MEMORIAL OF SAINT FRANCIS OF PAOLA, HERMIT AND SAINT MARY OF EGYPT, HERMITESS – FEAST DAY: APRIL 2ND : Today we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Francis of Paola, Hermit, who was named Patron of Italian seamen in 1943 by Pope Pius XII because many of the miracles attributed to him were related to the sea. (He’s the Patron Saint of Calabria; Amato; La Chorrera, Panama; boatmen, mariners, and naval officers) and Saint Mary of Egypt, Hermitess, known for her conversion and dedication of her life to God, she is seen as a model of repentance. She’s the Patron Saint of Chastity (warfare against the flesh; deliverance from carnal passions); Demons (deliverance from); Fever; Skin diseases; Temptations of the flesh. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints on this feast day, as we begin Holy Week, we humbly pray for the Church and the Clergy, we pray for their protection, safety and well-being, especially during these incredibly challenging times. May the Lord preserve the members of the Navy, Marines and all sailors from all harm and dangers of the sea, and from the violence of the enemy and we pray for the conversion of sinners and deliverance from evil … Amen🙏

Saint Francis of Paola, you lived an integrated life deeply united to God, nature, and your fellow man. Intercede before the Trinity in heaven on our behalf, assisting us to grow closer to God through death to self, through prayer and through a deep attachment to Christ. Amen🙏

“Fix your minds on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Inflamed with love for us, He came down from heaven to redeem us.
For our sake He endured every torment of body and soul and shrank from no bodily pain. He Himself gave us an example of perfect patience and love. We, then, are to be patient in adversity.” ~ St. Francis of Paola, Hermit.

SAINT FRANCIS OF PAOLA, HERMIT: St. Francis of Paola (1416-1507) was born about the year 1416, at Paola, a small city Calabria Italy. His parents were very poor, but virtuous and known for their holiness. After suffering childlessness for many years, his parents had recourse to prayer, especially the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi. They eventually had three children, and the eldest, Francis, was named after St. Francis in thanksgiving for his birth. Francis of Paola grew in sanctity, and after having a vision of St. Francis he spent a year in a Franciscan convent to fulfill a vow his parents had made to the saint. After his time there, he returned to his parents and accompanied them on a pilgrimage to Assisi. Upon returning home, Francis retired to a private spot on his parents’ estate to live as a hermit. He later moved his dwelling to a lonely cave by the seashore, living there in prayer, solitude, and mortification for six years. Disciples gradually came to him to imitate his manner of life, so many that St. Francis of Paola, with the permission of his bishop, built a monastery and church to accommodate them. He later obtained permission from the Holy See to found a new religious order called the Minims, or “The Least,” as they were to live hidden lives of poverty, abstinence, and humility. The Minim Order, is a branch of the Franciscans (1454). These “Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi” dwelt in small houses, and as “least” brethren, endeavored to live a more austere and humble life than the “Fratres Minores.”  Pope Sixtus IV sent him to France to help Louis XI on his deathbed. St. Francis traveled to France taking with him his nephew Nicholas, whom he had raised from the dead. There, the notoriously power-hungry King Louis XI was approaching the point of death himself, and hoped that St. Francis would perform a miracle and restore his health. St. Francis told the king bluntly that he should not fear the end of his earthly life, but the loss of eternal life. From that time, the hermit became a close spiritual adviser to the king. He discussed the reality of death and eternity with him, and urged him to surrender his heart and soul to God before it was too late. St. Francis of Paola stood high in the esteem of the French king, Louis XI, whom he helped prepare for death. The king died in Francis’ arms in 1483. King Louis XI’s son and successor, Charles VIII, maintained the monk, St. Francis as a close adviser, in spiritual and even political affairs. Nonetheless, Francis persisted in following the monastic rule he had developed while living in his hermitage outside of Paola. He continued as superior general of the Minim order, he remained there and founded new monasteries, house of his Minims at Tours in France.

St. Francis of Paola became famous and was sought out by others for his prophecies and miracles. The saint worked numerous miracles. He had a favorite ejaculation, one that welled up from the depths of his physical and spiritual being: “Out of love.” This was an all-powerful ejaculation for him and for his companions. “Out of love” the heaviest stone was light; “Out of love” he admonished and punished; “Out of love” he once crossed the sea without a boat. For on a certain occasion the saint wanted to go from the Italian mainland to Sicily. A boat was lying in the harbor. St. Francis asked the owner if he would take him and his companion along on the boat. “If you pay, monk,” the sailor answered sulkily, “I will take you along.” “Out of love,” the saint humbly pleaded; “for I have no money with me.” “Then I have no ship for you,” came the mocking reply. “Out of love,” was St. Francis’ answer, “forgive me if I go away.” He walked about a stone’s throw to the shore, knelt down, and blessed the sea. Then, to the sailor’s great surprise, the saint suddenly stood up, stepped out on the tossing waves, and with firm foot trod over the surging sea. St. Francis sensed that his death was approaching at the age of 91, and returned to living in complete solitude for three months to prepare himself. When he emerged, he gathered a group of the Minim brothers and gave them final instructions for the future of the order. He fell sick on Palm Sunday, 1507 and after receiving Last Rites, received Holy Communion and died while the Passion of Christ was read to him aloud. St. Francis of Paola died on April 2, Good Friday of 1507. Pope Leo X canonized St. Francis of Paola 12 years after his death, in 1519. Although the Minim order lost many of its monasteries in the 18th century during the French Revolution, it continues to exist, primarily in Italy. His feast day is April 2 and he’s the Saint Patron against fire; boatmen; Calabria, Italy (named by Pope John XXIII in 1963); mariners; naval officers; plague epidemics; sailors; sterility; travellers; watermen, Amato; La Chorrera, Panama.

PRAYER: God, the exultation of the humble, You raised St. Francis to the glory of Your Saints. Through his merits and example, grant that we may happily obtain the rewards promised to the humble. Amen. Saint Francis of Paola … pray for us🙏
 
SAINT MARY OF EGYPT, HERMITESS: Saint Mary of Egypt (344-421) story demonstrates the power of the Church as the home of forgiveness, redemption and mercy. St. Mary of Egypt is known for her conversion and dedication of her life to God, she is seen as a model of repentance. St. Mary of Egypt was a prostitute for 17 years before she received the Eucharist and chose the life of a hermit. Born in 344 A.D., St. Mary of Egypt moved to the city of Alexandria at the tender age of twelve, she left her father’s house that she might be without restraint in her life of debauchery, which she pursued for seventeen years at Alexandria. With the intention of continuing her trade of prostitution, she joined a large group that was making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. On the feast day itself, she joined the crowd as it was headed to the church in order to venerate the relic of the True Cross, again with the intention of luring others into sin. When she got to the door of the church, she was unable to enter. A miraculous force propelled her away from the door each time she approached. After trying to get in three or four times, St. Mary of Egypt moved to a corner of the churchyard and began to cry tears of remorse. Then she saw a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She prayed to the Holy Mother for permission to enter the church for the purposes of venerating the relic. She promised the Virgin Mother that if she were allowed to enter the church, she would renounce the world and its ways. St. Mary of Egypt entered the church, venerated the relic and returned to the statue outside to pray for guidance. She heard a voice telling her to cross the Jordan River and find rest. She set out and in the evening, she arrived at the Jordan and received communion in a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

The next day, she crossed the river and went into the desert east of Palestine, where she lived alone for 47 years, not seeing a single human being and beset by all kinds of temptations, which were mitigated by her prayers to the Blessed Virgin. Then, while making his Lenten retreat, a priest named Zosimus found the hermitess and was impressed by her spiritual knowledge and wisdom. She told him that for seventeen years she was a singer and actress who had sinned and was doing penance in the desert. She said the old songs and scenes had haunted her; but since then she had had perfect peace. At her request, she asked the Holy Man of God to return to the banks of the Jordan on Holy Thursday of the following year and to bring her Communion. The priest was true to his word and returned bearing the Eucharist. St. Mary told him to come back again the next year, but to the place where he had originally met her. When the Priest, Zosimus returned in a year’s time, he found Mary’s corpse upon the sand. On the ground beside it was a written request with an inscription saying, Bury here the body of Mary the sinner. She requested that she be buried accompanied by a statement that she had died one year ago, in 421 A.D., on the very night she had received Holy Communion. Amazed, Zosimus began to dig and was later joined by a lion who helped him finish digging. After burying St. Mary of Egypt, Zosimus returned to his monastery near the Jordan, he told the brethren what he had witnessed and improved the faults of the monks there and the story spread. Her feast day is April 2nd and she’s the Patron Saint of Chastity (warfare against the flesh; deliverance from carnal passions); Demons (deliverance from); Fever; Skin diseases; Temptations of the flesh.

PRAYER: Saint Mary of Egypt, we beseech you to accept our prayer, in the Name of God, for we turn to you in veneration of your holiness and in supplication of your intercession. We also wish to dedicate our lives to the Virgin Mother and to go wherever she directs us. In this way, we shall be blessed with true happiness and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. For this we pray, and for this we thank you and all the saints in Heaven. Amen. Saint Mary of Egypt ~ Pray for us🙏