Blessed Giovanni Antonio Farina

Mar 032010
 

[Blessed Giovanni Antonio Farina]
Also known as

  • Johannes Antonius Farina

Memorial

Profile

Son of Pedro and Francisca Bellame. Studied at the seminary in Vicenza, Italy, and taught there while still a student. Ordained on 15 January 1827. Founder of the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Heart in 1836; they are dedicated to teaching the poor. Bishop of Treviso, Italy on 20 September 1850. Ordained the future Pope Saint Pius X on 18 September 1858. Bishop of Vicenza on 28 September 1860, a seat he held until his death.

Born

Died

Venerated

Beatified

Canonized

  • if you have information relevant to the canonization of Blessed Giovanni, contact
       Sr. Albarosa Ines Bassani, SDVI
       Suore Maestre di Santa Dorotea
       Via S. Domenico 23
       36100 Vicenza, ITALY

Additional Information

MLA Citation

  • “Blessed Giovanni Antonio Farina”. Saints.SQPN.com. 10 August 2010. Web. {today’s date}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/blessed-giovanni-antonio-farina/>

Saint Angela of the Cross Guerrero

Feb 262010
 

[Saint Angela of the Cross Guerrero]
Also known as

  • Angela de la Cruz
  • Angela Guerrero Gonzalez
  • Angela of the Cross Guerrero y González
  • Angelita (family nickname)
  • Maria of the Angels
  • Mother Angela of the Cross
  • Mother of the Poor

Memorial

Profile

One of fourteen children born to a poor but pious family; only five of her siblings survived to adulthood. Her father worked as a cook and her mother a laundress in a Trinitarian Fathers convent, and Angela had to quit school at age twelve to work in a shoe factory to help support her family. She made her First Communion at age eight, Confirmation at nine; she prayed the rosary daily, and had a great devotion as a youth to Christ Crucified. Her piety was so obvious that her employer, Antonia Maldonado, brought her to the attention of Father José Torres Padilla. He became her spiritual director when she was 16, and helped discern if Angela had a call to religious life.

She first tried to join the Carmelites, was refused, and when she was finally accepted at age 19, became so sick that she was forced to return to her family. When she recovered, she began caring for cholera victims, and those even poorer than herself. In 1868 she entered the convent of the Daughters of Charity of Seville, Spain, but again her health failed, and she was forced to return to her parents and the shoeshop. In 1871, with Father Padilla’s blessing, she started a plan whereby she lived at home under a particular Rule, yearly renewing her vows.

While in prayer in 1873 Angela received a vision that she understood was calling her to a mission to the poor, and she began keeping a spiritual diary to record what she understood of the life to which God was calling her. Others were attracted to her life, and on 2 August 1875 the Congregation of the Cross was born. The Congregation works with the sick, the poor, orphans, the homeless, finding them food, medicine, housing, and other needs, living solely on alms, and keeping only enough for themselves to continue their work. Though they started with only Mother Angela and three sisters, they had grown to 23 convents during her life, and continue their good works today.

Born

Died

Venerated

Beatified

Canonized

Additional Information

Readings

The nothing keeps silent, the nothing does not want to be, the nothing suffers all. The nothing does not impose itself, the nothing does not command with authority, and finally, the nothing in the creature is practical humility. - Saint Angela

Love and sensitivity to the poor…prompted Saint Angela of the Cross to found her “Company of the Cross” for the most deprived with a charitable and social dimension that made an enormous impact on the Church and society of Seville in her day. Her distinctive traits were naturalness and simplicity, seeking holiness with a spirit of mortification and at the service of God in her brothers and sisters. - Pope John Paul II in his homily at the canonization of Saint Angela

MLA Citation

  • “Saint Angela of the Cross Guerrero”. Saints.SQPN.com. 26 February 2010. Web. {today’s date}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-angela-of-the-cross-guerrero/>

Blessed Maria Caridad Brader

Feb 232010
 

[Blessed Maria Caridad Brader]
Also known as

  • Caritas Brader
  • Karolina Brader Zahner
  • Maria Josefa Carolina Brader
  • Mary Charity of the Love of the Holy Spirit
  • Mary Josephine Caroline
  • María Caridad of the Holy Spirit
  • María Charitas of the Holy Spirit
  • Mother Caritas

Memorial

Profile

The only child of Joseph Sebastian Brader and Maria Anna Carolina Zahner. Raised in a pious family, she was known as a highly intelligent child, and received the best education her parents could provide. There were high expectations for the girl’s future, but instead of continued study she felt a call to the religious life. Mary Josephine joined the Franciscan convent at Maria Hilf, Alstatten 1 October 1880, taking the name Mary Charity of the Love of the Holy Spirit, and making her final vows on 22 August 1882.

She was initially assigned as a teacher. When it became possible for cloistered nuns to work as missionaries, Sister Caritas volunteered to be one of the first six sisters to work in Chone, Ecuador in 1888. She worked for five years as a teacher and children‘s catechist. In 1893 she was transferred to Tùquerres, Colombia where conditions were rough but where she taught the faith to the poor and outcast.

To prepare additional missionaries she founded the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate in Tuquerres, Colombia on 31 March 1893. Initially composes of young Swiss girls with a call to missionary work, they were soon joined by Colombian and other local women. Caritas served as Superior General for the Congregation from 1893 to 1919, and again from 1928 to 1940. The Sisters emphasized good education for themselves and their charges, and deep prayer lives for everyone. They received papal approval in 1933, and today work in Central and South America, Mexico, Switzerland, Mali, Romania and the United States.

Born

Died

Venerated

Beatified

Canonized

  • if you have information relevant to the canonization of Blessed Marie contact
       Hermanas Franciscanas de Maria Inmaculada
       Carrera 79, N. 40A-20
       Barrio Modelia, Aptdo. 98892
       Bogotá, COLOMBIA

Additional Information

Readings

It is His will - Blessed Caritas

The better educated, the greater the skills the educator possesses, the more she will be able to do for our holy religion and the glory of God, especially when virtue is the vanguard of her knowledge. The more intense and visible her external activity, the deeper and more fervent her interior life must be. - Blessed Caritas

See God‘s will in everything, and to do His will with joy, out of love of Him. - Blessed Caritas

MLA Citation

  • “Blessed Maria Caridad Brader”. Saints.SQPN.com. 23 February 2010. Web. {today’s date}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/blessed-maria-caridad-brader/>

Blessed Émilie d’Oultremont d’Hoogvorst

Feb 212010
 

Also known as

  • Émilie d’Oultremont van der Linden d’Hooghvorst
  • Marie of Jesus
  • Mary of Jesus

Memorial

Profile

Born to the nobility, the daughter of Count d’Emile Oultremont de Wégimont a de Warfusée, a diplomat who represented King Leopold I to the Vatican. From childhood Émilie had a great devotion to the Eucharist and the Sacred Heart of Jesus; she later developed a great admiration of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Married to Victor van der Linden, Baron d’Hooghvorst in 1837. Mother of two boys and two girls. She sought out Jesuits for spiritual guidance. Widowed in 1847. When her sons entered college in France, she decided to move, too.

On 8 December 1854, the day the dogma of Mary‘s Immaculate Conception was proclaimed, Émilie experienced a profound spiritual experience and announced she was going into religious life. With a small group of young women, she founded the Institutum a Maria Reparatrice (Sisters of Mary Reparatrix) on 1 May 1857 in Strasbourg, France. On 2 May 1858 Emilie made her vows, taking the name Mary of Jesus. Soon after her daughters joined the Sisters, which caused even more turmoil in her family; few had supported her entering religious life, and many complained that the girls had followed only for her mother‘s sake.

In 1859 Mother Marie received a request for help from Jesuit missionaries in Madras, India. The Sisters expanded to India in 1860, England in 1862, Belgium in 1863, Mauritius in 1866, France, Italy, Ireland, Spain, and then Jerusalem in 1888. The mother house was relocated from Strasbourg to Rome, Italy.

Born

Died

Venerated

Beatified

Canonized

  • if you have information relevant to the canonization of Blessed Émilie, contact
       Suore di Maria Riparatrice
       Via dei Lucchesi, 3
       00187 Roma, ITALY

Additional Information

MLA Citation

  • “Blessed Émilie d’Oultremont d’Hoogvorst”. Saints.SQPN.com. 15 August 2010. Web. {today’s date}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/blessed-emilie-doultremont-dhoogvorst/>

Saint Giulia Salzano

Feb 212010
 

[Saint Giulia Salzano]
Also known as

  • Donna Giulietta
  • Julia Salzano
  • Prophetess of the New Evangelization

Memorial

Profile

Daughter of Adelaide Valentino and Diego Salzano. Her father was a captain in the Lancers of King Ferdinand II of Naples, and died when Giulia was four years old. Raised and educated by the Sisters of Charity in the Royal Orphanage of Saint Nicola La Strada until age fifteen. School teacher and catechist in Casoria, Naples. Friend and co-worker with Blessed Caterina Volpicelli. Noted for her personal devotion to the Virgin Mary. She encouraged others in devotion to Our Lady and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Foundress of the Congregation of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1905.

Born

Died

Venerated

Beatified

Canonized

Additional Information

Readings

While I have any life left in me, I will continue to teach the catechism. And then, I assure you, I would be very happy to die teaching the catechism. - Blessed Giulia

The Sister catechist must be ready, at every moment, to instruct the little ones and the uneducated. She must not count the sacrifices such a ministry demands, indeed she should desire to die while doing it, if this be God‘s will. - Blessed Giulia

In advance of her time, she was an apostle of the new evangelization in which she combined apostolic activity with prayer, offered ceaselessly, especially for the conversion of the “indifferent”. This new Blessed encourages us to persevere in faith and never to lose our confidence in God who does all things. Called to be the apostles of modern times, may believers also be inspired by Blessed Julia Salzano “to instill in many creatures the immense charity of Christ”. - Pope John Paul II, from his homily during the beatification of Blessed Giulia

MLA Citation

  • “Saint Giulia Salzano”. Saints.SQPN.com. 21 February 2010. Web. {today’s date}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-giulia-salzano/>

Blessed Josephina Gabriella Bonino

Feb 062010
 

[Blessed Josephina Gabriella Bonino]
Also known as

  • Gabriela Giuseppina Bonino
  • Giuseppina Gabrielia Bonino

Memorial

Profile

Raised in a pious family, she was a deeply religious child. Moved to Turin, Italy at age 12. Made a temporary vow of chastity at age 18. At age 26 she returned to Savigliano, Italy to care for her ailing father. Underwent a successful back surgery in 1887, and made a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France to give thanks for her health. There she felt a call to spend her life caring for the poor. In Savigliano she began caring for orphans. In April 1881 she helped found the Sisters of the Holy Family to care for orphans, the poor, and the elderly sick; she served as its superior for the rest of her life. Helped found four more houses of the Sisters. Predicted the date of her own death.

Born

Died

Venerated

Beatified

Canonized

  • if you have information relevant to the canonization of Blessed Josephina, contact
       Suore della Sacra Famiglia
       Via S. Pietro, 9
       12038 Savigliano (CO), ITALY

Additional Information

MLA Citation

  • “Blessed Josephina Gabriella Bonino”. Saints.SQPN.com. 6 February 2010. Web. {today’s date}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/blessed-josephina-gabriella-bonino/>

Saint John of Matha

Feb 062010
 

[Saint John of Matha]
Memorial

Profile

Born to the Provencal nobility. Educated at Aix, France, then lived as a hermit at Faucon, France. Earned a doctorate in theology at Paris, France. Ordained in 1197.

[Our Lady of Good Remedy]At the first Mass he celebrated, John received a vision of an angel clothed in white with a red and blue cross on his breast. The angel placed his hands on the heads of two slaves who knelt beside him. Later, when sitting beside a stream with fellow hermit, Saint Felix of Valois, the two were given the vision of a white stag between whose antlers was suspended a blue and red cross. With the encouragement of Pope Innocent III, he founded the Hospitaler Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of Captives (Trinitarians or Redemptionists) to ransom Christian prisoners of the Moors (the Mathurins). The congregation received papal approval in 1209. The clothing seen in the vision of the angel became the habit of the order, the Scapular of the Most Holy Trinity was instituted, the Order was placed under the protection of Mary under the title of Our Lady of Good Remedy, and John was the first superior general. Hundreds of prisoners were ransomed and returned to their homes.

Because John’s life contains such good story elements (visions, prisoners, rescued knights, etc.), John became the topic for several biographies in the Middle Ages, many of these were loaded heavily with fiction. Today there are around 600 members of the Order working in prison ministries in over twenty countries, and they recently celebrated their 800 year anniversary.

Born

Died

Canonized

Representation

Additional Information

MLA Citation

  • “Saint John of Matha”. Saints.SQPN.com. 6 December 2010. Web. {today’s date}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-john-of-matha/>

Saint Jerome Emiliani

Feb 062010
 

[Saint Jerome Emiliani]
Also known as

  • Geronimo
  • Gerolamo Miani

Memorial

Profile

Born wealthy, the son of Angelo and Eleanor Mauroceni Emiliani. His father died when Jerome was a teenager, and he ran away from home at age 15. After a dissolute youth, he became a soldier in Venice, Italy in 1506. Commanded the League of Cambrai forces at the fortress of Castelnuovo in the mountains near Treviso, Italy. Captured by Venetian forces on 27 August 1511, he was chained in a dungeon. He prayed to Our Lady for help, was miraculously freed by an apparition, and hung his chains on a church wall as an offering. Mayor of Treviso while studying for the priesthood. Ordained in the spotted-fever plague year of 1518.

Cared for the sick, and housed orphans in his own home. At night he roamed the streets, burying those who had collapsed and died unattended. Jerome contracted the fever himself, but survived. Founded six orphanages, a shelter for penitent prostitutes, and a hospital. Founded the Order of Somaschi (Company of Servants of the Poor, or Somascan Fathers, or Regular Clergy of Somasca) c.1532, a congregation of clerks regular vowed to the care of orphans, and named after the town of Somasca where they started, and where they founded a seminary; the society was given approval by Pope Paul III in 1540, and continue their work today in a dozen countries. Believed to have developed the question-and-answer catechism technique for teaching children religion. Declared the patron of orphans and abandoned children in 1928 by Pope Pius XI.

Born

Died

Beatified

Canonized

Patronage

Representation

  • ball and chain
  • man shackled with a ball and chain who is attending the sick
  • man wearing a ball and chain, and receiving an apparition of Mary and the Child Jesus

Additional Information

Readings

I urge you to persevere in your love for Christ and your faithful observance of the law of Christ. Our Goal is God, the source of all good. As we say in our prayer, we are to place our trust in God and in no one else. In his kindness, our Lord wished to strengthen your faith, for without it, as the evangelist points out, Christ could not have performed many of his miracles. He also wished to listen to your prayer, and so he ordained that you experience poverty, distress, abandonment, weariness and scorn. God alone knows the reasons for all this, yet we can recognize three causes. In the first place, our blessed Lord is tell young that he desires to include you among his beloved sons, provided that you remain steadfast in his ways, for this is the way he treats his friends and makes them holy. The second reason is that he is asking you to grow continuously in your confidence in him alone and not in others. Now there is a third reason. God wishes to test you like gold in the furnace. The dross is consumed by the fire, but the pure gold remains and its value increases. It is in this manner than God acts with his good servant, who puts his hope in him and remains unshaken in times of distress. God raises him up and, in return for the things he has left out of love for God, he repays him a hundredfold in this life and with eternal life hereafter. If then you remain constant in faith in the face of trial, the Lord will give you peace and rest for a time in this world, and for ever in the next. - from a letter to his brothers by Saint Jerome Emiliani

MLA Citation

  • “Saint Jerome Emiliani”. Saints.SQPN.com. 10 August 2010. Web. {today’s date}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-jerome-emiliani/>

Saint Gilbert of Sempringham

Feb 042010
 

Memorial

Profile

Son of the wealthy Norman knight Jocelin. When Gilbert showed no signs of becoming a soldier, his father exiled him to Paris, France to study. Gilbert returned to England as a master of arts, and opened a school for the children of the poor in Sempringham, paying special attention to training in religion. His father provided him a living from the rents on part of his lands in Sempringham and Tirington, but Gilbert redistributed most of this to the poor. Clerk in the household of bishop Robert Bloet of Lincoln, England. Ordained at age 40. When his parents died in 1130, Gilbert returned to the manor and began to spend his inheritance by founding Benedictine and Augustinian monasteries, and by providing for the poor. He drew up rules for an order of nuns later known as the Gilbertines, the only order founded on a rule designed by an Englishman, and which eventually grew to 26 houses before being suppressed in the persecutions of King Henry VIII. Gilbert was the target of slander, once accused of helping the exiled Saint Thomas Becket, which accusation landed him in prison. When he was 90 years old, some of Gilbert’s lay brothers revolted against his authority, but Pope Alexander III supported Gilbert. He became blind in his old age, put aside all rule of the lands and the orders, devoted himself to prayer and the communal life, and lived to be over 100 years old.

Born

Died

Canonized

Additional Information

MLA Citation

  • “Saint Gilbert of Sempringham”. Saints.SQPN.com. 3 February 2010. Web. {today’s date}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-gilbert-of-sempringham/>

Saint Claudine Thevenet

Feb 022010
 

[Saint Claudine portrait]
Also known as

  • Mary of Saint Ignatius
  • Mary of Saint Ignatius Thevenet
  • Saint of Lyon

Memorial

Profile

Raised in a pious family. Two of her brothers were murdered in the excesses of the French Revolution; they went to their deaths forgiving their killers and asking Claudine to do the same. Claudine worked with working class young women around Lyon, France. In 1816, with Father André Coindre, she formed a group that would become the Religious of Jesus and Mary (Sisters of Jesus-Marie) at Lyon in 1818, a teaching order dedicated to educating poor girls. Taking the name Mary of Saint Ignatius, she served as superior of the Sisters. The Order received papal approval from Pope Blessed Pius IX on 31 December 1847, and today runs boarding schools, colleges, and retreat houses in Europe, India and North America.

Born

Died

Venerated

Beatified

Canonized

Additional Information

MLA Citation

  • “Saint Claudine Thevenet”. Saints.SQPN.com. 2 February 2010. Web. {today’s date}. <http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-claudine-thevenet/>
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