SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ MARCH 9TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT FRANCES OF ROME, RELIGIOUS; SAINT DOMINIC SAVIO, CONFESSOR AND SAINT CATHERINE OF BOLOGNA, RELIGIOUS – FEAST DAY ~ MARCH 9TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Frances of Rome, Religious (Patron Saint of Benedictine oblates; Automobile drivers; Widows); Saint Dominic Savio (Patron Saint of choirboys, choristers the falsely accused, and juvenile delinquents) and Saint Catherine of Bologna, Religious (artists, the liberal arts, against temptations and of Bologna). Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the safety and well-being well-being of our children, all automobile drivers, travellers and artist, we pray for God’s guidance and protection. We also pray for all widows and widowers and all those who are mourning, please Lord comfort them and help them to abide in you forever even as they go through this difficult time. We continue to pray for all Healthcare professionals, the sick and the dying. We particularly pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis and all those suffering from respiratory diseases, heart diseases, mental disorders, cancers and other terminal diseases, we pray for God’s divine healing and intervention. Amen 🙏🏽

Saint Frances of Rome, Saint Dominic Savio and Saint Catherine of Bologna ~ Pray for us 🙏🏽

SAINT FRANCES OF ROME, RELIGIOUS: St. Frances (1384-1440) was born to a noble family in Rome. As a young girl her desire to become a nun was refused by her father, who instead arranged her marriage at the age of 12. St. Frances accepted this as God’s will for her life and in obedience to her parents, she entered into a marriage contract with a wealthy nobleman named Lawrence Ponziani. In the matrimonial state the St. Frances led a very pious life, she was married for 40 years and had three children. As St. Frances became acquainted with her in-laws she found that the wife of her brother-in-law felt the same calling to the religious life that she did. From this point on, the two women began to work to help the poor. St. Frances never allowed her spiritual exercises or charitable work to interfere with her family life or domestic duties. She had to endure many trials, particularly during the great schism, when her husband was banished; but she suffered all with exemplary patience, blessing the holy will of God. After the schism St. Francis’s husband recovered his estates.

In St. Frances’ time, Rome was at war and the city was in chaos from political disarray and widespread disease. After the plague swept through Rome, two of her three children died from the plague. After the death of her children from the plague, St. Frances began to turn again to charitable work. She responded by converting her home into a hospital for the sick and poor. She gave up all her wealth to the sick and poor and began to go door to door raising money to aid the sick and the poor. She drove with a wagon into the streets and collected the sick and stranded in order to care for them. She miraculously cured many people, and also began the city’s first orphanage. She inspired many women to join her in this life of prayer and good works. As St. Frances became more deeply involved in charitable work, she began to realize the great need for it in the world and began to seek permission from the Pope to form a charitable society of women to do this work. In 1425, she eventually founded a congregation of lay oblates, to which she gave the Rule of St. Benedict, attached to the Benedictine monastery known as the Oblates of St. Frances of Rome (the Oblate Congregation of Tor di Specchi). The women followed the ideals of the Benedictine order and carried on active charity and assistance of the poor. After setting up the foundation of this society, St. Frances continued to live with her husband until his death. After her husband’s death she entered religious life and received the habit in this community in 1437, and began to live as though she were the lowest of the sisters. Soon after, she was chosen superior of the group. God conferred upon her numerous favors in the supernatural order. One of the great mystics of her time, she dictated 97 visions and was visibly guided by her guardian angel throughout her life. She died March 9, 1440, at the age of fifty-six and was canonized in 1608 by Pope Paul V. St. Frances of Rome is the Patron Saint of many causes, including Benedictine oblates, motorists, pilots, women, widows, and against plague and the death of children. On her feast day many priests bless cars due to her patronage of cars and automobile drivers.

PRAYER: God, in St. Frances You have given us a singular example of both the monastic and the conjugal was of life. Help us to persevere in serving You so that in all the vicissitudes of life we may both look to You and follow You. Amen🙏

SAINT DOMINIC SAVIO, CONFESSOR: St. Dominic Savio (1842-1857) was only fifteen when he died but he had already attained a high degree of sanctity. A pupil of the great St. John Bosco who loved him like a son, St. Dominic organized the Company of the Immaculate Conception to help St. John in running the Oratory. Though St. Dominic’s life was one of poverty, work, and suffering, it was filled with the cheerfulness and joy of sanctity. This model for youths once wrote to a friend: “Here we make sanctity consist in being joyful all the time and in faithfully performing our duties.” St. Dominic Savio was born in Riva di Chieri, Italy, on April 2, 1842. He looked so frail and weak on the morning of his birth that his father rushed him that same evening to the parish church for Baptism. But St. Dominic survived and began serving Mass when he was five years old, one of his greatest joys. He was often seen at five o’clock in the morning in front of the church on his knees in rain or snow, waiting for the doors to be opened. When, at the age of seven, he made his First Holy Communion, he formed the motto, “Death, but not sin!”,  the resolution to die rather than sin, as he had frequently expressed his determination and ambition to become a Saint. The village pastor at Mondonio, recognizing in Dominic a soul of predilection, arranged to have him enter Don Bosco’s Oratory at Turin. Don Bosco soon noted Dominic’s consuming quest for sanctity, and pointed out to the boy that the path to holiness is not necessarily among hair shirts and tortures of the flesh, but in the cheerful bearing and offering of each day’s small crosses. Steering the lad away from artificial practices, his loved master showed him that for a soul avid of penance, there is a superabundance to be had for the taking, through acceptance of the monotony and tribulations inseparable from the perfect fulfillment of the duties of one’s state of life.

After a few months of life in the environment of the Oratory and under the saintly care of Saint John Bosco, Dominic’s soul was fired with the zeal of his master, whose rule of life, Give me souls, Lord; You take the rest, the boy adopted for his own. Following the example of Don Bosco, who in season and out of season sought those souls wherever they were to be found, Dominic also went after them in his own little world. In the Oratory he founded and directed the Immaculate Conception Sodality, a group of boys who by prayer, word and example carried on an apostolate among their classmates and proved to be of valuable assistance to Don Bosco in his work. On one occasion Dominic broke up a vicious duel with stones. Standing between the boy-duelists with dramatic suddenness, he flashed a crucifix and said: This is Friday. Today Christ died for love of us. Can you look at Him and still hate each other? When Dominic’s health began to fail he was forced to leave the Oratory. Don Bosco and the boys were very sorry to see him leave; he had been a good friend to all. Don Bosco said of him: His cheerful character and lively disposition made him extremely popular even among those boys who were no great lovers of their faith. His death at his home on March 9, 1857, was sweet and peaceful. As he was dying, he burst out into an ecstatic exclamation, ”Oh, what a beautiful sight I see!” Saint Dominic Savio is the youngest Confessor in the Church’s calendar of saints, and stands out as a hero of school-boy virtue, the shining model of holiness. He was Beatified on March 5, 1950 by Pope Pius XII and Canonized on June 12, 1954 by Pope Pius XII. He’s the Patron Saint of choirboys, choristers the falsely accused, and juvenile delinquents. St. Dominic Savio’s feast is now celebrated on May 6th.

PRAYER: Lord God, You alone are holy and no one is good without You. Through the intercession of St. Dominic help us to live in such a way that we may not be deprived of a share in Your glory. Amen🙏

SAINT CATHERINE OF BOLOGNA, RELIGIOUS: St. Catherine (1413-1463) was an Italian nun and artist born as Catherine de’ Vigri on September 8, 1413 in Bologna, Italy. She was the member of an aristocratic family and the daughter of a diplomat to the Marquis of Ferrara. St. Catherine was raised in the court of the marquis as a companion to the Princess Margarita. At the court she received a good education in reading, writing, and the arts. She was particularly skilled in painting, playing the viola, and Latin. The marquis’ daughter, Princess Margarita soon married, Roberto Malatesta, Prince of Rimini, and wanted St. Catherine to continue serving her. But St. Catherine felt called to religious life and chose to leave the court. In 1426, at 13-years-old, she entered the convent of Corpus Domini at Ferrara and became a Franciscan Tertiary. During this time, her convent disagreed in whether to continue following the Augustinian rule or to instead adhere to the Franciscan rule. A Rule is a specific expression of the Christian life which calls the men or women of a particular religious order to a daily pattern of prayer, work and charity. St. Catherine was determined to live a life of perfection, and was admired by her companions for her holiness. In 1432, St. Catherine and other young women of Ferrara founded a monastery of the Order of Poor Clares, an order founded by St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi. St. Catherine was openly willing to serve the more humble roles in the convent. She was a laundress, a baker and a caretaker for the animals. Through her efforts with Pope Nicholas V,  the Poor Clare convent at Ferrara erected an enclosure, and St.  Catherine was appointed Superioress. That office made her responsible for providing pastoral care and spiritual oversight to all of sisters. The reputation of the Community for its holiness and austerity became widespread. In 1456, St. Catherine returned to Bologna with her superiors and the governors there requested she found a second monastery of the same Order and be the Abbess of the convent.

St. Catherine continued to paint and to write beautiful spiritual guides and poetry. She wrote the Treatise on the 7 Spiritual Weapons Necessary for Spiritual Warfare. And, her painting of St. Ursula remains on display in a Venice gallery. Throughout her life, St. Catherine experienced visions of both Jesus Christ and Satan, which she documented in her treatise. In one instance, she had the baby Jesus placed in her arms by the Blessed Virgin Mary. During the Lenten season of 1463, St. Catherine became seriously ill, and on March 9th she passed away. She was buried without a coffin and her body was exhumed eighteen days later because of many cures attributed to her at her graveside and the sweet scent coming from her grave. Her body was discovered incorrupt and remains so today. That means it has not decayed. St. Catherine is dressed in her religious habit seated upright on a golden throne behind glass in the chapel of the Poor Clares in Bologna. Her skin has since been blackened due to exposure from oil lamps and soot. Saint Catherine was beatified in 1524 by Pope Clement VII and canonized on May 22, 1712 by Pope Clement XI. She is the Patron Saint of artists, the liberal arts, against temptations and of Bologna.

PRAYER: Dear Saintly Poor Clare, Saint Catherine of Bologna, so rich in love for Jesus and Mary, you were endowed with great talents by God and left us most inspiring writings and paintings of wondrous beauty. You did all for God’s greater glory and in this you are a model for all. Make artists learn lessons from you and use their talents to the full.
Amen🙏