From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
September 9th - Saint Peter Claver, Jesuit Missionary
(1580-1654)
If anyone wonders what exactly it is that constitutes a Saint, he has
only to read the life of Saint Peter Claver, in whom the superhuman
life of grace acted so visibly as to create a person who seemed more
than a man. This holy Jesuit, born in Spain in 1580, was during his
novitiate a disciple of Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez, =E2=80=9Cthe holy porter=
of
Majorca=E2=80=9D, a humble lay-brother endowed with the highest gifts of contemplation and prophecy. The two would eventually be canonized
together by Pope Leo XIII in 1888, thus cementing the perfect union
which began on earth and certainly continues in heaven. Saint
Alphonsus, when he saw the novice for the first time, was inspired to
kiss his feet; and the novice embraced his spiritual father with a
tenderness which would increase with time. A little later, the
preceptor learned from a vision that this novice was destined to save
a multitude of souls in the New World; he said to Peter: =E2=80=9CHow many peoples go astray for lack of ministers! The fatigue of going to seek
them out is dreaded, but not the danger and crime which it is to
abandon them!=E2=80=9D Eventually Saint Alphonsus revealed his divinely revealed calling to him, to inspire in him an active desire to respond
to the explicit Will of God.
After eight years of study and apostolic preparation in Spain, Saint
Peter asked to go to the Jesuit missions of the Western Indies, and
was sent to Carthagena in Colombia, South America, when he was 30
years old. He was assigned to accompany an elderly priest who had
undertaken a ministry of service to the poor Africans brought to be
sold in the market of that city. These poor strangers spoke several
languages but shared a common misery, which Saint Peter soon saw
clearly. When the holds of the boats were opened, =E2=80=9Call one beheld w=
as
a confused mass of men, women, children and old men, sick persons
mingled with healthy ones, and often, alas! living beings next to
cadavers, for the crossing made victims.=E2=80=9D The elderly forerunner of Peter, when about to retire, asked that the objects of his care be
definitively confided to Peter Claver, a petition willingly granted.
Thus began 44 years of unceasing dedication to their spiritual and
material betterment by Saint Peter. He watched for the arrival of the
slave ships, which brought from 10 to 12,000 souls each year, and
never failed to be the first to go aboard, accompanied by his
interpreters and carrying the provisions he had been able to beg. He
greeted the living, arranged for the burial of the dead and the
transport of the sick to hospitals. Having won their sympathy, he went
to them regularly with his interpreters and taught them, during
several hours' time, the elements of doctrine, aided by pictures.
Before he died, he had baptized 400,000. He put around the necks of
each newly baptized child of God, a medal which would thereafter
distinguish the Christians from the yet untaught.
Though this was his principal industry, he also spent many days in the
nearby lazaretto--a refuge for lepers--and in the hospitals of the
region. No infirmity repelled him; the Brother who accompanied him had
several times a day to clean his cloak, on which he would lay the sick
while he arranged their poor beds. It never ceased to emit a heavenly fragrance. He slept only two or three hours at night, and ate almost
nothing. The poor were his beloved children and he their beloved
father, whose visits were anxiously awaited and were always too short.
Those who resisted him did not do so indefinitely; one man insulted
him for twenty-two years, but at the end of that time fell on his
knees and begged his pardon. The vision of his charity is certainly
reserved for heaven; his biographers scarcely find words adequate to
describe his heroic life. Pope Pius IX, who beatified Saint Peter in
1851, commented that never had he read a life of a Saint which so
moved him.
After Saint Peter contracted the plague in his declining years, he was
left infirm and partially paralyzed. He then had himself tied to a
donkey and in that way went about begging and distributing provisions.
He had a rude servant who often neglected him and mistreated him, but
when his brethren offered him another, asked to be allowed to keep
that one, who treated him far better than he deserved. Two years after
his death at the age of 74, his body was found intact, despite the
humidity of the burial site and the live caustic covering it. Miracles proliferated there and elsewhere by the invocation of his name. A
large church was built in Carthagena in his honor, and he became the
2nd patron of his adopted land, Colombia.
Source: Vie abr=C3=A9g=C3=A9e de Saint Pierre Claver, J=C3=A9suite, l=E2=80= =99Ap=C3=B4tre de
Carthag=C3=A8ne, by a priest of the diocese of Montreal, 1925.
Saint Quote:
To love God as He ought to be loved, we must be detached from all
temporal love. We must love nothing but Him, or if we love anything
else, we must love it only for His sake.
--Saint Peter Claver
Bible Quote:
In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another; in
honor preferring one another;=C2 in diligence not slothful; fervent in
spirit; serving the Lord;=C2 rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in prayer; communicating to the necessities of
the saints; given to hospitality. Bless them that persecute you;
bless, and curse not.=C2 (Rom. 12:10) DRB
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Most Holy Virgin, My Consolation
By St Germanus (c 490-576)
Most Holy Virgin!
Who are the greatest consolation
that I receive from God,
you who art the heavenly dew
which assuages all my pains,
you who are the light of my soul
when it is enveloped in darkness,
you who are my guide in unknown paths,
the support of my weakness,
my treasure in poverty,
my remedy in sickness,
my consolation in trouble,
my refuge in misery,
and the hope of my salvation,
hear my supplications,
have pity on me,
as becomes the Mother of so good a God
and obtain for me a favourable reception
of all my petitions at the throne of mercy.
Amen
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)