From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
June 16th =E2=80=93 St. John Francis Regis, missionary
Saint John Francis Regis was born at Fontcouverte in Languedoc, in
January 1597, of a noble Catholic family. From his tenderest years he
showed evidence of uncommon sanctity by his innocence of life,
modesty, and love of prayer; when he was five years old he fainted
when he heard his mother speak of the terrible misfortune of being
eternally damned. After being educated by the Jesuits, when he was
nineteen years old he decided, with the approbation of his confessor,
to enter the Society of Jesus at Toulouse. There he was viewed as a
model of every virtue, and was called the Angel of the College. He was
sent in 1628 to study theology in Toulouse, and ordained a priest in
1630. His first ministry in Toulouse was for the victims of the
plague. His superiors feared to expose his youth to the contagion, but
he pleaded successfully to be allowed to do so, and God spared His
servant for future labors. He was sent to visit his family for a time,
and began in Fontcouverte to occupy himself first of all with the
poor. The numerous conversions effected there made his Superiors
decide to assign their young Saint to the mission lands of France.
He began his apostolic work in Montpellier, and spent himself in
preaching to the unlettered people of Languedoc and Auvergne; in these
regions where heresy had made serious inroads, he made many converts
among the Huguenots. He established an association of women to procure
aid for prisoners, and founded numerous confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament. The winters he spent in the missions of the mountainous
districts, where the people were seen to travel long miles on foot
through the snows and across ice, to hear the servant of God and make
their confessions. Many of them accompanied him on his journeys from
one place to another, leaving all things to hear him. Some fragments
of his torn cloak, which a charitable lady repaired for him one day,
cured her two sick children. The reputation of the sanctity of the
missionary spread everywhere in the mountains.
During the summer he preached in Le Puy, which soon changed its aspect
by his catechisms. Up to 5000 listeners crowded in to hear
him at the church of the Benedictines of Saint-Pierre-le-Moustiers. He
visited hospitals and prisons, preached and instructed, and assisted
all who in any way stood in need of his services.
In November of 1637 the Saint set out for his second mission at
Marthes in the mountains. His road lay across valleys filled with snow
and over frozen and precipitous peaks. In climbing one of the highest,
a bush to which he was clinging gave way, and he broke his leg in the
fall; nonetheless, with the help of his companion and a staff, he
managed to continue his journey for the remaining six miles. Then,
instead of seeing a surgeon, he insisted on being taken straight to
the confessional. After several hours, the parish priest found him
still seated, and when his leg was finally examined the fracture was
found to be miraculously healed.
Saint John Francis was so inflamed with the love of God that he seemed
to breathe, think, and speak of Him alone. He offered up the Holy
Sacrifice with such attention and fervor that those who attended it
could not but experience with him something of the fire consuming him.
After twelve years of unceasing labor, having taken a wrong turn on a
strange road, and having remained for the night in a cabin open to the
wind, he contracted a severe pleurisy and rendered his pure and
innocent soul to his Creator at the age of forty-four. He was mourned,
invoked for assistance and then venerated as a miracle-working Saint;
his place of sepulcher at Louvesc in the mountains is still the site
of fervent pilgrimages. He was canonized by Pope Clement XII in 1737.
The Cur=C3=A9 of Ars obtained a famous miracle with a medal of our Saint.
The orphanage of Ars had no more grain for bread, and the harvest had
been so scanty the people could not be asked for any more aid. The
Cur=C3=A9 of Ars put a medal of Saint John Francis behind the door of the
empty storeroom, and the next day they could scarcely open that door,
so full had the room become overnight.
Reflection. When Saint John Francis was struck in the face by a sinner
he was reproving, he replied, =E2=80=9CIf you only knew me, you would give =
me
much more than that.=E2=80=9D His gentleness converted the man. How much mi= ght
we do if we would forget our own wants to remember those of others,
and put our trust in God!
Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler's Lives of the Saints, and other sources
Saint Quote
When we pray, the voice of the heart must be heard more than that
proceeding from the mouth.
--St Bonaventure
Bible quote:
If you will be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the
poor... and come, follow Me. (Matthew 19:21)
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A Prayer to Mary, the Star of the Sea
"She is the star, the sign of help and of joy."
--St. Ephrem
Ave Maria! thou Virgin and Mother,
Fondly thy children are calling on thee;
Thine are the graces, unclaimed by another,
Sinless and beautiful--Star of the Sea.
Ave Maria! thy children are kneeling--
Words of endearment are whispered to thee;
Softly thy spirit upon us is stealing,
Sinless and beautiful--Star of the Sea.
Ave Maria! the night shades are falling,
Softly our voices arise unto thee;
Earth's lonely exiles for succour are calling,
Sinless and beautiful--Star of the Sea.
Ave Maria! thy arms are extending,
Gladly within them for shelter we flee;
Are thy sweet eyes, on thy lonely ones bending?
Sinless and beautiful--Star of the Sea.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)