From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
May 23rd - St. Joan Antida Thouret
Born on November 27, 1765 in the Sancey-le-Long in the Doubs
department in France, Jeanne Antide Thouret was the fifth child of a
family of eight. When she was just 15 years old, her mother died
leaving the responsibility of maintaining to Jeanne Antide.
As a young girls she searched for a way that would give meaning to her
life and believed that it was important to respond to God's will for
her. At 22 she left her home and joined the Daughters of Charity, a congregation at the service of the poor founded by St. Vincent de Paul
in Paris.
In 1793, when the French Revolution was at its height, all religious congregations were banned and Jeanne Antide was forced to leave the
Daughters of Charity. She returned to her home knowing that she would
carry on what she had learned from St. Vincent de Paul. She cared for
the sick, the wounded, and the poor -- all of which grew numerous
during the chaos of the French Revolution. Jeanne Antide also taught
the children, helped the priests who were forced to hide, and gathered Christians in prayer.
Because of her desire to commit herself to Christ and to her religious vocation, Jeanne Antide fled France and escaped to Switzerland to join
a different religious itinerant community where she cared for the
sick. With them she traveled across Switzerland and Germany.
When she decided to return to France she did so on foot, alone,
without a passport and through unknown places at the risk of her own
life. Jeanne Antide passed through Einsiedeln and reached the village
of Landeron in Switzerland. It was there the representatives from the
dioceses of Besan=C3=A7on, also in exile, made a request of her to continue
on to France and take in young girls who she should train in the same
way she was trained. With these girls Jeanne Antide returned to
Besan=C3=A7on, France to teach children and to care for the sick. She
accepted this request and in 1799 she opened a school, a dispensary,
and a soup kitchen for the poor in Besan=C3=A7on. She had founded a new congregation.
In 1810 Jeanne Antide was called to Naples. There she and a group of
sisters faced working in a very hierachial social system where the
wealthy never encountered the poor. Jeanne Antide was in charge of the
Hospital of the Incurable, the largest hospital in the city. The
sisters often visited the poor and sick in their homes.
In 1819, the Pope approved the Rule of Life, a book she used to
organize her congregation and the life of the women who had followed
her. In fact, the Rule of Life is still used today by the Sisters of
Charity of St. Joan Antida. Jeanne Antide died in Naples in 1826.
In 1934, she was canonized by Pope Pius IX.
Reflection:
=C2 Endeavor so to act as you would wish to have acted when you stand
before the Judge of your eternity. This is the rule of the Saints, and
the only safe rule for all.
Saint Quote:
"Jesus, crucified for me, with the nails of Your love fasten my whole
self to You."
--Berardino of Siena.
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This is what the wedding garment is.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, says the apostle, but
have not love, I am nothing but a booming gong or a clashing cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy, if I have all knowledge and understand
all mysteries, if I have faith strong enough to move mountains, but
have not love, I am nothing. In other words, even with all these gifts
I am nothing without Christ. Does that mean that prophecy has no value
and that knowledge of mysteries is worthless? No, they are not
worthless but I am, if I possess them but have not love. But can the
lack of one good thing rob so many others of their value? Yes, without
love my confession of the name of Christ even by shedding my blood or
offering my body to be burnt will avail me nothing, for I may do this
out of a desire for glory. That such things can be endured for the
sake of empty show without any real love for God the apostle also
declares. Listen to him: If I give away all I have to the poor, if I
hand over my body to be burnt, but have not love, it will avail me
nothing. So this is what the wedding garment is. Examine yourselves to
see whether you possess it. If you do, your place at the Lord's table
is secure.
=C2 --Augustine of Hippo
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