From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
August 9th - Bl. John of Salerno
John Guarna was born at Salerno about 1190. While studying at Bologna
he met St. Dominic; they were mutually attracted one to the other, and
John received the habit of the new order. In 1219 thirteen friars
were sent to preach in Etruria and of these, though he was easily the
youngest, John of Salerno was made superior. A house was given them
at Ripoli, near Florence, from whence they went out to the whole
neighbourhood, but particularly to Florence itself, where John every
day preached in the streets and sought the sheep that were lost.=C2 This arrangement was soon found to be too inconvenient and wasteful of
time, and the community moved to San Pancrazio, adjoining the walls of
the city.
=C2 =C2 Here Bl. John had a trying experience with a young woman of undisciplined desires who had given herself up to a passion for him.
She pretended she was ill, went to bed, and sent for Brother John to
hear her confession; the friar went at once, only to discover his
"penitent" taking brazen advantage of their being alone. He rebuked
the girl severely and tried to bring her to reason but she took no
notice, so he could only go away and leave her. But he did not forget
her, and his prayers eventually brought the girl to repentance towards
God and humble apology to himself. This incident is said to have been
made public in the following way. A possessed woman was being
exorcised by a priest when the evil spirit, speaking by her mouth,
exclaimed, "Only he who was unburned in the fire can drive me out!"
He was adjured to explain who and what he meant, and he named the
prior of the Dominicans and told the story; Bl. John was sent for and
the woman was freed.
=C2 =C2 He had the gift of reading minds and consciences, and would
sometimes abash or enlighten a penitent or one of his subjects by his
knowledge of them.=C2 In 1221 he found his community turned out of the
church in which they had been wont to sing the Divine Office; he soon established them at Santa Maria Novella, whose famous present church
was begun fifty years later. Florence was troubled at this time by the Patarines, a sect which had penetrated into Italy from Bosnia; Pope
Gregory IX. commissioned Bl. John to deal with these heretics, whose
tenets and life were similar to those of the Albigensians who had
first exercised St. Dominic.=C2 They were indignant at his campaign but
he refused to be intimidated by their threats or ruffled by their
insults, and succeeded in bringing numbers back to the Church and to a Christian life.
=C2 =C2 While he lay dying Bl. John reminded his brethren that no acti=
on
requires so much care, devotion and purity as the reception of holy communion.=C2 His cultus was approved in 1783.
A life by John Caroli has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum,
September, vol. iii, but with lacunae, which in the Analecta
Bollandiana, vol. vii (1888), pp. 85-94, have been made good from a
recovered copy of the text.=C2 Mortier speaks of Bl. John in his
Histoire des ma=C3=AEtre, g=C3=A9n=C3=A9raux O.P., vol. i, pp. 106 seq.=C2=
See also
Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 326-228.=C2 A fuller
bibliography is supplied in Taurisano, p. 11.
Saint Quote:
To suffer and to be happy although suffering, to have one's feet on
the earth, to walk on the dirty and rough paths of this earth and yet
to be enthroned with Christ at the Father's right hand, to laugh and
cry with the children of this world and ceaselessly sing the praises
of God with the choirs of angels--this is the life of the Christian
until the morning of eternity breaks forth.
--St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Reflection:
=C2 =E2=80=9CCompunction of heart,=E2=80=9D says Saint Bernard, =E2=80=9C=
is a treasure infinitely
to be desired, and an unspeakable gladness to the heart. It is healing
to the soul; it is remission of sins; it brings back the Holy Spirit
into the humble and loving heart.=E2=80=9D
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Love follows knowledge of the good
=C2 =C2 The prophets had a clearer knowledge of God, just as the splen=
dor
of sunrise surpasses that of dawn and the first half-light of day.
They knew God as the supreme being, eternal, self-subsistent,
infinite, the sole origin of all things. Unlike the philosophers,
however, they knew him to be the source not only of nature but of
grace as well, and the ruler not only of the world but also of the
people of God. They knew him as Lord, the most holy, just, good, and
great king and judge, of infinite power, wisdom, benevolence, mercy,
justice, and love. Yet they had no clear knowledge that God is both
one and three, that he is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
=C2 =C2 It is our privilege that God has revealed to us this divine, incomprehensible, and ineffable mystery, and given us sublime
knowledge of himself so that we should love him with the highest, most
perfect kind of love. For just as warmth follows the light of the sun,
so love follows knowledge of the good. An unknown good cannot possibly
be loved, but a known good is loved in proportion to its goodness and
our knowledge of it. Now God is infinitely good, he is all goodness,
just as the sun is all light and fire is all heat.
--Lawrence of Brindisi
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