• January 22nd - St. Vincent Pallotti

    From rich@1:396/4 to All on Sun Jan 21 09:04:29 2018
    From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

    January 22nd - St. Vincent Pallotti
    1795-1850

    SS. Peter and Paul are accounted Rome's first apostles. St. Philip
    Neri (1515-1595) is called the =E2=80=9Csecond apostle=E2=80=9D of the Eter= nal City.
    St. Vincent Pallotti, who worked in Rome in the 1800s, is reckoned its
    19th century apostle, because of what he did to revive its faith.

    Vincenzo's father was a prosperous grocer of noble lineage. The boy
    did not do too well when he began grammar school. His teacher said of
    him, =E2=80=9CHe's a little saint, but a bit thickheaded.=E2=80=9D =
    However, he matured
    rapidly enough to be ordained a year early. Soon he won his doctor'=
    s
    degree in theology and became assistant professor at the Sapienza
    University in Rome.

    Vincenzo was not called, though, to full-time academic work. He was a
    born shepherd of souls. So he eventually resigned his professorship in
    order to engage solely in pastoral work. In this, he had the
    encouragement of St. Gaspar Del Bufalo and the English priest (and
    future Cardinal) Nicholas Wiseman.

    What did Vincent do to save souls? Everything he saw necessary. He was appointed pastor of the Neapolitan Church in Rome (and there for ten
    years he endured without complaint the petty persecution of the other
    priests on the staff who were jealous of him and his zeal). He served
    as confessor at several Roman colleges and monasteries. (One of the
    monasteries was the Visitation Convent of Our Lady of Humility, which
    would eventually be occupied by the North American College.) He was
    always in pursuit of sinners as an exorcist or confessor. Once he
    dressed up as an old woman in order to get to the bedside of a dying
    man who had a gun under his pillow and threatened to shoot the first
    priest who tried to approach him. He was, meanwhile, devoted to the
    poor, giving away his shoes and his clothing; and more than once he
    gave away his bed! (He used a bed very little anyhow, because he spent
    long night hours at prayer.) He was, meanwhile, gifted with insight
    into souls and often healed the sick.

    Not content with the present, St. Vincent also built for the future.
    He organized schools for shoemakers, tailors, coachmen, joiners, and
    market gardeners. He started night schools for craftsmen. But he also
    took an ecumenical view. In 1836, for instance, he inaugurated an
    epiphany octave of liturgies in the various Eastern rites. Here,
    prayers were offered (and still are) for the reunion of the Eastern
    churches with the Holy See.

    In 1835 Vincent founded a religious missionary order, the Society of
    Catholic Apostolate, better known as the Pallottines. They were not to
    be hermits, he said, but apostles to the wide world. =E2=80=9CHoliness,=E2= =80=9D he
    told them, =E2=80=9Cis simply to do God's will.=E2=80=9D This world=
    wide order also
    gave rise to the Pallottine Missionary Sisters (1843). Both the
    Italian and the German branch of the Pallottine Fathers are
    represented in the United States, where they originally worked among
    German and Italian immigrants. St. Vincent, likewise, inspired the
    foundation of an English Catholic missionary order, the Mill Hill
    Fathers, which, in time, gave rise to an American order devoted to the Apostolate of the Blacks, the Josephite Fathers.

    Hailed as a saint when he died, Vincent Pallotti was beatified in
    1950, on his 100th birthday, and canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1963.
    As a prominent cardinal once said of St. Vincent, =E2=80=9CHe did all he
    could; as for what he couldn't do--well, he did that, too.=E2=80=9D =E2=80=93Father Robert


    Saint Quote:
    We must give ourselves to God altogether; God makes all His own the
    soul that is wholly given to Him.
    --St. Philip Neri

    Bible Quote:
    And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his Angels battle
    with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and they did
    not prevail, neither was their place found any more in heaven
    [Apocalypse 12, 7-8] DR


    <><><><>
    Angels--Their Queen

    Far above Cherubim or Seraphim, very near the Throne of God Himself,
    Mary sits enthroned. In her are combined the burning love of the
    Seraphim, the knowledge of the Cherubim, the majesty of the Thrones,
    the authority of the Dominations. She rules them all in virtue of the
    higher perfection of her soul in the order of grace. If they are so
    exceedingly beautiful, what must she be? If they are so full of tender
    love for man, how much more must she overflow with love and mercy?

    What is it that exalts Mary before them all? Not merely her obedience
    to the will of God, for this has always characterized them all, but
    her obedience in circumstances the most trying, amid suffering the
    most intense. She approached in her Compassion most nearly to the
    Passion of her Son. None save He ever surpassed her in suffering. She
    was the Queen of Martyrs, and therefore is the Queen of Angels. Thus
    it is that she has earned a more excellent reward than they. Hence
    learn to value suffering for God's sake.

    There was yet another reason for Mary's exaltation. She was more
    closely united in body and soul to her Divine Son and God than any of
    the Holy Angels. When we receive Holy Communion, we are as closely
    united to Our Lord as is possible for mortal man. O Jesus! unite me
    more and more to Thee, that I may receive more copious graces from Thy
    Sacred Heart
    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)