• March 10th - Bl. Peter Geremia

    From rich@1:396/4 to All on Sat Mar 9 08:04:05 2019
    From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

    March 10th - Bl. Peter Geremia
    d. 1452

    THE life of this holy man was written by one of his brethren who knew
    him well and had lived with him in the same friary. Born in Palermo,
    Peter was the son of a jurist and fiscal agent to King Alfonso I and
    at the age of eighteen was sent to the University of Bologna to study
    law with a view to succeeding to his father's office. There he made
    such progress that he was often called upon to take the chair of the
    professor when the latter was prevented from delivering his lectures.
    Peter was on the eve of taking his degree when he had a strange
    experience which he ever afterwards looked upon as a supernatural interposition. He was sitting one evening in his room, buried in
    study, when he was disturbed by loud and persistent rapping on his window--which was on the third story. Startled, he inquired who the
    unseen visitor could be and what he wanted. =E2=80=9CI am your cousin=E2=80= =9D,
    replied a voice.=C2 =E2=80=9CAfter I had taken my degree, I also was cal=
    led to
    the bar where, as you know, I gained honour and distinction. Blind and miserable wretch that I was, I spent my whole time in defence of
    others, and I even, against my conscience, undertook unjust cases in
    order to obtain money and fame. I found no one to plead my own case
    before the judgement-seat of God, and I am now condemned to
    everlasting torment. But before I am cast into Hell I am sent to warn
    you to flee from the courts of men if you wish to be acquitted before
    the judgement-seat of God.=E2=80=9D

    Peter lost no time in acting upon the warning. Then and there he took
    a vow of perpetual chastity, and the next morning he bought an iron
    chain which he wound 3 times round his body and riveted there, This
    was found embedded in his flesh fifty-one years later when his body
    was being prepared for burial. He then obtained admission into the
    Dominican convent at Bologna. When news of this reached the ears of
    his father he was greatly incensed and travelled to Bologna, intending
    to remove the novice by force and compel him to complete his legal
    studies. Peter refused to see his parent, but sent a message saying
    that he was well and needed nothing that his relations could give him
    except their prayers. Whilst the father raged and threatened, the
    young man was asking as a special grace that he might neither be
    unfaithful to his vocation nor forfeit the love of his parents, to
    whom he was greatly attached. When an interview was at last arranged,
    the father was completely softened and gave Peter his blessing.

    After he was raised to the priesthood he became a celebrated preacher
    and brought many to repentance and newness of life. St. Vincent Ferrer
    when he visited Bologna sought him out to congratulate him on the work
    he was doing and to urge him to continue labours which God had so
    wonderfully blessed. Summoned as a theologian to the Council of
    Florence, Bl. Peter found his learning and eloquence greatly extolled
    by Pope Eugenius IV, who wished to raise him to high ecclesiastical
    honours. He declined all preferment, but was obliged to accept the
    post of apostolic visitor in Sicily, though he stipulated that his
    powers should be limited to the restoration of regular observance in
    religious houses where irregularities had crept in during the Great
    Schism. In this delicate task he was entirely successful, and his
    preaching to the people was no less popular than in Italy. He died at
    Palermo in 1452, and his cultus was confirmed in 1784.

    A picturesque story is told of Bl. Peter when he was prior of Palermo.
    One day the procurator told him that there was no food in the house.
    It was a Friday, and the prior, knowing that a fisherman in the
    neighbourhood had had a good haul of tunny, took boat and went to beg
    a few of the fish for his brethren. The man refused roughly. Peter
    said nothing and started back in his boat, when lo! all the fish broke
    through the nets and were escaping out to sea. The fisherman, aghast,
    followed in pursuit of Peter and besought pardon. He made the sign of
    the cross over the sea, and thereupon the fish again became entangled
    in the nets, and the man eagerly bestowed on the prior as much fish as
    he needed.

    See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i; Taurisano, Catalogus
    Hagiographicus O.P. p. 38; Mortier, Ma=C3=AEtres G=C3=A9n=C3=A9raux O.P., v= ol. iv,
    pp. 152-212 and M. A. Coniglione, Pietro Geremia (1952).


    Saint Quote:
    And even if the sins of soul are as dark as night, when the sinner
    turns to My mercy he gives Me the greatest praise and is the glory of
    My Passion. (378)
    --St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in my Soul

    Bible Quote:
    =C2 "Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start?=C2=
    Is
    it not precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves?=C2 You
    want something and you lack it; so you kill.=C2 You have an ambition
    that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force.=C2 It is because you do not pray that you do not receive; when you do pray and
    do not receive, it is because you prayed wrongly, wanting to indulge
    your passions."=C2 =C2 [James 4:1-3]


    <><><><>
    Prayer To Mary Consoler of the Afflicted

    O Immaculate Mary, Dear Mother, Consoler, I take refuge in
    your most lovable Heart with all the trust of which I am capable.
    You shall be dearest object of my love and my veneration.

    From you, the dispenser of heavenly treasures, I shall always
    seek peace in my troubles, light in my doubts, defence in my
    dangers, help in my needs.

    Be therefore my refuge, my strength,
    my consolation O Mary Consoler.

    At the hour of my death, graciously receive the last beats of my heart,
    and obtain for me a place in that heavenly country, where as one,
    all hearts shall praise forever the adorable Heart of Jesus,
    with your most lovable Heart, O Mary, my Mother.

    Consoler of the Afflicted, pray for us, who have recourse to you.

    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)