MEMORIAL OF SAINT STANISLAUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR AND SAINT GEMMA GALGANI, VIRGIN – FEAST DAY: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr (Patron Saint of Poland, Kraków, moral order) and St. Gemma Galgani, Virgin (Patron Saint of pharmacists, loss of parents, back illnesses, temptations, and those seeking purity of heart). Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the the sick and dying, especially those who are terminally ill and we pray for the conversion of sinners, for persecuted Christians and for all Christians during this season of Easter🙏
SAINT STANISLAUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR: St. Stanislaus (1030-1079) was Bishop of Kraków known chiefly for having been martyred by the Polish King Bolesław II the Generous. St. Stanislaus was born in July 26, 1030, at Sezepanow in the diocese of Krakow, Poland. Saint Stanislaus was born in answer to prayer, when his parents were advanced in age. Out of gratitude they educated him for the Church. In his childhood were laid the foundation of his future sanctity. After an early training in the schools of his native country and at the university of Gnesna, he was sent to Paris, where he spent seven years in the study of Canon Law and Theology. Out of humility he refused the degree of Doctor and returned home. On the death of his parents Stanislaus gave away his ample fortune to the poor, and received the order of priesthood from the Bishop of Krakow, who made him canon of the cathedral and, soon afterward, preacher and vicar-general. His sermons produced a wonderful reformation of manners. After death of the Bishop he was unanimously chosen to succeed him in 1072.
Boleslaus II, then King of Poland, was leading an infamous life. The Saint reproached him in private with the irregularity of his conduct. The King at first seemed to repent, but he soon broke our again into enormous excesses. The Saint again remonstrated, and threatened excommunication. The King became enraged. Finally, in 1079, after much patience, the Bishop pronounced upon the King the sentence of excommunication. This cost him his life, for while he was in a small chapel outside of Krakow the King and his guard entered. When the guards refused to obey the wicked order of the King to put the Bishop to death, the impious King murdered the holy Bishop with his own hands, he ambushed St. Stanislaus and struck him down with a sword during his celebration of Mass on May 8, 1079. St. Stanislaus was soon acclaimed as a martyr, while Boleslaus II lost his grip on power and left Poland. In later years the fallen monarch is said to have lived in a monastery, repenting of the murder. Saint Stanislaus was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253. He’s the Patron Saint of Poland, Kraków, moral order. His feast day is April 11th and in his own country he is commemorated May 8, the date of his death in 1079.
“Blessed John Paul II – who was Krakow’s archbishop in the “See of St. Stanislaus” before becoming Pope – paid tribute to him often during his pontificate. In a 2003 letter to the Polish Church, he recalled how St. Stanislaus “proclaimed faith in God to our ancestors and started in them…the saving power of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
PRAYER: God, for Your honor the holy Bishop Stanislaus fell before the swords of his persecutors. Grant that we may be strong in the Faith and persevere until death. Amen🙏
SAINT GEMMA GALGANI, VIRGIN: St. Gemma Galgani has been called the “Daughter of the Passion” because of her profound imitation of the Passion of Christ. She is especially venerated in the Congregation of the Passion (Passionists). St. Gemma Galgani (1878-1903) was born Maria Gemma Umberta Galgani on March 12, 1878 at Camigliano, near Lucca, Italy, the fifth of eight children born to a prosperous pharmacist. When she was young, Gemma’s mother and three of her siblings died of tuberculous. When she was 18 her father died as well, leaving Gemma to help care for her younger siblings. She rejected two marriage proposals and became a housekeeper while trying to enter the religious life as a Passionist. At twenty years of age, St. Gemma was attacked by tuberculosis of the spine and she developed spinal meningitis. This disease was declared by the doctors to be hopelessly incurable. After countless novenas to St. Gabriel, she was completely miraculously healed on the first Friday of March, 1899. She attributed her healing to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the intercession of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. At this time, apparently free from her recent illness, the Saint sought to fulfill her lifelong wish of pursuing her religious vocation with the Passionist nuns, but her application, as previously, was rejected. She was rejected due to her poor health, and later became a Tertiary member of the order.
From 1899 on, this quiet and unexcitable girl who was endowed with a remarkably fervent religious disposition underwent many extraordinary religious experiences—all of which were carefully investigated by her confessor and spiritual director, Father Germano. Throughout her life she united herself with the Passion of Christ and experienced great suffering as a result, but not without receiving many remarkable graces as well. She experienced many mystical visions and was often visited by her guardian angel, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary. For this she was known as a great mystic, and, according to her spiritual director, developed the stigmata at age 21. The marks of Christ’s crucifixion (Stigmata) appeared intermittently for over eighteen months on her hand and feet, and she had ecstasies and visions. In 1902, she was again stricken with an illness that was thought to be tuberculosis and she fell asleep in the Lord on April 11, 1903 after a selfless life of love given to God for the conversion of sinners, she died on Holy Saturday, the Vigil of Easter at the age of 25. The fame of her sanctity spread rapidly all over the world. She was beatified by Pius XI on March 14, 1933, and canonized by Pius XII on Ascension Day, 1940. She’s the Patron Saint of Students, Pharmacists, Paratroopers and Parachutists, loss of parents, those suffering back injury or back pain, those suffering with headaches/migraines, those struggling with temptations to impurity and those seeking purity of heart. Her feast day is April 11th.
PRAYER: All-powerful God, You made the Virgin St. Gemma a living image of Your crucified Son. Through her prayers, may we suffer with Christ and so share in His glory. Amen🙏
PRAYER INTENTIONS: We thank God for blessing us all with the gift of His precious son, may we be saved by the name of our Savior Jesus Christ! May the Lord grant us His grace as we continue to serve Him in spirit and in truth during this Easter Season. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying. We particularly pray for sick children, those who are sick with convulsive disorder, mental illness, strokes, heart diseases, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. May God restore them to good health and grant them His Divine healing and intervention. May our Mother Mary comfort them, may the Angels and Saints watch over them and may the Holy Spirit guide them in peace and comfort during this challenging time. We pray for the safety and well-being of us all and our families, for peace, love and unity in our families, our marriages and our divided and conflicted world. Every life is a gift. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the gentle souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May their gentle souls through the mercy of God rest in peace with our Lord Jesus Christ Amen. For all widows and widowers. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy and all those who preach the Gospel. For vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted Christians, for all the innocent who suffer violence due to political or religious unrest, for the conversion of sinners and Christians all over the world. Amen🙏