From this beginning Gheel developed into a town world-famed for its care of the mentally ill. An institution, called the "Infirmary of St. Elizabeth," which was conducted by the Sisters of St. Augustine was later built for the hospital care of the patients. Then gradually it came about that the patients were placed in the homes of the families living in Gheel.
This practice is based on the positive effects that placement in a host family gives the patient, most importantly access to family life that would otherwise have been denied. Saint Dymphna is usually credited for initiating this type of care. However, the earliest Gheel infirmary and the model where patients went into town, interacted with the community during the day, and (originally) returned to the hospital at night to sleep, date from the 13th century.
Many homes in Gheel are proud to welcome to its inmost family circle such patients as are ready to return to the environment of family life. Besides the traditional kindness of the populace there is the more recent incentive of a stipend from the government for caring for the patients. The home may have no more than two patients of the same sex, each with his or her own room. The patients are free to go about town as they wish. They become members of the family, often staying over fifty years in the same home.
Children grow up, marry, and inherit the patients they have known and loved since childhood. Most patients at Geel change their legal residence to Geel no matter where they come from and chose to be buried in the local churchyard. Geel has become their home. Generations of experience have given to the people of Gheel an intimate and tender skill in dealing with their charges, and their remarkable spirit of charity and Christ like love for these afflicted members of society gives to our modern-day world, so prone to put its whole reliance on science and to forge the principles of true Christian charity, a lesson the practice of which would do much to restore certain types of mentally afflicted individuals to an almost normal outlook on life.
Renowned psychiatrists are in full agreement with this approach, and testify that a surprisingly large number of patients could leave mental institutions if they could be assured of a sympathetic reception in the world, such as the people of Gheel take pride in showing. In fact, psychiatrists state that institutions and medications can help certain cases only to a given extent, and when that point is reached, they must have help from persons outside the institution if the progress made in the institution is to have fruition and the medication is to be continued.
Today in Gheel, there are over 700 families hosting over 800 individuals in their homes. For over eight Centuries Gheel has maintained a history of compassionate loving care for those society often ignores or shuns. Gheel remains this small town in Belgium where an hallucinating psychotic person can get served in a cafe without a raised eyebrow, and where a woman with bells and ribbons all over her dress can walk down the street without gathering a crowd of mocking children.
The symbol of the town of Geel's outreach is a clock with no hands. This means that you have care for as long as you need!
Thanks to Deacon Tom Lambert and The National Catholic Partnership on Disability for the basis of this narrative.
St. Maximilian Kolbe,
Priest and Martyr - (Patron of Persons with Chemical Addictions) - Feast Day - August 14 Maximilian Mary Kolbe (1894-1941), a member of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, is famous as the saint of Auschwitz who volunteered to die of starvation and thirst in place of another prisoner. He was beatified in 1973 by Venerable Pope Paul VI and canonized in 1982 by Pope John Paul II.
St. Maximilian was born in Poland and studied for the priesthood as a Conventual Franciscan in Rome, Italy. While in Rome, he was inspired to found the Militia of the Immaculate, a public association of the faithful for the conversion and sanctification of all souls by means of devotion to and service of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Upon returning to Poland St. Maximilian promoted this movement among the friars of his own religious institute as well as among the diocesan clergy and laity. In 1923, with the financial assistance of an American priest, he began a monthly magazine for the members of the Militia known as the Knight of the Immaculate.
St. Maximilian’s own devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as Mediatrix of All Grace, overflowed upon all he met. By 1928 He obtained permission of his superiors to found a new friary, entirely devoted to Her service. This was and is known as Niepokalanow. It lies about 60 miles outside of Warsaw, Poland.
In this friary St. Maximilian anticipated by divine grace the authentic reforms of the Second Council of the Vatican as they regard religious life. There the Marian spirit of St. Francis of Assisi was lived once again by all the friars. They bound themselves to the Blessed Virgin by vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and total consecration.
By 1939 Niepokalanow had almost 1,000 friars, and published several million copies of newspapers and magazines, books, periodicals, pamphlets to promote the knowledge and love of the Blessed Virgin. The Militia of the Immaculate had grown to over 1,000,000 members in nearly all the nations of the globe.
During the Second World War, St. Maximilian was imprisoned by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. On August 14, 1941, his life was ended with a fatal injection of carbolic acid. In 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a "Martyr of Charity" and “Patron Saint of our difficult century”.
Thanks to the Franciscans of the Immaculate (Bloomington, IN) for the basis of this narrative
St. Roch of Montpellier, Confessor - (Patron Saint of the Sick) St. Roch is especially invoked against infectious diseases. He is also the patron of invalids and of those who care for invalids, and, of course, he is the beloved patron saint of dogs (especially service dogs) and those who love the dogs. However, primarily, he is known as the patron saint of the sick.
St. Roch, Also known as St. Roque or Rock, St. Roche, and San Rocco, (1295 – 1327) was a Frenchman who went on a pilgrimage to Rome. He was born in Montpellier, France to a wealthy and noble family. He gave away all his earthly possessions to the poor at age 20 after both his parents died. He then traveled to Rome. Along the way, he stopped at Aquapendente, which was stricken by the plague, and devoted himself to the plague victims, curing them with prayer and the sign of the cross. He next visited Cesena and other neighboring cities, and then finally Rome. Legend has it that everywhere he visited; the terrible scourge disappeared before his miraculous power. He visited Mantua, Modena, Parma, and other cities, all with the same results. Soon he became known for miraculously curing people who had the plague by making the sign of the cross over them. The sign of the cross had personal meaning since he was born with a large red birthmark on the left side of his chest. The birthmark was in the form of a cross.
During his travels, he too contracted the plague which was evident by open sores on his legs. St. Roch was banished from the city of Piacenza. In order not to spread the disease, St. Roch went into a nearby forest to die. He took refuge in a cave. There he slept on leaves and drank water from a small stream. Miraculously, a dog faithfully brought him bread as a means of sustenance. That dog belonged to a nobleman named Gothard Palastrelli and it brought him bread every day for weeks. Also, the dog licked the plague wounds on his legs, eventually healing them. One day, the nobleman followed his bread-carrying dog, and discovered Saint Roch. From that day forward Count Palastrelli became a follower of St. Roch, and the dog remained with St. Roch always.
After his death St. Roch continued to perform many miracles of healing. He became known as the patron saint of the sick. The statues of Saint Roach are considered unique among theologians because of his pose. It is most unusual because it depicts him with his left hand pointing to open sores on his left leg. Few images of saints expose any afflictions or handicapping conditions. His incorrupt body is enclosed in a glass tomb in the church of San Rocco in Venice, Italy.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.
St. Giles, Abbot (Patron of Persons with Physical Disabilities)
Feast Day - September 1 St. Giles was born in the early seventh century and died c.710. He is said to have been an Athenian of noble birth, and his Latin name was Aegidius. His piety and learning made him so conspicuous and an object of such admiration in his own country that, dreading praise and longing for a hidden life, he left his home and sailed for Gaul (France).
There he first established himself in a wilderness near the mouth of the Rhone and later by the River Gard. But here again the fame of his sanctity drew multitudes to him, so he withdrew once again to a cave in a dense forest near Nîmes, where he lived in the greatest solitude, his sole companion being a hind (a female red deer). This last retreat was finally discovered by the king's hunting party, which had pursued the hind to its place of refuge. Legend also relates that King Flavius himself chased the hind to the edge of a thicket, into which the king shot an arrow.
Upon investigating, the king found that Giles had been wounded by the arrow while protecting the hind. The king, who knew of Giles reputation, was overcome with embarrassment. He would have heaped every honor upon St. Giles. But it was all refused. However, King Flavius insisted on a meeting between Giles and the Bishop of Nimes. Soon after that meeting, the bishop began building a monastery in the valley near Giles' cave.
So St. Giles consented to receive disciples, establish the monastery, (which he placed under the rule of St. Benedict), and become the abbot. There he died in the early part of the eighth century, with the highest repute for sanctity and miracles.
In 808 Charlemagne placed the Abbey of St. Giles under his protection, and it was recorded among the monasteries which were exempt from taxes and from which only prayers for the prince and the state were due. By the beginning of the 12th century the pilgrimages to the Abby of St. Giles are cited as among the most celebrated of the time.
His fame spread rapidly far and wide throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, as is witnessed by the countless churches, hospitals, and monasteries dedicated to him in France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the British Isles (more than 150 parishes still exist in England alone), and by the numerous manuscripts in prose and verse commemorating his virtues and miracles. In medieval art he is a frequent subject, being always depicted with his symbol, the hind.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909.
St. Joseph of Cupertino, Confessor – (Patron of Paratroopers, Astronauts, and Persons with Severe Intellectual Developmental Disabilities)
Feast Day - September 18 St. Joseph (San Giuseppe) of Cupertino (1603 – 1663) was an Italian mystic whose life is a wonderful combination of a complete lack of natural capacity and an extraordinary supernatural efficiency. He lacked every natural gift. He was incapable of passing a test, maintaining a conversation, taking care of a house, or even eating a meal without making a mess or breaking a dish. Joseph was “remarkably unclever” and also profoundly absent-minded. He would wander around, going nowhere, with his mouth gaping open. Joseph was called “Brother Ass” and “The Gaper” by his companions in the Franciscan monastery. Joseph worked diligently at his studies for the priesthood with little apparent success. However, when he faced his professors for the required examination, he received the special grace of being asked the few questions he could actually answer.
After ordination, the love that Joseph expressed for Christ's real presence in the Eucharist, and for the Virgin Mary, caused him to levitate in ecstasy. The fame of this "Flying Friar" quickly spread and soon he became a counselor and confessor to many humble folk and nobility
There were also witness confirmations during an audience he had with Pope Urban VIII. After kissing the pope’s ring, Joseph went floating around the ceiling of St. Peter’s Basilica. They actually sent for his abbot to order him down.
Afterwards, Pope Urban personally began tovouch for Joseph's rare and obviously holy talent. This patronage saved Joseph when he was arrested during the Inquisition. He was under the suspicion that his gift was brought about by demonic forces. He was eventually released by the Inquisitors under the condition that he spent the remainder of his life in monastic exile.
Joseph even lifted others while in ecstatic trances. During a festival in Cupertino, while holding his father confessor's hands, Joseph was gripped by a rapture, and the two were lifted into the air. There were witnesses to these manifestations that had to be revived with smelling salts.
During his ecstatic states Joseph was in a complete trance. His garments were never disarranged, his legs and feet were always covered by his robe, and his neck was covered by his cowl. In addition to his amazing ability to levitate, Joseph was also clairvoyant. He could read the thoughts of people for whom he acted as a confessor. He was known to remind sinners of their confessional omissions. And he healed the sick, found lost articles, and could multiply food.
As Joseph's reputation grew, so did the number of visitors hoping to witness one of his miraculous flights. A crowd at Pietra Rubea tried to remove the tiles from the church roof in order to see what he would do during Mass. He was visited by many noted people. Among the most prestigious guests was Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick, who also was the patron of the great German philosopher Leibniz. In February, 1651, the duke went to Cupertino. Unbeknown to Joseph, the duke observed him from a private staircase in the church. In the middle of saying Mass, Joseph shrieked and rose into the air in a kneeling position, slowly moving backward and forward. The following day the skeptical duke again witnessed this phenomenon and was so overawed he renounced Lutheranism and became a Catholic.
In August, 1663, Joseph was stricken by a fever. The day before he died, he passed into an ecstatic state and floated from his deathbed to the steps of the chapel. He murmured, "The Ass is beginning to ascend the mountain." On the following day, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 1663, he died.
In 1758 a church was built in Cupertino, Italy to honor its most famous son. The church of St. Giuseppe da Cupertino still stands in the Via Vittoria. Just over 100 years after Joseph's death, on July 16, 1767, it was formally announced that the Flying Friar had been made a saint. His incorrupt body can be seen at the Basilica of St. Joseph of Cupertino in Osimo, Italy.
Thanks to the Order of Friars Minor Conventual for the basis of this narrative.
Blessed Herman the Cripple, Monk (Also known as Hermannus Contractus or Herman von Reichenau)
Feast Day - September 25 Herman (1013 – 1054) was the son of Count Wolverad II von Altshausen. Born in Swabia, Germany, he had a cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida. Herman was cared for from age seven by the Benedictine monks of the Reichenau abbey of Switzerland. He was professed as a monk there at the age of twenty.
Although he was bedridden and had a speech impediment that made him nearly impossible to understand, Herman had enormous intellect. He was an expert on, and wrote about, astronomy, theology, math, history, and poetry, using Arabic, Greek, German, and Latin. He designed and fashioned musical instruments, and built tools to study the stars. In the secular world he is known as the author of one of the earliest chronicles of world history from Christ to his own time period. Within the Roman Catholic Church, he is known as the great author of two of her most beloved hymns, Alma Redemptoris Mater and Salve Regina (the Hail, Holy Queen, which is recited at the end of a rosary.). The ancient popularity of Alma Redemptoris Mater is demonstrated by the fact that it is found in the "The Prioress' Tale" in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. At the time, Herman was considered throughout the western world as the wonder of his age.
As if he had some foreknowledge of his eventual blindness, Herman produced enough literature and academic writings to fill a small library. Blessed Herman died at the age of 40 in 1054. He was beatified in 1863. Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy. Hail my life, my sweetness and my hope! To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve! To you do we send up our sighs; mourning and weeping in this vale of tears! Turn, most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy toward me, and after this, our exile, show to us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus Christ! Clement, loving, sweet Virgin Mary! Amen.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.
Raphael the Archangel (Patron of Persons who are Blind and Persons with Emotional Difficulties)
Feast Day - September 29 Raphael is a Hebrew name & means "God has healed".
The angel Raphael, one of the seven, “who stand before the Lord" (Tobit 12:15. Cf. Revelation 8:2). Of these seven archangels, only three, Gabriel, Michael and Raphael, are mentioned in the canonical Scriptures.)
Regarding the functions attributed to Raphael we have little more than his declaration to Tobit (Tobit 12) that when the latter was occupied in his works of mercy and charity, he (Raphael) presented a record of Tobit’s prayers to the Glory of the Lord, and that he was then sent by the Lord to heal Tobit of his cataracts and to deliver Sarah, the wife of Tobit’s son Tobiah, from the wicked demon Asmodeus.
The Jewish category of the archangels is recognized in the New Testament (1 Thessalonians 4:15; Jude 9), but only Gabriel and Michael are mentioned by name. Many commentators, however, identify Raphael with the "angel of the Lord" mentioned in. John 5:1-4. This conjecture is based both on the significance of the name and on the healing role attributed to Raphael in the Book of Tobit.
The beautiful story of Raphael the Archangel can be read in the Book of Tobit in the Catholic Bible. Raphael is the Archangel of healing, joy, love, prayer, truth, creativity, and travel. He is also the patron of persons who are blind and persons with emotional difficulties.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
Guardian Angels
Feast Day - October 2 That every individual soul has a guardian angel has never been defined by the Church, and is, consequently, not an article of faith; but it is the "mind of the Church", as St. Jerome expressed it: "how great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it."
It is clear that the Old Testament conceived of God's angels as His ministers who carried out his behests, and who were at times given special commissions, regarding men and mundane affairs.
But in the New Testament the doctrine is stated with greater precision. Angels are everywhere the intermediaries between God and man; and Christ set a seal upon the Old Testament teaching: "See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 18:10). A twofold aspect of the doctrine is here put before us: even little children have guardian angels, and these same angels lose not the vision of God by the fact that they have a mission to fulfill on earth.
Angel of God, my guardian dear,
To whom God's love commits me here,
Ever this day be at my side,
To light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.
