MEMORIAL OF SAINT PACHOMIUS, ABBOT AND BLESSED CAROLINE GERHARDINGER, RELIGIOUS ~ FEAST DAY: MAY 9TH Today, on this Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Pachomius, Abbot (founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism) and Blessed Caroline Gerhardinger, Religious. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from terminal diseases. We also pray for the safety and well-being of the poor and the needy all over the world. We pray for peace, justice, love and unity in our families and in our divided and conflicted world. We continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted Christians, for the conversion of sinners, for the sick, the poor and needy and Christians all over the world.
SAINT PACHOMIUS, ABBOT: St. Pachomius (c. 292 – May 9, 348 AD), also known as Saint Pachomius the Great, is generally recognized as the Founder of Christian Cenobitic Monasticism (monks who live in community). St. Pachomius was born about 292 in the Upper Thebaid in Egypt (modern-day Luxor, Egypt) to pagan parents. According to his hagiography, at age 21, St. Pachomius was swept up against his will in a Roman army recruitment drive and was inducted into the Emperor’s army, a common occurrence during this period of turmoil and civil war. With several other youths, he was put onto a ship that floated down the Nile and arrived at Thebes in the evening. Here he first encountered local Christians, who customarily brought food and comfort daily to the conscripted troops. This made a lasting impression, and St. Pachomius vowed to investigate Christianity further when he got out. The great kindness of Christians at Thebes toward the soldiers led to his conversion after his discharge. He was able to leave the army without ever having to fight, was converted and baptized. After being baptized, he became a disciple of an anchorite, Palemon, and took the habit. The two of them led a life of extreme austerity and total dedication to God, combining manual labor with unceasing prayer both day and night.
In 318, St. Pachomius, aided initially by Palemon, built a monastery on the banks of the Nile at Tabennisi, though enlarged several times, soon became too small and a second was founded at Pabau (Faou). In a short time some one hundred monks joined him, and St. Pachomius organized them on principles of community living. Soon St. Pachomius was obliged to establish ten other monasteries for men and two nunneries for women. Before his death in 348, there were seven thousand monks in his houses, and his Order lasted in the East until 11th century. St. Pachomius was the first monk to organize hermits into groups and write down a Rule for them. The rule that St. Pachomius drew up was said to have been dictated to him by an angel, and it is this rule that both St. Benedict in the west and St. Basil in the east drew upon to develop their better famous known rules of cenobitic life. Hence, thought St. Anthony is usually regarded as the founder of Christian Monasticism, it was really St. Pachomius who began monasticism as we know it today. Represented in hermit’s garb, or crossing the Nile on the back of a crocodile. St. Pachomius died on May 9, 348.
PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection that You have given us in St. Pachomius. Amen
BLESSED CAROLINE GERHARDINGER, RELIGIOUS: Blessed Caroline Gerhardinger (1797-1879), also known as Mother Maria Theresa of Jesus, was born into a working class family in Bavaria on June 20, 1797. She was a German Roman Catholic religious sister who founded the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Bl. Caroline Gerhardinger served as an educator in Bavaria until the establishment of her order, which provided free education to the poor and soon expanded in Europe. Her giftedness as an educator was apparent early in her life, and she became a certified teacher at the age of 15. Although Bl. Caroline was drawn to a quiet, contemplative life, her desire was to teach young girls to aspire to their full potential. For this she was greatly loved by her students. Responding to the needs of the time, and under the spiritual guidance of her bishop, Bishop George Michael Wittmann (1760-1833), Bl. Caroline gradually recognized God’s call to found a religious community in order to respond to the needs of the times through education. She began a new religious order dedicated to education called the Poor School Sisters of Notre Dame. This was during a period when all religious orders were closed by decree of the Bavarian government.
In 1822, Caroline Gerhardinger had written, “The love of Jesus sees into the future.” As foundress, she endeavored to give the new congregation a future. She sent her Sisters in groups of twos and threes into the local villages to teach the poor young girls who would otherwise have no opportunity for education, a novelty in her day which grew into a new form of apostolic religious life. In this way she sought to remedy social ills through education, which she believed was just as necessary for a child as love, food, and shelter. When the Vatican negotiated the reopening of Bavaria’s religious communities in 1828, the Sisters moved into a convent. On November 16, 1835, Bl. Caroline professed her religious vows and took the name, Mary Theresa of Jesus. Her love for God, nourished and strengthened by her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, enkindled the burning desire of her life: to know God and to do God’s will. God’s cause was the only concern of her heart. Blessed Theresa anchored her community in poverty and dedicated it to Mary. The congregation experienced rapid growth and acceptance, but Blessed Theresa and her sisters also suffered great hardship and painful struggle. In 1865, the rule and constitutions of the School Sisters of Notre Dame were finally approved by Pope Pius IX. Blessed Theresa then continued to govern the congregation as its general superior until her death in Munich on May 9, 1879. At the time of her death her order had grown to 2,500 sisters. On November 17, 1985, Mary Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger was declared “Blessed” by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Her feast day is May 9th.