ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX "THE LITTLE FLOWER"

"What matters in life is not great deeds, but great love." -St. Therese, The Little Flower

For almost 4 years of stay in The Sisters of Mary the most important teaching the nuns inculcated in me is the importance of small deeds offered to God.

I remember how we used to offer:

        the washing of 50pairs of socks every afternoon...

        the pain of kneeling down for an hour or so during station of the cross...

        the difficulty in staying awake during rosary prayer at night...

        the happiness when we got the perfect score in the test...
        the hardship in keeping the mouth shut from 7:30 pm till 7:00 am (silent time)...(being talkative in nature, it's really a big sacrifice)

        the endurance in jogging 3 rounds in the oval or around the campus...

        the little act of kindness extended to our fellow student....

        the practice of virtues of obedience, charity, faith, sacrifice etc...

Every memory is still fresh on my mind and the happiness we felt because of those small offerings for the glory of God is really unfathomable. I've realized in those offering, the simple act became greater because everything was done out of love.

How the sisters came up with such great motivating factor? It's because of St. Therese, The Little Flower. The nuns who are selflessly taking care of the children inside The Sisters of Mary institution follow the life of St. Therese and thus, the children are encouraged to do likewise. 

Learning about St. Therese is a blessing. May you be blessed upon reading her story.

The Story of St. Therese of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church

Feast Day: October 1

Therese Martin was the last of nine children born to Louis and Zelie Martin on January 2, 1873, in Alencon, France. However, only five of these children lived to reach adulthood. Precocious and sensitive, Therese needed much attention. Her mother died when she was 4 years old. As a result, her father and sisters babied young Therese. She had a spirit that wanted everything.

At the age of 14, on Christmas Eve in 1886, Therese had a conversion that transformed her life. From then on, her powerful energy and sensitive spirit were turned toward love, instead of keeping herself happy. At 15, she entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux to give her whole life to God. She took the religious name Sister Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. Living a hidden, simple life of prayer, she was gifted with great intimacy with God. Through sickness and dark nights of doubt and fear, she remained faithful to God, rooted in His merciful love. After a long struggle with tuberculosis, she died on September 30, 1897, at the age of 24. Her last words were the story of her life: "My God, I love You!"

The world came to know Therese through her autobiography, "Story of a Soul". She described her life as a "little way of spiritual childhood." She lived each day with an unshakable confidence in God's love. "What matters in life," she wrote, "is not great deeds, but great love." Therese lived and taught a spirituality of attending to everyone and everything well and with love. She believed that just as a child becomes enamored with what is before her, we should also have a childlike focus and totally attentive love. Therese's spirituality is of doing the ordinary, with extraordinary love.

Therese saw the seasons as reflecting the seasons of God's love affair with us.She loved flowers and saw herself as the "little flower of Jesus," who gave glory to God by just being her beautiful little self among all the other flowers in God's garden. Because of this beautiful analogy, the title "little flower" remained with St. Therese.

Her inspiration and powerful presence from heaven touched many people very quickly. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 17, 1925. Had she lived, she would have been only 52 years old when she was declared a Saint.

"My mission - to make God loved - will begin after my death," she said. "I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses." Roses have been described and experienced as Saint Therese's signature. Countless millions have been touched by her intercession and imitate her "little way." She has been acclaimed "the greatest saint of modern times." In 1997, Pope John Paul II declared St. Therese a Doctor of the Church - the only Doctor of his pontificate - in tribute to the powerful way her spirituality has influenced people all over the world.

The message of St. Therese is beautiful, inspiring, and simple.

Here are some records of miraculous intercession of St. Therese to those who believe in her...

Intercessions of St. Therese

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ST. JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL

When I was still young, I always thought the only people who have the right to become saints are priests and nuns who follow the will of the Lord in everyday of their lives. As I've turned pages of stories about saints, I've realized that all of us even an ordinary man or woman, single or married is called to become saints.
Here is another story of sainthood of a wife and mother.

THE STORY OF ST. JANE FRANCES DE CHANTAL

Feast Day: August 12

from Wikipedia

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot, Baronne de Chantal, 28 January 1572 – 13 December 1641) is a Roman Catholic Saint, who founded a religious order after the death of her husband.

Life [edit]

Jeanne Frances Fremiot was born in Dijon, France on January 28, 1572, the daughter of the royalist President of the Parliament of Burgundy. She married the Baron de Chantal when she was 20 and then lived in the feudal castle of Bourbilly. Baron de Chantal was accidentally killed by a harquebus while out shooting in 1600. Left a widow at twenty-eight, with four children, the broken-hearted baroness took a vow of chastity.^[1] Chantal gained a reputation as an excellent manager of the estates of her husband, as well as of her difficult father in law, while also providing alms and nursing care to needy neighbors.

During Lent in 1604, the pious baronness met Saint Francis de Sales, the bishop of Geneva who was preaching at the Sainte Chapelle in Dijon. They became close friends, and de Sales became her spiritual director. With his support, and that of her father and brother (the Archbishop of Bourges), and after providing for her children, Chantal left for Annecy, to start the Congregation of the Visitation. The Congregation of the Visitation was canonically established at Annecy on Trinity Sunday, 6 June, 1610.^[1] The order accepted women who were rejected by other orders because of poor health or age. During its first eight years, the new order also was unusual in its public outreach, in contrast to most female religious who remained cloistered and adopted strict ascetic practices. When people criticized her, Chantal famously said, "What do you want me to do? I like sick people myself; I'm on their side."

Her reputation for sanctity and sound management resulted in many visits by (and donations from) aristocratic women. The order had 13 houses by the time de Sales died, and 86 before Chantal herself died at the Visitation Convent in Moulins, aged 69. St. Vincent de Paul served as her spiritual director after de Sales' death. Her favorite devotions involved the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Heart of Mary.^[2] Chantal was buried in the Annecy convent next to de Sales.^[1] The order had 164 houses by 1767, when she was canonized. Chantal outlived her son (who died fighting Huguenots and English on the Île de Ré during the century's religious wars) and two of her three daughters, but left extensive correspondence. Her granddaughter also became a famous writer, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné.

Veneration [edit]

Francis de Sales meets Jane Frances de Chantal, cutout from a window in the cathedral ofAnnecy

She was beatified on 21 November 1751 by Pope Benedict XIV, andcanonized on 16 July 1767 by Pope Clement XIII.

Saint Jane Frances's feast day is now generally celebrated on August 12 in the Roman Catholic Calendar of saints, although since 1969 Europeans often remember her on December 12, which is closer to the anniversary of her death (the traditional feast of St. Lucy).^[3] The move resulted from Pope John Paul II's declaring December 12 the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of theAmericas.^[4] North American Catholics had generally moved this foundress' commemoration to August 18, but in 2009 changed it to August 12.^[5] Traditionalist Catholics who continue to observe pre-1970 calendars celebrate Saint Jane Frances on the 1769-1969 date, August 21.

Writings of Saint Jane Frances [edit]

Francis de Sales and Jane Frances de Chantal, medal 1867

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal wrote some exemplary letters of spiritual direction.^[6]

References [edit]

1. ^ ^a b c Pernin, Raphael. "St. Jane Frances de Chantal." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 2 Feb. 2013
2. ^http://www.piercedhearts.org/theology_heart/life_saints/jane_chantal.htm
3. ^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 110
4. ^ Decree 2492/01/L of 18 December 2001 of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
5. ^ Newsletter of the USCCB Committee on Divine Worship, May-June 2009, pg. 24
6. ^ Francis de Sales, Jane De Chantal, Letters of Spiritual Direction (Classics of Western Spirituality), translated by Péronne Marie Thibert, V.H.M. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1988.

• St. Jane Frances de Chantal at Saint of the Day
• The Life of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
• St. Jane Frances de Chantal at Catholic Online
• Saint Jeanne de Chantal at Patron Saints Index
• Saint Jane Frances De Chantal School in North Hollywood, California

from Wikipedia

  

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ST. JOAN OF ARC

I admire saints for their dedication, noble works, unshakable faith, but most of all for their faithfulness to Jesus despite persecution and betrayal. Among them is St. Joan of Arc. At young age, she was able to defend her faith till her death on a burning stake.

THE LIFE OF SAINT JOAN OF ARC

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St. Joan of Arc is the patroness of soldiers and of France. On January 6, 1412, Joan of Arc was born to pious parents of the French peasant class, at the obscure village of Domremy, near the province of Lorraine. At a very early age, she heard voices: those of St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret.

At first the messages were personal and general. Then at last came the crowning order. In May, 1428, her voices "of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret" told Joan to go to the King of France and help him reconquer his kingdom. For at that time the English king was after the throne of France, and the Duke of Burgundy, the chief rival of the French king, was siding with him and gobbling up evermore French territory.

After overcoming opposition from churchmen and courtiers, the seventeen year old girl was given a small army with which she raised the seige of Orleans on May 8, 1429. She then enjoyed a series of spectacular military successes, during which the King was able to enter Rheims and be crowned with her at his side.

In May 1430, as she was attempting to relieve Compiegne, she was captured by the Burgundians and sold to the English when Charles and the French did nothing to save her. After months of imprisonment, she was tried at Rouen by a tribunal presided over

by the infamous Peter Cauchon,Bishop of Beauvais, who hoped that the English would help him to become archbishop.

Through her unfamiliarity with the technicalities of theology, Joan was trapped into making a few damaging statements. When she refused to retract the assertion that it was the saints of God who had commanded her to do what she had done, she was condemned to death as a heretic, sorceress, and adulteress, and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. She was nineteen years old. Some thirty years later, she was exonerated of all guilt and she was ultimately canonized in 1920, making official what the people had known for centuries. Her feast day is May 30.

Joan was canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.

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STS. PERPETUA & FELICITY

As I've started mentioning saints I've known during high school days, I would like to recall STS. PERPETUA & FELICITY . The truth is I've only heard about St. Perpetua before, since the dorm next to us was named after her. I didn't know that both of them were two heroines of faith on the same generation and on the same place. To know more about them, please read their story.

THE LIFE OF STS. PERPETUA & FELICITY

Feast Day: March 7

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Saints Perpetua and Felicity were martyrs who died for the faith around the year 203.

St. Perpetua was a young, well-educated, noblewoman and mother living in the city of Carthage in North Africa. Her mother was a Christian and her father was a pagan. In terms of her faith, Perpetua followed the example of her mother. Despite the pleas of her father to deny her faith, Perpetua did the very opposite, and fearlessly proclaimed it. At the age of 22, she was imprisoned for her faith. While in prison she continued to care for her infant child and put up with the tortures designed to make her renounce her faith. Perpetua remained steadfast until the end. St. Perpetua was sacrificed at the games as a public spectacle for not renouncing her faith.

St. Felicity was a pregnant slave girl who was imprisoned with St. Perpetua. Little is known about the life of St. Felicity because, unlike Perpetua, she did not keep a diary of her life. After imprisonment and torture, Felicity was also condemned to die at the games. Only a few days before her execution, Felicity gave birth to a daughter who was secretly taken away to be cared for by some of the Faithful.

A more detailed story of these two saints with the diary of St. Perpetua is can be read in The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas . 

An anime in honor of St. Perpetua was also created. Please watch. 

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ST. VERENA

During my highschool years in The Sisters of Mary School in Sta. Mesa Manila, we used to live in a dorm named after different saints. Some saints were familiar to me but some were not. Ours was unfamiliar to many. Our dorm was named after St. Verena. I didn't learn so much about her and today, I've decided to get familiarized with her. I will be happy to share this also to my former doormates. For sure, they will be glad too.

THE LIFE OF ST. VERENA

Feast Day: September 1

from Wikipedia

St. Verena

Verena is venerated as a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church, by the Roman Catholic Church, and by the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to tradition, she was associated with the Theban Legion and died on the 4th day of Thout(September 14).

Tradition states that she was brought up in the 3rd century in the Theban region (modern day Luxor in Upper Egypt) in a noble Christian family, who handed her over to Bishop Sherimon, Bishop of Beni Suef, who in turn taught her and baptized her as a Christian.

Travel to Switzerland [edit]

According to tradition, Saint Verena joined the Theban Legion in its mission to Rhaetia (part of modern day Switzerland) and was a relative of Saint Victor of the Theban Legion. The soldiers' relatives were allowed to accompany them in order to look after them and take care of their wounds.

When Saint Maurice, Saint Victor and the other members of the Theban Legion were martyred, Saint Verena led the life of a hermit. First, she settled in a place called Solothurn, but later moved into a cave near present-day Zurich. She comes from Garagous village, Qous, Qena, Egypt. As a hermit, Verena fasted and prayed continuously. According to tradition, she performed several miracles. Verena was particularly concerned over young girls and used to look after them spiritually and physically, due to her expertise as a nurse.

As a result of her fame, legend states that the local governor arrested her and sent her to jail, where Saint Maurice appeared to her to console and strengthen her. She was released from jail, and continued to perform miracles. Due to her, many converted to Christianity. Saint Verena was interested in serving the poor and used to offer them food. Moreover, she enjoyed serving the sick, especially those suffering from leprosy. She used to wash their wounds and put ointments on them, not fearing infection. She died at Switzerland.

Return of Part of relics to Egypt[edit]

In 1986, a delegation from Saint Verena’s Church in Switzerland, brought to Egypt a part of Saint Verena’s relics.

The first Coptic church consecrated in the name of Saint Verena is Saint Maurice and Saint Verena’s Church in Cairo, which was consecrated by HH Pope Shenouda III on February 22, 1994.

In October 2004, a delegation from Saint Verena's (Saint Mary & Saint Verena's) Coptic Church in Anaheim, California in the United States of America, along with His Grace Bishop Serapion of Los Angeles and Fr. Joseph Boules, traveled to Switzerland to bring a part of Saint Verena's relics to Anaheim. Her church in Anaheim now has a museum dedicated to her relics and artifacts.

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ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI - PATRON SAINT OF ANIMALS, MERCHANTS AND ECOLOGY

St. Francis is one of my favorite saint. I've learned about him when I was inside The Sisters of Mary . We watched movies about him and I've read so much of books about him. Some of them were The Life and Prayers of St. Francis , The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi , Canticle of the Sun . Make Me a Channel of Your Peace is one of his prayers which was made to a song. What I love about St. Francis life is his rejection of fame, glory and wealth and loving poverty instead. In this present world, it's difficult to find another man as he is. For you to know more about him as how I did, please read the story of his life.

THE LIFE OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

Feast Day: October 4

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St. Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d'Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco ("the Frenchman") by his father, 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226)  was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers followed by the early members of the Order of Friars Minor or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares. Though he was never ordained to the Catholic priesthood, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.

Francis' father was Pietro di Bernardone, a prosperous silk merchant. He lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life. On a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peter's Basilica. The experience moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon amassed a following. His Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became an enclosed religious order for women, as well as the Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance (commonly called the Third Order).

In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades. By this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order. Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas manger scene. In 1224, he received the stigmata, making him the first recorded person to bear the wounds of Christ's Passion. He died during the evening hours of October 3, 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 140.

On July 16, 1228, he was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX. He is known as the patron saint of animals, the environment, and is one of the two patron saints of Italy (with Catherine of Siena). It is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on hisfeast day of October 4. He is also known for his love of the Eucharist, his sorrow during the Stations of the Cross, and for the creation of the Christmas creche or Nativity Scene.

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ST. RITA OF CASCIA

Chin-Chin Gutierrez now a nun? Comments on yahoo are flooded with "is it possible for her? She's not a virgin." Although it is cleared she's really not a nun but an ecological lay worker and active in church ministry, I want to share a story of a saint who became nun though she's no longer a virgin. She's St. Rita of Cascia, a wife and a mother. 

The Story of St. Rita of Cascia - THE PATRON SAINT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE

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St. Rita also known as Margarita of Cascia and Rita La Abogada de Imposible

Feast Day - May 22

Rita was born in the year 1381 in the village of Roccaporena, near Cascia , Italy . Her parents, Antonio and Amata Lotti, considered her birth a very special gift from God, for Rita was born to them as they were already advancing in age. As a young girl Rita frequently visited the convent of the Augustinian Nuns in Cascia and dreamed of one day joining their community. Her parents, however, had promised her in marriage, according to the custom of the day, to Paolo Mancini, a good man of strong and impetuous character. Rita accepted her parents’ decision, resolved to see this as God’s will for her. 

The young couple was joined in marriage and soon twin boys were born to them. Rita found herself occupied with the typical concerns of a wife, mother, and homemaker of Roccaporena, while Paolo was employed as a watchman for the town. In Cascia, as elsewhere, a great rivalry existed between two popular political factions, the Guelphs, and the Ghibellines. As a minor official of the town, Paolo often found himself drawn into the conflict, and the strain that this caused probably accounts for the tension, which he sometimes brought into the Mancini household. By her prayer, patience, and affection, however, Rita was able to ease the stress and worry her husband experienced, but she was not able to shield him altogether from the dangers to which society exposed him.

One day as Paolo was returning home from work he was ambushed and killed. The pain which this unexpected and violent death inflicted upon Rita was only compounded by the fear she felt that her two teenage sons, moved by the unwritten law of the “vendetta,” would seek to avenge their father’s death. Rita’s only recourse was to prayer and persuasion. As it happened, the death of both boys from natural causes a short time later removed them from physical and spiritual danger. Despite her great burden she could still thank God that they had died in peace, free of the poison of murder to which hatred and revenge might have otherwise drawn them.

Now alone in the world and without family responsibilities, Rita once more turned her thoughts to the desired vocation of her youth, that of joining the Augustinian Nuns of Saint Mary Magdalene Monastery. Some of the religious of the community, however, were relatives of the members of the political faction considered responsible for Paolo’s death, and so as not to tempt the harmony of the convent, Rita’s request for admission was denied. Fortunately, she was not to be easily dissuaded from following what she knew to be God’s plan for her. She implored her three patron saints — John the Baptist, Augustine, and Nicholas of Tolentino to assist her, and she set about the task of establishing peace between the hostile parties of Cascia with such success that her entry into the monastery was assured.

At the age of thirty-six Rita pledged to follow the ancient Rule of Saint Augustine. For the next forty years she gave herself wholeheartedly to prayer and works of charity, striving especially to preserve peace and harmony among the citizens of Cascia. With a pure love she wanted more and more to be intimately joined to the redemptive suffering of Jesus, and this desire of hers was satisfied in an extraordinary way. One day when she was about sixty years of age, she was meditating before an image of Christ crucified, as she was long accustomed to doing. Suddenly a small wound appeared on her forehead, as though a thorn from the crown that encircled Christ’s head had loosed itself and penetrated her own flesh. For the next fifteen years she bore this external sign of stigmatization and union with the Lord. In spite of the pain she constantly experienced, she offered herself courageously for the physical and spiritual well being of others. During the last four years of her life Rita was confined to bed and was able to eat so little that she was practically sustained on the Eucharist alone. She was, nevertheless, an inspiration to her sisters in religion and to all who came to visit her, by her patience and joyful disposition despite her great suffering.

One of those who visited her some few months before her death — a relative from her hometown of Roccaporena — was privileged to witness firsthand the extraordinary things wrought by Rita’s requests. When asked whether she had any special desires, Rita asked only that a rose from the garden of her parents’ home be brought to her. It was a small favor to ask, but quite an impossible one to grant in the month of January! Nevertheless, on returning home the woman discovered, to her amazement, a single brightly-colored blossom on the bush where the nun said it would be. Picking it, she returned immediately to the monastery and presented it to Rita who gave thanks to God for this sign of love. Thus, the saint of the thorn became the saint of the rose, and she whose impossible requests were granted her became the advocate of all those whose own requests seem impossible as well. As she breathed her last, Rita’s final words to the sisters who gathered around her were, “Remain in the holy love of Jesus. Remain in obedience to the holy Roman Church. Remain in peace and fraternal charity.”

Having faithfully and lovingly responded to God’s many invitations to her in the course of her seventy-six years, Rita returned to God in peace on May 22, 1457. Her body, which has remained incorrupt over the centuries, is venerated today in the shrine of Cascia, which bears her name. Her feast is observed on the anniversary of her death, 22 May.

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