MEMORIAL OF SAINT SIRICIUS, POPE; SAINT SYLVESTER, ABBOT; SAINT PETER OF ALEXANDRIA, BISHOP AND MARTYR; SAINT LEONARD OF PORT MAURICE, PRIEST AND SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS – FEAST DAY ~ NOVEMBER 26TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Siricius, Pope; Saint Sylvester, Abbot; Saint Peter of Alexandria, Bishop and Martyr; Saint Leonard of Port Maurice, Priest and Saint John Berchmans, Religious. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for all Altar Servers, Youth, Missionaries and all those who preach parish missions. We pray for the sick and dying, especially sick children, those who are mentally and physically ill, strokes, heart diseases, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and we pray for all widows and widowers. We pray for torture victims, the poor, the needy and the most vulnerable in our communities and around the world. We pray for all parents and children, for peace, love, justice and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world… Amen🙏
SAINT SIRICIUS, POPE: Pope Siricius (334 – 26 November 399) was a native of Rome; his father’s name was Tiburtius. Siricius entered the service of the Church at an early age and, according to the testimony of the inscription on his grave, was lector and then deacon of the Roman Church during the pontificate of Liberius. St. Siricius was elected Pope in 384 at the death of St. Damasus I and reigned until 399. Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758) added the name of Pope Siricius to the Roman Martyrology on November 26th with the statement that he was “distinguished for his learning, piety, and zeal for religion, condemning various heretics and strengthening ecclesiastical discipline”.
The “heretics” were the monk Jovinian and Bonosus of Sardica who denied the perpetual virginity of Mary and the merit of virginity as well. “Ecclesiastical discipline” refers to the decisions that Siricius gave on certain question of church order and the Sacraments addressed to him by Bishop Himerius of Tarragona. In response to inquiries from Bishop Himerius of Tarragona, Siricius issued the Directa decretal, containing decrees of baptism, church discipline and other matters. His are the oldest completely preserved papal decretals. He is sometimes said to have been the first bishop of Rome to call himself pope. The general instruction, which Hinerius was ordered to communicate to other Bishops, is the earliest Papal decretal extant in its entirety and includes the earliest known attempt at the enforcement of clerical celibacy by the Roman See.
PRAYER: Almighty and eternal God, You willed to set St. Siricius over Your entire people and to go before them in word and example. By his intercession keep the pastors of Your Church together with their flocks and guide them in the way of eternal salvation. Amen. Saint Siricius, Pope ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT SYLVESTER, ABBOT: St. Sylvester founded the Sylvestrine Order, a reform congregation of the Order of St. Benedict, in 1231. St. Sylvester, of the noble Gozzolini family, was born in Italy in 1177. After making a distinguished record at the universities of Bologna and Padua, he was made a canon at Osimo, his native city. His inclination toward the contemplative life was strengthened by the sight of the decomposing dead body of a once handsome relative. “I am what he was,” said Sylvester to himself, “and I will also be what he is.”
After the funeral services, the words of our Lord kept ringing in his ears, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). At the age of 50 he resigned his post and became a hermit. Many disciples came to him, and these he organized under the rule of St. Benedict. After his death the order became known as the Sylvestrines, especially noted for their spirit of poverty. Their founder died at the age of 90 in 1267. The members of his Order wear a Benedictine habit, Turkish blue in color. Today there remain seven Sylvestrine monasteries in Italy and several mission houses in Ceylon and in the United States.
Saint Sylvester, Abbot ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT PETER OF ALEXANDRIA, BISHOP AND MARTYR: St. Peter, Bishop of Alexandria from 300. A native of Alexandria, Egypt, Peter survived the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian and served as a confessor for the suffering Christians. Made head of the famed Catechetical School of Alexandria, he was a vigorous opponent of Origenism before receiving appointment as bishop. He composed a set of rules by which those who had lapsed might be readmitted to the faith after appropriate penance, a settlement which was not to the liking of extremists of the community. Thus, in 306 when the persecutions began again, Peter was forced to flee the city. The partisans of Melitius, Peter’s chief critic, installed their favorite as bishop of Alexandria, thereby starting the Melitian Schism which troubled the see for many years. Peter returned to Alexandria in 311 after a lull in the persecutions, but was soon arrested and beheaded on November 25, 311 by Roman officials acting on the decree of Emperor Maximinus Daia. He was a great bishop, famous for wisdom and holiness; “a model of charity and zeal, severe towards himself, merciful to sinners, a divine model of the Christian teacher,” says Eusebius. He is called the “seal and complement of martyrs” as he was the last Christian slain by Roman authorities. Eusebius of Caesarea described him as “a model bishop, remarkable for his virtuous life and his ardent study of the Scriptures.” He is much revered by the Coptic Christians, although since 1969, his cult has been confined to local calendars in the Catholic Church.
Saint Peter of Alexandria, Bishop and Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT LEONARD OF PORT MAURICE, PRIEST: St. Leonard, called “the great missionary of the 18th century” by Saint Alphonsus Liguori, was another Franciscan who tried to go to the foreign missions (China), failed at that and succeeded tremendously in some other work. Leonard’s father was a ship captain whose family lived in Port Maurice on the northwestern coast of Italy. At 13, Leonard went to Rome to live with his uncle Agostino and study at the Roman College. Leonard was a good student and was destined for a career in medicine. In 1697, however, he joined the Friars Minor, a decision that his uncle opposed bitterly. After ordination Leonard contracted tuberculosis and was sent to his hometown to rest or perhaps to die. He made a vow that if he recovered he would dedicate his life to the missions and to the conversion of sinners. He soon was able to begin his 40-year career of preaching retreats, Lenten sermons and parish missions throughout Italy. His missions lasted 15 to 18 days, and he often stayed an additional week to hear confessions. He said: “I believe that in those days the real and greatest fruit of the mission is gathered. As much good is done in these days as during the mission.”
As a means of keeping alive the religious fervor awakened in a mission, Leonard promoted the Stations of the Cross, a devotion which had made little progress in Italy up to this time. He also preached regularly on the Holy Name of Jesus. Since he realized that he needed time simply to pray alone, Leonard regularly made use of the ritiros (houses of recollection) that he helped establish throughout Italy. St. Leonard was canonized in 1867; in 1923 he was named patron of those who preach parish missions.
Saint Leonard of Port Maurice, Priest ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS: St. John Berchmans (1599-1621) was a young saint of the Society of Jesus, Jesuit Seminarian at the Jesuit College at Malines. He was known for his diligence and piety, impressing all with his holiness and stress on perfection in little things. He is celebrated on his Memorial Feast Day of August 13th. St. John was born in Flanders, Belgium, the eldest of five children of a shoemaker. He was a virtuous and well-liked child who would often rise early to serve at two or three Masses a day before he reached the age of seven. On Friday evenings he had a custom of making the Stations of the Cross outdoors while barefoot. When he was nine years old his mother suffered from a long and terrible illness, and John faithfully attended her bedside until she died. As a pious young person devoted to the things of God, he enrolled in a Jesuit college where he was known for being an energetic and outgoing student with great academic potential and leadership qualities. He also joined the Society of the Blessed Virgin and prayed her Office daily. He discerned a vocation to the religious life and began priestly formation as a Jesuit. His way of holiness was to perform his ordinary duties with extraordinary fidelity and perfection even in the smallest details, believing that, “If I do not become a saint when I am young, I shall never become one.” He died tragically on August 13, 1621 from dysentery and fever at the age of twenty-two while studying for the seminary in Rome. Many miracles were attributed to him after his death. St. John Berchmans is the Patron Saint of Altar boys; Altar servers; Oblate novices; Jesuit scholastics, students, Young people. His feast day is November 26th.
Saint John Berchmans, Religious ~ Pray for us 🙏